Will You?
Scientist tore off the protective suit that had been sealed tight around every inch of him.
Made for nothing but survival and containment, the suit was already blackened and corroded. It went into a waste-disposal bin.
"Dispose of it properly. The concentration was higher than last time."
"Yes."
A researcher who had been waiting in the lounge nodded. Unlike Scientist, he had no protective gear on at all. He took up the bin, opened a heavy iron door, and vanished outside.
As if to take his place, a researcher with the exact same face came in.
"Scientist."
"What."
Scientist threw back the purified water stocked in the cabinet. The black residue still clinging to his body died away, little by little.
"Do you remember the DS-01 the werewolf took last time?"
"I remember. I'm the one who gave it to him."
DS-01: Death Simulation.
A stimulant Scientist had made by extracting death and rendering it as a liquid. He remembered handing it to a werewolf elder along with DS-02.
"It's been used."
"Used? That was faster than I expected. Where?"
"Korea."
"Where?"
"Korea. Here are the exact coordinates and the time of use."
The researcher held out a tablet. Scientist snatched it, raking a hand through his hair.
"Damn it. Why did it have to be there."
He had specially designed DS-01 and DS-02 so that, once used, they would report their location and the time of use. He needed the experimental results. Death applied to a power on the level of an elder—what changes it produced, what phenomena it showed. Ordinary specimens could only take that kind of data so far.
There was exactly one place he had no intention of going himself. Anywhere else, he would have gone in person. The research mattered that much.
"Rotten luck. If the bastard was going to use it, he should have used it in his own village. Why drag himself all the way out to somewhere he has no business being..."
His head throbbed. Korea was a zone that person controlled personally. Scientist was not even permitted to turn his eyes that way.
"Couldn't you simply send someone else?"
"What?"
"If we hired people with no connection to us and had them investigate through two or three layers of cover..."
The researcher collapsed mid-sentence. There was no focus in his eyes. He was not breathing.
Dead—for putting in his mouth words that should never have been spoken.
Scientist fitted an earpiece, his face cold.
"It's me. A."
"Who's assigned to No. 4532?"
"And above that?"
"Higher."
"Kill them all. Every kind of pain there is."
"They told me to rebel against that person. Satisfied?"
A ended the call.
Scientist clicked his tongue at No. 4532, now a corpse.
"And just who were you trying to get killed?"
Replicas really were hopeless. He improved them every single day and piled the data higher and higher, and still a defect always found its way through.
"Hah. I let him off too easy. This is going to stress me out."
He flung the tablet aside without looking. It traced a long arc, struck the wall, and shattered.
"Aaah. Where am I supposed to find a new sample now...?"
DS-02 was still unused, but it was in Korea anyway, which made it meaningless.
In the end, he would have to start over from the beginning.
"Stupid wolf whelp. I had him figured from the moment he asked me to clone a werewolf. I'm half-dead just trying to clone humans. How was I supposed to clone another species?"
If he was going to demand something, he should have demanded artificial insemination.
"...Artificial insemination. Speaking of which, isn't our baby dragon in Korea?"
That desperate scramble to win acknowledgment from the mother who had given birth to it. It had certainly left an impression. A filial child, too, howling for revenge on its mother's behalf.
"All while not even knowing its own mother resents it."
Well, it wasn't a fool. Maybe it knew, and was only pretending not to.
"Now that I think of it, it's a shame. There weren't many who held on with that much venom."
A faint déjà vu stirred in him.
"Korea. I thought I'd have no ties to the place after what happened decades ago, and yet it keeps tangling itself around me."
A good omen, or a bad one.
A's voice came through the earpiece just as he was sinking into the thought.
"What is it?"
"Bad luck really does come in a streak..."
Scientist threw a lab coat roughly over his shoulders.
"What's wrong with that one now? Did you give it a sedative?"
"Seal the nearby research wings. Hold it down no matter what until I get there."
Scientist's eyes glittered.
"I'll allow you up through the W-series."
Fluffy...
Soft...
Plush, even...
It smells sweet...
Warm, too. Heaven itself...
What is this?
"Get up, you idiot!"
Thwack!
"Ghk!"
The blow rang through my skull, and my eyes flew open.
The first thing I saw, coming out of the dark, was a flat chest. The soft give of it was still pressed to my forehead.
"You up now?"
I dragged my half-dreaming mind into place and lifted my head. Wangrang was looking down at me, a flush across his cheeks.
"Maman?"
"Still out of it, huh."
"No. I'm up."
I let go of Wangrang—I had been clutching him without even realizing it—and pushed myself upright. He slipped out from under the blanket fastening his clothes, for all the world like a bride the morning after her wedding night.
The strangely indecent sight sent heat rushing up my skin all on its own.
"...Why are you crawling out of there?"
"Because of you. I was nursing you, and you yanked me in."
"So you just slept there with me? You should have climbed back out."
"I lay down for a second. I wasn't sleeping."
Wangrang puffed his cheeks out.
"You don't appreciate what people do for you at all. You're hurt because of me. The least I can do is put up with a little sleep-talking."
"Uh... you heard all of it?"
"Of course I did. It's been four days."
"Four days?"
I patted myself down, looking for my phone. It was on the nightstand beside the bed.
"It really has."
"Then lie down. I'm going to call the doctor."
"W-wait."
I caught Na Wangrang by the wrist.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm a great deal better off than you."
"Was the aftermath handled?"
"A patient has absolutely nothing to worry about."
The answers came clipped and firm, as if to order me back to rest. I swallowed something bitter and let the strength go out of my hand.
"Right... Thanks. You worked hard, looking after me."
"You had it worse."
Wangrang gave my forehead a light poke.
"Rest. I'll be back."
"Yeah."
Wangrang opened the door and left.
Alone in the hospital room, I flopped onto my back.
So it all ended while I wasn't even conscious?
I wonder what everyone else is doing...
I turned a vial, much like a syringe, over and over between my fingers. The black liquid filling it did not so much as tremble, as if it were a solid.
"Scientist, you said? The one who made that."
Captain Kid rubbed at his arm, where the goosebumps had risen.
"Yes. An item made by the greatest scientist on the planet."
I rolled the vial across to Captain Kid.
He looked horrified at how carelessly I handled it.
"Is it really all right to treat it like that?"
"Of course it is. If something like this were going to break it, it would have broken a long time ago."
"Hah..."
Captain Kid carefully stored the vial in a glossy briefcase.
"Does that case block signals, too?"
"Yes. It should be fine."
"Be careful on the way to the base. Slip up, and they may be able to trace the location."
"Understood."
Captain Kid set the briefcase on his knee.
"Mr. Kid. As you know, we've had quite a lot going on in this country."
"Yes. I couldn't have avoided hearing it if I'd tried. It found its way in on its own."
Captain Kid gave a bitter smile.
"How long has it even been since Heavenly Punishment? You do lead an eventful life."
"And you don't?"
"I am presently an idle man with nothing to do. The same goes for Roadman."
"I was supposed to be retired already."
Roadman jutted his lip.
"In any case, I didn't expect you to contact us first, Phantom. Let alone to have prepared a gift like this."
Captain Kid tapped the case.
"Did I interrupt your vacation?"
"No. It's what I wanted. I've been on indefinite standby, and I was crawling out of my skin."
With this, he would be able to get an assignment from the higher-ups.
"But is it really all right to hand it over like this? It hardly seems like an ordinary matter."
"Holding on to it won't let me use it. Toss it to Terra's researchers."
I laced my fingers.
"Terra ought to be pleased, don't you think? You've been chasing this enemy for quite a long time. This should be a lead."
"I really can't get the better of you."
Captain Kid shook his head. In front of this man, pretending not to know was genuinely difficult.
"He tears through so many different places that it would be strange if you didn't know."
"I suspect you know far more than we do, Phantom..."
"That depends on your attitude."
I held out my hand.
"Will you?"
We were going to catch Scientist.
"Does Terra intend to join us in this?"
"We..."