The Chimera Twins
The same situation kept repeating in Gray Molecule 111. Terrorists, hostages, and secret police mixed in between. Surprisingly, the police never won a single car. Man, these secret police are terrible at their jobs.
Fortunately, the noisy train sounds meant no one in the forward cars seemed to notice what was happening. Each time, after spouting some idiotic line to check for the protagonist, I neutralized the armed group and the secret police. Click—
When I opened the fifth door, a different scene finally unfolded. There were no hostages. Instead, about a dozen terrorists were clustered around the next door, grunting and struggling to force it open. The prime minister was probably on the other side.
Now, what are these guys up to?
The masked men didn't react at all even though I had opened the door behind them. Maybe they had already taken over every car ahead and weren't bothering to stay alert. I approached quietly and asked, "Not opening?"
"Damn it, they've barricaded it from the other side. But inside, it's just the prime minister and one bodyguard left!"
"I see. Let me try."
"Whew, go ahead. Just don't mutate."
Mutate? Since they didn't know who I was, mutation was probably something all these masked men could do. Securing the protagonist first wouldn't be too late. Crack—
I crushed the handle and ripped it off the door, creating a small peephole. Only then did the terrorists notice me.
"Huh? Who the hell are you?"
I ignored the question and peered through the hole. As expected, they're in there. While the zombies handled the terrorists around me, I tore the door apart. Rip— Crack—
I tossed the door aside and stepped into the luxury cabin. An old man who looked like the prime minister asked, "Which side are you from?"
I ignored him—my interest wasn't in anyone but the protagonist—and approached the girls beside him. Black hair, blue eyes. Twins. I crouched in front of them and asked, "Which side do you want to be on?"
Their eyes wavered at my question. Even when the masked men pounded on the door or people were being eaten by zombies, these children had shown no reaction. Now tension filled their gazes.
Just then, Baengnae came running over, still holding the owl doll, after finishing off the remaining terrorists with the other zombies. She looked at the small girls and declared proudly, "I am Baengnae."
Baengnae wiped the blood from her mouth with her sleeve, then handed each girl a finger she'd brought from the terrorists.
"Nyam nyam. This is madda."
The girls accepted the fingers and began chewing them. The atmosphere loosened slightly. I asked them again, "East or west. Which side do you want to be on?"
Black hair, blue eyes, vertically slit pupils, a green tail peeking from behind, teeth and jaws that could casually chew human bones—these were chimeras. They were also the protagonists of this story.
Crunch— Crunch— The slightly shorter of the two answered, "I don't know..."
"Then shall we figure it out slowly? Starting today, I'm your guardian. You can take your time telling me."
I turned to the old man who called himself the prime minister. "No objections, right?" He had no choice in the matter. If he refused, the East would face destruction.
The situation was quickly resolved. The prime minister proved to be a wise man and immediately relinquished his rights to the girls on the spot. Or perhaps he had always considered them a burden. The stories surrounding the girls were that complicated and troublesome.
There had once been a nation called Baliteron. Through economic restructuring and scientific advancement, Baliteron succeeded in leading an industrial revolution. Humanity, now possessing immense wealth and knowledge, invested in many fields—including the chimera industry.
Biological engineering existed within the realm of science, so researching chimeras was a natural progression. A more advanced form of life. Humanity began mixing other lifeforms into themselves in an attempt to transcend human limits and become superior beings.
Then problems arose. Unlike other sciences that sourced materials externally, biological engineering used humans themselves as components. This raised a question: Were these experiments ethically right?
But ethics were ultimately determined by whoever held power and by what standards they chose. The ethics of an era were set by its rulers. Thus, ethical standards regarding chimeras were arbitrarily applied in the face of capital's power.
The wealthy East rejected chimeras, while the West, which had already invested heavily in the chimera industry, sought to accept them. The conflict deepened. Unable to reach an agreement, they split fifty years ago into East Bali and West Teron.
There were several battles, followed by a cold war. Then recently, West Teron made a major discovery: they had created chimeras that eliminated most side effects while being remarkably powerful and superior. This directly contradicted East Bali's claims about the dangers of chimeras. East Bali's legitimacy was shaken.
East Bali deployed forces to steal two top-tier chimera samples. While secretly transporting them to their capital, West Teron's pursuers arrived. The girls on the train were the superior chimera samples West Teron had created without side effects.
In the end, the prime minister's priority was ensuring West Teron couldn't keep the chimeras. By giving them up right in front of me, he had hoped to make even me defect to the East.
The background is roughly clear now... But it was ambiguous who the bad guys were. In war, the villain changes depending on one's perspective, so blaming one side was pointless. To West Teron, the prime minister was a thief. But to East Bali, West Teron were madmen conducting all sorts of experiments on people.
Which side to choose—East or West—was also an important matter for me. Because of the rewards. If I took the girls to West Teron and let them research chimeras, I would gain chimera-related directionality and achieve evolution. Conversely, siding with the East would grant me some other form of directionality they provided.
Once the protagonists—the key items of the story—fell into my hands, the rest of the progression would go according to my tastes.
For now... shall I observe the situation a bit longer? Having saved the prime minister had tilted me slightly toward the East, but I still had the ability to reverse my choice. No need to rush. I could confirm all conditions and proceed in the way most beneficial to me.
The train arrived stably at its destination. The steam locomotive slowly entered a massive building constructed of steel. Hundreds of soldiers stood in formation inside, waiting. The prime minister explained proudly, "This is East Bali's proud Bomb Sword Division."
"Bomb Sword Division?"
"Have you been living in some mountain valley? Never heard of bomb swords? Are you messing with me?"
"I really don't know."
"Ahem... There's a substance that allows users to intentionally manipulate the microscopic movements of minerals. They usually keep explosives inside and modify the sword so the explosives can be expelled through grooves when swung."
"Interesting."
I didn't know what kind of idiotic weapon a bomb sword was, but according to the prime minister, the substance itself seemed quite useful. Similar to the needle sword Baengnae had once used. I could probably create weapons that injected zombie poison into enemies.
Under the soldiers' escort, I boarded another train heading straight to the capital. I deliberately requested a spacious private cabin. After various tedious procedures passed, I was finally left alone with the chimera twins.
"From now on, I'll conduct a simple examination."
The chimera children trembled at the word "examination."
"Examination?"
"Scared of examination."
"Don't worry, it won't hurt."
I summoned the boots and ordered them to precisely analyze the girls' condition. "Boots, get to work."
Parasite-like creatures emerged from the boots' pincers and attached themselves to the girls. After collecting a bit of blood and epidermis, the bugs flew back to the boots and delivered the samples. The boots examined the mutated areas and measured brainwaves. The results were largely as expected.
"New test subjects, Stage 3 mutation. High degree of completion."
"Thought so."
Stage 3 mutation wasn't low-level. In terms of ability, it corresponded to the mutation level of Ju Giju the Snail Knight. If they grew stably, I could expect performance comparable to Ju Giju without aura. If a complete Ju Giju without aura was considered quite lacking in potential, then the fact that all chimeras' baseline had risen to that level was clearly meaningful technology.
This feels like a tie again. Both East Bali and West Teron offered meaningful rewards. Stage 3 chimera mutation and custom weapons for the zombies would both greatly contribute to the legion's development. It was hard to pick one as superior.
Shall I observe the situation a little longer?
Upon arriving in the capital, we went on a city tour. The prime minister assigned professional guides who boasted daily about the advantages of East Bali's various facilities. He seemed quite desperate for my naturalization. But aside from "Yuseok," the raw material for bomb swords, there was nothing particularly appealing about the East.
It couldn't be helped. No matter how wealthy and advanced they were, their culture was ultimately an older version of Earth's past. No matter how much the prime minister boasted about cutting-edge technology, it all looked like centuries-old junk to me.
Thus, the direction of this story was decided. There was no clear advantage in rewards. So I chose the path that would make the chimera children happier. Because Baengnae liked them. She took care of the girls as if she'd gained little sisters.
In the end, the story's conclusion depended on what happened to the protagonists. In this case, it was a choice between "They lived happily ever after" or "They were used as test subjects." But would the girls truly be happy living in East Bali? It was obvious what would happen to chimera girls in a society that rejected mutated beings. They would be politically exploited and eventually discarded.
So the girls would go to the Equator. Of course, since I was going through the trouble of adopting them, I should receive some child-rearing expenses from the responsible party. East Bali could pay with the mine where Yuseok was mined, and West Teron with their chimera creators. That seemed clean. Did they have any right to complain? They had freely manipulated powerless girls, so I would freely manipulate them in turn.