Consideration Beyond the Manual
Consideration Beyond the Manual
It was a stifling encounter.
The blue flame before her had no head, making it impossible to read even the slightest emotion.
There was no way to know what it was looking at, or who it was paying attention to.
Even when spoken to, no response. Even with visual stimulation, no response.
Even direct contact yielded no reaction.
If not for its occasional shifting movements, one could believe it was an intricately carved stone statue.
"Confirmed absence of respiratory mechanism."
Dr. Seo Young-eun recorded that information on the observation sheet.
Without a throat, it was only natural that the airway was blocked.
Thus, she conducted a submerged confinement experiment, expecting cutaneous respiration and having obtained consent.
Even after a full 30 minutes of the experiment, the blue flame showed no metabolic disturbance despite the lack of oxygen supply.
The subsequent X-ray results yielded unexpected findings.
- Professor. The X-ray scan results are out.
- They're out. Since it doesn't perform oxygen metabolism or physical intake, it's either hollow inside or has some kind of energy core embedded, right?
- Actually... that's not the case.
- What do you mean not the case?
The tense researcher handed over a tablet. An unbelievable projection was displayed on it.
- It exactly matches the standard organ structure of a human being. Even the digestive and circulatory systems are all there. It's just that...
- Just that?
- They just don't function. All organs are in a state of hibernation.
It was a laughable result.
In other words, the blue flame possessed a biological structure yet flatly denied biological common sense.
- That's impossible. Organs can't be maintained in that state. Where does it get its energy? How does it generate that power without any intake pathway?
- There wasn't any external energy accumulation organ like photosynthesis either. Blade Head also maintained consistent energy levels even after years of isolation.
- Then where does all this energy come from? The energy that guy uses alone is several times that of a human.
- Fatigue has been confirmed. It replenishes energy through rest. It's presumed that it obtains energy through pathways outside the scope of human perception.
The more she looked, the more unknowns there were.
It doesn't consume energy, yet it gains energy.
It doesn't physically ingest anything, yet organs exist.
Another screen appeared.
A regular waveform graph.
- And its heart is beating.
- The organs are in hibernation, yet the heart is active? Well, hibernation doesn't mean functions completely stop.
- Yes. Thanks to that, blood circulates in its body, and its absurd regenerative abilities are maintained. Even the cell composition and DNA base sequence are 99% identical to humans.
It wasn't human, yet all its data was essentially mimicking humans.
Seo Young-eun stared at the blue flame with a creeping sense of dread.
"It's just like an elaborately crafted homunculus made in imitation of a human."
Like other anomalies, the blue flame before her couldn't be understood through basic common-sense frameworks.
The very attempt to understand it through the lens of common sense because it was a human-friendly entity was a misjudgment.
An anomaly was an anomaly.
"Thank you... for participating in the experiment again today."
Seo Young-eun forced out a word of thanks toward the blue flame.
At the same time, an unpleasant feeling and disgust oozed from within.
This thing before her was an anomaly.
An object of her research and experimentation.
An entity that shouldn't be regarded as a fellow person.
Yet now she had to respect that entity as an individual and express gratitude.
This bitter contradiction left her confused.
Meanwhile, the blue flame that received her thanks gave no reply.
Just like before, it remained buried in the sofa, staring at the television in the same posture.
'What are you watching so intently for?'
Sometimes she wondered.
What program could possibly hold this entity's mind so captive?
Sneaking a glance at the screen, she was dumbfounded to see a modest documentary about world travel as its content.
Especially during scenes introducing food, the blue flame flickered slightly.
'Does it want to travel? That's impossible. It's not even human—stop pretending to be one.'
A chill ran down her spine.
The more she looked, the more human-like it seemed.
No, it was that she could see it trying to be human.
"I'm heading up now."
Still, the blue flame gave no response.
The unpleasant feeling of being ignored brought a sense of helplessness, but since it was an anomaly, it was within understandable bounds.
No, to be honest, she had simply given up trying to understand.
She passed through the decompression door and returned to the management room.
Lee Da-eun, who had been sitting in front of the CCTV recording information, stood up to greet her.
"You worked hard, Professor-nim."
"It's really suffocating."
Her voice was bright, but she seemed drained of energy.
Collapsing onto the steel desk in exhaustion, Seo Young-eun complained of deep fatigue.
"Every time I go near that entity, I feel like even the energy I didn't have gets sucked away. The mental contamination level is too high."
"It does seem to be growing stronger as it consumes the disposed entities."
"It's classified as G-grade... Are they going to wait until an accident happens before urgently adjusting its grade?"
Suppose it gets even stronger from here.
Uncontrollable contamination levels.
Increased probability of containment room collapse due to enhanced abilities.
Then they'd have to replace the containment room model from scratch, and the supervising officer would have to change every time.
That would mean they couldn't move to the management phase.
It also meant there would be limits to accommodating it like they were doing now.
'What is Kang Tae-jun waiting for with such confidence?'
Trust and wait?
Did he think this was some youthful fantasy shonen manga?
Trusting that it could control its own contamination levels—that was too idealistic a judgment.
The mindset of "let's just be nice and hope for the best" had its limits too.
'If you want to create some romantic narrative, do it alone. The rest of us waiting are withering away.'
Venting her internal vitriol toward Kang Tae-jun gave her some relief.
She asked Lee Da-eun, who was rummaging through a bag of snacks.
"After Chief Kang, you're the closest to that entity, right?"
"Me? Ah, yes. But the Chief said not to use the term 'entity'... He said the blue flame would be sad to hear it."
"Sad? Ha!"
A bitter, incredulous laugh escaped her.
Treating it like a human now felt like some clumsy family roleplay.
We were researchers, and the entity was a research subject.
Who cares about the feelings of a guinea pig used in experiments?
When dissecting a frog, what researcher worries about the frog's feelings?
"Professor-nim? Your expression looks dark."
"It's because of the contamination levels, don't worry. I'm just having negative thoughts."
"Would you like to rest? Isn't today your night shift?"
Come to think of it, it was her night shift today.
Checking the clock, Seo Young-eun sighed with a helpless expression.
"I already took a vacation not long ago. Resting again isn't an option."
This was work.
It was a job, a workplace.
It wasn't school.
She couldn't just take time off because she was in a bad mood or a little unwell.
Especially in a dangerous job like the Management Bureau, where lives were at stake, personal feelings or schedules were not a consideration.
"Has the entity... the blue flame ever said anything personal to you?"
"Personal?"
"Has it ever spoken to you first, like casual conversation?"
The blue flame had shown absolutely no interest in Seo Young-eun.
What about Lee Da-eun, who was closest after Kang Tae-jun?
Lee Da-eun rolled her eyes for a moment before answering calmly.
"A while ago, it asked me what the difference was between seasoned fried chicken and chicken gangjeong."
"...What?"
"Seasoned fried chicken and chicken gangjeong. It said you'd only know the difference if you ate them, but since it couldn't eat, it didn't understand the difference. Even when I explained the cooking process differed, it couldn't comprehend."
"...Gangjeong?"
"After that, it asked me to order some because it wanted to try them. Honestly, I don't understand why it keeps asking for food when it can't even eat."
A taciturn and eerie anomaly.
An anomaly that had once seemed somewhat mysterious, but seeing it was interested in mere chicken gangjeong and fried chicken made her wonder if it had really been ignoring her.
This was a rather pride-hurting serious matter.
※※※
Late at night, after Lee Da-eun had left for the day.
In the management room with only one light on, Seo Young-eun remained alone for her night shift.
Slouching, she stared at the unchanging CCTV feed, then yawned again.
"Haah~."
Because of the deep fatigue, she couldn't stop yawning every ten minutes.
It was due to the elevated mental contamination levels during the blue flame analysis earlier that day.
Twice as tired as usual, she pinched her thigh and slapped her own cheek to fight off the overwhelming drowsiness.
At first, the fatigue subsided, but that lasted less than five minutes.
"Wow... it really just watches TV all day long."
The blue flame was still in the same posture as during the day, just watching television.
The programs it watched were all calm, with nothing dynamic whatsoever.
If there was no food content, it wouldn't even watch at all.
"True to the records, it really doesn't sleep. Doesn't it get restless?"
Eight full hours.
It hadn't gotten up from that sofa for that entire time.
Assuming it never moved, it could be like that for 24 hours straight.
With a half-joking thought that maybe it was sleeping with the TV on, she zoomed in on the CCTV.
"Its posture has shifted a bit. But it's not a sleeping posture."
Since it had no concept of sleep, it must just stay in that position.
Ah, maybe it was that type?
Among fish, there are species that sleep while swimming.
Sharks and tuna are prime examples.
Perhaps the blue flame was like that.
It kept watching TV, but mentally it was asleep.
It sounded plausible enough. Though just a guess, it wouldn't hurt to record it.
Click. Clack-click.
Only the quiet sound of the keyboard echoed in the silent management room.
Tick-tock.
In the facility silent late at night, even the sound of the clock's second hand functioned as noise.
After finishing her notes, Seo Young-eun suddenly arrived at one curious hypothesis.
'Why does something that isn't human pretend to be human so much?'
A question she'd raised countless times but never found a precise answer for, always setting it aside.
Lee Da-eun's words from earlier came to mind.
- Honestly, I don't understand why it keeps asking for food when it can't even eat.
The way it insisted on food even knowing it couldn't eat.
It seemed like it wanted to be human.
And the programs it watched were all about introducing people's daily lives.
Suddenly, unexpected connections formed.
Object Heads believe they are human before they realize they are anomalies.
Usually, that would lead to a longing for humans or viewing them as role models to emulate.
But with the blue flame, no such human longing or anthropocentrism was found.
Rather, when treated exactly like a human, it felt great joy.
'Object Heads appeared to have body structures imitating humans. But what if this isn't actually imitation?'
What if it was originally human, believed itself to be human, and wanted to be human.
Its great interest in human life and its actions to become equal to them.
From our perspective, it may seem like bizarre behavior.
But from a human perspective, they weren't bizarre actions.
Just a human whose actions and common sense were a bit clumsy.
"What if Object Heads fundamentally were once human?"
She turned back to the CCTV.
The blue flame was gone.
Thud.
She jumped up, pushing her chair back into the steel desk behind her.
Her heart dropped in that instant. Seo Young-eun urgently drew her emergency pistol.
But this heavy pistol looked pitifully inadequate today.
"Dammit, an anomaly that tore through a whole squad bare-handed... how am I supposed to stop it?"
Where did it go? The CCTV should have been angled to show the entire containment room.
Psssssh-
The sound of the decompression door opening.
She couldn't even let out a breath.
Forcing down her survival instinct, she shifted her gaze toward the stairs to the containment room.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
It was coming up.
The anomaly had opened the door itself and was coming up here.
A faint blue light spilled into the management room.
Click.
She loaded the gun and aimed at the entrance.
Shoot.
She would shoot.
The moment she saw it, she would shoot.
Otherwise, that thing would kill her.
Krrrrrrsh-
A tearing noise blasted from the management room speakers.
Startled, her gaze wavered from the stairs for an instant.
Tap.
Something cool gently covered her gun.
"Ah..."
Her breath caught.
She hadn't even perceived it.
There was considerable distance between the stairs and the desk.
And it had closed that distance in the blink of an eye?
She would die.
She was really going to die...!
"Krrr— Res──t."
A poor-quality voice flowed from the speaker.
It was a grotesque, dreadful crackling sound, but the action that followed completely shattered Seo Young-eun's common sense.
"Rest? What rest...?"
Lightly, it took the gun from her and pushed it to the corner of the desk.
"Krrr— Contami──nation. Deep."
Mental contamination.
Right. All the negative thoughts she was experiencing were due to the waves it emitted.
The blue flame hadn't killed her.
Rather, it had perfectly seen through her condition.
"W-Wait a moment. Why did you come out? Don't come out without permission."
Despite Seo Young-eun's urgent protest, the blue flame unhesitatingly left the management room and walked down the hallway.
"You, it's problematic for you to come out. Even if it's permitted, an anomaly leaving its containment room as if going for a walk...!"
Pale-faced, Seo Young-eun chased after it and gasped.
A small break room at the end of the corridor.
The blue flame stood in front of a vending machine, calmly pressing a button.
"What, what are you doing?"
A cold can of coffee was thrust toward Seo Young-eun.
Taking the can of coffee in a daze, her pupils trembled finely.
"For, for me to drink?"
Without any answer, it leisurely returned to the containment room.
Dragging herself back, Seo Young-eun watched through the CCTV as the blue flame sat down on the sofa in the containment room with its own feet.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
A bead of condensation from the coffee can in her hand dropped to the floor with a plop.
"Receiving... consideration from an anomaly? No, this isn't consideration."
A chill ran down her spine.
This was thorough deception and ostentation.
It could break down this door and leave anytime.
It could kill every human in the facility if it wanted to.
It even saw through the physiological weaknesses of the humans monitoring it through CCTV.
Like throwing a hamster a running wheel, it was actually monitoring the humans instead.
This was the blue flame's arrogant consideration——
—That's what she wanted to believe.
But common sense was crumbling.
Anomalies were arrogant predators that observed humans, learned from them, and sought to dominate them from above.
"...I don't even drink this coffee."
Looking down at the coffee in her trembling hands, Seo Young-eun let out a self-mocking, bitter laugh.
Kang Tae-jun's assessment came to mind.
An anomaly more human than humans.
If it had been any other anomaly, she would have interpreted such an action as controlling and mocking human emotions.
But the blue flame's track record so far flatly denied the universal evaluation of anomalies.
"...This is way too complicated."
The anomalies she knew weren't like this.
The one that tore off her colleague's head and ate it.
The one that crushed her admired senior alive into a lump of flesh.
The junior who was toyed with by an anomaly until they shot themselves in the head.
A researcher who once encouraged in-office dating was now trapped in a containment room because of possession.
That series of horrors was what drove her hatred of anomalies.
But this anomaly before her.
An existence that controlled and manipulated humans not through force, but through reason.
"I... wasn't taught this way."
Anomalies are enemies of humanity.
To save humanity, these things must be thoroughly dissected and controlled.
But.
The grotesque mercy extended by an overwhelming predator.
How was she supposed to respond to something like this?
That wasn't written anywhere in the manual.
