Something Like a Fairy Tale
How many years had it been since I arrived here?
I stopped counting after the third year, so I couldn't say exactly. But I had spent no small amount of time in this place.
Of course I had.
"AAAAAAGH!!"
Even the horrific screams that rang out every day had become so familiar that, at some point, they simply settled into the fabric of ordinary life. You could say I'd grown thick-skinned in this place.
"CH-1015. Come out."
Every day here was the same. On days when I wasn't "on duty," I listened to someone else's screams. On days when I was, I became the one screaming.
Put simply, inside this vast prison of a laboratory, all we had to do was wait to be consumed by them to the very end.
"There we go. It'll hurt a little, but you can take it, right?"
The tone was gentle. The face behind it was pure mania and rapture. As if saying no would make them put the needle down. As if that would ever happen.
"AAAAAAAH!"
I didn't know what was in that syringe, but it was nothing normal. If it were, it wouldn't hurt like this.
The screams, the environment—everything had become familiar. The pain stayed the same, but even that pain eventually reached a stretch where I stopped feeling it. Just like now.
The scream tearing out of my own throat started to sound like someone else's scream from beyond the wall, the same as yesterday. The searing agony flooding through me no longer felt like mine—it felt like it belonged to whoever was on the other side of that door.
After that, it wasn't hard. I just closed my eyes and waited for time to pass. Simple enough.
I was living through those same repeating days when, without any warning, my ending was decided.
"CH-1015, be happy! We've got a really important experiment lined up for you this time."
CH-1015. That was what they called me. I still had a name—Choi A-rin—but no one here ever used it. They probably didn't even know it.
"This will be your last. You'll be the stepping stone for a great birth."
They dressed it up in lofty words, but what they meant was that this experiment would be my last. I wasn't scared anymore. It had been coming for a long time. I'd always known it was only a matter of time.
Maybe something about my situation caught their interest. Two Awakened combat personnel who'd been chatting among themselves off to the side whispered something, then walked over.
"What, so this is her last one too? Poor thing."
"Then shouldn't we at least take her outside for a change of pace? Better condition means a better chance the experiment succeeds, right?"
They framed it as a suggestion, but the way they leaned on the researcher was closer to a threat. For an ordinary researcher, it was clearly an ordeal; he nodded almost at once, as if agreeing.
"Still, if she goes out alone she might run, so I guess we'll have to go with her."
"Right. We don't want a repeat of last time."
At those words, my body flinched before I could stop it.
Let's all escape together.
Sorry… but what choice do I have? The ones who can live have to live.
Words I never wanted to remember rose up like a scene from a movie. We had all been in the same position. We planned the escape together. One betrayal, and everyone died except me.
Save me… You can heal, can't you… Are you listening?! Save me!
In the end, even the one who betrayed us. I squeezed my eyes shut without meaning to.
My reaction must have pleased them. The two of them told me to be ready to go out by lunch, then disappeared down the corridor.
"I know I'm saying this after we already left, but is this okay?"
"Is what okay?"
"There's been a rumor lately that someone's been sweeping through Freedom's bases."
"Dude, it's a rumor. And are we Freedom?"
"Yeah, fair point."
I overheard that exchange from the two of them as we rode in the car. An absurd rumor. Stir up a villain organization and retaliation was guaranteed—who would bother with something that annoying? Especially a major outfit like Freedom. A vigilante group doing work even heroes avoided? Hard to believe.
But if someone like that really existed…
It'd be nice if they smashed this place too.
A hope that would never come true. The place my parents had sold me into wasn't just on Freedom's level—by sheer scale, it might have been even larger. A famous villain organization. And what they did was far more vicious and relentless. What lunatic would pick a fight with them?
I was turning that over in my head when—
"Get out."
The order was for me in the back seat. I opened the door and stepped out of the car. Outside, after so long, was still bright. Still looked peaceful.
Through the window, the man handed me cash and a card, then added,
"Go have fun on your own. Try anything stupid and I'll start killing people around you at random. Don't get any clever ideas."
I hadn't expected anything better. I nodded lightly in answer. He snorted a laugh and drove off.
Those men had just wanted to go out and play; I was the excuse. They had no reason to stick around. And even if I tried to run, a GPS transmitter was implanted in my body—they'd catch me in no time. So the best I could do was take this accidentally granted free time and enjoy it at a leisurely pace.
My stomach growled.
"Food first, I guess."
It had already been four or five years since I'd last touched the outside world.
I figured a hamburger place would be simple enough…
Everyone else tapped the screen and ordered without a second thought. I had no idea how any of it worked. My turn came up fast, and I flailed, trying to copy the person next to me—
"Want a hand if you don't know how?"
A boy about my age, standing right behind me, stepped up and spoke. I nodded, and he worked the screen with easy confidence, explaining the menu as he went. I picked the one that sounded best out of what he described.
After that, getting my food and finding the last open table was easy enough. I was about to start eating when—
"Um."
The same boy who'd helped me order scratched his head and came over. I set down the burger I'd been about to bite into and looked at him. He smiled awkwardly and pointed behind him.
"There's… no seats left. Would it be okay if I sat with you?"
It was peak lunch hour; every table was full, and most of those had people lined up waiting. I still owed him for the help with the order, so I let him sit. He thanked me and took the chair.
His name was Lee Won-chan. He must have been the sociable type—without me asking a single question, he started talking about himself. Even when I only nodded vaguely or answered with a flat "yeah," he kept chattering on as if he were having a great time all by himself.
Maybe it was because I hadn't met anyone from outside in so long, but his noise didn't feel all that bad.
After lunch, one thing led to another and we ended up sticking together. He said he came to this neighborhood often, and under his guidance we wandered around to a handful of places.
At the arcade we arrived at, I just sat there blankly watching him play. I must have looked bored, because he kept pushing me to try. Turning him down forever felt rude, so I gave in and played. It was chaotic once I got into it, but I think I actually enjoyed myself for the first time in a long while.
Time slipped by in a blink. Then it was time to say goodbye to Lee Won-chan.
"Want to go one last place?"
"…Okay."
Time-wise it would be cutting it close, but the ones coming to pick me up probably wouldn't show up exactly on schedule either. One last stop should be fine.
I followed him with that thought. The hill he led me up opened onto a view of the whole small city spread out below, washed in the colors of the evening sunset.
"Nice, right? I come here a lot."
He grinned, showing it off. I nodded. It really was a beautiful view. If this was the last scenery I got to hold in my eyes, that wasn't so bad.
"Thanks for today."
"You're leaving already?"
"Yeah. I have to go now."
"See you next time."
At those words, my body stopped cold. Everyday words for him. Not for me. Tomorrow was probably my last day. I would never hear something like that again.
Maybe that sentimental thought was why, instead of a simple "yeah," something strange slipped out of my mouth.
"Next time… I don't know…"
The words I'd spoken without thinking must have sounded loaded to Lee Won-chan too.
"Is something going on?"
He caught me as I tried to leave and asked.
"Hey… if you don't want to go back, want to run away with me?"
It was such a sweet offer. But I knew. Fairy-tale stories like this didn't happen in real life. There was no prince coming to save me.
I knew that—and I still took his hand.
Led by Lee Won-chan's hand, I climbed into an unmanned taxi. As if he'd prepared in advance, he punched in a destination at once. A glance told me it was a long way from here.
"Let's get far away first, then figure things out slowly."
The smile he gave me had a way of making a person want to trust him.
We'd been driving for a few minutes when the curiosity I'd been holding back got the better of me, and I decided to ask.
"Hey. You."
Maybe he was surprised that I was the one asking him something for the first time. Lee Won-chan's eyes went wide as he looked at me.
"Which organization are you with?"
At the words that followed, his face shifted in an instant. First surprise. Then unease. And then—
"Hey. You."
Coldness.
"How long have you known?"
And in that moment—
Screeeeech!
The unmanned taxi lurched with a strange motion, then—
BOOOOM!
—flipped hard and crashed down in a violent roll.
"Cough! Cough!"
I almost had to thank how carefully it had gone. Inside a vehicle that had tumbled so roughly across the road, I didn't have so much as a scratch. Getting out of the overturned car barely took any effort.
I was pulling my last leg free of the smoke-choked wreck when—
Grab.
Someone's hand locked around my ankle.
"You fucking—! This is all because of you, and you think you're running?!"
"Because of me?"
"Obviously, you bitch! If you're leaving, at least heal me first! That's your power, isn't it?!"
The gentle face from earlier was gone. In its place was something ugly—the kind of human face I knew all too well.
He wouldn't believe me if I told him now, but I had given him a chance. He'd made my last day almost enjoyable. If I'd just walked away back there, he would have tailed me, gotten caught, and been tortured until he spilled everything he knew before he died. That was why I'd forced myself to offer him a choice.
Looks like it was a waste.
I glanced down at him with that thought when—
"Hey. You don't get to put your hands on our princess like that."
A familiar voice came from somewhere. And then—
Slash!
The wrist gripping my ankle sprayed blood as it was severed clean off.
"AAAAAAGH!"
My ankle free, I slowly pulled clear of the vehicle. A moment later—
WHOOOOMPH!
—the smoking car went up in flames with Lee Won-chan still inside.
"Impressive. No thought of running, and you even helped take out the enemy."
It was a mocking line. I didn't answer. I just climbed into the car the man who'd come for me had arrived in.
I knew. The world wasn't a fairy tale. I'd still let myself hope, just a little. And the result was exactly what it always was.
Maybe it was knowing this was my last night. Lights-out came and went and I still couldn't sleep. I ended up sitting through the whole night and meeting the day of the experiment wide awake.
"CH-1015. Ready?"
What was the point of that useless question? Even at the end, the same question kept coming, and it grated on me. What did it matter? All that was left was dying.
If this were a movie, a drama, a fairy tale, a comic—the victims would have banded together to tear the facility down and escape this hell. Or outside help would have come to pull them out.
But this isn't a fairy tale.
Sick of this miserable reality, I was about to close my eyes when—
KRAAAAAASH!
A tremendous roar, and the thick outer wall of the testing room caved in. Through the dust and smoke the collapsing wall threw up, someone walked out with unhurried steps.
Black hair. Deep blue eyes. Looks that drew every gaze in the room at a glance. And an air of ease on top of it. Just the way his eyes alone swept the surroundings was enough to make it feel like the whole place had frozen solid.
I knew. The world wasn't a fairy tale, so there was no such thing as a prince.
But if—just if—
"Hey, you bastard! You said there wouldn't be anyone here! Can't you even give directions straight?! How the hell is every single place we go crawling with people?!"
"…"
At that cheap, crude voice, I hated myself for the scrap of hope I'd just been holding.