Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Experiment Subject Record (3)
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Three years ago. A third-year liberal arts high school classroom in Seoul.
The classroom right after lunch was filled with lazy sunlight and the chatter of students.
At the center of that group was nineteen-year-old Lee Chai.
She had the power to brighten the air around her.
Her white skin and red lips, along with the crescent-moon smile in her eyes whenever she laughed, made even onlookers smile.
She was dressed neatly in her school uniform, but she couldn't hide the vibrant energy radiating from her.
Surrounded by friends, gossiping about celebrities and trivial matters, she embodied the most radiant youth of all.
"Hey, did you hear? That new idol who just debuted is caught up in a school bullying scandal."
"For real? She looks so sweet though. It's not just a rumor, right?"
"It's real, I swear! My friend's cousin's sister went to the same school..."
The kids burst into laughter at their friend's exaggerated boasting.
Chai propped her chin on her hand, staring blankly at her friend before flashing a mischievous smile.
"Come on, cut it out. Even lies have their limits."
"No, it's true!"
"Keep flapping your mouth like that, and it'll tear right off."
Chai laughed playfully, pointing at her friend.
It was just the usual banter among high school girls.
"Watch out, or your mouth really will tear?"
That was the moment.
A hot lump surged up from deep in Chai's throat.
It felt alien, like a fireball was lodged in her esophagus.
Her vocal cords vibrated wildly on their own, creating an invisible wave.
A faint vibrational hum sliced through the air, like it was being torn apart.
Swoosh.
"Huh...?"
Her friend's bragging cut off abruptly.
The friend touched her mouth in a daze, only to find fresh red blood on her palm.
"Kyaaah!!"
The scream didn't come from her friend first—it erupted from the kids nearby.
Her friend's mouth corner had torn about a centimeter.
Red blood dripped down, staining the desk.
"Wha...? Wha...?"
Chai covered her mouth with trembling hands.
Me...? Did I do that?
It was just a joke. Empty words.
She could hardly accept that words from her own mouth had turned into a blade and wounded her friend.
The classroom descended into chaos in an instant.
The kids' terrified gazes pierced Chai like arrows—eyes that saw a monster.
That day, Lee Chai's ordinary life ended.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The moment an awakener was officially determined, international law prohibited them from holding any ordinary job.
Unregistered awakeners who couldn't control their powers were treated like ticking time bombs, and only those registered with the association—hunters—could participate in society.
Even that was limited to the hunter industry.
Chai had done it all: hauling dungeon byproducts as a porter, cleaning guild offices, carrying potion crates.
That was the extent of what an E-rank like her could manage.
Three years later, Chai was sorting receipts in the office of a small guild in Seoul.
Her worn uniform hung loosely on her frame, and her hands were covered in calluses.
The eyes that once sparkled with light had dulled to a murky haze.
"Hey, Lee Chai! What're you doing? Not refilling the coffee?"
"Sorry! Coming right now!"
She bolted to the pantry in a fluster.
On the wall-mounted TV in the office, footage of S-rank hunters making headlines played nonstop.
Glorious skills, cheering crowds, astronomical salaries.
Chai stirred her instant coffee, staring blankly at them.
'I'm an awakener too.'
Why was she stuck sorting the pantry when they were the same kind of awakeners?
She had a special power too.
Why couldn't she be the protagonist?
Her hand trembled as it held the coffee cup.
Envy turned to jealousy, and jealousy festered into self-loathing.
Why E-rank of all things?
Why this cursed power?
She resented the world.
On the surface, she smiled sweetly and catered to her seniors, but inside, she was rotting black.
It was one such day.
Bang!
The office door flew open violently, and a rough-looking man stormed in.
He was a B-rank hunter from the guild.
Without a word, he marched to Chai's desk and hurled a stack of papers at her face.
She'd been calculating distributions on her calculator when a minor error had apparently set him off.
"Hey! You crazy bitch!"
Papers fluttered everywhere, and a sharp edge scraped her cheek.
Blood beaded from the paper cut.
"You got a lazy eye or something? Trying to skim my pay on purpose?"
"S-sorry. I'll recalculate it."
"Bullshit. Why's my cut so short? You pocketing it?"
The hunter kicked her desk and jabbed a finger at her.
"This is why you worthless E-rank trash are useless. Dumb as rocks, no talent. What can you even do? Haul junk till you drop dead— and you dare touch my money?"
Every eye in the office turned to Chai.
Pitying looks. Mocking sneers.
Those gazes stabbed into her like arrows.
"S-sorry. I'll double-check."
"Sorry gonna fix it? Do your damn job!"
After the hunter stormed out, Chai fled to the bathroom and locked the door.
She sat on the toilet, clamping her mouth shut as she sobbed.
Her reflection in the mirror looked utterly pathetic.
Bloodied cheek, disheveled hair, cheap uniform.
'It's not fair.'
Bzzz.
That was when it happened.
Her smartphone vibrated in her pocket.
A single message had arrived.
[Don't you feel wronged?]
Mesmerized, Chai opened it.
[Don't you feel wronged? You're no mere E-rank vessel. We'll unlock your true potential. A chance to be reborn as S-rank. You're invited to the Re-awakening Project.]
Normally, she'd dismiss it as spam.
But to her mentality, already crashed to rock bottom, it was temptation enough—sweet as honey.
S-rank.
A chance to stand equal with those lucky bastards.
No—to trample them underfoot.
Chai's eyes wavered.
Reason lost, she replied as if entranced.
[I'll do it. Anything.]
Unaware it was a one-way ticket to hell.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Late at night. The appointed back alley was pitch dark.
A dank place untouched even by streetlights.
Chai stood trembling under her umbrella.
Cold rain soaked her shoulders.
'Did I make the wrong choice?'
Late regret flooded in.
Scary. She wanted to go home.
Her instincts screamed that something was wrong.
'N-no, let's not go.'
Just as she started backing away,
Screeech.
A black van slid up silently, blocking her path.
The doors flew open, and men in black masks leaped out.
"N-no, I changed my mind! I won't do it!"
Chai instinctively tried to flee.
"Where do you think you're going?"
A hand shot out from the darkness, yanking her by the hair.
"Kyaaak!"
No time even to scream.
A black sack was thrown over her head, blotting out her vision.
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
"Quiet. You walked right into this."
A sharp sting pierced her nape.
She felt something cold from the needle injecting into her as her vision blurred.
Her body grew heavy, like a waterlogged sponge.
"Subject secured. Transporting to the lab."
The last thing she saw was rain-slicked asphalt and the men's indifferent eyes as they tossed her into the van like luggage.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ When her eyes opened, she faced an unfamiliar ceiling.
A rundown room reeking like an abandoned building.
A nauseating stench of mold hung in the air.
Chai tried to sit up, but her hands and feet were bound.
Clank.
"Awake, I see."
The door opened, and researchers in white coats barged in.
They seized her arm and dragged her out without a word.
"Wh-where is this? Let me go! I wanna go home!"
Chai thrashed and screamed, but her resistance was futile.
They hauled her down the hall like an animal.
Moans from people locked behind iron bars echoed beyond.
They arrived at a dank laboratory.
They strapped her to a cold operating table with leather restraints on her limbs.
Cold steel table fitted with machines and restraints.
The acrid smell of blood and disinfectant assaulted her nose.
"Prepare."
At the researcher's order, assistants bound her head to the table.
The leather dug into her flesh, tightening viciously.
"W-wait! Please, spare me! I was wrong!"
The researchers ignored her screams entirely.
They went about their work like slaughterhouse butchers.
One researcher shone a light on her face and sneered.
"Won't do it? You walked in on your own two feet, and now you whine?"
"P-please, spare me..."
"Don't worry. We won't kill you. You're valuable material."
The researcher gagged her mouth.
Then he picked up a thick syringe.
Purple fluorescent liquid glistened inside.
Only muffled whimpers echoed emptily.
"Relax."
The needle pierced precisely near her vocal cords.
"Mmmphuuugh!!!!"
It was like a red-hot iron poker shoved down her throat.
With each injection, her vocal cords burned away, her whole body convulsing.
Her eyes rolled back, foam dripping from her mouth.
"Vitals look good. Keep injecting."
"Subject 404. Initiating primary compatibility test."
Slice.
The scalpel parted her throat skin.
The raw agony of flesh tearing made her eyes roll back.
She wanted to scream, but with her vocal cords exposed, not even a sound escaped.
"Guhh... krrgh...!"
Tears streamed down, soaking her ears and the table.
She begged to faint, but they kept her conscious with recovery potions.
That time was living hell.
After that day, Chai's routine simplified.
She woke in a filthy solitary cell.
A windowless space barely a square yard.
Just a rickety bed and a wall-mounted TV.
Meals were nutrient gruel like dog food.
Once a day, researchers came and dragged her off.
Eat, endure experiments, pass out, wake, watch TV.
An endless cycle of hell.
Her vocal cords were torn and stitched countless times.
Eventually, no proper voice came out—just a wheezing metallic rasp.
Weeks turned to months. The name Lee Chai faded.
She grew accustomed to how they called her.
"404, move."
Number instead of name. Experiment subject instead of human.
She stopped resisting. Stopped crying.
She went blankly, lay on the table, endured the pain, and returned to her cell.
Only a soulless husk remained.
Her sole comfort was the TV on the wall.
The channel was fixed.
News flashes and hunter channels all day long.
[S-rank Hunter Founds Massive Guild!]
[Citizens' Heroes: Their Glorious Lives!]
Hunters bathed in glory. Adoring crowds. Wealth and fame.
It was everything Chai had ever craved.
"We'll make you like that too."
"Just endure a little longer. You're special."
The researchers whispered in her ear during the torture-like experiments.
It was indoctrination.
Devilish whispers justifying the pain and warping reality.
At first, she resisted.
But as the agony repeated, she clung to those words.
Yes. Endure this, and I'll become like them. I'll be the protagonist.
One night.
Thrown back into her cell after an experiment, Chai huddled in the corner.
Blood seeped through the bandages around her neck.
Static. Crackle.
On the worn TV screen, an S-rank hunter in a glamorous dress gave an interview.
Not content with being Korea's first re-awakener, she'd even blossomed into S-rank.
Everyone admired and praised her dramatic tale.
A world dazzlingly different from hers.
Moments later, the screen showed her management CEO.
Mesmerized, she reached out and caressed the cold CRT tube.
Her pain-ravaged brain was breaking.
What was reality?
That version of her basking in cheers?
Or herself, trapped in endless experiments?
The boundaries between reality and illusion crumbled in the infinite loop.
Chai's eyes were vacant.
Her body was skeletal, skin and bones.
Her hair was patchy, her skin ashen gray.
But she was smiling.
A grotesque smile, drool trickling from her mouth.
"Me too..."
A cracked voice leaked out, metallic from ruined vocal cords.
"Me too... if only she'd chosen me."
A tragic mutter blending desire and despair.
In the darkness, she hugged her knees, muttering madly under the TV's glow.
"Han Siwoo..."
That name alone was the thread holding her together.