A Contract with the Devil
That insane woman!
Ah... the more I thought about it, the more my blood boiled. A Main factor? Hah! It felt like someone had dumped filth all over a flower I'd raised with painstaking care. And the culprit was standing right in front of me.
What made it even more horrifying was that a hero's Gift was still uncharted territory. What if — even by the slimmest, most vanishing chance — Baekho's Gift had been lost because of that Main factor? All that infinite potential. That brilliant future. It had come within a hair's breadth of being snuffed out in an instant.
So how was I supposed to deal with this vicious woman who had just turned my guts to ice?
A thin wire unspooled from the middle finger I'd shoved into Seo Aegyo's mouth.
"Ghk! Nnh! Uegh—!"
She gagged and retched around the foreign object churning inside her mouth. It didn't matter. The tip of the wire slid down her throat, bulging visibly against the skin of her neck.
"A collaboration requires that both parties be of equal standing. But your competence is complete nonsense!!"
I seized a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back. Tears beaded at the corners of her eyes as she stared up at me.
"Science is a thing that must always advance! And yet you committed the atrocity of devolving Homo sapiens back into Homo erectus! Ooooh! My frontal lobe is vibrating at this utterly unforgivable act of barbarism! Kyaoooooh!!"
I twisted the finger in her mouth from side to side and shook her head with it.
"You reduced the sacred ideals of this body to the level of a mere beast!!"
The instant the wire kissed the wall of her stomach—
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!
"Nnnnnnnngh!!"
Seo Aegyo's eyes rolled back and her whole body convulsed. This wasn't surface pain. This was her insides cooking. She would regret this down to the marrow of her bones. A sour wisp of smoke curled from the corner of her mouth.
By now, any normal person would be begging for their life. They'd be on their knees, apologizing, swearing they'd never do it again.
And yet...
"Heh... heheh... MadThath-nim..."
Her supple tongue coiled around my finger — and then she shoved it deeper herself!
"Iheh... MadThath-nim's shuper-shience... more... more...! More!! I want to take MadThath-nim with my whole body! Hurry, hurry! Give me more! Soak every lasht cell with MadThath-nim!!"
Hiiiek!
A shiver raked down my spine. I yanked my finger out in horror. Her stomach had just been fried. She shouldn't have had the strength to move. And yet this lunatic crawled across the floor, dragged herself over, and clung to my leg.
"MadSat... haaah! This incompetent disciple has ruined your precious masterpiece! Nngh! So please... nnh, punish me more! With your technology...! Disassemble me down to the cellular level and fill me with your science!!"
Fuck...
This woman was the real deal. Unlike me, an actual raving mad scientist was right here in front of my face!
Ghhk! In that case, I absolutely could not let her live.
But... the justification was shaky. No matter how thoroughly I combed through her research records, there wasn't a single trace of human experimentation. Had she covered her tracks that cleverly?
I grabbed Seo Aegyo by the scruff of the neck and hoisted her into the air. Her feet kicked uselessly at nothing.
"Hhk... c-can't... breathe..."
I gave her left shoulder a light tap with the orb of the Protocol Cane.
ZZZT!
The instant the Nanocore infiltrated, Seo Aegyo's left arm dropped clean off and rolled across the floor. A perfect cross-section. And not a single drop of blood. A film of microscopic electronic circuitry sealed the severed face. The arm, now fully detached from her body, twitched and crawled across the floor in response to her brainwave signals.
Surely this would snap her back to her senses?
"Hiyohhohot! MadSat's Quiz Show! Show! Show! I ask the questions... and you... provide the answers! Reply honestly, and perhaps that runaway arm of yours will find its way safely home!"
Her pupils were shuddering violently. Yes — of course she couldn't possibly be lucid in a situation like this!!
"Now then! How many test subjects in total have been sacrificed to your garbage experiments thus far?"
I loosened my grip on her throat just enough for her to speak. She dragged in a ragged breath and forced the words out in a trembling voice.
"...Do I really have to say? Nnh... it's embarrassing."
She still hadn't come to her senses.
"Bzzzt! Bzzzt!! That is not the answer I wanted!"
I gave her right shoulder a casual tap with the Protocol Cane as well.
"Snip!"
ZZZT!
"Kyaaaaah!!"
Both arms were now crawling around on the floor. A truly bizarre spectacle.
Hmph! Did she really think she could keep her mouth shut and endure this? Confess already, you mad scientist!!
Seo Aegyo's eyes welled up. She turned her flushed face away.
"Th-that's... one person."
Huh? What did she just say?
"Did you just say one?"
Was she trying to lie again...? I started to raise the Protocol Cane — and Alpha's report came through.
Heart rate, facial musculature, and vocal pattern analysis complete.
Result: TRUE
Huh...?
For a second I went dizzy, as if someone had clubbed me across the back of the skull.
"That one person... it isn't Baekho, is it?"
Seo Aegyo wailed through her tears.
"I wanted to dissect human bodies too... heroes, as much as I wanted, just like you! But... but!!"
But?
"If I got caught doing human experiments I'd get fired from the institute! Hic! And then I wouldn't be able to do any research at all!!"
...
What? That reasonable, ethical, and scrupulously law-abiding reason?
"Then what on earth is Baekho supposed to be? Your story doesn't add up!"
"That's... I wanted to show Master MadSat my research results, so... before I knew it... I had a little lapse..."
I was struck speechless. What even was this? Her ego and her instincts had collided, and the cold reality of the situation had won. Research funding, legal constraints — if those things meant she couldn't experiment at all, that was the greater loss. That was the conclusion she had reached?
This woman... was she sane, or wasn't she?
Seo Aegyo's tongue flicked across her lips.
"More importantly — the humerus, the brachial plexus, the biceps, the triceps, the brachial artery, the axillary artery! All of it was severed completely clean, so how am I still able to control the arm by my own will?!"
She shoved her face into my hand and started choking herself with it.
"Nnh! What do I do? I'm going genuinely insane! Haaah... haah... so please... punish this helpless follower more! You can cut the legs off too, I don't mind! Just once more... let me taste this rapturous sensation!!"
It felt as though some nature that had been bottled up inside her was erupting now that I existed. This was starting to feel like I was the one who'd poked something I shouldn't have!!
I gave both of her legs a casual tap with the Protocol Cane.
ZZZT!
Seo Aegyo's torso, now stripped of all four limbs, began to tip over. I quickly caught her by the collar and held her up.
"Haaahng! Master MadSat! You're so rough!!"
Haaah... I was getting tired.
Her profile said she was a Harvard graduate. Did all geniuses come with this kind of freak streak as standard?
Seo Aegyo's hands flopped and fluttered on the floor. The legs thrashed for a while too before finally collapsing.
"This is... nngh... the sensation is so strange... nnnnh..."
Stop moaning while you wriggle your fingers! Anyone walking in would think I was the pervert doing something unspeakable!!
"I think I might be starting to understand the principle..."
Hm? What would you understand...?
Wait. Holy shit.
Her left arm drifted up off the floor. A superconductor-based magnetic field interface. The fundamental principle of magnetic levitation — the Meissner effect. But of course that alone wouldn't allow for precision control, which was why I'd added a gyroscope-based stabilization system. And even then, Alpha had to provide real-time computational support for it to move freely...
This woman... she was controlling it with mental arithmetic alone?
"Kishishishiit! Not bad, Little Genius."
I swept the Protocol Cane through the air and reassembled her body.
Clunk!
"I was thoroughly displeased that you damaged my masterpiece. That said, an FPGA-class computational brain is very much to my liking. I'd almost like to extract the cerebrum and run a few experiments on it!"
That's what I said out loud. ...But the thrill had gone out of it. I'd also lost any justification for disposing of her. It would be more efficient to leave her caged inside the social framework of the research institute, contributing to the Association.
"However! A fruit is only delicious once it has ripened! Kishishishiit!"
I spun on my heel, white coat flaring.
"Should you ever lay a hand on this body's work again..."
I glanced back over my shoulder and gave her a look that promised something terrible.
"Events of a thrill beyond your wildest imagination shall unfold. Do keep that in mind! Kihihihihihihihit!!"
I was just about to make my cool exit when Seo Aegyo lunged and caught the hem of my coat.
"Wait!!"
She dropped to her knees, tears streaming, and begged.
"Please, take me with you!"
Ha? Had I lost my mind? Take the collar off a rabid dog and let it run free?
"If I stay here, the social oppression of lawfulness and ethics will crush me, and my frontal lobe will atrophy! My brain will lose its synaptic stimulation and I'll die a slow death as a scientist!"
No, you lunatic. Did she think coming to the Super-science Dungeon meant she could run human experiments to her heart's content? I, for the record, ethically obtained the consent of the parties involved... occasionally skipped the paperwork due to emergencies, sure. But I was a model citizen!! Which meant I was absolutely not taking this deranged woman with me!!
"No, no, no thank you! This Super Genius MadSat has no need for the likes of an assistant! I am the doctor, the assistant, and the pioneer of civilization! There is simply no reason I would require your cooperation! Kishishishishishiit!!"
Seo Aegyo's eyes darted back and forth. She could spin those gears in her head all she wanted — my decision was not going to change.
I turned my back on her and was genuinely about to leave when—
"Baekho!"
The name of the core component that would save the world stopped me in my tracks.
"I... I'm Baekho's attending physician. If you want, I can provide that child's biometric data anytime."
That... was tempting.
I turned back to look at Seo Aegyo. Circumstances being what they were, I'd ended up stuck with a Main's identity, which made contacting Baekho directly rather difficult. If I used her as a go-between to quietly carry out various modification procedures... that wasn't a bad arrangement. Given how close Baekho and Seo Aegyo were, he'd probably agree to the modifications without a fuss. I would handle the actual procedures myself, of course.
"Ksssss... proposing a deal to this MadSat. As I mentioned earlier — you've got quite the nerve."
I extended a fist toward her and slowly opened my hand. A gear-shaped keyring sat in my palm.
"I like it, Little Genius."
"...What is this?"
"Kihihit! Why hide it! This is none other than the secret access pass to the Super-science Dungeon — the very thing the entire world salivates over and searches for in vain! Hiyohhohohot! Congratulations on beating odds of one in eight billion! Miss Aegyo."
Seo Aegyo's hands trembled as she accepted the keyring.
"I'm... Master MadSat's assistant..."
Oof. Whether it was the tears or something else, her eyes were sparkling even brighter.
If you receive something, you should give something back — that way nobody feels awkward. I was already conducting research on hero Gifts anyway. If she dissected Hwaminam for me while I was away, it would save a considerable amount of time.
"That's right! Super! Consider it an honor to become the assistant of this genius body! Kihihihihihihihit!!"
The strength went out of Seo Aegyo's legs and she crumpled to the floor.
Thud!
No, what the fuck?! What was that? Did she just piss herself? The floor was getting wet.
"Haaah... haah... I... I get to experiment with Master MadSat... nnh... the adrenaline won't stop..."
She gazed up at me, her face rapturous.
"Nnnngh... Master MadSat... I'll offer up my cerebrum and show you the greatest results..."
No. No. Do not offer up your cerebrum. I was not a fan of the grotesque, thank you very much?
Hooo...
This felt disturbingly like signing a contract with the devil.
Ugh! I couldn't do this. Time to run. Besides, reinforcements from the Hero Association were due to arrive any minute now.