Chapter 181
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Human-Faced
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"No, that owl's eyes just..."
The man, Bae Si-woo (32), pointed to the cage behind them.
No Woo-chan (32), who was with him, checked it out and saw an ordinary Eurasian eagle-owl staring right at them.
"Owls do look creepy at night, huh?"
"It's not that—the owl's eyes looked just like human eyes!"
"Alright, alright, just cut the lock already."
As Bae Si-woo grumbled and sawed through the padlock, No Woo-chan shared some trivia about owls.
"You know, owls have always given humans this aura of mystery and fear since ancient times? That's why they're called beasts of wisdom, messengers of Athena, owls of Minerva, birds that prophesy the future—and also death, harbingers of curses, birds that appear when kings or important figures are about to die."
Here we go again.
Bae Si-woo let No Woo-chan's usual know-it-all spiel go in one ear and out the other.
"Probably because they move so actively at night, it seems like they know everything. Plus, the edges of their flight feathers are serrated, which absorbs sound so you don't hear a thing until they're right on you. That might be why they evoke 'death comes silently' and became omens of death."
"All cut. You done talking?"
"Yeah, let's head in!"
Just as the two stepped into the enclosure.
"What."
"Huh."
"Didn't someone just call me?"
"I didn't call you."
The two turned their heads toward the voice.
Inside the eagle-owl enclosure, perched on a branch, yellow eyes stared them down.
"Eek!"
A Eurasian eagle-owl with a blank human face spoke human words.
The two freaked out and bolted without looking back.
No Woo-chan, trying to turn and run, tripped over his own feet and pitched forward.
He 'accidentally' fell right into a flower bed, smashing his head on the edge, and rolled across the ground.
"..."
"Hey! You okay!?"
They shook his shoulders, but no response. Hand to his nose—no breath.
Shocked, Bae Si-woo left him and sprinted desperately toward the capybara enclosure where the others were.
"Huh? Why are you coming back here... What? Something happen?"
"Huff, huff! Human-face! Human-faced owl! Human-face!"
Three members at the capybara enclosure patted his shoulders to calm him. After a few minutes, once Bae Si-woo caught his breath, he explained. They looked dumbfounded or urgent, scolding him.
"Human-faced owl? You been drinking? Or popping pills?"
"Hey! How could you just leave him like that! You should've done CPR at least!"
"Shouldn't we call 119?"
When one of the three mentioned 119, the others shook their heads.
"If 119 shows up now, we're totally screwed! Hurry, let's get to No Woo-chan!"
"Hey! Where? Lead the way!"
"Th-that way!"
Bae Si-woo, who had started leading them out of the enclosure, froze.
"What are you all doing? Come on!"
"Yeah, we gotta go. We do, but..."
"Then why are you sitting there?"
The three were already crouched down, surrounded by capybaras clustering around them. They stroked the capybaras gently, smiling blissfully.
"Why are capybaras so cute?"
"They're just so kind and docile."
"They don't resist at all—true symbols of peace. How could anyone keep such sweet, cute, gentle creatures cooped up in a tiny space like this?"
Just seconds ago, these same guys had been nagging to hurry up. Now they were sitting there petting animals.
An indescribable creepiness kept Bae Si-woo from approaching; he slowly backed away.
"Why do we arbitrarily cage up these adorable creatures, shave them, and breed them?"
"We force them to live in spaces smaller than 100 pyeong, totally dependent on humans."
"Lives as playthings for another species, gawked at by countless humans until they die!"
Their hands stopped stroking the capybaras.
Then they gripped the tools—bolt cutters, nippers, pruning shears—they'd used to break the locks, and wailed.
"We must atone."
"For all the animals we've killed."
"For the tragedies born of our selfishness."
Blood sprayed in fountains.
The human-faced capybaras looked up, catching the rain of blood with their signature serene expressions.
It was like clocking out after work and taking a peaceful hot shower.
"Eek!"
Bae Si-woo bolted again in terror.
He raced through the zoo looking for others, but screams echoing from all directions made it impossible to think straight.
Human-faced zebras mocked the humans.
One member drooled like an idiot, blankly fixated on their stripes.
Human-faced giraffes licked two members wildly.
The more they licked, the more wrinkles etched into the members' faces; already aged and frail, they couldn't escape and kept getting licked.
"Ukk! Ukkiik!"
A chimpanzee with a human face.
The member had a chimp face instead and rampaged like one, but lacking chimp strength, he fell climbing a lamppost, snapping his neck.
Human-faced penguins nagged an intruder to play.
The member fled the enclosure in panic from the human-faced penguins, only to return as if for the first time, freak out again, and repeat endlessly.
Like time looping infinitely.
But each loop left him more gaunt, until he crawled the ground emaciated, on the verge of starvation.
'This is a dream.'
Bae Si-woo, fleeing while witnessing it all, pinched his cheek.
'Has to be a dream.'
A sharp sting.
Unwilling to believe, he bit his tongue.
'It has to be a dream!'
Intenser pain.
He wanted out of the zoo, but a flock of crows terrified him there. Instead, he smashed the warehouse lock and hid inside.
Terrified his breathing might leak, he clamped his mouth with both hands.
He still wanted it all to be a dream, but the moisture and foul saliva smell on his hands yanked him back to reality.
This can't be happening.
Beasts with human faces.
Using freakish powers like psychics.
Startled, Bae Si-woo looked up. At the window, a human-faced eagle-owl gazed down blankly—nobody knew when it arrived.
When the hell?
Oh, right, Woo-chan said something—the serrated feathers make no sound.
I want to live.
I have to survive.
Survival instinct surging, Bae Si-woo grabbed whatever was nearby on reflex.
What he grabbed: a pitchfork for moving elephant hay.
"Die, you monster bird freak!"
He swung it.
But 'accidentally,' the tines snagged an oil heater cartridge. The heater fell as he lost balance and staggered.
"!?"
'Accidentally' staggering, his swing hit a shelf. It shook violently; a nail gun fell, 'accidentally' safety busted on impact, 'accidentally' triggering it to fire nails wildly.
"Aaagh!"
One 'accidentally' fired nail 'perfectly' pierced Bae Si-woo's knee cartilage. Another shattered the ceiling light.
The last 'accidentally' fired nail punctured the fallen oil heater's fuel tank; spilled oil soaked the floor.
'O-Oil...!'
It said incineration, right?
Am I gonna burn?
Bae Si-woo desperately crawled toward the door.
Meanwhile, the tottering shelf fully collapsed, 'accidentally' catching another pitchfork that swung and 'accidentally' yanked a power cord. The cord-end bolt flew, 'accidentally' hitting the light switch.
Zzzt-!
The broken bulb's filament lit up.
Sparks flew; embers hit the oil, illuminating the warehouse in flames.
"Aaaaagh!"
The last survivor's—last fatality's—scream shattered the zoo's silence.
[Next up: Last night, 13 members of an animal rights group were found dead after illegally trespassing into a Seoul zoo.]
Two fried eggs.
One bowl of rice.
Two spoons soy sauce, one spoon sesame oil.
[No wounds from animals found. Police leaning toward homicide weapons, pre-existing conditions, or accidents.]
Whipping up a light breakfast, I enjoyed the news.
[Meanwhile, last May they released 127 Hanwoo cattle from a farm in Hoengseong. Suspected internal conflict during a similar attempt this time...]
After eating, doing dishes, I pondered.
'Probability of a whole group dying simultaneously from weapons, illnesses, accidents?'
It could happen.
No matter how slim, if it's not 0%, it can always occur.
'The Foundation didn't censor it, so that "accident" must've been one of those rare probabilities.'
Normally I'd think that, but the Foundation's still paralyzed from the last incident.
Maybe not coincidence.
Ding-dong-!
"Yes, coming right out."
Early morning guest.
Opening the door, the visitor was anything but ordinary.
"You're the external special consultant?"
At least 2.3 meters tall.
Shoulders so broad a single-person hallway would be a squeeze.
Bodybuilder physique, chiseled, fierce face and eyes.
"Yes, Lee Seung-hoon."
The giant grinned at me.
All implants? Stainless steel galore.
"Nice to meet you. Temporary head of the Foundation's Korean branch, Lee Ha-yul."
"Good name."
He offered a handshake.
Impressive tattoo on his forearm: "For Humanity".
"Came to give you one warning."
"What is it?"
I shook.
He gripped hard with one hand.
"Stay out of this zoo incident. We'll handle it."
"Got it."
"And one more thing."
Strong grip.
Matching my unenhanced body—sans dried friendship.
"Gonna assign one of ours to you."
"Why's that?"
Dong-wook already explained, but.
"We classify you as a potential Extinction-grade entity."
Didn't expect him to say it to my face.