Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Experiment
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I conducted the experiment on "Friendship" that Homin-i had left behind.
"Appearance: a deep red apple. Effect upon consumption: enhanced physical abilities."
The first test was to reconfirm just how much those physical abilities had improved.
'The physical boost from the blindfolded girl has increased even further.'
The reason it was a reconfirmation was that I had already instinctively grasped how much stronger I'd become.
'Is this also thanks to the truth?'
Homin-i's truth was the concept of granting knowledge of things one hadn't experienced firsthand, and "Friendship" seemed to do the same, instinctively informing me of its body-enhancing effects.
"Still, better double-check with some actual measurements."
I headed to the garden and placed my hand on a rock planted there for landscaping purposes. Applying force, I lifted it right out of the ground as if it were nothing.
'Strength: capable of lifting over 10 tons.'
I kicked off the ground and dashed across the garden. In the blink of an eye, I'd crossed from one end to the other.
'Speed: at full sprint, able to cover 100 meters in under a second.'
At that speed, I slammed my shoulder into the landscaping rock. What should have shattered my bones into a million pieces was the rock itself.
'Durability: on par with steel.'
Every ability had risen far beyond its previous level. I was no longer in the realm of human.
"A real superhuman."
But I couldn't confidently say this was enough to handle an entity that embodied physical danger.
'Entities often defy the laws of physics.'
Ordinary scissors tearing steel apart, slicing cars in half.
A kitchen knife smashing concrete and severing the rebar inside.
Fingernails ripping people like paper, even shredding tanks.
'All antics pulled off by physically hazardous entities in the game.'
Beyond these, there were countless anomalies where entities violated physical laws, so battling one with my current physical prowess would still be foolish.
"Yet why do I have this feeling that it might actually be possible?"
It was as if the power flowing through me was screaming that boosting physical abilities was just the beginning.
'This part doesn't come instinctively.'
I figured I wouldn't know until I actually faced an entity head-on, so I focused on testing "Friendship"'s other effects.
"Duration: 1 hour."
Once the effect wore off, a slight sense of fatigue followed but vanished quickly—no major side effects.
"Required dosage for activation: 20g or more."
Roughly one chunk of apple, or a big bite.
"You can eat a bite of 'Friendship,' wait for the effect to end, and eat it again—it still activates."
Not limited to once per fruit; purely by weight.
"Even if you induce vomiting to expel it after consumption, the effect still lasts a full hour."
Proof that, upon first ingestion, some scientifically inexplicable component was instantly absorbed into the body, triggering the effect.
"After consuming 'Friendship,' 'Human' flashes by for a very brief moment."
A compressed playback of about 10 to 20 minutes of footage, during which no time passes in reality.
"'Friendship' is unaffected by weakening or strengthening potions."
No derivative entities spawned, no changes occurred.
"Consuming 40g or more, or the whole fruit, doesn't alter the duration."
Similarly, no major difference in 'Human' playback time.
"Let's try cooking it."
Next, I prepared and ate "Friendship" in various ways: jam, cookies, juice, dried fruit. Even mixed into other dishes. All yielded the effect, with no changes observed in potency or duration.
"'Friendship' doesn't rot and can be stored indefinitely."
Left out at room temperature for extended periods, no mold, no spoilage. Fermentation was impossible too, so fruit wine was a bust.
"That's all for solo testing."
For portability and quick consumption, drying it into fruit form was most efficient. As I processed it that way, I also began tests on other people.
[Recruiting participants for vitality experiment: observing bodily changes from genetically modified fruit.]
Vitality experiments were hospital fare; running them elsewhere would normally draw no takers due to lack of trust. But as a fixer, an all-purpose profession that inspired confidence, recruitment was no issue.
"You're a fixer, so of course you can handle a vitality test."
"It's 500,000 won per session—who'd pass that up?"
Maybe it was the power of money.
"Eat this."
"An apple?"
"We'll check how you feel and any physical changes."
I had participants eat chunks of "Friendship."
"Thud!"
"Guh!"
Roughly half the subjects passed out immediately upon consumption. Same reaction as viewing "Human."
"Ugh... feels like I swallowed a dogshit movie..."
"Ah, damn, I had the worst nightmare..."
Unlike before, where it ended with a knockout, this time the effects persisted post-faint.
"Some weird guy at a desert oasis? Then naked dancing in space? Total crap dream."
"I had this indescribably terrifying dream, but even though it was a dream, my head spun the whole time like I was dying."
"I once chugged a full bottle of Royal Salute behind Dad's back? The hangover's worse than that. Is this even a hangover? Anyway, my head's splitting."
Faint duration: exactly 1 hour, ending precisely when "Friendship"'s effect did. No waking them early, no matter the method.
"Urk!"
The ones who didn't faint couldn't activate "Friendship"'s effects either.
"Keep getting these weird images in my head..."
"Ugh, something disgusting is raping my brain!"
"Aaah! Get out of my head!"
"Wait, Fixer? Why are you naked-dancing in my head...?"
"Blugh!"
Piecing together their testimonies, it seemed specific scenes from the compressed "Human" were looping in their minds.
'Fascinating. For me, it only played once.'
Does failing to grasp "Human"'s artistry cause endless replays?
'Looks like absorbing the entity imbued "Human" with anomalous properties too.'
Regardless, non-fainters reported feeling off, and independently, "Friendship"'s enhancement never kicked in.
'Can't appreciate "Human"'s artistry? No positive effects from "Friendship" either.'
For now, to anyone but me, "Friendship" wasn't a strengthener—it was just an hour of endless "Human" brain loops or comatose nightmares.
"Experiment over."
All tests complete. Watching dried apples accumulate in the kitchen's freeze-dryer, I headed last to Homin-i's grave.
"One fruit per day, huh."
Thriving without even water.
I stood before Homin-i's grave for a long while. It wasn't quite the emptiness of losing a friend—something else, indefinable. Eventually, lingering there, I realized what it was.
'I never took a single photo with Homin-i.'
I don't like taking pictures. Better to stay in the moment, etch it in your eyes and heart.
'Not entirely true, though.'
Learning there were no photos with Homin-i made me realize that thinking was wrong.
"If a photo could revive memories forever, what could be more precious?"
A new life lesson learned.
"Delivery!"
Days later, my ordered package arrived. A Polaroid camera, bought to practice that lesson immediately.
"This'll do."
Using the instant-shoot-and-develop camera, a sudden thought struck.
'What if I want to photograph an entity encounter?'
The entity's anomaly might prevent it from showing up.
Or it could be a ghost impossible to capture on film.
'Shin Young-moon's a ghost too.'
Same issue with wanting pics of Shin Young-moon. Any solutions?
'Splash it with enhancement potion.'
I dripped my near-empty strengthening potion onto the Polaroid.
"Will it work?"
Camera in hand, I hit a cursed spot notorious for hauntings. Old abandoned houses, asylums—nothing. No spirit photos.
'If a ghost were there, I'd have seen it.'
Wasted time.
Then, my smartphone rang.
"Yes, Fixer Lee Seung-hoon speaking."
- Ah, Fixer Lee Seung-hoon?
"Yes, that's me."
- This is Suwon Police Chief Park Yong-seo!
From the speaker, a man's urgent voice pleaded for help.
- We've got a mysterious disappearance we can't make sense of. Please, help us out!
＊＊＊
[Next station is Suwon Station, Suwon Station. Alight from the left-side doors.]
I took the subway to Suwon.
'Nice neighborhood.'
Truth be told, I didn't have to handle entity-suspected incidents myself. The Foundation wasn't fully recovered, but they existed—I could've just contacted them to deal with Suwon.
'But as a human, that's not right.'
Knowing they were swamped, even borrowing a cat's paw, shouldn't I step up and lighten their load?
'Plus, pushing off what you can do is a bad habit.'
Arriving in Suwon, I found the police station.
"Hello? I'm Lee Seung-hoon."
"Haha, you've come! Thank you so much!"
After small talk with the chief, we got to the point.
"Disappearances on the subway?"
"Yes, ten in the last month."
Disappearances happen nationwide constantly, but the chief's search revealed all Suwon cases traced to one spot.
"All vanished after boarding the last train toward Seryu Station from Suwon Station."
"Didn't check other directions? They could've taken a train elsewhere."
"We reviewed CCTV from every station on those lines—no sign of them getting off."
Not enough yet.
That didn't explain why he'd called me specifically.
Up to here, it was just a serial disappearance, not a mystery.
"Fixer, take a look at this."
My doubts cleared with one CCTV image.
"We didn't think mystery at first either, but this convinced us."
"This is..."
"Platform display boards at the exact boarding times for all missing persons."
The electronic signs showing next train times and directions read:
[Departure Time: Now]
[Destination: Hell]
[Boarding: This World]
[Line: Line 0]
Ah, I get it now.
"See it?"
"Yes, I saw."
I murmured the entity's name in my mind.
'Express Train to Hell on Line 0.'