Chapter 136
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 136
“So,” Yoo Seong-un said with a resigned smile, “you’re turning him into a pig?”
“I am glad you understand,” Gio replied.
“I have no choice. I nearly became one myself…”
“My apologies if my methods seemed crude.”
“Not at all. The meal was truly delicious,” he said, his mild smile returning. “Though I did feel a slight sense of crisis.”
A crisis where he felt his very species was about to change.
Either that, or I’d burst and die.
Perhaps it was because they had lived through the harsh era of the Great Catastrophe, but elders from that generation were particularly obsessed with fattening up the young. Gio gave off a similar vibe.
Especially in the way he constantly feeds people…
If he hadn’t run into the Mermaid Princess back then, Yoo Seong-un probably would have never escaped that endless cycle of meals and snacks. Even for a Hunter with a large appetite, it had been far too much.
“…I’m sure you can handle it, but he probably eats less than I do. Try not to overfeed him.”
“I had no intention of overfeeding him, either… but I made a mistake. He got indigestion.”
“It’s a surprise that someone could get indigestion from food that divine, but I suppose too much of a good thing is still too much.”
“‘Heavenly’ is far too generous a compliment. But he looked so happy while eating that I believe I was too forceful.”
“He was probably so lost in the taste that he didn’t even realize how full he was. Even if he’s an Association researcher, most of them are civilians. He likely couldn’t control himself.”
The situation was easy enough to piece together. Gio, who loved seeing people plump up, would have kept offering food, and the man had likely lost all reason to the ecstatic flavor—or perhaps felt too pressured by Gio to refuse.
It was too delicious to refuse. Besides, he was eating inside Gio’s stomach.
Even if he was a civilian without a single skill, he was still an Association researcher. There was no way this man, Ju-hyeon, didn’t realize that inside this portrait—where the flow of time and the very weight of the air shifted according to Gio’s mood—he was essentially standing on the tongue of a dungeon master.
Still, seeing as Gio isn’t upset, the man must have excellent social skills.
Who knew how panicked he was on the inside, but it was a bold attitude for a civilian. It wasn’t easy to act so amiably in front of an entity like Gio.
If it were that easy, Gio would have found a pen pal long ago…
Then again, perhaps the man had simply given up.
“……”
From the sound of it, things were a bit tangled.
“I did some digging on that man, Ju-hyeon,” Yoo Seong-un said.
“As always, thank you for your help.”
“Don’t mention it. But it seems his team leader… pulled some strings.”
“Are you saying his superior interfered with An Ju-hyeon’s situation?”
“An Ju-hyeon?”
From what Yoo Seong-un had gathered, Ju-hyeon came from an orphanage affiliated with the Association. Children at those orphanages typically abandoned their surnames upon entry, so he hadn’t bothered to check. Yet Gio even knew Ju-hyeon’s family name.
Then again, it wouldn’t be hard for Gio to find out a mere human’s surname by any means necessary.
Whether he had used an Appraisal Skill or pried it out with his unique brand of social grace, it wasn’t strange for Gio to know the surname of a researcher from an orphanage.
Yoo Seong-un let it slide without making a fuss.
“That’s what it looks like. Most people seem oblivious, but a few are…” Yoo Seong-un hesitated, searching for the right words before continuing, “…keeping it quiet. Sweeping it under the rug.”
“So they know, but they’re hiding it.”
“I’m not sure why.” Yoo Seong-un shrugged. “I’m not part of that world anymore, after all.”
The Association’s research labs, in particular, were practically independent nations ruled by their respective team leaders. Aside from a bare minimum of systemic regulations, the team leader in charge of a lab wielded absolute, unchecked power.
“In any case, whatever the team leader was planning, they’ve completely ruined Ju-hyeon’s situation.”
“Why does a team leader have that much authority instead of the research institute director?”
“Probably because the director doesn’t commute to that specific lab. An Association research director usually manages multiple facilities at once.”
A single team leader is stationed in each Association research lab building, but that didn’t mean the lab itself belonged to the team leader.
“The Association’s research labs are divided into the Seoul 1st Branch, Seoul 2nd Branch, 3rd Branch, and so on. The director manages all the research labs in Seoul, while a team leader works within a single one of those branches.”
“How many branches are there in Seoul?”
“When I was still working, there were up to 184. Now it’s up to the 221st Branch. Seoul isn’t that large, but most of the labs are built using Space Expansion Magic. It’s a lot, isn’t it?”
With so many labs to manage, the director couldn’t possibly participate in day-to-day operations. They were already buried under a mountain of experiment reports and authorization requests.
Yoo Seong-un smiled sheepishly.
“Of course, you probably don’t understand why they’d create such an inefficient structure.”
“To be honest, no. Is there a reason they can’t have one director and multiple team leaders within a single research lab?”
“There are various reasons, but the primary one is… a simple lack of trustworthy personnel.”
That was the kind of place the Association’s research labs were.
“They’re filled with information the public isn’t ready for and dangerous data that could be exploited in countless ways. They try to keep a lid on it, but dozens, even hundreds, of new research subjects pour in every year…”
It was a space packed with hazardous information that could easily drive an ordinary person mad with greed.
“Didn’t you say Ju-hyeon was in a similar situation? According to you, he created none other than the Mark of Sankalut. A good-natured person who had never done a single bad thing in his life made such a reckless choice.”
“I see.”
“The Association’s research labs overflow with information that has a high potential for abuse. Therefore, a research director must, first, not covet that information; second, have the ability to clean up any incidents that occur in their jurisdiction; and third, stay far away from the field.”
“Why must they stay away from the field?”
“No matter how selfless a person is, humans are creatures of habit. Dealing with it only on paper might make the gravity of it all feel lighter, which could actually increase the chance of abuse… but as the saying goes, ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ It lowers the chances of them being seduced by it all.”
The Association’s research labs were worse than any den of monsters. They were perilous places where even perfectly sane people emerged with ruined minds and bodies. No matter how carefully a director was selected, exposing them to that environment for too long would likely break their convictions.
“And it’s not something that can be solved with a strong will alone. A good number of the project subjects possess their own wills, and the field staff have to endure the temptations and curses of those bizarre mysteries every single hour.”
“Why do so many people work in a place like that?”
“Some are drawn in by the Association’s excellent PR, while others are kids sponsored by government or Association-funded orphanages. That’s why, at first, they’re usually assigned simple chores that aren’t mentally taxing.”
Though it wouldn’t be long before they were forced to face reality.
“And above all…” Yoo Seong-un hesitated for a moment. “To become a research director, they have to undergo… a certain procedure.”
“A procedure?”
“To put it bluntly, you could call it brainwashing. Or perhaps training…”
“That is an unexpected method.”
“Naturally, there are ethical issues,” Yoo Seong-un said with an awkward laugh. “First, the Association has to find a Hunter capable of becoming a director. They scout A-Rank Hunters who are close to S-Rank, select those who are already wealthy or naturally selfless, and from that pool, pick the ones with administrative and management skills, and…”
“……”
“They handpick these multi-talented individuals through all those criteria. Even with the increase in A-Ranks, just finding a Hunter close to S-Rank is hard enough. On top of that, they have to be selfless and a jack-of-all-trades… There simply aren’t many people like that.”
Even if they found one, another problem remained.
“As the final step, they undergo a brainwashing process that castrates their greed and forces absolute obedience to the Association President. It’s an unethical step, but they don’t force it on anyone.”
“Doesn’t that just turn a person into a paperwork machine under the title of research director?”
“The problem is that they do more than just process paperwork. In any case, because it’s so hard to find someone who agrees to this process, they can’t assign a director to every single lab.”
“Is the need for such high-quality personnel purely for the security of the research materials?”
“You could say that. Of course, if they lowered their standards, they could station more people at each lab, but that would just end up creating a massive, uncontrollable den of monsters.”
In the first place, the Association’s research labs could be seen as a symbol of human arrogance.
“Right now, countless catastrophes are concentrated in South Korea. The Association’s research labs are at the center of it all. If even one of them were to breach, this planet could be ruined in an instant. That’s why they can’t lower their standards for personnel, even if it means going through such a rigorous process.”
Yoo Seong-un, once an Association research team leader himself, spoke while trying to hide his skepticism.
“The only saving grace is that as long as those directors and… the Association President, who is a Symbol of Eternity, exist, those countless dens of monsters are kept under perfect control.”
“……”
“In other words, they’re taking on an immense risk by relying solely on the Association President, but… well, that side is heavily focused on human progress and analyzing the Origin.”
Gio remained silent for a moment before asking, “What is a Symbol of Eternity?”
“…Ah.” Yoo Seong-un nodded and explained. “It’s a term for immortal beings who neither age nor die. There are only three of them in all of South Korea.”
“Immortal…”
“They are not only Awakened with incredibly powerful abilities, but they also cannot die or grow old.”
To this, Gio said, “They must be lonely.”
“……” Yoo Seong-un was momentarily lost for words. “…I’ve never thought of the Symbols of Eternity that way, so I’m not sure.”
“It is a blessing, then, that there are three of them together.”
“There’s a rumor they were close friends even before the Great Catastrophe,” Yoo Seong-un said with a small chuckle. “Anyway, as long as those Symbols of Eternity exist, no matter what risks are taken, things will never reach the absolute worst-case scenario. So, the experiments become even bolder, and the number of people ground down increases. But since there’s a surplus of people compared to the sustainable population… they die, break, and twist, and in that process, humanity progresses.”
He let out a soft sigh.
“That’s also why South Korea, in particular, has been able to achieve such rapid progress.”
“Thanks to boldly grinding people down, relying solely on the Symbols of Eternity?”
“To sum it up, yes, that’s probably it. It’s a high-risk, high-reward situation.”
But no matter how high the risk, as long as the Symbols of Eternity existed, the damage would never spread beyond the research lab. Since the maximum range of destruction for any experiment was limited to the lab building itself, they conducted their work with even greater audacity.
“I don’t know if I should say this, but failure is the mother of success. That kind of data eventually becomes the foundation for preventing another failure.”
“I understand.”
“If a research lab is completely wiped out, they just go, ‘Ah, so doing that causes that reaction. Then how about this method?’ …It’s a structure that somehow… allows for continued development.”
“It is a terrifying world.”
“It’s a world where human rights are a hollow facade. Our country has a strong culture of treating people as mere tools, so it’s a basic occurrence. It’s not pleasant to watch.”
But thanks to that, progress itself could be rapid.
“The Association is trying to research and uncover as much of the Origin as possible to shorten the time humanity has to suffer. If things continue like this, this planet will still be suffering in primitive agony 500 years from now… so their intention is to reduce that timeframe.”
It was a thought process and judgment that only the immortal Symbols of Eternity could make.
“I left because I couldn’t stand watching it.”
“I see.”
“They call it a worthy sacrifice, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy watching it.”
“I agree.”
“…Well, putting that aside.” Yoo Seong-un rubbed his neck. “Anyway, because of how things are, it’s hard for someone like me who has already resigned to find out the details of what’s happening inside an active lab. Those people are tight-lipped by nature.”
“I imagine so.”
“But the atmosphere is strange. From what I can tell, the research team leader was trying to cause some kind of incident using that researcher, Ju-hyeon.” Lowering his hand, Yoo Seong-un looked at Gio and smiled. “And you stopped it before it could happen.”
“I am glad the outcome was a good one.”
“From my perspective, I’m always grateful.”
Whether it was pure coincidence or not, Gio had a habit of appearing just before an incident escalated and abruptly cutting off its momentum.
It’s as if he diffuses tightly wound tension in the most unexpected ways. Even in the case of the Mermaid Siblings, that situation really shouldn’t have fizzled out so absurdly…
Yoo Seong-un was still investigating the whereabouts of the Mermaid Siblings, and their traces had recently been discovered at Gyeongbokgung. It seemed they had intended to overthrow not just the Sun Cult but even Gyeongbokgung itself, given the chance.
I don’t have enough data points to be certain, but either way, from a human perspective, his actions are a true blessing.
It was impossible not to be thankful for having overwhelming catastrophes neutralized before they could even begin.
“……”
In that sense, Yoo Seong-un believed that the researcher named Ju-hyeon had also come dangerously close to becoming the catalyst for a catastrophe.
It was a relief he had been found by Gio before things got out of hand.
“…So, how is Ju-hyeon doing?”
“He is eating and sleeping well.”
“And his mood?”
“He is still a bit tense and seems somewhat confused.”
“Yes, I suppose he would be.”
Still, the fact that he was already that stable was nothing short of a miracle.
“Please take good care of him for a while longer.”
“I will make sure he is healthy before I send him back out.”
“I hope he’s only moderately healthy.”
It would be highly problematic if a New Humanity, other than Hunters, were to emerge, after all.