Immortal Lee Se-hee
Dozens of strands of hair pierced through space, flying toward Lee Se-hee. Each one thinned to the nanometer level, practically invisible to the human eye. One snaked up her neck along the carotid artery to her brain. Another pierced her abdomen toward the left lobe of her liver. One more wormed between her ribs to her heart. The rest targeted tendons and ligaments in her limbs, the patellar ligament below the kneecap, the Achilles tendon, the rotator cuff.
"Ugh... kuh..."
Lee Se-hee gritted her teeth. Her body twitched faintly, her knees buckling slightly, but she didn't collapse.
"Something's happening inside my body."
Instead of screaming at the foreign sensation or fleeing, she analyzed her condition. I like that gutsy spirit.
As she spasmed, her shower robe slipped from her shoulder. Under the room's lighting, her sweat-slicked nude form gleamed white. Her muscles were sharply defined. A woman's build, but not a trace of excess fat. High-gravity sprints, sparring that mimicked real combat, enhancement drugs that traded health and lifespan, a diet that offered zero joy. All of it had forged that physique.
In my mental world, the doctor-robed thought-form stood before a row of blackboards, directing operations.
> As per your orders, we'll make her an unbreakable body!
Cross-sections of the human body appeared on the blackboards. Organs were numbered, arrows connected them, figures were inscribed.
> Liver left lobe fibrosis 42% complete — Restored!
> Right patellar ligament micro-tears (87 instances) — All sutured!
> Left rotator cuff inflammation detected — Erased!
> Kidney glomerular filtration rate at 61% normal — Rebuilding cell walls!
> Frontal lobe synapse fatigue at 92% limit — Regenerating neuron myelin sheaths!
The little thought-forms were all mobilized. Precisely controlling each nanometer-thick hair strand inside her body was ultimately their job.
> Path 8 deviated 0.2 degrees! Don't touch the aortic wall!
> Hepatic portal vein cleared! Next, right lobe!
Not as tricky as choking Will Bates's minions, but still a delicate task. Killing life is easy; saving it is hard. Destruction is simple; restoration demands precision. And this time, we were going a step beyond mere restoration.
Lee Se-hee was born unawakened. Without awakening powers, she'd pushed endlessly, trading her lifespan to reach an awakener's level—but at the cost of her remaining years. Oseong Pharma's enhancers had slowly eaten away at her liver and kidneys. The sleep accelerator piled irrecoverable fatigue on her brain. High-gravity sprints and intense sparring destroyed her joints and ligaments daily.
At this rate, she'd start wheezing in ten years, dead in twenty. In a country where women lived past ninety on average, a chaebol chair dying in her early fifties? Other tycoons swapped organs to hit two hundred, they said.
I'll help as she wants, but no snapping my fingers to make her strong. That'd make human life too hollow. Even I'd get bored watching. Instead, gift her an unbreakable body. So her efforts can continue forever. Beating Dr. Stein in a century might be tough, but a millennium or ten? Who knows. If not—until Earth naturally dissolves. Maybe four billion years.
The bespectacled thought piped up with an objection.
A curse? Nonsense. My main body—Mom—devoured her own universe and just contemplates eternally. Compared to that, Lee Se-hee can grow strong through effort. Until this universe ends. She'll cry tears of gratitude when she learns the truth. Heh heh.
[......]
The bespectacled one seemed ready to argue, lips twitching, but turned away and shut up. Outdebated by this Outer God girl. Mwahah.
Losers, get back to work.
My gift to Lee Se-hee: Fix the broken, renew the worn, restore the weakened. And one more thing. No matter how she abuses it, burns it out, or tries to shatter it—it'll never break. Helping her organs, tendons, ligaments, bones, and cells become immortal.
Not that grandiose. Just applying what Yi Gyu-rin was watching in that nature doc.
Alright, any smarty-pants, explain.
The doctor-robed thought drew on the blackboard.
Turritopsis dohrnii, aka the immortal jellyfish!
A transparent jellyfish appeared on the left blackboard. The one from the documentary. Pretty creature.
We'll insert this creature's cell dedifferentiation genes into all of Lee Se-hee's somatic cells. Dedifferentiation means aging or damaged cells revert to an undifferentiated state and regenerate on their own. In simple terms, she'll never age!
A tiny, plump worm-like thing appeared on the right.
Tardigrade! We'll embed its Dsup protein synthesis pathway into her genes. Dsup shields DNA from radiation and reactive oxygen species. It lets her survive any extreme environment!
The doctor-robed thought wrote on the blackboard.
Dedifferentiation = Endless Regeneration
Dsup = Absolute Resistance to Destruction
Together: Immortality! Cells self-restore from damage, and restored cells stay forever young. This cycle repeats indefinitely in theory.
Lee Se-hee is now—
Super Homo sapiens. Super Earthling. She'll crush that turtle-shell-backed dojo grandpa easily.
Approved. Implant.
The little thoughts etched the gene codes into her somatic cells.
> Hepatocyte 37 gene reconfiguration complete!
> Inserting dedifferentiation pathway into bone marrow stem cells — 98% done!
> Dsup activation confirmed in cardiomyocytes!
A few minutes passed in the real world until the work finished. The nanometer-thick hairs finally emerged from her skin surface and returned to the air.
"Haa... ha, haa..."
Lee Se-hee collapsed onto her bedroom floor.
Moments later, she rose. She tilted her neck, rolled her shoulders, bent her knees, clenched and unclenched her fists, repeating the motions.
"...No pain. Elbows, shoulders, knees, groin. Even the headache's gone."
Huh? Was she living in that much pain?
> Of course. Years of daily high-gravity sprints, lifespan-draining drugs, compressed sleep. Every organ—tendons, ligaments, brain, kidneys, liver—was screaming.
> When pain becomes routine, you forget what it feels like. It becomes the baseline.
I see. No pain must feel utterly alien to her. Kinda pitiful. But no more pain from now on, so it's fine.
Finishing her self-check, Lee Se-hee turned to me.
"I see. You repaired my body."
That's not all. Like, she'll never die now. Shame I can't tell her. Oh well, she'll figure it out slowly. My Outer God girl's consideration. Heh heh.
Her black eyes looked down at me.
"Honestly, I didn't expect the deal to close like this. Not just granting power, but fixing my body."
Huh? For the first time, I sensed real warmth from her. Like a single candle's faint glow.
Gratitude or accomplishment, probably.
"The results differ from what I imagined... but a deal's a deal. I must pay the price. What do you want from me?"
Price. Never thought of getting something back for a gift. O Deok-hwan could learn from her.
I swapped his chicken, pizza, and pork cutlets for raw carrots, broccoli, and cabbage to help his diet, but he just shed tears of thanks—no reciprocation.
Pretending to ponder, I propped my chin. This mansion's huge, but no cola or snacks in the fridge.
Makes me realize I really want...
Aha. Brilliant idea.
I opened my internal subspace. Next to the snack mountain were dozens of VIP complimentary gift baskets from the Management Agency's commissary—freebies.
Pulled out the biggest one. Three Run Balls, Banana Punch, Caramel Popcorn, potato chips, Magic Mountain, Durian Chewy Cookies. Piled high with treats. Set it on the floor.
There. Perfect.
Lee Se-hee stared at the snack basket on the side table and froze solid for a moment.
"What...?"
She acts like she's never seen one. Oof. O Deok-hwan would've bolted to the commissary yelling, "Yes! Fresh snacks right away!"
Grabbed a handful of bags from the basket and offered them to her. Then pointed at the empty basket with a finger.
"Don't tell me... you want me to refill it with snacks...?"
Yep yep. Basket and first fill are gifts, but restock for next visit. Straight out of that credit delinquent doc—the revolving snack strategy. One basket given, lifetime refills received.
My genius plan made the bespectacled thought scream in my mental world.
The little thoughts hid behind the bespectacled one in agreement.
Hey now. Revolving's a human strategy too. And I only charge snacks as interest—more ethical than loan sharks.
Anyway, one more snack supply secured. Heh heh.
But.
Lee Se-hee, holding the snack pile, didn't budge a finger. No tearing open bags, no eating. Just stood there.
Why not eat?
Oh. Didn't see that coming. Oh well.
Snatched a Durian Chewy Cookie from her hand. Her eyebrow twitched faintly, but meanwhile, I shredded the packaging. And—popped it into her mouth.
"...!"
Crunch. She chewed reflexively, and her black eyes widened. Surprise, then an expression like she was analyzing the taste.
Of course it's shocking—brown rice and chicken breast palate hits marshmallow, chocolate, and durian.
Not "what is this?" but "why is this so good?"
Crunch, crunch. Second chew sped up. She wasn't aware, but her jaw moved noticeably faster.
"...Good. I'll refill this basket."
She said, staring at the wrapper after swallowing.
Yes. Tasty snacks are great. Holding back too much isn't healthy. Strength from restraint has limits—the world's strongest manga uncle said that.
Before shifting to slime girl form, I glanced back at Lee Se-hee one last time. Korea's top chaebol chair, standing sweat-drenched with snacks in hand. Working and training twenty hours a day, chipping away her lifespan for strength.
Feeding her snacks? Pretty novel experience.
This human, Lee Se-hee. Kinda fun. I like her.
May this fun last forever.
See you next time. Trot trot.