The Same as Me
I stepped out of the director’s office after giving him a cheeky little wave. The moment I was in the hallway, I picked up my pace and headed straight for the underground private lab.
I’d been so distracted lately that I’d completely forgotten. Today was finally the day the results of my long-running research would come in.
Humming a cheerful tune, I tapped my employee ID against the elevator panel. A refined mechanical chime rang out, and the hidden floor number appeared on the display.
> [UNDERGROUND 30F.]
> Welcome, Doctor.
“Yeah, it’s been a week,” I replied to the automated voice with a polite greeting of my own.
This was the first time in a long while I’d felt this good. Everything looked beautiful.
When I entered the lab—protected by multiple layers of security—the space was noticeably brighter than the last time I’d seen it, when it had been pitch black.
“Ah, right. This is what it looked like.”
I’d kept the lights off for so long while studying the test subjects that I’d forgotten the lab’s layout. But there was one thing I could never forget.
Right in the center of the room stood a reinforced glass containment tube. Inside it was a long-haired woman wearing a straitjacket.
“Long time no see! You probably don’t recognize my face since you haven’t seen it, but you remember my voice, right?”
“...!”
The moment she heard me, the test subject snapped back to alertness. Without a word, she dropped into a low stance—like a predator about to pounce on its prey right before the kill.
I adjusted my glasses, pulled out my notebook, and began writing.
“...Suspected regression of the test subject’s intelligence...”
“Kyaaaaaaaack!!”
She let out a piercing scream and started slamming her head against the glass.
“.....”
The reinforced glass didn’t even scratch, but her forehead split open and blood began to seep out. I couldn’t let such a valuable specimen die.
I manipulated the controls on the tube and released a sedative gas. The effect was immediate. Her violent thrashing gradually slowed, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the floor.
“...Still, it’s a success.”
I’d been running this experiment for a long time. I started it long before I met the bald team leader who used to run the previous team. How many years had it been?
After all that time, I finally had a survivor.
Some unknown emotion surged up from deep inside me. Ecstasy? Joy? Happiness? It didn’t matter what it was.
I pressed my palm against the glass of the tube where the test subject sat staring at me with hazy, unfocused eyes, every muscle in her body relaxed.
“...Congratulations. Truly, congratulations… on your new birth.”
She was a being who had transcended humanity. And because she had, she would help me—and through me, all of humanity.
It hurt to do this, but there was no other choice.
Once the test subject had lost consciousness from the sedative gas, I stopped the flow and retracted the glass wall that had separated us into the machine.
I lifted her into my arms, carried her to the corner of the lab, and strapped her into the chair covered with all kinds of instruments and restraints.
I tilted her head back, brushed aside her disheveled hair, and exposed the pure white nape of her neck.
Then I set up the camcorder and began recording.
“Commencing control experiment on F-BW.”
I brought the sinister-looking mechanical device up to the defenseless skin at the back of her neck.
————————————
“So you were with Seo-hee unnie yesterday?”
“Yeah. It just kind of happened.”
I was sitting in the room talking with Chae-yun. She had spent the whole day home alone yesterday, and when I didn’t answer her calls, she’d apparently gotten worried. When I told her what had happened with Seo-hee, she understood far more easily than I’d expected—just like Seo-hee had predicted.
“Aren’t you mad? Technically he’s your boyfriend.”
“Hmm… not really? If we’re keeping score, I was oppa’s first girlfriend, wasn’t I?”
It was completely illogical, yet I found myself nodding in agreement. It was just how Chae-yun was. She had no sharp edges. Her life had gone so smoothly that she rarely showed any signs of inferiority or jealousy. Even though I hadn’t been with her for a full year yet, I was already certain she wasn’t that kind of person. Simply put, she was insanely positive.
“Ugh… but how do you take someone on a date to a sex shop? Even unnie who likes a guy like you is something else…”
“Didn’t you say you like a guy like me too?”
“Anyway, the reason we went to the adult shop was…”
“Obviously because we needed stuff to use. Though Seo-hee broke a few of them…”
I planned to take my time testing them out one by one the next day. Two weeks was actually a pretty long time when you thought about it.
“…Who are you going to use those on?”
“Our department professor.”
The next day, I arrived at school much earlier than usual and sat on the sofa in the professor’s office, waiting for her. I’d set a bag stuffed full of things beside me.
Soon I sensed a presence outside the door. The owner of that presence grabbed the doorknob, paused for a moment as if realizing who was inside, then finally opened the door and entered.
“Good morning, Professor.”
“....”
Her expression was far from pleased. If it was just displeasure, that would’ve been fine.
“You’re here early too, Professor?”
“…You’re the one who told me to come.”
“Oh, did I?”
I shrugged and opened the bag, deliberately showing her the array of adult toys inside.
“…What are you going to do today…”
“Who knows? What should I do?”
I shook a bottle filled with a liquid I hadn’t shown her yesterday. The blue fluid sloshed inside.
“Here. Drink this.”
“...”
She took the bottle from me and looked back and forth between it and me with clear suspicion.
“Yes, it’s exactly what you’re thinking.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, let out a long sigh, then gulped down the unknown liquid in one go.
“…At least tell me what this is.”
“It’s a pretty strong drug.”
“Drug? What do you mean, drug… Don’t tell me you—”
“At this point, what’s the big deal about a little drug? Professor, you’re in no position to be lecturing me right now.”
Her lingering pride and sense of duty as an educator held her back, but once she reminded herself of her current situation, she couldn’t say anything. She simply pressed her lips together tightly and hung her head with a complicated expression.
Anyway, the effects should be kicking in any moment now…
“Ugh…?! What, what is this…?”
She suddenly staggered, bracing herself against the wall with one hand while clutching her head with the other.
What I’d given her was an aphrodisiac I’d asked Seo-hee to make. It was much more diluted than the one I’d used on Seo-hee, but judging by the scene unfolding before my eyes, it seemed to be working perfectly.
“…Why the hell are you doing this…♡”
“Didn’t I tell you last time? Honestly, I’m not really interested in your body, Professor. What I’m interested in is what’s inside your head.”
I tapped my temple with my index finger to help her understand.
“There are plenty of young, pretty bodies out there besides yours.”
“Then why me…!”
“You still don’t get it.”
I let out a deep sigh and walked over to her.
“Why waste perfectly good young bodies? I can just use someone like you as a test subject.”
To be honest, the professor had a beauty that didn’t match her age. But I felt no attraction to her whatsoever. A lot had happened up until now. In my life, I’d met women I would never have been able to approach before, and I’d taken them. My standards had risen. That was all.
I really had changed a lot. I was even using people for clinical experiments now. The thought made me smile.
“Shall we continue, then?”
“....”
Her pride was completely crushed by my words, but she couldn’t even resist. She simply ground her teeth in frustration.
The moment I slowly reached out to touch her—
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!”
A sharp scream tore through my eardrums and stabbed straight into my brain. But it wasn’t coming from the professor. She, too, flinched in surprise, eyes wide as she looked around, focusing on the sound.
‘Danger.’
‘Danger.’
‘Danger.’
‘Different from us.’
‘Something’s different.’
‘It’s wrong.’
‘It’s dangerous.’
“Uwaaaaack!”
The warning carried by these incomprehensible voices. Normally the pain would have faded before I could even scream, but this time was different.
Damn it, what the hell is going on?
I shoved the professor aside and violently threw open the door. The screams that had been echoing off the hallway walls grew clearer.
“Kyaaaaack!”
“Uwaaaaaack!”
It wasn’t just one person. Multiple people—at least dozens—were screaming.
I sprinted down the hallway and burst out of the building.
“….What the fuck are you?”
Something wet splashed under my feet, soaking my shoes. Chunks of meat and reddish, fishy liquid were scattered across the asphalt. In the middle of it all stood a long-haired girl wearing a straitjacket.
She looked at me with a dreamy voice and whispered softly.
“…You. You’re the same as me.”
“What the hell are you talking about, you crazy bitch?”