Size (9)
I let out a small groan as a reddish light—too intense for morning—stabbed at my eyes. I sat up, running a hand through my messy hair. Just moments ago I’d been sitting on the beach, but at some point I’d been carried to a bed. Forcing my heavy eyelids open, I found myself staring straight at Chae-yun and Seo-hee, who were sitting at the small table beside the bed.
“Hey, Chan-woo’s awake.”
“...Ugh...”
Seo-hee was seated at the tiny table, spooning soup from a white bowl. Chae-yun, who had barely lifted her head to meet my eyes, was slumped forward with her cheek pressed to the tabletop.
“...What are you two doing?”
“That’s what we want to ask you. What the hell happened? We woke up here, you were passed out, and suddenly we’re both hungover so badly we can’t even move. We figured we’d wait until you woke up, but this one looked like she was about to die, so we ordered some hangover soup. There’s a bowl for you too—want some?”
“You don’t remember anything either?”
“That’s exactly what’s weird. For us to get drunk we’d probably have to chug industrial alcohol, yet our memories are completely cut off. We were hoping you might know something.”
The blue power. The man who had passed that strength on to me. One of the humans who created the flowers had given it to me. The memories of the women who had been controlled by it had vanished.
“...I have something to tell you two.”
I needed to explain it to them. In a way, they were like the parents of these parasites.
“...What is it? You look so serious all of a sudden.”
Seo-hee set her spoon down after seeing my face.
“...Ugh...”
“...Lee Chae-yun, you just stay here and sleep. You don’t look like you’re getting any better.”
I pushed the struggling Chae-yun back down onto the bed, threw on a jacket, pulled a cigarette from the pack inside, and stuck it in my mouth. Seo-hee walked over to me.
“...Is this going to be a long story?”
“...One of the men who created us?”
Seo-hee crouched in the narrow alley beside the motel road, blowing out a long stream of smoke. I told her everything. But I deliberately left out the part about the Root’s King driving them to the brink of extinction. Just as the man I had met in that dream-like space had said, I still didn’t know what the Root’s King had been thinking. I didn’t want to complicate their minds for no reason.
“...So the one who made that fruit was him. There are nine beings similar to that man, and one of them is the Root’s King… right?”
Seo-hee flicked the cigarette—now burned down to almost nothing—onto the ground and crushed it under her foot. She pulled out another one and lit it.
“...Want one?”
“I don’t smoke.”
She offered me one anyway, but I refused. With a soft “I see…” she tucked the pack back into her jacket. Through her bangs, I could see confusion, bewilderment, and a hint of anxiety swirling in her eyes.
“...What’s wrong?”
“...If what you said is true, then the man you met is basically our god, isn’t he?”
“...I suppose so.”
“Then why didn’t he leave us those memories? Why did he only leave behind some fairy-tale story? And why did he only show himself to you now? I’m just… curious about all of it…”
Seo-hee’s hand trembled slightly as she flicked the lighter.
“I don’t know either.”
“...”
“That’s why I’m going to ask the others too.”
“Huh?”
Seo-hee’s head snapped up in surprise.
“That man said I could meet the others. So I’m planning to find them and ask what the hell he was thinking. I want to know what stories he left out.”
“...”
“While I’m at it, I’ll pass on anything you want to say.”
After listening to me, Seo-hee gave a small laugh and dropped her cigarette on the ground. It wasn’t just for their sake—I genuinely had questions I wanted to ask them.
What exactly am I? And what exactly are they?
What is an ancient human? Why do the parasites react so strongly to ancient human DNA? And am I even connected to them in the first place? I wanted to ask all of that. I also wanted to know why he had tried to erase the flowers.
“So, what do you want me to tell him?”
“It’s not something I can pass on right now anyway. I’ll tell you when I actually meet them.”
Seo-hee’s expression finally relaxed.
“...But how are you going to find them? You don’t even know where they are.”
“...Yeah, that’s true.”
To meet the remaining nine, I needed to obtain the nine fruits. Unfortunately, I had no idea where they were…
“Well, that was cool for about five seconds.”
“Sorry about that.”
Seo-hee and I stepped out of the alley. I guess it was time to grab Chae-yun and head back. I needed to tell her all of this too.
“...By the way, why are you completely fine?”
“I produce poison in my body, remember? That means I have a ton of antibodies for detoxification.”
“Ah, that makes—!!”
Left.
Watch out.
“Whoa?!”
I barely managed to stop. A motorcycle shot past right in front of my nose. What the hell was that? Pedestrians were screaming and falling over everywhere. That motorcycle…
Lapus.
Wisdom.
Over there.
Wait a second. That person…
“...Hey, Im Chan-woo.”
As I stared at the motorcycle disappearing into the distance, Seo-hee grabbed my arm and yanked me backward with all her strength.
“Hide!”
“...What—”
She pulled so hard I slammed straight onto the ground. In an instant, we were buried among the gathering crowd of onlookers.
“What the—mmph!”
“Shut up for a second!”
Over Seo-hee’s shoulder, where she was covering my mouth, I saw a familiar silhouette rushing past. Three men dressed in black clothes and iron masks, riding bikes just like the one from earlier, ignored the pedestrians and tore down the sidewalk.
“Those guys…”
“They didn’t see us, right?”
Seo-hee let out a sigh of relief. No—they hadn’t been aiming for us in the first place. My danger sense hadn’t triggered against those men. Which meant what they were after was clearly… the bag that person had been carrying. There was definitely something inside that bag…
“It’s fine now. Let’s hurry up and get Chae-yun—”
“...Give it to me.”
“What?”
“Wait here a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!!”
I twisted the motorcycle’s handlebars with every ounce of concentration I had. The scenery blurred past the edges of my vision at blinding speed. The screams of people around me whipped by my ears and vanished just as quickly. But when I glanced at the side mirror, those black-clad bastards were still chasing me.
Three of them were on bikes, but that wasn’t all. There were cars following too—and even a helicopter. What the hell is this fruit that they’re going this far?! I definitely disabled all the traps. How did this happen?
The pursuit team that had caught up while I was fleeing on the bike.
“...Damn it! Then…!!”
I yanked the handlebars again. I jumped the crosswalk from the sidewalk onto the main road, weaving between cars as I ran. Still, the men on motorcycles kept coming.
“It’s because of that thing after all!!”
The helicopter hovering overhead, watching me. It was feeding my location to the other pursuit teams and chasing me across open ground. What do I do? What the hell do I do? Should I just give it back and apologize right now? No, those crazy bastards won’t just let me go after catching me, you idiot. What should I—!
I looked into the side mirror to check on the men still chasing me, and that’s when I saw it. Something was behind the men pursuing me.
...A man hanging from a truck?
That was when it happened.
“Kyaa?!”
I slammed into something in front of me. The sudden impact sent my body flying from the inertia. Spinning through the air, I clearly saw what had blocked my path. It was a woman. She wore black clothes and an iron mask, and although she was much smaller than the men who had been chasing me, she had stopped my motorcycle—which had been going nearly 100 km/h—with one hand.
It was unmistakably a woman. Her face was hidden, but I recognized her instantly. She was the woman who had been in the old man’s office at the research facility. The first successful specimen of a biological weapon.
Our eyes met while I was still suspended in midair.
“Hahahaha!! That’s it! That’s exactly it!!”
I watched the director laugh wildly as he stared at the footage playing in the dark room.
“...Forgive me for saying this, Director, but are you really sending Subject 4 into a civilian area? We still haven’t confirmed proper control. If she goes out of control like Subject 3 last time…”
“Don’t worry too much about that. Isn’t that why I sent your team along? …By the way, what do you think?”
“Sir? …I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand.”
“Hoho, come on. Don’t you think it’s a little too bland?”
Bland? The director cleared his throat and asked me again while still watching the screen.
“It’s not stimulating enough to brag about to the other branch directors.”
“Ah…”
I guess it was bland. What had the director been expecting from ordinary civilians? On the screen, Subject 4, who had effortlessly blocked the intruder, was slowly approaching the fallen woman to capture her alive, leaving the crushed motorcycle in her hand behind.
“...Hmm, this is too boring.”
“...Did you deliberately send the intruder, Director?”
“Of course. It’s the perfect situation to test her. Still, I didn’t expect them to steal the power source as well. Hahaha… But isn’t this perfect timing? We can show Subject 4 carrying out her mission, then turn that bitch into Subject 5 and film footage of her being used that way too…”
The director let out a disgusting laugh.
“...”
—Requesting response, situation rep—!!
“...What is it? Team A? Respond.”
...The connection had been cut.
“Director, it seems there’s a problem—”
“...What the hell is that…?”
The director, who had been watching the footage the whole time, suddenly muttered in confusion. I looked at the screen as well.
A third party had appeared in the video. His face wasn’t visible because he was wearing a motorcycle helmet, but the action he took next was unmistakable. He lifted the motorcycle with one hand and threw it at Subject 4. She casually swatted it aside.
Male. It’s a male specimen… A male specimen has appeared!!
“Wahahaha!! Yes!!”
The director rejoiced from his chair.
...What should we do?
“...You guys won’t be enough anyway. Support Subject 4 and capture the male specimen alive.”
“Understood.”