The Forest in the Concrete Jungle
"Kyaaak?!"
While I was secretly creeping toward the spot, the ground suddenly began to shake with violent force. Right after, an unbelievable sight unfolded before my eyes.
"...What the hell is this...?"
At the tips of the rising stems, fresh green leaves unfurled, creating a small forest. Was something like this even possible by any common sense? I pushed through the bizarre woodland, feet treading asphalt that felt completely out of place among the densely packed trees. Light filtered in from beyond the trunks. I couldn't tell where I was standing anymore. As I waded through the grass toward the source of that light, I couldn't decide whether I was in the middle of a jungle or the middle of a road. Finally, I broke free of the undergrowth. What finally appeared before my eyes were two men. Or rather, to be exact, one of them was collapsed on the ground.
"...Did that do the trick?"
I glanced back at the doctor a bit sheepishly. A blue glow had appeared, and I had pulled on it. I never expected it to sprout a whole forest right in the middle of the city, though.
"...Magnificent."
The doctor clapped like an excited seal. His face was flushed bright red, as if he were genuinely moved. With eyes that looked utterly unhinged, he approached me. I climbed down from the roof of the car I'd been perched on and walked over to him.
"Calm down."
It didn't look easy to stop him from clapping like a madman. I briefly wondered if I should just slap him across the face, but a light tap on his shoulder was all it took for him to snap back to his senses. He adjusted his glasses in surprise and cleared his throat.
"My apologies. It's something of an occupational hazard..."
"Forget it. So, is it fine to just leave her like that?"
I tapped the now-composed doctor on the shoulder and pointed at the woman tied to a stem in the corner, unable to move. Only then did he say "Ah, of course" and hurry over to her with quick steps.
...Was someone like him really one of the top figures in that organization?
"...Min-jeong, do you remember who I am?"
The doctor pulled a pistol fitted with some kind of device from inside his coat and asked the woman a bizarre question. So that was her name, Min-jeong. She must have been an acquaintance of his.
"...Jeong A-un. Former team leader of the Biological Weapon Team and currently a sanctioned target for elimination."
"Correct. No abnormalities detected."
Smiling with clear delight, the doctor pressed the gun to her forehead and pulled the trigger.
"Ugh?!"
But once again, what fired wasn't a live round. This time it wasn't a capsule either. What was it? The woman was struck by something invisible.
"...Ah?... Er-ror de-tect-ed? Re-boo-ting..."
After making those strange noises, the woman dropped her head with a limp thud, like a machine being switched off.
"...What exactly did you do?"
"A forced reset. I used special sonic waves to shut down the computer that was operating her body."
"...You knew her? I heard what you said earlier."
"Yes, she was a former colleague."
He brushed his hands off and stood up straight. I approached the doctor as he detached the device from the pistol, leaving the collapsed woman behind.
"...Well then, it's time to keep your promise."
"..."
"Hahaha, don't look at me like that. I always keep my promises, you know."
To be honest, I hadn't believed he would actually keep his word. That was why I had been gathering blue light toward him, but I decided to hear him out first.
"Now, what was I going to say... Ah, yes. I should tell you the locations of the fruits. I'll only share the ones we've already recovered and are storing. As much as I'd like to tell you everything, there are only a few that even I know about."
"Go on."
"Our domestic labs hold a total of three. A blue one, a light-green one, and a purple one. The blue and light-green fruits were here in Seoul, but you took both of them, correct? The last one is currently at the Second Lab in Busan."
"...."
My danger sense didn't react. It seemed he was telling the truth.
"...May I ask some questions?"
"Of course. That was the agreement."
I focused my danger sense on the smiling doctor. And just in case, I didn't forget to keep the blue light trained on him.
"Where did you people obtain the fruits?"
"I don't know. That information never reached my level."
...It was the truth.
"How far have your investigations gone?"
"What we have confirmed is that each fruit contains an enormous amount of energy and is exhibiting biological responses. Also, they do not break no matter what physical force is applied. And the most crucial part—we have completed the research on extracting energy from the fruits and injecting it into biological weapons. The reason your friend ended up like that is because she fought No. 4, who possesses the power of the blue fruit."
The doctor pointed at Su-a, who had lost consciousness behind us. Injecting the power of the fruit, huh...
"...What is your organization's objective?"
"Now that is a rather unpleasant question."
For the first time the doctor stopped smiling as he adjusted his glasses. Then, smiling once more, he continued.
"Please do not lump me together with them. My objectives are quite different from theirs."
"...Then what is your goal?"
"What I promised to tell you was their purpose. I will not answer that question. Hahaha... Their goal is to manufacture weapons using the flower petals, sell them to other nations, and they pathetically believe they can conquer the world with them. Ugh, doesn't that sound terribly cliché?"
He pretended to retch, then straightened up and laughed slyly at his own joke. I ignored him and sank into thought.
"Weapons using flower petals... So that woman was..."
"Yes, Min-jeong—or No. 4, rather—was our first successful case. You've fought No. 3 yourself, if I'm not mistaken."
He must mean Nabi. The doctor kept glancing at his watch. He spoke to me as if urging me to hurry.
"So, any other questions?"
"This is the last one. The reason both your organization and you are targeting me. Explain it."
"...It's nothing complicated. Simply because you are the first male specimen to appear. That is all. The emergence of an unprecedented test subject. That alone was enough for us to pursue you."
It's a lie.
BLACK.
The danger sense was screaming like crazy. What the hell was hidden behind those words that it would trigger a warning intense enough to threaten my life?
"...Weren't we not supposed to lie?"
"...I don't recall making that particular promise?"
The doctor scratched his head with the gun barrel. Inside the forest that had sprouted in the middle of the city, with only the two of us present, a strange tension collided with the thick trees and ricocheted in every direction, unable to escape. I felt an odd sensation. An unknown discomfort crawled down my spine. I had to kill him right here. The urge simply washed over me.
"...!!"
I reached out toward the doctor. I had seized the light. My plan was to rip out the stem and tear his body apart.
Dangerous.
Don't use your hand.
Remove it quickly.
"What...?!"
A sense of crisis flared from the hand I had extended toward him. I hurriedly pulled it back and stared at my palm. A small object emitting a strange glow was stuck to it.
"This is...!"
I tried to pluck it off immediately, but it was too late. An electric current burst from the tiny thing and enveloped my body.
"Graaagh?!"
The feeling of strength draining away, the smell of burning muscle. And then a trap began to coil around my ankle.
"When did this...?!"
"Chan-woo, have you ever seen someone walk into a safari with nothing but their bare body? How do you think that would end?"
The doctor walked toward me.
"I could never do that. If you want to step into the lion's cage, you must always prepare thoroughly. See? When you prepare like this, even a lion is no big deal. That is why a plan is always beautiful. When it is thorough and everything falls perfectly into place, it feels wonderful. Ah, and I should answer your earlier question about when I prepared all this."
The doctor removed the high-bar I was wearing, finally meeting my exposed eyes as he spoke.
"Earlier, when we first met. We shook hands, remember?"
"...Damn it... It was then...!!"
Why hadn't my danger sense activated at that moment? While that question spun in my mind, the short phrase he had said to me flashed through my head.
'...I have no intention of doing anything to you.'
"That can't be..."
It couldn't be. Even as I thought that, no matter how I considered it, that was the only reason his words hadn't triggered my danger sense.
"As I said before, I will not touch you. As a biologist, that would be terribly unsightly behavior."
It was an action that truly carried not even a trace of malice toward me. There was no hostility in what he was doing now.
"All research fundamentally begins with observation. Killing you now or putting you straight onto the experiment table would be like slicing open the goose that lays golden eggs. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"You're insane..."
"Hahaha, how could anyone who loves humanity more than anyone else look at you and not lose their mind? I knew it before, but today it has become even clearer. You must not die in a place like this."
The doctor who had been looking down at me turned around. He picked up the light-green fruit lying a short distance away and began tossing it playfully in his hand.
"This is simply a gift from me. I don't know what you'll use it for, but after seeing what happened today, I suspect you'll surprise me again."
He brought the fruit toward me. Just a little more... just a little more...
"That trap will lose its effect in five minutes, so you'll be able to move soon. The fruit goes right here..."
The moment he bent down to place the fruit in front of me, I squeezed out the last of my strength and pulled the blue light—
"What, what is this...! The atmosphere feels kinda bad..."
I looked back and forth between the two men. The two guys who saved me are fighting each other? Why? Weren't they on the same side?
"This is simply a gift from me. I don't know what you'll use it for, but after seeing what happened today, I suspect you'll surprise me again."
While saying that, the man in the white coat picked something up.
...That's.
"...It's a fruit."
I swallowed hard. Looking closely now, the man in the white coat was Jeong A-un, the one I'd seen in the records room before. That psychopath. And the guy tied up over there... I don't know who he is.
Agh, what do I do? What do I do? Should I just run away? Even without the fruit, if I just sell the information I could still make money... My head spun through calculations at high speed.
No matter how much information I handed over, it probably wouldn't match the value of that fruit—the energy source for a massive research facility...
... "Okay...!"
Having made up my mind, I pulled the stun gun from my waist. It's all or nothing. I'll just snatch that and run. Yeah, that'll work perfectly.
Electricity crackled from the stun gun.
"That trap will lose its effect in five minutes, so you'll be able to move soon. The fruit goes right here..."
The psychopath was about to set the fruit down. Now? It's now!
"...!!"
I burst out from the bushes and sprinted toward the fruit. Then I swung the stun gun at Jeong A-un, who turned to look at me—
"Kyaaak?!"
"Ugh?!"
A huge tree suddenly sprouted beneath our feet. Aah, seriously, what the hell is this now?! Both me and Dr. Jeong A-un were thrown backward.
"Ugh, uuu...!"
My whole body hurts so much. Shit, I should've just run away...!
While I was barely pushing myself up, a round object rolled right in front of my eyes. The beautifully glowing light-green fruit filled my entire field of vision. With no time to be surprised, I snatched it up instantly. Then I stood and ran.
What a lucky break!
"Stop right there."
Jeong A-un, who had recovered quickly, fired something. It flew past my leg and embedded in the ground. Then—boom.
"Kyaaaak?!"
Whatever had buried itself in the ground sent out a shockwave that knocked me over backward.
"Owww...!"
"That wasn't meant for you."
Jeong A-un approached me where I had fallen. Wow, he looks even scarier up close.
"D-don't come!!"
"I usually prefer resolving things through conversation, but right now I'm a little angry. Who are you?"
The man swept his hair back and pointed his gun barrel at me. If it had come to this...!
"D-don't come!! I'll eat this!"
"What?! Hey, fuck, don't eat that!!"
The target of my threat, Jeong A-un, didn't even flinch, but the man tied up behind him suddenly shouted.
"...Huh? Puhuhu..."
"What's so funny? Does it look like a joke? I'm really going to eat—!!"
"Yes, go ahead and eat it."
"...What?"
"Do you truly have the courage to eat that? It doesn't look like it to me. Here, if you hand it over now, I'll resolve this through conversation."
Jeong A-un strode toward me. My heart began pounding like crazy. The distance between us was almost gone. I rolled my eyes rapidly, looking back and forth between him and the fruit.
"...I don't know anymore!!"
Right before his hand could reach me, I sank my teeth into the fruit I was holding.