16. Obtaining a Human Form
"Urgh... uurrghhh...!"
Inside the transparent glass tube, pressure crushes my body. Suspicious liquid mixed with thousands of chemicals floods into me. It's not physical pressure—magical force squeezes my flesh and soul. My guts twist, my spirit shreds apart, but I have to endure. Endure it. Rewiring a living being's structure can't be easy. I'd braced for this pain.
"Lion, hang in there just a bit longer. Almost done."
Doctor slurps her iced Americano and fiddles with the panel, looking utterly relaxed.
"It'll hurt like hell, but you won't die, so don't worry. Even if you feel like you want to, you won't—so keep your head straight."
She's talking like it's not her ass on the line! "When I get out, you're dead!"
"That's no way to talk to the medical professional performing your procedure. Patients don't mouth off to doctors like that."
She slams a big red button, and the pressure on my body doubles. Gaaahhh! My body! It's flattening out!
"Oops, my bad."
Calling someone performing medicine a "medical professional"? Can I even call her that right now? Limbs splayed wide, I float in the chemicals, glaring daggers at Doctor.
"Sorry. Haven't done biotech in ages, so I slipped up. But no major issues, so you're good."
Can't even smack her now. She said that on purpose, no doubt. She whined she was done with biotech forever, but I begged until she caved. No choice—gotta suck it up.
"Uurrghhh...!"
I grit my teeth till they might crack, riding out the agony. Endure, endure, endure. Even when a needle thicker than a pencil plunges into my spine. Even as mystery drugs flood my veins. Like steel hammered on an anvil. Like hide toughing through tanning.
All this for mesugaki Tyranno and our sweet, lovey-dovey pure-love baby-making bliss!
The bone-grinding pain drags on. How much time passes?
"Hey, wake up."
"Nngh..."
I haul myself up from the surgical bed in the lab's center. Lying here as a cat feels like I'm at the vet. While I was out, Doctor must've wrapped up—she's got a cleaning bot scrubbing tools and the glass tube, tidying everything.
"You were out maybe 20 minutes? Not long."
Dragging my aching body, I ask her, "How'd the surgery go? Success?"
"Of course. Who do you think I am?"
Fair. Her skills are legit. She grabs the chart, scans it, and nods.
"Surgery was a total success. Biotech's been a while, so it wasn't easy, but we pulled it off."
"Thanks. Sorry for asking something so tough."
Sorry for pushing her back into biotech after that incident. Grateful she did it anyway. Doctor was once a rising star in Darkness—a scientist at the pinnacle, director of the Darkness Weapons Development Lab, the highest post for researchers. No way someone like that gets demoted to our crumbling Korean branch.
She shone there too, mastering every field, but especially biotech with organisms. That talent brought disaster. Back then, the lab secretly pursued a forbidden project: life creation. The Tyrant Project—crafting perfect beings from superior DNA for clone soldiers. Doctor led it.
They poured in every resource, birthing the first clone: Tyranno. Barely able to walk or talk, fetus-like in a tube—but still, a life created. The lab partied. They'd nailed a top-secret directive from HQ. Careers were set to skyrocket.
But not Doctor. She saw Tyranno—with emotions, intellect—not as a clone, but an intelligent being like us. From then on, she sabotaged the clone research. Falsified results, forged charts, filed fake reports to sow chaos. No project survives a turned leader. They couldn't mass-produce, couldn't even make a successor to Tyranno. Tyrant Project: scrapped.
Doctor took full blame, stepped down as director, got shipped to the Korean branch.
"Don't sweat it. I've always felt guilty dumping such a burden on you. Here, drink this. It'll stabilize you."
I take the chocolate milk and sip. "Taking care of Tyranno was rough, huh?"
Tyranno, byproduct of the scrapped project, nearly got trashed. Doctor smuggled him out, finished him in her personal lab a year ago. Then asked me to look after him. Never said why—guilt, probably. That's my take.
"At first, yeah. Cursed you out plenty, honestly."
I remember our first meeting.
-Hehe, what's this shitcat?♥ Loser cat♥
- Butterfly stew, light it up♥
-Cats don't like cheese♥ Here, my homemade cheese maggots♥
Even fresh from the tube, Doctor tuned him for adult body and smarts. But out popped a mesugaki beyond imagination.
"No wonder my ears itched so much."
"But living together, going places—we bonded. And now? I know I like Tyranno."
Even with "loser" tacked to every sentence. Short and frail. A clone or not.
He opens his heart to me daily. Gets underestimated by others, clueless to it.
That's how it grows on you. Cohabiting breeds affection; blink, and it's love.
"Mesugaki? So what. I'm no human—I'm a beast. If anything, I'm worse than Tyranno. I just want to swallow his seed and birth kids that look like us."
"A beast, huh. Yeah... beast it is. Never dreamed it'd go this way when I handed him off. Wild."
"Me neither."
I clear my throat, shifting the mood. "So, how do I transform into a human?"
"Nothing fancy. You could already shift cat-to-lion. I just expanded it with extras for human mode. Try lion mode first."
"Got it."
I tense up—flesh ripples beneath my skin. Skeleton and muscles bulk up; claws sharp enough for steel sprout from paws. A massive black mane sprouts at my nape; eyes sharpen, lion-like. Bones crack and grind, reforming. Skin splits, then knits as my body swells. Done—I check the mirror. No cute kitten; a majestic black lion stands.
"Grroowl..."
A low bark rumbles out like cave echoes with hot breath.
"Whoa, scary stuff. Cat-to-lion's fine anyway. Mechanism's the same, so lion-to-human should let cat-to-human too. Give it a shot."
Eyes shut, I focus. A foreign sensation hits—not like before. Instinct screams: human switch. Body shifts. Savage beast fades to human shape. Black fur recedes; limbs elongate. Claws become fingers and toes.
"Ooh, experiment's a win."
Mirror shows no lion, no cat—a nude human woman on all fours. I stand, inspect myself. Snow-white skin; shaggy mane-like hair drapes my chest. Eyes gleam eerie lion-yellow. Long, slim limbs evoke a sleek herbivore model more than lion. But those piercing eyes and untamed aura scream pack alpha.
Breasts smaller than that idiot blonde-tanned Chae Sua's, but hips and legs thicker, sturdier.
"Ooh, wild."
I flex my arms, wiggle ten nimble fingers. No more begging to open soda cans.
"Dunno fashion, but you look like a magazine model."
Doctor's verdict. "What's this, though?"
Black, round lion ears perch atop my head. Touch them—tail in my ass crack wags wildly.
"Beast ears and tail. Ears are lion, tail's pitch-black cat. Dunno why. Aesthetic, maybe? Looks prettier."
"Meaning?"
"Didn't design the human look myself. Just added the mode. Your subconscious—and genetics—shaped it. Ears and tail: your beast identity. Slender model build? Probably rivalry with big-titted Chae Sua."
Chae Sua. Her name twists my gut. That nobody dares rub against our Tyranno? Watch me. With this gorgeous human form, I'll kick her aside, seduce Tyranno, make babies.
"Thanks, Doctor. Lucky to have you as a friend."
I glomp her tight.
"Y-yeah, sure. Uh-huh... Sigh."
Her voice sounds off, reluctant—but imagination.
"I'll snag Tyranno for sure, pop out kids, live happily."
Release her, reaffirm. "Wedding? You're invited."
"Wedding... marriage. Yeah, good luck. You two. Knock it outta the park..."
"Doctor, you overdid it? You look pale."
"Huh? Nah. Nothing. Just... tired. Yeah. I'm crashing—head out, don't mind me."
"Roger!"
"Wait—put some clothes on first!"
Clothes? "Too stuffy!"
"What? Hey! Hey! You crazy bitch, come back! Clothes are a must! Hey!"
-Meanwhile, Tyranno-
"Nnguuuuhhh! Th-that haaands!~"
-"Don't liick... hiiik!"
-"Ooguh, oohhhgoooh!"