Breaking the Eggshell (Eggshell Destruction)
Breaking the Eggshell (Eggshell Destruction)
The week that followed was not free.
Every morning upon opening my eyes, I took the drugs Zenon-nim had bestowed, and was dragged from room to room, having a few drops of blood drawn.
In one laboratory, they smeared my blood onto a refrigerator-sized golem and made it move around this way and that.
In another laboratory, they dripped my blood onto a magic circle drawn on the floor and observed the changes all day long.
A change in the repetitive routine came while the magic circle experiment was in progress.
A researcher came running in frantic haste and delivered unsettling news.
"Zenon-nim! The Department of Genesis bastards who went to Brighton City have been taken down."
The researchers conducting the experiment began to stir.
"Crazy sons of bitches. Why of all places did they have to cause trouble in Brighton?"
"What about the ritual? We're running low on test subjects, aren't we?"
"Stop for now. What major experiments are left?"
"Isn't this one pretty important too?"
"Hey. Go to the Magic Engineering Department and ask how many essential experiments are left."
Zenon-nim moved his steps with a composed face.
"I'll hear about it in the conference room. Summon the department heads."
Naturally, I followed Zenon-nim.
The conference room we arrived at.
One by one, the heads of each department appeared, except for the old man who was the head of the Department of Genesis.
Zenon-nim waited until they were all seated, then opened his mouth.
"First, let's check on progress. Report in order."
The department heads glanced at each other warily and reported.
"We're about halfway done. Equipment inspection is finished, all that's left is test operation."
"We're similar. We only need to test the scrolls, so no test subjects required."
"We only have clinical trials left. We need at least seven more people. In terms of progress, it's 80%, but we can't proceed like this."
"Same here. Once clinical trials are done, we're finished."
"We're done."
"We can wrap up within half a day once we receive the equipment from the Magic Engineering Department."
From the reports alone, things seemed to be going smoothly.
But the faces of those reporting were grave.
The department heads looked anxious and held back their words.
Finally, the short, stout man from the Magic Engineering Department opened his mouth with a look as if resigned to death.
"It might be a solution to pack up the equipment and head to the Eastern Base."
Only then did others begin to chime in.
"That's right. There's no way those Department of Genesis bastards followed proper discipline. If the city's suppression force storms in, there's no way to stop them."
"Probably even the Guard will come. They say half of them are currently in Brighton."
Silence fell.
After a moment, the words Zenon-nim uttered disappointed not only the gathered department heads but also me.
"We can stop the suppression force."
Whether we can stop them or not isn't the issue.
The problem is that the majority believe we can't.
Zenon-nim, who didn't understand that, chose the worst possible option.
"Don't stir up confusion with pointless worries. Return and continue your experiments."
No explanation, not even an effort to boost morale.
By the time I finished my day and returned to my room, the only thing I had confirmed was the gradually darkening expressions on the researchers' faces.
Late at night.
It was only natural for the department head of Magic Engineering to visit.
"I have something to talk about. Could you open the door?"
I sharpened my senses and identified the object outside the door.
The short, stout man's physique.
A small mana stone inside his pocket.
A pistol he seemed to have brought for self-defense.
Nothing that could threaten me.
I opened the door.
Deureureureuk
The revolving door turned, and the short, stout man, his shoulders slumped, stepped inside.
With an anxious face, he glanced at me and asked.
"Did Zenon-nim say anything?"
Feigning innocence, I replied.
"Like what?"
"Like report if anyone visits..."
"I didn't hear anything."
"What about the ritual?"
"All I heard was what was said in the conference room earlier."
He let out a sigh of relief, sat down on a chair, and gave an awkward smile.
"Must be tough. Zenon-nim is so taciturn."
It wasn't particularly tough.
The lack of explanations was compensated by the information I gathered while freely wandering around, and since the kitchen was right in front, even if Zenon-nim forgot to bring meals, I wouldn't starve.
But judging by his demeanor, the short, stout man seemed to think I was around my outward age.
"Yes. I'm a little scared."
The short, stout man's eyes flickered.
"Is that so."
He clasped his hands together as if in prayer, fidgeted his fingers for a long time, then slowly opened his mouth.
"I want to help you."
What followed wasn't a bad proposal.
Since I would lose my life once the ritual began, he suggested we seize the right timing and escape together.
No reason to refuse.
"Yes. I'll do that."
The short, stout man smiled comfortably and told me when we'd next meet.
As he opened the door, I bit my finger and drew a little blood.
With that, I made a rope and hung it over the threshold.
As he stepped out, the short, stout man tripped over the rope I had set and fell heavily.
I rushed over.
"Are you okay?"
The short, stout man looked at the threshold with a bewildered face, but I had already withdrawn the rope.
"Uh... uh, yeah. I'm fine."
Perhaps worried about the noise from his fall, he hurriedly got up and left without looking back.
I returned to the room.
Pulled the candlestick to close the door.
The next day, a new task was added to the researchers' daily routine.
It was to expand the base's defense facilities in preparation for a possible suppression force attack.
In the hall, gargoyle statues that move upon detecting hostility were placed, and in each room, combat golems shaped like humans were supplied—at least one, up to three.
A mobile squad to be deployed to the front lines in an emergency was also organized.
Zenon-nim gathered them in the conference room and had them fire the guns made by the Magic Engineering Department.
Tadadadang
Tadadang
The sound of gunfire wasn't much different from what I had heard in my previous life, but there was no muzzle flash at all.
'So explosions using mana stones don't produce muzzle flash...'
Interesting information.
I grew curious about the principle by which the mana within a mana stone is converted into energy.
When Zenon-nim began explaining tactics to the squad members, I quietly slipped out of the conference room.
I headed to the accounting office first.
The woman I had tasked with a job was bustling about like the other researchers.
She was burning a stack of documents she had carried in a bonfire lit in a corner, piling up boxes delivered from the Magic Engineering Department in another corner—watching her work diligently made me a little uneasy.
Just then, the department manager appeared.
As his sharp eyes scanned his subordinates, it was a stroke of luck worthy of a lottery that the woman passed in front of him.
I bit my tongue slightly to draw blood.
Like spitting, I shot the blood, nudging the pile of documents the woman was carrying.
Udangtang
The woman lost her balance and fell, and the documents that flew from her hands struck the department manager.
The department manager raised a cloud of dust as he crashed to the floor.
Then he stood up in fury.
"Can't you be more careful?!!"
Startled, the woman prostrated herself flat.
"S-sorry."
The department manager's subsequent reaction let me know that the woman had carried out my suggestion very well.
"You filthy bitch. If it weren't for the ritual..."
Then he spun around and entered his own room. After confirming that, I resumed walking.
That evening.
I asked Zenon-nim, who was finishing his day's work with alchemy as always.
"What do you keep making every day?"
I didn't expect an answer.
"Medicine."
For a moment, I was dumbfounded.
'Since when did he answer so readily?'
I scratched my head in confusion, and then an even more bewildering explanation followed.
"You won't have to feel this anymore, but the human body is originally a consumable item. It's designed to bear children before it wears out, raise them well before it breaks down, and once it starts breaking down, to behave badly so that precious people won't get their hearts hurt."
Not only was the sudden detailed explanation startling, but the sentence itself was incomprehensible, amplifying my bewilderment.
"Why does behaving badly prevent their hearts from getting hurt?"
The subsequent exchange felt familiar.
"Because you have to sever affection."
"Does behaving badly sever affection?"
"Yes."
"If a precious person behaves badly, doesn't it hurt?"
"It does hurt."
"Then isn't it meaningless?"
"The intensity of the pain is different."
"How different?"
"I wonder."
It felt like talking to Park Pro, or perhaps to that tomboy girl I had briefly associated with in my early childhood.
So I understood.
'When the one leaving behaves badly, and the more affection wanes, it does hurt less.'
I realized that fact because of the regret I now felt.
"Are you being kind to me now because you don't want to die?"
At my question, Zenon-nim let out a hollow laugh.
"Maybe so."
Blood tears flowed from his eyes.
Only when those blood tears pooled on the ground and formed a slushy puddle did Zenon-nim turn to look at me.
"Would you wait? What I'm making now is an anesthetic."
I smiled bitterly.
"The test subjects don't get anesthetics, do they?"
The puddle turned into a blade,
And a hole was pierced through Zenon-nim's forehead.
I dropped the pistol I had stolen from the short, stout man last night beside Zenon-nim.
The blood reabsorbed back into my body.
Teolseok
I smiled in satisfaction at Zenon-nim's corpse lying on the ground.
'Good. I'm getting used to it now.'
I hid my presence even more meticulously.
To the point where I no longer needed to hold my breath,
I became a presence fainter than the moss in a tunnel and advanced toward the dark corridor.