Became a Failed Experimental Subject Novel - Chapter 31

“No… Not an alias, your name.”

“Park Deundeun.”

“Hmm… right. Well, between us, human names aren’t really that important anyway. Wow, this feels strange. To meet another experimental subject out here, in human form.”

It was the same for me. I never imagined I’d meet another experimental subject outside the lab. Now, I wasn’t injected with stimulants, I wasn’t in monster form, and I wasn’t being forced to fight. Goo Seoryong awkwardly withdrew her extended hand and folded her arms.

“So? Did Deundeun just come here to earn money in the arena?”

“I came to find a stolen item.”

“Hmm? What did you have stolen? Who would dare?”

“An alloy bracelet… no, a necklace. It’s a memento from my parents.”

“Oh?”

I saw no reason to hide my purpose, so I stated it. Goo Seoryong’s eyes widened in surprise.

“CXI has something like that? How interesting, a memento from your parents.”

“You don’t?”

“Which one? Memento? Parents? I have neither.”

“Were you born without parents?”

“I’m from an orphanage, anyway… A memento from your parents would be a good reason to come all this way. So, why the arena?”

“They demanded an admission fee.”

“Aha~ So, you entered the arena to earn the admission fee? Ahaha! That’s a funny story, going to the arena just to earn 100,000 won.”

Goo Seoryong laughed heartily, then gradually her laughter subsided, and she snapped her fingers, snap, snap. It seemed to be just a habit, not a trigger for her power.

“If it was stolen, it’s probably in the black market behind here.”

“I don’t think it would be there. The one who stole it said he would put it around someone’s neck.”

When I repeated exactly what the ‘worse thief’ had said, Goo Seoryong’s expression subtly contorted.

“He probably intended to give it as a gift to a favorite prostitute…? Do you know anything about the thief’s characteristics?”

“He seemed to be a loan shark.”

“I’ll find him and bring him to you. As for the corpse, you can dispose of it, eat it, whatever you want.”

I nodded at her rather monstrous kindness. Goo Seoryong then stared at me, seemingly lost in thought. “…But what do you plan to do after you find your item? Do you have anywhere to go?”

“I plan to sleep in the park.”

Hearing my answer, Goo Seoryong’s eyes gleamed like a snake stalking its prey.

“So you have nowhere to go and no money, right? Is this how they say it? ‘What a windfall’?”

“Do you like tteok (rice cake)?”

“Aha! I like it in many senses. Do you like tteok too?”

“If it’s available, I’ll eat it.”

“Hmm, then I think we’d get along really well, wouldn’t we?”

Goo Seoryong moved closer to me, adjusting her body’s dimensions. I didn’t feel any hostility, so I let her place her hand on my waist. Goo Seoryong quietly said, “From what I can tell, you didn’t come here knowing about me… But if you’ve come all the way to Kuryong Fortress, you know what kind of place this is, right?”

“This seems to be your nest.”

“Nest! Ahahaha! That’s a word that only makes sense between us! I like it very much. Yes, this is my nest. And… anything you want will be here.”

“Anything I want.”

“Yes, whether it’s tteok, food, drugs, anything pleasurable.”

Goo Seoryong placed her other hand on my shoulder, her softened arm coiling around me like a snake.

“How about it? I think we’d get along well in many ways, and we seem to have a lot to ask each other?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Since we met by chance like this, how about we just talk? I’ll give you a tour of my nest while we do.”

“Sounds troublesome.”

“Oh, I like that even more? I hate foolish men who follow along happily when I try to lure them.”

“It tickles.”

I grabbed and twisted G3’s finger, which was tickling my chest like a worm. At that, G3 detached one finger like a lizard’s tail, rapidly regenerated a new finger, and pulled away from me.

“Hoo… And I like violent men even more.”

Goo Seoryong licked the blood from her newly grown finger with her forked tongue. I quietly looked down at the twitching finger in my hand, then swallowed hard. It was getting to be dinner time… Seeing this, Goo Seoryong clutched her stomach and laughed.

“Ahahaha! Right, it’s time to be hungry, isn’t it? How about it? There’s plenty of delicious food inside. How about having a meal?”

“You’re giving me food?”

“As much as you want. You can eat until you’re full. If you wait while eating, I’ll even bring that thief you mentioned.”

“Hmm.”

Free food is always good. I could get my necklace after eating. Thinking it wasn’t bad, I nodded, and Goo Seoryong smiled brightly and clapped her hands. At that, the men in suits who were waiting outside came in.

“L-Lady…! This, this person?”

“He’s my guest. Hmm, you could say he’s like a comrade? Someone I knew from before, but he’s changed so much I didn’t recognize him right away?”

“Lady’s comrade…?”

“Yes. Tell them to clear out the entire third floor because we’re going to eat.”

“But, the guests now are…”

“You idiot! Don’t you think Lady knows that?! We’ll clear it out right away, Lady.”

“And you there? You guys, find the loan shark among those who came in today who has an alloy chain necklace and bring him here.”

“Yes, yes!”

As the men in suits scrambled out of the tent, Goo Seoryong emitted a wave, signaling me to follow. I followed Goo Seoryong, and she led me to a building in a corner of the open space where the arena was located. We took the external elevator, which led to the 3rd floor rooftop of the 2-story building labeled “Management Office.” Up there, several men in suits were subduing some noisy people.
***

A Feast and a Familiar Face
“Damn it! How much money have I spent here, and I get treated like this?!”

“Tell Goo Seoryong to come out, not some low-level grunt like you!”

“Shut up and get down already! We said we’d give you your money back!”

“Oh my? That’s strange? I clearly told them to clear everything out.”

“L-Lady…! That is, right now, just…!”

“Really, how embarrassing. What should I do? Sorry, I’ll clean it up right away, okay?”

Goo Seoryong, seeing that things weren’t yet tidied up, made a clicking sound with her shoes as she walked over and snapped her fingers. At that, the men in suits and the customers who were there rolled their eyes back and collapsed, twitching in place. This was the power of Phantasmagoria and Illusion. From the smell, it seemed she was making them feel the sensation of suffocating in fire. Goo Seoryong kicked the collapsed people on the ground, pushing them off the 3rd floor.

“Kyaaaah!”

“W-what?!”

“Someone’s falling!”

Screams were heard from the ground as the collapsed people fell, but they quickly subsided, drowned out by the loud music. Goo Seoryong sat at the cleared table, motioned for the other men in suits to come closer, and extended her hand. At that, one of the men in suits from the bar area brought over a menu and handed it to her.

“Bring everything from here to here. And you guys? From now on, no listening.”

Snap. She snapped her fingers again, and the power that made sounds inaudible to all humans present was unleashed. The men in suits, affected by the power called Silence Curse, began to bring food and drinks without a word.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you? Don’t worry, eat up quickly! We just got a decent chef a while ago.”

“Hmm.”

I sat across from Goo Seoryong and began to eat. The food was surprisingly delicious and astonished me. I grabbed the ankle portion of a whole roasted pig leg in my hand and took a large bite of meat. Goo Seoryong, who was twirling pasta with a fork and spoon, laughed loudly.

“Ahaha! You must have been very hungry, huh? You’re not starving, are you?”

“I eat enough.”

“From now on, if there’s anything you want to eat, just tell me. I’ll let you eat as much as you want.”

“I don’t fall for such lies.”

“Oh, it’s not a lie.”

“Even at restaurants that claim unlimited refills of rice, they say you can’t add more after about 20 refills.”

“Huh…? Refills? Ahaha! I’m different from those cheap restaurants.”

Goo Seoryong rested her chin on the table and watched me eat, smacking her lips.

“If CXI asked me to feed him, I think I could feed him as much as he wanted.”

No way. I recalled past experiences and internally denied Goo Seoryong’s words. Even restaurants that claim to be truly unlimited, really, truly unlimited, will eventually say “no more” and refuse to serve rice. Society is indeed this cold. As I continued to tear at the meat without answering, Goo Seoryong seemed to realize I wasn’t falling for her words and changed the subject.

“It’s not just food here; there are also lots of fun things to do. You’ve already seen the arena, right? The black market also has many interesting items to see, and the atmosphere is good too.”

“It’s noisy.”

“Ahahaha! That’s because of the music coming from the outdoor club, right? But it’s not bad once you get used to it, is it? This vibration, isn’t it just a pleasant vibration?”

When I spoke up to Goo Seoryong, who kept bothering me while I ate, she pointed a finger behind me. The playground next to the arena in the central open space of the apartment complex was being used as an outdoor club. From a distance, it was filled with people dancing to the music.

“Looks like a monster’s wave.”

“It’s not ultra-low frequency, but it is low-frequency. How about it? It’s made to sound similar to the sounds monsters make when they’re courting.”

“Now that you mention it, it is similar.”

“Oh, you know about that? Have you been courted~? I thought CXI was quite young, when? Or after you came out?”

“I’ve only witnessed it.”

“Really~? Hehe, doesn’t listening to it make your body feel hot? It seems to have a slight effect on humans too. For fellow monsters, it’s like whispering words of seduction into your ear, isn’t it?”

“Not particularly.”

I spoke blandly and then noticed humans stripping and copulating among the dancers in the club area. Curious about the sight, I asked Goo Seoryong with pure wonder.

“Can a monster’s wave affect humans in ways other than fear?”

“Hmm~? That? That’s just people high on drugs.”

Hearing that, I saw people holding bundles of cash and handing them to the men in suits, and the men giving inexplicable paper scraps to those who paid. So that was drugs? The people who put the paper scraps on their tongues lost focus, panted, and laughed incessantly.

“Interested? How about it? Want to try? If you do about ten sheets at once, it even affects monsters like us a little.”

“Not interested.”

“Hehe… If you want to eat tteok later, you can eat it with that. It’ll feel really good.”

“Doesn’t sound very tasty.”

Putting drugs on tteok to eat it, how barbaric… The only thing that should be put on tteok is honey. No, maybe even soy sauce… I bit into the bone of the meat, which served as a handle, and responded to Goo Seoryong, who kept bothering me.

“Have you ever played card games? Want to go to the casino after we eat?”

“Is the casino that noisy place downstairs?”

“That’s right! The underground casino. Just watching people go crazy there is quite enjoyable, you know? As a monster, you’d know that intense human emotions like screams and cheers are quite sweet just by licking them.”

That’s true, I nodded and chugged the carbonated drink. Realizing it was alcohol and not a drink, I frowned. Goo Seoryong held up the bottle next to her, showing it to me.

“Ahaha! How is it? Is it tasty? It’s called Dom Pérignon; it’s quite expensive even before the Age of Monsters…”

“I don’t like alcohol.”

“Hehe, really? Well~ it wasn’t that tasty for me either.”

“Do you have Coke?”

When I said I didn’t like it, Goo Seoryong immediately inverted the bottle, pouring out its contents. Then, she picked up a can of Coke next to her and tossed it my way. I caught the glass bottle of Coke, popped the cap open with my finger, and emptied its contents in one go.

“Hmm, it seems you’ve been out of the lab for a while?”

“Not for long.”

Goo Seoryong, seeing that, pointed out that I was quite skilled at controlling my strength. Suddenly, I wondered how Goo Seoryong ended up here instead of the lab. I put down the meat I was tearing at and asked, “How long have you been out?”

“Oh, is that your first question to a woman? Hmm… Let’s see…”

Goo Seoryong raised her fist and, as if to show off, extended her index and middle fingers. Then, she stuck out her long tongue and pressed its forked tip against the side of her fingers.

“About, four years? And you?”

“Hmm.”

I recalled the day I woke up in City W. From then until now, a time that was short if you looked at it one way, and long if you looked at it another.

“Less than half a year.”

“…That’s all?”

Goo Seoryong spoke as if dumbfounded and then threw a wine glass at me. When I caught the wine glass and chugged its contents, Goo Seoryong’s bewildered gaze intensified.

“Ha, this is unbelievable…?”