Became a Failed Experimental Subject Novel - Chapter 32

“Wasn’t it thrown for me to drink?”

“No, that’s not it, hmm, it’s fine, I actually like it better, it means you’re a man with high adaptability… Ouch.”

Goo Seoryong nudged my foot under the table. Annoyed, and wondering what she was doing, I stepped on her foot, telling her not to bother me. Goo Seoryong again flexibly shifted her foot and pulled it away, then wrapped one of her legs around mine.

“Why do you keep wrapping yourself around me?”

“Don’t you know what this means? You’re so innocent.”

I felt no hostility from her, so I decided to ignore Goo Seoryong’s leg and devoured the newly served barbecue in five bites. At that, Goo Seoryong placed another piece of meat in front of me and said, “So, how did CXI escape?”

“I woke up in City W.”

“Huh? No? What? You mean you just opened your eyes and were here?”

“That’s right.”

“What, then, discarded?”

“They did call me a ‘failure’.”

“CXI is a failure…? Did they succeed in creating a stronger monster than you?”

“I don’t know.”

Even right before I killed the researchers, the guys in the lab would put other monsters, injected with stimulants, in front of me, but I never felt particularly threatened by any of them.

“Then why did they discard you?”

“Probably because I didn’t listen to them.”

“Hmm, I guess, no matter how sharp a knife is, you can’t use it without a handle… Still, I’m a little disappointed. I thought CXI escaped like I did.”

“Did you escape yourself?”

“That’s right. Curious about how?”

I nodded, and Goo Seoryong made a subtle expression, then got up and sat on my thigh. “It’s nothing much~ Researchers are human after all, right? Kids who only studied until wrinkles appeared on their faces are hopeless when it comes to women. Seduce them, tame them, ‘I’ll listen to anything you say, let me out of here, I love you~’ Then, oh my, they start listening to me little by little. I subtly mind-controlled high-ranking researchers who listened well to me, and then one by one, the other researchers… And when I came to my senses, ta-da! Experimental subject Goo Seoryong had already been sent outside.”

“You were lucky.”

“Oh, wouldn’t you say it’s skill, not luck? Seduction is a woman’s weapon, cough…”

“Don’t touch me.”

“L-Lady!”

I grabbed Goo Seoryong’s neck as she tried to wrap her arms around my head. Immediately, the men in suits who were serving around us began to channel their powers, but Goo Seoryong held up a single finger to her lips, and they all stopped moving.

“Hmm, CXI isn’t the type who likes to be touched much?”

“No, I don’t care.”

“Then what is this? My Deundeun, won’t you tell me why you’re upset?”

“Your hand has an unpleasant smell.”

“Oh, how sharp.”

Goo Seoryong took her hand away from my head and flicked the venom dripping from her fingertips onto the floor. I carefully observed Goo Seoryong’s fingertips.

“I was just playing a little, remembering old times while we talked. I apologize. It wasn’t even a fatal poison, just something to make you… want to listen to me a little more?”

“I only tolerate it once.”

That was the price I was willing to pay for the meal from Goo Seoryong. As I crunched on the bones of the meat, having pushed Goo Seoryong away, she spoke with a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Ohoho… What to do? I want you more and more…”

“Lady… I apologize for interrupting your meal.”

“Oh, it seems he’s found it? Bring it over.”

Just then, a man in a suit came up the stairs on one side of the rooftop and approached the table, bowing his head. I quietly watched the loan shark who followed him. The loan shark, his eyelids swollen as if he’d been beaten, looked at Goo Seoryong and me sitting next to her, eyes wide in surprise. The loan shark was made to kneel before me by the men in suits, his head pressed to the ground.

“I-I’m sorry…! I didn’t know you were important people! My, my disrespect…!”

“The necklace?”

“I, that, I only received it as a tribute…! I didn’t steal it! I…!”

“Sweetie? Do you not understand the question? I asked where the necklace is.”

“Answer properly!”

As the loan shark tried to state his innocence instead of the necklace’s whereabouts, Goo Seoryong motioned to a man in a suit. Immediately, the man grabbed the loan shark’s head and slammed it back to the ground. Blood flowed from the loan shark’s broken front teeth.

“Gah! Kuh-hee-eeh… It-it wasn’t me…! It wasn’t me…!”

“The necklace?”

Seeing him continue to avoid giving a proper answer, I stood up and crouched in front of the loan shark. The loan shark, meeting my gaze, trembled with fear. He babbled with a mouth full of bloody foam, and only then did he give a proper answer.

“Th-th-th-that… I-I’m sorry…! It’s already, Min Ji-hee, that woman… I gave it to her…”

“Who is Min Ji-hee?”

“Min Ji-hee… she’s the caretaker of Building 108.”

“He must have given the necklace as payment for a prostitute? I told you, don’t accept anything but cash.”

“I apologize. We will re-educate them…”

“Go find Min Ji-hee and drag her here too. And check if she has the necklace.”

Saying that, Goo Seoryong let venom gather on her fingertips again and approached the loan shark. Feeling a faint killing intent from her subtly upturned lips, I stopped Goo Seoryong.

“Are you going to kill him?”

“Huh? Of course? He stole an important guest’s item, didn’t he?”

“That’s excessive punishment for theft.”

“E-ah, aaah!”

Before Goo Seoryong could act, I grabbed both of the loan shark’s hands and crushed them. Crunch, crunch, crackle. With a sound similar to chewing pork belly filled with crunchy cartilage, the loan shark’s crushed hands hung limply. He screamed, then rolled his eyes back and fainted. I stood up and looked at Goo Seoryong, saying, “People say that if you steal, you receive the punishment of having your fingers cut off.”

That was what people said among the laborers I met, when one of them laid hands on another’s wallet. This much punishment for theft is enough. As I left the unconscious loan shark and stood, Goo Seoryong looked puzzled and said, “Why didn’t you just kill him? He stole your precious item.”

“This is enough.”

“Punishment is for those who will learn from it and change their ways, and the kids in Kuryong Fortress aren’t that cute.”

“I don’t like to repeat myself.”

I, the one directly involved, said this was enough. I glared at her, conveying that I would be quite displeased if she tried to kill him unnecessarily now, and Goo Seoryong extended her long tongue and licked her fingertips.

“Hmm… Alright. Goodness, how can you smell so much like a male?”

“That can’t be right. I showered today.”

“Ahaang…? What does that mean? Are you trying to seduce me?”

“What are you talking about?”

I returned to the table and picked up meat with my blood-stained hands. The men in suits grew even more fearful seeing me eat meat with both hands. Their gazes were fixed on my hands, but I paid no mind and ate my food. For a monster, human blood is like chicken stock that enhances the flavor of food.

“That was a good meal.”

“Finished already? There’s still alcohol and dessert.”

“The necklace comes first.”

“Hmm, I was inconsiderate. A precious item won’t be overlooked if it’s in another woman’s hands.”

“By the way, what’s dessert?”

“Do you want some?”

I weighed the necklace and dessert in my mind, then nodded. I could always get the necklace, but a free dessert was like an ice cream offered by a foreman after a hard day’s work; if you didn’t take it when offered, it would vanish like smoke.

“Ice cream, cake, and… ohoho, chewy and sweet tteok filled with honey water?”

“Tteok.”

Suddenly, the taste of honey tteok from my childhood came to mind, and I swallowed the saliva that pooled in my mouth. At that, Goo Seoryong grinned and made a strange sound.

“Ah-ha! As expected, seeing blood makes you crave things, doesn’t it? How about it? Want to go eat dessert together? We can just tell that Min Ji-hee woman to bring the necklace herself.”

“Hmm… alright.”

Perhaps it was the smell of blood increasing my appetite, but I thought it wasn’t a bad idea and accepted Goo Seoryong’s offer.

“Ohoho… Good, then, follow me. You guys? When you get the necklace, wash it clean and bring it up.”

“Yes!”

“Why don’t you wipe your hands? Or do you enjoy leaving handprints?”

Goo Seoryong immediately stuck close to me, offering to guide the way, and as we entered the elevator, she pulled out something like a tissue and offered it to me. I took it, wiped my hands, which were dirty with blood and grease, then tossed the tissue away as if it were trash.

“Oh, I was saving that… Well, it’s fine.”

“She’s using Lady’s handkerchief so carelessly…”

“Ugh… Lady is with a tall, handsome, well-built, superhuman guy like that… Damn it, what an unfair world.”

The men in suits, seeing this, whispered softly and followed behind. I followed Goo Seoryong’s guidance towards the apartment building. Inside the apartment, I sensed the presence of countless people, and animalistic cries echoed from various places.

“Is this entire apartment engaged in copulation?”

“Hehe, it’s that kind of place, you see. This is Kuryong Fortress’s brothel. A place where anyone can take a partner for money. Of course… except me.”

“So humans also copulate for money, it seems.”

“Oh my, have you perhaps never… Ah-ha, I’m getting excited, aren’t I?”

Goo Seoryong pressed unpleasantly close to me, rubbing her body against mine. Since she wasn’t using her claws this time, I let her be and followed where she led me. We stopped in front of an apartment. The shared entrance alone was different from other places, with dragon and snake sculptures placed at its entrance.

“We’re going to the room, so don’t disturb us. Oh, the necklace… If someone finds it, tell them to send only the necklace up.”

“Understood.”

“Then… shall we go up?”

As we entered the strangely sticky elevator, Goo Seoryong intertwined her arm with mine. I was annoyed by her constant clinging and pulled Goo Seoryong away, saying, “You’ve been clinging too much since earlier.”

“Ahaha! How cute. Are you suddenly embarrassed now?”

Ding. With the sound of the elevator arriving, a vast room unfolded before my eyes. The entire top floor of the apartment, seemingly renovated into one large room, was filled with black, gold, and red. Snake-shaped sculptures and carpets intertwined with various snakes, a bed surrounded by sculptures of nine intertwining dragons, a window overlooking the entire apartment, and dragon-shaped humidifiers spewing humid steam from various corners of the room. Was the room’s humidity so high that the elevator felt sticky?

Having pushed Goo Seoryong away, I looked around, wondering where the dessert was.

“Where’s the tteok?”

“Here~?”

At that moment, I heard the rustle of fabric falling behind me. I turned around and frowned, looking at Goo Seoryong’s pristine naked body. Goo Seoryong flaunted her body’s curves, stroking herself. In rhythm with the vibrations from the club outside, Goo Seoryong’s monster core vibrated.

Unable to hide my disappointment, I sighed.

“You… tricked me.”