Kaeul inside the video gave an awkward smile at the 30-man special force squad.
– Hello…?
She repeatedly looked away from the camera and twirled her hair with her fingers, and constantly fidgeted.
– Uh, umm… this is my first time making a video message for someone.
– So like, umm… uhh, sorry… So… umm…
– Ah, I can’t do this…!
Her face turned red.
All Yu Jitae told Kaeul was that there were people who loved her. “Hukk, really!?” And ever since that, she was in that state and became even more nervous once the camera started rolling.
– I, I can’t do this. C, cut! Cut it!
– Cut what. There’s no such thing.
– Uaah…
Yu Jitae’s flat refusal inside the video caused the audience to laugh out loud. The 30-man special force squad was currently sitting closely next to each other inside the ‘prayer room’, watching the video of Kaeul.
The heavy pants of both male and female inside the cramped container were hot.
– Uhh… I heard you were exercising patients. I haven’t seen you before but… thank you for looking kindly on me.
“Holy…”
“I’m being cleansed by her…”
“Heavens… I’m being melted… Like, like…”
“Like your pen*s…?”
Santos, who had an erectile dysfunction due to the overuse of roids, showed Judie his middle finger.
– Living in a hospital would be hard and exercising would be hard as well… I don’t really know what it’s like but I’ll always be cheering for you. Please don’t be sick…
It’s been around half a year ever since they were locked inside the underground labyrinth. Called the ‘Claws of the Association’, the 30-man special force squad had been freer than any other squad in the past.
They killed monsters, bashed up criminals and spent the rest of time with their family at home. Yet those people were suddenly forced into a small location. They didn’t perceive it fully because of their unstable minds but unknowingly, they were slightly sick of it.
Due to that, the agents were feeling rather consoled.
– I hope you stay happy.
A gentle smile and a warm voice. Hearing that, Bell Baryon shouted.
“From today, our squad is happy… Got that!”
““Yes…!””
– Please don’t work out too hard and injure yourself.
Bell Baryon shouted yet again.
“From today, any bastard that overdoes their training will die in my hands… Got that!”
“Ouh no, Bell…!”
“That’s…!”
Being happy was easy but that was difficult. Their devotion to Kaeul and devotion to exercise – those two desires clashed head-on as the mental patients pulled their hair out in distress.
– Ah! But muscles are very cool…! I looked into them a bit, you know? You’re all bulky and huge…!
Once again, Bell Baryon shouted.
“Ignore what I said just then…! Press those weights away. As safely as possible…! This is the command of your Goddess!”
““Guooooh–!””
Having finally been freed from their agony, the special force agents screamed out loud. As if they were having a party at a pub with country songs, they drank water like alcohol and cheered and danced.
Once they all began jumping around, the entire container started shaking from its core. The ruckus did not end until BM came and yelled at them.
*
“…”
The Regressor showed the response video of the special force squad to Kaeul. In that 20-minute video, Bell, Santos, Judie, Ha Saetbyul and the rest of the 30-man special force agents were contesting against each other to introduce themselves to Kaeul and appealed their affections.
I love you. I get stronger seeing you. Don’t be hurt from seeing bad people. I got SBD blah blah blah thanks to you…
Although there were some words that she couldn’t understand, she could clearly sense the emotions embedded within.
“…”
Wearing a blank expression and her mouth vacantly open, Kaeul watched the video till the end without saying a word.
Excessive empathy, and immersion.
Those were negative aspects that caused Kaeul to despair at this point in time but it fundamentally existed for the gold race to be loved and for them to be happy.
The video ended and the hologram display turned dark.
Drops of tears flowed down her two cheeks.
His guess was on the mark.
A restricted relationship with a selected few that had no hostility against her, caused Kaeul to feel an unbelievably large sense of joy.
“…”
“Are you alright?”
Kaeul swallowed her tears and nodded. She then gave a bright smile, but had trouble holding the overflowing emotions inside as her lips twitched.
Soon, she reached her arms out and wrapped them around his waist while he stood still.
“What should I do…?”
“Why.”
“I’m too happy…” the child murmured.
Suddenly, he started feeling something strange. But since this was the third time he was feeling it, he had gotten somewhat used to it already.
His senses that were covered by a thick fog were revived with clarity. The meagre arm strength of the child hugging his waist and the fingers that were touching his back vividly reached his brain.
It was the same as when Bom was whispering on his lap, and when Yeorum was giggling with a cigarette in her mouth in the alleyway.
“Thank you. Ahjussi…”
He sensed once again the Apocalypse visibly going further away.
***
It was two days later that BM notified him that he was ready.
‘I’ll go if you allow me to, my lord.’
No. He decided to go himself.
This was regarding chimeras, and there were plenty of memories that even the clone had not received regarding them. In the underground labyrinth, in the workshop attached to the inner room, Yu Jitae met BM, who had a serious look on his face.
“I’ve prepared everything. Please have a look.”
BM bit his lips. As the saying went, there was no end to learning. However, him being at this age and position having his homework task checked wasn’t the best experience.
As always, Yu Jitae walked to the table with an indifferent non-human-like expression. He then started going through the items BM had prepared.
“Are they fine? I tried everything I could to obtain these.”
BM was nervous, but Yu Jitae did not return the reaction he was expecting.
“…”
Drop–
Yu Jitae tipped the leather container carrying ATTN essence over the edge of the table.
“We can’t use this.”
“Sorry? What’s the reason.”
“It’s been 3 weeks since it’s been refined. The purity is too low for it to be used for a heart.”
BM’s eyes twitched under his sunglasses.
“Can’t use this either.”
Yu Jitae pushed the ingredient next to it over the table edge as well. The carbon extract from glycine – the silver spherical object did not fall on the ground and stopped in mid-air.
That one thing had cost millions of dollars.
BM unconsciously clenched his fists as his veins protruded out. After lifting the next ingredient as well, Yu Jitae dropped it as if there was no need to look any further.
“Bongman.”
“Yes.”
“You ordered all these, didn’t you.”
“…”
BM couldn’t reply, because he was right. Using all his connections and his authority, BM ordered all the ingredients from governments worldwide. A faint trace of irritation appeared in Yu Jitae’s eyes, which had remained indifferent until then.
“Do you think this is a joke?”
He grabbed the bottle of purple elixir and dropped it.
“How dare,”
Then, he dropped the reverse gravity fragment as well.
“You try to make a heart,”
Even the essence and the leather pouch of nitrogen,
“With these rubbish.”
The calcium was the same.
“Nothing’s usable.”
Each and every word of his was oppressive and pressed on from above, like an adult scolding a child.
“Your head’s muddled for no reason. Even if it took some time, you should’ve taken your time to prepare something good.”
“…”
“It’s not easy to create a heart. Don’t you know that yourself?”
“…Can’t I be in a bit of a rush?”
It was then.
BM, who felt greatly offended, couldn’t control his emotions and opened his mouth. He heard the frightened voices of the chimeras inside his head but decided that he had to say what was on his mind.
He turned towards BM.
“I started this shit 23 years ago. And 21 years ago, I made the muscles, the skeleton, organs and the brain.”
In other words, it was just the heart that he couldn’t make for 21 years.
“People my age are all grown up at this point, and they enjoy their time with their families. Meanwhile, I was stuck in here only doing this stuff. I had two choices – using a human heart and not using it.”
“And.”
“My body was already not that of a human, but I wanted to remain a human at heart so I didn’t use any human ingredients. But I got nowhere for over 10 damn years.”
He stacked failures upon failures for over 10 years and the sleepless nights he spent trying hard were scattered like dust. BM wasn’t able to hold it back any longer.
“You saw through it straight away. Yes, I used a human as the ingredient as well.”
Yu Jitae nonchalantly listened to his words and nodded.
“And it still didn’t work.”
Around 10 years ago, after failing despite going against the principle he had been holding dear inside his mind, BM couldn’t endure it any longer and smashed everything that was inside his workshop.
But that was all in the past. A human mind was very sloppy and it even got used to the countless failures over time. Right now, he wasn’t expecting it to succeed, and the only thought on his mind was that it would fail no matter what.
“That was when you suddenly appeared in front of me. You must have it easy. Because you are like a god or something. So you treating what I prepared as rubbish, might be the same as a god looking down on the offerings of a creation. However, I’m not like that.”
“…”
“Can’t someone like me be in a slight rush?”
Yu Jitae’s gaze still remained foggy.
Only after finishing his sentence did BM come to himself. He finally realised that he had said something that he shouldn’t have.
The overflowing emotions resembling a teenager’s short-temper quickly disappeared in a flash. BM started thinking back on the reason he blurted something like that out, but it was impossible to recover the words that had already left his mouth.
That was when Yu Jitae opened his mouth.
“Right. They are all usable indeed.”
“Yes?”
“ATTN essence that was refined three weeks ago is still clean. It can be used as an ingredient for anything else.”
“Ah, well yes. Since it lasts 6 years.”
“Everything else is the same.”
They either had impurities, or were not fresh. Whatever the reason, they weren’t the best of the best.
“There’s no rubbish in the things you’ve brought.”
“Didn’t you call them rubbish.”
“But your mindset that brought these things here is rubbish.”
“…!”
Yu Jitae picked up the glycoten reverse gravity fragment that was rolling on the floor.
“You were trying to make a heart for over 20 years, was it? And yet you’re bringing these useless low-grade ingredients when the opportunity is finally here after 20 years?”
In fact, they couldn’t be called low-grade items. They were high quality items but it was just that they weren’t the best of the best.
And Yu Jitae, who knew of BM’s position and circumstances, was in fact quite irritated when BM showed him things like these and claimed that he was ready.
He was a superhuman that could definitely gather better ingredients by getting on his own feet, but BM was in a rush.
Yu Jitae held the reverse gravity fragment tight as it powerlessly crumbled into pieces.
“Or is it because you think it won’t work anyway, and that it’s the same as every other failure you’ve had?”
“No. I never thought such a thing!”
“That’s why I asked. Or else, how dare you bring these rubbish here in front of me.”
“…That’s, I’m sorry. Let me apologise.”
BM finally lowered his head.
“I’ll prepare them once again.”
“No. Don’t bother.”
“Sorry?”
“There’s no need to. I won’t be doing this.”
When BM raised his face back up, there was a look of astonishment on it.
“This wouldn’t have happened if you were sincerely desperate. I gave you a chance and you kicked it away. You became complacent in front of the opportunity that came after 20 years.”
“Ah…”
“It’s also annoying that you talked about your circumstances. Do I need to know that? Did you expect me to console you if you add reason to that hopeless mindset of yours?”
BM’s hands shivered. Unable to look back into his eyes, he stared at the ground.
“If you need rent, I’ll give it to you another way. There’s no need to be disappointed but do the rest yourself. This matter’s done. If you try to talk about anything related to chimeras with me ever again, you either die by my hands or get chased away from this place.”
The Regressor drew a line with a low voice.
“You’ll have to choose one of the two.”