Chapter 308
There’s no way Lee Sa-young is here.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
I know.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
But I couldn’t stop my feet, which were running on their own. Uijae, almost as if possessed, chased after the presence of Lee Sa-young. It was deep within, past many long corridors and several flights of stairs. There were no people in sight, probably because of the gathering happening somewhere else.
Finally, he reached a hallway filled with iron bars, eerily similar to the one he had seen at Prometheus’ base.
“……”
Uijae took slow, careful steps. The prison here didn’t hold experiment subjects but rather mutated humans. Some had fully turned into monsters, while others had only part of their bodies mutated. Most of them seemed to have lost their sanity, staring vacantly at the ceiling.
‘They must have drugged them…’
He felt uneasy. Uijae closed his eyes and tried to follow the energy. The source of the energy came from beyond a thick, sealed door. If he broke it down, it would be too obvious. As he began to feel around the door for any hidden mechanisms, a small, cautious voice spoke up.
“…Who are you?”
Uijae turned his head. A boy with pale, almost white skin was gripping the bars. Judging by his right leg, which had transformed into something resembling that of a carnivorous animal, it seemed he had already gone through some degree of mutation. The boy glared at Uijae through the bars.
‘…Should I say something?’
The experiment subjects behind the white cloths hadn’t spoken, so Uijae didn’t answer, continuing what he was doing. The boy spoke with suspicion in his voice.
“You’re not a guard. Guards don’t come this far.”
“……”
“You’re not small like them either.”
“……”
“If you don’t say anything, I’ll call someone.”
The boy seemed a few years older than Ha-eun, but the kids these days are sharp. Uijae sighed softly. He crouched in front of the boy’s cage.
“You can clearly tell I’m not with the people who locked you up. How about you just turn a blind eye?”
“What do you do?”
“Hunter.”
“H-Hunter?”
The boy’s voice grew louder. Uijae quickly shoved his hand through the bars to cover the boy’s mouth. The narrow bars bent to fit the shape of his hand.
“Shh, I came secretly. Help me out a little.”
The boy nodded, and Uijae removed his hand from the boy’s mouth, straightening the bent bars. The boy pressed his face against the bars.
“If you’re a Hunter… you came from outside, right? Right?”
“That’s right. How did you end up here?”
“My mom brought me here to get treated… She said they could cure the sickness that turns people white. She said they would heal you if you prayed hard enough, so we kept praying together…”
The boy shuddered, his thin shoulders trembling. Fear was visible in his black eyes. The boy gripped the bars tightly, shaking them.
“Please, please save me! Take me out! I’m… scared. It hurts!”
Uijae’s lips parted slightly. For a moment, the boy’s cries blended with the image of a young Lee Sa-young wrapped in bandages. The boy, and the boy's image overlapped with the young Lee Sa-young, crying and trembling with his hands.
“Mom, I want to see my mom… It hurts so much here, I’m scared, all it does is hurt… I want to go to my mom…”
Lee Sa-young, who couldn’t even speak of the pain. The small boy, expressing everything with nothing but the movement of his fingers.
[When will you come next?]
He reached out and gently patted the boy’s head. The boy, still sobbing, dropped tears. Uijae stared at the boy, then at young Lee Sa-young. Had he cried alone too? Was it from pain, from fear?
Had he cried? Because he wanted to see me.
Uijae nodded slowly.
“…Alright, I understand.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. But let me just check behind that door first. Do you know what’s in there?”
The boy wiped his tears away with the back of his hand and answered.
“I don’t know… But the people who go in there wear strange clothes, like spacesuits.”
“Spacesuits?”
Maybe something like protective suits? The boy, still trembling, continued haltingly.
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net, it has been stolen.
“Yeah… and suddenly, the door slams shut, and you can hear screams.”
“Did you see how they open the door?”
“Well, if you press somewhere on the wall… I saw them pull something. It’s on the right wall.”
“Thanks.”
Uijae grabbed the boy’s hand on the bars and whispered.
“I’ll check quickly. Wait here.”
The boy nodded quickly. Uijae began feeling along the wall beside the iron door. Then, he found a space where something was slightly out of place. Pressing it with force, the wall slowly lowered, revealing a red lever. Without hesitation, Uijae pulled the lever down.
Clunk.
The tightly closed iron door began to rise slowly. At the same time, a thick, sweet smell poured out, dizzying in intensity.
“……”
It was the scent of Lee Sa-young. Uijae slowly made his way beyond the door. After passing through the corridor, there was another door, luckily half open.
It was a dark, laboratory-like space. The first thing that caught his eye was a massive glass container filled with a violet liquid, bubbling ominously. Uijae stared at it blankly. He instantly knew what it was. The container was filled with poison. The source of the sweet smell was from there.
‘It’s similar to the antidote Lee Sa-young gave me…’
On the front of the container, a piece of paper with a bright red skull logo was attached.
[Handle with Care]
- Do not approach without protective gear.
- Always carry the antidote when approaching.
- Work in pairs.
- Only one person should approach during the operation, while the other waits by the door with a radio.
- If the person working collapses, immediately activate the barrier and evacuate.
The last sentence, smeared with pen marks, looked like it had been added by someone else.
At that moment.
Thud!
Something inside the glass container slammed against the wall. Uijae stepped forward. Through the thick, dark liquid, a grotesquely distorted body was briefly visible. It seemed like their eyes met for a moment. The hazy, melted eyes wandered in search of any presence. Submerged up to its scalp, it struggled desperately in the poisonous liquid-filled container. Thud, thud, thud...
‘This is...’
Isn’t this the experiment subject Ha-yeong was carrying around? Uijae hesitated for a moment. Should he free the subject? Was it alright to engage in a fight here? But it felt wrong to leave the struggling creature to suffer.
‘Damn it… is there any kind of machinery around?’
He couldn’t just break the container, filled with poison. There had to be a safe way to release the poison, some kind of button. Uijae desperately scanned the surroundings and noticed a screen that had appeared next to the container. Fortunately, it wasn’t locked. He quickly scrolled through the screen to find any useful information.
[...Refer to Experiment Subject #4’s records for modification...]
[When strong poison is injected, the body collapses from being unable to withstand it. Through the use of a booster, the body is reconstructed and recovery modifications are made… Body structure changes…]
[The more steps it goes through, the stronger it becomes…]
[Note: It is said that Awakened Lee Sa-young regularly consumes poison. Whether this is to recharge or enhance her abilities remains unclear.]
[The same poison purchased by Lee Sa-young has been used.]
[We plan to raise the poison level in the same way we did with Experiment Subject #4.]
[Researcher in charge: Ha Yeong]
Bubbling liquid swirled as a fist appeared and disappeared. The shaking of the glass container grew more intense. Gurgling, coughing, and gasping sounds echoed raw and vividly. Inside the container, the creature struggled desperately. For survival. For the desire to live. Its whole body was freezing cold.
Experiment Subject #4.
‘…No way. Is this Lee Sa-young?’
The experiment subject Ha-yeong had been carrying around was modified based on ‘that child’s’ data. Then, the sight in front of him must be...
Uijae’s breath caught. The sight of the child, imprisoned in a container, unable to breathe.
He had expected it. While he wasn’t around, Lee Sa-young had likely undergone numerous experiments. Unspeakably cruel ones. Just hearing Ha-yeong’s voice made his body instinctively stiffen. But the weight of the reality was so much heavier than his imagination.
The struggling inside the container gradually subsided. The poisonous liquid, which had been splashing, slowly regained its original form. The gasping and desperate thrashing sounds ceased. Silence returned.
Uijae placed his hand on the surface of the glass. His hand felt cold, as if the very life had been drained from it. There was no trace of life. He gritted his teeth. An indescribable rage washed over him, but at the same time, his mind cooled.
Had they left her in poison, her skin melting, her insides burning?
Had they healed damaged body with a hardened frame?
Had they force-fed poison?
To the child who couldn’t even speak of the pain, who could only express herself through the movement of fingers?
A red haze flashed before his eyes. Uijae leaned his forehead against the glass and took a deep breath. He held his hands behind his back, worried that his clenched fist might shatter the glass. His short nails dug into his palm. He didn’t even feel the pain. This pain was nothing compared to the suffering Lee Sa-young had endured.
Uijae exhaled softly. His chest was pounding. His eyes were damp. He clutched the glass, trying to steady his breathing. But then,
A sob escaped, one he couldn’t hold back.