Chapter. 11. Wizards of Wizards (23)
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Administration. Research facilities.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-
“Mini. “How’s it going over there?”
“Whew. Don’t even talk. As refugees flock to places where separate facilities are not provided, hygiene levels have fallen sharply. Because of that, there is a fuss about preparing countermeasures in case of dysentery or cholera outbreaks, and the aquifer is contaminated due to the radioactive zone where the spread has suddenly accelerated, so we have to prepare for drinking water filtering. Moreover, we even have to conduct research on ‘those’ samples… Even if we only have two bodies, we have to prepare for it. “It’s crazy.”
“It’s the same in every department. Coffee was cut off due to the wartime administration, so I stayed up almost every day. “If this continues, we may end up dying from overwork as a group, creating something like a ‘research-mad abomination.’”
“Phew! That makes sense. “Because everyone’s mind is full of thoughts like, ‘I want to go home.’”
“yes? If you keep digging like that, the community guys will no longer say, ‘White-collar bastards, they’re on the honey side. In the front line, the mutants can’t stop eating people, so they’re eating the parts that suit their tastes, and they’re stuck there, rolling around with their pens.’ “I can’t say the same thing.”
Munch!
Administrative researcher Teshin took a large bite of his calorie bar and sighed.
It feels like we have returned to the beginning of the destruction five years ago. People began to do whatever they could to survive, and in a situation where distrust was rampant, they even had to deal with mutants coming in from outside. Looking at things like this, you might wonder, ‘Where has all the effort we’ve made over the past five years gone?’ It was inevitable that I would fall into the same nihilism.
‘no. ‘It’s not like nothing has changed.’
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-
Teshin looked up at the huge fuselage that was holding them in the lab even at this moment during lunch time.
Samples are one of the most important tasks of the administration. A type 3 variant that is believed to be still alive and retaining human consciousness.
Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump –
Two hearts so big that their powerful sound can be heard even from a distance. As I watched the movement of the electrocardiogram system fluctuating every time it fluttered, something similar to a strange emotion settled in my heart. It was a kind of awe that I felt as a person and as a man.
As part of his research and as a fan, he was constantly watching Professor Park’s play recordings, even in his sleep. He knew because he was studying him right next to him. Backup data called Data Soul often replaces consciousness, but if the main body had completely mutated and human consciousness disappeared, it would have been impossible to connect with it.
The output of ‘Sound Orpheus’, estimated through the recovered fragments of Orpheus, was powerful enough to cause all living beings in 45 areas to commit suicide at once.
The person currently sleeping in front of him has succeeded in protecting himself as a human to some extent even after receiving all that energy until the moment of contact and destruction of the core of Orpheus, where all of its output was condensed before it was activated.
‘What kind of person was he to be able to remain human in a situation where every cell in his body was being rebuilt at the genetic level? ‘Is that physically possible?’
As a very special case, he was a person who had undergone some transformation, so he would have been very vulnerable to Orpheus’ waves.
Tesin and the researchers who were looking at the data together forgot what to say when they saw the scene captured on the survivor’s body camera, where a black monster was heading towards the altar.
Since then, the number of researchers who come here to rest when there is nothing special to do has increased.
Although we had never specifically planned to get together, that was the reason why we met Minea, our new friend, here.
“It’s similar to making a fuss. It’s burning brightly. “That person.”
“There is that too. As a scholar, this is an unproven and mysterious area. Something beyond theoretical and physical impossibility. “If someone were to prove the existence of the soul, the person in front of us would be the person who would be the number one piece of evidence.”
“…I’m being honest. Teshin, you joined that strange Professor Park fan club, right?”
“Isn’t this strange! Wow, I happened to join it, and it turned out to be a chat room where more normal people socialize than I expected-”
Beep beep! Beep beep!
Minea looked suspiciously and said, “There is no god or devil. But there is Professor Park] Just as he is trying to explain the greatness of chat rooms.
Numerous dashboards indicating the status of the variant began to fluctuate, and nearby researchers began to flock in.
Quang!
“Teshin Minea! How did this happen! “What on earth did you touch?”
“Oh, I didn’t do anything! “I was just eating while monitoring-”
“Stop making excuses! “What is the situation?”
Before I could answer, the director shouted with a serious expression on his face. Minea stuttered with a serious look on her face and relayed what she had confirmed so far.
“At that time, the heart rate increased rapidly and small movements were detected in the extremities of the body…”
“Don’t be silly!”
“Brain brain activity has become more active!”
Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!
The old researcher glared at Minea with a frown on his face and broke into a cold sweat as he looked at the complicated instrument panel. My heart beats like an engine at full power. There is absolutely no way he would be active like that at this time.
“It’s not good… It’s not good…! “Has the cause been identified?”
Cracking. Crack, tap, crack!
“I found the car! “I found it, but…”
“I did it, but what!”
“Uh…nothing worked on our part. An unidentifiable signal was transmitted from inside GG through the connector. “I think that stimulated my brain.”
“Damn it. What a crazy game! What the hell is going on! Is real-time monitoring of play impossible?”
“Because there is virtually no player, only the data stored in the connector can be extracted when data is synchronized when the player sleeps!”
“What a piece of shit!!!”
Kwadangtang!
In the end, the director said that a clear cause could not be identified at this point, so he pushed the cart containing the tools and headed somewhere.
Teshin could not understand the increasingly distorted expression of the head of the Department of Biotechnology.
“Chief? If brain activity becomes more active… isn’t that good news? This means that Professor Park may regain consciousness sooner than expected…”
Boom! Whoosh!
“That must be a typical example of a vegetative state! Are you saying this because you don’t know the subject’s condition? The maintenance of that body is being overseen by a sub-personality called ‘Hyde’! When brain activity becomes more active, it means that the cerebrum is starting to move! Doesn’t that mean that ‘Hyde’, who was active between the cerebellum and medulla oblongata, has left his seat?”
Crrrrr!
The director violently removed the items piled up in a corner of the lab and dragged a dusty red box out on a cart.
“Then it couldn’t be…”
“Yes! “Now that the strange entity that was forcing the body to move has disappeared, this means that all functions of the body will stop!”
Beep beep beep! Bleep—–
At that moment, the sound that penetrated the lab filled with confusion made everyone freeze as if they had made a promise. My heart
,
which had been beating so hard that I could hear the sound, was convulsing helplessly.
Wow!
“Wake! Go get a pack of gelatin pads! you! Get the code! You can take out everything, maintenance or whatever, so hurry up! And there you! “Get that portable hydraulic wrench over there and do some open cardiocardiac (open cardiothoracic massage)!”
Boom!
The director tore open the packaging of the item while administration engineers drove heavy equipment and massaged the heart, which was the size of a human torso.
“Defibrillator…?”
“It’s similar! “It’s a high-voltage stun gun that was originally being developed as an anti-personnel weapon for cyborgs!”
“You’re connected!”
Pazzu that is!
This is a piece of trash I developed as a joke while drinking with the head of the engineering department when I had some free time.
At a glance, it didn’t seem like a dangerous arc discharge would occur between the two electrodes with the handle, and it certainly didn’t look like an object meant for human use, but there was no time to think about that now.
“Hit 6000V right away! take!”
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuckee
_
Doo-thud.
“The bar is not responding!”
“I know!”
The director gritted his teeth as he watched his heart twitch slightly. The maximum voltage that can be applied to a person as a defibrillator has already been applied.
But the opponent is an unknown creature. The greatest mystery of our time is the type 3 variant that produces a hard substance of unknown material on its own.
The director decided to believe in the professor’s body, which maintained its shape even after absorbing the energy that leaked out when the core of the box broke.
“…you there. “Tear off the top of this and take off everything that has a limiter on it!”
“Increasing the voltage beyond this may result in irreversible direct electrical burns!”
“Stop talking about common sense in front of a heart as big as your body! I put a pad on it because I was afraid I might ride it too! “Shut up and turn up the output!”
“Cock the car! 8000V!”
“Get back! “I’m getting electrocuted!”
Don’t fall in!
Boom!
“Shit! Raise more! No trace of scorch! Bring half the equipment and continue massaging the resting heart! We have to pump oxygen to the brain somehow! “Do everything you can!”
“I’ll go to the rice ward and get any medicine you need!”
Teshin threw off his slippers and ran barefoot toward the ward. Suddenly, a hospital room with an open door caught his eye as he brought an armful of all kinds of injections and medicines.
Crunch, crunch, crunch –
A woman on a hospital bed concentrating on her own business with only a drone camera with a red light on, as if to indicate that a broadcast is in progress.
The name tag at the entrance to the hospital room had the name ‘Dana Elisha Hyacinth’ on it. A person known to be Professor Park’s lover.
‘…If we fail to restore the professor’s bodily functions…’
Thinking that it might be his last time, Teshin knocked on the door of the hospital room.
After a while, there were two footsteps running towards the research building.
****
Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound of falling water drops that doesn’t go away no matter how much you move.
Uuuuuk –
The familiar sound of an old sofa screaming in protest.
and.
[hey. It’s been a while?]
The voice of a guy who thought he would never hear again as he was a ‘fake’.
Snap, slap, snap.
The dark red monster got up from the old sofa and approached him with a familiar voice.
[Brother, father, friend. Seeing it like this gives me a new feeling. Right? I am inside the monster created by your consciousness. You have taken your place in the monster I created based on mute cells.]
Crack.
Hyde, who was scratching the joints of his left hand with his fingertips, frowned as he looked at the monster whose nose was filled with the smell of blood.
[But what on earth is that like? Where has Professor Park, the cool dog who was heading towards the box that day, gone and why is this idiot, Sniff, here? Honestly, as I watched your consciousness being condensed into a single sentence in my worn-out mind that day, I thought, ‘Ah, I’ll never be able to catch up with this guy.’ I even thought about it.]
‘….That’s right. ‘It’s probably the difference between a being with a soul and a being made up of only data and memories.’
Crumbling –
flashing!
In a space filled with quiet darkness, pure white lightning cut through the darkness.
[Push! Hey, that was kind of funny just now. What else? What about data and memory? Even if the mute cells are a program that stimulates minor emotions, considering that your state is almost at a watershed in the philosophy of existence. Doesn’t that sound too sick? Where is the original and the original copy?]
Coo coo coo coo-
Hyde’s sharp fingertip pierced the professor’s chest.
[If the person I am talking to right now is not Professor Park, then who is it? Is it necessary to have a body to be human, and if not, is it fake? Am I a little sad? Some people have only been conscious since they were born. So, was I a non-existent entity from the beginning? So what am I here? Don’t you think what you are saying is contradictory? You’re so smart, dude! Think logically-]
‘….So that’s probably why you don’t know. ‘The despair I felt when I realized that what I thought belonged to me was actually not mine and that I was a worthless being who could be cloned with a single click.’
[….I don’t understand. Professor Park was always on the lookout for mute cells growing on his head. It’s truly a sight, a sight to behold.]
Gurgling!
Bunch-a-billion!
Hyde sighed as he watched the thunderbolt strike from beyond his consciousness.
[Ehyo. What happened? We don’t have time, so let’s stop chatting here.]
‘I don’t have time…?’
[Yeah dude. I don’t know what brought me here, but you’re a corpse without me now, right? This is proof that you are trying your best to keep your body alive outside of that thunderbolt. You’re bringing in people who are unnecessarily busy.]
‘Okay. Now that I think about it… you were keeping the body over there alive, right?’
Gurgling!
The electric shock from the defibrillator shook the body, and a pure white shock illuminated the two monsters with their teeth bared.
Clumping, boom, boom! Ttuduk!
Push-duk-duk! Ouch!
The dark red monster’s muscles swelled to their limits and screamed.
The body of the black monster, spewing out vaporized fresh blood like mist, bent forward as if it was about to leap.
[Let’s go quickly. I learned it from someone I know well. They say that a crazy person’s whip is the cure.]
‘If I kill you and keep you here… It probably means that the guy outside is going to die.’
[under! With what I finally know how to do with my body…]
Gurgling!
Fighting spirit and madness in the red and yellow eyes. A smile with a different meaning, with bloody teeth and pure white fangs.
The moment when the lightning that reached the other side of consciousness illuminated the two monsters once again.
[Who is killing whom?!!!]
‘Me! You! I will get rid of everything other than myself and regain my own existence!!!’
Throw in!
“Kaaaaaaaa!!!!!!”
“Grrrrrrgh!!!”
Quaaaaaaaaa!
Against the backdrop of a thunderbolt hitting the black space,
a monster born from a twisted ego and a monster created by overcoming the twisted ego clashed.
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