My eyes opened on their own.
I checked the clock. Eight o'clock. Early to be coming in to work.
“……”
It felt like I'd had some kind of fun, frightening dream, but the memory was too hazy to surface.
“Yaawn…”
The team leader stretched. He'd dozed off face-down again for a bit. His abused neck and back screamed.
“Ugh.”
Scattered around him were the papers he'd been using yesterday. All of them were materials on chimera development.
As he tidied the strewn-about research data, the contents of the dream suddenly came back to him.
Has it already been four years?
Back then, despite having his brilliant mind recognized, the team leader hadn't been able to do experiments the way he wanted. He'd even been treated like a madman wherever he went, all because of the peculiar tastes he had.
The team leader felt profound pleasure in the act of ruining people with handsome looks. He'd been that way since childhood.
In the end, unable to overcome the impulse, on a certain day when he was being hunted for murder — the Association president had appeared like a god and said:
He'd let him torment people to his heart's content.
In exchange, as a condition, he'd been given a bizarre research topic: "Turn a monster into a human."
It had been quite a while since he'd thought about the old days. Thanks to the fairly satisfying days he'd spent since meeting the Association president, he didn't often dredge up old memories.
His brief reminiscence over, the team leader scratched his head and walked into the office. Then he stopped at the doorway and pushed up his glasses.
There was an unfamiliar person standing in the office.
“And who might you be?”
“I'm Lee Suhyun. I'm starting work today. Looking forward to working with you.”
“A newbie…”
The document he'd tossed aside without looking came to mind. He went to the desk and rummaged through the paper pile, but the document he wanted was nowhere to be seen. He thought he'd received an application, but had he misremembered?
Well… there's no way an outsider got all the way into a place like this, so it must be right.
It was a complacent thought.
More to the point…
He kept glancing back with an odd expression. The newbie, leaning against a desk, was staring into space. The office's bright lighting poured down over the slightly tilted face.
“……”
Under the team leader's hand, the documents crumpled unsightly. The desire to ruin it squirmed inside him. The team members, who usually came in early, were running late today of all days. Not one team member who'd met the newbie was here yet.
……
I'll test him a little, and if he can't do the work, I'll decide on his disposal then. He couldn't imagine a man with nothing but a flashy exterior like that being good at the job.
Normally he'd have to start from team introductions and proceed step by step, but…
“We'll skip the boring stuff and get straight to teaching you the work.”
“Sounds good.”
The team leader resolved to combine the newbie's training with the research work. If he turned out to be useless, it was better to dispose of him quickly. And while he was at it, he'd take care of his own enjoyment too.
I'll make that pretty face of his bawl its eyes out.
The clueless newbie nodded readily. The team leader grinned at the thought of giving the handsome man some trauma.
“Our lab gets a lot of funding, so the facilities are good. Heh heh…”
The team leader led him out into the hallway with a friendly attitude. He pressed the elevator button and continued his explanation.
“Our jurisdiction goes down to basement level three. Below that, you'd best not go—”
For some reason the elevator wasn't moving. Body heated with excitement, the team leader mashed the elevator button repeatedly. But no matter how many times he pressed, the light wouldn't come on.
“……”
“Oh dear, is it broken?”
The newbie muttered beside him. It was a tone that didn't care in the slightest whether there was a problem or not.
“No, why's it doing this…”
“Shall I try fixing it?”
“What?”
The newbie stepped forward and, before he could be stopped, struck the button with his fist.
Bang!
The team leader was appalled at the brutish act.
“Hey, there's no way that's going to fix—”
Zzzt!
Electricity sparked noisily around the button.
“See? It's broken after—”
Ding—.
The elevator doors opened.
“?”
“It's fixed.”
“Huh…”
The newbie smiled cheerfully. Stepping onto the elevator, the team leader shot him a sharp glare.
“You got lucky this time, but don't pull that kind of thing again next time.”
“Sure.”
For a newbie, far from being nervous, he was brazen as could be.
Irritating.
The elevator soon reached its destination.
“Where are we going?”
“It's no fun if I tell you in advance. Hu hu…”
“?”
A short while later, following the team leader's guidance, the newbie, now changed into a protective suit, stood before a hefty door.
Harboring faint anticipation, the team leader scanned his ID. The sensor lit up and the door opened.
Beyond the door, a space wide enough to call to mind a large warehouse came into view. The team leader strode ahead without hesitation.
Inside, glass cages were set at regular intervals. The cages held all manner of monsters, and as the two of them approached, they began to cry out loudly. Even with fairly thick reinforced glass between them, the cries were noisy.
“Kreeeek!”
Spotting the prey before their eyes, the monsters plastered themselves against the glass. At the gruesome sight, the team leader, who'd let his guard down for a moment, gave a flinch.
He'd jumped noticeably in surprise, but he opened his mouth pretending nothing had happened.
“Lively, aren't they?”
“……”
The team leader confidently lifted the corners of his mouth.
He must be scared.
Even he, who'd grown accustomed to it, was like this.
New hires who first entered this space were aghast at the fact that from now on they'd have to face monsters with only a glass wall between them.
Ordinary people rarely had occasion to see monsters, and even those who had usually carried it as trauma.
Of course, there were the odd peculiar ones who joined the lab because they liked monsters. But that surely wasn't that obviously well-bred fellow.
The team leader turned his gaze, imagining the handsome face contorting.
But.
Contrary to expectation, the newbie was smiling brightly.
“Cute.”
“……”
Why…! Why are you so unfazed…!
The team leader, eyes gone dull as a dead fish's, rattled off his explanation rapid-fire.
“Press this button and sleeping gas sprays into the cage. There's hallway gas for emergencies too, and it works on humans, so be careful not to press it by mistake.”
He explained roughly and wrapped it up at a reasonable point. No need to give a detailed rundown to a guy who'd soon be gone.
“Got it.”
“……”
The team leader picked a cage and approached the front of it.
“The one we'll use today is this fellow.”
The monster the team leader chose was shaped like a monkey, with sharp teeth and claws. Resembling a human, it was a monster they often used in experiments.
“Subdue just one and take it out.”
He meant for him to go in himself and bring it out. Normally it wasn't a task they'd assign a newbie.
“Understood.”
He didn't even hope for him to get scared at this point.
The newbie casually pulled on a gas mask. Then, as the team leader had instructed, he operated the button in front of the cage. Soon a hazy gas came out and the monster collapsed.
Thinking the monster had fainted, the newbie stepped into the cage defenselessly.
Heh heh…
Outside the cage, the team leader wore a sinister smile. What sprayed from the button he'd told the newbie about wasn't actually sleeping gas.
It was gas that temporarily excited the monsters.
Careful not to let the newbie notice, he quietly locked the cage door.
The monster would open its eyes soon. If it woke in an excited state, it would shred that handsome face to ribbons with its sharp claws in an instant.
“Heh heh heh…”
To not miss the precious scene, the team leader focused his attention.
The instant the newbie touched the monster collapsed on the floor — just as the team leader had hoped, the monster's eyes flew open. And it began to thrash with even fiercer momentum than before.
The flustered newbie came into view, backing away step by step.
“Go on. Quick, quick…!”
The monster leaped at the newbie with all its might. As the newbie twisted his body, the monster's form was obscured.
Ah, the other way…!
He wanted to see the face, not the back. In his disappointment, the team leader stamped his feet outside the cage and bit his nails.
Thankfully, the newbie turned back around.
Good. He's still in one pie— huh?
In his arms, he held the monster, eyes shut, perfectly docile.
“?”
Knock knock.
The newbie rapped on the door.
“Team leader. The door's locked?”
“……”
In his daze, he opened the door. When the newbie came out, the team leader came to his senses and snatched the monster away irritably.
“What did you do to my precious test subject…!”
“I didn't do anything.”
“Ugh…”
He examined it thoroughly, trying to find fault, but the monster truly didn't have even the smallest wound.
The team leader put the monster into the transport cart. While he ground his teeth, the newbie stretched leisurely.
“That gas, its effect is weak. You'd better change it.”
“……”
How did he do it?
“So, where to next?”
While the team leader was lost in the inexplicable situation, they arrived at basement level three. Hearing the elevator's chime, the team leader's eyes went wide.
“On the third floor there's an operating room.”
“So you do surgery too.”
“The goal of our project is combining humans and monsters, after all. Whether it's combining or severing… well, you'll understand when you see it.”
“I'll watch and learn.”
At the breezy reply, the team leader gritted his teeth.
Maybe he got lucky earlier, but this time for sure…
He'd show him an unimaginably grotesque sight and make him afraid.
If, as planned, the terrified newbie tried to bolt saying he couldn't do it, he intended to seize him right then and make him a test subject.
The team leader walked the hallway with an even more resolute heart. The chill peculiar to the third floor seemed to hone his mind.
“Where do you get the test subjects?”
“Who knows. We just do the experiments as told… They bring them in periodically from outside.”
Come to think of it, a good test subject had come in just yesterday. Pressing down on his pounding heart, the team leader entered the operating room.
The newbie, who'd followed him in, abruptly stopped in his tracks. The team leader noticed the newbie's eyes had settled on one spot.
“That's a hand I had taxidermied to use later.”
“That's rather unpleasant.”
“Is it now. Heh heh…”
A laugh he couldn't quite suppress leaked out. He knew it looked strange, but he couldn't stop.
You'll be going into that jar soon too.
He'd pluck out those amber eyes first. Then he'd cut off the limbs one by one and join them to the ugliest monster among the ones here.
He looked forward to the expression when he witnessed his newly born self. Working busily as he indulged the fantasy, the operating table setup was soon finished.
While the team leader made preparations, the newbie stood off at a distance in front of a cage covered with a cloth. He found it irksome that, far from intending to learn, he was off doing his own thing, but it didn't matter. He'd become a test subject anyway.
The team leader approached the newbie's side.
“Curious what's inside? …Suhyun, you're a lucky one.”
The team leader peeled back the cloth, watching the newbie's face intently.
When the black cloth was removed, the form of a test subject caged behind iron bars was revealed.
“Young ones with all their limbs intact like this don't come in often.”
His persistent gaze caught the newbie's expression stiffening minutely.
His pupils had definitely wavered slightly. As expected, even that brazen guy seemed to find experimenting on a human distasteful.
Delighted, the team leader opened the bars. Whether the drug administered yesterday was still in effect, the test subject was unconscious.
He lifted the test subject—
“I'll—!”
“?”
“I'll move it.”
Just as he was about to move it, the newbie stepped in.
The corners of his mouth were trembling, as if his facial muscles had cramped.
“Well, fine.”
It had been heavy anyway.
Having seen the newbie waver for the first time, the team leader handed over the test subject in satisfaction. He stepped back and watched the newbie carry the test subject.
The newbie scooped up the body — which would soon be hacked apart anyway — delicately, like he was handling a baby.
If you wanted to nitpick, this test subject wasn't to the team leader's taste. Apart from his appearance, there was a large scar on his face. Something already broken had less of a thrill to break.
The team leader fixed the test subject's limbs to the operating table and rummaged through his pockets.
But then…
“I left the most important thing behind.”
He'd left behind the tool he'd developed yesterday.
It seemed he'd have to go all the way to the office to fetch it. Only he knew its location, so he couldn't even have the newbie do it.
This was a hassle. The mood he'd finally worked up was spoiled.
Clicking his tongue, the team leader gave the newbie an instruction.
“I'll go grab what I need from upstairs, so wait here.”
The newbie nodded obediently. He looked somewhat out of it. With a displeased heart, the team leader left the operating room.
Something feels off…
Cocking his head, the team leader picked up his pace.
