Origin (16)
"Lee Hyun-woo, I heaven't heard anything about that strange script. It seems like you're the only one who knows. The others probably don't know either. If I don't know, that ans the rest don't know as well."
Licorice said this as she gestured at Kyle to bring over so spare chairs. Normally, Alpha, who was by her side, would have done it, but Kyle handled the task this ti. He dragged so chairs over from near the workbench with a scraping sound.
Kyle seed interested in the story too, as he took a seat, montarily forgetting his fatigue. I couldn't hide my confusion and anxiously darted my eyes around. Judging by the situation, it seed the conversation would be a bit long.
"Alright, say it again. You said soone gave the monster a na?"
"... I don't know who gave it that na."
As I had suspected, there was a chance soone had given the monster a na, or perhaps it had carved its own na. Since we never witnessed anyone directly naming the creature, we couldn't rule out any possibility.
When I pointed this out, Licorice nodded in agreent to so extent. She crossed her legs. Her thin thighs overlapped.
"First, tell exactly where that script was. I saw the thing up close through Alpha, but I didn't notice anything like that at the ti."
"It was next to the neck, near the collarbone. Since it was engraved on the exoskeleton and not on tissue, there might still be traces left. If we had the upper exoskeleton here, we could check right away, but we don't have it now."
"I'm already having Alpha bring what's in Carrot's lab. Just wait a mont."
As Licorice said, after a brief wait, noise began to stir beyond the lab doors. The heavy, thumping footsteps belonged to the Alpha-series security robots.
Soon, the lab doors swung open. Six Alphas entered, carrying the shattered exoskeleton. Judging by the amount, they seed to have brought everything we had collected.
They weren't the only ones. Carrot was with them, looking confused by the Alphas' sudden behavior while he was working.
"What's going on here? They even took everything I was holding."
"... Is that so?"
"There was no helping it. I gave the command even before Hyun-woo told where he was."
Licorice was unfazed by my displeased gaze and even glared sharply at , as if to scold .
When I asked if it wouldn't have been better for us to just head to the lab ourselves if she intended to bring everything over anyway, she responded by asking if I didn't want her to bring it all here in the first place.
While I was wondering, 'Did I?' Licorice directed Alpha to bring a chair for Carrot.
"You're just in ti, Carrot. It's better if you listen in too."
"To what?"
"About the monster's na."
"... Na?"
"Hyun-woo found out the monster's na."
"I'd like to hear the details."
Even Carrot took a seat. At this point, if I claid it was a joke, I wouldn't leave this place alive. Thankfully, it wasn't a joke.
The commotion caused by the Alphas roused the other people in the lab. Their eyes, filled with curiosity and demanding an imdiate explanation, all focused on .
Kyle told his coworkers to take a break, sending them out of the lab. There weren't many, but with several leaving at once, the space felt rather empty.
I avoided looking elsewhere and went straight to the upper exoskeleton, feeling along it. Since the exoskeleton had withstood explosions and container shocks, the engraved script likely remained intact.
Feeling sowhat nervous, I quickly found the script that remained in my mory.
"Ah, here it is. The strange script."
"... Are you saying this is a script?"
Licorice and Carrot brought their faces closer to where I pointed. Kyle, also curious, peeked from behind, but, unable to get a good angle, eventually just watched from a distance.
"You can see it, right?"
"... Yeah, I can see it. But you managed to notice sothing this small in that situation?"
Looking again now, the script was indeed very tiny. I rembered it as being bigger at the ti, perhaps because it had caught my eye so distinctly back then.
"Anyway, it's here."
"Hmm... To , it just looks like a series of aningless shapes. At least, it's not in any of my databases. Assuming it really is a script."
"Could you read this script again?"
Licorice gave a puzzled look, while Carrot scanned the area and projected it onto a hologram, magnifying it.
I looked at the script floating in the air and read it.
"Blue Eye. It reads as Blue Eye."
"Blue Eye... If that's a na, isn't it rather unfitting? The thing didn't look anything like blue eyes to ."
"It wasn't completely unfitting. When I blasted its upper body with the polar impactor, its core was exposed, and it looked like a blue eye."
I recalled the Blue Eye's core that I had smashed with my own hand. Usually, 'core' ant power source, but it also implied 'the essence'. If soone had nad the monster, they probably did so after seeing that core.
Carrot stroked his chin and asked:
"Have you ever seen this kind of script before?"
"This is my first ti."
"But you read it?"
"I know, that's what's strange. I can't really explain it... other than it just felt natural to read it."
I tried my best to explain, using every expression I could. But nothing else ca to mind, so there was nothing more I could say.
"It's readable without conscious effort. Should I just crack open your skull? If you don't rember, maybe your lost mories are hiding sothing."
"... That's a joke, right?"
I laughed awkwardly.
"Alpha, grab Hyun-woo."
【Command confird.】
At Licorice's order, Alpha, who had been standing behind , seized my shoulders as if he'd been waiting for the cue. I panicked, screaming that I'd die if they tried to open up my head.
"Hyun-woo, I'm serious right now. Think carefully and answer properly."
I had only acted playful to lighten the heavy mood, but Licorice's expression was unusually dark. Very much so. In all the ti I'd known her, I'd never seen her like this.
"If you know this script, that practically ans you're connected to the pureblood supremacist organization. This disaster—whose fault do you think it is? This isn't sothing to just ignore. About your past... are you sure you have no mories at all?"
She said this, putting her hand on my shoulder. Everyone here, except Kyle, already knew I'd lost my past mories, so they weren't shaken. Still, the atmosphere was grave.
Surprisingly, Kyle also showed little reaction. Lost in deep thought, he only groaned with an expression like sothing was on the tip of his mory.
'...'
Thinking it over, she was right. I shouldn't have known that script. After all, it was a script engraved on a monster.
Not just because it was on a monster, but because that creature was suspected to be a special entity called a 'Bud', and even that term "Bud" was coined by the pureblood supremacists.
So, knowing the script almost certainly implied a connection to the pureblood supremacist organization.
I'd wondered about my ability to read it, but hadn't taken it too seriously, foolishly assuming if I could read it, others could as well.
'... No, actually...'
I forced myself to break from the thought I'd been suppressing and spoke up.
"I really don't rember anything. If sothing ca back to , I would tell you first. Also, you know why I want to go to Earth, don't you?"
"Yes, I know. ... If only I'd known things would turn out like this, I'd have investigated your past more thoroughly."
Previously, the broker told records were erased for a reason, and digging up my past wasn't a good idea—comparing it to opening Pandora's box.
"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"
"That's what I thought then. I didn't know it would co to this. And it's not like I didn't check at all. It's just that I found nothing."
She'd told to leave it alone, but apparently Licorice had done so investigating on her own. Licorice, who controlled Titan like her own ho, not finding any information ant this was linked to sothing even bigger.
At that mont, Kyle, who had been quietly staring at the hologram, timidly raised his hand.
"Um... I've seen this kind of script before."
"What? Where? Where did you see it?"
"I saw it at a base where pureblood supremacists gathered."
I'd half-expected it, but hearing it from such an unexpected source made question my ears for a mont. But then I rembered Kyle's affiliation. Myosotis, which had contact with pureblood supremacists. Kyle belonged to Myosotis, so it wasn't strange.
And, as I anticipated, he continued. He had gone to a place where the pureblood supremacist group stayed in the past.
"... Alpha, hold Hyun-woo's arms properly. We'll have to open up his head."
"W-wait! Stop! Just wait...!"
"... Alpha, ease up."
"Tell us everything! Please explain in as much detail as possible!"
Freed, I shouted desperately. Celestia from Myosotis once revealed her identity, stating she only pretended to cooperate with the pureblood supremacists as needed, but wasn't one of them. She'd also been to their presud main base by invitation.
I had been thinking of asking Celestia or Eric, and since Kyle was apparently present then, this worked out well.
"My mory's a bit hazy, so I can't recall it clearly, but I've been to a satellite that hadn't been officially nad. It felt sort of like an ancient temple. I'd say it had a strong natural vibe. There were broken statues covered in moss, and each statue was holding a strange stone tablet."
Kyle gestured at the hologram screen to indicate the size of the tablets.
"Script similar to this was engraved on debris on the ground. But the group didn't seem to fully understand it either. They were trying to interpret it."
"And?"
"That's all I have."
When I joked about opening up Kyle's head if not mine, he paled and backed away. He added that Celestia or Eric probably knew more, but not too much more.
In the end, all we confird was that the script was indeed connected to the pureblood supremacist group, and that my lost past might have a link to their sches.
'... I guess...'
I would have to look for my past. Rather than relying solely on the vague hope that things might co back to if I went to Earth, I felt the need to actively pursue my history.
If those people were tangled up in my past, uncovering it would help survive.
From the fact that I could recognize and understand a script no one else could, to the ever-increasing threat of mutants—the worries, irritation, frustration, helplessness, and anger all grew.
But worst of all was the headache. My head throbbed like sothing was squeezing it tightly. I thought my body had mostly recovered, but apparently not. Or maybe there was another reason.
Forcing the throbbing pain to one side, I turned my head toward Heaven, the mining base. Heaven, paradise, underground, hell, comrades, death, and monsters, monsters, monsters.
Maybe it was the overwhelming complexity of my thoughts, but sothing kept feeling just out of reach—like a mory I couldn't grasp. The ambiguity only made the headache worse.
Noticing my pallor, Carrot laid a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't lose your composure. That there's a connection is only circumstantial for now. Even if it turns out you are connected, it doesn't change who you are. Just being related doesn't make you the enemy. Take , for instance."
Carrot, involved in the Immortality Experint. He was a victim. Even though I'd never heard the full story, it was clear he hadn't chosen to house nanorobots inside his body.
I clenched and unclenched my fists slowly. A strength different from others. As I faced the fact I'd avoided, suspicion crept in. Was it because of the pureblood supremacist organization that I had this strength, that my recovery was unnaturally fast?
It didn't matter, even if it was. If not for this strength, I wouldn't have survived. Even if doubts lingered, there was no way I'd stop using my power now. I'd only use it more actively to hit the pureblood supremacists where it hurt.
Maybe it was just venting, but the very fact we were stuck in this situation was their doing. Thinking about all the lives they'd taken, in my heart I wanted to butcher them all with my own hands.
'... The best plan is to avoid direct confrontation.'
No matter how outdated gunpowder weapons were, their power was still formidable. I couldn't just hope to take a bullet lightly.
Carrot was researching ways to miniaturize the shield generator, but it was uncertain whether he'd succeed. There was just so much to do.
"I'll keep that in mind, Carrot."
"No need to be so serious. Just don't get too obsessed."
In any case, since there was no way to draw a conclusion at this point, we simply acknowledged the issue and set it aside for now. Before long, the gathering naturally dissolved.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Hopefully we get details on Hyun-woo's past soon.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】
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