Chapter 10

Chapter 10

In the late hours when all the nursery students were asleep.

Inside a supply storage of a partitioned building, the voice of an angry man leaked out.

“Fuck! What’s wrong with this month’s collection?”

The man’s name was Bae Dalsu.

As House of Flowers’ oldest member who has been working here for 15 years, he was the de facto manager in charge of the panhandling operation.

Bae Dalsu tapped a plastic container on the floor. Half filled were bundles of bills rolled up with rubber bands.

“Kwak Chungsik. What do you think part of the reason for this is? You try to answer it. Why has our profit been cut in half?!”

“Maybe it’s because the vagrant population around here has decreased a lot…”

“Son of a bitch! How can you give me that shit? Then go to another district and earn money! Is it so hard? You don’t know how to take the subway?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Kwak Chungsik bowed his head with his hands behind his back.

In fact, he had a lot to say about this, but he knew whatever he said would be useless if he couldn’t come up with the money.

It was best to just keep his head down without making any excuses in this situation.

“Why have you been slacking off these days? Do you take me for a fool because I’ve been going easy on you?”

“O-of course not!”

“What do you mean no?! You fell down a few days ago and I missed all those kids!”

“T-that’s…”

Kwak Chungsik couldn’t understand why he has been suffering from the recent fatigue.

He couldn’t wake up on time when the broadcast alarm rang each morning, and even while working, he would sometimes feel dizzy.

In fact, perhaps because he had been standing for a long time now, but his legs were shaking and he felt like he was about to collapse.

“And, punk. Have you found a test subject to be sent to the director next month?”

“Oh, the thing is…I couldn’t catch a vagrant this time, so I’m still…”

“I see, so you failed. You have to clean up your shit. Whether you have to kidnap or coax some bastard, do whatever you have to do.”

“…I understand.”

“But if you can’t find one, then you’ll be the one to go to the experiment laboratory.”

“H-huh?”

“You’ve seen it before, right? How children who are sent there turn out. If you’re not confident, tell me in advance and I’ll take you there myself.”

The scene he saw in the past passed through his mind. The terrible scenery that decorated the beautiful garden.

‘No, I’ll never go there!’

Kwak Chungsik shook his head vigorously.

“No! I’ll definitely bring someone!”

“Good, punk. Do well this time, understand? There are many who can take your place…You know what I mean, right?”

“O-of course!”

Bae Dalsu tapped Kwak Chungsik on the cheek, then threw the cigarette he was smoking to the ground and crushed it.

Then, as he got up from his seat, he reminded him as if he suddenly remembered.

“Oh, and there are organizations watching the children these days, so make sure to get handwritten consent. If I find out you’re forging notes like last time, I’ll be the first to kill you.”

“Y-yes!”

“Tsk, you useless punk.”

Bae Dalsu left the supply storage after saying so.

And in a little bit.

Kwak Chungsik, who was left alone, collapsed into the chair the man was sitting in. He wasn’t standing for long, but his legs were already shaking.

‘What the hell happened to my body?’

After only one hour of standing in place he was already finding it hard to stand.

He wanted to get tested at least once at the hospital, but if he did such a thing, it would be the same as admitting that he was useless.

“Fuck…”

He had to prove his usefulness. If he was useless, he might be abandoned again.

Like when he was abandoned by his mother after birth.

Or like when he was abandoned again after being adopted.

‘I have to be a useful person…’

If he was abandoned this time, he was destined to be taken to that terrible place.

In order to prevent that from happening, he must resolve this.

‘Where on earth will I get a test object?’

The back alleys of the vagrants were rumored to be difficult to operate for a while.

And most of the kids in the nursery now seemed to be aware of what it meant to be sold to other facilities.

There was only one option left.

‘I have no choice but to look among the new recruits.’

Kwak Chungsik recalled the appearance of a new child. A boy with messy hair who was always smiling as if he was a little out of his mind.

‘He said his name was Choi Noah…’

He recalled receiving the tray from the boy who had put food on it.

Since the boy had such a timid personality, he thought he only had to threaten him a little before he begs to be sent to another facility.

‘I just have to do what I’ve always done.’

In any case, he has done it countless times. So maybe this work won’t be too difficult either.

‘I’ll have to start immediately starting tomorrow.’

* * *

Dinner time that everyone was looking forward to.

The nursery students who had returned from panhandling flocked to the canteen loudly.

Although it was only one meal a day, most of the children lived here because of this one meal.

It was by no means easy to survive by oneself with the body of a child in Neo Pyongyang, which is out of reach of the state’s jurisdiction.

As soon as the precious meal time was about to start, suddenly, the door of the canteen opened and someone barged in.

Boom–!

Kwak Chungsik and his gang. With their appearance, the noisy canteen quickly fell into silence.

In particular, Kwak Chungsik’s expression today was very fierce, so everyone lowered their heads so as to not make eye contact.

He looked around the canteen for a while before walking to one of the tables without hesitation.

Then, he stopped in front of a child playing with a game console.

“Noah Choi.”

“What?”

Noah hadn’t even raised his head at the call. He was still eating rice with one hand and keeping his eyes fixed on the game console.

Seeing such a scene, the two friends beside Kwak Chungsik became agitated and blurted out.

“W-what? What did you just say?”

“It looks like this son of a bitch is crazy and wants to die.”

Half-elf twins and self-proclaimed left and right arm of Kwak Chungsik. Like him, they were considered minors because of the special circumstances even though they were actually over 20 years old in terms of years they’ve lived.

After calming down his two friends, Kwak Chungsik lowered his voice and spoke to Noah.

“Why are you eating here? Are you eating without my permission?”

Noah glanced up at him, then ignored him again to focus on his game.

“Hyung. Sorry, but you’re interrupting my game, so please go somewhere else.”

“T-this punk is really…”‘

Boom-!

Kwak Chungsik kicked the table leg hard. Surprised by the sound, the children around the table hurriedly evacuated to another place.

Then, on the big table, there were only the two of them left.

In the midst of that, Noah was still playing his game tactfully and eating with one hand. Kwak Chungsik got closer to Noah’s tray. And…

“Ptooey.”

Yellow spit floated on the soybean paste soup that Noah had been eating. It was only then that his spoon stopped.

“Kuku, something like this is more befitting for you, punk.”

However, Noah casually pushed the tray away as if nothing had happened.

“Hyung, you can eat it. I’m not hungry anyway.”

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

He couldn’t believe a nursery student would refuse to eat. It was completely incomprehensible with his common sense.

At that moment, he noticed small specks on Noah’s clothes. It looked like fried chicken or pork cutlet batter.

‘No way, this punk…He’s secretly eating outside?’

Kwak Chungsik couldn’t understand where his confidence was coming from. To him, Noah was just a newbie who had recently entered the nursery.

He felt as if all the rules of life he has followed had been turned upside down. Kwak Chungsik shouted.

“Hey, you punk! When you talk to me, you should at least look at my face and answer!”

He snatched the game console from Noah’s hand.

Then, the boy who had always smiled brightly until now made a cold face for the first time.

“That’s important to me. Give it back.”

“Haha, if you want it, take it yourself.”

As if to play a joke, he made the gesture of putting the old game console in the soybean paste soup.

The friends next to him giggled and laughed as Noah watched the scene.

By chance, Kwak Chungsik made eye contact with him. And without realizing it, his breath stopped.

‘…What the fuck? Has his eyes always looked like this?’

He hadn’t been able to see his eyes properly because he was always smiling.

Looking at it like this now, strangely, it looked a bit dull. It’s like looking at a corpse.

Kwak Chungsik simply couldn’t understand the fact that he was scared of such a young child.

“Fuck! You can have this dirty trash game console back!”

He held out his arm and was about to throw the game console to the floor.

But at that moment.

Whoosh–

Something gray seemed to have passed his eyes, and before he knew it, the game console was back in Noah’s hand.

Noah carefully cleaned the old game console and put it in his pocket.

“W-what was that just now? How did he do that?”

“Eh, did Chungsik just give it back to him?”

The nursery students who pretended not to watch but were watching everything opened their mouths.

Each child’s voice flew like an arrow from behind and stuck to Kwak Chungsik.

He thought it would be troublesome if it ended like this. If he doesn’t show something now, even the power he had could be shaken.

“You crazy punk! I’m really going to kill you!”

Kwak Chungsik used his large size to grab Noah by the collar.

Originally, he didn’t intend to fight where the cameras were, but now he wasn’t in a position to back down.

“You went crazy because you wanted to die today? Huh?”

Since it had gotten to this point, he thought it would be better to step on him right now, rather than break him down little by little.

But…

Looking at the boy he had grabbed, he saw that he was smiling as brightly as before.

“Hyung, I heard you collapsed recently. Do you have some kind of illness?”

“W-who said that?”

“Don’t overdo it. If you keep doing this, you’ll get sick and die early.”

With that said, Noah put his hand on the part where he was grabbed by the collar.

At first, Kwak Chungsik thought he was trying to remove his hand, but instead, he stuck his body closer as if he didn’t want to fall off.

‘What is he doing? He doesn’t know how to fight?’

As soon as he thought that.

“Keuk!”

Suddenly, his vision blurred. The dizziness that he had experienced every day these days had come again.

‘Damn it…Why all of a sudden?!’

However, in this place where other nursery students were watching, he couldn’t show the unsightly appearance of him falling down.

‘That would really be the end of everything.’

The authority accumulated so far and the ability to control the children will all disappear.

‘Then I’ll be abandoned again…’

Kwak Chungsik clenched his teeth. However, his body tilted back and forth regardless of his will.

‘Oh, no…!’

And the last scene he saw…was the image of Noah smiling.

* * *

After the incident at the canteen, a rumor began to circulate in the nursery.

[Kwak Chungsik has a fatal disease.]

[I heard he doesn’t have long to live.]

At first, it was a rumor that only went around behind Kwak Choong-sik’s ears, but these days, he can hear it everywhere in the nursery.

Naturally, Kwak Chungsik’s health has already deteriorated to the point where he had no time to care about such rumors.

His plump cheeks, which had already become only bones and skin, were pale and sagged like bloodless meat bags.

On top of that, his teeth and nails were falling out day by day, while his hair crumbled like powder just by the slightest touch.

Thus, his life withered at a rapid pace.

The children at the nursery began to turn a blind eye to him.

‘Why is this ridiculous thing happening…?’

The other children would normally flatter him, but now even those who share the same room as him stopped paying him any attention.

Even the two half-elf friends who used to call him brother stopped visiting him.

Instead, they were having fun reigning as new kings in his vacancy.

‘Those damn punks…’

He was trembling at the betrayal.

Naturally, he never really trusted them either, but he never even imagined that he would be thrown away so coldly.

“Hey, I’m coming in. How are you feeling?”

In any case.

It’s ironic, but it was none other than Noah who had stayed by his side until the end.

As always, he came in with a bright smile. And he would sit next to him and rub his shoulders as if it were natural.

‘Doesn’t this punk find it troublesome…?’

Noah hasn’t missed a single day and has always come to massage him.

‘Because I’m useless, everyone else has left…’

Even the parents who had given birth to him, the ones who had vowed to raise and love him.

Everyone has thrown him away…

‘But how come this guy hasn’t left me?’

He was suddenly overcome with a sense of guilt.

‘What in the world did I try to do to this guy who is so nice?’

He thought perhaps the reason why he is sick like this now was because of karma.

‘To die in vain…’

In the end, he wanted to apologize to this guy properly. He wanted to thank him at least once.

However, his consciousness had become more and more blurred.

Strangely, his physical condition has deteriorated rapidly ever since Noah came.

‘To see his face one more time, did I force myself to endure it?’

Kwak Chungsik intuitively sensed his end.

To convey his last words, he opened his mouth by squeezing out all his remaining strength.

“Tha…nk…you…and…sorry…”

Did the boy understand him?

He didn’t know.

But now that he had delivered everything he wanted to say, he could rest now.

It would be a lie if he said he didn’t have any regrets in life…

‘With this, at least I can die with one less regret.’

The two mothers who had abandoned him.

Even the fate of being born in such an unfortunate way.

Now he felt like he could forgive everyone.

Kwak Chungsik smiled.

And that smile, it was the most comfortable face he had ever made in his life.

‘Thank you…Choi Noah.’

Thanks to him, he can forgive this world before he dies.

‘Meeting you was the luckiest thing in my life.’

The moment he was about to breath his last breath–

Noah spoke.

“Wow, hyung is like a cockroach.”

Hmm? What? What did he just hear?

Did his hearing become strange because it was time to die?

Kwak Chungsik doubted his ears.

“Is it because elves have a long lifespan? You’re still talking even though I’ve sucked so much vitality.”

“?!”

“Aye, honestly, if I knew it would be this long, I’d just look for another way. It’s taking too long to complete a general quest.”

“Y-you…what do…you mean?”

It was hard to keep up with the situation. What was he talking about?

‘Don’t tell me…?’

Does that mean he had orchestrated everything? Then, the fact that he became like this is also…

“Y-you son of a…bitch!”

He didn’t know where this energy was coming from. Kwak Chungsik, who had no power to talk, vented his anger roughly.

Noah who was in front of him smiled brightly and spoke.

“Hu…I can’t do this. If I leave hyung like this, I feel like you’ll survive and drag this on, so I’m going to kill you now.”

“Y-you…!”

“Huh, I don’t think people will doubt how you die with all the rumors that have been going around anyway.”

Kwak Chungsik looked at Noah with his eyes wide open.

Noah’s hand slowly melted, and he began to climb up Kwak Chungsik’s body. Unidentified flesh gradually approached his face.

‘Ah, no…!’

He wanted to scream, but his voice wouldn’t come out because he was too weak.

There was a devil living in the nursery. He had to let people know right away.

But now the only remaining person by his side was the devil.

“Keuh, friendship…Why did you trick me?!”

Kwak Chungsik cried. He asked while squeezing out a voice that didn’t want to come out.

What the hell did he do so wrong for Noah to kill him so painfully?

Was there a point he had missed? Hasn’t it been only a month since they started living together?

In a nonchalant tone, Noah spoke.

“I hate people who disturb me when I play games the most.”

And soon.

Noah’s face turned into a warm sticky liquid.

* * *

I started working on the rest of the gang after killing Kwak Chungsik.

In fact, the other guys were beyond my concerns in the first place, but I didn’t like the way they had giggled in the canteen.

After absorbing their energy every night for a few days, the half-elf twins began to lose their strength.

Then, the children of the nursery began spreading a rumor, saying that it was the curse of Kwak Chungsik. As a result, the twins ran away from the nursery in a frightened state.

Thanks to this, I was able to finish the job quite comfortably.

I found the twins hiding in a bathroom at a closed subway station.

“S-stop! Don’t come closer, monster!”

Bang–!

Bang–!

Bang–!

One of them fired a handgun he had gotten from somewhere. But it could only break the innocent bathroom tiles after the bullet passed through me.

“To be honest, I was so thankful that you two had run away.”

“Ah, no!”

“I was consuming your energies little by little for a while, so I was worried that you would die from that.”

I spread my body wide and attacked them both at once.

“K-keuaak!!!”

Well, I didn’t have to control my power anymore, so I thought I could devour them to my heart’s content.

*Drain Life

As such, that’s how I absorbed the two.

[Elf Genetic Value has increased.]

[Elf Genetic Value has increased.]

[Elf Genetic Value has increased.]

.

.

.

Then…Finally, a new message appeared before my eyes.

[Elf gene is activated.]

“Oh?”

I hurriedly opened my status window to check.

Classification: Special

Grade: A

Description: Awaken the dormant genes.

Dormant genes:

(1) Human: 88.6%

(2) Elf: 5.1%. (Active)

(3) Beast: 2.5% (Inactive)

(4) Dwarf: 2% (Inactive)

(5) Unknown: 1.7% (Inactive)

(6) Unknown: 0.1% (Inactive)

The elf genetic value, which had been marked as inactive has changed to active.

“So…What can I do with this?”

The condition was met, but I felt frustrated because I didn’t know how to use this skill.

Just as I was sighing, I noticed a subtle change in my reflection in the mirror.

“What’s this?”

My ears were a little pointed.

It isn’t as pronounced as an elf, but if you look closely, the shape of my ears were different from that of an ordinary human.

No way…that’s all this skill is?

This couldn’t be classified as an A-grade skill. I wanted to believe that it couldn’t be.

No, there has to be other effects…

The moment when I tried to rationalize it…

In the ears that had become pointed, a strange voice began to flow in.

— By any chance…Can you hear my voice?

== Translator’s Note ==

1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section.