CH 169

“You guys are crazy… really crazy.”

A young Yongno was atop an operating table. The startling thing was that his brain was completely exposed. A large part of his skull had been severed and held firmly open with rubber tongs, so his brain was completely revealed.

“Hehehe. Yeah, I do feel like I’m going crazy. I never thought that I’d be able to see such a brain structure in my lifetime.”

“Crazy bastard. Did you call me just to show me this?”

“But before all that, what happened to the anesthetics? Is he under? He looks like he’s fully conscious.”

Yongno saw four men wearing white, full body sterilized lab suits around him. Though Yongno’s appearance was quite grotesque, the four men didn’t seem to mind.

“Hehehe. At first, this kid tried to act as if he was under. He was trying to act like a normal human being… hehehe, but he can’t trick a genius like me.”

The thirty-so year old man, who was extremely skinny, smiled as he took out a few MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) images. The other man looked on with unapproving expressions; however, their eyes soon grew round with surprise.

“Huh? The structure of the brain seems abnormal, no?”

“The cerebrum in particular looks… What the hell? It has six parts?”

“It’s not six parts. The cerebrum is made up of two parts.”

“What? Then the cerebrum is too small! Didn’t you say this kid is some mutated genius?”

The cerebrum consists of the frontal lobe, which is responsible for judgment and personality, the temporal lobe, which is responsible for memory and language skills, the parietal lobe, which is responsible for spatiotemporal and pathfinding, and the occipital lobe, which is responsible for vision, the perception of light and objects. It was no exaggeration to say that the cerebrum, which occupies most of the human skull, is one of the most essential parts of the brain. But the skinny man laughed after hearing the other’s questions.

“Tsk. I see that you're one of those who believe that evolved humans will possess larger heads. Unfortunately for you, history is against you. The human brain has constantly been reducing in size over time. It’s like the modern memory and processing chip; a smaller package has been able to contain and process increasingly more.”

“Then is his brain separated and compartmentalized? Do the other parts have other functions?”

“Unfortunately, that’s not the right answer either. From the start, these different parts of his brain have developed independently. You can think of it as something similar to a Dual Core processor. Of the two cerebrums that this kid possesses, the possession of just one would be enough to consider him a generational genius.”

After the skinny man spoke, another man asked, “You’re saying that both cerebrums are developed to that level?”

“Right! Surprisingly, each of the cerebrums are well developed, so, as a research subject and material, this availability is optimal. However, there’s something even more important.”

Saying that, the skinny man removed the cloth that had been covering part of Yongno’s lower brain. When Yongno’s brain was fully revealed, everyone saw that Yongno’s lower brain was an unconventional, purple color.

“This… What is this? What’s wrong with the color?”

“I decided to call it the auxiliary brain for convenience sake. Now, Younghyun mentioned earlier that this kid has six cerebrums, but he actually only has two; the other parts of the brain are completely different in nature. They’re not just different in shape…”

Saying this, the skinny man took out a pair of tweezers and poked a part of Yongno’s brain. Poking the brain of a living person was a dangerous action. Following his actions, a drastic change began to occur in the graph displayed on a viewing monitor.

“From its composition to its basic structure, this kid’s brain is completely different from a normal human’s. Want to know something even more strange? Right now, this kid isn’t anesthetized.”

“What?”

The researchers looked at Yongno with expressions of bewilderment. Yongno bit his lip and growled.

“Crazy bastard…”

“Hahaha! I was very surprised at first myself. I didn’t think there would be a human who could dissolve such a large amount of anesthetic to take down a tiger or a bear. Even more surprising was that this guy acted as if he didn’t feel pain. However, his senses are fully functional.”

While being transported after being captured, Yongno attempted to escape. Initially, Yongno resolved to endure and suffer a bit at the Institute, as he didn’t feel that his life was in danger.

However, the air he felt when he arrived at the Institute was completely different than his expectations. Of course, they didn’t outwardly show it, but the researchers viewed Yongno as nothing more than a wild beast test subject. Based on their facial expressions, tone of voice, and actions, Yongno knew that his life was in danger. Therefore, he tried to escape, but the security of the Institute was much more stringent than he expected. Yongno, with all his outstanding talents, was still just a child, so he didn’t possess the capacity to break free.

“Then, what’s going on? This kid is enduring the pain? It doesn’t look like he’s enduring anything.”

“You’re right. That’s one of the roles, albeit probably a minor role, played by his auxiliary brain.”

After saying this, the skinny man pointed towards an MRI image.

“This auxiliary brain doesn’t do any particular function, but once it becomes operational, it supports the function of all the other brain parts. It can support the cerebrum and allow accelerated cognitive processing or support the cerebellum and allow extremely precise body movement and increased sense of equilibrium. Moreover, like a computer, his brain… can choose what information to process.”

“Choose what information to process?”

Seeing the surprised expression of his colleagues, the skinny man continued.

“When humans feel pain, it’s a warning sign. The brain is saying that some action is harming the body, so don’t do it or stop it… it’s something genetically coded into our being. But there’s also a case where one could be subjected to corporal punishment or torture, when people suffer against their own will.”

In this case, pain originates from mental stress. Touching a hot object causes burns, so learning to let go of something hot promotes learning through physical pain, but the pain in a situation where one knows one will feel pain but cannot avoid it through one’s own will only destroys one’s mind.

“That’s where the choice of information comes into play; because there are cases in the world where pain itself hurts the mind. But this auxiliary brain can take in that information and then make a choice. It only conveys the information of [it hurts] and not the pain. A high level of intelligence avoids bodily harm and mental stress.”

“That’s… that’s great. It will also help one train one’s body. As long as one doesn’t suffer, one won’t feel any stress when training in the exact approach necessary for that person.”

The researchers, who were initially uninterested and appalled by the scene, began to lively discuss. They realized that Yongno’s body was so valuable that it could revolutionize the medical world. As long as they had Yongno, the test subject, it would be possible to win multiple Nobel Prizes, and it would also be possible to make tens or hundreds of billions of dollars with their ridiculous findings and results.

“This is incredible. His reaction is in response to the stimulation you gave earlier?”

“Yeah. The dormant auxiliary brain was activated to block the pain. But blocking this kind of pain is less than 0.1% of the processing power of the auxiliary brain.”

“Then, how do we increase its processing percentage?”

“I’ll… help you.”

Yongno, who was gritting his teeth, spoke out. It was dangerous, too dangerous. His intuition was constantly sending him emergency signals. Yongno felt that it was best to succumb to the researchers at this moment.

“Hmm? Help us? How?”

“If I think… If I think a lot, my brain should increase its operating and processing operations. If I do that…”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

After hearing Yongno’s explanation, the skinny man smiled brightly. However, the skinny man said, “But that’s not what I have in mind.”

“W-what? Ack!! Argh!!”

Yongno started spasming uncontrollably. However, Yongno couldn’t move his body freely, as he was tightly bound with restraints. Due to his seizure, the graph on the screen turned bright red and began to vibrate violently.

“What did you do?”

“I cut the link between his auxiliary brain and his cerebrum. The funny thing is, since his body is now feeling a tremendous amount of pain, his auxiliary brain thinks that it’s not operating properly, so it’ll operate at a greater speed. As this kid flops around and senses a greater threat to his life, the auxiliary brain will continue to operate at even greater speeds.”

“Ack! S-stop… Ack!! Ack!!”

It was an unnerving sight to see Yongno flop around and wriggle in obvious pain. His eyes had rolled back as pain pulsed through his being. However, the researchers, who saw such sights on a daily basis, looked down on Yongno with happy expressions.

“These… These numbers are tremendous. They’re well beyond any numbers we’ve ever seen.”

“To think that such a human exists…”

The more pain and wrath he suffered, the more violently the researcher’s graph reacted. The researchers looked at the reaction with interest and amusement, but Yongno, who had never felt proper pain before, felt like he was going crazy.

“Ack! P-please! Pl… argh!!”

“Is there any way to shut him up? It’s hard to focus.”

“Anesthesia doesn’t seem to work. I don’t want to continue giving it more anesthesia… his throat will soon grow hoarse. It should be better then.”

Yongno felt goosebumps after hearing the researchers’ casual words. As anyone might guess, these people had no interest in human rights.

“But these figures and numbers… they’re really incredible. They’re tens of times higher than a normal human’s. Moreover, if the test subject wants, it can increase the processing power of its brain to 100%; that’s abnormal for a human. I’m also a human, but how can we be so different.”

After hearing his exclaiming colleague’s words, the skinny man smiled and said, “What do you mean ‘human’? Hey, Younghyun, consider the genetic evolution and changes that made the first human from monkeys. Based on that premise, would you categorize that initial being as a human or monkey? Its parents are monkeys, but its intelligence and cognitive ability are markedly human.”

“Hmm… are you saying this test subject is as different to us as the monkey and human in your example?”

“Not to that extent. A human and monkey’s DNA overlap at 98.7%. There’s only a 1.3% difference. However, based on our tests… This test subject’s DNA differs with humans by 4%. Honestly, it would be a stretch to even consider him an evolved human being. In other words…”

He continued speaking in a clear, excited voice.

“This thing isn’t human.”

The skinny man spoke in an assertive tone. As Yongno listened to their conversation while writhing in pain, he understood that he had fallen into an abyss from which he could not easily get out. He also admitted that he had fallen into a terribly wrong situation.

However, there was one thing that even a highly intelligent being like Yongno could not foresee: that his immense suffering would continue… and that his mind would collapse because of it.

Yongno was completely blindsided by the unfolding events. He never suspected such a result.