Chapter 29 - Luminaries of Science (1)

I hurriedly knelt beside the unconscious man.

"Hey!" I lifted the gray-haired man's head, calling urgently. "Sir, wake up!"

[Oh dear!]

Someone exclaimed above my head.

... Above my head?

I looked up and saw a round machine attached to the ceiling. Hanging there like a disco ball, it was looking down at me and the collapsed man through a camera.

[John has finally collapsed!]

I hadn't misheard. The voice was definitely coming from that disco-ball thing. Holding the unconscious man, I stared up at the disco ball with the camera.

"Finally?"

[I'll contact Dr. Han to let him know! Would you take John to the hospital, person whose name I don't know?]

"Uh..."

Flustered, I trailed off and looked around.

People in white lab coats were craning their necks to look our way. Some had half risen from their seats. Others were calling, "Need a hand?"

The surprising thing was that none of them seemed particularly surprised. Rather than shock, their expressions said, 'So it finally happened...'

Why did they all look as if they'd seen this coming?

In any case, I was thinking I should get the unconscious man to the hospital first when a familiar voice came from above me.

"Ah."

I'd never been so glad to hear my training officer's low voice.

"So it finally happened?"

"Yun!" I called gladly to the man who had stopped in front of me. "You're back! The man at the next desk suddenly collapsed..."

"It's because he doesn't eat," Yun said matter-of-factly.

What?

"Doesn't eat what?"

"Meals. Pick him up. We can take him along to Samuel."

Yun flicked the papers in his hand toward the man lying in my arms like a dried-out tree.

Once again, he wasn't surprised. My training officer watched me rise with the man in my arms and a dumbfounded look on my face, as if he were watching me pick up a dumbbell at the gym.

One by one, the researchers who had been craning their necks turned back to their monitors. The lab settled back into its routine in an instant. Only the disco ball overhead kept watching us as it circled around the ceiling.

[I've contacted Dr. Han!]

"Yeah, all right."

"What is that?" I looked at my training officer, who had answered the disco ball's announcement without inflection. "A disco-ball AI?"

"Disco ball?"

[Disco-ball AI?]

Yun glared at me as if I'd said the stupidest thing in the world. The disco ball repeated my words in a tone of astonishment.

But I only blinked. My training officer's looks didn't bother me anymore. At some point, I'd stopped worrying about looking stupid in front of him.

Most people probably looked stupid to him anyway.

Yun said, "His name is Martin."

"Martin?"

[Nice to meet you!]

They really had all sorts of things here.

The AI's tone was cheerful yet polite. I tipped up my chin to look into the machine's camera and nodded.

I carried the unconscious man out of the lab, quietly following Yun toward the hospital building. Martin glided along after us.

Why was he following us?

All the way through the chaotic, noisy lab, Martin stayed above my head.

Wait.

He was following us out of the lab, too.

Without turning his head, Yun glanced at the machine following us.

"Martin. Go back inside."

[Ah. Will do!]

The machine readily obeyed.

The disco-ball-like machine went back into the lab as quietly as it had come out. As soon as it vanished from view, I drew closer to my training officer.

"Can that thing leave the lab?"

"If he wants to. For now, I've built him so he can move freely around the research building."

"Built him?"

I hadn't missed that part.

We strode down a corridor bustling with people in lab coats. I had to be careful not to knock the lanky man's arms and legs against anyone as I carried him.

Yun explained without looking back.

"I made him."

"Whoa."

"To be precise, the man you're carrying and I made him."

With this gray-haired man?

Hearing that, I had a feeling I knew his name. Hadn't Yun mentioned someone who invented the cores? He'd later added that the creator of the cores had received an enhanced body.

I looked down at the unconscious man.

"I haven't had a chance to hear it from him, so could you tell me his name?"

"John Mühlen."

Just as I'd thought.

His long limbs dangled below him. But the people in the research building went about their business, unfazed by the bizarre sight.

"Even if he hadn't collapsed, you wouldn't have heard his name from him."

"Sorry?"

"Think a man so absorbed in his research that he forgets to eat would bother answering you?"

He hadn't just gone without eating—he'd forgotten?

Was that even possible? I'd only missed lunch because I'd cried myself to sleep, and I was starving. Once again, all sorts of questions sprang to mind. I stayed silent, wondering which to ask first.

At some point, the lively corridor grew quiet and began to take on the distinctive atmosphere of a hospital.

As our surroundings grew calmer, I called Yun's name and asked, "Did you choose the name Martin yourself?"

Yun turned to look at me. After staring at me as if to ask why I wanted to know, my training officer answered in a flat voice.

"Yeah."

Satisfied with his answer, I stayed silent until we reached Dr. Han's office.

* * *

Samuel was sitting at his desk eating a sandwich.

When we entered, he looked up from it at us. A patchily shaved chin. Shaggy black hair and intelligent blue eyes. He looked just as he had when I'd first landed in this world.

He frowned deeply as we strode inside.

"He finally collapsed?"

The doctor put down his sandwich and sprang to his feet.

"I knew this would happen. I told you to make sure he was eating regularly."

"I haven't been spending much time in the lab lately because of this rookie," Yun protested as the doctor strode toward us.

Samuel Han didn't even acknowledge his protest. After examining the pale, unconscious man, he frowned and sighed.

"Lindsey! Pris!"

People who looked like nurses came hurrying out from farther inside.

"John Mühlen's here. I shouldn't have to tell you the diagnosis. Take him and give him a nutrient IV, and put the kid holding him through a checkup."

"Yes, doctor. He didn't seem to have left the lab for weeks. So it finally came to this."

Things moved quickly.

The nurses expertly took John Mühlen from my arms as if this were routine. Now empty-handed, I was led away by other nurses and underwent various tests.

It was no different from the first day.

Once the tests were over, I returned to Samuel Han's office.

John Mühlen was lying on a bed in the office with an IV. Samuel was chatting with my training officer at his desk.

... Chatting with Choi Yun?

"Ah, all done."

The doctor, who had been chuckling at something Yun said, craned his neck when he saw me.

"Come sit down. Are you eating properly? How come you've got an empty stomach every time you come here?"

"Oh, yes. I've been eating well. I just happened to miss lunch today."

"I've got a sandwich left. I'll give it to you, so eat that, at least."

Samuel pointed to a round stool in front of his desk.

He was a good person... I obediently did as he said. Chewing the sandwich he handed me, I waited for his diagnosis as he murmured, "Let's see," and examined my test results.

Yun sat with his legs crossed, also waiting for Dr. Han to speak.

Samuel studied the screen with an inscrutable expression, then broke the silence.

"There's nothing wrong with your health right now."

"Thank you. I did feel as if I'd healed completely."

"We can't improve your healing, either. Normally, someone who heals at this rate shouldn't be able to handle an enhanced body, you know? But everything in yours is in perfect harmony. I think forcing your healing any higher would cause something to go wrong."

What are you saying, Doc?

My jaw dropped at the thunderbolt of a diagnosis. Did that mean I'd have to stay a half-baked Black Badger for the rest of my life?

That wouldn't do. I didn't want to be a burden on my fellow recruits and seniors every time we went on a mission.

Yun was the one who spoke.

"So he has to stay like this?"

"That's the safest option. His body is perfectly healthy right now. There's no reason to meddle with it."

"He heals worse than the other Badgers. Far better than an ordinary person, sure, but for a start, he doesn't stop bleeding right away."

"But it's hard to justify intervening. Enhancing his healing isn't risk-free. And it's not as if his healing is only at a civilian's level. A civilian could never heal this well. Can't he just go on as he is?"

"Doctor, I'd like either to improve my healing or to have my enhanced body disposed of."

I cautiously offered my opinion.

Samuel Han whipped his head around. His wide eyes seemed to say exactly how he felt. He stared at me, then spoke slowly.

"What did you say?"

"I'm afraid I'll be a burden in this condition. If I can't pull my weight, I think it might be better to have my enhanced body disposed of..."

"Do you have any idea how much strain disposing of an enhanced body puts on you?"

The doctor frowned.

I nodded without avoiding his disapproving gaze.

"I've heard."

"You know, and you can say that so lightly? Don't be reckless, kid."

"It may seem reckless to you, but I'm completely serious. Well, you know where I came from. I've already caused the organization trouble by popping up out of somewhere strange. I can't keep burdening everyone like this..."

"What burden? What have you done?"

I was holding my fellow recruits back.

I tried to answer, but the doctor didn't give me time. He waved a hand dismissively, his expression making it clear he wouldn't hear any more.

"Spend less time talking nonsense and more time exercising. Unless being a Black Badger is so unbearable it makes you shudder, I'm not disposing of the enhanced body of a perfectly healthy Badger."

"Then could we try bringing my healing up to the level of an ordinary Badger's?"

"Oh, that's easier said than done, too. If that procedure goes wrong, there's no reversing it! Just train harder! Get good enough that slightly weaker healing won't be a problem! That's your best option right now. And learn first aid inside out from Yun."

"But it's not as if there's nothing wrong with me right now."

"I'm telling you, the strange thing is that there's nothing wrong! Normally, you shouldn't be able to handle an enhanced body with this level of healing..."

"The cores have been acting strangely since that day."

An unfamiliar voice cut in.

It came from the corner of the infirmary. We turned toward the sound.

Three pairs of eyes fixed on the man lying with his hands clasped as if he were in a coffin.

Only his blue eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.

"Where's the fellow who fell out of the portal?"

Those were the first words John Mühlen spoke.