Chapter 30 - Luminaries of Science (2)

I'm right here.

I stared at the scientist who had just woken up.

Samuel sprang to his feet and walked over to his patient.

“Get some more sleep, you idiot.”

“... Where's Yehyeon?”

John Mühlen didn't seem to be listening to Samuel at all.

“I have something to report.”

“Chatty today, aren't you?” Yun remarked from his chair.

Mühlen didn't respond to him either. Instead, he pressed his lips shut and stared at the ceiling. What was with this guy? After a moment of bewilderment, I pulled myself together.

It wasn't as though he was the only person like this around here.

I got up and walked over to the scientist.

“Um, that's me.”

Stopping beside the doctor, I craned my head forward. Samuel turned to me in surprise. John Mühlen's eyes rolled downward. I met those blue eyes, a different shade from Samuel's.

John Mühlen's voice was as deep as Yun's.

“How did you enter the portal?”

“Uh, I found myself falling out of it before I knew what was happening. That was about a month ago...”

“... Not that. Your route.”

“I barely remember anything from before that.”

“He's actually holding a conversation,” my training officer murmured, almost to himself, sitting with his legs crossed. “Things must really be serious.”

Wasn't that a strange way to judge the situation?

John Mühlen didn't seem to hear Yun. Or perhaps he was simply ignoring him without a second thought. The scientist stared at me, then looked back at the ceiling.

“Yun.”

“What?”

At the sound of his name, Yun uncrossed his legs and walked over to us.

“What's the problem?”

“Call Yehyeon.”

Yun looked down at John Mühlen without a word.

Surprisingly, it was Dr. Han who prodded him to act. Nudging Yun with his elbow, he said, “It sounds urgent. Why don't you call him now?” The doctor's eyes were utterly serious as he urged him on.

Apparently, this sort of response really was unusual for the scientist.

Yun slowly reached for his phone.

We watched him call Yehyeon. The conversation was brief. Yun said, “Commander, Mühlen says he has something to report,” then listened in silence before ending the call with a short “Yes.”

My training officer stuffed his phone away and relayed the result.

“Unless it's truly a matter of seconds, he'll get in touch within three hours, no matter what.”

Silence again.

The man lay like a corpse, not so much as twitching a finger. Only when we were beginning to wonder whether the conversation was over did he speak.

“Hand this man over to me.”

... Excuse me?

Which man?

Surely not me?

I wasn't the only one taken aback. Samuel looked as though he was wondering whether malnutrition had finally driven the man insane.

My training officer, however, wasn't surprised. He refused outright.

“Sorry, I got to him first. He's officially required to train under me on weekdays.”

“Weekends.”

“Hey!”

It was Samuel who was outraged by Mühlen's terse, shameless reply.

I was genuinely touched to see the doctor getting angry on my behalf.

“He's not some object you can tell people to hand over! And what do you mean, weekends? What are you planning to do, dragging the clueless kid off on his weekends?”

“...”

“Isn't it obvious?” Yun gave a dry chuckle, amused by something. “He won't have come across a subject this interesting in a while. There must be any number of experiments he wants to try.”

“You want to summon the kid on his weekends off and put him through who knows what experiments?”

“Um, I wouldn't mind half a day or so.”

All eyes turned to me.

The sight of these worldly men genuinely surprised was quite something. I could feel their gazes strike me and stay fixed there. Funniest of all was the scientist: after staring at the ceiling, he was now staring at me with wide, rabbitlike eyes.

Why was he surprised? He was the one who'd suggested it.

The men looked at me as though I were an alien.

“You're out of your mind too,” Samuel finally said. “You have no idea what he'll do to you on those weekends.”

“I don't think he'll kill me.”

“In that case, why not come to me?”

Yun's suggestion was chilling. I'd rather not... Yun and John Mühlen seemed to be the same sort of mad scientist, but if I had to choose, Mühlen looked a little safer.

Or did he?

As I looked at Yun, my gaze wavering, Mühlen spoke abruptly.

“Wonderful.”

Samuel's jaw dropped.

Yun, too, whipped his head around to stare at John Mühlen in disbelief, as though he'd never heard such words in his life.

My training officer stared at the man who resembled an old tree.

“Are you talking to Hilde? I've never heard you say that to anyone.”

I was getting a better read on my training officer's character all the time.

Hearing that incredulous note in Yun's voice, I felt a private sense of pride.

Anyway, the scientist didn't answer this time either. Instead, John Mühlen sat up in bed. Even the way he sat up was so very him.

But was he allowed to do that?

“Lie down!” the doctor shouted.

John Mühlen ignored him. Instead, he sat with his back straight and looked at me. The pale, gray-haired scientist spoke gravely.

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow's a weekday,” Yun countered.

Mühlen fell silent. This man... Apparently, he worked without any sense of the days of the week and didn't know what day it was.

Samuel shouted at him again.

“I said, lie down!”

“He's found himself a sucker.” Yun turned to me with a warning. “You think nothing much will happen, don't you? You'll regret it, guaranteed. Well, if you want out, just say the word. I'll get you out anytime.”

“Well... I really am an oddity, aren't I?”

I did my best to ignore the rising tide of unease.

I hadn't accepted the offer on a foolish impulse. I truly didn't want any more problems to arise because of me. They said my healing wasn't going to improve. If I couldn't fix that, shouldn't I at least try to get rid of my tendency to attract creatures?

Of course, this scientist who looked like an old tree hadn't actually said he would rid me of that tendency.

Still, if taking part in experiments could prevent potential problems, I was willing to give up half a day of my weekend. A whole day, even, if success was guaranteed.

A phone suddenly appeared in front of my face.

“... Your number,” Mühlen said.

The other men made no effort to hide their astonishment. Yun's eyes widened, then blinked a couple of times. The doctor's jaw dropped and stayed down.

I took the proffered phone.

“I've put it in.”

No sooner had I handed it back than my own phone rang.

Mühlen had called me straightaway. As I saved the scientist's number, Yun and Samuel Han stood rooted to the spot, still wearing expressions that said they'd lived long enough to see everything.

They didn't move even as John Mühlen settled himself back into bed.

Had he finally lain down because of Samuel's nagging?

“You'd better report all of this to Yehyeon later, too,” the doctor said, breaking the silence. “Tell him you're planning to drag this green recruit off every weekend.”

Once again, no answer came.

The scientist lay gazing at the ceiling with his fingers interlaced, while the other men stood dumbfounded.

Not long afterward, I was shooed out of the hospital building. The doctor even waved me away, saying we were done and I should go rest. Now that I wouldn't even have two full days off on weekends, shouldn't I hurry back and get some rest?

* * *

Should I pick up dinner on the way back?

Walking down a corridor at work and mulling it over, I spotted a familiar face. He was tall and striking, dressed in an outfit that made him easy to recognize at once.

I called to him amid the crowd in the science building.

“Riccardo!”

“Ah... Rookie...”

The man strolling along in his combat suit lifted his head to look at me.

That habitual smile was on his lips again today, with the same prickly air showing through it. The only difference was the blood caked here and there all over him. Still, even an ignorant rookie like me could plainly see that it wasn't Riccardo's blood, so I wasn't worried.

He approached me slowly.

“We meet again... Been well? Have you been outside the core yet?”

“Yes. I got back early yesterday morning. You must have just come back from duty. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Oh, it's what I always do... If you got back yesterday, you must be off through today? So why are you coming from the hospital building?”

“Did you get hurt again?” Riccardo asked, shoving one hand into a pocket of his combat suit.

People hurried along the corridor. I shook my head and stepped closer to my senior. He watched me approach with his habitual smile on his lips.

“I was just there for a quick checkup.”

“Ah... By yourself?”

“No. I went with my training officer and another senior, but I left first.”

“Which senior? A Badger?”

Riccardo resumed his leisurely walk, and I fell into step beside him.

I still didn't know my way around this vast place, so I couldn't tell where he was going. But we weren't finished talking, and I matched his stride.

I looked into his vivid green eyes.

“Mr. Mühlen. We ended up going together. We just exchanged numbers, and then I left.”

Riccardo stopped dead.

What? Startled, I stopped too. Why had he stopped so suddenly?

But my senior offered no explanation. Instead, he stared at me through his glasses for a long time without blinking.

What was the matter, sir...?

Only after a long while did the green-eyed man ask,

“Mühlen?”

“Yes.”

“John Mühlen?”

“Yes. From the Science Department.”

“You exchanged numbers?”

“Yes.”

“Phone numbers?”

“... That's right.”

“Did you ask for his?”

“No, he asked for mine first.”

“What have you been getting up to?”

There was no humor in Riccardo's voice.

The habitual smile that had seemed fixed to his lips was gone, too. He stared straight at me with serious eyes. People passing down the corridor glanced at us, but he didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow.

Under that piercing gaze, I murmured,

“Well...”

When I briefly explained how I'd ended up agreeing to see John Mühlen every weekend, Riccardo pressed his lips into a straight line.

Silence descended again. The air grew tense. He stood motionless in the broad, crowded corridor.

I waited quietly for him to speak.

But the silence remained unbroken for a long time.

Had I done something to get on his nerves?

The longer the silence lasted, the more flustered I became. Yun was expressionless but candid. Riccardo was the opposite, which made him harder to deal with in some ways.

I didn't know what I'd done, but should I just beg forgiveness first?

Thankfully, just as I started wondering whether I ought to apologize, he broke the silence. His distinctive smile returned to his lips.

“Hilde...”

“Yes, sir.”

“Shall we have a little chat?”

Riccardo put an arm around my shoulders.

I nodded obediently. Keeping his arm in place, he started walking, and I meekly matched his pace, following wherever he led.

We walked down the crowded corridor and turned left, stopping in front of the emergency stairwell.

A gray door stood before us. Riccardo casually positioned himself with his back to the corridor and looked at me, smiling silently.

Then he asked,

“Did someone threaten you?”