STJ_09

The UEFC research building has a 50-meter long corridor connected to the main building, which can only be entered through an ID verification process.

The building was divided into three sectors and had over a hundred laboratory rooms.

Doyoung entered Sector A and followed the soldier with the rifle into a long, all-white hallway that stretched out in front of him.

There were doors at regular intervals, with crystal screens above them in several places.

Doyoung stood in front of the first lab, where a green light flashed on the screen, and read the words.

"F7-S2-016... What does that mean?"

"Experiment code F7, subject S2, experiment 16."

"Ah..."

Since he was here, he thought it best to observe the experiment site. Doyoung asked the soldier standing next to him.

"May I come in?"

Instead of answering, the man brought his ID and security card closer to the magnetic recognition device on the door. The thick iron door made a clanking sound and opened.

The interior of the room was divided into a laboratory and a control room. The dividing wall of the room was made of sturdy transparent glass like the one used in the observation room of the Arena. There were also chairs lined up along the wall so that others could sit and observe the experiment.

One of the three researchers supervising the experiments there was the director, Min Seongyu, a man with the black-rimmed horn-rimmed glasses he had met before.

While the one on the other side...

Could it be that coincidences could overlap like this? The face of the subject sitting on the lab chair was very familiar.

"Sa Iijun...?"

The reason why Doyoung was so surprised was not because Sa Iijun was there.

It was because Sa Iijun, who never frowned even during fierce battles, was moaning in pain and agony.

Electrodes were attached to his eyelids, forehead, and scalp to measure his brain waves. Unidentifiable devices were attached to various parts of his body, including his chin, arms, and legs.

Doyoung, stunned by the unexpected sight he saw, immediately turned and asked the soldier who opened the door to this room.

"Sa Iijun is the experiment? S2, that's Sa Iijun?"

"That's right.”

Doyoung looked into the lab with disbelieving eyes.

"This..."

There was something called the Nuremberg Code, which set guidelines for human experimentation. Voluntary participation and prior consent of the subjects were mandatory. According to Doyoung, it was clear that they had violated the code.

At that moment, Sa Iijun's groaning sounded through the speakers.

"Ugh... hate it, it hurts..."

There was no way she was willingly participating in the experiment with such a painful face.

The pen Doyoung was holding fell to the floor. Doyoung walked over to the glass window and placed both hands on the window. His fingertips trembled slightly as if they were cold.

"What... what are you doing...?"

A researcher sitting in the observation room heard Doyoung's question and replied with an expressionless voice.

"We are measuring the movement of charged ion particles in Sa Iijun's cell membrane and his macro-shock threshold."

"Macro-shock...?"

"External electrical stimulation.”

He said it as if it made sense.

"What do you mean... they used electric torture...?"

Suddenly she remembered the alphabet and numbers that resembled the cipher written on the door. F7 was the experiment code, S2 for the subject, and the 16th experiment code...

Did this mean that S. Iijun had conducted this experiment for the sixteenth time? What kind of human rights violation is this?

Doyoung's face paled as the researchers in the lab increased the level of stimulation.

"Keughh..."

Another seething moan escaped Sa Iijun's teeth. Thick veins bulged at her temples.

Doyoung's hands clenched into fists at the sight of Sa Iijun's body trembling every time the scientist pressed the button, making his anxious. It seemed that if something wasn't done soon, Sa Iijun would simply die.

"I'm telling you to stop right now. This is too much!"

Doyoung shouted in a stern voice at the researcher sitting at the control console. He looked at Doyoung with an expression that asked why he was making such a fuss, then nodded as if he had something to show for it and continued speaking.

"Oh, if you're worried about him going on a rampage, that's okay. There are early warning devices and more than ten Guides waiting in the recovery room behind the lab."

"That's not the case!"

Doyoung felt his logic was useless in this crazy place. He pounded the window with his fist. The researcher sneered.

"It's soundproof glass, so you can't hear a thing."

Meanwhile, the experiment intensified. Black cracks like spider webs began to appear on Sa Iijun's face from his chin.

It looked as if Sa Iijun was about to crumble like cracked pottery.

Doyoung knew how fragile humans were. How easy it was for someone to fall and die.

The people who died in the plane crash he was in as a child were like that. So was his father, who died there, leaving Doyoung unable to do anything.

Just as he was a spectator who had no choice but to watch the catastrophe that befell the main character of a movie, the helpless feeling of having to witness death was traumatizing for Doyoung. It's a feeling he doesn't want to feel again.

That's why he couldn't remain silent in that situation. Even if the target was an Esper.

"This... is not like that."

Tunnel Vision*. That is, when one entered the ‘tunnel’ state, one could not see anywhere, up, down, left, or right, and could only see the light at the end of the tunnel.

*t/n: In short, it is a condition in which a person focuses only on what is in front of him and ignores everything around him.

Doyoung's current condition is just like that. Everything about his situation has become untrue. Right now, all he could see was a suffering person among heartless people.

His vision became blurry, as if his eyes were covered with a cloudy film. Doyoung, who had lost his temper, picked up the chair next to him as if in a trance and swung it with all his might until it hit the glass wall. The shocked researcher took a step back, as if running away.

Every time the chair leg hit the window, the pain radiating from his palms to his arms and shoulders was unnoticeable, he did not hesitate in his actions.

"Stop! Stop that!"

However, there was only a small dent in the window glass.

On the other hand, Seongyu, who was conducting experiments behind the solid glass window, turned his head when he heard a bang and saw Doyoung swinging a chair at the glass window of the surveillance room.

With an annoyed expression on his face, as if asking what it was, he finally pressed the 'stop' button on the device.

Iijun, whose clothes had become a mess after the long and hard experiment, struggled to open his tightly shut eyes as if he sensed someone's presence.

In Iijun's red eyes, he vaguely saw Doyoung in his whirling vision. He read Doyoung's lips, a skill he learned as a child as part of his military training, and banged his chair on the window pane in panic.

Doyoung's lips moved with a look of desperation on his face.

Will you please stop? I'm going to report you all to the Human Rights Commission! Stop it right now!

IiJun was so exhausted that it was no surprise that he fainted immediately. He mumbled in a sad voice.

"See... It's true that you came to save me."

Even though he was still in pain, as if he had swallowed a bomb, Iijun smiled and giggled. It was just that the smile sent a different signal to some people.

"Seeing you smile, I guess you can still hold it in, huh? Maybe we can set a record today."

"Ugh…”

As if they were testing how far he could go to the point of death, Seongyu exclaimed while looking at the needle gauge mounted on the far right, which passed through the area marked in red as if to indicate danger.

"I knew you could take it. As expected, it's you... Sa Iijun. You are special."

Doyoung's once pale face was now flushed with anger.

After all, you're different. You're special.

When he heard what Min Seongyu said to Sa IIjun, he couldn't stand it anymore. Apparently, they had been using this method all along to convince the inexperienced Esper to sit on the test seat.

If you think about it, most of the Espers had no experience in real social life. The higher their level, the sooner they manifested. Even after they manifested, they were still in danger of going on a rampage, so they were isolated from society and raised in the military.

Feeling an unbearable rage, Doyoung went to the lab door and began to shake the handle. He knew it wouldn't open, but he thought he couldn't hold it in any longer.

The door didn't even move, only the handle made a rattling sound.

"Geez, what's all the commotion?"

Doyoung turned around at the sound of the woman's soft voice. Jeon Haesu entered the lab wearing her uniform. Doyoung, who had lost half of his consciousness, ran over and immediately grabbed Haesu's arm.

"Open the door, please open the door!"

"Huh? The door?"

Haesu was not really surprised. But he pretended to be overly surprised. Then he quickly looked at the very excited Doyoung and handed his security card to Doyoung.

"Here."

"Commander!"

The second person standing right behind him immediately shouted at him in a loud voice, as if to stop him. However, a relaxed smile was on Haesu's face.

He was still smiling, but his eyes were sharp, scrutinizing Doyoung.

"Why didn't you see it?"

Then Haesu saw Doyoung immediately open the lab door and rush in like a madman.

The door opened and Seongyu, who saw Doyoung rushing in, held out his hand and stopped him.

"Ah? How did you get in here? Come out now!"

But Doyoung couldn't see anything. Doyoung's eyes blazed with a sense of justice, as if he had stumbled upon a small, gentle animal being mistreated by humans, which was one of the things that drove him to a career in journalism.

Like a rugby player catching a ball, Doyoung quickly broke through Seongyu's escort and headed for Sa Iijun. Seongyu's warning could be heard from behind.

"Huh? Don't touch him! If you touch him-"

But before he could finish speaking, Doyoung approached Sa Iijun and extended his hand to remove the machine attached to his body. Sa Iijun narrowed his eyes before opening them, which looked like he was in a critical condition, which looked so pitiful that he (DY) couldn't bear it.

Soon, Doyoung's fingertips touched Iijun's skin.

Sparks flew out of Doyoung's body along with a popping sound. Doyoung floated, was propelled through the air, and then fell about a meter.

"You're going to get electrocuted..."

Seongyu's late words came to an end.

He was silent for a while. Doyoung was lying in the middle of the lab, while the other people standing outside the lab looked at Haesu as if to ask him what he was going to do in April*. Haesu lifted the corner of her mouth and made a short comment.

*t/n: April Mop? I don't really understand what that means.

"Oops."

The medical staff rushed into the lab. They approached Doyoung, who was lying on the floor, and immediately checked his vital signs.

Min Seongyu asked, pushing the glasses that had slipped down the bridge of his nose with his index finger.

"What about him?"

"He's in cardiac arrest."

One of the medics placed a respirator in Doyoung's mouth while the other began to pump his heart by pressing on his chest with both hands.

Then Iijun came to and sat up. Iijun blinked, still a little dazed, wondering if this was a dream or reality. The same person he had seen in his dream was now lying helplessly on the floor.

He shook his head, wondering if he was awake or not, but the scene before his eyes remained unchanged.

"Uh... what...? Why is he here?”

Iijun asked, but the medical staff, busy with their own work, did not listen.

"He's not coming back. His heart stopped beating."

"Defibrillator! Why isn't there a defibrillator?"

Iijun took a deep breath and got up from the chair. His head still felt dizzy and his clothes were a mess. Iijun approached the medical staff, who removed the devices from his head, chest and legs and asked again.

"His heart... what? What do you mean?"

One of the medics finally replied.

"He died.”

–

TL: Muji

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