Chapter 178. The Aeon Project (3)
“But do any of you know what I had to pay in return?”
Nova looked directly at each member of the audience.
Every face was filled with expectation.
Then she slowly continued.
“No.”
“Do you know what happened to the other test subjects from the Sophia Project?”
They were all lost in anticipation and fantasy.
In the belief that their children could become like her.
But that illusion had to be shattered.
Holding onto that one thought, Nova put strength into every word.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“Abraxas probably never told you.”
She paused to catch her breath.
Then she screamed,
“Every test subject from the Sophia Project either committed suicide or went insane and spent the rest of their life in a psychiatric hospital!”
“None of them lived past twenty!”
Please understand.
Please, just understand this.
Driven by that desperate thought, Nova continued quickly.
“The brains of Sophia Project test subjects develop at an explosive rate.”
“The problem is that there’s no limit.”
“The body is finite, but the brain keeps developing without end.”
“Sooner or later, it overloads.”
It was the very reason Abraxas itself had declared the Sophia Project a failure.
And the undeniable reality slowly strangling Nova’s own life.
Her body trembled throughout the speech.
But her voice only grew clearer.
“Eventually, the expanding brain can no longer endure the strain and begins collapsing from the inside!”
“Or the person’s consciousness breaks first, and they lose their mind!”
“Every Sophia Project test subject except me ended that way!”
Nova remembered all the pain that had tormented her until now and continued almost as if screaming.
The grief, despair, and anger she had buried deep inside finally erupted all at once.
“I can feel my brain eating away at my body every single moment!”
“I can’t even sleep without powerful painkillers!”
“I’ll probably die before I turn twenty, just like all the others!”
Nova stopped for a moment.
Then she slowly looked across every member of the audience.
“Do you want your children to end up like that too?”
No.
Please.
Stop.
There must never be another person like me.
Clinging to that thought, Nova pleaded desperately.
“Do you really want to throw your children alive into hell just so they can gain some genius-level intelligence?”
After saying that, Nova waited for the audience to rise in anger.
She wanted them to demand answers from Abraxas.
To shout that they had been deceived.
Because that was what parents were supposed to do.
That was the response she had expected.
But the audience remained silent.
“Why...”
“Why isn’t anyone saying anything?”
Nova continued in a desperate voice.
She had never wanted to be heard more than she did now.
“How many times do I have to say it?”
“You’re being deceived!”
“Your children will become like me!”
“They’ll all go insane or die writhing in pain!”
Again, there was no answer.
The audience remained silent.
Nova stared at them in disbelief.
“Why... aren’t you saying anything?”
Did they not believe her?
Tears blurred her vision.
Her desperation grew unbearable.
“I’m not lying!”
“You’re being deceived!”
“Abraxas is throwing your children into hell!”
Nova waited desperately for some kind of reaction.
Then one pregnant woman with a swollen belly stood up.
Did I get through to her?
Hope appeared on Nova’s face.
At least one person had listened properly.
But the woman’s next question shattered that hope completely.
“So it’s true that my child can gain genius-level intelligence like yours?”
“W-What?”
Nova stammered in shock.
Murmurs began spreading through the audience.
“Committing suicide just means they were weak.”
“My child is well-behaved. They wouldn’t do that.”
“If their brain develops that much, wouldn’t it help with college admissions?”
“Hmm. So it’s still true that my child could get into SKY.”
“She was born a genius herself, and now she’s trying to block our children’s futures?”
They all said more or less the same thing.
Nova’s trembling hand released the microphone.
Whether her words were true or false had never mattered to them.
No.
Something else had been more important from the very beginning.
“Everyone...”
Nova was struck by a shock too overwhelming to describe.
Her voice trembled on its own.
There was only one thing she could say.
“...You’re all insane.”
Madness.
Blind madness toward college admissions, disguised as parental love.
Everyone here was consumed by it.
“Nova Hanson, there is something you overlooked.”
No. 11 calmly approached.
His face was filled with a victorious smile.
“In South Korea, there are plenty of parents who would do anything if it meant getting their child into a prestigious university.”
“Even if their child ends up writhing in pain, committing suicide, or spending the rest of their life in a psychiatric hospital.”
