Chapter 191. The Transporter, No. 12 (1)
“What the hell is going on?”
Yukgap backed away in confusion.
He could not make sense of the situation at all.
“It’s okay. There’s nothing to be scared of.”
The girl by the window spoke gently, as though trying to calm him.
One by one, the children in the room rose from their seats.
“Uh...”
Sensing that something was terribly wrong, Yukgap was seized by instinctive fear.
The children joined hands and formed a circle.
Then they began singing together in one voice.
In a little cabin deep in the woods, twelve friends gathered together.
One, two, three.
The puppet show begins.
What will you do?
What will I do?
A fun puppet show begins along with the song.
The rhythm of the song began burrowing into Yukgap’s mind.
He clutched his head and groaned.
“Ughhh!”
But the singing continued.
Don’t worry about where you should go.
There is only one road leading to the cabin in the woods.
Keep walking straight ahead,
And you’ll arrive at the cabin where your friends are waiting.
One, two, three.
So don’t be late.
All your friends are waiting for you.
The voices were innocent and childish.
Yet the longer Yukgap listened, the more his vision spun.
He staggered without realizing it.
“What is this?”
“Something inside my head...!”
The song continued.
With every lyric and every beat, his consciousness twisted further.
It felt as though something important, something long buried, was finally surfacing.
Where did the sixth friend go?
That’s a secret for everyone.
Don’t worry.
I know where that friend went.
But I won’t tell a naughty child.
The sixth friend is working hard for everyone.
“Ugh!”
The moment Yukgap heard that, he squeezed his eyes shut and collapsed.
One of the children spoke quietly.
“The sixth friend went to find a red, shining stone.”
“And he found it.”
The girl beside that child continued.
“That’s right.”
“So come back now.”
“All your friends are waiting.”
Another child who had been singing added,
“To the home that belongs to all of us.”
Different voices.
Different speakers.
But the meaning behind them was unmistakably the same.
Yukgap slowly raised his head.
There was no longer any reason left in his eyes.
Only mechanical obedience remained.
Then he answered in a flat voice.
“...I will follow your orders, Alpha.”
“What did you do to these children?!”
Victoria immediately snapped.
One of the children pointed at their own head.
“Nothing much.”
“I simply connected their brains to mine.”
“I implemented the Aeon Project.”
The voice was different.
But there was no doubt Alpha was controlling the children’s consciousness.
Victoria was too horrified to speak properly.
“Then... all of these children...?”
Giggles spread throughout the room.
The children all turned toward Victoria at the same time, as if they were one single being.
Then different voices spoke from different mouths.
“They’ll think the same thoughts as me.”
“Perform the same calculations as me.”
“And arrive at the same results as me.”
Different children were speaking.
But the one speaking through them was the same.
Realizing that, Victoria stammered in a trembling voice.
“My God...”
There was nothing else she could say.
The girl sitting by the window grinned.
“Isn’t it funny?”
“Korean parents are so easy.”
“If I use their children’s bodies to solve a few difficult math problems, they practically lose their minds with happiness.”
A chubby boy near Victoria giggled.
“That made taking over their bodies incredibly easy.”
“It was so simple I almost yawned.”
Then a smaller boy shrugged.
“I don’t understand why everyone is so obsessed with geniuses.”
“Just tell them, ‘Your child can become a genius too,’ and they’ll practically beg you to take their children.”
Victoria finally lost her patience and shouted,
“Alpha, this is wrong!”
“You lied to them and stole their lives!”
The moment she said that, every child turned toward her with a stiff expression.
Their empty gazes made Victoria fall silent.
Then they answered together.
“You lied to me too.”
“So why shouldn’t I be allowed to lie?”
“Th-That...”
They were clearly referring to what Victoria had done back in the building.
Unable to deny her own guilt, Victoria could not continue.
Soon, the children’s expressions softened.
They spoke gently.
“Victoria, don’t worry.”
“You’re still my friend.”
“So I’ll give you a chance to be forgiven.”
A tall girl spoke sharply.
“The calculations will begin soon.”
“And no matter what answer I reach, I’ll share it with you.”
“Like I told you before, with the Philosopher’s Stone sustaining your body, you should be able to withstand the Wisdom of God.”
Victoria took a moment to catch her breath.
Then she carefully asked,
“Is that really all you want?”
The girl nodded immediately.
“Yes.”
“The Wisdom of God.”
“And a friend who can understand me after I reach it.”
“That’s all I need.”
Victoria thought for a moment.
Then she asked cautiously,
“What will happen to the children after the calculations are finished?”
“I don’t know.”
“I haven’t really thought about it.”
Apparently, Alpha had no plan for what came afterward.
That was an opportunity.
Victoria deliberately kept herself composed.
“I’ll accept your offer.”
“In exchange, I’ll receive the Wisdom of God, but once the calculations are finished, you let these children go.”
Alpha accepted without hesitation.
“If my only friend is asking, I can do that much.”
Thankfully, Victoria’s plan seemed to have worked.
She let out a quiet breath of relief and deliberately spoke with confidence.
“Fine.”
“Then Yukgap and I just have to go to Abraxas, right?”
Giggles spread among the children again.
One of them answered,
“I already called my sixth friend back.”
“What?”
Victoria stared in shock.
Another child across from her asked jokingly,
“Did you really think a clone created in a laboratory had developed a genuine self?”
“That diligent, honest cook personality was something I created too.”
“And I just erased it.”
“What did you do to Yukgap?!”
Victoria demanded in alarm.
Alpha answered through the children.
“I returned him to the purpose he was originally created for.”
“A killing weapon.”
Victoria immediately protested.
“Yukgap is the chef at my restaurant!”
“He’s not a killing weapon!”
“If that’s what you want to believe, then I suppose that’s what he is.”
The children speaking for Alpha only smiled.
Then they addressed Victoria in unison.
“Anyway, I’ll be waiting at Abraxas.”
“Come quickly, my friend.”
“Let’s play together at my house again.”
The blue whale is larger than any other animal ever to have appeared on Earth.
I never knew exactly why it evolved to become so enormous, but every time I saw one, its sheer scale overwhelmed me.
What would it feel like to travel through the world in a body like that?
I once heard that a blue whale could travel around the entire Earth in half a day.
If that were true, wouldn’t the whole world feel far too small?
Because of thoughts like that, I always drew a blue whale on my swimming cap.
I was tiny compared to a blue whale, of course.
But whenever I swam, I hoped I could at least experience a small part of what it must feel like.
Maybe that was why.
Every time I cut through the water and surged forward, an indescribable sense of accomplishment filled me.
Fortunately, I had talent.
I started swimming when I was four years old, and my ability shone brighter with every passing year.
I swept through competition after competition.
There was always another shining medal hanging around my neck.
Only the Olympics remained.
That was what I believed.
“Muscular dystrophy.”
But just three days before my nineteenth birthday, that belief shattered completely.
At first, it was only a little stiffness in my legs.
I thought I had simply pushed myself too hard in training.
I believed a few days of rest would fix everything.
But I went in for a medical examination just in case.
That was when reality came crashing down.
“It’s an incurable disease caused by a deficiency of dystrophin, a structural protein found in muscle cells.”
“As the muscle cells die, the body gradually begins to fail.”
“Soon, your muscles will stop functioning properly.”
“Even with appropriate treatment, you likely have only a few years.”
The doctor explained my reality with the calmness of a judge reading out a sentence.
At first, I believed it had to be some cruel joke.
Me?
I won’t be able to swim?
Me?
I’m going to die in a few years?
That couldn’t be true.
It wasn’t allowed to be true.
Swimming was everything to me.
Cutting through the water and moving forward was my life.
“At first, you’ll need a wheelchair.”
“After that, you’ll eventually become unable to move from bed.”
“Medication can slow the progression of the disease, but at present there is no complete cure.”
“You should prepare yourself.”
With every word that left the doctor’s mouth, cracks spread further through my world.
It did not take long for that world to collapse completely.
Muscular dystrophy.
The disease steadily and mercilessly ate away at me.
I had once been known as an ace swimmer.
Before long, I was confined to a wheelchair.
All I could do was sit there and watch my fellow athletes freely cut through the water.
It was miserable.
Utterly wretched.
Completely unbearable.
Several times every day, I found myself thinking that maybe dying would be better than living like this.
I prayed endlessly to a god I had never once believed in.
Please cure me.
Please let me swim again.
Please give me my life back.
I prayed.
And prayed.
Perhaps that desperation finally reached the presence of God.
Because one day, unexpected news arrived.
News that would change my life forever.
