Chapter 51: The Cloned Fetus
Doctor Kim hurried toward the elevator.
“Doctor, I’ll come with you.”
A man suddenly followed him from the conference room.
He was in his mid-forties.
Overweight.
Thick horn-rimmed glasses covered his eyes.
“Chief Park.”
Doctor Kim continued walking quickly.
“Do you even know where I’m going?”
The man was Senior Researcher Park Suwon.
He served as deputy director of the research institute.
He had carried out research together with Doctor Kim and managed nearly all the institute’s research data.
He had also first met Doctor Kim as a graduate assistant when Doctor Kim was still teaching at a university.
For almost twenty years, he had remained beside him.
“Of course.”
Park Suwon adjusted his glasses.
“You’re going to destroy Adam, aren’t you?”
Adam was the name given to the cloned fetus Doctor Kim had successfully created.
Doctor Kim stopped for a moment.
“How did you know?”
“Instinct.”
Park Suwon hurried to keep up.
“I’ve worked beside you for nearly twenty years.”
“Surely I can read that much from your expression.”
Because of his weight, he was already breathing heavily while trying to match Doctor Kim’s fast pace.
Doctor Kim paid no attention.
They reached the elevator.
The doors opened.
Both men stepped inside.
Park Suwon finally caught his breath.
“Whew....”
Then he frowned.
“But how did that Cheonjin bastard find out about Adam?”
“I maintained extremely strict security over every file related to Adam.”
“The information must have leaked.”
Doctor Kim answered.
“No matter how strict your security was, Cheonjin wouldn’t say something like that without evidence.”
Park Suwon became nervous.
“You don’t suspect me, do you?”
Doctor Kim laughed weakly.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“I’m about to destroy Adam.”
“So whoever leaked the data is no longer important.”
Then his expression softened.
“In fact, I should almost thank Cheonjin.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve felt like I was committing a sin for a long time.”
Doctor Kim looked down.
“The idea of a human creating another human has been crushing my conscience.”
“I kept hesitating because I didn’t know what to do with Adam.”
“But now I’ve decided.”
Park Suwon nodded solemnly.
“I understand.”
“I’ll help you.”
Doctor Kim looked toward him.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m counting on you.”
Still, Doctor Kim felt a small doubt.
Park Suwon was volunteering almost too eagerly.
But perfectly deleting every file and record related to Adam would require the help of the person who had managed the data from the beginning.
More importantly, Park Suwon had been both his colleague and student for nearly twenty years.
Surely nothing strange will happen.
Doctor Kim decided to trust him.
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
A massive steel door stood directly ahead.
It looked thick enough to survive a dynamite explosion without damage.
Two red lights glowed above it.
Doctor Kim placed his palm on the scanner beside the door.
His fingerprint was checked.
Then the veins inside his palm were verified.
One red light turned green.
Doctor Kim leaned toward the lens above the pad.
His iris was scanned.
The second red light turned green.
CLUNK.
The massive steel door opened to both sides.
A research room around sixty square meters appeared.
Doctor Kim walked directly toward the center.
A cylindrical tank about the length of an adult forearm rested on a laboratory table covered with instruments.
Unknown liquid filled the tank.
Bubbles constantly rose inside, suggesting oxygen was being supplied.
A small object floated at the center.
It was only about half the size of a fist.
The object had barely begun forming a human shape.
A fetus.
Doctor Kim reached toward a red button beneath the tank.
The button would cut off the oxygen supply.
“Urgh!”
Suddenly, pain exploded through his chest.
It felt as though fire had burned straight through him.
He looked down.
A blood-red blade protruded from his chest.
“Chief Park... why...?”
Doctor Kim slowly looked behind him.
Behind the thick horn-rimmed glasses, Park Suwon stared at him with narrowed eyes.
“Hehehe.”
A seductive woman’s voice came from Park Suwon’s mouth.
“You should have accepted Lord Cheonjin’s offer, old man.”
The voice laughed.
“You could have taken the money, quietly continued your research, and mass-produced cloned fetuses.”
“You could have lived comfortably.”
Her voice became mocking.
“Why throw away your life over something as useless as conscience?”
Doctor Kim’s eyes widened.
“Who... are you...?”
He couldn’t understand why a woman’s voice was coming from Park Suwon.
The man smiled.
“I’m Lord Cheonjin’s adorable lover, Mongra.”
Then the smile became cruel.
“You can simply die here.”
Mongra pulled the blade from Doctor Kim’s chest.
Blood sprayed out like a fountain.
Doctor Kim collapsed.
Then smoke like heat haze rose from his dead body.
The smoke was sucked into the red blade in Park Suwon’s hand.
Mongra smiled.
“This is the Soul-Severing Blood Blade.”
“When it kills someone, it absorbs both their soul power and their soul.”
“The more it devours, the stronger it becomes.”
She looked at Doctor Kim’s corpse.
“Not that an old man’s soul power will help much.”
Mongra licked Doctor Kim’s blood from the blade.
“And since the blade also consumed the old man’s soul, the Underworld won’t discover what we did.”
She looked down at the corpse.
“Now....”
“Should I take his head?”
Her smile became almost childlike.
“That doctor bastard said all he needs is the old man’s brain.”
Like a child who had discovered an amusing toy, Mongra raised the Soul-Severing Blood Blade toward Doctor Kim’s neck.
Two days had passed since I dreamed about Taebaek and Hwayeong.
During those two days, the fever and chills refused to disappear.
Aize continued nursing me without leaving my side.
I spent almost the entire time lying in bed.
I bought fever medicine from a pharmacy.
It did nothing.
I couldn’t remember ever being this sick before.
Maybe my body had finally decided to properly fall apart.
Then...
This morning.
The fever and chills disappeared as though they had never existed.
Aize looked surprised when I got out of bed and stretched my stiff body.
“Should we eat?”
“Yes.”
Aize nodded.
“Wait a little. I’ll make breakfast.”
“No.”
I suddenly stood.
