Ch.201Side Story 1

I hurt. I hurt. It hurts so much.

Before, I didn’t even know this sensation was called pain.

Because I knew nothing. Because I had heard nothing. I couldn’t know.

I only learned because some people taught me what writing was.

“Hey. Stop sending them. We’ve done everything.”

“Understood. Kid, put your clothes on.”

As if telling me to dress meant anything when I only had one set of clothes.

The only good thing was that I never had to wear them until they were too worn out.

“How many died today?”

“They say it’s a record. I don’t even know all the numbers. Maybe forty?”

“That many in one day? Can we handle this?”

The daily average used to be about ten, but it kept increasing.

Now it’s reached forty. At this rate, truly no one will remain.

“Who knows. The higher-ups keep pushing without understanding the situation.”

“They’ll figure it out, I guess. Nothing’s impossible if they just provide the money.”

“That’s right. Ah, take him away quickly.”

At those words, the man nodded and led the boy out.

“…”

Walking silently down the corridor, the boy glanced around.

This space used to be filled with the sounds of friends talking.

Somehow those sounds gradually diminished until it became quiet.

‘Forty.’

It’s fortunate that he learned forty means ‘sasip.’

As of today, the number of remaining friends has decreased by forty from yesterday.

“Get in.”

The boy silently entered through the thick iron door.

The place where he first opened his eyes, and where he continued to spend his time.

He once thought it was the entire world, but it turned out to be not even a speck of dust in the world.

BANG—

As the door closed, the boy glanced at it.

Would he ever be able to go beyond this door, beyond the corridor, and beyond the world?

“Ugh.”

At that moment, a small child in the room grabbed the boy’s leg.

Such a tiny child. Someone who he wished would know nothing.

“Yes. I’m back, One-forty.”

The boy carried the child as he went inside.

*

“How long do we have to manage these things? They’re dying every day.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Senior. This isn’t something we can just ignore. This is…”

“I told you to shut up.”

GRAB—

Another man grabbed the first man’s collar and snarled.

“You idiot. Is that the problem right now?”

“Then what is the problem?”

“Listen carefully, moron. People involved are disappearing. Do you know what that means? It means they’re not just disposing of those kids, but cleaning up everyone around them too.”

At those words, the complaining man gasped.

He knew well that what they had been doing was extremely dirty and unethical.

The implication that they were cleaning up everyone involved couldn’t be good.

At minimum, they’d be buried socially; at worst, they could lose their lives.

“If you want to keep your life, from now on just do what you’re told, and act like you don’t know the details. If you keep acting out like this, you’ll be a corpse by tomorrow.”

When the man’s warning ended, the complainer shut his mouth.

Learning facts he had been completely unaware of made cold sweat run down his back.

Why hadn’t he realized? That this research, this experiment was completely useless.

And if that was the case, everyone involved would ultimately become useless too.

With one small mistake, they could die without a trace!

“From now on, ignore those kids. Whether they resist, get curious, or show any reaction, don’t respond. Not if you don’t want to be buried along with the trash that’s going to be thrown away.”

*

The boy who had been listening at the iron door slowly pulled away.

He confirmed that everyone who had been in front of their room was now gone.

“Are they all gone?”

“Yes. They’re all gone, Thirty-two.”

The one called Thirty-two was a girl even younger than the boy who had been listening.

At most six years old, or even younger. Her body was emaciated and her face deathly pale.

The needle marks all over her body made it clear what she had been subjected to.

It wasn’t just the girl. The boy who had been listening was the same.

He even had multiple stitched scars from where his body had been cut open repeatedly.

“What happens now?”

“I don’t know, Sixty-eight. We haven’t done anything for a week.”

Just as he said, they had spent a week in the room without anything happening.

This had never happened before. Experiments used to be conducted almost daily.

Having blood drawn was commonplace, and they endured countless more terrible things.

Normal people would have gone mad long ago.

How horrifying it is to be treated as objects, not humans.

How hellish it is to exist without any rights, consideration, or thoughts.

The reason these small children could endure these things was simple.

They weren’t naturally born, hadn’t experienced the things humans should enjoy.

Created from ugly desires and twisted minds, they originally knew nothing.

That’s how they could endure. Because they didn’t know what was difficult or wrong.

No. That’s not true anymore. It’s not that they don’t know, but that they didn’t know.

Although these children were created, raised, and treated as non-human beings,

There were some who couldn’t completely abandon their humanity and offered small gestures of kindness.

Through them, the few surviving children were finally able to learn about the real world.

‘Let’s live. Let’s survive.’

From that moment, the children learned about hope.

Before resentment, before hatred, before anger, what they learned first was hope.

And they endured, holding that hope deep in their hearts.

Let’s definitely survive. Let’s live and show how precious life is.

In this world where there are people suffering even more than us, let’s protect them.

Let’s fight so that people who suffer like us don’t appear.

“How is One-forty?”

“Very sick. His body is extremely hot right now.”

Sixty-eight sits beside the gasping child and feels his forehead.

It’s like a fireball. Too hot. The children had seen this many times.

When someone got this sick, they would soon be taken away and never return.

Some said, “They went to a place where they won’t feel pain anymore.”

But the children who now knew the world understood the truth.

That the sick ones were discarded. That once discarded, they would never meet again.

SWISH—

The boy rises from his seat and approaches the child called One-forty.

Though they’re all still young, One-forty is the smallest and weakest among them.

Even they wonder how he has endured this far.

“One-forty.”

WHEEZE WHEEZE—

No answer came. Only the sound of labored breathing.

The boy bit his lip and carefully embraced One-forty.

“Hold on a little longer. Just endure a bit more. Let’s live. Let’s survive. We promised, didn’t we? Not to die.”

Yes. They all promised. To survive, all of them.

Although some couldn’t keep that promise and left,

They resolved to live even more for the sake of their friends.

Then one day.

CREAK—

The massive iron door that seemed like it would never open, opened.

Surprised by the sudden event, the boy carefully peeked outside.

A dark and quiet corridor with no one in sight.

It used to be bustling with all kinds of people.

Now it had become a strange place where it was hard to see even one person.

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. The door suddenly opened.”

“Shouldn’t we go back inside? We’ll get in big trouble if we’re caught.”

At Thirty-two’s words, the boy thought for a moment and shook his head.

Then, gathering his courage, he stepped out into the corridor.

Nothing happens. No loud siren.

No sound of people running from afar, nothing at all.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? W-where?”

“Anywhere. Wherever. Let’s go.”

The boy said this as he went back inside.

Then, carrying One-forty on his back, and taking Thirty-two and Sixty-eight,

He began to run toward the end of this dark corridor.

*

“Excuse me! Aren’t civil servants supposed to work for the taxes we pay?”

“Ma’am, I understand your frustration, but if you continue like this here…”

“Why do you keep calling me ma’am? Are you looking down on me because of my age?”

What should I call you then? Miss? You? Or this damn complainant?

Suppressing his boiling feelings, the young man parted his lips.

“Please calm down. There’s nothing more our department can do for you. This is…”

“Ah! You’re not listening! Not you! Call someone higher up! Do you know how much tax I pay to hear this from some low-level employee! Call someone higher! Now!”

Finally, a superior came, apologized, and told him to quickly apologize too.

Only then could they send away the “ma’am” who was well past her fifties.

Be more attentive to complainants. It’s troublesome for everyone if it gets reported.

Hearing the same words again today, he headed home after work.

“…Ah.”

It’s hard. He’s tired, his chest feels suffocatingly tight.

Meanwhile, he might have caught a cold as his physical condition had been poor since the afternoon.

Let’s go home quickly, wash up and sleep. A good night’s sleep should help.

Although tomorrow will continue to be the same hellish day as today.

Still, thinking that things might get a little better…

“Haaah…”

The young man, One-forty, slowly closes his eyes and collapses against the bus window.

High fever surges through his body with simultaneous system failure, and slowly but surely,

His breath becomes shallow until he finishes his difficult life as if falling asleep.

That’s how it should have ended. It needed to end.

“…Huh?”

In the place where One-forty disappeared, a new person arrived.