Chapter 13: The Unspoken Goodbye

Ding.

As soon as the elevator door opened, he practically ran to the front of the visiting room. The recognition scanner, which he usually used out of habit, felt like such a slow, antiquated machine today.

But his impatience was fleeting. As the virtual screen displaying a blue sky unfolded, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The timer started, and a flash passed. Then, as white light filled the room, he smiled as if he had been waiting.

“Mother. I have good news…”

However, when he opened his eyes, what lay before him was the sight of only his father and younger brother.

Today was ‘Invasion Day,’ when both schools and hospitals were closed. He had deliberately chosen today for visiting day.

“Father! Did Mother and my sister not come?”

He still couldn’t believe it, walking around the room and feeling the walls.
His father’s dry cough was heard. Once, twice, and again.

He flinched, and when he turned his head, a murmur came from his father’s dry lips.

“My, my wife, ugh…”

“Yes?”

His voice was too low to hear clearly.
Researcher 38 moved closer to his father.
He moved his lips as if trying to say something.

“…Th-those… those guys… Ah, ugh…”

The distance was clearly closer, but his father’s voice gradually faded as if moving further away.
Researcher 38 frowned in confusion, showing he didn’t understand at all, and this time his younger brother opened his mouth.

But.

“Residential area… no longer… enough…”

He couldn’t hear.
Words were formed sparsely, but they couldn’t be interpreted as a sentence.
Researcher 38 made a gesture of covering his ears, indicating that he couldn’t hear anything.

Fortunately, the two seemed to have understood his gesture.
His father and younger brother were saying something to each other.
After a moment’s wait, a clear voice, like a speaker with its mute off, was heard.

“Brother. They couldn’t come today because they weren’t feeling well. I’m sorry.”

“N-not well? How bad are they?”

“Well…”

Then, for a moment, his younger brother’s gaze drifted into the air.
Researcher 38 instinctively turned sharply, but there was no one else in the visiting room besides them.

“Brother.”

His younger brother swallowed dryly and looked at Researcher 38.

“We’re okay. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

It was a voice clearer than ever, with not a single trace of static.

But why hadn’t he heard it before? As if it were synthesized with machine noise.

“Is that so? I guess this winter is quite cold.”

Researcher 38 nodded as if he understood.
However, this was due to the potential presence of an observer, and his insides were filled with an unknown anxiety.

“Now that you mention it, didn’t you say earlier that you had good news?”

His younger brother asked.
Researcher 38 pulled up the corners of his stiff lips.

“Ah… Actually, the research material is complete, although it’s not entirely finished, but still…”

His mouth somehow felt dry.
His gaze kept drifting to the floor, to ‘them’ who must be observing this visit.

“Still, I’ll get a week off in a week and can go out. I think I can go down then.”

“Is that true?”

Normally, those words would have been welcomed, but today it felt as if…

“How, but… it can’t be possible…”

“Number 9485? What are you talking about?”

His younger brother’s murmuring voice gradually lost confidence and became softer.
Researcher 38, frustrated, slapped the wall with his palm to get his brother’s attention.

“Number 9485. Speak clearly. It seems there’s a problem with the video connection today…”

“Brother.”

Then, his younger brother’s eyes looked beyond the wall.
Those eyes, as if looking directly at Researcher 38, or past him to a presence behind him, were covered with extreme fatigue.

“Today is the last visit.”

“…What?”

Researcher 38 retorted a beat later.
No answer came back.

He examined his silent brother’s face.
His lips were chapped and blackened as if he hadn’t eaten for days, or as if he had suffered from the cold.

And his hands… He lowered his gaze and instantly bit his lower lip in surprise.
His hand bones were skeletal, like a tree branch from which all leaves had fallen.

‘Since when?’

Even recalling his memories, he couldn’t remember.
Perhaps because of the always baggy clothes, he hadn’t noticed his younger brother getting thinner and thinner.

He then, with a ‘surely not’ thought, examined his father’s hand up close, then covered his mouth with his hand.
There were no fingernails on his five fingers.

“Number 9485! What, what in the world happened!”

“Brother.”

Beep, beep.

Red warning lights came on.
Researcher 38 desperately gripped the wall.

His younger brother, with a faint smile, placed his hand over Researcher 38’s palm.
As if praying for him from afar.

“You must stay there, brother.”

“Naki?”

“Here is…”

Beep.

The warning lights flashed.
As the ringing-like warning sound faded, all that remained was the wall, black as the night sky.

Researcher 38 slowly took his hand off the wall.
His younger brother’s last words were etched into his ear in an instant.

“Hell.”

He slumped to the floor, chasing the traces of his family who had disappeared behind the wall.
But all that reflected back was his own blurry image.
Now, he couldn’t even be sure if the faces he had seen were truly his family’s.

Transport Soldier 1199 raised his eyebrows, spotting Researcher 38 sitting at his desk.
It was supposed to be his vacation day, wasn’t it?

In front of Researcher 38 lay the ‘jockey’ prototype.
Along with human skin tissue.

‘Looking at this, research must have been more important than family after all.’
Just as he was about to express his admiration for the extraordinary passion, Researcher 38 turned to him.

“Ah, today is already…”

He seemed to be hinting that he hadn’t known today was the day the transport vehicle arrived.
Transport Soldier 1199, as if he had heard something strange, patted Researcher 38’s shoulder.

“Is it possible you didn’t know it coincided with your vacation day? How immersed in your research are you?”

Researcher 38 closed his mouth.
Transport Soldier 1199, finding his pale face suspicious, glanced at the research log on the desk.

“Huh…”

But it was completely blank.
Literally nothing was written.
Despite the dark circles under his eyes, indicating an all-nighter, he hadn’t touched the research at all.

“As I always say, I like your confidence.”

‘He must have been too perfect to need any review!’
Transport Soldier 1199 concluded on his own and burst into laughter, then sat on the desk and took out a cigarette.

A cigarette was offered to Researcher 38 as well, but for some reason, he shook his head.

“Mmm, about the women.”

Transport Soldier 1199 exhaled cigarette smoke and continued his usual small talk about the test subjects.

“It seems they’re now being transported to two different locations. The experiment has expanded.”

At that, Researcher 38, who had been staring at the wall until then, twitched his ear.
He slowly turned his gaze to Transport Soldier 1199.
His demeanor was cautious, as if he were engaging in a secret conversation.

“…The number of refugees hasn’t increased, so where are all these additional test subjects being airlifted from?”

Normally, he would have paid no attention at all.
It was outside his authority, and he had personally experienced that knowing too much here was of no help.

Transport Soldier 1199, too, seemed to think it was an unexpected question, as he glanced at Researcher 38 with a strange look.
Researcher 38 hastily looked away and began to organize the scattered research logs.

“I, I’m also likely to be moved to another research lab soon. Perhaps even to Room 9. This is almost complete, after all.”

“Hmm. Indeed. You might end up in that room too.”

Seeing Transport Soldier 1199 quickly nod in understanding, he moistened his parched lips with his tongue.
Had he avoided suspicion?

“As I said before, the ‘test subjects’ are from various backgrounds now.”

“Like the girl soldier who tried to desert…?”

“Yes. Though I don’t know if it was really desertion.”

“Are there others besides girl soldiers and refugees?”

“Mmm…”

Transport Soldier 1199 hesitated, a troubled expression on his face.
It was the complete opposite of his usual straightforward demeanor.

He must have known something about the outside situation.
Unlike Researcher 38, who had to be cooped up in the research facility all day until he produced results.

“It’s just a rumor, though.”

Transport Soldier 1199, frowning as if something unpleasant had come to mind, took a deep drag from his cigarette.

“They say some residential areas became overcrowded.”