By Zephyria 
Then, the child pulled a flute from his chest. This was not a metaphorical expression; his hand literally phased through his chest.
“……?!”
Yoo Jiha was the only one horrified; the interior of the measurement room remained as silent as if frozen. Soon, the boy played the flute. Instead of the clear tone typical of a flute, a grand, high-pitched sound that made the very air tremble resonated from the black jade flute.
Wooooong.
The thick sound, closer to the tone of a conch or Triton’s trumpet than a flute, circled once through the measurement room. The trembling air then settled into a lie-like silence.
As the boy, having produced a long resonance in one breath, pulled the flute away and gasped for air, the researcher fiddled with the measurement machine.
“As most of you know, to explain briefly: the value for an ordinary human not contaminated by an anomaly is 0, and Aberrations start from 50. If this individual’s claim is correct—ahem, since he was an Enforcement Division Agent in the past—his Corruption Level should be around 20 or 30. We will now begin.”
The pattern Jeil Heon was standing on began to glow. The researcher recited the Corruption Level appearing on the monitor. 23, 26, 37……. Every time the numbers rose rapidly, Yoo Jiha’s heart hammered faster.
“43…… 89! It’s an Aberration!”
The researcher’s voice trembled at the sudden spike in Corruption Level, and Assistant Manager Jang immediately pulled Yoo Jiha behind him for protection. Following the child’s heavy sigh, Kang Suk-young closed his eyes. Only the security personnel, who had already been aiming their guns since the value entered the 30s, remained unfazed.
Listening to the warning alarm announcing the intrusion of an Aberration, Kang Suk-young grit his teeth. The desperate hope he had harbored was brutally shattered. If the Corruption Level was as high as 89, his appearance and behavior—which had seemed ‘excessively human’—were all explained. It meant he was that powerful of an entity.
As a human, Kang Suk-young found the reality that he had ultimately devolved into an Aberration painful, but as the Director, he had to deal with the situation immediately. The correct answer was to shoot to kill. However, despite being an Aberration, Jeil Heon had shed Ji-hwan on his own and passed through the nation’s barrier. It was an unprecedented situation.
‘……I have to capture and isolate Sunbae, then conduct research. Dammit.’
The treatment of an isolated Aberration is incomparable even to that of a lab rat. Aberrations are not human, and humans are murdered by Aberrations. Faced with the fact that their own family and relatives might have been killed by the monster before them, humans become utterly cruel.
The taste of blood lingering in his mouth was terribly metallic.
“Immediately cap—”
As Kang Suk-young was about to give the order to capture the Aberration, he caught sight of Jeil Heon. Standing with both hands raised diagonally at shoulder height, Jeil Heon’s face was perfectly serene. As if he had predicted that such a situation would occur.
“Jiha.”
A calm voice, ill-suited for the tension-filled measurement room, flowed out. He sent a mischievous smile to Yoo Jiha, who was pale and lost.
“Safe word.”
“Stop playing tricks!”
Powerful Aberrations can contaminate humans and manipulate their brains with voice alone. The Chief of Security shouted at Kang Suk-young, looking as if he would fire his gun at any moment.
“Director! Give the order!”
However, in the face of Jeil Heon’s composure, the identity of the human Kang Suk-young gained a slight edge over the Director of the Management Bureau, and that split second was enough for a single word to be spat out from the trembling lips of Yoo Jiha.
“……Je, Jeil Heon.”
A faint whisper, which would have been buried and unheard if not for the suffocating silence hanging over the measurement room, reached the monster. Ah. Jeil Heon sighed. The hunger subsided. A terrible hunger that could not be satisfied even by the flesh and spirit of a human.
“O-the Corruption Level is dropping. 80, 77, 71…….”
The voice grew slightly louder, emboldened by the shock of the researchers.
“Jeil Heon.”
“66, 62…….”
Recalling the sight of black flames bursting and scattering at his call, and Jeil Heon gaining freedom from his restraints, Yoo Jiha put strength into every single syllable.
“Jeil Heon.”
“……56, 52, 48. It has stabilized at 48!”
“What on earth……!”
“This is impossible!”
Screams of disbelief and shock erupted from all sides. Having pushed out only three words, the strength left Yoo Jiha’s legs, and he flopped down onto the floor. Jeil Heon, who had not yet stepped off the pattern, smiled and waved at him.
He still had no idea how the cause and effect worked, but for now, it seemed they had overcome the crisis. That was enough. As he let out a long breath, feeling both the release of tension and relief, he heard the stunned mutterings of the child.
“To think the Corruption Level, which had passed the Critical Point, would decrease just by calling his name… this is a phenomenon I have never encountered once in 200 years…….”
……What exactly is this kid?
* * *
The measurement room was in chaos. Researchers, their eyes wide with excitement, brought in all sorts of Aberrations wearing black chokers and asked Yoo Jiha to call their names. Yoo Jiha spoke until his lips were worn raw. Surprisingly, there was absolutely no change.
When he came to his senses, Jeil Heon was being held by the collar by Kang Suk-young.
“What did you do to the kid, Sunbaeeee!”
“Ahaha.”
“Stop laughing and spill everything from start to finish before I slice you up!”
Since Kang Suk-young looked ready to actually pull a sashimi knife from the inner pocket of his suit and carve him up, Yoo Jiha timidly took his side.
“R-really, nothing happened. He did say I looked delicious when we first met, but…….”
“What!”
“I-it was a joke, a joke! He didn’t actually check my meat grade! Ah, wait, was kissing my cheek a way of checking the meat grade?! Mister! That’s not it, right?!”
“Did you think it was a joke?”
“Misterrrr!”
Eyes that looked as if they were staring at nuclear waste were directed at Jeil Heon.
After barely calming down, something resembling a hearing was held. The subject was Jeil Heon, the verifiers were Kang Suk-young and the child, and the witness was Yoo Jiha. After hearing the details of the situation, Kang Suk-young’s expression became one of a throbbing headache.
“You were fused with a Blind Eater? The people who witnessed the Blind Eater before didn’t even know you were caught by that thing. All they saw was a maw where you couldn’t even distinguish an expression and flames; why on earth was that?”
“I don’t know either.”
“The Agents with the true eye were the same. They couldn’t even see through the essence of the Blind Eater, let alone your name. That’s why they couldn’t establish a countermeasure. But Yoo Jiha-gun read everything. From what I’ve heard, his level of reading other Aberrations is average, but he perfectly grasped only the Blind Eater and you. Why?”
“I don’t know either.”
“…….”
Kang Suk-young’s expression now looked as if he wanted to beat the hell out of him.
“Well, I think I can explain one thing. The fact that the Blind Eater hunted in order of high Corruption Level was probably because of me. Since it couldn’t digest me at all, it likely tried to contaminate or dye me—who was stuck in its throat—by forcing down things with high Corruption Levels.”
“……That sounds like bullshit, but it makes sense.”
The child, who had been listening intently, spoke for the first time.
“In reality, the appearance areas of the Blind Eater are Jongmyo and the site of Gyeongdeokgung Palace. Is there any connection to the Aberrant Mother that turned Jongmyo upside down about 20 years ago?”
“My memories of being fused with the Blind Eater are so vague that I couldn’t even feel the flow of time. I’ve also heard of an Aberration called the Aberrant Mother for the first time…….”
Jeil Heon, who answered by elongating his ‘I don’t know either,’ asked back suggestively.
“Perhaps the Master is curious?”
“No. It’s just that since the appearance sites of the two entities are both Jongmyo, I was personally curious.”
Following the child’s words, a brief silence fell, and Yoo Jiha, sensing the mood, tentatively raised a hand. Some serious conversation had been exchanged, but it wasn’t something related to him, and there was only one thing he was truly curious about.
“Um, Teacher.”
“Why are you suddenly calling me Teacher and distancing yourself again. You’re making this mister sad.”
“Uh, well……. I made a mistake earlier, but I felt like I shouldn’t call someone who is older than my parents ‘mister’.”
“…….”
“Does ‘Teacher’ make you feel bad? Then, Elder? Grandfather?”
“…….”
For Yoo Jiha, it was a title he had agonized over very seriously, but the reaction of the others was not so.