Disguise

Weeeeeee!

“What’s this? Combat alert?!”

“Emergency! Emergency! We’re under attack! Monsters are attacking!”

“Monsters? What type are they? Does anyone know?!”

The facility fell into chaos at the sudden siren.

Some were stuffing documents and storage devices into boxes, some were clutching phones, and others were running around with guns.

Though there was a military base nearby, they could only handle physical-type monsters.

If a ghost-type monster that was immune to physical force appeared, survival couldn’t be guaranteed.

What brought people back from their near-panic state was the security chief’s shout.

“Everyone remain calm! The current alert isn’t due to a monster attack! It’s an alert to catch an escaped test subject who killed a researcher and disappeared!”

“What? It wasn’t monsters?”

“Damn it, they should’ve said that from the start. Almost gave me a heart attack!”

The chaos subsided quickly.

Accidents caused by test subjects happened often enough to be routine.

Though this was the first time there had been a fatality, it was still nothing compared to the threat of monsters.

However, the situation began taking a strange turn.

-Aaaaargh!

-M-my arm! My arm!

Talin was left speechless watching through CCTV as dozens of researchers were brutally slaughtered by a single test subject.

Though they were untrained civilians, a number like dozens couldn’t be ignored.

Yet this test subject took down dozens of people using just an axe, not even a gun.

Carefully examining the footage, Talin furrowed his brow and said.

“Seems he’s awakened physic power.”

“Isn’t he just good at fighting?”

“No. Look at this scene. He blocked bullets fired by security. And he did it while in the middle of fighting. Not just the weapon, but that reaction speed is impossible for a human. I’m certain. This one has definitely awakened as a physics.”

“Then we should deploy physics.”

The lab director smiled brightly at the thought of securing a new physics, while Talin gave a bitter smile watching him.

To be able to smile while watching dozens of colleagues being slaughtered.

It wasn’t the reaction of a sane person.

‘Well, working here would drive anyone insane.’

They extracted brain matter by drilling holes in dozens of people’s heads daily.

After killing hundreds and thousands of innocent people, remaining sane would be stranger.

‘Then am I sane?’

The answer was obvious.

He wasn’t sane either.

After all, he was ignoring and pretending not to see this horrific massacre packaged under the name of a greater cause, all for a measly salary.

‘Do I really need to survive going this far?’

“Look at this! The test subject passed through the bulkhead. He’ll encounter Jack soon.”

Talin was pulled back to reality by the director’s voice.

The test subject was approaching Jack, who was using physic power to maintain stealth.

All that remained was subduing the test subject and ending the situation…

“Huh?”

“What?”

A dumbfounded sound escaped both the director and Talin’s mouths simultaneously.

The test subject who they thought would be subdued suddenly swung his axe, and Jack, who was completely defenseless, clutched his neck and collapsed.

The shocking scene didn’t end there.

“What’s this? Why is he putting down his weapon?”

“From the atmosphere, it seems he’s trying to communicate.”

“Hmph. He could just subdue him with physic power, what’s with this talk… Huh? Wait! Th-that!”

“…Holy shit.”

The test subject charging at the physics squad.

Common sense said it should end in the physics squad’s overwhelming victory.

Though he was holding what seemed to be a dangerous weapon, he was still just a novice who had just awakened physic power.

Victory against five veteran physics was impossible.

Yet that impossible thing happened.

After throwing the axe to divert attention, the test subject approached at terrifying speed and began killing the physics.

Felton with binding ability was cut diagonally and died, Cecilia with energy discharge ability was split left and right.

Kain inflicted a mortal wound on the test subject using his explosion ability but was instantly killed by an axe flying from a blind spot while pursuing.

The axe pierced Lily with ice ability’s heart, and Nicolai with body enhancement ability collapsed with his neck twisted in a strange direction.

“Amazing! What kind of physic power did he awaken? Judging by how he noticed Jack’s presence, he definitely has detection type abilities, and seeing his speed occasionally increase, could he have awakened acceleration type physic power too? Multiple types of physic powers? Is that even possible?”

“Director, now isn’t the time for such talk.”

The screens showing the facility’s interior became covered in noise one after another.

The test subject was destroying the CCTV cameras.

“I thought he was just brute force but he’s unexpectedly clever. What do you think we should do?”

“I think we need to request military support.”

“Do we really have to? Security should be enough to subdue him.”

“Didn’t you just see him take down those physics? Security can’t handle him.”

“…If that’s what you think, we have no choice.”

The director, who had been looking at Talin with displeasure, picked up the hotline receiver connected to the nearby base.

A faint smile spread across Talin’s lips.

To be honest, security could handle a single physics well enough.

In a complex urban area it might be different.

But in this narrow, confined space, if dozens of people fired bullets, not even a physics grandfather could handle it.

However, that didn’t mean they could subdue physics without casualties.

Even the weakest physics could easily kill one or two people.

And their opponent was a monster who had taken down five physics.

‘If we fight, there will be quite a few casualties.’

And among those casualties, there was a very high probability that he, the security chief who had to fight at the forefront, would be included.

Talin had absolutely zero desire to face physics.

‘Let’s play it safe and steady.’

His foxy wife and rabbit-like child were waiting at home.

To survive in this insane world, he couldn’t risk even the smallest danger.

“They say they’ll be here in 10 minutes.”

Talin desperately prayed the test subject would stay put until the military arrived.

Fortunately, as Talin hoped, the test subject didn’t show himself anywhere.

However, a different problem arose instead.

“Wait, isn’t that Nicolai over there?”

The CCTV caught footage of Nicolai, who they thought was dead, crawling.

Though his neck was bent at a strange angle and his movements seemed somehow unnatural, Nicolai was clearly alive.

“Go get him!”

“Me, sir?”

“Who else is here besides you?”

“Uh, the military will arrive soon, is there really a need for me to go out?”

“What if the test subject kills Nicolai before then? We can’t lose any more physics!”

“That’s…”

“That’s what?”

Under the director’s murderous gaze, Talin swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.

“…I’ll go right away.”

After leaving the control room, Talin put on a helmet and exoskeleton and gathered the guards.

Though his feet wouldn’t move easily at the thought of going where a monster that had killed five physics was, he forced himself to walk.

‘Nicolai isn’t far from the entrance. Just go in for a moment and come right back out. Just get Nicolai and come straight back. No big deal, right?’

Desperately hypnotizing himself, Talin brought the keycard to the keypad.

Beep!

As soon as the door opened, Talin and the guards sprinted with all their might toward where Nicolai was.

“Found him!”

“Check his condition after we get out!”

“C-chief! Let’s go!”

After carrying Nicolai on his back, Talin ran without looking back and collapsed on the floor as soon as they passed through the door.

“I’m alive…”

Though they were inside for less than a minute, Talin’s body was drenched in sweat.

He had been terrified of physics who could attack at any time, from anywhere, with unknown abilities.

“Brought the stretcher!”

“Don’t touch him carelessly! His neck is broken!”

“How is he alive with injuries like this?!”

People who had remained in the facility began bringing things needed to treat Nicolai.

Talin stood up staggering.

Though the military would handle the test subject, as the facility’s security chief, he needed to handle the aftermath of today’s events.

How the test subject escaped, where he got his weapons, whether this incident was a coincidence or the work of enemy operatives – there was a mountain of work to handle.

‘This won’t end with just a pay cut.’

As Talin sighed at the gloomy future, he suddenly felt an intense sense of discomfort.

The noisy surroundings had at some point become enveloped in silence so complete you could hear a pin drop.

Looking around with bewildered eyes, Talin realized everyone was looking at him, no, at Nicolai beside him, and turned his gaze.

And couldn’t believe his eyes.

There was Nicolai with bombs strapped under his clothes.

“…Is this a dream.”

* * *

Booooom!

Along with an earth-shattering explosion, hot air swept through the surroundings.

The commander who had been urging soldiers to enter the facility muttered in a dumbfounded voice.

“This is the physic power research facility, right? We didn’t come to the wrong ammunition depot?”

An unfunny joke.

Usually someone would have laughed just considering his rank, but now no one laughed.

The situation was too serious for that.

“Should we enter?”

“Are you crazy? Everyone standby for now.”

Without knowing the nature of the explosion, deploying soldiers would be nothing short of suicide.

“Form a cordon. Don’t let even an ant escape.”

‘What exactly happened? Terrorism? Physics going berserk? Could it be a monster attack? Damn it, there’s too little information.’

The commander bit his lip.

Though everyone knew about physics, the existence of the physic power research facility must never be revealed to the general public.

If people learned the truth that they were literally grinding up humans to create physics, the backlash would be unimaginable.

‘If we unleash firepower to reduce the facility to ruins then disguise it as a monster attack…’

Reporters would be swarming here soon after catching wind of this, they needed to resolve the situation somehow before then.

Just as the commander’s worries reached their peak, someone’s voice rang out.

“Something’s coming out!”

“Everyone prepare to fire!”

Everyone put their fingers on their triggers.

The moment the word “fire” left the commander’s mouth, the facility would be instantly obliterated.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Thud. Thud.

What came out of the facility were people wearing white researcher uniforms.

Though their clothes and skin were blackened as if caught in the explosion and they were staggering as if about to collapse at any moment, they were at least alive.

“What are you just standing there for! Hurry and protect them!”

“Yes sir!”

As soon as the commander’s order fell, soldiers began rushing to support the researchers.

And among them was Yuseong, wearing a faint smile.