60 – Not That Bad

'I think that's him?' Yihwa stealthily followed after the huge man who looked like the one in the picture, with a small blue light wing on his right shoulder. 'I have to find out for myself…the truth!'

The man in question glanced surreptitiously at the girl that was hiding behind a street lamp pole and continued on his way.

Eventually he led her to a dark alleyway between some abandoned buildings.

Yihwa followed into the alleyway. 'Huh? This is a strange place to live…where did he go?'

"Why are you following me, girl?" The big man asked from behind her.

"Um…hi? My name is Yeon Yihwa. Are…are you the Living Ignition Weapon?" Yihwa asked, turning around.

"…!" The man's wing lit up and turned red, before he slammed a fist towards Yihwa.

"Eh?!" Yihwa was knocked away and smashed into the ground.

She got up and held up her hands. "W-wait!"

The man's whole hand turned red and enlarged to huge proportions, before grabbing onto Yihwa.

"Ahh! Stop!" Yihwa shouted and flames exploded out from her break his grip and sending him back several steps.

Yihwa coughed at the smoke, then the man's fist came rushing again.

Yihwa held her own hands up together and blasted fire forward. There was another huge explosion.

"I said stop! I'm not here to fight!" Yihwa shouted when the man's shadow appeared within the smoke.

"How do you know that term? Is the Yeon Family getting involved in that experiment?! Are you trying to restart it?!" The man came forward looking mostly unharmed.

"No! It was a concerned researcher that told me. I just wanted to find out the truth for myself! Did they really abduct children for it?!"

"A researcher from the Workshop? Ms. Sophia?"

"No, he's not with the Workshop. I can't tell you who he is. He isn't supposed to know. I'm here on my own…and I don't know any more about it. That's why I'm trying to find out…" Yihwa asked. "Please…I just want to know…if something so terrible could be true…if the people in charge really just let it happen..."

The man considered her for a moment, then sighed. "Follow me then, and I'll tell you. My name is Kang Horyang…and I am indeed a Living Ignition Weapon, one of the results of that experiment."

O O O

"…I was lucky to be sold as material to the Workshop…they do anything for their own experimentation. It's not a big deal for them to use abandoned kids. Even now…for one weapon to be sold to us Regulars…you can't imagine how many lives are sacrificed," said Horyang, sitting on a chair in his apartment.

Yihwa felt her blood run cold for the first time in a long time as she listened. It was worse than she could have imagined. It wasn't just this one experiment? Was everything from the Workshop a result of such terrifying experiments?

"…for a long time, I was grown, incubated…I didn't know if I was dead or alive. It was as if I was dreaming. The injections went on and on...while I just waited for my life to end. When I was finally let out of the incubator…the researchers called me no. 21, along with the boy I consider to be my brother…no. 99. And Ms. Sophia Amae…was the assistant researcher in charge of teaching us language. She was the only one that treated us like humans, unlike the others that just treated us like pieces of an experiment. She gave us names, as our secret…though not the one I use today. It was the most precious time we had in the workshop. It was because of her that I had the strength to continue living…"

"That's…awful! They really…"

"I'm not done. I haven't even gotten to the real purpose of the experiments yet," said Horyang.

"…the real purpose?"

"That's right. When we were twelve, we were sent to a different place, to a different manager. There, he told us about it…out of 99,999 kids, the two of us were the only ones that survived the injections."

"W-what?! 99,999?!" Yihwa asked with shock. 'This is crazy…when Dr. Dua said thousands…'

"He explained to us that Ignition Weapons are refined with Shinsoo bearing a soul. But they have limits, so they decided to use a human body. So then he showed us the 'Devil' that he would split into two, and put into us, since we were the most outstanding material from the previous experiments. It was horribly painful. It felt like all my blood was flowing backwards, and filled up with something else, a pain like my bones were being torn apart. I kept on fainting and waking up until I didn't have the strength to reawaken anymore and passed out. When I finally woke up…half my body wasn't mine anymore. That's what this is…"

He gestured to his right arm.

Yihwa merely stared with mouth agape, paralyzed with shock.

"And after that…Ms. Sophia also didn't come to see us anymore. Without her, we couldn't deal with our changing bodies. They were lonely and painful days…we lived meaningless lives. Then one day, I was strapped down and being transported elsewhere. It was the first time I'd seen the roof, and the snow…I didn't think about where I was going…I just marvelled that there was a place with such beauty in this world. I wanted to live longer…and in that moment above the sea…I met the real owner of this Tower…and I became a Regular."

"So…it was all true…"

"It wasn't hard to climb up, with this power…but I felt guilty about going up the Tower with a power built on others' sacrifices. So I stopped on this Floor and have been here ever since," Horyang concluded. "Does that answer what you wanted to know?"

Yihwa nodded numbly. "I'm…so sorry."

"What are you apologizing for? You had nothing to do with it, right?"

"No! I just…I don't understand…the Workshop…how could Zahard and the Great Families let this happen? Don't we rule the Tower…? Why won't anyone stop them…?"

Horyang just looked at the anguished girl with pity. "You're a member of the Great Families yourself. You should ask them that. Now, if you're satisfied, leave me be."

O O O

"Hm? Miss Yeon?" Dr. Dua came out of his lab chamber and up the stairs to find Yihwa at the front desk waiting area.

"Dr. Dua…"

"Wait for me outside a few minutes, I'm closing up here for the day and I'll be with you shortly," said Dr. Dua, taking off his lab coat and putting it away.

Yihwa nodded and then went to wait outside.

When Dr. Dua came outside, she turned to him.

"You were right," said Yihwa glumly,. "I found that guy and asked him…"

"You sure move fast, I wasn't expecting you to really do it," said Dr. Dua as he locked the door.

"I just had to know…" Yihwa said.

Dr. Dua wrapped a hand around her shoulders. "That sad face doesn't suit you at all. Let's go get something nice to eat and cheer you up. We can talk about it over dinner."

She didn't protest as Dr. Dua led her to a hoverbike and instructed her to hold onto him from behind.

They sped through the area towards another expensive looking restaurant.

They talked about what she learned, Dr. Dua gave sympathetic looks and comments, and then talked about other meaningless things. Eventually it took her mind off of it, and then they went to a grocery store, and Dr. Dua helped her shop for some food so that she could cook for herself and offered to take a look at her stove.

'That was nice…' She thought to herself after she got home. 'Maybe it really wouldn't be so bad to be with him…?'

O O O

The next day, Dr. Dua went to her apartment to try and fix her stove. After observing the destruction, he decided to just buy her a new one.

"T-that's too much!"

"Look, it's completely destroyed. This can't be repaired. The landlord is going to demand a replacement anyways once they find out," he said.

"I can't possibly impose on you any more…" She said, looking down.

Dr. Dua patted her head, and her face burned up at the action.

"It's fine Miss Yeon. This is hardly any trouble for me, it's just a stove. I don't mind helping a potential future teammate like this while she's down on her luck."

"Um…you've helped me so much…you don't have to call me Miss Yeon all the time…just call me Yihwa," she said shyly.

"Okay, Yihwa. Just leave it to me, I'll order a new one," said Dr. Dua with a smile.

O O O

Several days later, after struggling with the new stove then repeatedly messing up her food and forcing down the really disgusting results before vomiting it up each time, she felt incredibly weak and then Yihwa collapsed on the floor.

"Hah…I'm so hungry…I can't…"

She turned her Pocket visible, then scrolled to a now familiar name, and dialled.

The line connected.

"…Dr. Dua…"

"Yihwa? What is it?" The doctor's voice asked when there was no more sound coming from her side.

"…help…please…" She said in a desperate tone.

"Where are you?"

"…my apartment."

"Alright I'll be there right away."

Yihwa forced herself to go unlock the door before collapsing again.

Dr. Dua rushed over, and then knocked. When there was no response, he opened the door to see Yihwa sprawled on the ground.

"Yihwa, what's wrong?! What happened? Were you attacked?"

The girl looked up and spoke with embarrassment.

"…n-no…j-just…hungry…everything I cooked…was bad…"

"…"

Dr. Dua gave her an exasperated smile, then lifted her into his arms in a bridal carry, before taking her to her bed and tucking her in.

"Get some rest, I'll make food for you."

Then he cooked for her and brought the food over to her on a tray. When she tried to struggle up and use her own hands to take the tray, Dr. Dua stopped her.

"Save your energy. I'll feed you," he said, before doing just that.

Yihwa still found the energy to have her face heat up subconsciously as Dr. Dua brought the food to her mouth.

Like that, she slowly ate while sneaking glances at Dr. Dua's kindly smiling face the whole time.

The food wasn't as good as what they'd had at the restaurants, but somehow she felt like she wanted to savor every bite.

'Is this what having a boyfriend feels like…?'

When it was done, Dr. Dua put the tray away and cleaned up. Then he came back to her.

"You're out of groceries again, so I've ordered some more delivery for you to cover you for the rest of the day. You'll need to eat a lot to recover your energy. I've some things to take care of tomorrow but after that I can take some time to teach you how to cook properly. Just hang in there a little longer, okay?"

"Okay…thank you Dr. Dua. You're too good to me…" Yihwa said, sitting upright on the bed against the headrest. 'No, Yihwa aren't you being too naïve?! No man can be this nice without a reason…he'll definitely show his true colors and then expect to do those things with me soon…dates are one thing but there's no way I can do that stuff! What should I do…wait, he studies rare and special powers…maybe he'd want to study the Yeon flames? That's right, I could let him study my body…then I'll know for sure if he's like all the other pigs!'

"It's not a big deal, really. You must have had food prepared for you all your life, and in the floors below, there were always cafeterias, right? You only needed to stick to the Regulars' dorms and everything was taken care of. But on this floor, there are no dorms and you have to fend for yourself, on top of points being much harder to come by, with expenses so much higher. It's a difficult shift for most Regulars, especially when you're by yourself."

Yihwa could only nod. "Still…I wish I could do something for you too. Um…maybe I could…"

Dr. Dua patted her on the head again. "Before you think about anything like that, rest up and take care of yourself, okay? Got to go now, see you later."

Then he left while Yihwa was again too embarrassed to say anything else.

"…see you…."

O O O

When she woke up the next day, Yihwa stayed in her bed for a while, staring at her headband which she held up to the air in her hand.

"Arghh…I need to deal with my own problems first," she said, getting up and going to the kitchen.

She tried to cook some things herself again, and then after a particularly frustrating struggle with the new stove that didn't seem to work properly, her flames came out and the stove blew up again.

"Oh come on, nooooo!"

After several hours of trying to fix the stove by looking up guides and the manual, she gave up and went shopping for yet another new stove.

Once she saw the price tags, she was left the shopping area dejectedly.

After she spent the last of her money on some fast food, not wanting to go hungry again even if it wasn't healthy, she found herself wandering around aimlessly.

A few more altercations with guys hitting on her that she fought off, and eventually she found herself in front of the loan office.

She stared at the sign for a long while, unsure of why she was there.

'I'm not taking another loan…just…finding out if I can…' She told herself. 'I shouldn't ask Dr. Dua for everything…I can't take advantage of him like that! He hasn't even tried to do anything with me yet…'

She was waiting for her appointment when she heard angry voices from the manager's office. Seeing that nobody else was in the waiting room, she snuck to the door and listened.

"…mean I can't do that?!"

"I mean what I said. Dr. Dua is no longer working with us, so you can't do that anymore."

'Dr. Dua? He was involved with this company?'

O O O

[Kaleidus]

I chuckled to myself as my Armoriont bird observed from the window Yihwa blowing up the stove which I'd ordered for her and sabotaged. I could tell that she'd been suspicious of me and she had a great internal turmoil over whether she could let me get closer to her, yet her suspicions were all for naught because I was no two-bit villain that could be seen through so easily.

It was not easy to poison or infect someone with her constitution, just like how Androssi was totally immune to the plague I'd released during the Floor of Tests. Shinsoo enhanced our bodies in many ways, and the natural immunities that people gained as they climbed the Tower similarly made those mundane biological attacks far less effective as we went up. Someone with the blood of Zahard, or the Yeon flame as strong as it was in Yihwa could just completely ignore such things.

But I had noticed that Yihwa's flames had purged the alcohol in the wine during our first meal together in a way that still seemed to provoke a negative reaction from her. Probably because she had little control of it. And so it was that I helped her buy groceries and poisoned her, expecting her body to destroy the poison, but also destroying the nutrients with it. Her flames hadn't destroyed the food, but she simply vomited it up, which achieved more or less the same thing—causing her to go hungry.

Yes, Yihwa was comically bad at cooking, but probably not so bad that she would fail this catastrophically on her own. It simply made it easy to believe it was her own fault.

It felt a little bad to do this to such an innocent and kind person who I intended to make my ally, but her cute reactions had been too entertaining after such a long time of being holed up concentrating on my research. More importantly, these were all harmless things in the long run and she would be better off under my care, yet she likely wouldn't accept my advances any other way if she didn't feel like it was all her own fault and I was just a good person helping her out. She was too suspicious of men in general and not a little sexist about it. I couldn't blame her for being that way, frankly I shared her views on that matter, even without growing up in a matriarchal clan. Even if there were some good people out there, it was perfectly reasonable to suspect every man she met of ulterior motives, as a beautiful young woman like her. That was true even outside of this Tower where callous exploitation and treachery were the norm.

Now, whether she asked for my help again, putting herself further into my debt, or went to the loan company getting herself into bigger trouble, either way would play into my hands.

O O O