The child lightly tugged on the hand of the researcher standing there in a daze. Just as Director Park had instructed, he headed toward the monster without the slightest hesitation.
Even though the monster had entered the laboratory, several layers of safety doors still remained between it and the people. Thick glass barriers had been installed at regular intervals, but the researcher being led along by the child’s hand was the only one who failed to notice them.
The closer they got, the hazier the researcher’s eyes became. His slightly parted mouth and unfocused gaze made him look obviously out of his mind, yet rather than stopping him or snapping him out of it, the people around them were too busy talking among themselves and recording observations.
THUD.
The sound of the final safety door closing rang out with unusual force.
That was when the researcher, who had been staring blankly ahead, came to his senses.
He shuddered as though waking from a deep sleep and lifted his head. After drawing in a short breath, he saw the monster directly in front of him and went rigid.
“W-What is…….”
Had it not been swimming underwater just moments ago?
There had been a considerable distance between them, so he could not understand why it was now so close—close enough that he could practically feel its breath.
The researcher stumbled one step backward.
Only then did he realize that the child was holding his hand.
And at the same moment, he realized that Director Park had made him the test subject.
WHOOSH.
The researcher whipped his head around.
The people who had been absorbed in their own work only moments ago were now all watching him.
There was no sympathy, pity, hesitation, or sadness in their faces.
Only interest and amusement.
Eyes brimming with the sort of enjoyment people showed while watching a variety show.
Not one of the emotions a person should have shown at a moment when someone might die could be found anywhere.
It was so chilling that it went beyond horror and became nauseating, but thanks to that, the researcher was able to calm the confusion in his head.
Since when had they been planning this?
Since the senior researchers from his group had arbitrarily left to go rest?
Or perhaps…….
Whatever the case, those bastards had made a serious mistake.
Judging by the situation, they were obviously doing this because he had come from the Core and they wanted to intimidate him somehow.
He could tell just by their expressions.
The monster in front of him had been raised by human hands from birth, so it was clearly an individual incapable of harming humans. They simply wanted to watch him, ignorant of that fact, cry and beg for his life so they could satisfy their sense of superiority.
As expected, the bastards living in this garbage dump were unbelievably stupid.
The researcher looked at them with an expression that practically screamed how pathetic he found them and said—
CRUNCH.
No.
He tried to say something.
He would have, if the monster had not extended a tentacle and crushed his throat.
CRRK, CRRRK.
The monster did not stop there.
It ripped the researcher’s head from his torso.
Blood erupted like a fountain, and the body that had somehow remained standing collapsed forward like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
THUD.
The moment the body sprawled face-first across the floor, disappointed murmurs rose from various parts of the laboratory.
“He didn’t last very long.”
“Well, that isn’t what matters. What matters is that there are genes that react especially strongly to Mid’s cries. We specifically requested someone with those conditions, but…….”
Director Park smiled as he looked at the monster.
The researcher had probably died without even realizing he was dead.
The expression still frozen on his face was utterly pathetic.
“To think it would be that extreme…… I honestly didn’t expect it.”
Mid lifted the researcher’s head and tilted its own as though examining it.
The spine dangling beneath it swayed like a root, dripping blood, yet the researchers were too excited to care and simply talked over one another about whatever came to mind.
“So it really is true that C11-404 doesn’t get attacked.”
“Hmm, seems that way. I thought they simply described complete lack of interest that way…… but it looks like Mid is awfully fond of him, doesn’t it?”
At someone’s words, everyone’s attention turned back inside.
Mid wriggled its tentacles and approached the child, then held out the researcher’s head it was carrying.
It was an unspeakably gruesome sight, but the people who had watched Mid since the moment it hatched knew that this was a sign of affection.
“It’s sharing prey with him. Does it really think he’s its own young?”
“Maybe. Especially since the head is Mid’s favorite part. Director! Could we ignore all the data we received from the Core and start the research over from scratch? I feel like that would actually be more accurate.”
“I was already planning to do that, so everyone calm down and observe carefully. The cameras are working properly, right?”
“Yes. They’re recording everything without missing a thing.”
Director Park smiled in satisfaction and nodded.
Even then, he did not take his eyes off Mid and the child.
It was not out of concern.
No matter how thoroughly everything was being recorded on camera, he wanted to witness their interaction directly with his own eyes.
“…….”
The child blinked after accepting the researcher’s head Mid had offered him.
He had taken it because it had been given to him, but it was too heavy, and he did not want to keep something that belonged to the person who had only ever hit him whenever they were together.
Besides, it smelled strange and made his stomach churn.
Unable to bear it any longer, the child quietly handed the head back.
Mid wriggled its tentacles several times, then tossed the head behind itself.
Instead, it dragged over the researcher’s torso that had been lying face-down on the floor and dropped it in front of the child.
You don’t like that? How about this instead?
Its actions seemed to be saying exactly that, and the researchers’ eyes filled with even greater interest.
Mid did not stop there.
It personally removed the tough outer shell—in other words, the clothes—and even tore off only the soft flesh to offer him.
The researchers could not hide their excitement as they whispered among themselves at the sight of it behaving as though caring for its own young.
Perhaps monsters possessed maternal or paternal instincts as well.
They had always ended up with nothing more than hypotheses because there had been no way to prove it.
Now, an extraordinary opportunity had appeared to obtain decisive evidence supporting that theory.
Who could possibly remain calm?
As everyone watched with bated breath, the first thing the child did was neither cry nor become angry.
He pinched his nose shut and shook his head.
At the blatant rejection, Mid dropped the meat it was holding with a THUD and let out a strange cry.
KRRRK, KRRRHK.
It was a sound even the researchers who had hatched Mid from its egg had never heard before.
Mid gave several short cries as it slowly circled around the child.
Its tentacles struck downward as though scraping across the floor, while the things attached to them repeatedly curled shut like flower buds before blooming wide again.
It was not fast.
Nor did the movement appear threatening.
It simply continued slowly but steadily, tracing the same orbit over and over again.
As though checking something.
How much time had passed?
Unable to endure it any longer, the child went, “Ugh,” and retched.
The fibers around Mid’s head immediately stood stiffly on end.
Gone was the beautiful way they had drifted underwater. Now Mid looked like a cat with all its fur standing on end.
Before long, it hurriedly devoured the meat, then extended the cleanest tentacle from deep inside its body and carefully rubbed the child’s stomach.
“……It understands what’s causing Number 404 to react like that.”
“No, setting that aside…… isn’t it even more surprising that it understands the concepts of ‘disgusting’ and ‘suffering’?”
“Is that really what matters right now? Mid is taking care of a human!”
At one researcher’s shout, Mid, which had seemed uncertain about what to do, let out a sharp cry.
SKREEEK!
It was another sound none of them had ever heard before, but there was no one who failed to understand that it was a threat.
“It’s protecting him…….”
“……Director, this is seriously fascinating. Do you think Mid is the only one that reacts like this?”
“Right. Mid was raised by us from the very beginning, after all…… Couldn’t we ask the other teams to cooperate and find out?”
Whisper, whisper.
The researchers continued their conversation as quietly as possible so as not to irritate Mid.
Director Park gave a short laugh at their behavior, then nodded.
“Sure. I was planning to test them one by one anyway.”
“Do you already have something in mind?”
“Of course.”
While the conversation continued, Mid stopped moving for a moment.
Then, very carefully, it snapped off one of the flower-shaped organs attached to its tentacle and placed it in the child’s hand.
The instant the tissue settled onto the child’s palm, every researcher who had been listening to Director Park gasped at once.
They had already confirmed Mid’s regenerative ability numerous times before, and the key to that ability was precisely those flower-shaped organs.
Whenever Mid judged that its body had been severely damaged, it would tear off one of those tissues without hesitation and eat it itself.
Afterward, its body would regenerate at an unbelievable speed.
Torn and collapsed areas would restore themselves within only a few hours as though nothing had ever happened.
No matter how many times they witnessed the process, they could never grow accustomed to it.
It was such a strange and wondrous sight that it forced them to watch with bated breath, and they had tried several times to remove one of those organs and experiment on it separately.
But every time they attempted to touch one, Mid reacted with unusual violence.
Even touching it once would make Mid wary and vicious for several days, so no one had been able to handle one.
They had simply assumed it was something like the creature’s reverse scale and could only watch with frustrated longing.