Chapter 4

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“A murder weapon. It was discovered by the Elite during a raid in the rebel headquarters. Maybe, around 5 years ago? We must have been in the 7th grade of elementary school.”

There was nothing I could do but go through my memories. It was still creepy. A young girl with a tune of 100, with a machine inserted in her but her heart was still beating. There was a lot of erosion, thus it became dangerous, so let’s fix it. Even if it costs a lot of money, let us treat it. The media was buzzing. Even now, it was still not in a state of silence.

“Yoon Eun Woo? She was a soldier in the City Federation, right.”

“Strictly speaking, she was not a soldier. A Weapon.”

It was true. Yoo Eun Woo had neither citizenship nor human rights.

Even though they removed the inserted machine, and the erosion was completely healed and returned to a healthy human, Yoo Eun Woo was registered as Kim Seo Hyuk’s trophy instead of receiving a citizen registration number and later became part of the military. The City Federation said that it was for military control in case of dangerous side effects, although It has yet to be found. It was obvious about what was going on inside. They spent a lot of money on the treatment, so they were trying to extract more than that. If she was a human being, they should respect her free will, she was easier to control, as a weapon.

It was the military who coveted Yoo Eun Woo, so why did they suddenly send her to school.

“As soon as Yoo Eun Woo entered the school, everybody went crazy. You know that Kim Seo Hyuk has a lot of enemies, right?”

Kim Seo Hyuk revised The Order of Thorns.

The Order of Thorns was the highest emergency order. When The Order of Thorns broke out, the Commander-in-Chief of the City Allied Forces and the immediate elite troops became civilians until The Order of Thorns was lifted, and the military’s command was transferred to the City Federation.

The law was enacted in the start by the City Federation to prevent coups, but as soon as

Kim Seo Hyuk took over as Commander-in-Chief, he bought the lawmakers and passed a bill to remove the provision of the military leadership passing to the City Federation, but instead stay in the City Allied Forces so that the City Allied Forces became independent when the emergency order took place.

As it was not enough to expand the scope of his activities by making the City Allied Force’s military independent, Kim Seo Hyuk declared that he would stage a coup in the future, so it was not strange for him to have a lot of enemies. However, Kim Seo Hyuk was still supported by many citizens because this protected refugees relatively well and at the same time overwhelmingly suppressed the rebels and gave citizens a sense of security. Kim Seo Hyuk was able to reach a level of accomplishment that even the former Commander-in-Chief and current principal, Lim Yoo Hyun, was not able to. One year after his initiation as Commander-in-Chief, Kim Seo Hyuk defeated the rebel headquarters to expand the City Federation’s authority into the Dead Sea.

“Just because some of their parents had some feuds with Kim Seo Hyuk, the children vent out their anger towards Yoo Eun Woo, anyway even if Yoo Eun Woo dies it’s not murder because of bullying. It’s military vandalism.”

Seo Jae Hee asked calmly.

“Did Yoo Eun Woo die?”

“That….”

Cha Ye Won was unable to finish her words and narrowed her eyes. Seo Jae Hee also became sensitive all of a sudden. They stood in the middle of the stairs connecting the first and second floors, with a second-floor hallway visible between the railing above, and the hallway from the first-floor below. The two looked up at the second floor at the same time as if they had agreed before.

“The smell of blood.”

Cha Ye Won frowned. The smell grew stronger. Seo Jae Hee inhaled sharply. Their nerves quickly rose.

“It’s not human blood. But Animal blood.”

It could be presumed that it was being transported to the laboratory for research material. The anxiety subsided, but Seo Jae Hee still could not relax. Cha Ye Won clicked her tongue in front of Seo Jae Hee, who entered into battle position like a beast who just smelt blood.

It was then.

Something fell off from the railing above like a wounded bird. It was quite heavy, hitting the marble floor on the first floor and making a loud blunt noise. Seo Jae Hee and Cha Ye Won looked down in surprise.

“Darn it, what a son of bitch! You could’ve hurt somebody!”

One of the second graders, who were gathering below discussing the test papers on the first floor, shouted – and then picked up what had been thrown to the floor. It looked like something brown that had been torn apart, but when he tried to look closely with his eyes narrowed, it was a tattered book that had become difficult to even recognize. The eyes of five or six, second graders standing in the hallways on the first floor met the eyes of Seo Jae Hee who was still standing in the middle of the stairs. Those second graders were startled.

“Senior Jae Hee?”

“Oh-oh, Senior Ye Won too, Good Morning!”

“Did Seniors drop this? Sorry, we did not know that…. Please stay there. I will bring it to you.”

The second-grader who picked up the book tried to climb the stairs in a hurry. Suddenly, one student among the crowd jumped out and grabbed the friend’s arm.

“Hey, you idiot! That isn’t our senior’s. It’s that bastard’s book.”

“….oh?”

The second graders gathered around the book. The sound of pages flipping wildly could be heard by Seo Jae Hee and Cha Ye Won.

“It’s true. What the hell, why is it even here? I thought you already put it back in the locker?”

“Who was it? Who went to put this book in the locker?”

“It’s me. I definitely put it back in…”

The conversation stopped. The second graders raised their heads one by one. Seo Jae Hee and Cha Ye Won also followed their gaze.

There was someone on the second floor. It was a student. She had both of her arms on the railing and her chin lightly resting on it. A crimson badge engraved with the school emblem was worn on the school uniform. It revealed that she was a first-grader. Before he could even look at her face, his gaze drifted to the side of her elbow. He found a bucket barely hanging over the railing, he knew it was the source of the bloody smell. Seo Jae Hee hurriedly stepped back. Cha Ye Won also quickly followed suit. At the same time, the first-grader on the second floor reached out her hand and pushed the bucket. The blood inside spilt like a waterfall, and the bucket hard in the hallways of the first floor.

“Wuaa! What’s this?!”

“Hey, you bastard! Get down here now! That crazy bastard!”

“This is blood, you know! Crazy, really!”

The rattling noise of the bucket colliding with the marble floor, the foul smell of blood overflowed, and the red blood splattered in all directions. The scream of the second graders made his vision unstable in an instant. Seo Jae Hee approached the railing again and looked down, being careful not to step on the splattered blood. The second graders gathered on the first floor were all covered in blood and shouting rudely. While watching the chaos of the first-grader on the second floor. He was still silent with a relaxed expression on his face. One of the second graders kicked the bucket rolling on the floor violently and shouted.

“Crazy bitch!”

There was no need to go up to the second floor. The second-grader took a gun from the holster and aimed upwards. A red number of 000 floated up at the back of the shining barrel and went up to 023.

Cha Ye Won started to fix the situation.

“What are you guys doing? Do you want to go on a war in front of us?”

The tone was light as if she was joking, but every word was cold. The spirits of the second graders faltered. Cha Ye Won said sharply.

“Take it down, before you receive penalty points and get expelled from the school.”

“B-but Senior! That bastard too!”

The second-grader pointed to the second floor from where there was a gun directed at him. Everyone’s eyes moved upward. Seo Jae Hee made a stupid sound without realizing it.

“…Oh?”

The first-year student suddenly pulled out her gun and aimed at the first floor. She Possibly had her liver out of her stomach*. Nevertheless, She was very confident to not only point her gun in front of her seniors but also aim it at them. But that was not the only reason Seo Jae Hee was surprised.

(*Korean idioms for someone who have a gut or courage)

“Tuning rate….”

The gun held tightly by the freshman shone smoothly. The red flashing tuning rate written in the barrel was an unbelievable number. The first year didn’t even touch the gun when she kicked the bucket earlier, or when the second year pulled out his gun. Even though she picked up her gun later than the second-grader, her tuning rate was terrifying. 072. There was no way that even he could pull his tuning rate up that quickly, and while Seo Jae Hee was still in shock, the first grader’s tuning rate jumped even higher, reaching 100.

“Yoo Eun Woo?”

Indeed, the military’s greed was expected. It should’ve been overwhelmingly tempting, enough for the military to commit violations by forcibly registering a recovered human as a trophy while making accusations about the numerous human rights.

“First grader, put it down.”

Cha Ye Won said tranquilly. Yoo Eun Woo, who was standing aiming with her gun, without even turning her head that way, answered her without giving a glimpse.

“I’m sorry, Senior. The one who aimed the gun first is that person on. As soon as he puts it down, I’ll bring mine down, too.”

“She was the one to throw the book and spill the blood on us.”

“They tattered my book first.”

“Put it down. And So do you – the first-grader there. Pointing weapons at each other is prohibited except under authorised conditions. Come to the student council room after dinner. All of you.”

The second-grader gritted his teeth and slowly lowered his gun. The gun’s tuning rate quickly dropped to 000 and the light went out. Then Yoo Eun Woo pulled down the gun in a proficient move. Even though the second-grader glanced at Seo Jae Hee and Cha Ye Won, he still spits out some words towards her.

“Crazy bastard, how could you do all this just because we destroyed a book? Be thankful to the seniors. If it was not for them, you would be torn to pieces, you know? Even though we did not really know whether it was a life wasted for a subject that does not have human rights.”

“Ah, the bloody smell. I wonder if maybe this is the work of someone who came from the Dead Sea…”

“Stop. The seniors are watching, alright. Let’s go to the dormitory and change clothes.”

“Aren’t you angry with this kind of circumstances? Look at the bastard Yoo Eun Woo’s face, what the fuck was that, was that even a face for a self-reflection?”

“Hey, I think the blood got into my eyes….”

“I’m sure you did this because you already calculated that the seniors would be here to watch. You bastard, sooner or later you will suffer, too. How much longer do you think you can hold on for? There’s no Kim Seo Hyuk here with you.”

In contrast to the second graders who could not cease their temper, Yoo Eun Woo looked extremely relaxed. Far from anger and shame, but rather a playful and free-spirited feeling that matched her age was just about to overflow. When the swear words were rose, Cha Ye Won began to grimace. Seo Jae Hee felt the need to restrain her and was about to say something, but Yoo Eun Woo spoke out first.

“Did you just ask if I kill people to eat when I’m hungry?”

The second graders discontinued their words and covered their mouths. Yoo Eun Woo stretched out her fingers and pointed them somewhere below. It was the book lying on the floor that was soaked in blood.

“It was written there.”

There was laughter in her short words.

“The rebels are a little bit different from what the naive seniors think. They kill people even when they are not hungry.”

Eun Woo was still smiling, but her eyes were cold and grim. The smell of blood was densely mixed in her breath, Seo Jae Hee’s revulsion rose.

“You think I looked ludicrous as I have been kicked out of the military and have no human rights, but you know that people who have nothing to lose are the scariest, right? Seniors, you’re afraid that it’ll scratch your noble status, so you secretly took out a book from my locker and scribbled on it, but for my case, it was different. Don’t mess around too much. If you touch me one more time, it won’t end with just blood. I’ll take it as a proposal suggesting that we play dirty and deal with it the way we do where I came from.”

As soon as Yoo Eun Woo finished speaking, she kicked the railing powerfully. It was simply a caper to intimidate people, but the second graders downstairs were so frightened that they took a step back. The floor was slippery with blood and a second-grade student slipped and fell backwards. Another second-grader wrapped his arms around his head, fearing that a bucket of blood might fall from above again. They retreated even more and when nothing happened, they stared at the second floor. However, Yoo Eun Woo had already left, the anger of the second graders was wasted on the pitiful air.

” Didn’t you ask before whether she died? As you can see, she is still alive. She is so energetic that she’s going to kill the other kids.”

Cha Ye Won pointed down with her chin. Second graders were busy taking off their school uniforms covered with blood or wiping off blood from their faces with their school uniforms.

When she had declared war, her swollen eyes were sorely red. All of what happened in a flash was beyond Seo Jae Hee’s limit of understanding.

A murder weapon expelled from the military to the City Federation Central School, poured a bucket of blood on her senior in objection against bullying. Even though he was able to summarize it briefly, the situation was still difficult to understand. There was still another thing. The tuning rate went to 100 in a very short time. He could not breathe well while thinking about that.

Those were some things that he never thought would happen. Since when had the world become so messed up? While he was away from school for 15 days, did all the reasoning in the world shift?

When he suddenly turned to the side, he realized that Cha Ye Won was still there with him. She was still staring at the railing on the second floor where Yoo Eun Woo had been leaning on before.

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