I wanted to lighten the mood a little.
There was no point in continuing to worry about that brat of a little sister. If I was going to rack my brains over it, it was better to just bury it.
But seeing the vampire, Kim Jihu’s reaction, reminded me of college orientation.
Gah, my head…!
That bastard. He acted like he cared so much about me, and then he went and screwed me over like this.
…Best to leave unpleasant memories in the past.
Kim Jihu only stepped back after undergoing a few more tests.
They drew blood and did all sorts of things, and in the process, one fact came to light.
“We’ve confirmed a minute degree of control over blood.”
As Captain Kim had said, Kim Jihu could control blood, if only a little.
Though at best, it was around 10ml of blood, so it wasn’t exactly meaningful.
“Even so, this is a very frightening ability. If he could momentarily stop the blood flowing through a person’s body, he could kill an enemy instantly.”
“Of course, assuming he can do that. He can only control blood once it’s outside the body.”
“Ahem, hm!”
Kim Jihu coughed awkwardly.
It was an ability whose uses were impossible to figure out.
And next was Old Man Owlbear’s turn.
“…Remarkable.”
A low exclamation slipped from Captain Kim’s mouth as he checked Old Man Owlbear’s readings.
The old man was merely standing there quietly with his eyes closed.
But the air surrounding him emitted a completely different kind of pressure from when Mr. Orc had lifted the rebar earlier.
“We’ll start over from the hearing test. Adjutant, activate frequency generator number 6.”
“Yes, Captain.”
A very faint mechanical sound came from one corner of the underground parking lot.
It was a sound in the high-frequency range that an ordinary human wouldn’t even be able to perceive. But those strange ears, with feathers bristling up from them, trembled ever so slightly.
“I can hear it. Thirty meters to the left. I can even hear the cooling fan spinning inside the equipment.”
At the old man’s calm answer, Captain Kim’s gaze sharpened.
“Raise the frequency. And activate all inter-floor noise blockers. We’ll see if he can isolate a specific sound source amid the noise.”
A moment later, every kind of mechanical noise inside the underground base, the soldiers’ footsteps, and the sound of a generator in the distance mixed together, creating a whirlpool of noise.
But even that was meaningless.
“A vehicle entering this parking ramp section… There’s one two-and-a-half-ton truck. The rear brake pads are worn, and there’s a metallic screech mixed in.”
Old Man Owlbear’s hearing was truly transcendental.
The military personnel who witnessed his ability let out quiet exclamations of admiration.
“At this level, it’s not simply a matter of having good ears. He’s no different from a biological radar that can pick out only specific waves amid noise pollution.”
“You flatter me. It is simply… at times, a hardship to hear things that ought not be heard.”
Thinking back, the old man had said he occasionally heard screams near the blackout zone.
He must have his own difficulties.
After that, the old man underwent a strength test.
The result was around the same level as Mr. Orc. Damn it, even his strength was top-tier?
“Next… is the last one.”
But I was the protagonist.
I proudly squared my shoulders and stepped forward.
“We’ll begin with measuring your physical abilities.”
My turn had come.
Maybe it was because I’d seen Mr. Orc bend rebar like taffy and Old Man Owlbear act like a biological radar, but baseless confidence surged within me.
Of course, my appearance was frail beyond belief… but still, wasn’t I supposedly an angel? There was such a thing as racial stats, so even at worst, I should be average.
“Han Yujin, forward.”
At Captain Kim’s call, I gave my wings a slight flutter and stepped out.
As the wings that had been hunched inside my long padded coat spread out, the soldiers’ eyes focused on me once more.
As expected, the protagonist always appears last.
“We’ll start with grip and arm strength. Try lifting that 20kg dumbbell over there.”
What Captain Kim pointed at was a dumbbell lying in the corner.
20kg? Mr. Orc had lifted one ton earlier, so this was basically cotton candy.
I reached out with a light heart.
“Hrrngh…!”
…Huh?
“Uh…?”
The dumbbell wouldn’t budge.
No, to be precise, it did lift, but my arms trembled like crazy.
The lump of metal, which was nearly half my body weight, was far heavier than I’d expected.
I managed to lift it with every ounce of strength I had, but the sight was utterly pathetic.
“……”
A heavy silence descended over the underground parking lot.
I rolled my eyes around, gauging the people around me.
“Um, Captain. I’ve always been pretty much estranged from exercise… and besides, my body’s gotten smaller now, hasn’t it?”
“This was within our expectations to some extent. Not every mutation strengthens physical abilities.”
But Captain Kim’s expression as he said that was not good.
“At this rate, however… handling firearms will be difficult.”
Ah, firearms.
As someone who had yet to do my military service, they still felt somewhat distant to me.
From what I’d heard, guns were fairly heavy.
Of course, it wasn’t like I wouldn’t be able to lift one at all… but combat would probably be difficult.
Fuck, I’m supposed to be an angel. Is this seriously how you’re going to balance patch me?
“Next are the wings. We’ll confirm whether flight is possible.”
Ah, the wings.
Come to think of it, I had never once thought of trying to fly with these wings.
Right. So what if my strength was weak?
I had wings!
“I’ll give it a try.”
I flapped my wings with all my might. With a flurrying sound, a few feathers drifted into the air.
But my body didn’t rise. Just when my heels seemed to lift slightly, they stuck back to the floor like magnets.
“You can’t lift off?”
“…Looks like I can’t.”
At those words, I lowered my head.
The wing muscles definitely moved according to my will.
But it seemed their lift was nowhere near enough to raise this delicate body, not even 150cm tall, into the air.
A chicken could probably fly higher than this.
“Let’s summarize. Wings exist, but flight is impossible. Physical ability is at the level of an ordinary woman.”
“…Yes, well. That’s how it turned out.”
I answered calmly to the cold declaration.
While everyone else had shown such shocking physical abilities, I alone had ended up like this.
As I drooped, Kim Jihu approached and cried out passionately.
“If the physical ability measurements are over, then it is finally time for you to manifest a miracle!”
At those words, I snapped back to my senses.
Right. I still had a card left to play.
“Turn off all the lights.”
At Captain Kim’s command, the parking lot lights all went out at once.
But darkness did not immediately arrive.
Flaaaash—!
An explosive radiance burst from my halo.
Faint though it was, that light, more certain than anything else, illuminated the surroundings.
“…Visibility secured to over thirty meters. It is manifesting light without being affected by the special waves of the blackout zone.”
Tension returned to Captain Kim’s voice.
He carefully observed the wavelength of the light, then added in a low voice.
“Perhaps… this light may serve a purpose beyond mere illumination. There is a possibility that it can locally nullify or neutralize the blackout phenomenon itself. Of course, this is only a hypothesis that can be confirmed by actually entering the zone.”
Neutralize? I wondered if something that grand was really possible, but Captain Kim’s eyes were serious.
“Lastly, your healing ability. Can you manifest the same ability as you did then?”
“Mm, I’m not sure. I’ll try.”
Even I couldn’t guarantee that.
I had only used it once, and even that had been more by feel than anything else.
It felt like I had succeeded through coincidence piled upon coincidence.
Captain Kim took a utility knife from his pocket himself.
Kim Jihu, who was standing beside him, stepped forward saying he would do it, but Captain Kim stopped him coldly.
“Mr. Jihu, you have regenerative abilities. It could introduce variables.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Captain Kim mercilessly slashed the back of his own hand.
“Ugh!”
I, who was watching, was more startled than anyone and sucked in a breath.
Crimson blood welled up over the sleeve of his uniform. The blade must have gone in fairly deep, because blood dripped steadily onto the floor.
Without batting an eye, Captain Kim held out his wounded hand to me.
“Try it.”
I swallowed dryly and placed my hand over his.
Over the cold back of his hand, rough with calluses, I felt the hot, metallic touch of blood.
I closed my eyes, trying to squeeze out that unfamiliar yet warm sensation I had felt at the community service center.
‘What kind of sensation did I feel back then?’
Surely, surely…
I couldn’t remember. You damned goldfish-brained bastard.
Then I had to approach it differently.
How exactly was I supposed to bring forth that energy?
I quietly stared at the open wound on Captain Kim’s hand.
Thinking about it, what I had felt when I saved that grandmother back then wasn’t some complicated technique.
It was simply desperation. A very primal, instinctive compassion, wishing for that person to live.
The emotion that immense being I had met in my dream had held toward me.
A love as vast as the sea.
The moment I realized that, I felt the boundless energy contained within my halo.
For convenience… should I call it divine power?
I drew out a thin thread of divine power protruding from the halo, and…
Flash!
With a momentary burst of light, Captain Kim’s hand was healed.