Wings Project
Before I knew it, a little over a month had passed since the new school year began, and it was now mid-April.
Midterms were, at most, less than three weeks away.
For that reason, the Mystery Exploration Club had decided to suspend regular activities starting next week, with today as the last meeting.
‘It’s a shame, but that means today is the last time we get to play before midterms… No, that’s not right. It’s our last academic research activity.’
Kim Samo, the president of the Mystery Exploration Club, and Park Sagun, the vice president, would feel hurt if they heard that.
Though, in truth, most of us, myself and my friends included, thought of it that way.
In any case, having decided to watch my mouth, I walked through Mystery Park with the other club members.
“Wow, look at the cherry blossoms. They’re so pretty.”
“They’re still in full bloom here. Is it because of the influence of the World Tree and the Grim River? Samo and Sagun chose well this time. I’m glad we came.”
“Yum yum. Seriously. I feel like the stress from studying is melting away a little. If we order delivery food here too, it’ll be perfect.”
Mystery Park, located in Academy City’s District 3—Yongsan-gu, if compared to Seoul.
In the park built along the Grim River, we could admire all sorts of spring flowers blooming in vibrant colors.
Not only Yeon Haneul and Risa, but all of us couldn’t help but marvel.
Meanwhile….
“Hmph, as if you’ve been studying…. Cha Eunsol, you haven’t even studied properly. This girl’s lying through her teeth.”
“Do you hate me? I really did study hard…. Why are you always like that only to me? Sob….”
“W-What!? Are you crying right now? Hey, how can you cry over something I just said as a joke!? You’re making me feel awkward! And when did I ever say I hated you?”
“Then do you like me?”
“Urk….”
“So you do hate me after all.”
“No! I don’t!”
“Then why won’t you say it?”
“That’s… Ah, damn it… Fine, I’ll do what you want! I like you! I said I like you! So stop crying already!”
“Mm, I see. Actually, I was joking.”
“…!”
Min Arin and Cha Eunsol were having fun on their own.
Cha Eunsol, who had been acting like she was crying while wiping at her eyes, stuck out her tongue and quickly ran away.
Min Arin, who had been completely fooled, belatedly came to her senses and began chasing after her, fuming.
“Hey, you little brat! Do you want to die!? How dare you make a fool of me? Stop right there!”
“No. If I stop, you’ll hit me. And they say in situations like this, the person who gets fooled is the one at fault. Gyeonu said that last time. So if you’re going to hit someone, don’t hit me, hit Gyeonu.”
“Arin-Arin! Me too! Tell me you like me too, hurry! Right now!”
They sure knew how to have fun.
Before I knew it, Nam Yuri had joined in too.
I chuckled as I watched the three of them enjoying their chase, then looked around.
‘There are a lot of people.’
Everywhere we went, it was packed with people out on picnics.
At this rate, even finding a spot to comfortably view the flowers would be difficult.
I pulled Yeon Haneul by the shoulder so she wouldn’t get jostled by the crowd and worried inwardly.
Thankfully….
“Samo-nim, how about over there? I think there’s enough space.”
“Oh, not bad. Good find. But Gaeul, I’d rather you call me President instead of Samo-nim….”
Yu Gaeul found a suitable spot.
Thanks to her, those of us who would have had to wander aimlessly were able to spread out a picnic mat and sit down.
After that, we ordered delivery food on our smartphones, and bought alcohol and simple snacks from a convenience store.
Kim Samo gathered everyone’s attention.
“The reason we came here today isn’t simply to enjoy the flowers. The atmospheric mana in Mystery Park is in a state of severe fluctuation due to the nearby World Tree and Grim River. They also say the dimension itself is unstable. So according to urban legend, beings from other worlds sometimes appear and disappear in Mystery Park.”
“For reference, I’m sure there are people who wonder how a river can exist on an artificial island floating on the sea. The reason is that the roots of the World Tree reach the sea….”
“So today’s activity objective is to find beings from another world. Don’t get too distracted by playing around, and make sure to look carefully around you.”
Kim Samo and Park Sagun explained enthusiastically.
However, though I felt bad for the two of them, we only showed a moderate amount of interest and didn’t pay too much attention.
Because the most important thing was the fact that we were going to look at flowers, play, eat, and drink.
‘Beings from another world? It’s just an urban legend, so it probably isn’t reliable. If we meet one, fine; if we don’t, that’s fine too.’
We threw ourselves into having fun, partly to relieve the stress from preparing for midterms.
Since people like Yeon Haneul and Min Arin, who ranked near the top in grades, were there with us, we didn’t feel all that anxious about whether it was really okay to play like this.
If anything, it even made us feel as if we were something special, just like them.
And since the delivery food arrived partway through and added to the mood….
We focused that much more on playing.
It was in the middle of all that that I got up from my seat.
“I’m going to the restroom.”
“Okay, go ahead. You know where it is, right?”
“Why? If I don’t, are you going to take me there? I’d be happy with that.”
“Hmph, no thanks. I’m going to drink more with the others.”
“Got it.”
Yeon Haneul, seeming somewhat giddy from the alcohol, smiled with her eyes.
She was pretty.
I wanted to devour her.
Barely suppressing the urge to steal her lips, I left the spot behind.
‘I nearly did it in front of everyone…. That was dangerous.’
Was there no way to create an opportunity for us to be alone together?
Smacking my lips in regret, I followed the signposts.
Then, when I was nearing the restroom.
‘A fox demihuman.’
I caught sight of a woman coming out of the women’s restroom.
The woman, who seemed to be in her mid-to-late twenties, was a demihuman with triangular ears and a tail reminiscent of a golden fox.
I felt bad toward Yeon Haneul, but….
‘I want to touch that tail.’
Unlike Yeon Haneul’s rabbit tail, the large, luxuriant fox tail boasted its presence even from the front, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
On top of that, it even swayed gently in time with her steps….
‘Tails like Haneul’s rabbit tail, the kind you can grab and stretch yourself, are nice, but tails like that are good too. Foxes are nice.’
It was around the time I thought that.
When I came back to my senses.
“….”
I realized that the woman was walking toward me with a smile in her eyes.
It wasn’t my imagination.
She stopped in front of me with only a few steps left between us.
Then she giggled and said,
“It’s rude to stare so blatantly. If you’re going to look, you should do it secretly. Though even if you looked secretly, I’d notice everything.”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
“If your girlfriend had been next to you, you would’ve gotten scolded. For not controlling your gaze.”
“Pardon? Girlfriend?”
“Why? When I passed by earlier, you looked incredibly close to that pretty rabbit girl. Aren’t you two dating? There’s no way you could make those faces at each other unless you were dating, you know? Like you wanted to kiss each other right that second….”
“…I don’t know how you saw us, but we’re not dating yet. We’re just… I guess you could say we’re childhood friends who’ve known each other since we were little….”
“Hm? Yet? Childhood friends?”
As if she found it absurd.
The woman blinked her red eyes.
* * *
‘Who is this person?’
Judging by her clothes, which resembled a clan uniform, she seemed to be a hunter.
But the emblem engraved on the insignia hanging over the front of her chest was extremely unfamiliar.
It was an emblem that seemed to depict a woman lying on her side, hugging her knees with both arms.
At least as far as I remembered, there was no clan in Academy City with an emblem like that.
‘Is it a clan so weak that I wouldn’t know about it, or one that was made recently? Or maybe they operate on the mainland, or are based in another country….’
It might not be a clan uniform, but a party uniform.
There were plenty of parties that dreamed of becoming clans and prepared emblems and uniforms in advance.
Putting that question aside, I talked with the woman.
The woman looked somewhat displeased.
“So you’ve known each other for six years now…. In my opinion, you’re long past the stage of getting to know each other, so may I ask why you’re still maintaining this relationship you’ve dressed up as childhood friends, neither friends nor lovers? Why aren’t you dating? I’m sure there’s a problem with the rabbit girl too, but I feel like the bigger problem is with you. Don’t tell me you don’t want to be tied down to one woman, or that, though surely that can’t be the case, you’re satisfied with a casual, just-for-fun kind of relationship?”
At some point, the woman had started speaking casually to me.
But she wasn’t looking down on me, and she seemed older, so I decided not to mind it.
At the same time, I felt puzzled.
‘Why am I talking about this with someone I’ve just met?’
Was it because she was a stranger anyway, so I felt it didn’t matter if I revealed my true feelings?
It was probably also because she felt like an accepting older sister, and because she was a fox demihuman.
In any case, I answered her question.
“I’m absolutely not taking it lightly, so please don’t misunderstand. Wanting to live promiscuously… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t, but I don’t want to do anything Haneul would dislike.”
“Hm… So her name is Haneul. That’s a pretty name for a demihuman. Usually, we’re abandoned as soon as we’re born without even knowing our parents’ faces, and we don’t even get proper names. So the nicknames given to us by the people who pick us up or the people we live with often end up becoming our names…. A dog demihuman becomes Badugi, if your hair is blue you become Parangi, if you’re a sheep demihuman you become Mary, and so on.”
“Haneul is from an orphanage. I don’t think it’s my place to tell you, but….”
“Ah, so she’s from an orphanage. Still, I guess her parents had at least a sliver of affection. It’s not exactly same-same, but I’m from an orphanage too.”
“What’s your name, then?”
“Pretty Fox.”
“Ah… I see….”
How unfair.
That clearly meant she didn’t want to tell me her name.
I decided to call her Golden Doggo Noona in my mind.
“Anyway, it’s a relief that you say you’re not taking it lightly. Though you didn’t look like you were from the start.”
“Then how did I look?”
“Kind, so rigid and frustrating.”
“Pardon? Me?”
“Mm. But now that I’m facing you like this, it seems you also have a somewhat sly and cunning side. Hmm… You feel like a half-and-half mix of men I know? What a relief.”
“….”
“Ah, sorry. I left you standing there and talked about myself. So, back to the topic. Why are you staying only as childhood friends with that girl? Surely it’s not because you’re afraid of dating and then breaking up.”
“It’s just… Um… I have a goal, and in order to achieve that goal, I think I have to postpone dating. I might end up dragging her into it too. It’s a somewhat… dangerous goal.”
“What kind of goal?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Tch. A man shouldn’t do that. How petty.”
“That’s gender discrimination.”
“Wow, you’re annoying when you talk back.”
The woman shook her head with an exasperated look.
Then she let out a sigh.
Strangely enough, she looked just like….
Yeon Haneul when she resigned herself to something and treated me like a child.
Maybe because of that, I felt an even greater sense of familiarity with the woman for no reason.
That was when the woman spoke.
“I don’t know what kind of goal it is, but is it a goal you have to achieve alone? Can’t you tell her about it?”
“Pardon? Hmm, it’s not that I can’t… but I don’t want to tell her because I might drag her into danger. If I do tell her, I want to tell her after I accomplish the goal.”
“Then all that girl can do is feel anxious in that neither-here-nor-there relationship called childhood friends and wait until you achieve your goal?”
“…That’s why I promised her. When the time comes, I’ll….”
“So you unilaterally promised her to wait for you? Instead of asking her to help. Without even properly asking her what she thinks.”
“That’s….”
“If it’s a goal you can achieve together, then joining forces wouldn’t be a bad idea. But if it’s a goal you can’t talk about because there’s a reason you mustn’t tell her… at the very least, don’t make her anxious.”
“….”
At the words, don’t make her anxious, suddenly.
I thought of Yeon Haneul, who had seemed unhappy about the situation where I was continuing to meet Baek Jimin in order to deceive my grandfather.
She hadn’t expressed it directly, but there was no way I wouldn’t know the expression that appeared on her face.
‘I couldn’t exactly tell Haneul the truth—that she should rest easy because I’d struck a deal with Jimin. It would amount to telling her that the Clan Head doesn’t like her, and if I messed up, I could wound Haneul’s pride, so…’
So these days, I’ve been really troubled.
That she doesn’t need to worry.
That to me, there’s no one but her.
I wanted to comfort Yeon Haneul like that, but no suitable method came to mind.
No, there was one.
Right then.
“Ain suffer severely from a lack of affection. No matter how loved and raised they are, there are no exceptions. We are inevitably discriminated against simply for being born different from others. Because of that, we grow resigned and disheartened quickly.”
The woman opened her mouth.
“Moreover, the children we bear never inherit their parents’ genes, never. Do you know how sad it is that we cannot leave behind the genes of ourselves, and of the ones we love, in this world? The frustration of not being able to prove to your loved one that a child is yours? The guilt? The fear that you might be providing room for the anxiety that it might be someone else’s child? The distrust toward your loved one? The societal gaze? This is something no one but an Ain could ever understand.”
“….”
“So, as someone with experience, I advise you.”
“…Yes.”
“It would be good to give that child assurance so they don’t feel anxious, so they don’t consume themselves. I hope you won’t fret over them as if handling glass that might shatter at any moment, just because you cherish them. We aren’t that weak. So, moment by moment, instant by instant, express yourself actively.”
The woman smiled bitterly.
In her advising voice, there seemed to seep a deep regret that couldn’t be lightly brushed off.
Would it be a lie to say that such a woman somehow looked pitiful and forlorn?
But I, who do not know her life, could neither presume nor pity her as I pleased.
However, I decided not to quibble needlessly and to engrave her words heavily upon my heart.
“Yes, thank you for the advice. I’ll work hard so that Haneul doesn’t feel anxious because of me. Moment by moment, instant by instant, I’ll express myself actively.”
“…Yeah, that’s good then. Thank you. I hope you two live happily. I should get going now. Goodbye.”
The woman nodded and soon passed by me.
“Take care, Golden Doggy Noona.”
I sent parting words to her as she left.
Then.
“Hey, you %$#@%$#@$#!!!”
From behind, I heard the woman shout something as if outraged.
Out of curiosity, I turned around, then soon tilted my head.
“…Huh? Why can’t I see her? Strange? It didn’t sound like it came from far away….”
Where could she have disappeared to?
On the roadside where the surroundings were wide open, the woman had vanished without a trace.
It was enough to make a ghost wail.
‘Could it be…’
Was she someone from another world?
Nah, that’s ridiculous.
It’s just an urban legend, that’s all.
I denied it.
* * *
Seong Dasom, who had returned from volunteering at the orphanage, was worried about a child who had been surrounded by staff and taken away.
She couldn’t forget the cries of the child desperately begging to be saved, to be helped.
Regret came belatedly.
‘As expected, I should have protected him then, even if I had to make a fuss.’
Worried about that child, she could hardly focus on her work.
On the other hand, the Special Talent Education Center at the orphanage somehow seemed suspicious.
In the end, after worrying for several days, Seong Dasom reached a conclusion.
‘This won’t do. I have to check with my own eyes.’
Even though she knew it was unbecoming of a student council president and could potentially become a problem.
Seong Dasom infiltrated the Special Talent Education Center under the cover of the dead of night.
And going down to the underground of that place, she couldn’t help but doubt her eyes.
‘How, how could this be…’
Children trapped in prison-like rooms made of iron bars.
On the backs of children who were all in poor condition, various different wings were attached haphazardly.
Then, at the place she went toward upon hearing screams, she also witnessed experiments being conducted on them.
“….”
Monsters and animals with wings, known to exist in the Heavenly Realm.
The staff summoned them and forcibly synthesized them with the children.
Children who died in the process were put into sacks like waste, and children who survived enduring the synthesis were given numbers like test subjects and transported somewhere.
Seong Dasom involuntarily held her breath, unable to contain her shock.
It was right then that she was caught by the Center Director.
“I was curious who had sneaked in like a rat… Well, well, if it isn’t Student Seong Dasom. I don’t know what business brings you to such a place, but I’m ashamed I couldn’t show you only the good things. Also… it’s unfortunate. Rather than living quietly while volunteering without knowing anything, as you’ve done until now, why do you try to dig up the inconvenient truth and make things uncomfortable for both of us?”
“…You call that speaking?”
“Of course. So what do you think? Your impressions of seeing the Wing Project.”
Unlike Seong Dasom, who revealed her wariness to be ready to fight at any moment.
The Center Director passed by her without any sign of hesitation, pointing to the experiments happening below, and explained.
“Student Seong Dasom, have you ever thought about why human magic cannot be superior to the magic of angels and demons?”
“….”
“The difference between making a ring in the heart or making a star? Correct. Angels and demons boast hearts with inherently higher mana output compared to humans. This is a problem that can never be resolved unless the heart is changed. But there is one more reason why the magic of angels and demons is superior to human magic.”
It is the presence or absence of wings.
The Center Director tore a long grin at the corners of his mouth.
“Angels and demons use the mana circuits of wings, which humans do not have, to wield more diverse magic. And this marginally affects output as well. If a First-Circle human can utilize only twenty circuits, a First-Saint angel or demon can produce output using thirty circuits. If you raise the rank from here, the gap in output would widen even further.”
“So you’re confessing that you’re conducting human experimentation, transplanting wings into those children right now?”
“Yes, exactly. That is precisely the Wing Project.”
“You people are mad.”
The Center Director chuckled, shrugging his shoulders as if feeling no guilt.
On one hand, Seong Dasom got goosebumps; on the other, she couldn’t hide her disgust at the atrocity being committed with her clan’s sponsorship.
Frowning deeply, she warned in a threatening tone.
“If the clan finds out about this, do you think they’ll leave you alone? Do you think you’ll remain unscathed?”
“Will you report it to the clan? It doesn’t matter. Student Seong Dasom, do you know why I am showing such kindness to an intruder like you? Even though I could beat you to a pulp right this moment if I wished.”
“….”
“A perceptive student like you has probably already noticed.”
“Shut up.”
“Correct. This experiment is being conducted with the full permission of the Gwangmyeong Seong Clan. To be precise, the Gwangmyeong Seong Clan proposed it first. And that was a very long time ago. As proof…”
I shall connect you with the Head of the Gwangmyeong Seong Clan, Seongcheon Seong Uhyang.
The Center Director manipulated a tablet and held it out so Seong Dasom could see.
On the screen was…
“…Clan Head?”
[Yes, Dasom.]
Seong Dasom felt her heart drop and all the blood drain from her body.
Seeing the clan head who appeared on the screen, she stiffened while leaning against the railing.
“Wh-why… Why…”
[It was for the glory of the clan.]
“….”
Seong Dasom, feeling betrayed by the Clan Head, Seong Uhyang, distorted her face.
Eventually, strength left her legs and she sank to the floor.
The Center Director burst into a sneer at her.
“See, you should have lived without knowing. Why dig up the clan’s underbelly and throw yourself into despair yourself, really… Now then, Student Seong Dasom, what will you do now?”
“….”
“Will you expose the clan’s underbelly? Even if the world condemns the clan and it eventually falls? Even if you’re branded a criminal? Will you throw away all the privileges you’ve enjoyed as a person of the Gwangmyeong Seong Clan until now?”
The Center Director scoffed.
But Seong Dasom only remained silent, unable to give any answer.
She merely hung her head helplessly.
That was the answer.
“Well done, Student Seong Dasom. A wise choice. Continue to pretend you know nothing, as you have. We will take care of all the dirty work, so you only need to strive for the glory of the Gwangmyeong Seong Clan. So forget about today.”
“….”
“You seem to have taken quite a mental shock, so I shall have the staff see you off on your way back. I hope you immerse yourself in warm water and relax as soon as you return. Then, have a comfortable night.”
I Became the Mid-Boss’s Childhood Friend