NOVEL NEXT Chapter 234
Chapter 234. The King of Merchants (1)
[Dr. Kim’s Daughter. Treatment Record]
[Author: Dr. Kang, Humanoid Research Department]
[This is the experimental record of the treatment attempts for Dr. Kim’s daughter. I guess you could call it a success, maybe.]
[After administering the Popo Serum, the patient complained of extreme pain that did not respond to narcotic painkillers.]
[Subsequently, the patient exhibited symptoms such as panic attacks, depressive episodes, anxiety, and a sense of impending doom. However, her IQ slightly increased.]
[There is a possibility of improvement. We plan to observe her progress using anti-anxiety medications, and there seems to be a chance for recovery.]
[If I may add a personal opinion…]
[It’s unfortunate, but a more terrible outcome could have occurred. At least this time, no one died or turned into a monster, right?]
[Dr. Kim’s Daughter. Treatment Record. Reply.]
[Author: Dr. Kim]
[Understood. Please think of a way to treat her without using supernatural phenomena as much as possible.]
[I believe that taking risks has already led to many unexpected outcomes. Did anyone anticipate that the patient would experience such extreme fear and depression?]
[Depending on one’s values, it may differ. But it doesn’t seem like the significant improvement in IQ justifies this level of extreme suffering.]
[Dr. Kim’s Daughter. Treatment Record. Reply. Reply.]
[Author: Personnel Department Head]
[First of all, thank you, Dr. Kim, for not commenting on this disciplinary issue and allowing the Personnel Department to proceed according to protocol.]
[Considering Dr. Kim’s cooperation in resolving the situation and the ultimate failure in the theft and utilization of supernatural phenomena, we have decided to impose a 12-month salary reduction.]
[Lastly, on a slightly different note, we have decided to begin cognitive and behavioral therapy for Dr. Kim’s daughter.]
[The patient is already recovering functionality at a rapid pace. Of course, this is based on the standards of a regular patient unrelated to supernatural phenomena.]
[Expecting improvement in a patient with congenital intellectual disabilities is rare, so I believe Dr. Kim understands what I mean.]
The resolution to Dr. Kim’s issue wasn’t exactly satisfying. It’s hard to say if things have improved.
While there has been slight improvement in the original goal of developmental disability, whether it justifies all this… is questionable.
Honestly, I don’t think so. The patient’s intelligence is still at a level where daily life is difficult, but now she can understand her pathological depression and the situation she’s in.
This is the Foundation. There are endless means to try, treatments or experiments worth attempting, but the more we intervene, the bigger the problems seem to grow.
Usually, magic doesn’t solve problems. Magic makes problems more complicated and just increases the number of issues.
Well, if magic in our world solved problems, the Foundation wouldn’t have existed in the first place. There would have been no reason to hide the existence of magic from the public.
We have no choice but to think of solutions.
Still, it’s a relief that there’s improvement.
“Dr. Kim?”
“Come in.”
Administrator Lee Ji-hye. Her attire was similar to usual, but her expression was very dark. In her hand was a strange black aquarium.
I tilted my head.
What’s that now?
Something was wriggling inside the aquarium.
Administrator Lee placed the aquarium containing something like a black octopus on my desk. I wondered if it was a live octopus for sashimi, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
“What is this?”
“They say it’s Dr. Chloe.”
“Oh…”
“She just arrived by plane.”
It’s moving. For a moment, I stared at the water sloshing inside the aquarium, the black tentacles, and the yellowish eyeballs rolling around.
What am I supposed to do with this?
Keep it? Throw it away? Kill it?
“But what do we do with this?”
“I don’t know. The Administrator told me to bring it to you.”
Administrator Lee shook her head as if she truly didn’t know. Well, I guess I’ll have to see what Dr. Chloe wants.
Judging from the documents that came from the U.S. last time, it seems she’s still capable of communication.
“Leave it here.”
“Thank you.”
Administrator Lee left the aquarium behind, her face twisted as if she’d seen something disgusting. I stared at the aquarium on my desk.
It was a bit horrifying.
The aquarium was filled with a bit of water, black tentacles, and eyeballs. It seemed like the remains of Dr. Chloe, but there were no recognizable human organs except for the eyes.
Dr. Chloe rolled a few eyeballs to look at me. Seeing it like this, it’s kind of cute. A bit pitiful too. I tilted the aquarium.
“You’re Dr. Chloe, right?”
“Yes.”
“So it’s not a live octopus for sashimi.”
“Hey.”
It was indeed Dr. Chloe. Her body had shrunk, so her voice was smaller and higher-pitched.
“Ah, long time no see. You’ve been through a lot.”
“I thought I was going to die. Were there invisible special forces? I was really shocked by that.”
“There are a few.”
I poked Chloe with the tip of a pen, and Dr. Chloe grabbed the pen with a tentacle and threw it out of the aquarium.
“So, what can I do for you, Dr. Chloe? How can you return to your human form?”
“Well… I need to regrow.”
“Regrow?”
This monster octopus turning back into a human form. Honestly, it’s hard to wrap my head around, but it’s not unbelievable.
Even in the CT scan, Dr. Chloe’s insides were filled with these monster fragments.
“Yes.”
“How long will it take?”
The octopus pondered for a moment. The black tentacles and eyeballs filling the aquarium wriggled.
“About two months.”
“That’s a relief.”
It’ll be easier to contain Dr. Chloe for the time being. I won’t have to worry about her for two months. Is there a way to make her grow faster?
No. If I ask and she says she needs to eat people, that would put me in a difficult position.
“Then… let me know if you need anything. But where should we put the aquarium?”
“Do you have a wheelchair or something?”
I nodded.
“I’ll prepare a mechanical device so you can move around the facility. Will you be working?”
“I don’t know. We’ll see.”
It might actually be a good thing.
Dr. Chloe, one of the most powerful containment entities in the Seoul Branch, has turned into a live octopus. One less thing to worry about.
The Mechanical Division prepared something that looked like a serving robot. A wheeled robot about the size of a child, with Chloe’s aquarium on top.
Since the octopus doesn’t have a visible expression, there was an LED screen where the robot’s face would be. This is the face Dr. Chloe will use.
[ ● _ ● ]
I stared at Dr. Chloe’s LED face. I liked it much more than the previous Dr. Chloe. It seemed much safer too?
“Do you like the robot?”
Dr. Chloe didn’t answer.
[ ● ▽ ● ]
But she seemed satisfied. Whether she can work in this state is questionable, but she can probably offer some opinions, right?
There might be a way to make use of her.
I’ll have to look into it more.
“Congratulations on your return to work, Dr. Chloe. You’ll be working in the Director’s Office for a few days.”
[ ● _ ● ok ]
I nodded.
We could have made a humanoid or even a better walking robot for Dr. Chloe, but I thought it might be dangerous.
Nanami, upon entering the Director’s Office floor, immediately put her hand in her pocket upon seeing Dr. Chloe’s robot, as if ready to pull out a gun.
“Uh.”
“What’s that? A new toaster?”
“It’s Dr. Chloe. She’ll be moving around like that until her body returns.”
“Strange…”
[ ● _ ● / ]
Nanami stared at Dr. Chloe.
“Doesn’t it talk?”
“It can. It did earlier. It’s probably just too lazy to talk now.”
“How does it grow?”
“It’s just a guess, but when the tentacles grow enough to form a human shape, she’ll probably transform back into a human.”
Dr. Chloe’s serving robot nodded. Nanami tilted her head.
“How did this happen?”
“She said she encountered ghost special forces during the siege of Facility No. 1. We thought Dr. Chloe was dead, but her main body must have crawled through the desert and survived.”
“That’s kind of sad.”
“She’ll return to normal in a few months.”
Nanami sat at the conference table in the Director’s Office, next to me, staring at Dr. Chloe.
“But what did Dr. Chloe say?”
“She’s the daughter of a foreigner.”
Nanami took out her tablet, seemingly looking through records related to Dr. Chloe.
“Then who’s her mother?”
“Most of the records are censored, but it seems she’s just a human. She was recovered from a rural area in the U.S. a long time ago.”
Dr. Chloe looked around.
I almost died.
Having only an aquarium and a few bottles’ worth of body left is a problem, but it’s better than being hit by the Spear of Longinus or being recovered by the enemy. I almost got recovered by the U.S. military in the Nevada desert.