Paladiesu: II

No matter what he said, we all (Daesang, Dave, and I) still had the urge to kill him.

Two weeks had passed since the experiment, and I was still trying to wrap my head around what had happened. Daesang, Dave, and I were still seething with anger and resentment towards our Handler, who had used us as test subjects without our consent. Using people as test subjects against their will is the height of inhumanity - people are fighting for the rights of animals being used as test subjects, and here they were, using humans as their own test subjects, destroying people, knowing that after they do that, the lives of such people can never remain the same. That's even if they make it out alive.

I was experiencing weird sensations, like the world pausing and restarting. Daesang and Dave were experiencing similar changes, and we were all struggling to understand what was happening to us.

"I'm having these weird sensations; I feel weird. What did you people do to me?" I said to our Handler, walking towards him with fury in my eyes.

Straight in came Daesang and Dave, looking all tensed and serious. "In your story last two weeks, you said something about gaining heightened abilities. What does that mean? I find it crazy; you know? I can hear the fluttering of the wings of a butterfly; I can hear the sound waves of pins falling off the rack right now," Daesang complained.

Immediately, we heard a pack of pins dropping on the floor. Surprised, Dave and I looked at Daesang. Our Handler didn't seem too surprised, almost like he was waiting for it.

Our Handler revealed that the serum had heightened our sensory organs, giving us superhuman abilities like super speed and super strength. But with these abilities came a price - we were no longer fully human. He turned and asked Dave how he was feeling.

"I feel very, very energetic," Dave replied. "I just can't seem to calm down; I feel very restless. I touched the bulb, and it sort of metamorphosed into something else."

"Woah! Object manipulation?" Our Handler exclaimed. "Most times, what the serum does is attack places where you're weak, increasing its durability."

"For me..," I jumped in.. "when my eyes were closed just before I woke up, I felt in my subconsciousness that the world had stopped. Also, back at the lab, when I woke up, I could almost feel the world rotating."

"The world stopped? That's new; I've not heard that one before," our Handler said.

"Well… as I said, the creatures we're talking about are not some Barbie-faced dolls; they're vicious and unrepentant, as well as persistent."

He paused and took off his glasses to clean the lenses. Just then, as his cloth touched it, the handle slipped off his hands and started falling towards the floor. Subconsciously, I had already reached and caught it before it landed, even I felt that was fast, too fast a reflex.

"Here you go, ahjussi (sir)," I said, stretching his glasses to him.

All baffled and dumbfounded, he collected it and said, "Thank you." I couldn't explain how I did it, but I knew I just did it.

"Let's give it a check," our Handler said.

"Give what a check exactly?" We all asked at the same time, looking all confused.

"Gada" (let's go), he said and walked hurriedly towards a door. We walked through for a while and came to a steel door. On opening the door, we found the rest of the crew there; everyone was busy doing one thing or another. The place seemed like a training center.

"I don't know if you guys have been formally introduced," our Handler said.

"We both have; I don't know about Su Jin, though," Dave said, pointing his thumb at me. "Daesang and I know them all, and we get along just fine. Su Jin have you---"

"I haven't," I cut him short. "I only know Do Min Ji and Park Bok Kyu."

"How do you know my full name? I never told you my surname is Do; how do you know that? Did you go around asking about me?" Min Ji asked.

"Aniyo (no), you just look like a Do Min Ji, that's all; never thought that'd even be your name; I just said it. You can stop looking at me now, ahjussi (sir); you'd create a hole in my face, a very large one at that." I said.

"How did you even know I was looking at you?" our Handler asked. "Is that your special ability? Mind reading?"

Daesang jumped into the into the conversation. "Nahh, that probably wouldn't be it; he could already do this when we met. It's as if he could read and tell you what's going on in your own brain by barely looking into your eyes. He calls it PHYSIOGNOMY."

I turned towards our Handler and started again with my hands tucked in my pocket.

"You're probably amazed at why I don't know any of their names apart from Min Ji and Bok Kyu and I've been here for two weeks right?

I'm really introverted, plus I haven't stepped outta my room for the last two weeks, everything I need is right there"

"Woah….. you totally read my mind, this is amazing, you did it so accurately" our handler said

"Well….."

"Lemme guess, they're feeling the sensations already??" Someone said from the rear of the room.

"I'm Jeong Su. "Nan eun Im Jeong Su-ya (I'm Jeong Su)."

She said as she waved with a smile. She was petite, nice shape, cute, a little portion of her hair was dyed blue, she screamed PERFECT.

Voices started popping out form all round the room.

"Yoo Dong Man"

"Kim Na Na"

"On Chae Yeong"

"Jo Ha Na, but I'd rather go mononymously, so call my Johanna."

"Annueonghaseyo, joh neun...Han Su Jin ni mi da ( hello, I'm Han Su Jin)"

I said and took a little bow

"Min Ji-a, you were right, he does have a nice voice" Jeong Su said.

The manager interrupted,

"Leave the flirting alone Jeong Su, you guys can catch up later. So Su-Jin-a, Daesang-a, Dong Hwa-ssi, everyone here has something that differs from the other person. We've never had two people having the same abilities, but there are certain abilities that are common to everyone here: super strength, super speed and heightened learning capacity.

So when I talk about Super strength, it just means you're at least three times stronger than any regular human, you can lift a car off the floor but you cannot carry it, don't bother trying to hold a plane, you'd die.

When I say super speed, you're just as fast as the creatures or a little bit faster than them; which is like 5 times faster than regular humans, if you're running, to humans You're quite fast. But if you're running, Su Jin, let's take you for instance, to humans you're in super speed mode but to Jeong Su? She'd see it as a normal pace only if you're faster than she is naturally.

Lastly, heightened learning capacity, as the name implies, you learn faster than regular people do, it's not all that surreal though, not like you can complete a six year course in two months or anything like that, just more of completing a 2 years course in 8 months to a year and 3 months tops. And also before I forget: regeneration, things like, cuts, wounds, regardless of the type of wound, it'd heal on its own, instead of a bullet wound taking three weeks to heal, it'd take you a week or a week and a half tops" he concluded.

"So what I want to know now is your own given ability, we've found out Daesang's own and Dave, you're the only one remaining. What do you think yours could be?" Our Handler asked me

There was a weird silence in the room, I felt very uncomfortable with the atmosphere of the room as all eyes peered at me, I wanted to say anything that came to my mind, I didn't want to feel like the odd one out.

"Moleugess-eo (I don't know), jinja moleugess-eo (I really don't know), mihanae (I'm sorry)"

The silence continued for like two more minutes, then boom, someone broke the silence, it was Jeong Su, she seems like a gaiety one.

"You're sorry? What for? trust me not having any abilities, that might be a gift for you, plus you'd probably still get it, give it time"

Everything started again, back to the normal atmosphere, each person were telling the three of us what he or she had as their abilities,

Chae Yeong could perform telekinesis.

Min Ji had far sight

Bok Kyu could sense threat from afar.

Dong Man could perform telepathy.

Na na releases sonic waves from her body.

Johanna had clairvoyance.

Daesang could hear sound waves.

Dave could interact with anything, more of like will power, he could change any instrument into what he wanted in the blink of an eye.

It was very fascinating and intriguing as I saw them using their abilities, I almost became jealous. But just then I noticed that Jeong Su didn't mention what she could do so I asked her

"Im Jeong Su, what about you, what can you do? I heard everyone talking about theirs but I didn't hear yours"

"I more of like perform psychometry, that's why I'm always with gloves, but you probably would not have noticed, we're just seeing for the second time"

"Psycho-dentist? You deal with people's teeth?" Dave asked

"Geez" I shook my head in disbelief…

"Psychometry blud, psychometry, it means she can interact with souls of people and objects, more of like she can see your memories and stuffs like that" I said.

"Well, not objects though, I've never interacted with objects, just people, people only, I see their memories, that's why I said, see your not having any ability as a gift instead of a curse. Well, your not having yet, you might still have later on, who knows?" Jeong Su reassured.

It was a heavy burden, being able to see people's memories, and I couldn't help but feel pity for her.

As we began training in martial arts, we discovered how each of us used their unique abilities. Daesang could hear sound waves, so it was hard to sneak up on him, Dave could interact with objects using his willpower, and the others who had abilities like far sight, telepathy, and clairvoyance also made good use of it. But I was the only one without an ability, and it made me feel like an outcast.

As we trained and honed our abilities, we realized that they were both a gift and a curse. They made us stronger and more capable, but they also came with a price - we were no longer fully human, and we were immune to death and disease.

Our Handler revealed that our purpose was to hunt and capture these creatures that had come to destroy our world. It gave us a sense of purpose, but it also reminded us that we were no longer like everyone else. We were something different, something altered.