Secret Experiment

"Science becomes a monster where conscience falls silent."

— Chapter 7 —

~ 17 Years Ago ~

— Unfortunately, 0920 failed, sir.

Dr. Hard slammed his clenched fist onto the table. Dozens of influential families had poured millions into this project. He was well aware of the consequences that failure could bring. Giving up was no longer an option.

— Bring in subject 0921.

— Understood, sir.

The tall secretary with shoulder-length blonde hair strode confidently toward room A34. The sound of her heels echoed through the deserted hallway.

When she entered the room, she saw Jeffrey, who was tending to 0921.

— Give me the boy's file.

Jeffrey handed her the documents. The secretary quickly scanned through them.

Code: 0921

Age: 7

Blood Type: A+

Nationality: Republic of Türkiye

...

— Family?

Jeffrey responded:

— Most likely an orphaned street child. Last year, our guys noticed him while he was begging with a man named Adnan. They bought the kid from him for money.

Without taking her eyes off the file, the young woman asked:

— It's not easy to catch our people's attention. What did he do?

— He looked them in the eyes and said, 'You're strangers.' Pretty odd for a six-year-old to determine someone isn't Turkish-especially when our people were dressed no differently than the others on the street.

The secretary showed no sign of being impressed:

— Maybe by 'strangers' he just meant unfamiliar people… Anyway, take him to the white room.

---

Knock knock knock

— Come in.

Dr. Hard straightened in his chair as an out-of-breath employee entered.

— What happened? Why are you out of breath?

— Sir, we succeeded. Subject 0921 passed the test.

Dr. Hard couldn't believe his ears. Just as his hope was fading, this good news caught him off guard. He quickly put on his glasses and left the room. The blonde woman met him at the reflective glass window watching the white room.

— Give me a status report, Evelyn.

The secretary maintained her composed stance as she explained:

— There are minor issues in the frontal lobe, but the other brain functions appear stable. The artificial memory chip is active.

— Any unforeseen occurrences?

— Yes, sir. When his emotions exceed a certain threshold, his eyes turn an unusual shade of red.

Dr. Hard was surprised:

— Do we know why?

— I've started an investigation into it, sir.

---

Subject 0921 exceeded expectations and eventually became the favorite of everyone involved.

The project they aimed to realize was massive. This child was proof that highly intelligent individuals could be created artificially. Thanks to the memory system designed by Dr. Hard, he could solve problems in a few hours that would take top math professors half a year to figure out. He could retain any new word he heard and had learned 12 different languages in a short time.

The only problem was the damage done to the frontal lobe's emotion-regulating areas during the experiment. 0921 lacked many human emotions like generosity, compassion, and love. He would sometimes argue with staff and experience severe fits of rage. As he grew older, his behavior became increasingly difficult to handle.

Dr. Hard was aware of the situation. He had developed a medication for it. The drug prevented the red-eye symptom and helped stabilize his emotions. But once the effect wore off, it left him with a severe headache.

Evelyn had made a suggestion regarding the situation.

— Send him to university?

— Yes, sir. He's now a 24-year-old young man. The chip in his brain was programmed to record his life experiences. His character is shaped solely by what he's learned. He's grown up in a lab with us all these years. But you'd agree, sir-this facility houses either very young children or elderly adults.

Dr. Hard raised an eyebrow and looked at his secretary:

— Are you calling me old, Evelyn?

— I'm suggesting that spending time with peers might allow him to learn new emotions, sir.

Dr. Hard rubbed his chin thoughtfully:

— Do you have a particular school in mind?

— I'd prefer to send him to a university in Türkiye. Despite having grown up with us, he carries Turkish genes. Plus, I have a university rector there who owes me a favor from the past. We'll place him directly into the second year, making it seem like a transfer student.

— How are we supposed to send him that far, especially when he's never been in public before?

— That's exactly why we need to start somewhere, sir. Don't worry-our agents monitoring him will stay in constant communication.

— "Seems like you've thought of everything. Fine, I'm putting you in charge of this, Evelyn. Also, take care of the fake identity."

— Understood, sir.

---

Jeffrey entered the room with several evaluation reports.

— We've had some unpleasant developments, sir.

Dr. Hard put on the glasses hanging around his neck and quickly scanned the file Jeffrey handed him.

— What's the problem?

— A Turkish journalist named Tuğçe Kurtdoğan is preparing a documentary about unethical human experiments.

— So what? Why does this concern us?

— We've received reliable intel that she has footage from our labs.

What Dr. Hard heard made him frown:

— What nonsense, Jeff? We've been working with the same people here for years. If there was a mole among us, they would've shown their hand by now.

— Even so, we can't ignore the tip and put everything at risk, sir.

— So what's your plan?

Jeffrey nodded:

— Poyraz is still in Türkiye. We can assign him to this task.

— Who?

— Subject 0921.

— No. He's not ready. He could cause more trouble than he solves.

— Our agents have been observing him for a long time, sir. Except for a few instances, he hasn't shown any major emotional breakdowns. He seems to be adjusting well. And he won't be alone on this job. The person who gave us the tip will assist him.

— Who is this person? Where did he get the information?

— He's a hacker who goes by the name Shadow. He used to work for our allies at XI Corporation. He doesn't question the reasons behind assignments-just does what he's paid for. He only cares about money.

Dr. Hard didn't like working with strangers, but this time he decided to trust Jeffrey.

— Alright then. Try to handle it without causing a scene.