Learza

Chapter 11: The Flaw

As the freezing wind blew over the white curtains of the four-walled room they're situated in, Hyewon stared at Chaewon in front of her. She was partly there because of her concern for Minjoo but she mostly went for her own selfish reason. She reminisced about the day when the girl had chosen to die instead of dying a pointless death by choosing to kill the members of the organization.

She thought about how brave and strong her younger cousin was especially when she drank that poison - the formula with the highest level of classification in the world, one that doesn't even exist for other people. It wasn't written in records as it was specifically concocted for the use of the organization, crafted with unbelievable difficulty; a secret only a small number of people know. The chemical would tamper with the human brain and react to the organic chemicals it releases. Accidentally discovered in the middle of the Scientific Revolution, the red liquid was proven to be able to see through mankind's true nature, therefore, it shortly earned the name Blood of Astraea - Astraea, the goddess of justice and precision. If someone were to talk about its effect in public, people would laugh at it and shrug it off without knowing that it's an actual fact. After being induced with the rose-colored medicine, a person would fall in a semi-comatose state where they experience dreams or to summarize it, they would once again play their part in the most deeply etched memory in their minds where many would relive their traumas. The intricate details in the dreams would make most people mistake it as a reality but as time passes by, smart and sharp-witted people would notice that it is simply a hallucination and wake up from their sleep. However, like how a predator eyes its prey, the blood of Astraea is capable of becoming an extremely lethal poison to people with seemingly ill thoughts - simply put it, its poisonous state is designed to be triggered the moment certain hormones released by the brain reach levels they shouldn't due to the negaAstreaetive brain activity occurring inside the host.

The Kang looked at her cousin. She was proud of her albeit worried. How ironic it is that they would be reunited once again but they were now in a world where blood is normally spilled everyday; where killing is a simple, mundane activity done for the greater good. Assuming the doing of lesser evil to stop whatever it is that's posing a threat to the crumbling peace people have grown accustomed to for centuries.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Her icy voice brought her older cousin back from her musings, earning a blank stare from the latter.

Hyewon found herself laughing dryly at her cousin's remark, thinking about how energetic she has been ever since she woke up. Just two months ago, the kid wasn't even moving on the bed, like Schrodinger's cat who's neither dead nor alive but now, she's seemed more like an emotionless doll who spit out daggers at just about anyone she sees - the shadow of the tiniest bit of her innocent self from before everything happened barely recognizable.

"Nothing, my dearest baby cousin." She grinned at the visibly repulsed girl. "You're hurting my feelings by staring at me as if I'm the most disgusting bug to exist in this world."

Chaewon scoffed, lazily tilting her head sidewards before focusing back on tinkering whatever she's holding. "Funny how you say that in the most indifferent face I've ever seen."

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it." Hyewon gave her a warm smile. "I'm happy that you've been able to easily adapt to this environment."

"If you ask me, there's not much change from the usual environment. Is there?"

The older girl simply gave her a shrug while chuckling to herself, eventually approaching her as she stood beside the younger, watching Chaewon strip a handgun to clean it and polish her throwing knives like a professional.

"Are you sure about that statement? I guess it's normal for high school girls to be an expert in fighting as well as weaponry then."

"Oh shut up. You know I'm not talking about that." Chaewon rolled her eyes at her cousin's attempt to horse around with her.