There was one person I had considered recruiting for the team before regression.
I had decided to avoid directly hiring Hunters, as it didn’t seem practical, but this person was an exception.
Astrologer Dr. Wi.
Though she usually wasn’t highly regarded due to her non-combat traits, she was still a Level 5 Ability User.
She could predict possible branches of the future, see the unseen, and read rules invisible to others.
That was Dr. Wi’s astrology.
She was a major asset to both our country and the Hunter Association.
With Dr. Wi, I had contacted almost all the Fifth-Rank Awakened I’d known before regression.
A few were still scattered here and there…
Dr. Wi sat in front of me, fixing me with sharp eyes.
“Dr. Wi, do you have a scientist you particularly respect?”
“Hmm, a scientist I respect?”
Dr. Wi’s real name was Wi Sujin.
Psychiatric Specialist…
Well, not actually, she was a Resident Physician.
By now, she should have undergone Awakening as well, making her a Fifth-Rank Awakened.
“I remember one of Freud’s Anecdotes vividly.”
“Is that so? Is there a particular story?”
It was a more mundane exchange than I’d expected.
Given her unusual background, I’d thought her answer would be more intriguing.
I scratched my head.
“Freud once gathered the top scholars of his era and gave a lecture on brain anatomy.”
“Ah.”
“The problem was, Freud didn’t actually know much about brain anatomy. Do you know how he prepared for the lecture?”
“No, I don’t…”
“Right before the lecture, he snorted cocaine.”
I thought about it.
It was an interesting story, but what did it have to do with respecting a scientist?
“Is that why you respect Dr. Freud?”
“Yes.”
Dr. Wi nodded confidently.
“Could you explain why?”
“I think it proves that presenting a theoretical structure to understand a phenomenon is more valuable than providing clear information about the phenomenon itself.”
“With cocaine, huh…”
It didn’t make sense to me, but maybe trying to understand someone like her with common sense was the wrong approach.
In any case, I had no intention of sending Dr. Wi away.
As long as she didn’t get in the way of work…
Whether she respected Dr. Freud or not, honestly, it was none of my concern.
I crossed my legs and flipped through the research papers Dr. Wi had written.
There were four research papers with Dr. Wi as the first author.
As I’d said before, the abilities manifested during Awakening were closely related to the individual’s own abilities and experiences.
One of the paper titles caught my eye.
– Comparative Study of Schizophrenia and Paranormal Phenomena as Clinical Cases: Centered on Alleged Possession Cases in 19th Century British Asylums
This was why Dr. Wi was the right person for the job.
It was only natural.
“If I had just put out a job posting for someone to study Magic… imagine how many frauds would have shown up.
But Dr. Wi is a genuine expert in this field.
Dr. Wi continued speaking.
“So. Dr. Lee, you called me here to study Magic to respond to the Gate, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And is it because you think I’m a specialist in mysticism?”
I shrugged.
“Well… I looked at your overall record. The research you’ve conducted, your background, and even your family history. There are several cases of schizophrenia on your mother’s side, right?”
“So?”
“I did my research before coming here.”
There’s a connection to the Shaman Lineage. Shamanistic rituals, Illusion, Hallucination, these things are sometimes considered symptoms of schizophrenia.
In reality, some psychiatric patients end up becoming shamans when treatment doesn’t work out.
To put it simply, seeing spirits isn’t unrelated to the whole affair.
“I used to love washing my hands as a kid.”
“Is there a reason for that?”
“It was a necessary process to ward off illness. As a child, I just thought I had to perform that ritual.”
“I see.”
“Now that I’ve studied medicine, I know better. That what I was doing was killing germs by washing my hands.”
“But since I’m human, even knowing that I can’t see germs without special equipment, and that I can’t kill all the germs, I still wipe my hands with restaurant napkins.”
“Because it’s a ritual?”
“Yes.”
“This is what it’s like to study mysticism and rituals. We’re immature beings, so we can’t perfectly understand why we perform rituals.”
Surprisingly… if I thought about it, it connected smoothly with the story about Freud’s cocaine lecture earlier.
I considered what Dr. Wi had said.
Humans can’t comprehend the rules of the mystical world, so we try to provide fluent explanations for them.
Just like Freud, who didn’t really know brain anatomy, but took cocaine and delivered a convincing explanation.
If you put them together, that’s the gist of it.
I used the Explorer Trait on Dr. Wi.
[Hunter Wi Suji.]
[Specialization: Astrologer]
[Rank: S-rank]
[Level: 9]
This was the best ability I’d seen so far.
Usually, what distinguishes S-rank and Grade 5 abilities is their potential for growth.
Only abilities with limitless potential are called Grade 5, so by that standard, hers was truly remarkable.
***
Dr. Wi looked at the scientist sitting before her.
Even though the interview had gone on for over an hour, Dr. Lee hadn’t once brought up her abilities.
“Wasn’t that supposed to be important?”
Or maybe he already knew.
Even in her own mind, it was odd.
“How did he know?”
He sought her out even before he could’ve known she’d Awakened? Did the Supernatural Science Research Institute have some way of seeing the future?
If she thought about it, it might have something to do with the Institute’s success in dealing with every Gate in Korea so far.
Indeed, Dr. Lee was an unusual character.
His pale face contrasted with his jet-black hair, giving a slightly gloomy impression.
“Well… he’s kind of good-looking, though.”
It was just the atmosphere that was a little dark.
Sitting next to him was a strange animal.
“That must be a summoned creature, right?”
A white, winged lizard about the size of a cat.
“Dr. Lee, have you ever entered a Gate?”
“Yes. Several times.”
There were printed research papers on Dr. Lee’s desk.
They were probably papers Dr. Wi herself had written in the past.
“Neither of my theses are worth reading, though…”
Feeling her face flush with embarrassment, Dr. Wi fanned herself with her hand a few times.
“What kind of research do you usually do here?”
There was no rule that only the examiner could ask questions during an interview.
Dr. Wi seemed to have many questions about this secret government agency.
Do they really have monsters and aliens locked up underground? Or perhaps Artifacts brought out from the Gate?’
Eyes sparkling, Dr. Wi peppered Dr. Lee with questions, and he answered them one after another.
After a while, the lengthy conversation began to wind down.
“There’s a variety of things. In the underground Containment Area, there are four large Containment Rooms where Artifacts and Monsters are held.”
“Oh! Could I see them myself?”
Looking rather excited, Dr. Wi watched as Dr. Lee nodded slowly.
“If you promise to work here.”
“Yes.”
Dr. Lee presented her with documents to sign.
There were more than just one or two.
Aside from the usual employment contract, there were several confidentiality agreements.
“Do I have to sign all of these?”
“Yes.”
Dr. Wi stared at the papers for a while, but there was no clear answer to be found.
“Oh well…”
Opportunities to explore the unknown didn’t come every day.
Given the current situation, the best way for her to grow as an Awakened was to join the Supernatural Science Research Institute.
Her mind was already made up.
Shaking off her uneasy feeling, Dr. Wi wrote her name four times on the white sheets.
“I’m worried, but honestly, I’m looking forward to it!”
***
With my weapon strapped to my back, I led Dr. Wi into the Containment Area.
It was the space currently undergoing expansion construction.
Of the Containment Rooms, four already held something inside.
Most of the paranormal phenomena in the Containment Rooms had been newly allocated this time.
“This is Containment Room No. 1. Here, the original Golem Core from the Goblin Gate and its replicas are contained.”
“Golem Core?”
Dr. Wi peered through the observation window made of bulletproof glass.
In Containment Room No. 1, two blue, semi-transparent spheres were housed.
One of them seemed to sense our presence and twitched ever so slightly.
“That startled me.”
“Since it’s a moving object, we can’t just leave it lying around.”
“A Golem… that’s a monster made from animated clay, right? And you’re keeping it contained here.”
Dr. Wi looked stunned.
“We replicated the Golem Core as closely as possible by carving Circuits into an Artificial Crystal… but even around the replicated core, Air Pollution Phenomenon kept occurring, so it’s being kept here in isolation.”
“No matter how much it’s for research, isn’t that too dangerous? You’re really challenging the Divine Domain…”
To survive, it couldn’t be helped.
I shrugged, and Dr. Wi jotted something down in her notebook.
Containment Room No. 2 was right next door.
Inside a huge cylindrical tank made of acrylic and plastic, a complex mechanical device was fully submerged.
It looked rather bizarre.
“This is the Iron Dragon’s Heart. It keeps affecting the surrounding metal, trying to consume it, so we had no choice but to submerge it in Saltwater.”
“What does saltwater have to do with it?”
“It induces Electrochemical Corrosion. That way, the energy of the mechanical heart is consumed in preventing corrosion, and it doesn’t cause any other problems.”
“That’s creative… but I don’t think tormenting something you don’t understand is the best idea.”
That was the answer I’d expected from Dr. Wi.
Of course, at the time, using electrochemical corrosion to control the mechanical heart seemed like a good idea, but maybe there’s another way.
I looked at Dr. Wi.
“Then what do you think would be a better method?”
“We should research it again. Since it’s a being infused with Magic, it’s best to use something practical and symbolic at the same time. For example, a Chain or something…”
“That was the old method.”
We moved on to the third Containment Room.
In the third Containment Room sat a black, mushroom-like plant.
The Black Mushroom was slowly moving.
I really didn’t understand why all the creatures that came out of the Tentacle Dragon’s Gate were so grotesque.
I checked the air composition inside the Containment Room.
I didn’t know where it was getting its materials from, but toxic methane and other harmful substances were accumulating inside.
I scratched my head.
To prevent this, we kept the internal temperature at about 5°C.
“That came out of the Gate?”
“Yes.”
From behind the black tree, the Tentacle Dragon rose up and pressed its face against the observation window.
Sensing our presence from outside the Containment Room.
The Tentacle Dragon’s octopus eyes rolled and soon focused on us.
Dr. Wi stepped back.
In truth, there was nothing to worry about right now.
With the temperature inside the Containment Room kept so low, the monsters within wouldn’t be able to move.