Modern Monster

As Sen expected, the air was quite unfriendly, making his nose drip with snot and his cheeks feel numb. Luckily, the AOK supplied all the contestants with specially made white and red-lined tracksuits that insulated the body’s heat. Sen was even confident enough to say that his body was at room temperature, except his face, of course.

However, the hood of the uniform was helpful in keeping his ears warm, and it could be tightened to cover his whole face, albeit at the expense of his sight. It was also stated that the suit could block jabs with a sword or a claw from a monster, depending on the assault’s strength. He wasn’t sure how they could afford such advanced gear for roughly nine hundred people, but he certainly wasn’t complaining.

Along with protection, they gave them all Sense Swords to slay monsters, which unfortunately wouldn’t be much use to Sen. For the exam, at least, he somehow convinced the receptionist to register that he had Hearing as his sense, and the Swords in most cases didn’t need a specific Sense to activate; they just needed Sense Energy. And Sen didn’t even have that, so the benefits of the weapon were stripped away.

Worse comes to worse, though, he was fine using it as a regular standalone blade for self-defense. Not that he was really planning on getting himself into dangerous scenarios; he knew not to overestimate his strength. Only a fool would do that, and Sen was not.

Dipping his head underneath a bare tree branch, Sen walked into a small dirt clearing surrounded by the same towering trees, which he could barely see the end of. Two triangle-like tents were in the process of being set up, while a small hole had been dug close by to start a fire pit.

Sen carried a few logs he had found near their campsite and threw them into the pit. The rest of his teammates were hard at work, prioritizing their shelter before night crept up on them. Just like the specially made uniforms, the academy assured them that the tents were just as safe, preventing monster attacks from occurring in the middle of the night. Something Sen was apprehensive about, to say the least. However, they hadn’t spotted any monsters an hour after the challenge had officially begun, which was supposed to be a good sign, but Sen couldn’t help but think that was quite odd.

It’s clear that the walls are somehow protecting us. I mean, even a blind person could put together the implications. But yet, there are monsters close by as well. I can feel it. So wouldn’t that be counterintuitive to their goal? The academy isn’t telling us something. That’s all I know.

Hidden information was nothing new. At the core of every government or large corporation, there was deception. Sometimes, it was for the greater good, and other times, it was for power.

“Hey, Sen, can you hold this side of the tent for a moment?” Hana called out to him. He nodded and did what she asked. Hana and Kaiyo both took a dark green cloth and slowly attached it to a triangle-shaped structure comprised of metal poles, which formed the framework of the tent. Slowly but surely, the cloth roofed the scaffold and took the shape of the finished product. Now, all that was left was to pin the four sides of the tent so it wouldn’t blow away from the harsh wind.

Hana puffed, already breaking into a sweat. “Great work, guys!”

“How are you sweating?” Sen asked. His sister tilted her head, confused.

“What do you mean? It’s pretty hot in these clothes. I can feel my body drenched in sweat.”

That remark made Baru’s ears perk up as he pretended to look busy, setting up the other tent next to them with Hyo. Sen sighed. He knew Baru had a field day imagining that.

“That’s right. You people with touch have bodies different from ours. Was it not cold for you when we first got here?”

“Um, excuse me, what do you mean by you people? Sen, I’m your sister. We’re the same!”

Maybe his words were misunderstood. “It’s not like I’m segregating you based on your Sense. I was just saying people with Touch have different bodies, that’s all.”

“That’s the same as if I said you Senseless people had a bland ass personality—” Hana stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide with guilt. Just looking at her petrified expression, Sen could understand every word she was about to say. Sen shook his head, sighing deeply. He looked over his shoulder to Baru, who was trying to act like he didn’t hear anything by avoiding his gaze at the last moment.

The only person who didn’t know he was Senseless was Baru. Even Hono, unfortunately, knew his so-called secret. Hyo cleared his throat and shifted his squared glasses, almost trying to distance himself from the conversation as he continued working on the tent.

“All of a sudden, I have an urge to take a shit. Huh, isn’t that strange,” Baru joked, slowly backing away.

“Don’t go just yet, Baru,” Sen raised his hand to stop him, making Baru grimace and freeze in place.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard it…” He raised his hand as if he was being arrested. “You can kick me out or punish me or something. I accept anything.”

“What?” Sen blinked. “No, we’re not doing any of that.”

“You mean you’re not going to beat me half to death for hearing something I shouldn’t have?” His eyes shone. “Thank you for taking mercy. I don’t deserve your kindness,” Baru cried as he knelt down.

He reverts to comedy whenever he’s in an uncomfortable position, Sen noticed. Not to mention, he didn’t really seem confused either. That means he suspected me of being Senseless beforehand.

“I shall never forget your generosity. Please, will y—”

“You knew that I was Senseless, didn’t you?” Sen said to the kneeling red-haired boy. Baru was taken aback by his question, his face tense. Sen took that as a sign of culpability. Baru was smarter than he let on, but he didn’t know how to hide his emotions one bit. “It’s fine if you did. I don’t mind you knowing now that the first challenge is over. I just never had a proper time to tell you yet.”

Getting up from his embarrassing position, Baru dusted off the dirt from his clothes and shrugged. “No, I really didn’t know. I’m just not surprised, that’s all.”

Sen narrowed his eyes. “You’re not surprised? What do you mean by that?”

Picking his nose with his pinky, Baru squatted. To him, it didn’t seem like his teammate was trying to cover his guilt with a nonchalant attitude. Baru was just being himself in this case.

“I truly didn’t know you were Senseless. But since the moment I met you, you just seemed different from all the other people.”

“You can’t just say different and expect us to understand!” Hana interjected.

“Whoa, whoa, chill, I’m not the one who revealed his secret now, did I?”

His sister cursed under her breath as she realized he had a fair point. Sen was still puzzled by what Baru meant. He was self-aware of his differences from others, but no one would be able to tell if they didn’t have information about him. So how could Baru, out of all people—not exactly smart or rational—come to that conclusion without any indications?

“I don’t know. Just my instinct,” Baru replied when Sen asked him. The team deadpanned him, truly not understanding what went through that thick skull. “What? Why are you guys looking at me like that? My mommy always told me I have a good instinct for things.”

“I guess we can’t really argue with that,” Hyo admitted.

“All of you are surprised by me, but what about bob-cut chick? How the hell does she know?”

Hono shyly peered her head from behind one of the tents. “I-I overheard them when the first challenge started.”

Sen vigilantly observed her since their odd interaction back at Gyro’s bar, and so far, she hadn’t raised his suspicion any further. In fact, Sen was more suspicious of himself than her, given the odd way he was acting from time to time. However, nothing similar to that instance had occurred recently, which prompted him to believe it may have been just in his mind. Still, he couldn’t shake a sense of familiarity when seeing Hono’s terrified expression—the glee as her face turned pale. Lost in thought, he gaped at his hands, almost as if trying to distinguish if they were his or someone else’s. Sure enough, he could freely move each individual finger. The silly thought made him shake his head. I’m surely becoming schizophrenic.

Baru snorted at Hono’s explanation. “Ha, I wonder who was the blabbermouth when Hono found out, huh?” He cast a provoking sideways glance at Hana, which worked quite well. Her face turned red like a tomato, and not from embarrassment, either—just pure anger.

“More importantly,” Hyo interjected with a tired shake of his head, “now that we have that out of the way, Sen, I created a list of all the food rations and supplies we have and calculated how much we can use each day. Mind if you look at it?”

Sen couldn’t help but feel impressed as he looked through the hologram spreadsheet that projected from his techno watch. Hyo evenly distributed how much everyone was allowed to eat, as well as keeping track of their everyday necessities such as toilet paper and cooking pots.

“It’s like you’ve done this before,” Sen mused as he scrolled through the list. Hyo let out a small chuckle, viewing the expanse of trees and mountains around them.

“My dad used to take me out camping in the less dangerous parts outside of the city. He was well-trained, so he wasn’t afraid of danger. Back then, we would only go out with a few coolers of food, a tent, and some self-defense weapons. It was so much simpler back then. Once you’re not in the city, you become alive.”

“Until you’re dead,” Sen said humorously. Unfortunately, his joke didn’t seem to land too well with Hyo. Even though he clearly didn’t find it funny by the hollow look in his eyes, he let out a fake chuckle.

“That’s true. It’s hard to ignore the dangers of living outside the cities,” Hyo agreed. “But even when we encountered monsters from time to time, I wouldn’t really be scared. I found them quite fascinating, actually; I never understood why people feared them so much.”

Sen had a quite blunt answer to that. “Because they kill humans.” It was quite obvious. They were a threat to humanity and killed on sight. There wasn’t much more of a reason to fear something other than that. Hyo shrugged at his response.

“I suppose that makes sense, but in the end, the monsters are just doing what humans have done since the dawn of time. But nobody walks around in fear when other people pass by them.”

Sen found his words eerily similar to someone else’s. Someone who once let him sit on his lap while he blabbered about god and other things. God gave us power and, in return, punished us for our greed. No matter how much he tried to forget, his father’s sayings always seemed to return and intrude on his mind.

Sen scowled. What an irrational way of looking at reality. Of course, it may be stubborn that I’m denying it so quickly. I just don’t like excuses for why things are the way they are. Not everything needs to have a reason; sometimes, problems just exist, and no matter what excuse people like to pull out, it never changes anything. That was why I thought the whole concept of a god seemed imprudent.

“So you think monsters are not all bad?” Sen asked Hyo, closing off the neat hologram list.

For a few moments, they silently watched their team bring sleeping bags and food supplies into the finished tents so they wouldn’t get rained on later. Baru slipped on what seemed to be a muddy part of the clearing with his hands full of items, tumbling on his rear; he let out a flurry of swear words Sen had never even heard before. The girls tried to contain their laughter but failed when they heard Baru continue to blurt slurs out of annoyance. It was amusing to Sen, almost funny. He even let out a small suppressed chuckle.

“That’s new,” Hyo said in amusement, noting his chuckle. “I’ve never seen you laugh before.”

Sen was just as confused as he was. “Me neither. To put it simply, I’ve felt off these past few days. Sorry to interrupt.”

Hyo shook his head. “No, it’s okay. In truth, your question is a tough one that I often think about. On one hand, I don’t have enough evidence to suggest that not all monsters would try to attack me if I were in a cage with them. On the other hand, I believe monsters have every right to live on this planet, just as we do.”

“Even if they’re considered aliens who came from a rock and outer space?”

“I believe everything happens for a reason,” Hyo said candidly. “I’m not religious or anything, but I believe with how far humanity has evolved over time, it just can’t be a simple fluke. So, in a way, I believe the existence of monsters is simply how it’s meant to be.”

Sen realized it would be rude to try to deny his claim, but even if Sen wanted to, he wasn’t sure he could. It was a fair point, even if Sen disagreed; the chances of such a complex universe being born from an accident almost seemed as silly as suggesting there was a god. Now, the question of whether monsters were a grand plan of this deity was another story.

“I suppose there’s some level of truth in that,” Sen admitted. “Whatever the case is, I hope you’re okay killing a few monsters if we need to.”

Hyo snorted. “I might think they’re not all bad, but if I’m between life or death, I’m picking life every time.”

“Good to hear,” Sen nodded. “Me, on the other hand, I might not be as useful, unfortunately. The sword the academy gave me is as good as useless, but I’ll try my best.”

“I didn’t really expect you to fight, if I’m being honest,” Hyo said. “Just leave it to us. I wouldn’t want you getting hurt trying to protect us.”

“I promise you I’m not the type to risk my life over something I have a clear disadvantage over,” Sen assured him. “By the way, have you ever used a Sense Sword before?” Sen noticed Hyo carrying the sheathed sword on his waist.

He nodded.“My father taught me before my Sense had awakened, and after, I just taught myself the rest.”

Maybe Sen had imagined it, but he could see Hyo’s expression change for a split second when he said that he had taught himself the rest—it was solemn and dejected. Now that Sen had thought about it, he had never asked Hyo about his childhood or past, and judging from the small micro expression, he guessed something had happened during his adolescence.

“What?” Hyo caught him staring at him.

“Nothing, just thinking about something.” If Hyo didn’t want to speak about his experiences, Sen wouldn’t force them out. He shouldn’t really care either, but for some reason, there was a pang of curiosity.

These odd feelings and impulses annoyed him. He wasn’t his usual self anymore.

Before the first challenge, Sen only cared about his objective, which was finding info about his father. Details about someone else's personal life had never concerned him in the past. And now, all of a sudden, things had become amusing to him—something so simple as Baru falling.

Sen clenched his fist as he grew more and more confused about his emotions. Hyo noticed his unusual behavior and lightly prodded him, concerned for his teammate.

“What’s wrong? You look quite pale?”

Sen’s breathing became shallower, and his body felt scorching hot even while being close to the frigid mountains. Sweat dripped down between his academy tracksuit and his skin, making it irritatingly uncomfortable. One moment, his body felt extreme heat, and the next, a familiar cold chill ran down his body. But it proved to be temporary as the sudden cold was instantly melted by his body’s heat once more.

His mind was muddled and feverish; he wasn’t able to form a comprehensive sentence to answer his teammate. Sen was well aware that something was off. It was as if he had thrown his head in an oven, unable to escape. It was getting to him. He wasn’t sure if he had the energy to continue standing—

“Sen, do you need hel—Sen!” Hyo yelped in disbelief. Sen’s body faltered, landing on Hyo’s shoulder as he helped him avoid hitting the ground. Sen’s irregular breathing was noticeable while sweat dripped down the side of his face. Without much more thought, Hyo instantly checked Sen’s forehead to gather his temperature, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that it wasn’t good.

“Fuck… this is bad.” Hyo never cursed, but when he did, something was terribly wrong. “Everyone quick!” Hyo called out, catching the attention of his team. “Sen is sick!”