Chapter 6 - Wonderland-5 (2/2)
”Okay.”
Mad Hatter took out a monocle from his pocket. On the silver rim of the monocle were written words so close together, they were indecipherable. Mad Hatter turned it this way and that until it was aligned, then put it up to his left eye.
He pressed a button on a machine and said, ”From now on, you will keep your mouth shut.”
Even without this command, SoYoon already had closed her mouth. She tried to keep her cool but couldn't help clenching her jaw.
The monocle flashed like a scalpel as it examined the brand. Mad Hatter's right eye was shifting between the paper and the brand, and his right hand was scribbling the brand's magical symbols and copying them onto the paper. Beep, beep—a rhythmic sound continued to come from the machine.
There came the scratching sounds of writing, the cold air, the analyzing gaze, the mechanical whirring of the machine.
Researchers in white gowns surrounded her while they injected various drugs in syringes into her body one by one. Her pleas, screams, tears did not register as that of a human like themselves. That part of her was isolated.
SoYoon clenched her fists.
A cold liquid dropped onto her shoulder, making a sizzling sound like meat landing on a hot grill. It smelled spicy. Uh-oh. A smooth voice mumbled. A cold-water-soaked towel wiped down her shoulder.
This time, a hot liquid fell on her shoulder. As she had once felt before, she felt the pain as if her skin was rotting. This isn't it either. The towel wiped off her shoulder. Another liquid came, then pain. Soon the towel was no longer cold but warm.
Two hours later, Mad Hatter took off his monocle and pressed his pounding temples.
”We'll stop here for today. Now explain to me about smartphones…”
Thud! At the sound of a collapsing doll, Mad Hatter looked to the bed. SoYoon had lost consciousnes. Clicking his tongue, Mad Hatter started to put the experimental items back in place. Within those few minutes, SoYoon opened her eyes and felt a throbbing pain on her palm. In her tightly clenched fist was a wound.
”You're awake.”
Mad Hatter greeted her as he came back after putting away the bowl and towel. He grabbed a notebook and handed it to SoYoon. Inside was the picture of the smartphone that she had drawn two days ago.
”If you press this, then the cellphone starts? Then how do you send messages? Phone? Where do you enter the numbers or words?”
SoYoon put on her clothes and secured the sword behind her back and answered halfheartedly. At this, Mad Hatter scolded her with a sharp voice.
”Don't you know about give-and-take? Show me some effort.”
”...Sorry. I'm just a bit tired. Next time, I think I should explain about the cellphone before we start the tests.”
”I'm the one running the experiments, so why are you tired?”
SoYoon didn't answer. Mad Hatter didn't seem to be interested in her and didn't ask again.
She was only allowed to leave after fulfilling the entire two hours. She had thought that she could describe everything about a smartphone within a day, but she was wrong. For example, this item was meant for communication, so why were there functions for listening to music? Such questions meant there was a lot more left to explain.
”Next time, come in the morning,” Mad Hatter said to her back as SoYoon left.
Mad Hatter could hear her answer through the door. He took off his hat and, with a content expression, went off to bed. On top of the bed was a blue-gray hair.