Brall and Qper Episode 1 — The Fish in the Wrong Place

Amid the night of Identina City, in one alley, there were tall buildings packed tightly together on both sides of a narrow alley. The light from the flickering street lamps blinked on and off, while the sound of police sirens gradually grew closer before falling silent as four officers stepped into the alley.

They were pursuing a green-skinned Biokind who had escaped arrest some time ago.

He ran away frantically, his face covered in raindrops and sweat. He was breathing heavily and cursing under his breath as he fled, wondering why he had to end up in a situation like this. His eyes darted around nervously, but at that moment, the green-skinned man realized that the police had blocked off both the front and back, leaving him no choice but to quickly hide beside a corner of a trash can.

The shouts from the police gradually grew closer.

“Come out! If you don't show yourself after I count to three, we're going to execute you!”

Even though the police shouted that, the green-skinned man still chose to remain hidden. Two officers split up and approached from opposite sides before slowly closing in on the corner of the wall where the green-skinned Biokind was hiding. They saw nothing except a plastic cup sitting on the ground.

“Where did he go..!!?”

The two officers couldn't see anything at all, but after a while, they noticed that the spot where the green-skinned man had hidden contained a plastic cup that looked like someone had simply left it there. However, the water inside the cup looked abnormal. It was more like black oil that was being boiled at an extremely high temperature.

Stab!!!

The black liquid violently pierced through one of the officers' bodies, causing a tremendous amount of blood to spray out. He collapsed onto the ground and immediately lay motionless. The black liquid slowly returned to the form of the green-skinned man, making the officers realize at once that this was his Genecode. The officers immediately opened fire on him, but it had no effect whatsoever. The green-skinned man picked up the plastic cup and used it to block the bullets. The moment the water inside the cup splashed from the impact of the bullets and touched the green-skinned man's skin, his body transformed into black liquid once again, and the bullets fired at him sank into his body without causing any damage.

One of the officers immediately realized that this was very bad. Even though he tried to tell the others to find cover, it was already too late. The green-skinned man in his oil-like form sprayed the bullets back at all of the officers at once, as if scattering sand. The bullets he fired back spread out like a shotgun in every direction, killing every officer on the spot.

“You people are pathetic...”

The green-skinned Biokind returned to his normal form. He walked toward one of the officers' corpses before spitting on it contemptuously. He spoke in an angry voice, clenching his fists tightly..

“People like you pretend to be good people... but you're making a living from human trafficking too. I'll expose every last one of you.”

The young man raised his head and looked toward the lights of the police cars shining in from the mouth of the alley. The sirens began to grow louder again. He quickly turned around and disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind only the corpses of four police officers and the rain that continued to fall without stopping.

Two hours later, the alley was surrounded by a number of officers. Emergency lights from the police cars reflected off the wet ground, filling the area with red and blue light. A middle-aged blue-skinned Biokind with a well-proportioned body walked through the barricade without hurry. A lit cigarette was held in his hand. He looked noticeably different from the other officers, not because of his uniform or rank, but because of his composure—as if the scene before him did not surprise him in the slightest.

He stopped and stared at the four corpses for a moment, slowly inhaled from his cigarette, and then exhaled the smoke through his nose.

“Mr. Grisel,” one of the officers approached and reported. “The suspect is gone. We've searched the entire surrounding area, but there isn't any trace of him.”

One of Grisel's subordinates approached to report the situation, but Grisel did not respond immediately. He simply looked down at the traces of black liquid remaining on the ground.

“His Genecode is related to liquids, then.”

“Yes, sir.”

Grisel took another drag from his cigarette before tapping the ash onto the ground.

“Should we send another unit to continue searching for him?”

“No need.. It's starting to rain now. With the rain, that guy's Genecode will become even more invincible. Sending more people will only get them killed for nothing..”

“Then what should we do?”

“Let me handle it myself..”

After saying that, Grisel walked away silently. None of the other officers had any idea what he was thinking.

In the heart of Identina City

If you looked at the heart of Identina City during the day, there was almost nothing about it that looked different from a prosperous modern metropolis. Skyscrapers stood along the streets, cars drove back and forth, digital advertisements changed images above the sidewalks, and countless people passed one another as they went about their daily lives.

Except that no one in this city was human.

The creatures walking along the streets were all Biokind. Their shapes, skin colors, numbers of arms, legs, eyes, and even the structures of their bodies were all different. Some had horns, some had tails, some had more than two arms, and some had such strange shapes that they could not be compared to any living creature from the real world.

And yet, they still lived their lives much like the human society everyone was familiar with.

And what truly made the lives of Biokind different was Genecode

Special abilities that they were born with were so common that almost no one thought there was anything strange about them.

Some Biokind used their Genecode to deliver packages at speeds far beyond ordinary people. Some had unnaturally strong bodies and could perform construction work more easily than others. Some had multiple arms and could clean several windows at once. Not everyone's Genecode was equally useful. Some were born with abilities that provided only minor conveniences in everyday life, while others discovered ways to use theirs to build enormous wealth and become billionaires.

“Yes, that's right. I'm one of the few people who succeeded.”

A voice came from a podcast playing on a smartphone screen.

The image on the screen showed an interview being filmed in a studio. The guest sitting opposite the host was a distinguished-looking male Biokind whose body was made entirely of multicolored diamond crystals reflecting the studio lights.

He smiled confidently as he leaned back in his chair.

“My name is Dand Diamond, and as you can see, my body is made of gemstones. It's like a Genecode that heaven chose to make me a billionaire.”

The audience laughed lightly.

The host laughed along before asking, “Wait a second. Your Genecode is turning your entire body into diamond?”

“Yes, that's right,” Dand replied proudly. “And that's not all. I can also produce gemstones directly from my own body.”

He raised his hand, and a diamond slowly grew from the palm of his hand amid the audience's astonishment.

“Just like this.”

Applause filled the studio.

“So what made you become a billionaire? Do you simply produce diamonds and sell them?”

“Oh, no, no,” Dand laughed. “It's not that simple. The diamonds produced by my body are unlimited. If I sold them directly, their value would obviously drop. At first, I thought I was completely screwed too. But then I realized, if my diamonds weren't valuable enough on the market, why not use them as raw materials for the diamond-cutting industry instead?”

He laughed with satisfaction.

“And before I knew it, I had become a leader in the diamond-cutting industry. Hahaha!”

The image of Dand Diamond remained on the screen as his laughter continued for a moment, before the scene gradually revealed that the podcast was being watched in a back room of a ramen restaurant.

The young male Biokind sitting and listening was covered in pink fur, with two long rabbit-like ears and two soft tufts in the middle of his head. He wore a ramen restaurant employee's apron and sat quietly against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest.

His name was Qper

Qper's eyes remained fixed on the screen, but there was no excitement or admiration like that of an ordinary fan. Instead, his eyes held something resembling envy mixed with a feeling of comparison.

He glanced at his apron.

Then he looked back at Dand Diamond.

One Biokind had managed to turn his Genecode into a global business, while he was sitting there working as a waiter in a ramen restaurant, earning just enough money to live from month to month.

“Hey, Qper!! What are you doing?!”

The shout from behind made both of Qper's tufts stand straight up.

“A customer came in! What are you doing just sitting there?!”

“Ah...!”

Qper quickly stood up, causing his phone to slip from his hand and hit the floor with a clack. He bent down to pick it up, but another call came from the front of the restaurant, so he immediately ran out without even having time to check his phone.

Before long, the ramen restaurant was packed with customers, and the chaos began.

“I didn't order this bowl. I ordered tonkotsu.”

“Ah! I'm sorry! I'll go change it right away!”

“Um... this isn't what our table ordered.”

“Ah! This belongs to table two! Sorry!”

“Excuse me, could we get some more chopsticks? My girlfriend still doesn't have any.”

“R...right away!”

“Excuse me, this glass of water tastes strange. Could I get another one?”

“Sure!”

Qper ran all over the restaurant, barely having time to catch his breath. His clumsiness forced him to repeatedly go back and fix his own mistakes.

At ten o'clock, the last customer finally left the restaurant, and Qper was called into the back.

“Qper!”

The chef put down the cleaning cloth with an annoyed expression.

“How many times have I told you that the ice has to come from the restaurant's ice bin? Don't use weird stuff yourself!”

“B...but it should make the work faster, shouldn't it?”

Qper quickly picked up a glass of water. He used his Genecode to create ice from his two long ears before exhaling and creating additional ice flakes inside the glass.

“See? This is much faster. It should even help the restaurant save money...”

The chef sighed.

“This is a franchise, not a restaurant we opened ourselves. Everything has to be exactly the same. Even the drinking water has to be the same at every branch. A customer complained today that the water tasted different. Haven't you realized that yet?”

Qper's tufts slowly drooped.

“And try to be less clumsy,” the chef continued. “It's been a month already. As a waiter, you're still completely useless.”

The chef bent down, picked up the phone that had fallen on the floor, and handed it back to him. The screen had a small crack, and Dand Diamond's podcast was still paused on the screen.

“Here, your phone. I saw the cracked screen when I picked it up. Be more careful.”

“Thank you...”

Qper took his phone back. He lowered his head slightly, slung his bag over his shoulder, and walked out of the restaurant.

Qper's room was in a cheap apartment in the outskirts of Identina. The room wasn't very large. There was a bed, a desk, a refrigerator, and one old laptop sitting in the corner. Qper lay sprawled on his bed, playing a game on his phone without much enthusiasm. A few minutes later, the screen displayed the word Defeat. The chat from his teammates was filled with messages that did nothing to improve his mood.

“What the hell is Support doing!?”

“The Support class in this game is fucking easy. If you can't play it, you might as well uninstall the game.”

Qper immediately left the game. His tufts visibly drooped. He placed his phone beside his head and quietly stared at the ceiling. Not long afterward, a notification sound rang out. It was a message from a friend he played games with.

“Hey, are you okay today? I saw you just leave the party.”

Qper hesitated for a moment before typing a reply.

“The owner of the restaurant yelled at me. I'm useless at my job again.”

His friend replied almost immediately.

“Damn... it's okay. I used to have a job I hated too. I was just like you back then.”

“And you don't have that job anymore?”

“Yeah. I quit and opened my own coffee shop.”

The other person sent another message.

“Funny, huh? I never thought my Genecode would be useful for anything, but it turned out to be useful for sorting coffee beans.”

Qper frowned slightly.

“What is your Genecode?”

“Honestly, it's not anything impressive. I can temporarily make myself color-blind.”

Qper read it again.

“Color-blind?”

“Yeah. Sounds stupid, right? But when I make myself color-blind, I can see the difference between good and bad coffee beans more easily. Some colors that look similar to normal eyes become much easier to distinguish when I remove color perception. So I use it to sort good coffee beans from bad ones.”

Qper stared at the message for a long time.

“You're amazing. You actually found a use for it.”

He paused for a moment before typing again.

“I feel like my Genecode is completely useless.”

“What is yours?”

“I can create ice from my ears and breath.”

“Whoa, that's fucking cool. Why don't you try finding a job that uses it? There has to be some job where you can make use of it.”

His friend sent one final message.

“Maybe being in the wrong place is like telling a fish to climb a tree. Fish are supposed to be sent down to swim in the ocean instead, right?”

Qper fell silent.

He read the sentence again, then got up from his bed, walked over to his laptop, and began searching for jobs that might suit his Genecode. For the first time in several months, he felt that perhaps he had another option. Qper searched for information and wrote several job postings on pieces of paper, sticking them onto the wall. His expression looked hopeful. His new life was about to begin.

“No.”

The short answer came immediately after Qper introduced himself to the owner of an ice cream shop.

“Wait! You haven't even seen my Genecode yet!”

Qper quickly lunged forward and hugged the owner's leg, nearly making him lose his balance.

“Hey! I said no! Let go!”

“No! I won't let go until you agree to see what I can do!”

The shop owner struggled to pull him off for a while before finally giving up.

“Fine, fine. Let's see it.”

Qper quickly stood up. He created ice from his own ears, forming sharp icicles.

“I can create ice by myself, and look at this.”

Qper took the icicle and pierced it through his own head to demonstrate that his body could protect itself from ice-related injuries with 100% immunity.

“See?! There! Don't you think this could be useful for your shop? My Genecode can reduce your ice cream costs, and since I'm immune to ice like this, I can work longer without getting ice burns while making ice cream!”

The ice cream shop owner stared at Qper as he demonstrated by sticking an icicle through his own head. There was no need to ask what he would want such an ability for. His expression made it very clear. He sighed before asking,

“What do you like to eat?”

“W...what?”

“What do you normally like to eat?”

Qper looked confused.

“Um... cookies, I guess? Why?”

The shop owner was silent for a moment before asking seriously,

“If someone picked earwax out of their ears and made it into cookies, and their saliva came out as cream, would you eat it?”

Qper immediately turned pale. He instantly understood what the question was comparing.

“Uh... well... as long as I didn't know.”

Bang!

The shop door slammed shut in his face. Qper stood frozen in front of the shop for a moment before sighing and walking away, and that wasn't the first time.

The penguin museum told him that they needed someone with knowledge of avian biology, not merely someone who could create cold.

The rescue unit working in the polar region told him that they needed someone who could control ice, not merely create it.

The freezing factory rejected him because they didn't know why they would hire someone to provide cooling when using cooling machinery would cost less than the standard labor wage anyway.

Even the job of making ice sculptures for weddings rejected him because they wanted someone with artistic skills, not simply someone who could create ice, and Qper wasn't the only person in the world with an ice-related Genecode.

The word “no” accumulated again and again until eventually Qper no longer knew where he should go. He wandered aimlessly through the shopping district, his two tufts drooping until they were almost pressed against his head. A cool breeze passed over him. Qper looked up. A large advertisement poster of Dand Diamond was displayed on the wall in front of him.

“You can succeed too, if you know how to use your Genecode.”

Beneath the image was another sentence.

“A fish belongs in the water, not climbing a tree.”

Qper stood staring at it for a long time. At first, he thought he was simply a fish in the wrong place. But after trying to find water for himself and being rejected over and over again, he began to wonder whether the problem was actually the place. Maybe he was simply a weaker fish than the others. When the wind blew past him again, this time it didn't feel refreshing at all. Tears slowly rolled down his cheeks…

Smack! A flyer flew straight into his face.

“Oh! I'm sorry!”

Qper pulled the paper away from his face and turned toward the voice. In front of him was a small blue-skinned female Biokind who looked around his age. She smiled apologetically as she hurried toward him.

“I was handing out flyers, but the wind was really strong and I couldn't catch it in time.”

“Oh... okay.”

Qper handed the flyer back. The woman took it and looked him over.

“By the way... your pink fur is so beautiful.”

Qper's tufts rose slightly.

“Um... it's not that special.”

The woman smiled even more widely.

“But if you come and use our services, it will make your fur even more beautiful and shiny.”

“Oh... no, thank you. I don't have—”

“If you sign up through me right now, I can give you a special promotion too.”

“Um, well...”

“And if you sign up right now, you'll get an additional promotion. The schedule is right here.”

“I mean, I...”

“Oh, you don't have a pen, do you? Here you go.”

Qper blinked repeatedly as he stared at the pen being shoved into his hand.

“Just fill in your name here.”

“Wait...”

Whoosh!

Who knows how much time had passed, but when he realized it, Qper was already sitting inside a beauty salon.

A middle-aged female Biokind was diligently combing the fur around his long ears, while on the other side of the salon another employee was arranging various pieces of equipment. She was a tall, slender Biokind, dressed elegantly, with a meticulously maintained face and an energetic, cheerful manner that contrasted with the quiet atmosphere of the shop.

“Your fur is so soft,” the female employee said. “We have to let you try our products. I guarantee they'll make it even softer and shinier.”

“Thank you...”

Qper answered without feeling happy in the slightest. Not long afterward, the curtain beside him opened. An orange-skinned female Biokind with a cobra-like hood around her head stepped out of the seat. She had just finished her service and was about to pay.

“How much is it?”

“Thank you, Ms. Brall. The total is 115 dollars.”

The woman's phone happened to ring at that moment. It seemed her name was Brall. She answered the call while holding the phone between her shoulder and ear, while at the same time trying to search for her wallet.

“Ms. Cicny, I'm busy right now. I'll contact you again later. Ah—”

The phone slipped from her shoulder and was about to fall to the floor.

Qper reached out and caught it just in time. The two stared at each other for a moment. Qper wasn't very good at behaving around women, while Brall—

“Here you go...”

“Thank you.”

Brall took her phone back. She looked at Qper for a moment before giving him a small smile.

“Thank you..”

Qper blushed slightly.

“N...no problem.”

Brall was about to leave the shop, but before she went out, she turned back, gently waved at Qper, and smiled. Qper awkwardly raised his hand and waved back. His tufts stood noticeably upright. When the door closed, he quickly turned away as if afraid that everyone in the shop would see his flushed face.

“150 dollars, right?”

The employee's voice rang out.

Qper immediately turned around.

“Huh?”

Brall paid the employee 150 dollars in cash without saying anything. The same employee accepted the money naturally.

Qper froze. Just a moment ago, he had clearly heard the price was 115 dollars, but no one objected. The woman herself didn't seem to notice. As the door closed behind her, Qper looked at the money in the employee's hand before turning toward the door, a thought running through his mind.

“Why didn't anyone tell her she overpaid?”

He sat there silently for another moment.

“Or should I just let it go like everyone else?”

Something began to tighten in his chest. All day long, he had been telling himself that he had no abilities, that nobody wanted him, and that he couldn't accomplish anything. And now, even with something this simple, was he still too afraid to say anything? Qper stood up from his chair.

“Um... miss?”

The female employee called out in surprise. Qper stood there trembling, tears slowly welling up in his eyes, but this time he wasn't crying simply because he felt inferior. There was anger in him too. The atmosphere in the shop was beginning to become uncomfortable..

“You should give her the money back.”

The entire shop fell silent. The male employee who had handled Brall's payment turned toward him.

“What?”

“You told her the price was 115 dollars, but she paid 150... You should give her the extra money back.”

The female employee quickly spoke softly.

“Please... sit down.”

But Qper remained standing where he was, while the male employee put down the equipment in his hands before slowly walking toward him.

“Are you saying I cheated the customer?”

When Qper saw the male employee's expression becoming irritated, he began to wonder whether speaking up about this had really been a good idea..

“I... I didn't say that.”

“But you're accusing me.”

“If you didn't, then why didn't you tell her?”

The male employee chuckled softly.

“Don't you know what a tip is? Everyone gives them these days.”

“Then how do you know she meant to give you a tip?”

The smile disappeared from the male employee's face. He picked up a chair and violently threw it at the shop's glass window. Crash! The glass shattered, scattering fragments all over the floor. Qper flinched, his tufts standing straight up.

“Ah!!!”

The female employee screamed in shock. The male employee ignored her. He nodded toward the back door of the shop. Two large men walked out and approached Qper, standing on either side of him without saying a word. Qper backed away until his back hit the wall.

“Go sit back down.. this has nothing to do with you..”

The male employee spoke in a calm voice. It was obvious that he intended to intimidate him, but even so, Qper gritted his teeth. He was afraid, so afraid that his body was trembling, but at the same time, he didn't want to feel inferior to everyone else anymore..

“J...just give her the money back.”

The male employee stepped closer.

“If I don't, what are you going to do?”

Qper swallowed.

The two large men moved closer.

“I...”

His voice trembled.

But in the end, he still said it.

“I'll call the police.”

The atmosphere fell silent.

One of the large men clenched his fist, preparing to move toward Qper, but the sound of people outside the shop rang out first. Several people passing by had stopped to look through the shattered window. The male employee looked outside and muttered under his breath.

“Tch...”

Several hours later, at Brall's apartment, she walked out of the bathroom wearing a towel after taking a shower. She picked up her phone and saw a message from the beauty salon.

“Hello. Our shop has checked the payment and found that the customer overpaid by 35 dollars for the service. The shop will transfer the excess amount back to you.”

The woman read the message with a surprised expression.

A little after nine at night, the outskirts of Identina were noticeably quieter than the city center. Several cheap apartment buildings stood close together. Some hallway lights were on while others were out. People gradually returned from work through the narrow walkways, carrying food bags and work bags.

A green-skinned Biokind quietly walked through the area. He wore clothes soaked by the rain and had a few scratches across his body. No one knew who he was, and judging by his behavior, he seemed to prefer it that way. A large wanted poster was attached to a wall near the entrance of the building. His face was on it. He stopped to look at it for only a moment before continuing on. He showed no sign of surprise or urgency.

As he passed a coin-operated laundry area, he noticed a hoodie someone had left hanging on a rack. He looked around before pulling it down and putting it over his own clothes, then continued walking as if blending in with the people around him. From the other side of the walkway, a male Biokind staggered out of a convenience store with a can of beer in his hand. He drank as he walked, barely able to see where he was going, when suddenly someone walking in the opposite direction collided hard with his shoulder.

“Hey!”

Beer splashed all over his clothes and spilled onto the ground.

The drunk man turned around angrily.

“You—”

The insult stopped in his throat.

The green-skinned Biokind turned and looked at him. The other man's eyes were completely still, but filled with a certain anger that made the drunk man's intoxication disappear almost instantly.

He fell silent..

The green-skinned Biokind walked past without saying anything. The drunk man stood watching his back for a moment before looking down at the spilled beer and choosing not to say anything else.

Later, the green-skinned man returned to the vicinity of an apartment room. He looked left and right before his body gradually transformed into extremely hot black liquid. The liquid flowed along the floor before slipping silently through the gap beneath the door of one of the rooms.

No one knew what he had gone inside to do.

And no one knew what he was looking for.

At the same time, Qper was walking back to his apartment.

He looked visibly exhausted from everything that had happened throughout the day.

“What's up, young man?” the building's security guard called out. “You look pretty down.”

Qper forced a smile.

“Oh... I'm fine.”

“Lock your room properly. There's been news about a fugitive who escaped from the police.”

“Yes...”

Qper continued walking, barely paying attention to the warning.

When he arrived at his room, he found beer stains covering the floor.

“What the...”

He sighed in irritation before unlocking the door, but the moment he opened it, he saw that liquid from outside had flowed into the room in a long trail.

“It's just spilled water outside the room. How did it flow this far...”

Qper reluctantly grabbed a cloth and began wiping, but after cleaning for a while, he stopped. He saw that the wet stain on the floor didn't look like water flowing naturally. It was changing shape, the wet trail stretching across the floor in a shape resembling someone's footprints.

Qper stared at it for a while. Sweat began to form on him. He could feel that something about this wasn't normal. The wet footprints led directly toward the refrigerator. Qper swallowed hard before using his Genecode to create a small sharp icicle like a little knife. He held it awkwardly in his hand, his hand trembling with fear, and slowly walked toward the refrigerator.

One step

Two steps

Three steps

He stopped in front of it.

He took a deep breath.

One...

Two...

Three!

Qper yanked the refrigerator door open, but there was nothing inside. There was only fresh food, bottles of water, and the food he normally kept there. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew...”

But then his eyes stopped on one bottle of water. It was completely black, resembling oil and unlike the other bottles. Bubbles continuously rose inside it, as if the liquid were boiling, even though it was sitting inside the refrigerator. Qper slowly moved closer, until he saw the reflection of someone's face on the surface of the bottle..

It was the face of a green-skinned male Biokind

Qper's eyes widened in fear before he quickly turned around, only to find that there was no one behind him.

In that very split second—

Whooooooosh!!!

The black liquid violently burst out of the bottle toward him. Qper's body was slammed to the ground. The scorching liquid spread over his arms, legs, and torso before flowing up and covering his mouth, preventing him from screaming. Qper struggled with all his strength, trying to pull the liquid away from his face, but the more he struggled, the tighter it became. The black liquid slowly lifted itself from the floor, beginning to take the shape of the green-skinned male Biokind standing over him. The man's eyes were fixed on Qper.

“Don't scream.. and no one will get hurt...”