Livers Tried and True

It had been a mystery to Ari how the tasteful delights at Madam Su’s had gotten so bland. Her cravings for sweet pungent smelling livers were now rarely met by Su’s famous liver onion gravy. And it always had. Small delectable pieces of liver cut up and coated in a lovely thick caramelized onion sauce. She had been going there for years and so she was sure something wasn’t right.

For years, the quaint little human society in District 6 lived oblivious to the fact that supernatural beings walked among them. Spirits and apparitions that haunted the local cemetery and churchyard, bloodsuckers that lurked around the late-night bars and clubs to find victims to feast on. And there was another kind, less likely to be encountered but no less fierce. The fox that was cloaked in a beautiful woman’s skin. The gumiho.

There was only ever one that had occupied and lived in District 6 for close to a thousand years. Ari. And in all the time she had spent in the mortal world, she had not encountered any other like her. However, it was something that rarely crossed her mind. Her untamed spirit was more preoccupied with living a hedonistic existence with a lifestyle fit for Epicurus himself. She loved the pleasures the human race provided, and more often than not, her sullen mood when she had one, was because her lingering appetites were not being be met. In particular, her hunger for human livers was extremely upsetting. It had however been an acquired taste.

In the beginning, when there was very little to go on in human cuisine, she had decided to hunt the poor mortals and gracelessly ravage them for meat herself. Out in the wilderness, armed with only her canines and claws, she’d attempt to carve up a meal worthwhile. After a few kills, she quickly took a liking to the metallic taste livers left in her mouth and soon, that was the only thing she did eat. This meant she’d have to hunt more frequently which needless to say, left a gruesome carnage in her wake.

But soon, she found hunting was exhausting. Luckily, as the centuries folded over, the mortals became more civilized and so did she. As a fox in the wild, she had been an enigma to countless men and women who had thrown caution to the wind and were lured to their deaths. Now, humans had evolved. She needed to transform herself to be even more alluring to the people she encountered walking down the town’s narrow-cobbled streets, as she saw her foxy features would no longer serve her as amply. She decided to take on the appearance of a young upper-class woman with silky white skin, hair as black as night, wide almond eyes, and a slender frame. It was all that the young men desired at the time and so, her entrapment yet again commenced.

Meanwhile, with an evolved species, came an evolved menu. Over the many years she had inclined herself to hunting, the people’s cooking had advanced in quality and would soon become the solution that Ari needed to retire from her highly lucrative but very tedious sport. There had particularly been talk of an underground eating place that she had heard was a place like no other. It served up exotic meats forbidden to the general populous of consumers and this intrigued her.

Endangered animals; rare birds and the like, but what captured her interest the most, was the rumor that they served up portions of human as well. For the eccentrics, who were willing to try new things. And it was reckoned they came fresh out of the mortuary next door. So, it wasn’t really at the cost of anyone’s life. In fact, if people knew any better like Ari did, this was a less murderous way, and she could live with that.

Hence, for the next hundred years or so after finding Madam Su’s, she went in night after night for her favorite liver gravy. It never changed in taste, even when new management took over after the death of Madam Su herself. The age-old secret behind her food just kept on passing down. At least, that is what Ari had thought right up until this moment.

Presently, her face was wrinkled with disgust as she stared down at the sauce in her bowl. She’d had enough and pushed it away. Maybe she’d come back another day when she was hungry enough to dismiss the foulness of it. As she prepared to leave, the strange man who’d been sitting in the corner of the room and staring at her, came and sat at her table.

‘They don’t taste like they used to, huh,’ he chuckled. She looked at him puzzled, unable to decipher his statement.

‘Excuse me?’

‘The livers,’ he pointed at her bowl, ‘Those darn synthetic livers. Humans aren’t what they used to be and I guess, nothing can ever be as good as the original, right?’ He continued speaking, but her confusion only grew.

‘What do you mean, sir?’ she asked, putting down her bag that was ready to go. She began to study him.

His dress was of considerable high class. He was well groomed with super gelled, slicked back hair and a sturdy physique. He stood out exceptionally among the lackluster men in the establishment and he certainly wasn’t a man who frequented the eatery. She had never seen him before, and she was there every day. Almost.

‘I haven’t seen you in here before, but I’m guessing you’re a customer?’

She nodded and smiled. ‘Yes, and likewise, I don’t seem to have met you, Mr.—’

‘—Kwan. I’m here over from District 8 across the lake. I came to escape the same problem that now plagues you. And I see you have not put your finger on it, or maybe you are not yet willing to accept that what was once good is no more.’

Ari glanced down at the cold sauce.

‘The food? I think it’s just bad cooking. Trust me, the food here is normally exquisite, or used to be. I'll have a little chat with the cook, because I won’t be able to take this for much longer.’

“Well, you're right there, something has to change. But it has nothing to do with the people in the kitchen.’

Just then, he gently placed his hand on hers. ‘How long have you been asleep?’

She gasped, withdrawing her hand. How could he have known that? Unless…

It was true. Ari had very recently been engaged in a long sleep. Over half a century ago, somewhere amidst it all, Ari had come down with a severe case of exhaustion from all the activity. To remedy this feeling, she had decided to take a breather. A long slumber so that when she awoke, she would feel renewed with pulsed energy to continue on. However, unbeknownst to her, a tremendous turn of events had occurred in the last eighty years she was away, and it had not been for the better.

‘How did you know?’ she asked.

‘I sensed you the minute you walked in. We are alike, you and I. I take breaks all the time too though, I never thought I’d ever meet another gumiho, but here we are,’ he smiled. Ari’s eyes widened. Those were her thoughts exactly.

‘So, what does it matter if I went to sleep?’

‘The humans… they’re not who you think they are. Not anymore. And seeing how they are the biggest contributor to our diet, well, it’s time you learned what you have been eating,’ Kwan explained.

Ari looked around at the people in the small diner. She couldn’t see anything different about them. What was she missing, or was this a man off his nut?

‘Not evident yet, I agree,’ he said, ‘But the people you think are people have duped you. These are all automations.’

‘I’m sorry, automations?’

‘Yes. About fifty years ago, their technology turned on them. All their creations, their systems, the things they thought to be inferior, took down the human race. They were ousted, hunted… and not by us this time. There was a great genocide and as a result, the few humans left retreated to small undisclosed camps where they sought asylum. The automations took over, but not in the way you think. It’s funny, come to think of it, that all they did to take power just came back full circle.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘They realized that they only way they could thrive on earth was as their enemy. The human form, is the most effective form there is on earth to live in it. As machines, they couldn’t go far and so they were reluctantly disposed to take on a human appearance.’

Ari took in the information steadily. It all sounded too implausible to be true and yet, she felt Kwan was telling her nothing but the truth. He was getting to something, and she knew she would most probably dread it. She sighed.

‘So, you mean to tell me that these livers…’

‘Yes, the rubbery bland texture gives it away. What you think are dead human bodies being supplied from the mortuary next door, are actually decommissioned robots that are no longer in service. Their organ makeup much resembles the human body but we all know chemically produced tissue is nothing like procuring an organic one. It’s simply impossible to match.’

She hung her head, dispirited.

‘So then, what do you want from me? Because there is not much I can do about robots that have taken over the world, and I have no other choice but to keep coming here. A girl’s gotta eat, at least I now know what not to expect from my meals, so thank you.’ She let out a faint smile, but it couldn’t hide her disheartenment.

‘Kwan shook his head. ‘So then, you would rather have a disgusting meal than one to die for?’

She looked up at him, confused again. ‘What?’

He slid a folded piece of paper towards her. She picked it up and opened it. There was a faintly scribbled writing that looked like an address.

‘What is this?’

‘Our ticket to a more organic food option. That is the address to one of the many undisclosed locations for the human camps. I had planned to go right after I had those god-awful liver dumplings and came to see if maybe… you would want in.’

She pondered. What he was suggesting, was going to take her right back to where she had begun. Back to hunting. Oh how she had hoped that she would never have to go back to it. But Kwan was right. She couldn’t stand the taste of those livers, and now that she’d found out that it was a problem she couldn’t fix, then to hell with it all, she thought. If it meant going from camp to camp hunting for the taste she so longed for, so be it. She gave Kwan a wide, toothy grin.

‘Let’s do it!’ she said. And with that, they sprang out of Madam Su’s so fast, probably for the very last time in a long time. Just until there would be no more humans left to hunt. Then would come the real problem.