Surviving Restructuring

Between Jae-Hyuk, clearly unraveling, and Ji-Eun, firing her gun like she was possessed, Eun-Ho found himself doing something else entirely.

“There’s a blue potion bottle under that shelf,” he said briskly. “Grab it. Oh, and there’s a bomb by the doorframe, too.”

They had more loot than they let on, leaving his hands full.

[You have obtained Old Elixir.]

[You have obtained Rotten Flesh.]

[You have obtained Entrails Bomb.]

...

“Come on! You’re loaded already. Did a ghost who died without looting items or something possess you?” Swear-Master muttered.

“If you have time to complain, pick things up,” Eun-Ho replied. “Even if it looks useless, everything can be put to use.”

“Tsk. Figures. The rich ones are always greedier,” the man grumbled.

For some reason, the way Swear-Master stared at Eun-Ho felt suspiciously similar to how Eun-Ho himself looked at Ji-Eun and Jae-Hyuk. However, that could wait.

[Purification Rate - 99%]

Even though they had only cleared a single narrow corridor, they had almost completed the trial. Perhaps because all the Zombies’ had gathered in one place.

Ji-Eun brushed sweat-soaked hair from her forehead. “This is the last one.”

Then, at the far end of that corridor, a massive glass door stood. It was an opaque sliding door, the kind usually found in emergency rooms.

“It won’t open,” Jae-Hyuk said. “Should I break it, Hyungnim?”

“Wait.” Eun-Ho stepped forward and raised his sword. “Sword Force.”

Something between liquid and solid clung to the blade, tangling through its edge as the surrounding matter slowed. Then, a dark blue sheen spread over his blade like a protective film.

Lifting it, he drove it into the gap of the glass door.

Crack—

Swoosh—

Then, he cut a large circle, wide enough to pass through easily if one pushed themselves in.

“Seriously, you guys are busted,” Swear-Master muttered. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

Whoosh—

Just then, a murky, greenish-black smoke that had been trapped behind the glass surged out.

A sour stench slammed into Eun-Ho’s nose. “Huh?”

Beyond the door lay a vertically long space, reminiscent of an auditorium. Rows upon rows of samples stood on both sides.

The moment he saw it, a thought crossed his mind. “What is this?”

Perhaps not every door was meant to be entered. Even without delving into lofty philosophies like respect and disregard for life, some lines should never be crossed.

“Did they lock people up here?” Ji-Eun asked.

“Not just lock them up,” Jae-Hyuk muttered.

There were massive tanks, each as tall as a person. Rows of cylindrical containers filled with an unknown liquid stood so tightly packed that one had to crane their neck to glimpse the far end. Most were cracked or shattered, filled with nothing. Whether that was fortunate or unfortunate was hard to say.

“H-Hyungnim! This looks similar to that place from back then!” Jae-Hyuk exclaimed.

Swear-Master frowned. “Earlier, didn’t you say I was locked up in a place like this?”

“You really don’t remember?”

“Not at all. I woke up on a couch.”

“Wait. But that one...”

There was one clear difference from back then.

“...Are those even people?” Ji-Eun asked hesitantly.

What lay inside was impossible to classify—human, monster, or something else entirely.

“They look human... Kind of,” Jae-Hyuk said.

“They’re a mess,” Eun-Ho replied.

A few intact ones still held their contents, for example, the ones near the entrance.

“All the organs are necrotic.”

“Did the device malfunction?”

“Or maybe this was never a life-support system to begin with.”

They were corpses that had died long ago. The word “intact” could still apply because they retained a human shape. Further in, everything changed. There was a person with a black-purple tentacle where their right arm should have been. There was another whose lower body had been replaced with that of a crustacean.

Then, they spotted a head protruding from a mass of black sludge, like congealed oil. Eventually, they found tanks containing nothing but black masses. The farther in they went, the less human the shapes became.

“What is this?” Ji-Eun whispered.

There was no word for it. There was no name for beings that seemed to lose their humanity step by step.

“Wait,” Swear-Master said. “Then the Zombies we saw earlier...”

“Yeah. They probably escaped from here,” Eun-Ho said.

[Defeat Test Subject No. 1312]

[Defeat Test Subject No. 832]

[Defeat Test Subject No. 991]

The Zombies whose limbs had been grotesquely twisted or torn off, their names had clearly been labeled as test subjects.

“... Wait. Don’t tell me,” Ji-Eun said faintly. “They experimented on people?”

Her face drained of color as she covered her mouth.

“Y-yes... So it stayed quiet for a hundred years, and they told us to find out why it suddenly started acting up.”

Judging by how long this place had clearly been abandoned, the claim that it was ancient didn’t seem false.

“I-I don’t know the details... It was before I joined but they were forbidden experiments. Extremely dangerous ones...”

A forbidden experiment...

“It seems like illegal human experimentation,” Eun-Ho said calmly.

“Modification maybe?” Ji-Eun asked.

“Yes. Or they may have been trying to create hybrids of humans and monsters.”

Ji-Eun’s face twisted. Blood welled where she bit down hard on her lower lip.

“Like the Chimera we saw during the physical exam?” Jae-Hyuk asked.

Eun-Ho nodded. In truth, he didn’t know who these people had been, what these experiments were meant to achieve, and how far this company was willing to sink. However, one thing was certain.

“An explanation would be appreciated,” Eun-Ho said, turning to the client.

Since they had been brought here on purpose, there had to be a reason they were being shown this.

“I-I don’t know anything!” the client cried, waving her hands as she backed away. “Who did something this horrible, or why—”

Seeing that she was hellbent on denying it, he had to force her hand. “Was it because of this?”

“B-because of what?”

“An independence movement.”

“Huh?”

“Then, let’s stop the act here.” Eun-Ho continued calmly, staring into her eyes, “how about we have a little talk between Rebels?”

“What do you mean by an independence movement? Independence from what, exactly?” the client asked.

“Are you an actress by any chance? Your acting’s impressive.”

From beginning to end, the woman played dumb. Sure if one asked someone, “Hey, are you part of an independence movement?” no sane idiot was going to answer, “Yes! Absolutely!”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you have any proof?”

Oh, yes I do.

“Summon.”

Fwoosh—

A thick stack of stiff, old-calendar-like paper appeared above his palm. They were aged sheets, covered in dozens of handprints, with broom-like smears dragged across them.

To all employees and allies across the universe! We, the Self-Purification Corps, hereby declare to the Company. Today’s righteous act is meant to sever the eternal chain of corruption...

It was the Declaration of Independence, a grandiose document.

“I found this.”

The tremor in the client’s pupils lasted only a moment. Soon, her eyes narrowed into a sharp, unmistakable line. “I’ve never seen that document before.”

However, Eun-Ho wasn’t done yet. “And this is the signature you gave earlier.”

“Sorry? What about the signature?”

The signature itself wasn’t the problem.

Eun-Ho pointed out a fingerprint pressed with ink. “You used a thumbprint, didn’t you?”

“A thumbprint?”

“You deliberately used only your right-hand fingerprint.”

Every handprint on the declaration was a right hand, so Eun-Ho had matched it the same way for every single signature he’d received up to now.

“Could you hold out your hand?”

“Why do you need my hand?”

“I’ll apply ink so you can leave a thumbprint. It’s volatile ink that disappears after, so it’s better than a regular ink pad.”

“Fingerprints are unique, you know.”

“Don’t tell me—”

“Luckily, that applies to you too.”

The woman froze like stone.

“Who asks for a signature and a thumbprint?”

From the very first signature from Guk Ryang and Soeju, this had been the plan. That was how he figured her out the moment she signed.

He thought there had to be a reason she brought them there, hence he planned to wait until she explained herself. However, if she was going to deny it to the bitter end, he couldn’t just let that slide.

“Ha...” Her head drooped and a low sound escaped. It was somewhere between a sigh and a groan.Then, she silently brushed her hair back. “Well, shit. You got me.”

“Huh?”

“You’re sharp as hell,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Wasn’t it perfect though?”

“... What was?”

“The cowardly researcher acts.”

Click—

A flame bloomed at the tip of her index finger as she lit the cigarette. White lab coat, kind-looking face, stuttering, and the timid demeanor were gone without a trace. All of it had been an act.

Everyone stared, mouths agape.

“What the hell is going on? Why did she suddenly flip like this?”

“Uh, isn’t this underground?” Ji-Eun said nervously, finally working up the courage to speak. “Um, excuse me, but you probably shouldn’t smoke in here—”

“Shut it, kid.”

Ji-Eun snapped her mouth shut instantly. “Eek!”

She puckered her lips, blowing smoke rings. “Thinking about it, It was weird that you made me sign first thing. So, when did you start suspecting me?”

“When I saw you weren’t affected by the hallucinations.”

“So from the very start, huh.”

Eun-Ho wasn’t sure at first, but seeing how calm she was now confirmed it. “It wasn’t a buff, but it just didn’t show, right? You probably just have an absurd amount of Stamina.”

“You’re the weird ones. Stamina dropping like flies with bodies that frail.”

“And there’s more.”

“More? Like what?”

“You never collapsed onto the dirt.”

Her eyebrow shot up. “What?”

“I noticed you always fell into relatively clean spots, like tree stumps. You’re tidier than you look, apparently.”

Eun-Ho was basically asking if, even for the sake of acting, she just didn’t want to lie on the bare ground.

“Your convulsing, foaming-at-the-mouth performance was flawless,” he said. “But the details were sloppy.”

“Ha... Fuck.” She cursed. “What are you, psychic?”

“Let’s just say I’m perceptive.”

I do have mind-reading, but I couldn’t use it on you, Eun-Ho thought.

The researcher planted one leg over the other and puffed away, lost in thought. “Well, whatever. I’ve shown you everything already.”

Then, she ground the cigarette butt into a nearby piece of equipment and brought two fingers to her lips and whistled.

Wheeee—

A sharp sound ripped through the deep-sea silence of the space.

“Don’t try anything funny,” Eun-Ho warned.

She glanced his way and smirked faintly. Then, she raised her arm and waved it overhead as she shouted, “Come out, you idiot!”

Far down the long corridor, in the pitch-dark depths, an old capsule rattled and fabric fluttered somewhere within.

Creaaak— Clank—

“Fuck! What now?” said Swear-Master.

“Get behind me!” Eun-Ho shouted.

The flickering lights barely illuminated what was right in front of them. Between the ominous tanks, something was approaching.

What could it be?

Honestly, nothing should’ve been more shocking than a stuttering junior researcher turning into a cigarette-smoking lunatic in one second flat. Or so he thought.

“Huh?”

“They figured it out. Just say it yourself.”

“... A bird?”

Under the flickering lights, cutting through the eerie rows of tanks, a crow flapped toward them and flew straight into Eun-Ho’s arms.

“Hey, my friend!”