Side Story 10: Stories of Russia (10)

All of the researchers were shocked when they found out that I was missing some organs.

Even Tommy couldn’t help but be surprised.

“How are you alive when you’re missing these organs?” asked Elena in astonishment as she examined the X-rays.

“I’m not sure. How would I know?” I answered calmly.

“I used to joke about this before, but now I seriously want to see what’s inside your stomach,” said Elena, her voice dripping with curiosity.

“Just don’t touch my brain,” I answered with a chuckle.

Tommy cleared his throat.

“Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok, this isn’t something to take lightly. It’s a serious matter.”

"I’m aware of that.”

“Even if we develop a cure, you’ll die if the virus is eliminated from your system while your body is in this state.”

“I’m also aware of that.”

“Regarding Mr. Kim Hyeong-Jun and Mr. Do Han-Sol—are they also missing organs like you?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun had already left for Pyongyang. I was the only zombie around, and there was no way to check if the others still had all of their organs or not.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, but the others should still have all of their organs. I should be the only extraordinary case.”

“What exactly happened? Can you tell me about the time you mutated into a zombie?”

At Tommy’s request, I walked over to an empty seat and sat down, then filled all of them in on what had happened while I’d been trapped in the apartment in Haengdang-dong. Talking about it reminded me of how miserable and hopeless those days were. All the researchers listened to my story with rather serious faces.

When I was done telling them my story, Tommy quietly rubbed his chin.

“This is just a hypothesis, but it seems like the regenerative ability of yours only manifested from the moment the virus took control of your brain,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“In simple terms… The virus is having trouble recognizing your missing organs as part of your body.”

“It doesn’t recognize them?”

“From what you’ve told me, I believe that the black creature caused you to suffer a hernia, and you were subsequently infected with the virus through its saliva. In other words, when the virus took control of your brain, it recognized that state of your body as normal, when, in fact, it was your body while suffering from a hernia.”

So Tommy was simply saying that the virus that made it to my brain believed that my body, with its missing organs, was in its proper state, which was why it only regenerated the skin over my stomach, instead of regenerating everything.

I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression, and Tommy scratched his head, a puzzled look on his face. It seemed like he had no idea where and how to start. Then Jack, who had been listening quietly, snapped his fingers and spoke up.

“Let’s first check on the condition of your lungs.”

Tommy shook his head at Jack's suggestion.

“His lungs aren’t the problem. Right now, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok is alive, despite missing several organs. Don’t you think the priority should be to find out why?”

“That’s why we need to check the progress of his fibrosis. I’m sure the answer lies down that path.”

“No. I think we should examine his brain waves first. We discovered that the zombie viruses were closely related to brain function when we were developing the vaccine. I say that we should focus on figuring out how the virus works within the human body first…”

Jack slammed his fist on the desk and raised his voice.

“We’re the ones developing the cure! I say that checking for pulmonary fibrosis should be the first step.”

His unexpected reaction caused Tommy to fall silent. Alyosha, who had been listening quietly to them arguing, spoke up tactfully.

“Sorry everyone, but Tommy is the director of the Russian Institute. Please follow Tommy’s opinion.”

Elena chimed in as well, “He’s right Jack. I'd appreciate it if you followed Tommy’s lead for now.”

The other Canadian researchers each spoke up and stood behind Jack. In an instant, the Russian researchers and Canadian researchers were taking sides. I looked at them, massaging my temples.

“Did you come all the way from Canada to Russia to fight?” I said, trying to defuse the situation. “Everyone, please calm down and take a seat.”

The researchers rolled their eyes and sat down. Jack turned to meet my gaze.

“Did you say your name is Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok?”

“Yes.”

“Listen carefully to what I’m going to say to you from now on. This virus you have, it has the capability to save people, even those who are on the verge of death. If the virus recognizes your missing organs as a part of you, you’ll be able to regenerate them.”

“And how do you think it’ll learn to recognize organs that are already gone?”

“By transplanting someone else’s organs into you, of course.”

My eyebrows twitched when I heard his reply. He was basically saying that the first step toward making me human again was to transplant someone else’s organs into my stomach.

“That’s nonsense!” Tommy exclaimed with a frown. “It’s too dangerous.”

"What exactly is dangerous about it?"

“Even if we find the most suitable organs and transplant them into Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok, we won’t know what complications might arise, since he’s already infected with the virus. Also, if his body rejects the organs, or if the new organs don’t adjust to the virus… His body might self-destruct.”

“Well, it’s our job as researchers to prevent that from happening. And the zombie virus is immune to any type of disease. There’s no need to worry about complications.”

“How can you be sure that it’s immune to everything? The Korean Brain Research Institute developed a drug that stimulates the violence of zombies by causing the body to over-secrete serotonin. Ultimate immunity, perfect immunity, whatever you want to call it, doesn’t exist.”

“...”

Jack didn't bother to respond to Tommy, but just looked at me instead. It seemed like everything depended on my decision. Tommy looked at me as well, his face growing red. All the researchers shared the same expression, giving me the same look that doctors gave their patients while waiting for them to make a decision. I placed my right hand on my forehead and considered the matter.

I knew that Tommy was probably right when it came to the surgery itself. But, when it came to the surgical process, and the possibility of being treated, I knew that I had to go along with Jack, since the Canadian researchers had been conducting research on the cure for a long time.

I sighed softly.

“Let’s first examine how much the fibrosis has progressed, then conduct the research related to brain waves.”

“Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok!”

“Tommy, there’s no use in developing a cure if I can’t restore my organs. I think, for now, it’d be better for me to restore my organs, before shifting focus to developing a cure.”

I tried to answer as neutrally as possible, but Tommy still clenched his fists and bit his lip. He glared at Jack with eyes full of animosity. Instead of returning the glare, Jack just shrugged at Tommy and smiled.

“I’m sure you won’t disagree, since the infected person wants it to be this way, right?”

With that, Tommy grabbed the papers on the desk and stormed out. The laboratory was dead silent as Alyosha and Elena followed Tommy out of the laboratory. Then Jack got up and offered me a broad smile.

“Alright then,” he said, “let’s examine your lungs first. Let’s move over to the animal testing ward.”

I gave Jack a small nod in return and followed him. As I walked out, I saw Tommy’s silhouette in the distance. Unfortunately, I had no other choice. The most pressing thing to do was to get my organs back. I also wanted to find out what the Canadian researchers really had in mind.

Ever since they’d arrived, they’d been going on and on about pulmonary fibrosis day and night. To be honest, they seemed more interested in this fibrosis than developing a cure for the zombie virus. It seemed something fishy was going on. And Jack acted like a next-door neighbor, greeting me every morning with a smile on his face, rather than being wary of me, considering the damned state of the world. That in itself was all too strange and suspicious.

Perhaps I was being slightly paranoid, but my intuition told me that something wasn’t quite right. My intuition had never failed me. Not only that, but I’d been able to avoid placing myself in jeopardy so far because I was overly sensitive and cautious about everything.

That was why I wanted to volunteer myself as a test subject, to find out what their true intentions were. I wouldn’t have suspected the Canadian researchers if they had been wary of me, cursed me out, or threatened me from the start. In fact, their excessive kindness seemed much more suspicious.

I felt bad that I had disappointed Tommy, but I had to fool the ones on my side in order to fool the others as well.

* * *

When we entered the animal testing ward, a lab on the right caught my attention. It was shielded by thick tempered glass, and there was a bed in the middle. I lay down on the bed, and a Canadian researcher came up to me.

“I’ll go ahead and sedate you.”

She was a female researcher with short blonde hair. I gave her a small nod. To be honest, I didn’t need anesthesia because my body didn’t feel any pain anyway. I wondered if the Canadian researchers didn’t know that zombies were not affected by pain, or if they wanted to put me to sleep for a different reason.

I gently closed my eyes and let them do as they wished. I felt the anesthesia start to work, and pretended to be asleep. Of course, with this body of mine, I could never fall asleep unless I took medicine to suppress my zombie instincts or if I ate a zombie brain. The blonde Canadian researcher at my bedside made sure that I was asleep, then spoke to Jack.

“He’s asleep,” she said.

"Are you sure? It’s hard to tell if he’s asleep since we can’t detect his heartbeat.”

“His pupils are dilated.”

“Are you sure? A hundred percent?”

"Yes. He’s not reacting to light.”

I was able to get away with reacting to light because my blue eyes would flash when I accelerated my blood flow. Jack sighed, then addressed the researchers next to him.

“Alright then. Let’s start. Make the incision.”

I closed my eyes, fully focused on their conversation. The researcher on the left began to speak as he peered into my stomach.

“Wow… Hmm… The fibrosis is already serious. His organs have stopped functioning properly.”

Jack asked for some human blood. Once they dropped a drop of human blood onto my fibrotic lung, my zombie instincts began to awaken. I began to feel a hunger for human flesh, and the smell of fresh human flesh began to tickle my nose. It was just one drop of blood, and my body wanted more.

I channeled strength into my trembling limbs as I struggled to suppress my raging heart. Then I heard Jack’s voice.

“I knew he’d react to this. Everyone, look; his lung fibrosis is disappearing.”

“Doctor, take a look at this. His heart has also started to beat slightly.”

When I heard that my heart was beating, my eyebrows couldn’t help but twitch. To be honest, it was impossible not to be surprised. My heart, which I had believed to be dead, was still very much alive. Of course, it wasn’t performing its role of supplying blood throughout my body, like the heart in an ordinary human being. Instead, it was responding to external stimulation.

It seemed like my heart only beat when I found prey, or when I was in battle. And its movements were so miniscule that it was difficult to detect with the naked eye. I continued to eavesdrop, unable to even swallow the saliva collecting in my mouth, since I had to pretend that I was asleep.

I heard Jack’s voice again.

“See, what did I say? We can surely develop a cure for this virus.”

“And if we do develop a cure for it, the fight against fibrosis will be over.”

"Of course. And that’s not all. Once we develop a cure for the zombie virus, we can cure many chronic diseases that we never thought were curable throughout human history.”

“Congratulations, Doctor.”

“It’s still too early to celebrate. We have to turn this guy back into a human in order to say that we succeeded.”

I could hear the excitement in his voice. His voice was triumphant, as though everything was going as planned. After a moment, a different researcher spoke up.

“Doctor. The incision is already closing. Shall I open it up again?”

“What incredible powers of regeneration. Open it up again. We need to look at the severed parts of the organs.”

With that, the researcher cut me open again, and Jack examined the area where my organs had been severed.

“The blood vessels in the area where the organs were severed are already healed. The blood coagulated without any internal bleeding, even without any suturing. How is this possible? His powers of regeneration are more amazing than I’d anticipated.”

“Where should we get organs from?”

“Let’s begin the operation when the transport brings over the organs. Tell them to load the organs on the second transport.”

"Yes sir. By the way, Doctor, do you think this will be okay? It’s all unplanned, after all.”

“If the experiment is successful, we’ll develop the means to regenerate severed body parts. We’ll be making history for mankind.”

Something strange occurred to me as I continued to eavesdrop on their discussions. Perhaps they were speaking in this manner because they had dedicated their all to research, but to me, it sounded as though they were trying to make use of the virus rather than to cure it.

Soon after my incision healed, the researchers removed their gloves and put them in the trash. Jack looked around at the other researchers.

“Did you bring your research materials?” he asked them.

“Yes, I did.”

“Don’t let their contents leak out. Hide them well, so that the Russians don’t get their hands on them.”

I narrowed my eyes and scrutinized the researcher who’d said that he had the research materials. He was a male researcher with dark brown hair. The researcher asked a follow-up question.

“But, Doctor, shouldn’t we share a little bit of what we found out? They’ll be suspicious of us if we don’t share enough information.”

“Hmm, good point. In that case, just give them the research data related to fibrosis and skin tissue. Keep the rest to ourselves. They're the ones who made the vaccine after all, so we can’t underestimate their abilities.”

“It would be nice if the Russians could come up with a cure as well.”

“We have to develop it together. Shouldn’t we also leave our names in history, so that the future will remember who we were?”

As I continued to listen to them my thoughts began to grow complicated, and I had trouble organizing them. I understood that they were trying to develop a cure, but I couldn’t prevent the strange feeling that welled up within me.

It felt as though the person who had developed the zombie virus was trying to cover up what they’d done.