episode_0186

Chapter 6 Episode 42 – Pathology

“Uuuu… … .”

As soon as I entered the laboratory, I heard the sound of someone dying.

“What’s not going well?”

“Uh, huh? Director?”

I made eye contact with Olivia, who was sprawled out on the sofa in the lab. His skin is dull, his hair is matted, and the dark circles under his eyes make it seem like he’s been working all night for the past few days. You’re having a hard time.

“Now, wait a minute. Please don’t look.”

Olivia must have been aware that her appearance was a mess, so she covered her face with the sleeve of her white gown and avoided my gaze.

“Now what? I’ve often seen worse than that.”

“Ugh… . I’ll take a shower first.”

It was about 30 minutes later that Olivia went into the bathroom and came out feeling soft.

“So. What is the status of the treatment?”

“Well… . It didn’t work out well. This disease cannot exist naturally, and it was a completely new type that had never been treated in the existing medical community.”

“You mean you can’t make a cure?”

“Yes… . I can’t make it.”

Olivia said she couldn’t make medicine. I’ve never had anything like this before.

‘As expected, the Lord of Plague is different.’

Well, if she could solve it this easily, she wouldn’t be an S-class heroine.

“Then did you find out anything about that disease?”

Olivia’s eyes began to sparkle at my question. When an otaku is asked a question about a field they are interested in, their eyes change.

“Hehe. Well, on the surface, this virus is not much different from past flu epidemics. But if you look at this, there is something suspicious about the genetic information that seems natural at first glance. When observed individually, it is easy to mistake it for just an unnecessary by-product of the mutation process, but in fact, it is a kind of code to hide the true role of this virus. By the way, this virus has another strange device. Here, if you look at this, there’s a strange protein, and it’s an antenna. Oh, the antenna is just a metaphor. This means that it is designed to mutate on its own by receiving specific external signals. Hehehe. and… .”

“Stop, stop.”

If you leave me alone, I’ll talk all day long.

Still, it is clear that Olivia has a fairly deep understanding of the demonic plague.

“Why can’t we make a cure? Well, it’s not impossible if you don’t have enough materials or need time, so I’d like to give it a try.”

“Well, after a certain period of time after infection, this virus… . It mutates the cells of the human body. Treatment means physically killing the virus, but since mutated cells are also treated as viruses, the treatment is actually poisonous unless it is immediately after infection.”

“What is that? It’s a scam.”

Even if he is the Lord of Plague, isn’t this too much of a fraud? It mutates the cells of the body, making treatment impossible.

And if you send a signal remotely, it will activate and turn you into a mine?

It’s a fucking scam.

“Hmm… . Oh, then how about this?”

I took out the deterioration plate purification stone from my pocket. There was definitely a time when this purification stone was used to turn a demon back into a human. Of course, the person died, but in any case, the important thing is that there are experimental results showing that treatment can be done with purification stones.

If Olivia worked a little harder, wouldn’t it be possible to cure it without dying?

With that in mind, I lightly threw the purification stone.

“Augh–!”

That guy is also really in shape. I can’t believe I can’t even get that.

Olivia gave me an annoyed look, but I ignored it.

“It’s Jeong Hwa-seok. Do you know?”

“Ugh… . Isn’t it a holy relic of the Virgin Mary?”

“Okay. But that is an artificially created deterioration plate. The real thing will be brought back soon.”

“Oh… . This is artificially created… .”

Olivia looks at Jeonghwa-seok with curious eyes. I nodded as if I could figure out if something was artificial.

“I personally conducted an experiment. It was effective when I applied it to an infected person. However, seeing as the disease was cured but died, there might be some side effects…”

“Hmm… . Is that so. That’s interesting. We’ll have to do research first, but if treatment is truly possible, side effects can be reduced, so there’s no problem.”

“Good. I wanted to hear that answer.”

“Hehe, hehe… . I feel motivated.”

Once an important issue was resolved, Olivia’s condition came into view.

There were no glasses or freckles, and her face was glowing softly.

“I guess you put on makeup? Did you use what you made back then?”

“Oh, did you recognize it? Ugh… I’m embarrassed… .”

“I don’t know why you’re interested in makeup now, but you look good.”

“Well, is that right? lol… . It was worth researching cosmetics for a few days… . Good things were made.”

“Good. But actually, the original version was good, so the makeup probably worked well.”

“Ugh… ? Well, that means nothing, nothing, what does it mean… .”

“What does it mean? Literally.”

Olivia, who was shaking as if she was buffering, avoided my gaze and ran away into the lab.

I was so embarrassed that I was about to leave when Olivia, with her face slightly exposed, spoke.

“Well, I forgot to tell you… . It’s Daisy’s birthday soon.”

“Oh, that’s right. Time flies so quickly.”

For Daisy, her birthday is the most terrible day of the year.

The reason is that Daisy has seizures at a certain time every year, which coincides with her birthday.

When the seizure begins, Daisy loses control of her powers. Since it is a body that seals the Lord of Death, when the power is released, a literal massacre occurs.

Because of this, all the kind-hearted residents of the village who had collected Daisy in the past died during Daisy’s birthday party.

This past pain has been forgotten thanks to the special treatment prescribed to Daisy, but perhaps traces remain deep in her subconscious, and as her birthday approaches, Daisy becomes extremely anxious.

The cause of the seizure has not yet been determined. However, as the severity of the seizures increases with each passing year, it seems that as Daisy grows, her body develops defects.

Perhaps the artificially created body is reaching the end of its lifespan.

“I’ll bring Daisy back soon.”

After hearing my answer, Olivia ran away again.

Even though I had to run away to the lab anyway, I respected her wishes and decided not to harass her further.

*

*

next day. I opened my eyes early in the morning and naturally smiled at the warmth I felt next to me. Because Daisy was sleeping next to me.

Occasionally, it may come to me during the night, even when I’m sleeping separately, as if I’m having a scary dream.

As I stroked the head of Daisy, who was frowning and tossing and turning, her uncomfortable expression changed into a comfortable smile.

Deathlord and Daisy.

Who owns that body?

When the Deathlord awakened, she recognized me. Looking at this alone, it appears that the personality of the Lord of Death is taking control of Daisy’s body, but we cannot be sure.

Because he might share Daisy’s memories.

‘But does Daisy’s personality even exist in the first place?’

Daisy’s body was artificially created. So, was consciousness also formed in that process?

If this place were real, and Daisy’s body was perfectly identical to a human’s. There must be consciousness. In the end, human consciousness is nothing more than the functioning of the living brain.

But in this worldview, it is impossible to know. There are gods who do not die unless their soul is destroyed. Humans deal with an unknown power called Arc, which is similar to inner energy.

It is difficult to judge based on common sense of reality alone.

Knock knock–.

I turned my head when I felt a tap on my shoulder, and before I knew it, Daisy had woken up and was staring at me. Did I stroke it too much?

“Did you have a nightmare again?”

– yes. There were a lot of people. Everyone seemed nice, but I was scared because they all suddenly collapsed.

It was probably a memory from when he killed all the villagers before coming to the Bureau.

Daisy experienced something at a young age that was difficult for even an adult to handle, so the shock she received was beyond imagination.

Daisy lost her emotions and closed her heart. From the beginning, it was impossible to even proceed with psychological treatment because they refused access or conversation.

So what I chose was memory erasure.

With Olivia’s help, all of Daisy’s memories were erased. It would have been best if it were possible to partially erase it, but unfortunately, such technology did not exist yet. It was best to create a blank slate.

However, memories are not erased that easily. In fact, erasing Olivia’s memory is not really erasing it, but rather severing the connection so that she cannot recall it.

Therefore, you can recall it in the form of a dream like you do now, or if there is an opportunity, you can restore the broken connection and retrieve the memory.

– mister?

When I didn’t respond, Daisy tapped my shoulder again and spoke to me. Since she uses sign language to communicate, Daisy cannot tell whether her words were conveyed properly.

Instead of answering, I held Daisy in my arms.

‘Recalling forgotten memories in the form of nightmares… . Maybe me too… .’

I shook my head.

Don’t think any more.

The truth has not been confirmed yet. No matter how logical it makes sense and how correct it may feel under the circumstances, it is only a hypothesis until its authenticity is confirmed.

More than anything, I am looking forward to the small possibility that exists, even if only in a subtle way.

Please don’t.

I hope my hypothesis is wrong.

If you have no place to return to.

Because I will no longer have the will to clear this game.