Ch.103Blood Capsule (2)

# The Deserted Hospital located on an unknown floor of the Anomalous Apartment.

When someone is in the consultation room, the corridor outside becomes safe.

Blood capsules can be produced through the blood collection device connected to the machine in the consultation room.

Click.

After writing this memo, I pressed the pen cap to prevent the tip from drying out.

Yoon Daju and Heo Yoon sat on the bed.

Heo Yoon was organizing what they had discovered.

“Daju. Did you find out anything else besides this?”

“There are some things wandering outside.”

“Ah, right. That too.”

It would take time to reach the elevator through the corridor.

To prevent unexpected situations, they decided to wait quietly in the consultation room for at least 10 minutes.

A narrow, dark room.

Light from the corridor seeped in from outside the door.

Daju fidgeted with the IV line.

“Do you want to try this too, unnie? It’s surprisingly fun to insert the needle.”

“No thanks.”

When you insert the needle and wait, the device attached to the wall draws blood.

The Blood Capsule seems to be made using that as raw material.

A pill that can cure any disease at once.

Heo Yoon clicked her tongue in disappointment.

It seemed valuable, but it had a fatal flaw.

“Anyway, you said the effect disappears after 10 minutes. With such a short shelf life, we can’t even stockpile them.”

“Well…”

Daju giggled, leaving room for doubt.

It felt somehow unpleasant.

“You could take one preventively, right? Like a deworming medicine.”

“What are you talking about? Is this the same as deworming medicine? This is something you’d only use in a life-or-death situation. How could anyone trust and take something like this?”

“Then, unnie.”

The two sat side by side.

Daju leaned in, closing the distance between them.

“How about this? What if you’re currently suffering from some strange disease and are on the verge of death, but you’re completely unaware of it? Think of it like having a symptomless time bomb attached to your body.”

Heo Yoon tightened her crossed arms.

When had she crossed her arms?

“But if you take the medicine now, you would unexpectedly save your life. Without knowing anything.”

“Hey. Stop saying weird things.”

“What do you think? Isn’t it fun?”

Something felt ominous.

Daju continued talking with a smile.

“This Blood Capsule. I’ve experimented with it in various ways.”

Her voice was playful as usual, but there was also something sinister about it.

Daju couldn’t have had time to experiment.

Heo Yoon had entered here just minutes after Daju had rushed in.

So, was this another of Daju’s pranks?

She might be acting to tease someone as usual, but something felt off.

Daju lifted up a Blood Capsule.

Heo Yoon had thought she’d given them all to Yebin earlier, but apparently Daju had kept one.

The dim light filtering in from the corridor.

The translucent capsule glowed ruby red.

“This is a fetus.”

“What…?”

“When it hasn’t fully developed yet, it contains infinite possibilities. It can cure any disease we can imagine.

Cancer? Gone instantly. Serious trauma? Even severed arms heal completely.

Everything needed for healing is included in appropriate proportions.”

“Hey, Yoon Daju.”

“But after about 10 minutes, everything changes.”

Daju shook her head and smiled.

The look in her eyes beneath her bob cut had a completely different color.

It was a light Heo Yoon had never seen before, indescribable.

“I said this is a fetus earlier.”

The red capsule squirmed between Daju’s fingers.

Daju wasn’t actually touching it.

It was moving and thrashing about on its own.

“What do you think will be born from this, unnie?”

“…”

Giggling, Daju held the pill right up to Heo Yoon’s face.

The red world filled her vision.

Bubbles constantly rose inside.

As if the contents were boiling.

Deep within the capsule, a shape briefly flashed by.

Malicious whispers continued to echo.

The end of everything.

That they would kill each other and crave flesh and blood.

That it existed for that purpose.

Once it escaped and obtained flesh in this world, everything would end…

Heo Yoon felt a splitting headache.

It wasn’t just because of the whispers.

She had encountered this entity before, but she couldn’t remember who it was.

When was it?

She felt an inexplicable urge.

She wanted to put this in her stomach, to carry it inside her body.

She wanted to keep caring for it.

She wanted to protect it somehow while surviving in this hellish place.

‘Baby…’

‘Seok… Hayul…?’

The name Heo Yoon had faintly recalled disappeared back into oblivion.

Thud.

The capsule fell to the floor.

And was mercilessly crushed.

Squish-

Yoon Daju stomped on the capsule without a moment’s hesitation.

“That’s enough. You don’t need to know, unnie.”

“Unnie?”

Daju turned with an innocent face.

Heo Yoon asked with trembling fingers.

“Daju. Are you doing this because I hit you earlier?”

Was Daju under some kind of spell?

Was she trying to drag Heo Yoon into some unknown world with malicious intent?

“I hit you because I thought you were possessed by the Memetic Kill Agent. I was trying to bring you back to your senses. I’m sorry.”

But she couldn’t sense that distinctive feeling the Memetic Kill Agent gave off.

That made her even more anxious.

The possibility that Yoon Daju was normal.

The last thing Heo Yoon thought of was the only alternative that made sense.

“Are you not trying to tease me because you’re angry about that?”

Could Daju be upset because Heo Yoon had slapped her out of nowhere?

Maybe she was acting to scare Heo Yoon. To get revenge.

“I was wrong, so please stop this.”

Despite Heo Yoon’s desperate apology, Yoon Daju just kept smiling.

“Unnie. I’m fine. I’m not angry. I’m actually much better than before.”

“…Huh?”

“I took a capsule before you came. It restored me to a healthy state.”

Looking at Daju’s smiling face made Heo Yoon dizzy.

She barely held onto her senses and thought about what to do.

“Here.”

As Heo Yoon was about to leave the bed, Daju grabbed her wrist firmly.

“Look at this.”

“No!!!”

Heo Yoon squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away.

She knew well that there was no safe place here. Of course, she also knew that she could be attacked in any way at any time.

And that there wasn’t much she could trust.

But she never dreamed she would be attacked like this by Daju.

“I said look!”

“No!!! What are you trying to do to me?!”

Heo Yoon struggled frantically, but the grip on her hand was too strong.

“Let go!!!”

At that moment.

Click-

At the unexpected sound, Heo Yoon opened her eyes.

Daju was holding a phone camera, smiling broadly.

“What is this?”

Still not fully understanding the situation, Heo Yoon stared blankly at Daju.

“Yoon Daju, are you okay? What is this?”

“What do you think? It’s a hidden camera prank.”

Heo Yoon was at a loss for words.

“I had no choice. There were literally no scenes of you whimpering.”

“…You know you’re going to die when we get out of here, right?”

Even Yoon Daju couldn’t help but flinch at Heo Yoon’s murderous glare.

“I have something to say too.”

“I’ll give you one minute. We need to leave by then anyway.”

“It was a prank, but it wasn’t just a prank.”

“I’m going to leave you in this corridor.”

“I’m serious!”

At first, Heo Yoon tried to ignore her.

She was too shocked and angry to even look at Yoon Daju.

But what followed was something Heo Yoon could never have imagined.

“Unnie. Why do you think I knew so much about this place?”

“What?”

“Don’t you think it’s strange that I immediately stuck a needle in my arm when we arrived on a floor we’d never been to before?”

That was true.

Daju, AI, and even Yebin had sat in the consultation room without any suspicion.

Trusting a machine they’d never seen before.

“You’re always weird, you crazy girl.”

“Yes. That’s what you thought and moved on. But I had my reasons.”

Yoon Daju closed her eyes and opened them again.

In her instantly transformed gaze, Heo Yoon could see that eerie feeling from before.

“I remembered everything when I came here.”

A dreamy, languid tone.

Half-closed eyelids as if dreaming.

Yoon Daju seemed to be recalling a memory from long ago.

“This Blood Capsule. It’s something I experimented with before.”

“When exactly.”

Yoon Daju brushed her bob cut back.

“Ten years ago.”

***

[Research on Memory Injection and Integration]

Memory and self cannot be completely identified as the same.

Memory and self can be interconverted under specific conditions.

In other words, it is possible to implement a new self based on a collection of memories.

The conditions are as follows:

1. The collection of memories must be sufficiently large.

2. The memories must contain essential “core fragments” that cannot be copied or interpreted.

3. There must be an appropriate physical body to maintain and combine the memories.

[Omitted]

Based on this preliminary research, experiments on memory injection and integration were conducted.

[Omitted]

Through [Process 1], the memories of Subject-1 were extracted and replicated on a special computer server.

For “core fragments” that could not be copied or interpreted, they were stored in physical storage devices (brain fragments) for use.

Subject-1 died immediately following this procedure.

The memories of Subject-2, Subject-3, and Subject-4 were extracted and replicated in the same manner.

Despite sufficient medical measures being taken during the process of extracting brain fragments to preserve the “core fragments,” all subjects died.

[Experiment 1]

After compiling memories in appropriate proportions to form a new self, they were injected into Subject-5.

Subject-5 exhibited extreme anxiety symptoms along with multiple personality disorder.

After a week, Subject-5’s body began to collapse. We presume this is because a body unsuitable for the mind begins to collapse on its own.

Subject-5 died a month later due to shock from encephalitis and increased intracranial pressure.

[Experiment 2]

After compiling memories in appropriate proportions to form a new self, it was registered on a computer server.

No physical collapse was observed.

Additional research results show that the newly constructed self, AI, feels like a person walking around in the space within the server.

We have been able to edit the AI’s memories using programs.

[Data Discarded]

[Experiment 3]

Information was stored through DNA base sequences, and capacity was secured through chromosome/nuclear configuration processes.

After injecting nuclei containing sufficient amounts of memory into ■■■■, we observed the progress while cultivating ■■■■.

To obtain meaningful results, ■■■■■■ was used in the process of cell cultivation.

As a result ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

[Data Discarded]

– The exploration of possibilities should be conducted within a controllable range.

We have agreed to preserve some of the experimental results as a warning about the reckless experiments and safety insensitivity that have been occurring recently.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

■■■10% of the experiment participants died immediately. The researchers were moved to the Foundation’s medical facilities and isolated, but ■■■■ was found in their body tissues and they were disposed of.

All personnel involved in the research, including researchers, workers, and management personnel, died within a month.

■■■■ is currently isolated at ■■■■■■■■, the Foundation’s special infectious disease management facility.

[Author Information]

■ame■ ■■■■■■*

Yoon Daju *

■■■■■r ■■■■er*

■■■■*

■■■■■■■■*

[Data Corrupted]

■■■■■■■■

Personnel marked with an asterisk (*) indicate those who died during the research.

Personnel without any special marking were responsible for post-processing and organizing research results, are alive, and have no correlation with this experiment.

All experimental records belong to the Foundation and are prohibited from being leaked externally.