45. IN Corp Cheongju Branch (2)
45. IN Corp Cheongju Branch (2)
When I think about the Extractor,
It has a square shape, embedded with two flasks that can fill a gauge of 100.
From there, a specific area.
If you go to a certain place, like Cheongju Eunha General Hospital or Future Girls' High School, it beeps and the gauge goes up.
Then, the suitability appears in red text above it, and when the blue gauge hits 100, you gain an ability that matches the red suitability.
And the IN Company special forces were guarding that.
'Then, what is the reason they're guarding it?'
I came here to find that out.
ㅡTap
ㅡTap
A quiet 2nd floor.
"Grrr."
"Grrr."
The interior was filled only with the sound of Walkers and Runners staggering about.
A hallway with office jobs like Marketing, Sales, and Planning teams.
There were quite a lot of corpses.
It seems they died to the Infected swarming from above and below while trying to leave.
ㅡTap
ㅡTap
As I carefully pushed open one office door with my rifle, I saw traces of the Infected that had mutated during the outbreak, and the people who had been killed by them.
Corpses lying face down, corpses of people who gathered in one space to defend themselves only to be surrounded and killed by the Infected.
'......'
The other places were the same.
ㅡScreech
ㅡThud
ㅡSplat!
I killed the Walkers and Runners,
And checked the break room, offices, smashed desks and chairs, and scattered documents.
[January IN Subcontract Supply Contract.]
[January Internal Regulation Change Notice.]
Useless documents.
The fact that there are Infected means the IN Company bastards didn't clean this place up...
'......'
Are they not here?
The guys like the special forces I saw before.
It's extremely strange that such a private organization exists in Korea, but I can't deny their existence just because it's weird.
I carefully headed upstairs.
"Grrr..."
"Grrr."
"......"
ㅡRip
ㅡRip
The 3rd floor was the same,
So I went straight to the 4th floor.
A place with a laboratory, raw material storage, and drug production processes.
ㅡTap
ㅡTap
For starters, the air here was different.
The structure was different from the ruined lower floors, and the lighting was different, too, so it didn't feel like a typical company office.
Soft silver lighting. A clean interior.
ㅡTap
ㅡTap
First, I decided to open the door to the Research and Development department, the lab, which looked spacious inside.
ㅡClick
It's locked.
ㅡCrunch
The door was crushed.
What I saw was, well, the typical scene of a laboratory.
"Grrr.."
"Grrr."
Walkers and Runners.
The bastards wearing white researcher uniforms.
And the corpses of researchers who couldn't escape in time.
The glass windows were stained with the bloody handprints of the researchers; it seems they were massacred inside, unable to escape as the interior was sealed off.
'......'
Especially this rotting female researcher's corpse.
ㅡThud
ㅡThud
ㅡPop
ㅡPop
I plucked the [Narin] name tag from the chest of the female researcher who looked like she died in pain, with her lower body missing, and looked around.
ㅡRip
ㅡRip
A wide desk.
Numerous flasks.
Unknown liquids inside the flasks.
Test tubes.
When I peeked into the freezer, unknown beakers and test tubes were frozen inside.
'Hmm...'
Just looking at this, it doesn't seem like they were doing anything weird.
Well, since it's an IN Company pharmaceutical firm, maybe they were doing new drug development or something like that here.
[January 2nd. Clinical trial test list.]
The documents were only things like this.
[January 3rd. Sharing clinical results and checking side effects.]
I saw a few places that were broken, too.
'There's blood, too. And Infected.'
I continued to move.
The 5th floor didn't have much, either.
"Grrr.."
Infected.
The 5th-floor lab was full of reports related to animal and clinical trials, and the office next door only had reports about the company, such as year-end tax adjustments, salaries, internal sexual harassment training, internal promotions, and personnel related to internal and external promotions, etc., etc.
'.......'
The remaining 10 floors were the same. The rest were just offices, the CEO's office, the chairman's office, and conference rooms.
There were a few computers, but they were all password-protected, so I couldn't hack into them even if I turned them on.
What a shame.
Other than the Walker and Runner Infected, nothing came out.
No new Infected.
No IN Company personnel.
Nothing about superpowers or the Nexus...
'...This is really a shame.'
If it's like this, well.
The only place left is the basement.
I sighed and headed down the stairs.
#
The basement atmosphere was eerie.
ㅡStairs that were crackle, crackle.
'Is it here?'
I went down the marble stairs.
To the basement.
I saw a thick security door.
I ripped the door open.
ㅡCrunch, crunch, crunch
ㅡBeep-beep-beep...
I just smashed the blaring security alarm, too.
What I saw was the steel stairs leading to the basement.
ㅡTap
ㅡTap
I went down the steel stairs.
A clean hallway came into view.
It didn't seem that big, though.
[Clinical Lab][Animal Lab][R&D Lab][Analysis Lab][New Drug Storage][Drug Storage][Synthetic Bio Lab]
Research and Development was on the 4th floor, but it seems it's here, too.
The problem is.
'...Why is it so stuffy?'
The air inside was so bad it was suffocating.
It felt like it was hard to breathe, even for a basement.
The smell of blood, and also, something like the smell of grilled squid.
'Is there a lack of oxygen?'
It didn't feel like that; it felt like being in a place over 60 degrees in a sauna.
'......'
But I couldn't leave.
I had no choice but to look around quickly and leave.
Because this was the only place where the IN Company bastards seemed to be.
First, I started with the Clinical Lab.
'......'
This place looked like a hospital room.
Usually, clinical trials did look like this.
'Is that a bloodstain?'
Bloodstains, flesh marks, but other than that, there were no corpses, including Infected.
I felt like there had been something sticky, but I didn't see any humans or Infected.
Since I'm already out here.
'......'
ㅡWhir
The automatic door opened.
Next was the Animal Lab.
I saw animal corpses.
White mice, and cats, dogs,
Pigs, and even monkeys.
'It was possible to experiment with those things in Korea.'
There were no legal problems, but they say there are other ethical issues.
The caged animals all seemed to have starved to death, and the dirty interior proved it.
Filth. It was covered in feces and urine.
However, there were no traces of people or Infected here either.
Only the bloodstains on the floor and orange traces proved that people had been here.
'There were Infected on the floors above, though.'
Did they disappear after being here?
That probability was higher.
It's realistic that they left the upper floors alone and headed somewhere else after doing something weird here after the outbreak.
'......'
Still, I have to see the remaining places.
R&D Lab.
Laboratory.
Experiment Lab.
RD.
I headed to the place that could be called whatever.
ㅡWhir
Usually, there's something in the R&D lab.
ㅡScreech
I opened the door.
The scene of the lab was different from the floors above.
But, well, the inside looked roughly like a laboratory.
White and clean, with clean white light bulbs, a focus on cleanliness, freezing and refrigeration storage rooms, holders with dozens of flasks, microscopes, unknown machines, a long conference table and chairs, and numerous documents on top.
It's similar to the other places.
The unique point is...
'......'
It seems the cause of the heat here is in this place.
'Did they leave a heater on or something?'
There was no heater.
However, there were bullet marks in the surroundings.
Bloodstains.
And smelly orange stuff.
'...Did they shoot a gun?'
Did they fight the Infected?
But it's hard to say that, as there were no bullet marks outside.
Traces only filled inside this place.
Sticky orange stuff.
Bloodstains.
Flesh.
'.......'
I don't know.
I sighed and looked through the documents.
'New drug development, new drug clinical trials, bioequivalence tests.'
Most of it was that.
That was when it happened. I discovered a computer turned on in the main lab ahead, and something like a tablet next to it.
It seems to be connected to other places. Is it the Analysis Lab side?
I approached that side.
ㅡWhir
The door opened.
A large, but broken glass window.
The screen that followed.
[March 15th. Cheongju Branch request for experiment related to Innovation Nexus headquarters cooperation regarding the start of the Nexus Project.][Experiment in progress.]
'...Nexus Project?'
I scrolled down.
[Subject's base suitability 89.2%, Hypnosis ability]
[To confirm the safe range for superpower replacement through the administration of 93.1 suitability Fire ability serum within a 5% error range of the appropriate concentration.]
[Secured 93.1% Fire ability within the Cheongju Branch Cheongju City Hall.]
[March 18th. Administered Fire serum to test subject 27-year-old Hanmin Baek in the Innovation Nexus Cheongju Branch internal lab.]
[Experiment in progress][Experiment progress report.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
'......?'
Cheongju City Hall.
Replacement.
Fire... serum?
ㅡTap
That was the moment. The very moment I was about to check the contents below.
I saw something inside the isolation lab ahead.
I see a sticky, unpleasant, melted human.
Black clothes.
Gas mask.
K7.
'IN Company human?'
So IN Company personnel were here.
Of course they would be. They said they did this experiment on March 18th.
They secured superpowers at the Cheongju Branch and did replacement experiments according to superpower suitability.
Wait, then...
ㅡBoom!
That moment. A loud sound rang out.
Something huge popped out from inside the lab ahead.
A monster that looked like several humans fused together.
And the fire attached to the monster's body, and huge tentacles.
And a small, melted human face attached to it.
Its eyes met mine.
And then, a scream.
"Aaaaaaaah...!"
ㅡ!!!!!!!!!
ㅡRip!
ㅡSplat!
The glass in front shattered.
Then, a huge sound echoed, and a giant tentacle flew toward me.
#
I blocked it with a metal desk first.
However, the desk was almost smashed. I stared ahead while keeping the desk floating in the air.
A long arm, or a tentacle, something long and melted.
Then, a monster's cry.
ㅡ!!!!!!!!!!
A man's scream full of pain.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
In the dark lab ahead.
Something crawling out. No, can you call that an Infected?
A melted face, and, attached to that body, numerous human corpses. The corpses all looked like IN Company special forces personnel.
Some had bare faces, but most had gas masks attached.
'What the fuck.'
Is that a Hunter? No, it's too different from what I heard.
First, one thing is for sure.
The guy kept sending one of the huge tentacles on its arm toward me, and from my perspective, I had no choice but to block it.
ㅡBang!
ㅡBang!
I lifted desks, chairs, and things to build a barricade in front.
It was smashed quickly, but it was still a useful barricade.
And through that.
ㅡRat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
I fired my gun.
However, the guy didn't seem to have any damage, and it pulled its body out while getting hit by the bullets.
'What the fuck.'
No, it's because it's at that level that the personnel here were annihilated.
What the hell did they create?
Thinking is for later; the priority is how to kill that guy.
I kept shooting to keep it in check, but the guy didn't react.
I pulled the pin on a grenade I had brought and threw it.
ㅡ!!!!!!!!!
ㅡBang!
"Aaaaaaaah!"
The monster screaming.
But it didn't seem like it was because of pain.
It looked like it had an effect, but it didn't seem like enough damage to lead to death.
Even from that wound, flames erupted, and it regenerated the wound.
ㅡCrash, bang, clatter!
"Aaaaaaaah!"
The lab is a mess, and I wonder if that guy is the reason the temperature went up. I could feel the hot heat from the guy.
'......'
Something that looks like humans bundled together in a lump.
The guy's body was slow.
Compared to the incredibly fast tentacles, the main body was slow.
I gathered metals inside the lab and sent them flying. I don't know if there are valuable things, but my survival was the priority first.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
Numerous metal steel bars stuck into the screaming guy's body.
ㅡRat-tat-tat
The guy trying to recover with flames.
The steel bars in the guy's body churned its insides.
Then.
ㅡCrack
ㅡSplat!
One thick metal steel bar pierced through the guy's head and stuck into the floor.
"Aaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaaah!"
A different scream. It doesn't die even if you pierce its head.
I changed my method.
ㅡBang!
ㅡBang!
Steel bars were stuck all over its body.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
Still a living monster.
The screaming continued.
However,
At some point.
"......"
The screaming stopped.
Then the guy's body went limp.
The hot heat gradually subsided, and blood flowed from the guy's body. The same red blood as a human.
And not long after, like parasites escaping, human corpses started to come out of the guy's body.
Men wearing special forces clothes. Men and women in uniforms.
Even men and women who look like researchers.
Corpses coming out like maggots, and a mottled body similar to the maggots.
'......'
I looked at that and coughed.