Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Junni
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The spacious operating room with its high ceiling had medical staff standing in a circle around the operating table.
Surrounding the doctors like city walls were all sorts of equipment in this operating room larger than usual.
A nurse checked one of the monitors and spoke up.
"Activation stage 1. Pulse is weak."
One of the doctors glanced at the monitor.
"The heart hasn't given up; it's still fighting individually."
"The cervical spine damage is severe. In a normal case, the heart would have stopped the moment the cervical spine was severed."
Another doctor said.
Beep.
As a sound came from the monitor, the nurse checked it again and reported.
"Entering activation stage 2."
The first doctor looked at the monitor, and the second doctor gestured with his hand. A man in surgical scrubs sitting at a computer on one side typed something.
"It's activating a bit fast, as expected. Probably because the Tier 1 test subject's baseline physical abilities are so good."
"The research results showing a correlation between the subject's physical abilities and spreading speed are significant. Let's note that down."
Their conversation didn't sound like that of ordinary doctors.
At that moment, the door opened, and someone in surgical scrubs wheeled in a cart. The nurse turned and said.
"Blood packs incoming."
Clank.
The cart stopped beside the operating table, and the neatly stacked blood packs on it shook lightly. Each blood pack had the same label.
Donor: Ivanov
Above the high-ceilinged operating room, behind the glass in the observation room, people were looking down. They were a mix of people in suits and uniforms. Among them was Yeonha.
The doctor looked at Doyoung, who lay there with an oxygen mask on. The bloodstains had all been washed away with saline, but under the operating room lights, his completely bloodless face was no different from that of a corpse.
The doctor said with hope in his voice.
"Don't give up, Major."
***
While watching the surgery for a long time, Yeonha's wristband buzzed with an incoming call. Yeonha moved to the back of the observation room and answered.
[Mama, when are you coming?]
Her young son's voice rang out.
"I'm coming soon. Just wait a little."
[Papa's not here either.]
"Papa's coming to Mama too."
As she spoke, Yeonha left the observation room.
"If you're playing, soon..."
She paused mid-sentence. In the hallway stood Gamal, covered in blood, not even sitting down—just standing there.
Everyone had been too busy to notice her, but with no color in her face at all, she looked like a ghost. At least two soldiers were guarding her a step behind.
"Mama's coming soon."
Yeonha ended the call and approached Gamal.
"Gamal."
Gamal slowly raised her eyes to look at Yeonha.
"Is Doyoung alive?"
"He will be."
Yeonha replied in a firm tone that left no room for doubt. But Gamal nodded as if it didn't really matter.
"Do you want to stay here?"
When Yeonha asked, Gamal gave the tiniest nod, barely noticeable. Yeonha grabbed Gamal's wrist.
"Alright. But first, let's wash off the blood. Hygiene issues and all."
Gamal looked at Yeonha with completely empty eyes. They were the eyes of someone who had despaired before despair could even set in.
Yeonha understood. Considering what Gamal had gone through and seen, the fact that she wasn't losing her mind, wailing, or fainting was miraculous in itself.
"Let's go."
Yeonha took Gamal by the hand and led her. Gamal followed obediently, without even the energy to resist.
"Is there a place to wash up around here?"
Yeonha asked a passing nurse.
"I'll show you."
They went into the room the nurse directed them to.
"Wash up."
Yeonha led Gamal all the way to the bathroom and then stepped aside.
She waited in the room, but something made her check the bathroom again—and sure enough, Gamal was just standing in the middle of it.
Yeonha hid her pitying expression and approached Gamal. When she placed a hand on her shoulder, Gamal looked at her as if returning from a distant place.
Without saying a word, Yeonha began undressing Gamal. Gamal let her do it.
Even her underwear was soaked in blood.
In the pristine white bathroom stood her pale, slender body, exuding a chilling tension like a fish skinned alive.
While filling the tub, Yeonha sprayed Gamal with the showerhead, and bright red blood started flowing down to her feet.
After the shower, Yeonha said.
"Get in."
Gamal obediently stepped into the tub and sat down. Some blood must have lingered in her hair, as a faint red tint spread through the clear water.
Gamal hugged her knees with both arms. In the meantime, Yeonha sprayed water on the bloodstained floor to clean it.
"What's the TASIL Project?"
Gamal suddenly asked. Yeonha paused and turned around.
"How do you know about that...?"
Gamal's eyes were still dull and unfocused, but she stared straight at Yeonha, waiting for an answer.
Click.
Yeonha turned off the showerhead and sat on the edge of the tub.
Water droplets fell from the showerhead, plop plop.
"TASIL is..."
She hesitated for a moment on how to explain, then decided to tell it straight, without holding back. Gamal deserved to know.
"You probably know that our Ivanov Clan runs a company."
ISLE.
A global corporation that started in the aviation industry and was now considered a pioneer in vampire-related technology.
After founder Ivan stepped down, it was currently led by Selena, Rex's first client and additional head.
"And TASIL is a classified joint project between MCTC and ISLE."
The TASIL Project's eligibility required active-duty soldiers with over 10 years of service who had the physical condition to jump into the field right away.
But after 10 years of service, most left the field, making it hard to maintain that 'physical condition for immediate field deployment.' In other words, it was a project targeted at a tiny elite few.
Soldier to Luax Transfer project. Shortened to TASIL.
Gamal just stared blankly, not clear if she understood or not. So Yeonha continued.
"In short, it's injecting the Luax Virus into the body while still human. Becoming a 'carrier.'"
Vampire blood began to necrotize the moment it left the body, making storage tricky, and even sampling was a hurdle.
But just two years ago, a bio lab under the ISLE Group finally succeeded in isolating and culturing the Luax Virus from Luax blood.
And MCTC took notice of the potential.
"I don't know how this will sound right now..."
Yeonha trailed off for a moment.
"Training a single soldier to do their job costs an enormous amount of money. Losing that soldier is an incalculable loss. Conversely, taking a Luax and training them to fit into organizational life takes no small effort and expense either."
She looked at Gamal.
"But if a soldier who's already trained dies and comes back as a Luax..."
Yeonha glanced down at her own hand.
"MCTC took notice of that insane efficiency."
"The TASIL Project has an extremely low chance of success."
The TASIL Project manager dispatched from ISLE said that to the MCTC soldiers sitting in the military classroom—the volunteers, including Doyoung.
"What we've developed is technology to carry the virus. We haven't modified the virus itself or increased infection chances. In other words, the TASIL Project's success rate is no higher than the natural odds of surviving infection."
She added.
"In fact, there's no guarantee that the carried virus will activate 100% upon the human host's death. So the TASIL Project's success odds are even slimmer."
No soldiers made particularly grave faces at that.
High risk.
Slim chances.
Unknown outcome.
They were numb to that kind of talk.
"And while no harmful reactions appeared in clinical trials, we don't know the long-term effects on the body."
Unlike coaxing a child before the dentist, the project manager scared them plenty. Then one soldier raised his hand.
"So when do we start?"
"But even when participants died during missions, the virus didn't activate."
Yeonha said calmly.
"Not once."
The TASIL Project had to be considered a failure in practice. It had gone through the motions but was essentially shut down.
But Yeonha turned to Gamal and added.
"Not until the Major."
Hearing that, a storm of memories raged in Gamal's mind from earlier.
***
"It's too late."
Captain Hugh said.
Gamal couldn't believe he was giving up on Doyoung so easily.
It couldn't be too late. Even if it was, it didn't matter. She'd do everything she could.
Baring her teeth, Gamal wailed.
"It's not too late!"
"It is."
But Captain Hugh neither flinched nor changed his firm stance. And he said.
"No other infection sources."
Suddenly, his eyes gleamed like glass beads.
"Because the infection has already started."
"What?"
Doyoung, whom the team members were desperately trying to staunch the bleeding from, was drenched dark red from the blood bursting from his neck. His eyes were still hidden by his hair.
But his waxen, bloodless face from lack of blood was no longer that of the living.
"The Major is a carrier."
Gamal blankly turned to Captain Hugh.
"Carrier...?"
"TASIL Project."
At those words, a sergeant widened his eyes and glanced sharply at Doyoung, as if realizing something belatedly.
Captain Hugh said.
"MCTC's bioforce project that pre-loads active-duty operatives with the Luax Virus, so it activates automatically upon their death. The Major was a participant."
Gamal turned to Doyoung. The surroundings fell deathly silent, and she heard it.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Unbelieving, Gamal muttered.
"The heart..."
It was beating. Slowly, but surely.
Captain Hugh nodded.
"Even with his cervical spine severed, the heart's still going. The virus has safely entered the active state."
Gamal couldn't fully grasp what Captain Hugh was saying. But one thing she knew. So she asked blankly.
"Doyoung... alive?"
"Only God knows."
What Gamal didn't know then was that Captain Hugh had swallowed the words, 'The TASIL Project has never succeeded once.' There was no basis to say it would fail this time either.
No—he wanted to believe this time it would succeed.
Gamal blankly looked at her hands. They were soaked in Doyoung's blood.
Gamal covered her eyes with both hands. From her slowly opening mouth came an indescribable sound.
It was a sound too raw to call speech or a scream—the deepest despair bursting out.
It was so agonizing that the soldiers wanted to shut their ears as tightly as closing their eyelids.
The spouses or lovers of operatives always saw their loved ones off, never sure if they'd return safely. But they rarely witnessed them dying in the field.
But Gamal had seen her lover die right before her eyes. At the hands of her own brother, and because of her.
Her feelings were beyond imagining.