Recycling Human Trash

Lee Ga-on's eyes went round.

"A cure?"

She'd fully expected the vaccine. Asking her to produce a treatment on top of it, though, was something she clearly hadn't seen coming at all.

And she wasn't the only one whose eyes had gone wide.

It was Je Hyeon-o.

Lee Ga-on flinched at the new emoticon floating across his goggles and stumbled a step backward.

I was a little embarrassed, but I pretended not to notice and kept talking.

"The truth is, one of my teammates is turning into a zombie as well."

"Ah..."

Pity flooded Lee Ga-on's eyes in an instant.

"So that's why. I thought there was something a little off about him. It must be the infection."

...she said, turning to look at Je Hyeon-o.

"But your teammate doesn't seem very aggressive? Is it because of the equipment he's wearing? Or maybe—"

"It's not him. It's a different teammate."

"O-oh. I see."

Lee Ga-on fidgeted, sneaking glances at Je Hyeon-o.

When Je Hyeon-o put a crying face up on his goggles, she trembled — but her reaction was a little better than the first time.

At any rate, it seemed we'd succeeded in building some common ground.

Lee Ga-on put a bit more distance between herself and Je Hyeon-o, sidled closer to me, and spoke.

"I want to make a cure... but I don't have any confidence. Vaccines and treatments are completely different, and if my brother were here it might be another story, but on my own..."

Lee Ga-on bit her lip. If anyone in the world needed a cure, it was her. The fact that she was saying this at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all meant she truly had no faith in herself.

It certainly wasn't something one person could pull off in a short time.

But there's no reason she has to struggle through the research alone, is there?

Not when there were perfectly usable tools sitting right there. I made a proposal to the newly despondent Lee Ga-on.

"What if we recycled some trash?"

"Trash?"

"Yes."

I rephrased it more clearly for her benefit.

It was just a matter of taking the emergency stairs from the rooftop down to the fifth floor.

And yet it wasn't easy.

Mo Hae-in drew a deep breath and let it out. The fever had started up again, and the air she exhaled came out scorching hot. She'd been on edge this whole time, because the moment she let her guard down she was certain she'd lunge and bite Gwak Han-muk right in front of her.

She could feel, down to her bones, why Dead Zone Delivery's standing policy was to execute the infected on sight.

Her teeth itched with the urge to bite. Mo Hae-in panted roughly, her face cycling through grimace after grimace.

"Captain Mo. You hanging in there?"

"Yeah."

"Want me to put you down?"

"...Before I get put down, I'm taking a chunk out of you."

The vow of a two-for-one zombification made Gwak Han-muk cackle. It was so infuriating she almost forgot the pain of the transformation for a moment.

Mo Hae-in glared at him with a look that said she'd like nothing more than to take one good bite, then muttered under her breath.

"Still. I'm glad you're on the team for this op."

"Goyo hyung-nim's on the team too."

"..."

Mo Hae-in didn't answer. But in her head, she was already thinking of Han Goyo.

Director Jang Seok-yun had made Han Goyo's purpose perfectly clear. Right now, Han Goyo was neither a soldier of the Era Bureau nor a comrade. He was simply a tool for closing trials. He was a dangerous existence, so they would spend a month verifying his usefulness — and if he didn't prove to be a worthwhile asset, he would be disposed of and handed over for research.

Mo Hae-in had intended to treat Han Goyo with that same mindset. But it was proving harder than she'd expected.

The moment she'd seen him locked in the isolation cell had been like that too. It was one of the better rooms in the Era Bureau's isolation facility, but a prison was still a prison. The structure didn't even allow the occupant to open the door from inside. The sight of him waiting for someone to open it from the outside, then bowing in greeting the instant Gwak Han-muk swung the steel door open, had left her speechless.

Standing there in a neatly arranged uniform, looking at her with a hint of nervousness, Han Goyo's eyes had been nothing but clean. There wasn't a speck of resentment for the people who'd put him in that situation. He'd even smiled, faintly, when she returned the greeting.

There was no way she could look at that and treat him like a tool, or a monster.

And then in the trial, he's a lunatic among lunatics.

The excessively deferential manner, so unlike kids these days, had vanished without a trace. He tore around like a rabid dog, living up to none of the "quiet" in his name, and even Mo Hae-in — who'd enlisted in the Era Bureau and seen every type of human being imaginable — had been stunned by just how gutsy a lunatic he was. She'd never expected to meet another specimen like Gwak Han-muk in this lifetime.

Whenever she thought of Han Goyo, a tangle of complicated feelings rose up, but one thing was certain.

He's not a bad kid. Suspicious and weird as hell, but not bad.

It was the same now. He could have easily argued for her execution the moment she started turning, and he hadn't.

Would Han Goyo pull off the True Ending this time too?

She was trying not to think about an uncertain future, but she couldn't help hoping. She didn't want to die yet.

No — she couldn't die yet.

"Han-muk."

Gwak Han-muk, who'd stopped in front of the fifth-floor access door, looked back. The steel pipe Han Goyo had picked up on the rooftop and given him was slung over his shoulder, looking thoroughly delinquent. Mo Hae-in asked from one step short of the last stair.

"You okay?"

Gwak Han-muk looked down at her with an expression that said, why would you even ask that.

"Fucking peachy."

"No... haah, never mind."

She'd wanted to hear his thoughts on Han Goyo. Pointless. Clearing Dead Zone Delivery with the True Ending was the top priority.

Gwak Han-muk whistled as he opened the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠emergency door. Mo Hae-in frowned without meaning to.

Her hearing had definitely grown sharper as the zombification progressed. Her vision, on the other hand, was steadily narrowing. It felt like she was operating at less than half her original eyesight. The sensation of her body transforming in real time was not a pleasant one, and that unpleasantness seemed to be driving her aggression even higher.

She'd have to start holding a wad of cloth in her mouth before long, she thought, as she followed Gwak Han-muk onto the fifth floor.

Gwak Han-muk cracked his neck and said, "Researchers are around here, I think."

Before she could even ask how he knew—

"IF THERE ARE SURVIVORS!! COME ON OUT!!!"

Gwak Han-muk bellowed so loud the entire hallway rang. Mo Hae-in clapped her hands over her ears a beat too late and swallowed a curse.

Naturally, no survivors came out. Only the zombies that had been sleeping stirred with wet gurgling sounds and came charging. Mo Hae-in suppressed the urge to join them and attack Gwak Han-muk alongside the horde, and drew the Black Moon Blade.

"..."

A sharp sting prickled across her palm. The Black Moon Blade had begun to reject its owner. She could still use it for now. But by tomorrow, she probably wouldn't be able to hold it at all.

Feeling the Black Moon Blade's displeasure at the zombie she was becoming, Mo Hae-in smiled bitterly.

Fortunately, there weren't that many dead zombies on the fifth floor, so they cleaned them up quickly.

It was as they finished off the last one. A sealed door suddenly opened in the now-quiet hallway, and two men appeared.

A ding rang out, and a system window popped up.

They were surviving researchers. Including the female researcher they'd already met, that made three. One still remained.

The men who'd just appeared looked to be in their early fifties and mid-forties, respectively.

Doesn't match the age range of the vaccine researcher.

They'd have to check the third floor, Mo Hae-in thought, putting the Black Moon Blade away.

The researchers trembled as they surveyed the hallway packed with zombie corpses, then their faces lit up at the sight of Gwak Han-muk.

"F-finally!"

Apparently taking him for a soldier come to rescue them, they shot out like rats. Gwak Han-muk stuck out one hand to stop them.

"Whoa, whoa, old-timers. Hold up."

Then he tipped his head back and said, "ID cards first. Hand 'em over."

The men fumbled out their ID cards.

The older one was Tak, the younger Paeng.

In front of the two researchers beaming as if they'd been saved, Gwak Han-muk hummed and narrowed his eyes. He examined the ID cards carefully, then whipped around to Mo Hae-in.

"No vaccine researcher."

"You needed to check the names for that? They said mid-twenties."

"Hey, they could just look old."

Mo Hae-in took a slow breath at Gwak Han-muk's airtight logic. She was so pissed she felt like the zombification was accelerating.

"The vaccine! You're talking about the vaccine!"

Paeng Sang-do, who'd been reading the room, jumped in quickly. He'd apparently realized the soldiers hadn't come to rescue survivors.

"The team leader here and I were researching the vaccine together. We can develop it, but we're a bit short on supplies..."

He was quick to advertise his own usefulness. Gwak Han-muk nodded with mock gravity and asked,

"The other researchers?"

"We're the only survivors."

"There's two more, old-timers."

Gwak Han-muk slammed the steel pipe into the wall as a warning. "Don't be boring."

The steel pipe was so thoroughly stained with blood you couldn't even make out its original color. Paeng Sang-do and Tak Ju-cheol looked at each other. Tak Ju-cheol cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Like you said, there were two more. But those kids..."

"Watch your tone?"

"...There were two more."

Tak Ju-cheol corrected himself, his face flushing red. Mo Hae-in felt a small flicker of satisfaction watching Gwak Han-muk's warped personality aimed at someone else, and waited for what came next.

"But they didn't see eye to eye with us, so they left the institute."

"With our current numbers, vaccine development is entirely possible! We can even show you the research data we're working on."

Paeng Sang-do was straining every nerve ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to persuade Gwak Han-muk when it happened. Tak Ju-cheol finally noticed Mo Hae-in standing behind them and screamed.

"AAAAAH! A zombie, a zombie!"

At Tak Ju-cheol's scream, Paeng Sang-do fainted right along with him. After he'd fallen on his ass and made a scene, Mo Hae-in spoke calmly.

"I'm a soldier too."

It was no use. Tak Ju-cheol jabbed a finger at her, spittle flying.

"You're turning into a zombie! You'll be one any day now! What we're researching is a vaccine, not a cure!!"

Having shouted that, the two of them practically rolled themselves back into the lab. The lab door was a sealed door that only opened with an ID card, and since it was designed for virus containment, they couldn't just smash it.

Gwak Han-muk smacked his lips and reached a crystal-clear conclusion.

"Let's go to the third floor."

But things didn't go as well as they'd hoped. They entered the third floor, cleared the zombies, and searched, but they couldn't find the last researcher.

"Don't tell me they're already dead..."

When Mo Hae-in couldn't hold back her anxiety, Gwak Han-muk, who'd been opening the last door, clicked his tongue as well.

"Wanna head back to the fifth? They might be with Goyo and Lieutenant Colonel Je."

A fair amount of time had passed, so regrouping first seemed like the better call.

When they returned to the fifth floor with Gwak Han-muk, Mo Hae-in was treated to a spectacular sight.

"WAAAAAGH!"

"UGGGHHH!"

Tak Ju-cheol and Paeng Sang-do, dangling from Je Hyeon-o's hands, drooling and thrashing.