White Blood (3)
Choi Ji-a had never actually been interested in White Blood.
Fantasy as a genre? She hadn’t even watched the movies everyone else had seen—things like The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. Her favorite genre was romantic comedy, and truth be told, she was far more into the reality dating shows that were all the rage these days than she was into dramas.
“When the hell is he going to show up?”
Honestly, the only reason she had clicked on White Blood was a single one: her bias, Dong-ha from Axis, was in it.
The spectacular action sequence and high-quality CG in Episode 1 had sparked a flicker of interest, but that was as far as it went. He was supposed to appear as a major supporting character, yet by the time Episode 1 ended without a single glimpse of Dong-ha, she felt a twinge of irritation. Still, the drama itself seemed well-made, so she clicked on Episode 2.
From the opening, the breathtaking cosmic vistas and pulse-pounding action treated her eyes to a feast, and the gripping story that followed slowly began to pry open the door to her heart.
“What? What’s going to happen in the desert? Is there another shortcut up?”
Before she knew it, the thought of needing to see Dong-ha had faded from her mind, and she was gradually sinking into the drama itself. As if entranced, Ji-a’s finger clicked on Episode 3.
Episode 3: This is the last currently available episode.
Three episodes released every week across a total four-week launch schedule. The Netflix logo appeared on the monitor, and Episode 3 began to play.
In the center of a pitch-black screen, a torch flared to life, gradually illuminating the surroundings to reveal three figures: Dojin and Ella, along with a young male red blood cell holding the torch.
“Judging by the look of you, you’re not from Norengel. What were you thinking, wandering the middle of that dangerous desert?”
Dojin had no idea what Norengel was, but he offered thanks to the red blood cell who had helped them anyway.
“We fell from the Femoral Vein while heading for Cardiac. First of all, thank you for the help.”
“Thank you!”
When Dojin spoke, Ella chimed in right beside him.
“To Cardiac? Then you’re outsiders. You’re the first people from outside to arrive since this whole mess started.”
Dojin tilted his head at the red blood cell’s words. Red blood cells were blood—they were supposed to travel freely through every organ, delivering oxygen evenly to the somatic cells. And yet this was the first outsider he’d seen?
“So normally, outside the Liver region—”
Mid-sentence, a burst of static crackled from a radio.
Crackle—
“Sentry. Report the situation.”
“Yes, sir. I couldn’t find the meteor that fell in the desert, but I did find two outsiders wandering around out there.”
He was dressed like a medieval soldier, yet he pulled a radio from his belt to answer—completely out of place. The “meteor” was probably the hoverbike that had carried Dojin and Ella. Finding them was essentially the same as finding the meteor, but the sentry in front of them clearly hadn’t grasped Dojin’s claim that they had fallen from the Femoral Vein en route to Cardiac.
Well, no one would expect someone who fell from outer space to still be alive.
The radio crackled again.
“His Highness the Prince has ordered that the two of them are honored guests. Escort them with full courtesy.”
“H-His Highness? Understood!”
The sentry jolted in surprise and looked at Dojin and Ella.
“You were His Highness’s guests. Forgive me for not recognizing you. This way, please.”
Bowing politely, the sentry took the lead. Dojin and Ella exchanged a glance, shrugged, and followed. They had only just reached the torso—never mind the liver—so there was no way Dojin knew any prince. He hadn’t even known princes existed here.
There’s a prince among the red blood cells? That means there’s a red blood cell king, too.
Before meeting Ella, he had thought of red blood cells as little more than natives who fled at the mere sight of him, so he hadn’t paid them much attention. Every red blood cell he had encountered until then had been closer to a primitive tribesman, wrapped in red rags and running in packs. Only after entering the Femoral region where he met Ella did he realize red blood cells possessed something approaching medieval village-level civilization.
Following the sentry ahead, Dojin whispered to Ella.
“Ella. Have you ever heard of a king or prince among your people?”
“Nope! What’s that?”
Dojin looked forward again. Apparently not all red blood cells belonged to the same group. Then again, they had crossed space to arrive on another planet in the first place.
These guys’ world is pretty complicated too.
Throughout his life as a doctor, whenever he entered other cancer patients’ bodies to treat them, the White Blood Army had always descended personally the moment he used his ability, ready to escort him. Their administrators mostly rode disc-shaped spacecraft that looked like UFOs. The designs varied slightly from patient world to patient world, but they always arrived in high-tech vehicles straight to the problem site, so he had never needed to think about the culture or ecology of other cells.
This time, inside his little sister’s body, it was different. The world of a cancer patient and the world of a leukemia patient were nothing alike.
All I found was a single sword lying in front of me, and instead of coming to escort me, the White Blood Army started hunting me down.
Lost in these thoughts, he walked for a long while through the underground tunnels connected to the desert until a vast cavern opened up, and in its center stood a castle gate.
Crackle—
“Requesting opening of Underground Gate Four.”
The sentry radioed in, and the massive gate—carved from a single giant log—swung open smoothly.
“Wow! Mister, the door opened by itself!”
Ella marveled at the sight she had never seen before. Dojin was just as astonished.
They make the door out of a log, but the opening mechanism is automatic…
A medieval soldier pulling out a radio had already been unbalanced enough, but the further they went, the more the eras seemed mixed together—strange, yet fascinating.
Then again, there was an orbital elevator even in the Femoral region where Ella lived.
From what Dojin had observed, it was a product of civilization so transcendent that the average technological level of this era could never catch up. Even Earth in his original world couldn’t dream of something like that.
“You rode the Femoral Vein into space, and an automatic door is what amazes you more?”
“Ehh, the Femoral Vein is managed by the White Blood Army.”
The red blood cells seemed to take advanced White Blood Army technology—hoverbikes, androids, and the like—completely for granted.
Were they programmed that way from the start?
Still turning it over in his mind as he followed the sentry, they were eventually handed off to a different guide and stopped before a door adorned with luxurious decorations.
“Please enter. His Highness is waiting.”
An elderly red blood cell with a splendidly flowing beard gestured politely toward the door with both hands. Dojin nodded at the sight.
“Let’s meet this prince who claims I’m his guest.”
Creak—
The doors opened to either side. Stepping inside, they found a surprisingly young man standing in a red uniform.
“You’ve arrived. Exactly as the prophecy described. I have been waiting. I am Akenaton, prince of Deyas.”
The man bowed and introduced himself as Akenaton. Dojin tilted his head.
“I’m Jeong Dojin. What’s this about a prophecy?”
“I will explain in due time. First, a pleasure to meet you, Jeong Doughjin-nim.”
“Dojin.”
“Yes. Doughjin.”
Ella jumped in with her own greeting.
“I’m Ella! Wait, Mister, your name was Doughjin?”
“I said Dojin.”
“That’s what I said. Mister Doughjin.”
Apparently the pronunciation was impossible for them. Doughjin. It sounded like a pizza-dough artisan or a monk’s dharma name. Come to think of it, he had never told anyone his name since entering this body. Before meeting Ella, the only one he had ever spoken to was the narrator, so of course.
Meanwhile, the moment Dong-ha appeared on screen as Akenaton, Choi Ji-a slapped her knee and squealed.
“I’m losing it! That red uniform—what is that?! Screenshot first!”
She paused the screen and advanced frame by frame, capturing every good shot of Dong-ha. But because it was a full shot, Ryu Yeon-woo inevitably kept ending up in the frame no matter how carefully she cropped. Normally she would have ruthlessly cut out anyone who wasn’t Dong-ha, yet now she found her mouse cursor hesitating.
…What? Did I get infected without realizing it?
She knew Ryu Yeon-woo’s movies and dramas had been hits, of course. But Choi Ji-a rarely went to theaters and barely watched dramas, so she had never seen a single one of his works. And yet, in just three episodes, the Jeong Dojin that Ryu Yeon-woo portrayed had burrowed straight into her heart.
“…A heart has more than one room. This is absolutely not betraying Dong-ha.”
When Ji-a hit the spacebar, the screen resumed, and the Jeong Dojin who now occupied one of those rooms opened his mouth.
“Forget the name. What’s this prophecy you mentioned?”
At Dojin’s words, Akenaton smiled gently and took a crystal orb and several cards from a drawer.
“I am a prince, but I am also the high priest of this nation.”
“Hmm… You don’t look the part. So you’re a fortune-teller?”
“Fortune-tell—”
Akenaton’s eyes narrowed into smiling slits, but his lips pressed tight. Slightly flustered by the unpleasant remark, he cleared his throat and spoke again.
“Ahem. I am different from a fortune-teller. I can hear the revelations of the god directly.”
“God?”
The creator of this world was almost certainly Dojin’s little sister. Every last particle of this universe had come into being because she was born. So this man could hear the voice of the little sister currently sleeping outside?
Dojin stared at Akenaton with an incredulous look. To prove his words, Akenaton floated the crystal orb into the air and fanned out a few cards.
“It will be easier to converse if you see it for yourself.”
Akenaton made a gesture as if exerting some power. The crystal orb began to glow, and ancient-looking characters shimmered into existence above it.
“The words of the god were written thus. Please read them yourself.”
“……”
There was no way Dojin could read the language of this world.
“Ella, read it. You know the red blood cells’ writing, right?”
“Writing? What’s that?”
“…What can you do?”
“I’m really good at harvesting oxygen! And carrying carbon dioxide!”
Listening to their exchange, Akenaton pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head.
“This revelation says, ‘Help the black god who descended from the sky.’”
At Akenaton’s words, Dojin looked down at his own attire. Head to toe, pure black. Even the scabbard and blade of the sword at his side were black.
“So… help me?”
“Yes. Exactly. I am a servant who always places the will of the god first.”
Dojin scratched his chin and nodded.
“Perfect. I need to go up to the world above right now.”
“The world above?”
Dojin pointed a finger at the ceiling.
“The brain.”
“…Hmm.”
Akenaton let out a low hum at Dojin’s words.
“Leaving the Liver presents certain difficulties.”
“Difficulties?”
“Normally we use the Hepatic Vein for trade and passage with other regions.”
“The Hepatic Vein. And?”
Akenaton shook his head left and right as if troubled, then spoke again.
“Right now the sky has been seized by certain creatures, and for six years already we have been unable to activate the Hepatic Vein. For some reason we cannot even contact the White Blood Army. As a result, the kingdom is suffering a severe shortage of supplies.”
The sky seized. Only one thing came to mind.
“You mean the pterosaurs?”