White Blood (4)
As White Blood began to gain traction online, trend-sensitive YouTubers were the first to react.
"Ah, I wasn't planning to stream today, but the community's blowing up with so many messages. You all asked for it, so I fired up a live stream in a hurry."
When CineKing, a YouTuber who specialized in reviewing movies and dramas, went live, viewers started pouring in.
"I've finished watching White Blood too, of course. But guys, do you know what's unique about this drama? Even after two episodes, there are only two main characters."
"And this episode is the first time Dong-ha from Axis appears. We'll have to wait and see about his acting... but so far it's been fine, right? If I say the wrong thing here, I'm going straight to hell."
"Anyway, I suspect the role of Akhenaton will serve as an important guide going forward. The narrator fills us in during the show, but Jeong Do-jin and Ella know way too little about this world. I was in the middle of watching myself, so I'll finish and come back on stream."
"What is a pterosaur? Do you mean creatures like these?"
Akhenaton pulled a stuffed bird specimen from under the table.
A pterosaur corpse no bigger than a palm.
"Ah! The gray monsters that were chasing us earlier!"
Ella pointed at the specimen with her finger, and Do-jin nodded.
The size was vastly different, but they were indeed the ones that had attacked Do-jin and Ella right after they fell into the desert.
"It seems you've already encountered them. But these fellows are not monsters. Rather, they are indispensable workers and scavengers of the desert."
At Akhenaton's words, Do-jin's eyes lit up.
Ever since arriving in the Liver region, he had been wondering how on earth his younger brother was raising pterosaurs in the liver.
"What exactly are they?"
"These friends are a species called Transaminase."
Do-jin's expression twisted at Akhenaton's words.
"...These are Transaminase?"
"Mister. What's that?"
Do-jin answered Ella's question as if it were absurd.
"...Liver cell enzymes."
"Hiiing. If I ask one thing, two more things I don't know pop up!"
Transaminase, simply put, are important enzymes in the liver.
The liver cell enzymes like AST, ALT, and LDH that get measured when you go to the hospital for a liver function test.
"Then, are there perhaps three kinds of them?"
At Do-jin's question, Akhenaton nodded with a slightly surprised face.
"It seems the Black God knows them well. Though they look similar on the outside, they are divided into three tribes. The ones causing problems right now are the Alanine tribe among them."
After a sigh, Akhenaton continued.
"At some point their numbers swelled, and they went berserk, starting to attack everyone coming in and out from the outside."
Alanine aminotransferase—ALT.
Then the reason the orbital elevator heading upward—that is, the vein—is blocked isn't because of them.
Rather, the cause and effect were reversed.
There was another cause that made their numbers increase.
It was reasonable to view that the ALT levels rose because the pathway to and from the liver was blocked.
ALT surges when blood flow to the liver decreases or when exposed to drugs with liver toxicity.
First priority was to check what problem had occurred in the pathway in and out of the liver.
"Akhenaton. Guide me to the Hepatic Vein that connects to the Inferior Vena Cava."
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
Do-jin shook his head with a sigh.
"The Hepatic Vein that connects to the Inferior Vena Cava."
Hearing Do-jin's words, Akhenaton brightened and nodded.
"That is the request I wished to make of you. After years of prayer to resolve this kingdom's food and supply shortages, the response I received was an oracle."
Aid the Black God who has descended from the heavens.
Akhenaton looked at the letters floating in the crystal ball and politely guided Do-jin with his hand.
"Please, this way. I shall prepare at once."
Akhenaton hurriedly sent a radio message somewhere and opened the reception room door.
"Prepare a short-range warp!"
"Yes!"
Following Akhenaton through the bustling red blood cells into a vast hall, a human-sized crystal in the center was spinning furiously.
"Preparations complete!"
When a red blood cell operating something in front of it signaled, Akhenaton nodded and injected blue light from his hand into the crystal.
"...Not just a simple fortune-teller, but a mage, I see."
The crystal received that blue light, shone, and began to spin, soon transforming into a round disc-shaped mirror.
"I shall go in first and create a safe zone! Please follow me in!"
At Akhenaton's gesture, sturdy red blood cells holding spears took the lead and passed through the disc mirror, and Akhenaton followed them in.
"Ella, let's go too."
"Yes!"
As they advanced toward the mirror, the world inverted in an instant, and a completely different landscape appeared.
In the middle of the desert, a massive rock mountain scorched black appeared, and Akhenaton was spreading both arms toward the sky.
"I've just set it up so they can't see us in this vicinity! If you leave this zone, they'll spot you immediately and start attacking!"
When Do-jin looked up at the sky, indeed a transparent net like a summer mosquito net or a giant tent was enveloping Do-jin, Ella, and the spear-wielding red blood cell soldiers.
And above it, a pitch-black sky was covering everything.
No, looking closely, it wasn't the sky—it was all pterosaurs.
They were covering the sky so densely that Do-jin momentarily mistook it for night.
"...Disgustingly many."
Meanwhile, Yeon-woo, who was monitoring this scene, recalled the time of filming.
Honestly, he could tolerate the other scenes somehow, but this was the scene where he felt the most shame while filming.
Wearing skin-tight tights, running around an empty set this way and that, swinging a sword at empty air...
The problem was that when filming this part, due to the intense movements and risk of safety accidents, external people had come to observe.
He recalled the private medical team whispering and tilting their heads.
"Ahem, I hope those people get to see the edited scene too."
He wanted to explain that he wasn't a weirdo.
Anyway, since it was also Yeon-woo's first time seeing the edited scene, he focused back on the screen.
Akhenaton had brought them to the rock mountain where the Hepatic Vein was, as per the oracle to aid the Black God, but he had no idea how to deal with that enormous number of Alanines.
"Narrator. How strong are the Alanines?"
I've never seen an Alanine fight anything, but about a hundred of them would be on par with a Level 1 White Blood Corps.
Do-jin drew the sword at his waist.
"Ella. Stay here."
"Okay!"
And Do-jin began walking toward outside Akhenaton's barrier.
A red blood cell holding a spear who was watching hurriedly stretched out a hand.
"I-if you go outside like that!"
The moment Do-jin left Akhenaton's zone, the black sky undulated for an instant.
Kwagagagak—.
The wingbeats of countless Alanines overlapped, making a sound as if the air was tearing.
Part of the black sky collapsed and, like a waterspout rising from the sea, became a single pillar plunging toward Do-jin.
Alanine flocks diving vertically in unison, becoming one stream and charging at Do-jin.
Seeing that, Do-jin grinned and gripped the hilt with both hands, strongly swinging the sword upward from below while simultaneously rotating his body.
Then the powerful wind pressure generated from the sword directly hit the descending Alanine flock and split the Alanines into two streams.
"Keuk!"
"...Th-this is."
The eyes of the red blood cell soldiers watching that bulged as if about to pop out any second.
It was the most unbelievable sight they had witnessed in their entire red blood cell lives.
The soldiers looked at Prince Akhenaton as if asking what on earth this was.
But Akhenaton was quietly looking at the ground, continuously muttering to himself alone.
"This lowly Akhenaton greets the god. This lowly Akhenaton greets the god..."
In the desert, because Ella was there, he hadn't fought properly for fear of her getting hurt, but alone was a different story.
The combat androids that had chased Do-jin from the High Castle were Level 4 White Blood Corps.
According to what he heard from the Narrator, each time the level rose by one stage, there was about a tenfold difference in combat power from the previous individuals.
That meant one Level 4 White Blood Corps was on par with a thousand Level 1 White Blood Corps.
Do-jin, who had fought four Level 4 White Blood Corps on equal footing even with his weapon broken, couldn't possibly lose to Alanines who only had numbers.
After splitting the descending Alanines into two streams, Do-jin raced up the rock mountain at tremendous speed.
"There must be a cause on this rock mountain! Narrator. Any guesses?"
No. I have no knowledge of the current anomalous phenomena.
No choice. He had to find out by throwing his body at it.
Kwagagagak—.
This time, splitting into multiple branches, the black sky collapsed as if crumbling, Alanine flocks pursuing Do-jin from various directions.
Do-jin ran around the rock mountain as if flying, pushing back the Alanines' attacks with sword winds, and when that wasn't enough, he mercilessly slaughtered them.
In truth, he didn't even know what he was looking for, but as he scoured the rock mountain while examining as much as possible, he reached near the summit that had looked impossibly high.
"Whew, if I'd known it would be like this, I should've just run straight to the top."
Arriving at the summit, the cause that had driven them mad came into view.
A purple gem strongly radiating aura and shining intensely in midair.
Do-jin had seen a gem like this before.
Though the color was different, it had once been attached to Ella's brooch, and now was embedded in Do-jin's sword—the blue gem.
"What on earth is this thing's identity. Narrator."
I still don't know. I'll collect as much data as possible.
As Do-jin approached the purple gem, as if trying to protect it, all the Alanines charged at Do-jin.
He cut, deflected, and struck as much as possible with his sword, but there were so many that Do-jin's martial uniform began to tear here and there from their beaks.
"Hap!"
Like piercing through a fierce storm, Do-jin swung his sword again with a shout and advanced against the surging black waves.
He almost reached the gem, but in proportion, the Alanines' attacks intensified, and through the tattered martial uniform, the muscles of his upper body were fully exposed.
And little by little, scratches began to appear in between.
And it wasn't just Do-jin's martial uniform that burst.
"Keheuk. Crazy. What kind of service is this!"
YeonuJina, the manager of Yeon-woo's fan cafe, felt like her nose was about to bleed from the unexpected service scene.
And the fan cafe Woo's was also on the verge of exploding from the posts increasing in real time.
Nickname 'YeonuJina' Lee Jin-ah was using dual monitors, watching White Blood on one side, and had an internet window open on the other for cafe management.
Every time she refreshed, posts and rank-up requests flooded in as if a dam had broken.
She had thought that since it was released through Netflix, the viewing times wouldn't be the same for everyone, but it seemed more members than expected had started binge-watching from the initial release point, as traffic suddenly increased right before.
"What's with the spoiler alert? I already saw it."
When YeonuJina clicked the post, somehow they had already made a gif, and a gif file of Yeon-woo acting as Jeong Do-jin with his torn martial uniform appeared.
Jeong Do-jin: I'll go take care of the Alanines real quick!
But the one actually getting taken care of was me watching.
Jin-ah, who chuckled at the post, pressed back, and in that short time, because of the posts increasing in real time, the post she just saw was pushed back two pages.
Dual monitors floating on both sides with Jin-ah in the middle.
Whether to finish watching White Blood.
Or start managing the rampaging cafe.
They say life is C between B and D.
B (Birth), D (Death), and C (Choice).
Jin-ah was just a fan before being a manager.
The end of the total three episodes released this week wasn't far off.
"Aigoo! I can't hold back on this."
Jin-ah pressed the spacebar and resumed playing the drama.
Do-jin, in a tattered state, approached the gem emitting purple light in streams, and while swinging his sword frantically with his right hand, he snatched the floating gem with his left hand.
Then the Alanines that had been desperately charging stopped dead as if it were a lie.
The purple gem in his hand vibrated violently and radiated heat as if telling him to let go.
"Keuk!"
The vibration and heat were so severe that Do-jin dropped the gem.
The dropped gem emitted purple light beams in all directions, and the countless Alanines that had been standing still like statues began to move again.
Flash—.
At that moment, the blue gem embedded in Do-jin's sword shone and swallowed the energy the purple gem was emitting.
Tak—.
And the purple gem naturally flew to the sword and embedded itself below the blue gem.
"Whew. Is it resolved. Damn, there were so many that my clothes tore and the wounds... Hm?"
Do-jin tilted his head.
Since his body was strong to begin with, they weren't major wounds, but he had clearly been shredded all over by the Alanines' beaks, yet all those numerous scratches disappeared in an instant.
"......"
The countless pterosaurs staring at Do-jin with wide eyes right in front of him couldn't be an illusion.
No, if it were an illusion, the martial uniform being torn itself wouldn't make sense.
Then what changed is...
He looked at the pterosaurs in front of him again.
"Kkirook?"
The pterosaurs tilting their heads like owls looking at Do-jin as if they didn't even remember charging at him to the death.
And Do-jin looked at the sword he was holding.
On the upper part of the hilt, clearly embedded along with the blue gem, the purple gem.
"...The blue gem strengthens the sword, and the purple gem heals me?"