Side Story 13: Stories of Russia (13)
My operation began at night, as soon as Do Han-Sol returned to the research institute.
I looked at Ruin as I entered the laboratory and saw her preparing for the surgery with a blank expression. I wondered if she’d already put aside what had happened earlier. I swiveled my eyes to look at Jack. He finished his own preparations, then addressed Do Han-Sol and myself.
“It’ll be done before you know it. Trust us with your heart and lie down please.”
"Thank you.”
There was nothing to be worried about, since Ruin was pretending that nothing had happened. I greeted her as I always did, then laid down on the operating table. She stood by the side of the operating table and spoke without looking at me.
“I’ll start with the anesthesia by counting backward from ten to one…”
She was preparing to anesthetize me just like she always did. I looked over at Do Han-Sol. He looked more nervous than me as he lay on the operating table. Soon, I felt the anesthetic enter my system, and I closed my eyes naturally and listened as the researchers spoke to one another. When they performed surgery, they weren’t playing around. They were serious about the operation. They demonstrated perfectly the professionalism required from a researcher, from a surgeon.
After they performed an abdominal incision on Do Han-Sol, they examined the status of his organs, along with their compatibility with my physiology.
“The size is appropriate, and there’s no sign of rejection,” Jack said as he examined the virus’ reaction. “Let’s continue.”
"Beginning the operation.”
As they began the organ transplant operation, Jack exclaimed in surprise, “Are you seeing this too? It’s not just me, right?” He was observing Do Han-Sol’s abdomen.
“I see it very clearly,” someone else responded. “The organ is regenerating.”
Jack’s voice climbed in pitch as he grew excited. “He's basically a being that can donate an infinite amount of organs for transplants. This… This is unbelievable.”
They were commenting on the fact that Do Han-Sol’s body was quickly regenerating the organ that they had removed from him to transplant into me.
While they were still expressing their surprise at his bodily function, they quickly transplanted his organ into my abdomen. Once the organ was placed in my stomach cavity, my blood flow began to accelerate. The virus in my body was reacting to the transplanted organ in order to determine if it was toxic or not.
After a while, the researcher who had transplanted the organ stammered, “Doc… Doc… Doctor! You have to see this!”
Jack sighed, but otherwise stayed silent. There was a strange feeling in my stomach which was difficult to describe. I could not find the right words to explain what I felt. It was like the sensation of touching your own skin after being administered an anesthetic. It was surreal. I felt like I was touching someone else, even though everything was happening inside my abdomen. This feeling persisted for a while.
The Canadian researchers held their collective breath as they observed what was happening inside my abdomen. The transplanted organs came into contact with the clotted blood vessels in my abdomen, and the thick blood and the virus began to circulate about as they tried to adapt to the new conditions.
“What’s changing?” Jack asked as he kept his eye on the changes that were occurring within my body.
“He… He’s showing surprisingly quick adaptability. On second thought, I don’t even know if it’s correct to describe what’s happening as adaptation.”
“What’s his pulse?”
“His pulse is still faint, and beating in the same cycle. No signs of rejection.”
“I guess zombie organs were the way to go from the beginning?”
“I wonder if it’s because of the indescribable connection that the zombies have?”
“Are you talking about the alliance that these leader zombies have?”
“Yes. If I had to make a guess… I believe this is the result of having the right organs, the same blood type, and an established alliance. Of course, this is all very unscientific.”
What the researcher was saying sounded ridiculous, but considering what was happening in front of them, there really was no other way to explain this phenomenon. After a moment, Jack burst out laughing, as though he found what the researcher had said to be rather intriguing.
“Oh ho… Look, everyone,” he said. “It’s moving. I wondered if his body is already adapted to this new organ.”
“It’s reacting as if it’s been in his body all this time.”
“Let’s keep an eye on it just in case. We still have a lot of organs to transplant.”
Instead of seeing me as a patient who needed treatment, the researchers stared at my stomach in awe, as if they were watching fireworks.
* * *
The organ transplant was a success. They took every organ I needed from Do Han-Sol, and the transplanted organs adapted to my body completely, without showing any sign of rejection.
The Canadian researchers congratulated themselves on their success, commenting that they’d never seen two people with such similarly-sized organs before. However, it seemed like they were celebrating a victory, rather than celebrating a successful operation. It was literally a celebration of their own victory, because they’d done everything without having to bring in the Russian researchers.
Even though the surgery was successful, I couldn't help but feel bitter about it.
“Should we leave?” asked Do Han-Sol as he prepared to leave the lab. “It’s not very fun seeing them celebrate.”
"Same. Where’s Tommy?”
“I’ll go find him. You stay here.”
I gave a slight nod, and Do Han-Sol rushed out of the laboratory. I stood there and massaged my lower belly with my fingers, feeling the soft organs in my abdomen.
Earlier on, the Canadian researchers hadn’t been sure if my adjustment to the transplanted organs was merely temporary, and so they performed a second operation on me. They moved forward to determine if the transplanted organs would regenerate.
To do so, they started off by removing my transplanted liver with a knife. Thick blood gushed out from the severed blood vessels like a leaking water tap, but it didn’t take long for my body to regenerate the liver that they had removed, and it looked exactly like the one that had been transplanted. That got me thinking if it could even be considered regeneration. It almost seemed like an act of creation.
The Canadian researchers clapped and cheered when they saw the regenerated liver. They didn’t even have to administer any other drugs like in previous experiments. The liver adapted very quickly to my body, as if the virus that remained in Do Han-Sol's organs had the same properties as the virus I had.
I could control a maximum of twenty-nine hundred underlings, while Do Han-Sol could have twenty-eight hundred. I wondered if the fact that Do Han-Sol had blue eyes and was of almost equal strength played a role in this smooth operation.
Of course, this was all speculation.
Rattle.
The laboratory door behind me opened, and Ruin walked out. She made eye contact with me and flinched reflexively.
"Thank you,” I said with a shy smile.
“Oh, no. I didn’t do anything. You overcame everything on your own.”
Awkward silence filled the room for a while. After I made sure that the door to the lab was closed, I asked her, “Aren’t you going to join them?”
“Pardon?”
“The Canadian researchers seem to be in the mood for celebration after the successful operation.”
“Oh. I told them I was heading back first because I was tired. Besides, it’s already past twelve.”
“If you don’t mind, do you think we can talk?”
I got straight to the point, and Ruin hesitated, looking at me right in the eyes like a vigilant cat.
I wasn’t sure why she was acting like that. It wasn’t like I was going to eat her alive.
Whatever it was, I shrugged and continued, "I believe… We still have some things that need to be sorted out, wouldn’t you say?”
“...”
“Why are you being so wary? Are you being threatened by them?” I asked cautiously.
I tried to act as naturally as possible, to ease Ruin’s wariness. She wriggled her fingers as if she was hesitating over saying something. After a moment, she opened her tightly closed lips.
"I don't know,” she said.
“What?”
“I don’t know… what I should do.”
Ruin’s head sagged, and she didn’t bother to finish her point. I let out a deep sigh.
“I'm ready to listen to whatever you have to say,” I said softly. “If you’re worried because you’re guilty of something, don’t be. Everyone here is guilty of something.”
“It’s not because I feel guilty.”
“Then what is it?”
Ruin slowly raised her head, looked at me straight in the eyes, then said in a low, hoarse voice, “I just want to die.”
"Pardon?"
“I don’t have the courage to kill myself… I just want someone to kill me.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened in Canada to make her say this. Do Han-Sol returned and saw Ruin and me, and said without thinking twice, "Let me when you two are done talking. I’ll be waiting outside.”
“It’s okay, Han-Sol,” I said, stopping him. “Stay here.”
He swallowed and looked at Ruin. Do Han-Sol was wary of her. Ruin wasn’t a part of us, in his dictionary.
I let out a small sigh and said, “Ruin’s going to come with us as well.”
I made the first move, before she could have second thoughts. Ruin hesitated, but it didn’t take long before she nodded.
With that, I brought Ruin to where the Russian researchers were.
* * *
The survivors and Russian researchers who had gathered in the shelter to wait for me looked puzzled when I showed up with Ruin. When she hesitantly approached the others, Tommy jumped up from his seat and walked over to me.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“We have to listen to her story.”
Tommy glanced over at her.
“How can you make such a decision on your own without telling us about it beforehand?” he demanded.
Ruin gently closed her eyes and let out the deepest sigh I’d heard in a while. After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked squarely at Tommy.
“I have something to tell everyone.”
“...”
Tommy still had his guard up. He chewed on his lower lip while keeping an eye on Ruin. She looked around at the people gathered in the shelter, then began to speak.
“I’ll share with all of you what actually happened in Canada.”
Tommy’s eyes widened at her unexpected statement. I gestured with my head for him to go back to his seat, and he cleared his throat and did so. Kim Hyeong-Jun, who had been sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, rested his chin on his right hand.
“Ahjussi, what is that nuna saying?” he asked me.
“How about you go out and take a walk? I’ll tell you everything afterward.”
"Wow! Ahjussi! How’d you know what I was gonna say?”
Kim Hyeong-Jun’s gloomy, dissatisfied expression faded immediately, replaced by a bright smile. He was telling me that he didn’t want to be around because the conversation was going to be in English, which made sense because he didn’t speak English.
With that, Kim Hyeong-Jun left the room to stand guard while everyone else took a seat. Then Ruin started to speak.
“The beginning of it all… Dates back to nine years ago.”’
Nine years ago was around the time Elena left the Canadian laboratory to come to Russia. Ruin was saying that what was happening in the present day had its roots in the Canadian laboratory. She shared that several departments in the Canadian research institute had been dissolved because researchers were leaving for other locations, which ultimately led to the institute struggling to remain operational.
Jack was the director of the research institute at the time. However, before he even got to finish his research into the science of the brain, the Canadian government had ordered him to shut down the institute. Jack somehow had to obtain R&D funding to continue his research, and that’s when a secret project from the United States landed on his desk.
The project was a top-secret project that was being conducted by military research institutes in the United States and Europe. It was codenamed Project Z. Jack joined Project Z because of the data he had that was related to the human brain, and this ultimately allowed him to continue his research.
Do Han-Sol was listening quietly to her story, and when she reached this point, he raised a hand.
"You mentioned Z… Does this Z refer to zombies? A zombie experiment?” he asked.
“Not quite. This was a top-secret project; it was hidden from the rest of the world. ‘Z’ was chosen because it was the last letter of the alphabet. It meant the end of everything.”
“The end? Are you talking about death?”
“Yes, but it was named ‘Z’ not because it was bringing about death. Rather, it was to defy and deny death.”
“Well if that’s the case, they should’ve called it A, alpha…”
“It’s because there has to be an end before there can be a new beginning. The goal of the project was to train soldiers that didn’t die. And we found out that the answer to this was closely related to the human brain.”
Ruin wet her lips and fell silent for a while. She was leaking out top-secret information to civilians. I wondered if she’d suddenly begun to think about the consequences. At least now I understood why she’d said that she wasn’t certain of herself.
Then again, we were already living in a world where the concept of nations was no longer applicable. In this world, top secret meant nothing.
I quietly rubbed my chin.
“You said that Jack's research team conducted research related to the brain, right? What kind of research was your team involved in, exactly, in order to get scouted by a military lab?”
“We conducted research on the treatment of chronic diseases. Jack believed that the answer to that lay in the brain.”
"A cure for chronic diseases… Were you thinking of making immortal soldiers or something?”
“...”
Ruin remained silent, and Do Han-Sol, seated next to me, grimaced.
“Looks like you’re right Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok. Were you trying to grow a zombie army? Isn’t that why the military research institute recruited you folks?”
Ruin’s head sagged, and she offered an uncertain answer. “I honestly don’t know the exact process. Jack got the project on his own.”
She cleared her throat again, and continued to speak.
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