Chapter 109: W.A.N.C.S. Labs 2
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When he got inside the W.A.N.C.S. laboratory, Junhyuk looked at everything. There was a guide desk on the first floor, and Eunseo called for someone and waited. Some time passed, and a middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat showed up.
The man had hair carelessly combed and wore glasses. He stepped forward and greeted Eunseo.
"You came!"
"I told you why we'd come."
The man looked at Junhyuk and Somin and chuckled.
"The temp workers, your friends?"
"Yes, they are."
"Follow me."
The man lead the way, and Eunseo followed him on her fully automatic wheelchair.
"You should greet them."
The man stopped walking and turned around.
"I'm the lab chief, Iltae Park."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Junhyuk Lee."
"I'm Somin Jeon."
"You look familiar. Have we met before?"
Eunseo answered him instead, "He is our company's model."
"Ah! The metal series advertisement model." Iltae lifted his hand apologetically and continued, "I don't remember much outside of my interests. Please understand."
Junhyuk wanted to say that Iltae was a lab chief, which was beyond his own ability, but he decided not to. They got on an elevator, and Iltae pressed the button for the third floor.
"I will show you your office, where you'll be working," he said.
Somin smiled and asked, "What shall we work on?"
Iltae shrugged and answered, "Do you know a lot about capsules?"
"I can take care of them."
"Good. This place has a total of twelve hundred capsules. The central computer is overseeing them, but we still need human help. You could help us out."
"I understand."
Iltae got off on the third floor and opened the door to an office. It looked like a space for temps. There were two desks and a telephone.
"You will be working here. If you need anything, press '0' on the telephone, and it'll connect you to the guide desk," Iltae explained calmly."
"I understand."
"Then, you two stay here."
Eunseo shook her head and protested, "Junhyuk, you should follow me."
Iltae looked at her, shrugged and said, "Then, follow me." And added to Somin while pointing to the room next door, "That room is the rest area. You should get some tea."
"OK."
Leaving Somin behind, the group took the elevator and went to the fourth floor. The floor had people working busily, and they passed by them to get to a place surrounded by glass.
Behind the glass, there was a man restrained to a bed. Junhyuk watched the people, busy, as they worked on the man on the bed. It looked like the people were there to watch the man. There were ten of them.
The man had his eyes open, but they stared blankly at nothing. Eunseo turned around, and Iltae said, "His destructive instinct didn't take his own safety into account. When people tried to restrain him, he broke his own arm, but he didn't care about that and continued to attack them."
"What is his condition?"
"We gave him enough tranquilizer to put an elephant to sleep."
"Is it OK to give him that much?"
"We gave it to him in doses. We won't let him die."
To them, the restrained man couldn't die. He had answers to what happened when people experienced abnormal narcolepsy.
Junhyuk walked closer to the glass and looked at the man. Then, the man turned slowly to look at him.
They saw each other, and suddenly, the man started moving. He was moving instinctively, and the people around him were surprised.
Junhyuk could see the man's eyes. They looked like the eyes of the man who had held the Blood Sword and tried to kill him and Sarang. Maybe the man could recognize he was an expert?
The man wanted something, but Junhyuk distanced himself from the glass. Iltae looked at the man and then at Junhyuk.
"Do you know him?"
"I've never seen him before."
"Hm."
Iltae looked at Junhyuk, walked to glass and pressed the speaker button.
"Give him more tranquilizers."
They injected him again, and the man no longer looked at Junhyuk. Junhyuk watched as he turned his head, and they moved on after. They went to Iltae's office, and he ordered his secretary to bring them tea.
Iltae sat down, and Junhyuk sat on a sofa. A moment later, the secretary came in with tea.
Iltae sipped on his tea and said, "Without the tranquilizers, he was out of control. We are monitoring him, but we are not hopeful."
"I understand."
"That was the first time he showed any response to anything," he said and looked at Junhyuk. "He doesn't even recognize his own family, but he responded to you. That's something to be hopeful about."
Eunseo looked at Junhyuk first and then at Iltae.
"So, you need Junhyuk's help?"
"He is a temp here. Why shouldn't he help?"
Junhyuk frowned. He couldn't get out of that situation.
"I understand. I'll help you with anything you need."
"Thanks." Iltae smiled, looked at Eunseo and added, "We don't know anything, but when we do, we'll let you know."
"Please, do."
"Don't worry. Expect something good," Iltae said, staring intently at Junhyuk.
---
Eunseo left, and Junhyuk was given a medical gown. This time he wouldn't just look across the glass, but he would meet the man in person instead. The man was sleeping because of the tranquilizers. His skin was very rough, and Junhyuk read the name on his chart: Jisuk Dong.
"Are you giving him more tranquilizers?" Junhyuk asked.
"If we try to listen to him, and we let him lose, he'll try to bite us."
Junhyuk was curious. He didn't know him and he couldn't remember the faces of each of the minions in the battlefield. The minions also didn't know his face because he had been wearing Bebe's Black Armor. The minions might be able to recognize novices and experts, he thought. He wanted to know more.
About an hour later, Jisuk woke up from the tranquilizer. He was half asleep and, when he looked around, he saw Junhyuk. Jisuk's eyes were extremely active, but he couldn't speak. There was something covering his mouth that prevented him from speaking.
"Does he want to attack me?" Junhyuk asked while looking at Jisuk.
Iltae stood next to him and asked, "Are you sure you don't know him?"
"I'm sure."
"Let's find out!"
Iltae gave the signal, and another person opened the muzzle on Jisuk's mouth.
"Aaargh!"
JIsuk was foaming at the mouth, and Junhyuk prevented the others from restraining him again and walked over to him.
He pressed down on Jisuk's head. Jisuk tried to bite him, but Junhyuk was too strong for him. Junhyuk didn't look like he was exerting himself, but he had strength beyond ordinary men. Jisuk looked at him with envy, and Junhyuk shook his head.
"We should stop. He is just too aggressive."
"It's impossible to communicate now."
Junhyuk nodded.
"Muzzle him."
Junhyuk himself put the guard around Jisuk's mouth. He was strong, so he did it easily, but the people around him looked very surprised.
"You are so strong!"
Junhyuk didn't mind it too much. He hadn't used his full strength.
"I like to exercise."
He showed his biceps, and the eyes of the women among them beamed. Iltae shrugged.
"Give him more tranquilizers. I don't know when he will stop that madness, but it'll be a matter of time."
They couldn't do anything in the short term, and as Iltae spoke, Junhyuk nodded.
"Right. Where should I go now?"
"Just go get some rest."
"I'll go see my colleague then, Somin."
"Sure. When this man wakes up, I'll let you know."
"OK."
Junhyuk headed to where Somin was. She was drinking a cup of coffee.
"Can you make me a cup as well?"
"Sure. I don't have anything else to do," she said and made him a cup and placed it in front of him. "So, what did you do?" she asked.
"Nothing," he answered, shrugging. "He is not in very good condition. He is afraid of people."
"Is that right?" Somin thought about the news and shook her head. "Isn't it dangerous?"
"No, not at all," Junhyuk said, showing his biceps. "I'm strong enough."
Somin giggled.
"If anything happens, protect me."
"Sure," He said, leaning back on his chair. "We have nothing to do."
"Right. Even though we were sent here, there isn't much we can do."
Someone knocked on the door, and two researchers walked in. They had a stack of documents on them.
"Are you the temps?"
"Yes."
"These are the capsules under your care."
Junhyuk looked at the documents.
"There are at least a hundred!"
The researcher answered, "It's only a hundred. Please understand there are twelve hundred capsules monitored by five people."
Junhyuk wasn't accusing anyone of anything.
"I was getting bored. I'll do it! What should I do?" Somin asked cheerfully.
"There is nothing much you can do. Follow us. I'll show you the capsules."
Somin got up, and Junhyuk tried to follow her, but Somin shook her head.
"Stay here. You have to help with the survivor."
"Not at all! I'll go with you," he said and followed her anyway.
They went to the second floor. There were rooms all the way to the end of the hallway, and each room had six capsules.
"This is why this place is so large!"
Junhyuk and Somin followed the researchers and learned about the capsule maintenance for the one hundred capsules under their care. They split them fifty-fifty between them.
Junhyuk looked over the capsules he was responsible for and saw people sleeping inside. At least they looked that way, but he knew their souls were gone. Junhyuk touched one of the capsules and sighed. Then, he inspected them, and they were all working correctly.
He stepped out of the room, and saw two researchers walking. As they passed by him, he stopped. They were wearing lab coats, but their eyes and gait looked different. They didn't look like people who had worked their entire lives in a lab. Because of their coats, they also didn't look like guards.
"Wait!" Junhyuk called after them.