At that moment, Lee Ji-hyun suddenly grabbed Yoo Geum, who was standing next to her, and made her bow down. Seeing this, Kim Ga-young and I, who had just come out of the stairs into the hallway, froze completely. Like the two of them, we quietly bowed down. Kim Ga-young and I cautiously approached the crouched Lee Ji-hyun.
"Why are you doing that?"
"Someone's there?"
Lee Ji-hyun quickly whispered to us.
"Just now, someone was on the opposite side of the fourth floor. Don't stand up."
The building was in an H-shape with an open center, so any part above shoulder height could be seen by someone at any time. Lee Ji-hyun kept scanning up and down the hallway, and I thought it was because of the building's unique structure, but it seemed that wasn't the case. Why do we need to hide if no one is armed and ready to attack us? Yoo Geum seemed to think the same.
"Why do we need to hide? It could be a researcher who couldn't escape."
"Yes, and it could also be the one who has been creating bodies until now."
Ah, that's right. ... What a mess. I thought they would have escaped faster than us. They might still be wandering around here.
"Who was it? What did they look like? Were they tall? What color was their hair? Did you recognize anyone?"
Despite Kim Ga-young's barrage of questions with her head bowed, Lee Ji-hyun shook her head.
"It happened too quickly, I couldn't see properly. There was one person, and they seemed tall. They probably didn't see me either. ... It's better not to meet them."
Under Lee Ji-hyun's strong request, we decided to keep our bodies as low as possible and head to Room 210. Fortunately, Room 215 was right next to us. I was happy thinking that we only needed to be careful for five rooms, but the problem was that the distance between the labs was unexpectedly long. After walking with our backs bent, we ended up crawling on all fours because our backs hurt. This is driving me crazy. Can't we just run?
After wiping all the dust from the hallway onto our clothes and palms, we finally arrived in front of Room 210. When Yoo Geum raised her arm and pressed her index finger to the fingerprint recognition sensor next to the lab door, it opened. We bowed our heads and quietly entered the lab, closing the door immediately.
After confirming that the lab door was completely locked, Kim Ga-young leaned back. There was a crack. Kim Ga-young groaned and turned her head to the side.
"My body is going to fall apart."
Yoo Geum, who had entered the inner part of the lab, ignored the office and immediately ran into the animal room. The animal room and the operating room were visible, separated by a middle door. Yoo Geum looked at the jellyfish in a glass tank and manipulated a button next to it. The jellyfish with countless tentacles were swaying inside the large tank. Even though almost no light was shining on the tank, the jellyfish naturally emitted a bright light in the darkness. It was as if numerous alien flying saucers were trapped inside. An enormous number of jellyfish were swaying in the large aquarium. ... They are beautiful.
There is a jellyfish aquarium not far from a dental clinic in the central district, but judging by the length of the tentacles, these seemed to be a different species. Their tentacles were incredibly long. When Yoo Geum pressed a button, the jellyfish began to be slowly emptied from the tank.
"They are being released outside. By adjusting the pressure. These can only survive in deep-sea environments."
So, is the environment in this aquarium the same as several thousand meters deep in the ocean? It was completely different from the lab of a biology student I knew. In that lab, mice, rabbits, dogs, and pigs were stored in various cages, which were packed like Tetris blocks on two or three walls. I had never seen anything like this.
Yoo Geum entered the adjacent lab and began to release the jellyfish from another tank. Four aquariums were slowly being emptied. Was that it? However, when Yoo Geum turned inward and entered a room, a steel door the size of a person appeared.
Lee Ji-hyun, surprised, tried to turn the doorknob, but it was completely locked. Yoo Geum jumped and swept the top of a drawer next to it with her hand. When Yoo Geum landed, she held a key covered in dust.
"It's the adjacent lab. Originally, they were connected, but our professor and the professor in the next room had a fight, so they blocked it off with a door."
Then Yoo Geum unlocked the door with the key. Surprised by her familiar action, I asked.
"Aren't you on bad terms?"
Yoo Geum smiled and shook a keychain with a jellyfish character.
"The professors had a fight, not the researchers. When we are busy, they feed the animals in the aquarium, and when they are on vacation, we take care of the cells they are growing so they don't starve."
Is that allowed? As Yoo Geum busily ran around the two labs, we looked around the lab. The structure of the opposite lab was similar. There were operating rooms and animal rooms, and beyond the middle door was an office. The two animal rooms were connected.
While Yoo Geum was busy, we toured her side of the office. Each researcher had their own desk and computer. The desks were decorated according to each researcher's taste; one had a pile of jellyfish dolls and characters, another had surfing photos, and another was filled with various shark dolls.
As I looked at the shark dolls with a troubled expression, Lee Ji-hyun, like a lion, wandered around the office and found a lithium fire extinguisher, then grabbed the RESCUE BAG next to it.
When I swept the dust with my hand, and seeing Yoo Geum's expression as she moved around the animal rooms, it seemed she had just discovered that such things were in the office. Lee Ji-hyun shook the bag and dumped its contents on the floor. A portable toilet, a silver blanket? There's a flint. Oh, a rope. Hand warmers, blankets, raincoats, a few tissues, a few gloves, a few masks, and a radio. They put a radio in the rescue bag? This was the first time I had seen the contents.
Lee Ji-hyun kicked all the items aside, looking for something, and wandered around the lab again. Kim Ga-young, while looking at other people's desks, found some painkillers and exclaimed with a small cheer. She then distributed a few pills to each of us and took some herself. Kim Ga-young, using a carbonated drink instead of water to swallow the pills, said:
"Ah, this. This. How fortunate to be born in a world with painkillers."
She then sat in an unoccupied chair and gently massaged her swollen, bruised, and injured calf. Yoo Geum, while releasing the marine creatures, asked Lee Ji-hyun, who was acting like a paranoid lion:
"Do you need anything?"
"A Sig Sauer or a Glock."
"......Those are gun names? In a lab? You might as well ask for anthrax."
"Is there?"
"Of course not! But we do have surgical scalpels and hydrochloric acid."
"Give me both. Right now."
Yoo Geum, after looking at the glass tanks, headed to the operating room. I followed her and asked:
"Why do you have hydrochloric acid here?"
"To adjust the pH concentration."
Ah, I see. But I never thought surgical scalpels would be in a lab. Well, it does have marine creatures. Oh, then.
"Do you have anesthetic?"
"We do, but it's not for humans."
"Can't the anesthetic used for fish be used for humans?"
Lee Ji-hyun asked me, and I was momentarily flustered. Can't anesthetics used for fish be used on humans? Can't they? I don't know.
"......No. I've never used it that way."
Yoo Geum explained that they use a certain amount of anesthetic dissolved in water to anesthetize marine creatures. Oh, that's interesting. I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to handle fish teeth. Yoo Geum took a surgical scalpel from the surgical set and gave it to Lee Ji-hyun.
I also received a scalpel by chance and accidentally dropped it on the floor. As I quickly picked it up, I thought about the state of my hands and the sterilizer. Just as I was feeling absurd about these thoughts, Yoo Geum busily put on gloves and took a brown bottle from the reagent cabinet, placing it on the office table.
"This is hydrochloric acid, so you must wear these gloves. These are acid-resistant safety gloves. And, and where did I put the mask?"
Lee Ji-hyun was looking at the scalpel blade, and I asked Yoo Geum in a flustered voice:
"Hydrochloric acid... don't you wear a mask when handling it?"
"I only wear gloves. I don't use it much."
Hydrochloric acid vapor can corrode teeth. ... Researchers. Just as Kim Ga-young found a bunch of snack chocolates in the researchers' drawers and was forcing finger-sized chocolates into everyone's mouths, a low voice was heard.
[Fingerprint does not match.]
[Fingerprint does not match.]
That's how it sounded in Korean. As soon as I heard that low, neutral voice, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Why is that voice coming? Is someone trying to enter this lab now? Did I hear it wrong? As soon as that thought crossed my mind, the voice came again, mocking my thoughts.
[Fingerprint does not match.]
The lab door and walls are completely opaque. Yoo Geum, out of habit, was about to speak to the outside when Lee Ji-hyun and I quickly covered her mouth with our palms.
Kim Ga-young quietly pointed to the lab door with her palm and made an X sign. Then her head shook towards the animal room and operating room. Yoo Geum, wearing gloves, picked up the hydrochloric acid bottle and passed through the middle door from the office to the animal room, then through the connected steel door to the adjacent animal room. Yoo Geum asked Lee Ji-hyun in a low, wind-like voice:
"Can't you ask who it is?"
"Absolutely not. Don't let them know we're here at all."
"......Could it be a colleague or a junior from the same lab?"
"Then they would have come in."
"Oh, ... that's true. Then who is it?"
Since we were completely silent, the neutral voice from outside the door continued to be heard in the quiet lab.