Chapter 3

Episode 3. Human Experimentation

***

In movies where secret organization scientists appear, such scenes are common. Doctors or scientists in white coats conducting unethical experiments on people.

Perhaps it’s an experience shared by all modern people. Like being dragged to the dentist by your parents as a child and undergoing procedures you couldn’t understand.

Today, a person in a white coat came to my isolation room.

I must survive.

“Hello. I am Dr. Cheon Gyeong-chae from the Foundation’s Examination Department. Starting today, I will begin basic examinations and personnel verification for you.”

Cheonggyeongchae?

…I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud.

“Yes.”

“Please sit down.”

In the center of the isolation room, there is a small desk. I awkwardly sat at the desk, and the doctor sent by the Foundation sat across from me, pulling out a tablet.

“Before becoming a Foundation employee, you must undergo the following tests. You need to undergo about 50 tests and receive about 60 vaccinations required by the Foundation.”

“Ah.”

That’s a lot, damn it.

“The list of tests is as follows.”

“Basic body measurements, vision, hearing, blood pressure measurement. Liver function, fasting blood sugar, glomerular filtration rate.”

“You don’t have to read them all.”

“Then, I’ll just check the items that are not part of a general health checkup.”

“Yes.”

“Please wait a moment. Full-body CT, full-body MRI, genetic testing, cerebrospinal fluid test, Primrose intestine concentration test, doppelganger differentiation test, reality fixation response test, causality fixation response test, deep probability analysis-”

I raised my hand for a moment. I don’t plan to waste time listening to this all day. If I have to do all the tests anyway, it’s better to get them done quickly.

“I’ll just take the tests in order. If you print out the list, I’ll look at it myself.”

“Then please follow me outside the isolation room.”

Tap, tap.

The doctor sent by the Foundation walked faster than I expected. I had to struggle quite a bit to keep up with their pace.

“By the way, Doctor.”

“Yes.”

“Is it okay to release me from isolation so casually? You said I’m a supernatural phenomenon. Yesterday, someone pointed a gun at my face as soon as they entered the isolation room.”

The man in the white coat stopped walking and turned slightly to look at me. With a cold gaze, as if looking at a lab mouse.

I took a step back.

“It’s nothing. We’re being considerate because you’re going to become an employee. Why, do you want to be put in a straitjacket, injected with a sedative, and dragged to the Humanoid Research Department according to protocol?”

“No.”

“You seem like a good person, so I’m especially worried. The Foundation is a terrifying place.”

I nodded.

“I don’t know what you are. Why a girl who looks younger than my niece was isolated in a Foundation facility, why the Director’s Office decided to assign you as an employee. I have no way of knowing.”

“That might be the case.”

“I am very afraid of you.”

Let’s change the subject.

No matter how I’m being treated now, I’m still a prisoner of this Foundation. At least until I’m recognized as an employee, I must do my best to survive.

“Understood. How will the tests be conducted?”

Judging by the reaction, it doesn’t seem like a big deal.

“You’ll be admitted to the hospital ward inside this facility for about two days, and you’ll receive all the necessary tests and vaccinations. No need to worry.”

“Uh, what kind of vaccinations are there?”

“What was there? Anthrax, Ebola, SARS, cholera, meningitis bacteria, a few types of informational pathogens. I’d have to check specifically, there are so many.”

The doctor fell silent for a moment.

“You must know a lot about the Foundation, right?”

“I don’t know much. I’m just a doctor, so I don’t need to know much. If I go to the field, I might learn something, but…”

“I see.”

The doctor in charge of me was kind, but I still failed to get any meaningful information.

“Then, please enter this room. Answer a few questions and come out, and I’ll guide you to the hospital ward.”

I nodded, opened the door, and entered the room.

***

It was different from what I expected.

I shouldn’t have trusted those damn white coats.

The first test I underwent at the Foundation’s hospital wasn’t a blood test or a physical examination. No, it wasn’t anything close to medical.

I squinted under the fluorescent light.

“What is that…?”

I actually have a rough idea.

A polygraph test. A type of lie detector, I’ve heard it’s used for personnel verification in places like intelligence agencies.

A Foundation employee in a suit gestured.

“Please sit there.”

A chair with complex machinery attached. I quickly glanced to see what machinery was on the chair.

The Foundation employee started attaching sensors to my body. Oxygen saturation monitor, portable ECG on my limbs, skin conductance sensor… Fine. Whatever they’re looking at, I don’t care.

Whatever it is, there’s a lot.

I sighed, and the Foundation employee sitting across from me gave a businesslike smile.

“There’s no need to be nervous.”

This is more terrifying than having a gun pointed at my face. These people are the Foundation’s Personnel Department. They didn’t wear sunglasses, but… black suits and black shoes, unmistakably Men in Black.

“I am Personnel Department Head Min A-ri. Since you’re busy, let’s not delay. First, relax a bit, you seem very tense.”

It’s not that you seem tense, it’s a declaration that ‘you are tense.’

They can probably see my tension in the numbers. I moistened my lips.

I must survive.

“Please state three true statements about yourself and three false statements.”

I thought for a while.

***

“If you don’t mind me saying. You look very young. At least to be working as a Foundation researcher.”

“This is not my original form.”

How much time had passed? Personnel Department Head Min A-ri finished recording and looked up from the tablet.

“Yes, you answered well.”

This is exhausting.

“Next question. Do you know why you were classified as a supernatural phenomenon? Do you understand the Foundation to some extent?”

I thought for a moment.

“I’m not sure. What I understand is that my body changed like this, so I was isolated as a Foundation supernatural phenomenon… that’s about it.”

“You’re surprisingly calm. Didn’t your body’s gender change too?”

“I knew my body changed, but the memory of when it changed and right after was erased by a Memory Erasure Agent. That’s why.”

The Personnel Department employee looked at me.

“I don’t plan to play mind games with you. I’ll be straightforward.”

“First. The Foundation suspects that you might be a supernatural human like a Mimic or doppelganger. If so, the Humanoid Research Department will probably dissect you.”

“Ah, no.”

“Second. You applied to work in the Director’s Office. Given the importance of the position, we need to verify thoroughly, please understand.”

I nodded.

“Third, the Foundation’s selection process is originally extremely complicated, and with the Director currently absent… it’s even more so.”

Come to think of it, I forgot to ask Nanami about that. What does the Foundation want from me?

Specifically, what position do they want to use me for?

I’m supposed to be a researcher, but they want me to work in the Director’s Office instead of the Research Department?

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The Personnel Department Head stood up first. She removed the sensors attached to my arms one by one.

“Can I go now?”

“You can go to the hospital ward now.”

I let out a small sigh of relief.

***

A few hours later. I looked at the crowd gathered in front of my hospital ward. One, two… six people in white coats. After waiting for a moment, the Foundation doctors walked up to me.

“How are you feeling?”

I nodded.

“Yes. You passed most of the other tests, but something unusual was found in the genetic test. Do you know what it might be?”

I shook my head. How would I know? You’re the ones who did the tests and you’re the doctors.

“We couldn’t verify the origin of the second X chromosome you possess. Also, the sequence of the X chromosome from your nails and the one from your hair is different, suggesting chimerism. However, since the cell groups share the remaining 45 chromosomes perfectly, it’s not visible to the naked eye.”

“Ah, yes.”

“It’s a very unusual result. Since you share 45 chromosomes with your pre-transformation genes, it doesn’t match the findings of Mimics or body snatchers, and we believe your statement is likely true-”

I raised one hand.

“Professor, professor, professor. You must be busy, I’ll just read the report later. Thank you.”

These doctors talk a lot.

When I said I wouldn’t listen to the explanation, the Foundation doctors gave me a brief greeting and left in a hurry.