Chapter 15: Kwabia

“Kwabia, Kwabia…”

The secretly extracted recordings tumbled onto the desk. He checked the dates written on them and found the most recently broadcast recording.

Zzzz…

Soon, the electronic screen connected. He stood idly, his gaze fixed on the screen, and gnawed on his fingernails.

‘All racehorses to your marks.’

The broadcast began with the judge’s warning. The faces of the judges moving the racehorses into the starting gates were shown on camera.

After some time, all the racehorses arrived at their respective starting points. The figures of 11 racehorses, captured by multiple cameras, appeared on one screen.

And in the camera view at the far right, Kwabia was there.

‘She’s alive!’

A relieved expression crossed Researcher 38’s face. He pressed the keypad to zoom in on Kwabia’s face. She, cleverly, was looking for something to use as a weapon inside the starting gate.

Soon, when she found a hook the size of her hand among a pile of metal scraps, a flashbang exploded simultaneously with a loud roar.

Whoooooosh!

The racehorses covered their ears and groaned at the deafening noise, incomparably louder than the blank shot. It was the signal that the race had begun.

Researcher 38 gripped the edge of the desk as if it were his last lifeline and focused on the video. Kwabia, having exited the starting gate, was running towards a distant abandoned building, avoiding the monster’s groans.

‘Good girl. You’re doing well, Kwabia.’

He nodded his head as if his younger sister was right in front of him. Going somewhere empty was a wise choice.

Not only could she get away from the monster, but also from the adults who might try to use her as bait.

Kwabia wandered around the abandoned building for a long time, looking for an entrance. He knew through the camera that the entrance was in a broken stairwell, and he bit his lips anxiously.

‘Please. Kwabia.’

He knew it was a past broadcast. Yet, his eyes trembled as if watching a live broadcast.

The camera focused on other racehorses while Kwabia wandered, searching for an entrance. Researcher 38 eventually had to fast-forward the recording.

Click.

The screen again showed Kwabia. She was now steadily climbing inside the building. What was she looking for?

There were no monsters inside the abandoned building, but it also seemed to lack the supplies she needed. So, was her goal simply a hiding place?

Whatever it was, he had no doubt that she had made a good choice. Considering she was used as bait last time, this was definitely an improvement.

“Haa, haa.”

The stairs Kwabia was climbing were broken midway. She soon began to look for another way.

It was dark all around. Everything strewn about was just monochrome junk, making it seem almost impossible to find anything among them.

‘That, ah!’

Then, Kwabia pushed aside a tarp and found a ladder. It was rusty, but it was fine for connecting the broken part of the stairs.

Researcher 38 nervously watched his sister’s feet as she climbed the ladder. If the ladder trembled even slightly, his nose would nearly touch the screen.

Fortunately, Kwabia safely reached the ground above. And then she continued up the stairs to the rooftop.

The camera showed the panoramic view of the rooftop, covered in gray dust. It was now clear that there was nothing there.

‘Now I’m ready.’

Kwabia, looking down from the rooftop, spoke. What exactly was she ready for?

Then, the screen transitioned to another player who had found food supplies. Researcher 38 sighed and placed his hand on the keypad to fast-forward.

Suddenly, the screen changed.

“Oh?”

The camera showed Kwabia climbing over the rooftop railing. She was barefoot; it was unclear when she had taken her shoes off.

The moment he anticipated what she was about to do, Researcher 38 shook his head and stepped back. It couldn’t be. No, it couldn’t…

‘Mom. Brother. I miss you.’

White arms fluttered, then fell helplessly. Thump, a dull sound, and ringing in his ears.

The darkened screen soon showed Kwabia’s broken arms and legs. A groan of “Ugh…” was heard from her dislocated jaw. Just then, a monster approached, having heard the sound of her fall.

It was a canid mutant, commonly seen in ruined cities. The mutant, three times the size of a human, widened its mouth by stretching its jawbone to its limit, ready to swallow the child’s head.

Crunch, crunch, the sound of a skull being chewed reached his ears through the screen. He collapsed, sobbing and gasping for breath, unable to breathe.

“I never would have thought your sister would go so far as to run away and undergo the Human Run screening. She must have wanted to escape the lower district that badly.”

No, that wasn’t it. Kwabia didn’t choose the Human Run voluntarily. She wanted to go to the upper district, but only to become a broadcast human.

“They say some residential areas became overcrowded.”

“Argh, ahhh! Ugh, h-huh, aaaaaargh!”

When things he had simply accepted now came back as questions.

“Humans are…”

“Livestock.”

When even things he had taken for granted now returned as sins.

Asking himself where it all went wrong, he found the answer. It was from the very beginning, from being born here.

Beep, beep, beep.

Alarm. Intruder detected in Medical Room B6.

The alarm light flashed past Researcher 38, who was drenched in sweat. He hastily lowered his head and reached for the control pad on the desk.

947229.

The password to activate the medical tube was entered. He checked that no error message appeared and looked at the operating room. A medical tube, whose ceiling lid was slowly opening, came into his sight.

Alarm. Intruder detected in Medical Room B6.

“Damn it.”

There was no time. He intuited that he wouldn’t receive proper treatment.
On the monitor screen connected to the tube, the surgery details tab appeared.

Human recognition chip removal surgery took 70 minutes. Even with semi-manual control, it was 30 minutes. But the time he could hold out here was barely 20 minutes.

Scanning the surgery list, his gaze stopped at ‘Foreign Body Removal Surgery,’ which took 20 minutes. It was a surgery to remove sharp foreign objects like bullets and blades.

It was a gamble, half of it. Since the process of removing the self-destruct sensor inside the chip before surgery was omitted, he might even lose his life during the surgery.

Alarm. Intruder detected in Medical Room B6.

But it would be better than being killed by the military.
He indicated the left side of his neck as the surgical site and put his body into the medical tube.

A moment later, the tube ceiling closed.
The surgical robot arm rotated around his neck.

First, local anesthesia began.
He winced at the stinging pain, then took deep breaths to calm his trembling.

Chip removal surgery required general anesthesia.
This was because if the subject moved even slightly, the sensor could malfunction.
At this moment, he had to act like a corpse while alive.

Zzzz…

He clenched his teeth in fear that he might die.

A problem has occurred. Terminating surgery.

It was then.
The robot arm, which had been holding the chip with forceps, suddenly stopped operating.
‘Damn it…’ His jaw trembled.

Either the power was cut off, or the tube was broken.
It didn’t matter which.
If he couldn’t remove the chip now, he would lose his chance to escape forever.

“Kugh. Ugh…!”

Just then, the anesthetic’s effect also wore off.
He took the forceps, gritted his teeth, and stared at his neck reflected on the ceiling.

The surgical risks had been handled by the robot arm, so the rest was up to the sensor’s reaction.
The chip, the size of his thumbnail, slowly came out.
And at the moment the alarm indicating self-destruction turned on.

“Gasp, gasp!”

Researcher 38 immediately exited the tube and hid himself in the next tube.
No sooner had the ceiling closed than the chip exploded.

With a ringing in his ears, he covered them and looked around the ruined operating room.
Tube fragments, like shredded paper, were scattered everywhere.

Alarm. Intruder detected in Medical Room B6.

The alarm light stung his eyelids.
Staring blankly at the glass fragments, he realized with a start and exited the tube.

As he stepped into the hallway, he heard the footsteps of human soldiers.
Unless there was an additional code permitted by the administrator, the elevator to the surface could not be used.