Chapter 28: Departure Examination

Yeosu barely lifted her chin to look at Shelby.

The flyer in her hand had become crumpled without her noticing.

“I’ll… go….”

Shelby then smiled brightly.

As her anxiety faded, her face began to regain its usual vitality.

Overwhelmed by that expression, Yeosu hesitated for a moment but soon added more words.

“B-but first… I need to know something.”

“What is it, child?”

Tama, who had been looking at Shelby with sad eyes, lowered her head to shift her gaze to Yeosu.

Yeosu’s lips trembled before she finally spat out the words she had resolved to say.

“Th-there were human soldiers at the incinerator with navy uniforms.”

Tama listened, seated on the saddle, to the story Yeosu stammered out.

Human soldiers in navy uniforms appearing at the incinerator, the guns they carried, the sealed shelter, the controlled people.

There was no story about Cheche, but Tama quietly guessed the situation Yeosu had endured by looking at her reddened eyes.

Even Shelby, who had been smiling all along, had to close her mouth for that moment.

A brief silence flowed.

Tama finally opened her mouth.

“First of all, thank you for telling me such a hard story. It made it easier to grasp the situation.”

Tama was a nomad.

That meant she traveled around the incinerators once every one or two months, up to three at most, to do business.

But two months ago, the incinerator shelter where she always started her business had turned into a hellscape.

Not only that, the incinerator shelter above it and the one next to it had all become completely empty.

Not a single strand of human hair remained.

At the time, she thought it was just because of a sandstorm that everyone had migrated, but now, hearing Yeosu’s words, all the doubts were resolved.

The human soldiers were eliminating unregistered people.

Except for the useful children who still had potential uses.

That’s why they had set up a human examination center in this filthy wasteland full of trash.

“I’m… sorry….”

“For what?”

Yeosu didn’t answer Tama’s question.

But Tama understood her feelings by looking into her clouded, subdued eyes.

“It’s okay. Now we know we shouldn’t go near the incinerators anymore.”

Tama had planned to quit her nomadic life soon anyway.

That was the reason for sending Shelby to the examination center.

She could wander around settlements in secret and wait for death in a suitable place.

Fortunately, she didn’t have much time left to live.

“Anyway.”

Tama turned to look at Shelby.

Reading her mother’s eyes, she went and stood beside Yeosu.

“Now you understand even more. This is the only way for you two to survive.”

Shelby nodded heavily, as if she had already steeled herself.

Yeosu looked past Tama’s shoulder toward the examination center.

“Your daughter will be found out as an impure seed the moment she gets the rider mark.”

Researcher No. 38 had told her mother that.

She said that if she underwent the examination, she would definitely be discovered as an impure seed.

Just like back then, when the guards made her introduce herself.

Would she make another mistake like that time?

“…I’ll go.”

But Yeosu couldn’t think of any other way.

Should she throw a tantrum and follow Tama anyway?

Or just walk aimlessly through the wasteland?

Both were delusional methods.

And above all, she no longer wanted to protect her life through the sacrifice of others.

“Good. Then let’s say our final goodbyes here.”

Tama smiled bitterly and pulled Shelby and Yeosu into a hug.

Yeosu looked back at the path the two-wheeled vehicle had taken.

Even peering far into the distance, she could no longer spot her mother’s place.

Departure Examination

Yeosu stared blankly at the number ‘187’.

The number engraved above the examination center entrance meant this was the 187th examination center set up for unregistered people.

Just then, a transport truck came to a stop.

Cold sweat began to bead on Yeosu’s forehead.

Her stomach churned, and her vision blurred.

It felt like she might vomit any second.

“Are you okay?”

Shelby whispered.

The driver’s door opened, and a man in a gray military uniform stepped out.

Yeosu whipped her head away, clutching her pounding chest.

Her breathing grew ragged.

The children from the truck started getting out and lining up.

Unable to bear it, Shelby grabbed Yeosu’s hand and followed them.

Only after standing at the very end of the line, out of sight of the uniform, did Yeosu’s breathing ease a bit.

“Are you really hot? Just hold on a little longer. We’ll be going inside soon.”

Yeosu nodded.

As Shelby said, the examination center’s entrance door opened.

The children at the front entered the gray building one by one.

To Yeosu, who had only seen tarp shelters and overly massive incinerators, the place felt utterly foreign.

Yeosu entered last.

As the iron gate behind her descended with a loud clang, Yeosu paled and collapsed to the floor.

Shelby didn’t scold her but helped the trembling Yeosu to her feet.

A few other children screamed or burst into tears.

“Ugh….”

Yeosu leaned against the wall.

It was pitch black ahead.

Her head spun, perhaps from the unfamiliar smell.

It was similar to the oil scent from the nomads’ trucks, but mixed in was a faint, eerie smell of blood.

The only sounds were the children’s breathing.

How much time passed like that?

Suddenly, a beep sounded, and white light began bursting one by one from the square panels on the ceiling.

Yeosu squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden bright light.

Finally, all the lights turned on, illuminating the surroundings without a single shadow.

— Examination subjects, proceed forward.

A mechanical voice echoed from somewhere.

The wide-eyed children looked at the walls and up at the ceiling, but no machines were visible.

In the end, the child at the front of the line hesitantly stepped forward.

Ahead stretched a long corridor.

Everything was white all around, so the shelter children, used to the wasteland, squinted as they moved forward.

— The waiting room door is opening.

As the children milled about searching for the ‘door,’ the white wall slid up toward the ceiling.

A collective “wow” of admiration burst out.

Even Shelby, who had seen all sorts of things in her nomadic life, gaped in surprise, while Yeosu couldn’t shake her wary gaze.

The children who peeked inside the waiting room started jumping around excitedly.

To get in first, even a little sooner, they shoved shoulders without hesitation.

“There’s food!”

“No way, the chairs are so soft!”

Three sofas, each big enough for at least six people, were lined up along the walls.

To the children who had only known hard chairs made of scrap metal, it was a novel discovery.

In the center of the room, a table was piled high with food.

At first, the children weren’t sure if the bagged items were edible, but when they tore open the tops and a fragrant smell wafted out, they all yelled in excitement.

“It’s thinner than cookies but way tastier! I’ve never had a flavor like this!”

“I could live off this forever!”

Unable to hold back, Shelby squeezed into the crowd of children.

By then, the greedier ones had already grabbed handfuls, so she only snagged three bags, but she grinned widely.

“Hey, let’s eat these one by one and share the rest!”

Shelby placed one bag in Yeosu’s hand.

Yeosu wanted to give it back since she wasn’t keen on it, but just then, hunger started to hit.

It was proof her stomach had settled, but Yeosu didn’t like that.

After hesitating, she tore open the bag, and a salty aroma rose up.

She cautiously put one in her mouth.

Shelby had already finished her first bag.

“Is this our clothes? It smells amazing.”

Someone opened a box in the corner.

What came out was a white outfit with top and bottom connected.

Just then, the mechanical voice sounded again, and everyone looked up at the ceiling where the noise came from.

— Examination subjects, change into the uniforms and proceed to the inspection room.

She didn’t know the exact meaning, but it probably meant to change clothes.

Come to think of it, on the wall without sofas, there was another door.

The inspection room must be there.

“I got yours too. This should fit, right?”

Shelby quickly brought two outfits and scanned Yeosu up and down.

Yeosu held hers against her body and nodded slightly.

“But I’m only asking now—what’s your name?”

It wasn’t a particularly secretive question.

Still, Yeosu clamped her mouth shut.

Cheche had changed her name each time they moved to hide her fugitive status.

From Vivi to Jojo, from Jojo to Cheche.

So even Yeosu didn’t know Cheche’s real name.

Was it okay to tell Shelby her real name?

Yeosu had been chased by human soldiers until coming here.

But they probably thought she had died in the vehicle, and they wouldn’t know her name anyway….

“Yeosu….”

In the end, she decided not to change her name.

‘Yeosu’ was the only legacy from her mother.

The one she had now.