Chapter 29: The Screening

“It’s a catchy name. Easy to call.”

Shalbi lightly patted Yeosu’s back, then took off her pants. She didn’t seem to be conscious of her surroundings at all.

Yeosu went to the corner and turned her back. It was exactly as her cautious mother had trained her.

After everyone changed, the examination room door opened. Yeosu also followed the children, hesitant, and there, for the first time, she saw adults.

They, wearing protective suits, stood in front of large, rectangular tubes. The tubes, large enough for an adult to enter, were translucent, and a total of ten were installed along the wall.

“Line up, one by one.”

The voice was muffled by a mask. The children, scared by just that, quickly formed a line.

Then, they gestured the children one by one into the tubes. Yeosu, who was in the middle, entered the tenth tube.

The children still waiting for their turn looked nervously at their friends who had entered the tubes. Soon, a mechanical sound flowed from Yeosu’s tube.

— Bacterial inspection will begin shortly.

“Ugh!”

Hiss. Mist sprayed from all directions. The last thing she saw was Shalbi’s surprised face from outside, then she couldn’t see anything.

Suddenly, her breath caught, and Yeosu turned her head to the side. She opened her eyes wide, feeling something grab her right arm.

— Do not move during the inspection.

“Ugh!”

A mechanical hand, suddenly appearing, inserted a needle into her right arm. Dark red blood continued to fill a new vial.

Just as her head felt dizzy, something was thrust in front of her eyes. Following the mechanical voice telling her to open her mouth, she opened it, and it retreated with a stinging sensation inside her cheek.

After that, the back of her thigh stung. She couldn’t understand what they were doing. The mist made her cough repeatedly. Just as she was about to hit the wall, unable to bear it, the mist completely cleared, and the tube opened.

— Inspection complete.

Yeosu took a deep breath. A protective suit, waiting outside, led her somewhere. Looking back, a child who had come out of another tube was entering a door on the opposite side.

That side was labeled ‘1,’ and this side was ‘3.’ She didn’t know the difference, but the child heading for ‘1’ still couldn’t stop coughing.

Before she could ask anything, the door opened and closed. In an instant, Yeosu’s body was bathed in red light. It was a scarlet room. The walls and floor might not have been that color, but the light spreading from the ceiling was red.

It was as if she were surrounded by the sun on all sides. Inside, children who had already finished their inspection stood leaning against the wall with bored expressions.

Yeosu felt a sense of incongruity and turned her head. There was another door there. And above it hung an electronic screen whose number had just changed from ’29’ to ’30.’

“Finally, we’re going to the next stage.”

A boy who looked close to fifteen said. As soon as Yeosu entered the room, the children who had been clinging to the wall until then began to move away one by one.

Then, a hissing sound was heard from somewhere. It was exactly the same sound as when the wall went up upon their first arrival at the screening center.

Yeosu, who hastily turned her head, saw a woman in a military uniform. At the same time, her body froze.

Her heart began to pound rapidly. Among the children whose eyes had sharpened, Yeosu alone glared at the woman, biting her lips.

“Room 3’s personnel are finally full. It’s a good sign that there are no defects among you. Next is a basic physical fitness test. Everyone stand in front of the elevator over there.”

The woman gestured towards the opposite wall. What Yeosu had simply thought was a ‘door’ was an elevator door leading underground.

When the woman pressed something in her hand, a rattling sound came from inside the door. With a dull noise, the door opened. A small room, seemingly just barely able to fit 30 people, was revealed.

“The examination room is underground. You will arrive by taking the elevator.”

The children looked at each other, wondering who would get on the elevator first. They had never seen a moving room like this before, and didn’t even know they existed.

But the tall boy readily entered the elevator first. It was the boy who looked about fifteen, with whom Yeosu had first made eye contact.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to get tested?”

He had a bored-to-death expression. Then, the hesitant children began to get on the elevator.

Yeosu inadvertently stepped forward, then looked back. One corner of the woman’s mouth, watching the children, turned up into a smile. It was a smile so strange it was chilling.

“Then, good luck.”

The elevator, now carrying Yeosu, descended. Even under the dim red lighting, the children’s nervous faces were clear.

Soon, the elevator stopped and the door opened. Darkness stretched out, so thick that not an inch could be seen. She couldn’t even tell if it was a cliff ahead, or another room.

Yeosu, who was at the very front, stepped out of the elevator first. As her bare feet felt the cold floor, a white light burst from the ceiling.

“Ugh!”

Yeosu’s eyes squeezed shut. Not just her, but everyone winced and stepped out of the elevator. The space that had been only darkness was illuminated by the lights. And someone mumbled blankly.

“Racecourse…?”

Could they have dared to imagine such a space existing underground? What they were seeing was a vast racecourse with a starting line, a finish line, and even race lanes separated by color.

— The main race will begin in 15 minutes. Participants, please stand at the starting line.

“The starting line, where’s that?”

“Participants… are they us?”

The children were flustered. Just then, Yeosu, who found a number written in white on the edge of the racecourse, frowned and stepped forward.

1, 2, 3… There were only 3 designated race lanes. It was strange. If this was a ‘race’ and the children were ‘participants,’ as the mechanical voice said, shouldn’t all 30 of them be assigned numbers?

“Look, it’s like that!”

A red-haired girl who had followed Yeosu and found the numbers exclaimed. The children glanced at each other as if checking, then rushed forward like fire.

However, contrary to expectations of a fight for positions, since there were only 3 race lanes designated as starting lines, most children stood in their desired positions.

14 chose ‘1,’ 11 chose ‘2,’ and only 5 chose ‘3.’ They instinctively recognized that the inner track was more advantageous in this kind of race.

However, children like Yeosu, who were short, were pushed to lane 3 without even getting to step on lanes 1 or 2. Among them was a young boy who looked no older than 4.

Everyone was tensing up, ready to run, when Yeosu suddenly looked back. It was strange. The starting line was clearly here, but why was there a large partition behind them?

The three partitions, installed at regular intervals, looked exactly like these numbers.

— The main race will begin in 5 minutes. All participants, prepare.

The children’s eyes became even sharper. They all stared forward, swallowing dryly.

…Didn’t I hear a thud just now? Yeosu looked back again, but she only received sharp glares from the children, telling her to stop being distracting.

— The main race will begin in 1 minute. All participants are ready.

Everyone had been standing behind the numbers for a while, so why were they only now saying they were ready? Yeosu nervously surveyed her surroundings. And then, bang, a blank shot went off.

Yeosu, shoved by the shoulder of the person next to her, inadvertently began to run, as children with tightly furrowed brows all dashed forward.

Everyone was looking straight ahead. And they ran as if their feet were on fire. She couldn’t shake the thought that something was hidden by the perfectly coordinated sound of their running.

Had she run about ten steps? Yeosu slowly reduced her speed and looked back. A few children who had started slowly also felt something strange and looked back.

“Oh.”

They faced the partitions, no, the ‘real’ participants who had come out of the starting gates.

“Wh-what is that?”

A girl asked. Yeosu couldn’t answer. No, no one could.

“Beasts? Are they a different kind? But why are they here…”

Yeosu released the tension in her hand that had gone numb from clenching her fist. ‘Beasts’ meant things like ‘rats.’ But these creatures, slowly approaching them, were tens of times larger than rats.

Yeosu, and indeed most of the children here, were seeing a ‘classification’ other than humans or bugs for the first time. Yeosu slowly backed away, observing the things approaching the children.

They were walking on race lanes 1, 2, and 3 respectively, and although their appearances and sizes differed, they were strangely similar in form. All walked on four legs, had long tails, and had manes like hair between their perked ears.