Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Chapter 186: Treatment Over Containment

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

186 – Treatment Over Containment

“I acknowledge Mr. Seung-ho’s abilities, but developing a cure is never an easy task. Even global pharmaceutical companies invest several years to develop a single drug, isn’t that the reality of new drug development?”

Yoon Se-ah said with a worried expression after hearing Myung-jun’s thoughts.

From what she knew, no matter how exceptional Seung-ho’s abilities were, developing a cure did not seem easy. However, despite Yoon Se-ah’s concerns, Myung-jun did not waver in his opinion that developing a cure was a priority.

“This is not something to be decided based on the current situation alone. Of course, it is possible to track and treat each infected individual, but if we fail to complete the cure, similar incidents will simultaneously occur in other regions,” Myung-jun said.

He emphasized that this situation should not be interpreted with the same perspective as existing diseases. Unlike existing diseases, which can be somewhat controlled by blocking transmission routes, this situation was caused by the gate phenomenon.

This meant that even if the outbreak site was well-contained, another gate could open elsewhere, leading to new infections, Myung-jun explained.

“Frankly, if a gate causing this incident were to open in the middle of Seoul, we wouldn’t be able to control it without a cure. It would be better to invest time now to develop and distribute a cure,” he said.

“Just as the monsters cause impossible phenomena in reality, the awakened ones also break the barriers of reality to create miraculous events. Moreover, unlike when Seung-ho was confined in the underground gate research lab, he now has access to all the research equipment of the Liberal Clan to focus on developing the cure,” Myung-jun continued.

“Don’t worry too much. With the world’s best engineer and the world’s best alchemist working together, developing a cure won’t be that difficult,” Soo-jeong said, encouraging Yoon Se-ah.

With renewed determination, Yoon Se-ah turned to Myung-jun and said, “From now on, the EDA will actively participate in the operation. Is there anything we can do to help?”

Myung-jun pondered for a moment after hearing Yoon Se-ah’s words. Then he turned to Soo-jeong, who was standing next to him, and asked, “Senior, how many bionic suits do we have left?”

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Unlike the synapse creatures, which had a control range of only about 1 kilometer, the tentacle-shaped anomaly that initially infected the soldier had the ability to detect and control all infected creatures within the quarantine zone that Soo-jeong had established, spanning several kilometers in radius. However, after infecting a single soldier, the tentacle-shaped anomaly had shown no further movement, as it aimed to conceal the ‘traces’ that would inevitably occur if it moved.

While it could monitor the movements of each infected entity, issuing ‘commands’ to the infected left easily detectable traces. Therefore, the inspector ‘Untwart,’ who had crossed over to South Korea through the gate, quietly waited in a hole he had dug in the ground, extending his tentacles like antennas, waiting for the right moment. He hoped that his reliable children would find more hosts and increase the number of infected creatures.

However, aside from that belief, Untwart’s cognitive circuits detected bizarre patterns that defied his logic.

“Another one disappeared. Are they possibly eliminating the infected hosts?”

It was a natural thought for Untwart. Normally, the infected creatures should have radiated out from the gathering point, but they were suddenly vanishing within his detection range, as if being erased. In reality, this phenomenon was caused by the EDA operatives, who had begun a full-scale capture operation with Myung-jun. The parasitic creatures were ceasing to emit biological signals as they were rapidly frozen during the process of cryogenically freezing the infected individuals. However, Untwart, being underground, had no way of knowing this.

He simply thought that the creatures of the same species as the infected hosts had started to massacre their infected kin, as had happened on many planets he had visited before. It was an extremely easy hunting method—making the targets kill each other instead of exposing his own body to direct attacks.

However, the presence of a strange blocking field that had recently started to prevent his detection range from expanding outward was quite irritating to Untwart.

“It’s hard to believe that an inferior species using gunpowder weapons has the technology to block my detection abilities. Should I go and check it out?”

After contemplating for a moment, Untwart stopped his thoughts. Moving from his perfectly synchronized hiding place would be a foolish act that would create a ‘flaw’ in his nearly perfect hunting plan.

The most important thing in hunting is patience. Untwart possessed patience far beyond what was necessary for the hunt he was planning. He had the stamina and patience to wait for decades, if not hundreds of years, for the opportunity to capture even a single infected entity.

‘After all, the rate of spread is faster than the rate of removal. Once the number of hosts surpasses the number of non-hosts, I’ll issue a command and completely subdue the area inside the territory,’ Untwart thought to himself.

The frightening aspect of Untwart’s species, the integrated infectious life form known as ‘Unity,’ lay precisely there. Unlike other parasitic life forms that begin activity immediately upon infection, hosts infected by Unity showed no significant symptoms until the prime entity issued a command. Furthermore, Unity’s ability to mimic the normal behavior patterns of its victims using their memories made it difficult to detect the spread of infection until a large number of infected individuals had emerged.

By the time the infection was discovered, the number of infected usually overwhelmingly surpassed the number of uninfected. In this sense, it was very fortunate for the Ministry of National Defense of South Korea to have quickly noticed the infection among the frontline troops.

It was also fortunate that the Liberal Clan, with the ability to control and resolve the entire situation, was located in the neighboring country, Japan. Untwart was completely unaware, but the Liberal Clan, led by Myung-jun, was already methodically progressing through the steps to resolve the crisis.

“EDA operatives who will wear the bionic suits, please pass through this gate. We will issue the suits to you as soon as your non-infected status is confirmed,” Soo-jeong announced, having completed the equipment capable of detecting parasitic creatures within the body that could not be diagnosed with conventional techniques.

“Test number 37 failed. Bring in test subject number 38 to the testing chamber.”

Meanwhile, Seung-ho was slowly approaching the one combination method he needed out of the billions of possible combinations to develop a cure that would precisely kill the infected creatures without harming the human body.

And Myung-jun, along with Subin, Kay, and EDA Director Yoon Se-ah, including the EDA operatives, was scattered in all directions, capturing the dispersed infected individuals to obtain the parasites needed for the cure experiments.

“How’s the progress, Seung-ho?”

After throwing another captured infected individual into the medical pod, Myung-jun moved to the laboratory where Seung-ho was to assess the development status of the cure. There, Seung-ho, who was continuing the experiment with a tired expression, spoke to Myung-jun.

“It’s difficult. The infected creatures possess characteristics almost identical to human tissue right up until they begin their activity. Essentially, the drug we’re trying to develop is akin to a miraculous cancer treatment that kills only cancer cells without harming normal cells,” Seung-ho explained.

“Hmm… I understand it’s difficult. However, securing additional infected creatures is becoming increasingly challenging. The medical pods in the subspace have already reached full capacity,” Myung-jun replied.

Due to the nature of the infected creatures, which would release acidic fluids and self-destruct the moment their host’s body was threatened, they had to rapidly freeze the host to capture the creatures alive. To thaw the frozen hosts, the presence of medical pods was essential. To resolve the saturation of the medical pods, Myung-jun had been pulling out injured individuals from the pods before their treatment was complete and pushing in newly captured infected individuals. However, this method was also reaching its limits, leaving Myung-jun with no choice but to rely on Seung-ho’s abilities.

Despite understanding Myung-jun’s expectations, Seung-ho couldn’t confidently claim he would complete the cure. He was realizing that developing the cure, which initially seemed less challenging, was a far more brutal process than he had anticipated. What Seung-ho needed now was a guide to lead him in the right direction.

“It seems impossible to eliminate the parasitic creatures solely through altering the properties or adjusting the concentration of the drug. It would be great if we could find even one component that distinctly differentiates the parasitic tissue from human tissue…” Seung-ho trailed off.

“Hmm…” Myung-jun pondered, listening to Seung-ho’s concerns. Though he wasn’t an expert in medicine or chemistry, he knew that sometimes unexpected ideas could emerge from entirely different knowledge and perspectives. He began to think about his own methods of working.

‘Is there a way to process materials with almost 100% identical properties so that only one property is affected?’ Myung-jun thought.

After a moment of contemplation, Myung-jun spoke to Seung-ho.

” Seung-ho.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“How about changing our approach?”

“How so?”

“The parasitic creatures inside the body have assimilated their tissue to resemble human tissue, but they aren’t actually connected to human tissue, right? They aren’t connected in ways like sharing blood vessels, for instance.”

“Exactly. It’s like a biological balloon made of human tissue. But since the tissue characteristics are almost identical to human tissue, injecting a toxin to kill the parasite would still harm the host. The toxin from the dead parasite would spread into the human tissue,” Seung-ho explained.

“What if we change the properties themselves?”

Myung-jun’s words intrigued Seung-ho deeply. It was a completely different approach from what he had tried so far.

“Could you explain in more detail?” Seung-ho asked.

“The parasites can mimic and synchronize with the surrounding human tissue, right? But what if we first inject a substance that nullifies that ability? Like how a contrast agent is used to make cancerous tissue glow before targeting it, we could inject another reagent first to alter the properties of the surrounding tissue,” Myung-jun suggested.

“And then create a toxin that only affects the altered parasites, leaving the surrounding tissue unharmed?” Seung-ho asked, his interest piqued.

“If that’s possible,” Myung-jun confirmed.

“It’s difficult, certainly. But it might be a more realistic approach than just adjusting the toxicity to eliminate the parasites,” Seung-ho admitted.

“The concern is that even if we try this new method, we don’t have many test subjects left. The medical pods are already at full capacity, making it hard to secure new subjects,” Myung-jun noted.

Seung-ho checked the remaining number of inspector boxes and steeled his resolve.

“We have nine test subjects left. That means we need to perfect the reagent within those trials.”

“Can you do it?” Myung-jun asked.

“I have to. True heroes shine the brightest in times like these. However, even if we perfect the reagent, there’s one problem,” Seung-ho pointed out.

“Go on,” Myung-jun urged.

“The method you suggested requires perfect timing for the injection of two different substances. The first reagent to alter the parasite’s properties must be injected, and before the parasite attempts to self-destruct, the second reagent to eliminate the parasite must be administered. If the second reagent is even slightly delayed after the first one is injected…”

“The parasite will release highly acidic fluids and self-destruct inside the body,” Myung-jun completed the thought.

“How do you plan to solve that issue?” Seung-ho asked.

“I’m not going to solve it. The Liberal Clan has another specialist, just like you, who is specialized in this field,” Myung-jun replied with a confident smile.

After finishing his sentence, Myung-jun brought his finger to his ear and connected the communication line. He then spoke to another expert who had been listening to their conversation.

“Senior, you heard everything, right? We need new equipment.”

From the speaker inside the laboratory, Soo-jeong’s voice resonated.

“Leave it to me. The moment I heard your conversation, the design was already complete in my mind.”