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EP.25 Side Story - Underground Processing Room
In addition to facilities for training female livestock, the shared property facility also had a separate underground laboratory called the 'processing room'.
Since it was ethically problematic, its existence was not publicly known and only a very small number of people were aware of the processing room.
Numerically, including researchers, there were about 28 people...
And today one more was added, making it 29.
"Yes yes, I got it Dad. I'm about to arrive so I have to hang up. Don't worry~ Okay, I understand. Bye!"
The woman driving along the mountain road smiled expectantly as she looked at the shared property facility visible nearby.
New researcher Jung So-yeon.
She graduated from a prestigious university with excellent grades and was hired as a researcher at the shared property facility, beating 500-to-1 odds.
"I'm so excited. Hehe."
The shared property facility.
Located deep in the mountains far from society, it evokes the image of a crude yet solid castle befitting its nickname of an impregnable fortress.
Seeing it up close, the sense of intimidation was no joke.
So-yeon parked her car in front of the main gate of the shared property facility and swallowed dryly as she watched the security guard approaching her.
Heavily-built mercenaries in bulletproof vests carrying rifles, looking like they'd undergone intense training at a glance.
A place requiring such strict security...
A dangerous place where the slightest misstep could lead to big trouble...
So-yeon, faced with the shared property facility she had only heard about, was already visibly tense.
Knock knock—
So-yeon handed her issued employee ID to the security guard who approached the driver's seat.
The ID photo showed a young beautiful woman with wavy dark brown hair, heavily photoshopped.
The puzzled guard looked back and forth between So-yeon and the ID before using the scanner on his device to reconfirm her identity.
"Identity confirmed. Opening the gate."
"Okay. Thank you."
"By the way, I recommend changing your employee ID photo to a recent one. Unless you want to waste time being stopped every time you come and go."
"I see."
So-yeon responded coldly to the guard's somewhat prickly words and entered the shared property facility with an annoyed expression.
She parked her car in the employee-only underground parking lot, passed through layers of security devices to go above ground, and waited for her contact person in the main building of the shared property facility.
On the 10th floor at the top of the main building.
So-yeon looked around the shared property facility while enjoying a cup of coffee.
"It's different from what I imagined..."
The education of female livestock takes place indoors.
The livestock outside are only women who committed minor crimes doing 'general labor'...
Sometimes special livestock being moved by administrators can be seen, but there were no livestock receiving harsh punishments outside as So-yeon had imagined.
A moment later, someone opened the door and entered.
"Jung So-yeon?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Ah~ Nice to meet you. I'm Kim Jin, director of the research institute in charge of your processing room tour today."
"Yes! It's nice to meet you too! I look forward to working with you!"
Research Institute Director Kim Jin.
Unlike his young-sounding name, he was an elderly man in his 60s with white hair.
Wearing a white gown, he looked more like a doctor than a researcher.
He was a founding member who had been with the shared property facility since its inception.
It's no exaggeration to say he laid the foundation for the processing room, and he was so famous that there was no one at the shared property facility who didn't know him.
So-yeon felt her heart flutter as she shook hands with such a person.
"Well then, follow me. The processing room is deep underground in the shared property facility, and it takes a while to get there."
"Yes, senior!"
"Haha, what's with 'senior'... I'm already retired and just managing the facility, so please call me comfortably."
"But still..."
So-yeon had aspired to become a researcher at the shared property facility after reading Kim Jin's autobiography in school.
Wanting to become someone like him...
Someone who makes great contributions to society...
Someone who greatly helps the country's technological development..!
It's only natural to feel respect when the motto of your life is right before your eyes.
So-yeon boarded the elevator with Kim Jin, feeling excited.
There was a card reader in the elevator, and when Kim Jin tapped his access card, the elevator descended to a basement level even lower than the lowest floor without pressing any buttons.
"How far down does this go?"
"Down to a level that would be unaffected even by a nuclear bomb. After all, information about the processing room must not leak out."
"I see..."
So-yeon, who had been hired at the shared property facility and signed an employment contract, was more aware than anyone of the dangers of the 'processing room'.
First, the very existence of the processing room is top secret.
Everything seen with the eyes, heard with the ears, felt with the hands, and all else while working must be kept secret.
Of course, camera filming and documentation are impossible, and if violated, the contract stated that under the state's [Special Disposition Law], the subject would be made into something beyond even a 'special livestock'.
In other words, if you do what you're told not to, you become female livestock in the processing room.
"We're almost there."
"Yes. I'm so excited right now!"
"Excited? Haha, don't get too excited."
"Huh..?"
Kim Jin made an uncomfortable expression while stroking his chin.
"Since you're a woman after all, So-yeon... You might be shocked when you first see it. But you know, right? Once you've come here, you can't quit until your contract expires."
"Yes! I know."
"That's good then."
Why is he scaring her like that...
So-yeon tilted her head and clenched her fist lightly, feeling tense.
5th basement... 10th basement... 20th basement...
The place where the endlessly descending elevator arrived was the 50th basement floor.
Ding─
With a clear sound like striking a bell, the elevator doors opened.
A bright light that was hard to imagine underground illuminated her eyes.
LED lights filled the ceiling, and a white marble floor stretched to the end of the corridor.
On both sides of the corridor were processing rooms made of clear glass, and researchers working inside could be seen.
Men in white gowns...
Men wearing gas masks and thick gloves, doing who knows what...
Men in full protective suits working hard at something...
Various researchers were working.
"Um, senior. Is this the processing room?"
"Yes, the entire 50th basement floor is the processing room."
Kim Jin walked ahead down the corridor, looking for a suitable research room to enter.
He found a room at the end of the corridor and stopped in his tracks.
Before opening the door...
He asked about So-yeon's resolve one last time.
"Ms. Jung So-yeon, you know exactly what the processing room does, right?"
"Huh? Yes! I know from the explanation, senior."
"Tell me in your own words."
"Yes..? Well... There are general livestock and special livestock in the shared property facility, and I heard that among them, women selected as ill-mannered special livestock are brought to the processing room to receive harsh training and torture."
"That's right. On the surface, that is."
"Huh?"
So-yeon couldn't understand at all what he was saying.
"What you just said... is about criminals who still have human rights."
"What? Does that mean there are criminals without human rights..?"
Kim Jin nodded instead of answering.
"Think about the purpose of the shared property facility's existence. Criminals serve time in slave camps (shared property facilities) for a period commensurate with the weight of their crimes. Then what happens to criminals for whom we can't determine a 'period commensurate with the weight of their crimes'?"
"Are there such people..?"
"Haha, I guess I spoke too difficultly. Simply put, I'm talking about people sentenced to life imprisonment or death."
Life imprisonment, or death penalty.
Human trash who committed socially unacceptable crimes and can never return to society...
"In the case of life imprisonment, if they quietly accept life as female livestock, they're treated the same as special livestock. But for those sentenced to death..."
Rattle─
Kim Jin's mouth twitched as he opened the door to the processing room.
"Under the authority of the shared property facility, their human rights are erased and they're made into experimental subjects in the processing room."
"What? Is that possible..?"
"It's possible. Because it's a state facility."
They're destined to die by execution anyway.
With the purpose of contributing to society on their final journey, those sentenced to death have their human rights erased and are reborn as experimental subjects in the shared property facility's processing room.
"You probably don't understand well just from verbal explanations, right? From now on, I'll explain while you see with your own eyes."
"Yes, senior!"
"You might be a bit shocked at first... but I think someone passionate like you, So-yeon, will get used to it quickly."
Kim Jin patted So-yeon's shoulder and cheered her on.
So-yeon, who had been nervous inside, gained courage from her senior and returned with a bright smile.
And so she entered the processing room together...
"Huh..?"
"Are you surprised? This is the reality of the processing room."
Looking at body parts that were once 'human' but could no longer be called human...
"Uweeeek!!"
She ended up vomiting.
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