Be the Light

17. The Spores

Wooyoung and San carried up an empty bed from the second floor and, although they had to enter the area reeking of death briefly, at least there was no need to enter the more grisly rooms. After securing a table on the rough ground, they were about to provide some water and tissues for whatever procedure Yeosang planned, when the voices of their two friends sounded from the corridor. Wooyoung flattened against the wall to be out of the way. Their arms were loaded with items, labeled vials, notebooks, and a box of syringes. Yeosang sorted everything on the table while Yunho patiently handed him the rest. Coming in, a blush persisted on Yeosang's cheeks, but since they sealed their lips upon meeting with the others, Wooyoung smugly overlooked it.

"Wow. Is all of this helpful?" Wooyoung asked when the table filled up. Confidence tugged on Yeosang's lips, but there definitely wasn't one definite cure like the one San received.

When Wooyoung checked on San's expression, it was pinched with a strain he relived from the past. Although he wished healing upon Jongho, he knew best what it felt like to get administered every weird antidote they could find, hoping one of them killed off the harmful fungus while also ridding him with side effects.

Yeosang shrugged.

"Seonghwa helped us identify the most important components and we can figure out if they were onto something. San, I hope you can help with our studies."

"'Course," San muttered. If it was so simple as to provide his account, he was prepared. Creating the antidote would be the trial since it might be impossible with their technology.

"We also got this thing," Yunho announced and pointed at a peculiar device. It had a black pipe leading to a little carrier, but the foot seemed unnecessarily weighty and chunky.

"Seonghwa said we can see the tiniest details with it. Maybe these researchers made some helpful notes to describe what we are looking for. It's about time I learn how to read," Yeosang sighed to himself. He craned his head to call towards the ceiling, since none of them understood yet from where Seonghwa saw and spoke to them.

"Can you send Jongho over?"

"I will," Seonghwa responded immediately, sounding confident in this progress. A while later, the sliding door opened and Hongjoong and Jongho came out. They held each other's hands but Wooyoung couldn't tell who was supporting who. They looked equally nervous, and Jongho clutched his hand into the fabric of his pants when they entered the makeshift sickbay.

"Please sit down here," Yeosang asked him, and Jongho complied. His shifty eyes studied Yeosang's layout while Yunho dipped to keep an eye on Mingi. Wooyoung stayed to oversee the process.

"What are we doing?" Jongho wondered, though he rolled up the leg of his pants without needing to be told. Yeosang kneeled by his feet with a syringe.

"I will draw your blood and then some of San's to see which parallels are fine to live with and which ones we need to fight. Seonghwa said we need to find the variable that erases the harmful spread."

Clueless, Jongho sat in apprehension. When he lit up after a moment, Yeosang sighed in relief.

"So a missing screw! I know, I know, do it!" Jongho cheered, glad to be of help.

"Right, a missing screw," Yeosang chuckled as he extracted the blood directly from a vein near the source of the infection. He dribbled it into a glass dish and fixed it under his looking device before he approached San with a second syringe. It seemed wasteful, but Seonghwa must have instructed him.

San handed over his blood without complaint, and Yeosang hovered over his looking device to study them.

"Describe them to me. I scanned the research of the people downstairs," Seonghwa offered, hovering with them while Jongho waited with fumbling fingers. His fatigue turned the shadows under his eyes ghostly, so Yeosang beckoned him to lie down and get some rest. If they found something, Jongho would learn about it first.