Chapter 1: Park Sooyoung

A woman in a hospital gown sat at the edge of the bed as she was being injected by some sort of drug into one of her veins. She forgot what type of microrganism they injected but she didn't care. It wasn't like she would sue them if she was on her deathbed. In fact, she had always wanted to do that; dying that is.

"Specimen 1925A has been administered," said the lady in a white coat as she placed the syringe into the sharps bin and pressing a cotton ball onto the site to stop the bleeding. She then placed a plaster to replace the bloodied cotton ball.

The patient had done this so many times and everytime she did, she would pray to the deities to let this tiny yet deadly microorganism end her long, painful and lonely life. But most of the time, her body would fight it off. She would experience the disease and then when it reaches it's peak, she would slowly heal. It was an unending cycle and all she wanted to break this apart. 

She would gladly go through it all again until she finds what can kill her. She had got it all. From tuberculosis to ebola to marburg, she was the guinea pig in hopes to find treatment for the people suffering from the effects of these pathogens. Because of this, she was in high demand.

Park Sooyoung was biologically a human being except for a few things that no one dared to point out. She was also known as 'the host'.

Around three decades ago, Sooyoung recruited fresh medical and research graduates. At first, she only wanted them to figure out her current circumstances. But when the results came back after a long period of experimentation, she was even more determined to find a way out of this hell of a world she has been living in.

It seemed that her cells are just like a human's except when it has been damaged, it would always heal. Almost like there was nothing abnormal in the first place. 

Since then, she offered herself to be the host of pathogens with very high mortality rate. At the same time, researchers could also try out antibiotics, antivirals and vaccines as her body works just like a human being with an average lifespan of eighty years.

Because the way she was living, only a handful of people knew who she was and these people were mostly in the medical field and all were on her tiny team of scientists.

"Am I free to go?" Sooyoung asked Irene. Irene was part of the research team and one of the few people who knew who 'the host' really was. She graduated from her biology course at the young age of sixteen and then went on to do medicine. During her studies, she found interest in genetics so she also did that course with no problems. Irene was the top in the most prestigious and well known university in South Korea.

Not only she had one of the best brains in what it may seem like the whole world, she also had the best facial features. The most prettiest Sooyoung had ever caught her eyes on and even she thought she was the prettiest until she saw Irene.

"We have already assessed your baseline and took some blood samples so you are free to go," Irene said as she cleaned up the rest of the mess. "Just make sure to report to us every hour if possible."

Sooyoung groaned, "You are not giving me my freedom Irene. Did you forget who I am?"

Irene smiled and shook her head in disbelief, "You are my boss, Sooyoung, and a very ancient one at that. Unfortunately, we need hourly data of what you are feeling."

"But..."

Irene interfered, "Hourly reports from you is the best freedom we can give you. Just be grateful you are not isolated."

Sooyoung put on her clothes and said in a regretful tone, "I wonder what was on my mind then when I decided to establish this team."

"I don't know but I'm glad you did." Irene handed her of what looked like a smart watch and told her to put it on. "This watch will record your vital signs and will be sent directly to our database. Waterproof and can even act like your ordinary smart watch."

They gave each other a quick hug before Sooyoung bid her goodbyes and off she went out the door and into her car. As soon as she sat on the drivers seat, her phone started vibrating.

A new mail.

She unlocked it and opened the received mail. As usual, it was from a research team affiliated with her's. This time it came from Russia and they wanted a human test subject to test their newly concocted vaccine as soon as possible. Unlucky for them, her schedule was booked for the next three years. She gave them a quick reply before driving off to her next schedule.

It took a while to decide if she should allow other teams to test on her. She didn't like the idea at first but there was a time where researchers from the USA found the solution to the outbreak of a deadly virus in South Africa but they were unsure of its effects on the human body as it did contain a substance that harms the body's cells as well as kill the pathogens. They tested the trial vaccine on a group of people but the outcome was unfavourable. It did kill the virus but the side effects of the vaccine was even more life threatening. They modified the substance but the health organization forbid them to carry out Phase 1, which was to give small groups of people the vaccine. When she heard of their situation, she offered help through a collaboration with her research team. 

Ten AM and she was nowhere near her actual workplace. The traffic was bad and what's worse? The thick snow. Work was meant to be cancelled for everybody but the deadline of the new product they were launching was coming fast and they were way behind schedule. She joined the honking spree along with dozens of motorists on the road.

She got out of the car to see the cause of the traffic and what she saw baffled her. It wasn't a road accident but a man standing in the middle of the road like a deer caught in headlights. That wasn't all. He was wearing weird clothing like some sort of costume for filming a fantasy movie. A dark orange at that. He stood out like a sore thumb.

People started going out of their cars, shouting at him to move out of the way. Some of them tried to push him out but he wouldn't budge. He stood still, looking at the distance, towards the rising sun.

Sooyoung glanced at her phone and she was six minutes late. The people shouting at the man made no progress.

'Should we try, Park Sooyoung?' she thought. She blew some warm air on her cold hands as she walked towards the crowd.

She pushed through the crowd until she was faced to faced with the bizarre looking guy. As soon as her eyes met his', a nostalgic, happy and painful feeling hit her chest. It was a feeling she never felt before. All her life, she had experienced it all but this. One look and everything hit hard.

All the profanities she came up froze and shattered into tiny pieces somewhere at the back of her mind. Her heart accelerated, her breathing quickened. All her life, this was the first time she was experiencing this. Her eyes started to tear up and her throat felt like it was closing up. 'What is this?'

But then she remembered her tardiness. She looked at the time on hed phone and she was really late, that's for sure. 

"Would you move away you bastard! What's wrong with you?" Sooyoung shouted at him. "Can't you see a lot of people are going to be late because you have been standing there for a while now!"

He didn't even bat an eyelash. 

'I guess there's no choice but to call the police,' she thought and dialled on her phone. Two rings later, her call was answered. "Hi, there has just been a disruption at... where is this again?..... It's not an accident. There's a person here who-" Before she could finish her sentence, he walked away. It looked like he was floating as he moved. Very flawless and graceful, like an enchanted being gracing himself on the realm of the humans. It seemed only herself noticed because as soon as he moved, the rest of the audience dispersed back to their cars like nothing happened.

"Oh no! I'm really late," she got in her car quickly and drove off. With the snow, she could not drive fast as she liked and it was making her crazy. Strange thing was she couldn't forget the man. He was one of the millions she met yet he gave her an impression she would never forget, apart from his OOTD. "Even with his shoulder length hair in a half ponytail, he still looked good. He was given the best genes. Lucky him."

"Why are you late?" A lady holding a stack of folders glared at Sooyoung as soon as she entered her office.

"Sorry Wendy," she apologized. "There was a bit of traffic on the way." 

Wendy slammed the folders onto her desk and scared the crap out of Sooyoung. "I already did the checklist and looked over the documents needed. All that's left is for your to be in the meeting room within the next six minutes."

"Already?!" Sooyoung exclaimed. Wendy nodded.

Sooyoung gave Wendy a pat on her shoulder. "Thank you. You are the best secretary ever," she said as she took off with the folders in hand. 

As soon as she got on the elevator, she took off her three-inch heels and enjoyed the flat cold floor of the metal box she was in. Having to walk fast in heels was painful and tiring. She knew the pain would go away soon considering she was not like any other human being but feeling that pain made her feel normal like everybody else.

It wasn't long before the elevator doors opened on the floor she was designated to go. She quickly put on her heels and dashed to the meeting room. 

"Which meeting room was it again?" She asked herself. There were around ten different meeting rooms in the building and she was sure Wendy never mentioned any room numbers. But based from previous experience, there was only one room, for some odd reason, booked for all her meetings. It wasn't because it was reserved only for her. It was the only room always free whenever Sooyoung or a client wanted a meeting.

Meeting Room 6.

"Number six is a curse, definitely," she muttered before putting on her professional side for her guest inside the room.

Even her office was on the sixth floor. 

She had six colleagues under her wing.

The plate number on all her cars always had the number six.

She would always have six mails in her mail box, all from different senders each time.

Her company ID number had six sixes!

And too many more to mention.

The number six was either her charm or her unfortune.