EXO Applied Sciences and Operations was the dream job. You had to be at the top of your class to entertain the idea of the company as a possibility and even then, there’s no application process. You have to be offered the job personally, no exceptions. Those who wanted to spend their lives doing research and finding cures vied for the right to be accepted there. And that was exactly Yerin's goal.

Since high school, she knew she wanted to be a doctor. By the time she entered medical school and had to start boggling down on a specialty, she realized she didn’t want to be in an OR or the ER; she just didn’t have the steady hands for that. But she liked the experiments. She liked analyzing the data and coming to conclusions, finding the answers to problems those before couldn’t solve.

All the hard work paid off. Yerin graduated third of her class. Not exactly the top spot, but it was enough. The day of the graduation ceremony, after all the cheers, speeches, and annoying traditions that still somehow get carried on, a man in a black suit pulled her off to the side, handing her a large manila envelope. At home when she was alone, with shaking hands and a pounding heart, she broke the seal and opened the package. Sliding out the stack of papers, she read the first sentence and nearly fell off the couch.

It was the invitation she'd been praying for. All the information needed to accept the job was right at her fingertips and she didn’t hesitate. But those first six months were brutal.

Though it wasn’t officially “entry level”, it might as well been. On her first day they introduced all the new hires to each other and dropped her off in a large laboratory where the walls were lined with filing cabinets and a long table in the middle littered with desktops. It was one of many, with duplicate newbies just like her hoping to climb their way up to the real work.

Yerin, however, was on paper pushing duty. As the results of the experiments that other people were conducting came in, it was up to her and the other bottom feeders to organize, sort, and label the findings and put them in the filing cabinet to be easily accessible later on. If someone came in needing those results, she was there to find the file and check it out in the system. There was only one room that was off limits to all of them in the laboratory. A special code encrypted on the company-issued badge was needed to gain access. The others were all dying to know what lied beyond the secret door, but Yerin didn’t really care. She wanted out of that damn filing position, not closer to it.

As the months rolled by, she watched the faces of the people around her change. Some were transferred to other departments while others flat out quit. It was debiliating. But Yerin held on, knowing she needed to get through the grilling trial of being the newbie. She refused to quit just because the road got a little bumpy. It couldn't be denied, it was still disheartening to watch others be freed while she was left behind.

It was another day of expected boring paperwork when her luck finally change. As soon as she clocked in, she was pulled out of the laboratory and into the office of Dr. Kwon Daesuk. Yerin had never met him, but she’d heard some of the other doctors whisper his name as they passed through the lab right to the secret door. IT didn't take long to decipher the height of his position. Worry closed up Yerin's throat. Had she done something wrong? Had important files gone missing?

Dr. Kwon was sitting at his large desk looking over files as she entered. As one of the top researches for EXO, it was no surprise that he was up there in the age department. His hair was more silver than black and his face was littered with crevasses that wrinkled even more when he frowned. Though he wasn’t as big as some of the other doctor’s, he did have a little extra weight on him that gave him the aura of a grandfather you could trust.

When he saw Yerin standing in his doorway, he motioned for her to sit down in one of the simple, dark wooden chairs in front of him. The upholstery was a garish green and tan paisley pattern. At least she were sitting on it and not having to stare at it.

“Good morning, Dr. Lee,” he greeted, closing the files. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve called you here today?”

She nodded cautiously, her entire work history running through her mind at hyperspeed. She hadn’t had anything disciplinary worthy happen, as far as she was aware.

“Well, we’ve been monitoring your work here so far and you seem to be very dedicated. As you certainly are aware, most people don’t make it to the sixth month mark. We wanted to be sure of your determination.”

“Working for EXO Applied Sciences has been my dream for a long time,” she answered honestly. “I wasn’t just going to give it up for some pharmaceutical company that I have no interest in because I wasn’t handed a lead position right of the bat. If that meant another six months of filing before being moved to a team, I’d do it.”

Dr. Kwon grinned. “That’s exactly what I like to hear. Dr. Lee, you’re no longer stationed in the holdings lab. We’re moving you to level sixty-six.”

She nearly choked on the air in your throat. Level sixty-six was deep underground and the most secretive area in all of EXO. It was where the government sanctioned experiments and top-secret holdings that no one but the select few knew about were located. It was also access to the forbidden room.

“Your thesis on using animal DNA to heal injuries and cure diseases was fascinating and exactly the kind of ideas we need here.” He tossed over a badge to the other side of the desk. Her picture that she’d taken on her first day here was smiling up at her in congratulations and a tiny new symbol that she couldn’t quite make out from this distance was shining in the top right-hand corner. It seemed to be a hexagon, but she'd wait until later to look at it closer. “You’ll need this to gain access to the basement. Come with me. We’ll start the tour.”

Yerin followed him out of the office and back to the laboratory that she would no longer call home. Her former coworkers watched she pass the tables, their eyes growing wider than petri dishes at the realization of where the of them were headed. Dr. Kwon stopped in front of the door that, until now that it, had never really given Yerin any sense of excitement.

“Ladies first.”

With a little worry that her badge wouldn’t work and this was all a mistake, Yerin held it up to the square black pad off to the side and watched with glee as the small red light switched to green. Dr. Kwon opened the door slowly. With a gentleman's hand, he allowed her to enter first. Whatever Yerin's imagination had conjured up about this room, it was a complete let down that shouldn’t really have been a surprise.

Bright florescent lighting stung her eyes as the beams bounced off of the white and chrome surfaces. Twelve individual filing cabinets lined the walls, four drawers high. Each cabinet had its own designated number, large and black on the top drawer. Three of them had a harsh red “X” passing through them.

Yerin turned around to face Dr. Kwon, who was smiling expectantly. “What exactly is housed in here? I mean, what do we do on level sixty-six?” 

More importantly, what would she be doing there? And would she constantly be having to ride the elevator up here to get files?

A little chuckle left his thin lips. “Well, my dear, level sixty-six is where we conduct the human trials. Thanks to grants given by our wonderful government, we’re working on the ultimate soldier.”

“Super soldiers?” Yerin scoffed. That was seriously still a thing? “Like Captain America?”

“Not quite,” Dr. Kwon countered, walking over to the filing cabinet labeled “12” and pulled out a file. He held it out for Yerin to take. Inside was a standard info sheet, including the subject’s date of birth and their current height, and weight. All that was missing was their picture. “They’re Special Forces, but we’re concentrating on the healing factor, especially for severe injuries, along with unique abilities that could come in handy in covert operations.”

Now her interest was piqued. “What kind of abilities?”

“In time, in time.” Dr. Kwon took the file back and replaced it into the cabinet.

Yerin's eyes settled in the large red “X”’s. “What happened to these three?”

Dr. Kwon frowned. “They were transferred to our Chinese division. They’re doing much better over there.”

There was no explanation for it, but for some reason the way he phrased the transfer set her on edge, like a ghost story around a campfire. But there was nothing unusual about a patient moving to another building for further testing. Maybe her nerves were just getting the best of her today.

“Come now, let’s introduce you to your new coworkers.” Leading the way to the elevator, Dr. Kwon explained to Yerin how her full hours were to be taken in the basement, including lunch breaks, for precaution’s sake. There was a fully stocked break room and bathroom facility, so the only reason to ever leave was to come to the holding room for any files that she may need.

Once again, her badge was needed to access the basement from the elevator and when the doors dinged open, they revealed a small round lobby that broke off into two hallways at eleven and one o’clock respectively.

“Your main lab is down this way,” Dr. Kwon said, leading off down the hall to the right.

Yerin couldn’t hold in her curiosity. “What’s down the other hall?”

“Oh, that’s where we house the subjects,” he clarified. “For safety precautions.” Safety precautions. She seemed to be hearing that a lot today. It shouldn’t be that strange since this was a laboratory, but the way Dr. Kwon was saying those words was sending strange signals off. Maybe she was still waiting for him to say “sike!” and make her go back to filing for another six months. 

That strange, ominous feeling couldn't be shaken  as the hall, lined with heavy metal doors on either side, seemed more like a jail than a housing center, but Yerin forced the thoughts away. She still didn’t know exactly how things operated down here and for all she knew on the other side of those doors could be five star hotel rooms.

Dr. Kwon stopped at the second door on the right. “This is our blood work lab and your new home.”

The lab was like any other she had worked in during med school. Everything was either white or chrome. Refrigerators with glass doors so she could see inside lined one side of the room, storing dozens of vials and dishes waiting for testing. Other display cases showcased glass slides, each shelf labeled with a corresponding number with the cabinets upstairs. At the long table in the middle of the room sat a woman around Yerin's age in purple scrubs looking into a microscope while an older woman in her mid-forties stood over her, writing on a clipboard.

The older woman noticed the visitors first and bowed a greeting.

“Hello, there. You must be Dr. Lee Yerin.” She stepped forward as the younger one looked up. “I’m Dr. Wang.” The new boss appeared to be a kind woman, her smile wide and genuine. Her hair was pulled back into a precise and sharp bun without a hair out of place. “This is my assistant, Dr. Kher. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive here since you accepted our offer. I’m looking forward to what you can bring to our research team.” She held out her hand and Yerin took it enthusiastically.

“Thank you,” Yerin beamed. It was the greatest compliment she had ever received.

Dr. Kher stood up and walked up to join the group. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m happy I won’t be by myself anymore.” She was beautiful, with caramel skin and dark hair to compliment it. Her friendly grin just seemed to pull the whole package together. Yerin hoped that her personality was equally as pretty. So far, it seemed so.

“Well, I will leave her to you then,” Dr. Kwon bowed and left them alone.

Dr. Wang shook her head as she watched him leave. “I can’t believe he made me wait six months to get you down here. I wanted you from day one, especially after getting a hold of your thesis. Your analysis on blood work is right in line with what we’re doing down here. But no, you still had to go through the trial period.”

“I’m surprised they waited six months,” Dr. Kher chimed in. “I was only up there for three before they pulled me down here.”

“Oh, well,” Dr. Wang sighed. “We’ll just have to make up for lost time. Dr. Lee, I’ve already taken the liberty in pulling the files for subjects’ Zero-One, Sixty-One, and Ten for you. I’ve pulled all their vials and set up your station; it’s just across from Dr. Kher. I’ll be in and out today, we’re running some further tests on subject Zero-Four. For now, I just want you to become familiar with those three subjects and get to know their blood like the back of your hand. Later on, I’ll introduce you to more subjects and what we’re aiming for. At the end of the day, just make sure everything is put back into its proper place, including taking the files back up to the filing room. If you have any questions, Dr. Kher should be familiar with everything by now.” She checked her watch at the end of her speech. “Oh, I’ve got to go. But I’m so glad to have you here.”

Practically running out of the room, Dr. Wang disappeared from view, her white lab coat flapping behind her.

“That’s about the same introduction I got when I transferred here,” Dr. Kher mused. She turned to Yerin with that smile still on her face. “I read your thesis, too, although it seemed a bit comic book to me.”

Yerin blushed with embarrassment. “Well, to be honest, that’s where the inspiration came from. However, all the research is legitimate, Dr. Kher.”

She threw her hands up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. Just an observation. I know your research was accurate. Oh, and you can call me Nada when it’s just the two of us.”

“No, it’s okay,” you reassured. “I’m just protective over my work. And you can call me Yerin.”

“Well, Yerin, I think we’re going to get along just fine.”