BWLHF 02

Chapter 2

Although March had passed and April was approaching, the forest still lazily clung to the chill of winter.

Still, perhaps because the area received plenty of sunlight, the long rays of sunshine illuminated the outer walls of the cabin. The animals that had been disturbed by unfamiliar presences during the night cautiously peeked around the area without making themselves too obvious.

Who could it be, the person who fell asleep in this little house without making so much as a sound?

Why did he come here, to a land so inhospitable that it could hardly be called a place for humans to live?

When will he leave, from our comfortable home?

Just as their innocent curiosity and questions were beginning to grow, the large front door suddenly opened cautiously with the creak of the old wooden floorboards.

“Ahh…”

Since there was no one around to see him, Young-in yawned widely with his bare face exposed and slowly looked around with sleepy eyes.

Steam curled up from the cup in his hand.

What could be inside that?

With Young-in’s appearance, all sorts of animals that had been hiding in the grass perked up their eyes, rustling about as they lowered themselves into the bushes.

“The air is nice.”

Contrary to expectations, it was a peaceful morning.

He had been worried that spending the night alone in a remote cabin where he had no connections would frighten him enough to pack his things and immediately head back down the mountain.

Instead, he had slept in until the sun was already high in the sky.

Maybe living like this suits me more than I thought.

Young-in smiled softly as he took a sip of the coffee in his hand.

The sweet morning coffee he had started drinking recently was one of the little joys that made waking up pleasant.

For nearly two years, he hadn’t even been able to taste it. He could only look at it from afar.

But he didn’t have to do that anymore.

I’m going to die soon anyway. Before that happens, I should do everything I want to do. So I won’t have any regrets.

“Ahhh…”

Young-in stretched once more.

His forearms were covered with countless needle marks.

It had been barely two months since Young-in had begun preparing for death.

Two years ago, a debt whose origin he couldn’t even determine among his relatives had passed from one person to another until it finally reached Young-in, who had just turned twenty-five.

The debt amounted to just under 300 million won.

It wasn’t an impossible amount to repay if he worked himself to death. But with only a few months left until the repayment deadline, the debt came crashing into Young-in’s peaceful life, accompanied by a string of loan sharks.

There was a limit to what he could make from part-time jobs.

A day had only twenty-four hours, and he had only one body to use.

Even while sleeping just two hours a day and working constantly, the maximum amount Young-in could repay each month was seven million won.

There was no way he could easily pay off such a huge debt.

But even a mouse will bite a cat when cornered.

Rather than getting down on his knees and begging, Young-in smashed a loan shark over the head and ran away.

And the result?

He was caught pathetically and beaten just enough to keep him from dying.

“Young-in, you bastard. I’ll give you one more chance, okay? If you can’t bring me thirty million won by the next repayment date, you’ll give me one of your eyeballs and one of your kidneys. Got it? And if you run away, I’ll take everything from you until you don’t have a single tooth left.”

Thirty million.

Thirty million won.

At that amount, which was practically a death sentence, Young-in’s heart sank.

Wasn’t that basically telling him to die?

Even after Young-in died, the debt would continue to pass from person to person, eventually tightening around someone else’s neck.

But at that moment, Young-in didn’t have the luxury of worrying about whoever would inherit his debt after him—a person whose name he didn’t even know.

Then something caught Young-in’s eye.

It was a clinical trial advertisement posted inside a bus.

Urgently Recruiting Clinical Trial Participants (Including Bioequivalence Trials): 5 million won compensation. Participants must have a BMI within the normal range. No history of previous illnesses or use of other medications. Must be a non-smoker and non-drinker. Participants will be hospitalized for up to 3 nights and 4 days and undergo multiple blood draws.

They would really give him five million won just for staying in the hospital for three nights and four days?

Honestly, it sounded ridiculous.

But Young-in had no other options at the time.

His entire body was already battered from manual labor. He was severely sleep-deprived.

And if he couldn’t repay thirty million won within a month, his organs would be taken from him one by one.

Three nights and four days was roughly seven times in a month.

If everything went well, he could earn nearly thirty-five million won.

He didn’t even have the time to find out whether participants were allowed to take part consecutively.

At that time, the only thing Young-in could see was the number right in front of him.

So he immediately contacted the research institute.

Strangely enough, the interview was arranged almost absurdly quickly.

“Are you desperately in need of money?”

It was an odd first question for a medical professional working at a research institute.

But the question sounded as though she could see straight through him.

Young-in answered that he was.

The people in white coats studied his medical records for quite some time before making him an unusual proposal.

“Clinical trials are generally divided into four phases, from Phase 1 to Phase 4. As you progress through the phases, the drug is administered to more people and its value as a new medicine becomes established. The trials we’re recruiting for usually stop at Phase 1 toxicity testing, and we pay the amount we’ve advertised… But if your circumstances are difficult, would you consider participating in a ‘Phase 0 trial’ conducted at our research institute?”

A Phase 0 trial.

What had that woman called it again?

Young-in tried to recall the appropriate term through the fog clouding his mind.

Ah.

He remembered.

“Targeting optimization trial.”

The research institute usually referred to it as a “Phase 0” trial.

However, it was an unofficial experiment that would not leave an official record with government agencies or in medical databases.

There was also the condition that participants had to possess a specific genetic trait.

Fortunately for Young-in, he happened to be someone who possessed that particular gene.

In exchange for completely cutting off all contact with the outside world, they said they would pay him up to ten million won per month in advance.

There was no reason to refuse.

Young-in signed the agreement without hesitation.

Under the condition that he stay there for one year, he was able to immediately repay more than a third of his debt.

The loan sharks mocked him, asking,

“What, are you working on some tuna fishing boat or something?”

But once the large payment came through, they promised not to come looking for him for a while.

He would think about the remaining debt after a year.

Whether he would stay at the research institute longer, or find another job and pay off the remaining principal and interest, which would now be considerably easier to manage.

One year.

For that long period of time, Young-in’s daily life was incredibly monotonous.

He would wake up in the morning, receive an injection, and have his blood drawn about thirty minutes later.

Then he would eat.

Spicy or stimulating foods were forbidden, as was strenuous exercise, so he would take a light walk before returning to his room to rest.

At noon, he would receive another injection and have his blood drawn again.

This time, he would take a short nap.

It wasn’t as though he was forcing himself to sleep.

Whatever they put into the injection—or perhaps whatever they mixed into his lunch—always made him sleepy.

After waking from a deep sleep, he would remain dazed for a while.

Once he cleared his head with another light walk, it would already be time for dinner.

After repeating the same routine, he would fall asleep again around nine o’clock.

Meaningless days accumulated one after another.

His parents had passed away long ago, so there was no one to worry about him.

He had no friends either, so there was no one to contact.

At first, Young-in would greet the medical staff who came to draw his blood.

“Hello.”

But as time passed, he eventually stopped doing even that.

Am I the only person in South Korea undergoing a Phase 0 trial?

It would be less boring if there were just one more person.

After spending such a long time without anyone to make eye contact with, Young-in realized that loneliness was more painful than he had expected.

He also came to understand that he was just an ordinary human being, no different from anyone else.

But that was all.

He had entered the research institute of his own free will, and he couldn’t leave until he received his payment.

So he had no choice but to accept his fate and embrace the loneliness.

“Mr. Moon Young-in, you did apply for an extension, correct?”

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—even after receiving mysterious injections every day for an entire year, Young-in’s body showed no significant abnormalities.

Aside from the feeling that he had been isolated somewhere alone in outer space, he had, in a way, earned money quite comfortably.

Even so, Young-in decided to remain at the research institute for another year so that he could completely pay off the rest of his debt.

The day after signing the contract extension, the director of the research institute personally came to see Young-in and even shook his hand.

He said that no one had ever participated in the project for such a long time.

Then he raised Young-in’s salary by a whopping two times.

With more money in his hands than he had expected, Young-in began to wonder if perhaps the sun was finally beginning to shine on his life as well.

But, as always, nothing in this world came for free.