Chapter Text
"Sigmanovirus outbreak: What's next?
Sigmanovirus has been spreading like wildfire since the past three weeks. This airborne virus whose cause is still unidentified has been proven to be fatal.
Almost 300 have lost their lives and another 700 have been identified with the same.
The virus starts out as a common cold or fever and then effectively shuts down your body organ by organ.
A team of researchers from across the world has been gathered to find a cure but they say it could take over a year
Although the government has picked two, thirty-story hospitals to isolate and cure the patients, not much else..."
Jungsoo angrily slams the newspaper on the table and everyone visibly flinches.
"Have you read these articles? A year to find a cure for a virus? You can't be serious. Tell me how much time you are really going to take"
When no one answers he knocks over a chair in a fit of anger.
"We have made some progress-" Seyeon speaks but he interrupts her.
"How much progress?"
"We can only slow it down by a couple of days-"
"That is bullshit!" Jungsoo yells. "I need better"
"Sir, we are trying our best" Alex speaks.
"Well clearly it is not good enough. I want the vaccine in a month"
"Sir, that is impossible" Frank protests and Jungsoo slams his hand in the table.
"If you are not good enough to do it I will hire someone else"
"No offence but we are the best," Roxy says defensively
Jungsoo begins laughing and shakes his head, "No, you aren't"
He then removes his phone and dials a number.
"Yuna, it is time"
He is silent for a few seconds as the person on the other end speaks.
"I don't care, I want to gather the suicide squad and I want it happening now"
----
Yuna has been sitting outside Jungsoo's office for over an hour now.
She knows it's a bad idea to assemble the squad, the crazy seven, but Jungsoo refuses to listen to her reasoning.
He is losing his mind over the headlines. He should listen to her and ignore them, just like she does. But he cares too much about his image to do that.
The door opens and she is instantly on her feet, clutching her wooden notepad to her chest. The only way she can stop this is by winning a debate with him with intricately detailed, logical arguments.
"I will send Yuna, my most trusted employee and my own daughter. No one else will even get a whiff of this" Jungsoo bows to the Director-General.
"They better not," he responds stiffly, "I could lose my batch for this Jungsoo"
"I would never let that happen, you can trust me"
"Fine," the director says curtly and turns.
Yuna gives him a deep bow as he walks towards the exit.
"Yuna" Jungsoo has a pleased grin on his face, "I'm glad you are here. Come in. We have a lot to discuss"
She nods and silently walks in.
"The General agreed, of course, he had a long list of conditions but we can work on that. Now I want you and Eun-sang-"
"Sir" She interrupts him, "I don't think this is a good idea"
"Yuna, I already-"
She speaks over him once again,
"I have a list of reasons" she raises her clipboard.
He rolls his eyes and snatches it from her.
"I've obviously considered all of these things" he answers way too soon and she knows he hasn't read one thing.
"And you still want to go through with it?"
"Yes"
"Sir," She sighs, " With all due respect, you are acting crazy"
"Yuna" He warns.
"Why are you gathering the craziest people alive? Do you not remember how much time and effort it took to arrest them in the first place?"
"They might be crazy but they are brilliant,"
"And yet crazy," She emphasises, "Look, I understand that you are desperate and with the media publishing all these articles, you are looking really bad-"
"This is not about me!" He raises his voice and she knows he is getting angry now.
"I don't care about the press, if I did I would have gathered the squad two days after the breakout!"
"Then what is it?"
"The media is lying Yuna," He confesses, "The actual numbers are much worse, the doctors have identified almost five thousand cases, a thousand of them are already dead. if we don't find a cure there will be no one left. I don't want more people dead"
"The answer is not seven criminals!" She insists.
"Sir, they are serial killers, mass murderers and dangerous. We can't replace one catastrophe with another"
"We won't," He assures her but it does nothing to absolve her hesitation.
"They will work underground and they will be supervised at all times. We will keep them away from weapons and we will make sure that we have our best men guarding them and of course, you and Eun-Sang will be watching them as well. Besides, I am not dissolving the team of specialists, both the groups can work. Maybe if they have a little competition they will find the cure faster"
"I don't think this is a good idea" She repeats, sighing, "There are a million ways this could go wrong"
"But just imagine if it goes right. Imagine if we gather those seven devils and they actually find a vaccine or cure sooner than those doctors. We will save so much money,"
"They won't even agree to do this" Yuna points out, "They will never agree to this"
"Then we will just have to give them something that they can't say no to" Jungsoo grins.
----
"Appa has gone crazy hasn't he," Eun-Sang sighs.
Yuna looks up and stops typing on her phone momentarily to look at the younger girl.
"I wouldn't say crazy..." Yuna trails off.
"Mental then? He was exactly like this when he was coming up with a plan to catch them,“
"You know what is really crazy" Yuna smiles, "Every time he loses his shit, his plans works. Let's just hope it is one of those times"
"And if it isn't?" Eun-Sang asks.
"Then there will be about seven reasons our citizens shouldn't leave their houses,"
"Are they really worse than the virus?" The younger questions.
"Depends on how you view it"
"How do you view it?"
"I don't think they are worse than the virus.." Yuna says, "As long as they don't escape" She adds.
"What's our first stop?" Eun-Sang asks.
Eun-Sang is the Minister's only daughter and she has lived up to his every expectation. She is currently in the final year of law school, so close to achieving her life long dream of becoming a prosecutor.
She never got involved in her father's affairs unless it was something delusional, like two years ago when he planned to arrest the seven monsters that kept him up at night. She took part in that only to make sure he didn't go completely crazy.
She was never a part of the operation, but she helped in uncovering their illegal activities. Confirming what charges could be pressed without any shred of doubt. It was a good explosive for her before law school and a decent resource for them to find elementary information.
"We are going to finish up some paperwork with the Director-General and then pay all of them a visit. I have a few proposals that I hope they accept but also secretly hope that they don't" Yuna says making the younger laugh.
"Don't worry Unni, it will be okay"