Overgrowth

Chapter 10: Grape Downy Mildew

Notice: A Researcher from Central Base will hold a public lesson in the inner-tower plaza tomorrow at nine.

The dormitory announcement repeated three times.

Dong Ha-neul, who had just climbed into bed, immediately sat up.

“Did it say a Researcher is teaching us?”

Jo Ji-won nodded. Messages were already flooding the Agronomy C channel.

Every student dreamed of becoming a Researcher. Most never would, but simply standing near one was considered an honor. Receiving instruction from one was almost unimaginable; Researchers ordinarily advised only Cultivation Officers.

Which Researcher would agree to do this?

I heard it started as a question session for third- and fourth-years. Then second-years tried to join, so they opened it to the entire base.

Our intake got lucky.

Very lucky. Which other intake meets a Grade C mutant before enrollment?

At least Lee Jun-ho and Na Seol-hwa were there.

Ji-won knew both names from the day she woke.

When the discussion produced nothing useful, she closed the channel. Ha-neul continued reading the gossip with interest.

Ji-won took the blank notebook from her drawer. She opened the cover and signed her name in the lower corner of the first page.

There was no desk lamp, and her back blocked the ceiling light. Her shadow fell across the paper.

She sat with the pen in her hand for a long time.

Then she began to write.

Mutant Plant Observation Journal

Mutation Year 41, March 6

Observer: Jo Ji-won

She touched the fresh ink, nostalgia entering her eyes.

Ordinary farmers in her old world could rest after a day’s work. Ji-won had returned from the fields only to organize data, search papers deep into the night, and write reports.

Apparently the habit had entered her bones. Even in another world, failing to record observations made her uncomfortable.

She turned the page.

Plant: Sun spurge — annual herb

Observed: 41/03/02

Condition: Abnormally accelerated growth without major morphological change. Ascending branches; alternate leaves; height up to three meters. Capable of feeding on human blood.

Ji-won recorded only what she had personally seen.

Then she created a separate digital sheet to track her lettuce.

The following morning, Ha-neul woke early and climbed onto the ladder of Ji-won’s bed.

Ji-won checked the time.

“It’s five.”

Ha-neul’s excitement made her dimples impossible to hide.

“Min-jae called. He said we should claim places near the front.”

Ji-won pushed herself upright.

“It’s a question session. What question can you ask? We’ve been here four days. Most first-years can’t identify their seed yet.”

Ha-neul spread both arms in bliss.

“It’s a Researcher. Being close to one is an agricultural student’s dream.”

Ji-won was awake now.

“Let’s go.”

After washing and dressing, they headed toward the inner plaza. Ha Min-jae had arrived first and saved space.

The announcement had not assigned areas by year, so students stood wherever they could.

The plaza was already crowded before six.

“Over here!” Min-jae waved from a corner of the front section. “These people are insane. Some brought bedding last night and slept here.”

Ji-won looked toward the center. Folded quilts lay at several students’ feet.

Whatever else could be said, such hunger for knowledge deserved respect.

By seven, the plaza was full. Nearly every agricultural student in the base had come.

The rising sun drove away the morning chill.

Ji-won waited in a farmer’s squat at the edge of the front row, one knee bent and the other heel raised beneath her. She browsed the Central Base market.

Tools, seed, and agricultural chemicals were all available.

She could afford none of them.

She needed more points.

Thirty young napa seeds cost five hundred points. One flawless harvested plant sold for one hundred and fifty.

Mutations Begone had taken a clear loss on the previous job. Six poorly grown plants could not have sold for six hundred points, yet the student had paid seven hundred and fifty just to have them harvested.

Ji-won added napa seed and okra seed to her cart. Once her lettuce was ready, she could sell it and buy both.

The plaza stirred.

“They’re here!”

Ji-won stood.

A gray-haired man walked onto the stage and tapped the microphone.

“Good morning. Today we are fortunate to welcome Researcher Na Seol-hwa from Central Base for an open question session.”

The crowd erupted.

“Na Seol-hwa? The youngest Researcher at the Central Institute?”

“Wasn’t her team the one that saved the new students?”

“I can’t believe we’re hearing her lecture.”

Ji-won looked at the man onstage.

If Seol-hwa was the visiting Researcher, who was he?

“Joo Tae-gil,” Min-jae whispered. “Dean of the Ninth Base. He’s a Researcher too, promoted out of the Second Base.”

“The Second Base?” Ha-neul looked surprised.

Min-jae nodded. “He was a Livestock Officer. He solved a major feed-supply problem, earned promotion to the Central Institute, and later took charge here.”

The Second Base specialized in livestock and poultry. Animals mutated far less often than plants, so the death rate was lower. The benefits matched those of crop technicians and officers, making the assignment highly desirable.

Animal Science admission required strong examination scores and physical fitness, however, and many applicants were rejected.

Livestock Officers also ranked below Cultivation Officers in influence at Central Base.

Dean Joo introduced Na Seol-hwa.

Her defense team took positions two meters behind and to either side of her.

The crowd fell silent, attention converging on one masked figure.

“Damn. Lee Jun-ho.”

Ji-won heard the exclamation clearly.

Jun-ho wore a black helmet, face covering, and Guardian combat uniform. His face was hidden, but his tall, lean build and the explosive strength in his posture were unmistakable.

Whispers spread behind her.

“No wonder she’s considered Central’s most gifted young Researcher. She got Lee Jun-ho as her Guardian.”

“Doesn’t he only accept critical assignments?”

“She qualifies.”

“He was seventeen when he fought his way out of Ulleungdo alone with the research archive. Since then, he’s completed multiple mutant-clearance operations.”

“What’s a clearance operation?” Ji-won asked.

“Central Base is overcrowded,” Min-jae said while messaging rapidly. “They’ve spent years trying to expand. Any new settlement zone has to be cleared of mutant flora first.”

Ji-won remembered how efficiently Jun-ho had destroyed the sun spurge.

He was certainly capable.

Perhaps she watched too long. Jun-ho lifted his eyes and sent a sharp glance toward her.

Ji-won had already turned to Na Seol-hwa.

She wanted to know the true level of this world’s Researchers.

“We still don’t know what initiates mutation,” Seol-hwa said. “But decades of research have shown that preventing disease and limiting insect damage greatly reduces mutation risk.”

She looked over the students.

“This is not a lecture. It is an exchange. I have always believed that knowledge advances through discussion.”

Most Central Institute Researchers guarded their results and taught only their own people, often for payment. Seol-hwa’s decision would draw criticism when she returned.

For the students, it was electrifying.

Thousands of hands rose.

Seol-hwa selected a fourth-year woman in red.

The student had strong grades and hoped to become a Cultivation Officer, but disease had damaged her grapevines. If she destroyed them, she would lose her final result and have to start again.

Graduating students were offered one alternative: pay a large sum for Defense Corps monitoring, with the plants destroyed immediately if mutation began.

The woman had spent all her savings on that protection.

She clutched the microphone, eyes red.

“The vines produced well the first year. Last July, leaves suddenly withered and fell in large numbers. The grape clusters stopped developing even though I sprayed lime sulfur in advance.”

“What were the earliest symptoms?” Seol-hwa asked. “Do you have photographs?”

“Yes.”

The images were projected for the plaza.

Ji-won studied the dates and symptoms.

At first, the leaves developed translucent, water-soaked patches with indistinct margins. Days later, the lesions turned pale green, while white, downy growth appeared underneath. Later they became gray-white, expanded, shifted through yellow-green to reddish brown, and looked scorched before the leaves dropped.

The diagnosis came to Ji-won immediately.

Downy mildew.

The plaza was silent except for the student’s rapid breathing through the microphone.

Every agricultural student understood her desperation. They risked their lives and poured everything into a crop, only to lose it for reasons they could not identify.

Sometimes failure felt worse than death.

“This appears to be downy mildew,” Seol-hwa said. “July is a common infection period. Bordeaux mixture can be applied preventively. At this stage, try a copper fungicide.”

“Really? Thank you.”

The student’s voice broke.

When she returned the microphone, thunderous applause filled the plaza.

Ji-won lowered her gaze.

One part of Seol-hwa’s answer was incomplete.

The timing of grape downy mildew depended on climate and region. It did not always begin in July.

In some places, it appeared as early as May.