Part 20: - Hump Day

Before I begin, I'd like to tell you all that scientists managed to create an artificial jellyfish from rat DNA. It's made out of silicone and and cardiac tissue. They named it the "Medusoid." So I suppose GUILT just became a lot more plausible.

20 - Hump Day

(Music: On the Cutting Edge of Medicine.)





"We're using samples Derek collected as a serum."

"But, will it be done in time?"

"I don't know. We just have to put our faith in Victor."

"...I can help! There has to be something I can do!"

"Try to stay calm, Dr. Myers. I'm sure Victor can handle it."

"Stay calm?! How the hell can you say that when your own mentor is dying?! If... If you hadn't been gone..!"

"Stop it, Cybil! This isn't his fault!"



"....I.... I'm very sorry. ...I need to go lie down."

She leaves. There are things that get under even the toughest of people's skin.

"...Wow. I've never seen Dr. Myers freak out like that."

"Cybil and my brother have some history. She's emotional about it. Don't hold it against her, Derek."

"Of course not."

The scene fades, and all we hear is the ticktickticktick of the break room clock...



(This must be how the patient's families feel. It's hard entrusting someone else with the life of a loved-one.)

"Who knew waiting could be this painful..."

"...................."

The music starts back up again with the dramatic entrance of...

"Excuse me. It's ready, chief. We're administering the serum via IV. He should start to recover, soon."

"I see. That's good news."

"But, the GUILT is still inside him. You plan on removing it, right?"

"We should do it right away. Dr. Clarks, can you operate? I want Derek to assist you, as well."

"I'll do my best, sir."

"Understood."



"Derek, you're going to be operating on Dr. Kasal."

Surprise, surprise.

"Huh? But... I thought you were scheduled for that procedure?"

"I asked him to switch with you, Derek."

...Damn it, whenever he talks when he's sick, I can't help but imagine him with the 'Christian Bale as Batman' voice. It's that chin.

"Why?! Dr. Clarks is an experienced surgeon. I'm just a..."

"I know you told my brother you couldn't operate on me. I'd like to know why not!"

"Well, what if I did something wrong?! I mean, you'd-"

"Are you worried I won't make it?"

"O-Of course not! You're going to-"

"Then operate on me. ...It looks like I forgot to teach you an important lesson. You've developed your skills, but something's still holding you back... A doctor needs to ignore his friendships."

"..Huh?"

"Relationships should have no bearing on your surgical ability. Once someone is in the operating room, they're your patient. As their doctor, you save them. That's all there is to it."

Kasal's forceful attitude is actually getting some good mileage here. As for whether or not you can actually operate on relatives or loved ones in the United States or if it would count as some sort of conflict of interest, I don't know. Goons?



"This is doubtly important because you have the Healing Touch. I won't let you end up like Robert...!"

"Dr. Hoffman?"

"I'll explain more when the time comes. But... for now... You need to focus, Dr. Stiles. I know you can do this! Think of it as a trial... The final test before you can call yourself a doctor."

Okay well that's straight-up just being self-centred.

"Dr. Kasal.."

You're a douche.

"Well, Doctor? Can my disease be cured?"

"Yes. You should be just fine after the procedure."

"Which surgeon is going to operate?"

"I.... I will."

"You don't sound very confident."

"...You can trust me! I'll take good care of you!"

"That's the spirit, Derek. It's in your hands, now..."

"Yes, sir."



The moment you've all been waiting for: we operate on the patient named after Greg House, himself.

"As you know, Tetarti is a very dangerous strain of GUILT. They function in groups of three, and produce a harmful antigen."

...What? Well, technically an allergen is sort of like an antigen that your body's class of antibody, Immunoglobin E, decides to attack. Or some antigens have the body create an immune response so strong that it hurts the body more than the infection. Maybe that's what they're going for. It still makes no sense, but.

"In other words, the Tetarti itself acts as one poisonous mass. But, if we administer the antibody serum, the GUILT should die... Victor just completed that serum, as I'm sure you're aware. So, there's just one objective of this operation: -Kill the GUILT cells in the liver by injecting the correct serums. As we discussed, the Tetarti will weaken once you inject the serum. There's a different serum for each one, so pay attention to colors. Remember, the Tetarti cells are synchronized with eachother. You have a limited window of time to inject all three cells. You'll need to be accurate and fast. Of course, every surgeon should be. ...Dr. Kasal is a good head surgeon. You trained under him, and now you have to save his life. ...Do your best, Derek..."

"I plan on it."

"Good luck. Now, let's begin."



(Watch This Operation: Mission 4-4, S Rank)

(Music: Gangliated Utrophin Immuno-Latency Toxin (GUILT))

Here we go...!

"Dr. Kasal called this your final test in becoming a doctor. ...I want him to believe in you the same way I do."





"When they reach maximum size, those sacs release poison. You'll need to inject the serum of the same color of the diverticulum."



"It's looking good. We should be able to excise the diverticulum."

The best method of treatment is to do as you did with the aneurysms: inject it and cut it, but don't remove it. It's completely harmless. Should you wait too long, however:



It explodes, and vitals fall. You don't want this to happen if you want your S-Rank. Once you remove them all:

"All the diverticula have been removed. The GUILT should reveal itself in order to reconstruct them. We're supposed to inject the serum into all three of them, correct? You'll have to work quickly from there. ...Get ready..."



Their colours flash, and then quickly vanish, and they become white. While their colours are showing, they are invincible. You must memorize which one is which for when you inject the treatments.



"It's working, Doctor! Chiral reactions have dropped considerably!"



The gas they spit out also helps you identify the bugs.



Injecting the wrong bug with the wrong serum, or taking too long, causes another diverticulum to form. They also all stop and raise their feelers to laugh at you before they bury back into the organ. Bunch of pricks.

"There's not a lot of time to check what colour they are..."

You must inject them correctly four times.





They exploded into bubbles....

"All three tetarti have disappeared. We have negative Chiral reaction!"

"...Dr Kasal will be proud. Let's finish up here. I guess you finally repaid him for teaching you all these years!"



"The rookie surgeon who trembled before Kyriaki is gone."

Wh- Hey!

"I think Dr. Kasal will be proud to call you his doctor."

Overall, Tetarti is no sweat. A good strategy is to always do the bugs in a specific order, like purple-yellow-green, as I did in the video. The yellow gas has a shade of green, so that's frustrating, but get the colours memorized right off the bat, and this is an easy S-Rank.



"I removed all traces of GUILT tissue. Now we have to wait and hope the serum takes care of the toxin."

"I can try telling Dr. Kasal that he needs rest, but... Knowing him, he'd like to return to Hope Hospital immediately."

"But, he needs his rest!"

"GUILT is just about the only thing that could bring Dr. Kasal down. I'm sure he'll be back to normal in no time."

"...Dr. Myers... It looks like they're a little understaffed. Could you maybe help us with Dr. Kasal for awhile...?"

"Me..? Y-Yes, of course.... ...I'd like that..."






BONUS 5 - Stranger than fiction, Synchronized Poison Tetarti

SO ver- okay, this isn't funny anymore, Atlus:

In case you haven't noticed, they were going for an angel theme in Second Opinion when they changed the GUILT. Devil wings on Kyriaki, angel wings on the last few. Hell, even Triti's thorns have the angel-wing design. Non-story mode spoiler: If I were an Angel I'd try to go for something more menacing, like the UTK designs. I'd be insulted that the end of all human life was being represented by some cute pink CLAMP mascot.

Tetarti ("Wednesday") is an extremely contagious GUILT that travels through the blood stream until it comes across a major organ, which it multiplies inside and uses it as a hub to spread its toxin. The liver is an especially dangerous site of infection, as the organ is rendered useless and detoxification of the blood stream never occurs.

So, if you think having that roaming around in your liver is unlikely, check this out:


(Photo source)

Liver flukes are a species of flatworm that feed off of the blood and bile of a wide variety of mammals. Many species infect humans, such as Fasciola hepatica and Clonorchis sinensis. They begin their lifecycle in snails (and are found in virtually any part of the world where snails live), and once they've escaped, seek to infect another organism such as vegetables or fish and are then consumed by humans. Fully grown, a single F. hepatica can be as long as 3cm.

The symptoms of Tetarti and a Liver Fluke infestation are very similar: fatigue, weight loss, jaundice, abdominal pain, and a backed-up liver. Like Tetarti can cause diverticula every 15-30 seconds, Chinese liver flukes lay eggs in the liver every 1-30 seconds. If you're not satisfied with just the liver being infected, don't worry: it's cousin, the blood fluke, is much more deadly and also infects the bladder, spleen, and major blood vessels.

And to think people complained that a DS game about killing scary parasites in organs is "too unrealistic..."

Next Time: The best story arc in the game begins.