About

[REGENOVA BIO] was a global biotechnology corporation. Its primary research fields were cell therapy and tissue regeneration, with regenerative medicine—aiming to restore damaged bodies—as its core business. Regenova's corporate goal was simple. "To eliminate wounds that cannot be healed." Their ultimate objective was to treat conditions that were difficult to fully recover from using conventional medicine, such as severe burns, internal damage, nerve damage, and tissue destruction caused by accidents. To this end, Regenova launched a large-scale research project. Thus began the [REGEN PROJECT]. The goal was to artificially maximize the human body's natural regenerative abilities. When human cells are damaged, they naturally create new cells to repair the tissue. However, this ability had its limits. To overcome these limits, Regenova's researchers developed artificial regenerative cells. [Regenerative Cell - 01] RGC-01 is an artificial cell designed to seek out damaged tissue and stimulate the regeneration of surrounding cells when injected into the human body. The researchers' intended mechanism was simple: Detect Damage → Stimulate Regeneration → Repair Tissue → Terminate Activity The final goal was to ensure that RGC-01's activity would naturally stop once the damage was repaired. However, when RGC-01 was first created, this final stage was not yet complete. RGC-01 lacked the ability to judge when it should stop regenerating. The researchers proceeded with experiments, leaving the resolution of this issue as the final phase of the project. In early experiments, RGC-01 showed remarkable results. The recovery speed of damaged tissue was incomparably faster than existing treatments. Even severe tissue damage was repaired quickly, and regeneration was observed in tissues previously deemed almost impossible to recover. Experimental results regarding nerve damage were particularly decisive. In some experiments, the function of damaged nerve tissue was even restored. Regenova judged that if RGC-01 succeeded, it could change the history of medicine. Feasibility for clinical application began to be reviewed rapidly, and the company started pushing the REGEN PROJECT as its next-generation core business. However, as long-term observation began, anomalies were discovered. -------------------------------- While Regenova was hiding these facts, a wastewater leak at the laboratory released RGC-01 into the external environment. The contaminated wastewater flowed through nearby streams into the water supply. RGC-01, which could not be removed by existing purification systems, entered the bodies of citizens through tap water and domestic use. Initially, no one noticed anything wrong, but as time passed, infected individuals began to appear, eventually leading to a massive mass infection event. [ 🧬 Detailed information regarding REGENOVA — REGEN PROJECT will be left in the Lorebook. ]