By Zephyria 
=====
As expected, life at the Tamjeunggwan was quiet and peaceful. He had used a solitary cell when he was in prison, so it had been silent then as well, but there was a significant difference in how he was treated.
While there was a certain schedule, there was no annoyance of having to wake up at a precise time or being forced into daily labor. At most, he just had to undergo experiments as instructed and stick to regular meal and sleep times.
Even those experiments consisted of eating a few supplements, receiving injections of unknown drugs, and performing various exercises.
Running at full speed on a treadmill, swinging from ropes, and lifting weights to the limit might have been painful for some Experiments, but for Mu-hae, it was a time to relieve stress.
“How’s your body?”
“Hmm. I don’t know. Same as always.”
Joo-oh didn’t seem to have any particular complaints either. Despite having sensitive senses, he showed no aversion to the drugs.
Except for the fact that he had to pretend to cough and collapse a few times during exercise because he had appeared excessively frail on the first day, he also seemed satisfied with this life.
“I asked, and they said someone isn’t constantly watching those cameras.”
“Then?”
“A program just checks people’s behavior patterns. Then, if an unexpected situation occurs, an alert goes off…”
“Unexpected situation.”
“Like if I faint or if Jin Mu-hae smashes a chair.”
The strange thing was that in a situation where it was difficult to face others, Joo-oh brought up a surprisingly wide variety of topics.
The only time he encountered people was during his assigned experiment hours. Since the staff were so businesslike, the conversations Mu-hae had with the researcher in charge over several days consisted of a few words at most.
‘If you feel dizzy or experience physical pain, please raise your right arm.’
‘Yes.’
‘Would additional testing be possible?’
‘Yes.’
‘The exercise stress test has ended.’
‘Yes.’
In contrast, Joo-oh said he had even been supported physically. When he mentioned he was hungry, the researcher had gestured toward the Watch on his wrist, then shook his head as if deciding against it and said he would deliver something himself.
After that, the amount of food served increased significantly. Since Mu-hae always consumed only the fixed amount, the leftovers all became his.
‘Did they assign some inexperienced brat?’
Mu-hae muttered to himself after hearing that. No matter how much of a menacing mask he wore on his face, surely this wasn’t the reason everyone kept their distance from him.
There must be a rule against having private conversations with inmates; they were truly mindless fools.
“Don’t just grin for no reason. Do you remember your charges?”
“Yeah. Fraud and hit-and-run murder.”
“They’re just playing tricks to make you easier to handle, so just focus on the work you’re assigned.”
“They asked me how I ended up driving the car myself, so I told them I was playing around on a friend’s bike and got caught when I was coming back.”
“Stop making up narratives that didn’t happen!”
Damn it. It seemed Joo-oh was being perceived as a dimwit even inside the Tamjeunggwan.
A fool who was imprisoned obediently because he was taken away without knowing what accident he had caused, and who volunteered for experiments he didn’t even understand because he was told he’d be released sooner.
It was a good situation since it lowered their guard. Even so, Mu-hae felt inexplicably irritable.
“When do you think you can bring it?”
“Hmm. Now, if you want?”
The red eyes sparkled, waiting for praise. Mu-hae suppressed the lingering annoyance and looked down at the Link Watch, whose frame had begun to rattle.
The functions were still active. If he set his mind to it, he could execute the plan immediately.
“Then tonight.”
“Okay. I’ll try.”
Even with the tight demand, Joo-oh never complained. Joo-oh took someone else’s hand and plopped it on top of his own head.
“I did well, right?”
Without answering, Mu-hae just rubbed the back of his head. To Joo-oh, that was the highest form of praise.
* * *
WELCOME TO LA VIDA 🙂
~Year 16, Day 101~
[Quest]
Main Quest
Tutorial (Completed)
CHAPTER 1 (Completed)
CHAPTER 2 (Completed)
CHAPTER 3 (Completed)
CHAPTER 4
☞ The Long Way Around
Repayment √
Meeting Olga Again √
The Handkerchiefs of -1 and -4 √
The Owner of the Clue √
☞ Whereabouts of the Item (In Progress)
Inmate 28067 √
Experiment Na 1.07 Gap √
Find the Requested Item
[Find the Requested Item]
The Tamjeunggwan is a place where security is as strict as its importance.
Bypass the agency’s surveillance and secure the T-47!
Joo-oh hummed a tune as he stepped out of the rest area.
He felt like Jin Mu-hae’s scent still lingered in his hair. Every time he thought of those large, warm hands, the corners of his mouth twitched.
He felt like hopping and skipping, but that would make him look too energetic.
So, he took a sharp breath and let the focus in his eyes blur. I’m weak, he thought quietly to himself.
“Uuuugh.”
He had never experienced a sense of helplessness where it was hard to move a single finger while in the body of an Aberrant, but it wasn’t a completely unfamiliar sensation.
Every time he completed a MIT, Joo-oh regained bits of his past memories. In those memories, he was always hungry and struggling.
Now, even moments as hazy as a dream were fine. When he couldn’t immerse himself well, he hurriedly thought of Jin Mu-hae.
Not the Jin Mu-hae who hugged him, but the Jin Mu-hae standing with his back turned inside the monitor.
Then he immediately became sad. He felt as if he had stepped into a bottomless abyss.
“Cough.”
Walking to the end of the hallway with a pale face, he reached a middle door. Beyond the locked door, a guard verified Joo-oh’s identity.
Beep—.
Even after the door opened, he had to walk for another three minutes. The guard’s surveillance only ended once he reached the elevator.
—Na 1.07.
The elevator for experiment subjects didn’t even have buttons. The vehicle, having recognized his identity, simply transported him to the destination on its own.
The testing site Joo-oh belonged to was on the 5th floor. As soon as the door opened, someone stepped forward into his view.
“You are one minute late.”
“Han-seok talked to me.”
“The set schedule must be followed without error.”
A stiff tone. An expression that looked like he would hate sweet foods even more than Jin Mu-hae did.
However, the fact that he reached out as soon as Joo-oh swayed meant he wasn’t a bad person. He was the researcher in charge of Joo-oh, whom he had first met here.
“The snack was delicious. It’s a shame I couldn’t eat more.”
“It is difficult to provide more as we must consider the control variables.”
“Will you give me some today too?”
“If you follow instructions well.”
This man wasn’t the only one watching Joo-oh’s tests through the glass wall. There was one short man and one woman with eyes as clear as clouds.
They had all been as stiff as machines on the first day, but they changed slightly after hearing the fake anecdotes Joo-oh had carefully thought up.
He had done well to pretend he knew nothing. Even during the days when Jin Mu-hae wouldn’t pat his head and only got angry, he would sigh and stop asking difficult questions if Joo-oh just wore a blank expression.
“You’ve arrived.”
“Is it harder today?”
“We will increase the intensity slightly. If abnormal symptoms appear, we will stop it from this end first, but if you feel dizzy or experience pain, raise your right arm immediately.”
“Okay.”
Running a bit and lifting objects were things he could do in his sleep. What was actually difficult was the act of draining all the strength from his body and whimpering.
“Do not touch the sensors even if it itches. We don’t have the luxury to re-test today.”
“Got it!”
Looking around at the researchers, whose tones were stiff but whose gazes were reasonably soft, Joo-oh nodded his head haphazardly.
“Whew… it’s hard.”
“How did you borrow the bike from your friend?”
“He said he’d give it to me for one day. He said he got it from another friend.”
When he showed signs of annoyance, the researchers hurriedly asked about his past. Forgetting that he wanted to complain, Joo-oh spun a story he had fabricated on his own.
“Did you not suspect that friend?”
“He’s a nice kid. He gave me food, and he told me it would be okay when I was being dragged away while getting beaten.”
When he gave a little giggle, their eyebrows drooped again today. As Joo-oh panted his way out of the testing area, one of the researchers pressed a soft towel to his face.
“My arm won’t go up.”
“Then just stay still.”
They wiped his sweat for him and placed a cool pack in his hand. Though not as much as with Jin Mu-hae, the attention given by living beings was always welcome.
Ah, Joo-oh didn’t miss the timing; he groaned and twisted his toes. As soon as he staggered, the researcher reached out as expected.
‘Hmm. It’s there.’
The moment their bodies touched, Joo-oh subtly moved his hand, and he felt the outline of a hard ID card in the researcher’s gown pocket.
“Can I not eat snacks after I go to the rest area?”
“As I said, more than the designated amount is…”
“What if I don’t eat it now and eat it later? Han-seok says he likes cookies too.”
“Items from outside the rest area cannot be brought inside.”
Even though it was a line he had already agreed upon with Jin Mu-hae, he smacked his lips in regret. Joo-oh glanced at the researchers with desperate eyes.
“I can come out before I sleep. They said I can go to the place with the massage chairs before 8 o’clock.”
The researchers exchanged glances. Soon, the researcher guiding him to the elevator sighed.
“…Fine. I am on the night shift. But you would have asked anyway, even if I weren’t.”
“Don’t make it obvious. If you don’t want people talking, get the guard’s understanding in advance.”
Success. Only then did Joo-oh wear a happy smile. The one hour of break time given after meals.
He now had an excuse to leave the rest area and wander to the end of the sector.
‘It’s a shame I couldn’t find something like a secret space.’
CHAPTER 4, given after a long delay, was full of unfamiliar places and stories.
He prayed, his ear tips twitching, that he could complete the quest without any trouble.
“You didn’t get tricked, did you?”
“It’s true. He said he’d give me cookies.”
Jin Mu-hae was handsome, clever, and kind, but he had the disadvantage of not trusting others’ words easily.
Only after Joo-oh emphasized it several times in frustration did the eyes flickering with suspicion calm down.
7 o’clock, near the security door, the room where music plays. The time he had told Jin Mu-hae was fast approaching.
Jin Mu-hae skipped his meal and rummaged under the bed. Several strings made by tearing the bedding came out in his hand.
“Cool.”
Jin Mu-hae tied the strings around his sleeves, waist, and ankles. As the fluttering fabric clung tightly to his body, he gestured with his eyes toward the door, as if telling him to wait and then come out.
After Jin Mu-hae disappeared, Joo-oh counted. One, two, three, four… twenty, thirty, hundred, two hundred, three hundred…
After about five minutes, he left the rest area. As he tried to pass through the middle door, the guard checked the time.
A room marked ‘Rest 3’ near the entrance where the elevator was. He went inside, sat in the massage chair, and kicked his feet back and forth.
‘I feel a bit sorry for the short-haired guy.’
If he had appeared in 「La Vida Blue」, he would have been a quite likable NPC. Since he was playing a trick on him like this, Joo-oh didn’t feel entirely good about it either.
209 – Became an Aberration in a Dead Game