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To my dismay, my willpower was weaker than I thought. All this time, I hadn’t had enough opportunities to test the limits of my will. There were no windows or clocks, so I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but I felt like I could do just about anything to get out of here now. If only they would just give me a sip of water, if only they would just turn those lights off, and most importantly, if only they would just make it so that the ear-grating noise that would start up at any time and anywhere would not sound out… If I tried to sleep, that high-pitched sound would ring out and dig into my brain, making me scared of closing my eyes. The room, which seemed to be a little over a pyeong in size, was filled with an unpleasant heat due to the light coming from all directions. If I stayed in the same position for too long, electricity would spew out from the lasers connecting from wall to wall. I sat, stood, and laid down… I felt like I was going insane.
My father had already consented to my being in the S.E. Anyhow, since I couldn’t escape, I had my doubts about the meaning of my time here. Feeling like my eyes were going to fall out, I closed them for a second, and when I heard the sound of a beep– again, I made up my mind. I had to get out of here. Even if I had to die, I didn’t want to die crazy in here. The underlying reason for keeping me here must be to make me obedient. Then, wouldn’t it be all over if I acted obediently? Honestly, I wasn’t even rebelling against them. It was a human reaction, but… they didn’t see me as a human.
I pulled myself together and looked around my surroundings. There was CCTV everywhere, so they could probably hear me talking to myself pretty well. The lights that seemed to never go out went out just as I was about to open my mouth. In an instant, darkness fell, and a cool breeze rushed in from somewhere. The door to the outside opened. I hadn’t even said anything, but did those crazy bastards go so far as to hack into my mind? Could it be that mental-type abilities worked on me? Nothing would make me happier.
Then, someone suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me outside. I didn’t know who it was, but I was desperate to get out, so I followed them. The corridor was as dark as a blackout. I couldn’t even see myself, so I had no way of knowing who was standing in front of me. After turning a few corners in what I assumed was a corridor, I no longer had the strength to walk. I wasn’t sure if it had been a day, two days, or three days, but I hadn’t slept a wink or had any water. I wasn’t the type of ability user who could go months without eating and still function normally.
As I sat down, the person in front of me placed something in my hand. Even though I couldn’t see it, the familiar feel of it told me what it was. A 500-ml plastic bottle. Water. I attempted to unscrew the cap, but my hand continued to turn without any strength. The plastic bottle then vanished from my grasp.
“Ah…”
I hurriedly reached my hand out to grab the plastic bottle again. This time, it didn’t have its cap on. I gulped down the water. The sudden influx of water into my windpipe made me cough, so I couldn’t drink properly, but I kept going nonetheless.
“Are you okay? Let’s go a little further.”
I didn’t know whose voice it was, but the kindness of it made me feel unnecessarily emotional. I struggled to push myself up again.
“Can I switch on a light?”
I nodded my head. I didn’t know if they could see in the dark, but as if they had understood my intentions, a small flashlight flicked on. Only then could I recognise who had brought me here. A man who was overly beautiful even in the dim light, the ability user I had seen at the bank, and the main cause of this.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“……”
“I can’t compensate you, but… I can get you out.”
The man grabbed my hand and continued to guide me. I wanted to shake his hand off and curse at him, but if he could actually get me out… I continued to follow him. I just wanted to get out of here. That was all I could think about.
A solid door stood in our way every few metres, but it would open as soon as the man entered the passcode in an accustomed manner. It was almost baffling how easy it was. Perhaps we had walked for a while, or perhaps I was the only one who felt that way, but we eventually came to a corridor with a window. It had been so long since I’d last seen sunlight, and not artificial light, that I stopped in my tracks.
“Are you having difficulty?”
The man opened a small door beside him. Instead of the white walls I had grown tired of and strange machines, a normal room emerged. In front of the television were a small table and a cloth couch. The man sat me down on the couch and rummaged through the fridge. He soon brought out a few puddings that looked like something bought from a convenience store.
“This is the staff break room. I wasn’t the one who bought these puddings, but…”
The man peeled off the cover of the pudding and even brought over a disposable spoon and placed it on the table. As I unconsciously reached for the pudding, the sound of a clink came from my wrists, which were still handcuffed.
“Hold on.”
The man gently grabbed the handcuff chains around my wrists. Despite the fact that he had clearly grabbed it gently, the chains broke with a crack.
“Does your wrist hurt?”
He broke apart the iron wrapped around my wrist as if he were breaking up crackers. I stared, dumbfounded, because I’d never seen a man break iron apart with his bare hands before. It wasn’t as if this were some kind of martial arts novel where iron could be cut with a sword. Soon after, the man scooped up the pudding with the spoon. He then attempted to place it in my mouth.
I summoned all the strength I didn’t have and slapped his hand away. The pudding on the spoon fell to the floor with a clink. It was funny how I was acting proud after following him all the way here, but I couldn’t just eat the pudding spoon fed to me by the root of my problem.
“I’m sorry. I was just happy to meet another ability user outside…”
“……”
“You know, ability users don’t even make up 0.1% of the world population… People need us in times of crisis, but normally they look at us like we’re monsters…”
Know my foot. All this time, I’ve corresponded to the 99.99%. Plus, I was the type of person the man was talking about—someone who thought that ability users were needed in times of crisis but never considered becoming friends with them or otherwise associated with them. It was too early to lump me in the category of “us”. I was embarrassed when he suddenly confessed such heartfelt feelings to me.
“I liked you from the moment I saw you. I brought you here because I thought we could be comrades.”
What comrades? Were we a group of pirates or what? However, the man’s fluttering lashes drooped and cast a shadow. Even his downcast eyes looked slightly wet. His lips slightly trembled as well, giving him a pitiful look.
Seeing the trembling in his eyes made me feel weak, but I couldn’t tell him it was okay. Even though I knew it was an obligation to report ability users to the nation, and even though I knew he didn’t intend for what had happened to me to happen, he was still the definite cause. I wasn’t able to shake off the thought that if it weren’t for him, I’d be going to university unscathed. When I didn’t say anything, he pushed the pudding and spoon into my hand. He gave a small sigh and said, “Can’t you at the very least eat this now?”
Actually, I hadn’t eaten in days, so the chocolate-coloured pudding in front of me was very tempting. Hitting the man’s hand earlier took a lot of willpower. I grabbed the spoon with shaky fingers and scooped up the pudding. However, the slippery pudding kept running down.
“Can’t I scoop it up for you?”
The man looked at me with pitiful eyes. His neat and pretty brow creased slightly, and his well-groomed eyebrows plied. I couldn’t turn weak against the main cause of this situation, but… Honestly, wasn’t the real cause of this situation my throwing a magazine at the robber because of my nosiness? Then wouldn’t I be the one in the wrong, and the man wouldn’t be the cause of this? Still, I was afraid that the man would get hurt. Ah, I don’t know either.
I threw away the spoon I was holding. The spoon didn’t get very far and landed right under the table. The man stood up, went to the drawer next to the sink, and retrieved another disposable spoon. Then, he scooped up the pudding again and placed it in my mouth. This time, he pushed a little harder, and in the confusion of the moment, I let it in my mouth.
Should I spit it out? My rationality pondered it over for a moment, but my instincts swallowed the pudding. As the sweet taste melted on my tongue, my instincts screamed for more, more, more. The man continued to scoop the pudding and place it in my mouth. In no time at all, the cup of pudding was gone. The man casually took the cover off the second pudding. Seeing its yellow colour this time, it seemed to be banana-flavoured. I thought of the first time I met him. At that time, he was wearing a mustard-coloured sweater. I found myself pathetic for having such stupid thoughts even in the midst of all of this, and my entire head hurt. The man brought the pudding to my mouth again. I hesitated before eating it. After having emptied three cups of pudding just like that, my sense of reality slowly returned. Was it okay to just play around here? Weren’t we on the run? Wasn’t this an urgent situation? Was it normal to scarf down three cups of pudding in a break room while being chased?
“Let’s go now.”
As if to answer my question, the man stood up and even helped me to my feet. We stepped back out into the corridor again, but no one was there. Along the way, we encountered a few people standing guard, but the man deftly knocked them out. He even retrieved some everyday clothes and dressed me in them. The smoothness of things heightened my anxiety.
“This is the last stop.”
The man entered the passcode and held his hand over the scanner. A red light scanned the man from head to toe. Beep! A warning sound suddenly echoed out. Bang, bang, bang, security shutters began to slam down from a distance. The sirens grew louder and louder, and the distant, soldier-like footsteps grew closer.
“It seems like we’ve been caught. I was trying not to cause any property damage, though,” the man said in a small voice, and he put his hand on the door. The door melted. I had already been surprised to see him break the handcuffs, but I was even more surprised to see him melt down such a thick-looking door in an instant.
“Hurry and go.”
The man pushed my back. Obviously, I wanted to leave, but I was worried about the aftermath. My mind felt congested. Meanwhile, wailing sirens could be heard all around me, interrupting my thoughts.
“What about you?”
“I’ll stop them.”
At some point, I began to see soldiers approaching in the distance. No, should I say people similar to soldiers? The man took a gun from his arms and put it in my hand. Then, he pushed my back again. In the confusion of the moment, I went outside. The last security shutter slammed down between the man and me. Covered by the shutters, neither the man nor the people similar to soldiers could be seen.
orcinus comments:
the fact that mc is still this stable despite all that has happened is impressive ngl, which i think greatly reduces any angst aspects as well since his thought process sure is something 😭
Poor our MC, he doesnt deserve this 🙁
I’m feeling so damn anxious rn, why do I feel all this is some ploy?