Chapter 108
At Kwak Han-mook’s words, I felt my eyes with my hand.
Had they turned gold again?
The heat radiating against my palm was certainly warm.
Since similar symptoms occurred whenever my eye color changed, I was relatively used to it.
However, Kwak Han-mook’s reaction was a bit intense.
He had already witnessed the change in my eyes several times.
We had even shared a brief conversation about the gold-tuning eyes before entering The Cell-X.
Yet, Kwak Han-mook was acting as if he were seeing this situation for the first time.
When I looked at him, puzzled, Kwak Han-mook scanned the surroundings.
He led me toward a monitor that had been smashed by a baton.
My face was reflected in the darkened screen.
"Huh?"
I leaned in closer.
In the black panel, I saw gold eyes shining brilliantly.
Golden eyes with red pupils.
Like Je Hyun-oh, the colors of my iris and pupil had changed.
The red pupils stamped onto the glittering gold eyes were, no matter how I looked at them, hard to call human.
It was strange enough for me to fully understand Kwak Han-mook’s reaction.
I rubbed my eyes with my hand, but nothing changed.
Unable to hide my bewilderment, I muttered.
"I’m not really sure either."
Truly, I knew nothing.
"It is a natural growth process, Roasted Chestnut."
Dominic spoke unbelievable words into my ear.
As I stood there blankly, letting his words slide, Kwak Han-mook pressed me again.
"Are you actually okay?"
"I’m not sure about that either.."
"Wow, this is driving me crazy."
Kwak Han-mook ruffled his hair frantically with his hand.
As I panicked over the unknown physical change, a system window popped up.
[The heat of ■■■ is no different from a deadly poison to a young god.]
[You realize that if you cannot digest this, you will be consumed by the heat.]
’What on earth did I eat?’
I wanted to get rid of those damn colored squares.
However, the system window didn’t respond to me and continued to pop up messages one after another.
[You do not like yourself when consumed by the heat.]
[Because that is not the image of the young god you desire.]
[Furthermore, you believe that a True Ending is impossible if you only burn everything to ashes.]
I felt like I understood what it was trying to say to some extent.
It was because my state had been strange right until Kwak Han-mook arrived.
Now that my head had cooled down, I could recognize how irrational I had been.
And Dominic... had been subtly instigating me.
I had a rough guess as to why Dominic pushed me.
’He probably wants me to act like a god, not a human.’
He treated me as a young god and hoped my words and actions would be fitting for that title.
Thinking this far, a great suspicion arose.
No matter how thought about it, I suspected Dominic had done something to me during the S2P.
I felt like I had become slightly strange since then.
"I enjoyed a meal at the restaurant with Roasted Chestnut."
The words Dominic had said came to mind.
The expression ’meal’ he used and the ’digestion’ the system window kept mentioning felt connected.
I decided that soon I would interrogate the Pudding Slime... well, I couldn’t actually interrogate it, so I’d try to coax the truth out of it.
[You become more vigilant toward the terrible calamity.]
I roughly dismissed the square window that the system popped up as if it had been waiting, and I spoke.
"Captain Kwak, I think it would be best to head outside first."
When I told him that the door would close and we’d be trapped if we stayed here too long, Kwak Han-mook looked at my eyes again.
"Right. Let’s get out for now. Your eyes are back to normal, too."
As he immediately started moving, I shouted urgently.
"Ah, please wait a moment. There’s something I need to take."
I quickly ran and picked up the vine plant shoved into the comer:
I had set it down in a suitable spot, but it seemed to have crawled into the comer on its own in the meantime.
As soon as my hand touched it, the vine plant hurriedly wrapped itself around me.
Did it think I was leaving it behind?
It clung to me tightly, as if it would never let go again.
Creature No. 1 had always been timid and easily startled.
Though it couldn’t see or hear, it must have felt the vibrations from the battle, so it was understandable that it was scared.
I gently stroked the stem a couple of times.
As I carried the vine plant, Kwak Han-mook crossed his arms and looked down at me.
I offered a poor excuse.
"It’s... necessary for the True Ending. Really."
"I didn’t say anything?"
"Then may I take it with me?"
"Since it’s Sweet Chestnut, I almost want to say no."
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or serious.
Seeing me unable to answer hastily, Kwak Han-mook chuckled.
"Let’s go."
Having received my superior’s permission, I followed Kwak Han-mook with the vine plant.
The next room, where the third education was supposed to take place, had a broken door.
It seemed Kwak Han-mook had forced his way in.
If I had followed the education process, the brainwashing to officially become a prison guard would have begun from here.
I was glad Kwak Han-mook had come before I received my third education.
Thanks to him arriving much earlier than expected, things had worked out well in many ways.
Just before being dragged away by the Security Chief, I had sent a message to Kwak Han-mook.
It was a message explaining how to get to the New Guard Training Center.
According to my original prediction, by the time the education process ended, my Guard value would have reached 98%.
Therefore, it was crucial that Kwak Han-mook found me at the right time.
It had been a difficult mission.
First, he had to find the neutralizer stored in the secret safe of the guards’ lounge.
The guards were consuming Neo periodically.
However, they occasionally suffered side effects, and the neutralizer was used for those times.
Naturally, it was an important item that wouldn’t be disclosed to a new guard like Kwak Han-mook, but since I knew the safe’s location and password, it wasn’t a problem.
Stealing the neutralizer was easy as long as the timing of the empty lounge was right, but the problem was the prayer room.
The prayer room provided in this prison was somewhat bleak, but it was equipped with all the furniture typical of a prayer room.
Beneath the pulpit, a door leading to an underground passage was hidden.
The maze-like underground passage led to the New Guard Training Center.
Once you entered the prayer room, you inevitably encountered the correctional chaplain, so persuading him to use the underground passage was the first hurdle.
I had told Kwak Han-mook how to persuade the chaplain, but it was quite tricky and required considerable time.
Even if he succeeded in persuading the chaplain, the underground maze followed.
Even if one knew how to find the way, it took a long time to break through the complex underground maze.
Yet, Kwak Han-mook had overcome all those hurdles and reached me at an incredible speed.
Thinking that he truly was Captain Kwak, I thought all that was left was to navigate back through the maze.
"..Wow."
I was genuinely impressed.
Kwak Han-mook’s wood prayer beads were stretched long throughout the maze.
If just followed the beads, it would lead straight to the exit.
"Pretty awesome, right?"
After giving a round of enthusiastic applause to the boasting Kwak Han-mook, I broke through the maze following the beads.
If it weren’t for him, it would have taken some time even for me to find the way, but thanks to him, I was able to escape very comfortably.
I reached the exit with Kwak Han-mook and looked up at the long ladder.
Now, if I just climbed this ladder. I would finally be out.
However, the length of the ladder was substantial.
The top of the ladder, whose end was not visible, was covered in profound darkness.
I would probably have to climb for a long while even beyond where the darkness buried it.
’Captain Kwak’s stamina is truly amazing.’
The fact that he came down here alone, passed through the maze, and found me was simply astounding.
While I was newly surprised by Kwak Han-mook’s stamina, he approached the ladder first.
Kwak Han-mook held the flashlight in his teeth and shook the ladder hard with both hands.
Contrary to its appearance, the ladder seemed firmly fixed, with no shaking.
Kwak Han-mook handed the flashlight back to me and said.
"It should be fine for two people to climb at the same time. Let’s go."
After a brief explanation, Kwak Han-mook gestured with his chin.
"Elders first."
It was a remark that treated me as a significant senior.
’In reality, he’s the older one.’
I didn’t know why he kept playing these jokes, but thinking about every detail would be endless.
Just as I was about to climb the ladder without a word, I hesitated.
The problem was where to put the flashlight.
I was worried it would fall if I fixed it to my clothes.
When I asked Kwak Han-mook, he said he had just come down without turning on the flashlight.
Despite it being this dark...
’I think I need to turn on the flashlight..’
If it were just me, it might be fine, but if I made a mistake while climbing, Kwak Han-mook right below me could get hurt.
I wanted to go as safely as possible.
Kwak Han-mook scanned me, searching for a good place to fix the flashlight.
His gray eyes, moving from bottom to top, stopped at my forearm.
"Can’t you stick it in there?"
Actually, I had the same thought.
I gently stroked the vine plant to give it a slight signal beforehand, then carefully tucked the flashlight between the stems.
I wondered if it would be okay since it was timid, but fortunately, it gripped the flashlight tightly with its vines.
Kwak Han-mook praised the convenience while looking at the vine plant holding the flashlight.
"Good thing you brought it."
At the praise, which sounded like I had picked up a good item, I nodded and clung to the ladder.
"I’m going up."
"Yes sir. Let’s go, Elder Sweet Chestnut."
Kwak Han-mook and I climbed the ladder.
He kept teasing me from below.
"Sweet Chestnut. Your butt is too close."
"I’m sorry. I’ll climb faster."
And then, when I climbed diligently, he would stick close behind me again.
"I’ll have to give you some training."
He busily mocked me from behind, saying things like how a chestnut shell is empty even if you peel it.
I replied vaguely that I would fill the inside.
It was just as I was thinking that he was joking around more than usual.
"Once you formally enlist, you’ll receive recruit training."
At Kwak Han-mook’s words, my hand paused for a moment.
My rank was a recruit, but I had never actually received training at the TRA Agency.
While I was wondering what kind of education I would receive after formal enlistment, Kwak Han-mook spoke as if it were no big deal.
"I’ll teach you how to shoot a gun again."
’Could you also put me on your team?’
I wanted to ask Kwak Han-mook one more time, but I held back.
The fact that an infinitely busy Field Department team leader was making time to teach me how to shoot was already an enormous favor.
Kwak Han-mook continued to joke about various things after that.
Talking with him, I climbed the ladder diligently without even realizing it was hard, and thanks to that, I quickly reached the door leading to the surface.
Just as I was about to push the door open, feeling grateful to Kwak Han-mook.
Clunk.
The passage door opened on its own.
And I came face-to-face with a completely unexpected person.
A muscular man wearing a black priest’s cassock looked down at me.
My eyes widened as I called out to him.
"...Lieutenant Won?"
He reached out his hand and spoke bluntly.
"Recruit Han. Take my hand."
Won Tae-beom’s role was the correctional chaplain.