Chapter 111
I stared at the system window with disbelief.
’I hit 100 favorability just like that?’
Originally, increasing favorability was incredibly difficult.
It was especially tricky in the early stages because the creatures were highly wary.
One wrong move and the suspicion level would skyrocket.
Even in the game, I had brought vine plants to them before, but I had never achieved 100% favorability instantly.
Between this and the numerical changes that happened in front of Cell 13, the fluctuations were massive.
The higher the favorability, the more advantageous it was in many ways.
It made communication with the creatures much smoother.
Consequently, it became easier to reach the true ending, known as ’True Freedom.’
However, I couldn’t simply be happy about this abnormal increase.
I was worried whether the true ending would still be achievable if I followed the strategy I knew.
I examined Creature 1, who was entwined around my body.
Scars from blade cuts were densely packed across its stems. These were marks left from when its stems were sliced to harvest Neo.
Some scars were very large and distinct, caused by separating parts of its body and reconnecting them.
I tried to look for the small vine I had been carrying diligently, but it was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed to have completely merged with Creature 1.
Through the touching stems, the favorability Creature I felt for me was transmitted directly.
’Honestly, I haven’t been kind enough to deserve max favorability.’
I had carried vine plants, but that was it.
I had even hit it a few times with a stun baton.
Unable to believe it, I checked Creature 1’s stats.
[Creature 1:]
- Suspicion: 0
- Favorability: 100
It was an astronomical number.
In The Cell X, this was a dream figure when dealing with creatures, but I didn’t feel happy.
It was because I hadn’t done anything to deserve such blind affection.
Thinking that this was a value achieved through a glitch actually made me feel a bit uneasy.
I exhaled slowly.
Now was not the time for this.
I had only found Creature 1. I had to hurry and find the remaining creatures.
However; Creature 1 had no intention of letting me go.
Its stems wriggled, pulling me deeper inside.
Before I knew it, I was buried within Creature 1’s body.
Unlike the tough and hard outer stems, the inner stems consisted only of very tender parts.
They were covered in soft fuzz, like newly sprouted shoots, and felt wonderful to the touch.
Part of me wanted to stay buried there, but I had too much to do.
Barely leaving my upper body exposed, I called out to Creature 1.
"Um... Patient 1?"
When I tapped it with my hand and called, the stems wriggled wildly as if excited.
I didn’t mean for it to be a game.
Watching Creature 1, who was incredibly relaxed despite being an escaped convict, made me feel frustrated yet amused.
I smiled slightly and stroked the stem before checking on Dominic.
Dominic had already climbed up onto my head.
He seemed to dislike touching the vines.
Other than that, he didn’t say anything, just wobbling around as a squishy pudding slime.
Feeling relieved for a moment, I called Creature 1 again.
"Patient 1. Could you perhaps tell me where the other creatures are?"
Since it wouldn’t understand my words, I added some gestures.
I took two stems in my hands and brought them together.
When I mimicked shaking hands, the stems wriggled as if they understood.
Then, while carrying me, it began to slither forward.
High favorability certainly made things like this convenient.
While Creature I glided through the shadows, I looked up at the sky for a moment.
All the prison searchlights were chasing a black figure.
Je Hyeon-oh was thoroughly pissing off the guards.
Countless bullets embroidered the sky, but Je Hyeon-oh dodged them flexibly, manipulating his metallic wings at will.
He acted as if he would be hit, only to narrowly evade every time, which only made the enraged guards more frantic.
Until Je Hyeon-oh took at least one bullet, it seemed the guards wouldn’t be able to take their eyes off Convict 13.
Watching the black figure leisurely cleave through the night sky, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
Je Hyeon-oh’s act of snatching me was likely intended to drop me on top of the creatures.
But it felt like there was another reason.
Kwak Han-mook had warned me about Won Tae-beom.
He said that everything I did in front of him would be reported to Jang Seok-yoon.
There was no way Je Hyeon-oh was unaware of that fact.
Therefore, he might have intentionally separated me from him, judging that it would be better if I didn’t show myself acting friendly with NPCs or let my eye color change in front of Won Tae-beom.
Je Hyeon-oh was a director of the Trial Response Agency.
True to his nickname, "The Sane Psychopath", he often acted on a whim, yet most of the time, he made accurate judgments and acted accordingly.
"Except when he was in Deadzone...’
I still wondered why he had hunted me down like a rat back then.
Actually, there were far too many questions regarding Je Hyeon-oh.
I wondered why he kept looking at the sky..
As I was being carried by Creature 1 and wondering about Je Hyeon-oh, a system window suddenly popped up with a ’ding,’notifying me of a value change.
[Favorability + 10]
[Suspicion +12]
It meant there was a creature or a guard nearby.
Since no guard would increase favorability upon seeing me riding a creature, it had to be a creature.
I sharpened my senses and scanned the surroundings.
Between the darkness and the drifting fog, visibility was poor.
For starters, it didn’t seem to be a large entity.
Even with the blurred vision, it wasn’t enough to hide a large entity.
A medium or small entity among the creatures.
One with the ability to hide its presence and enough intelligence to observe the situation.
There was a creature that fit those conditions perfectly.
It was Number 6.
I felt a mixture of tension and excitement.
I had been prepared to meet him since the moment I entered The Cell X.
Even so, it wasn’t easy.
I slowly opened my lips.
"Patient 6."
The moment my voice fell, a gasp erupted.
"How can this be!"
The shout came from within Creature 1’s shadow.
Soon, the shadow wriggled unevenly, and a long figure popped out.
His black hair was stained with white spots on both sides of his head.
The man, who stood over 2 meters tall, was wearing an eye patch.
The one-eyed man, resembling an orca, opened his arms toward me as I lay buried in Creature 1.
Revealing his pointed teeth, he spoke.
"How did you notice? You do not seem to possess the ability to detect my stealth, Teacher."
The only being among the twelve creatures capable of free communication with humans and possessing a name.
Creature 6, Orca.
And he... was the decisive reason why I came to hate The Cell X.
"Teacher Roasted Chestnut. One cannot have everything they desire. Sometimes, one must learn to accept the bitter and the painful."
"Oh dear... Teacher Roasted Chestnut, are you perhaps crying? I am sorry. I was wrong. This is a difficult thing for the young Teacher Roasted Chestnut to accept.."
I tried to suppress the resurfacing memories and focus on the Orca in front of me.
Thanks to the system window appearing just in time, it was a bit easier to snap back to reality.
Creature 6 has been found.
[(Creatures found: 2/12)]
First, I checked Orca’s stats.
[Creature 6 (Orca)]
- Suspicion: 30
- Favorability: 72
’What, 72 favorability?’
Another unbelievable number appeared.
Flustered, I retraced the value change notifications that had popped up frantically while I was in Sector X.
Although several notification windows had appeared rapidly and simultaneously, they weren’t so fast that I missed them; I remembered them all.
At that time, there had been a system window for Favorability +62 and Suspicion + 18, which seemed to belong to Orca.
’This is an impossible number.’
The security chief’s value increase had been strange, but now even the creatures were a mess.
I wanted to know the cause of these value changes.
No matter how anomalous the phenomenon, there must be a cause for every effect.
To raise favorability in such large chunks, there had to be something I didn’t know.
Unconsciously, I stared intently at Orca.
Then, another ’ding’ sounded, and a notification appeared.
[Favorability +2]
I just looked at him...
While I was baffled, I realized this situation was similar to the one with the security chief.
Back then, there had been a value change just from making eye contact without any particular action.
’What am I missing?’
As I groped for a clue that felt just out of reach, Orca spoke first again.
"Medical Officer: What is your name?"
"It’s Lamb."
"Aha, Lamb..."
Upon hearing my name, Orca looked strangely disappointed.
"Then, he abruptly triggered another notification."
[Favorability -20]
He slashed 20 points just because I told him my name.
At this point, I started to wonder if the values were being decided randomly by a roulette wheel.
Orca spoke somewhat bluntly.
"Teacher Lamb. I do not know for what reason you are wearing a guard’s uniform, nor how you lured Number 1, but -Ack!"
He screamed mid-sentence.
It was because Creature 1 had extended a stem and slapped Orca across the face.
Creature 1, possessing the nature of a plant, could sense the opponent’s emotions through the vibration of their voice.
It seemed to have punished him immediately because Orca was being mean to me.
I stroked Creature 1 and then spoke to Orca.
"As Patient 6 noticed, I don’ t have any special abilities, but I do have medical knowledge. I came here to help the creature patients, and also.."
Although 20 points had vanished, my favorability with Orca was still above 50.
Since an anomaly was occurring, I figured it would be better to be direct, even if it was risky, to clear this quickly.
I was about to say something he would never believe.
But I couldn’t.
"Did you come to give us freedom?"
Orca had blurted out the words I was about to say first.
How did he know?
As I froze at the unexpected tum, a bright smile appeared on Orca’s face as he looked at me.
He laughed loudly and shouted.
"Haha! It seems it was not merely a vain delusion!"
Despite being an escaped convict on the run, he laughed joyfully, as if he couldnt resist laughing out loud at this moment.
A ’ding’ sounded, and a notification appeared.
[Favorability +30]
This time, the favorability increased by 30.
As checked the system window over and over, Orca reached out his hand.
Creature 1 wriggled its stems and lowered me toward Orca.
"You may find it hard to believe,"
Orca said as he caught me.
"But I saw you in my dreams."
His glossy black pupils were filled with affection for me.
"In those dreams, I called you not Lamb, but Teacher Roasted Chestnut."