Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Addiction
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Orca supported Crow as she led him into Wing C. He couldn't properly plant his feet, so she had to help keep him from stumbling over.
"Please... pleeease..."
But the only help Crow craved was one thing. He desperately needed the drugs he'd been getting all this time.
"Orca, please... please help me... I really, really can't take it anymore..."
Even for Crow, who was fairly accustomed to physical pain, there was no getting used to the intense hallucinations and neuralgia brought on by drug withdrawal.
It felt like bugs were crawling all over his body. They gnawed at his flesh right beneath his skin, tormenting him.
And at the same time,
the agony of his entire body burning like it was on fire,
for Crow—whose body was now weaker than an ordinary person's—must have been an unbearably cruel and horrific torment.
"...Damn it! Listen up, Crow. Listen to me!"
Unable to stand it any longer, Orca stopped him in his tracks and grabbed his cheeks, speaking right into his eyes... which had already devolved into those of a complete wreck.
"Just hold out until tomorrow morning. I'll find some other drugs for you. Got it?"
"M-morning? What time is it now...? Ungh...?"
She worried about throwing Crow, whose sense of time was completely shot, into Wing C like this, but Orca had no other options left.
Scardi was in there,
so surely she'd do something about it?
Scardi had been looking out for Crow in her own way,
so she'd definitely help him out...
Pssshhh—
"Khum, kuhm!"
The door to Wing C slid open, and Orca and Crow stepped inside. Everyone tensed up at the unexpected visit from a correctional officer, stealing glances at her.
But surprisingly, their eyes didn't linger on Orca for long. It was because the state of Crow, whom she'd brought with her, was unnervingly bad.
"Scardi! Come out here!"
Orca did her best to act calm as she called for Scardi, urgently knocking on the door of the room where she stayed.
"Hurry up!"
Bang bang bang—!
She knocked without holding back. Sweat beaded on Orca's usually cold expression. It was an honest physiological response born of anxiety and tension.
Click—
"...What is it?"
In stark contrast, Scardi opened the door leisurely, even smoking a cigarette. Smoking was prohibited inside the prison, but she lit up right in front of Orca without a care.
But Orca couldn't bring herself to say anything about the cigarette and instead prioritized talking about Crow.
"...Let's talk inside first."
So the other inmates wouldn't hear,
inside Scardi's room.
"Crow's condition was off. His ability was determined to be almost completely gone."
Unlike Orca, who stood rigidly as she spoke, Scardi lounged comfortably on her bed, smoking and listening.
"Did something unusual happen? In Wing C...?"
"How should I know? I'm the one who wants to ask what happened outside of Wing C."
Orca tried to play dumb and dodge responsibility in her own way, but she had no escape. Lying in front of Scardi didn't guarantee her innocence.
"So, since Crow seems messed up, you came straight to me to tell me to take care of him?"
"M-monitoring inmate health is part of my job too. It seemed serious, so I checked personally."
At the very least, she had to hide the fact that his ability was gone. Orca broke out in a cold sweat as she gave Scardi a few key instructions.
"Since there's a patient now, we'll be assigning more guards to Wing C going forward, and we'll prevent any assaults or beatings that could worsen the patient's condition in advance."
"You're giving him quite the special treatment. Surprisingly so. Creep came in already turned into a vegetable... Of course, Crow's too valuable to just leave like that."
For once, it felt like they were on the same page. Scardi thought of Crow waiting outside the room and added a few words to Orca before they both stepped out.
"I'll take care of him. You correctional officers focus on your own duties."
"Hic, kuhic..."
Crow huddled by the entrance to Wing C, clutching his chest and trembling violently. Orca and Scardi approached him, exchanged a glance for a moment, then each handled their part.
Orca hid her unease as she left Wing C,
and Scardi supported Crow.
"Crow, can you hear me?"
He was conscious, but the withdrawal symptoms seemed to have hit him hard. Since this happened when drugs were suddenly cut off, Scardi easily pieced together a few facts.
"Let's go to my room first."
Orca had stopped the drug doses,
and Crow's tough body had completely broken down.
Until now, he'd managed to tough out the withdrawal symptoms somehow, but the state he was in today resembled the end stages of numerous addicts who'd become utter wrecks.
"Here, have a smoke. You know the kind I mean, right? That smoke."
"C-cigarette...?"
He'd shed so many pain-filled tears that the tracks were still vivid on his face, but at the word "cigarette," he perked up again and clung to Scardi desperately.
"Y-yeah...! Please! Pleeease...!"
"Good. Let's go to the room first. Careful not to trip. Rin! Come help support him."
Rin, Scardi's loyal subordinate, rushed over and took hold of Crow's other arm. Finally in a stable position, Crow was half-dragged into the room, clinging to Scardi and Rin on either side.
"Eee..."
Duksoon, who'd been watching the scene, looked around for Lily. In a situation like this, who else would be suffering the most?
But Lily wasn't in the common area.
Finally, he went to Crow's room, where Lily lay surprisingly quietly on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"U-um...!"
Duksoon knocked lightly on the door to call for Lily. Then Creep, who had been lying on the bunk below sniffing, poked her innocent-looking eyes toward him and stared blankly.
"Eek! N-no... do I not have to be scared anymore...? Um...! Open the door...! Crow's here now, but he's in bad shape...!"
Why are these two together?
Before the question could fully form, Creep opened the door to let Duksoon in. Even if she'd turned childlike, Duksoon still found Creep scary.
"Uh, ugh... th-thanks... Um...! Lily! Crow's back! But he's in bad shape...! And Scardi took him!"
Lily, who had been quietly gazing at the ceiling from the upper bunk, turned at Duksoon's call and looked down.
But she didn't seem particularly distressed,
nor anxious.
"What did you say?"
To Duksoon,
Lily almost seemed...
like she was looking forward to what came next.
"No, Oppa... not like this..."
She put on a worried frown on the surface, but Duksoon could clearly sense it.
Lily wasn't a normal girl.
"There, good boy. Calm down for now."
"Hah— qui-quicklyyy... Ungh...?"
Rin held Crow down on the bed while Scardi rummaged through her belongings for a cigarette.
Whether she was having trouble finding it or deliberately dragging it out to gauge Crow's reaction was anyone's guess.
"Oops, not much left."
Scardi finally pulled out a pack and held it in her hand. She took one out, put it briefly between her lips, then lit it for the sake of Crow, who looked like he was on death's door.
"Crow, this is the last pack. I could get more, but that would involve way too much hassle."
Crow paid no particular mind to that crucial statement.
Right now, borrowing Scardi's smoke to ease the cravings even a little was his top priority.
"O-okay, got it...!"
She held the lit end to a lighter and puffed a couple times until it caught. Scardi then brought the filter to Crow's lips.
"Suuup— hoo—"
As he greedily took a few drags, his trembling subsided remarkably. Like a baby nursing from its mother, Crow sucked in the smoke with desperate fervor.
"..."
But as his body steadied, his mind began to regain its usual sharpness.
The intense pain that had raged through him until moments ago couldn't be soothed by something as mundane as a regular cigarette.
"...Suuup—"
Even so, he couldn't stop smoking it. The pain had only intensified, making the cigarette's relief feel all the more dramatic by comparison.
He could sense intuitively that without it, the agony would come crashing back. Crow had no other choice.
"I'd love to just give them to you for free, but as you know, we're in a prison. Handing them out like candy carries too much risk for me."
Scardi never offered kindness without a price. This wasn't an exception just for Crow.
"...You get what I mean?"
"...Hoo—"
Crow nodded slowly, deeply inhaling and exhaling the smoke, resignation filling his heart.
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"We're assigning extra personnel to Wing C from now on. Report even the smallest incidents to me immediately. Especially any assaults or bullying—report those right away."
The guards cocked their heads in confusion at the correctional officer's sudden involvement.
It was a new order that completely clashed with the prison's atmosphere of maximum freedom.
"N-no other reason. Even if they're villains, that doesn't change the fact that they're ability users. The higher-ups want us to win them over so we can study and utilize their powers, so we just follow orders."
The correctional officer was suddenly concerned with the [human rights of criminals], a flimsy pretext if there ever was one.
It couldn't have been more amusing.