Visiting the Tiger's Den
Visiting the Tiger's Den
At first, I thought this was a research lab with a fairly systematic structure.
Near the central hall, there were meeting rooms where each department could gather, and separate teams handling security and accounting.
But as with all groups in the world, this place also harbored a private organization that could be called a 'loophole.'
"Hyung-nim. Did you hear? I heard only our department is going out to catch slaves this time."
"I heard, you bastard. Already sent word to the brothel."
"As expected of hyung-nim."
Even in major corporations with top-tier personnel administration systems, completely controlling private organizations is impossible.
So what about a criminal organization like this?
The filthy corridor leading to the prison where I first opened my eyes.
This area, densely packed with facilities for disposing of corpses and trash, was the infected part of an organization where cancer cells had nested.
"But what if we fail? I hear the guard patrols are even running around the city these days."
"Hey. We're hitting the red-light district first. If we get caught, will it be us? It'll be the ones who went to the black market who get caught."
"Still, isn't it dangerous? What if someone gets captured and spills the location here?"
"What does it matter? We'll just bolt to the Eastern Base then. We're gonna have our fun first anyway. Plenty of time to keep an eye out."
"Ah! As expected, you're a genius, hyung-nim."
Hearing this kind of talk while chopping human meat to feed to dogs was nothing short of infuriating.
'At least it's a relief there's another den.'
Eastern Base.
Seemed like the group was bigger than I thought.
Thump thump
Leaving the sound of the chopping board behind, I moved my steps.
The place I arrived at was the accounting office, one of the rooms closest to the central hall.
At a glance, it was the most normal room in this cave.
The furniture arrangement was a typical office, and the only unusual equipment was a coppery mechanical device I assumed was a multi-function printer.
The people's attitudes were also the most normal.
"Oh my— there was a kid like this in our lab?"
A man with a friendly expression approached me, speaking warmly.
The woman sitting at the desk behind him, busy writing something, looked at me and widened her eyes.
"Whoa..."
She seemed like a simple-minded woman.
After being scolded by the man,
"Don't get distracted."
She flinched and answered in a fairly simple-minded tone.
"Ah, I... no, I'm sorry."
Her looks weren't particularly outstanding either, so her life probably seemed quite hard.
The dark bruises under her eyes and the bandages wrapped around her arm seemed to tell the difficulty level of her life.
On the other hand, the man squatting in front of me seemed to have had a fairly easy life.
"Black robe? So you're that special experimental subject?"
He formed his eyebrows into a sympathetic shape while slightly raising the corners of his mouth.
Either he felt pity but had no relatable experience, or he had a sadistic personality.
Either way, the fact that expression hadn't been corrected was proof his life had been smooth.
"I want to look at some books."
I spoke blankly and waited for an answer.
The man widened his eyes, then smirked and nodded.
"Sure. Read to your heart's content."
The news that Zenon was observing my activity had spread to all members of the research lab.
Thanks to that, I had been moving around freely without anyone interfering, but this time was a little different.
"Is there a book you're looking for? I have an interesting fairy tale book. Want to take a look?"
As I moved my steps, the man followed me, and I wondered how to respond.
'If he's the head of accounting, that's a pretty key position.'
The lower the quality of the management system, the blurrier the role distinctions among members.
By my standards, this place's system was quite poor.
That meant there was a decent chance this man working in the accounting office also participated in experiments targeting me.
Seemed like there was no benefit to making a bad impression.
"I want to see it."
But since there didn't seem to be any benefit to making a good impression either, I spoke with a blank face, and the man excitedly headed to his seat.
After a moment, what he brought was a thin fairy tale book titled 'The Idle Black Cat.'
As I'd felt in the library, it seemed the printing technology in this world hadn't developed much yet.
The illustration on the cover was as simple as if stamped.
A drawing depicting a cat walking from the side.
I stared at it for a moment, then took the book.
"I'll read it when I sleep."
The man squatted in front of me again.
He seemed to want to match eye level with me, but since I was already used to low viewpoints, it was actually uncomfortable.
"Why not read it now? Is there a specific book you're looking for?"
I tilted my head.
'That's annoyingly suspicious.'
I've seen plenty of people who like children.
But from this man, I felt none of the unique aura those people emit.
Warmth, was it?
Personally, I couldn't understand why that was packaged with the word 'warm,' but I could distinguish the aura through long observation.
So I recognized it immediately.
'He doesn't like me.'
This man didn't like the child 'me' at all.
No matter how high he raised his voice, no matter how bright he made his expression, his overly calm breathing revealed discomfort and wariness.
It seemed better to step back.
I blankly looked down at the book, then shook my head.
"I don't have anything specific. I'll just read this."
Acting like I had no thoughts, I walked to the seat next to the simple-minded woman I'd seen earlier.
I hopped up and sat on the chair.
The startled woman turned to look at me.
I ignored her and opened the book.
As I quietly began reading, the man approached the woman and whispered.
"If you slack off, report to me immediately."
Hadn't they been informed that my physical abilities had increased dramatically?
The man didn't even seem to assume I might have heard him, and didn't even lower his voice when speaking to another person sitting elsewhere.
"Gather all the documents related to the Royalist Faction and put them in the safe. Keep an eye on that brat so she can't go near the safe."
The person who received the order was a young man with a plain impression.
"Understood."
The young man stood up and entered the inner room, and the man paced around for a bit before going outside.
Only the woman and I were left.
Probably because the surroundings were quiet, I could even detect the woman's minute movements.
Glance glance
The woman, who kept fidgeting and glancing at me, abruptly greeted me.
"Ah, hi?"
A clumsy voice.
"Hehe."
The smile she formed using almost no facial muscles reminded me of a genetic disease called 'Angelman syndrome.'
'Is she developmentally disabled?'
If so, the bruises under her eyes and the bandages on her arm could also be explained.
I still hadn't fully grasped the times, but the organization itself was like this.
'Their employee training methods are rough too.'
I'd discovered a bad sign in an unexpected place.
'This organization is way too rough.'
Anxiety that I might not be able to read all the books in the library made me let out a deep, sinking sigh.
Then the woman panicked.
"Huh? Uh? Th... sorry..."
Flustered, she glanced around and even gave up on asking questions, returning to her work.
The more I looked, the more it was a dismal indicator that made me worry about the organization's future.
Employees are parts of the company.
Researchers are parts of the lab.
There's no fool in the world who would pay money to buy a machine that breaks its own parts.
The answer seemed already clear, but since I couldn't be sure yet, I attempted an interview.
"Ajumma, what do you do here?"
The woman flinched, then slowly turned to me.
Her overly large eyes were burdensome.
The emotions within them were so numerous that it was hard to read her thoughts.
"Ah. What do I do? Th... this..."
I took the document she handed me.
'Magic Engineering Department Income and Expenditure Record'
It seemed the woman was acting as a calculator.
A simple calculator that only repeated addition and subtraction.
Miscellaneous tasks that would take less than a minute on a computer, but handling this manually required intense concentration and patience.
'That's a position bound to take a lot of abuse.'
What was unfortunate was that her superior was a lazy person who didn't think about the method of abuse.
I returned the document and asked.
"Is it fun?"
The woman stared blankly at me, then belatedly recognized the question and drew an awkward smile.
"Uh... sometimes?"
No need to ask further.
No need to watch the subsequent situation closely either.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"
The young man who had gone into the room ran over urgently and slapped the back of the woman's head.
Thwack — a loud striking sound rang out.
The woman struggled to maintain her smile and groveled.
"S-sorry. I'm almost done with the calculations."
The young man wasn't angry.
His face twisted ferociously, and he exhaled hot breaths in short puffs, but according to my theory of emotions, that was 'ecstasy.'
'You're caught.'
His expression perfectly suited that kind of line.
So the violence wouldn't stop.
Glancing down to check on me, the young man spoke to the woman.
"Take off the robe and follow me."
The woman stiffened with a terrified face, then rose from her seat like a cow being dragged to slaughter.
It felt like a fork in the road had appeared before my eyes.
Since I'd been reincarnated into another world like a common web novel, maybe the term 'choice' was appropriate.
[Option 1: Become an honest guinea pig.]
[Option 2: Conceal the truth to the end and bet on a single shot.]
Something like that.
My unnecessarily enhanced hearing interrupted my serious contemplation.
"You son of a bitch. You want to become dog food too?"
Thwack
Slap
Thwack
"What did the section chief say? Don't you have any sense?"
Thump
Thwack
There were no screams.
Only the sounds of enduring pain with groans came intermittently.
Now I realized.
'Being ugly is sometimes lucky.'
I hadn't seen any beauties while moving around.
Occasionally I saw women, but they were all people it was appropriate to call ugly by objective standards.
The woman currently being beaten was relatively decent.
Maybe that was why.
"Is it because of those tits again? Seeing her reminds you of your dead kid?"
She must have occasionally benefited from her looks.
'I wonder how the child died.'
Staring at the ceiling, I ran a simulation, then stood up.
This organization wouldn't last long anyway.
I might as well speed up the experiment and secure a few traitors to help with the escape.