Chapter.4 Eyelids (3)
***
“Whoosh whoosh.”
My breathing becomes heavy. scary. The fact that this was a game didn’t even register in my mind. There are too many eyeballs floating in that glass bottle, watching me, so I don’t keep them. My wrist is sprawled out on the desk, and even when I look away, that rusty hacksaw is constantly highlighting my mental breakdown!
My imagination was torturing me in an empty room.
‘I have to go out. It’s not a game character problem. I think I’m going to go crazy if I stay any longer.’
Perhaps thanks to the newly acquired [Extreme Regenerative Power], the injured part was regenerating at an incredible speed. It seemed that in a little while, all the parts that had been cut would grow back.
‘When my spine regenerates, all these sensations will hit me at the same time. But if you want to escape, you first need to move your body.’
It’s a terrible structure. If you want to escape, you have to suffer physically, and if you don’t want to escape, you have to suffer mentally. Was this intentional? So why?
‘Why? ‘I guess it’s because he’s a wizard!’
Wizard. A job that is also called the flower of RPG games due to its powerful ranged attacks and eye-catching splendor. The percentage of players who chose that great class is 2.5% of the total.
It’s not a mistake, it’s 2.5% correct.
It is a well-known tradition that wizards are sensitive and picky, but in the GG world, wizards are so crazy that it would be insulting to simply describe them as picky. It’s not like a dark wizard or a crazy wizard, it’s just that even good wizards are crazy.
Among players, ‘crazy people don’t become wizards. ‘He’s crazy because he’s a wizard.’ The madness of wizards was so notorious that there was a saying, ‘There are good wizards, but there are no sane wizards.’
Among those wizards, I was captured as an ‘experiment’ by one who seemed to be of quite poor quality.
Tuduk tuk! Crackling-
“Ugh! Ah ugh! “Kwaaaah!”
It’s the spine. Finally, the spinal nervous system began to function properly, and sensation returned to my entire body, along with the pain.
“Gagging!” Arghhhhh!”
What, when you come back to your senses, run away?
It was an empty dream. The sensation of pain burning through all my nerves burned my thoughts and paralyzed my entire body.
[Get up…I….]
Clap! Ouch!
A rough but gentle voice penetrated through the terrible pain. The restrained arms began to pull on the chains.
[Move…for mother….]
Clap, clap, clap!
Wood clatter!
A sickeningly sweet scent gently enveloped my nasal passages. okay. I can move. Then you should move.
Naturally, strength went into my limbs. The restrained limbs were pulled taut, and the less healed wounds began to burst. My spine is broken and I can’t feel it. I don’t know how to move, but whatever. It’s moving.
Clap, clap, clap!
The shackles that bound the body did not come off easily, but fortunately, this body seemed very suitable for this situation. This weak body can be easily separated if you apply a little too much force.
Knock, knock, knock!
Sigh!
Hot blood splattered on the floor. His hands were still tied, but his arms were now mobile. The chain that binds his waist is a bit long, so if you rip off the rest of his hands and ankles, you can get the hacksaw on the desk. Mother, please wait a moment. Give this body to you –
jump!
“Huh oh oh oh oh! this! “It’s late!”
A
person who is not in the body’s memory. Baggy clothes and a cane. Pure white beard. Oh, is this a wizard? It’s an amazing body. My whole body is screaming and receiving information that my eyes cannot accept. Those annoying screams are blocking my mother’s calls, but it’s no problem. Because the owner of the body was asleep.
‘A rusty hacksaw man with a bloody apron in his hand…old man’s voice.’
It’s a guy. The wizard who made me like this.
“I can’t believe my spine has already regenerated. I put a lot of effort into destroying it. How is it that the speed of playback is getting faster…..”
“Mom moved….”
“Has he grown up to the point where he can think for himself already? Maybe… I don’t have time anymore….”
‘Man’s hand. water. lump of water. A lump of water? window?’
The man was snapping his fingers, and water in the form of water appeared in his hand.
“I’m sorry, but you have to go back to sleep, Mute.”
Wood clatter!
With a horrifying sound, the consciousness in my body fell into darkness again.
***
Again. Again.
dark. The darkness is so dense that even hands and feet cannot be distinguished. In the darkness where I couldn’t feel anything, only the sound of water drops was what reminded me that I was alive.
‘….Are you tired?’
someone’s voice. Haven’t heard it in a long time. But as time passed, that voice gained more and more weight in a corner of my memory.
mother.
A small gap appeared in a space where there was nothing. Following the light that seeped through the gap, the professor persistently pushed away the darkness that held his ankles and swam towards the black water.
‘I saw you smiling. ‘It’s been a very long time.’
mother. There are so many things I want to talk about. Five years have passed since that day, and I’ve been through a lot.
I feel anxious. I stretch out my arms even more vigorously due to unknown anxiety. Mom, why are you making that face?
Stretch your arms towards the light. When I raise my head out of the water and exhale, my mother’s dark, blurry face flows down my eyes and changes into another face. It reaches out to me.
Quack.
It feels like the skin on my head is going to tear.
monster.
A human-shaped monster was grabbing my hair and grinning. The disgusting monster’s mouth smelled of the familiar wasteland.
‘oblivion. To forget and live. ‘You always take the easy way.’
‘……’
‘Are you happy? Do you think this is okay? Do you really think you ‘forgot’?’
‘shut up.’
‘The voice I miss…. Isn’t it disgusting? If you’re going to miss me this much, if you’re going to blame yourself this much, why did you make that choice?’
‘shut up. shut up! Shut up!!!!’
The scream that came from deep inside my lungs only lingered in my throat and died down in my chest.
The laughing monster’s face and the professor’s face were reflected side by side in the water.
A monster shedding tears. An expressionless professor.
The only difference between the two faces was their expressions.
The professor’s crying face stared at the dazed professor.
‘Erasing the memory doesn’t even erase the results. Keep this in mind. ‘Every breath you take is proof of your guilt.’
A scream that could not come out as a sound came out as a sentence from the expressionless professor’s mouth.
‘I just wanted to live. ‘I never thought it would happen like that!’
The monster’s smile grew even deeper as the professor spat out his words with great difficulty.
The monster was holding the professor’s head and spitting out each word.
‘That ignorance is a sin, you idiot.’
Sigh!
A hand full of scars plunged the professor’s head back into the darkness.
***
Sigh!
“Puhuheook! Ugh! Huh! “Huh!”
“hmm? “Oh, you’ve come to your senses!”
“Huh! Ugh! “Wow!”
“Sleep slowly. Take several small breaths. Inhale, exhale. “Inhale, exhale.”
The professor followed those words and slowly took a deep breath. Seeing as I couldn’t feel my body, it seemed like my spine was broken again.
‘You must understand the situation before pain comes.’
The professor took a deep breath and looked around.
First of all, the place was the same as the horrible room from before. The location is also the center of the room. If so, there will be no change in the things that bind the body.
The only thing that has changed is that his body is in what looks like a large wooden bathtub.
The bathtub was filled with dark red liquid. A red, fishy-smelling liquid. I knew what it was without even looking.
‘It was a good thing I put down the broadcast screen in advance. If this had gone on like this, everyone who came in would have left.’
Most people who come to watch the broadcast are people who come to heal from their tiring life in the wasteland.
What if you gift a hardcore splatter movie to people who come to heal and melt away the fatigue of the day? It won’t end with the broadcast going bankrupt. There will be a witch hunt in the community.
I felt a little strange. After coming to my senses, I checked the system window and found myself in a strange room… What happened?
‘I have no memory.’
I had no memory of before I lost consciousness. My last memory is definitely…..
‘That voice. I lost my mind after hearing those sweet whispers. ‘The mute cells… are what moved my body.’
“Hmm. Seeing that his breathing has returned, it appears that he has calmed down to some degree. Now, how many of these do you see?”
I don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for it, but as soon as I woke up, the old wizard who was diligently recording something waved his finger in front of me.
‘First of all… I follow. I’m not sure, but this wizard did something to my body that prevented the infection from progressing to the end. ‘I’ll just have to pretend to be obedient until I figure out how to do it.’
As the professor remained blank, the wizard looked a little embarrassed.
“this. Have you not recovered enough to count yet? Then…..”
“I have three fingers, my name is Professor, and I belonged to the Silver Shout Mercenaries and participated in the defense of Turan. Now, does this answer your question?”
The wizard laughed at the professor’s rapid-fire answer.
“It’s so perfect. “It hasn’t been long since his consciousness was taken over by him, but he has already come to his senses.”
“This guy…?”
“The mute cells. “It’s spreading all over your body right now.”
The professor saw blood dripping just below his neck. My body still twitches occasionally. My body is not mine. Something didn’t feel real.
“There’s a face that looks like it needs a lot of explanation, but I’m running out of time. “Let me take care of what needs to be done first and explain it to you.”
“What… do you mean?”
“Your treatment.”
The old wizard held a hacksaw on the desk, looked at the rusted blade, shook his head, and took out a new hacksaw from his apron pocket.
“Mute cells are really toxic people. It struggles to adapt somehow to living things as well as inanimate objects. The metal that has Mute’s blood on it rusts like that and doesn’t last long. “Now don’t be surprised because I’m going to cut off your hand.”
Uh um. At what point is it okay not to be surprised? The part about cutting off hands? Or the part where you calmly say it in front of the person who will cut you off?
“What? My hand? cut?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Since we’ve already taken all the steps, it won’t hurt at all. The mixture that filled the bathtub you are in may seem gross at first glance, but it is quite expensive. I mixed some medicine with strong anesthetic properties and holy water into Mute’s blood. “We increased the proportion of anesthetics compared to last time, so it will be quiet for a while.”
Slosh!
The wizard stuck his gloved hand into the barrel and rescued the professor’s chained arm.
“…Did it heal again in the meantime? “At this level, it will surpass even a level 4…or even a level 3 variant.”
“Wait a minute! They say it’s dental treatment! “What does treatment have to do with those hands… doing that!”
When the professor screamed hysterically at the approaching saw blade, the wizard looked slightly displeased.
“Hmm… I’m the type of person who can’t do two things at the same time. “Can’t you just cut it and explain it?”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“It’s not that funny… but it’s good. “Then let me explain first.”
He put the hacksaw that looked as if it would cut off his wrist at any moment back in his pocket, then returned to the chair he had been sitting on before and spoke.
“How much do you know about Mute’s infection system?”
The professor shook his head desperately. Mute’s infection system. World 3 Mute’s infection system. Obviously…..
“Infection begins when blood comes in contact with saliva. The infected person must be purified by a priest immediately. If the infection has progressed too far, purification will not cure the infection. Once fully infected, it moves towards the queen in the north as if possessed.”
“Oh, that’s pretty good! You know a lot more than the average person! “Is it because she is the person she brought with her?”
“Her?”
“Lord Agath. Lord Agath. “Charlotte de Agat, that wood-stone girl carried you all the way to the temple.”
Now that I think about it, I found similar content written in the message about my friendly relationship with Charlotte. It seems she moved me to the temple after the battle.
“So… is this a temple?”
“You can easily say that you will be struck by lightning? The only temple that looks like this is the temple of an evil god. This is my home. “To be exact, it’s my lab.”
‘Then what are you doing, decorating your house like a temple to an evil god?’
In the professor’s mind, suspicions began to grow that this wizard might be a warlock.
“The temple seemed reluctant to continue talking, but since the person asking for it was the other person, they put in some effort. I used up a lot of divine power. “But it only slowed the process down a bit and had little effect.”
Yes, that will happen. The sacred spell ‘Purification’ is a spell that removes anything harmful to the body.
The moment mute cells outnumber normal cells in the body, removing them causes greater damage to the body. Although it varies depending on the denomination, the general purification spell does not work in a way that harms people, so the effect of the spell would have been dispersed.
“Yes, you were destined to die on the spot. Within minutes the infection had invaded your brain and you were destined to be ‘saved’ by the Templars.”
“…And you were the one who got me out of there.”
“yes! “I happened to be in Turan on a research trip and was passing by the temple. By chance, I became acquainted with Lord Agath, and based on my research results, I was able to take full charge of your ‘treatment’.”
“Treatment… I don’t know much about the magical medicine world, but do they even call this ‘treatment’ these days?”
As I pointed my chin at the specimens surrounding him, the old wizard smiled bitterly.
“It seems like you have the same personality to act so harsh even in a situation like this. You may not believe it, but the treatment is right.
There are two main characteristics of mute infectious agents. Erosion and regeneration.
It erodes the part it has dug into, aligns it with itself, dominates the part that has become so attuned, and takes care of it as if it were its own body. I focused on this part. No matter how infamous the mute infection agent is, isn’t there a limit to its power? That part has already been proven through many experiments. “It could not penetrate a knight’s body full of mana, and even if it had no mana, it could not easily spread to a well-trained body.”
The wizard said, pointing to my body covered in wounds.
“Then I was wondering what would happen if I consumed that power.”
“Would it…waste your strength? “A contagious mute?”
“okay. As I said, the mute agent cherishes the infectious agent as if it were its own body. Because my body fits. What would happen if the infected body was continuously inflicted with deep wounds, forcing the mute agent to devote all its energy to regenerating the wounds? “It’s like this!”
“100 million!”
Seogeng!
The wizard cut off my wrist with the water blade he created in an instant while I was distracted for a moment.
“Holy shit….”
“Now focus! Look at the cut!”
The wizard lifted up his free arm, which had had its wrist cut off. The cleanly cut wrist splattered blood for a moment, then healed in an instant, turning into a round lump of flesh.
“The color…!”
“I can see you too! “Unlike the other parts, which are infected and dark red, the regenerated part has a full skin color!”
Unbelievably, the color of the skin in and around the cut area really changed. As if the mute cells were retreating, my skin regained its original color for a moment.
“I have been protecting your body like this for the past month. When it regenerates, it hurts again and again.
Then, as the higher-ups in the kingdom began to realize that the situation was not normal, my research naturally began to attract attention.
Isn’t it? Just four months ago, if you dug a shallow moat in front of the castle wall and lit a fire high enough, the weak Mute, who would burn to death on his own, became strong enough to take over the city single-handedly and defeat the First Knight Roderick? An order came from the royal family a few weeks ago. “I will support your research to find out everything you can about Mute and, if possible, to find a way to use Mute infection to strengthen your soldiers.”
Tuk.
He wiped the cut off wrist, put it in a bottle, and said with an awkward smile.
“So this is what happened. Dozens of royal wizards here in my mansion are using your body for research. Isn’t it a good thing for a sister and a good brother-in-law? “You will have to open the wound anyway to prevent the infection from progressing, and we can obtain useful experimental materials.”
The professor was dizzy from the overwhelming facts. It’s an experiment. Parts of one’s own body are being put on the test tables of countless wizards like fruit growing on a tree.
It felt like my stomach was going to turn, but the professor decided to hold on for now.
‘….Let’s stay calm. From the beginning, you have to think that you are dealing with a crazy person. Stay calm and get as much information as you can from here…’
“I personally am very impressed with your body. Regardless of the type, it can be used indefinitely as long as you provide blood, and since it is unusually soft for a well-trained body, it is not easy to process it for various experiments. As regeneration is fast, metabolism is active, so experimental results tend to come out quickly. This is truly an ideal body for research! “It is no exaggeration to say that we were born for research!”
….Information….Information
….
“Hmm, this sample came out well too?”
The professor could feel it. That they do not treat themselves as living people. No, even if I could save it, I wouldn’t.
Ttuduk.
At that moment, the professor’s reason, which he had been struggling to hold on to, collapsed.
“Aaaaaaa!! kill! “I’ll kill you!!!”
“Hehehe. Are you angry? Yes, I should be angry. I understand. “But as someone who studies your body, I tell you, you’d better tone down your anger.”
“Fuck it! “If I just unravel all of this, your rotten head will – ugh!”
Tuung –
A strange sound that rings in your head for a moment. And the sweet scent spreads to every nook and cranny, as if it spreads from within through the breath.
“That’s why I told you to calm down. You are hopeless. Because the infection is already progressing in the brain. “If you lose your mind like that, Mute will dig into your mind and try to devour you.”
“Ughhh!!!”
“Easy, calm down. You have a strangely high resistance to Mute’s mental corruption, so hopefully you’ll be able to survive for another few months. “It would make great experimental material for us.”
“You, you, you!!!!”
“I will help you now. “Please do your best to endure it.”
Tap, tap, tap –
“Sleep.”
As the hand sign was formed along with the strange sound of my joints cracking, I began to feel unbearable drowsiness.
“This name. Name…”
“Hmm? Oh no. Look at my mind. “I couldn’t even say it out loud!”
The wizard answered the young professor in a calm tone, as if he had forgotten to bring his wand, and politely greeted the professor, who was falling apart in blood.
“I am Isaac Mandalius, 6th rank of the Lead Flow school. “To my shame, I was elevated to the rank of count in recognition of my contribution to this research.”
“Isaac…Mandalius….”
“Oh, I know your name, so it’s okay, Professor. “Lord Agart said he was in good hands.”
“Isaac…Isaac…..”
In his fading consciousness, the professor pondered the man’s name.
‘I’ll kill you. No matter what happens, I’ll kill that son of a bitch.’
The professor kept repeating those words until he fell asleep.
***
