Squeak.
The trailer truck that was carrying me—though it felt more like imprisonment—came to a sudden halt as if it had reached its destination. The unexpected brake caused me to tumble inside the cage.
Luckily, there was something soft on the floor, so I didn’t get hurt too badly. But still, I fell, and I couldn’t help but let out a sound.
“Ah!”
It wasn’t like the truck was speeding or anything, but my body was small, and since it hadn’t been long since my body changed, I felt a bit awkward handling it. My sense of balance wasn’t as good as it used to be. Kim Bora looked restless as she watched me fall.
She seemed like she wanted to help me up, but she couldn’t open the cage door that was keeping me locked up. It was her fault for locking me in there in the first place, even though I wasn’t causing any trouble.
But for some reason, I felt embarrassed, so after falling, I just got up like nothing happened. Seeing that, Kim Bora smirked, then opened the door and left somewhere.
Suddenly, I was alone in the trailer. I had wanted to be alone earlier, but now that I was, it felt too quiet and lonely, and I got scared. The corners of the trailer looked like they could spawn ghosts at any moment. I was terrified.
“Eeeek!”
I screamed, begging to be let out. Maybe they heard my cries, because the door opened, and several researchers dressed just like Kim Bora started coming in. I couldn’t help but shrink back at their intimidating presence.
They looked like mad scientists, and it was scary to stand tall in front of them. It felt like my thoughts had become simpler since my body changed. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared, but now, just seeing strangers made me nervous and fearful.
The researchers looked at me in the cage, then opened the door and dragged me somewhere. I looked around with fearful eyes. I thought about escaping, but I was on a leash, so that plan was a no-go.
After getting off the truck and walking a bit, I was greeted by a large white building that looked like a research institute. Just seeing it from the outside was intimidating. There were also a lot of security guards, and the researchers went through various security checks before heading deeper inside.
At some point, they locked me in what seemed like an isolation room. I tried to resist, but I was afraid of the consequences, so I just went along with what they wanted. It’s not like I was too scared to do anything. And just like that, I was trapped in a white-painted room that looked like it could drive anyone insane.
I tiptoed and knocked on the door with my tiny hands.
“There’s a person trapped in here, please save me…”
Maybe if I knocked, they’d let me out? But the researchers outside didn’t respond to my knocking. Well, they did look, but they just ignored me and kept talking among themselves.
This can’t be… Is the famous Starlight Guild really a place filled with ruthless demons who capture innocent civilians and turn them into lab experiments!?
I’ve seen a lot of Starlight Guild’s promotional ads on TV, but I never dreamed there’d be such a hideous truth behind this massive guild. It’s true what they say—the bigger the guild, the dirtier its secrets.
I stopped knocking and started shouting as loud as I could, trying to resist from my position, but they still didn’t even glance my way. Well, except for Kim Bora, who did look at me. But that was it.
When all my efforts proved futile, I collapsed onto the floor, exhausted. I had no strength left. Ever since the truck ride, I felt like my hunger hadn’t been satisfied. I was thirsty and hungry, and the candy Kim Bora gave me earlier didn’t even make a dent.
The researchers kept talking among themselves for what felt like forever. I just lay there in the isolation room, blinking my eyes, watching them. Their voices were muffled because the door was closed. I was sure even criminals in prison weren’t treated this badly.
——————————————
The most famous in South Korea…
If you were to grab people walking down the street and ask them to name a guild, ninety-nine out of a hundred would probably answer like this:
“Well, isn’t Starlight Guild the most famous one?”
“Starlight Guild is definitely number one in South Korea.”
Except for those rare individuals who are so detached from society that they might as well be newborns, everyone would point to Starlight Guild. In South Korea, Starlight Guild was the largest guild, structured like a conglomerate with various subsidiaries.
It wasn’t just a single guild; it had deeply infiltrated everyday life, making its presence known while expanding its reach like an octopus, all while making money. In fact, it was more like a corporation than a guild. So much so that the government had to step in and sternly warn them to stop encroaching on the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.
But that warning fizzled out after a few days, likely due to some backroom dealings between Starlight Guild’s higher-ups and government officials…
In short, Starlight Guild was a guild with the power to run various businesses. Yet, it hadn’t forgotten its core mission: to deal with the lifeforms within the Gates and protect ordinary, powerless people.
That’s why Starlight Guild had its own Mixed Species Research Institute. Just as you need to know your enemy to understand yourself, they studied these lifeforms to learn about their physical traits, weaknesses, and more.
Kim Bora, who worked at Starlight Guild’s Mixed Species Research Institute, was having a particularly exciting day. A rare humanoid lifeform had been discovered within a Gate in South Korea…!
Even though the discovered lifeform seemed to have no special abilities and wasn’t much to look at, it was still a big deal. Other guilds were stuck finding cockroach-like lifeforms every day.
Overjoyed, Kim Bora had taken numerous photos on the way here, turning them into a collection. Even if the lifeform looked weak and unimpressive, it might still have a hidden trump card. But since it was wearing restraints, there wasn’t much to worry about.
With restraints on, a lifeform could only use less than 10% of its original power, making it easy for even an ordinary person to subdue—unless it was an exceptionally strong entity. And judging by the appearance of the captured lifeform, there was no reason to feel tense.
There had been a case where a massive monster was captured, but even with restraints, it couldn’t be pacified and had to be disposed of. Compared to that, handling this lifeform was a piece of cake. It had been captured without resistance, and its childlike appearance made it seem far from dangerous.
If its specialty was lulling people into a false sense of security, then so be it. It wouldn’t be a big deal even if it managed to deceive everyone.
After placing the lifeform in a temporary isolation room, Kim Bora and the other researchers were passionately discussing how and when to start the research. Normally, they’d follow a set guideline, but this lifeform was different from the usual ones, so the researchers had varying opinions on how to proceed.
As they debated, one person raised their hand and spoke, and the discussion quickly settled. That person was the department head, and as mere employees, the researchers had no choice but to listen carefully.
“Shouldn’t we just… follow the usual procedure?”
While that might have been the correct approach in theory, the lifeform they had captured this time was different. Adapting the experiment to the situation would have been the right call, but no researcher dared to defy their superior, who might as well have been the heavens themselves.
After all, they were just ordinary researchers, constantly anxious about losing their jobs and trembling over their meager paychecks.
