Chapter 57

I suddenly found myself trapped in a place with strange iron bars. This space felt familiar, as if it had always been my home. No, my memories are hazy, but the place where I slept and lived wasn’t this cold…

Only one faintly flickering light illuminated the room, as if it were about to go out. It looked like a hideout where criminals gathered.

Feeling something was off, I grabbed the iron bars and looked around. This place was filled with machinery, but there was no trace of human presence.

All I could hear was the intermittent beeping of machines. The desolate silence made me incredibly anxious. I wished someone would show up quickly.

After a while, a creaking sound from the stairs echoed through the lab, followed by footsteps. My ears perked up as I quickly checked who had entered.

“Bora! Haru!”

Thankfully, they were people I knew. I greeted Bora and Haru with joy. They would surely get me out of here and pat me on the head. I looked at them like a wagging-tailed puppy.

Did Bora and Haru lock me here as an April Fool’s joke? Or was it a surprise party for my birthday? I was touched by their preparation to surprise me.

But Bora and Haru stared at me with cold expressions I had never seen before. The sudden change in atmosphere made me feel something was wrong. Could Bora and Haru really look this cold?

Overwhelmed by their silent charisma, I called out to them again in a timid voice, but they ignored me and spoke to each other.

“Just water and sunlight, and the specimen grows on its own.”

“Then we should lock it in a cell with sunlight.”

“And we’ve discovered beneficial effects from the specimen’s hair, so we should shave it daily.”

“We’ll need to prepare a razor. Also, the director said to collect the specimen’s blood once a month.”

What…?

I was shocked to see Haru and Bora speak so coldly about me. I grabbed the iron bars and shook them.

“Haru! Bora! Stop joking and get me out of here!!!”

The clanging sound of the bars shaking made Bora and Haru look over. I shook the bars even harder, hoping to bring this damn prison down.

But Bora’s words shattered my expectations. She was wearing something like earphones.

“The specimen is causing a disturbance. Administering sedatives.”

A mechanical arm holding a strange syringe approached me. I tried to back away, but restraints sprung from the floor, binding my limbs. I couldn’t move.

“Eek!”

I struggled to break free, but the restraints were too strong. The mechanical arm stabbed the syringe into me. The needle was sharp, and the pain was intense.

As the contents of the syringe entered my body, I felt an overwhelming sense of apathy. Is this what a sedative feels like…? Through my blurry vision, I saw Bora and Haru turn their backs and walk away.

Bora… Haru… I’m still here…

“Ah!!!”

I woke up. The sun was rising outside. I felt the softness of my bed and realized it was all a dream.

But it felt so vivid that the lingering sensation remained. My body was trembling.

I hurriedly got up and rushed to the office. There, Haru was slumped over her desk. I shook her awake. Haru was drooling in her sleep.

“Haru! Haru!”

“Huh…? Hana, what’s wrong?”

Haru woke up with a groggy voice. It wasn’t the cold Haru from my dream, but the warm, smiling Haru I see every day.

I dove into Haru’s arms. Since Haru and Bora tormented me in my dream, Haru had to comfort me now.

I nuzzled into her chest, and Haru laughed while patting my head.

“Hana, what’s with the affection first thing in the morning? Did you have a scary dream?”

“Yeah!”

I burrowed into Haru’s arms like they were my home, trying to forget the cold Haru from my dream.

Even though it was just a dream, it felt so real that I didn’t think I could face Bora today. The image of her expressionless face and the shocking moment she ordered the sedative…

Because I remembered the noodles.

If I had been captured by some strange organization instead of Starlight Guild, wouldn’t the dream have come true? Feeling lucky, I went to eat breakfast with Haru.

On the way to the restaurant, I ran into Bora, but it’s a secret that I was startled. I hid behind Haru’s legs to check if this was the real Bora and not the cold Bora from my dream.

—

My head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Compared to how light my body felt when I woke up, it was like heaven and earth.

“Ugh…”

I didn’t feel like I had a cold, but when I tried to sit up, I felt a heavy weight in my head. It was like someone had attached a weight to my skull.

Maybe because my head was heavy, everything felt annoying. I lay back down and picked up my phone. There were so many fun things on it.

Should I start my own channel? Uploading my gaming videos on NewTube seemed like it could be fun.

The thought of someone watching my gameplay was thrilling. I had a bit of a show-off streak, so I hoped someone would admire my skills.

While I was fiddling with my phone like a jobless bum, time passed, and the outside grew noisy. Office workers were arriving. Did they really need that many people just to take care of me? Haru and Bora would’ve been enough.

Of course, I had to look after Kim Jaeman, the bald department head, but his lack of hair made him feel less like a person. If only he had more hair, he might’ve looked younger for his age, but without it, he just seemed like an old man.

I could feel it was almost 9 AM. A little later, someone opened the door and came in.

“Hana, what are you doing?”

It was Bora. I froze for a moment because of the dream I had last night, but since it was the dream Bora who messed up, not the real one, I lifted my head to greet her.

“I’m on my phone!”

When I looked up, Bora made a face like she’d seen something rare. Did I have something on my face? It must’ve been the ketchup from the hot dog I ate yesterday. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have covered her mouth like she’d seen something amazing.

“Ha… Hana!”

“Yeah…?”

But Bora wasn’t looking at my face. Her gaze was fixed a little higher. Was there something on my forehead? I reached up and touched it.

*Thud.*

As I fumbled with my head, I felt something like a stick sticking out of the center of my scalp.

What is this?

I had no idea what was happening to my body. But Bora pulled out her phone and started taking pictures of me.

“Bo… Bora, there’s something weird on my forehead!”

I spoke urgently, but Bora didn’t seem to care. She just kept snapping photos with her phone. Then she quickly left. Maybe she was going to call the office staff.

Feeling something heavy on my head, I got out of bed. There was a mirror in the bathroom. I headed there to see what was on my head.

“Huh…?”

The bathroom mirror was a bit high, so I stepped on a stool and looked at my reflection. There was a fruit on my forehead that I’d never seen before. It looked like an apple…

But something was off. This fruit wasn’t growing from the ground—it was growing from my head.

Right in the center of my forehead, there was something like a tree branch, and hanging from it was a shiny, juicy apple that made my mouth water.

I couldn’t look any longer and was led by Bora, who had come back, down to the lab. Probably to research my health and this bizarre fruit.