"But now I need to find where office B1 is," I said, scratching my head.
As I moved toward the door I had entered from, the silence weighed heavily on my ears. But then—.
BOOM!
The ground shook as an explosion tore through the room. I spun around just in time to see one of the tubs shatter, spraying shards across the floor as a thick green liquid spilled out.
Suddenly, a monster had emerged from the tub. Muscle bound, with four sturdy arms and no eyes, it had long ears that stretched all the way to the top of its head.
"Wow… I've never seen a monster that's both cool and ugly at the sa—" Before I could finish, the monster slammed my head into the ground.
I scrambled to my feet and kicked it across the room.
My head was spinning. I couldn't focus, couldn't even form words, every movement of my jaw sent sharp pain shooting through my mouth.
The monster rose again, lunging at me with relentless fury, fists hammering me from every angle.
Time blurred as I kept kicking it away, only for it to get back up before I could escape, raining punches on me again and again.
I was hopeless, I couldn't do anything….. just like my last life.
(….)
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, I noticed something weird. Every time I made the tiniest noise, his ears twitched. Even when I tried to sneak around silently, he still reacted like I was stomping around in steel boots.
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦…? 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘶𝘴, 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳… 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘪𝘵'𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘰, 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱, 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘵, 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘱.
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨… 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘱.
I glanced around frantically until my eyes landed on something that could help me escape, a dented metal pot and a worn-out bat.
𝘉𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. 𝘐𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘚𝘰 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯… 𝘩𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴.
𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘶𝘴.
After the 100th kick I grabbed the pot and the bat at the same time. With everything I had I slammed the bat down onto the metal.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"SHRIEEEEEEKKK!"
The monster collapsed, letting out a high-pitched scream that sounded like pure pain, as if it were crying out in agony.
(….)
But I didn't give two shits. I kept whacking that pot with a smile on my face as I ran toward the exit, yanking the door shut, but opening it again to hammer one more time, then slamming it closed and racing for freedom.
Then started my mission to find the office, every room I opened was full of blood and bodys and every room looked the same, all of the looked the same.
It's so confusing, even though I'm a genius, I get lost inside any building.
From my point of view, every door, every room looks the same..… it's probably because of my past life.
After thirty minutes of searching I found the office. "Finally, after all that, I found it. Now it's time to kill the man in charge," I said, fury crawling through my voice.
"But first, I need to make a badass entrance." Grinning, I raised my leg and kicked the door with everything I had. Nothing. My face blazing red with shame. Grinding my teeth, I kicked over and over and over again, harder and harder, until finally the door burst open with a crash.
Inside was an office lined with towering bookshelves, fancy carpets covering the floor, and a massive desk at the center. Behind the desk sat a man in a large, swiveling chair. Through the expansive window behind him, the night sky stretched out in all its starry glory.
"Hello. How may I help you?" the man said, his back turned.
"I don't need help, I'm here for fun. And for justice. You look strong; I hope you can keep me entertained." I smiled. "Oh, and I killed everyone in this base."
"You killed them? Hah… no wonder I heard so much screaming," he said.
"Even though you heard the ruckus and never checked on your workers," I shot back.
"So what? If they were dead I could replace them, or use them as test subjects," he shrugged.
"Wow… I thought I was an asshole. And what do you mean by 'test subject'? What the hell is this place?" I said, incredulous.
"Hmm… you came here without knowing anything," he said, tilting his head.
"No," I replied. "I stumbled across this place by accident."
"I see, well to answer your question. This is my Playhouse." He said.
"Playhouse?." I questioned.
He spun slowly, a plain black mask hiding his face. "Yes, playhouse," he answered. "I lure people in, I torture them. We harvest the corpses, make monsters out of some, and turn the rest into pills."
I felt sick. Who in their right mind would wake up and choose to torture innocent people?
But then it hit me. "Wait, if you turn humans into monsters, that means… that thing in the forest, the one with the number 221, it was human?" I asked, my voice trembling.
"Ah, yes. Test subject 221. He escaped a few days ago," he said, almost casually.
The words slammed into me like a punch. My stomach twisted. No… no way. Just yesterday, I'd devoured that monster. The metallic, rotten taste.
It wasn't just a monster.
It was a human.
Bile rose up my throat. I stumbled back and vomited, the sound echoing through the room.
He tilted his head to one side, that mocking tone seeping through the mask.
"Hmm… why are you vomiting?" He paused, then laughed. "Oh… don't tell me you ate him."
I pushed myself up, sleeves dragging across my lips to wipe the vomit away. The taste of him stuck in my teeth like rust.
𝘐'𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴—𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘐 𝘞𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘒𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘔 𝘈𝘓𝘓.