The word “next” was already starting to make me uneasy.

But the man paid no mind to my anxious expression. Once the blood draw was over, he handed me a change of clothes.

Mühlen led me, now in something like light workout clothes, farther inside.

I was marveling at how big the lab was when he stopped.

No explanation. We entered a separate space enclosed by transparent glass. Inside was one massive machine.

At a glance, it looked like a circular amusement ride that spun around.

I was strapped into the ominous chair of the device. The chair even had seat belts.

“What is this?”

No answer.

The scientist personally buckled my seatbelt, then plastered electrode patches all over my body.

“And what’s this for?”

Without answering, he stepped outside the transparent chamber.

The machine started up without warning.

“Uwaaaaaaahhh!”

That bastard sat me in a centrifuge!

“Uwaaaaaaaahhh! Wait, wait!”

The lab blurred past behind me. Already fast at the start, the speed only kept climbing. My mind went blank and I cursed him nonstop inside.

Was it really that hard to give a single warning? Just one word of warning....

Mühlen didn’t stop it in time, either.

The moment I was released from the chair, I collapsed to the floor.

“I’m... gonna puke....”

[Oh dear! The restroom is at the far left end!]

Martin spun above my head.

Don’t spin....

Practically crawling on all fours, I followed Martin’s guidance to the restroom. At least the bathroom was normal and clean. Nobody inside.

Bleh.

After heaving out a bit and staggering back, I found Mühlen glaring fiercely at my test results.

“What the hell was that....”

When I stopped beside him, he looked up.

Instead of answering, he shoved something like a motion-recognition game controller into my hands.

“Go stand there.”

I was a fool to expect an answer.

Still, at least this time I wasn’t being strapped down. With my disheveled look, I obeyed his instructions.

The lab was enormous and bizarre. One area was packed with plants, another filled with all sorts of games.

I stood in the game trial zone.

This, at least, looked a little fun.

[TempIt! Survival is self-service!]

Flashy subtitles flew in from the corner of the monitor. Holding the remote-like controller and with sensors strapped to my thighs, I listened closely to the tutorial.

It was like a grotesque hybrid of rhythm game and action game.

Though I still had aftereffects from the centrifuge, I did my best. The structure was simple: move the body fully to progress.

What kind of ridiculous game was this.

Twisting my whole body, I chained combos together. Then a sudden monster hit me for the first time.

“Ugh!”

The controller delivered a shock right into the struck area.

“What the hell!”

“It’s coming.”

“Argh!”

The moment Mühlen spoke, a stab of pain lanced my thigh.

On screen, an enemy shaped like a triceratops was skewering my character.

I kicked to throw it off, but there was no time to relax. More enemies poured out in droves. Absurdly many.

“Who designed this level!”

And who came up with this perverted idea of making the pain real?

Gritting my teeth, I flailed my limbs. In truth, it didn’t require any grand skill—just waving arms at the right timing, bending back, ducking down.

I thrashed like mad.

Annoyingly painful.

Still, I endured quite a while. At least four raids. This trash game didn’t even have consistent raid levels. Swearing under my breath, I hung on until the boss finally appeared.

Then I went down in one shot.

“Ugh!”

Shocks jolted through both hands and both thighs.

This pain couldn’t even compare to before. I dropped the controller.

“What the hell is this!”

“Fascinating.”

Instead of answering, the crazy scientist muttered that.

His blue eyes flashed.

“Truly fascinating.”

All my fault.

I should have listened to my seniors. I overestimated myself.

Too late to regret now, though.

With crazed eyes, John Mühlen dragged me to another area.

What excuse could I make to escape?

I felt like I was being herded to slaughter. My stomach churned, hands and thighs throbbed, my body weighed like I’d run dozens of laps in a gym.

No. I’d have to say I couldn’t do this anymore once today’s experiment ended. This was more exhausting than going outside the Core.

With hollow eyes, I walked the empty lab.

“What time is it....”

[It is 10:30 a.m.!]

Martin answered cheerfully.

I despaired at the fact it wasn’t even eleven yet. I swore that when noon came, I would escape no matter what. Since I had promised, I’d endure until lunch.

I was led into a transparent cube.

Just big enough for one adult man to sit inside, furnished with a single desk and chair. On the desk lay a pen and what looked like test papers.

“Finish within the time limit.”

Mühlen explained blandly.

But I no longer trusted him. All the more since he sealed the cube after stepping out. If it were just a test, why lock me in a confined space?

Nothing but a bad feeling, yet I didn’t resist.

If I said I’d do it, I’d finish properly.

Language, logic, general knowledge, math—all jumbled together. Looked like an IQ test. I picked up the pen and solved one by one. No telling how much time was given, so I couldn’t slack off.

In silence, I worked.

Until I realized the air was changing.

“...What the.”

A strange smell in the sealed space made me raise my head.

“What’s that smell.”

No answer.

After a few minutes of denial, reality hit. He was definitely pumping some gas in here.

Outside, John Mühlen stood calmly peering at his tablet. That lunatic.

I flung the pen and leapt up.

“Let me out!”

I pounded on the transparent wall.

“Let me out, you insane bastard!”

Thump thump thump thump!

Craaaack! With all my might, I struck the glass until cracks spread. Holding my breath against the suspicious fumes, I smashed the wall.

Crash!

The glass shattered into pieces.

At the same time, I collapsed forward. The instant I gulped a huge breath of oxygen, my legs gave out. No matter how I struggled, strength wouldn’t return to my limbs.

What the hell did that mad scientist do to me....

Even my vision blurred. I tried to rise but failed. Instead, John Mühlen simply gazed down at my reactions with interest.

It was over. He was just a lunatic.

Flailing on the shards, I stretched a hand toward the AI on the ceiling.

“Help... someone help....”

[Ah!]

The round AI on the ceiling began to spin like a motor.

[Should I save a human? Can Hildebert Taleb be defined as human? From what premise derives the necessity of this experiment? Is saving Hildebert Taleb required? Is Hildebert Taleb a danger factor? If he is human, must he be saved? If he is not human, must he not? What is human? What distinguishes human from nonhuman?]

...Why the hell was it saying this now.

I barely raised my head and blankly watched the AI spin.

Smoke began pouring out as Martin spun faster and faster. I stared stupidly as it whirred like a jet turbine.

It was spinning so fast it looked still. If not for the roaring noise, I wouldn’t even have known it was moving.

Fssshhh!

With a burst of smoke, Martin went down.

“...Shit.”

No way.

I gaped at the dead AI.

If even you are gone, what happens to me.

My vision grew murkier, dizziness worse. Whatever. I dropped my chin and sprawled on the floor. Just give up. When I wake up, it’ll all be over. Surely he wouldn’t kill me, since he likes me so much.

I gave up everything and closed my eyes.

And when I opened them, a syringe was in view.

“Ahh!”

I screamed reflexively and jerked upright.

“What the hell!”

“Medicine.”

Is that what I was asking?

The sense of mortal danger snapped my awareness into {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} place. I was still in the lab, lying on something like an operating table. It wasn’t over.

Not even a day had passed. Not even evening. Noon sunlight poured warmly through the wide room.

I had to smash his throat and run.

Just as I thought that, someone grabbed Mühlen’s syringe hand.

“Stop.”

At the sound of that familiar low voice, I almost cried.

Yun gripped John Mühlen’s arm with a look of exasperation. Slowly blinking, Mühlen turned his body toward him. Yun didn’t let go.

The sight of my mentor appearing in the empty lab felt like the second coming of a messiah.

Yun endured Mühlen’s blank stare, then said,

“Use a person like that and they’ll break.”

“I was gentle.”

“Use a person like that and they’ll break.”

Yun spoke each word deliberately.

With tearful eyes, I looked up at my mentor. Yun seemed sane. More than sane—he looked like the savior of my life.

I was a fool, respected senior. You weren’t wrong about anything....

With a hmph-like look, Mühlen finally lowered his hand.

In a bass tone rivaling Yun’s, the scientist muttered,

“Then I’ll do the rest next time.”

“Next time?”

After all this, he thought there’d be a next?

“This was the last time.”

I put emphasis in my words.

Mühlen’s eyes went wide. He was honestly surprised.

And the sincerity in his reaction only drove me crazier. He was genuinely shocked at my answer. Truly hadn’t expected it.

The titan of science, and the greatest madman alive, looked down at me and murmured,

“There are still so many experiments I want to do together.”

“Please just spare me.”

Desperate, I tugged Yun’s arm, then looked up at the cold man staring expressionlessly down.

Clutching one of my mentor’s arms to my chest, I declared,

“From now on I’ll really do well. It’s all my inadequacy. Please forgive your worthless disciple.”

“Good.”

Yun answered dryly.

“You’ve got the right attitude now.”

Thanks to my mentor’s grace, I was able to leave the lab.

***

Escaping that nightmare lab, I naïvely believed it was all over.

I relaxed for a week. Happily getting beaten and worked ragged under Yun. Even while being run into the ground, I was glad my mentor was relatively sane.

Until the next Saturday, when John Mühlen came to the old dorm wing.

I was gaming with Ami, Tom, and Hesh.

Ami spotted him first.

“Kyaaaah!”

Crash!

Her character fell off a cliff at the same time her joystick clattered to the floor. Her chair rolled back and toppled over.

Everything froze.

All eyes fixed on the tall man standing motionless in the doorway.

Seen like this, he was actually quite handsome. Neat features, gray hair and blue eyes in beautiful harmony....

Ami, frozen stiff, screamed again.

“Kyaaaah! I see Mühlen in front of me! A ghost! It’s a ghost! There’s no way that man would come out of the science wing!”

So at last, I too was seeing a ghost!

Ami’s voice rang clear through Room 304.