The Ranch

Introduction (2)

Before Kai could continue his motherly smothering, scolding the child for not eating enough, the soldiers unlock the doors and reenter the dripping room, completely dry.

Some soldiers tried to regroup the children while others carry medical supplies to fix up some of the children that got injured during the chaos. One soldier in particular stood out among the rest. With a cold demeanor, he commanded the soldiers and quickly took control of the situation.

The children were all rounded up, although they were still shaken from the experience. The chilly soldier suddenly claps twice. The crisp clap caught everyone's attention and froze time. The children's muscles were tense as they creak their heads to face the man in the black military outfit.

"Congratulations, you passed your first trial. You will be organized into groups, categorized on how well you adapted to the sudden situation, and orderly proceed to board the train when it arrives in five minutes. You will be given an ID, if you happen to lose your ID, you will be deemed unfit and terminated from future trials permanently." After announcing the necessary information, he ignores the frightened children filled to the brim with unresolved questions and continues to hand out commands. The other soldiers start grouping off the children and giving them ID.

At the backside of the crowd of messy and confused children stood the composed Kai. Next to Kai was the child, who's entire being was focus in a specific direction, on a specific someone.

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*Babum Babum*

...

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It was strange... the child had felt this way before, with the old man, but it wasn't to this extent. He doesn't know how to describe it, doesn't know how to understand or accept it. It makes him want to do things he wouldn't normally do, things he's not sure he actually wants to do, but has the desire to do. The child tends to rely on his instincts and in this scenario, even though his brain thought against it, his body moves to jump the man.

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I look across a sea of haphazardly lined children. Some have puffy eyes from crying or sore voices from screaming, only a small handful seem calm and collected. Hmm, it seems this batch isn't very good. There has been a decline in ability from the children every year, but I didn't think it would be this bad.

During the simulation, when we watched through hidden cameras, we could tell that over half of the group were panicking. A few were able to compose themselves but didn't use that to their advantage.

Those people's standards are become more and more lax, tch. If this continues, the quality of production will decrease and the size will shrink. I can already tell, most of these children won't be able to handle it.

They're only slightly above-average compared to their peers. What are those damn recruiters thinking, leaving me with their unqualified mess of choices.

However, there was one boy that was up to standard. Kai, age thirteen, observed his surrounding, didn't panic and calmly rationalized the situation, acted upon his advantage and pressed the drainage button. His information states that he has a photographic memory, but it seems he has other strengths as well.

There was one other boy that piqued my interest. The one without any noticeable fluctuating emotions during the entire simulation. His face remained frozen just like his calm blue eyes. When the other instructors focused their attention on the underwater child looking for the button, my eyes lingered on the figure of the other boy, who at that exact moment, grabbed a pipe to keep himself afloat.