pearl of wisdom

[Season 2] Chapter 20 - Rays of Sunlight

Beta was quick to greet you as you stood on a cliff that faced the invaluable needle Baam would wield covered in a plethora of dark clouds from which violet lightning crackled. Beta whistled in mock awe, looking up at the thorn, "Amazing, huh? That's the needle FUG wants so much. They call that, the needle to kill the king."

"There's a reason they gave that name to this needle."

You nodded plainly, "Enryu, an irregular, killed the administrator of the 43rd floor. It was a very shocking incident that broke the natural law that floor administrators were immortal. With the death of the administrator, followed the birth of the Floor of Death. This needle. . . must've been found where Enryu killed the administrator."

"So you know. Do you know how FUG got this needle? They thought that this needle could be the weapon to kill Zahard. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't use it. Because this needle is already dead. Although it's an ignition weapon, it's a hollow, dead shell. In the end, FUG decided to join hands with the dark researchers of the Workshop." Beta spieled.

How FUG got the needle. . .

"FUG transfered the rights of this needle to the scientists and promised to fully support whatever research they did. And the dark scientists of the workshop accepted FUG's proposal. That's when the Workshop started to kidnap children middle area to carry out their research. The research. . . to turn a human into an ignition weapon."

Oh, I understand him now. You stared at the talking ignition weapon blankly, not a single emotion crossing your face, He'll be the one killing my friends.

"The research was carried out in secret because using living human beings as research subjects was probited, even in the workshop. But the scientists were filled with madness and became obsessed with what they were doing and never stopped. And finally they succeeded in creating human ignition weapons."

"Why were they so obsessed with the living ignition weapon? That's because they found the devil to ignite their needle. The evil in the devil they gave you."

You hummed, crossing your arms as memories of the aftermath of when you had nearly drowned in the test floor resurfaced.

The first thing that greeted you was neither light nor darkness. It was the scent of instant coffee. Slowly, you sat up, looking around the room you were in, noticing the differences on your body: your chest no longer carried your hydro vision and fluorescent scales covered in myriad-colored corals were on the back of your hands.

You stared at room for a bit longer, eyes flickering from the kotatsu to the folding screen and all in between. It's when you've took everything in do you finally pay attention to cup of instant coffee on the kotatsu, in-between the small, porcelain flower vase and exquisite racket of maple wood formerly known to ward off evil spirits.

Cautiously, you stood, hesitantly slipping your feet into a pair of preprepared fluffly slippers by the side of your bed. With tentative steps, you walked over to the cup of coffee— and not a second later Yu Han Sung came through the door.

Typically, you would greet another respectfully— but with all that had taken place all you could do was stare at him blankly, concealing the rapid waves of anger that threatened to appear onto your face, "Have you sent the others to the next floor?"

"Oh, you're awake."

You took the cup of coffee into your hands, plastering a quiet smile on your face, "It's a yes or no question."

He stared at you for a moment— shivers crawling through his spine, ". . . Yes."

"Are you treating Baam decently?"