Ch.106Addiction! (2)

#106

Dexter, who had come for lunch, was staring at Judy’s plate of food.

“What, what is it…?”

Dexter looked back and forth between the plate and Judy with narrowed eyes, then nodded.

“Hmm, you pass.”

Under Dexter’s threatening proposal that she would face a “week from hell” if she didn’t exercise, Judy had been sending photos of her evening workouts and meals every day.

It wasn’t like he was forcing her to eat only chicken breast, sweet potatoes, and supplements; he was actually telling her to eat twice as much as a normal diet, which made it fairly manageable.

“Phew…”

“Let’s keep this up. And wear that band. It’s good for exercise effectiveness.”

Dexter pointed to the body correction device on Judy’s wrist.

Wearing a body correction device while exercising helps muscles form a bit faster.

Just as Jesse had unknowingly struggled with his too-rapid transformation, Judy’s priority was to exercise gradually so as not to arouse suspicion from those around her.

“Um, Mr. Dexter.”

“Yes.”

When Dexter looked at Judy’s face, the tips of her ears had turned red.

“I got tickets… would you like to go see a movie with me on our day off the day after tomorrow?”

“A movie?”

“Yes, don’t you like movies…?”

“No, I’m just surprised you asked. Sounds good, let’s go in two days.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.”

Judy said with an embarrassed smile.

“I was afraid you might refuse.”

“Refuse? Why would I? Is there any reason to get beaten up by other guards?”

“B-beaten up?”

As Dexter looked around, he saw several unmarried guards positioned nearby, clenching their fists while staring at him and Judy.

“That bastard…”

“So he’s finally making a move on Judy…”

Seeing the unmarried male guards behind Judy looking like they were sharpening knives, Dexter quickly sat down and began shoveling lunch into his mouth.

Judy, oblivious to what was happening, looked around, but the unmarried male guards just smiled foolishly at her as if nothing was wrong.

But the moment Judy turned her head, Dexter could see the guards glaring at him with menacing expressions, which gave him a headache.

‘Why is my situation like this these days?’

He wanted to project a bold, carefree image, but people around him kept putting pressure on him.

“Eat slowly, it’s not like someone’s chasing you.”

“Hmm, I just feel like eating quickly today.”

While Dexter was making excuses to Judy’s concern, his gaze stopped at a corner of the cafeteria.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

A guard was eating soup one spoonful at a time while nervously looking around.

He was taking one spoonful at a time while checking his surroundings—behavior typical of an inmate, not something a guard would ever do.

When Judy noticed Dexter looking elsewhere instead of at her, she turned her head and immediately recognized who it was.

“That’s Guard Stoner, isn’t it?”

“You know him?”

“Oh, he’s a guard in Block 5 of the minimum-security facility. Since our shifts are a bit different, you probably haven’t run into him much.”

The minimum-security facility, which had a relatively spacious atmosphere compared to other detention facilities, housed inmates who had committed relatively minor crimes or were model prisoners.

As a result, their work hours differed slightly from other facilities, making it difficult for someone like Dexter, who worked in the medium-security facility, to encounter them.

In Judy’s case, because there were relatively few female guards, she was occasionally reassigned to different areas where female guards were deemed necessary.

“But Guard Stoner should have left at least 20 minutes ago. Why is he still eating?”

“Maybe he has some situation?”

Guard Stoner kept muttering something while eating his soup.

“Let me do it… please…”

‘What does he want to do?’

It was truly suspicious.

As Dexter was watching with curiosity, Guard Stoner’s voice suddenly grew louder.

“I, I, I wa-want to g-go home…!”

Abandoning his soup, Guard Stoner stood up and immediately headed somewhere.

‘Has he lost his mind?’

“Why is he acting like that?”

“I don’t know…?”

Though it was a bit strange, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly problematic, so the two decided to leave Guard Stoner alone.

“Oh right, about the movie. What kind of movies do you like, Mr. Dexter?”

“Well… I prefer the traditional approach.”

“Traditional approach?”

“You know, where they smash everything.”

“Ah…!”

While Judy and Dexter were eating and choosing which movie to see the day after tomorrow—

-Eeeeeeee!

‘A siren?’

It was the siren indicating an emergency situation.

As soon as the siren sounded, all guards in the cafeteria, including Dexter and Judy, stood up.

When the emergency siren sounds, all guards must head to their assigned areas and make all nearby inmates lie face-down on the floor.

“Let’s hurry.”

“Yes, be careful!”

Since Judy and Dexter were responsible for different areas, they quickly got up, exchanged brief greetings, and headed to their respective zones.

When Dexter arrived at Block 2 of the medium-security facility, the inmates were already lying face-down on the floor, following the guards’ instructions.

“Don’t move until the siren stops!”

Another guard was patrolling the detention facility with a baton, announcing precautions until the siren turned off.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know either.”

Dexter tried talking with a guard from Block 2, but couldn’t get any useful information.

Sirens rarely sound unless something serious happens—like an inmate escaping from prison, violence against a guard, or a riot in another detention facility.

That’s why all the guards were patrolling with tense expressions.

A few minutes later, the siren turned off, and an announcement was transmitted to all guards’ radios.

-Situation resolved, situation resolved. All senior guards from each detention facility, please report to the warden’s office. I repeat, all senior guards from each detention facility…

“Ah, damn. Why do they need the senior guards again?”

The senior guard, who was also the person in charge of Block 2 of the medium-security facility, headed to the warden’s office in the center of the prison with an annoyed expression, while the rest of the guards helped the inmates get back on their feet.

“Everyone up!”

The inmates just grumbled without showing any special reaction.

That’s because inmates suffer the most when situations become serious.

Not long after, the senior guard who had gone to the warden’s office returned and gathered the guards from Block 2 with a visibly annoyed expression.

“Alright, everyone’s attention. Does anyone here own or have experience with a gaming console called ‘Polytechnic’? Raise your hand.”

“Polytechnic?”

“What’s that?”

Dan, who had been listening quietly, pointed at the senior guard and said:

“You mean that crazy expensive gaming console?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Do you have one?”

Dan snorted dismissively.

“Ha, no way. My son’s been throwing fits because I won’t buy him one. But why are you asking about that console?”

In response to Dan’s question, the senior guard clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. That idiot Stoner asked his Block 5 senior guard for permission to leave early because he wanted to play that game, and got rejected. Then he tried to leave the prison without permission and got caught.”

The other guards who heard the senior guard’s explanation were all dumbfounded.

“What?”

“Is he mentally deficient or something?”

“He’s out of his mind.”

“Making such a fuss over a game?”

Dexter, who was listening, was also flabbergasted.

“That guy’s work evaluation is totally ruined because of a game.”

“You can say that again.”

‘So the thing he was begging to do was play a game?’

While Dexter was recalling Guard Stoner’s behavior during lunch, Himena at OSA headquarters was experiencing a similar situation.

“Wait, Agent Thompson! Put that pen down!”

“Let me go! I, I need to go right now!”

“Oh my, where do you need to go so urgently?”

“I, I need to go home! I, I, I need to play Polytechnic!”

Himena, her colleague, and Agent Thompson, who was holding a pen in a threatening posture, were in a standoff.

“I told you we have an internal audit today, so you can’t take half the day off for that reason!”

“Do you think I want to play a game? There are people inside the game!”

“What? What do you mean…?”

“I need to meet those people!”

With that, Agent Thompson swept everything off his desk with his hand.

“Wh-what on earth?”

“I need to leave! Right now, to my home!”

“No, you can’t!”

Himena, who was holding both of Agent Thompson’s arms as he tried to leave the office, shouted:

“Someone help me!”

Soon, security personnel called by Himena’s colleague appeared, and Agent Thompson was dragged away with his arms and legs restrained.

“Nooooo! I need to go play right nooooow!”

Himena sighed as she roughly fixed her disheveled hair.

“Haah, what’s wrong with Agent Thompson? Polytechnic? What kind of gaming console is that…?”

“I’m not sure. I hear it’s a popular gaming console these days, but I don’t know the details.”

As her colleague shrugged, Himena pressed her temples.

“I told him we have an internal audit today… What if our department gets a low rating because of Agent Thompson?”

“The higher-ups will probably have something to say when they see an OSA agent making such a fuss over a mere game. Seriously, acting like that over a game when he’s not even a child.”

Her colleague shook his head.

Like Dexter, Himena also had questions.

‘A game causing that kind of reaction?’

Due to recent incidents, Himena had developed a habit of investigating anything even slightly unusual.

She began by researching what kind of gaming console Polytechnic was.

Before going out to investigate in person, it was essential to search the information-rich internet, so she started with a simple search.

‘A gaming console that first became popular among internet broadcasters… They must have paid a lot for promotion.’

It seemed to be already trending on the internet; one of America’s largest communities, Reddit, already had a subreddit called ‘r/Polytechnic’.

Most users on the board appeared to have already purchased and enjoyed it, with numerous casual reviews, mentions of drawbacks, and comments that despite its high price, it was worth the cost.

[It’s the best VR game I’ve ever played, wow. You can even feel sensations]

[Why don’t they release an RPG game? It would be a hit.]

[‘Space Radar’ strategy guide is on the wiki]

[Even though it’s a bit pricey, it’s worth the fun, right?]

Himena clicked on the last post she saw and was able to confirm the price of Polytechnic.

It was definitely on the expensive side.

‘Well, not many people would pay $2,000 for a gaming console…’

As Himena searched a bit more, she found that while Reddit’s reactions were all praise, the situation was different on 4chan’s game-related board ‘/v/’.

[Is Polytechnic really a gaming console? The price is f***ing insane]

[└ What the hell is Polytechnic, you weeb? Morrowind is the best, f***]

[└ Isn’t that game a bit weird? I have a friend who plays it, and he suddenly ran out of school a few days ago and hasn’t come back, wtf]

[└ You’re full of s**t lol]

[└ It’s true! His parents forcibly brought him to school the other day, but he snuck back home to play that game again. He’s not responding to messages now.]

[└ This guy’s a shill lol trying to defame Lord Polytechnic lol gay a** lol]

After this followed a barrage of incomprehensible insults that made Himena momentarily dizzy before she managed to regain her composure.

Still, she was able to find a case similar to Agent Thompson’s today.

‘Unauthorized school absence… When did this gaming console become so popular?’

The last game Himena had played was a puzzle game on her phone where you eliminate candies to score points.

Being completely ignorant about the recent gaming market was frustrating.

‘Since Agent Thompson was from the Science and Technology Department, maybe I could learn something if I go there?’

Himena headed to the Science and Technology Department office.