Ch.1Chapter 1 – Test Subject No. 13

‘What was that just now?’

I paused briefly while rowing.

It seems I had momentarily lost myself in the scene that suddenly flashed through my mind.

As I was inwardly flustered, a salty breeze struck my face, bringing me back to my senses.

Looking around, there was nothing but water everywhere.

Of course, being at sea, there would be nothing but water.

‘I need to move the boat.’

I adjusted the sails to catch the wind and resumed rowing.

Seemingly satisfied with my actions, the priest aboard the boat nodded.

“Well done, Number 13.”

Number 13.

That was what they called me.

The priest, who had been recording something while watching me row diligently, began to rest comfortably, leaning against the cargo loaded on the boat.

Soon the boat arrived at the dock, and after securing it to a post, I began unloading the cargo.

I was doing all of this by myself.

The priest never engaged in any physical labor.

“Number 13, just leave the cargo there. The guards will take care of it.”

I decided to do as instructed.

After leaving the cargo and standing up, the priest, who had been writing something in his notebook, added as if he’d just remembered:

“From now on, don’t bother memorizing any routes. Let’s go.”

Soon I was following him, when armed individuals appeared ahead of us.

However, judging by their attire, they seemed to recognize us as workers on the island, so they merely gave a slight bow and left.

After walking for some time, a building resembling a temple appeared above a large wall.

Entering that building and walking a bit further, we came upon stairs leading underground, and descending them revealed a vast corridor.

“Good, Number 13. You can take that off now.”

I removed my robe as instructed.

Now dressed in ordinary cloth garments, the priest added:

“Now go to where your friends are and sleep.”

He pointed in a direction down the corridor, and I walked that way without question.

As I walked, I came upon a large room.

It was a room filled with tanks of green liquid, with people inside them.

There were 29 tanks in total.

One was empty.

The empty one was next to my spot.

That tank wasn’t filled with water, and as I walked into it, the priest soon handed me something like a mask.

“Here, put this on quickly. Unless you want to suffocate.”

I placed it over my mouth and secured it to my head.

Soon the green liquid began filling the tank.

When this liquid first touches you, you can still move your body.

But once it reaches a certain level, movement becomes difficult.

I knew this from previous experiences, but I had no desire to resist, so I just stood still.

Soon the liquid filled the tank completely, and I could hear the priest’s mocking words from outside.

“Sleep well, little mouse.”

I saw the priest approach the tank and tap it.

Did he think I couldn’t see from inside?

Perhaps he thought I couldn’t see out since the silhouettes from outside were barely visible through the liquid.

Either way, I began to close my eyes.

When I closed my eyes in this tank, certain images would occasionally surface.

Extremely painful ones, like priests laughing mockingly.

Or feelings of confusion as if I’d lost something, accompanied by overwhelming terror.

The common thread was that I was the subject of these scenes and feelings,

and another consistent aspect was that they made me feel terrible.

I had the sense that something was going wrong, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

Today was different.

What surfaced were images of a platinum-haired man, a thudding sound, and reddened arms and legs visible outside the tank.

And just as I felt my consciousness fading, my body suddenly underwent a change.

With a sensation like a slight electric shock running through my body, I opened my eyes.

The water had already drained away.

“Well, did all you mice sleep well?”

It was a different priest from yesterday.

“It’s time for some fun, so get moving.”

Without anyone giving specific instructions, the people in the tanks began to move in orderly rows and columns.

The people were diverse.

There was an elderly man with white hair, a blonde boy, and a woman who seemed to have just reached adulthood.

Everyone moved quietly without saying a word.

In the exact opposite direction from the corridor we had passed through yesterday.

Exiting that place, we arrived at a location resembling an arena.

It had a two-level structure, with the upper level filled with people dressed similarly to the priest from earlier.

They all held something in their hands.

“Now, everyone wait in numerical order.”

At that command, everyone from the rows and columns automatically lined up according to their numbers.

One by one they were called forward, and soon it was my turn.

“Number 13.”

I stood up without a word.

Leaving the waiting area, I saw two priests standing there.

Next to them were weapons.

The weapons included swords, spears, bows, axes, maces, and more,

arranged by type.

“Let’s see… you should take the axe this time.”

One of the priests who had been observing something said.

I picked up the axe.

Though it was clearly the first time I had held this weapon, ideas about how to use it began to surface in my mind.

“But couldn’t we just let them choose whatever they want?”

“We’ve implanted the sect’s weapon techniques and combat skills into the test subjects’ minds, so we’re instructed to have them use a variety of weapons to verify each one. If they keep using the same weapon, their bodies might naturally become accustomed… Anyway, just send him in without further discussion.”

“You’re just being lazy. And you, stop spacing out and go.”

The priest spoke to me as I stood staring at the axe.

Passing by them, I saw a man bound in shackles.

As I simply looked at the man, the priest who had been standing at the entrance approached.

“Kill him.”

The priest then conjured a glowing magical circle in the air, and soon the man’s shackles were released.

The man immediately screamed and ran away from me, while the priests watching from above began to criticize him.

“Show some backbone, death row inmate!”

“Where’s your spirit now? You had plenty when you were blaspheming the divine!”

As insults and condemnations flew wildly, the fleeing man seemed to explode with anger and shouted at the priests above:

“Shut up, you fanatics! How does cursing a priest who was causing trouble while drunk equate to insulting the gods?!”

The man, red-faced and pointing accusingly, seemed to steel himself upon seeing me approaching with the axe, and charged at me with clenched fists.

I easily dodged and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to roll on the ground in pain.

“Urgh, huff…”

Had he lost his mind now? He stared at me with crazed eyes.

His gaze was filled with murderous intent.

“You… bastard… playing along with these fanatics who kidnap and kill people they don’t like in the name of their gods… Did your parents raise you to live like this…?”

I brought the axe down without hesitation.

It lodged between his shoulder and neck, causing blood to spurt out.

“Spend your life as an assassin for these fanatics, then die and be buried in a nameless grave, you dog…”

A nameless grave?

By the time I unconsciously tried to ask about it, the man’s life had already ended.

Above, the other priests were lamenting how boring it was, and the priest was skipping my next turn and calling the next number.

I sat in the arena’s waiting room, in the spot after the previous twelve people.

‘A nameless grave.’

Death row inmates spitting curses was a common occurrence.

Usually, no matter what they said, I felt nothing, but this time it particularly bothered me.

Why?

‘Nameless.’

‘Name.’

I was thinking to myself like a broken machine.

‘What was my name?’

A very small question began to surface.

When I first opened my eyes here, I was already in that tank filled with green liquid.

Like the other 28 people in the same situation, I didn’t know why I was here, and was only called by a numbered name.

How many days had this been repeating?

Since I had no clear concept of dates, perhaps it had been repeating for months.

During that time, I had been moving exactly as the priests directed, without any thoughts of my own.

‘Why am I doing this?’

I looked at the priest who was writing something.

Should I ask once?

After briefly considering it, I ultimately decided against it.

No matter how much I thought about it, they didn’t seem likely to give me a proper response.

Shortly after, an order came to assemble in the arena.

Without a word, I took my position at the assembly point.

“Well, let’s start the experiment.”

One priest said, barely concealing his excitement.

“You know the rules? Just stay standing as long as possible.”

Tension filled the air.

However, this tension didn’t belong to the people standing in the arena.

It belonged to the priests watching from above.

“Who did you bet on this time?”

“For luck, it’s still Number 7, right?”

“For reliability and assurance, wasn’t it that number?”

“That’s why the odds for that number are lower.”

The voices of the priests, including some female ones, echoed softly.

Though the voices were quiet, I could hear them very clearly.

Perhaps our killing or fighting each other was just entertainment for them.

Maybe they viewed it that way especially since the island, which I had occasionally visited for simple labor, had little in the way of entertainment.

“Begin.”

At that command, the people who had been with me until just now began to hit and strike each other without the slightest hesitation.

An elderly man who must have already reached the twilight of his life threw an adult man with his bare hands, and the man being thrown managed to adjust his posture in mid-air, land properly, and ram his shoulder into the old man.

A black-haired woman performed a triple spin kick in mid-air, which a young blonde boy perfectly blocked with alternating arms, then grabbed her foot and tried to slam her to the ground, but the woman escaped by using her arm strength and body momentum to leap back into the air.

Everyone was effortlessly performing feats that should have been impossible given their age, physical condition, or gender.

“Yes, that’s what makes strengthening their bodies worthwhile!”

“Hey, did you see that? Number 28’s movement! Record it!”

“Don’t just get excited, observe carefully! We need it for the next enhancement experiment!”

The excited voices of the priests echoed.

Was it because they had already seen blood from the one-sided executions of the death row inmates earlier?

The priests seemed even more excited watching this combat.

As I blocked a kick from the black-haired woman who was charging with a demonic expression and pushed her away, the priests’ voices were really irritating.

Until yesterday, no, even until this morning, I hadn’t given it much thought, but now for some reason, both the priests’ voices and the people attacking as ordered just felt unpleasant.

The curse uttered by today’s death row inmate lingered in my ears like an actual curse.

Even though I had heard curses from death row inmates before, many times before, they had never affected me like this.

Wanting to somehow forget this unpleasant feeling, I swung my fists and threw people around.

I moved more violently than yesterday.

When I grabbed the leg of an approaching man and swung him like a weapon, taking out two people at once, I could hear the priests cheering.

‘I didn’t do it for your enjoyment!’

I thought to myself and then stopped in surprise.

I had almost said it out loud.

It was something that hadn’t happened until yesterday, and I was a bit shocked at myself.

Taking my momentary confusion as an opening, the blonde boy charged at me, which I hastily dodged while counterattacking.

After the rough fight ended, I caught my breath.

Looking around, there was no one left standing.

Everyone was making small groaning sounds and slightly twisting their bodies.

Not all of them had been taken down by me, but I was the last one standing.

“Huff…”

As my breathing calmed down, the priests slowly approached the arena.

“Hey, I won, I won!”

“All their specs should be similar, but that one has a particularly high win rate.”

“Lucky 7? Junior, say that again?”

“Number 13 won again. How many times is that now?”

Saying such things, each of them emitted a pure white light from their hands, which they directed at the people.

The groaning people, after being bathed in that light, gradually stopped moaning and regained their strength.

One priest approached me and shone the light on me as well.

“Hey, thanks to you I won some money, Number 13.”

As the light shone on me, the pain from various places where I had been hit began to disappear.

“I put extra power into the healing spell, so once you’re fully recovered, go back.”

Thinking my condition had fully improved, he walked away with a grin.

I suppressed the urge to charge at his retreating figure.

Turning my gaze, I looked at the bloodstains in the arena.

The curse of the death row inmate who had become those bloodstains echoed in my ears again.

I quietly walked out of the arena.

Feeling that something was wrong but unable to recall what exactly was wrong.

Gripped by the feeling that I absolutely needed to figure it out.