Ch.7I must be crazy!

Returning to his home in Honeygood Springs, Dexter sat at his desk and turned on his computer.

“When I was young, I couldn’t even dream of a screen this big.”

The last computer he had touched on Earth was a Pentium 3 with a bulky CRT monitor, and his last gaming console was a Nintendo 64.

Though not as thin as a coin, the monitor was much slimmer than before—a world of difference from the days when you had to wait dozens of seconds just to see a single photo on the internet.

It felt nostalgic.

Of course, there was a vast difference between the work computers he used in space and this home computer, but what did that matter?

He decided to be content with what he had now.

“If my middle school self could see this computer now, he would have been incredibly excited.”

Dexter made a bitter expression as he opened the internet browser, seeing a familiar background.

“Google looks the same now as it did back then.”

Aside from the logo, search bar, and small text, it wasn’t much different from the old days.

“Iowa… str… reet… racing… Jesse Blueberg.”

As Dexter pecked at the keyboard with his index fingers to search for Jesse, a video at the top of the search results caught his eye.

[MIMAL Street Racing – Win the Biggest Prize Money Ever!]

MIMAL refers to the first letters of five U.S. states: Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

The name also comes from how these five states, when viewed on a map, resemble a little elf wearing a hat.

“Is this just racing on actual roads?”

When Dexter clicked on the video, he saw racers standing next to vehicles that were burning through fuel and ready to speed off.

All their faces were pixelated.

Since street racing wasn’t sanctioned by state governments, the video creator had blurred their faces.

-Entry fee is $5,000 each! If you ain’t ready, or if you think it’s too expensive, just give up early!

A Black man wearing baggy pants, his face pixelated like the others, was shouting at the top of his lungs.

-Racing on these courses ain’t exactly America’s proudest culture, but with so many participants, please understand! First up, the Red Flash from Louisiana…

“Eh, not interested. Next person.”

-The second participant, Missouri’s finest…

“Pass.”

Skimming through quickly, Dexter soon reached the end of the video.

“What? Where’s Blueberg?”

Just as Dexter was about to close the video site:

-Final participant, Iowa’s powerhouse who just defeated a challenger from Nebraska, J-Bone!

Appearing to cheers and applause was a woman whose face was hidden, but she had a skinny frame and distinctively flowing light brown hair.

Except for the prison uniform, she looked exactly like the woman he had seen that morning.

“Blueberg.”

Jesse’s nickname was J-Bone, fitting for her skeletal, skinny physique.

“That’s an understandable nickname.”

-Let’s go, you chickenshits!!!!

Jesse in the video shouted at the racers around her.

Cheers and what sounded like mocking insults could be heard.

After shouting her provocative line, Jesse immediately got into a black car, a model that looked familiar.

“Ah, a ’74 Plymouth Barracuda.”

It was one of the pictures on the living room wall.

The geometric skull pattern that covered both the front and rear fenders.

“So she drew her own car.”

Whether it was her only trusted companion or an extension of her hobby, it was clear that the car was extremely important to her.

-Racers, to your positions!

A sexy Latina woman stood by the roadside, smiling brightly and striking various poses while holding her bra.

-Ready!

As soon as the woman threw her bra with a sharp voice, the sound of engines revving to ear-splitting RPMs began.

Some cars were so powerful they needed people pushing from behind, while the smoke from tires grinding against the pavement made it hard to see ahead.

-Thud.

The moment the bra hit the ground, several cars took off with thunderous exhaust sounds, quickly becoming bright dots in the distance.

“Wow, the taillights look like stars.”

Despite being an amateur video, it was well-prepared, with cameras positioned at each corner and focused on specific vehicles.

-Vrooom!

-Whoa, shit! That was so close!

-Haha, you scared little bitch! That wasn’t close at all!

The terrifying engine sounds captured by the cameras, along with the casual conversations of the filmmakers, made it feel like being there in person.

-Half a mile left!

As the racers jockeyed for position, Dexter, despite not being there, found himself clenching his fists as he watched.

“Who, who’s going to win?”

On the final straight stretch.

The black Barracuda, which had been at the very back, was now spitting fire from around its exhaust pipe and overtaking other cars with an excessive roar that sounded like it might break down at any moment.

“Nitro? Is that a nitro booster?”

-Ahahahaha…

Jesse’s maniacal laughter in the video, combined with the Doppler effect, sounded like something from a horror movie.

“She’s definitely crazy.”

The madness mixed in her laughter was striking.

Despite its high speed, the black Barracuda didn’t slide or make any mistakes as it overtook every car in front of it.

-Woaaah…!

-J-Bone! J-Bone!

At the finish line, she performed a celebratory move by hitting the brakes and leaving skid marks on the road.

Jesse in the video didn’t get out of the car, just rolled down the window.

-Who’s next, losers?! Kyahaha!!!!

With an obviously provocative line, she extended her middle finger.

The video ended with that powerful gesture.

After slowly reading through the comments, Dexter was impressed.

“That’s amazing.”

Dexter himself frequently worked on spacecraft maintenance, whether by choice or necessity.

His own spacecraft was currently docked at the Air Force base attached to Honeygood Springs.

He visited his ship every week without fail to check if there were any internal issues.

“If the comments are right, she’s rebuilding cars from scratch.”

Even for Dexter, who only knew basic maintenance, it was clear this was no easy task.

Even if attempted, it would require multiple skilled engineers working together to restore such a vehicle.

While his head told him to stay away from Jesse, his instincts gave him a tingling sensation suggesting he should meet her and learn more about her.

“Ah, this doesn’t seem right.”

Thinking about Jesse, he felt a tingling sensation along with anxiety rising from a corner of his mind.

It was the kind of anxiety that said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous, just try meeting her.’

“I shouldn’t get friendly with a woman like this, right? This is crazy.”

While Dexter was contemplating, his heart spoke to him.

‘Just do it, idiot. You’re curious, aren’t you?’

“Now I’m hearing voices. I must be going crazy, seriously.”

He tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t.

There was a conflict between his desire to live quietly and peacefully and his unbearable curiosity.

“Ah… I’ll just have a beer and get some sleep. I’ll think about it after I wake up.”

Dexter thought that these random thoughts must be coming because he was tired from being up since dawn.

He opened a cold bottled beer from the refrigerator and sat on the living room sofa.

As the cool beer went down his throat, a curse and a sigh escaped him without him realizing it.

“Shit.”

In the dark living room with the lights off, only the streetlight illuminated Dexter sitting on the sofa.

“Just a year ago, I couldn’t have imagined this.”

There was a time when he ended his exhausting days by drinking water purified from alien urine.

There were times when he got lost delivering goods on a planet where all land was desert, and he couldn’t have a drop of water for three days and nights.

But now, a cold, dewy bottle of beer was in his hand.

He didn’t have to worry about someone hitting him from behind or stabbing him in the back.

“This is so good. Earth is the best.”

He didn’t want to give up this comfortable life.

He decided to put the matter of Jesse on hold for now.

* * *

“Good morning!”

Dexter greeted Marsha by pointing at her with his index fingers shaped like twin pistols, making a clicking sound with his tongue.

“Looks like you’ve already adapted?”

“Of course, of course. What’s the difference between Albuquerque and here? A prison is a prison, right?”

Marsha chuckled at Dexter’s slick smile and scanned him once with a metal detector.

“All clear. By the way, is it true you got into it with an inmate on your first day?”

How small the prison community was.

If Marsha, who only worked at the entry and exit facility, knew about it, then probably all the guards and even the office staff outside the prison knew too.

“Got into it? I didn’t get into anything. It was restraint. Restraint.”

“Don’t cause too much trouble. What if the warden finds out?”

“I heard the warden doesn’t do any work?”

Marsha thought about it for a moment, then nodded as if to say that was true.

“Still, it would be annoying if you got called in, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Be careful. Don’t get tangled up with that crazy woman.”

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Dexter grinned and waved his hand.

“Well then, Marsha. See you at lunch.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

Marsha waved goodbye to the playful Dexter.

After passing through the entry and exit facility where Marsha worked, Dexter headed toward the guards’ office, where the atmosphere was much the same as yesterday.

“The morning air is nice.”

“You think the morning air is nice? I find it bitter.”

Dan, who had arrived earlier than Dexter, placed a paper cup of coffee on his desk and was waiting for the daily work assignments.

“Why is the air bitter?”

“Obviously because I came to work, the air is bitter.”

“What?”

Dexter couldn’t understand, but he just chalked it up to the 15-year gap from when he was last on Earth.

As Dexter was chatting lightly with Dan, he heard a sound from far away.

-Thud… thud… thud…

“What’s that sound?”

“What?”

“Can’t you hear it?”

Dan shook his head, indicating he couldn’t hear anything.

The thudding sound kept getting closer, then suddenly stopped.

“What is it?”

The conference room door opened.

“Ugh. Ah, this is so damn annoying. Why are the stairs so high?”

The person who opened the door was a severely obese middle-aged man with half-balding gray hair.

“That’s the warden. Byron Norton.”

Dan didn’t seem to like him much either, as he didn’t introduce him with a bright expression.

“Raymond, ugh, couldn’t unavoidably participate in today’s daily work assignment, so I came instead.”

Originally, the daily work assignment was the warden’s job.

But until now, he had forcibly delegated it to Raymond, the chief guard.

“What a pain. Papers, where are the papers?”

When no one answered, Byron frowned deeply.

“You in front. Parker.”

“Yes?”

Parker was called out for the crime of sitting in the front row.

“Bring the daily work assignment papers. They’re in my office.”

“What? Now?”

“Ugh. Hurry up and bring them.”

Parker was almost as heavy-set as Byron.

Mouthing ‘oh, shit’ so Byron couldn’t hear, he went to get the papers.

“Right. Hey, newbie. I heard there are new guards. Raise your hands.”

When Dexter and two others raised their hands, Byron made a clearly annoyed expression.

“Do you have mentors?”

Byron asked, looking at Judy, the only woman among the new guards.

“Yes, I do.”

“Then that’s fine.”

‘This bastard, why did you even ask then?’

Not long after, Parker appeared, exhaling rough breaths and handing over the file to Byron with trembling hands.

“Why are you panting so much?”

“What? Well, I was running…”

“Tsk.”

His expression clearly conveyed: You’re out of breath from just that?

Parker’s face turned red with anger at that expression, and another guard patted Parker’s shoulder to calm him down.

“Oh, right. Daily work assignments. Let’s begin. First, uh, since there are new guards…”

The content of the papers that Parker had gone through so much trouble to bring was hardly different from yesterday.

Just like yesterday, it was about work reassignments and no holidays.

“…is that all?”

When another guard in front asked, Byron nodded.

“That’s it. I’m leaving. Ugh.”

With the thudding sound again, Byron left, and Parker couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Ah, shit!”

“Parker, let’s be patient. The warden is always like that, right?”

Dexter understood Parker’s feelings.

“Is he always this lazy?”

“Yeah. That’s why he rarely comes out of the warden’s office. But that’s better in a way. Better than him moving around and being a pain.”

Dan said with a pout.

“I guess it’s easier to dodge someone who stays still than someone who moves around and hits you.”

“Right. That’s a perfect analogy.”

Dan chuckled at Dexter’s words and left the conference room, with Dexter following.

The two headed to Medium Security Facility Block 2, just like yesterday.

Just like yesterday, David, with his tired face, greeted the two.

“Hey, Dan.”

“Good morning, David.”

Unlike Dan, who was greeting as usual, David’s face looked gloomy.

“Did you by any chance touch Blueberg’s drawings?”

“Oh, that. Raymond told me to clean them up, so I had no choice but to take them all down and organize them. Why?”

Hearing Dan’s words, David groaned.

“Oh no. So that’s why.”

“Why? What happened that you’re making such a fuss?”

As David kept saying “oh no, oh no” and hitting the desk with his palm, Dan said while drinking his coffee.

“Blueberg knocked out Lawson’s jaw or something.”

“Pfft. What?”

Dan spat out his coffee, and David said regretfully.