The heavy fog of unconsciousness did not clear cleanly; it shatters like brittle glass,leaving a jagged, agonizing wake.
Min-sun drags her eyelids open, a low, guttural groan escaping her cracked lips.
Every microscopic fiber of her body screams in protest.
A colossal wave of physical agony- dull,heavy throbbing, and heavy with the phantom pressure of the previous testing room-pinned to her mattress.
She blinks frantically, her eyes adjusting to a room with stark white walls and a small, high window that let in a single,pale beam of gray light.
“Where…where am I?”she whispers, her voice a fragile ,raspy thread.
“Take it easy.”a soft voice replies from the edge of the frame.” If you try to move too fast now, your nervous system is going to short circuit entirely.”
Min-sun turns her head slowly, the single movement sending a sharp stitch down her neck.
Sitting at the edge is a girl roughly her own age.
She is undeniably cute, with large,expressive dark eyes and short, messy hair,but her apperceive was heavily marred by the environment.
Her face is battered and bruised, a nasty purple swelling coloring her left cheekbone,and her uniform is torn and heavily stained with soot.
The girl leans closer, her eyes scanning Min-sun’s pale face.” Are you okay?
Can you here me clearly?”
“I…I think so.” Min-sun mutters, her throat feeling like sandpaper.
“Honestly, everyone in the lower sector is talking about you, you know. Min-sun right?”
Min-sun gives a weak ,hesitant nod.” Why are they talking about me?”
“Because you are a freak of nature. ” the girl says, her tone a mix of awe and grim reality.” You were the only one of your batch who passed the Spiritual Assimilation test at red level.
Do you have any idea how insane that is?
The survival rate for red-level exposure is practically zero for unranked candidates.
”
Min-sun closes her eyes as the horrific memories of the dark laboratory, the towering demon’s and the screams of the burning other candidates comes rushing back in a sickening flood.
She let’s out a long ragged sigh, the heavy weight of survival pressing down on her chest.
“I shouldn’t be here.” Min-sun whispers, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the thin sheet.” I need to get up.
I need to find her.”
“Hey! Whoa, hold on,” the girl yells, her hands shooting out to grab Min-sun’s shoulder as the injured aggressively forces herself upwards.” I literally just told you not to move.”
“Let go of me!” Min-sun persists , her voice rising in panic.
She swings her legs over the tiled floor, her boot striking the cold tile floor.
“I can’t stay here! I have to go find my sister. Prim is out there alone. She is out there.”
“You can’t find anyone if you can’t even stand.”the girl shouts trying to anchor her down.
Min-sun ignores the warning, forcing her weight onto her feet.
The moment her left leg presses against the floor, an excruciating, white-hot pain ripped upward through her thigh.
The bone ,fractured from her violent extraction in the testing room buckled instantly.
“Ahg!” Min-sun yells in pure unadulterated agony.
Her vision went entirely dark as she collapse sideways, her body crashing heavily towards the floor.
The girl catches her around the waist just in time, her own small frame straining under the sudden weight.
With a heavy gasp, she hoists Min-sun back onto the mattress, forcing her to sit upright against the woody frame.
“Are you completely out of your mind?!”the girl scolds, panting heavily as she wipes a streak of sweat of her bruised forehead.” I admire the resilience, truly, but right now it lòks like pure, unadulterated foolishness! This chapter was taken from novelping . com without permission.
Look at your leg!
You’re going to cripple yourself before the official trial begins.
”
“You don’t understand, ” Min-sun weeps, her stubborn exterior finally cracking as tears of pain and frustration spills over her cheeks.” My little sister…she doesn’t survive well in the dark.
She needs me.
Of I don’t get to her right now-”
“You won’t see her at all if you die in this corridors. ” the girl interrupts, her voice dropping to a sharp, heavy whisper that cuts through Min-sun’s panic.” The execution schedules for the unassigned failures are already being processed.
If you try to break out into the upper sector in this condition the security units will shoot you on sight.
They won’t even waste a capsule on you.
They will just dump you in the furnace.
Min-sun’s eyes widens in sheer terror.
She opens her mouth to ask a other question to demand how she knew about the executions but her words were cut short by a heavy metallic clank at the base of the iron door.
Both girls freezes.
A small, reinforced tray was shoved softly through a narrow slot at the bottom of the door, scraping against the concrete before stopping .
The girl’s eyes lots up with an intense desperate hunger.
She scrambles off the edge of the be, dropping to her knees as she raced for the tray, dragging it back towards the center of the room with trembling hands.
Min-sun pulls herself slightly forward, staring down at the tray in deep curiosity.
There is no bread, no water, no standard sustenance at all .
Resting in the center of the cold, metal surface is a single translucent capsule pill that glows with a faint, pulsing blue light .
“What is that?” Min-sun asks, her brow furrowing in confusion.” Where is the actual food?”
“This is the food.”the girl says , her voice hollow as she stares at tye tiny capsule.” It is an accelerated and mending catalyst.
It contains every caloric requirement and cellular repair compound your body needs to survive twenty four hours under extreme physical duress.”
Min-sun stares at it, deeply skeptical.
“A pill? That’s it?”
“Listen to me carefully, “the girl says, turning her bruised face towards Min-sun, her expression dead serious.
“All new candidates are given exactly one of these capsules on their very first day in the holding blocks. After today you will not see one of these unless you successfully complete a higher-tier assignment or pas a ranking trial. The Academy doesn’t feed people who doesn’t produce results. ”
Min-sun watches as the girl’s chest rises and falls rapidly.
“When was the last time you had one?”
The girl looks away, her finger tracing on the metal tray.” I haven’t had a capsule in three weeks.
The lower-tier rations they give to the failures are just water and synthetic starch paste.
It barely keeps your organs from shutting down.”
Right on cue, a loud, violent rumble echoes from the girl’s stomach, breaking the heavy silence of the cell.
Her face instantly flushes a deep crimson, and she quickly pulls her arms around her abdomen, trying to mask the sound.
Min-sun looks from the girl’s sunken cheeks to the glowing blue capsule on the tray.
Without a second thought, she reaches down, picks up the capsule and holds it out to her cell mate.
“Take it.”Min-sun snaps firmly
The girl snaps her head back up, eyes widening in shock” What?!
No!
Are you insane?!
Your leg is completely fractured! You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Your body is completely broken from the red-level assimilation!
If you don’t take this now, the cellular decay will set in by midnight.
”
“I don’t care!”Min-sun insists, thrusting her hand form till the glowing pill is an inch from the girl’s nose.” My stomach doesn’t even hurt delight now.
Besides I’m too angry to feel hungry anyways.
I would rather starve to death on this cot than swallow the Academy’s filth while you waste away.
Take it.
I’m not going to ask a third time.”
The girl stares at the capsule, her lips trembling with sheer physical craving fights against her conscience.
“You’re incredibly stubborn, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.”Min-sun mutters.” Just take it.”
With a shaky, hesitant hand the girl finally reaches out and take the small, blue pill from Min-sun’s palm.
“Thank you. ” she whispers, a small , genuine warmth softening her battered features.
“You really are an idiot Min-sun, but…Arigatou.”
She chuckles gently repeating the gratitude in English with a bright, mocking tone to ease the tension.” Thank you very much my crazy roommate.”
Before Min-sun could reply, the girl tosses the capsule into the air, catches it expertly in her mouth and swallow it whole.
The moment the pill slides down her throat, she screws her eyes shut and twists her features into a bizarre, incredibly exaggerated funny face -puffing out her cheeks and crossing her eyes as if she had just swallowed a whole menu.
Despite the overwhelming dark and the agonizing pain in her leg , an involuntary smile tugs at the corner of Min-sun’s lips .
It was a momentary lapse into humanity, a tiny spark of warmth in a cold, concrete world.
But the smile vanishes as quickly as it had arrived.
Min-sun pulls her gaze away staring at the e tiny window where the gray light was already beginning to fade into the night.
Her thoughts drift to the abyss.
What is Prim going to do?
Is she out there, locked in a room just like this one.
Or…could she already be dead?
“I don’t just revenge for my father now” Min-sun whispers into the dark.
The girl looks up from the floor, her expression turning cautious.
“Did you say something?”
“My aunt Seul-gi, “Min-sun says, her teeth grinding so hard her jaw ached.” She was the one who told us this was a prestigious school.
She lied to us.
She sold us out to the slaughter house and separated me from my only family.
I’m gonna tear this entire Academy down piece by piece till I find my sister.
And then, I’m gonna find Seul-gi and make her pay for every single drop of blood they spilled in there.
The girl stares at her for a long time, the goofy, playful roommate gone, replaced by a girl who recognized the dead look of a survivor.
“Well,”she says quietly.” If you’re gonna overthrow the Board, that legs gonna rest first.
Min-sun turns to her head back to her.” I never got your name.”
“It’s Hina. Surname unknown.”she smiles once more despite the bruises.” But since we are apparently partners in treason now you can just call me your shadow.