"Nobody remembers exactly when the Awakening Trial became mandatory," he said. "It just always felt like it had been there, the way taxes and elections had always been there. When you turn twenty-two, your district head summons you for your Trial. Whatever you face, no one can tell you beforehand. Whatever you faced was yours alone. No two Trials were ever the same. And whether you survived or died, it was never announced." He paused, smiling faintly. "My time came, and I went in. But then something happened that was completely out of the ordinary. I remember it like it was yesterday. Because, in fact, it was."
｢ TRUE ⅓ ｣
He finished with a calm smile.
For a quick second, no one spoke.
’That’s a really strange answer,’ the woman thought to herself, glancing sideways at her colleague, relieved she wasn’t the only one who found it unsettling. Most participants say exactly what they wanted to hear, but this guy...
She adjusted her glasses. ’...there’s something weird about him.’
Needless to say, she was curious. Leaning forward, she cleared her throat and said, in her usual cold tone,
"Out of the ordinary you say."
Jisung nodded.
"Why? Tell me exactly what happened."
"I... Well, my Trial was weird. I’d say I didn’t go through one, but three. At least it felt like that, and I was freaking cold the whole time. It started as a loop. But I didn’t realise at first until much later when something strange happened. At first there was this thick fog everywhere and..."
Jisung kept going, explaining everything, as much of it as he could remember. The trial-difficulty penalty, the unbearable cold, the fall off the cliff, the fights and the Split Fang-Harrier. He left out his abilities entirely.
’No need to tell it all at once.’ He thought.
But everything else he handed over freely.
As he was speaking, the woman leaned over to the man beside her and whispered.
"You hear it too right?"
He nodded with an annoyed expression. They both stared at the young man speaking.
"...■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■, and then it’s just ■■■■■■■■," he said, gesturing animatedly with his hands as he spoke.
The three officials exchanged puzzled looks. Halfway through, the man in the middle couldn’t take it anymore.
"Stop." He said.
Jisung paused. "Hmm?"
The man stared at him with a frown. The woman with the glasses had gone completely pale.
"He must be lying right? Because I don’t know what language that is." the man muttered.
"Me neither," the woman on the far end responded, voice low. "But the evaluation hasn’t detected any lie."
Jisung continued as if he had not heard them.
"...and yeah. That’s pretty much everything, exactly how I remember it."
Silence. No one spoke.
The colleague on the far side mouthed, "It’s... true?"
｢ TRUE ⅓ ｣
The confirmation rang out, but no one in the room looked relieved. They were all staring at him as if something was smeared across his face. He wiped his cheek once, just to be sure.
The first woman took off her glasses.
"Participant 34." She called out. "Do you think this is a joke?!"
Jisung flinched. "...Huh?"
He looked up at them, meeting each of their faces before settling on the woman’s.
"I don’t really understand what you..."
"Oh, cut the crap! Do you think this is playtime? Do you think we’re here for fun?" She scolded.
Jisung hesitated, feigning innocence. He kept his expression carefully confused.
He looked away from them and focused on the air in front of him like he was expecting something.
"No." He whispered only to his hearing.
｢ TRUE ⅓ ｣
’Here it comes,’ he thought, nudging his fingers. ’Please. Come on.’
She scoffed loudly. "Am I not talking to you?" The woman turned toward her colleagues, who both looked equally annoyed and irritated. "Can you believe this? He just—"
Her voice suddenly cut off mid-sentence right as a message rang out.
’Bingo.’ Jisung smiled. The plan had worked.
A notification appeared in front of Jisung and at the same time, the three officials behind the barrier seemed to have received one too. Their faces went blank for a full second as they stared into the air before them.
Jisung giggled quietly at their faces and turned back to his own system window.
[DIARY SESSION - #UNCLASSIFIED HAS BEEN COMPLETED]
[Coins Awarded: 2,000]
The door on his left suddenly slid open.
’I guess my job is done here.’
Jisung stood, smoothed his clothes, and gave a polite nod.
"Thank you for... this. I’ll be taking my leave."
He walked toward it without waiting for a response. Behind him the woman cursed under her breath.
"The moment he opened his mouth, I knew this was going to be a problem,"
she muttered, dropping her head into her hands. "Fu— Damn this crafty kid."
’No wonder ■■■■■ asked us to pay close attention to him,’ she thought, pressing harder against the desk.
"Fuck."
A long moment passed before she sat up, nodding at her colleagues who had worried looks.
"Don’t worry. We’ll deal with it when the time comes."
Then she turned and barked, "Next!"
****
Jisung was already through the doorway when he caught the woman glaring at him. He glanced away with a small smirk just as the door sealed behind him.
The corridor was dim. Runes pulsed along the walls the same way they had when the first group was called. He looked back at the closed door and allowed himself a quiet smile.
’They’ll never understand what happened.’
Thanks to Insight, he understood the situation pretty quickly. The mission needed seven questions. But it never specified what those questions would be.
So after the first three questions were asked, he quietly pieced together two things.
One: whenever he spoke about his Trial in detail, no one seemed to understand. It was another mystery he could not solve yet, but he could use it.
So he fed them more.
Two: the questions were getting more personal. If he kept answering normally, he had no idea how deep they would dig, especially with the earlier warning that he was being noticed.
With this, he was able to confuse them enough to go off script.
It worked exactly the way he expected.
A system message rang out as he walked.
Ding!
[Time Limit Elapsed]
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.1 (Insight): Deactivated]
[Pain Reduced By Health Stat]
’Oh, shit!’
The pain was instant. Jisung staggered for a few steps and dropped to one knee. One hand clamped around his skull and the other pressed hard against his chest. It felt like his head was trying to split open and his heart was trying to rip itself out at the same time.
’Damn,’ he thought through clenched teeth. ’I’ll never get used to this.’
A full minute passed before he could force himself upright. His vision remained blurry. Everything he saw was double. He cursed under his breath, bracing a hand against the wall as he pushed forward.
A light dangled at the end of the path. The pain had eased just enough for him to keep moving. There was no guide in sight. He shut his eyes, relying fully on the wall to direct his path.
By the time he got there, he could hear noise spilling in from his left. He turned slowly and opened his eyes. Someone was screaming something from a distance.
"...un!"
"Ba... le! Run!"
His vision cleared slightly just as someone slammed into him at full speed. Both of them hit the floor.
Jisung opened his eyes. He recognized the face immediately. The person who had stood directly behind Zachariah in the line.
"Participant 2... Seth Carter?" He called out in a whisper.
But Seth didn’t answer. He was shouting something, but the words were still muffled.
"...huh?"
Seth kept screaming right as two masked figures in white medical gear appeared, grabbed him by the arms, and pulled him off Jisung and dragged him through the door ahead.
But Seth fought the whole way, screaming.
Jisung forced himself to sit upright despite the pounding in his skull. His hearing returned just enough to catch Seth’s last words.
"Run!"
"Don’t stay here!"
"These are bad people!"
"Jisu— Run!"
’’’
Author’s Note: If you’re enjoying the novel, don’t forget to add it to your library and show some support. It really helps!
’’’