CH 18

And the prisoner, with his tongue hanging out like a wilted flower, collapsed in front of me.

The ordeal of death has passed.

“Ah, the smell of blood.”

I was clutching the pan, breathing heavily, when suddenly Ian wrinkled his nose and covered it with his hand. The monsters were all dead by now.

While I had knocked out one prisoner with the frying pan, the two men had taken care of everything.

◆

“….What was that just now?”

Despite my question, the two men couldn’t answer easily.

Before we knew it, silence filled the air between the three of us who had returned to the 4th-floor control room. Deon leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, staring silently at the CCTV. Ian, who had been playful at first, was doing the same.

“Quiet.”

Then Ian put his thumb to his mouth. 

Even the man sitting on the sofa was quietly watching the CCTV. It wasn’t over yet. The prisoners beyond the steel door were roaring like beasts, scratching the door with their nails.

Were they coming back to life, or were new things approaching?

While sitting in the corner and closing my eyes because of tiredness, the chilling sound of the scratching on the steel door stopped. Ian, who had sighed with relief, roughly swept his hair back with his hand.

“Lemony. What are those?”

Of course, I didn’t know either.

“I don’t really know. By the way, weren’t those prisoners just now?”

“Well, technically yes, but with that kind of attitude, they should have been classified as first-class prisoners or been executed long ago.”

It was true. I had nothing to say and nervously bit my lip.

I had never seen anything like this in the original work. It had deviated too much. If things continued like this, I wouldn’t be able to make use of the information I had as a transmigrator.

“There’s something suspicious about it.”

However, their pupils were strikingly similar to the ones I saw in Yvonne’s eyes and the eyes of those monsters earlier.

I naturally pulled out a note from my pocket as I sat down on the sofa. It was a drawing I made, trying to replicate the symbol I saw in Yvonne’s eyes.

“Earlier, even the eyes of the deceased Yvonne looked similar to those of the prisoners we saw. And when I searched his clothes, I found this pattern around her neck.”

“…This….”

As Ian bent down to read the note, he frowned, and a low, distinct sound was heard from somewhere.

“Symptoms of berserk.”

All eyes were fixed on Deon. He was still staring at the CCTV, arms crossed, and spoke with an unreadable expression.

“….It’s a pattern drawn on berserk potion. It’s a warning that if you drink it, you’ll turn into a mad dog. A small amount will only boost your physical energy, but if you drink too much, it’ll be a big trouble.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve tried drinking it.”

There was a moment of silence.

I quickly hid my expression as I realized something from his lukewarm response.

Sure enough, the reason he obediently took me up to the 4th floor was because of the berserk potion. He must have been planning to kill me by disobeying my orders.

I had already expected it, but hearing it directly from him made me feel a little strange.

“If those prisoners showed symptoms of berserk… then a mass outbreak of berserk is something even I, a prison officer, wouldn’t know about.”

I pretended not to know that he had mentioned our conversation. As I did so, his gaze, which had been persistent, grew darker.

However, it seemed that he also decided to let the matter pass.

“Although I don’t know how the prison operates, if more and more prisoners are experiencing berserk symptoms, it will soon become uncontrollable.”

“If you come into contact with the saliva or bites of someone experiencing berserk symptoms, you can also become infected and experience the same symptoms. It’s like rabies in dogs. I know from experience that when you experience berserk symptoms, you lose your sense of reason.”

Ian, who tilted his head, asked.

“Then what’s left?”

“Instinct.”

“Instinct?”

The atmosphere in the room became eerie after Deon spoke, and I instinctively crossed my arms in the chilling air.

“Most of them just attack and destroy whatever is in front of them. In rare cases, there are people with exceptional maternal instincts who become fixated on their own children.”

Most of them just tear and break anything as they please.

As he went on with his explanation, I found myself nodding along. Their behavior was definitely not normal. And according to the diary of the deceased prison officer I read earlier, Lemony must have known something before the incident occurred.

But I still didn’t know what was on Lemony’s mind.

“Deon, was my behavior a little strange before the prison became like this?”

I asked without thinking, just in case he knew something, but there was no response. When I turned my head back to Deon to ask again, my gaze froze because he was staring at me with cold, red eyes like a warning sign.

“What you’re saying now sounds strange.”

“What?”

“What are you trying to say?”

Ah.

I realized that I had touched a sensitive subject for Deon. Our relationship was entangled with hatred and loathing, and the beginning of that fateful bond was in the past. And now, I had unintentionally triggered his trauma. It felt like my body was constricting.

“That… “

“You are Lemony Christina.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

“You are Lemony Christina. Even if you quit being an officer and become a regular noble, to me you are no more or less than an officer.”

The already cold voice became even colder.

Without realizing it, I was clutching the whistle in my hand by instinct and I kept my mouth tightly closed until there were marks of walnuts on my jaw. I was sorry for triggering his trauma, but it was a crisis situation now.

“I know. But I wish you also knew that I have command magic.”

Deon, who had been snorting at those words, straightened up from leaning against the wall.

“It doesn’t have to be a command, it could be a request.”

Pardon?

Before I could ask anything, he quickly moved his long legs and opened the door to the central control room. As he did, the prisoners who had rushed in between his triangular shoulders began to tear his thick neck and shoulders without mercy viciously.

“De, De….”

I was so shocked that I couldn’t even scream. Instead, my heart, which had been screaming, began to beat abnormally, trying to escape from this situation.

I remained frozen, staring at Deon, but his pupils were gradually becoming abnormally dilated as he blocked the door. He was exhibiting symptoms of berserk.

“Deon, what the hell…”

As I took a step back, my heel hit the wall.

Kkiiik. There was a strange sound as one of the prisoners made a groaning noise and reached out as if to escape through the space between Deon’s shoulders. But his cold face, staring at me, remained indifferent.

“De-Deon. Close the door.”

I’m going crazy. I’m really going crazy.

“Deon! Snap out of it and close the door! The prisoners are coming in!”

While screaming with a cracked voice and blowing a whistle, Deon pushed the prisoners out and closed the door.

Suddenly, the heavy silence flowed after the abrupt noise stopped. A large bloody hand firmly grasped the doorknob and turned his head toward me.

“Now you understand, officer.”

The rough, calloused hand with jagged nails was revealed on the thick neck and face. However, the indescribable pressure was felt from the calm and steady gaze, contrasting with the savage appearance.

“You should use that damn whistle carefully.”

The trembling in the hand that was held like a rope suddenly stopped in an instant.

It was then.

“Stop moving.”

As the back door opened, a strong light hit our faces as if it were a flash used by the police when catching a thief, making our eyebrows furrow.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been talking about the prisoner. The prisoner unconditionally obeys the orders of the officers.”

In the sudden brightness, I squinted my eyes, and along with a firm tone of voice, I heard the sound of well-polished shoes from somewhere.

What’s going on?

As I adapted to the light to some extent and opened my eyes slightly, I saw several people dressed in prison officer uniforms moving confidently. And in the middle of them…

“But I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

The rough-looking male prison officer sighed and scanned us.

“I mean, now we’re all just prisoners and officers trying to survive, so that’s what matters.”

With his gruff voice and strong presence, I immediately recognized the man.

His name was Rob Tiger, the prison officer in charge of Ian, a first-class prisoner and one of the main villains who would engage in a showdown with the owner and his team.

◆

“Are you the one who escaped from Building B and made it all the way here?”

I was lucky enough to meet Rob Tiger.

With his sturdy body contrasting his tired wrinkles, he swept his short blonde hair and asked me.

“…I didn’t even know there were such monsters here, they are probably gathered in Building C.”

Miraculously rescued, we walked through the corridor following the guidance of the officers. At first, Deon and Ian were nervous, but they soon realized that even the prisoners sandwiched between the officers were helping them and walked along with them obediently.

“What on earth happened?”

I looked back at the two men following me and asked Rob. 

Rob was silent for a moment.

“I don’t really know. I just know that it all started with one creature.”

Because we were both first-class officers, his face darkened slightly as we walked together.

“A prisoner was staggering towards us as if he had just chugged a whole bottle of amplifying potion or something. At first, I thought he was insane and approached him, thinking I’d have to knock him out. But then he attacked one of our fellow officers like a wild beast and tore his throat out.”

“I see.”

After passing through the 4th and 5th floors, we headed toward the 7th floor, thinking we had finally arrived. As I looked around, an officer ahead of us gestured for me to continue climbing up.

“By the way, have you seen Yvonne’s body?”

“Yes.”

I nodded and walked up the stairs toward the 8th floor. Although it was not described in the original, it seemed like we were heading toward the rooftop as the sunlight intensified.

“If you’ve seen Yvonne’s body, then you know that this prison is out of control.”

With a creaking sound, like a fortress gate, the thick steel door opened with effort as Rob made a sound of impatience. Unconsciously, I furrowed, but the weather was actually cloudy enough that there was no need to do so.

“Then, let’s formally introduce ourselves.”

Leaning his elbow on the stone wall surrounded by a circle, Rob stretched out one arm and sighed disappointedly.

“Welcome to hell, Lemony.”

I slowly opened my mouth and widened my eyes along with the others as we climbed up to the rooftop. Between the circular fence surrounding the rooftop, a demon that split the sky and let out a bizarre scream passed through between Rob and me.

Frozen, I stared down at the rooftop with an expression of disgust.

Hell wasn’t where Deon was threatening me.

It was a place where people had lost their minds and were rampaging. That was the real hell.