NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5
One morning, as I woke up in the hospital, I found myself transformed into a blonde-haired, red-eyed little girl (a pure maiden).
Although there was a minor issue with my identity and credentials being reset, it didn’t matter anymore.
Because I had become a sensation in the world of internet broadcasting!
“☆Ta-da★ ☆Violet is here!☆ Everyone, ba-ha~!”
└Ba-ha~
└Vi-hi!
└ㅎㅇ
└Here comes Violet-chan!!
└こんばんは~
└Hola!
I faced them without any makeup. The results were promising! With my cute little girl appearance and genius content creation ability, I gained 10 billion devoted fans in no time…!
“Today’s content is ★Breathe Slowly☆! Watch closely~!”
I inhaled and exhaled very slowly and cautiously. Immediately, the chat exploded with an overwhelming response.
└Are you kidding?? Is this real??? Can you do that??
└WTFWTFWTF
└How can she breathe slowly?? She’s not human!!
└OMG She’s breathing!!!!!
└ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
└I can’t believe my eyes!!!!!!
└LOL
└Violet-chan is the best!
Such genius content was solely the domain of this Violet! And so, I ruled the world…!
-KWOOSH!
“Yikes!”
“Hey, that’s far enough.”
Suddenly, ninjas dressed in white coats crashed through the ceiling!
“Hey, girl! We are the Science Ninja Team; we’ve come for your brain!”
“Eeep! Ninjas, why!?”
The wicked ninjas lunged at me, pinning my limbs down and using a ninja saw to pop open my head!
“AAAAAH!”
Then they quick-snapped off my frontal lobe like it was a piece of cake and fled!
“Uwaah! My brain! Noooo!”
While I cried on the floor with my head popped open, a grandpa in a green outfit and mask appeared out of nowhere.
“Little girl, why are you crying?”
“Waaah… the mean ninjas took my brain and spine… waaaah…”
The grandpa looked at me with pity and pulled out a squishy purple lump from his pocket.
“Oh dear… tsk tsk, I’ll give this good girl a new frontal lobe instead!”
He inserted it into my head. Wow. A new brain appeared! Hooray!
But then someone poked my neck.
-SWOOSH!
“Yikes! Who’s that!”
I turned my head.
**
“Ugh… Home… Bed… Where am I?”
My eyes snapped open. Why was I lying here? Everything that just happened felt like a bizarre dream. I felt like I had lost something precious.
As I got up, I noticed injured people groaning on mats beside me. Researchers wandered around, shoving syringe guns with pill bottles into people’s necks. With a hissing sound, red drugs were injected, and the wounds on the people’s bodies disappeared.
“Speaking of, I just remembered… um…”
That’s when I recalled what had happened just moments ago. I had fought against a Skullcat three times in a row and emerged victorious. The clone shield technique had worked.
‘But the side effects are too severe.’
In my first fight, I had offered my arm as bait; in the second, my leg; and in the third, my head. The problem was that I shared sensations with my clones. Meaning, if a clone got hurt, I felt the pain too.
In the end, after the last battle, I had been in so much pain that I screamed like a mad cat and rolled on the floor until everything went dark.
‘My limbs and head are intact, right? They definitely hurt…’
Looking back, the monsters I fought with during the exam were weakened. Even the Skullcat I killed had missing or broken teeth, and its claws were dulled or crushed. Besides that, it seemed the research team intentionally adjusted the difficulty level.
And yet, I had to fight desperately.
When my created clone disappeared, the physical pain vanished. However, the chilling feeling of being cut and having my limbs torn off still lingered vividly in my memory. It wouldn’t go away.
I was certain one side of my head…
No, no. Let’s think of something else. For instance, what exactly is my ability?
‘But how the heck did the in-game Witch Violet fight?’
In boss battles, Violet pressured players with an endless stream of clones that kept appearing.
Yet there were no descriptions of her moaning in pain or screaming when clones got destroyed like I had now. If that were the case, the protagonist would have defeated her instantly without unnecessary sacrifices or rage awakenings.
‘I guess my level is just too low.’
Currently, the most rational explanation I could think of was that.
Even just looking at my status screen, my level was 2, and my unique ability, clone technique, was level 1. The Crimson Scholar skill level caps at 10.
At the very least, I should be able to raise my skill level by two or three to gain some insight.
But it’s difficult. Although I gained a level after defeating the Skullcat, I was so exhausted after fighting the monsters three times in a row that both my body and mind felt worn out.
I lay back down and closed my eyes, pretending to faint. I figured I should just stay still while they bothered me. It was a clever survival tactic learned from working in an office.
While I lay still, I started to hear familiar voices.
-… The combat readiness of subject 10-6-8 is quite excellent. Just watching her attitude of not fleeing against a monster she encountered for the first time is different from her peers. Eva, what do you think? Could it be due to her growth environment?
-Louis, you’re asking something obvious. Just looking at statistics shows that aggressiveness and combat readiness among subjects from slums or refugee backgrounds show significant differences when compared to other groups. However, she’s a bit too reckless in her approach.
The footsteps got closer.
-Well, it’s a clone that isn’t even real, but I’ve never seen someone shove their limbs straight into a monster’s mouth and stab it from behind. Isn’t that kind of a calculated move? Though her usual behavior seems foolish, she occasionally exhibits signs that make you think otherwise…
-No, she’s definitely an idiot. Why would the main body willingly do that if it feels pain? Just looking at how 10-6-8 treats you and me proves that. Something must have negatively affected her brain during the Sigma-6 operation. That’s why the emotional pressure procedure 12 seems surprisingly effective on this subject.
The footsteps stopped.
-Anyway, the pain from the clones fully transmitting to the main body makes it impractical for combat. By the way, can’t you remove your personal feelings a bit when you’re conducting the emotional pressure procedure? I’ve noticed that sometimes when you face 10-6-8, you unnecessarily engage in contact and conversations. I respect your preferences, but you should adhere more to the protocol…
-Hey, I’m not doing anything perverse to the subject like some of the other staff! You’re making it sound strange! This is all part of the process for building attachment, but anyway… Oh? She’s still not awake. Did she not get the recovery serum?
-I saw her get it before. I’ll wake her up.
Someone slapped my cheek.
“Hey, are you sleeping? Sleeping? Not getting up?”
I was still fainting. Just a little more, I’ll stay down. Leave me alone.
-Crackle!
“Kyaah!”
I sprung up like a spring. I saw an angry commander staring at me like he found a late soldier who had skipped training. Of course, the ponytail girl was beside him.
“No! Violet might just be tired and taking a quick nap, you’re being too much! It’s okay, Violet! Big sister will hug you… Were you in pain earlier?”
The comfortable moment lasted only a short time; it was time to be unhappy again…
Led by the researchers, I headed towards the elevator. The sounds of monsters and fighting faded away.
After a while, I returned to the research facility’s level where our lodging was. The ponytail and the slick-back hair told me to wait in a large room that resembled a resting area while the researchers and guards went back and forth. I squatted against the wall.
Now that I looked around, I noticed there were other people sitting against the wall in a line, too. They looked to be teenagers.
While the guards and researchers weren’t paying attention, I tried to talk to the kid next to me. He looked at me and shook his head with a grunt, turning away.
I attempted to engage with other kids, but they didn’t respond either.
All the teens among the test subjects were like this.
There was a time when I had a chance to talk to a girl, but she refused, saying, “The doctor told me not to talk to anyone else…”
After waiting for a while, I felt a bit stiff and stretched. I felt strange eyes on me. A researcher that looked like a pig was staring at me. His gaze traveled past my neck and settled on my heavy…
Damn it.
I had experienced this multiple times, still was, and would continue to experience it, but this situation… Haah, I just can’t adapt.
For the record, the research staff had given me only a patient gown and a pair of underwear. The gown was loose, but certain areas had a high volume and density of fat.
In times like this, my blessed appearance as a cute girl just makes things complicated like ants getting caught in sugar water. I held my boiling insides and tried to look away.
-Growl.
I was hungry. It seemed like it was almost lunchtime. My mood soured, wishing for something delicious to eat. But they would probably just give me that awful pseudo-food again.
From one side, a greasy smell wafted through the air. This was the smell of happiness, the smell of hope.
Following my nose, I saw that filthy pig pulling something out of a paper bag and gobbling it down on the table.
‘Hamburger! And it’s a combo meal!!’
French fries, cola, and a cheeseburger as well! Wow, that looks so good!
I had survived on nothing but powdered milk for my three meals a day. External food? In this place harsher than the army, I had never even had a single candy.
I heard someone swallow next to me. The kids beside me seemed to feel the same way. We all stared blankly at the pig’s hamburger eating show, and then he looked at me and gestured.
“Hey, kid, come here.”
I found myself standing up and walking over before I knew it. Was this what it felt like for the children lured away by the Pied Piper of Hamelin?
“Hey, kid. Don’t you want to eat this?”
He pulled out something long, yellow, and greasy. French fries!
“Yes, I want to eat it…”
I honestly revealed my feelings. Upon hearing my answer, the pig grinned lecherously.
“Oh really? How about… do you want to be a secret friend with Uncle?”
What? What the hell did this perverted love-struck bastard just say? I held back my urge to curse and tried to act like a pure little girl.
“Um…? I’m not really sure…”
“Oh… is that so? Then, I can’t give it to you. Sorry…”
The pig pretended to be disappointed and lifted the fries to his mouth.
The fries were moving away. They were disappearing! Wait, wait a moment. Let’s negotiate.
Darn it. I really want to eat that food! My pride and all that, I don’t care anymore. I gathered whatever acting skills I had left and turned to him with puppy dog eyes, looking pitiful.
“No…! Now that I think about it, I think I could be your friend for a little bit. Please give me your fries…!”
“Really? You really want to eat this?”
“..Yes! Please give it to me..!”
All I could see was the fries sparkling in my vision. That gleaming grease! That bright yellow aroma! He chuckled and tossed the fries to me. They fell onto the floor beside me. Well, that’s a half-success.
Oh no, how wasteful. I quickly crawled over to pick up the fries from the ground.
I felt it, that familiar texture. The slick grease between my fingers, the lukewarm temperature, slightly damp but still holding a crispness.
The coarse grains of salt rolled between my fingers. Ah, now I just need to put it in my mouth.
Even in this valley of death, I could hear the choir of angels!
“Violet, don’t eat food from the floor, it’s dirty~”
Then someone snatched the fries right from me.
“Huh?”
Looking up, the ponytail researcher was grinning at me.
Wait a moment?
This bitch just took my fries!