Chapter 97 – Chapter 97- Eternal Dream (8)

It was dark.

It was the first thought I had when I opened my eyes.

Unlike my previous happy dreams, I woke up in a space where only very dim light came in, suggesting that it was a nightmare.

“Where are you?”

As soon as I regained consciousness, I hurriedly got up and looked around.

A room with a low ceiling and a shabby bed.

The room was filled with musty dust and had no windows, and the only place for air to pass was the iron grate in front of my eyes.

“… What?”

This room, with walls on three sides and one side made of iron bars, was like a ‘prison’.

It is completely different from before.

A small solitary room with a low ceiling, not a park where you can play freely with the high sky.

“Fuck…”

As I approached the iron bars and looked at the scene beyond, curse words came out.

Beyond my field of vision, a prison like mine was spread out.

Except for the corridor between the prisons, the whole area was a prison cell.

A child in a prison beyond my sight caught my eye.

The guy curled up in the corner was terrified at first glance, so I almost spoke to him without realizing it, but I realized.

That this is a dream.

Unless there is a vice chairman who is the owner of dreams, that child is just treated as a background.

Unless I talk to that child like the vice president, I can’t touch or talk to that child.

Everyone in this dream is like that, except for that succubus queen.

I can touch or talk with that girl who never existed in this dream from the beginning.

“Damn it, let’s go out and start with the vice president…”

I don’t know where this place is, but the first thing is to find the vice president.

After finding the vice president who is advancing this dream, the priority is to get through this nightmare somehow.

“Huup!”

To get out of here, I grabbed the iron bars in front of me.

Pudeuk!

I simply tried to bend it sideways with my strength, but the iron bars did not budge even with all my might.

“What?!”

I even mobilized the elemental weapon, wondering if it was made of a special alloy rather than an ordinary iron bar, but the result was the same.

A message window popped up in front of my eyes when I was about to try and get a bigger mana.

Tring!

[This is ‘Nightmare’. You cannot go against the flow of the subject’s nightmare.]

[Nightmare penalty occurs! You have a look and abilities that do not match this nightmare, temporarily lowering your rank.]

“What… What?”

As I read and understood the blue window that appeared in front of my eyes, a sudden change occurred in my body.

Slip.

Vision is lowered

The hand holding the grating gets smaller.

After a while, I became a child without fail.

“Damn it.”

To check my appearance, I activated the elemental spirit, but it didn’t activate as smoothly as before.

As my body shrunk, my mana amount and mana control plummeted.

As I whimpered and made ice sculptures to reflect my image, my face, as I had guessed, had changed to that of when I was a child.

“Oh, should I write this?”

In an instant, a skill popped into my mind.

‘Indomitable will’ that heals all status ailments.

It was clear that using this skill would bring me back to my current state, but because of one fact that bothered me, I eventually decided not to use the skill.

Because if I use this skill, I will surely escape from this dream itself.

Knowing how dangerous it is to leave the Vice President absolutely alone in this unstable nightmare, I decided to watch this nightmare in silence.

After a while, it seems that the dream is finally coming true.

A man’s voice echoed through the hallway.

“Experiment number 96 97 98 99 forward.”

As the man’s words spread, the iron bars in front of my eyes were sucked into the wall.

Roughly realizing that I was included in the number called by the man, I went outside and bumped into a familiar face from the prison next door.

“…”

Deep blue eyes in short blue hair.

Although it was the same appearance as the childhood vice president I saw in my dream a while ago.

The face of the vice president, who had previously smiled widely, was full of despair, and the deep blue eyes that had been shining were calm.

Be blunt

The Vice President’s emotions that I saw now were dead.

Seeing that, something warmed up in my heart, and I grabbed the vice president’s shoulder without realizing it.

“Eh… Eh?”

The vice president looked back at me and blinked blankly, questioning me.

After staring at the vice president for a while, I slowly opened my mouth.

“What’s your name?”

“I… I? Subject 98.”

Looking at the vice president next to me and the two children in front of me, I naturally noticed that my number was 99, and I said.

“I am Subject 99.”

“Ah.. I know.”

“Test subject 96 97 98 99 Come to the auditorium, come to the auditorium. Over.”

As I stare at the vice-president with burning eyes, the vice-president wriggles and points me forward with his fingers.

“We have to go to the auditorium quickly…”

“Okay, let’s go.”

I wanted to say something more, but I held back my words and grabbed the vice president’s hand.

“Uh… Uh huh?”

When the small vice-president’s hand was squeezed tightly into mine, I strode toward the place the vice-president indicated.

Although the vice-president was taken aback by pattering, the vice-president silently moved at my pace.

After passing through the narrow hallway, an open space appeared.

Big space, white walls and white floors.

“Subjects 96, 97, 98, 99. I’ll administer the medication in turn, so line up.”

The man who was the subject of the man’s voice who had called us earlier greeted us in a white coat.

And I realized exactly why this dream was a ‘nightmare’.

Bright red blood splattered on the white walls and floor.

A human body part that has fallen to the ground in pieces.

Children quietly watching all the sights as if they were familiar with them.

If this isn’t a ‘nightmare’, what the hell is it?

“… Take a dose.”

A man in a white coat covered in blood puts the syringe in his hand into the forearm of the boy in front.

“Huh… Ugh!”

The little boy trembled as if rebelling at the injection, but the man silently pushed the liquid inside the syringe all the way into the little boy’s body.

And after a while, something strange happened.

Gurgling… Gurgling…

The little boy’s body swelled up.

The small body gradually grows larger, and the fragile skin is torn as if to prove that it has exceeded its limits.

The red flesh and muscles fill up.

I tried to run away without realizing it, but a system window popped up in front of my eyes.

Tring!

[I can’t resist the flow of nightmares! The whole flow absolutely has to be done!]

Fuck this! For a moment…

Puck!

A weak sound erupted from the front.

It’s an unbelievably weak sound coming from a swollen body.

The results were disastrous.

The body of the little boy who received the injection collapses to the floor bleeding.

The swollen flesh flutters down and paints the red floor again.

“You crazy bastard!”

Tring!

[You can’t go against the flow! Others will not hear profanity!]

This is crazy, no, this place is crazy.

Even though the first child had exploded and died, the next child calmly waited in front of the man.

The child remained silent until it was his turn to receive the injection.

Until the body explodes and dies.

“96.. 97 is a failure.”

The man who administered the injection muttered quietly.

In that word, the lives of the two children who died earlier were contained.

It was an infinitely light, and therefore very disgusting word.

“Forward to number 98.”

In silence at the man’s words, the vice president walked forward and received an injection.

Even as time passed, the vice president’s body did not change like the two children before him.

I only let out a quick breath.

“Forward 99.”

When my turn came, I gritted my teeth and approached the man.

The man said nothing and thrust his syringe into my forearm.

It doesn’t feel like anything.

As if this syringe was also part of a ‘dream’, I didn’t feel anything and it didn’t do me any harm.

However, bizarrely, the forearm in front of me was still pierced with a needle, accepting the liquid inside.

“… Okay. Pass 98 and 99. Let’s go back.”

After the man’s words were finished, the vice president walked toward the prison with weak steps.

Seeing the vice-president walking with wide-eyed eyes and a weak gait, I felt the rationality in one side of my brain cut off.

“…”

Silently supporting the shoulders of the vice president who was ahead of him, he moved to the prison.

The Vice President, who was in the seat next to my prison, entered the prison, and I also entered my room.

All kinds of thoughts swirl in my head.

This is a ‘nightmare’.

Intense dreams that you don’t want to see.

Then why is this dream a nightmare…

I tightly closed my eyes.

However, the thoughts in my head run wild and draw cruel conclusions.

“Huh… Heh heh…”

I heard the Vice President’s small cry next to me.

I must have buried my head somewhere, and the half-eaten cry was so painful to me.

“No. 98.”

So I quietly called the vice president.

“Huh… Heh heh…”

I called the vice president who was still crying.

“No. 98. It’s okay.”

“…”

I spoke again to the vice president who kept silent, perhaps trying to hide his tears.

“No. 98 is fine. We’re going to live somehow, so we can get out of here. Don’t worry.”

“… How.”

Vice President, who quietly answers my words.

“Somehow, we can get out unconditionally. If we do, we…”

It reminds me of a scene I had just seen in a dream.

“Looking up at the high sky…”

The memories of running around with the vice president at the park.

“Running around in the open park.”

Memories of eating bread in a cafe.

“Eat bread at the cafe.”

Memories of talking to people who laughed happily.

“Laugh and chat with people.”

The exact opposite of the current situation.

When I thought of the things that had come true in my previous dream, I squeezed my hand tightly.

“Because I can do all of those things. Let’s be patient.”

“…Really?”

“Then.”

At my words, the vice president quietly stopped crying and asked me back.

“Then, it will happen unconditionally.”

While answering the vice president, I whispered to myself as if I had promised myself.

“… Thanks.”

And the vice president expressed his gratitude to me.

Even though it’s just telling the truth that I saw in my previous dream.

This situation was so paradoxical that I stopped laughing.

It’s so cruel.

This dream was so cruel.