CHAPTER 22

A man appeared in the middle of nowhere and walked deep into the mountains. He hiked for an hour before reaching a small murky pond. Although the water on the pond looked pungent, it didn't smell anything and wasn't dirty at all.

Without hesitation, he dived into the pond and swam deeper and deeper without seeing his destination. He just swam until he suddenly fell and landed on a soft cloud. Looking around, he saw ten oddities guarding a large pearly white door.

"You're late," one of the knights guarding the door said and presented a hologram for everyone to see. He was the leader of the group and was the one responsible for monitoring the progress of missions.

On the translucent window, a timer stopped with the name of the oddity that had just arrived above it.

"Thanks for the warm welcome," the man sarcastically said while trying to dry himself. He then walked towards the door and looked closely at the hologram.

"Why do I have deduction points?!" he asked, surprised to see the table below the time showing the mission, instructions, deadline, award points, and deduction points. He had lost 150 points from the 1000 points he was meant to get from accomplishing the task.

"Maybe you still have water in your ears. You are late!" The leader of the knights said and pointed to the time that exceeded 32 minutes.

"But that's just half an hour. Do you know how difficult infiltrating the Water Chief's mansion was? I almost got caught because there were too many guards!"

"Rules are rules," the knight simply said and turned around, leaving the annoyed oddity to grumble on his own.

The leader then motioned to other knights, and they opened the large white door, showing a spotless long hallway that was completely white without any decoration. At its far end was a large area surrounded by multiple doors. In the middle was a large reception with a few oddities working on their holograms.

"Say your complaints to the reception," the leader said, waving his hand to the oddity, urging him to walk inside.

With a frustrated grunt, the oddity entered the hallway. His every step left drops of water, but he walked without care as the trail of water vanished after a few seconds, leaving the hallway spotless and clean once again.

"What are the chances that they will remove my deduction?" he asked one of the receptionists after reaching the center.

The woman he was talking to glanced at him before looking at the hologram in front of her.

"Welcome back, HOMA176. You were thirty minutes late. I can report your request, and I can confidently say that it will be 100% declined," the woman said with a small professional smile, irritating the man more.

"Then what's the use of reporting?" HOMA176 said and glared at the woman.

"Nothing, but the Familia respects what our hunters want. So do you want me to report it?" the woman calmly explained.

'Respect my ass,' HOMA176 thought and gritted his teeth.

"No," he said and walked away, stepping towards one of the doors with the number 21 above.

When he reached the large door, he stood in front of it for a few seconds, allowing the scanner to recognize his identity. When the scan was complete, the doors' outline shined with a black light for a few seconds before it opened, leading HOMA176 to another spotless clean long hallway with doors on both sides.

He walked towards a door and pressed a button, announcing his presence and requesting to enter the room. Sliding open, HOMA176 walked inside the room and stood before a young skinny man sitting behind a large white desk.

Without instructions, HOMA176 pulled a pinky-sized white capsule from his spatial bag and placed it on the table.

The skinny man then scanned the capsule using his ability, and when he confirmed its content, he nodded.

"Identity confirmed. You have accomplished your mission. I will now release your 850 award points," he said in an extremely deep voice, unexpected to his skinny appearance.

HOMA176 then checked his profile, and when he saw the added 850 points, he sighed and bid his farewell. Walking out, he decided that the Water Clan chief's son would be the last child of a chief he would kidnap. He can't afford to risk his life once again and then not even be able to get the bonus award because he was late.

'I should've just chosen a normal mission,' he thought and went on his way to get a long rest.

After the hunter left, the skinny man entered a door inside the room and walked into another completely white hallway. He then entered a door that had TS06 above and was welcomed by a messy white room. There were a lot of beakers and glassware everywhere containing a colorful variety of substances and materials. In the middle of the mess was a man that was surrounded by tons of holograms, hysterically typing using his thin bony hands. He looked lazy and unkept with his downturned eyes and eyebags, but his orbs were full of life and vigor.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The skinny man cleared his throat, earning the man's attention. When he saw who it was, the man wearing a white lab coat walked towards the skinny man with a sinister smile.

"Good day Trainer Savio," the skinny man greeted.

"Where is he?" Savio asked, not even answering the greeting.

The skinny man held out his hand, revealing the capsule.

"Finally," Savio whispered and carefully held the white capsule. He then walked away, leaving the man, and entered a door in his room that led to another white hallway. But this time, the walls were glass allowing Savio to see the oddities inside. Without giving any attention to the disturbing rooms, he walked past all of them and entered a vacant one with only a bed inside.

Unlike the clear window outside showing the room, the inside seemed to be surrounded by shiny white walls. This allowed Savio to see his trainees from the outside while they remained clueless that they were being watched.

Savio carefully placed the capsule on the bed and tapped it thrice. The moment he was done, a blinding light exploded from the capsule, and the next second, a child was lying on the bed, making Savio let out an ominous smile.

"Nice to meet you, Hirayon. I'm one of your fans."

Hirayon woke up with a throbbing head. He held his temple, pressing on it to try to ease the headache when the light blinded him. Confused because his room wasn't bright, he looked around and realized he was in an unfamiliar place.

Around him was a completely white room with nothing but the bed he was lying on. Alarmed with the sudden change in his surroundings, Hirayon tried to get up but couldn't with a band of metal in his waist, stopping him from getting out of bed. He then tried to use more force to try and remove the metal, but nothing he did worked.

Scared by the strangeness of his situation, Hirayon frantically looked around, trying to figure out what to do. Yet, there's nothing else in the room. The whole room was made out of white material that seemed like a wall at first but shimmered like glass. Even the floor and ceiling were made with the same material. There were also lights on the top, but other than that, there was nothing that could help Hirayon with his situation.

Not giving up, Hirayon decided to use Water Orb, but nothing came out. Confused, as he could always immediately release water and shape it into an orb, Hirayon tried and tried, but not even a drop of water manifested.

"Stop struggling," a voice said, which made Hirayon look in the direction where the voice came from.

There he saw someone who had just entered from the door from the corner of the white room. It also immediately closed, going back to what it looked like earlier, not showing any trace that it was actually a door.

"Who are you?" Hirayon asked as he watched the man with curly long brown hair. The slender and tall man wore a white robe with a shirt and pants inside.

"Well, you won't know me even if I introduced myself. So what's the point?" the man asked as he approached the bed.

Hirayon frowned as he tried to remember if he had seen the man before. But with his sharp memory, he is sure that it was the first time that he had seen the mysterious man with downturned eyes and dark circles under his eyes.

"But maybe I should since we'll meet most of the time now, right?" the man asked with a small lazy smile on his lips.

Hirayon's frown deepened and remained quiet.

"I'm Savio. I will be your doctor, manager, and trainer. Let's get along from now on," he said with a different smile that made Hirayon shudder. With Savio's smile, Hirayon could instantly tell that the man was dangerous and that he should escape.

'But how? I don't even know where I am. I doubt he'll answer even if I ask.'

"Oh, by the way, I'm just saying this if you have any ideas. You can't escape. We're under the ground after all," he said, making Hirayon annoyed.

The fact that he said they are underground, he is confident that Hirayon won't be able to escape even if he tried.

"Where are we?" Hirayon tried. He still hasn't given up. He is determined to search for a way to escape.

Savio smiled meaningfully, "Let's see, where are we?" He asked, teasing. He then leaned closer to Hirayon, looking at the child straight into his wary bluish-violet eyes.

Hirayon instinctively moved away as he felt danger in Savio's dull gray orbs. His mind told him to get away fast, but his efforts were useless as a metal band in his waist held him.

Savio watched the child with raw interest, "The location... there's... none." He then chuckled when Hirayon bit his lips, clearly upset and frustrated with him.

Savio stood properly and looked down at Hirayon. He was so delighted when he was given the role of taming the Water Clan chief's son. He was so excited to the point that he spent his past few days preparing for the child's arrival. He even transferred other children under his care so that he could focus on Hirayon.

"By the way, from now on, Hirayon isn't your name. It is OWS59. It basically means you're an oddity with water ability under me, the great Savio, and that you are my 59th experiment. Sounds good, right?" He asked happily. He was excited to conduct experiments on the child as he has a different constitution than other children.

"Experiment?" Hirayon asked with a frown. He wasn't liking the idea that was coming into his mind.

"Yes! Do you want to hear about it?" Savio asked, his eyes brightening, thinking of the experiments he would be conducting from now on.

Without waiting for Hirayon's response, he started enumerating his plans. "We will start with checking your affinities first. It will hurt, but with your body, you'll be fine," he said cheerily, making Hirayon's eyes shake. "Then we will start mixing elemental and basic abilities. Oh, I will also include monster abilities. Knowing how your body and mind will react will be interesting. Will you berserk like other children, or will you still have your sanity? So much to research and try. Let's do well, OWS59," he said happily.

Hirayon stared at Savio strangely. Everything he said was shouting danger to Hirayon, pushing the child to feel fear. His heart was already pounding so hard, causing his breathing to quicken as if a monster was chasing him. But instead of a monster, it was a crazy man who wanted to experiment on his body.

"Oh, I'm being called. I'll be back in a few minutes for our first experiment, so be ready," Savio said with a displeased face after glancing at a hologram.

When Hirayon was left alone, he instantly analyzed his situation and what he could do to escape. Unfortunately, he understands he can't do anything right now. He lacks information and knows he will just get captured if he tries to run.

But if he stayed here, he knew that he might not make it out alive. Hirayon thought deeply, exhausting his still throbbing mind to think of a plan, trying to find even just a glimmer of light. But the silence of the room and the hopelessness of his situation made Hirayon feel dejected.

The coldness he felt reminded him of the life he had for a few weeks, which was short and sweet. The warmth that his father gave him, the care of people in the clan, the comfort of the mansion, and the feeling of belongingness. Everything was making his heart ache, and he felt scared that he would never be able to go back. To never see again his father's cold, piercing silver-blue eyes that would always make him feel secure and loved.

"I want to go home."

R E H I L I Y A