Chapter 71
“Just lie down here comfortably.”
After finishing my meal quickly, I returned to the laboratory.
Inside, through the inner door, a surgery room greeted me, with a single bed placed in the center.
The sight made me instinctively hesitant, as if I were about to be dissected, but the contract guaranteeing my safety made me lie down without delay.
“Alright, let’s see… I’ll give this a try.”
“Don’t do anything weird.”
“You made a contract and you’re still worried?”
Anyone would think the same when seeing Garisto’s perverted grin.
Even trying not to feel uneasy, his psycho-scientist-like smirk gave me chills. I felt like he could just slash me with a knife despite the contract.
“If you just hold out your arm, I’ll take care of it.”
“…Okay.”
With mistrust, I extended my left arm.
Wearing experimental glasses, Garisto carefully examined the markings on my arm, using tools whose purpose I couldn’t even guess.
They didn’t look sharp, so I cautiously waited, and I heard him muttering to himself with interest.
“You found this on the academy rooftop?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmm… I see.”
After carefully examining it a few times, he withdrew his hands.
I stared, wondering what was going on, and he stated clearly:
“I can’t remove this.”
“What?”
A sudden declaration of surrender.
I had expected at least one method.
It was absurdly straightforward—there was no way to remove it.
“This is your artifact, and there’s no method at all?”
“It is indeed the artifact you made.”
He let out a deep sigh, spinning his chair and clinking some nearby tools.
“But the structure has changed.”
“Structure?”
“In short, it’s been modified.”
Even from a brief glance, it was clear.
The framework of the training room he had created remained intact, but the internal details were significantly different from his original design.
“Whoever got this must have modified it, risking damage to the artifact. Either they’re very confident in their abilities or they’re just… not normal.”
Who would dare alter such a delicate artifact? I wanted to see the face of the person who had tampered with something that was like his own child.
“I’m not sure yet. I need to examine it more.”
He started inspecting the markings again.
I had no idea how he discerned the internal structure, but judging by his serious expression, he wasn’t joking.
Minutes passed in silence.
Without conversation, time ticked by, until his face behind the goggles twisted in a frown.
“Phew… this is as far as I can go.”
He removed the experimental glasses and stepped back from the markings.
“If I touch it any further, the artifact might be damaged.”
“…So there’s no way to remove it?”
“There’s nothing impossible in this world. It’s just that the conditions to remove it have become more complicated.”
If it weren’t for the need to protect Juhyeok, he could have forcefully detached it.
But because of the contract, he had to remove it without harming me, so his options were limited.
“Which cute little brat changed my artifact like this….”
“….”
He didn’t know much about the artifact.
Though he had looked into it a bit since the training room appeared, it was only superficial knowledge.
As someone whose specialty was artifact creation, no advice could help him.
I thought about just waiting silently for him to solve it.
Then something came to mind regarding the artifact’s modification.
“Couldn’t it just be because of the Dream Herb?”
After consuming the Dream Herb, the training room began exhibiting slight glitches.
The dolls contaminated by the herb, and even possibly fabricated memories he showed me, were all part of the changes.
So I mentioned the Dream Herb, hoping it might be related.
Garisto’s expression changed as if he suddenly realized something.
“Oh, now that you mention it, you ate the Dream Herb, right?”
“You forgot?”
“No, it was too absurd to even consider.”
It was the first time he had seen a living being converse normally after consuming the Dream Herb, so he never imagined it.
“Yes, ever since then, the training room has been a bit off.”
“Huh… that changes things a bit.”
He fell into thought.
With this new variable, he began reanalyzing from the beginning.
After a long moment, Garisto lowered his goggles again and said:
“In that case, I can examine it differently. Let’s take another look.”
“Do as you like.”
I didn’t care how long it took.
As long as the artifact could be removed, I could lie in this lab all day—
[Do you hate me that much?]
“What?”
“Huh?”
“You just asked me something.”
A faint whisper I could barely hear.
I roughly understood the meaning, but asked again just in case.
“…I didn’t say anything.”
The reply was a question.
There were only two people in the small lab. If it wasn’t him, then who spoke?
As we stared at each other in confusion, the voice came again.
[You’ve become so strong because of me.]
It wasn’t Garisto.
He had his mouth shut, and the voice didn’t come from his direction.
It came from inside my head.
“Now’s not the time for Garisto’s silly tricks.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
Garisto examined my eyes closely as he spoke.
“Could I have touched the artifact wrong and caused it to go… crazy?”
“I feel fine from here.”
“All madmen say that.”
He fiddled with the restraints next to him.
Was he really going insane and hearing hallucinations?
Of course, it wouldn’t be normal to hear a voice inside your head in this situation.
There was no one in the room except Garisto and me.
If it wasn’t a prank from Garisto, then who else could project a voice into my mind?
[It’s on your arm, you fool.]
“….”
My gaze immediately went to my arm.
I stared at the markings on my left arm and replied:
“Garisto.”
“What is it, patient?”
I spoke to him as he prepared the restraints.
“Can an artifact talk to its owner?”
“You mean an artifact with a consciousness?”
Even as he spoke, he was securing the restraints on my wrists and legs.
He answered without hesitation:
“That’s entirely possible. There are already a few cases.”
“I think I’m one of those cases.”
“….”
He paused in the middle of putting on the restraints.
“Do you… hear a voice?” he asked cautiously.
“Yes. It says it’s on my arm.”
“Could this be a sign of Dream Herb-induced madness? Or do you feel everyone here is your enemy?”
“Not at all.”
No signs of contamination from the Dream Herb.
Still, cautiously, he asked as he slowly applied the restraints.
“Does the voice say anything else?”
“Not now, it’s quiet.”
“…Then let’s examine it further.”
An artifact with its own consciousness.
Hearing that, my already overflowing curiosity surged.
Garisto reached for the markings with an even more unpleasant look than before.
[Don’t.]
“What?”
The voice again.
No, this wasn’t hallucination—it was the artifact speaking.
It spoke again when I asked.
[I don’t like that person touching me.]
“….”
Perhaps this voice reflected my own feelings.
After a brief thought, I carefully spoke:
“Garisto.”
“What is it?”
“I think it’s better if you don’t touch it.”
He frowned.
Perhaps it annoyed him to be interrupted during his enjoyment.
“The artifact doesn’t want you to touch it.”
“What?”
He flinched slightly upon hearing that, and cautiously withdrew his hands.
An artifact with consciousness was an extremely sensitive being.
If touched unnecessarily, who knows what could happen, so he instinctively kept his distance.
“Hmm… a rejection reaction, huh?”
He crossed his arms thoughtfully.
Watching the artifact from a distance, he asked:
“Why?”
The voice in my head replied:
[You’re trying to remove me. I don’t like it.]
I relayed the artifact’s words.
“It sees that you’re trying to remove it and it doesn’t like that.”
“…Being a conscious artifact, it certainly asserts itself.”
Garisto’s eyes glimmered with interest.
Yet he maintained a cautious distance.
The voice, presumably from the artifact, spoke again:
[Don’t remove me.]
“You’re telling me not to remove you?”
[Yes. Because of me, you became stronger.]
The training room spoke.
It said that because it existed, I could become stronger.
[The strongest you’ve always wanted… can be achieved.]
It spoke of the goal of ultimate strength.
It had given hope to a dullard dreaming of an untouchable level, and it still did.
[If you are with me.]
With it, I could become stronger than anyone and reach the level I had always dreamed of.
As it spoke, my vision slowly darkened.
A sensation I was familiar with.
“….”
Garisto watched quietly, eyes wide in surprise.
That was the last sensation before my vision went completely black.
Afterward, everything disappeared, and my consciousness shut down.
When consciousness returned—though I couldn’t be sure if it had fully left—I found myself in a place with a white background, not a single tree in sight.
An endless canvas.
The only object with a form besides myself…
“Hello, master.”
It was someone identical to Garisto.
