Episode 3
It had been roughly a year since I had possessed someone. Since I had possessed this **“And Then Everyone Was Silent”**, an adult, dark BL novel.
In my previous life, I was just an ordinary graduate student. Who said it? Boys go to juvenile detention when they mess up, and university students go to graduate school.
If someone asked me what I regretted most in my previous life, I could answer without hesitation that it was deciding to enter graduate school.
The reason I even died in the first place was because of graduate school.
I had to handle TA duties, research, and even miscellaneous tasks for higher-ups’ studies that weren’t even mine. Maybe it would have been a little better if I’d been from a wealthy family and didn’t have to work as a TA.
But my family wasn’t that wealthy.
I stayed up several nights straight, stuck between TA duties and the lab.
My limit had always been three nights without sleep, so I thought, “How bad could it be to stay up two more nights?”
And then I really died.
No wonder, on the last day, I felt like a malfunctioning computer about to break down. When someone spoke to me, it sounded distant and muffled, as if I were underwater. Every step made the floor sway beneath me, and I felt nauseous even though I hadn’t eaten.
If I didn’t sleep immediately, I felt like I would die—but whenever I tried to sleep during brief breaks, my head ached and sleep wouldn’t come.
Eventually, I hugged a blanket in the lab to nap and finally fell asleep—and woke up here.
Of all places, I had to possess a book with no dreams, no hope.
“I like you.”
A cornered mouse can bite a cat. I was a cornered mouse, so I could say this to him, as imposing as a black panther.
His crimson eyes stared at me, frozen as if time had stopped.
“What?”
“I like you.”
“….”
His mouth was a straight line, but his eyes didn’t blink at all.
That made him even scarier. I knew better than to look away—predators attack the moment you do. So I stared straight back.
“So I want to get along with you.”
Even a year in, I sometimes forgot that my body was male when I wore a necklace.
“Uh….”
When he didn’t respond, his expression twisted into something even scarier than before. If I said I’d made a mistake confessing, it seemed like he could snap the chains and strangle me right then.
“Get out.”
He growled, twisting his face in obvious displeasure.
“Didn’t you hear me? Get out.”
The atmosphere was tense enough that I stood up with my tray.
Lucky or unlucky, just then the Z-grade meal time ended, and the doors opened.
I didn’t dare look back and ran straight outside.
Why did he dislike me so much? Kalisten seemed interested in Aselia before.
“What’s this?”
“Ah! A-702!”
I nervously shouted my number as the researcher looked down at me like they were monitoring me. I had to say my number first if they spoke to me.
“Why is there so much left on your tray?”
“Ah….”
He glanced at the Z-999 room I came from, then looked back at me.
“That again.”
“Sorry… ugh!”
With a loud crash, I fell to the floor with my tray. I’d been slapped.
Knowing I’d get hit more if I stayed down, I quickly picked up the food and got up. Luckily, Kalisten had eaten all the porridge, so nothing had spilled on the researcher’s clothes.
“Why couldn’t Z-999 finish this?”
“Sor… ugh…!”
This time the slap was hard enough that it took me a moment to stand. Maybe because of the ringing in my ears, I couldn’t hear the researcher well.
“Do it properly next time.”
“Yes, thank you.”
My body shook, and my face hurt badly.
The researcher went down another line to check trays. When I looked up as the brown-haired researcher moved away, Kalisten was staring at me.
The door apparently hadn’t closed yet.
He looked at me, startled, and I found myself smiling unconsciously.
Maybe he disliked being treated well because he was clumsy.
He seemed worried, so when I mouthed “I’m fine,” he turned his head away.
I had been to graduate school—I could handle this.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Having spent my previous life as a researcher, and now being a lab errand boy—life was truly unpredictable.
This week, my job was washing dishes. Once I cleaned the experimental tools and placed them on the shelves, my work was done.
Looking at the clear beakers, flasks, and cylinders gave me a strange sense of nostalgia.
“A-702, you’re so good at this.”
I was confident in washing lab equipment. I’d even suffered days of eczema on my hands from scrubbing.
“Thanks. I’ll finish quickly and help you with yours.”
“Ha, no, I’ll do mine.”
Most kids here endured life lethargically, but some didn’t. Like A-888, who was talking to me now.
He was originally a noble but had adapted well here. Rumor had it he was a duke’s illegitimate child. They said the duke willingly sent him here to become an esper, though maybe it was really to dispose of him.
Sadly, we didn’t call each other by name, so I didn’t know his. And he didn’t know mine.
I remembered Kalisten’s gaze earlier and felt strangely uneasy.
Though he seemed emotionless, maybe he was just clumsy.
“Ugh…!”
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
Someone had left a scalpel with the blade in the container. Usually, only the handle would be in, making it easier to wash.
Blood flowed from my hand, stinging from the detergent.
“I’ll do yours.”
“It’s okay. It’s not a deep cut.”
I endured the sting and submerged my hand again.
“Ugh….”
“Don’t. I’ll do it.”
“No.”
A-888 was especially kind to me. Maybe because few people spoke to him, but he seemed naturally sociable.
He was grateful for my help last time.
“Help me next time.”
“Okay.”
He had injured himself before and couldn’t clean, so I had done it for him.
The sting lasted only a moment. Once my hand was in water, I moved it naturally, and it soon felt fine.
I washed everything meticulously until it squeaked, stacking it neatly, like crafted glass.
“Hey, A-702.”
“Huh?”
“What’s your name?”
I hesitated to answer. But what was so great about names between two A-grades? So I said it.
“I’m Aselia. You?”
“I’m Felix.”
I froze as Felix smiled at me. His snow-white hair and mysterious green eyes—how could I not know that name?
“Actually, I came here looking for someone.”
I checked again—no one else was around. Just the two of us.
My heart raced with tension.
Felix.
Hearing that name, I realized—
He wasn’t a duke’s illegitimate child.
He was the young duke, Felix Magnolia, heir to the next duke.
Next week, he’d leave this lab. He was already an esper, the one who collected Kalisten’s body and took it to another lab he owned.
“Someone?”
Felix smiled slowly, and I instinctively stepped back.
The duke’s illegitimate child wasn’t a real esper. But Felix was—the young duke and an esper in **“And Then Everyone Was Silent.”** He was different from other espers.
Because his father, the duke, was the head of this lab.
“There’s someone I want to kill.”
How much did he want to kill someone to come here pretending to be a test subject? And was it really okay for him to tell me this? What if I told another researcher?
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Well…”
His approaching steps felt heavy, and I stepped back further, making it easy for him to catch me.
“Ugh…”
He grabbed my injured hand and pressed the tip of my cut against the scalpel. The blood, which had stopped, began to seep again. Standing close enough to touch my shoulder, he whispered into my ear.
“Why am I telling you this?”
“Ah, it hurts…”
As he pressed, more blood started dripping, running down his hand to the floor.
“The person I’m looking for has platinum hair and green eyes. Like you.”
“Huh?”
“And that person smells nice, like you.”
He twisted into a crooked smile, and I forgot to pull my hand away.
