In the middle of the night, a piercing scream rose into the air, awakening them.
That place was designed so that no sound could escape its walls. If that scream was so palpable, it meant its owner's agony was horrific.
Eun-woo shivered on the floor. Rhys had returned his blanket and given him his own, but the bed was still in his possession. Without a blanket, he worried Rhys might get sick.
"I guess screaming is normal around here," Rhys said into the gloom.
Eun-woo still couldn't get used to his presence—or rather, the presence of a Guide. His body was ready to try to flee at any moment.
"Are you okay?" Rhys asked when he got no response.
Eun-woo didn't know how to deal with Rhys. Hours ago, he had been so cocky and careless as to steal his bed, and now, out of nowhere, he showed concern and care.
If Rhys was there, it was for a reason. Perhaps, unlike him, he knew why. He hoped he would be able to give him the answers he needed. That would reassure him.
Eun-woo focused on Rhys in the darkness. He didn't have his shirt on, and cold sweat was running down his forehead, neck, and chest.
"You have a fever." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"No." Rhys sat on the edge of the bed. "I like sleeping like this."
Eun-woo stood up and walked over to Rhys. Without asking permission, he placed his fingertips on his forehead. Rhys's skin was burning hot.
Eun-woo jerked his hand away and retraced his steps. He knelt down and pulled a loose rock away from the wall. Inside, he had hidden several things, including a fever pill. It was the only one he had.
"Swallow it." Eun-woo tossed the tiny pill to him.
Rhys caught the pill in midair and obeyed the order without question. Eun-woo took one of the blankets and returned to Rhys, wrapping it around his body.
"Do you have any other symptoms?" he asked.
The Specimens in the other cells often fell ill, the Men in White would take them out and never return them.
Eun-woo feared that Rhys had gotten sick like them.
He didn't want to lose his cellmate when he'd just met him.
"I treated you like garbage, I shouldn't have." This time, Rhys met Eun-woo's gaze.
The jade glow reappeared in his eyes, and Eun-woo felt faint.
Rhys was definitely a Guide.
One of the Men in White had told him that only Guides' eyes could shine in that peculiar way.
"Okay," he replied without much enthusiasm. His first impression of Rhys wasn't good, but now he was starting to change his opinion of him.
"Am I worthy of knowing your name now?"
Eun-woo hesitated before uncovering his wrist and showing it to Rhys. The guide gently wrapped his hand around his wrist, covering the ink in his skin, and smiled.
"I want to hear it from you."
He didn't know why, but out of nowhere, Eun-woo felt his cheeks burn and a strange feeling settle in his stomach.
Maybe I'm the sick one.
"Eun-woo," he muttered, looking away.
"Eun… Woo," Rhys let go of his wrist and lay back down.
As Eun-woo walked away, he could hear him repeating his name several times as if he were savoring candy. Syllable by syllable, letter by letter, Rhys repeated it with relish.
The heat on Eun-woo's cheeks increased, perhaps he caught the fever.
Yes, that must be it.
***
"Eun-woo."
Eun-woo looked up, but looked away when he noticed Rhys's daggers for eyes scanning him. It had only been a day, and he still wasn't used to being the center of attention.
"So," Rhys continued, "we'll only be fed once a day?"
Once a day is all we need to survive.
They had no set mealtime. The only sure thing was breakfast, while the possibility of lunch and dinner was only a glimmer of hope.
That's why it was important to ration the glass of water they were given with their mashed potatoes; it would be pathetic to die of dehydration in that place.
"Yes."
Rhys grimaced, finding it absurd.
Once a day they fed them, once a day they opened the door for them to go to the bathroom to do their business, and once a week they opened it for them to take a shower.
He didn't understand how Eun-woo had gotten used to that system. He'd barely arrived, and the idea of living like that was already making him dizzy.
"When are the doctors going to show up to cut us open like lab rats? And the drugs? Tell me I'll at least be able to get high on something," Rhys mocked.
Eun-woo curled up on the ground and shook his head.
"You're the first person I've spoken to since I got here."
Those words did nothing to lift Rhys's spirits.
All he could do to distract himself was analyze Eun-woo, from his soft breathing, his graceful blinking that mimicked the fluttering of a butterfly's wings, and the way he focused on anything just to avoid looking at him.
He found it amusing.
"Stop staring at me," Eun-woo said, then turned his back on him. His cheeks were flushed again.
I'm sick.
"It's just..." Rhys sighed. "Why are you helping me? When I arrived, you saw me as a threat... What changed?"
Eun-woo closed his eyes for a moment.
Because nobody helped me.
"Rhys…"
"Yeah?"
"What's it like outside?"
I didn't know much about the outside, but the little I did know was terrifying.
After a terrible war, every fertile being fell ill and died before giving birth, causing birth rates to decline and food shortages.
People killed each other for a piece of bread and a drink of water; newborns began to be viewed as treasures, and global power began to concentrate among factions.
And… that's it.
That was all.
"The outside?"
Eun-woo nodded.
"Before I came here I lived in my parents' basement, I've never left."
The confession felt like a cold shower to Rhys, although, on some level, it made sense…
I also didn't know where to start or what Eun-woo wanted to know exactly.
After the war, Magnus Blackwood became the ruler—owner, executioner, master and lord—of the largest faction on the planet: Zone 0.
This faction was the most prosperous and, at the same time, the one that marked the greatest difference in status among the residents. The inhabitants of one district might be wealthy, while in another district, people were starving.
Blackwood was one of the few pure Guides on the planet, Guides who had been born genuinely and not through medical procedures such as in vitro fertilization—methods used to combat low birth rates.
In that world, the purity of people was highly valued, which is why he had managed to climb so high without anyone putting obstacles in his way.
However, it was of no use to him to be a Guide, as he had no purpose without an Esper.
In truth, that's why the Blackwood Research Center came into being. It was a place where experiments were conducted to artificially create espers, either from conception or by transforming an ordinary person into an esper.
Unfortunately for Blackwood—and fortunately for Rhys—the experiments hadn't worked. The test subjects died instantly, and while some endured the procedures, they eventually transformed into strange beasts with ferocious, uncontrolled instincts that Blackwood used as disposable weapons.
Rhys couldn't tell Eun-woo that
Instead, he told him about how Magnus Blackwood had destroyed all traces of knowledge or culture relating to the Old World—before the war. In schools, children were trained to be soldiers or civil servants in Zone 0.
There was no music other than hymns praising Blackwood's exploits. And books were classified as forbidden objects, so knowledge began to be transmitted orally, and only those with special permission could indulge in their studies.
Each person was given three rations of food a day, and demand was so high that they had to line up several hours in advance to get anything.
There was also a black market where canned food was sold at a high price. People would even trade their organs, their children, and their freedom for a measly can of preserves.
Television, the internet, theater, and cinema were strictly prohibited for the lower class.
Due to the war, the environment had been polluted, leaving a dense fog that made it impossible to see the sky.
Furthermore, the seasons weren't as distinct as they used to be, one day it could be 40°C and the next, a freezing hailstorm could fall.
Eun-woo sighed heavily.
Rhys hadn't understood his question.
What's it like outside? What are the trees like? And the sky? What does it feel like when raindrops fall on you? And snowflakes? And the sun on your skin? What other sounds are there? And tastes?
Eun-woo wanted to know everything.
Knock knock knock!
Three hits.
They both turned to look at the crack in the door.
"Breakfast," Eun-woo said.
Rhys stood up.
"One hundred and eighty seconds, right?"
Eun-woo nodded.
His new partner was definitely a fast learner.