WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Max-Level Swordsman of Fusionpunk ◈
Chapter 22
──────
“I gave you clothes. If you’re cold, put them on.”
Kang Doseok spoke without much concern.
[Woooow...]
Amy’s amazed voice came over the comms. She had taken control of the surveillance cameras in Experimental Wing 2 and was watching the whole scene.
[That’s what you say to a kid who just woke up after more than a hundred years in a culture pod? You’re really something, Kang Doseok.]
“She has to get dressed to warm up, doesn’t she?”
[Do you think she said she was cold because she didn’t know that?]
Nisha seemed unable to follow their conversation. She simply pulled Kang Doseok’s coat tighter around herself.
Arkad sighed and crouched in front of the girl.
“Sorry we scared you. We’re here to rescue you.”
At Arkad’s words, Nisha poked just her face out of the coat.
“Rescue me?”
“To be exact,” Kang Doseok corrected, “we came because we need your help.”
Nisha’s eyes shifted anxiously.
“My help?”
“We need to get to the lowest level.”
Nisha’s eyes widened at Kang Doseok’s words.
“The lowest level...”
Her lips moved for a moment before she asked urgently, “Are you going to rescue my mom too?”
[Her mom? Wait. Kang Doseok.]
Amy’s voice came over the comms.
[The subject you said we needed to find on the lowest level was her mom?]
“Yes.”
[...Hold on.]
A moment later, old records began scrolling rapidly across his terminal.
[An adult woman admitted on the same day as Subject N-01. The genetic data confirms she’s her biological mother. Current location: the lowest-level isolation zone.]
Arkad asked, “Is she alive?”
[I can’t confirm that. The lowest level is completely separate from the facility network.]
Nisha raised her head urgently.
“My mom’s alive. She’s been talking to me.”
“How?”
“Inside my head.”
Arkad’s expression stiffened. Kang Doseok wasn’t particularly surprised. He already knew.
“What’s your mom saying?”
“She wants me to come down. Hurry.”
Still clutching the coat, Nisha rose to her feet.
But her legs gave out before she could take a step.
Kang Doseok caught her with one hand.
“Ah...”
“You can’t walk.”
[Of course she can’t. She’s been in a pod for more than a hundred years.]
Kang Doseok picked Nisha up, coat and all. She stiffened for a moment as she suddenly rose into the air.
“...”
Her face pressed against his chest. Through the thick fabric, she could hear the dull beat of his heart.
Thump, thump.
Nisha listened for a moment, then carefully gripped his collar. Without so much as looking down at her, Kang Doseok turned.
Arkad watched the two of them before asking, “Can that child find the way to the lowest level?”
“We could probably find the way ourselves, but we need her help to get inside and open the door.”
Arkad looked at Nisha.
“The door?”
Instead of answering, Kang Doseok turned toward the exit.
“Amy. The way to the lowest level.”
[One second.]
After a brief silence, Amy spoke.
[There’s a freight elevator at the end of the passage straight ahead. It’ll take you to the level just above the lowest one.]
“Open it.”
[Yes, sir.]
Clank!
The wing’s entrance opened.
Kang Doseok stepped into the passage with Nisha in his arms. Arkad followed right behind.
Nisha rested in his arms, quietly looking ahead. Then she turned her head.
“Um, wait a minute.”
Kang Doseok stopped.
“What?”
Nisha pointed to one side of the passage.
A row of rusty lockers stood along the wall.
“My locker’s over there.”
“What’s in it?”
“My little sibling.”
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it, there had been a similar event in the game.
A short event where he found Nisha’s belongings before heading to the lowest level.
He remembered skipping it every time because it had no effect on the rewards.
“What number?”
“Seventeen.”
Kang Doseok approached the lockers. Scanning the faded number plates, he stopped in front of locker 17. Its rusty door was firmly shut.
He pulled the handle.
Crunch!
The lock tore away, taking part of the metal door with it.
Inside were some faded children’s clothes and a small stuffed rabbit. It was an old doll with one ear torn off.
Nisha sat up in his arms.
“That’s it.”
Kang Doseok took out the doll and handed it to her.
Nisha accepted the stuffed rabbit and hugged it tightly. A faint smile spread across the girl’s face as she carefully stroked its drooping ear with her fingertips.
“Aki, you waited a long time, didn’t you? Your big sister’s here.”
Nisha gently brushed the dust off the doll with her palm.
Her fingers paused as she touched the torn ear.
“Mom said she’d fix you up good as new when she came out after the tests...”
Nisha gently wiggled the doll’s remaining ear.
“But Aki was brave and waited for us. Mom, Aki, and I are all going to play together.”
“It’s yours. Do what you want with it.”
“Can I take it?”
“You’re already holding it.”
Apparently understanding that he wouldn’t take the doll away, Nisha tucked Aki deep inside the coat.
She looked down at the doll for a moment, then raised her head.
“Let’s go now.”
Nisha hugged the stuffed rabbit tightly inside the coat.
“To see Mom.”
Kang Doseok started walking again.
At the end of the passage, an enormous freight elevator came into view. Its doors, which opened to either side, were covered in rust and black stains.
Arkad placed a hand on the elevator call terminal.
Bzzzt!
Purple electricity spread through the wiring. The dead indicator lights flickered to life one by one.
[Access secured.]
As Amy spoke, a heavy mechanical noise sounded inside the elevator.
Rrrrrumble!
The metal doors slid apart.
Kang Doseok stepped inside with Nisha in his arms. Arkad followed and pressed the button for the lowest level.
But the button only flashed red a few times. Nothing happened.
[Just as I thought. Standard access won’t get you to the lowest level.]
Kang Doseok looked at Nisha in his arms.
“Hold out your hand.”
“What?”
“There.”
Nisha hesitantly placed her palm on the scanner.
Beeep!
[Subject N-01 confirmed.]
[Access to the lowest-level isolation zone approved.]
Thud!
The elevator floor shuddered briefly.
The metal doors began to close slowly.
[The lowest level is separate from the facility network. You might lose comms when you go down, so...]
Kzzzt.
Static mixed with Amy’s voice.
[Kang Doseok, answer if you can hear...]
“...Hmm. Is this all right?”
The connection cut out. Arkad turned to Kang Doseok.
“It always cuts out when you go down.”
In his arms, Nisha hugged the doll and tightly gripped his clothes with her free hand.
A heavy silence settled over the elevator.
Rrrrrrrumble!
Then the old freight elevator began descending, shaking violently.
* * *
The freight elevator descended for a long time.
Before long, something began scraping against the outside of its metal walls.
Skreeee!
The elevator wall trembled slightly inward. Then, from beyond it, came a prolonged sound like thick liquid flowing down.
Gurgle.
Arkad put an ear near the metal wall, then immediately pulled away.
“I think there’s something making noise outside.”
“I’d recommend not listening.”
“Why?”
“Because it probably won’t be pleasant.”
Arkad frowned but didn’t put an ear to the wall again.
Nisha suddenly hugged the stuffed rabbit tighter in Kang Doseok’s arms.
“Mom’s happy.”
“Because you’re coming down?”
“Yes. But she’s scared too.”
Arkad looked at Nisha.
“Why would she be scared to see her daughter?”
Nisha couldn’t answer.
“I don’t really know.”
“Ask her.”
“She won’t answer. She just keeps saying she’s sorry.”
Kang Doseok said nothing.
He knew what Nisha’s mother was sorry about.
Rrrrrumble!
Nisha’s grip tightened with every violent shudder.
Kang Doseok looked down at the girl in his arms.
“Scared?”
Nisha shook her head.
“No. Mom’s getting closer.”
“What’s she saying?”
“She isn’t saying anything.”
Arkad looked over at her.
“Didn’t you say she kept calling you earlier?”
“She’s gone quiet now.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than the elevator shook hard.
Thud!
The old lights flickered a couple of times, then switched to red emergency lighting.
Clank.
The elevator stopped.
[You have arrived at the lowest-level isolation zone.]
The tightly shut metal doors slowly slid apart.
Psssssh!
Freezing air rushed into the elevator.
Beyond the doors stretched a long, narrow passage. White frost covered the walls and ceiling, and black, dried bloodstains trailed along the floor into the depths.
Arkad leaned out first.
“This place feels completely different from upstairs.”
Kang Doseok stepped out of the elevator with Nisha in his arms.
Crack.
The frost split beneath his feet.
Something dark red showed through the frozen floor. At first, Arkad thought it was piping.
“...This.”
The thick red tubes twitched at regular intervals, pushing liquid farther inside.
Thump.
A low vibration traveled up through their feet.
Ice crystals pattered down from the ceiling.
Arkad slowly looked up.
“Did... the building just shake?”
Thump.
This time, it was a little clearer.
A long crack split the white frost covering the wall. Beneath it, red flesh contracted, then slowly swelled.
Metal pipes and electrical wires were half buried in the flesh.
Nisha sat up in Kang Doseok’s arms.
“Mom.”
The girl’s voice spread down the passage.
At that moment.
Thump!
The entire lowest level pulsed powerfully.
The flesh covering the walls, floor, and ceiling writhed all at once. Hot air burst from the previously still vents.
Whoooooosh!
It sounded as though something enormous was breathing out.
Arkad’s face stiffened.
“...Holy shit. Don’t tell me her mom is...”
“Mom. I’m here.”
Nisha wasn’t afraid.
Instead, she held up the stuffed rabbit as if nothing were wrong and looked toward the end of the passage.
There was no door there.
Only layers of thick flesh tangled together, completely blocking the way.
Nisha spoke softly.
“Mom? I said I’m here. Oh! I’m home.”
Crrrrk!
Riiiip!
The center of the red flesh split open.
The red tissues that had been stuck together pulled apart to either side. Slime stretched between them in threads, revealing a dark passage.
Nisha tilted her head slightly in Kang Doseok’s arms.
She blinked for a moment as though listening to someone, and her face slowly brightened.
“Mom says to come in. She asked who you were too, mister.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I said you were the person who rescued me.”
Nisha looked at the open passage, then up at Kang Doseok.
“Then she said you’re both invited too. Let’s go! Let’s go see Mom!”
She smiled, hugging the stuffed rabbit tightly.
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