7th Floor

Later that night, Jessy woke in a small, bare room. Concrete walls. A thin mattress.

His body ached from the fight with Reef. Bruises bloomed across his ribs like rotten fruit. He tried to sit up. The room spun.

The next morning, the door creaked open.

Instructor Voss stepped in, a clipboard in hand and that same infuriating half-grin carved into his face.

"Well, well," he said. "You survived."

Jessy blinked. 

 He noticed a tray of untouched fruits sat by the door cold and forgotten.

Voss chuckled. "Every breath you take in this place is a test, Grey."

He looked Jessy up and down. "You're on the team. But don't get comfortable. Training starts today."

Jessy didn't have the strength to argue. His stomach growled, a low, angry sound.

Voss raised his palm and motioned for him to follow.

Jessy grabbed a fruit while leaving the room, noticing that his room number starts with 7.

'This must be the seventh floor' Jessy thought.

CRUNCH! KLAMB! Yummy!!

"Can't you eat with your mouth closed?" Voss shouted angrily at Jessy, who was walking right behind, eating an apple.

But can he be excused? He hadn't eaten in nearly two days.

Heading to the training grounds, the sun barely filtered through the metal grates above the open-air training pit. A stale breeze carried the scent of sweat, rust, and blood.

"Run," Voss barked.

Jessy ran.

"Push-ups."

"Pull-ups."

Jessy jumped for the bar but barely made one before falling.

"Bag work. Ten minutes. No breaks."

Jessy punched. Weak. Off-balance. His vision tunneled.

Mid-punching, he collapsed, hitting the ground hard. Stars almost bursting behind his head.

'Pathetic, unlike Mr. Akula, I highly doubt this guy has the potential to become a number." Voss thought as he knelt.

He then slapped Jessy's cheek lightly. "Grey?"

No response.

"Call the doc"

***

A few moments later, Tessa came in a hurry, followed by a four-eyed doctor who entered with a small team of nurses in tow. He analyzed Jessy's vitals and frowned.

"He's Dehydrated. Running purely on adrenaline. And what's with all these broken rips and bruises on his face?"

"I shall transport him to hospital urgently!"

"Fix him," Voss growled. "But not a hospital. Too many questions."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. 

Voss gave him a flat look. The doctor sighed. "Fine. I'll bring in my own team. Quiet. Effective."

And just like that, they started moving Jessy.

As the doctor called out numbers and orders, one of the nurses stepped forward to take a blood sample from Jessy.

Curly blonde hair pulled back in a bun. Bright blue eyes, her name tag read, Lora Johnson.

The same Lora.

She gasped softly, hand pausing near his chest.

"Smelly…?"

On a side note, she did notice that his smell wasn't as bad as it used to be

He was not as smelly as he used to be, although he was still a bit though. 

Jessy was in a coma, so he didn't notice Lora.

Before Tessa could leave the room… Lora asked, frightenedly.

"What happened to him?"

Tessa, with a nice, friendly, and welcoming gaze, said that he was one of the applicants who wanted to fill the role of bodyguard position announced 2 weeks ago by the company.

However, after we finished the interview, he slid down the stairs from the 5th floor to 2nd.

Lora looked a bit worried, but then she thought,

'Well, a typical Smelly move, he is a loser after all.'

"By the way, what did he do in that interview?" Lora thought curiously.

Tessa paused for a few seconds.

"Do I have an obligation to answer this question?" Tessa said with her gaze turning completely cold

"Uhhhh nnn no it's fine "

Said Lora, putting on a fake smile

Lora and the other team of nurses started putting needles inside the poor teenager's hurt body to nourish his body with the substances he needs.

***

Jessy found himself in a strange room, untidy and covered with dust. with a confused expression, he felt that this place was so familiar, but all of a sudden...

He heard screams of a girl, probably the same age as Jessy

"M3r-j#e!"

"This is insane!"

The Poor Teen was Teleported to a very black void, as if he is in space orbiting the planets. But there were no planets, no stars just a weird Glowing window....

'Wait, was it a dream?'

[Memory Restoration Failed...]

[File "M3r@-j#e.exe" is corrupted]

At that moment, he started to recognize the runes, it reminded him of famous webtoons and cartoons he used to enjoy when he was a kid, where the main character had a system that gives him special powers and stuff like that.

'That's hilarious! I am losing my mind.'

Jessy thought that he was imagining things, but...

A new window appears before him:

[System Update Failed, Use The Older Version?]

[Y/N]

'I mean... if this system were real, it wouldn't matter old or new as long as it works.'

"Yes, use the older version."

[System Recognized You, Welcome Back!]

'What does it mean by "welcome back"...?'

[Attributes Menu:]

[Name: ------]

[Codename: M3r@-j#e]

[Rank: **2]

#X: MAX

#X: MAX

#X: MAX

[This Version is too Old. Please Update!!]