STM 2

So my guess was right. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw were five or six floating creatures in the air. Every one of them looked disgusting.

Giant eyeballs, deep-sea fish. All sorts of things.

Every one of them looked grotesque, and because they were all half-transparent, they looked like ghosts.

[He opened his eyes!!!]

With a loud shout, a huge eyeball the size of my face came right up to my nose. Then I heard a terrifying question.

[You, you can see me, right?]

My body started to shake like a trembling tree. It wasn’t my will. It was a reflex stored in this body’s memory.

It looked like the owner of this body, Lu Adeye, had feared these beings.

I managed to open my mouth in a situation I couldn’t control.

“…Hey.”

My throat hurt like it had been cut by a blade. I swallowed the pain and barely muttered.

“Move that eyeball away.”

But the deep-sea fish snickered louder and flew around me. I was still half-soaked in the pond and couldn’t even stand, so I didn’t have the strength to curse.

Instead, I had to activate the antenna properly attached to this body. I only had three minutes. If I didn’t, I’d die right after getting out of the pond.

What I needed was the activation code, but my headache was so bad that I couldn’t recall it clearly.

…What was it again?

Quick, three minutes, within three minutes.

Maybe because of the rush, my head started to heat up. At the same time, I felt pain. The back of my head hurt the most.

“Urgh…”

I thought I might die like this, and then one word came out my mouth automatically.

“…Paramita.”

Ah!

My body convulsed, and my blocked breath returned to normal. Then I heard the voice I had been waiting for in my head.

[Code approval complete.]

It was the voice of the bio-implanted nano-robot acting as an antenna. I was still breathing roughly, but I didn’t care anymore.

[Checking implant data. …Data check complete. Hello. I’m Mo, your support unit.]

Finally, I was relieved. But Mo’s next explanation made me bitterly disappointed.

[The number of processing robots currently installed in the brain is insufficient. Performance may be limited or you may shut down unexpectedly during activity.]

‘How many are installed?’

[One.]

Ah… only one. It was frustrating, but this wasn’t the time to complain. I had my first order ready.

‘Block all the original owner’s emotions.’

I’d deal with these annoying things first.

[Searching… setting domain… blocking complete.]

The moment I heard the response, my body immediately stopped trembling.

Was it done now?

I slowly opened my eyes and looked down at my hand. I clenched and unclenched them a few times, then raised my head. I saw the jumping gobies. Even now, they shrieked and flailed to bother me.

“Erase their noise so I don’t hear them.”

[Muting in progress.]

The loud voices vanished, and peace came.

“Now I can finally live.”

Maybe my calm tone made them act differently. They seemed to realize something strange. Of course, it was understandable. A toy that used to tremble with his eyes closed was now smiling.

“You can only talk when I allow it now. Keep making noise, you dumb gobies.”

The creatures that had stopped for a second suddenly lunged at me, but I noticed quickly that all they could do was stir the air. If they could use physical force, they’d have done it already.

‘Mo, can you make them invisible?’

[Current system does not support invisibility.]

Damn, only one unit after all.

‘Filter?’

[Possible.]

‘Then use the Diz-X one…’

[Cannot use it due to copyright violation.]

…Even in another world?

I froze for a second, but then accepted it. Yeah, even across the universe, copyright matters. Taking the big company’s side, I slowly stood up. Water streamed down my body, and I wrung out my clothes. It was another person’s body, but it didn’t feel that strange.

‘Mo, then apply a filter that won’t cause trouble. Something petty and ridiculous.’

Since I ignored them, the gobies flailed even harder. They looked angry, but I didn’t care.

Soon the gobies turned into simple hand-drawn sketches in my vision. The big eyeball turned into a floating dish that wobbled weakly. It suited them perfectly.

“Keep wiggling like that. Who knows? I might even give you some attention.”

The gobies started bouncing more like balloons for a store opening. I ignored them and finally turned my body in the pond. Then I looked around to test how well Mo was functioning.

‘Mo, start modeling all terrain in my field of view.’

A moment later, 3D lines began to overlap on the terrain that was barely visible in the dark. Even though there was no light, I could walk as if it were bright daylight.

***

“Fairy Forest Resort.”

Despite the name written on the building, doctors and nurses moved inside. Then I realized this place was a hosptial disguised as a resort.

“Were you out swimming at this hour?”

The nurse I met in the corridor asked the moment he saw me.

A patient went out in the middle of the night, came back soaked, and he talked this casually.

Could this be a place where anyone can just come and go?

Clink.

The nurse lifted the heavy ring of keys on his waist and walked ahead.

“You have to return to your room before sunrise, or there’ll be trouble.”

Ah, so he pretended not to see me sneaking out.

Why? The reason showed in the information floating next to him.

Mo checked Lu’s memories and summarized the data.

[Name: Marvin

Occupation: Nurse at the resort

Relationship with Lu: Kind and friendly because he takes money from Lu to do favors.

Note: Recently addicted to light gambling and planning to extort more money from Lu.]

As expected, I didn’t care that he took money, but the note made me hesitate.

This information came from Lu’s memories that Mo summarized.

That meant Lu already knew what this nurse was thinking.

Then why did he let him take his money without complaint?

I just wondered, but Mo, always quick, gave the answer.

[Lu Adeye has always spent money freely and lacks financial awareness.]

So the family’s rich. Then why did he jump into the pond?

“Lord Lu, where are you going?”

I was lost in thought and only realized from the nurse’s voice that he had stopped.

He stood before an open door.

“Ah, are you still drunk? The drink I gave you was strong. Don’t tell me you finished the whole thing?”

So it was alcohol. That Lu fell into the pond after drinking.

I clicked my tongue and stepped inside the open room.

But the nurse stood at the door and went on with his useless chatter.

He bragged about how rare the drink was and how much trouble he went through to sneak it in.

“If the director finds out, I’ll be fired right away. But Lord Lu gets bored so easily here, so I wanted to give you a little joy…”

While he worked hard to flatter me for money, I stared blankly into the air.

“Lord Lu?”

“I’m tired.”

An unfamiliar voice came out through my mouth.

The nurse immediately frowned and started complaining.

“I did you a big favor tonight. I gave you alcohol, and I even let you go out at dawn…”

“I’ll pay tomorrow.”

The nurse shut his mouth with his face strained.

I knew I was acting differently from the original Lu, but my body wasn’t in shape to pretend.

I only wanted to rest and meet the informant as soon as possible.

“Think long-term. If you make a scene here and I get kicked out, you’ll lose your source of income, right?”

He looked confused when I mentioned profit.

He looked at me strangely, tilted his head, and left.

“Then… have a good night.”

Then the sound of the door locking echoed loudly.

I was trapped, but I didn’t care. I could take off these wet clothes and rest anywhere.

Instead of lying on the soft-looking bed, I sat on a chair nearby.

“Ugh.”

Just leaning my back against the chair made me groan.

The back of my head hurt, and when I touched it, I felt a swollen wound.

Ah, so the nano-robots entered through there.

It’ll leave a scar, but it’s hidden, so that’s fine.

There was another thing I was glad I couldn’t see. The gobies.

Those things didn’t follow me into the resort building.

They must’ve been bound to a certain area.

If not, maybe something stronger inside stopped them from coming.

“So.”

I raised my head.

“Why are you following me?”