The color of his eyes shimmered under the dim light. Harsh reflections filtering through the hologram fell across the space from between his eyebrows down to his nose. His lips parted and closed. Beneath his sharp jawline, I could tell he was swallowing with difficulty. His gaze was fixed on me with all its sharpness, his brows furrowed at me as if I were a prisoner. The moment I looked at this face, whatever guilt lived inside me—whatever wounded me—was dragged into the daylight. I sensed my conscience burning, the man's helplessness, and my own helplessness as I stared back at him in the same state.
"Where am I?" he murmured; his voice was frail, as if trying to shield itself from being hurt. I glanced at him from where I sat. "You're in the apparatus," I said anxiously. His indigo-colored eyes flashed. I quickly added, "You don't remember coming here?"
With an empty stare, he searched himself to see if he knew the answer. "No…"
The coldness in his voice prodded me like a gust of wind.
Even though I weighed what I had heard, I couldn't make sense of it. "No?"
He pressed his hands to the ground and pushed himself into a sitting position. He checked himself over and replied clearly, "No." He lifted his head. I felt the heat of the massive columns loom right above me. "I don't know where I am," he went on defensively. "What are these walls? Why is the light so dim? And even…" He paused as the darkness in his eyes deepened. "Who am I?"
"Don't get angry," I said. How many hours had it been since I arrived here myself? I didn't know. All I knew was that by sharing what I knew, I could ease this helpless-looking person, even a little.
"There's a screen here… Your name should be written there."
When he looked as if he didn't understand, I continued. "You have a task, and you have to complete that task—"
Interrupting me, he denied it. "No. No."
The words hung suspended in the air in that empty moment.
He fixed his eyes on mine with a harshness that left him defenseless. "This place is a prison… I-isn't there anyone here?"
"T-there is," I replied timidly.
"Then where?"
It was hard to explain something I couldn't fully grasp myself. "Why are you injured?" I asked. "There's blood on your face."
"Blood?" He touched his face in shock, then looked at his fingers. The blood must have dried, but his finger was faintly stained.
"I'm trying to remember everything," he said through clenched teeth. "But I can't place it anywhere."
"They bring depression patients here," I continued. "Have you had depression?"
I didn't know under what other circumstances someone could end up here, anyway.
Suddenly, his expression changed. "Depression…" he murmured. "Yes… I had depression. The last thing I remember, I was staying in a psychiatric clinic. And now… I woke up here… W-who brought me here?" He buried his head between his hands and squeezed. The desperation he felt throbbed inside my own body. Scanning his surroundings with hurried eyes, he asked, "Is there a way out of here?" The question sounded as though it was directed more at himself than at me.
"I don't know…" I admitted. "I'm new here. The scree—"
"Screen. We get it!" he snapped rudely. He stood up and walked over to the glowing holo-screen. He acted as if the situation were completely ordinary. He stood motionless in front of it for a while.
This time, I stayed where I was, yet moved along with him in spirit.
His name wasn't written on the screen.
So what about the task? Why hadn't a task been assigned to him?
I couldn't find an answer to that question.
I only looked at my own task, glowing just above the other names: Learn the rules.
The first thing I planned to do was see how long the road was.
How far could I walk on this path?
The walls ended a certain number of steps away, up or down. To turn this miniature city upside down, I decided I would have to set out on a journey. I also had no information yet about where to use the restroom or where to eat. Before starting to walk with doubts swirling in my head, I scanned my surroundings.
The man was still standing. He seemed lost in thought in front of the screen. The faint twitch of his lips and the slight tightening of his right fist gave away his hesitation. "Are you done?" I heard a voice.
Was he talking to me?
"What?" slipped out of my mouth involuntarily.
"I mean, are you done watching me?" He tugged his turtleneck upward.
"N-no, I just… Only…"
"You…" he said, pointing his index finger at me. "How long have you been staying here?"
"New…" I cleared my throat and tossed my hair back. "It's been a few hours since I arrived."
"Oh, no!" he said in disappointment. "There should be others—other people. Take me to them. I need someone who knows more." His finger slowly lowered. "By the way, I'm… Sis. Or simply…" He pursed his lips and looked up. "Never mind…"
Just a few minutes later, we started walking together toward the other side. Sis examined everything he saw in detail, occasionally glancing—like I did—at the sky beyond the walls. At one point, he stopped and struck the wall, wanting to be sure it didn't move. It wouldn't have been wrong to ask, Where are we going? After all, we had a shared reason to reach the end of the road: the apparatus.
But I didn't ask.
"You… Do you know where we're going?"
He took on the question I had been holding back.
I took a deep breath that lifted my chest. "No."
"Then alright… I don't know either. Roads are meant to be walked. J-just a second…" His eyes shifted down to his feet. "What's this?"
I looked where he pointed, controlling my emotions. It didn't take long for the bloodstains on the ground to catch my eye. As I felt my skin pale in sync, I clenched my jaw, trying to steady myself.
"You must not know most things," I said in a broken voice. In his eyes stood a disappointed man. I had a hard time swallowing at that moment.
"Yes, I don't know. Then choose to explain!" He let his shoulders drop.
"Alright," I said, slowly grasping his contrary nature. "Here, on the screen you saw at the start of this road, they give you tasks. You have to do them. If you don't—"
"A punishment room?" he asked attentively, nodding.
"No," I said with difficulty. Should I tell him about the blood spilled on the ground, or the severed arm?
"Death," I said.
"Are you talking about a person's short-term nonexistence?" he asked this time, mockingly.
"Call it whatever you want, but death is death," I replied.
"We can't bargain on that," he said in a more indifferent tone.
"Maybe," I answered. "But the task… Why wasn't one given to you? Your name wasn't on the screen, was it?"
He thought for a moment. His steps seemed to slow. "No."
"Then question the reason for that."
"What else do you know?" he asked. "For example?"
"There's a severed arm here, and the group…" My voice dropped to a whisper. "They talk about hunting…"
"The other patients staying here?" he asked, seemingly unimpressed.
"The group? Yes," I said, nodding.
"It doesn't look like there are animals here," he said suddenly, his voice turning serious.
"Maybe…" I shrugged.
"What else do you know?" His gaze snapped back to me.
"Not much," I said. "My current task is to understand the rules. If I can't do that…"
"If you can't do that, you'll die and all that nonsense?" he said in a normal tone.
I wish I could have taken it lightly.
Did I have to tell him about the miserable woman who fell through the split ground before my eyes, shattering to her death? How could I ignore the blood splattering from around the wheel? In that moment, my instincts told me to stop. Could I trust this man?
"So what do we do now?" he said, ignoring my silence.
"I'm going to explore the area," I said. "How big is this place? Where's the restroom? Where do we eat?"
I felt my heart start to beat faster.
"You're taking the task so seriously, yet you're setting out on a road you'll have to walk for kilometers without preparation."
He was right. Most people knew the apparatus was a city stretching for kilometers.
"People must live near the hologram," I said.
"I think there are also places at stops along the way," he offered. "Always somewhere people can reach."
That was possible.
Now there was no way to understand it except by exploring.