For safety reasons, Teri had ordered the staff to evacuate the residents up to the eighth floor.
And since the cause of the fire remained unknown, every individual was thoroughly checked and forced to wear a white outfit, pocketless, to prevent any attempt at concealment.
Ren was the first to go through.
— "Here, put this on."
Without a word, he took the outfit and changed in a booth. As he was about to step through the door leading to the capsule room, one of the staff members' watches suddenly started beeping.
— "Wait... You're Ren, right?"
Startled, he froze and turned toward the person who had called out to him.
— "Yeah... I literally just told you my name."
The young man stepped closer and held out his wrist, revealing a watch with a glowing screen. A moment later, Vagner's face appeared as a hologram. Ren squinted, still bitter from what had happened in the training room.
— "Hey, my friend. I need a favor: could you take over this guy's post? We're short on hands..."
— "In exchange?"
Vagner paused, clearly surprised by the blunt reply.
— "I like that. You're a straight shooter, huh? In that case, I'll give you a favor."
— "A favor?"
— "Yeah. Of your choice. As long as it's reasonable... and within my power. Deal?"
After a brief hesitation, Ren nodded. The hologram vanished, and the staff member gestured for him to follow him to a nearby desk.
— "All you have to do is check off each name on the tablet when they show up and hand them a uniform."
— "What about searches?" Ren asked, knowing some people—especially girls—would likely object to being touched.
— "Don't worry. The door to the capsule room has a built-in detector. Anyone hiding something on them triggers the alarm. Only authorized clothes and body parts get through."
To demonstrate, the man stuck his arm through the doorway, still holding his watch. As soon as it crossed the threshold, an alarm went off and a 3D image of the object popped up on the tablet screen.
— "Any more questions?"
— "No."
— "Then I'll leave you to it."
Ren sat behind the desk. He looked up and noticed a camera hidden in a corner of the ceiling.
That must be how Vagner found me... The cameras must be all over the complex—only he probably has access to them.
The sound of the elevator snapped him out of his thoughts.
The door slid open, revealing a familiar figure—the boy who had been humiliated earlier in the training room. The confidence he once carried had been replaced by a visible nervous tremor. He still seemed shaken.
— "Name?"
— "N-Noah."
Ren checked off his name and handed him an identical uniform.
— "One more thing: where were you when the fire broke out?"
He hadn't been officially tasked with questioning residents... but he fully intended to make the most of this position, however small it was.
— "I was in the dorms, on the seventh floor... I heard the alarm, then the announcement to come here."
— "Nothing else?"
— "No... Nothing else."
— "Alright, you're good to go."
The arrivals continued. About thirty people passed through, all giving similar accounts—either they had been in the dorms or in the cafeteria when they heard the alert.
But one testimony, in particular, caught Ren's attention.
— "The cafeteria was on fire," said a boy with a dark stare.
— "Wasn't it the library?" Ren replied, frowning.
From what he knew, it was nearly impossible for the fire to have reached the cafeteria if it had started in the library.
— "Still..." the boy added, clearly unsettled, "something felt off. I was pretty far away, sure, but... I didn't feel anything. No heat."
Ren said nothing, merely observing him in silence.
— "Maybe it was the adrenaline... Forget it."
Embarrassed, the boy turned and walked away.
And as if that weren't enough, the next person claimed they saw flames coming from a completely different room on the sixth floor. Troubled by these conflicting testimonies, Ren decided to ask a new set of questions—whether they had trouble breathing, felt any heat, anything related to the fire.
But they all gave the same answer: they had gotten out without burns, without sweating, without suffocating. Unharmed.
And for Ren, there was no doubt left—something wasn't right.
He wanted to dig deeper, connect the dots, but just as his gaze returned to the tablet screen, a new pair walked in.
— "Didn't expect to see you behind a desk, Ren."
It was David, the President's son. Just behind him was a boy with neatly styled hair and a spotless uniform.
— "Excuse me, David, but... you know him?"
— "Sayin, meet Ren. We were together before we arrived in the complex."
At those words, Sayin's expression changed. Until then indifferent, he suddenly wore a friendlier, more welcoming smile.
— "I didn't know Mr.—uh, David had a close friend."
He shook Ren's hand firmly, up and down, like they were old pals.
Close friend? Ren thought. Not exactly the right words. Their relationship was far from intimate—somewhere between suspicion and mutual observation.
Curious, Ren glanced sideways. David stood still, arms crossed, frozen in a strange, unreadable calm.
Since he didn't seem inclined to correct Sayin's assumption, Ren decided to play along.
He forced a small smile and nodded politely.
— "Nice to meet you, Sayin."
— "Likewise!" Sayin replied, visibly pleased to meet someone David seemed to consider a friend—or at least let others believe he did.
David stepped forward and calmly placed a firm yet gentle hand on Sayin's shoulder.
— "If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with Ren alone for a moment."
Sayin nodded, slightly uneasy, eyes darting between David and Ren as if checking whether he'd done something wrong.
Before he left, Ren handed them their uniforms and was already checking Sayin's name off the tablet, next to his photo. Sayin took the clothes, gave a brief nod, and disappeared into the next room.
Ren finally looked up at David.
— "What do you want to talk about?"
— "I want you to tell me everything you know about what happened in the library."
His tone was calm. Too calm. As if he wasn't asking a question, but reminding Ren of a promise not yet fulfilled.
Ren looked away slightly, as if weighing his words or what he could safely reveal. But before he could respond, a loud noise echoed from the end of the hallway, followed by a heated exchange between two staff members.
A voice rang out: — "Another group's coming—get ready!"
David looked over his shoulder, visibly annoyed by the interruption.
— "We'll talk later," Ren replied.
David turned without a word, his coat brushing against his leg with each step.
Ren sat back down, adjusted the tablet on his lap, and glanced again at the camera hidden in the ceiling.
The elevator dinged once more.
Behind the opening doors, a steady flow of residents began to stream in.
But now, Ren was looking with different eyes. He wasn't just logging names anymore. He watched their eyes, their hesitations, their slightly wrinkled or crooked clothing... as if trying to read between the lines of what they were hiding.
A boy entered, out of breath.
— "Name?"
— "Vincent."
He checked off the name and handed over the white outfit. But before Vincent could leave:
— "Where were you when the alarm went off?"
The boy paused briefly, arms crossed.
— "In the game room, sixth floor."
— "Did you see flames?"
— "No, I just smelled something... but it was weird—there was no smoke."
Ren observed him in silence.
And this was only the beginning.
Worn out by the endless stream, Ren glanced at the tablet again.
— "Only two left..."
Of course, that number only counted the non-staff.
Then suddenly, a little girl ran up to Ren.
— "Hi Ren!!!"
— "You're awake?"
— "Yeah, the alarm woke me up. It's as loud as my grandpa's snoring!"
Amused, Ren ruffled her hair—not out of affection, but mostly to observe the reaction of the person following closely behind her.
— "Let's go, Catherine."
— "Put these on," he added, handing over two white outfits.
The girl trailing behind Catherine shot him a glare, clearly not pleased.
But Ren responded with a fake, almost mocking smile.
— "Vagner's orders."
— "Fine," she grumbled, snatching the clothes from his hands and grabbing Catherine by the wrist.
— "Still as pleasant as ever..." he muttered.
The girl next to Catherine was none other than Carla—the one who had once strictly forbidden him from going near the child. And yet, he had ignored her warning.
Under normal circumstances, she would've made a scene over something as small as him touching Catherine. But this time... nothing. No protest. Not even David, who never hesitated to enforce his authority, had reacted earlier.
Why the sudden change?
Ren stood still for a moment, thoughtful.
— "They need me."
Or rather... what he knew. Everything he'd absorbed through his reading in the library.
And they knew it.
As Ren went to crack his neck out of fatigue, the metal collar around it stopped him.
— "So damn annoying..."
Many mysteries had been answered over the past few hours, but none of them were linked to that damn collar. It was still there—cold, heavy, unexplained.
Now that everything was done, Ren tried to bring some order to his thoughts.
An hour passed.
Then the tablet lit up: a call from Vagner.
— "Everything's set. You can send the others on their way."
— "Before you hang up... What caused the fire?"
— "Well... I'm no electrician, you know? Just think of it as a malfunction. Or maybe someone misused a piece of equipment. Oh—and make sure the room's cleared."
Ren stayed silent, analyzing the words, weighing every syllable. Then the call ended.
— "Alright... later."
He sighed and followed the order.
He let everyone out, one by one. Vagner gave him a simple nod—nothing more. Carla ignored him completely.
Once alone, Ren slowly walked around the large capsule room. Something felt off.
He began counting the capsules, one by one.
Of course, he could have just done a quick multiplication based on the rows. But he wanted to be sure.
Then he checked the tablet and compared.
— "Three hundred capsules..."
But his finger froze on the screen.
— "Three hundred and one names..."
One too many.
You might think it was a data entry error—maybe a name entered twice by mistake. But after checking—no duplicates. No repeats. Every name was unique.
He frowned.
Someone... wasn't supposed to be here.