Seeing Felix writing and thinking, Vincent stood up. "Plok," he clapped his hands once and smiled.
"Alright, while Felix is writing, perhaps Irwan can go first," Vincent said.
"O-okay, I'll tell my story," Irwan said.
Irwan recounted everything that had happened to him until he ended up living in the abandoned house. Brian, Lusi, Nadia, and Riana looked at Irwan with pity, but they seemed to understand what Irwan had gone through.
"Don't look at me like that! I'd rather you beat me up than look at me like that!" Irwan shouted, standing up in anger.
"Calm down, Wan, I get it. I'm not looking at you like that out of pity; I'm looking at you that way because your situation is more or less the same as mine, understand?" Brian said, standing up and putting a hand on Irwan's shoulder.
"Yeah, sorry, Brian," Irwan said, sitting back down.
"Plok... plok," Vincent clapped again and smiled broadly. Irwan turned to glare at Vincent with an angry look.
"You think my story is funny?" Irwan asked.
"Oh, my apologies. I'm appreciating your courage, because it takes courage to tell your story. Please don't misunderstand. Now, next up, Nadia," Vincent replied, smiling.
Nadia looked down, rubbing her hands together under the table. Seeing Nadia looking scared, Irwan took her trembling hands to help her find her courage. Nadia looked at Irwan, who nodded, then she took off her glasses.
"My story... so-sorry, this isn't a pleasant story to hear," Nadia said.
Nadia began to describe her situation. She lived with her mother but had no idea who her father was. To raise her, her mother, who worked as a sex worker, toiled endlessly until she became ill and bedridden. Every day, Nadia was tormented by her mother, who truly did not want her in her life. Her mother repeatedly called her clients to the house and asked Nadia to serve them. However, most of them refused due to Nadia's fragile appearance.
Her mother considered her a truly useless child who didn't produce anything, which deeply hurt her. She tried to meet her mother's expectations by becoming an online prostitution worker, but instead of getting clients, she ended up getting caught by the police and arrested. Because of the police's enticing offers and her innocence, Nadia exposed everything, and eventually, everyone involved was arrested by the police. However, her mother became a target of the syndicate behind the online prostitution operation that was busted.
Seeing her mother tormented every day by the syndicate members until she became completely paralyzed, Nadia felt guilty and tried to end her life multiple times. However, the syndicate members wouldn't let her die easily. Finally, for a year, Nadia was used for entertainment by the syndicate members until her uterus was diagnosed as destroyed by doctors, and she was told she would never be able to have children.
Feeling completely worthless as a woman, coupled with her guilt towards her mother, Nadia fell into drug addiction and repeatedly wanted to commit suicide. Her body became extremely thin, and she had no will to live at all until she finally found the Salvation forum and joined this group.
"Hik... hik... I-I'm sorry," Nadia cried, resting her head on Irwan's shoulder next to her, who immediately embraced her.
"Plok... plok... plok," Vincent clapped again. "Brak," Brian immediately stood up and grabbed Vincent's collar, his hand ready to punch him in the face.
"Hey, calm down, Brian. As I said earlier, I appreciate her courage..."
"What you're doing is inappropriate! You don't understand what she feels, or what any of us feel!" Brian shouted, cutting Vincent off.
"Aaah, so that's it. What do you find inappropriate, huh?" Vincent asked, his voice suddenly deepening as he patted Brian's hand that was holding his collar.
Brian's hand was released, and he was stunned. He stared at Vincent, whose face had turned terrifying and was looking at him sharply. "Plok," Vincent clapped his hands again, and his face returned to its previous smile, and he sat back down. Seeing Vincent sit down, Brian also immediately sat back down. He turned to look at Irwan, who was shaking his head while hugging Nadia next to him.
"Haaah, so it's my turn, right?" Riana said.
Riana stood up and looked at everyone. She stared sharply at Vincent, who was still smiling faintly.
"I'm the same as (pointing to Nadia) her, (pointing to Lusi) her, (pointing to Irwan) him, and (pointing to Brian) him. My parents sold me to their boss just to pay off debts. I was forced to marry an old man much older than me, and when I ran away home, my parents actually reported me to my prospective husband. Then I was caught, tortured, kept awake for a month because I was passed around by many people. Then I was returned to my parents. I thought my suffering was over, but it turns out I was sold again to another boss. So, rather than being used as a plaything by those bosses for the rest of my life, I'd rather die. But strangely, my parents wouldn't let me commit suicide at all. That's why I joined here. Is that clear, admin? Please don't clap," Riana said irritably.
"Alright, alright, it's clear. A strong enough motive. Alright, now it's just Felix," Vincent said.
"O-okay... th-this," Felix said, handing his paper to Vincent.
Vincent immediately read the paper, nodding his head and keeping his mouth in a constant smile.
"Hmm, so that's it. You're considered untalented and forced to study constantly even though you're already ranked number one in your entire class by your father. Your mother is gone, and you're an only child. At school, you're bullied by all your classmates, even female students bully you. When you complained to the school and your father, your father actually beat you until you were in a coma for a month because you hit a table edge and suffered a severe concussion, and since then you've become a stutterer. In addition, you've also been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and told you can only live until the age of 20, but your father just left you. Then you were even more bullied at school because of your stutter, until you finally intended to commit suicide, which is why you joined here. Alright, I understand, a strong enough motive as well," Vincent said.
"Th-that's r-right, so... n-now... or... l-later... it's all the same. I d-don't... h-have... a... f-future," Felix said.
Vincent folded the paper and put it in his bag. Then he pulled out seven syringes filled with a yellow liquid and gave them to the other six. Of course, the six wondered what Vincent meant by giving them syringes complete with their still-capped needles.
"Hey, what's the meaning of this?" Brian asked.
"You hold them. We're leaving now, and when we reach the village, we'll all inject our arms with the yellow liquid in the syringes when we arrive at the house provided there. Now (pulling out a paper and putting it on the table with a pen), I want you to sign your attendance," Vincent replied, smiling.
Vincent signed the paper first, then passed it to Brian. After all six had signed the attendance list, Vincent stood up and walked out of the room, inviting the other six to follow. Vincent re-entered and sat in the driver's seat. Brian sat next to him, Irwan, Nadia, and Riana sat in the middle, while Felix and Lusi were in the back. Brian turned to look at Vincent, whose head was above the steering wheel and could see ahead, even though Vincent's body appeared short.
"There's something strange about this person. How can his feet reach the pedals but his neck be above the steering wheel? He shouldn't be that tall," Brian thought to himself, glancing at Irwan in the back who was also looking at him from the edge of the window.
"Ready?"
Vincent started the car and turned to look back to reverse. After exiting the building and on the road, the car immediately sped towards the village. Irwan, sitting right behind Vincent, continued to observe Vincent from behind while holding his syringe.