X spent as much time as he could teaching Nothing There in its Abnormality World.
The results, however, were… questionable.
If anything, his efforts seemed to have made things worse—if not outright more chaotic.
The creature that could at least barely maintain its first-form "giant dog" appearance before had now nearly fallen apart completely after X 's guidance.
—Literally fallen apart.
A large part of that was because it kept trying, again and again, to forcibly imitate X , yet never managed to grasp the method.
It twisted and mutilated its own body in a self-destructive way, all just to piece together a shell that resembled X .
And what X had been doing all night was trying—again and again—to correct this utterly meaningless behavior.
Mm… it felt a bit like training a dog.
Or maybe teaching a child.
—
"Stop copying me. Pure imitation without anything of your own has no meaning."
"Use your own form when you're with me, okay? Don't use other people's shapes anymore."
"That's not you. What I want to see is your form…"
"I told you to stop copying me…"
"Hey! What are you doing?! Are you really that unwilling to give up on killing me?!"
"Seriously… when you finally realize that you can't kill me, and give up on that idea…"
"Maybe then you'll finally have something of your own."
"…I said stop thinking about killing me already!"
—
A long time seemed to pass.
"…Let's stop here for today."
X stood up.
"See you tomorrow, Null."
He said goodbye to Nothing There, which had by now turned into a heap of writhing flesh, and left its Abnormality World.
After that came the usual routine—chatting with One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds, playing with Punishing Bird, greeting Judgement Bird, and watching the Der Freischütz shoot another unlucky victim through the head.
Just another day.
But perhaps because he had arrived earlier than usual today—
Even after finishing this entire sequence of "inner-company routines," X showed no sign of waking up.
With nothing else to do, he sat on the sofa in the Control Department's main break room, staring blankly ahead and killing time.
Whenever things were this quiet, with no one to disturb him, his thoughts inevitably became unusually active.
And after calming down and thinking carefully, X began to notice several oddities about Lobotomy Corporation (Inner) that he had previously overlooked.
"From the surveillance footage, Abnormalities are generally much larger than employees…"
Scenes of his interactions with the Abnormalities replayed in his mind as he thought.
"But when I enter their Abnormality Worlds, their size compared to mine… doesn't seem nearly as exaggerated as in the real facility."
"Judgement is almost the same height as me…"
"Null doesn't have that massive body it shows on the monitors either. That's why it doesn't feel as terrifying…"
"The Der Freischütz is the same…"
"If there's any exception, it's Little Bird… but she seems slightly smaller than an average human."
"…"
X 's gaze drifted, unconsciously landing on the window of the break room.
"…Hm?"
Because he'd only ever glanced at it briefly before, X was only now noticing something extremely strange.
"…I remember the glass here wasn't like this, was it?"
He stood up, walked to the window, and gently touched it.
Looking outside, all he could see was a blurry, distorted play of light and shadow.
It wasn't that the outside world had changed.
It was because the glass—once transparent—had all been replaced with old-fashioned, rough-textured frosted glass.
Worse still, unknown materials seemed to have been mixed in, completely removing even the most basic reflective properties. The glass could no longer function as a mirror at all.
"…"
X withdrew his hand. Taking advantage of the fact that he still hadn't woken up, he left the Control Department.
He went to the Information Department, then to the Training Department.
Finally, he stopped in the main break room of the Safety Department.
"All the glass is frosted…"
Standing in a corner of the Safety Department's break room, X stared at a spot that clearly should have held something—but was now deliberately empty.
"And…"
"This place… there should have been a mirror here."
He stared at the empty mirror frame and spoke softly.
"B once said that the surface Lobotomy Corporation hid many dark, unspeakable secrets…"
"But now that I look at it, my original intuition was right."
"This so-called 'inner Lobotomy Corporation' isn't any better than the surface one."
"…"
Fatigue and dizziness began to blur X 's vision.
Today's exploration had come to an end.
"I got quite a lot out of today."
He murmured to himself.
"But why does it feel like… the mysteries are only multiplying?"
—
DAY21.
X opened his eyes and sat up in bed.
His mind was clear, without the slightest hint of drowsiness, and his body felt brimming with inexhaustible strength.
And yet—
He felt waves of exhaustion rising from deep within his soul.
Yes. He was energetic in every sense, yet unmistakably tired.
If he had to describe it more precisely, it was the feeling of desperately wanting to close his eyes and rest—yet being completely unable to fall asleep.
This wasn't insomnia. Insomnia left both body and mind worn out.
X , on the other hand, felt more alive than ever.
Perhaps it was because he hadn't properly "slept" in a long time?
What he wanted now, from the bottom of his heart, was simply the peace that came from closing his eyes and resting.
Even if drugs or other methods suppressed sleep, a human's primal desire for it would never disappear.
Humans are born into darkness in the womb. Darkness inspires fear—but also comfort.
Where there is light, there must also be shadow.
And X 's world had already been filled completely by countless, never-extinguishing lights.
There was no room left for even a trace of darkness.
Was that a good thing… or a bad thing?
Beep.
The communicator by his bed emitted a crisp notification sound.
It was an email from Angela.
—
To the Manager—
Sorry to disturb your rest, X .
However, today is an extremely important day—for you, and for the company.
Please arrive at the office at least forty minutes early to prepare for today's work.
Do not be late.
—Angela
—
"…"
After reading the message, X checked the time.
6:47 a.m.
"Angela usually wants me to rest more."
He lowered his gaze from the communicator.
"For her to specifically send a message like this… it really must be important."
X turned off the communicator and took out the hidden inner diary from his drawer.
"There's still almost half an hour before her minimum requirement…"
"I'll jot down last night's events real quick, then head over."
⭐ Want more? Read chapters early on Patreon →https://www.patreon.com/BlackDevil808 ⭐
Advance chapters are finished—real readers aren't waiting, they're already reading.
BONUS CHAPTER SYSTEM10 reviews → Bonus Chapter
• 100 Power Stones → Bonus Chapter
🔥 If you love to read, you don't wait. Your support keeps the chapters coming faster.