【A violation warning has been detected. Responsible invigilators, please immediately implement punishment!】
154 cursed under his breath and dragged 922 out of the dining room while the latter asked, "What violation?"
His question was quickly answered when 001, who was waiting for them by the door, tossed a note over to them, "The violation warning."
With his longer arms, 922 caught the piece of paper, and stared at it as they made their way to the examination center.
"Broken equipment? Is this one of these toothpaste questions again?"
"..."
154 blinked at him impassively.
"...What?" 922 looked back at his friend.
"Nothing." 154 stated curtly; luckily, 001 was too far ahead of them, just out of earshot of the silly question being asked as he pushed open the door to the examination center.
Two dozen scared faces swiveled to stare at the trio, glancing between each other warily.
Being the one with the note, 001 pushed 922 forwards.
"..."
But looking at the faces of the clearly terrified examinees... 922, no, Wen Yuan coud not find it in himself to speak up.
Trying to steel himself, 922 glanced at the note again.
A young boy?
922 looked up at the examinees again. He could eliminate all the girls, and the middle aged people... and that one elderly lady at the back...
All that was left with was one poor boy, maybe twelve or thirteen, with a broken test tube lying by his feet.
"..."
922 tried to open his mouth, to perform his duties as an invigilator, but no words came out.
...
Fuck, how could he!?
This wasn't the first time he was reading the violation notices... 922 knew there was something wrong with this weird ass exam System, pulling in the sick, the elderly, and even children...
But for the victim to be a kid, barely out of elementary school...
922 couldn't do it.
He felt the note being snatched out of his limp hand, and 922 made no attempt to get it back.
"We are the invigilators for this round. I am No.154." He heard 154 speak up for him, but it felt like his ears were stuffed with cotton balls, "We have just received news that one of you didn't follow the examination rules."
The young teenaged boy looked down guiltily at the broken glass by his feet, shaking with fear.
922 had no idea how 154 was being so calm and collected...
Looking around and seeing that no one was speaking up, 154 continued with a deadpanned expression on his face, glancing at the note that he had stolen from 922, "According to our sources, the offender is a young boy. Please come with us."
001 gently pushed 922 forwards, and the invigilator just looked at the small boy who they were supposed to toss into a confinement room for three hours.
The boy's form was shaking with fear, and yet, he still bravely stepped over the broken shards of glass, towards the invigilators.
922 mutely moved towards the young boy, his limbs feeling heavy, as if he were dragging sand bags behind him. He gently grabbed the small boy by the shoulders, and steered him towards the door.
He caught 154 looking at the small boy, anger and sadness flashing through his eyes for a millisecond, before 154 closed his eyes, and turned around.
"We will only punish the relevant personnel who violated the rules. The others can continue to take the exam." 154 finished, as 001 led the other two invigilators and the teenaged boy out of the examination center.
Along the trek back towards the invigilator's quarters, the young boy tugged on 922's sleeve, and squeaked, "What... is the punishment?"
"..." Wen Yuan had no idea how to answer the boy.
How could he... when he was sentencing an examinee to their death?
Okay, that was definitely being a little overdramatic, since examinees couldn't really be hurt inside a confinement room, and were actually pretty safe... but still, it sure felt like he was sending a kid to their doom...
"Solitary confinement for three hours." 154 stiffly replied, refusing to look back at the boy.
"Oh..." The boy looked down, kicking a stone that was in their path, "Solitary confinement sounds... boring..."
922 could see 154's shoulders stiffen slightly; it was obvious that this poor kid didn't know what was going on...
001, for the most part, let them talk. Upon getting back, he ordered 154 and 922 to carry out the punishment and to bring the kid back when they were done, before leaving them to their own devices.
It wasn't like 001 to be so worked up over punishing an examinee; it was obvious that 001 was bothered, even if he tried his best to hide it...
But who could blame him? The kid they were punishing had barely been alive for a decade! One would have to be a heartless, emotionless bastard to not be affected!
Silently, 154 and 922 led the child down to the basement, where the doors of a few rooms were tightly shut, lined down the corridor.
922 held the boy's hand to keep him from bolting off.
The kid might have thought that solitary confinement was boring... but that was only in the real world.
Solitary confinement in the System was far, far worse.
And the child must have been able to sense it, as 922 could feel the boy trembling slightly as 154 slowly unlocked one of the confinement rooms.
154 must have somehow felt the boy's unease, because he turned around, addressing the child, "Solitary confinement will only let you experience the most fearful things in your life. Is there... anything you're particularly scared of?"
"..." The boy gazed at the floor, "I don't like exams. I have bad grades."
"Well... exams are better than dying, isn't it?" 154 gently took his hand from 922's and nudged him into the confinement room.
Slowly, the boy nodded his head, before 154 gently closed the door behind him.
"..."
154 and 922 gazed at the locked door for a few suffocating seconds... before 154 turned around and headed towards the stairs, "Come on, we still have paperwork to finish."
Having no other choice than to follow 154, 922 was going to complain that hey, 154, aren't you being a bit too too callous about this!? We're really going to toss a literal child into a confinement room!? when he noticed something odd.
154 was shaking.
922 wouldn't have noticed if he didn't have an eye for detail... but from the way his fingers trembled as he grasped the railing of the stairs...
154 didn't like this any more than he did... he just hid it way better.
The rumor about the System's avatar having an emotionless, expressionless poker face raced through his mind, and instantly, 922 felt a surge of frustration rush through him.
154 may not be the most expressive, and the way he went about doing things could definitely be misunderstood by some... but 922 could tell that 154 really was just soft and cuddly on the inside, despite the cold outer exterior he seemed to put up.
"I'll go make something to eat first, then I'll join you for paperwork." 922 said, heading for the kitchen.
154 nodded as he looked at 922... then down the stairs, where the confinement rooms were... then, when he thought that 922 wasn't looking, he bolted up the stairs and back to his room, like he had been burnt.
...
Unfortunately for him, 922 had noticed his mad dash away from the confinement rooms.
He must really hate the confinement rooms...
922 had to admit... unlike a lot of the others, 922 didn't really "fear" his confinement room.
Sure, he'd rather not be tossed in there at all, and would do his best to do anything that would warrant any punishment at all... but it wasn't like he'd start crying or piss himself a couple of times if he did end up having to enter a confinement room for a few hours.
Plus, it wasn't like invigilators could do anything to warrant such a punishment either. As long as they didn't break the rules, did their jobs, and didn't do anything ridiculous like burning down an exam center and being demoted into an examinee... the chances of being tossed into a confinement room might as well be zero.
...
He couldn't help but wonder what 154's confinement room was, for him to react like that... It was almost funny, how jumpy he was, acting like a cat that had a cucumber placed behind him...
-------------------
Three hours flew by in the blink of an eye. And contrary to what 154 said... they did not get any paperwork done in that time.
922 waited outside as 154 gingerly unlocked the door, like the door handle would bite his hand off or something like that.
They weren't sure what to expect... but to be honest, a child's confinement room was probably nothing compared to an adult's, who could truly comprehend the horrors of the System.
Peeking inside, 922 and 154 let out a small sigh in relief as the young boy didn't seem too badly affected, hugging himself protectively as he hid under the table.
Upon hearing the door open, the boy immediately perked up, and shot towards the two invigilators like a bullet, wrapping his short arms around 154, who was closer to the door than 922.
"How was it?" 922 asked. They really had no idea what had happened in the boy's confinement room, since they didn't use the surveillance cameras; 001 literally didn't bother with the room, so likewise, neither did 154 and 922.
The boy mumbled, "My bad exams were like whooooo~ bad grades~ you have to stay back and finish your homework before playing with your friends~ like a bunch of ghosts. And then they threatened to eat me."
"... So... was it scary?" 922 couldn't help but ask... because really, it didn't sound too bad.
"I wanted to play soccer." The boy pouted, "I don't want to do homework."
922 couldn't help but laugh, as 154 awkwardly patted him on the head.
Usually, unless something particularly bad happened to them out in the real world... children's confinement rooms were pretty harmless; nothing more than monsters under the bed or studying.
...
Still, it wasn't nice having to send a child into solitary confinement over something as silly as a broken glass tube... even if an empty room with nothing to do would be more likely to kill a child from boredom, rather than whatever horrors it could conjure up.
Also, the fact there were enough children in the System, and enough being sent into confinement rooms for accidentally breaking a rule for them to come to that conclusion.... it was probably more disturbing than any other confinement room.
"Well... you made it through." 922 smiled kindly at the boy, "We have to take you back to the exam center, okay?"
"Okay." The boy let go of 154, and the taller man led the boy out of the invigilator's quarters.
-------------------
Upon returning back to the invigilators' quarters, 922 found 154 finishing up the last of his paperwork, tidying up his desk before filing away his papers neatly.
"You're back." 154 commented, turning around.
"Hmm? Yeah, I wanted to ask you." 922 leaned against the doorframe, "Just now... you seemed particularly scared of the confinement room."
The younger man huffed in indignation, crossing his arms, "Scared? Who, me?"
"Yeah? You were shaking."
"Was not." 154 retorted, "I was just bothered because the examinee in question was a child."
...
That was a very good point. Even if they usually had less harmful confinement rooms due to generally being more innocent, it was still heartbreaking to see a mere child trapped here in this place...
"Yeah, but you literally ran away from the confinement room." Wen Yuan scratched the back of his head, "What's all that about?"
Wen Yuan caught 154 freeze for a split second, his eyes widening in shock and surprise, which basically cemented Wen Yuan's words, but 154 quickly schooled his expression into something indifferent and turned away, "I had paperwork to complete."
922 didn't look amused, "What's inside your confinement room anyways? Is it really that scary?"
154 gave him an incredible eyeroll.
"I bet your confinement room is all about starving to death or something."
"Oh? How'd you know?" 922 asked incredulously, "Honestly... it's nothing too scary, really. But how'd you guess?"
"All you think about is eating." 154 snorted, "Have you seen how much food you pack in your luggages."
"If we're going to be staying here for a while, we might as well enjoy good food." 922 defended himself, "And you can't say anything about it; you don't eat enough!"
"Not my fault your stomach is too big." 154 grumbled, breezing past him as he exited his room, "You're practically a black hole!"
"I just have high metabolism." 922 whined, as 154 patted his back on his way out, before disappearing down the hallway as 922 huffed.
By the time 922 realized that 154 hadn't answered his question... it was already too late.
Wen Yuan could only wonder what 154 had to hide.