No30 Ch1

When she opened her eyes, she was in a sealed room.

The number 30 was faintly written on the wall. A ringing sound pierced through her muffled ears.

Someone had said this was the sound of auditory cells dying. Who was it that said that? As she thought about it being the screams of cells, a damp sensation revived at the nape of her neck.

“Haa… Haa…”

As she lifted her head while exhaling heavy breaths, she saw other people sitting in the dim room. Including herself, six people were seated facing each other in two rows of three, all wearing seatbelts. There was even an emergency exit nearby, making her think this might be what a private jet looks like.

Who are these people? Why are they all asleep?

She clutched her dizzy head trying to assess the situation, but strangely her mind was blank white with nothing coming to mind.

Not even who she was.

As she realized this, a chill ran down her spine as if cold water had been poured on her.

“Do you remember anything?”

Startled by the low voice beside her, she quickly turned her head.

A man with short ash-gray hair had placed a flashlight on the floor and plopped down in the empty seat next to her. His side profile had distinct shadows as he flicked a stubby lighter.

Who is he?

“…No. I don’t remember anything. What about you?”

She blinked and asked honestly.

“Nothing at all.”

The man answered nonchalantly and turned his head towards the sleeping people.

He’s a soldier. For some reason, that thought came to mind as she looked at his cold, dry profile. Even though everyone was wearing the same navy blue uniform, his large build and expressionless features made him stand out.

“Were you the first to wake up?”

“Seems so. Unless someone is pretending to be asleep.”

He answered quietly, taking his eyes off the people. He looked like he was about to say something but closed his mouth and stared intently. The clicking of the lighter suddenly stopped.

“What is it? Is there something on my face?”

She asked curiously, and after a long pause, the man opened his mouth.

“You seem familiar.”

It was a strange tone. As though a wall had suddenly disappeared.

As she met his deep blue eyes like the ocean depths, she started feeling strange too. It felt like blood was rushing quickly through her veins. As she slowly inhaled, the man’s gaze swept over her lips and neck, landing on her chest.

“Liella.”

Her heart sank.

“How do you know my name if you have no memories?”

“I read it.”

He nodded towards her chest. Only then did she notice the name engraved on her left breast. She quickly tried to check the man’s name too, but he stood up.

“Once your dizziness subsides, please help wake the others.”

His name entered the range of light briefly before being swallowed by darkness.

Aslan.

She rolled the word on her tongue but still nothing came to mind. Meanwhile, the man had started waking the other sleepyheads one by one. A young man with a sharp chin and slanted eyes, a woman with a shaved head like she was part of a religion, a petite woman with braided hair, a middle-aged man with glasses and a protruding belly, and so on. The groaning people all seemed to be in bad shape, as if they had experienced severe motion sickness. Three women and four men in total. After confirming the headcount, Liella carefully shook the remaining person next to her to wake them.

“Excuse me. Could you wake up for a moment?”

As luck would have it, a particularly striking individual was seated next to her. A man named Dylan with black hair reaching his shoulders, piercings in his ears, and tattoos covering his neck. Even without memories, he seemed like the type she’d rather not get involved with. The man drowsily opened his bleary eyes before promptly dropping his head and falling back asleep. Bewildered, she shook his shoulder again, causing Dylan to furrow his brow in annoyance.

“Ugh, so annoying. What is it? Who are you?”

“Well, I’m not sure myself.”

She shrugged in response. Dylan looked her up and down as if she were crazy, then let out a big yawn. He even had a piercing in his tongue.

“I hate bothersome things, so if you’re gonna sell organs, go ahead. Just leave me out of it. But seriously, with an incomplete liver and only one kidney, how much more are they trying to take?”

“I was thinking about corneas actually.”

At the calm interjection, the man’s eyes that were about to close again snapped open. Aslan, having confirmed everyone was awake, ignored Dylan glaring at him and looked around at the people.

“Does anyone remember what happened before falling asleep here?”

The attention of the people clutching their heads and groaning immediately focused on him. Even Dylan furrowed his brow and rolled his eyes. Silence fell over the room for a moment.

“…”

The shock and bewilderment Liella had just experienced flashed across everyone’s faces. There aren’t as many people in the world who can maintain a poker face as one might think. Seeing people unable to hide their expressions in that brief moment, Liella was certain they were all in the same state.

“Based on the current situation, I suspect we’ve experienced some kind of accident and lost our memories except for some basic knowledge. Upon regaining consciousness, I found oxygen masks in the compartment above and survival kits under the seats.”

A deathly silence followed. It was too dreamlike an explanation to hear right after waking up. An accident? Memory loss? Survival kits?

“I also confirmed emergency escape functions and parachutes built into the seats. Therefore, it’s highly likely we are currently inside some kind of aircraft.”

It seemed like a plausible deduction. Hadn’t Liella herself thought of an airship or spaceship as soon as she opened her eyes?

But where were they going? A vehicle implies there must be a destination. Wearing the same clothes, heading somewhere…

Liella stared at the bald-headed woman sitting across from her. The skinny woman was breathing heavily, her face as pale as a patient’s. Unlike Aslan, she didn’t give off the impression of a soldier. What about the middle-aged man with glasses and a protruding belly next to her? He seemed like he’d be good at studying, but… somehow he looked like the type to only handle paperwork. Each person appeared to differ in gender, age and occupation.

What was the criteria for gathering this group of people?

“If we had an accident and this is inside some kind of aircraft…”

Liella, who had been lost in thought, slightly raised her hand and spoke.

“Shouldn’t we get out quickly? With no lights on, is it really accurate to assume it’s safe in here?”

The anxious gazes of the people shifted towards the new voice. Aslan also looked at Liella for a moment. No, looking closely, his gaze was slightly off. More precisely, it seemed to be directed at the window behind her head.

“I had considered that thought as well, but.”

“…”

“There’s a strange object outside.”

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Liella froze with her hand still raised.

Was it due to his monotone voice, or the eerie and quiet atmosphere? Even though he had only pronounced the words “strange object,” an ominous feeling trickled down her spine.

“That’s also why I covered the windows.”

Only then did she notice all the windows were covered with shades. The sharp-chinned man glanced behind him and asked urgently:

“What do you mean by ‘strange’?”

Aslan furrowed his brow slightly. His expression was like he was trying to find the right words rather than difficulty explaining. At that moment, Dylan, who had been shaking his leg nervously, unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up.

“Listening to this, why the hell are you all just waiting with bated breath for answers from some guy we’ve never met? Can’t we just check for ourselves?”

“Wait, it could be dangerous. There’s no need to open it unnecessarily.”

Liella instinctively stood up as well and grabbed his arm.

“Let’s gather more information and confirm things first. There’s no rush.”

“How can you be so sure? How do we know this bastard isn’t lying or drugging us and playing tricks?”

Dylan sneered.

“Him waking up first? Well, maybe he was never actually asleep to begin with.”

It was a plausible hypothesis. In fact, Aslan had watched her open her eyes from beside her. And no matter how she thought about it, this situation felt far too surreal. Doubt is contagious, and she could feel the suspicion Dylan had planted spreading like a disease among the people.

Just as Liella hesitated and let go of Dylan’s arm:

“I saw a corpse.”

Aslan stated flatly.

“…What?”

“As soon as I turned on the lights, a human with half their face melted black approached and peered in through the window. As if wandering in the darkness and drawn to the light.”

“…”

An icy silence settled. People’s mouths hung open in shock. Imagining someone emerging from the darkness to stare intently at the back of their head sent chills down every inch of their bodies.

“Ha. Ahaha, what the hell, this guy is really something. Now that I think about it, looks like he’s the one who’s been drugged, not us.”

Dylan burst out laughing loudly, his eyes narrowed fiercely. The room was so quiet that his laughter echoed ominously by itself.

“I thought you were going to say something, but you just saw a person. They could have come looking after seeing the accident. You missed that opportunity and lowered the shades on your own?”

Dylan, who had been laughing for a while, suddenly stopped and approached with a crooked gait. Aslan stared back at Dylan, who came up to about eye level, without so much as twitching an eyebrow. His expression was as unreadable as someone professionally trained. What was that look he had given her earlier, even if just for an instant? Liella took a deep breath and prepared to intervene at any moment.

“Be honest. You. Aren’t you in cahoots with some human trafficking organization that kidnapped us all together? No wonder you look familiar. You must have been lurking around me before.”

“You have a good imagination.”

Aslan lowered his voice while maintaining his expressionless face.

“Indeed, if I were to sell something, I’d like to cut off your head first to use as decoration.”

“You bastard, are you done tal-”

Creak.

Dylan stopped mid-sentence as he grabbed Aslan’s collar. Everyone’s heads turned at once.

A window shade was open.