Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Land of suffering (1/2)

prologue:

people think suffering makes one stronger, but in reality, most are tormented by suffering to the point of disfigurement.

they are weakened, disabled, barely hanging onto life, until they die.

…

“shh, don’t rush to act yet. let’s confirm the guard’s patrol route once more.”

in the noisy train, someone was whispering, conspiring about something.

noland lee’s vision was pitch black, his eyelids as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t lift his upper eyelids, let alone open his eyes to see who was murmuring beside him.

what’s going on…

am i not in my own home?

why can i hear the sound of the train wheels and strangers talking?

oh, i remember now.

i stayed up too late last night and fell asleep at the table before closing my computer. the sounds of the train and conversation must be coming from the sound system.

noland lee’s senses were slowly recovering.

the pungent smell of cheap tobacco entered his nose, causing it to itch.

however, as his body was unresponsive and he couldn’t move his limbs, noland lee could only silently endure the discomfort.

meanwhile, the swaying sensation of the moving train became much clearer.

noland lee could feel the vibrations of the wheels rolling over stones.

the subtle details felt so real that it instantly overturned noland lee’s previous assumption.

am i not at home?!

noland lee was shocked.

he tried again to lift his eyelids but still couldn’t open his eyes.

considering the whispers he heard earlier, a disconcerting thought popped into his head..

was he kidnapped?

but these days, even buying a ticket for a green-skin train requires an id. which kidnapper would abandon a car and transport a person on a train instead?

wait… what did that guy say earlier?

confirm the “guard’s” patrol route again?

shouldn’t it be a service staff or security guard?

also, this person’s language was unfamiliar, unlike any that noland lee knew, yet he could understand it effortlessly.

noland lee took a deep breath, had he time-traveled?

“get ready to act,” the person who had spoken earlier whispered again:

“watch the guard on the left side. when he passes us, trip him up, and i’ll break the window. be quick, or we’ll be shot.”

the person speaking was sitting on noland lee’s left, next to the window.

as soon as his voice faded, another man’s voice came from noland’s right hand position by the aisle:

“bro, wait, this kid’s eyes are moving. he seems to be waking up. was the drug you gave him enough? did he hear our plan?”

“don’t worry about him. he won’t wake up anytime soon. he must be dreaming. i poured all the sleeping powder i brought secretly into his water glass. this dosage will keep him asleep until we reach the korabo legion’s base.”

“korabo legion… whoever wants to go can go. we brothers won’t. i’d rather jump off the train and die than go to that ghost place… shh, the guard is coming. get ready…”

the voices on either side fell silent.

noland lee heard their heavy breathing and the increasingly closer footsteps.

with each step the approaching guard took, the wooden floor let out a grating noise that made one’s ears itch.

this noise irritated noland lee, so he forced himself to calm down, his mind racing.

what he can confirm now is:

he must have time-traveled, and it was a soul-based travel.

the body he occupies now was right between two people who wanted to jump off the train.

the headache and weakness, the inability to open his eyes, were all caused by the so-called sleeping powder.

the two people who were conspiring apparently drugged someone else on the same train because they didn’t want to go to some korabo legion.

noland lee could only feel a wave of helplessness.

what should he do now? if these two failed to escape, would he be implicated?