Chapter 18: The Test of Yamaguchi Mirei

  (This chapter is very dark, you can skip it...)

  Everyone is like a two-story building. The first floor has a living room and dining room, the second floor has a bedroom and study, and most people move between these two floors. In fact, life should also have a basement without lights, pitch black, where the soul resides - Haruki Murakami

  In Lee Chul's world, most people are confined to the basement. If someone he cares about, like Lee Hyori, Yoo Joo-hyun, Lee Jin, or Sung Yu-ri, who live in his building, go out, they close their hearts and don't allow anyone near, not even the front door on the first floor. But if someone enters, such as Kim Min-hee, BoA, Choi Soo-young, or someone who has secretly moved in without him noticing, he will wholeheartedly welcome them and open up completely. That's just the kind of person Lee Chul is.

  This cellar, except for a thread of red light shooting out from the corner of the wall, has no other colors, all black, pitch-black, dense black. In such a space, there is not a single ray of light, no sound, and even no one to talk to, a dead silence that makes you unaware of the passage of time, unaware of the rotation of colors, only aware of the drowsiness that cannot be reached. In such an environment, the best way to consume it is undoubtedly to sleep, but the oppressive feeling of the pitch-black space is like a thousand-pound boulder, heavy and direct, passing through flesh and bone, pressing on the heart. How can one lie down peacefully? How can one close their eyes in a world that was originally dark and lightless...

  Because the sunlight outside the cellar can't be seen, it's also unknown how time is passing. This kind of waiting is very painful, just like a needle that has already pierced into the flesh and blood, except for the initial pain, after getting used to it, there isn't any feeling, but the needle is still really stuck in the flesh, as soon as it's touched, it hurts straight to the heart and reaches the bone marrow; also like a leech staying on the body, able to feel it swallowing one's own blood bit by bit, yet without any feeling...

  Li Qiu's eyes had been open for a long time, he didn't know how long it was. At first, he was still calm, but now he couldn't control his hands, constantly reaching into the big plastic bag next to him to grab food, regardless of whether he was hungry or not. He would take something out, tear open the packaging according to his feelings, and start eating. In this closed and dark space, apart from eating, he didn't know what else he could do - the wrapping papers of bread, chocolate, and cookies piled up in front of him, while plastic bottles of purified water lay quietly scattered around...

  Time is passing, but it's hard to tell whether it's fast or slow. Gradually, the silent Li Qiu's emotions began to erupt, picking up an empty plastic water bottle beside her, tightly grasping it with both hands, constantly twisting it. The deformed plastic bottle emitted a hoarse sound, becoming the only sound in the cellar. The painful, twisted sound echoed incessantly, "crackling and popping" non-stop, reverberating off the cellar's walls, again and again, for a long, long time, without ceasing...

  However, soon all the plastic bottles were twisted off, and the shriveled plastic bottles were thrown into the corner of the wall, everywhere. Li Qiu, who couldn't catch the bottle, started drinking water again, and as soon as he finished drinking, he started twisting the bottle again, letting the sound continue to echo...

  A confined space is like a cage, but this cage locks up not the body, but the heart! If you don't make some noise, it's easy to get lost in the endless darkness and emptiness!

  This cellar is like a voiceless overcoat, a short skirt that has lost its luster, lying on an empty bed like a beautiful woman, driving this man crazy, always easily seduced!

  In physics, there is a definition that the movement and stillness of an object are relative, movement is absolute, and stillness is relative. Humans are also objects, and movement often occurs, but if one person suddenly can't find a reference point, what kind of feeling would it be? The movement continues, but not at all perceived, that is, entering a state of stillness. This underground cave was pitch black, without any sound, as if the person was in a world without any reference points, placed in stillness.

  Everything was quiet again, Li Qiu's gaze began to fix on the red light emanating from the corner of the wall, dazed, stunned, and foolish. This beam of red light had become his only reference point! In the still world, some fragments of memory began to struggle out of the muddy sediment at the bottom of the sea, slowly rising up until they finally broke through the calm surface of the water, stirring up layer upon layer of huge waves! But Li Qiu felt that this memory was not his own. Then he felt that his body was slowly losing sensation, no, it was as if he couldn't control his own body!

  ……

  Inside the house, Yamaguchi Mireiko sat on a recliner with a cup of misty green tea under the bright daylight lamp, carefully reading a book. On the monitor beside her, it was displaying the footage shot by the camera in the basement. The infrared camera image was black and white.

  From time to time, Yamaguchi Mireiko would glance at the monitor with a spare look while reading her book, observing Li Qiu's changes, her face expressionless, glancing and then continuing to read her book, looking for a while before glancing again.

  "This kid is interesting, can stay inside for a whole day, so far, it's quite outstanding!" Yamaguchi Mirei was constantly admiring in her heart, in her expectation, Li Qiu would not last more than half a day, or even shorter! The enclosed space, the soundless space, is very easy to make people lose themselves, very easy to drive people crazy. Humans are social creatures after all, since evolution, they have always been living in groups. Dark and closed spaces can easily crush a person's mind, being able to last half a day is already considered extremely mentally strong..."

  The purpose of Yamaguchi Mireiko's test is still to test the mental endurance of her students. Without a strong heart, how can one withstand the unpredictable entertainment circle and the torture of constant failure? In such circumstances, it is easiest to bring out what is hidden in a person's heart, without needing to guide or question them, it will naturally come out on its own. What she needs to do is discover what is hidden deep within their hearts - their persistence, weaknesses, and softest inner selves. And then, teaching them becomes very easy, this is also the secret to her successfully cultivating a large number of students...

  "Huh?" On the screen, Li Qiu, who had already gone crazy and become stupid, suddenly became abnormal again, not "normal" again. Li Qiu, who had never stood up before, stood up, stumbled at first, then adapted and took a few slow steps, standing in the center of the cellar, doing some simple stretching exercises!

  "Is it really that extreme?" Sakaguchi Mireiko was astonished by Li Qiu's reaction, which was too abnormal, eerie and strange. Sakaguchi Mireiko had used this method to test her students many times before, but she had never seen such a situation arise! Suddenly, Sakaguchi Mireiko thought of a very important question, and immediately walked over to the bookshelf, pulled out a psychology textbook, and searched for an explanation for the doubts that flashed through her mind.

  "Wife, I have something to tell you." Yamaguchi Mireiko was searching for books on the bookshelf, and Fujiki Masaru walked in with a slightly excited face.

  "There's something to talk about later, come help me find a few books. I'm old and my brain isn't working well, probably on this bookshelf, books about abnormal psychological phenomena. I want to continue observing that child! It's too strange!"

  "What's wrong?" Tōgi Shō walked up to the monitor, took a look, and didn't think there was anything out of place. "This kid, they've got some endurance, huh? They've been at it for a whole day and they're still bouncing around."

  "No, it just changed, before that everything was normal, I mean, a normal black room reaction, now it shouldn't be considered normal anymore?"

  "Wife? This..."

  ……

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