I tried to take a quick peek of what's behind the brick wall, still hiding behind the bricks. I was astonished to see a known face. It was our new professor Mr. Han who is also a scientist, was hired for a few days to fill in while Mr. Bang is back. But I was bothered more when my vision shifted to the left of Mr. Han. There was a huge tank filled with water, a bunch of connecting wires with strange flat metal heads stuck into different parts of a human body. The actual thing that bothered me was not the tank but the human inside the tank

KANG-EUN-HA....?

My brows scrunched as I thought

Wha- is this man crazy?!!

I gazed at him while he was busy with toggling some controls and typing something on a machine with a screen on it which was quite huge, almost felt like the one from sci-fi movies. My eyes skimmed over the room to find something to intervene in his plans. But my fortune was not with me that day, it was to no avail. Then a sharp sound of something dragged my attention back to the sight. I slowly grabbed a brick from the uncemented wall and tiptoed slowly towards the man who was busy operating his machine.

I took steps briefly but swiftly to reach him as quickly as possible before he notices me trying to bang the brick on his head. Suddenly I was greeted with an intense aura that said "One more step and you will be killed" as I was only a few feet apart from him. Professor's stance stayed still like a statue yet quite intimidating.

Shit! Am I caught? I felt a few drops of sweat on my forehead.

The Man in front of me turned to face me, a vicious smile on his face.

"Are you here to serve as a test subject too?" He scoffed.

Without much delay, I threw the brick in my hand aiming for the professor's head. I failed. The professor successfully dodged my hit but the brick landed on the keyboard embedded on his precious machine.

"OH NO! My Neuro-vein generalizer" he spat out the words that were out of my understanding. He turned towards me and gave me the look.

"YOU!" He grabbed the brick that I threw in his direction just seconds ago and he broke into a sprint towards me. I took a few rushed steps backward as I shielded my face behind my hands held in a cross, closing my eyes forcefully. I couldn't run around to save myself due to the holes in the ground also the point where I was standing was already the dead end. If I took one more step behind I'd be dead meat. Even after my ready stance, I didn't felt an attack. Dead silence was all I heard.

After a moment I opened my eyes to check on the situation. I peeked through my crossed arms and

Baaam!

Something really hard hit my forehead. I got my balance back again before I lost it for a while there. I felt something on my forehead as I touched it before realizing it was blood.

B-B-B-Blood!

Fear visible on my face. Then my eyes drifted back to front to see another incoming swing of professor's bare hands. Thankfully I dodged it with ease since he's old and fairly slow compared to a young man like me. The only privilege I had against him.

Now I didn't let my guard down as I prepared myself ready for another incoming swing. While the Dodging this one successfully too, the professor leaned down a bit clearly out of breath. I took this as a chance and grabbed his hands all the way locking them behind. The professor still struggled and landed a hit on my nose with his head, breaking himself free. I held my bleeding nose tight

Tsk... now this geezer is pissing me off. I was holding back just because of his age. Now I won't hold back!

While both of us unarmed, in search of a weapon, my eyes spotted on a piece of broken tile. The geezer with his back facing me was trying to grab on the brick again while crawling towards it.

I dashed in his direction and landed a hit on the head with the piece of tile. The Professor cupped his head with both his hands still conscious. I clicked my tongue again.

This one is a tough one.

I grabbed him by his caller, made him face me as I rained punches on him. At that time I thought it was relieving my build in frustration from failures throughout my life. The sound of a fist hitting meat was the only sound audible in the drop-dead silence along with some buzzing sound from the machine attached to the tank.

I went a little overboard with my emotional punches. When I became calm enough to become conscious of my surroundings, I noticed that the professor had already passed out with his face bathed in blood and bruises from the punches.

I took a deep breath while I noticed something ringing in my head that was going on for a while now. It was not from the machine it was from the annoying system. Multiple red screens appeared in front of me. Each of them showed a different warning on them.

[You failed the mission!]

[Penalty will soon be received forcefully]

[Failing the mission sometimes may result in drop into your rank]

[Processing penalty payment method...]

[Processing penalty payment method...]

[Processing penalty payment method...]

The letters written on the screen flashed a sense of anxiousness growing inside me. I quickly glanced at the tanked before running towards the machine to make it stop and get Kang Eun-Ha out of that thing.

I toggled with some buttons here and there which looked different from the others. Then I searched for the main power supply for the machine. There were none. Suddenly another set of red screens blocked my vision.

For God's sake! Let me save her. She might not be dead yet.

But the system

[Warning! an Earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 is approaching]

[Warning! The building might collapse. Get out of the place before the time]

[Penalty will be delayed!]

[Estimated time left for the earthquake to take place 04 minutes 59 seconds (04:59)]

Shit!

I grabbed the tile from the floor, the same one which I threw minutes ago. I held it tight and with both my hands holding the heavy piece of tile banged it several times on the machine to stop its operation. A window on the machine's screen popped up. It said "Do you want to end the overwrite operation. Warning! It may have side effects on the test subject" Without much thought, I pressed the button to select yes on the keyboard several times and rushed towards the tank where Kang-Eun-Ha was trapped.

I quickly skimmed over the corners for an opening but none were found. The tank was too huge and had quite a tough glass making it impossible to break it in the given time.

How the hell did he put her inside this thing?

I then noticed a small keyhole at the other end of the tank. I rushed towards the professor and dig all his pockets from his doctor's jacket.

I found a key significantly small than a normal-sized one. I struggled a bit for rotating the key before I unlocked the glass tank door. I stood behind the door's opening, knowing the water will come gushing at me if I stood in front and then opened the door I'll be taken with it. While the water was draining out I asked the system with a stern tone.

"Show me the time left"

[Estimated time left for the earthquake to take place 01 minutes 49 seconds 01:49]

I quickly entered the tank grabbed her hand and yanked it with all my force towards me breaking her free from all the wires containing metal heads stuck all over her arms, forehead, and bare legs. I got her out of the tanked while not entering it myself.

I had a firm hold of her waist and carried her in my arms to lay her down and examine her status. I leaned towards her before placing her on the floor.

I placed my figures near her nostrils to feel any air flowing. Thankfully I did feel it.

"She's...Alive" I grinned as a sense of relief struck me. But that didn't last long, as the things around me suddenly started vibrating. Slabs of concrete cement falling down around us. One of the larger slabs fell on the professor, crushing his face to nothingness as I simply watched him die, helpless. I carried Kang-Eun-Ha again, and taking cover in a corner, hoping for our safety. I saw the machine and the tanked crushed into pieces while shrinking my body also trying to cover Kang-Eun-Ha. A small piece of slab hit me, in the same place where that bastard professor hit me before, resulting in a deeper wound.

When I felt it's all over, things became quieter around me. I pumped out her stomach to remove the excess water from her abdominal cavity, I remember this process is called abdominal tap. She was breathing just fine so didn't need air to be blown in her lungs again.

I finally took a breather before standing up. But no strength in any of my muscles, I felt like my soul was leaving my body. I almost couldn't feel my legs before realizing I was falling down straight on the ground.

THUD!

I don't remember much what happened after that. But I do remember gazing Kang-Eun-Ha for a brief moment before having certain thoughts.

I'm glad I checked her vitals again even though the system said I failed the mission. I'm glad I was able to save her-