First experience
The doors opened to a large room with many agents walking around and talking. Some were reading their handbook. The room had four more acces leading to long hallways. All the employees had that white skin same as Naegi and his supervisor. The former started to eye every passing agents for a few seconds then commented
"I don't see any monsters."
"Haha! Well they are in their containment rooms! I can't imagine what kind of mess we will bein if they were free all the time!" Connor grinned, "Alright, say hi to the Administrator!"
"He's here?" Naegi asked.
"Up there." the tall man pointed at a camera, "Once you'll wave to him, you'll get your first task."
Naegi looked up at the camera and slowly waved at it, suddenly his handbook vibrated. He took it out of his pocket and saw that he got a message labeled: 'Task #1: Consensus Work on One Sin and a Hundred of Good Deeds'. The Ultimate student raised an eyebrow at the task as Connor looked over the teenager's shoulder to read the task.
"Aah! First task is with Onesin! That's a very good start, a completely inoffensive abnormality to beginwith. Come with me, I'll guide you to its chambers." the tall man smiled and started to walk towards one of the large corridors on the right wall of the room.
Naegi followed him, but noticed during his short sprint a man walking out of a big metal door, the man had hundreds of spiders all over him. He didn't looked that shocked though, simply pushing the spiders away from his suit.
Naegi hoped he won't have to work with whatever was inside that room.
He quickly catched up to Connor who was calling an elevator at the end of the hallway, when it arrived a few agents walked out but not without greeting Connor and welcoming Naegi to Lobotomy Corp.
The elevator went down, deeper into the ground. Naegi asked just how deep was the facility, but Connor said he couldn't answer that question as he didn't know himself. That there was still more sections to be added that he didn't know about.
They came to a stop and the door opened to another smaller room that had a big opening on the left for a corridor and another elevator on the right. More people greeted politely Connor.
"You're pretty popular." Naegi commented.
"Hehe, well I'm a level 5 employee and one of the strongest one here. Plus it's my second facility."
"What do you mean?"
"Well I first worked in another Lobotomy Corporation Facility, under another Administrator."
"Why did you get transferred?" Naegi asked, intrigued.
"Well that's a question you shouldn't ask onyour first day! Anyway, we're here." Connor announced as he stopped in front of another large metal door.
Naegi looked a bit uncertain about what a Consensus work meant so he asked his supervisor.
"Well, you just have to talk to the Abnormality, obviously some won't answer back, like Onesin for example. Since it's your first day, just present yourself, explain why you're here, etc, you know? I'm sure you're going to do a great job!" Connor grinned as he opened the door and practically pushed Naegi inside.
"W-Wait! Don't I have to prepare myself?" the ahoge teenager asked in a worried tone as he turned around.
"Well the Abnormality won't be in a happy mood by itself! So remember, don't be scared and just present yourself. When the task is done, the doors will open automatically, and wait for me in the main room. I have my task to attend to. See you later!" Connor grinned as he took some sort of giant hammer out of nowhere and walked back towards the elevator.
The door closed right after he left, leaving Naegi alone in a room with an Abnormality.
…
He was in a room… alone… with a monster… Oh boy...
But Connor said it was harmless! He just need to present himself to the creature and talk for a bit. It shouldn't be so bad. It's like making a new friend! And who knows, maybe the monster isn't scary and looks like a human!
After a few quick mental introduction exercises, Naegi straighten up and turned around to face the abnormality known as 'Onesin'.
And what he saw froze him to the very bone.
One Sin and a Hundred of Good Deeds was what could be described as Jesus Christ's skull. It was a giant floating skull melded with a big and heavy looking cross. Both of which bounded tightly together by a thorn crown. There was some strange… maybe holy… light emanating from the creature.
The creature looked down -that's what Naegi was thinking as there was no eyeball in the eyesuckets- on the boy and slowly started to float towards him in a rather threatening looking way. The student in internship stepped back in fright.
What could he do? That's a monster, a real one! He should run, but the door was closed, so no escape. What to do? What to do?!
He then remembered what Connor said, talk.
"H-Hi! I'm n-new here." Naegi stuttered.
The giant skull floated away from the boy slowly, its teeth clattering slightly. Naegi straightened himself up and tried to stop shaking as he continued with his presentation.
"My name is Makoto Naegi, I'm a student of Hope's Peak and I'm here for a week as an internship."
Onesin tilted to the side, before nodding, inviting the young man to keep talking.
Naegi found himself smiling as he kept presenting himself. Somehow… the more he talked, the more comfortable he was to speak to the Abnormality… He even started talking about his time at Hope's Peak and his friends and family. The floating skull was listening closely. Naegi didn't see the time passing as the door behind him opened, sign that he has finished his job and have to leave the containment chamber.
"Oh… Well, It was actually very nice to meet you! See you soon!" the Luckster waved goodbye with a smile, the skull simply nodded back.
Naegi walked out of the chamber with a smile and the door locked behind him, he looked around in the corridor, waving at some passing agents. His supervisor told him to go back to the main room when he's done… But maybe he could take a detour?... No. He shouldn't, it's only his first day. He shouldn't get in trouble. No matter how curious he was, what if he sees something he shouldn't? Like some sort of kaiju Abnormality? Or Big Foot himself?
Anyway, he should go back upstairs so he walked back towards the elevators. After a few minutes, he was back in the main room but Connor was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, you must be the internship kid, right, Naegi Makoto?" someone called out from behind him.
"Y-Yes, that's me!" the Luckster turned around and faced his interlocutor.
It was a woman slightly taller than him, she had dark short hair tied up on top of her head like a coco tree. She had the left eye green the other blue and was smiling. She was wearing a slightly different employee outfit as her overall were purple instead of black and her suit was sleeveless.
"Alright, my name is Pauline Frikss, nice to meet you. I am here to take care of you while Connor is working. You can say I'm your second supervisor." she smiled.
"R-Right, nice to meet you Frikss-san." Naegi bowed.
The woman smiled and decided to talk to him about the construction of the facilities, to teach him some stuff he was allowed to know. She decided that for his first day, she'll explain to him how the system works.
"So you saw your employee handbook, right? I'm sure it was pretty weird."
"Y-Yes, it said I had some sort of level, stats and I think I understood the fields of works." Naegi said.
"Hmm… Well for the moment let's talk about the 'stats' and level. You saw your stats going like HP, MP, Working success rate, Speed work, then two other stats that you should hope you won't need to train: your speed for attacking and your speed to escape."
"That… That sounds like a video game." Naegi sweat dropped.
"That's right… And yet it's the easiest way to explain, don't you think so? Anyway, I'm pretty sure you know what HP and the rest means, but here at Lobotomy, MP doesn't mean 'Magic/Mana Point' but 'Mental Point'." Pauline said in a serious tone.
"M-Mental?"
"That's right, many Abnormalities here can hurt physically while you work on them, but other will attack you psychologically. They will attack your mental health and mind directly. You certainly don't want to be in a state of 'Panic'... It's something that will make you a target for suppression." the woman explained in a darker tone.
"I… I see… But how did you get those stats? For as far as I know, you can't see HP or MP." Naegi asked again.
"Well, the higher ups of Lobotomy established this for they're not really tangible numbers like in Video games. Like you said, we can' see HP or the rest, they are guessed, it's just the way we refer to one's ability to take hits before getting knocked out, or get into a panic state, etc… As for your stats… I think Connor will explain it to you." Pauline smiled as she pointed towards a hallway.
The ahoge teenager looked where she was pointing at and saw his supervisor entering the main room, his clothes and skin were scratched but he was grinning. He waved to the duo, asked the younger boy how did his work go. After Naegi told him that it was a success and it was actually somehow relaxing Connor grinned and waved to the camera to signal the Administrator J that the internship kid was ready for his next work.
Pauline got a new task to do and said her goodbye to the boys, though she blew a kiss to Connor who just rolled his eyes back, before leaving. Naegi's handbook vibrated. His new task!
Task #2: Consensus work on the Woman Facing the Wall.
"Wow, that escalated quickly…" Connor sighed as he took his handbook to deliver a message to everyone in the department, "You must have done a pretty good job for the Administrator to send you to her, in a Consensus work no less. Here take this."
The man gave Naegi earbuds and told him to wear them when they'll get in front of the door. They both started to walk towards the hallway on the left, Connor said that the next Abnormality wasn't very far from the main room. The trainee almost forgot to ask him about the stats while they were walking.
"Oh right! Frikss-san told me about the 'stats' of the employees. And I guessed that you got the numbers of the employees stack by either interrogating them or observing them. But I never worked here before, so how did you get mine?" Naegi asked.
"W-Well… Administrator J asked information to your headmaster… All the security footage, tests results and other observations about you…" Connor looked away in shame.
"Wh-What?! A-And Headmaster Kirigiri just accepted?"
"I heard there was a lot of negotiations…" The level 5 employee looked down, "A-Anyway, we're here. Put your earbuds."
Naegi nodded and did as he was told, but in the process he noticed that a few other employees were having really worried expressions and even exchanging weapons. He asked Connor what was the meaning of this. He answered that the ability of the Abnormality known as the Woman Facing the Wall was to scream and give a very strong psychological blow to the people around her… And like Pauline said before, when someone receive such powerful blow mentally, they can get in a panic state that turns those employees into dangers for the facility and other employees…
"Alright. Before you get in and start the work, here's four advices that you MUST follow when dealing with the Woman. First, when you'll enter she will scream, that would be the strong mental blow, but with the earbuds, it will deplete the sound of the scream and lower the power of the blow, we saw your MP stats, they are pretty high. Second, NEVER approach her, she won't talk to you and might sound like she need help in her corner. DO NOT approach her. Three, NEVER give her your name, tell her everything about you, but don't give her your name. And four, when you'll be done talking to her, and you turn your back to her… There's a chance she'll call to you, maybe even ask you a question. Don't look back." Connor finished.
Naegi just gulped in terror.
"Th-That's a lot for just my second task here!"
"Yeah… I'll talk to the Administrator. Alright! Good luck kiddo!" The supervisor smiled as he pushed Naegi in front of the door of the room, "don't worry. If you turn in a panic state, I'll personally suppress you with this." He said as he took some strange shaped spear from behind his back, Naegi recognized Onesin at the end of it instead of the blade.
The student was about to ask what the weapon was but he knew that he shouldn't delay his task. He can ask about it another time. He nodded and verified if his earbuds were well put. once he was sure, he grabbed the handle of the door, took a deep breath and opened it.
EEEEEEEIIIIAAAAAAAA!
The scream of the Abnormality froze Naegi to the bone and gave him one painful but brief headache as he fell on his knees inside the room. The door closed behind him and he heard some screams from the other side that made him even paler.
He finally took a good look at his task and his eyes widened and his face grew hotter.
The Woman Facing the Wall was a naked woman on her knees, her hands were on the wall that she was facing. Naegi could hear her cries from where he was, and also guessed that she must be very tall as even on her knees, she was almost the same size as him. But most importantly, she looked and probably was human… but her skin wasn't white like his right now. She was something else than human…
She was an Abnormality.
At hearing her crying he looked back but only to blush again as he was met with her rear.
"S-sorry for watching!" He apologized as he stood up and slowly walked towards her, "Are you o-" he stopped in his tracks as he remembered the advices from his supervisor.
He mustn't get close to her.
He just need to talk to her. He looked around and saw a folding chair. He could use this and talk to her while being comfortable. He set the chair not too far from her and sat on it. He smiled at the naked woman. For some reason though… His head was starting to hurt...
"Hi, I'm M-" he stopped himself once more as he remembered the other advice of Connor: not giving a name, "I'm new here. I'll be working here for one week. Nice to meet you."
But the woman didn't even turned around, she just kept on crying and whispering weird things. But Naegi didn't give up and decided to speak to her like he did for One Sin and a Hundred of Good Deeds. Each of her cries were hurting his head but he held on. He also thought that she stopped crying for a moment too.
But she quickly went back to her whimpers. After a short while, the door opened signaling him that it was time to leave. He turned towards the door and as he was about to leave, he heard something that froze him and drained all the blood from his face.
"Please… Don't go… Come back…"
The voice was dried and almost coughing… He was about to turn around but then he heard something even scarier… Bone cracking, and something stretching. He couldn't move as the Woman kept begging him to turn around.
He didn't see it, but the woman turned only her head around, and her neck was stretched to whisper near his ear, begging him to turn around and face her. But what he did know was Connor's advice: don't turn around if she talks to you.
He didn't dare to move, he was stuck in this exact space, the voice behind him was like a snake binding him. No. It wasn't binding him, it was binding his brain. Each words were like a
bite on a neuron, each words was driving him to turn around, each words was making him panic, each words was turning him insane.
A shout from the corridor snapped him back to reality and he jumped out of the room, panting as if he'd just ran a mile. After a second, he looked around to see where that shout came from and only saw an agent on his knees at Connor's feet, and he was holding that strange shaped spear from before.
"Are you alright?" he asked to the man on the floor.
"Y-Yeah… Thanks… D-Did I-"
"No, don't worry. You were just wandering." the supervisor said.
"Of thank God…" the man sighed as he stood up, "Thanks again, you're not a level 5 employee for nothing." the agent smiled then left.
Right after, the speakers let out some cheers and applause throughout the facility.
"That means that we have gathered the requested amount of energy for today. The day is over, Naegi." Connor smiled as he approached and helped Naegi up, "Time to take you home."
Naegi nodded and they both went to the changing room, the supervisor said that he could keep the costume so he can come directly dressed and not waste time in the dressing room. He'll just have to leave his phone here, though.
On their elevator ride up, Naegi suddenly remembered a question he wanted to ask earlier this morning.
"Wait, don't I have to fill out some contract?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Well, for me to stay quiet about all this. This is all super secret, plus they pretty much confirm the rumors about Lobotomy Corporation. Shouldn't I stay quiet about it?"
"Haha, those rumors? We started them." Connor grinned.
"Wh-What?"
"Hiding in plain sight, that's what it's called."
"But one of the rumors said you were an evil organization."
"Well… We're hiding underground and using monsters to create energy… without any context, we do sound like an evil organization." The supervisor continued.
"True… So I can tell my friends about what I saw? But what if they spread the rumors by saying it's true? They are Ultimate Students after all." Naegi said.
"Well, there's also way more Ultimates who don't believe in Monsters, the side who fears the rumor and just don't want their nightmares to be true is always larger than the side who agrees with the rumor. So even if you tell the truth, it won't change much. For all we know they might not even believe you." The man smiled, when the elevator stopped, he asked the teenager to put the eye-mask as he'll take him home.
Naegi smiled and did as asked, this week certainly was going to be entertaining.
Ahogeboy: Hi guys!
FogCutter: Hello Naegi-kun.
BikerLord: Hey Naegi Supp?
Programo: Hello
Wintersoldier: Naegi-kun, weren't you working at Lobotomy? Why are you here so soon?
Idolpop: That's right! :o It's very soon!
Ahogeboy: Hello Oowada-kun, Fujisaki-san! And yeah, I was at Lobotomy today. And the day ends depending of how quickly the employees gather the amount of energy asked, that's why I'm here so early! :)
Wintersoldier: I see, well it is early. Junko-chan and Kuwata-kun are busy at the moment, so they won't be able to talk right now.
BikerLord: Wait, Naegi U workin at Lbtmy Corp?!
Programo: How is it over there?! Can you tell us how it is? This organization is very secretive.
FogCutter: That's right, Naegi-kun. Do you know where it is located?
Ahogeboy: Well, I don't know where it is exactly on the map since they made me wear an eye-mask during the travel.
IdolPop: NAEGI! THAT WAS VERY DANGEROUS! :(((
Wintersoldier: That was very suspicious Naegi-kun. You could have been kidnapped…
Ahogeboy: I was really worried at the beginning, but my supervisor is a very nice man. So I don't know where the facility is, but it's underground.
Programo: Just like the rumors! So they are true!?
Ahogboy: Yes… And for the rest…
FogCutter: Yes?
Ahogeboy: What would you say if I told you Monsters are real?
BikerLord: Ofc they are didn't u c Enoshima? lol
Wintersoldier: How do you want to die Oowada-kun?