[Underground Level 3, "Familiar Ground (2)"]
Only then were the 68 survivors gathered here able to fully understand their situation.
"Shit. We need to worry about food, warmth, and survival tomorrow."
"You all saw the video, it's impossible to fight back."
"Then we need to decide who will be our food tomorrow...."
"Who are we going to sacrifice?"
Rather than looking for food and protection from the cold right now, they should quickly find a way to satisfy the cannibal flower's hunger tomorrow.
The Daylily of Blood Tree.
It is said that this dangerous creature will only go to sleep if it can feed on one human per day.
The more movement it takes to catch its prey, the more food it needs, so we had to make sure it could feed with minimal movement.
"That means... one of us has to be sacrificed."
"Shit. You've just destroyed our unity and everything."
"This is a demon's ploy to separate us!"
"So. If it's a ploy, what are we supposed to do, not go along with it?"
"...Who says? That's just the way it is."
No one disputed the idea that one person should be chosen from the herd to make a human sacrifice.
The question then becomes who, how much, and how to organize the sacrifice.
"I don't suppose anyone... would volunteer to be a sacrifice?"
"How are we going to select the sacrifices in the first place? Are we going to nominate them, vote on them, or look for conditions that will benefit the community?"
"Shouldn't we first decide how many people to select?"
Food and water are limited here. Even then, most of it is rotten or contaminated.
They could probably survive for about two weeks if they persevered.
In order to shorten 68 days to about 14 days, more than 50 people are needed at most.
"Damn, 50 out of 68? That's almost it, then!"
"That's the bare minimum, we might need to make more sacrifices. I can't go hungry for more than three days."
"What do you want me to do, you crazy person? Throw everyone but you into the feeding frenzy of that fucking flower!"
"Who said that! I'm just saying that different people have different hunger tolerances!"
"You fat bastard, you've been whining about being hungry since you were in school!"
The argument intensifies all around. And then one of them shouted in anger.
"I'm going to eat you!"
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room turned cold.
The student who spoke up also stuttered, clearly flustered.
"Eh? Eh, what's with the atmosphere? I'm just saying this, guys... Of course it's not my intention. Just ... Just...."
But everyone had a hunch. What they had to do to survive two months in this place.
It's not just about deciding what to feed the Daylily of Blood.
They also had to decide what they would eat.
Cannibalism. An ancient taboo. But a way of survival once familiar enough to be taboo.
The demon's message was simple.
'Eat each other!'
Being reduced to mere prey in the presence of the Absolute was not the true bottom.
What lies beneath is the underground, the chamber of horrific cannibalism.
"...."
"...."
"...."
One by one, the students were realizing what the demon was up to.
No one was saying anything, but the silence, growing heavier and more murderous, showed it.
After a long silence, one man stepped forward.
It was 'Arthur Gordon Pym', a third-year student who was the leader of the aristocratic faction.
Gordon opened his mouth in a heavy tone.
"Boys, we're going to have to make some tough decisions."
Everyone's heads snapped up at that.
Gordon continued.
"Harsh decisions will continue to be required in the future, ... but for now, let's focus on the problem at hand."
All the students nodded in agreement.
Let's put aside the scary and horrifying thoughts of food, water, feeding, sacrifice, cannibalism, and kinsmen for a moment.
What was urgent right now was the 'food' that would calm the Daylily tomorrow.
Gordon swallowed hard and said.
"We need to decide on a sacrifice for the cannibal flower tomorrow, do you all agree?"
Everyone nodded. Gordon spoke again.
"Does anyone have any ideas on what criteria we should use to select the sacrifice?"
"How about a vote on ...?"
Someone raises their hand.
A vote. Good. It's a good idea. After all, students have always decided many things in school this way.
But voting is basically a process of saying yes or no to a specific agenda.
"In order to vote, the person or condition to be fed must first be presented, so that we can vote on whether or not to follow it."
You could name a specific person and vote on whether or not to sacrifice them.
But that's too direct and aggressive for the average mind.
The students chose to 'turn around' and point out the target as a way to avoid guilt as much as possible.
"Hey, how about this...?"
The big man, his body packed with muscles, crossed his arms.
"Even in nature, the weak are eliminated and the strong survive, so... would be sacrificed from weakest to strongest, and even if it was a dog fight, the weaker ones would most likely be sacrificed anyway, so...."
"That's ridiculous!"
The rebuttal came straight from the other side.
A girl with neatly styled hair and glasses spoke up in a bubbly voice.
"We're human beings, we're civilized, we're intelligent, we're not like that, we're not like some wild animals with powers!"
"Then by what criteria do you want to pick tomorrow's sacrifice?"
"That... I said before. We're civilized people, we're intelligent people, right? So why don't we pick the sacrifices in order of stupidity, or school grades?"
The idea of sacrificing them in order of weakness or lack of studying came up.
The big boy who had shouted earlier, still with his arms crossed, shouted.
"We should sacrifice the weaker ones first, like that brat!"
Where he looked, there was a small, timid looking boy cowering.
However, where he would have cowered at the shouts of the larger boys in school, he no longer did.
"You say I'm weak, well, I don't know. I think I'm stronger than you are now."
"What, what?"
The big boy flinched for a moment.
The timid-looking boy slowly stood up from his seat.
He looked at the big boy with bloodshot eyes.
"Why don't you relax your arms?"
"...."
The big boy could only break out in a cold sweat, unable to say anything.
…Puck!
The next moment, a timid-looking boy quickly charged at him.
The big boy was stunned, and his arms relaxed into a defensive stance.
The big boy's arms are untied, revealing a severed wrist, wrapped in a dirty cloth.
His wrist had been eaten by a Mimic from the random box given to him by the fairy earlier.
The timid-looking boy grabbed the larger boy's wrist and shook it, grinding his teeth.
"What do you think, maybe back in school, but here and now, I'm stronger than you. Do you still want to do this in order of strength?"
"Kwaaagh! Are you crazy! Don't you know that I'm a member of the aristocratic faction!? If I say one word to my father, I can put you out of business!"
"Try to fold it somewhere. To do that, you have to get out of this fucking tower, right? Try it! huh?"
With their usual tantrums, the two boys began to argue and fight.
Actually, it wasn't really a fight, but more of a one-sided beating of the boy with the severed wrist.
Was it because he picked up a few red candies? The timid-looking boy was throwing some serious punches.
At that time, Gordon mediated between the two.
"Okay, that's enough, now is not the time for us to fight, if we don't stop it, the atmosphere can get out of control."
When Gordon, a senior member of the aristocratic faction, said this, the timid-looking student stepped back with a grunt.
The big man with the severed wrist also hurriedly crawled back on three legs.
His groin was already yellow and wet.
There were many more to come.
"I think we should start with the weakest first."
"Send out the ones who can't study first! Are you going to waste their brains?"
"Somewhere in the lower grades, people are fooling around! We need to make sacrifices starting with the lower grades!"
"It's not fair to pick by grade! I'm three years older than you! Do it by age! Shouldn't the elderly be favored?"
"Damn it! Age is a free pass, how do you expect me to treat you with it? I'm not kneeling down, but let's do it in order of class!"
"Money! Why don't we do it in order of money! It's simple!"
"How about friends? Let's sacrifice the friendless first! Friendship vote! Friendship vote!"
"Ba, you know we're a great family when we go outside, don't you? The world is all about connections~ Let's think about it when we leave the tower~ The guys who sacrifice for me, I'll make sure to remember their real faces so I don't forget them later...."
As the atmosphere heats up, the guilt evaporates faster and faster.
The students, who were initially glazed over with guilt, were now glaring and drooling, as if they were bargaining in a meat market.
"Do it like intelligent people, vote! Vote!"
"Fine! Let's do it democratically!"
"Majority rule!"
"Yes, Let's do this until there is unanimous agreement!"
Intellectually, democratically, and through discussion, like the students of the Colosseo Academy, the most prestigious university in the empire.
As a result. It was decided that one student would become daylily food tomorrow.
A first-year student whose face and name you can barely remember.
He can't study, he can't play sports, he's not particularly good-looking, and he has no friends to protest on his behalf.
He cried out a cry, or rather, a protest that was close to a scream.
"It's unfair that I was chosen!"
"Shut up! It was a majority vote! You were unanimously chosen!"
"You guys colluded amongst your friends! I'm an underdog, and I don't have any friends to back me up!"
The faces of the other students stiffened as the would-be 'prey' shouted desperately.
"Hey, are you bragging about having no friends?"
"Connections is a skill, don't you know?"
"What's the point of being alive if you're useless? What good can you do to the community?"
"...shut up. If we trick you right here and now, make a fool out of you, and throw it to that flower tomorrow. What are you going to do?"
"Just go quietly since you were chosen. We can compensate your family later when we leave the tower. I'll tell them you were a hero. Huh?"
Threats and appeasement follow at every turn.
Those who weren't chosen desperately tried to build a wall to secure their safety.
"Ughhhh... no. I have parents at home... and siblings...."
The boy who was chosen to be fed began to sob.
And everyone who saw his tears looked away, if only for a moment.
They didn't want to admit it. That this boy, reduced to a mere "prey," is also someone's precious child and brother.
But what can they do? If others don't die, I will die. This is a place like that.
...No, maybe the world outside the tower was actually like this, too.
Everyone was nauseated almost simultaneously.
In the midst of the great contradictions and confusion, the atmosphere was becoming increasingly distorted.
Just then.
"Enough."
The bubbling madness was instantly quelled.
A hand grabbed the attention of all the students.
"...I will be the prey."
The footsteps pushed their way through the crowd.
Black hair, red eyes, expressionless expression that makes it impossible to read what he's thinking.
It was Vikir.