"So you mean to tell me there's 16,000 insects inside of you?"
Carly, sitting up at his desk, was particularly shocked.
At first he was a little irritated by Woochang screaming so early in the morning.
Then he heard another shout from two others and decided to check it out, his sleep was interrupted anyway.
He didn't expect Do-Hyeok to just blatantly tell them his complex, not to mention such crucial information.
"Thats right. I'm not denying it."
'I've got no real reason to lie. If they were hostile they would have done something to me before I even got close to their base. They should be okay to tell this to… plus, they're helping me get an A on my assignment…'
That was Do-Hyeok's thought process.
And thankfully,
"Sigh~ you really should keep such information to yourself Do-Hyeok, we've practically just met.
We'll keep this between us. I'll ask them not to leak this information, not that there's anyone to tell it to…"
His intuition was right.
"Right, when are we going for that can of jungle juice?" Do-Hyeok asked, tilting his head slightly, "you did say you would help me."
"Ah, right about that." Carly reached into his drawer and took out a file. "This is where you'll most likely find it. While us stray dogs use the area for training we haven't fully explored so there's a good chance you could find some there."
Do-Hyeok examined the file, it was about 'the site'. An ex-jungle juice distribution factory turned pet shop lab, Probably the best Do-Hyeok was going to find.
But it was filled to the brim with feed-trained specimens.
"That's annoying…" Do-Hyeok voiced his thoughts.
"You'll be going with the rest of the stray dogs. Of course if you don't want that you can just say, however I think it's better they go with you for your safety." Carly explained with a smile.
"It's fine."
"Good, you'll be heading there later today, you should prepare."
And then Do-Hyeok left the office to go prepare.
And in said office, Carly mumbled to himself,
"Project: Colony… What were you planning to do to him, Breeder…"
—
About an hour passed and Do-Hyeok had finished his preparations.
So what did he do to kill time?
More roguelikes.
Well, until his phone died.
He didn't bring his charger with him and even if he did he doubted there were any working outlets in an abandoned schoolhouse.
So now he was simply existing.
Passing the time by laying down and zoning out.
And as he was about to achieve absolute zen,
Nanami barged in.
"Hey! Man of a thousand ants, mind if I hang around for a bit?" she said with a mischievous smile.
"You got nothing better to do?" Do-Hyeok asked rhetorically, deadpan.
"Hmm…" Nanami put her finger to her chin, "that and i was curious about your complex i guess… I'm quite the honors student when it comes to ants."
Mainly because her complex revolves around them.
"Is that so? Well, would you mind telling me more?" Do-Hyeok gave an unnoticeably warm smile. He had to admit, he was warming up to this troublemaker.
So Nanami smiled and responded, "Sure~ but no funny business mister, I'm still a pure maiden."
So they chatted for a while, longer than they thought.
Time flew by,
And in came Woochang.
"Hyung! Nanami! It's time to go, the site is open."
"Ha? Already?" Nanami was a little confused, how long had they been talking?
"Oh well, let's go." Do-Hyeok got up first.
"Right Right~" and she followed suit.
—
The site they were going to was massive.
It looked like an old radio tower covered by a massive observatory dome.
But that couldn't be further from the truth,
Do-Hyeok knew this was a hidden lab but he didn't expect it to be so close.
It wasn't that far from the stray dogs HQ which was a shocking revelation to Do-Hyeok.
He felt disgusted.
Why?
Because that meant before this site was abandoned, it was a pet shop lab actively experimenting on people nearby…
And before it was abandoned, that schoolhouse was filled with young children.
You can put 2 and 2 together.
"This is the place right?" He turned and asked this group of misfits.
"Yup." Woochang spoke first, "be careful though, there are more hidden than what you can see on the surface."
"Huh?" Do-Hyeok took a closer look into the site using his [compound vision]. "What do you mea-"
His words were cut short.
There were tens if not hundreds there that he could see.
Some hulking monstrosities, others limping abominations.
'What the fuck.'
Why so many?
"This is an ex-main lab for Pet shop. Of course there'll be a ton of them." Bom chimed in.
'Of course it is… I can never have anything easy huh?' Do-Hyeok lamented.
Then he looked at the group.
"So uh, are you guys gonna be enough for this? No offense but I've never seen any of you fight…"
This was when Haemin spoke,
"Nah, I'd win."
Then he slowly approached the site,
The feed trained specimens charged him,
"MEAAT!!!"
"FOOD!"
"GRAAAAH!!!"
And Haemin just lifted his arm and said,
"So noisy."
And all of a sudden, they were engulfed in flames.
FSHHH-!
"GUAAA"
"ME…AT."
"KUAHH"
One by one they were burned to ashes.
And Do-Hyeok could only stare in awe.
'Dayum.' That was all he could think.
This guy was strong, overwhelmingly strong.
'Are the rest of these guys like that…?'
Do-Hyeok suddenly got chills,
'Remind me to never piss them off.'
One by one the rest of them joined in, each of them were equally versatile and powerful.
And Do-Hyeok, not wanting to be useless, joined in.
But he was significantly more messy than the others.
Even with his overwhelming speed and 8 tons of strength, he wasn't controlling it with the level of efficiency they were.
Before long, they had practically cleaned them all out, not a single injury or casualty!
"Would this count as combat experience?" Do-Hyeok asked nobody in particular.
They finally moved into the lab.
According to the stray dogs, this lab had not been cleaned out by Nest, they don't even know of its existence, so getting a can of Jungle juice was relatively easy.
And like they said, there were boxes full of it, lined up in a decaying office.
'Isn't this meant to be hard to find…?'
Not that he could complain.
He grabbed a few out the box, they were brand new!
"Jackpot!" Do-Hyeok smiled.
That A+ was his.
He didn't take them all though if he did, Nest would definitely ask questions and he didn't want that so one or two was enough.
"Got everything you need Hyung?" Asked Woochang.
"Yeah thanks Woochang, Let's go."
And so they headed back to the schoolhouse. This was way easier than he expected.
—
[Mission - Get jungle juice]
[Mission accomplished]
Do-Hyeok mentally checked that off his list.
When they got back, Carly was there, waiting.
"Ah your back. Did you get what you wanted?"
He asked casually.
"Yup! Thanks Captain. That A+ is mine!"
"Hahaha. I'm happy you're satisfied. So then, is this goodbye? We won't pursue you if you leave now, we no longer view you as a threat."
'They had their eyes on me the whole time? Figures.'
But Do-Hyeok said something a little unexpected.
"Actually, do you mind if I stay a little longer?"
"Hm? I don't mind at all but why?"
"Because you're all so strong. I want to be strong too, strong enough not to let any predators get away again."
His reasoning was a little surprising to Carly.
"So you want to train with us stray dogs." He stated
Do-Hyeok responded? "Yes please, I still have about a week before I have to go back to Nest so I have time."
'This kid…'
"Very well. Stay in the room you were in last night, for the next week…"
'How interesting' he smiled.
"You are an honorary stray dog!"
—
The next day,
"This training will be grueling, Do-Hyeok, are you up for it?" Carly was in his office staring at Do-Hyeok.
"Yes sir, what's the schedule?"
"Ive provided you someone you're familiar with to act as your personal trainer. Come in."
And through the door was the blue haired beauty once again, Nanami.
"Hello~"
"She's my trainer?"
Carly looked to Do-Hyeok and said,
"First of all, Do-Hyeok, there's something I should tell you." His voice sounded a little less light-hearted.
"Huh? What's up captain?" Do-Hyeok asked.
"You see… all of the members of the stray dogs, except you and me…
...are victims of feed training"
"?!"
'What…?'
Do-Hyeok looked at Nanami, she had a sullen look on her face.
He wasn't lying.
"But they seem fine…"
"Thats because of the training I put them through to control their urges. It's also what I'm having Nanami here put you through, albeit shortly."
"Huh?"
"In order to overcome feeding, you need three things.
One, an unshakeable will.
Two, high complex mastery.
Three, a body that will never give in.
Nanami, despite looking so frail, is the third strongest in pure physicality after Woochang and Bom."
Nanami chimed in, "my complex isn't combat oriented. So i have yo work extra hard to keep up~"
'Damn.' Do-Hyeok thought. This small young lady could probably bench him.
"She'll help you with everything in terms of your physical capabilities" Carly spoke. "Whereas I will help you with complex mastery, seeing as I have the most experience on the subject."
"I understand."
"Alright then~ if you'll excuse us captain we have a body to build!" Nanmi beamed.
"Haha good luck Do-Hyeok."
"Thanks?"
—
An hour or so later,
Do-Hyeok was pinned in a headlock.
"C'mon try harder!" Nanami bellowed.
'How the hell did we get here?!'
—
END OF CHAPTER
A/N: special early chapter for you all