LCE E.G.O Lantern, Yi Sang's Story
Oh...
The researcher ran after the giggling blue fairy, only to realize that he had walked into an unfamiliar place.
He whips around, realizing his mistake... only to see that the door locked behind him.
Oh no... the door has locked behind you, hasn't it?
It seems that you have found yourself mired in my tricks again.
The child let out a light chuckle before gloating at the researcher who was lured in by his E.G.O gear.
Boss. Yi Sang. For the seventeenth time...
... can you please stop using your E.G.O gear for pranks like this? I swear, I keep getting scared that I just walked into an actual Abnormality's den.
... My apologies. The report must be compiled by the end of day today, yet I am availed but two hands of mine to complete it.
Yeah, and guess how many hands I've got. Two.
And I must ask for your understanding, for the longer an E.G.O gear remains equipped, the greater the synchronization of the user and the source Abnormality.
For, in addition, these gears are made to transform and change with the fluctuations in the level of attunement betwixt the wearer and the source.
I have not the nature of deception; it is but the manifestation of the gear's effects...
Well, then take it off from time to time, will you?!
Yet how shall I, as a proper researcher...?
This department of Limbus Company focuses on the study of Abnormalities and Distortions, coupled with managing Enkephalin extractions.
They are called the LCE.
Perhaps it is inevitable that an occupation dedicated to the study of what are essentially monsters would invite a sundry of oddball personalities, but it was particularly pronounced for this department.
Oh yeah? If you gotta slowly lose yourself to be a 'proper researcher', then what does that make me?
W-well, that is not what I had intended to convey...
To get straight to the point - this child was one of those 'oddballs'.
Fully geared-up in his E.G.O gear all day, clocking into work even on his off days... truly, an incomprehensible individual.
It is merely by need that it must remain on me at all times, for this research report concerns this fellow. Besides, it may be put to use for one such purpose as well, and...
... Man. I should put in a transfer request to a different zone.
I swear, you better watch your back once I get my own E.G.O gear.
... Very well. Perhaps it shall be understood, my perspective - in no time.
Aw, shush. Just tell me what I gotta do.
If he despised the child's overbearing trickery so much, he could've simply turned around and left... but he did not.
... Well, perhaps it was that he simply could not.
I must ask you to review the files from AFQ155564 to 30000, and rearrange them in order...
... Are you sure that's doable in a day?
... Anything can be made possible should we put our minds to it.
It's! Literally! On all physical levels! Impossible!
The researcher finally exploded at the child.
I mean, what the hell were you thinking, making a locking mechanism like that?! What could possibly be the purpose of a door that locks from the inside, but can't be reopened until a certain amount of work is complete?
Mm. For reasons ascribable to our human births, the time may come in which we are faced with an ostensibly insurmountable wall, thus breaking our wills.
Yet, were one to be surrounded by walls, given no choice but to crawl oneself out of -
Yeah, okay! Great! Just don't drag other people into your problems!
I probably have some other responsibilities I should be working on today, so...
Mm... No.
You did not have any other responsibilities.
... What?
Tap.
For a moment, it was as though the office was hit by a blackout...
... then an ominous red light began to flash.
[WARNING. ABNORMALITY CONTAINMENT BREACH. CODE RED. AREA: OFFICE WING LANE C...]
Huh...? This has to be...
The trumpet. The audio warning that a degree of damage, such as Abnormality containment breach, has occurred at the facility.
The LCE Department, the group that has absorbed much of Lobotomy Corporation... has maintained this practice.
It doesn't sound exactly the same, however.
Is this... the first Trumpet?
The researcher looked around nervously, taken by surprise.
But the child began gravely, as though he had been expecting this to happen.
You were also an excellent researcher, indeed; even on the days you weren't on duty, you would come into the office, diligently composing Abnormality experiment reports.
It must have been quite exciting for you, as an opportunity to wear the E.G.O gear prototype of this Abnormality was yours.
A corner of the child's E.G.O gear began to pulse and twist, growing into the form of a massive mallet.
He stood before the confused researcher with a vague expression that could've been either sorrow or determination.
What... are you even talking about? Actually, forget that.
There's been an Abnormality containment breach! W-we're stuck in here thanks to your stupid locking mechanism!
My locking mechanism opens under one of the following two conditions.
One, when my work is complete. Two... when an anomaly within the office has been dealt with.
The latter must be fulfilled now, it seems.
…….
It has been a fortnight since the expungement of your records.
In the process of raising the attunement levels for the report, your resonance with the gear was broken... and you were devoured, having become a 'lure' yourself.
Thereafter, you were a part of the Abnormality itself, forced to amble hither and thither within the interiors of this department.
... I was?
The child nodded gravely.
His dour expression was hardly a surprise.
The child had been fond of him; he was one of the very few junior researchers that he had been training to become a full-fledged researcher.
You had never been one to establish a high level of resonance with that gear... what had lured him so, I wonder, to insist that he be the one to test it?
... So I am bereft of choices but to use every hour of my existence to understand this E.G.O and the Abnormality.
It is about time that you are heretofore laid to rest, wouldn't you agree?
... Oh.
The hammer was swung, and the Abnormality shrouded within leapt out of his skin like a geyser.
The child continues to swing the hammer, again, and again.
To complete this tragic Abnormality suppression, so commonplace in all companies that deal with Abnormalities.