The Mad Rat’s Lab

Inside a white room full of black screens, a man is sitting alone, slowly scrolling through a list full of detailed information about players, with a cup of coffee right next to him.

His baggy eyes make him look as if he didn’t sleep in the last few days, and the stubble beard confirms the theory. He must have been working non-stop for at least a week.

“Jordi, you’re still here? I thought you would have left by now. You really need to go sleep to prepare for tomorrow!”

Startled by a feminine voice speaking right next to his ear, the man quickly turns around to see the speaker. Then, with a musky and tired voice, he replies.

“Hah! You’re talking as if you weren’t as tired as I am, Alicia.”

True to his words, the woman, too, looks like she spent the last days without stopping to sleep. Her eyes are red, and it almost looks like two dark holes have appeared right below them. She makes a short laugh at the man’s words, at the same time she awkwardly scratches her unkempt hair.

“Hahaha… So, what are you doing instead of leaving?”

“...You know, after so much work, I was curious about the participants this year.”

“Oh? Doing extra work? Preparing for tomorrow’s job?”

“You could say so…”

Returning to the list, the man continues to scroll it. Meanwhile, the woman stays there, just spacing out, as if she lost all her energy. A short while later, she picks up the cup of coffee and drinks it, not hesitating about it coming from the man in front of her. He doesn’t seem to notice at all.

Jordi stands up after finishing reading the list and is surprised by Alicia still standing there, like a zombie.

“Hey, Alicia, you still awake? Or are you standing asleep with your eyes open?”

She blinks a few times before answering.

“...Uh. I almost fell asleep, yes. So… want to go eat something together before going back home?”

“Sure, why not.”

Almost like a pair of walking corpses, the two leave the room filled with black screens.

“Hey, Jordi. What are we going to do tomorrow? What group have the higher-ups assigned us?”

“This time we’ll be supervising the level 5 tournament. It looks like our extra work during the preparation phase was recognized by the higher-ups and we got assigned the easiest one.”

“Oh, nice! At least the lack of sleeping time didn’t go to waste…”

Alicia tries to make a victory pose, but with her current lack of coordination, she almost falls to the ground. Luckily for her, Jordi was right next to her and helped avoid the disaster on time.

“...careful there!”

“T-thank you.” Slightly blushing in shame because of her lack of coordination, she decides to change the topic. “Y-you were reading the participant list, r-right?” The man quietly assents to her question. “Then… d-did you see anything that looks troublesome?”

“Um… Not really. But I did see something interesting.”

“Oh? Tell me what it is!”

“There are two players using the Flesh Monstrosities in this tournament. You know, it’s rare to see a player using them in a tournament like this because of how much more effort you need to put in to reach the same place as other factions…”

“Agh… Again talking about them? Why do you like them so much!? They are just a weird faction, that’s all! Also, what could be interesting about some noob level 5 players? They must still be learning how to play the game!”

The man looks offended by her words for a moment, but he quickly decides to forgive her. After all, there’s no reason to fight over something like this. But after calming himself down, a soft smile appears on his face as he remembers something about the participants.

“I’m sorry I have to correct you, but this time there’s a very interesting participant.”

“Interesting participant? At level 5? Are you trying to make a fool of me!?”

“No, no. I’m saying the truth! I swear. You might have heard about it recently, it’s a player with a dungeon called ‘The Mad Rat’s Lab’, and he’s participating in this tournament under our supervision.”

“Oho! So it’s him, huh…” A grin appears on Alicia’s face as she realizes what it means for them. “It looks like we are double lucky this year! We not only got the easiest group but also got something to look forward to… Fufufu!”

“By the time the tournament started, ‘The Mad Rat’s Lab’ had already surpassed the game barrier and infected some of DMA’s staff. It was inevitable after so many posts from players talking about it.”