Kapitel 8: Grunt Style: Sleeping Fist

A tough-looking grunt entered the room where I and the other fellow grunts had been staying. This grunt wore the same dark material that covered his full body like us, bearing the number '443'. He also wore a set of equipment, including a pair of black military boots, a belt with many pouches attached, bearing the letter 'M' logo on the buckle, and a pair of black leather gloves.

Another thing to note was that his physique was more robust than the average grunt here... except for me, though. My body was still larger and more defined than his.

Not to brag, mind you, but just something that I still found odd with a mixed feeling to it. I wasn't sure why my body became like this. Hell, was this even my own body to begin with...?

'Hold on... Was this the Witch's doing?' I thought to myself, remembering my previous encounter with the Witch inside the alleyway. I remembered quite vividly that she had given me a "token" for my journey... by branding it directly with a dark, searing hot flame on my chest. Was that "token"... This? A superhuman's body...?

"Alright, you grunts! We are moving out! Follow my lead!" Ordered the tough grunt Lieutenant No. 443 to all of us, halting any further thoughts about this supposed 'token' that I had received from the Witch.

"SIR, YES SIR!" All of the grunts saluted and then shouted their acknowledgment to the Lieutenant's command with military gusto, which surprised me. Even Grunt No. 702 tried his best to shout with his meek voice. Were they instructed to act as though they were in the army? Or was it just the natural thing to do here? Grunt No. 704 and No. 711 had said that I was still asleep when the Lieutenant came over and woke them all up, so I would have to ask them again about this...

Wait... why didn't they wake me up that time then? If this was really a military-style instruction, someone fooling around would get the most flak out of this, including me, who was said to be still asleep... Then, both I and the Lieutenant happened to lock eyes with each other. All of a sudden... the Lieutenant shot a heavy glare towards me filled with quite a malice, even the other grunts noticed it.

I was taken aback by the sudden hostility from this Lieutenant. I was pretty sure that I didn't do anything to warrant this intense malice towards me... or did I? Maybe... just maybe, it had something to do with why they didn't wake me up earlier. 'I really need to ask them again...' I thought to myself with an exasperated feeling. By "them," of course, I was referring to Grunt No. 704 and No. 711 (I would like to also apologize to No. 702, but he was still avoiding me).

The Lieutenant maintained this glare of his to me for quite a while, which made me quite nervous myself, but then he turned around, "Follow me, grunts!" he repeated his command as he walked out of the room.

"SIR, YES SIR!" All of the grunts shouted back again with their acknowledgment.

"S-sir, yes sir!" I had also tried to match their shout, though my voice came out weaker than their united voices.

Then our group of grunts finally moved forward toward the open door. We stepped out of the futuristic room and into the corridor. Well, it was pretty much the same as the inside of the room: a large futuristic corridor with the same clean and polished walls, adorned with a few of Max Brain's 'M' logos.

Not sure if I should be disappointed or not, as I had expected something a lot more intimidating, befitting the supervillain vibe. 'Well... maybe he is more into simplicity rather than over-the-top elaborate stuff?' I thought to myself.

Then I heard sounds of other doors opening from all around us, with loud thundering footsteps. I saw more grunts coming out from the opened doors around us, led by those elite grunts like Lieutenant No. 443. Soon, the corridor became quite crowded. But those fellow Lieutenant grunts then motioned for us to follow them through the corridor.

While we were at it... "Hey, No. 704, No. 711," I leaned in slightly and whispered to them, trying to gain their attention while still walking with the crowd. They both noticed my call and looked back at me, still walking along with the crowd.

"Hm? Yeah, big guy?" No. 711 replied casually.

"Hey... eh... what happened when I had been asleep back there?" I asked them directly, wanting to know the story behind my supposed sleeping episode. "And why was that Lieutenant guy staring daggers at me...?" I continued, curious about the Lieutenant's hostility.

"Ah... that," Grunt No. 704 said with a hint of realization in his voice, as if he had forgotten about it and was just now reminded. "Well... I'll say that you have quite the defensive reflex while sleeping," he jokingly answered my question.

"Huh...?"

"Long story short: that grumpy Lieutenant of ours tried to wake you up before," he began retelling the story. "When we all had been woken up by him, we all saw that you were still sleeping soundly," he continued.

"Huh, really?" I replied with surprise. So... I had been quite the sleepyhead, huh?

"Yeah, big guy. You were sleeping quite soundly," No. 711 teased me, "the Lieutenant had approached the sleeping you and tried to wake you up... by yelling at your face directly, haha," she said, giggling at the end. Wait... seriously? That sounded like some drill sergeant bit...

"Haha, yeah. The Lieutenant seriously screamed at your face to wake you up, but you didn't react at all," No. 704 added, "The Lieutenant was pretty darn pissed at you... and then... he tried to hit you while you were sleeping!" He said, recounting the story as if it was some kind of epic.

"Huh?! Really?!" I exclaimed with shock. I didn't think it would be that bad! How the hell did I not wake up from that?!

Wait... now that I thought about it, there was most likely a reason behind my dead asleep condition. A memory flashed through my mind.

"Good night, Grunt No. 703."

I had woken up before inside the test tube of that dimly lit laboratory. There, I also met one of the notable white-coat scientists that really struck not just my interest, but also my nerve to boot: The blonde female scientist, Victoria.

I remembered quite vividly that mischievous smile of hers as she toyed with me while I was in agonizing pain, while also calling me an "enigma" or something. In the end, she actually helped me a bit by giving me anesthesia in my test tube, relieving me of the pain but also forcing me to fall asleep...

'Don't tell me it was because of that,' I thought with annoyance. Most likely, yes, the anesthesia she gave me was probably too strong, causing me to fall into a deep sleep.

Back to the topic...

"Yeah, big guy! He cocked his fist back and threw a punch to your head!" No. 711 continued the recounting, while also recreating the action of the Lieutenant by cocking her own fist back. "But then! You caught his fist just before it hit your face! While you were still sleeping to boot!" She continued with excitement in her voice.

"What...? For real...?"

"Yeah, for real," No. 704 interjected, "You caught his fist quite casually. We all were shocked when we saw it happening, especially when we saw how you were still sleeping soundly at that." He continued, his voice filled with astonishment.

I could only stare blankly at their excited recounting, unsure whether to believe their story. I was also quite perplexed by the thought that my body had an automatic defensive reflex. Not that I think I had one before this whole grunt business, as there were never any notions that someone would attack me in my sleep.

"BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!" No. 711 suddenly shouted, surprising me quite a lot. "You did not just catch the fist of the Lieutenant, but also! You retaliated by punching him back!"

"WHAT?!"

"Haha, yeah! You punched the Lieutenant while still lying on the bed and sleeping to boot!" No. 704 laughed as he remembered the cool but also comical twist of an event. "You sent that Lieutenant flying across the room and knocked him out! Haha!" He laughed more at the end.

This was not something to laugh at, man... No wonder that Lieutenant guy was pissed at me... and again, no wonder why my fellow grunts had been wary of me, not just because of my intimidating appearance...

For my first ever job, I had promised myself that I would not go around searching for trouble, especially toward my own coworker and especially toward my own senior/superior. Welp... it was only the first day and I had already broken that promise of mine.

I was about to ask for more details about this "incident" of mine, but...

"Grunts! We have arrived! Prepare yourself to meet our leader, Lord Max Brain!"