Beta Tester

To be quite honest, when Dabria heard the "yes," she couldn't tell if she was dreaming or not. This was the first time she was actually given a positive response in years.

"Are you sure?" Dabria knew she should just press on with her marketing tactics, but seeing the poor girl shivering in the cold, her last bit of humanity kept her in check.

She was once again met by a slow but firm nod. "Please," the girl's voice quivered, almost straining from breaking, a stark contrast to her actions.

"Alright then, do you want to hear the terms and conditions? Or do you want to just sign here?" Dabria whisked out a slightly crumpled contract from her pocket and fumbled around for a pen. In the process, she nearly bumped into a passerby and was greeted with yet another scowl.

She took the girl's silence to mean the latter, not wanting to accidentally violate some Underworld secret code of conduct and be told that her three reviews couldn't be counted for lack of proper procedure.

"The machine will read through all of your memories, including subconscious thoughts. All data may be recorded for quality assurance purposes. That means, the Underworld will have full access to your memories." Dabria cast a sideways glance at the girl before her. Seeing no visible response, she continued. "After your trial, I ask you to please leave a review that accurately reflects your experiences. Do you have any additional questions? If not, you can sign here and initial every line." With the tip of her pen, she gently tapped and gestured to the line at the bottom.

The girl was obviously deep in thought, gazing into the distance at the souls lining up to pass to the other world in this rare day of visitation. There was an air of sadness surrounding her, a stark contrast to the bustling world around her.

Slowly, she spun around. "Will it read all of my subconscious memories, even those that I can't remember?"

Hesitantly, Dabria answered yes, toying around with the hem of her shirt to avoid eye contact. She was so close this time. But she couldn't really not tell her first and only potential user the truth. But what if the girl regretted it and thought it to be an invasion of privacy?

Suddenly, a pair of small hands latched tightly onto Dabria's wrist. "Are you positive?" There was a sense of earnest to the words.

Once again, Dabria could only nod her head. Already, her pumping heart had settled, knowing that this was another hopeless case.

However, she was met by a completely different scene.

Almost desperately, the girl snatched the paper and the pen from Dabria's hands in urgency, frantically scribbling her name onto the line as if she feared Dabria would revoke the opportunity. At that moment, all of her passiveness and tragic tranquility disintegrated, replaced instead by a release of a decade of pent up emotions.

As she signed, bead-sized tears fell onto the contract, seeping into the paper in a few blossoms of blurriness. It was obvious that she didn't even read the terms and conditions, instead blindly pressing on.

She handed the now slightly-limp paper back, wiping away her tears with her other hand and looking up with glossed over eyes. Before she was transported into the virtual world, she was already caught and lost in a realm of memories.

Even Dabria was at a loss for words. Sure, she had prepared lines of propaganda and advertisements, but she never really expected to actually find a willing tester.

"Stop blocking the road!" A pair of hands shoved her aside, pouring a bucket of ice cold water onto Dabria in her sole triumphant moment.

Glumly, they relocated to the side, the girl looking even more anxious than Dabria during the time wasted.

"So the first stage will be reading your memories, starting from the present memory back to the deepest caverns of your mind. Since you're relatively young, I don't think this should take too long." From her special case, Dabria fished out her headset, carefully bending back the sides so that the entire figure was revealed.

"Hua," Dabria checked the information and the signature on the paper. "Are you read—"

Without her words even being finished, Hua had already placed the machine on top of her head.

The switch was on.