The Beetle

The student and the teacher walked across the heavily guarded corridor. 

Meme gazed to his left and right with his mouth open. A gigantic robot walked past his shoulder. It had two machine guns for arms. Meme always wanted to own one. 

Never had the money for it.

"Wow… this place is sick."

Jane smiled. "Yes, it is. But –" She grasped Meme by the shoulders and pulled him backward. "The robots and the cool men with guns are not the reason I brought you here. Come with me." 

Jane was even taller than Meme himself. If he recalled it correctly, it was 6 feet. Meme was only 5'10. 

She pushed her student forward until they reached a warning notice that read "Don't come within 5 feet to this glass." 

They paused before the glass door and Meme gazed inside it. The entire part of the corridor was filled with glass cells like those. And each of them had a tag name of an animal. 

Meme's mouth dropped when he looked in through the glass that separated them from what was within. 

It was a captured Monster Link. 

Inside it was a great bulky man, probably 7 feet tall in height. He was wearing a tank top and some baggy pants. The clothes were dirty. He clearly hasn't had a change of clothes in a while. 

When Meme stared into the cell, the Linked did not even bother to look up at him. He simply kept staring at the floor with his head lowered. 

Meme raised his head and read the tag in the cell. 

It read "The Beetle." 

Meme shifted his head to Professor Jane in confusion. He noticed her staring at his face, waiting to see his expression. 

"Um, what happened to him?" 

Jane smirked. "What do you think happened to him?" 

The memories of the Beetle came rushing into Meme's mind. 

It was a Monster everyone feared only a year ago. It's a huge beetle, the size of a small village. The thing carried rolled mudballs and attacked with it, using it as a projectile at times. It was one of the hardest Monsters to capture – but the Monster Hunters managed it by using mechas to battle it and cornering it into a city. 

Meme gazed back at the depressed Linked inside the cell. He was a human being. It was the very first time Meme saw one of the Linked. 

He expected them to have features of Monsters. Scales. Tales. Or horns. 

Not just a mere human appearance. 

"I can't really tell what happened… looks like he's been through stuff," Meme replied to his Professor's question. 

Jane stepped over the red line and leaned against the glass. 

The armored guards turned their heads toward her. But after seeing her, they continued on their patrol. They knew she was an S-rank Hunter. 

Smirking, she looked inside the cell and tapped on the glass twice. The Beetle raised his head, facing Meme and Jane. 

He had an overgrown beard and a dark face. It screamed terror. Or was it despair? Suffering? Meme could not clearly tell the differences. 

Jane clicked on the switch next to the door to his cell. A beeping sound emerged from it and connected the exterior sound to the inside of the cell. 

"Hey, Beetle. Stand up and tell us what happened to the Linked," Jane grinned at the man inside. 

Meme narrowed his eyes and stepped forth, standing an inch away from the red line, too scared to cross it like Miss Jane. One of the guards ceased his patrol and gazed at Jane. 

"Um, Miss Jane? Talking to the Beetle isn't necessary for an Intern, is it? He's just a kid… should he be –" 

"Shush, man. I decide what's good or what's not for my students. Right, Meme?" She turned to Meme. 

Meme kept his mouth shut, knowing that he had no place to talk amongst these two Monster Hunters. He was just an intern. 

"Hm… you mind your own business. Know that I'm an S-rank Hunter. You can't question my decision." 

The guard nodded and stepped away from them. None of the guards even looked at the Professor and the Intern afterward. 

Meme's gaze fell back on the Beetle. The Beetle stepped forth as a slight smile drew in the corner of his mouth. "You want to know what they do to us, Intern?" 

Meme narrowed his eyes. "Yes." 

A slow chuckle escaped the Beetle's lips. 

"You see, the Monster Link we possess is connected to our minds… directly. Only when we suffer do the real Monster form suffer. If we die, the Monster dies. But your Monster Hunter Society doesn't want us to die so fast. For example, they don't want me to die at all." 

Meme gazed in confusion at the Beetle. He couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not. But if he wasn't, Professor Jane wouldn't waste time showing the Beetle to him. 

"Yeah. Instead, they electrocute our heads. Force feed us pills… Inject fucked up drugs into our bodies so we can live long enough for them to experiment on us. They make us lose our minds, boy. Or should I say you? You're one of them,m after all, aren't you? At least you will be soon," the man grinned. 

"Indeed he will be, Beetle. That's enough from you… You shut up and go back to pondering a way to escape your Hell." Jane switched off the voice button from the outside. 

Meme stood there in confusion. 

'What are they doing to the Linked here?' 

That's all he could wonder. 

"Wait – but how is he capable of talking so casually then? If he is electrocuted and fed with drugs." Meme asked Jane in confusion. Jane smiled. 

"He's a tough one, you see. No matter how much we tried to break him, he couldn't lose everything he was. He kept fighting. Like a tough boy." 

The Beetle walked away from the glass and sat back on his chair, facing the floor once again. He was clearly not good in the head – at least not like he was before. 

"Was everything he said true then?" 

Meme felt guilty. He hadn't felt so much guilt in his life. He didn't know it felt like this at all... 

Knowing your dream job is like this.

Jane rested her hand on Meme's shoulder and leaned close to peck on his cheek. "My sweet student, this is what you will have to do if you're fighting on the side of humanity," she whispered. 

Meme looked down, feeling horrible. No one at the academy was taught how to electrocute human heads. But it seems that's what they were truly working for. 

Jane tightened her grip on Meme's shoulder. "Now that I've shown you what you're really working for, let's get going… I have to buy you some breakfast, remember?" 

"Yeah. You can't get away without buying me something now." 

Jane slowly slid her fingers down Meme's arm and she crossed fingers with her student. "Meme-kun. Don't be worried about them – it's only human to do so. But this is what you have to do when you're on Humanity's side. You're on Humanity's side… aren't you?" 

Meme had a half-confused smile on his face after hearing this. "Of course. Of course, I am." 

"Hm," Jane smirked. "Good."