"Is this the only option I have?" Benjamin asked, hoping to hear a no from the system.
Unfortunately, he got the contrary.
"Yes, it is" the system replied, and he groaned with disappointment.
It looked like he had no choice. Either he took the system's guidance or he rejected it and remained in the cell until his allotted time for the mission ran out.
Now, the question was: how severe could the consequences of using the Instruct Skill be compared to getting lobotomized for failing the mission? Surely, it wouldn't be anywhere close—so the choice was obvious.
"Speaking of the police captain's office, where is it exactly—?" Benjamin asked himself as he looked around and paused when he saw the office in the distance.
Immediately, his eyes widened.
"I should listen to something all the way over there?! That's impossible! My ears can't listen to anything that far away, so using the Instruct Skill will surely have consequences, and very serious ones at that!" Benjamin complained to the system, making the two officers who were watching him concerned that he wasn't alright in the head.
To them, it seemed like Benjamin was arguing with himself, and they couldn't help but pity him. It was always a shame seeing a young man like himself suffering from a mental illness.
If only they knew the truth.
Back to Benjamin. After all that he had said and complained to the system, he was left with the same message about using the Instruct Skill— showing that the system was indeed unbending.
It didn't care about his feelings or contention towards the guidance it had given, because at the end of the day the choice to accept or reject it was his to make.
Just then, Benjamin's gaze shifted to the countdown timer, and he saw that he had lost two minutes since the last time he checked, meaning the mission started five minutes ago.
It became clear to Benjamin that he had no choice but to use the solution provided by the system, no matter how severe the consequence of using the Instruct Skill was, because whatever it was, it would be far better than the punishment he'd receive for failing the mission.
"I always knew I had terrible luck but whatever," Benjamin said exasperatedly, then called out to the system.
"Yes, Axel Blade?"
"Activate the Instruct Skill," he said, and another display popped up— making it three displays from the Guide System he had out.
On the third display was a message that the Instruct Skill had been activated and under it was another message asking him what instruction he wanted to give.
"Instruct my ears to listen to whatever is happening in the police captain's office," he said.
There was no delay between when he gave his instruction and when it took effect.
Immediately, his ears felt cleansed, as if whatever had been blocking them and limiting his hearing had been removed— resulting in the police station becoming overwhelmingly loud as voices and other noises flooded his ear canals.
Benjamin gritted his teeth, his expression contorted in pain and discomfort as he tried to block his ears with his hands to stop the noise and pain—but he didn't, because he needed to hear.
The range of his hearing continued to increase until it got far enough to listen through the police captain's door, and he heard a very interesting discussion that was more or less his golden ticket to freedom.
Unfortunately, the migraine and sharp pain in his ears were the consequences of gaining that freedom.
Benjamin continued listening to the discussion between the police captain and his intriguing guest—information which, if used correctly, could secure his freedom. But the longer he listened, the more pain he felt.
The pain was so unbearable that he dropped to the ground and contorted his body as he groaned in pain.
The two officers, who had been watching him for a while, became alarmed, and they rushed to the cell to check what was wrong with him.
"Hey, kid, are you okay?!" the female officer asked, drawing the attention of the other officers in the area, while her colleague, who had gone to fetch the cell keys, brought them to the cell.
He unlocked the cell door and the female officer rushed into the cell to help Benjamin.
She held Benjamin, who was jerking on the ground like someone having a seizure when, in actuality, it was the result of him continuously trying to cover his ears with his hands but stopping himself.
"Stop talking!" Benjamin said to the officer who had her hands on him.
Because she was so close, her voice was extremely loud, causing him more pain than he wanted.
"I'm not going to stop talking until you tell me what's going on with you" she insisted, infuriating Benjamin even more.
"I said stop talking. Please!" He begged.
"She's trying to help you and that's what you have to say? What an ungrateful prick" the male officer who brought the key said as he sneered at Benjamin.
"How many times am I going to tell you guys to stop talking? You're going to make my ears explode and me telling you to stop only makes it worse, so please stop", Benjamin said desperately.
The two officers who came to help looked at each other with confused expressions, then they looked at Benjamin— wondering what they should do.
Should they leave him to suffer like he clearly was or do they help him even though he didn't want it?
The more time went by, the more it looked like Benjamin was suffering, so they had no choice but to do something.
"Come here." The female officer said as she grabbed Benjamin and tried to raise him.
He resisted, wanting her to leave him alone, but instead of doing that, she sought help from the other officer.
The male officer went closer and grabbed Benjamin, then both of them started raising him to his feet.
Benjamin couldn't resist the two officers while also struggling with the pain he felt in his head and ears, so they were able to carry him to the open cell door.
Just then, the Police Captain's office door opened, and out came the Captain and his guest.
All the officers in the area comported themselves as they stared at the guest— displaying how important of a person this guest must have been.
"Come on, kid, we're going to get you checked up and find out what's really—" the female officer, who held Benjamin, said as they exited the cell, but before she knew it, Benjamin forced himself free from her and her colleague's grip.
The next thing they knew, Benjamin rushed towards the police captain and his guest, startling all the officers in the room.
"Stop that punk!" One of the officers yelled.
Responding accordingly, the other officers left what they were doing and rushed to stop Benjamin, who they thought wanted to attack the police captain and his guest.
To their surprise, they all saw Benjamin stop in front of the two people, drop to his knees, and bow his head to the guest.
"What's this?" The guest asked, a confused expression on her face.
"I know this looks very strange, ma'am, but I assure you that I can help with the problem you're having. All you have to do is get me out of here and that issue you were just talking about in the captain's office will be fixed", Benjamin said. Meanwhile, in front of him was a display from the system saying that the Instruct Skill had been deactivated.
He deactivated the skill the moment the captain and the guest left the office— stopping the pain he was feeling from getting worse, but it was still present and would take a while to completely subside.
"Don't worry about this nobody, Miss Anderson. I'll get rid of him right now" the police captain said, then he looked at all the officers who were frozen in place— watching Benjamin.
"Who's responsible for this kid being here?" The Captain asked the officers.
"Sorry about that, Captain. It's our fault he's out of his cell, but we'll take care of him right away" said the female officer who had released Benjamin from the cell with an embarrassed look.
The Captain looked at her and the other officer who had helped take Benjamin out of the cell, and he groaned with dissatisfaction.
"I'll deal with you two later. For now, get him out of here before he ruins Miss Anderson's mood", the Captain instructed, and both officers bowed their heads.
"Come here, you!" The female officer said as she and her colleague grabbed Benjamin and started pulling him away.
"Let go of me! I have something important to say to—"
"Shut your mouth! You're lucky we are being nice after what you've done" said the male officer who was pulling Benjamin back to the holding cell.
"Come on, Miss Anderson. Let's continue our exit", the police captain said, gesturing at the door.
"Of course, Captain", Miss Anderson nodded, then she and the Captain started walking away.
Seeing that his only opportunity to accomplish his mission was slipping away, a desperate Benjamin yelled "I thought you wanted help with your father's degrading health! If you leave now, you'll be dooming him to a fatal end!"
"Shut your mouth, will you?! Don't make me repeat my—" warned the male Officer, dragging Benjamin to his cell, but was cut off.
"Wait!" Miss Anderson said in a commanding tone and everyone in the station froze.
"Ma'am?" The officers taking Benjamin to his cell looked at her. "Are you talking to us?"
"Bring him over here", Miss Anderson instructed.
The two officers were confused but the look on the captain's face told them not to keep the obviously important woman waiting.
Both officers took Benjamin to Miss Anderson and let go of him before stepping away.
"I'm going to ask you this only once. Who are you and how do you know about my father's condition?!" Miss Anderson said fiercely.