The mayor's voice boomed, the anger on his face unmistakable. He looked like a bull about to charge, while his wife continued sobbing bitterly in his arms.
On the other side, the director of Sunrise Entertainment, who had been chatting with the program's investor guests, immediately approached him and spoke soothingly. "Take it easy, sir. All the procedures have been prepared. We can start now."
The man turned around, then raised one hand and pointed toward the director.
A thirty-five-year-old man named Sebastian, wearing a stylish beret, gave an okay sign with his raised right hand.
He was the "hand of God" in this game, the one who determined the course of the dream life Alex would experience.
His films as a director had been hugely successful. He had even deliberately studied psychology before becoming a live-broadcast director.
In the blink of an eye, two guards arrived and restrained Alex from either side. They yanked him around roughly, but luckily, the young man was an athlete.
Alex angrily jerked his shoulders. "I can walk by myself."
"Come on, hurry up. Put him in the capsule pod!"
"Yes, Mr. Sebastian."
The security staff pushed him again, forcing him into the small capsule-shaped bed.
That was the bed of doom. Alex had no idea how many more innocent people accused of being scapegoats like him would suffer this suffocating injustice after this.
Once he fell asleep there, he would wake up two weeks later. Only two weeks would pass, yet the life he had lived from birth to adulthood—and the days racing through his mind—had become a long journey.
Alex stood beside the bed, staring at all the faces in front of him, from the mayor's family, the director, and the other staff to the last two doctors and several medical workers.
These were the faces among whom he had to find his future allies. Even a little help could have a major impact.
"Are you ready?" asked a beautiful young female doctor standing beside Alex.
"Renata, what kind of question is that? Ready or not, can he even say anything?" a man interrupted.
The female doctor named Renata gave her colleague an embarrassed smile.
"In that case, we'll begin the procedure now."
Alex gazed at Renata's beautiful face for a few moments, making the girl blush slightly. There was no denying that Alex's handsome face made her heart flutter.
Doctor Rafael approached while carrying several medical instruments, glaring angrily with his brow furrowed.
The woman immediately turned her attention away. She took some cotton and alcohol, then disinfected the back of Alex's hand and his elbow. Alex's uniform had just been replaced with white hospital clothes. The short sleeves revealed the back of his hand and his pale, clean forearm, covered in veins and muscles built through years of training.
"Relax," Alex called out in his deep, slightly hoarse voice.
Renata could barely keep her trembling hand under control. For some reason, in all her years as a doctor, this was the first time she had been unable to restrain herself in front of a man.
Alex had often been popular with his female friends, but he had never felt confident enough to believe that a brilliant, stunning doctor like Renata could also be captivated by him. At the moment, he thought the girl was frightened because of the angry look from her male colleague.
A moment later, Renata bent slightly, allowing Alex to see her flushed cheeks.
The girl gently wiped the fossa antecubiti—the inner bend of Alex's elbow—with an alcohol-soaked cotton pad. The cold alcohol brought with it a tense sensation that pulsed through the blood vessels in Alex's arm.
Renata smiled faintly, her eyes focused on the prominent vein clearly visible beneath Alex's pale skin.
"I'm going to insert the needle now."