Chapter Text
ENOCH: Gh... (waking up, shifting around) Where... where am I...? ...What am I wearing?
(Static and buzzing noises)
ENOCH: Huh? (Picking something up)
(Static noise continues to blare, it seems like its trying to get a signal, it stops and a gruff voice sighs; momentary silence)
???: Hello? Hello? Young boy, can you read me?
ENOCH: ...You are loud and clear, who is this?
???: Ah, that's great! Now, do you remember your name?
ENOCH: ...I don't give away my personal information that easily. Who is this?
???: Yes or no, little boy, do you remember your name?
ENOCH: ...Yes. Now who is this?
???: Why, it's none other than the person who brought you back to life! You don't need to know too much about me~ I'll be your guardian from now on. See that camera over there? That's how I monitor you, so don't think of doing anything not nice! I have my eyes on you, little boy.
ENOCH: ... (This is quite uncomfortable, I can't even identify the sex of this person from their voice. I hope that I at least have privacy with my thoughts.)
???: I'll explain your job now, so listen closely! (Clears throat) Look at the screen in front of you. Alright. You are the warden of this prison called MILGRAM; your job is to manage the ten prisoners in this facility. Some of them are quite familiar to you, but they're no longer the people who they used to be. Treat them however you want, but one reminder: they're all...
???: Murderers.
???: However, I don't know how, or why, or who they killed. It's your job as the warden to find out their sins and motives, and once you do, you are to decide whether they are innocent or guilty.
ENOCH: Ah...?
???: That's right! A special job for a special person~ unlike usual wardens, you have the right and responsibility to judge them for their sins. Cool, right?
ENOCH: But how do I figure out what they did? Do I have to force them to?
???: No need!~ In MILGRAM, we are able to extract their mental images into video and song, all you have to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy.
ENOCH: Wow...
???: It does take a while to use and can't extract everything at once, so you probably won't know what the prisoner's sins are at the start. It depends on the prisoner, but you don't have to worry about the authenticity of what you see—they can't lie.
ENOCH: Are you talking about their personal views on their crimes?
???: (Giddily) Yes! You will see something although probably not the full picture, you have to use your brain; but you're smart, you can do it.
ENOCH: But what if I give the wrong judgement?
???: You don't have to worry. There's a thing called the three trial system in MILGRAM. You can vote once per day per prisoner's trial, then we take the total votes and the verdict with more votes is the final. Then we repeat this process three times. The first trial shall begin shortly, and whatever their verdict is will affect their placement in the next trial, so will the song that is extracted.
ENOCH: Because their mental state is affected...
???: Correct. You never know what will come out, but just think of it as the epitome of this job. It's okay, just trust your guts. You can even decide what their fate could be just by whether you like them or not! I'm not going to and I won't take responsibility for your actions—
ENOCH: ...?!
???: —just know that everything's in the lyrics, the movies, the music, the voices... You'll need to scrutinize them strictly if you want answers.
???: That's about it, do you have any questions?
ENOCH: Plenty of them. You say you brought me back to life? How? How did I even die? What is this place even for? Why are you doing this? Where are you right now? Who even are you? What's gonna happen after the third tria—
???: You don't have to think about it. You are the warden and they are the prisoners. Do you understand?
ENOCH: (What was that question even for then...) ...Hey. Where did the screen go?
???: That was just a hologram. Oh look at the time! The prisoners are about to wake up soon. So the first trial begins!
ENOCH: ... (I'll play along for now, it's the safest way I can think of...)