Chapter 41
"Section Chief Lee Dohyeong...?"
At my words, the man in the suit's expression changed strangely.
"Could Section Chief Lee Dohyeong really be nearby...?"
"You know him?"
"I-Is Chief Lee Dohyeong nearby? Does that mean he finally came to save me? Then it's fine! I'll survive!"
The man threw his head back and shouted, his excitement rising.
I was flustered, but I still tried to analyze the situation.
His bizarre certainty that Section Chief Lee Dohyeong would solve this mess without fail. And on top of that, the way he absolutely believed Lee had come to save him.
If this guy was really human... he looked like someone who had been driven to the brink and intoxicated by a sliver of hope.
"..."
Section Chief Lee Dohyeong was dead.
He had died before I ever entered Cheongak Mary Hospital as a guard. If this man had never received that information, it meant he'd been trapped here for quite a long time.
Should I tell him he was dead?
Or... should I pretend not to know and steer the conversation elsewhere?
I didn't think I had time to do both.
"Is Section Chief Lee Dohyeong really that amazing? Enough to break through here?"
"Of course he is! He's the best inspector in our Bureau! If you got hired here too, you must've heard at least once to watch out for Hyungbaek (凶白)! That's it! He must've deliberately triggered an abnormal event to bring down the fake Bureau!"
The man grew even more ecstatic and started building up some bizarre theory of his own. It was like watching a madman piece together information however he liked and arrive at a conclusion.
"You! If you side with us right now, you'll be a newbie, so you can still survive somehow! Get together with Section Chief Lee Dohyeong and escape!"
I.
While looking at this man, who was spinning his wheels on empty hope.
I felt an extreme sense of strangeness.
What the hell... is this.
What is the fake Bureau, and what is the real Bureau?
The fake Bureau bastards have such bizarre technology that they can wreak havoc on the crypto and stock markets and identify the 'prophets' who get caught up in it. They even monitor Sejeongge and find vampire hunters.
Honestly, they don't feel human at all. Everything already felt unreal when they were about to rip out my brain.
But according to Jaaldi, these fake Bureau bastards... don't exist in reality. They are ghost stories. Aberrations. Entities. That kind of thing. An anomalous phenomenon that suddenly appears out of nowhere and eliminates or kidnaps anyone who learns the secret.
That's what I'd always thought.
But.
The man in front of me.
Was far too 'human'.
"..."
My hesitation didn't last long.
What I could choose was limited. Even if all of this was an anomalous phenomenon meant to deceive me, the only thing I could do now was see as much as possible.
The more I know, the more grounds I have for judgment. I don't know what is trying to fool me. Feeling a chill run down my spine, I decided to go along with this 'man in a suit.'
"What is your name?"
I untied the man in the suit.
"Hoo... I was late introducing myself. I am Manager Jo Seongchun of the Bureau. And let me tell you this: don't introduce yourself. If you do, you'll be registered in the Bureau database. After that, you'll become a full-fledged 'fake Bureau entity.'"
A database...?
"Honestly, that's hard to believe."
I didn't even know what was true in the first place. I kept every possibility open and doubted endlessly so I wouldn't be shaken.
These bastards are the ones who took my brain... Section Chief Jo Seongchun's words were incredibly interesting and provocative, but not believable.
"Isn't this a time when we have to cooperate anyway? Looking at things, the situation is bad. Besides, you're still able to 'communicate' with me. That means you're not an entity yet. Think for yourself what it means to seal your real name in the fake Bureau."
Seal my real name?
"Anyway, we need to link up with Section Chief Lee Dohyeong... For now, we should find the location at the core of this containment facility. Know anything?"
The location at the core of the containment facility.
There was no way a newbie like me would know that.
"Ah."
The Containment Team research lab Spandall had told me about.
That was probably the core facility.
That was when it happened.
ㅡBang bang bang!
The door shook hard with a violent pounding.
Meeting Section Chief Jo Seongchun had been fascinating, but that didn't mean I had any brilliant plan. I was in an absolutely desperate situation.
"O-Outside...! Damn it! We have to break through somehow!"
Section Chief Jo Seongchun looked around in fear.
Could this bastard actually have a way out?
ㅡWhip!
Section Chief Jo Seongchun turned to me and shouted.
"A way! Isn't there some way!?"
So this bastard didn't have a way either!
"There isn't going to be anything like that. Not in a situation like this."
"Don't give up!"
Instead, he was the one scolding me.
"Use whatever you can! We have to solve this somehow! You! Use the rules you know!"
"Use the rules I know...?"
"I know you people follow bizarre rules! Among them, find something you can exploit to get out of this situation! Twist the rules or turn them to your advantage!"
"What...!"
At his words, it felt like lightning had struck my mind.
So there was a way to look at rules like that? I'd never once thought of using the rules in reverse during a crisis.
But right now there wasn't exactly any rule I could use.
Wait.
[8. The Bureau's lights never go out. If you think the lights have gone out, trust nothing and evacuate the building immediately. This is for your safety.]
Right...!
This rule!
It was this!
When I first entered this basement, the hallway was pitch-black. So dark I couldn't even properly identify anything. It was in a 'lights out' state!
"So it was wrong from the very beginning!"
If the lights were off, then of course nothing should've been visible. And yet I somehow walked around in that darkness with Spandall and carried out every task perfectly. That's where everything had already gone completely insane.
I got a clue.
But what was I supposed to do with this alone? The rulebook said to trust nothing and evacuate immediately. By that logic, I couldn't trust Section Chief Jo Seongchun either.
The moment I turned to say that.
"Huh...?"
Section Chief Jo Seongchun was gone.
Only.
In his place.
ㅡHiss, hiss.
There was a mass of viscera lying there, one that looked like human lungs.
ㅡGulp, gulp.
At the tip of the lungs... more precisely, at the tracheal passage connecting the two lungs.
There was a human mouth attached.
And that mouth said.
"This is the fake Bureau. This is the fake Bureau. This is the fake Bureau. This is the fake Bureau. This is the fake Bureau."
"I am Manager Jo Seongchun of the real Bureau. I am Manager Jo Seongchun of the real Bureau. I am Manager Jo Seongchun of the real Bureau. I am Manager Jo Seongchun of the real Bureau."
Ah.
"Ha, haha... hahaha..."
Laughter spilled out of the mouth.
What am I supposed to believe?
Am I just supposed to believe nothing, like the rulebook says?
ㅡZiiing.
The door to the containment room opened.
"D-Dammit..."
I was overcome with extreme fear.
ㅡPeek.
A head appeared.
A woman's head.
[You have encountered the ghost story 'The Woman Who Pulls Your Neck and Turns Your Face White'.]
With long black hair hanging down.
Her face unnaturally pale.
Her pupils jet-black.
And a woman whose neck was more than two meters long.
ㅡPeek.
She peeks out from the doorframe while holding onto it.
ㅡPeek.
ㅡPeek.
ㅡPeek.
[You have encountered the ghost story 'The Woman Who Pulls Your Neck and Turns Your Face White'.]
[You have encountered the ghost story 'The Woman Who Pulls Your Neck and Turns Your Face White'.]
[You have encountered the ghost story 'The Woman Who Pulls Your Neck and Turns Your Face White'.]
ㅡPeek.
ㅡPeek.
ㅡPeek.
Her face is coming closer.
.
.
.
[You died after having your neck pulled and your face turned white.]
[Death count: 12 -> 13]
.
.
.
[Restarting.]
* * *
The moment I opened my eyes, I tried to press the upper-floor button.
ㅡGrab.
The moment I thought about breaking free and forcing a strength contest, Spandall's face darkened as if a shadow had fallen over it, and a terrifying glare appeared. Then both eyes split apart into more than a dozen, covering the head. Spikes burst out all over the body.
"#$%#$^#@%"
I kicked off the ground and ran while listening to the incomprehensible words.
"Huff! Huff!"
Time to think.
Time to judge.
I don't have enough of anything...!
Was Section Chief Jo Seongchun really a real person to begin with? Was what he said true? Or was I simply hearing the fake Bureau's ghost-story entities talk about our 'real Bureau' that way?
But the rulebook said not to trust anything...!
If I can't trust anything, then that means everything Section Chief Jo Seongchun said was a lie.
"How am I supposed to judge this...!"
I roughly understand where all this started and what I got swept up in. It must be some phenomenon in the Bureau's basement, specifically in the lights-out state. Is this a ghost story that repeats eternal death here?
Whatever it is, if I get outside according to the rulebook, I should be able to solve it somehow. But since I'm underground, I can't leave.
It's a dead end.
There is no way.
But there is one thing worth trying.
Go to the Containment Team research lab!
"I have to find it!"
The Containment Team has a lab. If I go there, maybe I'll find some clue. If even that isn't the answer, then there really is no answer at all.
Please, let there be something...!
ㅡTadadadak!
I ran straight down a route I hadn't taken before. If I went down a path I hadn't used, I might find something. Strange sounds were already beginning to echo around me. Those sounds would erode my sanity. Ignore them. And then, at the end, the neck-pulling, face-whitening woman would appear, no!
"Don't think!"
Don't think about that sight!
If I think about that insane ghost's appearance, my mind will collapse. If my heart breaks in this terrible pain and fear, all that's left is endless death. My very reality would become hell.
I shook my head and bit the inside of my cheek to feel pain, clearing my thoughts.
The urge to go back and find Section Chief Jo Seongchun surged up inside me, but I suppressed it all. It wouldn't help. If I listened to him, the confusion would only get worse. And didn't he turn into lungs in the end...! And damn it, I still don't know what the hell my ability is supposed to do! I don't know what the standard is for it appearing and disappearing! If I'm facing a ghost story, at least show up already!
As I ran like that, at one point.
"Ah!"
I found a door at the end of the corridor, not a containment room set into the wall, but a door right at the far end like a dead end.
I reached the door with all my strength.
[Containment Team Research Lab]
This is it!