Chapter 49
An eerie silence and cold air that gave me goosebumps.
I can see the hallway of the underground isolation room.
Dark.
A hallway with the lights out.
Definitely.
I had just been facing off against a vampire.
"..."
Where does... reality begin and end?
No, is this even reality in the first place?
—thump, thump.
It feels like my heart is going to burst. Cold sweat is seeping out all over me, and I'm feeling a dizzy lightness, as if my mind has drifted away somewhere.
Suppressing the nausea rising in my throat, I quickly ran through everything in my head.
A vampire...
That crazy bitch killed Gorgodio. And she tried to kill me too. She lifted me up, saying she'd turn me into a ghoul, and just as she was about to tear into the back of my neck.
It let out a scream.
And then, very...
Very afraid of something.
Panic and confusion. Then it hurriedly put me under hypnosis.
Right.
That was hypnosis.
I've been hit by it enough times to know.
That's what it feels like when you're under hypnosis.
The vampire screamed at me to wake up right now and cast hypnosis on me, and I opened my eyes here. Like waking from sleep after being told to wake up.
What the... hell is going on?
Have I finally gone crazy?
In the first place,
what time period is this?
"Grrong?"
The moment I heard Spangdal's voice, I felt all thought come to a halt.
That voice is terrifying too. Every muscle in my body tightens. I realized my body was trembling uncontrollably.
Is whatever is behind me really human?
Fuck...
Please...
What the hell happened to me!
"S-Senior Spangdal."
"Yes?"
At least now that communication was possible.
Without turning around, without confirming that Spangdal was a monster, clinging to the possibility that she was human.
I wanted to say anything at all.
"Suddenly... I'm so scared. I'm terrified to the point I feel like crying. What am I supposed to do? I-I really don't want to set foot in the isolation facility..."
I felt like screaming. It really seemed like I was about to burst into tears. My legs were already trembling weakly. My voice probably was too.
My chest trembles as if I've been thrown into a freezer.
"Oh dear. Did you suddenly get scared?"
I hear the same voice as always.
A voice that might even be gentle.
"Yes. My hands and feet are shaking like crazy. I'm so scared my heart feels like it might burst too."
"Do you need to calm down?"
"Yes... I could use a little calming down."
But I probably don't have time for that.
"Then I guess I should hug you."
—swoosh.
Spangdal, standing behind me, wraps her arms around me.
Is she cold?
Or warm?
The sensation is...
Like a human.
It feels like a human is hugging me.
"Are you okay now?"
Spangdal's chin rests on my shoulder.
If I turned my head here, I'd be able to learn her true identity. She might be human, or she might have transformed into a monster like last time... that monster that went pitch-black, as if a shadow had fallen over it, with spikes jutting out.
The latter was probably right... but I didn't want to check right away. Because I wanted to delay that change even a little.
So I didn't turn my head.
Like
an ostrich burying its head in the ground.
.
.
Little by little.
Something strange begins to appear at the edge of my vision.
The thing hugging me feels like it's changing into something else.
.
.
I want to cancel this...!
I want to go back to before I ever entered the Bureau!
This fucking underground facility!
A crushing fear gnaws at my brain. Cursing this world, I screamed inside. I feel like I'm going to go insane and collapse. I want to die like this.
But even if I die, it won't be over...!
Because even if I die, I'll come back here again!
I was sure I had solved it, so why am I back here!!!
"Grrong?"
The moment I thought about that, one possibility came to mind.
No way...
Wasn't it solved in the first place?
It wasn't that I'd solved it.
Had I merely activated that 'reality re-recognition device'?
"Feel better? Then let's get moving. If you're going to use a senior like this, that's a problem. Taking care of juniors is a senior's duty, sure, but this much..."
Now even her voice feels like it's changing.
I can't hold out any longer!
"Fuck!"
I cursed and kicked off the ground. Thanks to concentrating my strength for an instant, I managed to break free from Spangdal's arms.
I can't die like this.
If I want to escape this fear, I have to get out!
"The window...!"
Right, the window!
I just need to find the window!
I should've gone out through the window back then in the first place!
It's obvious this happened because I didn't leave through the window!
If I go out through the window, I'll be able to escape somehow. That's what the window is there for in the first place, isn't it? If I just go through there, the solution message will finally appear.
But.
"Huh?!"
I can't see the window.
Even if I turn my head and inspect the hallway wall closely, I still can't see a window!
Back then Spangdal definitely told me it was here!
And even when I look again, there's no window there!
"What are you looking for?"
"Ah...!"
Black.
A black silhouette.
I hadn't turned around, but I could feel something black drawing closer to me.
By
any
chance
are
you
looking
for a window?
"Yes...?"
You're talking about the window?
He
re
are
many.
Win
dows
.
"Oh."
The next moment.
"Huh?"
All over the hallway wall.
Dozens, no.
Hundreds of windows appeared.
"Huh? Huhhh?"
They hadn't been there a second ago?
I turned my head.
Turning my body, I checked the entire hallway.
Windows here too.
Windows there too.
Left and right. Every wall.
Identical windows stretch out at regular intervals across all of them!
"
Win
dows
are
many.
Hur
ry
and
go
in
.
"Eeeeeek!"
I ran away crying.
"Aaagh! Aaaagh!"
Windows!
There are so many windows!
They're all over the entire wall!
"A
ha
ha
ha
ha
ha
ha
ha
."
A horrifying laugh sounds from behind me. That insane sound becomes a scraper, gouging at my brain and my sanity. I was screaming until my voice was hoarse. I couldn't even tell why I was here in the first place.
"Window! Windoow!"
Wasn't I supposed to just go out through the window?
Was even that a lie?
There are so many windows, how am I supposed to know which one to go through!
"Where is it, damn it! Where?!"
The moment I screamed that, every window flew open.
-Come in here!
-Here! Here!
-This way!
-This way is safe!
Bizarre voices began calling to me from inside them. Not only that, but pure white hands reached out, trying to grab me.
-Come in this way!
-Let's be at ease now!
-Come on! Hurry! This way!
-Come this way!
The inside of the windows was stained a deep, vivid red. It was such an ominous color that I didn't even want to imagine what it was made of.
The pure white hands that came out of there felt utterly horrifying, and I had a feeling that the moment I got caught and sucked into the window, something absolutely irreversible would happen.
I couldn't look at the windows anymore.
"Aaaah!"
I ran while screaming, eyes shut and ears covered.
Was escaping through the window a lie from the very beginning?
A reality re-recognition device? That was all bullshit too! There was never any way out of here to begin with! The only ending left for me was going insane in this terror!
Then what am I supposed to do?
Go to the isolation team's lab?
Where is that?
Was that place even in reality to begin with? Gognija, Dejure. Weren't both of them some kind of imaginary beings?
Then where is the truth?
"...Manager Jo Seongchun."
Manager Jo Seongchun came to mind.
Is he really the truth?
If everything in this Bureau is fake, then is he the truth after all?
"Ah!"
Whatever it is, fine!
Fake Bureau or whatever, I don't care!
As long as it's someone who'll stay with me, I don't care who it is!
—fwoosh!
I opened my eyes again and looked for the isolation room where Manager Jo Seongchun was. What was that room number again? Could I even find it when the entire wall was plastered with windows?
-This way!
-Here!
While I was running, I forcibly ignored the hands and windows trying to drag me in and examined the wall. The windows stretched on endlessly, but that didn't mean the structure of the wall had changed. The door leading into the isolation room still existed. It was just that a window had appeared on that door too.
Then the door might still work!
"There!"
That's it!
The very door where Manager Jo Seongchun was!
I approached the door, nearly trembling with excitement. White hands reached out from the windows, flailing through the air to grab me, but...
—beep!
When I held up my ID card, the door opened!
I went inside in a state of elation. There were no windows in there. For the first time in this insane place, I felt at ease. Just having the windows disappear from this place of terror was enough to make me feel this relieved.
Of course, I have no countermeasure. I have no idea what will happen next. Something even more terrifying... some horrible thing I don't even want to imagine. That kind of thing will happen, won't it.
Even so, I wanted to rely on the person called Manager Jo Seongchun.
—viiing.
I opened the double doors again.
"Th-there he is!"
Manager Jo Seongchun is in there!
He exists!
"Manager Jo Seongchun! Is that right!"
A familiar man in a suit sat there, restrained. I ran toward him. He looked bewildered for a moment, then raised his head.
"You freaky bastards... wh-what?! Who are you!"
Look!
This human reaction!
He looks human and reacts like a human too. He'd felt so inhuman as a fake Bureau agent, but just seeing such a human side of him once filled me with overwhelming relief.
Compared to Spangdal, isn't he a wonderful human being...!
As my fear eased a little, my mind started working fast. Since I'd come all the way here, I had to do something. I had to do something with this Manager Jo Seongchun.
"What? Not in the Bureau database..."
He mutters.
Now Manager Jo Seongchun would recognize me as a 'new recruit from the fake Bureau' and try to win me over.
I need to get the jump on him before that!
"I-I’m a new recruit from the Bureau! The operation to rescue you has begun, sir!"
A lie I made up on the spot.
I shouted it, figuring I'd at least give it a shot.
I didn't know what would happen.
I just made a split-second judgment that, since last time I'd heard information as a 'new recruit from the fake Bureau,' it would probably be better this time to hear it as a 'new recruit from the real Bureau.'
"A new recruit?! So you're finally here to rescue me!"
"That's right!"
"Then tell me! Who is your direct supervisor!"
"My direct supervisor...!"
Who is he talking about?
Department Head Lee Do-hyung?
That was the name that flashed through my mind, but I immediately shook my head. Not him. According to Jaaldi, Department Head Lee Do-hyung had disciples, and he had a sword unit made up of them.
I don't have a sword right now.
So I need to give a different name.
Who the hell... ah, right!
"Manager Gwak Seongju! It's Manager Gwak Seongju!"
The burly man with twin machine guns whom I met on that battlefield fighting the vampires!","I shouted his name!"],