Chapter 73
A rattling sound.
Thick smell of blood.
This was no automated, spotless factory. It was a grotesque place where terrifying monsters from a nightmare splattered blood while stripping flesh from bone.
Dark red bloodstains and rotting flesh.
A space smeared with yellow fat.
And there were monsters standing there.
ㅡTHUD!
ㅡTHUD!
Now I understood why they had been described as monsters that felt similar to humans.
They were basically bipedal humanoids.
However, they were bloated, with pillar-like legs like an elephant's, a swollen belly as if filled with fluid, and bright-yellow wrinkled hide that was visually jarring.
They had faces, but among their features, only the mouth remained.
And even that had no lips, leaving all their ugly teeth exposed. Pus-like saliva streamed between the teeth.
Those things, clad only in rotten rags, were using thick arms to grip giant Chinese cleavers and butcher the meat.
ㅡTHUD!
ㅡTHUD!
They cut the meat right through the bone.
I think I understand why the person who first discovered this place didn't describe the human meat. The meat on this line was already dismembered, and these butcher monsters were doing additional work.
There must be other rooms... other factory lines connected to this one, where the meat still retained its human shape.
ㅡTHUD!
ㅡTHUD!
Every time the rusted Chinese cleaver struck the cutting board, it made an ear-splitting sound. The butcher monsters simply busied themselves cutting up the meat pushed along the line.
They didn't care about hygiene.
In this rotting factory line, they cut up meat with rusted blades while spraying blood everywhere.
A horrifying sight.
A revolting smell.
My head spun. I felt like vomiting. Fortunately, I was a man who could control vomiting freely. I had trained thoroughly to fight vampires, so holding back what wanted to come up was nothing.
I calmed my startled heart.
Horrible and grotesque, but I was a Bureau agent.
Even the ordinary people who had been unlucky enough to get caught up in this were somehow trying to keep their wits and find a way to survive. There were men and women alike. All of them suppressed their fear and explored this place.
Now it was my turn.
Fortunately, I had the power of regression.
I could find out as much as I could about this place and write it down in my notebook. If I did well, the people who fell here next might be able to survive.
I watched the butcher monsters working from behind the door.
Were these guys the laborers?
Whatever they were, if one of those thick brutes caught me, I wouldn't escape with even my bones intact.
My pistol didn't look like it would do much... and I didn't have many bullets to begin with. Even if I got lucky and took one down with a single shot, there were twenty of them in sight. The gun itself was pointless.
To put it bluntly, it was for suicide.
ㅡWHIIIR
The rail kept moving.
The already butchered human meat was being moved elsewhere. It looked like there were many doors in the factory hallway. They seemed to move from room to room along the rail to do different work, so if I went to the end of this line?
Wouldn't there be a place where it got packaged?
Finished product.
Once packaging was done, they'd deliver it.
"..."
It seemed highly likely it would be delivered to this monster world. But then what was the human-meat butcher shop I had seen before coming here?
Was there also a route for deliveries to the real world?
Whatever the case, I needed information.
Good.
I set my first goal.
I was going to explore the start and end of this work line. Then I'd know where the meat came in from and where it went out.
And while I was at it, I'd make a map of this factory.
Fortunately, there was a simple sketch. It only went as far as the grinder, but I could fill in the rest based on that.
Still, they really had guts.
They were going to go into the grinder and kill themselves?
Even a seasoned agent like me would probably flinch and complain if I were told to go into a grinder for suicide, so how could they do that?
No.
Rather, after seeing that terrifying sight, they may have fallen completely into despair and chosen the grinder.
For now, I needed to check all the surrounding objects. Let's go to the place with the grinder. According to the sketch, it wasn't far from here.
After carefully checking my surroundings, I crept along so the butcher monsters wouldn't notice me.
ㅡWHIIIIR!
ㅡTHUD!
All kinds of horrifying sounds drifted over.
Fortunately, cargo was piled up throughout the hallway, so if need be, I could hide.
I kept going straight, then turned the corner.
According to the sketch, there was supposed to be a grinder in this first room.
ㅡRRRRUMBLE!
As expected.
There was a grinder.
"..."
It was very large...
A destructive grinder.
Just imagining being ground to death there made my skin crawl. But as big and powerful as it looked, the pain might actually be brief.
Rather than being butchered by monsters, it might be better to be turned to powder here in an instant. If my head went in first, the pain would last only one or two seconds. If my feet went in first... I didn't want to imagine it.
I confirmed the grinder.
The sketch was accurate.
I returned to the bathroom.
I went into the last stall, left the door slightly open, climbed onto the toilet, and opened my notebook again.
And based on what I had seen myself, I drew a map.
-Map of Chief Bureau Agent Lee Dohyeong
-Unauthorized copying or modification strictly prohibited
Anyway, the notebook would be reset if I regressed, but I was the kind of person who'd plant a tree of apples even if the world were to end tomorrow.
Death is only my unavoidable end.
I don't throw my life away carelessly. I struggle with everything I have. I do everything I can. Even if I escape in one go, there has to be something left in the notebook.
That was when I was drawing the map.
ㅡTHUD!
The sound of the bathroom door opening.
ㅡTHUMP. THUMP.
The footsteps of a butcher monster.
I could imagine it striding along with pillar-like legs like an elephant's. Cold sweat broke out on me. The thudding steps were getting closer. If it opened the door to my stall... first I'd try shooting it in the head with my pistol. If that didn't work, I'd kill myself immediately.
ㅡCREAK.
...Fortunately, it seemed to stop at the stall next to mine.
It opened that door.
ㅡSPLAT, SPLAT!
A strange sound began to come from there.
What the hell is that sound...?
I couldn't guess. No, the more I listened, the more it sounded like unclogging a toilet blocked with a plunger. But there was a subtly strange sound mixed in.
What on earth was it doing?
I thought, keeping as calm as possible. Should I check what it was doing? If I got caught, it felt like it would be over immediately.
"..."
Still, I had to do it.
If I, a Bureau agent, didn't do it, then who would?
Carefully.
I stood on tiptoe and tilted my head.
ㅡSPLAT, SPLAT!
I could see the back of the monster's head.
It was sticking its rusted Chinese cleaver into a toilet full of water and splashing it around.
These bastards... are they using the toilet to wash their knives? The blood, flesh, and fatty tissue stuck to the blade were being washed away in the water. I watched for a moment, then crouched back down.
The sound continued for a while.
I heard the sound of a flush.
I covered my mouth with my hand and waited for it to leave.
But then.
ㅡTHUD.
The thing.
Came to my stall.
Through the slightly open gap, I could see its yellow skin.
Shit... why is it coming here?
If it came in now, I was done for.
Should I kill myself and avoid that bastard when he comes into the bathroom?
Would you just fuck off already?
ㅡWHOOSH!
Fuck!
I nearly jumped at the sudden whooshing sound, but I held back.
ㅡWHOOSH!
The sound came again.
I didn't know if it was because of the whooshing sound, but the slightly open door shifted a little. That let me see a bit more of the scene outside.
ㅡWHOOSH!
The butcher monster was swinging its Chinese cleaver. I thought it was some kind of practice, but it looked like it was shaking water off.
Soon, the movement stopped.
ㅡTHUMP. THUMP.
I heard it leave the bathroom.
Only then could I breathe.
That was too close for comfort, fuck.
Let's kill some time here and then go back out.
I was too sweaty.
Since the factory reeked of rot, I was lucky; if it had been a clean environment, my sweat smell might have given me away.
* * *
I stepped back out of the bathroom.
This horrifying hallway greeted me.
Don't be scared.
I had to make the map properly so the other victims could survive. First, I'd find the start of the factory line, then go all the way to the end.
Near the end of the line where the finished product was made, there was surely an exit out of the factory. Supposedly, going out that way still meant entering the monsters' world, but in the end I had to verify it myself.
Now it starts.
I walked down the hallway carefully. I always had to check for cover, and be extremely careful when passing open doors.
Right in front of me, I saw an open door. Could it be the front part of the factory line I had seen? For now, I pressed myself against the wall and checked inside the door.
"..."
It wasn't a facility with equipment.
The room was piled high with foul-smelling trash and debris. There was a handcart in front too. Did butcher monsters use handcarts too?
Those piles of debris... they seemed to be made of flesh and bone.
Was this some kind of place for collecting waste?
But wait.
I can see what looks like clothing among the waste.
Could they be the victims' clothes?
I needed to check them first.
I forced myself to ignore the stink and disgust and approached the pile of debris. Among the trash heap, there were pieces of clothing. No matter how I looked at it, they were clothes worn by humans.
I pulled them out.
A shirt soaked in blood.
Sweatpants.
Jeans.
They all seemed to belong to victims who had fallen here.
"Ah."
There was even a wallet in a pocket. When I opened it and checked, I found an ID card. Jeong Inwoo. A man who had turned twenty this year by Korean age. There was an ID photo, a childhood picture of him smiling brightly in front of a cake with both arms raised, and even a studio photo of his family of four.
...I'll keep it.
"..."
In this place.
My murderous intent toward the butcher monsters surged.
I'm not particularly empathetic.
But... ordinary people like this. Caught up in something like this. Dying in this hellish place, and their families not even knowing what happened to them.
It made me furious beyond measure.
Why does shit like this keep happening?
Even during the Giant Apocalypse, countless innocent people died. I thought I'd gone numb then, but apparently not. I can't become desensitized to things like this. Including vampires, I feel intense hatred toward these aberrations.
I came out of the trash room.
I continued exploring, carefully looking around. The start of the factory line. I had to find it.
What should I do?
Opening a closed door was too risky.
How should I open it?
ㅡBANG!
A loud sound suddenly rang out.
It was the sound of a door opening.
Instinctively, I hid behind the nearby cover, or rather, behind the back of some machine I couldn't identify.
Shit...!
I'm in the hallway and a door is suddenly opening!
My heartbeat might give me away. I grabbed my pistol and prepared to respond to the situation. At least my body was folded up enough to hide. If the monster passed by without looking closely, I might be able to get away with it.
ㅡTHUD.
I heard footsteps stop nearby.
.
.
And then.
"Woof. Woof."
A sound I'd never heard before.
A bizarre breathing sound, like something a butcher monster would make.
What the hell is that sound?
Woof?
It sounded like a dog barking, or maybe panting. No, was it closer to a pig's noise?
And then suddenly, a thought struck me.
This.
It sounded like something taking in a breath and sniffing for a scent.
ㅡCLUNK!
The machine shook.
In my field of view, a head with no lips
and grotesque teeth bared was visible.
ㅡBANG!
I fired.
The bullet lodged in the monster's forehead.
No.
The bullet flattened against its forehead.
...The bullet couldn't even pierce its skin.
I immediately tried to kill myself, but.
ㅡWHOOSH!
It grabbed my foot and yanked.
"Ghk!"
I was thrown around by tremendous force.
ㅡBANG!
I was slammed to the floor.
"Ugh...!"
My spine...
Was it broken?
Hurry and kill yourself.
The butcher monsters reached out.
No.
There was one more.
ㅡSNIKT!
My arm was severed with a single blow.
"Aaaaaaaagh!"