Chapter 6
“What should I eat... seolleongtang or katsudon....”
“Both, please.”
Inside a cold metal interrogation room.
I was seated in a chair with my hands and feet restrained.
The wound on my shoulder had been neatly treated without me even noticing.
The missing flesh also seemed to have been restored, since I could feel pain where it had been torn away.
Across from me sat a staff member from the field response team.
The same one who had let me into the Backroom.
She had placed a steaming-hot katsudon—soft egg and a thick pork cutlet on top—and a properly seasoned bowl of seolleongtang in front of her, the kind whose broth, after a sip, would make any Korean shout, “Krrr, fuck yeah!”
I couldn't stop myself from salivating, like I'd bitten into a lemon.
Please, hurry up and let me eat.
“If you promise to do as you’re told….”
“I’ll cooperate quietly. And, um, can I get a refill too?”
“…Of course. Take your time.”
She nodded at my answer and pushed the tray toward me.
Click.
Clatter!
And at the same time, the handcuffs restraining my arms came undone and fell to the floor.
The instant I was given permission, I inhaled the food in front of me like a madman.
It wasn’t as if I was short on food in my bag, but those were only energy bars, jerky, and chocolate.
They were fine for replenishing nutrients, but they barely counted as a meal.
“You eat well.”
The staff member looked at me as if she found it fascinating.
Understandably so—if I saw myself from a third-person view, I'd mistake myself for a competitive eater with how enthusiastically I was eating.
As I frantically shoved the sweet rice bowl and refreshing broth into my mouth, I recalled the plan I’d already made.
[What am I supposed to do after I get out?]
Author : ShitpostingIsEasy
It's probably already overkill to be thinking this far ahead, but...
I mean, if they ask me something like, 'Why did you survive?' and I answer wrong, won't they just kill me?
No matter how I think about it, I can't picture a scene like, 'Oh wow, you finished the mission safely, go rest easy!'
[Comments]
Hunting Dog : You're already thinking like a Management Bureau agent! Excellent, recruit!
AutoSaveIsMandatory : They probably know you pulled a prank on NewTube too? The Intelligence Department is seriously capable.
ㄴ Eua-deul-i-dae : There are lots of pretty employees in the Intelligence Department; I got banned from entering though.
ShitpostingForMoney : If you answer wrong, they'd probably classify you as an anomalous entity and isolate you, or do a brain snatch.
On the final day, when the Backroom was covered in the green pressure zone.
Since I couldn't move, I'd spent that time thinking about what to do after leaving the Backroom.
Because a week of survival for an ordinary person, with two invisible Smilers eternally chasing you, makes no sense.
If there hadn't been a gallery I could access even in the Backroom, I probably would have ended up as a corpse, my whole body bitten to shreds.
“Ha... I feel like I can live.”
Unlike my tangled thoughts, my body—having finally eaten a proper meal after so long—was bubbling with happiness.
… Is this a blood-sugar spike?
“Looks like you’re done. Can we get to the point?”
“Yes.”
The door opened and another employee came into the room.
Black suit and sunglasses. An outfit that screamed, “I’m an agent.”
He didn't even look at me, and with crisp, disciplined movements he collected the dishes and went back out.
“Nine.”
She looked at me with her elbows on the table, fingers interlaced covering her mouth.
“Of the ten people deployed this time, nine died.”
So everyone died except me after all.
I wasn't particularly shocked.
Right now I had just come back from the brink of death; how could I even spare a thought for someone else's life?
“And on the second day, with no exceptions.”
The second day was when the first Smiler began active operations in earnest.
If I hadn't uploaded photos to brag on the gallery, I would have met the same end.
Even as my head grew complicated, I also felt a small sense of relief that no one had died because of the rule I changed.
How devious humans are.
“Originally, the survival rate in Level 0 area should have been over 90 percent. But for some reason, the Backroom's rules changed.”
“I see.”
Apparently the employee didn't know why the Backroom had changed that much.
“So I'm curious. How did you, Mr. Park Seongbin, notice that the Backroom had changed and take advantage of the conditions under which the rules changed?”
Correction. She seemed to know everything.
She took out a smartphone and showed me the screen.
On the screen was the NewTube channel the white-hat hacker had made.
“Do you admit that the person in the video is you?”
“…Yes.”
“For spatial-type entities, even Management Bureau terminals cannot communicate with the outside.”
“Is that so?”
“After checking the terminal issued to Seongbin, it was determined to be the same as the ones issued to other employees.”
“I see.”
I nodded, repeating the dead-eyed answers as planned.
MoneyForShitposting : When the Management Bureau asks you questions, just give formulaic answers.
MoneyForShitposting : Even in the human-rights-forfeiting route, drugs, brainwashing, and the like are forbidden, so if you keep denying it, they can only suspect you.
“…If you don’t show a cooperative attitude, we may have to make you talk, employee Park Seongbin.”
Hearing threats like that, it seems the human-rights-forfeiting route isn't aimed at employees after all.
“That’s not what I mean—I really didn’t know a single thing.”
I explained the situation while making the most aggrieved expression I could.
“I’d been interested in the Backroom ever since before I joined. I’d already watched all the videos from the channel that caused trouble.”
And then I pointed at my shoulder wrapped in layers of bandages.
My shoulder no longer had any trace of the chunk of flesh that had been neatly torn off the other day.
“I was attacked by a Smiler on the second day too. Only after barely escaping did I realize, from the videos, that it was the Backroom’s Smiler, and I dealt with it.”
Even now, I still had the urge to lift the phone in front of me and start taking pictures of everything around me.
“That alone isn’t enough of an explanation. How were you able to access the real-world internet inside the Backroom?”
Probably the most important question of the day.
Depending on how I explained that, it was obvious I’d either become a lucky returnee or a candidate for brain snatching.
‘Let’s do it according to plan. According to plan.’
“I picked up a smartphone while walking around. That device had internet access.”
“We didn’t find any such item among your belongings.”
“I put it in the bag they issued me before I fell asleep. And when I woke up, I was already back, so I don't know where the smartphone went.”
“Ha.”
The employee gave a small laugh and stood up from her seat.
“Interesting.”
Rattle-rattle.
“The interrogation is over. Go back to the dormitory and rest.”
Click.
At her words, the shackles restraining my feet came loose.
Wow, blood is finally circulating again.
“…Isn’t there more you want to ask?”
There were a truckload of questions I could think of right away.
Things like whether the channel purchase had something to do with it, or why the rules were changed like that, and so on….
Maybe it showed on my face, because the employee gave me that blank look of hers and said,
“If this were the original plan, we’d have used a truth serum and questioned you until everything was laid bare.”
At the same time, she extended a hand toward me.
“I’ve decided you have a little more value as an employee than that.”
The atmosphere made it clear that if I didn’t take it, things would be awkward, so I stood up and shook her hand.
“Congratulations on surviving. And welcome to the Field Response Team, Park Seongbin.”
***
The Management Bureau dormitory was a spacious officetel, far too big for one person.
What exactly are they doing, giving me a place with three rooms?
Eua-deul-i-dae : Here's a useful tip—Management Bureau dorms give out free condoms.
ㄴ EntityFucker : But you haven't actually used them, have you?
Is that what it is... like the Olympic athletes' village?
Though I probably won't have time to wander around, is this their way of saying, 'Do whatever you want'?
Come to think of it, I feel like I saw a flyer on the way here saying you can also get room remodeling.
Though that probably has nothing to do with me.
Ding-ding-diring~.
I turned on the newly issued terminal.
The terminal I received before entering the Backroom wasn't returned; they said they'd be examining it.
If they found the gallery on it, it could be a problem, but unfortunately this wasn't a situation where I could worry about that.
Besides, even if I'd tried to erase it before escaping the Backroom, it wouldn't have deleted.
I could only pray to the heavens.
“By the way, I can’t believe that person was the team leader.”
Who would've thought that the person who escorted me to the site on the first day, and who had been interrogating me just now, would be my direct superior?
Field Response Team Leader, Im Mina.
Leaving aside why a team leader was there to receive a rookie,
As the interrogation went on, her blank face shifted into a look brimming with interest, and I got the feeling I wasn't going to live long.
I'm all mixed up.
‘Let’s think positively. Having a pretty boss is a good thing.’
Brown bobbed hair, the airheaded cuteness coming off that blank face….
I guarantee there’s definitely someone among the seniors in the same department who likes the team leader.
Ring-ring.
As soon as my delusions ended, the terminal finished updating.
The screen showed the same basic apps as before and….
[Management Bureau Bamboo Grove]
There was one other app in place of the Management Bureau gallery.
‘If I may give you one last tip, there’s an anonymous bulletin board app in the Management Bureau’s default phone apps.’
This must be it.
The moment I tapped the app, wondering what kind of content it might contain,
Kkzzzt!
“Huh!?”
Black sparks shot up from the terminal.
So startled that I threw the terminal onto the bed and hurriedly backed away.
After a few more sparks, the terminal soon went quiet.
After waiting ten minutes and confirming nothing happened, the screen of the terminal I picked up showed
[Management Bureau Gallery]
“Oh my gawd….”
The Bamboo Grove had disappeared, and the familiar app had taken its place.
Got dumped by Park Geumja again today
Ah, fuck, Backroom pension is so sweet
I banged a managed entity today, what the hell?
Ah, the monster next door escaped again
When I tapped it, it welcomed me with posts and nicknames I knew all too well.
At this point... I guess it's fair to say I have some kind of weird ability, right?
[What the fuck are you guys?]
Author : ShitpostingIsEasy
I didn’t have any doubts when they said the Management Bureau terminal had an anonymous board,
but after getting caught and coming back, this isn't even a Management Bureau app.
No wonder I could access it in the Backroom.
Thanks for saving me, but let's get this straight.
Are you guys anomalous entities? Or what, are you some kind of Management Bureau perk?
What the hell are you, anyway?
Not long after I posted my furious message, a comment came in.
ManageTheManagement : Come to my guestbook ^^;
The top admin. He'd summoned me.