Interrogation
Cargo settlement completed.
A cold mechanical voice echoed emptily through the space. In that silence, the only thing left behind on the floor was a single fallen hairpin.
"……."
Han Yujin approached wordlessly and picked it up. The metal hairpin, which she'd expected to be cold, strangely still held some warmth. Vivid proof that it had just been holding someone's body heat.
The fishy smell of blood pricked at her nose. She recalled the dark red blood the middle-aged woman had vomited up.
"Urk…."
Suddenly, something nauseating surged up from her gut. It wasn't fear. It felt... a little different from the tension of facing the grotesque or the instinctive revulsion before a threat of death.
A person who had been alive and breathing just moments ago. Someone she'd chatted with, tried to help each other out with—it felt wrong how naturally she'd vanished, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
How should she describe this? Futility? Loss?
Han Yujin furrowed her brow at the unfamiliar sensation she'd never felt before.
When she'd been keyboard-warring in the gallery, it was all about logic and winning or losing. Even when she'd dealt with those newbie hunters at the terminal station, it had been a clear-cut act of justice and self-defense.
But this was different.
The middle-aged woman had thrown herself away.
Just for that self-sacrificing reason—to save her daughter, whose condition she didn't even know, whether she'd turned into a monster or what.
I don't like it.
It grated on her that it was an irrational choice she herself would never make. And the structure of these horror stories, designed to force that choice, made her sick to her bones.
"Han Yujin... you okay?"
Yoo Se-rin peeked at her with a face drained pale as a ghost.
"Your expression's been off since earlier... Did you get mentally contaminated recently or something? You look like you're about to snap and start killing... Get a grip."
"...Huh?"
Only then did Han Yujin snap back to reality. Her jaw ached from clenching her teeth so hard. Her fists were gripped so tightly that her nails had dug crescents into her palms.
"……."
Why am I like this?
Han Yujin shook her head to shake off the emotional turbulence. Get it together. This was a horror story. Staying cold and rational was basic common sense she'd seen hammered home countless times while gallery lurking.
"Hey."
At that moment, Lee Kanghyeok paused wrapping his bandages and turned his head toward her. His scarred face and empty eye socket gleamed with an ominous light.
"What was your relationship with that middle-aged woman?"
A voice devoid of even a shred of sympathy. A purely mechanical question to assess the situation.
Han Yujin shoved the hairpin deep into her work uniform pocket. Feeling the lingering warmth fade from her fingertips, she forcibly suppressed the boiling emotions.
This isn't the time to get sentimental.
She glared at Lee Kanghyeok. Not her usual cheeky or brazen expression. Just eyes gone cold as ice.
"What do you care? If I said she was my mom, you gonna cough up some condolence money?"
"...What?"
"If you are, hand it over now. I don't take less than 100,000 won."
Lee Kanghyeok furrowed his brow.
"You trying to mess with me right now?"
"Nah. You're the one who started the games. You think this is the time to chat about connections and shit? When we're right at the exit?"
"……."
"Let's just get out. Cut the pointless questions. You gonna cooperate or not, Section Chief?"
Han Yujin spat out his title clearly. Meaning: act like a pro.
Lee Kanghyeok stared at her for a moment, then nodded. He knew well that infighting now meant death for everyone.
At that instant, the settlement counter's system chimed again.
Ding-dong.
Shipment cargo delivery standby complete.
Customer consciousness confirmed. Will you package yourselves?
Lee Kanghyeok glanced at Han Yujin, caught off guard by the unexpected question.
Han Yujin nodded quickly.
"Say yes."
"Why so sure?"
"Dunno. If we say no, probably tentacles or something drag us off like with the lady earlier?"
"……."
After a moment's thought, Lee Kanghyeok answered toward the wall.
"We'll package ourselves. Everyone here."
Thank you for your cooperation.
All customers, proceed to the next zone.
With a heavy rumble, one wall of the settlement office split open entirely.
"……Whoa."
A sigh escaped Yoo Se-rin.
Beyond the wall stretched an overwhelming vista.
"This is…."
Hundreds—no, thousands—of conveyor belts. Red, blue, yellow, green. Belts of every color intertwined like rivers merging, stretching into unfathomable darkness.
The mechanical roar shaking the entire factory mingled with the friction of sliding boxes in a grand symphony.
Board the delivery line.
The sheer scale froze everyone in place.
"……."
Of course, Han Yujin was the exception.
"Eh. Pretty impressive, I guess."
It's all just rules in disguise.
Time to analyze, not gawk.
First, one of her prepped hypotheses.
1. To escape this horror, watch the conveyor colors.
From the waste processing plant where she'd first opened her eyes, cargo had been sorted by color. Waste on red conveyors. Recycling on green.
Even here, green and red belts snaked toward the deep underground.
Thus.
2. In escape phase, avoid green and red conveyor belts.
The procedures updated in real-time in Han Yujin's head. No manual? Make your own. Something that would shock anyone who heard.
Anyway.
She eyed what lay before her. The gray conveyor belt. And—
Thud.
A box just big enough for one person, dropped from somewhere. Since they'd chosen self-packaging, this must be theirs.
Good thing it's person-sized.
Han Yujin let out a sigh of relief. Truth be told, listing "a single strand of hair" as the shipment item had been a gamble. It minimized shipping costs but jacked up the packaging difficulty.
If this horror sorted parcels by volume, she wouldn't have even attempted shipment.
But.
From opening all those boxes in the waste plant, she'd realized.
3. Parcels here are valued by weight and existential worth, not volume.
Volume wasn't a big factor in this horror.
Therefore.
1. Trick the manifest to lower the fee.
2. Get routed to the wrong conveyor as payback.
3. Switch to the correct conveyor after boarding.
A somewhat insane strategy complete. The key here: board the conveyor color we'd have gotten for normal parcel treatment.
Han Yujin snapped the others out of their freeze.
"We listed 'a single strand of hair' as the item. Remember?"
"Yeah. What's the plan now?"
Han Yujin traced her finger along the gray conveyor right in front of them.
"This gray one's the small cargo line. That's ours. Everything here's processed by manifest."
"Small cargo... uh, isn't that bad?"
Yoo Se-rin asked innocently.
Han Yujin gave her a pitiful look and pointed to the end of the small cargo line. Far, far off in the distance. There, massive steel presses hammered relentlessly up and down, flattening every small box that arrived without exception.
"……!"
"If you wanna get squished like that."
"Eek! Then we'll... we'll get crushed?!"
Yoo Se-rin shrieked. Kruru hid behind Han Yujin's leg in terror.
"Exactly."
Han Yujin's eyes sharpened. She pointed past the presses to a line carrying larger, sturdier boxes.
"We start on small cargo, but transfer to another cargo line."
"How?"
"How d'you think?"
As she spoke, Han Yujin folded her assigned box.
Hm. Felt it from the start, but these horror boxes are well made. Won't rip no matter what you stuff in.
Her hands worked busily for a moment.
—Click.
A box perfectly sized for one person assembled in seconds.
As she set it on the conveyor, she said,
"Work hard? Give it your all?"
Then she moved to hop right on.
"Wait."
Lee Kanghyeok's massive hand blocked her path. His scarred face looked fiercer than ever.
"You."
A low, threatening voice.
"Once you're on that conveyor, it'll be hard to meet again."
"Your date invite line's kinda lame, no?"
"Don't play games. I just want a few pieces of info from you."
Lee Kanghyeok ignored her taunt. Instead, he pulled a small, bizarre cross from his pocket. Jet black, half-broken.
"Eek!"
Yoo Se-rin swallowed hard behind her. As far as she knew, that was an item only section-chief level or higher could carry!
M-TO-13911
Item discovered in a ruined church horror.
Pounds rusted nails into the target's hands and feet until they tell the truth.
Yoo Se-rin whispered quietly to Han Yujin.
'It's an interrogation item. Just nod if you can answer honestly.'
Lee Kanghyeok's empty socket fixed on Han Yujin.
"I'm serious—I don't want to kill you. But a mission's a mission. You've got two choices."
"Let me use this item willingly, and I promise to let you live. But run or resist, and you die here."
Han Yujin glanced between the item aimed at her and Lee Kanghyeok's face.
Fight? Impossible. Run? On that belt? Suicide.
What he wanted was pure, truthful info. The problem: what questions would he ask?
Is Kruru a Cthulhu fragment? Where am I headed next? The address on the luggage?
Too much vital info to hand over to Unique Company willingly.
But.
Han Yujin scanned her surroundings and smirked, slowly raising both hands.
The most infuriating grin of a veteran troll curved her lips.
"Sure. Use it. Ask anything. But once you're done, you hop in that box nice and quiet."
Lee Kanghyeok's brow furrowed. Yeah, even you think I'm cooperating too easily, right?
"Not asking? Hurry up and ask so we can go our ways."
As Han Yujin beamed, a vein throbbed on Lee Kanghyeok's forehead. Feeling oddly like he'd already lost, he spoke.
"That kid. What is she?"
Lee Kanghyeok jerked his chin toward Kruru.