10
Chapter 10
Everyone was preoccupied with checking the time. They stared at the clock at the bottom of the computer, the digital watch on their wrists, and the time at the top of their phones, counting every passing second.
"30 minutes, 29 minutes... 28 minutes."
Lee Seo-yeon, who had been deathly silent, checked her phone to track the remaining time. The stopwatch she started the moment she heard there were 30 minutes left was ticking away rapidly. She didn't feel relieved.
Time flowed the same for everyone. Lee Seo-yeon glanced at the bookstand.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
As the time for the Containment Squad's arrival drew near, the pages of the book continued to turn, one by one, toward the end.
That was when it happened.
Bang-
Lee Yeon-woo suddenly flung the cabinet open. Inside, it was packed with mysterious folders and documents. Lee Yeon-woo began pulling out armfuls of them, tossing them onto the floor like trash.
"What do you think you're doing! I had those all organized! Put them back right now!"
A researcher, tearing their eyes away from the computer, approached in horror. They reached out toward him before they even reached him.
Before being grabbed, Lee Yeon-woo violently hurled a folder. Faded papers flew through the air, and the researcher flailed their hands, trying to catch them.
"No! Stop it!"
It was a commotion. The eyes that had been on the clocks shifted to Lee Yeon-woo and the researcher. They looked at him as if he were a madman. Unbothered, Lee Yeon-woo continued to throw the documents haphazardly.
"Calm down. We only have to wait 26 minutes for them to arrive."
Kang Yeol approached Lee Yeon-woo. Lee Yeon-woo threw a bundle of papers at him too. Kang Yeol swatted them away. The bundle of papers exploded like a bomb upon impact with Kang Yeol's hand.
The once-clean floor was now cluttered with scraps of paper. Above it, Lee Yeon-woo's voice landed.
"How many pages has that person read now? 20? 30?"
"...Probably around that much."
"It's 25 pages."
Lee Seo-yeon, who had been tracking the time with her eyes and the sound of pages turning with her ears, added her input.
"How many minutes are left?"
"25 minutes, oh, now it's 24 minutes."
"Then what happens after that person dies? There will be about 20 minutes left. Are you just going to stand there? Counting time?"
Lee Yeon-woo spoke while continuing to empty the cabinet. He tossed documents on the floor and ripped out the shelf supports, leaning them against the wall.
He never once turned his body toward the bookstand.
"That thing came down from the bookstand on its own. What if it eats that person too? Could it be that it won't be able to reach us?"
Crack!
He ripped out the last shelf support as if breaking it. After throwing the support to the floor, Lee Yeon-woo breathed heavily, took off his suit jacket, and loosened his tie. He looked at the people one last time.
Faces he might never see again, whether his employment was canceled or they were murdered by the Anomaly.
Lee Seo-yeon, who had been calculating something on her fingers, widened her eyes.
"About four pages a minute? At this rate... two more people could die. Maybe three."
"That's why I'm doing this. I don't want to die. You all should find your own way to survive."
That was all he had to say to people he'd met for the first time today.
Lee Yeon-woo wrapped his loosened tie tightly around his eyes. Not stopping there, he draped his suit jacket over his head and tied the sleeves and hem together.
Then, groping blindly, he gauged the size of the emptied cabinet and climbed inside.
Crammed into the narrow cabinet, Lee Yeon-woo's voice sounded muffled through the fabric of his jacket.
"Please close the door and lock it."
After a moment, with a creak, the cabinet closed. Click, the latch snapped shut.
Whew—
Lee Yeon-woo exhaled a hot breath. The tie binding his face and the suit jacket covering him trapped the heat and moisture of his breath against his skin. It was hot and stifling.
But this was the best method he could think of. To survive, he just had to endure.
In the narrow, dark cabinet, Lee Yeon-woo closed his eyes with his head wrapped. He could hear the thumping of his own pulse. He breathed calmly and rhythmically.
***
Thump-thump—
A narrow, dark, hot, and silent world.
He lost track of time. It felt like ten minutes had passed, or maybe five. Perhaps twenty? It felt as though he had been trapped for an eternity. Then again, maybe only three minutes had gone by.
Lee Yeon-woo shifted his body. The blood had stopped flowing to his legs, so he changed his position. His sweat-soaked clothes clung tightly to his skin.
"Huuuuu."
As he breathed out a long sigh, he instead felt a suffocating sensation around his throat. The burnt smell of the suit jacket. He felt like he was choking, as if he might suffocate to death.
'The Containment Squad? Whatever, I have to stay like this until someone opens it. Endure.'
Lee Yeon-woo grit his teeth, imagining ice, iced americanos, and shaved ice.
After all, if he couldn't hold out, he would actually die.
As he waited, sounds drifted in from afar. Blocked by the tie, the jacket, and the cabinet, the noises from outside reached him in fragmented bursts.
"That ██'s eyes cov██, hands█ hol█ ██?"
"Good██ █angle███."
It sounded like several people were murmuring.
'Did the Containment Squad arrive? Has it been 30 minutes already? I hope so.'
His calves and thighs grew numb, and his waist, shoulders, and neck began to ache. No matter how much he shifted, the dull pain wouldn't fade. Combined with the humid heat and sticky sweat, it was driving him crazy.
'Should I loosen it a bit? No, I can't. Endure. I don't know what might happen.'
The cabinet was lukewarm, heated by his body temperature. He moved around, searching for a slightly cooler spot. Just then, someone seemed to shout loudly.
"██ move███! Don█ touch █ hand██!"
"█!"
After a single shout, silence followed. Lee Yeon-woo stiffened instinctively, feeling his heart thumping against his chest.
'What was that? Did the Containment Squad actually enter? Or...'
Did someone get taken by the Anomaly?
He licked his lips and swallowed hard. Due to the soaking sweat, his tongue tasted salty. He was too focused on the outside world to care about the discomfort.
He strained his ears to hear what was happening in the lab.
Whew— whew—
Nothing but the sound of his own hot breath.
"...."
Beyond that, there was no sound. He couldn't even hear the pages turning. Since his head was wrapped, he couldn't see a thing. Unsettling imaginations danced freely across a pitch-black canvas.
'Damn it. What is going on?'
Did the Containment Squad arrive? Did they clear everything and leave? Leaving only him behind? Or did the Anomaly kill everyone? Or did some other accident happen?
The unknown. Anxiety. Terror. He wanted to undo his restraints right now and peer through the thin ventilation slits of the cabinet. Lee Yeon-woo reached for the knots of his tied suit jacket.
'...No. Endure. Not yet.'
He barely managed to lower his hand. To steady his mind, he went thud, striking the metal door of the cabinet. He felt the texture of the steel through his aching fingertips.
With a feverish head, he tried to think as calmly as possible.
'If the Containment Squad or whoever arrived, they would have let me out. If someone got hit by the Anomaly, it means there are 20 minutes left. And it's only been 3 minutes since I entered the cabinet.'
There was clearly plenty of time left.
"Huuuuu."
He exhaled as if spitting out the distractions, suffocation, anxiety, and irritation to clear his head.
He kept his ears pricked toward the outside.
Hoping to hear even a faint sound. If someone else fell victim to the Anomaly, it would mean 10 minutes had passed.
'Come to think of it, if two more people are sacrificed, I can hold out until the Containment Squad— No. Let's not think like that. I don't know how dangerous that thing might become.'
His sight was gone, and his hearing was half-blocked. In this dark, humid world, his thoughts leaped erratically.
'My rookie evaluation is probably ruined. I acted only to save myself. I wonder if they'll cancel my employment.'
The memory of Dr. Kim's judging gaze surfaced, making him shiver with worry.
'Still, surviving comes first. Even if others die. I can't be the one to die in their place.'
The faces of the three colleagues he met for the first time today floated into his mind; he shook his head as if brushing them away. Lee Seo-yeon's pale face, Kang Yeol's unmistakably military face, and Park Sang-jun's face that still looked like an exam wanderer.
Then, the faces of the deceased Han Chang-seong and Song Si-woo followed in succession.
'...They died. Killed by the Anomaly.'
Something strange. Something dangerous. Something one is guaranteed to encounter if they work at this company.
"Don't █! Stay pu███!"
"Let go██ or else ███!"
"Let go! Look█ do it! █ is █ a thing!"
A scream.
Rattle—
Startled, he twisted his body. Lee Yeon-woo moved his head, pressing his ear against the cabinet door. Voices seeped through the suit and tie.
"Mr. Park██! Stop███! Let go█ ██, stay sti███!"
"Stop█ me! I'll █ it!"
Someone had been taken by the Anomaly. Even though he could only hear fragments, he could visualize the situation. Lee Yeon-woo thought.
'About 10 minutes left now.'
Thump-thump—
He used his rapid heartbeat as a second hand to track the time. About a hundred beats per minute.
'1, 2, 3, ...57, ...89, ...100. One minute.'
"Grab█! Let go██ damn it! Can't ██ stop it!"
"Too la███! Let go███!"
'1, 2, 3, ...100. Two minutes.'
"█ it███! Only ██ can sur██e here!"
'...3 minutes, ...4 minutes, ...5 minutes.'
"Entry! Entry!"
"They're he██!"
"██entity confirmed! Check for inju██!"
Loud, unfamiliar voices pierced through the layers of fabric and slammed into his eardrums. Lee Yeon-woo was certain. The Containment Squad had arrived.
"Anoma██ ██ complete! Injecting sedat██ into █box█! No side eff█! Full █Snake ██!"
The reports continued for a moment.
With a shake, the cabinet door opened. He felt the rush of cool air on his skin. Just in case, Lee Yeon-woo, still wrapped up, spoke loudly.
"Is it over?"
"It's over. You may come out."
Lee Yeon-woo hurriedly reached for the knots of his suit jacket. Perhaps because he was rushing, they wouldn't come undone. His fingers slipped over the tight knots.
Whoosh—
Finally, he ripped the suit jacket off upward like removing a helmet. He did the same with the tight tie. Ignoring the friction on his face, he yanked it over his head. As the fabric scraped his skin, he tossed the tie away with a stinging pain.
"Huuuuu!"
Refreshing. He felt like he could finally breathe. Lee Yeon-woo limped out of the cabinet on numb legs.
Under the white lights, he saw the chaotic scene of the laboratory. He saw the rookies, the doctor, the researcher, guards wearing sunglasses, and members of the Containment Squad clad in equipment far more exotic than the guards'.