9
Chapter 9
A laboratory connected to the containment room by a shattered window.
Beyond the gaping frame, Song Si-woo, seized by an Anomaly, was clearly visible. He had stopped while passing the bookstand, his body frozen, only his head turned. His eyes moved from right to left, then from top to bottom.
Rustle—the sound of pages turning on their own echoed directly, bypassing the speakers.
"Damn it! Why did you do something so stupid!"
The researcher clutched his head, his face contorted in rage. The change in the Anomaly Entity, the destruction of the containment room, and a miserable death. Everything felt like a sharp needle stabbing into his brain.
Han Chang-seong, who had subdued the researcher, and Kang Yeol, who had provided the scissors, widened their eyes.
"Won't that person die if it stays like that?"
"We have to rescue him."
It was just as they reflexively approached the window frame covered in glass shards.
The researcher, having ripped out a clump of his own hair, glared at them with bloodshot eyes. A harsh voice flowed out in a low tone.
"Do not do anything."
A flicker of cold reason flashed within those reddish eyes.
"You must not give that thing any more feed. From what I can see, its traits increase and its power grows the more people it consumes. If you make one wrong move, everyone in this lab will die. Stay put until containment is complete."
"So... what you mean is..."
Difficult words. Kang Yeol and Han Chang-seong interpreted those words professionally. It was as if a violent criminal was holding a weapon, or an explosive with an unknown disarming method had been planted.
They had blindly sent someone in without knowing, and an accident had occurred.
Only now did they understand the situation and the mistake they had made. The weight of it was heavy.
"...I understand. I'm sorry."
They bowed their heads. Closing their eyes tightly, they looked away from Song Si-woo. Sometimes, one had to let go even while a person was dying.
It was then.
Click—clack, clack—
The sound of a doorknob being turned repeatedly rang out. It was Park Sang-jun. He shook the door back and forth as if he would break the handle, but the unlocked door refused to open.
"I'm leaving. I'm going out. Please open the door. Please. I'm begging you."
Clutching the handle, Park Sang-jun looked back and forth between Doctor Kim and the researcher. His dilated pupils trembled rapidly. It seemed as if PTSD had triggered, or his mind had collapsed under the pressure.
The researcher shook his head. Then, he spoke not only to Park Sang-jun, but to all the new employees.
"The moment the glass broke, this place was sealed. No one leaves until the Containment Squad arrives."
"No. Ah. No!"
Thump, thump, thump!
After Park Sang-jun pounded on the door repeatedly, he collapsed on the spot. The fist that had been striking the door slid down slowly. Park Sang-jun knelt before the door and bowed his head. His shoulders trembled.
"...."
A gloomy silence settled in.
The sharp noise of the guard's sunglasses, the repetitive clicking of the researcher's keyboard and buttons, the shaky breathing of the new employee, and the sound of pages turning continued to fill the air.
"...."
Lee Yeon-woo looked at the door that wouldn't open. He looked at the shattered window. He saw Song Si-woo, racing toward death, and the Anomaly.
He felt as if he had been drenched in ice water.
"Excuse me. Doctor Kim. Researcher."
"What is it?"
The researcher spoke while staring at the monitor. Doctor Kim didn't answer, still observing the new employee with an evaluative gaze.
But evaluations weren't important right now. His survival instinct sounded an alarm. He swallowed hard.
Lee Yeon-woo spoke while looking at Song Si-woo.
"We have to save him, don't we?"
Clack!
The researcher slammed the keyboard irritably. He spun his chair around violently and glared at Lee Yeon-woo. His gaze was menacing, and his voice was even more so.
"I said no. I told you to stay put."
"No."
Lee Yeon-woo kept his eyes fixed on the bookstand.
How many pages turned earlier? Was it forty? This man seems to have turned about twenty. It's not too late yet.
"That Anomaly. You said it gets stronger as it kills people. If he dies too, won't it be able to move on its own? Or maybe it'll make the people here want to read it too."
He was saying that if Song Si-woo died, they would all be in danger.
In an instant, an even deeper silence fell.
The researcher's face turned pale. He compared the existing experimental data with the current trends of change in his mind and reached a conclusion.
"That... doesn't seem impossible...."
The new employee gasped and instinctively stepped back. But in a sealed room, there was nowhere to run. He pressed his back against a cabinet, trying to get as far away as possible.
Only one person, Han Chang-seong, stepped forward. Crunch, he stepped on glass shards.
"I'll do it. Do I just need to avoid looking at that book?"
He spoke with a voice filled with guilt and responsibility, staring intently at the bookstand.
The researcher looked up at him for a moment and slowly shook his head. The scent of blood still lingered from his bitten lips. Perhaps the smell of the blood spilled by the test subject was drifting through the window frame.
"A Cultural Disaster only requires blocking perception. However, just as the test subject did, that man will try to keep looking by any means necessary."
"Like an addict."
"You'll eventually have to struggle physically. Are you sure you can resist looking at that thing in the middle of that? Or can you subdue him with your eyes closed?"
He was a former firefighter. He was large and robust; there was no way his strength or stamina was lacking.
"...."
Han Chang-seong turned toward the researcher. With the white lights behind him, his face was cast in shadow.
"Still, isn't saving him safer than just doing nothing?"
"...As long as you don't get captivated by the book yourself."
"I understand."
He nodded. Turning around, he stepped forward, crossing the shattered window frame and walking past the scattered glass shards toward the bookstand.
The people remaining in the lab watched his back in silence. He stopped in front of the bookstand.
Han Chang-seong briefly looked into Song Si-woo's eyes. They didn't blink once. His dry, strained eyes were bloodshot. In the midst of that, the frantic movement of his pupils as he read the book evoked an indefinable sense of terror.
Phew—
He exhaled. Stretching and bending his arms, shifting his foot placement a few times, he ran a mental simulation of how to subdue him.
In that interval, another page turned. He shut his eyes tight. Gritting his teeth, he lunged forward.
"Ugh!"
The world went dark as he closed his eyes.
He extended his leg to trip him at the distance he had pre-calculated, grabbed his arm to twist it behind his back, and pushed hard with his full weight.
In an instant, he felt the technique land perfectly, the floating sensation as they both fell, the impact of Song Si-woo acting as a cushion, and the dull pain of his knee slamming into the floor.
Crash—
A moment later, the sound of them hitting the floor echoed. So did the screams and struggles of the person possessed by the Anomaly.
"Gah! Let go! Let me go!"
"Stay still!"
He writhed, struggled, strained his arms to break free, and shook his head violently.
Keeping his eyes tightly shut, Han Chang-seong maintained the hold as best as he could. He put his weight into it and locked the joints. After thrashing for a while, Song Si-woo stopped moving.
"Hgh, hgh..."
Had it worked? Song Si-woo was merely gasping for breath and no longer tried to escape. Whether he had run out of strength or regained his senses, it seemed the subdual was a success.
"Phew, if only I had handcuffs."
Han Chang-seong steadied his breathing and slightly opened his eyes. Since they were facedown on the floor, there would be no way to see the book. He wanted to assess the situation.
And then, he saw it.
"Ah...?"
Did they hit the bookstand during the struggle? Did Song Si-woo hit it while thrashing? Or did it just fall on its own?
Thump, the book fell right in front of their faces.
A black cover, a small diary, thin pages. Paper lined with handwriting that looked like a journal.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
The pages flipped rapidly until the end was reached. Simultaneously, a wet crunch echoed, and the thick scent of blood rushed to their noses.
Han Chang-seong lifted his head, trembling. Everything in front of him was red. Song Si-woo had spilled blood. Only then did Song Si-woo's gaze, once captive to the book, find freedom and look into the void.
"Ah, ah."
Conversely, Han Chang-seong's gaze was drawn like a magnet to the Anomaly, which now displayed its front cover.
'The 38 Reasons I Must Die.'
Rustle—
As the page turned, the first reason appeared.
[It happened on a hot summer night. As I lay down to sleep, I looked at the wide-open window and thought I wanted to jump. I didn't particularly want to die, nor did I want to live. So I jumped.]
Rustle—
The page turned again. Han Chang-seong couldn't tear his eyes away. No, he couldn't. With eyes wide open, he read the reasons someone had died, over and over.
The sound of turning pages could be heard even in the laboratory.
"Damn it..."
Someone, quick to realize, spat out a curse.
Neither Han Chang-seong's face nor the book were visible. They were blocked by the bookstand. He had fallen in the worst possible position.
Yet, the way the two struggling bodies had stopped like corpses, the strangely intensifying smell of blood, and the crimson pool spreading from behind the bookstand—everything was felt by those in the lab.
Even the slowest person could tell something was wrong.
"Blood! There's blood!"
"Calm down!"
The researcher waved his hand at Park Sang-jun, who was about to panic. He pointed calmly at the computer and spoke.
"The security office called! The Containment Squad for 'The Reasons I Must Die' is preparing; they'll be here in 30 minutes! We just have to hold out for 30 minutes!"
He was screwed.
30 minutes.
Too long a time to survive an Anomaly that kills people. It wouldn't be strange if everyone here died.
Lee Yeon-woo decided to find a way for himself to survive. Employment and evaluations be damned; survival comes first.