Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: New Employee First Day Anomaly - Rules (4)
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The help left by the veteran "Storm Emperor" would be etched into my heart until the end of this life. I vowed never to forget it.
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[Returning to the last save point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE 1.]
[New Employee First Day Anomaly]
[Death Type]: Trauma.
[Tip]: The sound of the receiver in the office can interfere with others' work.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
My vision brightened, and the hall's scenery unfolded once more.
The next life begins.
***
Phone receiver rules.
As soon as I turned on the computer, inside the work folder on the monitor screen, I spotted the exact file I was looking for.
I opened the text file.
SeGwang Tech Solutions_Co._Internal_Phone_Response_Manual.TXT
It contained detailed guidelines that had to be followed precisely when answering calls.
As if it were part of company regulations passed down from decades ago.
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SeGwang Tech Solutions Internal Phone Response Guidelines
1. Pick up the receiver exactly on the third ring.
- Answering on the first or second ring gives the impression of disrespect and can seem hasty and rude.
- Answering on the fourth ring or later conveys a lack of respect for the caller's time and may cause displeasure.
2. When answering, always state your department and name first.
- Exercise patience and wait for a response.
3. Once the call begins, respond to the other party only with "Yes" or "That's correct."
- Negative responses like "No" or "I don't know" may inadvertently displease the caller.
4. Never stay silent during the call.
- Silence can come across as inattentiveness. Show you're listening with brief responses at least every 5 seconds.
5. Do not exceed 3 minutes per call.
- Prolonged calls hinder work efficiency, while excessively short ones may seem curt. Wrap up the key points within an appropriate time.
6. Before hanging up, always offer a thank you and then set the receiver down.
- A proper goodbye shows respect. Failing to do so may leave the caller displeased.
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My thoughts on the SeGwang Tech phone manual.
It feels like they copy-pasted some black company's boomer rules wholesale.
Why the hell do we have to show this much "respect" in a single phone call?
Just as I was about to close the window, another document caught my eye.
"The guidelines are just one file... What's this folder?"
I moved the mouse and clicked.
The folder opened.
2014.04.13 Sorry Mom
- I wanted to become a proper son now that I've gotten a job—
2020.01.42 Not dying. Yeah. I'm not dying.
I'm gonna survive this place. Unlike you bastards. Fuck!
2021.02.41 It's a dream, right?
...It's a dream, right? It has to be. That's enough now.
It feels like you all tricked me—wearing animal masks, pretending not to know, ignoring me.
Records left by those who passed through this place before me.
As I slowly skimmed through them one by one, another entry caught my attention.
The only one phrased as a question.
2022.01.01 Don't you think it's weird?
Why is everyone normal except some have animal heads.
My brother, who left home in 2014 after getting a job... was sitting right next to me.
That's when I realized.
...Most of the employees here never existed in the first place.
The ones without animal heads aren't "made"—they've been "filled in."
There were long stretches of empty lines, as if they'd hit enter countless times.
I had to scroll down several times to see the writer's new entry.
I'll probably turn into something like my brother soon.
What will happen to my mom?
If I disappear too...?
I need to help her with the market runs.
Her back's been hurting lately.
...Help me.
If anyone reading this escapes, I beg you.
Please pass on my message.
It's in the folder right outside this one.
I'll never forget this favor. Yeah. Even after I die. Never.
Never. Never. I won't forget.
Desperation seeped through it.
The emotions he felt in every moment of writing.
Even why he'd hidden this file at the end of an invisible slot in the last scroll.
As if entranced, I closed the window and searched for the outer folder he'd mentioned.
A folder camouflaged into the background.
The folder was named LETTER. A letter.
I opened it.
Contrary to my expectations, it didn't contain just one letter.
[Jeong Ha-neul][Yoon Seo-jun][Kang Ji-min]...
...And an endless list beyond that.
Impossible to guess how many people had visited this company.
[Kim Do-hyun][Park Ji-woo][Lee Sun-ho][Choi Min-jae][Jeong Ha-neul][Yoon Seo-jun][Kang Ji-min][Oh Se-rin][Han Yu-rim][Jang Do-yoon][Seo Ha-jun][Lee Chae-rin][Kim Min-gyu][Park Seo-hyun][Jeong Woo-jin][Choi Da-eun][Kang Hyun-woo][Yoon Ha-neul][Bae Do-yeon][Lim Se-rin][Hong Ji-hoo][Moon Ye-rin][Shin Do-yoon][Jo Ah-in][Kim Tae-yoon][Lee Ha-neul][Park Ye-jun][Han So-yeon][Jang Min-ho][Choi Yu-ri][Yoo Ji-hoo][Seo Ji-min][Kwon Ha-neul][Noh Si-hyun][Yang Do-kyung][Heo Ji-woo][Bae Yu-chan][Song Ye-rin][Ahn Jun-ho][Jeong Se-ah][Lee Do-yeon][Jang Ha-yoon][Jeong Min-jae][Yoon Si-woo][Park So-yeon][Kim Se-hwan][Oh Ha-rin][Choi Eun-ho]...
Endless duplicated text filled the screen.
Yet astonishingly, they were all neatly organized.
As if people who'd never met or spoken to each other had coordinated it.
Careful not to disturb anyone else's letter.
I stared blankly before letting out a deep sigh.
"This is meddling. You idiot."
Contrary to my words, my hand moved in the opposite direction.
I clicked the very first letter at the top of the screen.
'...I'm just gonna read it. Nothing more.'
I had no USB or way to copy them.
I clicked the next letter and read it.
Then the next... and the next...
In the end, there was only one thing I could do.
The receiver rang ominously.
As if urging me to pick it up.
But my head didn't move.
Footsteps racing from afar.
Still, my eyes stayed glued to the screen.
A dull impact.
Vision staining red.
I repeated the same process until I'd read every single letter there.
I lost track of how many times I died.
I ignored the receiver as much as possible, focusing on the letters.
And each time I respawned, I frantically jotted down the remembered contents with the Recorder's Pen.
Seat 13 was done.
I'd recorded every letter there with the Recorder's Pen.
A total of 132 letters.
I stood up and looked around—countless seats filled my view.
Seats numbered from 1 to 100.
"...Meddling, huh."
***
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Returning to the last save point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE 1.]
[New Employee First Day Anomaly]
[Death Type]: Trauma.
[Tip]: The sound of the receiver in the office can interfere with others' work.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Returning to the last save point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE 1.]
[New Employee First Day Anomaly]
[Death Type]: Trauma.
[Tip]: The sound of the receiver in the office can interfere with others' work.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Returning to the last save point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE 1.]
[New Employee First Day Anomaly]
[Death Type]: Trauma.
[Tip]: The sound of the receiver in the office can interfere with others' work.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
***
Ring—
Ring—
Ring—
Exactly three times.
The moment the third ring from the rulebook ended, I picked up the receiver.
"Sales Team intern Kang Do-yoon speaking."
State your department and name when answering.
—...It's too incomplete right now.
"Yes. That's correct."
After that, just appropriate affirmations.
So repeating "Yes, that's correct" should work, right?
—...Why, why, why are the body's proteins... splitting into carbs and fats.
"Yes. That's correct."
—...Soon, they'll merge into one and be perfect. Don't worry.
"Yes. That's correct."
—...Nothing's lacking now. So...
"Yes. That's correct."
—...Are you even listening to me?
"Yes. That's correct."
The voice on the other end seemed flustered.
Even the breathing sounded rougher.
Anomalies don't get excited, so it must be my imagination.
—...Are you properly lis—
"Yes. That's correct."
—...Youuuu!!!
Always respond straightforwardly.
With affirmation.
Finally, the call time limit hit.
3 minutes.
"If there's nothing else, I'll hang up. Thank you."
I set the receiver down immediately after the last words.
The receiver anomaly, which had felt like an impenetrable wall, turned out to be pretty lame.
If you knew the rules, it posed no danger at all.
***
A brief silence passed.
The receiver showed no changes.
I leaned back in my chair and exhaled a short sigh of relief.
A wave of exhaustion hit me momentarily.
As my mind slowly recovered, the countless sentences I'd memorized began surfacing one by one.
"Looks like it."
My actions hadn't led only to pointless losses.
If anything, thanks to them,
I'd gained far more information than running around myself could have provided.
My thoughts organized.
First, the people who received this company's job offers weren't all assigned to the same department.
HR. General Affairs. Finance Team. Development Room. Sales Department.
Departments varied wildly.
Second, the letters preserved each person's memories and experiences more intact than expected.
Especially memories of the anomalies they encountered—those were the clearest.
Third. Floors weren't fixed. Each letter mentioned different ones.
From those records,
I learned that Human-Faced Monkeys roamed nearly every floor of the company.
Among the countless letters, the most helpful was one.
From an enthusiastic but pitiful person who arrived at SeGwang Tech two hours early, before shift, and scouted the place ahead of time.
2024.04.21 Is this for real?
Who said the early bird gets the worm?
I should've said birds don't eat—they get eaten!
Coming out early just means you die earlyyy!!!!!!!!!!