Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: New Employee First Day — Rules (6)
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Human-Faced Gorillas swarming in—a desperate crisis.
In that moment, I had a gut feeling.
Blindly racing up to the 15th floor was going to be impossible.
Kang Su-ji hadn't broken a sweat, but the problem was me.
I'd built a wall against anything resembling exercise.
No sudden burst of superhuman strength was going to magically appear.
Past the 5th floor, my legs felt like lead, and my lungs burned like fire.
But the biggest issue was speed.
The Human-Faced Gorillas started thundering down the stairs all at once.
Hurling their massive bodies forward recklessly, they closed in at more than twice the speed of an average adult man with every stomp.
Boom, boom, boom—
The walls and ceiling shook, dust pouring down and clouding my vision.
The irregular vibrations threw my body out of control.
Loop 1.
..Tripped while running and died.
I couldn't forget Kang Su-ji's expression as she looked at me.
People trip sometimes.
Loop 2.
Dust blinded me, so grabbing the railing sent my hand swinging into empty air.
I tumbled down the stairs.
At least I didn't have to see her face that time.
Loop 3.
Adapted to the environment and climbed calmly... up to the 7th floor.
Loop 4.
Missed a Human-Faced Monkey approaching from a side door... 5th floor.
Loops 5, 6, 7.
6th floor, 4th floor, 7th floor.
No change in results.
...Loop 12.
Finally reached the 8th floor.
Dozed dozens more tries after that.
9th floor.
That was the limit.
No amount of crazy bullshit got me higher.
My physical limits were part of it, but even she, syncing with me, was wearing out.
Most of the knives Kang Su-ji carried snapped protecting me.
Now one dangled from a Human-Faced Gorilla's grip in mid-air.
The pounding footsteps of Human-Faced Gorillas grew closer toward my fallen body.
From below the stairs, above, the sides.
Ever-closer heavy, grotesque echoes.
Seeing the approaching fists, I gave up on blindly climbing the stairs.
...To reach the 10th floor or higher, I needed another way.
Actually, right after dying in the first loop on the stairs, the first idea that hit me was something else.
Use the elevator.
If I could just ride it to the 14th floor, one more flight would hand me the 15th on a platter.
But the space that unfolded before my eyes after pressing 14 and stepping out wasn't an office.
No walls, no ceiling, no floor—perfect darkness.
Even stretching out my hand, I couldn't see it.
In the empty space echoing only with my breaths, I couldn't even be sure the floor beneath me was real.
In that profound darkness where not a sliver of light seeped in, I felt my sense of boundaries slowly fading.
My toes, my legs, my whole body.
And finally—
I was swallowed by the darkness.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Moving to the last save point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE 1.]
[New Employee First Day Anomaly]
[Death Type]: Erosion
[Tip]: When using the elevator, do not get off on unassigned floors.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
***
I opened my eyes in the company lobby and nodded.
Finally, I got it.
Now I knew exactly what to do.
I pulled out my phone.
[Title: Fresh Newb's Surprise Quiz Show!! First Right Answer Gets 200 Coins!]
—Posted by: Newb120053
Truth is, as a newb, I don't need coins yet.
So I thought, why not give them to someone who needs them more desperately?
Might as well sprinkle some out...
But just handing them over blindly feels off, right?
So, here's a simple quiz.
I've got 200 coins in my hand right now.
Exactly one person with the best answer gets all 200 coins.
No joke.
I swear on my intake number.
[Quiz]
Say you need to reach the top of the building, but the elevator's busted, and the stairs are packed with hulks.
You can't physically beat even one of them.
How would you handle it?
[Forest Called by Anomalies]: Just climb the windows. Gimme coins.
[Solo Nick Friend]: Can't you just sprout wings and fly? Gimme coins.
[Dark Merchant]: Bribe 'em and send 'em packing. Gimme coins.
[Spectator But Why Possession]: Phase out and possess someone to go up. Gimme coins.
Coin zombies now?
Idiots high on coins spamming mindless comments.
All worthless replies.
Going outside the building means death anyway.
So window-climbing and flying are out.
Bribe? Shake bills at gorillas and think that'll work? They'd charge anyway.
Possession? Pass.
That's when I spotted a post left by a gallery ghost.
[Not Human]: You just gotta reach the top somehow, right?
ㄴ[Newb120053]: Yes! Just reach the top!
ㄴ[Not Human]: Then just set the whole building on fire. Easy peasy. What can a freak like me do about a blaze? lololol
ㄴ[Parcheonal Emperor]: FML, calling that advice.
ㄴ[Future SCP]: Lmao, even the anomaly would freak.
ㄴ[Newb120053]: ...?!!
Wait, that could work?
That's it.
ㄴ[Newb120053]: Thank you!
ㄴ[Not Human]: Did I get it?
ㄴ[Newb120053]: Yes. You're the winner!
ㄴ[Not Human]: Lolololol 200 coins honey~ I'm the man!
ㄴ[Not Human]: You're sending coins right away, right?
ㄴ[Newb120053]: Of course. Gotta pay up. One sec.
I stood up and slowly headed outside.
ㄴ[Not Human]: Hey, what're you doing?
What else?
I smirked.
Rollback.
***
The space I stood in now was manifested by the anomaly.
The office.
Flammable materials everywhere.
Piles of paper, old cardboard boxes.
An environment primed to erupt into flames the moment it caught.
Hadn't smoked in ages, but I still carried a lighter out of habit.
I pulled it from my pocket, flicked it familiarly to spark a flame, and tossed it onto a heap of stacked papers.
At first, the paper singed slowly, emitting thin wisps of smoke.
Then whoosh—flames sparked, spreading in an instant.
As fire licked between partitions, pale smoke quickly turned acrid black.
As the blaze grew and black smoke billowed thicker, anomalies stirred.
People kept working like nothing happened, but the monsters reacted.
Human-Faced Gorillas first, then Human-Faced Monkey spawn rushing to extinguish the fire.
Now's the time.
In that chaos.
I whispered low.
"Let's go."
Kang Su-ji nodded beside me.
We turned straight for the emergency stairs.
No Human-Faced Gorilla guarding the entrance—it must've gone to fight the fire.
Smooth sailing.
No interruptions, reached about the 14th floor when racket exploded from below.
Boom— boom— boom
Beast roars followed.
They noticed.
Then, Kang Su-ji, running with me, caught her breath and spoke.
"Go on up."
She spun, blocking the stairwell entrance.
Military daggers gripped in both hands.
"I'll hold here. Even on the 15th, someone has to buy time to stop them from coming up anyway."
Our eyes met, and she gave a short smirk.
"Honestly... I don't think I have talent as an investigator. All I've done beside Alpha is watch. Going up wouldn't help. So you go."
Hoo—
"...If Alpha shines as an investigator."
Shing
The two daggers in her hands merged into one sword.
"I'll shine right here."
"Kang Su-ji."
She gripped the sword and shouted.
"Suppression Team service creed! One, shield comrades with your body so they complete the mission. Two, no matter what it takes. Three, that's the Suppression Team's duty."
Sudden shout.
But I didn't flinch.
Her message came through clear.
Our eyes locked, smiles tugging at our lips simultaneously.
This choice was no longer a sacrifice.
As she said, she was simply standing at her brightest spot.
What I needed to say here wasn't apology or regret.
"Please take care."
Trust in a comrade.
Up the stairs.
Kwaaaaaang—
Soon, a shockwave burst from below.
Battle's on.
***
Finally, the 15th floor.
I stopped short.
Opened the door to a sight of countless densely packed employees.
At the end of that path, a lone door stood.
Employees blocking it with their bodies.
Instinct told me.
I had to pass through that door.
But my body wasn't strong.
Best case, average adult male level.
Obviously, one-on-one maybe, but two? No guarantees. Three or more? Certain loss.
In this situation, a letter's words suddenly echoed.
The first one I'd saved with the Recorder's Pen.
'Even in death.'
No telling if his soul lingered in their bodies.
Fail the attempt?
..Fail, and restart.
I've got endless chances.
"...Lee Ji-ram. Songpa-gu, Seoul."
"Song Eun-kyung. Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do."
"Park Do-hyun. Namdong-gu, Incheon—"
The voices trailed off after a while.
That was as far as I knew, as far as I'd recorded—their only names.
"—I'll make sure the letter gets home safe."
I bowed.
No change, as expected.
No intent to dim her resolve.
And I had no plans to give up after coming this far.
As I crouched to charge forward.
An anomaly stirred among the approaching dolls.
Some halted.
Grabbed the dolls beside them.
Not many compared to the total.
A tiny fraction.
But enough gap for me to slip through.
No hesitation.
I ran.
Hands reached from all sides to seize me.
But each time, other hands shot out to restrain them.
Pounding heart.
Ragged breaths.
..Time slowed.
Even in that tight moment, my eyes tracked the badges on the dolls.
..Kim Su-ji.
She'd said she needed hospital bills. Mom was sick.
—Shatters.
Kim Eun-jae.
Said her 5-year-old baby brother waited at home.
—Shatters.
Choi Min-ah.
Wedding coming up with her childhood friend of 10 years.
—Shatters.
Jung Ha-neul.
Puppy she'd raised since childhood left alone at home.
—Shatters.
Park Do-hyun.
Never once told his parents he loved them.
—Shatters.
And again,
And again,
Finally, my hand touched the door.
Just before it closed, instinct made me glance back.
In the massive wave, the last doll shattered to pieces.
Shards of countless dolls littered the floor.
...Felt bad.
Really bad.
That instant, the door slammed shut, slicing my view.
Slam—!