A Nerd's Weapon
The man on the other end of the line paused for a moment, as if the background was too noisy, before answering in a somewhat annoyed tone.
"Yeah, we're hiring. Got any experience?"
I cleared my throat, trying to sound like an experienced, hardworking young man.
"Yes, of course. I have quite a bit of on-site experience. And I have my basic safety and health education certificate for the construction industry, of course."
At my answer, the man's voice softened slightly.
"Oh, really? Haha, even the certificate. Well, that site doesn't strictly require it—though it's good to have, of course. You're a well-prepared young man. How old are you?"
"Twenty-five."
"Aigoo, in your prime. No issues with blood pressure or anything, right? It's night shift manual labor."
"No, none at all. I'm very healthy."
The man chuckled warmly, clearly satisfied.
"Good, good. Young folks these days don't want to do this kind of rough work, so it's been real hard finding people. You called at the perfect time."
"Thank you. If you don't mind, could I ask one more thing?"
"What is it?"
I swallowed hard and carefully broached the main subject.
"Would it be alright... if I brought a friend along? He also has plenty of experience with manual labor and is incredibly diligent."
"With a friend? Great, great. Coming together means you won't be bored, and the work will go faster. When can you start?"
Things were going much smoother than expected. I took another step to seal the deal.
"Ah, actually... there are two more. A total of three people, would that be okay? Oh, wait, make that four."
"Four people..."
The man on the other end hesitated.
I wondered if I had pushed too far and regretted opening my mouth.
But his voice soon returned.
"There are probably already two or three guys on that site... but hey, the more the merrier, right? I'll just have to ask the team leader. Are the other two guys in their twenties as well?"
I froze for a second.
He naturally assumed they were men.
But the ones I wanted to bring were Minhye and Seyeon.
How should I spin this?
"Ah... well, the other two are women. But they're strong, and they work better than most men. When it comes to meticulous tasks like organizing and cleaning, they're much—"
Before I could even finish, the man cut me off flatly.
"No way. We don't hire women."
"Excuse me? Uh..."
"Aigoo, young man. What do you think this place is, an office? It's hauling construction materials inside a department store all night while breathing in dust. We're not hiring traffic controllers here. Women can't handle it. If they get hurt, it's just a headache for us. No."
The man's voice was resolute. Trying to persuade him further in this situation was pointless. I had no choice. The priority was securing at least the minimum number of slots to infiltrate the site.
"Ah... I see. Understood. Nothing we can do about that, then."
Hiding my disappointment, I continued as calmly as possible.
"Then, as we first discussed, just my friend and I will go. Two of us. Is that alright?"
"Yeah, yeah. That's much better. Come to our office by 9:00 PM tomorrow. I'll explain everything then. I'll text you the address."
"Wait! The work starts next Sunday, right?"
"That's right. You're filling in for some of the existing crew. If you do well, you can keep working."
"Understood. Thank you!"
The call disconnected. I stared blankly at my smartphone screen for a moment.
Infiltrating the place wouldn't be an issue anymore.
That meant half the battle was won.
Deokhu and I were locked in.
But it weighed on my mind that Minhye and Seyeon would have to support us from the outside.
Nothing I can do. This is the best option for now.
I stood up and opened the group chat to share the news with the team.
The next evening, the team gathered at the hideout, their faces a mix of tension and anticipation. I pulled up the scenario and the floor plans of Daehan Department Store on my laptop screen, wrapping up our final briefing based on the information I had gathered from the labor agency manager.
Once the briefing was over, Deokhu let out a sigh of relief.
"Huh... But wait, this might actually go smoother than we thought. We found a way in, and their weakness is clear. Can't the two of us just go in and blast the high-frequency sound?"
I shook my head at his optimism.
"It might look that way on the surface."
Deokhu tilted his head, and I continued.
"But Deokhu, don't forget. We're not just dealing with simple mannequin monsters. The fact that victims appear in the scenario I wrote means people could actually die or get hurt in there. A single moment of carelessness could lead to irreversible consequences."
Deokhu slapped his forehead.
"Right... You said once there are casualties, there's no turning back."
"Exactly. This is by no means an easy fight."
The smile vanished from Deokhu's face.
Amid the heavy silence, I revealed the most critical detail.
"And... there's actually one more problem."
Everyone's eyes locked onto me.
"The labor agency doesn't accept female workers. So for this infiltration, only Deokhu and I can go in."
"Wait, what?!"
Minhye was the first to react. She sprang up from her seat, staring at me in disbelief.
"Then what about us? Are we just supposed to sit outside and pray that you two make it back safely?"
Her voice was a mix of frustration and anger.
Seyeon also stared at me with a tense expression. They had resolved to fight together as a team, and having come this far, being excluded for such an absurd reason as gender seemed to wound her pride.
I calmed them down and began to explain gently.
"I'm sorry. I tried to find a way for us to go in together, but they were completely stubborn about it. It's an unavoidable constraint. But I'm sure there will be a task that absolutely requires you two. I just haven't figured out what that is yet."
I turned to Deokhu.
"The core weakness of this curse is high-frequency sound. To neutralize the mannequins and ultimately destroy the 'Queen' mannequin, we absolutely need an expert who can generate a precise, powerful frequency. That's why you have to be by my side, Deokhu. It has to be you."
Deokhu nodded with a solemn expression, finally realizing the weight of his role.
Just then, Seyeon, who had been listening quietly, asked as if a thought had struck her.
"Wait a minute. What exactly is high-frequency sound? Do we just need to make an annoying, loud noise, like a glass shattering or metal scratching?"
Her question cut to the most fundamental part of our strategy. A half-baked understanding could easily lead to the failure of the operation. Naturally, everyone's gaze shifted to Deokhu.
Deokhu shrugged and puffed out his chest as if he had been waiting for this exact moment. With the confidence of a college student given the floor to present on his major, he spoke up.
"Ahem! Sharp as always, gorgeous. That's an excellent question."
Deokhu swiped a finger under his nose, exuding the aura of a seasoned expert as he began to explain.
"It's on a completely different level from just a loud noise. Every object—even the plaster of those mannequins—has its own resonant frequency. Simply put, there's a specific frequency range that a particular object absolutely cannot tolerate. Just like how some people love ballads while others hate heavy metal."
"Huh...?"
He pointed a finger at a glass cup on the table.
"You've heard of people shattering wine glasses with their voices, right? That happens because they hit the exact pitch that matches the glass's resonant frequency, causing it to vibrate in harmony. The glass can't withstand the stress, and shatter—it breaks. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to weaponize a 'killing voice' specifically tuned to smash those mannequins."
Minhye let out a soft chuckle.
"You already thought all that through in such a short time?"
"Of course! Do you know how much tuition I pay?!"
Deokhu proudly pulled out his smartphone. He tapped the screen a few times to turn something on, then scurried over to the door, pulled a Bluetooth speaker out of his gear bag, and paired it.
"Why don't you see and feel it for yourselves? Seeing is believing, after all."
Deokhu grinned and pressed play on his phone.
"Huh...?"
No sound came out.
Minhye tilted her head.
"I don't hear anything... Do you need to turn it on again?"
"Exactly, you won't hear a thing. This was just a quick demonstration, but I'm going to use a specially built device to generate the high-frequency sound."
"Ah... so in short, normal people like us can't perceive it?"
"To be precise, humans can't perceive it."
Seyeon frowned slightly.
"I understand the concept, but how are you going to build a device that emits such a specific sound? Is that even possible right now? I don't think our current gear is cut out for it."
It was a reasonable doubt. Minhye nodded in agreement. Our operation depended entirely on Deokhu's weapon. If that weapon didn't exist, the entire plan would fall to pieces.
Deokhu flashed a triumphant grin, as if he had been waiting for that very question.
"Haha, who do you think you're talking to?"
He rummaged through his gear bag and pulled out an object that looked far more bizarre and complex than the previous speaker, placing it on the table. It was a crude case stuffed with multiple speaker units, wires, and mysterious dials.
"Who am I? I'm Korea's premier sound enthusiast—no, sound nerd. DIY speakers have been my hobby for ages."
Deokhu proudly began introducing his creation.
"I built this a while back by scouring the Yongsan Electronics Market and the tool shops in Euljiro... It's a, uh, 'High-Frequency Oscillator'! Well, I just made up the name. This core component here is a transducer I ripped out of an industrial ultrasonic cleaner... and this part was salvaged from a high-performance audio system and modified to amplify signals all the way up to the ultrasonic range..."
Once Deokhu started bragging, there was no stopping him. I quickly cut in before he could ramble on any further.
"Okay! Honestly, none of us have any idea what we're looking at. The bottom line is, this can be used as a weapon, right?"
Deokhu grinned.
"It's a cannon. A straight-up cannon."
His eyes sparkled like a child showing off a brand-new toy.
This was the culmination of the electronic circuit knowledge he had gained from his double major classes and the sheer geek credentials he had amassed by staying up all night scouring foreign audio forums.
I watched him with a warm smile and chuckled.
And I patted Deokhu on the shoulder.
"Nerds really are something else. I'm genuinely impressed, Deokhu."
At my heartfelt praise, Deokhu's face turned as red as a beet. He scratched his head sheepishly.
"Aw, it's nothing, Hyung! Hehe."
Now that the weapon was ready, all that was left was to get some rest and prepare.