The 30th Floor

"What's going on?"

It could have been an anomaly's act. Staying wary, I approached Eun-hwa.

"Sniff… I made it all the way up to the rooftop, but I got too scared to go any higher."

Her eyes brimmed with tears. Seong Eun-hwa sniffled and cried, and it looked nothing like acting.

"That must've been rough. I found a way, you know? Come over here for a second?"

I beckoned her. She came closer with a face still full of tears. I draped the coat I'd already taken off over her head.

"Eun-hwa?"

I called her name and held my breath.

"Yerin? Who is it?"

Seong Eun-hwa asked in a voice thick with laughter. When I pulled the coat off, the frightened expression was still there.

"Mister, please help me. I thought if I just followed the rulebook I'd make money, but it wasn't like that. There are corpses scattered on the upper floors… and the phone keeps ringing… I was too scared to go in."

Fuck, she went up there.

She'd climbed to the top floor without even knowing who Seo In-seo was. The fact that she might still come back alive was the real surprise.

"Still, I can save her next loop."

I had a feel for it now. If I stuck to the plan, I could keep her alive.

I groped Seong Eun-hwa's chest as I stepped into the cafeteria, testing how far the anomalies' range of activity stretched. Her moderately large breasts squished like steamed buns under my hands.

Inside the cafeteria I took a tray. The middle-aged woman dishing out food wore a blank expression. Every pair of eyes in the place locked onto me. All the cafeteria staff were watching.

They're not even trying to hide it anymore.

Those were the eyes of hawks circling prey.

I was scared shitless too. But with Eun-hwa's breasts in hand, the fear didn't stick.

Hehe, soft soft boobs.

I kneaded them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and shook the dread off. No one around said a word about me feeling her up.

"Hi. You're the new part-timer, right?"

A cute woman with a bob cut walked over. Another anomaly fleshlight to fuck. I licked my lips and nodded.

"That's right."

"Everything okay so far?"

"Yes. Employee Seo In-seo has been showing me the ropes."

While we talked I slipped my hand inside Eun-hwa's clothes. Her nipples after so long. Only a few days had passed, yet it felt like years.

I gently took hold of her coat, ready to strip her.

"Kyaa! What do you think you're doing right now?!"

Eun-hwa suddenly screamed. The stares around us sharpened another notch.

So stripping her is off-limits.

I'd have to settle for grabbing her chest.

"Sorry. You looked hot, so I was just gonna help you out of the coat."

"It's fine. Oh—actually I'm a little cold."

Eun-hwa put the clothes back on. She never once threatened to call the police. Completely outside ordinary common sense. In the end Eun-hwa had been swallowed by the anomaly too.

"Thanks for the meal. Seo In-seo, come do overtime with me."

"U-uh, okay. Sure."

Seong Eun-hwa answered awkwardly. She looked like an ordinary civilian whose acting was painfully obvious.

"This thing won't even come off."

As if her role had already been cast, the name tag on Seong Eun-hwa's chest refused to peel free. Inside this building her name was Seo In-seo.

"Eun-hwa. It's just us now. You can relax."

We reached the elevator. I pressed the button for the upper floors.

Ding.

The moment we arrived I threw the coat over her head again and stepped inside.

"We're going up."

Confirmed. Cover her face and she glitches out.

Eun-hwa's body jerked and creaked like a broken machine. I groped her while mashing the close button.

The Management Bureau got eaten by a half-assed anomaly like this?

I couldn't wrap my head around it. The Bureau that ruled the world from the shadows, taken over by something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that fell apart the second you blocked its vision.

She used an anomaly to catch an anomaly?

What the hell had Senior Seo In-seo done? I was curious what had become of her.

Now I want to know even more.

Was that the room at the very end of the 9th floor written in the rulebook? The unidentified existence the rulebook itself had warned about.

Don't even look at the 9th floor. No—don't even think about going underground.

I'd already had my fill of anomalies. No need to go hunting for a place to die. I'd volunteered for overtime precisely because I never planned to go down there in the first place.

Even the anomalies seemed to have a concept of commuting; when night fell they went home.

Ding—

The elevator stopped at the 15th floor. According to Padak Ajusshi, this was the floor where actual work got done. There was supposed to be a way to contact other branches from here.

I swapped my name tag to Lee Hong-cheol and stepped inside. From the circumstances, Lee Hong-cheol was a Management Team employee.

He said you could tell by the color of the nameplate, right?

Good thing I'd asked Padak Ajusshi.

"Hello. Working late tonight?"

A middle-aged woman in the office greeted me cheerfully.

"Yes, overtime today."

"Seo In-seo as well?"

"Yeees…"

"Isn't Seo In-seo with the Exploration Team?"

"I-I decided to clock out with Lee Hong-cheol."

"Ah, I see."

The middle-aged woman nodded and turned back to her monitor. I scanned the room. She was the only one working late.

Her screen's black.

Just pretending to work would be enough. I sat down and clacked the keyboard.

Phone numbers…

United States, Canada, Japan, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, Australia, Antarctica, Russia. I dialed every branch that existed on the planet. No one picked up.

Nobody's answering.

I immediately opened the gallery. My own brain wasn't going to solve this mess.

Back to square one. In the end I had to climb to the 30th floor.

I have to go up there?

I stared at the ceiling. That was the place Eun-hwa had died and come back down from. I really didn't want to shove my body into a spot that was guaranteed death.

Take the stairs? Ask Padak Ajusshi for help?

I already knew what Padak Ajusshi would say. Go down to basement level 10 and press some weird button.

Down to B10? Into that insane space?

Even with Padak Ajusshi's help I couldn't go that deep. Too fucking scary. There was a flower with eyeballs ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on its buds and teeth on its leaves right on the first basement floor. Who knew what was waiting on the 9th and 10th?

Better to head for the top floor instead.

"Eun-hwa, stay here and pretend to work for a bit."

"Huh? By myself?"

You're an anomaly anyway. Why are you making that flustered face and rolling your eyes? You'd win Best Actress at the Blue Dragon Awards.

"I trust you."

"Just a moment…"

I dumped fake Eun-hwa on the 15th floor and opened the emergency stairwell door. I still wasn't sure whether the elevator or the stairs was the correct choice.

Maybe both are right depending on the situation.

The rulebook had already been stolen once. The anomalies had probably rewritten it however they liked. In some cases the stairs would be correct; in others the elevator.

Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hooook.

I sucked in a huge breath and started climbing.

"Why are you using the emergency stairs? The emergency stairs only open in a true emergency."

The woman I'd met on the stairs earlier was climbing toward me at a leisurely pace. She came close enough that I could read her name tag.

Name: Kim Yul-ryeong. Rank: Manager.

This woman was basically the guardian deity of the stairwell. Anyone who tried to use the stairs got stopped by her and died.

Fuuuuck, but not this time.

I flung the coat over her face. Blind her first, then dive into her arms and tackle her down.

I have to stake my life. I have to beat the fear.

By nature I was a total coward. Even if I revived after dying, the process of getting there terrified me—spine snapping, neck breaking, limbs torn off. The only engine that kept me moving forward was sex.

Anomaly pussy was the light and salt of my life. The sole compass.

Manager Kim Yul-ryeong's panties are so fucking cute.

"Kieeeeeek."

I ignored the gallery admin's warning. Block me if you want. I had plenty of regression loops left—if I died I'd just come back!

I looted the wallet from the Manager's pocket and checked her ID for her age. Thirty-three. Eight years older than me, yet still a virgin.

"Manager, come up to the rooftop with me."

I climbed the stairs with Manager Kim Yul-ryeong. 16th, 17th, 18th. 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd. 28th, 29th, 30th.

I cracked my knuckles once we hit the 30th floor. Beyond this door was the Director's office. Through the Director's office you could contact other countries.

Creeeeak.

I opened the emergency door.

Riiing-riiing-riiing~

Riiing-riiing-riiing~

Riiing-riiing-riiing~

Riiing-riiing-riiing~

Riiing-riiing-riiing~

Dozens of telephones were ringing all at once.

I made a new post as I stepped inside.

"Long time no see, landline."

I picked up a receiver.

"Yes, I am contacting you regarding the response to an anomalous phenomenon. Is now a convenient time to speak?"

So when they called, the anomaly had already seized the Korean branch?

I toyed with Manager Kim Yul-ryeong's pussy while turning the problem over in my head. No sign of the Director. He'd been forcibly killed on the way to this office.

"Don't you speak Korean? Hello?"

"Yes, I am contacting you regarding the response to an anomalous phenomenon. Is now a convenient time to speak?"

…

A bad feeling crawled up my spine. I didn't know Japanese, but I could tell it was repeating the exact same line.

"Hello?"

I flung the receiver away and grabbed the next one.

"Je vous appelle à propos d'un phénomène anormal. Est-ce que je peux vous parler maintenant ?"

"I am calling you due to the reaction of an anomalous phenomenon. Is now a convenient time to talk?"

"Estou entrando em contato devido a um fenômeno anormal. O senhor / a senhora poderia falar agora?"

I picked up every single phone.

"Shit, we've lost contact with all branches worldwide. The source is the Korean branch—what the hell is happening in your country right now?"

"…We're fucked."

I hurled the receiver to the floor. Every branch in the world had been eaten by the anomaly.

"What the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hell are you things?"

I asked the anomalies that had seized the Director's office door. Anomalies that went completely limp the moment you threw a coat over their faces, yet had somehow taken over every Management Bureau on Earth.

"Thank you?" "Thank you?" "Thank you?" "Thank you?" "Thank you?"

They didn't answer my question. They simply closed in, hands outstretched, seized my limbs, and tore me apart.