Back to Square One
I had been out walking Mongsil when I came to my senses and found myself here.
I wanted to go home… but no matter how far I wandered past the apartment complex, I always ended up right back in this same spot.
The woman from Unit 303 fed me and explained the situation. I'd been kidnapped into an anomaly. To survive, I had to follow the rules.
She handed me a rulebook, but none of it felt real. Ghost stories? Anomalies? Those things actually existed? Weren't they just stuff from novels and comics?
The next day arrived. Reality started to set in.
The apartment residents were strangely kind. They watched my every move. Even the gray sky made it clear — this was not the world I knew.
Mom, Dad… will I ever make it home alive?
If I can't go back alive, then at least let my last words reach you somehow.
Thank god I bought dog food for Mongsil on the way back. That should last us at least a month.
Mongsil saw what was happening and stayed quiet without barking. We have to survive as long as we can.
I can't do this. Sitting still and waiting for death isn't in my nature. I'm taking Mongsil and getting out of this apartment no matter what.
First, I need to look into the things the rulebook doesn't cover. They said going into the convenience store once is fine, so I should search for anything useful there.
Better than Unit 703, at least.
Rather than charging in blindly, she advanced step by careful step. She had the makings of a Management Bureau agent.
I carefully turned the page of the notebook and moved on.
I headed to the security office and asked the agents who claimed to be from the Management Bureau. One man, two women — doll-like people who only repeated scripted lines. There was nothing useful to learn from them.
But I did manage to grab a crowbar from the security office. With this, I can force my way into places I couldn't enter before. Using the testimony of the woman from Unit 303, I'll follow the trail of the advance team that fell into this world before me.
So someone else had the same idea I did.
Yeah — it was an easy thought to land on. Hana was just a coward; anyone with a sense of adventure would have come up with it.
I started by opening Unit 304 — the unit across from the woman in 303. A beautiful woman had lived there once. Now it was home to an anomaly.
When a person gets dragged into an anomaly, aren't they usually moved into an empty unit with no residents? I wanted to understand why.
Right. I was supposed to claim that woman too.
I'd completely forgotten about the woman from Unit 304. She'd been my top priority, but I'd gotten so busy building a harem that she slipped my mind.
I licked my lips and flipped the page. Tomorrow, when I had time, I'd go claim her. Seemed like forcing a door open wasn't a problem even if someone was home.
I learned something new at the Unit 304 woman's place. Among the people who had lived in 304, there had been someone with the same name.
The woman who dropped into Unit 304 had her identity overwritten by the woman who originally lived there, and that let her eat and survive inside the anomaly. If she'd known this method before filing her move-in registration, she could have made a living in this world… but in the end, it looked like she died anyway.
New rule added: if you give the name of a previous resident during move-in registration, you can copy that person's way of life. Typical anomaly logic.
I need to find out who lived in Unit 503.
I locked in the first thing I had to do tomorrow morning. Run to the security office and secure the resident registry. Find out who used to live in Unit 503.
Why didn't Hana tell me about this?
It would have been nice if she'd shared this earlier. Had Unit 1505 not told her? Or was there some other reason? One thing was certain — there was a lot to learn from this notebook.
Once a name is on the registry, it can't be changed. I have to survive on the food the woman from Unit 303 gives me.
If a successor ever comes to Unit 1505, use the name Kim So-wol. That's the name of the person who lived here before me. You'll be able to live better than I did.
Today I forced open Unit 404. This was where a Management Bureau agent had stayed. Different from the ones in the security office? At any rate, they were among the first to arrive at the apartment complex.
They called themselves an agent, but strangely left no records. Every agent leaves records. Even when they can't, they find a way — a recorder, a notebook, writing in blood — so the rear team can pick up the trail and push forward. So the records left by the senior from Unit 404 have to be somewhere in this complex.
Tomorrow I'm heading to Unit 506. Please let me find a clue that leads outside. If not me, then at least the next person… Unit 506 — the unit Hana never mentioned.
I wrote Unit 506 in my own notebook and kept reading the one from 1505.
A so-called newlywed couple came by today. Are there newlyweds in this apartment? Might be the strange people the woman from 303 mentioned. Anomalies. Monsters wearing human shapes. I should do whatever this woman wants.
Ugh. The meat reeked so badly of game I couldn't eat it. I apologized and refused. She said she understood and left. Something felt off — should I have forced myself to eat it? I'll sleep on it and meet her again in the morning.
I'm going to kill her. That fucking bitch. I'm going to kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her.
I'm going to fucking kill her.
The last lines of the notebook. The scrawled handwriting alone told me how raw her rage had been.
What the hell happened?
The uneasy feeling wouldn't leave me. The middle of the notebook had been completely cut out — the process between those entries was gone.
"So if you pick the lock and walk in, the newlywed couple anomaly shows up for sure."
I'd figured out why the newlywed couple anomaly appeared. It was because the door had been forced open. Kim Hana and Lee Ji-hye had nothing to worry about on that front.
"And I got an item out of it."
I'd acquired one item from Unit 1505.
◈ Barks to warn the one holding the leash of danger
◈ Occasionally fetches items as well
No idea how useful this is supposed to be.
There was no dog around — how was it supposed to bark a warning? Would a dog's spirit pop out and tip me off? Still, it was an item. It had to be good for something.
"I'll make it back alive. I swear."
I clutched the wallet to my chest and made the vow. I would return no matter what and deliver this keepsake to her family.
"Hello. Security staff — I've come on official business. Do you have a moment?"
The moment the sun rose the next morning, I ran straight to the security office. The Management Bureau agents were, as always, absorbed in their work with blank indifference.
"…"
The man stared at me in silence, waiting for me to speak.
I thought there were two women. Where are they?
I rolled my eyes, scanning for any female agents. None in sight.
"I'd like to check the resident registry."
"Reason?"
"Just because."
"It's over there."
So a reason hadn't been necessary at all. Say you want to look, and you can look — that was the resident registry.
I opened it and checked the names.
Unit 503… Kim Cheol-su, Gi Han-sol, Oh Yu-won, Woo Myeong-cheol, Woo Ye-hwa, Seol Guk-yeong…
A lot of people had passed through Unit 503. How many of them had been real? I offered a silent prayer for those who had died without anyone knowing.
"I'll go with Woo Myeong-cheol."
I picked a suitable name — the name of a man who had once been a security guard at this apartment. A Management Bureau employee who had been killed in the end. Next loop, I'd take the security guard route.
"Sorry! I'm taking the day off today!"
I put the registry back and stepped outside. Eyes gathered on me. The anomalies stared without a word. Was this what it felt like to be popular? Kind of enviable, but the sheer volume of attention was suffocating.
"Hoo… three days straight is too much."
I went home and collapsed onto the bed. Even throwing yourself into sex has a limit. My balls weren't just empty — if I kept going, I genuinely felt like I might die.
"Even a sex machine needs downtime."
Today was rest. I'd take it easy, drink some tap water, and recover my strength. Lounging under the blanket. Killing time with the previous resident's belongings. I became a perfect NEET and let the hours bleed away.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang. Here it comes. I sighed and went to the door.
Click.
I opened it. Of the two people who should have been there, only one stood waiting.
"Where's your husband?"
The husband who usually stuck to her side was nowhere to be seen. Only the wife stood at my door.
"He came with me. Want to see?"
She held out an enormous hot pot. A chill slid down the back of my neck. Nothing good would come of opening that pot.
"Um… I have something to ask you."
The woman carried the hot pot inside and twisted her body like a girl in love.
"Will you marry me? If you eat my late husband completely, I'll take that as a yes."
She lifted the lid. Inside the pot was her former husband, intact.
This anomaly bitch — face was fine, but her personality was completely unhinged.
"Fuck off."
Bang.
I refused her proposal and fired. She went down where she stood.
"What was the meat in the food you fed me on the first day?"
"Who knows? What do you think it was?"
She grinned, corners of her mouth curling up, and burst into laughter. Maniacal cackling filled Unit 503.
"Running away? That won't work."
The front door was already packed with anomalies that had appeared out of nowhere. No escaping that way.
Crash.
I smashed the window and dropped. The Shield of the Cross absorbed the impact, and my body took no damage.
"Hey, mister? Wanna play a fun game with me?"
A child with a bright smile spoke to me. There were no children in this apartment complex. If there was one, it was an anomaly.
"Sorry. Mister's got a prior engagement."
I refused and turned to run.
"Why? Why are you saying no?"
The child's neck stretched long and thin, keeping pace beside me.
"Why won't you play with me?"
"Play with me too. You only ever play with grown-ups."
"Play. Play. Play. Play."
Children's necks elongated and coiled around me from every side. A sight that could drive a person insane.
"I told you, mister has a prior engagement!"
Bang.
I used the pistol item. Blood became a bullet and struck the child's head.
"That's the limit of the Child Protection Act. It won't save your life."
If you want to keep your life, come back as a human first.
I vaulted over the corpse and sprinted toward a nearby building.
"Aww. You killed a kid?"
The fitness girl tore the corners of her mouth into a long, wide grin — smiling like she was overjoyed.
"It's fine. Brats are noisy. You can kill them if you want. Don't worry about it — just stay still and talk with me for a bit."
"Fuck, stop lifting the corners of your mouth. You're ruining a pretty face."
"Why run? Don't you like this?"
She stripped off her top and shook her chest for show. I did like it — but with a face like that, even an erection would die on the spot.
I looped the apartment complex once. Anomalies had filled the grounds. I threw myself toward the relatively less crowded area.
Crash.
I smashed through the door of Building 56 and charged inside. Glass stabbed my skin and stung, but the adrenaline dumped into my system and the pain vanished almost at once.
Going up.
Anomalies surged like a tidal wave, racing to tear me apart. I took the stairs two at a time. Fifth floor. Tenth. Fifteenth. Before I knew it, I'd reached the true top of the apartment.
"Higher."
I wiped the sweat from my brow and kept climbing. Higher. Higher still. I had to get as far from those things as possible. I climbed the stairs without thinking.
The view outside the windows gradually changed. Collapsed buildings. A city reduced to ruins.
"What the hell is this place?"
I hit the thirtieth floor, forced the rooftop door open, and stepped outside. The full panorama of a ruined Seoul spread before me. A city of wreckage. Not a single living person in sight.
Was what I was seeing real? Or a fake the anomaly had made…
Suddenly my vision dropped. Everything below the waist had been cleanly severed.
The last thing I saw before dying was a reaper drifting through the sky.
Your waist was severed in two.
Returning to auto-save point.