Management Bureau Newbie Part-Timer Seol In-yul

"Let's go in."

The decision came easily. Get inside first, then figure things out. I stepped into the shelter with Seong Eun-hwa.

They called it a shelter, but the grand label was pure marketing. In reality it was just an existing room that someone had jury-rigged into a hideout.

Taking the old man's word for it, I scanned the room. Items that scrambled an anomaly's vision, items that messed with their hearing—every kind of countermeasure was strewn across the floor.

"This place seems safe enough."

With the old man's confirmation in hand, we moved deeper into the shelter.

"Dust… looks like nobody's cleaned in at least a month," Eun-hwa said, sweeping her finger across the windowsill. If her guess was right, whoever had been living here had vanished a month ago at minimum.

"I found something too."

In the corner I spotted a single sheet of paper. I picked it up and shared it with Eun-hwa.

A lot of this doesn't add up.

The rules contradicted each other in places. I get it. The previous occupant got the rulebook stolen and died. Even the senior who wrote these rules had ended up dead. The difficulty of my life had just skyrocketed.

The old man's right, isn't he?

A contaminated rulebook couldn't be trusted. I decided to put my full faith in the old man instead.

"There are exactly two uniforms."

We found Management Bureau uniforms tucked in the corner of a wardrobe. Exactly two sets. We each put one on and double-checked the rulebook.

Heading to the rooftop of the building is out. Full faith in the old man. Rule 14 was a lie. Anything telling me to go underground was not to be believed. That was the decision I locked in.

The real problem is the method. Stairs or elevator?

I had already died twice. The confirmed lives I had left were eight. Escaping an unavoidable death had increased the count, but I had no way of knowing exactly how many extra lives had been added.

I'm rolling the dice.

Surviving one anomaly had taught me something. Anomalies were basically a luck-based shitshow of a game. With good luck you could clear them without dying even once.

"I'm going underground. What about you?"

"I'll head up to the surface. One of us has to be right."

Bold. Eun-hwa decided to go for the rooftop while I committed to the basement.

"Stairs? Elevator?"

"Elevator. Are you planning to take the stairs, mister?"

"Let's do it that way."

"Are you really okay with that? If you're scared you can run."

"I'm fine. If I can't make money I die either way."

Eun-hwa stood in front of the elevator. I hadn't noticed it while we were trapped in the anomaly, but Eun-hwa had a surprisingly tough-girl side. She moved without a single wasted motion.

I'm terrified… so scared I could die.

Fear made even moving hard. Monsters that loved tearing humans apart had taken over the Management Bureau. But there was no other way. Once the remaining lives ran out, death was death either way. I gritted my teeth and opened the emergency stairwell door.

"Hoo. Let's go."

The moment Eun-hwa stepped into the elevator, I started down the stairs. Destination: the basement. I set my foot carefully on the first step and descended, watching both above and below.

"Why are you using the emergency stairs? The emergency stairs only open in genuine crises."

Rules. Rules.

I remembered the rules. If you met someone on the emergency stairs, never take your eyes off them. And outside of work, you were not allowed to speak.

This counts as work, right?

I was heading underground to do my job. Therefore the current situation was work.

"The elevator was going in the exact opposite direction of where I need to be. Taking the stairs is faster, so I'm going down this way."

"You're breaking the rules over something that small?"

Was it working? It seemed to be working. There was no real accusation in the tone—more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like the weary irritation of someone tired of dealing with people who broke minor rules all the time.

Was using the emergency stairs the right call?

With that attitude, they probably wouldn't single me out just for using the stairs.

"Haa, come down with me. How far are you going?"

"Uh… first basement floor."

Damn, I hadn't expected that, but I said the destination anyway.

"That so?"

The other person stepped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠closer. Long straight hair swayed right in front of my face.

Sssssnip—shampoo smell—fuck, I'm getting hard—

The fragrant shampoo scent short-circuited my brain for a second.

"Let's go together. Down to B1."

"Huh? Yes!"

Is she an anomaly? If she's an anomaly, maybe I can fuck her?

The instinctive urge to have sex collided head-on with the human desire for her to actually be human.

Sex, sex, sex.

I wanted to rail this woman whose name I didn't even know. I tried to suppress the erection.

Wait. If she's an anomaly, it doesn't matter, right?

Anomalies weren't human. So getting hard wasn't a problem. I freely let my cock stiffen to full mast.

"What's your name, anyway? Don't think I've seen your face before."

"My name is Lee Hong-cheol."

I gave the name written on the name tag. My name is Lee Hong-cheol and my father is also Lee Hong-cheol. Even with my 20 cm cock fully erect, she paid it no attention. As expected—this woman looked human but was an anomaly.

"That so? We're almost at B1. What are you planning to do down there?"

Huh, already the first floor?

I'd been so lost in the shampoo scent I hadn't even noticed we'd arrived.

"Ah, well, I'm a new hire, so I'm heading underground to learn the basic duties."

I recited the excuse I'd prepared ahead of time with the old man. I pressed my back to the wall and passed in front of her, remembering the rule that said no matter what happened, keep your eyes on the other party.

If I sprint and open the emergency door…

A decent gap opened. I dashed forward and yanked open the emergency door leading further underground.

"Uh… why?"

Thud.

But the door leading further down simply did not exist. As if nothing had ever been there from the start.

The old man said there was a door down to the basement…?

I put all my faith in the old man and he betrayed me?

"Don't you want to go underground? Why aren't you going?"

A hand wrapped around my throat. There was no warmth—only the cool, wooden chill of something not alive.

Thud.

She seized my neck and smashed my head into the wall. Pain made my vision swim. Skin scraped raw; a thin line of blood ran down my forehead.

"There's no way do—"

"Don't you want to go underground? Why aren't you going down?"

Thwack.

She repeated the same words while talking to me, gripping my throat and preparing to slam my head into the wall again.

I can win this.

Her strength was weaker than expected. That was the only reason I could still keep thinking. I grabbed her arm, yanked her in, and drove my forehead into hers.

"Don't you want to go underground?"

She toppled backward, still muttering the same line.

"I'll go to the basement later!"

I stripped off my coat and flung it over her eyes. I remembered the rule about always staying in bright places. Flip it around—if you blocked an anomaly's vision, maybe it would break. A conclusion born from the simplest possible logic.

"Is that so? Then I'll take you there myself."

The woman on the floor began moving her arms and legs. Lying on the stairs, only her limbs thrashing. That confirmed it beyond doubt—she was no human. She was an anomaly.

"We'll talk later."

Time to run. I sprinted up the stairs.

"Haa…"

People were coming down from the upper floors. Using the stairs to reach the 5th-floor shelter was a lost cause. Instead I came down into the first-floor lobby.

I need to get clear of this area first.

I planned to wander nearby until things calmed down—keep moving through crowded places and stay alive that way.

"Are you all right? Is there anything I can help you with?"

But the plan was blocked by the information-desk noona standing right in my path.

"Ugh…"

Should I speak? I kept my mouth shut and rolled my eyes.

"Isn't this work hours? Why are you on the first floor instead of working?"

What the hell was I supposed to answer?

"I'm a new hire, so I don't know where I'm supposed to go for work."

"And your name is?"

"Lee Hong-cheol."

"That's a lie. The name on your name tag is Seol In-yul."

When?

When had the name tag changed? My real name, Seol In-yul, was now pinned to my chest.

"Caught you?" "Caught you?" "Caught you?" "Caught you?" "Caught you?" "Caught you?" "Caught you?" "Caught you?"

Every single person around me turned and smiled. Where eyes should have been, only black hollows remained. Necks twisted with wet, unnatural cracks.

"F-fuck…"

I backed toward the elevator. Run first, buy as much time as possible—

Ding.

The elevator arrived right on cue. The doors opened.

Thud.

I stumbled backward, collided with someone, and went down.

"Haha, fuck, you got caught too?"

The person who had ridden the elevator down was Eun-hwa.

"You got found out, huh?"

Eun-hwa's face had changed to match everyone else's.