Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Management Bureau with Lights Out #5
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Chilling silence and cold air.
The corridor of the underground isolation room comes into view.
Dark.
The corridor with the lights out.
Clearly.
I was just facing off against the vampire.
"..."
From where... to where is reality?
No, is this even reality to begin with?
*Thump thump.*
My heart feels like it's going to burst. Cold sweat seeps from my entire body, and a dizziness hits me like my mind is floating away somewhere.
Suppressing the rising nausea, I quickly rack my brain.
Vampire...
That crazy bitch killed Gorgodio. And she tried to kill me too. She said she'd turn me into a ghoul, lifted me up, and right before she could sink her teeth into my neck.
She screamed.
And then, like she'd seen something utterly terrifying.
She fell into panic and terror, then desperately cast hypnosis on me.
Yeah.
It was hypnosis.
I've been through it so many times, I know.
That's the sensation of falling under hypnosis.
The vampire screamed at me to wake up right now while hypnotizing me, and I opened my eyes here. Like I'd woken from sleep under the hypnosis to wake up.
What the hell... is going on?
Have I finally lost my mind?
To begin with.
What time is it now?
"Grong?"
The moment I heard Spandal's voice, all my thoughts froze.
That voice terrifies me so much. My muscles contract all over my body. I realize my body is trembling.
Is that thing behind me even human?
Fuck...
Please...
Tell me what happened to me!
"Sp-Spandall sunbae-nim."
"What's wrong?"
At least right now, communication is possible.
Without turning around, without confirming that Spandal is a monster. Clinging to the possibility that she's human.
I wanted to say something, anything.
"Suddenly... I'm so scared. Like tears are about to come out from sheer terror. What do I do? I, I don't want to step into the isolation facility..."
I feel like screaming. Tears really seem about to fall. My legs are already shaking uncontrollably. My voice probably is too.
My chest trembles like I've stepped into a freezer.
"Oh dear. Got scared all of a sudden?"
Her usual voice.
Maybe even gentle.
"Yes. My hands and feet are trembling. My heart feels like it's going to explode from fear."
"Need to calm down?"
"Yes... I need to calm down a bit."
But there's no time for that.
"Then I should hug you."
*Swish.*
Spandal, standing behind me, embraces me.
Cold?
Or warm?
The sensation...
Feels just like human.
Like being hugged by a human.
"Better now?"
Spandal's chin rests on my shoulder.
If I turn my head here, I could learn her true nature. She might be human, or she might have turned into a monster like last time... that black, shadowy thing with thorns sprouting out.
Probably the latter... but I don't want to confirm it right now. I want to delay that change even a little.
So I don't turn my head.
Like.
An ostrich burying its head in the sand.
.
.
Little by little.
Something strange starts appearing at the edge of my vision.
The thing holding me feels like it's changing into something.
.
.
I want to take it back...!
I want to go back before entering the Management Bureau!
This shitty underground facility!
Extreme terror eats away at my brain. I curse this world inwardly and scream. I feel like I'm going mad and collapsing. I want to just die like this.
But even death won't end it...!
Even if I die, I'll come back here!
I definitely solved it, so why did I come back here!!!
"Grong?"
The moment I think about that, one possibility comes to mind.
No way...
Did I not actually solve it to begin with?
It wasn't solved.
I just activated that 'Reality Recognition Device'?
"You okay now? Then let's get moving. It's troublesome to use a senior like this. Taking care of rookies is a senior's duty, but not to this extent..."
Now even her voice feels like it's changing.
I can't take it anymore!
"Fuck!"
I curse and kick off the ground. Thanks to focusing my strength in that instant, I barely escape Spandal's embrace.
I can't die like this.
To escape this terror, I have to flee!
"Window...!"
Right, the window!
Just find the window!
I should have gone out through the window from the start!
This happened because I didn't go out the window!
If I go out the window, I can escape somehow. That's what the window is there for. Once I enter through there, the resolution message will appear.
But.
"Huh?!"
No window.
Even turning my head and scanning the corridor walls closely, no window in sight!
Spandal clearly said it was here and showed me!
Even looking there again, no window!
"What are you looking for?"
"Ah...!"
Black.
A black shape.
I don't turn around, but I feel something black approaching me.
"Looking for the window by any chance?"
"Y-Yes...?"
She mentions the window?
"There's a lot here. Windows."
"Uh."
The next moment.
"Huh? Huhhh?"
The entire corridor wall.
Dozens, no.
Hundreds of windows appear.
"Huh? H-Huhhh?"
They weren't there just now?
I turn my head.
Twist my body and check the entire corridor.
Here, a window.
There, a window.
Left and right. All walls.
Identical windows lined up at regular intervals everywhere!
"Sooo maaaany wiiiindoooows, go iiiin."
"Eeek!"
I cry and run away.
"Hyaak! Hyaaaaak!"
Windows!
So many windows!
Windows all over the walls!
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."
A horrific laugh echoes from behind. That insane sound scrapes at my brain and mind like a rake. I'm screaming until my throat goes hoarse. I don't even know why I'm here anymore.
"Windows! Wiiiindoooows!"
Wasn't I supposed to escape through a window?
Even that was a lie?
With so many windows, how do I know which one to enter!
"Where! Where the hell! Which one!"
The moment I scream that, all the windows fly open.
-Come in here!
-Here! Here!
-This way!
-This side is safe!
Grotesque voices start calling me from inside. Not only that, but pale white hands stretch out, trying to grab me.
-Come this way!
-Let's get comfy now!
-Hurry! Hurry! This way!
-Come over here!
The insides of the windows are smeared in crimson. That color is so ominous I don't even want to imagine what it's made of.
The pale white hands emerging from there feel utterly terrifying, and the thought hits me that once grabbed and sucked into a window, something irreversible will happen.
I can't look at the windows anymore.
"Hyaaaaaak!"
Screaming, I close my eyes, plug my ears, and run.
Was escaping through the window a lie from the beginning?
Reality Recognition Device? That's all bullshit too! There was never a way out of here to begin with! All that's left for me is to go mad in this terror!
So what do I do?
Go to the Isolation Team Lab?
Where is that?
Was that place even real? Gognija, Dejure. Were they just imaginary?
Then where's the truth?
"...Jo Seong-chun Section Chief."
Jo Seong-chun Section Chief comes to mind.
Is he really the truth?
If everything in this Management Bureau is fake, is he the real one?
"Ah!"
Whatever! Fine!
Fake Management Bureau or not, anything!
As long as someone will be with me, anyone!
*Flash!*
I open my eyes again and search for the isolation room with Jo Seong-chun Section Chief. What was the room number? With windows plastered all over the walls, can I even find it?
-This way!
-Here!
While running, ignoring the hands trying to drag me and the windows by force, I scan the walls. Windows are endless, but the wall structure hasn't changed. The doors to the isolation rooms still exist. They just have windows too.
Then the doors might work!
"There!"
That's it!
The exact door where Jo Seong-chun Section Chief was!
I approach it almost shuddering. White hands come out from the window, swiping at the air to grab me, but.
*Beep!*
Swipe my ID card, and the door opens!
I rush inside in ecstasy. No windows inside. In this mad space, I feel stability for the first time. Just the absence of windows in this terror space brings such relief.
Of course, no countermeasures. No idea what'll happen next. Something even more terrifying... something horrific I don't even want to imagine. That'll probably happen.
Even so, I want to rely on this person, Jo Seong-chun Section Chief.
*Whirr.*
Open the double doors again.
"It's, here!"
Jo Seong-chun Section Chief is inside!
He exists!
"Jo Seong-chun Section Chief! Is that you!"
A familiar suited man, restrained while seated. I run toward him. He looks puzzled for a moment, then lifts his head.
"You fucking bastards... Wh-what?! Who the hell are you!"
Look!
This human reaction!
He looks human, reacts human. Even though he felt so inhuman as a Fake Management Bureau agent, just seeing this human side fills me with extreme relief.
Compared to Spandal, he's a splendid human...!
With the terror fading a bit, my mind races. Now that I'm here, I have to do something. Something with this Jo Seong-chun Section Chief.
"What? Not in the Management Bureau database..."
He mutters.
Now Jo Seong-chun Section Chief will see me as a 'Fake Management Bureau rookie agent' and try to persuade me.
Strike first before that!
"Me! I'm a rookie agent from the Management Bureau! The operation to rescue you has begun!"
A lie made up on the spot.
I shout it anyway.
No idea how it'll go.
But last time as a 'Fake Management Bureau rookie agent' I got info, so this time as a 'real Management Bureau rookie agent' might be better—I judged in that instant.
"A rookie?! Finally come to rescue me!"
"Yes!"
"Then tell me! Who's your direct superior!"
"Direct superior...!"
Who do I say?
Lee Do-hyung Section Chief?
That name pops up instantly, but I shake my head. No. Jaaldi said Lee Do-hyung Section Chief has disciples, and an inspection unit made of them.
I have no sword now.
So name someone else.
Who... Ah, right!
"Gwak Seong-ju Section Chief! It's Gwak Seong-ju Section Chief!"
The hulking guy with the twin machine guns from that battlefield fighting vampires!
I shout his name!