Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Open Your Eyes
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Open your eyes.
He pulled the vacuum cleaner out of the open cleaning closet.
He quickly scanned the area for an outlet, plugged in the cord, and switched on the vacuum.
"Huh?"
"Why the sudden cleaning?"
"What's going on?"
He thoroughly cleaned the crumbs scattered on the carpet.
The tsk-tsking sounds that had been going on faded away before long.
'No need to fear just because it's gotten a little dirty.'
The public bulletin board stated that the tsking sounds were a kind of warning signal indicating the lobby's cleanliness level.
The moment you heard them, you just had to clean up right away.
"Excuse me, but haven't you read the rules yet?"
"Yes? Rules? What rules?"
The man responsible for the mess had no idea what he'd done wrong.
'People have different levels of information-gathering ability, so no point blaming him.'
He must not have read the bulletin board yet and had gone straight for the vending machine.
Since this was everyone's first time in a situation like this, plenty of people probably hadn't fully absorbed the board's contents.
"Everyone, please pay attention."
He stowed the vacuum away and drew all eyes to him.
"You must have experienced the peculiarities from the parking lot all the way to the entrance. The lobby has its peculiarities too. They're written on the bulletin board, so I'll read them out now."
He naturally moved to the public bulletin board and read off the rules for this place.
"...And that's all the rules to follow here. No damaging property, no fighting, no making messes, clean periodically, no taking items. Just stick to these, and you can use the lobby safely."
"So if we don't, some kind of monster shows up and kills us, right?"
"To be precise, they're called entities. Not sure if they outright kill, but given the mention of making the place 'clean,' you're probably in for something along those lines."
Fortunately, there wasn't much backlash.
Their experiences in the parking lot and entrance left them no choice but to believe in the monsters' existence.
"So what do we do now? Do you know how to escape this place?"
"As I said at the entrance, I'm going to start looking now. The other floors have peculiarities too, but as long as we follow the rules, we should be able to explore safely."
People showed a variety of reactions to his words.
"Maybe rescuers will come eventually? I don't want to stay here forever."
"Monsters show up here too, but the rules are simple, right? No reason to take unnecessary risks."
"Monsters here too? Does that mean we're gonna die?"
The group gripped by fear.
"Just follow the rules?"
"The parking lot was like that too. No deaths as long as you followed the rules, right?"
"So should we go explore too?"
Those starting to adapt.
"......"
"Sigh."
And those who couldn't fit into any group, hovering awkwardly.
"Then I'll head out for some exploration. Rest if you want. If I find escape info, I'll come back and tell you, so no need to worry."
Alright, then. Elevator or stairs?
And where to?
'Let me check the missing persons list again.'
The missing persons list had 1,000 names recorded.
He couldn't be sure, but the exact number suggested that when new missing persons appeared, the earlier ones got sequentially deleted.
'Apartment rooms, corridors, emergency stairs...'
The place with the most missing persons was the apartment rooms.
Next came the corridors.
Then the emergency stairs.
Then the lobby.
'The minus floors are scattered across rooms and corridors, none in the basement?'
No listings didn't mean it was good.
Something even worse than disappearances might be lurking underground.
'One spot stands out.'
Among all these missing persons, there was only one whose disappearance location was unique.
'The rooftop.'
The youngest missing person's disappearance spot.
He pressed the elevator button, heading for that symbolic place at the top of the apartment.
"See you later."
"B-Be careful!"
Whether brave or not, everyone was too scared to follow.
"......"
Amid them, one man in his fifties was glaring at him fiercely.
Earlier, he'd been part of the group that didn't fit anywhere.
'Memorable face.'
A wrinkled visage.
Skin deeply tanned from years outdoors.
A stained parka.
And a small silver cross hanging around his neck, oddly out of place.
'First time seeing him.'
Any reason to be hostile?
The elevator doors closed, cutting off the middle-aged man.
He shoved the man into a corner of his memory and checked the elevator buttons.
'Buttons all normal. Top floor should get me to the roof, right?'
He pressed the 36th floor.
The elevator began to move.
'Hope this wraps up easily.'
After Lee Seung-hoon left, people moved with utmost caution.
"Whoa!"
"Oof! Sorry about that."
"N-No, it's fine."
They didn't even get mad if they bumped into each other.
"Let's eat here? Carpet's hard to clean if we spill."
"Marble floor's easy to clean, and we can spot dropped food quick."
They even made rules for meals.
"Quite a few rules."
"But they're all easy to memorize and follow."
"If the other floors' rules are this simple, exploring might not be so dangerous."
The bolder ones were already planning expeditions.
And...
'Who does he think he is?'
The disgruntled one grumbled inwardly.
Ryu Hyuk (29), the chubby guy who'd spilled snacks everywhere and caused the danger, sat alone on the sofa, stewing.
'Could've just whispered it to me. Did he have to run the vacuum and make a scene? Read the rules—it's not like immediate danger.'
Now everyone knew the lobby rules.
Naturally, they shot him sidelong glances of disapproval and kept their distance.
'A chairman who can't handle people like that? Sarang Logistics is done for. Companies with owner risk don't last. A guy with no social skills can't lead a business!'
As he grumbled on, a man in his fifties sat beside him.
Like Ryu Hyuk, he belonged to no group and was staring at his smartphone.
"Huh? Internet works?"
A website on the screen.
Startled, Ryu Hyuk peered in.
[US Politics Minor Gallery]
[Title: The Execution of the Population Control Plan Is Not Far Off.]
[Rothschild's population control plan has reached its final stages. As the Deep State, their power has peaked—no stopping them through normal means now. From Trump's coddling of Israel, the Gaza reclamation op, and their blatant Russia-backing, it's all part of their plot to ignite World War III...]
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[Comments]
[FluorideIsMindControl: Will the day ever come when we reclaim Earth from the Zionists?]
[MKUltraMan: Ha, so the Rothschilds end up ruling Earth after all!]
[SilverFoilMentalProtect: Everyone knows they've controlled America since the Kennedy assassination, right?]
[NoNamed: Interesting story.]
[NazisOfAntarctica: Everyone, come to Antarctica. It's the only escape from the Deep State's population control plan.]
[VaccineWorldConquer: Ugh, my head hurts. Vaccine side effect? Damn it, shouldn't have gotten that shot. Woke up too late because of it...]
It was a community he'd never seen.
The format was familiar from other sites, but this multi-board setup meant he'd never visited this particular one.
"No good. It's an old screenshot I saved."
"Oh, really?"
"I save all my posts. Never know when a Jewish spy shows up in the comments to delete them. Gotta collect evidence ahead of time."
Crazy guy's what he is. Ryu Hyuk subtly scooted his butt away.
"You think it's weird, huh? But everyone's just clueless. They don't know the truth, so they treat truth-knowers like lunatics."
"Yeah, sure."
"I've got proof. This place right here is the proof."
The man's voice was loud enough for many to hear.
"This isn't some naturally occurring place. It's a secret lab created by the Deep State—the shadow government, the Jewish capitalists operating behind the scenes worldwide."
"Ha! Cut the nonsense!"
"Then explain the shadows attacking people or folks getting sucked into the sky!"
"That's a different thing entirely!"
"No, there's more proof."
The man glanced toward the elevator. The one Lee Seung-hoon took was now showing floor 36.
"Anyone else think Lee Seung-hoon is suspicious? When we first showed up in the parking lot, did anyone see him?"
"Well, there were tons of people..."
"A famous guy like Lee Seung-hoon? Even if you didn't see him, someone should have, and there'd have been a commotion, right?"
Huh? Yeah, true? Why didn't Lee Seung-hoon show up in the parking lot with us?
"And everyone who got in a vehicle died. No survivors. Ferrari, Audi, Harley Davidson—all gone. But Lee Seung-hoon survived? I got there late and missed it, but they say he came dragging a Yakult cart? All those ahead died, but he survives with a damn Yakult cart?"
"......"
That was suspicious too. No matter how good your driving, no shaking a monster with a Yakult cart.
"He joined late, survived without a vehicle. And in a monster-infested death trap, he's calmer and more nonchalant than anyone."
By now, everyone was listening intently.
"Like he knows this place well."
"But he said it earlier—lots of experience with these 'entities' targeting humans."
"You're so naive. You believe that? It's a lie to dodge suspicion."
"So what's your take?"
The man gripped the cross around his neck.
"Lee Seung-hoon is Jewish. His surname, Lee, proves it. Not the Korean Yi, but the Jewish Lee."
"What?"
"And as the Deep State's vanguard, he's a researcher developing tools for their human extermination plan to cull Earth's overpopulation. This place is the experimental stage where they snatch and kill humans in an instant."
No one bought it. But at the same time, the thought crept in. 'In a world with people-killing shadows and folks falling from the sky, maybe this guy's words have a ring of truth?' As people reacted, the man grew even more fervent.
"Why'd Lee Seung-hoon go alone? To secretly monitor if his murder device works right. Any sane reason to go solo? No. It's just an excuse to pretend he's sacrificing while bailing."
"Ha, but..."
"The VR device he developed! Think one guy pulls that off? Impossible without the Jewish capital's money and tech dominating humanity since 2025!"
"Wh-What?"
"Doubt their tech? Then how'd they solve global warming in just one month? They wanted to cut population but lost control of the warming they caused, so they rushed out a fix and revealed it!"
His face flushed beet red as he climbed onto the sofa and bellowed.
Deep shoe prints stained the sofa.
"Don't fall for the Rothschild conspiracy! Unite, chase down Lee Seung-hoon, torture him until he spills the escape method!"
The tsk was buried in the crowd's murmurs.
"So we chase him now?"
"No, can't just chase. He's probably set traps for pursuers."
"Then what?"
"Make it so he has to come back down. Make the experiment go out of control."
How?
As if to answer the skepticism, the man dashed somewhere.
"Disrupting the experiment is simple."
It was where people had gathered food ahead of time.
"Make it rampage."
"No, stop!"
People lunged at him.
But faster, food was in the man's hand.
A pack of grape juice.
The struggling man hurled it into the air with all his might.
Splat-!
The pack hit the carpet and burst slightly, purple liquid spilling out.
The grape juice soaked into the carpet, dying it purple.
The tsking grew louder.
Loud enough for all to hear.
No one had seen it arrive.
But suddenly, someone in a cleaning uniform stood in the lobby.
A janitor with a cap pulled low over their face swept the mop.
『It's cleaning time.』