Video Tape (2)
No one spoke first. After a brief silence, Vergilius picked up the video tape.
The battered old 9mm player shoved in the corner of the office was hauled onto the desk. Denver plugged in the cord, Shim Nan-seul dusted it off, and Rikako silently dragged her chair toward the screen. Soon, a static hiss began leaking from the machine.
"—so, refraction…"
The first few seconds were a mess of shaking footage and heavy noise. The focus was off, the light smeared everywhere, but you could barely make out that someone was filming while holding their breath. Then, slowly, a scene locked into place.
A white, cold, excessively clean room. Metal devices stretched out in a long row, and inside them lay children.
"……!"
I couldn't blink. The kids I'd lived with at the orphanage were all lying in unidentified glass tubes like contraptions. Some were crying, some mumbling at a fixed point with twitching lips, others spilling mad laughter. And a few looked like they could no longer hold a human shape.
Then a researcher's voice came through.
"Let's raise the refractive index a bit more."
The screen tilted to one side. Inside the glass tube was Ruby. The kid who always stuck to my side at the orphanage. The one who'd tug my sleeve at scary stories and needed to hold someone's hand to sleep.
Ruby's eyes were wide open, staring at something that wasn't there. Her gaze couldn't stay fixed, shaking all over.
Ruby's lips moved.
"I…"
Her voice cracked.
"There's too many of me…"
As those words ended, the researcher pushed the lever higher.
"Just a little more."
Ruby's body shook violently from the inside out, like cracking glass. And then it burst.
Red and white exploded inside the glass with a popping sound, splattering everywhere.
"…Huh?"
At first, I didn't grasp what had happened. A beat later, I realized that was the end of a person.
From beside me, I heard Ganet swallow hard. He couldn't tear his eyes from the screen.
"Failure. Just a slight increase in refractive index—"
The bloodstains smeared inside the glass slowly dripped down. The researcher pulled his hand from the lever and jotted notes in his log with indifferent eyes.
The footage didn't stop. The screen shook again as it swept past a long corridor. Numbers by the doors. Metal devices. Snippets of conversation from N Corp researchers.
"……"
It was about halfway through the video when Ruen leaned forward and said,
"The board is bigger than we thought."
No one replied. The tape kept rolling, spilling more images. N Corp's lab. The 'corridor' connected to Thumb. The path leading to the gallery.
Denver pushed his sunglasses up and muttered low,
"This could fetch a nice price if we play it right…"
Ganet's head turned slowly. His lips pressed tight, veins bulging on the back of his hand. His knuckles whitened gripping the desk edge.
Finally, Ganet's patience snapped.
"You say that now?"
He shot to his feet.
"Our friends are trapped in there!"
Ganet took a step forward.
"Ruby just exploded like that!"
Only then did I pull my eyes from the screen to look at him. His nails dug into his palms.
"After seeing that, money's the first thing on your mind?"
Ruen furrowed his brow.
"Emotions alone will get us all killed. That level of tech means we've poked Thumb, and now we need a cleanup plan."
"Cleanup?"
Ganet let out a short, bitter scoff—barely a sound.
"Those kids in there… that's cleanup to you?"
"Ganet."
Vergilius called in a low voice. Ganet's shoulders twitched.
Vergilius didn't stop the player. The screen kept going, lab noises spilling out.
"Watch it to the end."
Ganet stood frozen for a while. The tension in his fists, like he might flip the desk any second, slowly eased. But his hands stayed rigid.
He watched the rest standing. So did I.
Corridor layout. Door numbers. Lab arrangement. My mind started turning quietly. Which door to enter. Who goes inside. What to hit first to stop those devices.
… . .
When the video ended, the player whirred with empty tape.
This time, no one spoke right away. Ganet hung his head, breathing hard. His tense shoulders rose and fell a few times.
Finally, he opened his mouth.
"……Let's go."
His voice was low and pressed.
"If we don't now, it'll be too late."
Vergilius stopped the player. After a short silence, he said,
"Get ready."
The air in the office shifted. Denver clicked his tongue but stood, Ruen pulled out a notepad to jot corridor and codes, Rikako grumbled but grabbed gear.
Ganet stared at the blank screen to the end. I slung my sickle on my back and glanced once more at the spinning tape. Through the scratched black plastic, something seemed stuck thickly to it.
"Code is eye, fragment, glass… that's it."
Ruen's voice came over the radio, mixed with static but clear enough.
Vergilius replied curtly into the radio and kept walking ahead. The three of us followed.
Thumb's corridors were unnatural spaces. You knew it the moment you stepped in. Endless doors stretched on, their connections seemingly regular at a glance, but a moment's distraction and you'd lose all sense. Which door was start or end? Were you walking straight or circling? It all blurred.
Losing your way in a corridor sounded absurd, but here it felt inevitable.
"This way."
Rapis's video clearly showed an endpoint. And our guide, this Thumb member who'd led us here, knew the starting point.
Start and end. Know those two, and you don't get lost.
Conversely, since he'd let us in at the start, we didn't need him anymore.
"This is the VIP room, Red Gaze sir."
The guide stopped at a door.
"Please wait a moment, Maestro Jeomsuni will soon arrive to explain the auction items in detail—"
The guide's words cut off.
Shing.
A red line flashed, and the guide's ankle severed. He staggered atop his severed leg, then toppled, howling in agony.
"Uncle?!"
Ganet's voice rose. I swallowed, averting my eyes from the guide.
Vergilius lowered his sword impassively.
"We've reached the start. Infiltration's over."
Calm tone.
"No reason to waste time."
The guide writhed in blood, but the ankle wound was cauterized, bleeding stopped—thanks to the heat from Vergilius's blade. He wouldn't die, but if he came to, he'd call for backup. We had to move first.
Ganet still looked shocked. Seeing his face reminded me of the first time I'd witnessed Vergilius's sword dance. Back then, his merciless handling of people terrified me. Now, I just felt a twinge of pity for the guide—no more.
Vergilius glanced at Ganet, then me.
"Pull yourself together. This is just the beginning."
I nodded.
"Yeah."
The VIP room was plainer than expected. Plush chairs. Expensive-looking table. Bottles and glasses. Like any reception room.
That made it worse. Kids trapped in labs beyond this corridor, yet here was a lounge for honored guests.
Vergilius scanned the room once, then turned.
"Let's move."
We stepped back into the corridor. After an unknowable time, it split. Identical doors, but the path forked two ways. No telling which was right at a glance.
Vergilius didn't move right away. He just looked ahead, then tilted his chin toward Ganet.
"Which way."
Ganet looked startled. But he shook it off, closed his eyes, steadied his breath, and slowly scanned the corridor.
Ruen's radioed code. Rapis's video endpoint scenery. Door numbers and turns.
Ganet hesitated, then spoke.
"Right."
"Why."
"……No hard proof, but the last door number in the video matches that side closer. And from the entry layout, the lab's likely deeper than the auction hall."
Vergilius nodded shortly.
"Correct."
Ganet blinked.
Vergilius said,
"Corridors like this are designed so you find the way only knowing start and end. We know both, so the path appears."
It sounded like explanation, but felt like praise. Ganet's shoulders relaxed a fraction.
I peered down the corridor beside him. Still an unsettling space. Like something might lunge out. My toes tensed. A prickling in my head—threat from the corner ahead.
Right then,
"We're about to run into someone."
Vergilius said low. And we did.
Shortly after the fork, footsteps from around the corner. Wide strides, unhurried pace. Leisurely, like strolling his own bedroom.
Soon, a man appeared. Docent.
She twisted her face the moment she saw us.
"You…"
Her eyes locked on Vergilius. Rage and contempt plain.
"So you're just another money-grubbing fixer. Maestro Jeomsuni's artistic soul was only ever exploited by the likes of you!"
Hearing that hit me—they'd truly welcomed us as guests. Disgusting. Turning kids into that, yet spouting art and masterpieces.
Docent gripped her staff tight and charged. Vergilius, sword ready, said curtly,
"Don't stand in my way."
To Ganet and me both. I stepped back quick.
Vergilius and Docent's weapons clashed.
Kakang!
A grating metal screech echoed down the corridor. Docent attacked with raw fury, her unrestrained swings threatening in the narrow space.
But a long staff meant big motions—vulnerable up close. Vergilius exploited it. He parried at an angle, then swept her legs.
Balance shattered; Docent staggered wildly.
"Kuh!"
His fist slammed into her solar plexus next. A dull thud, and she flew back far.
"Ganet."
As Docent sailed away, Vergilius said,
"Take Beril to the lab."
"Yes!"
Ganet answered instantly. I gripped my sickle shaft tighter beside him.
Vergilius shed his coat and gladius, tossing them to Ganet. Then glanced my way.
"Beril."
"Yeah."
"Don't let Ganet go too far alone. Handle what you can."
I nodded.
"Got it, Uncle."
Docent, seeing his leisure, regained stance and gnashed her teeth.
"Where do you think you're—!"
Vergilius stepped forward.
"I'll clear the obstacles."
At those words, Ganet and I turned as one, bolting the opposite way down the corridor.
Behind us, metal clashed again.
The corridor dragged on, doors endless, senses blurring on walls and floors. But we didn't stop. Ganet led, I followed.
Toward the lab. And somewhere deep inside, to the last trace left by our waiting friend.