Dawn's Absurd Curse (1)
A light headache crushed the base of my skull.
Did I doze off for a moment?
Then what the hell was this headache?
……My eyelids feel heavy.
This was strange.
I didn't think I'd been asleep long, but it sure felt like I had.
With my eyes still closed, I mulled it over. My eyelids were heavy. Really heavy. Still heavy. I didn't want to open them.
It matched the symptoms of sleeping way longer than intended.
Now if only a pleasant breeze drifted in from the window, accompanied by the chirping of sparrows, it would be the perfect start to the day…….
……No! Company! Work! Damn it! I'm screwed!
I'd just been assigned here, and now I was going to oversleep and be late?
I jolted awake in shock, eyes flying open.
It was dark.
Curtains.
Who had drawn the curtains? And who turned off the lamp?
Who else? It's obvious!
I never fell asleep anywhere but home.
Therefore, this was my house.
Which led to one conclusion.
Oh Sung-jin, you idiot! You screwed up without even knowing what scares you!
My palms grew slick with cold sweat.
Before it got too late to fix, I hurriedly sat up…….
Thud—!
"Agh—!"
It hurts—!
I was startled! Was our ceiling always this low?
I'd have to be more careful from now on…….
Huh?
……Wait a second.
I hit my head on the ceiling?
No matter how low the ceiling was, could that even happen?
Forgetting my vague fear of the dark, I panicked in the blackness.
What?
I reached out toward my face. Smooth and cool. Blocked.
This was…… the ceiling? Since when was our home ceiling this low? Or had the bed gotten taller? Come to think of it, there was that old cartoon with the penguin where the bed stretched long and they traveled to dreamland…….
Ah, got it. It's a dream.
That made sense. I could relax.
This was a nightmare. Nightmares revolved around fear, and for me, that was darkness.
It was so familiar it made me sick. Wandering endlessly in the dark? That old chestnut.
It didn't even scare me anymore. It wasn't actual absence of light—just the feeling of it.
But…….
……For a dream, the spot where I bashed my forehead hurt way too much!
This isn't a dream!
I was trapped. In a dark, cramped, dark, dark, dark space—alone!
Right, like…….
Buried alive in a coffin!
Yes! A coffin! Death! Underground!
Death?
……Wait, hold on.
Now I remembered. My current situation was a bit better than that.
I hadn't fallen asleep. I'd died.
Fighting some unidentified anomaly, I got weirdly hyped up and…… well, it just happened.
I probably shouldn't be thinking about this so calmly…… but if it had been real death, I wouldn't have done it in the first place.
That was unavoidable.
Anyway, I'd taken the drug and died.
And as a side effect, I woke up three days later.
How did the operation go? Did we catch and beat the crap out of that tiger bastard?
I replayed my memories. No clue. Maybe because I wasn't fully awake, or because I'd hit my head hard enough to ache, or because that day's events felt like a hazy dream.
Stay calm.
Do what I'm good at. Reasoning, that is.
First off.
I'm alive.
And.
That tiger bastard wouldn't just leave a corpse alone.
The monster loved playing with people, so it probably chewed, tore, tasted, and made a total mess.
But I'm fine. No limbs ripped off. By the feel, all my fingers and toes are still attached.
Which means?
It worked!
Tension drained from me.
Thank goodness.
……I felt a little relieved. Like I could overcome this pitch-black darkness, even just a bit.
……Yeah, that's a lie. Let's get some light.
Hopefully whoever handled me didn't touch my stuff.
I patted down my suit jacket. Good—my belongings were intact.
Soon I found my phone. Pressing the power button, a faint light leaked out.
Battery at about 5%. About to die. Makes sense. Even in standby, three days without charging would do that.
Which meant I'd be plunged back into darkness. What a bleak future.
……Lame joke. Humor doesn't suit me. I was actually shivering from the cold.
…….
Hm.
But you know…….
It's been bugging me…….
Isn't it cold in here?
Not from the joke. It genuinely felt freezing.
That's when it happened. In the faint glow of the phone screen, my breath fogged up in my vision.
Ah.
Of course. Thinking about it, it was obvious.
This was the morgue. More precisely, inside a corpse drawer.
Organic matter rots fast. Needs refrigeration. Humans are no exception.
That realization made it even creepier.
First things first…….
It's getting cold, so let's get out.
A moment later.
Clang—. Clang—. Clang—. Ka-clang—!
After an unpleasant process I won't detail, I finally crawled out.
I won't go into specifics, but my soles were stinging like hell, the company might bill me for hinge repairs, and I nearly face-planted climbing down the refrigerated coffin.
……Cleaner than I expected.
The morgue, that is.
It didn't have that gloomy vibe from movies or dramas.
Aside from the wall full of corpse cabinets, it was just like any ordinary operating room.
Oh, and there were shelves. An autopsy table. Tools on top.
Rotary saw blade……? Why the hell is that here?
……Never mind. Not clean at all.
Not because of the saw, of course. These cabinets once held living, breathing people.
Some even had name tags. More with tags than without.
Gave me the creeps.
Still…….
Better than total darkness.
……Guess I was squished in that coffin too long. To think like this. Maybe I'd been slumping around, lost in weird fantasies without realizing it.
Anyway, now…….
Time to report I'm alive. And get back to work.
…….
Ah.
Is this what a slave's life is? Worrying about showing up even after dying and coming back.
Couldn't be helped. The world was crazier than it seemed, full of real threats.
What were my survival odds if the company fired me?
Not zero. Sure. Of course not.
But.
Not just that. ……Sigh.
Alright, time to move for real.
I put all my strength into my legs.
But my body wasn't fully back to normal yet. My vision wobbled and swirled.
Not surprising after rotting away for three days and just reviving.
Let's lean for a sec.
It creeped me out, but I rested my arm and forehead against a corpse cabinet.
Whatever was inside was my neighbor until moments ago, so this should be fine.
Just…… a moment, a very brief rest…… so…… huh?
As I'd noticed earlier, the morgue cabinets had name tags.
The one my forehead touched was no exception.
Name: Kang Mi-young
Position: Department Head
Date of Death: 10. 02.
The instant I read it, my hand was already yanking the handle.
I don't know why.
Curiosity? About what? Who was inside? Why?
I already knew.
A corpse was in there. I knew who without asking.
It was once Department Head Kang Mi-young.
So, no need to open it.
No, I shouldn't open it.
Clunk.
But the drawer slid open anyway.
Light weight.
Like nothing was inside.
…….
Literally.
Nothing. No body, no hair, no vengeful eyes or scraps of flesh and blood.
They moved the corpse?
Maybe.
But I doubted it. If they'd already removed the body, there'd be no name tag.
Right.
Department Head Kang Mi-young…….
Is alive.
My head throbbed like it might split. Even though I'd half-suspected her survival.
Somehow…… I feel like I've gotten tangled in something headache-inducing.
My thoughts were a jumble. My head too.
That's why I only heard the footsteps late.
Thud.
Shoes on tile.
Thud. Cautious, approaching from behind.
Thud. A shadow falling.
I turned.
A woman with deep dark circles stood there.
Unfamiliar face. Her eyes bulged wide in distortion, but overall, she had an honest, plain look.
I held my breath. So did she. As we both pondered what to say in this sudden encounter…….
"Ah."
She beat me to it.
"Aaaah……?"
Her finger rose. Pointing at me.
Questioning, and then.
"Kyaaaaaaa—!"
Terror.
"A-a-a-alive, moving corpse—!"
Rare for a human, I got to experience firsthand why the dead shouldn't come back.
"H-help— somebody! S-s-security, s-s-security team……."
……If only she hadn't suddenly rolled her eyes back and collapsed upon spotting me, it would've been quite the educational moment.
***
With the morgue night-shift woman's help—after some hassle—I made it back to the company.
She fainted three more times along the way. Once even slapping my cheek.
Still, it could've been worse.
If she'd been calmer, she might've reached for the gun in her holster, and all my revival efforts would've been wasted back in a drawer.
Anyway, things wrapped up fine.
"……So, you've resurrected?"
Well, actually no.
Things got a bit weird.
"You expect me to believe that?"
Time: dawn. Location: one floor below the top of Mirae Co., Ltd.
"If it was a joke, I'd say it was pretty good. I almost laughed."
I'd become the employee facing an executive at dawn…….
"Fine…… alright, will you tell me honestly now?"
"……What do you mean?"
"What else?"
The Chief Containment Director spoke from behind the curtain.
"I'm talking about your true identity. Even from my position, it's a mystery. Are you an anomaly? An industrial spy? Or just an ordinary employee caught in something bizarre?"
In this confusing mess, one thing was crystal clear.
I'd just hit number one on the list of things no employee wants to hear from their boss.
"I'd appreciate it if you spoke quickly. Understand my feelings, dragging myself out here at dawn to meet you."
"……."
"Struggling? Let me help. See that big red button on my desk? Press it, and you're incinerated."
The Chief Containment Director's hand hovered over the red button.
I was racking up top spots on forbidden phrases by the minute—tears nearly welled up.
"Keep silent, and it makes my job easier. Honestly, I'd love to press it right now. If you hadn't racked up major contributions for the company, and if I didn't know Chief Ethics would hassle me afterward."
……What a pity.
"So, ……haa."
Truly regrettable.
"I'll give you a chance to explain. Five minutes. Convince us why we shouldn't incinerate you."