Chapter 44

A dark, bronze-colored mansion.

I was walking silently behind Supervisor Park Minseong.

Having accomplished the insane feat of “disguising himself as an attendant machine to fool another machine and rescue a poor new recruit,” the supervisor offered this assessment of his own performance.

“Its AI didn't seem all that impressive. About as smart as a robot vacuum? So I figured I could fool it with my appearance for a little while!”

The machine hadn't seemed quite that stupid to me, but regardless, his timing had saved me, and I was grateful enough to weep.

“Um, but how did you turn into an attendant machine...?”

“Oh! My Exclusive Equipment.”

Supervisor Park grinned and showed me the cloth hanging around his neck.

Oh!

I remembered what he'd told me about his Exclusive Equipment.

[“Mine's a disguise item, but it can't turn me into a person, and it doesn't last long. I just use it to try my luck when I'm in a pinch.”]

So far, we'd only entered ghost stories where something like that wouldn't work or would be useless, so I'd only heard about it. Now I finally got to see it in action.

‘It's pretty good in the right circumstances, though??’

I wanted to pay him to lend it to me as parent equipment for making a new piece of Exclusive Equipment.

Of course, that wasn't the pressing issue right now!

“Okay. Whew. Now that I've found you too, Roe Deer, let's hurry up and get out of this insane place.”

“You found a way out?”

“...”

Supervisor Park Minseong merely grinned without answering.

‘He must have something to fall back on.’

For now, I decided to follow him at a brisk pace.

“This way.”

We headed back up the stairs from basement level one.

Before long, our surroundings took on a yellowish hue, revealing a vast corridor bathed in brass rather than bronze.

‘We're aboveground.’

That alone might have been reassuring, but...

The first floor was a scene of pandemonium.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

“Mmph!!! Mmmmmph!”

“My eeeears... My ears! My ears!”

Screams rang out from every direction.

‘Two hours have passed.’

It seemed even the employees who'd been hiding were gradually getting caught by the attendant robots and having another body part ripped out...

Just like me a moment ago.

“...”

The supervisor kept walking without so much as glancing around the corners the sounds came from.

“Roe Deer, don't look.”

“...”

His hands were clenched so tightly that the veins stood out.

“I know it's hard, but we've got our hands full keeping our own team alive right now. If you're going to keep earning points here... you have to learn to give up, too.”

“...”

Suddenly, I remembered the moment during the talk show when he'd given up on surviving.

[“... I have a family member in the hospital. I'd appreciate it if someone could check in on them once this shoot is over! If possible.”]

Somehow, I felt I understood how this seemingly good-natured supervisor managed to endure this place...

In any case, I didn't protest.

Soon, after keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings, the supervisor seemed to have reached his destination safely.

And that destination was...

“Here.”

“...”

A window.

The tightly shut, opaque glass window that Go Youngeun had said she'd struggled so hard to open.

‘He can't mean for us to leave through here, can he?’

But instead of struggling to wrench the window open, he raised a finger and knocked timidly.

KNOCK—KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

The window popped open.

“...?!”

No, it didn't merely open.

The way it swung open all the way down to the floor...

‘... A terrace door!’

It wasn't a window at all!

‘Wait, is that why the exploration record said that?’

* * *

The nineteenth record consists of testimony left by a visitor who claims to have attempted to pass outside through a window. However, we will omit it at our discretion due to concerns about its credibility.

This exhibition has no windows.

* * *

I'd thought it was just a typical line from a rules-based ghost story, but there really weren't any windows.

“Let's go in.”

“Yes.”

But there was no time to stand around bewildered, so I immediately stepped through the open terrace door. Beyond it was a small, hexagonal terrace furnished with a long sofa and a table.

Strangely, though, we couldn't see any scenery beyond the terrace. There was only thick black fog...

As though we weren't permitted to see.

TAP.

As Supervisor Park closed the terrace door, keeping a wary eye on our surroundings, someone rose from the sofa and tapped my shoulder.

“I knew you'd be all right.”

“Deputy.”

It was Deputy Eun Haje.

And Team Leader Lizard's vertical pupils met my eyes with perfect composure.

“Our team leader said you weren't nearby and suggested broadening the search. Sure enough, there you were downstairs.”

“Thank you.”

“Did you go all the way down to that creepy place on purpose to look for an exit? Typical of you.”

I looked at Supervisor Park with fresh appreciation.

It struck me just how much resolve it must have taken to descend to basement level one, where the atmosphere changed so abruptly, without any information about the floors.

‘Thank you, seriously...’

You saved my eyeballs.

And another thing...

“How exactly did you get this open? Someone told me they'd kept trying to open the window, but couldn't...”

“? With my hands.”

“...”

I see.

‘They say a weak body makes the brain work harder...’

Now that I looked, the terrace door handle did seem a little loose.

Wouldn't we be in for something truly horrific if an attendant noticed that?

But my Team D superiors simply began discussing our plans calmly, apparently accustomed to Team Leader Lizard creating his own way through situations like this.

“Well, now that everyone's here... shall we try escaping, Team Leader?”

“Yes.”

“... Do you have a promising escape method?”

“Yes.”

“... May I ask what it is?”

Section Chief Lizard answered simply.

“We'll tie a rope to the terrace railing and explore the exterior walls of this exhibition space.”

“...”

Pardon?

“From outside, we'll be able to find the floor with the front entrance, right? We can leave through there.”

Well, that was certainly...

“I see.”

I might have been tempted if this damned mansion didn't extend seven thousand floors underground.

And if I didn't currently have an item in my briefcase that would get us out more easily.

‘We can just use this to leave.’

Thinking of the candle, which should be setting nicely, I raised my hand.

“Please wait a moment.”

I thought I could convince them if I showed them the actual item while explaining it.

I just needed to buy a little time until it was finished.

And save a few lives while I was at it.

“I got separated from two fellow recruits I was traveling with, but they should still be nearby. If you give me a moment, I'll go find—”

“...”

“...”

Ah.

“Roe Deer.”

Deputy Eun Haje spoke matter-of-factly.

“Exactly three rookies entered this place. Including you.”

“...”

“They picked out a few kids who'd been performing well and sent them in... They probably know it themselves. They were just filling out the numbers.”

“Senior—”

“Be quiet a moment.”

Having silenced the supervisor, the deputy continued.

“You saw them at lunchtime, right? The higher-ups in the conference room. Those birdbrains are hoping this place might be A-grade.”

I remembered.

[“Look, we're certain it's a high-grade Darkness, and a civilian survivor came out! This could be a groundbreaking case of opening up a new source of high-quality raw materials.”]

“They were all excited, saying this could give them the source with the highest survival rate of any A-grade Darkness on record. A-grade Dream Essence concentrate is always out of stock.”

“...”

“The rookies? They sent them in having already written them off as an expense. It wouldn't matter if they all died.”

Because producing an A-grade manual and opening up a source of top-quality raw materials whose supply had run dry would be more profitable.

It was true that Field Exploration Team members' lives were valued more as they gained experience and survived longer, but expendables were still expendables.

They came second to more valuable resources.

“Remember this. The farther those bastards' departments are from field exploration, the more they treat human lives like flies.”

Deputy Eun Haje sighed and put her cigarettes away again.

“So just take care of your own life.”

“...”

“We don't have time. Let's head down. Feeling sorry for them will only make things harder on you.”

I finally managed to speak.

“That's not it.”

“You're a good kid. Yeah. If they're lucky, they'll get out—”

“One of them was carrying the escape item!”

“...?!”

Of course, that was a lie.

“We don't even know what's outside. There's no need to risk climbing down a rope.”

But this much was absolutely true!

“With that item, we should be able to escape safely.”

* * *

I went back down to basement level one.

Walking through this place alone made my legs shake, but perhaps because my goal was so clear, the fear had dulled a little.

Find my fellow recruits.

[“You get exactly twenty minutes. If you can't find them by then, come straight back.”]

My lie about a fellow recruit possessing an escape item that would amaze the universe and astonish the world had more or less worked.

They hadn't given me much time as a result... but it was doable.

‘They can't have gone far.’

People become less mobile when they're in shock. They'd probably found somewhere nearby to hide and were trying to pull themselves together.

Besides, I'd given them a hint before.

About a good place to hide.

‘The ventilation ducts.’

Seven minutes into the search,

I finally found a fellow recruit crammed into a vent along the outer edge of the basement corridor.

Except it was Baek Saheon.

“...”

“...”

“Hey.”

Baek Saheon averted his eyes.

“Want to get out?”

He gave me an intensely suspicious look.

But he nodded at the same time.

“Then tell me where Ms. Mountain Goat is.”

Uh, somehow I sounded like I was threatening him to reveal a comrade's whereabouts—

“She went into the exhibition hall on the left. She's probably hiding behind a sofa!”

“...”

He gave up her location without a moment's hesitation. Disloyal bastard.

Anyway, that was how I successfully found Go Youngeun as well.

Fourteen minutes had elapsed by then.

“M-Mr. Roe Deer...! Thank goodness, seriously...!”

I quickly got us moving again, briefly explaining to the puffy-eyed Go Youngeun that a superior had helped me.

Then I made a request.

“I told my teammates I needed to find you two because I'd entrusted you with the key item for our escape. Please play along.”

“...!”

I handed Go Youngeun the paper with the candle mold drawn on it that I'd kept in my briefcase.

She tucked it very carefully into the front of her suit and nodded.

“So I just keep my mouth shut and take my cues from you, right?”

Exactly!

Baek Saheon, who'd been casually ignored throughout this process, looked at me as though he had a lot to say, but didn't bother opening his mouth.

He must have sensed that escape was drawing near.

When I opened the terrace door and stepped out with the two recruits, exactly nineteen minutes had elapsed.

All wrapped up within twenty minutes. Whew.

“I found them.”

“Wow.”

“Honestly, knowing you, Roe Deer, I figured this would happen.”

At those remarks from the deputy and supervisor, the two recruits began watching them nervously. No one could have mistaken it for a warm welcome.

Section Chief Lizard was even in the middle of taking out a rope on the terrace already.

“Ah, um...”

“We'll dispense with introductions.”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon spoke tonelessly as he twisted the rope and secured it to a pillar with a tensioning knot.

“Explain the item in your possession within two hundred seconds.”

Both recruits swallowed.

I immediately stepped in.

“May I explain on their behalf?”

“Yes.”

It was time to give a proper explanation.

Based on the keywords I'd combined, this candle would...

“This item can fool the attendant machines.”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon's hands stopped moving.