episode_0120
by fnovelpia“Don’t back down and keep firing suppressive fire!”
“Has permission to kill been given? If this continues… … .”
“It’ll play anyway, so keep shooting!”
Behind them, there are gunshots and radio transmissions.
Ahead, the ferocious howls of monsters fill the air.
Yoon Da-ju kicked the door with all her might and went out.
Kwajik-
“Follow me!”
Dan, Rico, and Jeong Hae-won follow behind.
The guards were busy firing suppressive fire, but some of them still noticed the newly revealed intruder.
“Is that an intruder over there?”
“Where. Are you a person?”
“Yes. Over there, in the researcher shelter,”
The conversation didn’t last long.
Their gaze was again turned elsewhere.
Another one of the released anomalous entities has become active.
“Kkaaah!”
A long, open hallway inside the Foundation facility.
Screams are heard here and there.
The higher-ranking security personnel were able to see brief information through lenses mounted on their eyes.
The isolation wall is now wide open.
Blue smoke spreads out from under the gap.
An irresistible trap.
It is a fog with anesthetic and analgesic effects.
[CREEP:459 – Freedom from Pain]
“Do not approach the fog!”
“Place those with low tolerance in the rear and administer painkillers!”
And then, like an epidemic, a burning pain began to spread throughout the hallways.
The guards screamed and, in severe cases, fell to the ground and twisted their bodies.
“Ugh,”
Yoon Da-ju was no exception.
A burning pain starts crawling up from the tips of my feet and begins to gnaw through my entire body.
Rico, Dan, and Jeong Hae-won’s running speed has also noticeably slowed down.
Pain without a cause.
The only one who knew something was Yoon Da-ju.
“Don’t look behind me.”
A person who holds onto and leads others.
“Don’t think about anything and just keep running forward!”
Jeong Hae-won shook his head vigorously and tried to concentrate.
Contrary to what Yoon Da-ju said, sweet impulses constantly come to my mind.
– Run towards that fog.
– Being in the fog can help you escape from pain
Blue fog at the back of the hallway.
As the burning flames enveloped my body, a cool breeze blew through the fog.
The only way to escape the pain is to stay within it.
I know it’s a trap, but the temptation looks too sweet.
“Kkaaah!”
Screams are heard everywhere.
In the hallway, of course, and even in the blue fog.
Still, people were willing to jump into the fog.
In the midst of the pain of burning alive, just to get a few seconds of peace.
Although the fog certainly has an analgesic effect, there are also predators that prey on trapped prey.
“That thing is a very malicious entity.”
Yoon Da-ju continued to move while checking the condition of her group from the side.
In particular, Jeong Hae-won’s condition was bad.
“Hey. Can’t you walk? Should I carry you?”
“No, it’s okay.”
“Rico, can you come to your senses?”
“Yes, many times.”
“Dan?”
“… … It’s okay. Not yet.”
Yun Da-ju continued to lead the group.
As for anomaly resistance, since women are a bit stronger, Rico and herself are fine.
The problem is two men.
Dan says he’s okay, but he looks like he’ll collapse any moment now, and Jeong Hae-won doesn’t look too good even when you look at her.
“Just hold on a little longer. No matter how much it hurts, you can’t go into the fog.”
“Why?”
To Jeong Hae-won, who asked with blank eyes, Yoon Da-joo answered with a sigh.
“It’s a trap. The pain was created by him in the first place. He causes pain to the people outside and leads them to go into the fog themselves. ”
“A trap? Is that the fog?”
“Yeah. If you go in there, you might feel a little better, but you’ll soon become food for that bastard.”
Pain is inversely proportional to the distance from the thing.
If it had been just a little closer, I might not have been able to bear it and would have jumped into the fog.
“Keep moving. The further you go, the better it will be.”
As he said, the pain gradually subsided.
The burning pain that felt like someone was setting fire to their body gradually changed into a burning sensation in the burned area, and then into a slight tingling sensation.
The stairs I reached while enduring the pain.
Now, if you just go up here, you’ll reach the armory on the second basement floor.
Yoon Da-joo looked back at Jeong Hae-won as she approached the stairs.
“Hey. We’re almost there. Do you want to rest?”
“No. We don’t have time, so we have to keep going.”
“Yeah.”
Dabin oppa and all, I’m going to get real revenge later.
With that thought in mind, Yoon Da-joo suppressed her anger and walked up the stairs.
“… … That’s right.”
Rico intervenes for a moment.
“But Dazhu. Did you get all your memories back? Even the things you experimented on before you met me?”
“Roughly.”
For a brief moment, Yoon Da-joo didn’t notice the look of confusion crossing Rico’s face.
***
Server room of a domestic foundation facility.
I held the door and counted the number of security guards coming up the hallway.
“Sister. There are three people in the hallway again!”
“… … Okay.”
As Choi Se-rim closes her eyes and mutters, the security guard who was about to enter the server room falls to the floor.
Se-rim’s ability to sense and manipulate other people’s thoughts.
If you want to use it more aggressively, you can also incapacitate your opponent like this.
“Robin. What about the system hacking? Is it working properly?”
Robin is still tapping away at the keyboard, but he’s definitely typing new commands less frequently.
“Yes. The system is almost under control. Now all we have to do is open the entrance to the weapons storage. ”
The plan is now nearing completion.
“Dabin.”
“Yes. Just a moment.”
Sister Se-rim, who is holding onto my sleeve from the side.
I recalled the comfortable scenery in my head again.
“It’s done now.”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
The more Choi Se-rim interferes with other people’s thoughts, the more he himself is influenced.
In particular, the target that needs to be taken down now is the security personnel working for the Foundation.
The hostility to drive out the intruder.
Anxiety about unidentified intruders.
Irritation, resentment, etc. about having one’s peaceful daily life interrupted.
Before all the negative emotions eat away at Choi Se-rim, I need to give her a place to rest.
My sister is breathing deeply with her eyes closed. She is reading my thoughts now.
I tried to keep my thoughts as positive as possible, so I guess I can relax for a while.
I watched my sister resting and then spoke cautiously to Robin.
“Storage entrance. Is it open?”
“Yes.”
Robin taps the Enter key as a finishing touch, and turns his gaze from the monitor to me.
“So, what are we going to do now?”
The voice is dry and cold.
“I told everyone else, but Dabin said he would take full responsibility for the escape process.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I would like you to share that content with me now.”
Robin asks me about my plans in a voice that carries no emotion.
I also answered in a calm voice.
Trying to hide the turmoil in my heart.
“You shouldn’t think about it. That’s why I can’t tell you in advance.”
While it’s important to pack a weapon, it’s also important to get out safely.
The ‘escape’ from here begins the moment Yoon Da-ju finds the weapon.
“… … .”
There is silence for a moment.
Robin keeps his mouth shut and doesn’t take his gray eyes off me.
Having finished all her work, she now seemed lost in thought.
“Okay. I’ll trust you, Dabin.”
“Thank you.”
Phew, he exhaled.
While talking to Robin, I tried to keep thinking only positive images, but I think I was momentarily overcome by anxiety.
Choi Se-rim noticed the change.
“Dabin, what’s wrong? Should I get up?”
“No, you can rest a little more.”
Robin’s plan took effect after some time had passed.
‘Release the anomalous entities on the third basement floor to disperse the security forces.’
Now the number of security guards coming up to the server room has stopped.
“Ah. I just got control of the CCTV. Should I play it?”
“Yes.”
As Robin types on the keyboard, an image of the weapons storage room on the second basement floor appears on the monitor.
“It seems like Mr. Daju and his group also succeeded.”
What appeared on the screen was Yoon Da-ju standing in front of the weapons storage.
Jeong Hae-won, Dan, and Rico are also gathered together.
The words came out naturally with a sense of relief.
“Thank goodness.”
“That’s right. Everyone looks okay. Daju, Haewon too… … .”
Thanks to Robin’s good work, the door to the weapons storage is already open.
Through CCTV, we were able to confirm that Yoon Da-ju and her group were entering the storage facility.
“Escape is just around the corner.”
“What? Is it okay if I don’t prepare anything?”
“Yes. My sister is just preparing herself mentally. And so is Robin.”
He repeats this while looking alternately at Choi Se-rim, who is lying next to him, and Robin, who is sitting in front of the computer.
“The important thing is that you shouldn’t think about anything.”
The moment I finished speaking.
Thud thud thud-
The ceiling began to collapse as if an earthquake had occurred.
Ceiling tiles fell to the floor, raising a cloud of dust.
“Dabin! Should I avoid that?”
“No! Just stay still!”
Falling tiles simply pass through your body and disappear without colliding with it.
“This is… … . It’s definitely amazing.”
A piece of space and time that has been cut out and moved for a specific purpose.
The moment the goal is achieved, space and time return to their original positions.
“I’ve never been so caught up in an anomaly in space-time.”
Robin observes the changes around him with shining eyes like a child.
After muttering to himself for a while, he smiles and comes to a conclusion on his own.
“No. Was it the beginning when you came into this apartment?”
“Oh my. Dabin!”
Next to me, Se-rim noona tightly grabs my sleeve.
The room begins to shake and compress.
The computers that once filled the server room have long since disappeared, as if it were a lie.
Eventually the door falls away, and the hallway and the room merge.
As the distance between me and the security guards who had been lying in the hallway became shorter, I could now examine their faces in detail if I wanted to.
No matter how you look at it, this is a situation that cannot be accepted with common sense.
I took a deep breath and tried to keep my composure.
“Don’t be so nervous. Everything will be okay.”
The floor and walls become transparent.
The wall, now transparent with only an outline remaining, reflects the view of another room behind it.
Another room.
Another room visible behind it.
Another room visible from beneath the floor.
All the rooms appear to overlap, like a game with a graphical glitch.
– Invasion!@$
– Emergency!@
– Mr. %#, did you see where the documents are?
It wasn’t just space that became transparent.
The constant ringing of noise and voices in my ears.
The sunlight changing from moment to moment and the movements of strangers passing by.
Everything appears for a moment and then disappears, leaving behind an afterimage.
Transparent time.
What I am seeing now is already far beyond the scope of what humans can understand and recognize.
Now all the rooms are gathered around one point.
A black dot that becomes clearly visible at some point in the background where it is difficult to distinguish anything.
A line is drawn over the dot.
The whole landscape turns white.
When everything is over, what I see before my eyes is,
“Brother!!!”
“What is this? Are you all okay?”
Yoon Da-ju and her group, as well as Heo Yoon, Seok Hyun-min, and Ye-bin. Everyone gathered in a space the size of an auditorium.
and-
“Sister. Wait a minute. Over there,”
“What’s that over there? It’s all white?”
It was Dr. Chen’s corpse hanging from the ceiling.
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A room where wishes come true.
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