Ch.120The Foundation’s Intruders (4)

“Fall back and continue suppressive fire!”

“Do we have authorization to terminate the entity? If we keep this up…”

“It’ll regenerate anyway, so keep firing!”

Behind them, the sounds of gunfire and radio chatter.

In front, the ferocious howls of a monster filled the air.

Yoon Daju kicked the door open with all her might.

Crack-

“Follow me!”

Dan, Ichinose Riko, and Jung Haewon followed behind her.

The security guards were busy with continuous suppressive fire, but some of them noticed the new intruders.

“Are those intruders over there?”

“Where? Are they human?”

“Yes, near the researcher evacuation shelter.”

The conversation didn’t last long.

Their attention was drawn elsewhere again.

Another anomalous entity that had been released had begun to move.

“AAAAARGH!”

Throughout the long, open corridors of the Foundation facility.

Screams erupted from everywhere.

The higher-ranking security personnel could see brief information through lenses installed in their eyes.

The containment walls now completely open.

Blue smoke spread from beneath the gap.

An irresistible trap.

A fog with anesthetic and analgesic effects.

[CREEP:459 – Liberation from Pain]

“Don’t approach the fog!”

“Move personnel with low resistance to the rear and administer painkillers!”

And like a plague, a burning pain began to spread throughout the corridor.

The guards screamed, and in severe cases, they collapsed and writhed on the ground.

“Ugh.”

Yoon Daju was no exception.

A searing pain crawled up from her toes and began to gnaw at her entire body.

Riko, Dan, and Jung Haewon all noticeably slowed down.

An inexplicable pain.

Only Daju seemed to understand what was happening.

“Don’t look back.”

Daju grabbed the others and led them forward.

“Don’t think about anything and just keep running forward!”

Jung Haewon shook his head vigorously, trying to concentrate.

Contrary to Daju’s words, sweet impulses kept arising in his mind.

– Run toward that fog

– You can escape the pain if you’re in the fog

The blue fog behind them in the corridor.

Amidst the burning sensation enveloping his body, a cool breeze seemed to blow from that fog.

The only way to escape the pain was to stay inside it.

He vaguely knew it was a trap, but the temptation seemed so sweet.

“AAAAARGH!”

Screams erupted from everywhere.

From the corridor, and also from within the blue fog.

Yet people willingly jumped into the fog.

To get a few seconds of relief from the pain of their bodies burning alive.

The fog clearly had pain-relieving effects, but there was also a predator waiting for prey caught in the trap.

“That’s an extremely malicious entity.”

Yoon Daju continued moving while checking on her companions.

Jung Haewon’s condition was particularly bad.

“Hey. Can’t you walk? Want me to carry you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“Riko, can you stay focused?”

“Yes, Daju.”

“Dan?”

“…I’m fine. For now.”

Yoon Daju continued to lead the group.

Women had stronger resistance to anomalies, so she and Riko were doing okay.

The problem was the two men.

Dan claimed he was fine, but he looked like he might collapse at any moment, and Jung Haewon’s complexion was visibly poor.

“Just hang on a little longer. No matter how much it hurts, don’t go into the fog.”

“Why?”

Yoon Daju sighed as she answered Jung Haewon, who was asking with dazed eyes.

“It’s a trap. The pain itself was created by that thing. It causes pain to people outside and lures them to enter the fog voluntarily.”

“A trap? That fog?”

“Yes. If you go in there, you might feel better for a moment, but soon you’ll become its food.”

The pain was inversely proportional to the distance from the creature.

If they had been a little closer, they might not have been able to resist jumping into the fog.

“Let’s keep moving. The further away we get, the better we’ll feel.”

As she said, the pain gradually subsided.

The searing pain that felt like being set on fire gradually changed to a burning sensation like a burn, then to just a slight stinging.

After enduring the pain, they reached the stairs.

Once they climbed these, they would reach the weapons storage on the second basement level.

Yoon Daju turned to look at Jung Haewon before the stairs.

“Hey. We’re almost there. Want to rest?”

“No. We don’t have time, we should keep going.”

“Alright.”

Forget about Dabin’s brother or whatever, I’ll really get revenge later.

Suppressing her anger with such thoughts, Yoon Daju moved up the stairs.

“…That’s right.”

Riko suddenly interjected.

“But Daju, have you recovered all your memories? Even the experiments from before you met me?”

“More or less.”

For just a moment, a look of bewilderment crossed Riko’s face, but Yoon Daju didn’t notice.

***

In the server room of the domestic Foundation facility.

I held onto the door and checked the number of security personnel coming up the corridor.

“Sis, three more people in the corridor!”

“…Got it.”

As Choi Serim closed her eyes and muttered, a security guard who was about to enter the server room collapsed on the floor.

Serim’s ability to detect and manipulate others’ thoughts.

If used more aggressively, she could incapacitate opponents like this.

“Robin, how’s the system hacking? Is it working properly?”

Robin was still typing on the keyboard, but the frequency of entering new commands had definitely decreased.

“Yes. I’ve almost taken control of the system. Now I just need to open the entrance to the weapons storage.”

The plan was now in its final stages.

“Dabin.”

“Yes. Just a moment.”

Serim clutched my sleeve beside me.

I once again conjured peaceful scenery in my mind.

“It’s okay now.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

The more Choi Serim interferes with others’ thoughts, the more she herself is affected.

Especially now when the targets are security personnel working for the Foundation.

Hostility toward driving out intruders.

Anxiety about unidentified intruders.

Irritation and resentment about having their peaceful daily lives disturbed, and so on.

Before all these negative emotions could eat away at Serim, I needed to provide her a space to rest.

My sister, breathing softly with her eyes closed, was now reading my thoughts.

I tried to focus on positive thoughts so she could rest comfortably for a while.

While watching over her, I carefully spoke to Robin.

“Did you open the storage entrance?”

“Yes.”

Robin pressed the enter key with a tap as a finishing touch, shifting her gaze from the monitor to me.

“So, what do we do now?”

Her voice was dry and cold.

“I made excuses to the others, but you said you’d take responsibility for the escape process.”

“Yes, I did.”

“I’d like you to share that information with me now.”

Robin asked about my plan in a voice devoid of emotion.

I answered just as calmly, trying to hide the turmoil in my heart.

“You mustn’t think about anything. That’s why I couldn’t tell you in advance.”

While securing weapons is important, getting out safely is equally important.

The ‘escape’ from here begins the moment Yoon Daju’s group finds the weapons.

“…”

A moment of silence fell.

Robin kept her mouth shut, her ash-gray eyes fixed on me.

Having completed all her tasks, she now seemed lost in thought.

“Alright. I’ll trust you, Dabin.”

“Thank you.”

I exhaled with relief.

Even while talking to Robin, I had been trying to focus on positive images, but it seems I was momentarily gripped by anxiety.

Choi Serim had noticed the change.

“Dabin, is something wrong? Should I get up?”

“No. You can rest a bit more.”

Robin’s plan began to take effect after some time had passed.

‘Release the anomalous entities on the third basement level to disperse the security forces.’

Now the security personnel coming up to the server room had completely stopped.

“Ah. I just took control of the CCTV too. Should I play it?”

“Yes.”

As Robin typed on the keyboard, footage from the weapons storage on the second basement level appeared on the monitor.

“It looks like Daju’s group succeeded too.”

On the screen was Yoon Daju standing in front of the weapons storage.

Jung Haewon, Dan, and Riko were gathered with her.

Words of relief escaped my lips.

“Thank goodness.”

“Yeah. Everyone looks safe. Daju, Haewon…”

Thanks to Robin doing her job properly, the door to the weapons storage was already open.

Through the CCTV, we could see Yoon Daju’s group entering the storage.

“The escape is coming soon.”

“What? Don’t we need to prepare anything?”

“No. Sis, just prepare yourself mentally. The same goes for you, Robin.”

I looked back and forth between Choi Serim lying beside me and Robin sitting at the computer.

“The important thing is not to think about anything.”

As soon as I finished speaking.

Crash-

The ceiling began to collapse as if an earthquake had struck.

Ceiling tiles fell to the floor and dust rose everywhere.

“Dabin! Should we avoid that?”

“No! Just stay still!”

The falling tiles simply passed through our bodies and disappeared. They didn’t collide with us.

“This is… certainly fascinating.”

A piece of space-time cut out and moved for a specific purpose.

Once the purpose is achieved, the space-time returns to its original position.

“I’ve never been this involved with space-time anomalies before.”

Robin observed the changes around her, her eyes shining like a child’s.

After muttering to herself for a while, she came to her own conclusion and smiled.

“No. Maybe it started from the moment we entered this apartment?”

“Huh! Dabin!”

Beside me, Serim clutched my sleeve tightly.

The room began to compress, shaking up and down.

The computers that had filled the server room had long since disappeared as if they were never there.

Eventually, the door fell off, and the corridor and room merged.

The distance to the security personnel collapsed in the corridor shortened dramatically, and now we could examine their faces in detail if we wanted to.

A situation that couldn’t possibly be accepted by common sense.

I took a deep breath, trying to maintain my composure.

“Don’t be too nervous. Everything will be fine.”

The floor and walls became transparent.

The walls, now transparent with only their outlines remaining, reflected the appearance of other rooms behind them.

Another room.

Yet another room visible behind that.

Another room visible below the floor.

Like a game with graphical errors, all the rooms appeared overlapped.

– Intrusion!@$

– Emergency situation!@

– %#, have you seen where the documents are?

It wasn’t just the space that had become transparent.

Noise and voices constantly ringing in our ears.

Constantly changing sunlight and movements of unfamiliar people passing by.

Everything appeared for a moment and then disappeared, leaving afterimages.

Transparent time.

What I was seeing now was far beyond what humans could understand and perceive.

Now all the rooms gathered around a single point.

Amidst the background that had become indistinguishable, a black dot suddenly became clearly visible.

A line was drawn over the dot.

All scenery brightened to white.

After everything ended, what appeared before my eyes was,

“Brother!!!”

“What is this place? Are you all okay?”

Yoon Daju’s group, as well as Heo Yoon, Seok Hyunmin, and Yebin. Everyone gathered in an auditorium-sized space.

And-

“Sis. Wait a moment. Over there,”

“What’s over there? It’s all just white.”

It was Dr. Chen’s body hanging from the ceiling.

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The Room That Grants Wishes.