Ch.13Pandora’s Box

The laptop screen filled with black text.

[Please just one click]

[Please]

Text upon text. Now the screen had turned completely black. Only a single white arrow remained. I lifted my finger from the touchpad. Slowly, the mouse pointer moved. Slide. Slide.

Click.

The cursor blinked on a white background.

– I promise I won’t hurt you 🙂 |

Line break.

Now the cursor blinked one line below.

– I can help you get out of this apartment.|

“How can I trust you?”

No response.

– Help me ㅠ.ㅠ

Enter your response: |

It seems like I need to type something to interact. But what if my consciousness flies away again like before?

Gulp.

I took my hands off the laptop and looked toward the bathroom.

“Ugh…”

“Cough, cough.”

Yoon Daju was nearly exhausted. Choi Serim was trying to stop her nosebleed with tissues.

“Ah… what do I do… the bleeding won’t stop.”

Blood-soaked tissues piled up on the bathroom floor. The thin blood kept dripping, looking dangerous at a glance.

It must be because of that strange article we saw earlier.

I returned to the laptop. Let’s try to get some information, whatever happens.

Tap.

[You|]

I only typed two characters, but the cursor quickly jumped to the next line.

– Waoaaaaaaa!!!!!

– Thank you thank you so much!!!!

I’ve heard about similar urban legends where you get pulled into the computer world and have to lure someone else in to escape…

Gulp.

I swallowed again and checked the screen.

– I told you. I won’t hurt you 🙂

– Will you trust me now? Please help me I’m trapped in here and it’s so suffocating|

Tap.

I pressed Enter to take back control.

[Not yet.]

– What????? Why?????

[After seeing that news article earlier, someone’s nosebleed won’t stop. Tell me what to do first.]

– Get me out first please

Tap.

Enter again.

[I’ll help if you tell me first.]

– Fine… If you developed symptoms after seeing something, it’s probably a Memetic Kill Agent. BLIT.

Memetic Kill Agent.

The same term I briefly saw earlier appeared again.

[What’s that?]

– Some information is harmful. Just seeing and recognizing certain patterns can engrave them in your brain and damage it.

[Can it be reversed?]

– Only if you treat it quickly. Oh wait. Before that, please download me I want to get out of he

Tap.

[Do you want to download an unknown file?]

[Yes No]

After pressing Enter, I firmly clicked “No.”

– ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Let’s take this slowly.]

– There’s a pattern to neutralize it… I’ll find it for you…

[How long will it take?]

– About 5 minutes? Do you remember what article you saw?

[South Gyeongnam, Cheorwon. Transmission tower accident.]

– I’ll find it right away!!!

A moment later. The previously black screen displayed text in unrecognizable characters.

“Did it work?”

Oh, right.

[Did it work?]

– Yeah, just read it and you’ll feel better.

Come to think of it, my head does feel lighter now.

I ran to the bathroom with the laptop.

“Ugh… the bleeding won’t stop…”

“Noona. Look here.”

Choi Serim’s hands were cold, probably from losing too much blood.

I turned her head, which was weakly leaning against the wall, to face the laptop screen.

“What… is this…”

“You’ll feel better soon.”

Next was Yoon Daju.

“Urgh… ugh…”

Like a drunk person, she was hunched over the toilet, swaying.

“Hey. Read this.”

“Ugh…”

Daju’s completely pale complexion brightened a bit.

“Huh? It stopped…”

“Are you okay now?”

“……”

“Hey! Yoon Daju!”

She’s completely exhausted too.

– How is it? Did it work?

[Yes.]

– Will you trust me now?

Ding!

Another selection window appeared on screen.

[Do you want to download an unknown file?]

[Yes No]

– Please move me to your laptop. It’s too hard in here…

[Are you trapped on the internet or something?]

– Something like that.

Well, they did help me, and they don’t seem that harmful.

So…

[I’ll move you in a bit.]

– ??????????

– Why!!!!!!!!!

Exclamation marks filled with anger covered the screen.

[Let me handle this situation first. Two people have collapsed, and I can’t let anything else happen.]

– ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠPlease

[Just hang on a little longer.]

I put down the laptop and supported Choi Serim.

“……I’m dizzy.”

“Let’s get you to the bed to lie down.”

“Wait. Can you support me?”

I was trying to help her up, but our height difference made it difficult. Choi Serim was sitting on the floor while I was just pulling her arm in an awkward position.

“Phew…”

It took quite a while to get Choi Serim to the bed.

And there was still one more person. For Yoon Daju, I just dragged her out of the bathroom and left her on the floor. My arms already felt like they were going to fall off, and I might collapse myself if I tried any more.

Shhhh-

I took out the shower head and cleaned the floor.

At first, the water was bright red. Gradually it diluted and flowed down the drain.

I sat on the bed and opened the laptop.

– Traitor!!!!! Traitor!!!!!!

[Okay. I’ll do it now.]

Click.

[Download: 1 Unknown File]

– It worked! I’m free!!!

[What’s different now?]

– Where I am, of course! I can finally escape that terrible space! Wow, there’s a lot of text here. A novel?

I put my hand on the touchpad to control the mouse that was moving on its own.

[Don’t open things without permission.]

– Okay…

[But earlier you said you could help us get out of the apartment. What did you mean?]

– Oh. This laptop is connected to the internal network. There’s a lot of dangerous information, but if I help you, you can access the sites you want.

[Can we contact the outside world?]

– No, it’s an internal network…

[What? Then it’s useless.]

– No! There’s lots of information here!

[Oh! So all the information about this apartment is stored here? Like which floors are dangerous, that kind of thing?]

– That’s right. Now you understand.

– But not all information is available, and access to some information is restricted. The more sensitive the information, the more dangerous the security measures.

So that news article from earlier. The Memetic Kill Agent? Is that part of the security system?

[Who created this network?]

– The Foundation.

[What foundation?]

– I don’t know the name. Just some foundation that manages these things.

Typing every response is getting tedious.

I pressed the start button and turned on the laptop’s built-in microphone.

“Ah, ah. Can you hear me?”

– Yes. Your voice is cute

“Don’t call me cute…”

Why does everyone I meet say this? I was a man once. Comments like these don’t make me feel good. It’s giving me a complex.

“Anyway, tell me more about this Foundation.”

– I don’t know much either. I’ve been trapped in this network from the beginning. This seems to be a server abandoned by the Foundation, based on the remaining information.

– The Foundation has been managing this apartment for a long time.

“Then shouldn’t they prevent people from coming here?”

– Well, I’m not sure. There’s no specific record of that. Instead, there are tons of exploration and experiment records. Like finding a puddle in the basement and throwing people into it. Or making people enter unknown rooms and recording the results. Things like that. They don’t seem to be an organization that cares about human lives.

“I see…so that’s how it is…”

– By the way, can you turn on the camera too?

“No.”

Thud.

I closed the laptop.

Turning around, I saw Choi Serim sleeping like she was dead. Wait. She’s not actually dead, right?

“……”

Thank goodness…

She lost quite a bit of blood, but apparently not a fatal amount.

I’ll have to explain this later.

Leaving the two to rest, I went to find Choi Jun-gi in room 701. He seems to be the person who has survived here the longest. He also acts as the leader. I thought sharing information might yield something useful.

Knock knock knock.

I gently knocked on the door.

Creeeeak-

“…Huh?”

The front door opened weakly.

An ominous feeling suddenly swept over me.

“Sir?”

I stopped in front of the room that had been converted into an office.

A dead body was collapsed on the long desk.

“……”

Paper documents. Blood. Scrawled letters.

Blood drops fell from wrists that had been slashed with a sharp object.

“…No…”

From the moment I discovered Choi Jun-gi’s body, all the air seemed to have vanished from the room. Standing on trembling legs, I felt like I was suffocating.

Why did this happen?

Wasn’t this supposed to be a safe floor?

As long as we didn’t go outside, we were supposed to be safe. That’s what he said.

I heard it from none other than Choi Jun-gi himself. The person now lying dead in such a miserable state.

I picked up the smartphone that had fallen to the floor.

“!”

Jumbled text across the cracked screen. I hurriedly pressed the back button.

Memetic Kill Agent.

It was because of that information. Then what did I bring back?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

I pressed the back button repeatedly with force. My vision blurred, and it felt like a hot iron skewer was piercing my brain.

I shouldn’t have brought the internet server.

I thought it was too simple from the beginning.

No. If I had found out a little sooner? If I had at least warned him to be careful?

Finally, the home screen appeared, showing a family photo with bright smiles.

“No…”

I hastily put on my shoes and fled from room 701.

If he checked the internet right after we installed the server, Park Sungjin, who helped move the server, could be in danger too.

“Please.”

Out the entrance and into the hallway. Past room 701 and further in.

Just as I reached room 705 where Park Sungjin was staying.

Thud!

The front door opened from inside.