Chapter 22 : The Monster Is The Best

I climbed up to the second floor.

What spread out before my eyes was a massive white room.

It was so white that it felt like I might lose my mind.

In the middle of the room stood a bizarre, enormous door that looked like an exit.

‘Is no one here?’

I looked around.

It was quiet.

No presence, no breathing, no scent of life.

Chairs lined up in neat rows.

Beside them, a small folding table with a sign that read “Welcome Snack.”

Not a single thing out of place.

There were no traces of human presence.

“…Am I the only one here?”

I slowly walked across the room.

Only the sound of my footsteps echoed emptily.

I approached the massive door and carefully pushed it, but it was firmly locked.

Next to it, a small inscription caught my eye:

[Once all escape rooms on the first floor are cleared, further guidance will be provided.]

‘So the first floor isn’t finished yet?’

That meant I was the only person who had reached the second floor so far.

Baek Seok-ho.

He’s a seasoned agent.

Not someone who would easily fall apart in most situations.

But this place didn’t follow normal human logic.

I had been lucky to encounter a relatively docile anomaly and made it here without issue,
but it was possible that Baek Seok-ho had run into something far more dangerous.

I hesitated for a moment.

Then soon,

I made up my mind.

I would go back down to the first floor.

If Baek Seok-ho wasn’t here,

it was certain something had happened to him.

As I descended the stairs,

I saw the familiar door I had come through.

And stretching beside it, a long corridor.

To the left and right.

Dozens of doors lined the hall.

Far more than just ten.

‘Where could he be? Is Baek Seok-ho safe… or…’

I unconsciously clenched my hands

as I stared into the seemingly endless row of doors.

A thick stench of blood filled the air.

Baek Seok-ho took a short, sharp breath.

‘How can it be this horrifying…’

The first floor escape room we entered after receiving guidance—

Just as he suspected, it was a den for illegal anomaly research.

At first, it gave off the feel of a normal escape room with simple quizzes, but the moment he reached the final room and solved the last puzzle, an anomaly appeared.

‘An anomaly…’

If it had been a normal person, could they have survived?

No.

Of course not—they would have become food for the creature.

‘I have to save them.’

And so he made his decision.

To rescue the people trapped here who were about to be sacrificed to the anomalies.

That was the very reason the Bureau of Anomalies existed.

At first, he thought he could handle it alone.

That he could endure this level of anomaly.

But the moment he opened the door and entered the next room, all hope shattered.

Each new room was a horrific hellscape.

A survivor whose body was half-crushed.

Someone being dragged away with their wrist twisted.

This place had already become the domain of anomalies.

When he cleared the first room, he didn’t realize it.

Didn’t know the place would be this otherworldly.

But the moment he began trying to rescue people, he understood.

This was a hell designed to drive humans into despair.

“Kyaaaaaa!!”

A scream rang out from nearby.

Baek Seok-ho, staggering, managed to lift a woman who had collapsed.

“Human… human… huMAAAN…!”

A creature with red skin and twisted arms—barely mimicking human form— let out a terrible screech and charged at them.

“Hah…”

He summoned the last of his strength and activated his contracted anomaly ability.

He slashed his forearm briefly and scattered his blood.

As the crimson droplets collided with the air, the liquid began to harden— and blood-red chains shot out.

The chains bound the anomaly, and it froze in place with a shriek.

But this was the limit.

He had already spent too much blood as the price of the contract.

His vision swayed dizzyingly.

His head was spinning.

His body staggered.

Even standing was a struggle.

The woman beside him cried out in desperation.

“Please help me! Please, please! Save me!”

Baek Seok-ho gritted his teeth.

…If it was going to be like this,

maybe I should have just waited for Min-woo.

He had driven himself forward, pressured by a sense of duty to rescue others in this urgent situation.

If at least someone had been with him, he could’ve left the survivor in their care and fought the anomaly more freely.

And then—

The moment came.

The chains loosened.

The anomaly sprang forward, its long claws aimed straight for his chest.

…I can’t stop it.

He instinctively knew.

If this hit landed, it could mean death.

To shield the woman, Baek Seok-ho threw himself in front of her.

Thud.

A loud step echoed as a door was kicked open.

Someone had arrived.

All the anomalies turned their heads simultaneously.

At the end of the hallway— a black silhouette.

Standing there was Kim Min-woo.

Min-woo said nothing, his hands in his pockets, walking forward slowly.

That indifferent stride.

That expressionless face.

And yet, the anomalies flinched.

Min-woo walked past a puddle of blood, and casually snapped his fingers.

Snap!

With a sound that cut through the air—

fwip.

Something massive burst out from his shadow.

White fangs.

A hulking figure.

A feral, beast-like creature.

“Go.”

“Grrrrrr!”

Pam-yoh.

An anomaly that followed Min-woo.

The moment it appeared, it lunged at the others.

“Aaargh!!”

The anomalies screamed.

But it was too late.

As if it had been waiting for this,

Pam-yoh sank its teeth into the neck of one of them.

Crunch.

The sound of bones shattering.

Blood sprayed in all directions.

Pam-yoh— savagely, without hesitation— ripped the anomalies apart and devoured them.

The room filled with the stench of blood.

The anomalies, helpless, screamed as they were torn to pieces one after another.

Baek Seok-ho watched it all.

The blood-soaked hallway.

The severed arms of the anomalies.

The smashed skulls.

That thing… is supposedly a D-class anomaly?

Of course, threat levels didn’t explain everything about anomalies—

They were based on the danger posed to humans.

But even so, Pam-yoh was too powerful.

Stronger than it should’ve been.

E-class anomalies were torn apart like paper.

And through it all—

Kim Min-woo stood there as if none of it mattered.

Even as the anomalies screamed and limbs flew, his expression didn’t flinch, not even an eyebrow twitch.

Is he really… human?

Baek Seok-ho felt his fingertips tremble without realizing it.

More than relief from surviving, what gripped him now— was something else entirely.

The only thing that felt more vivid— was the cold sensation crawling down his spine.

Min-woo called Pamyoh softly once, and the blood-soaked beast returned to the shadows.

“Are you alright?”

Min-woo asked.

With just that one short sentence,

Baek Seok-ho swallowed dryly.

“…Yes. You saved my life.”

Along with the miraculous realization that he had survived, a clear, unsettling thought crossed his mind again.

That gaze he noticed the first time they met— looked especially chilling today.

Holy shit.

That was terrifying.

While Pam-yoh was ripping the anomalies to shreds,

I couldn’t move a single step.

The throbbing pain in my right arm.

I clenched it unconsciously.

Every time I saw Pam-yoh, those memories came back.

The sensation of flesh being torn, bones shattering—still painfully vivid.

I should’ve rushed over to ask if Chief Baek was alright…

But the moment I saw Pam-yoh’s frenzied hunting,

I froze in shock like a statue.

…I’m glad he listens to me.

After the Special Unit was formed,

I made a formal contract with Pamyoh.

Now, I can summon him at will.

The price I pay?

A walk once a week.

From what I’ve heard, that’s an absurdly light condition for controlling an anomaly.

“Woof!”

After dealing with the last anomaly, Pamyoh wagged his tail cheerfully, looking at me.

I cautiously patted his head.

Only then, seemingly satisfied, he disappeared back into the shadows.

“Haa…”

Whether it was a sigh of relief or exhaustion,

I exhaled and approached the collapsed Baek Seok-ho.

“Are you alright?”

Baek slowly pulled himself up.

“…Yes. You saved me.”

His face was worn, eyes trembling.

He took a deep breath and added quietly:

“We’ve secured most of the civilians. Including this room, we’re almost done.”

“This place… is what we expected, right? A future anomaly weaponization lab?”

“Confirmed. And their objective is now clear.”

I swallowed hard and looked around.

Walls stained with blood.

Corpses scattered across the floor.

Faint screams echoing in the distance.

It was hell— no way ordinary humans could’ve created this.

“What on earth are they trying to do?”

Baek’s expression stiffened.

He replied in a calm, low voice:

“They’re feeding anomalies with human fear… negative emotions.”

His voice trembled slightly.

“If all they wanted was to feed humans to anomalies, they wouldn’t need to go through the trouble of building all these ‘escape room’ scenarios.”

It was suffocating.

Even now, fear was being harvested.

Baek’s face tensed again.

“If we’re right… an anomaly infused with all that fear could awaken at any moment. We need to rescue the survivors before that happens.”

He had already contacted the Bureau for a full-scale rescue.

All we could do now was save as many lives as possible.

“Last room.”

At the far end of the first floor— the final door.

Creeeeaaak—

A rusty, eerie sound as the door opened.

And from within, laughter.

“Hahahaha! Wonderful!”

An excited voice, but with a twisted, insane echo.

We entered the room, alert.

Inside stood a young blonde woman.

She was feeding her blood, dripping from her own forearm,
to an anomaly— which calmly drank it.

It was an eerie, unsettling sight.

“Yes, drink more… grow bigger…”

The woman whispered as if soothing a child, her face enraptured as she stared at the anomaly.

Her eyes shimmered with madness.

With blood-soaked fingers, she gently stroked the creature’s head.

“So adorable…
Really, anomalies are so much better than humans.”