Chapter 106.2
“I mean, Iām sure it wasā¦ huh? Was it left in the dorm room? Or maybe a fellow Security Team newbie gave it to meā¦ Wait, was there even another newbie here? What? Huh? Whatās going on?”
Damn it.
“Itās fine! Donāt think about it anymore. Letās just stay still for now.”
“ā¦Yeah.”
Supervisor Park curled up quietly, lowering his head.
“Letās just focus on getting out of here. When the door opens, we leave immediately. No looking back.”
“Yes.”
Huuā¦
āThis is insaneā¦ā
My head was spinning.
With our accounts conflicting like this, I couldnāt tell what was real or fabricated.
I couldnāt discern reality from falsehood, nor did I know what to believe. All I had was the oppressive weight of fear in this situation.
āAm Iā¦ under some kind of spell?ā
But noāmy silver ring was still on my finger. That should have offered strong resistance against illusions, hallucinations, or brainwashing.
In that caseā¦
āLetās think logically.ā
I forced myself to focus.
1- My mind is intact.
2- Everything Iām experiencing is real.
3- This is an external phenomenon unrelated to my mental state.
For an objective perspective on this phenomenonā¦
āBraun.ā
The plushie in my pocket might hold the answer.
āBraun! I need to ask you something. Can you help?ā
ā¦ā¦
Silence.
No way.
āā¦Braun!ā
I frantically searched my pocket. Even when I called again, there was no responseā
– Ah! Here I am, my friend!
Relief washed over me as I clutched the soft, plush figure in my hand.
– Apologies for the delay in responding! It took me a moment to catch up, I must admit.
“ā¦ā¦”
āCatch up?ā
āā¦Why did you need time to catch up with me?ā
– Oh, because you jumped straight to the 30th, Mr. Roe Deer!
The cheerful voice made an incomprehensible statement.
– But Iām not blaming you. Finishing the disciplinary work quickly is a valid approach! Avoiding wasted effort and welcoming the new year earlyāit sounds like a splendid plan, donāt you think?
āWait, wait!ā
I hastily interrupted.
āSorry to cut you off, Braun, but I need clarification.ā
– Oh, I get complaints from guests as well, so as a friend, this is nothing! Iām all ears! Ask away, Mr. Roe Deer!
Right, here goes.
āAre you saying I skipped directly from the 29th to the 30th? How?ā
– Hm. You entrusted that part of your story to someone else, didnāt you?
“ā¦ā¦!”
No. Wait. What?
āTo someone else?ā
– Yes, indeed! Why, that someone is sitting right beside you at this very moment.
āā¦ā¦ā
– Theyāve done a marvelous job blending in, havenāt they? Truly a master of disguise, Friend.
Barely managing to move my stiff neck, I turned my head toward the figure Braun had mentioned.
The person sitting right next to me.
“Umā¦ Roe? Youāve gone quiet. Iām starting to feel uneasy. Should we talk?”
Earlier.
When I had fled the isolation corridor, Iād assumed I had called out to Supervisor Park Minseong, prompting him to follow me.
But now that I thought about it, I hadnāt grabbed his hand or even looked back to check.
Which meant.
āThat voice could have lured something other than Supervisor Park out with me.ā
If so, then the thing pounding on the door earlier, still inside the corridor, wasā¦
“ā¦ā¦”
“Roe, are you okay? Say something.”
And then there was the advice from Security Sergeant J3 over the walkie-talkie.
Ā
– Donāt speak to anyone. Stay quiet and hide.
Ā
That included the person whoād come into the corridor with me, didnāt it?
“Roe? Roeā¦ Oh, youāve figured it out again, havenāt you?”
Thud.
In an instant, the face of āSupervisor Park Minseongā dropped to the floor.
Ā
Shall I tell you about Ireum-niiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmm
The melting figureās mouth opened grotesquely, its distorted body leaning closer.
Closer to my faceā¦
[BEEEEEEEEP!!]
The red emergency lights flickered wildly.
Mechanical whirring echoed around us.
The sound of shutters rising.
[Lockdown lifted. Shutters opening.]
Ah.
Thanks! Itās open!
The faceless entity drew nearer, its voice brimming with elation.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
The grotesque laughter exploded in my ears, rattling my brain until everything blurred and my mind began to fade.
Reality itselfā¦
ā¦went black.
“ā¦ā¦Heuuuuhp!”
I jolted awake.
A dimly lit storage room.
The red emergency lights still flashed, sealing us inside this confined space. Shutters locked tightly in place.
I stood there, clutching discarded cleaning tools, looking as if I had just escaped Isolation B.
The scene before me seemed to rewind slightly to an earlier moment.
In my pocket was another work tip sheetāfor Day 3 of my shift.
I immediately crumpled it up and threw it aside.
Crackle.
[Hello? Are you alright?]
The walkie-talkie buzzed, but I ignored it.
This time, I remembered.
āIreum-nim, they said.ā
My hands trembled as sweat dripped from my brow.
“I understand now.”
The lost story.
The entity that took the form of someone I knew.
The one that cried out about Ireum-nim.
Its true identity wasā¦
Dark Exploration Records / Factions
[Church of the Luminous Unknown]
: One of the three great factions in the <Dark Exploration Records>.
They worship an otherworldly deity referred to as Ireum-nim, and their doctrine centers around becoming a significant existence in this world to survive the end times.
Their practices involve antisocial, supernatural fanaticism, rituals, and laws.
The sect divides into six branches, each devoted to a different divine principle, which results in bizarre paranormal phenomena.
The ultimate truth about them isā¦ [Spoilers].
Itās the Church of the Luminous Unknown.
T/N: By the way, ireum = name. It feels a bit weird to translate it as Name-nim, Lord Name, Almighty Name or some other variation… so I just left it alone. Hope thatās alright~
Siptea
Heukkk I got goosebumps reading this eerie chapter