IHTBN 09

Chapter: 09

“From the beginning, it’s true that we’re supposed to be cautious when we go to the research building or experimental building.”

I quietly listened to the contradictory stories from my seniors before turning my gaze toward Minjun and asking,

“Vice-head. You said the door you mentioned can travel through space and time. Doesn’t that mean it could appear here in the residential building too?”

“You’re quick to catch on. I guess you can tell when someone has spent a long time working in society.”

At my words, Minjun nodded and continued.

“Like you said, they say the escaped door can appear anywhere within the premises. Apparently, it’s so elusive that it’s difficult to catch.”

“If it can freely move around the premises, couldn’t it also appear in the nearby villages?”

“Monsters escape all the time. Do you really think they wouldn’t have safety measures in place?”

When the new employee tilted his head with a puzzled expression, the senior employees chuckled before continuing their explanation.

“There’s a monster among the research building’s security team that has an utterly ridiculous ability.”

“In the research building?”

“Yeah. You know those things called Special Specimens? Apparently, one of them was originally something closer to a divine spirit, and now it’s a dokkaebi.”

“Something like that really exists?”

“I only heard it from a friend, so I don’t know the details. Anyway, apparently nothing can leave the premises unless it’s stronger than that monster.”

“Then is the reason we can’t leave because of that dokkaebi’s power?”

“I don’t think so? They say that dokkaebi brings down lightning and kills a specimen the moment it escapes, but we only receive severe disciplinary punishment. We don’t get killed.”

A dokkaebi that brings down lightning.

There was something strangely familiar about that sentence.

I remembered the black-haired girl I had seen on my first day of work.

Hmm.

‘So I thought she wasn’t human… but she was a dokkaebi?’

I was astonished that a being who seemed like something straight out of a story was right beside me. I spent a moment remembering the girl I had seen the other day.

The new employees, frightened by the seniors’ words, hesitantly asked,

“Then what should we do if something really urgent happens and we need to get out?”

“If you tell the head of the cleaning team or the Director, you can leave. Why are you asking something so obvious?”

“Ah. Right.”

“Are you stupid?”

The senior answered the pointless question with an affectionate insult, causing the embarrassed new employee to scratch his head.

Just then, the closed door opened, and Eunwoo, the head of the cleaning team, walked in.

“What are you all gathered together and talking about?”

“Boss, welcome. We were telling the new employees about the escaped Anomaly.”

“Information about escaped specimens is classified, though… How did you find out about it?”

“Huh? Ah…”

Eunwoo narrowed his eyes as he questioned him, and Minjun gave an awkward smile.

It seemed as though Eunwoo was about to continue interrogating him, but fortunately, the night-shift employees began entering one after another at just the right moment, so it ended with nothing more than a warning glare.

Once even the last night-shift employee had entered, Eunwoo began the roll call.

“There are quite a few announcements today. Those who are confident they can memorize them, feel free to stand and listen. Those who aren’t confident should write them down on your phones.”

Eunwoo never said anything frivolous. Even if he toned down a story, he never exaggerated it.

He was exactly the kind of person who had managed to survive this insane research institute with all four limbs intact since the day it was established.

Everyone knew that fact well, so without exception, they pulled out their phones and prepared to listen attentively.

“Some of you may already know this, but recently, an experimental specimen escaped from the research building. Its grade is ‘Jeong.’ The specimen is called the ‘Tempting Door.’ The specimen takes the form of a door, and…”

Eunwoo’s explanation continued as follows.

The escaped specimen takes the form of a door made of traditional Korean paper, the kind one might see in an old house.

It can sometimes change into wooden or iron doors, but there have been the most sightings of the paper doors.

The door appears in random locations within the research institute.

It may appear where a door once stood, where a tree might once have been, or even floating in midair.

“The door is said to look extremely suspicious, and it gives off such a bizarre atmosphere that you instinctively feel repulsed just by looking at it. Even so, apparently, you develop an urge to approach it and open it.”

After a certain amount of time passes, or after you put a certain distance between yourself and the door, the urge to open it disappears.

The ideal response is to immediately contact the security team as soon as your rationality returns.

“However, this is only the ideal response. It is not a response that you absolutely have to follow.”

Eunwoo looked around at the anxious-looking new employees before continuing with a faint smile, as if telling them not to worry.

“If you see the door and don’t think you can handle it, then the moment the door appears, run away without even looking back.”

“Is that really okay?”

“As you know, we’re not combat specialists. A life lost once cannot be brought back, so there’s nothing wrong with running away.”

At Eunwoo’s words, the employees’ gazes wandered in different directions.

He continued.

“They say there can be one door, ten doors, or doors appearing from every direction. You need to be especially careful when doors appear from every direction.”

When doors appear from every direction, sit down in the corner farthest from the doors and cover your eyes and ears until the doors disappear.

Whether you hear a sound or sense a presence, you must never raise your head.

The explanation reminded me of the ‘manual horror stories’ that had once become a sensation on the internet, and my shoulders instinctively hunched.

This was a place where Anomalies were contained, after all, so horror stories actually existed here.

Perhaps the Anomalies from those horror stories had been brought here and contained.

‘No matter how I think about it, this place is completely absurd.’

We needed to be sufficiently careful.

An insincere laugh came from somewhere.

It was from several new employees who had yet to see an Anomaly with their own eyes.

The senior employees glared at them, and they immediately shut their mouths, but they still didn’t seem convinced.

‘They’re the ones with bad behavior normally.’

Unlike the three new employees who had gathered beforehand and talked with us, these ones always arrived right before their shifts and took so long just changing their clothes that they barely had time to get ready.

Their attendance was poor, and since no one properly stopped them, they had become even more unruly and ill-mannered.

I glanced at the new employee standing crookedly with her long hair loosely tied back, then shrugged and listened to Eunwoo’s continued explanation.

“The escaped specimen is said to appear mainly in the afternoon rather than the morning. If you encounter the specimen, either follow the aforementioned rules or run away, then inform the security team of the specimen’s location. That’s all. Any questions?”

“Boss. You said we shouldn’t open the door, but is there any way to know what’s beyond an open door?”

I raised my hand and asked, and he answered.

“Usually, they say there’s a mouth.”

“A mouth?”

“Yes. We don’t know what kind of creature it is. However, an open door leads directly to its mouth, and the moment you enter, you’ll be eaten by it.”

“……”

“Sometimes, they say it connects to another space as well. But no one knows where that space leads. No one who entered has ever returned.”

“Then does that mean the door won’t open unless we open it ourselves?”

“Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t mention that. Basically, the door won’t open if you don’t open it yourself, but apparently, on very rare occasions, it opens on its own.”

There was no way to know what would emerge from an open door.

However, apparently, the probability of something bad appearing was much higher than the probability of something good appearing.

“That doesn’t mean you should recklessly close the door, either.”

“What happens if we try to force the door shut?”

“I’m not sure. I never heard what happened after that.”

At the research institute, the phrase ‘I never heard what happened’ was equivalent to saying, ‘Everyone who tried it died.’

The senior employees’ faces turned pale at Eunwoo’s answer.

After giving all the announcements, Eunwoo assigned each employee to their respective locations. Finally, he gave one more warning about the escaped specimen before ending the roll call.

The place I was assigned to today was the first-floor plaza.

The others assigned to the same plaza were one of the new employees I had spoken with earlier, one arrogant new employee, and three senior employees who had entered together with Eunwoo.

The seniors and juniors were paired up, and we headed toward the plaza.

‘If a strange door appears, run away without looking back. If a door appears, crouch down in a corner and stay there until the door disappears.’

I firmly engraved the precautions into my mind as I began walking.