Chapter 29. The Company (1)
The inside of the Company was...
How should I put it?
It was completely different from what I had expected.
Unlike us, who had entered with grim determination, there was nothing particularly special inside the building.
Judging by the interior alone, it looked like an ordinary office building. The atmosphere was somewhat different from a normal company, but at the very least, it didn't feel like the den of evil demons we had imagined.
If I had to describe the atmosphere in a single word, it would be—
Silence.
The Company was quiet.
Simply, endlessly quiet.
There wasn't a single person around.
“...”
“...This is a little different from what I imagined.”
“There's nobody here.”
“Strange.”
Everyone gave their own thoughts.
I agreed with them and carefully examined our surroundings.
The lobby was filled with ordinary facilities.
If I had entered without knowing anything, I probably wouldn't have thought there was anything strange about it.
But I knew this was the largest branch of an organization responsible for all sorts of evil acts.
Knowing that made the silent atmosphere of the Company feel strangely dangerous.
“...”
As I looked around, I noticed an elevator.
It was next to the entrance.
Something about it felt strange, so I stared at it closely.
Soon, I realized what had caught my attention.
The floor number above the elevator was rapidly decreasing.
...
...
...
...
Wait.
Were those really floor numbers?
Even though the number 327 had already disappeared, it remained burned into my mind like an afterimage.
Three hundred and twenty-seven floors?
From the outside, the building hadn't even looked one hundred stories tall.
It was unrealistic, but this was the Company's building.
It was entirely possible that, like the Mystery Mart, the inside was much larger than it appeared from outside.
Or perhaps, like the Backrooms, the elevator was connected to a completely different space.
That was as far as I could speculate.
The elevator had reached the first floor.
Ding.
A cheerful sound rang out.
The doors opened, and a familiar man jumped out.
A perfectly ordinary-looking man wearing a neat suit that suited him well, with that same unpleasant aura wrapped around him like a cloak.
His defining trait was that he was an employee of the Company.
From what I'd heard, his rank was Assistant Manager.
His name was—
“Kim Hyeonwoo.”
“Yes, that's me. Honestly, I didn't think you'd make it this far. Amazing! I'm impressed! So impressed that I felt like coming down personally to welcome you!”
He greeted me with exaggerated enthusiasm.
Stretching both hands out, he clapped loudly.
Clap, clap, clap.
His actions should have looked ridiculous, but there was something strangely unsettling about them.
What was he planning?
He knew I wanted to kill him, yet he'd come to greet us without hesitation.
I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
Well, I had a save point anyway.
Should I just kill him once as a test?
Without hesitation, I pulled a pistol from my clothes and squeezed the trigger.
Bang!
The live round I had loaded fired, and the heavy recoil slammed into my hand.
My wrist jerked upward.
I didn't stop.
Suppressing the recoil, I pulled the trigger again.
I fired repeatedly in a precise rhythm, almost as though I were playing a rhythm game.
Only after using all fifteen bullets did I lower the pistol.
“Hwaryeon.”
Without lowering my guard, I stepped backward.
Hwaryeon immediately rushed forward and swung her sword.
Her blade, wrapped in crimson internal energy, cut through the Company employee.
Once.
Twice.
Dozens of times.
Countless swift and sharp attacks stabbed and sliced through him.
After a long series of cuts, Hwaryeon sheathed her sword and stepped back.
Click.
Finally, I pulled out a grenade and tossed it at him.
A violent explosion shook the building.
Smoke rose and blocked my vision.
While reloading my pistol, I stared into the smoke.
Unlike before, there was no strange visual noise.
Still, there was no way Kim Hyeonwoo had come down here without some kind of countermeasure.
“Don't let your guard down.”
My companions knew the Company's reputation well.
None of them relaxed.
Eventually, the smoke caused by the grenade faded.
Kim Hyeonwoo's corpse came into view.
It was gruesome.
Countless sword wounds covered his body, and his suit had been soaked red with blood and torn to rags.
I stared at the corpse as if challenging it to a staring contest.
Then I saw it gradually begin to fade like a mirage.
Focusing my vision, I watched Kim Hyeonwoo's corpse turn into tiny clusters of polygons.
Just like a game.
Like the corpse of a monster or character after dying in a game, his body transformed into countless polygon fragments and scattered away.
It was a supernatural phenomenon on a completely different level from a mere hologram.
His corpse no longer existed.
Instead, a voice came from behind me.
“Haha. I thought that would make you feel safe enough to keep going, but you're really not easy to fool.”
“Kim Hyeonwoo.”
“Calling me Kim Hyeonwoo feels a little awkward between us. Just call me Assistant Manager Kim! I'm more used to that anyway, and we're not exactly close friends, are we?”
Bang!
His head snapped backward and he collapsed.
Once again, the corpse turned into polygons.
Bang!
Kim Hyeonwoo appeared again, and I shot him dead once more.
The result was the same.
Bang!
Bang!
I killed him again and again.
It wasn't some stupid, pointless act of denying reality.
I already knew that Kim Hyeonwoo himself wasn't a Mystery.
The Mystery registered in Lucy wasn't Kim Hyeonwoo.
It was the Company he belonged to.
Which meant Kim Hyeonwoo was human.
I didn't know how he had become an employee of the Company, but regardless, he was still a human being capable of feeling emotions and stress.
That was Kim Hyeonwoo.
As if proving my theory, after he had died around thirty times, he finally raised both hands in surrender.
“...You're insane! Fine! I get it! I'm sorry. I apologize. So could you please stop now?”
Even while surrendering, there was still a playful tone in his voice.
I wasn't fooled by the mask he wore.
Kim Hyeonwoo was afraid right now.
Even if he couldn't die, it seemed he still felt the pain.
Should I torture him?
No.
I shouldn't waste any more time here.
I was on a time limit.
And even at this very moment, that clock was steadily ticking away.
My goal was to destroy the Company before sleep came for me.
Even with regression available, time was still precious.
Besides, the stress that accumulated through repeated regressions probably wasn't something I could ignore.
If possible, I wanted to finish everything without regressing even once.
As a final warning, I fired two bullets into each of Kim Hyeonwoo's legs.
Then I grabbed him and dragged him toward the elevator.
The elevator, which had remained on the first floor, opened immediately.
“Ugh!”
Ignoring his deep groan, which was louder than the elevator chime, we stepped inside.
Now the real operation was beginning.
Arlin prepared a spell in case something happened.
Hwaryeon placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it at any moment.
Lee Yeonhee watched our surroundings and prepared herself to use divine power whenever necessary.
As for Lucy...
Well.
She fluttered enthusiastically beside us, cheering us on.
Lee Jinsung had his cloak pulled over himself, so I couldn't see him.
I stroked Lucy before grabbing Kim Hyeonwoo by the collar and pulling him upright.
The cold muzzle of my gun pressed against his head.
“What floor do we need to go to if we want to bring down the Company?”
“Who knows? Haha. Why don't you test your luck?”
It looked like I wouldn't get a proper answer until I added another hole to his body.
When I pressed the muzzle against his arm, he shouted with a twisted expression.
“It won't work anyway! I've undergone a procedure that removes pain, so torture won't have any effect. I'll tell you peacefully, okay? So why don't you move the gun?”
Click.
“Fine! Fine, I'll tell you! Hmm... How about the 97th floor?”
I looked at the elevator buttons.
They went from floor 1 all the way to floor 500.
What kind of building was this?
“You came from above the 300th floor.”
“Floors 1 through 100 are just an ordinary office. There isn't really anything dangerous there.”
“Then what happens after floor 100?”
“That's where the research laboratories begin. They study technology there. There are security guards too! If you're looking to die, then I suppose going there wouldn't be a bad choice.”
How were we supposed to destroy the Company?
That was something I had been thinking about ever since the Company was added to Lucy.
Set off the bombs I had brought from the Backrooms?
According to Lucy's information, the Company was protected by a barrier created using future technology.
Attack it with magic?
Same problem.
There was a barrier.
Apparently, this barrier was powerful enough to withstand even a nuclear weapon.
Without any information, this would've been an impossible problem to solve.
Fortunately, Lucy contained information about how to damage the Company.
The method was to enter the building and destroy the source located somewhere inside this branch of the Company.
That was the entire explanation.
It didn't explain what the source was.
What shape it had.
Not even how we were supposed to destroy it.
Our current objective was to gather that information.
The most important question was where the source was located.
Normally, the more important parts of a building were located higher up.
Ignoring Kim Hyeonwoo's advice, I pressed the button for the 500th floor.
The doors closed.
Kim Hyeonwoo stared at the steadily rising floor counter in shock.
“Good lord! Did you seriously press the 500th floor? You're insane! I'll pray for your souls in advance. R.I.P!”
It was the same as before.
He was hiding his real emotions behind ridiculous words and behavior.
If I had one particular strength, it was my eyes.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I was good at reading people.
Even before my reincarnation, I'd been extremely skilled at noticing emotions people tried to hide.
And from Kim Hyeonwoo's sudden urgency...
I could tell.
The 500th floor was the correct choice.
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