Chapter 159: The Choice of Death
I don't have any good memories associated with water.
Cruise ships are the same; frankly, whenever something water-related happens, I've never once seen it turn out well.
-Swoooosh…!
Water came pouring out, and people began to react all at once.
Some opened their eyes wide and screamed, while others calmly assessed the situation they were in.
And then,
-Fwip!
The Manual unfurled.
[PLZ - Manual Conservation]
1. The Manual is delicate. Please treat it with care.
2. No matter how sturdy the Manual is, please refrain from using it as a shield.
3. Treat the Manual like an old friend.
4. Do not deliver a knuckle sandwich to the Manual.
5. The first thing you receive upon employment is the Manual. Do not forget that the Manual is like the first colleague for every Management Bureau employee.
6. No matter how flawless and capable the Manual is, just like anyone else, it feels unpleasant when it gets wet.
It seems like it's not even trying to hide itself anymore.
I stared blankly at the Manual unfurling like crazy, then shifted my gaze.
"What should we do about this?"
Park Ye-eun looked at me calmly as she watched the rising water.
She's pretty fearless too.
"If I knew, I would've solved it already."
No, but wait, let me think for a second.
"Isn't this just the administrative staff exam?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, isn't this the field personnel exam?"
The HR team is administrative staff anyway. Why do we have to take a test like this?
At my words, Park Ye-eun looked at me as if to ask what I was talking about.
"This is the common exam."
"Administrative staff take this exam too?"
"Yes. See that person over there?"
She pointed to a woman trembling in fear.
"They say that person is from the Accounting Team."
"When did you find that out?"
"Hey, I have good people skills, remember?"
With a cheeky smile, Park Ye-eun made a V-sign with her hand.
"So, are you going to help, Oppa?"
"Me?"
I looked at the water soaking my feet.
Is it really my role to help with this?
I looked at the other people.
The sight of people from each team talking fervently amongst themselves.
Everyone had gotten up from their chairs and was discussing with serious expressions.
-Thud!
"The door's locked."
Someone else said while pushing the exit door trying to open it.
I guess helping is the right call.
I looked around.
Let's first look for a possible escape route.
As for where the Branch Chief might have gone…
When I looked toward the podium, the Branch Chief was already gone.
"..."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Would the Branch Chief have really left us behind?
That can't be right.
Would there really be drownings in a regular employee exam?
If this were a regular company, it would mean a death during a workshop.
Considering workers' compensation and lawsuits, the cost would be astronomical.
Or not? Interns aren't covered by the four major insurances, so maybe it's okay?
Shaking my head after having useless thoughts.
The Branch Chief is probably watching the exam from somewhere, or has prepared a way to rescue us.
And since there are more ordinary people here, the solution must definitely be placed within human reach.
I looked up at the ceiling.
A high ceiling.
It had the height of a gymnasium or auditorium…
"We could go up and hold out."
"Huh?"
At my muttering, Park Ye-eun turned around.
"Can you stack the chairs like a mountain?"
"Like a mountain?"
"High enough to reach the ceiling."
"Umm…"
Park Ye-eun furrowed her brow.
"It seems possible."
"Then stack them skillfully."
"Okay."
Park Ye-eun headed toward the chairs and began stacking them effortlessly, as if it were nothing.
At first, she just stacked them, but once they surpassed her height, she started tossing the chairs up with a flick of her wrist.
But as if by magic, the chairs began stacking up like a mountain.
A mountain of chairs was created, completely ignoring the laws of physics.
While Park Ye-eun was building the mountain of chairs, I looked at the other people.
About a third of the people had already disappeared.
They must have found an exit and left.
The water was now waist-high.
As the water continued to rise, the number of remaining people decreased.
Everyone's leaving quite skillfully. As expected of Management Bureau people.
"All done."
"Then let's go."
Park Ye-eun came down and looked at me.
"Over here!"
When I shouted, the others looked at me.
"Let's use this to climb up!"
When I pointed to the chairs, Park Ye-eun opened her eyes wide and looked at me.
"Shouldn't we just go by ourselves?"
"Do you really think it's right to secretly leave after stacking the chairs like that?"
"Well, that's true, but…"
"And just abandon those people?"
Park Ye-eun looked at the people watching us.
"...We can't, can we?"
"Exactly."
Besides, I don't think this is a game where you pass just by surviving.
But I didn't say this to Park Ye-eun yet. My current thought is still in the realm of conjecture.
I slowly began climbing the mountain of chairs.
The chairs creaked but never fell over.
While watching Park Ye-eun climbing the mountain of chairs beside me, I looked down.
Numerous people were climbing the chairs, following us.
The water was rising even faster, now reaching a level where you'd have to swim.
I reached the top of the chairs and looked ahead.
The water had already risen halfway up the chairs, and a few people were floundering.
<You are eliminated.>
A monotonous broadcast sounded.
"Argh!"
"Kyaaak!"
The people who had been swimming in the water were lifted by something and floated away, drifting off somewhere.
As if pulled by an invisible force.
"..."
It feels like I've seen something like this before.
"Oppa, over there."
In the meantime, Park Ye-eun, who had climbed up, tugged on my sleeve.
As if it had been waiting for us to climb up, a ladder descended with a clattering sound.
"..."
I looked at the ladder.
Nothing particularly visible.
I grabbed the ladder and started climbing.
"Is it really okay?"
"The Management Bureau wouldn't install a device that kills people."
"Well, that's true… but isn't it too fearless to just go like this?"
"If you see things like hands infinitely popping out of walls or monsters crawling out of the sea for a few months, you can become like this too."
I grabbed the ladder and started climbing without hesitation.
"Hey, wait for me, Oppa!"
I heard Park Ye-eun shouting and the sound of her grabbing the ladder and climbing.
The place that appeared after pushing through the darkness…
"...What the."
Was an isolation room.
To be precise, the inside of an isolation room.
Soon, numerous people climbed the ladder and entered the isolation room.
"Where is this…"
"What the…"
Perhaps because most of the remaining people had climbed up using the chairs, the isolation room soon became quite noisy with people.
"It's an isolation room."
"Senior, why did we come here?"
"It wasn't this exam in my time, so I don't know."
Amid the buzzing voices of the crowd, I turned my gaze and concentrated.
"Strange."
"What is?"
Park Ye-eun, who was stuck to my side, looked at me curiously.
"There's no sense of incongruity."
"Then isn't that correct?"
Park Ye-eun made a face as if to ask what I was talking about.
"Usually, yes."
It's usually correct to say there's no sense of incongruity.
But an isolation room is different.
"An isolation room should be strange."
"Huh?"
"Think about it."
What is an isolation room?
It's a place to confine non-human entities, or things that cause great harm to humans.
In other words, an isolation room should absolutely not be normal.
As a place where non-human entities are kept, this place should also be strange.
"But it's too strange."
"...So, according to your theory, this place should be stranger, but it's too normal, is that it?"
"Right."
"If anyone else had said that, I wouldn't have even pretended to listen…"
Park Ye-eun let out a big sigh and looked around.
"..."
Her body stiffened as if nailed in place.
"What."
"Th-there."
Park Ye-eun grabbed the sleeve of my clothes.
"A hospital, a hospital…"
"What?"
A hospital?
And in the Management Bureau?
I hurriedly turned my gaze.
I looked where Park Ye-eun's gaze was directed, but I couldn't see anything.
"Where's the hospital-"
"Kyaaak!"
Before I could finish, a scream echoed from elsewhere.
"A spider! A huge spider!"
"What is this, argh!"
Soon, people began to scream.
"..."
-Zzzt.
A pain shot through my temples.
A mental attack?
"O-oppa. Help me."
Park Ye-eun also just grabbed my sleeve and muttered in a trembling voice.
Everyone was trembling in fear.
But in my eyes, I couldn't see anything.
Fear, and something that doesn't work on me.
Is someone casting a mass hypnosis or something?
*
"..."
Park Ye-eun was trembling in fear.
She was someone who had once been captured by a hospital.
Regardless, even if the memory was short, it was an intense, even terrifying memory for her, and that was just how it was.
'Patient.'
'You're a patient.'
'I wonder where we should cut.'
"Stop, stop…"
Park Ye-eun covered her ears and muttered.
Sounds she didn't want to hear anymore.
She wanted to run away immediately.
Someone covered Park Ye-eun's eyes from behind with both hands.
A warm warmth could be felt.
"...Oppa?"
"Yeah. It's me."
A familiar voice was heard from behind her.
"Now's not the time for this, the doctor-"
"Focus."
Park Ye-eun closed her mouth.
"Think again. And stay calm."
"..."
"When you see something beyond your common sense, what you must do is not be swept away by fear."
"...Hoo…"
How can he maintain his sanity while seeing such illusions?
Park Ye-eun took a deep breath.
"Get a grip. And you mustn't stop thinking."
"Thinking…"
"About how to escape, or even further, if there's a way to win."
Park Ye-eun's breathing settled.
"...There isn't."
She muttered.
Feeling the touch of the warm man's hands, she muttered several times.
"There isn't, there isn't…"
Slowly, she opened her eyes.
When she raised her head, a man was looking down at her.
"Oppa?"
"Yeah."
"I-I'm okay now."
Park Ye-eun muttered.
"Then that's good."
The man removed his hands from her eyes.
"Oppa."
"Yeah."
"Do you do this for other people too?"
"This?"
"No, it's just… I think I understand a bit why the atmosphere gets so tense."
This is why people on the same team go crazy.
Park Ye-eun shook her head emphatically.
"Why?"
"It's nothing."
*
Park Ye-eun nodded, then met my eyes again.
"So, what should we do?"
"It shouldn't be difficult."
Since the first test was about improvisation, this one is probably a test about how to respond when encountering an isolation object.
I slowly approached the door and grabbed the handle; the door opened easily.
"This door was open from the start."
It's just that they were so terrified by the fear they faced that they didn't even think to open the door.
"Should we wake the others?"
"Let's try."
Park Ye-eun and I went around and spoke to others to wake them up.
"Everyone, this is…"
"Ahhhk!"
"Get a grip…"
"Ugh, ugh…"
Most people couldn't hear us, but fortunately, a few heard me and Park Ye-eun and came to their senses.
<You are eliminated.>
Then, the eyes of those who still hadn't regained their senses glazed over,
and they slowly lined up and stood against the wall.
As if parting the sea in a myth, the crowd of people split, and except for those who had regained their senses, everyone stood against the wall,
-Click…
The door opened.
"..."
"..."
Park Ye-eun and I exchanged glances.
"How is it, Oppa?"
"Easy, right?"
Frankly, for someone like me who's been through so much, this was nothing.
"As expected…"
"The Human and Isolation Object Incident Management Team…"
"The All Incident Management Team Excluding Humans…"
"The Non-Human Isolation Object Incident Suppression Team…"
People muttered and looked at me and Park Ye-eun.
"Was that our team's name?"
"No."
I answered sharply and stepped outside, avoiding the others' gazes.
The auditorium where the Branch Chief had given the speech earlier appeared.
<The next test is a cooperation test.>
There was no broadcast until now, and only now?
<Please choose one of the assistants here to proceed with the test together.>
People walked out into the auditorium.
All wearing suits, standing in awkward poses.
All except one.
"Haha, hahaha!"
A man with a hearty laugh looked at me.
"Well, Mr. Jae-heon! What a coincidence this is."
"Yes."
"Frankly, Mr. Jae-heon, you should be here as a mentor, not an assistant, you know?"
"Yes."
"Haha! Hahaha!"
Ahn Sang-hyun, who used to roll around helping us, laughed with his arms crossed.
And the other people…
"..."
A man with half his face burned turned his eyes away when our gazes met.
Besides him, people I was seeing for the first time, or had seen in the hallways, were lined up,
"..."
"..."
"..."
A woman with black hair and a cute impression,
A cool-looking beauty with white hair.
And a woman with purple hair who looked aloof met my eyes.
"Why are you here?"
"I want to ask the same."
Song A-rin looked at me, representing the three.
"You were originally supposed to be called here as a mentor, so why are you here like this?"
"That's what I'd like to know."
"Ugh."
She let out a sigh, and
<Please choose the person you will go with.>
The gazes of the three women turned toward me.
The person most needed to clear this test?
There wasn't even room for deliberation.