There Are No Humans in the Monster Company

Several more days passed after that.

Working together with Supervisor Hong Na-gyeom turned out to be smoother than I had expected.

Or rather, my body was being forced to adapt to her mechanical precision.

At times, I felt a weight around my collarbone whenever I sensed that red killing intent flashing behind her, but they say humans are animals capable of adaptation.

Now I was gradually getting used to the curt instructions she gave me, her grimly sarcastic remarks, and her cold attitude toward dimensional entities.

I had even become comfortable enough to exchange a slight nod whenever we passed each other in the hallways—though I never received a response.

At least here, within Zone D of the Extraction Room, the survival rules I had learned were still working.

‘It’s almost time to get off work.’

A cup of iced coffee that Assistant Manager Son had probably left for me sat on my desk.

It had already become lukewarm.

“Gasp… haa… pant…”

I felt a strange presence beneath my legs.

When I looked down, I saw that familiar creature staring at me while devouring cookies at incredible speed.

“…You were hiding again?”

The White and Chubby Furball.

The dimensional entity that was always hidden somewhere and, before I knew it, would appear and settle beside me as if breathing were his natural right.

Without thinking much about it, I reached out and stroked that damp, round head.

“It’s time to go home. You should be in your place too. You’re still a dimensional entity, aren’t you?”

While chewing on cookies, the furball rubbed his head against my hand and started licking the back of it.

‘Damn it, I’ve grown way too attached to him.’

At that moment, a current of air stirred behind me.

A moist breath, like the brushing of plant leaves.

“Employee Jeong Haeil.”

When I slowly turned around, Director Mok was standing there like a shadow.

Green leaves sprouted luxuriantly around his immaculate suit.

And at the center, hidden among the knots of wood, dozens of green eyes emerged like frog eggs, staring directly at me.

“I have good news.”

Was it just me, or did the word good sound absolutely terrible?

I carefully raised my head.

“Yes, Director Mok.”

As if he were reciting someone’s final will and testament, he spoke slowly and calmly.

“It seems that starting tomorrow, we will officially resume extraction operations in distorted zones. It will be a field assignment.”

Clack.

The pen I was holding fell to the floor.

‘That is not good news.’

Extraction operations in distorted zones.

Strange places outside this strange company.

Places where reality wrinkles, space twists, and time stops flowing.

The unpleasant memories of that endless corridor resurfaced in my mind.

“…I heard that extraction operations in distorted zones are the responsibility of Extraction Team 3. Has something changed?”

I asked as cautiously as possible.

Slightly inclining those massive shoulders that resembled tree branches, he replied.

“Currently, all of Extraction Team 3 has been assigned to Project Wonderland.”

His voice spread around me like roots.

My head began to spin.

“Are we all going together?”

Was there no chance at all that I could stay behind?

I asked with dry lips, but Director Mok merely smiled silently.

Even on that featureless face made of bark, the smile resembled a gentle breeze moving through trees.

“Three people will be going. Me, Employee Jeong Haeil, and Supervisor Shik.”

I felt my heart sink heavily.

Without realizing it, I pressed a hand against my forehead.

‘If Supervisor Shik is the attacker and Director Mok is the support specialist…’

Then am I the one who has to use my body as a shield?

Even White and Chubby Furball tilted his head and spat out the cookie he was eating.

I immediately raised my head and put on the best professional smile I could manage.

“Yes, understood, Director.”

A smile is the first mask for survival.

I had no guarantee that I would still be alive tomorrow.

But right now, I had to smile.

“I will handle all the preparations. Employee Jeong only needs to come tomorrow without worry.”

After saying that, Director Mok returned to his workstation with an unsettling sound of bark scraping against bark.

Come without worry?

That was practically the same as telling a condemned prisoner to walk cheerfully toward the gallows.

My mind was already replaying the unpleasant sensations of the distorted zone.

That endless gray corridor.

That horrible place that devoured both sanity and physical endurance.

‘At least I’ll be going with my superiors.’

On one hand, I would have bosses capable of protecting me.

On the other hand, that meant venturing into a distorted reality alongside monsters.

Just imagining myself walking through that endless corridor with them made my bone pen begin to pulse, the rosary grow warm, and the collar become heavier.

“Pant! Pant… pant!”

When I regained a bit of composure, I felt a dull impact against my legs.

White and Chubby Furball was bumping his front paws against my knees.

With cookie crumbs stuck around his mouth, he looked up at me with shining eyes, demanding more.

I could have handed him the entire bag while thinking, Maybe I’ll die tomorrow, so eat as much as you want.

But I wasn’t in the mood for that right now.

“No. If you keep this up, I’m going to tell Supervisor Hong Na-gyeom.”

The moment I spoke that name, the creature’s front paws froze in midair.

Poor guy, but it worked surprisingly well.

He seemed to remember the time he ended up rolling around completely tied up.

His fluffy body instantly shrank back, and he began whimpering sadly while lowering his tail.

“That’s right. Go get some sleep. I also have things to organize if I want to survive tomorrow.”

Faced with my firm attitude, the furball shot me one last resentful look before shuffling away with his back drooping, heading toward his containment chamber almost as if he were rolling rather than walking.

I finished the now-lukewarm iced coffee in one gulp.

The ice had completely melted.

That watered-down taste resembled my fate a little too much.

I toyed with the bone pen and the collar in my pocket.

‘Project Wonderland, distorted zones…’

Why was there no one left in the extraction teams except Team 1?

Outside the office windows, with the workday nearly over, there was nothing but a blanket of absolute darkness stretching into the distance.

I let out a long sigh as I gathered my belongings.

***

The morning arrived as always.

I woke up groggy and turned on my phone screen.

06:45.

Though it wasn’t actually important.

My physical condition was good.

I washed my face, fixed my hair, and put on a suit over a white shirt.

As I adjusted my tie and shoes, I said to myself:

“Survive one more day.”

After completing the most important preparation for going to work, I opened the front door.

As always, the start of the day began in a completely abnormal way.

“Ah, you’ve arrived, Employee Jeong Haeil.”

Director Mok raised his head as his green leaves swayed gently.

“Gruuu… grrr… grooo…”

Supervisor Shik also seemed happy to see me.

He shook his black fur as he approached.

In one of his hands, he was holding a pair of giant handcuffs whose purpose I preferred not to ask about.

I had to suppress with all my strength the urge to go back inside my apartment.

Then I smiled cheerfully and bowed my head to both superiors.

“Good morning. I’ve arrived at work.”

“Good morning.”

Deputy Director Mok opened the folder he was holding.

I cautiously stepped closer to check the name of the place we would be heading to today.

[Distorted Zone Code B-13]

Name: Gangsol Prison

Classification: Grade B

Special Notes: Level 1 Control Zone of the Anomalous Disaster Management Department

My eyebrows instinctively furrowed.

‘A prison?’

“Today we will be heading to Gangsol Prison.”

Without realizing it, I narrowed my eyes.

‘The name alone already bothers me.’

In a calm voice, Director Mok continued.

“It was originally a real correctional facility located in Gangwon-do. However, eight years ago, a sudden anomalous phenomenon occurred, resulting in the complete massacre of everyone inside. It has since been entirely contaminated and transformed into an erosion-type distorted zone, making it impossible to analyze its structure through conventional methods.”

Although the words were Korean, it felt like he was speaking another language.

After reflecting for a few seconds on what I had just heard, I asked cautiously.

My probation period was coming to an end.

I needed to start understanding these things.

“If you say its structure is impossible to analyze… does that mean the routes constantly change?”

“Yes. Hallways do not lead back to the same place, and doors continuously change. The very concept of location is unstable, and sectors appear or disappear depending on perception and observation. Even if you believe you have passed through a room, that room may cease to exist forever.”

Outwardly, I nodded attentively.

Internally, I thought:

‘We’re screwed.’

“This mission is not a conventional dimensional entity extraction.”

Director Mok’s tone remained as polite as ever.

But every word sent chills down my spine.

“Gangsol Prison houses numerous unidentified dimensional entities, but our objective is not to extract energy from them.”

“…Then what are we extracting?”

“The primary objective is to absorb the erosion waves emitted by the distorted zone itself.”

Turning to the next page of the file, he pointed with one of his branch-like fingers toward a briefcase sitting in the center of the office.

“This is the Erosion Extractor we will be using today. It is a portable device rather than a fixed installation. Operators must enter the distorted zone carrying the equipment and collect the structural erosion of the contaminated space.”

With a low growl, Supervisor Shik opened the briefcase.

Inside were three metallic devices barely larger than the palm of a hand.

They resembled flashlights.

And a strange whitish mist slowly drifted from their tips.

“This equipment refines and extracts in real time the invisible spectra emitted by the space itself. The problem is that, over time, the dimensional entities within the distorted zone begin to detect and pursue those who are damaging their territory.”

“…That means the longer we stay there, the greater our chances of dying.”

“Exactly.”

Director Mok smiled kindly.

“Therefore, today’s objective is simple. Enter the designated location, endure until the extractor is completely full, and escape.”

I remained silent.

At this point, the phrase extraction work was little more than an endurance competition.

The difference was that this competition had no prize and no award ceremony—only death.

“We will enter through the main gate.”

Deputy Director Mok’s words made my eyes widen instantly.

“…The main gate?”

“Yes. Gangsol Prison recognizes everyone who enters as prisoners. That is precisely why we must enter through the main gate. If we do not, the ‘prison guards’ inside will recognize us not as prisoners, but as intruders.”

‘Are either of those options actually good?’

The question lingered in my mind, but never left my mouth.

“Even to avoid suspicion, it is more favorable for survival to accept, as much as possible, the role of a prisoner.”

Supervisor Shik interjected while remaining hunched over.

“Grrr… grrrk… gruaaah… geurk… grooo…”

I nodded unconsciously.

The truth was, it didn’t seem important what Supervisor Shik had said.

Going to work in a prison?

And on top of that, a prison contaminated by anomalous phenomena.

As I mentally recited a litany composed entirely of insults, Director Mok spoke as if he had heard my thoughts.

“Guilt and responsibility. Punishment and purification. This place still repeats those concepts.”

“I see.”

“We are nothing more than parasites feeding on that repetition.”

He added the sentence in a calm, damp tone.

“There should be no problems returning alive.”

I smiled.

Quite cheerfully.

And replied firmly,

“Yes. I’ll do my best.”

***

There was no time to prepare mentally.

As always.

I followed Director Mok and Supervisor Shik out of the office and down the hallway.

Beneath the corridor lights, the sound of our footsteps stretched out stickily, as though it were made of melted plastic.

By the time we reached the elevator, I already had the face mask in my hands.

The doors opened, and the three of us entered together.

This time, there were no buttons either.

No floors.

No direction.

I didn’t know whether we were descending, ascending, or remaining still.

I didn’t even know where we were going.

There was only the sensation of movement.

Time sliding silently by without a single mechanical sound.

After a long while, the doors opened.

The moment I looked up, the landscape before me was not real.

Or rather, it was a reality that had abandoned memory.

The sky was red.

A deep, sticky red.

There was no sun and no clouds, yet a crimson light spread everywhere, as if someone had spilled blood across the heavens.

Collapsed metal fences.

Twisted steel structures.

And at the center of it all.

[Gangsol Prison]

A scar driven into the middle of the wasteland.

As if testifying to forgotten crimes, a gray concrete ruin rose unevenly into the air.

Every window was shattered.

The outer walls were blackened, as though marked by some ancient punishment.

A collapsed sign hung above a deformed metal gate.

And in faded red letters, it still read:

[NO TRESPASSING]

I read those words several times.

An empty horizon.

Dust-laden wind crawling across the ground.

And silence before the entrance.

As if nothing were unusual, Director Mok was already taking out the extraction equipment.

Not with his hands.

Stems covered in green leaves emerged from his body and adjusted the valves of the cylindrical device.

It was a scene as strange as it was absurd.

“The equipment is in optimal condition.”

I pulled a small white pill from my pocket and showed it to him.

It was the pill created by the Universal Employee Benefits Machine using Supervisor Hong Na-gyeom’s money and my blood.

Since I only had one, I couldn’t simply swallow it to test its effects, so I had kept it until now.

Suddenly, I thought that perhaps Director Mok might know something about it.

“Director, may I ask a question before we go in? I received this from the Universal Employee Benefits Machine, but… I don’t know what it’s for.”

In the case of the collar, its purpose had been obvious because it displayed colors intuitively, making it extremely useful when dealing with dimensional entities.

But the pill was different.

I couldn’t simply take it to find out what it did.

Director Mok slowly turned his head.

The dozens of moist green eyes hidden among the knots in the wood swept across the pill resting in my palm.

“Oh… I see they granted you a Mental Contamination Purifier.”

“A Mental… Contamination Purifier?”

When I repeated the phrase, Deputy Director Mok’s leaves rustled softly.

“In distorted zones such as this one, the boundaries of the self tend to become blurred. Of course, we are carrying several company prototypes, so it should not become a serious problem. However, if your cognitive system becomes distorted, if you begin seeing things that do not exist, or if you fall into a state of contamination where you lose your own identity, then swallow it. It will forcibly reset your mind.”

I tilted my head slightly while staring at the pill in my hand.

Mental contamination.

I more or less understood the concept.

‘I’ve already experienced it with Nameless and with The Portrait of a Dismantled God.’

But at least for now, it didn’t seem like something I needed.

The Universal Employee Benefits Machine granted whatever the user needed most.

Had it predicted that my mind would gradually become contaminated while dealing with dimensional entities?

Or perhaps it had anticipated that I would eventually be assigned to a mission inside a distorted zone?

‘It feels more like something it gave me for a future emergency.’

Without thinking too much about it, I tucked the pill into the bottom of my shirt pocket.

“…Understood. I’ll use it if it becomes necessary.”

At my response, Director Mok’s numerous pupils watched me for a few moments with unusual intensity.

But soon he looked away and extended his stems toward the ruined main entrance of the prison.

“If preparations are complete, we will proceed with entry.”