There Are No Humans in the Monster Company

And so, the day began once again.

I opened the front door while using the scent of soap to smother the stench of blood that refused to fade away.

Click.

With that sound, the hallway once again connected to the company’s monochrome corridor.

Getting used to something could, at times, be terrifying.

After greeting my superiors in the office, I headed straight to the Extraction Room.

A place wrapped in the same strange peace as always.

Ssssss—

Whenever they dealt with a Dimensional Entity, radiant energy flowed through the conduits.

No matter how low-ranking they were, they were still genuine Dimensional Entities, but as long as I had the fountain pen and the beaded necklace, they no longer left any particular impression on me.

Perhaps it was because of everything I had gone through in Gangsol Prison.

“Mr. Jeong Haeil.”

The exhaustion beneath Senior Hong Na-gyeom’s eyes was still evident, but the way she looked at me now contained a strange hint of acknowledgment.

“Ah, Senior Hong. Have you arrived?”

“I heard you had a hard time in Gangsol Prison.”

“I was lucky. Director Mok and Supervisor Shik took care of everything.”

I replied with a professional smile.

Suddenly, I had been thrown into danger.

And suddenly, I had been saved.

And no one ever explained any of it.

Therefore, humility was a survival strategy in this company.

They might praise you as a promising employee, but if you ever started believing you were truly talented, you’d end up with your head beneath the guillotine.

Senior Hong stepped closer, observed a Dimensional Entity, and remarked as though she were merely speaking to the air.

“Luck is also a skill. How is your physical condition?”

“Yes. Thanks to Director Mok, I’ve made a full recovery.”

We were just about to move on to the next Dimensional Entity while talking.

Then it happened.

The heavy iron door of the Extraction Room swung open without warning, and a current of cold air brushed across our feet.

Senior Hong’s shoulders visibly stiffened.

I instinctively tensed as well and turned my head.

“Oh my, did I interrupt something?”

A soft, dreamlike voice.

A woman slowly walked inside.

Her white hair was braided down her back, and she wore a completely white suit covered by a strange coat sewn together from fragments of human skin.

The Reverse Eye in her left eye emitted an unsettling glow as it swept across the Extraction Room.

“Moon Ara… Team Leader.”

Senior Hong hurriedly lowered her head.

Even she, who normally maintained a dry and pessimistic demeanor, seemed to measure even her breathing in front of Moon Ara.

But Moon Ara’s gaze passed right by Senior Hong and fixed directly on me.

She stopped in front of me and tilted her head slightly.

Her two white eyes slowly scanned me from head to toe.

“It’s been a while. Have you been doing well?”

It certainly had been a long time.

After that conversation with Manager Batori, we hadn’t had lunch together even once.

The smile on her lips still looked gentle and ordinary.

But it also concealed a faint trace of dissatisfaction.

And I felt a chill run down my spine.

“Greetings, Head of the Security Team of the Order Control Room Moon Ara.”

“Good afternoon. Though this time I’m not here to invite you to lunch.”

Moon Ara took another step toward me.

“It’s a summons from Executive Director Seol. You’ll have to come with me. Right now.”

Executive Director Seol.

I had heard about her quite some time ago, and I still remembered that name.

The head of the Order Control Room.

The person who used both Director Go Gyeol, Head of the Audit Team, and Moon Ara, Head of the Security Team of the Order Control Room, as though they were her own hands and feet.

‘Why would someone like her want to see me?’

Senior Hong’s reddish eyes shifted slightly in surprise.

I swallowed as I looked at Moon Ara’s Reverse Eye.

I completely understood Senior Hong’s reaction.

It wasn’t normal for a rookie employee to be summoned so frequently by executives of that rank.

As though she had read everyone’s thoughts, Moon Ara raised a hand to cut off any questions.

“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t understand Executive Director Seol’s thoughts either. I’m sure she has her reasons.”

Smiling as if it were nothing, Moon Ara started walking.

I gave Senior Hong a slight bow and followed after her.

***

The Order Control Room.

The place I had once visited with Assistant Manager Son to borrow the remains of the Smiling Martyr.

As we walked through that obsessively white and immaculate corridor, Moon Ara spoke before I could open my mouth.

“Do you remember when you spoke with Executive Director Gu?”

How could I forget?

Memories of a conversation with an executive who spoke through his stomach because he had no head didn’t disappear so easily.

“Yes, I remember.”

“Executive Director Ahn, Executive Director Ho, Executive Director Gu, Director Won… and quite a few others…”

Moon Ara’s Reverse Eye narrowed strangely.

“The people at the top of this company each believe they possess the correct answer. Executive Director Ho and Executive Director Ahn in particular. They’ve been clashing over how the company should be run for such a long time that the other executives have gradually taken sides and formed factions.”

Corporate politics in a company full of monsters.

It wasn’t something that could simply be dismissed as childish.

No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like the kind of thing that ended with nothing more than abuse of authority or workplace harassment.

“Right now, Extraction Team 1, the team you belong to, is part of Executive Director Gu’s Product Production Division.”

Moon Ara continued speaking as she ran her fingers along the corridor’s white wall.

“Have you ever wondered why our company is a limited liability company instead of a corporation?”

The sudden question left me speechless.

The legal classifications of companies weren’t exactly something a rookie employee risking his life at work would stop to think about.

“Human laws are very convenient. Especially the structure of a limited liability company. It has few external disclosure obligations, it’s difficult for outsiders to interfere, and even if they do get inside, they can’t make much noise. Closing itself off from the outside. That’s the perfect shell the company chose to parasitize human society.”

Moon Ara stopped for a moment and turned toward me.

The Reverse Eye on her left side emitted a strange glow as it contracted.

“Only the owners of the shares establish the internal rules, and no outsider can know what happens inside. But that same closed nature creates a fatal side effect—it begins to rot from within. The absence of the CEO is also one of the causes.”

The absence of the CEO?

Of this company?

“Are you saying the factions emerged because the CEO isn’t here?”

“Correct. Once the absolute decision-maker disappeared, the powerful figures who remained began trying to reshape the company in their own image. But…”

Moon Ara turned around again and continued walking.

The farther we walked down the white corridor, the more I felt the temperature dropping.

“The person we’re about to meet, Executive Director Seol, doesn’t belong to any faction.”

“You mean she doesn’t have a side?”

“She doesn’t need one. The Order Control Room answers directly to the CEO. As long as the CEO remains absent, it’s the only department that acts solely according to legitimate rules.”

Moon Ara’s voice grew lower.

“So be careful. Director Gu felt a certain sympathy toward you. But Executive Director Seol has no reason to feel any sympathy for you. And even if she decided to dispose of a mere rank-and-file employee, no one would question it.”

By the time she finished speaking, the air was no longer merely cold.

It felt sharp.

When Moon Ara stopped, a massive silver door awaited us at the end of the corridor.

Beyond that door was a monster who had no reason to like me.

An anomaly that felt no goodwill toward me whatsoever.

Moon Ara placed her hand on the doorknob.

“Don’t forget to be polite this time as well.”

The door slowly opened.

So smoothly and silently that not even a creak could be heard.

Beyond it lay Executive Director Seol’s office.

Instead of luxurious chandeliers, there was a floor as smooth as a frozen lake and completely white furniture that didn’t allow even a speck of dust.

If Executive Director Gu’s office had been a nightmare overflowing with greedy extravagance, this place was terrifyingly immaculate.

The bare walls had no decorations whatsoever.

Only cold lights placed at regular intervals.

And at the end of that flawless order sat Executive Director Seol.

She wore a white suit with a faint bluish sheen.

The only sound disturbing that space, which resembled a void, was the soft rustling of the pages she turned.

“Have a seat.”

She spoke without even looking up.

Her voice struck the icy air and scattered like fragments of glass.

Her skin was so pale that it looked sickly.

Her face was flawless and utterly devoid of emotion.

Her hair was pure white, different from Manager Batori’s silky silver hair.

And a faint, icy mist constantly emanated from her entire body.

“Has Director Go not arrived yet?”

“I’ll go get him.”

Moon Ara lowered her head and left the office.

When the door closed, only Executive Director Seol and I remained.

She slowly raised her head.

Her neck, visible above the immaculate collar of her suit, looked as though it had been carved from marble.

But what caught my attention were her eyes.

‘Her eyes…’

There was nothing there.

No irises.

No pupils.

Only a crystalline white completely filled her eyeballs.

Those pure eyes, impossible to read.

It was like gazing across an endless snowfield.

My thoughts froze.

I forced my stiff body to move and gave a deep bow.

“My name is Jeong Haeil from Extraction Team 1. I came because you summoned me.”

I tried to keep my voice steady.

But even my breath turned into white vapor as it dispersed through the air.

Instead of replying, Executive Director Seol set down her pen.

She folded her hands beneath her chin and looked at me.

I couldn’t feel her gaze.

And yet I had the sensation of being dissected.

“The data from Gangsol Prison was interesting.”

And it seemed I really was being dissected.

How could she already know that?

“However, that isn’t the reason I summoned you.”

Her voice was perfectly flat.

Like a recording played by an extremely precise machine.

She lightly tapped a transparent tablet on the desk.

A blue hologram appeared in the air.

It displayed images of Gangsol Prison and the Residual Layer.

‘That’s…’

Min Do-hyeon and Bae Hyeon-yu from the Erosion Alliance also appeared.

Along with Yeom Hwi and Seo Ryu from the Abnormal Disaster Management.

“When Manager Myeon brought Jeong Haeil into Limited Company Where the Dead End Up with Ghosts Co., Ltd., the Order Control Room approved that decision. It was necessary.”

Necessary?

Before I could understand what those words meant, her white eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“But we find it difficult to attribute Jeong Haeil’s continued involvement with outside forces to mere coincidence.”

Executive Director Seol slowly leaned forward.

Her white hair fell over her shoulders as she exhaled a freezing aura.

“Manager Myeon may have seen potential in you. But my role is to ensure that potential does not become a variable capable of disrupting the company’s order.”

Those pupil-less white eyes stared directly at me.

As though trying to read something beyond my very existence.

“The mercy you showed. Your connections with outsiders. Were those truly decisions made for the benefit of the company? Or were they the product of your useless humanity?”

The office’s temperature seemed to have fallen below freezing.

I swallowed.

I only had two options.

Confess my humanity and beg for mercy.

Or present myself as nothing more than a tool of the company.

“Executive Director.”

I lowered my head and spoke in the clearest, calmest voice I could manage.

“I have no intention of disrupting the company’s order. Nor did I show mercy to outsiders out of personal compassion.”

Executive Director Seol’s interlaced fingers moved slightly.

The icy silence demanded that I continue.

“When I encountered the Abnormal Disaster Management in the Residual Layer, I had no other choice. I lacked the ability to defeat them. I concluded that damaging a company asset—namely myself—through an unnecessary conflict would result in a loss. In that situation, the best possible work-related decision was to negotiate with them, survive as long as possible, and return.”

And that was true.

If Moon Ara hadn’t appeared to rescue me, I would have ended up seeking their cooperation.

After all, I didn’t even possess much company information that I could reveal.

“My actions in Gangsol Prison were exactly the same. I determined that using the civilians as decoys would divert the Dimensional Entity’s attention and increase extraction efficiency. In fact, because they survived and caused a disturbance, I was able to completely fill the extractors.”

It was a lie.

I had been stabbed through the side and thrown myself into danger because I wanted to save them.

But in the face of that cold truth, even my humanity had to disguise itself as strategic calculation.

“I simply wanted to survive so I could perform my next assignment. A dead employee can’t extract energy. But a living employee can come back to work tomorrow.”

When I finished speaking, the cold filling the office paused for a moment.

Executive Director Seol slowly leaned back.

Her white eyes remained fixed on me for a long time.

As though trying to find the one percent of sincerity hidden among my words.

The silence stretched on.

I felt the cold sweat on my back turning into frost clinging to my suit.

Finally, she spoke.

“Surviving is also part of the job…”

For the first time, I sensed the slightest trace of emotion in her voice.

It wasn’t anger.

It was an extremely cold interest.

And, strangely enough, the faintest hint of mockery.

“You thought you lied well. But unfortunately for you, that was the most honest answer you could have given. In that case, I have no choice but to trust Manager Myeon’s judgment.”

After uttering those incomprehensible words, she picked up her pen again.

The icy pressure filling the office slowly began to fade.

“Very well, Employee Jeong Haeil. I will observe how long your survival instinct can remain aligned with the company’s order.”

She returned her attention to her documents.

It was a perfect dismissal.

“You may leave. Director Go and Team Leader Moon will be waiting for you outside.”

***

Click.

The moment the door closed, the artificial cold filling the office became even more intense.

Executive Director Seol stopped turning the pages.

Then she lightly snapped her fingers into the air.

Shhhhh—

The suspended hologram began rapidly rewinding.

The screen displayed the scene inside Gangsol Prison.

More precisely, the moment Jeong Haeil sent Bae Hyeon-yu and Min Do-hyeon away first before facing the Prison Director’s enormous blade alone.

The Jeong Haeil in the recording wore an expression completely opposite to his claim that he had used them as decoys.

He was terrified.

And yet, his eyes remained deeply human.

And even deeper than that.

He was trapped within a massive illusion about himself.

“‘Decoys…?’”

Executive Director Seol’s white eyes silently observed the hologram’s face.

The corner of her lips curled upward ever so slightly.

Like a crack forming across ice.

“He really is terrible at lying, Employee Jeong Haeil.”

According to the company’s rules, wasting assets and lying warranted immediate elimination.

Even so, Executive Director Seol picked up an old rotary telephone resting on one corner of her desk.

The call connected without producing a single ring.

[Is this Executive Director Seol?]

“Yes, Executive Director. I’ve just finished interviewing Employee Jeong Haeil.”

[I see. And what do you think of him? Executive Director Ahn and Manager Myeon both seem to want him quite badly.]

Executive Director Seol looked once more at the screen showing Jeong Haeil covered in blood while protecting his companions.

“He doesn’t fit the order. But…”

Her finger traced the graph displaying the violent fluctuations of his heart rate.

“Even hypocrisy can become excellent fuel if it’s properly refined. I’d say he’s halfway there.”

[It’s unusual to see you taking such an interest.]

“For now, I’ll tolerate him within the limits of my authority. Whether he ultimately destroys himself or becomes a perfect piece of the company, he’s worth observing.”

[Do as you see fit. But remember one thing. My stance regarding that young man is the same as Executive Director Ahn’s.]

“I know.”

The call ended.

Executive Director Seol set down the telephone and picked up her pen once more.

Amid the freezing cold, the trace of the white breath Jeong Haeil had left behind in the room was still reflected in her completely white eyes.