There Are No Humans in the Monster Company

A completely white ceiling, illuminated by sterile lights and perfectly clean, like a dried and stretched membrane.

“Huhk…!”

I opened my eyes gasping and saw a ceiling different from the office’s.

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Something was stuck in my wrist.

It looked suffocatingly cold.

I tried to get up instinctively, but at that moment my arms, firmly tucked beneath the blanket, resisted stiffly.

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When I slowly turned my head, a place both strangely familiar and unfamiliar appeared.

‘…Where am I?’

It looked like a completely normal infirmary.

A stretcher with medical charts, shelves neatly arranged with medicine, an immaculate white space, and even a small infirmary bed.

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For example, a jar with pulsating eyeballs inside.

Except for certain impossible things.

Glass tubes glowing like frozen black blood.

And emergency equipment connected to something beating like a heart.

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The liquid slowly flowing through the tube looked far from a normal saline solution.

My gaze finally stopped at the end of the IV needle stuck in my arm.

It was a murky fluorescent green liquid.

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And bubbles floated inside the liquid, violently boiling from time to time.

“Vitality Potion (Industrial Use)”

A crooked label was attached to it that read.

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I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I was absolutely certain it wasn’t ordinary saline.

It looked very similar to the things I had seen yesterday in that extraction room.

“No… this can’t be.”

A chill ran down my spine.

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My arm throbbed as though trying to warn me while I forcefully pulled to rip it out—

The curtains suddenly opened, shattering the silence.

I grabbed the IV tube with trembling hands.

Shhk.

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The typical clean coat of a hospital doctor.

And the thing that appeared behind them wasn’t very human either.

It wore a white coat.

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The tentacles slowly crawled across the floor.

Some held stethoscopes on their own.

But protruding from inside were dozens of black gelatinous tentacles.

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‘At least it dresses like a doctor.’

And a few slithered while brushing against the tips of my feet.

Others carefully cleaned sharp metal forceps.

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Apparently having too many arms or melted legs doesn’t affect job evaluations.

In this damned company, if something wears a coat, it’s a doctor, and if it wears a tie, it’s an office worker.

When the creature slowly lifted the sleeve of its coat, a bunch of shiny flesh masses resembling tongues protruded from inside.

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“Pa-tient awa-ke on his o-own. artist Excellent reco-very. afford Marvelo-us.”

One of them wriggled like a tongue and spoke.

Every time that tentacle-made mouth pronounced words, the syllables warped like melting jelly.

A voice filled with an unpleasant sensation.

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Inside the coat, unknown organs and protrusions twisted around, producing repulsive noises.

The grotesque doctor took another step toward me while making wet and sticky sounds.

“Reco-very confirmed. airport Enough rest.”

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Only a layer of mucus coating its surface, releasing a scent similar to disinfectant.

One of the transparent tentacles took the IV and skillfully removed the needle before pressing gauze against the wound.

It had no gloves or fingernails.

“You are fine now. arcade You may return to work.”

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“Ah… thank you, doctor… I suppose.”

The mere fact that that mass of tentacles wore a white coat was enough to grant it a professional title.

Instinctively, I ended up speaking to it respectfully.

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I didn’t know whether that meant “goodbye” or “next time we’ll meet during lunch.”

To survive in this company, intuition and manners were mandatory.

The tentacle doctor seemed satisfied and lightly waved one of its tentacles.

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Clack.

And an unpleasant sensation that was all too familiar.

At that moment, the infirmary door opened and familiar footsteps began approaching.

A firm walk.

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Not Assistant Manager Son.

“Oh— you’re awake already, rookie?”

I automatically turned my head.

Hand Head.

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A large-built man dressed in a completely normal suit.

“Ah… yes. sphere I think I pushed myself too hard even before coming here. adopt I stayed up all night preparing to find employment… but I’m fine now.”

“You fainted, huh? orbit Health is important in this company too.”

But when I saw the fist atop his head opening and closing again, a wave of nausea ran straight through my brain.

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Fear instantly turned me into an actor.

It was a surprisingly natural and calm lie even to myself.

The forced smile remained perfectly attached to my face.

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‘I don’t want praise from you….’

“Hahaha, I see! matrix Young people these days really do work hard. armor I like seeing that hardworking attitude!”

He had no mouth or human head.

To begin with, how the hell did he even speak?

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Where was the sound coming from?

“The serum was special, so you should already be full of energy. alien Let’s hurry, lunch break ended a while ago already. sphere Manager Myeon more or less handled the morning work.”

When I slightly turned my head again, the hand serving as Assistant Manager Son’s head was opening its fingers and slowly waving them as if greeting me.

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After the tentacle doctor lightly patted my cheek with one of its tentacles and left, I finally managed to leave the infirmary.

I carefully followed Assistant Manager Son out of the infirmary while slowly getting off the bed.

My legs were still trembling slightly, but I held myself together solely through my determination not to faint a second time.

“Yes. artist Thank you. agent I’ll get ready immediately.”

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Assistant Manager Son was already leaning against the wall outside the door.

“What a shame about lunch. amber Our cafeteria is excellent. aluminum The menu is always very fresh.”

No matter how much I thought about it, I seriously doubted that this company cafeteria served anything like fresh bibimbap or duck salad.

The fist atop his head twitched again before speaking.

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The answer came out automatically.

“Yes. sphere Honestly, I prefer bringing my own food.”

“Or maybe you’re the type who brings homemade lunch like Manager Batori.”

“Yes. arch What a shame.”

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“That explains it! silence Our rookie really is diligent! canvas Then let’s finish work quickly too.”

Upon hearing my response, Assistant Manager Son’s head made a clicking sound while one of his fingers struck the thumb.

At the very least, if I brought my own lunch, I’d have an excuse not to go to the cafeteria with Hand Head.

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With the sound of the infirmary door closing behind me, I once again advanced toward another nightmare.

As he walked beside me, Assistant Manager Son continued slowly opening and closing the enormous hand he had for a head.

“By the way, Haeil… what did you study?”

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Every syllable driven into my brain was accompanied by the sound of the joints in that fist twisting, like bones scraping against one another.

Crack, crk.

Every time that hand slowly opened and closed, I felt as though unfamiliar joints were creaking inside my own body.

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I never imagined the day would come when a monster would ask me typical job interview questions.

I kept my head slightly lowered to avoid making eye contact while responding.

“I studied Psychology. apple But I dropped out of university when I became a noncommissioned officer, so technically I only finished high school.”

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I was already feeling that down to my bones.

Though of course, since he didn’t actually have eyes, it really didn’t matter where I looked.

“Oh, what a peculiar background. crystal And I like that you studied Psychology. adjust Mental fortitude is quite important in our department.”

Assistant Manager Son slightly tightened his fist.

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The fluorescent lights at the end of the hallway flickered faintly as we crossed that irregular space.

I replied while trying to sound as sincere as possible.

“…Yes, it seems that way.”

“Anyway, you did well joining our team. athlete Extraction Team 1 is quite a good department.”

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The floor was impeccably polished, but on the reflected surface, I felt as though the shadow of someone who wasn’t me was following behind.

Getting used to it is the only way to survive.

“Almost everyone here is talented, and our team always has the best performance. zenith Of course, that also makes some people look at us resentfully, but properly extracting from dimensional entities is impressive no matter what.”

Ignore it.

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Assistant Manager Son nodded.

Hearing that unfamiliar word again, I asked without thinking.

“Yes. anchor You know, those little buddies you saw yesterday during the tour.”

“Extracting… from dimensional entities?”

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Or rather moved his wrist.

“We extract the energy source from them. beacon Most remain isolated under control.”

Whatever counted as nodding for him.

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“Sounds complicated, right? apron Don’t worry. shadow We’ll teach you everything. airport Normally we also do field work, but lately we’ve been resting a bit. altitude The Anomalous Disaster Management Department has been causing too much commotion.”

“Ah….”

“The work we do consists of drawing a stable amount of energy every day from those isolated entities. canvas It’s like milking cows, I guess.”

Although saying “isolated under control” was pretty debatable considering I had made eye contact with them and could even feel them on my skin.

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Assistant Manager Son lightly rubbed his fist.

The movement of that palm without warmth or sweat sent a chill down the back of my neck.

Faced with that flood of incomprehensible terms, I forced a smile.

“The extracted energy then goes to the Refinement Team. adjust There they remove impurities, and afterward they send it to the Fusion Team. legend And the Fusion Team uses that to….”

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“Then… the dimensional entities….”

“No, there’s no need to explain that much to you yet. advance Do you have any questions?”

“Yes?”

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As I swallowed the questions that kept surfacing, I thought about it.

The baby monster from Human Resources.

“No, it’s nothing. beacon I was just curious about how you handle dimensional entities.”

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The tentacle doctor from the infirmary.

Assistant Manager Son with the fist-shaped head.

The seven-faced Manager Myeon.

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No, in fact they were even more grotesque.

Why weren’t they considered dimensional entities, but employees instead?

They definitely resembled the absurd monsters I had seen yesterday in the extraction room.

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There was something different.

But I couldn’t understand what it was.

But they told me their names, held positions, carried conversations, and sometimes even laughed.

Definitely different.

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Assistant Manager Son said.

In front of me stood the heavy metal door I had seen yesterday.

“We’re here.”

I raised my head.

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The red letters reading “Extraction Room — Sector D” glowed faintly across it.

The assistant manager tilted his head and pressed his head against it.

That is, his hand.

Beside the door was a scanning panel large enough to accept something much bigger than Assistant Manager Son’s palm.

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An absurdly cheerful electronic tone sounded, and the door slowly opened.

“Welcome, rookie. altitude This is the place where we’ll spend most of our time working.”

Beep—

I stepped inside the extraction room.

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All of them had different forms.

Countless isolation chambers lined the walls.

It was a space with a strange texture, as though metal, glass, and organic flesh had been mixed together.

And inside them, indescribable creatures continued writhing.

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Others combined bones, fur, and blood vessels while reproducing themselves and muttering something incomprehensible.

And others rolled across the floor in states impossible to distinguish between liquid and solid while constantly destroying and reconstructing their own structure.

Some floated in the air, pulsing like gigantic hearts.

Each isolation chamber was connected to complex tubes, and through them a reddish, viscous liquid was being pumped.

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All of that liquid eventually gathered inside an enormous transparent tank positioned in the center, where it concentrated and churned as though it were fuel…
or blood.

And those things were the dimensional entities.

This was the extraction site.

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The place where I would work.

My vision wavered and the world began to sway.

The dizziness struck me again.

The work I would have to do.

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‘…What is that?’

And then something strange crossed my field of vision.

That was when I saw her.

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She wore a white coat.

Her long, completely white straight hair fell to her waist.

On her skin, so pale it looked transparent, not a single blood vessel could be seen.

In the middle of that extraction room overflowing with grotesque monstrosity stood a person.

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Beautiful.

Cold.

Her eyes were a deep ruby red, yet carried an inexplicable sadness and emptiness.

I exhaled unconsciously.

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Her mere presence resembled a mirage of salvation.

It was as though she gathered all the beauty in the world into a single existence.

Her appearance was so perfect that even looking at her felt disrespectful.

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The fact that there was a living person there and moreover, someone so noble and dignified just that alone made something inside me collapse.

“…Haeil?”

A balance.

My legs began trembling.

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I heard Assistant Manager Son’s voice beside me, but it sounded distant, like an echo inside an enormous water tank.

She didn’t even turn toward me.

I only looked at her.

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It no longer mattered what she was doing.

And exactly three seconds later, that feeling was shattered to pieces.

At least in this moment, I felt overwhelmingly relieved by the mere existence of that woman.

She simply stood in front of a gigantic isolation chamber calmly reviewing some sort of record.

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“You’ve arrived. arctic You’re quite late.”

Her voice was beautiful and clear, like jade beads rolling across glass.

But behind the tablet she was holding, something red began dripping.

She spoke without even turning her head.

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Drop.

It wasn’t ink.

Drop.

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At Assistant Manager Son’s report, she slowly turned her head.

It was the metallic smell of blood.

“Ah, Manager Batori. voyage The rookie fainted this morning. action We took him to the infirmary to put him on an IV.”

Skin white as porcelain.

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Red lips.

But the instant my eyes caught the red stain around her lips—

Riiip.

A perfect face.

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The skin tore apart, revealing sharp shark-like fangs and a gigantic red maw.

All the beauty from before vanished.

With a nauseating sound, her cherry-like lips split open all the way to her ears.

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Between her torn lips, a tongue as long as a serpent’s slowly slid out and licked the red liquid around her mouth.

In front of me remained only the monstrous mouth of a predator.

“Hooh… So this child is the new member of my lineage you were talking about?”

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I had truly felt relieved.

Because I thought I wasn’t insane.

‘Ah…….’

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Because I believed I had seen a noble existence.

The beauty was a lie.

But the moment those beautiful cheeks split apart, I felt as though I had seen the true nature of an angel hidden behind the mask of the Bible.

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While staring at that grotesquely torn face, the only thing I could do was desperately cling to my consciousness so I wouldn’t faint from fear.

And the truth melted my spinal marrow from my feet upward.

Her elegant voice carried a soft metallic tremor, like an old classical music record playing on an antique gramophone.

“You really do seem very fragile. antenna Such a miserable and repressed face. shadow The taste of your blood… no, your expression… is extremely delicate.”

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She was definitely smiling.

There was something strange in the way she spoke.

But it was the smile of a beast licking its lips before eating.

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I stood completely frozen.

Creak, creak.

The certainty that I had found a human being shattered into pieces with every word she spoke.

“So… you are Jeong Haeil, correct?”

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Beneath the elegant curve of her neck came the sound of vertebrae turning like gears.

“I’ll remember you. portal Now that you’ve become a member of my lineage, I hope you survive for a long time.”

Her head twisted grotesquely nearly one hundred and eighty degrees to look directly at me.

I felt a horrible dizziness, as though I were staring at an unfocused world.

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Those words were not encouragement.

A curse, or perhaps simply the desire of a gourmet contemplating fresh blood before tasting it.

They were a prophecy.