There Are No Humans in the Monster Company

In the office, after the superiors with the rank of Team Leader or higher had left, only a tense silence remained.

The air, which until then had been crushed beneath Executive Director Gu’s bloodlust and Deputy Director Baek Jaeryeong’s madness, finally began to flow little by little. However, as I looked at the faces left in front of me, I felt exhaustion rather than relief.

Strictly speaking, I didn’t even know everyone who had stayed behind.

Much less the being that slid in front of me and cast his shadow over my body.

Scrape, scrape.

A gigantic mantis impeccably dressed in a black suit.

His unnaturally narrow waist and the sheen of his blue carapace.

With all of that stuffed inside the suit, Chief Rang tilted his head and rubbed his sickle-like curved forelegs together, sharpening their edges.

Countless images of my face were reflected in those grotesque compound eyes staring down at me.

“Extraction Team 1, Employee Jeong Haeil. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Ah, yes…… Nice to meet you, Chief Rang. I’ve heard a lot about you as well.”

I replied, awkwardly raising the corners of my lips, but instead of answering, Chief Rang rubbed his forelegs together again and tilted his head at a grotesque angle before asking.

“Do prey…… pray?”

“Do you mean praying?”

“At the threshold of death, do they seek God?”

As expected, another insane superior.

I let out a brief sigh inwardly and gave him whatever answer came to mind.

“I suppose they do.”

“Good. I think we can…… become good friends.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what I had done, but it seemed I had earned a few points with him.

Deputy Director Mok moved aside the long leaves that formed his head and broke the silence.

“Extraction Team 3 being annihilated was something we did not expect.”

Manager Batori also nodded as her red eyes flashed.

“I expected some of them to die, but not for the Church of the Coming Feast to intervene. Those fanatics have never confronted us this actively before.”

“I think the same. Normally, they had conflicts with the Abnormal Disaster Management Department. Aside from a few minor clashes, they rarely had such a direct confrontation with us. Why now?”

Chief Rang tilted his head at a grotesque angle and added,

“Is the banquet…… pleasant?”

Assistant Manager Son calmly ignored the question as though it were the most natural thing in the world and added his own opinion.

“Who knows what they’ll do. It doesn’t look like they’re going to cancel the project at this point. If Team 3, which specialized in fieldwork, was annihilated, doesn’t that mean we’ll have to go out much more often?”

At those words, the atmosphere in the office immediately turned cold.

‘Fieldwork.’

The Residual Layer and Gangsol Prison.

Both were horrible places I never wanted to return to.

It was difficult for me to feel anything other than bewilderment over the annihilation of Extraction Team 3 when I hadn’t even seen their faces, except for one person. However, the possibility that we might now have to take over their work weighed heavily on me.

“Does fieldwork…… go hungry?”

I think I’m starting to understand how to deal with Chief Rang.

I just have to treat him like Assistant Manager Son.

“In my opinion……”

Supervisor Hong Na-gyeom, who had remained silent until then, spoke cautiously in a low voice.

“There’s a possibility that Extraction Team 1 will be sent to the Fairy Tale Land Project.”

“Unfortunately, I think the same.”

“It seems we’ll be entrusted with a repulsive task.”

“Wow, that sucks.”

“Grrrrr.”

My superiors had already expressed every reaction I wanted to have, so I simply chose to remain silent.

“Why do you think that, Supervisor Hong? You know they say words can become reality, right? If you don’t have a good reason, I might end up holding a grudge against you.”

It seemed to me that veins had begun to bulge slightly somewhere on Assistant Manager Son, although I couldn’t tell whether that was the back of his neck or the back of a hand.

It was probably just my imagination.

Supervisor Hong Na-gyeom continued speaking with complete composure, her expression not changing in the slightest even at Assistant Manager Son’s half-serious joke.

“Extraction Team 2 participated in the Fairy Tale Land Project for a while, didn’t we?”

“Are fairy tales…… kind?”

“Be quiet for a moment, Chief Rang.”

Chief Rang closed his mouth, but in exchange, he began tilting his head twice as much as before.

Let’s settle for that for now.

“At the time, Team 2 was sent to temporarily take over the work while Team 1 hired and trained its new employee. However, considering the usual policy, Team 1 was normally the one that provided support for operations inside Distortion Zones.”

“Continue.”

“The mere fact that they sent Team 2, which had no experience working in Distortion Zones, while Team 1 was unable to mobilize indicates that upper management has no intention whatsoever of canceling this project. Under normal circumstances, they would have waited until Team 1 finished its onboarding process.”

Deputy Director Mok blinked his green eyes and said,

“And now that Extraction Team 3 has been annihilated, the Strategic Planning Office will want to deploy an even larger force.”

“And aside from Extraction Team 1 and the Order Control Room, there is no other department with that capability.”

“Excellent explanation, Supervisor Hong Na-gyeom.”

Outwardly, I nodded calmly, doing my best to maintain a composed expression, but inside, I was already being completely consumed.

‘What if I just beg Director Won to let me resign?’

It had only been a few days since C-31, the Unstable Fugitive, a C-Class Dimensional Entity, had practically shattered every bone in my body.

And now there was a possibility that I would be sent to a large-scale project where team annihilation seemed to come as part of the standard package?

And, to make matters worse, to a place infested with the apocalyptic lunatics of the Church of the Coming Feast.

Ignoring the screams echoing inside me, Manager Batori elegantly moved one finger and spoke.

“Coordinating our movements with Executive Director Seol’s watchdogs will hardly be pleasant either, but there is something that concerns me even more.”

Her blood-red eyes turned cold as she continued laying out her deduction in a low voice.

“The hounds of the Strategic Planning Office may personally enter the board.”

Strategic Planning Office.

The department of Executive Director Ahn, one of the most powerful figures within the company, and also the department to which the insane Deputy Director Baek Jaeryeong belonged, who only moments ago had possessed the audacity to confront even Executive Director Gu.

“Now that the ranks of the Extraction Teams have been reduced so pitifully and manpower is scarce, is that not so? Those people will do anything to achieve the result they desire—the success of the project. Even if they must tear off their own flesh to obtain it. Even if that means sacrificing the lives of our team members.”

Manager Batori’s old-fashioned tone was steeped in contempt that was impossible to conceal.

“In fact, they probably hope our forces will be weakened.”

“Executive Director Ahn, that arrogant schemer, has always had a habit of crossing the line. Both then and now.”

Fairy Tale Land Project.

I had wanted to avoid anything related to the Strategic Planning Office as much as possible, but I had never imagined things would become this complicated.

As I tried to hide my grim expression, Assistant Manager Son shrugged and spoke.

“Well, for now, let’s go home. It looks like the meeting is dragging on, and with this atmosphere, there’s not much point in starting the afternoon work this late either.”

***

I left work.

Although saying that I ‘left work’ was a little strange, because all I had to do was open the office door while thinking about going home to appear directly in my apartment.

But after all, doesn’t the result matter more than the process?

“Haa…….”

I took a shower, changed into comfortable clothes, and threw myself directly onto the bed, but I wasn’t the slightest bit sleepy.

Again and again, the image of Deputy Director Baek Jaeryeong and the completely deranged attitude he had shown earlier returned to my mind, along with Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi, covered in blood from head to toe as she recounted the annihilation of her team with absolute indifference.

‘Strategic Planning Office.’

The fact that they had begun intervening in earnest practically announced that, from now on, a hell far beyond simple extraction work was about to break loose.

It felt as though an enormous and sinister whirlpool were opening its jaws to devour me.

Ding-dong—

The sound of the doorbell breaking the silence made my body spring up like a coil.

‘Who could it be?’

I approached the entrance without thinking too much about it, but just before placing my hand on the doorknob, I realized something far too late.

The door of my apartment was physically connected to that company of lunatics.

Whoever could ring the doorbell here definitely wouldn’t be a normal delivery person.

“……Who is it?”

I swallowed and asked cautiously. A low, soft voice came from the other side of the door.

“It’s me.”

It was Director Moon Ara.

And at that very moment, without me even opening it for her, the door suddenly swung open and she calmly walked inside.

“Director Moon Ara?”

“As I recall, this isn’t a semi-basement. Why is it so dark?”

I glanced sideways at the darkness beyond the window.

My apartment had been like this ever since it became connected to the company. Who was she making fun of now?

“What brings you to my home……?”

It was never pleasant when a superior contacted you outside working hours.

Much less when they showed up directly at your home.

However, Director Moon Ara was the only person in this company who took me out to see the normal world, so I decided not to worry about those little details.

“I just thought it was about time we had a little talk.”

When she brought a hand toward her human-skin coat, the face of a young woman embedded in it began chewing on something before spitting it out.

Two cans of beer covered in condensation.

“Do you like drinking?”

“…….”

While I hesitated over what the hell I was supposed to say, she had already taken off her human-skin coat, hung it on a hanger, and sat down in a chair.

In the end, my only option was to sit across from her.

Hiss.

When the cold can was opened, the refreshing hiss of escaping gas echoed through the room.

“I already heard about the situation. Things have gotten pretty complicated. I heard you’ll also be going up against the Church of the Coming Feast.”

Although my head was a complete mess, we lightly clinked our cans together, and after letting a mouthful of cold beer run down my throat, I managed to regain a little clarity.

I nodded and set the can on the table somewhat awkwardly. Director Moon Ara spoke calmly.

“Leaving aside all the extra things Omniscient Incompetent told you, I’m only going to explain why the situation ended up like this. You need to know so you don’t die.”

She continued while playing with the beer can.

“Fantasia Island, in Busan, isn’t simply an A-Class Distortion Zone. In practice, it’s close to being both the best and the worst Distortion Zone currently in existence.”

“What do you mean by the best and the worst?”

“Maximum energy efficiency. But also maximum danger. There are at least twenty A-Class Dimensional Entities.”

Had she just told me there were at least twenty things on the level of the Portrait of the Dismantled God there?

Seeing my expression, Director Moon Ara’s inverted left eye twitched strangely.

“For a long time, there have been several attempts to extract Distortion Energy from that place. Of course, they all ended in failure.”

Director Moon Ara fell silent for a moment and swept her gaze over the old exercise equipment in one corner of my apartment.

She looked at them as though she found it strange to be in a space where such ordinary objects existed.

“But this time, Executive Director Ahn decided to push the project forward in earnest. He carried it out without caring about the means or methods, and thanks to that, he achieved fairly significant results. The project was on the verge of being practically on track.”

She extended her can slightly toward me and paused her explanation.

Once again, we toasted.

“The problem is the Church of the Coming Feast. They noticed the company’s movements and eventually found a way into Fantasia Island. Now they’re openly sabotaging the project.”

The more I listened to her explanation, the worse the feeling that washed over me became.

“The annihilation of Extraction Team 3 also happened during that process. Their goal isn’t simply to interfere with the company. They intend to turn Fantasia Island into an altar to summon the Locust King.”

I swallowed the sigh threatening to escape me by taking another drink of beer.

The sound of the can emptying seemed especially loud.

“This won’t simply be a setback at work. It’ll turn into a war between factions. And since you’ll also have to face Fantasia Island’s A-Class Dimensional Entities, it’ll be a three-way battle.”

“……There’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while. I heard that the Church of the Coming Feast and the company had already clashed before. Is it solely because of religious reasons?”

At my question, Director Moon Ara’s hand stopped as she was bringing the beer to her lips.

She slowly lowered the empty can and spoke in a voice even softer and deeper than usual.

“Actually, there’s more to it. Limited Company Where the Dead End Up with Ghosts and the Church of the Coming Feast have been like oil and water from their very origins. Two existences incapable of mixing.”

She leaned back against the chair and raised her gaze toward the ceiling.

She seemed to be looking at something invisible.

“The company chose parasitism and exploitation. They chose destruction and salvation.”

Her completely white gaze settled on me again.

“Those two values can never coexist. That’s why, sooner or later, they were destined to clash.”

The corners of her lips rose barely a millimeter, forming a meaningful smile.

“And that sooner or later is now.”