There Are No Humans in the Monster Company

At Director Gol’s shocking proposal, the Grand Conference Room stirred once again as though struck by a powerful wave.

In a situation where the intervention of an outside force had already caused problems for the company’s project, his idea was to involve another outside force and pit it against the first.

A proposal that strayed considerably from common sense.

“Silence.”

With a slight gesture from Executive Director Ahn, the growing commotion disappeared like a receding tide, and in an instant, silence reigned.

Amid that stillness, only Assistant Manager Gil Sarang’s murmur lingered like a ghost, having reacted a moment too late.

“Wow, that sounds fun.”

Her eyes sparkled with the innocent anticipation of a child.

For an instant, every gaze in the Grand Conference Room focused on Assistant Manager Gil Sarang. Deputy Director Baek Jaeryeong clicked his tongue, grabbed Gil Sarang by the hair, and made as though to shove her head down.

“Hey, didn’t I tell you to stay still?”

“Sorrrry.”

Even after Deputy Director Baek Jaeryeong’s reprimand, she kept her head lowered while giggling. Director Cheong Haram made a slight gesture with his hand to stop them both.

With that calm movement, as though drawing an invisible line, the commotion from the Strategic Planning Office quickly subsided.

Executive Director Ahn’s gigantic eye fixed on Director Gol.

“What is your judgment based on?”

A brief, cold question.

Director Gol clattered his jaw and began spitting out fragmented words, as though reading data he had prepared in advance.

“First. Department of Anomalous Disaster Management. Weak. Probability. Significant interference. Low.”

The skeleton’s clattering voice echoed grotesquely.

“Second. Church of the Coming Feast. Department of Anomalous Disaster Management. Relationship. Hostile. Factor. Exploit. Efficiency. Increases.”

Crack, crack.

Every time Director Gol turned his head, the sound of his bones creaking could be heard.

“Third. Department of Anomalous Disaster Management. Hates us. Less. Church of the Coming Feast. Hates. More. Priority. Fixed. Department of Anomalous Disaster Management. Cannon fodder. Utilization. Possible.”

It was a proposal that, in its own way, had solid reasoning behind it.

The Grand Conference Room once again filled with murmurs, but this time, the prevailing atmosphere was one of acceptance rather than bewilderment.

No one there had any reason to oppose the idea of using government officials as cannon fodder to disperse the firepower in a battle between monsters.

Amid the murmurs, Director Mong spoke languidly.

“Good. Then ideally, the people the Department of Anomalous Disaster Management is currently searching for should be discovered while they’re on the move. If we try to lure them in too obviously, they’ll become suspicious too.”

Director Mong extended a finger.

The tip of her finger moved as though swimming across the table and began pointing at people one after another.

First, Director Go Gyeol.

Then, Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi.

And the last place her finger stopped was……

‘……Me?’

It was me.

As I stammered in confusion under all the gazes that suddenly fell upon me, Director Mong smiled and concluded.

“Because aside from Director Moon Ara, you three are the only ones whose identities are known to the Department of Anomalous Disaster Management.”

Overnight, I had officially become wanted bait.

“Good. I understand both the deployment of our Extraction Team 1 and the intention of luring in the Department of Anomalous Disaster Management. However……”

Manager Myeon, who had remained silent while listening attentively to the meeting, slowly began to speak.

His eye sockets swept one by one over Executive Director Ahn and the other executives across the table.

“We cannot mobilize for free. I have three conditions.”

Manager Myeon raised three pale fingers.

“First. Authorize the use of Make One from Two.”

The eyebrows of Executive Director Seol, Head of the Order Control Room, twitched.

The Grand Conference Room stirred briefly, but Executive Director Seol eventually nodded.

“……Understood.”

“Second. I demand high-performance equipment for the human employees who will be deployed. The latest models.”

At that instant, Executive Director Ho, Head of Financial Management Headquarters, slammed the table and protested furiously.

“Don’t talk nonsense! The entire budget has already been allocated to the Strategic Planning Office! And now you intend for us to spend even more additional funds? No! Absolutely not!”

Despite Executive Director Ho’s fierce opposition, Manager Myeon didn’t even blink. Instead, he calmly continued arranging some documents as he added:

“I understand. If we’re unlucky, the Church of the Coming Feast will take everything from us. I didn’t realize equipment cost more than the lives of our employees…… but if that is company policy, then there’s nothing to be done.”

A threat dripping with biting sarcasm.

Executive Director Ho’s fur bristled fiercely, but Executive Director Ahn raised a hand and answered in his place.

“It will be provided. The last condition?”

At Executive Director Ahn’s question, Manager Myeon’s seven faces took on peculiar expressions as he stated his final condition.

“In the worst-case scenario, I will personally use my power.”

At that instant, the atmosphere in the Grand Conference Room froze.

Perhaps I was the only one who didn’t understand what that meant, because everyone present reacted in some way.

Most with displeasure and wariness.

“……Are you out of your mind?”

The fury Executive Director Ho had shown over the budget vanished completely as he frowned and growled.

“Good, good. A chance to see Manager Myeon’s abilities again. But if a disaster happens, who will have to clean it up? Who? Us! We’ll have to do it!”

Executive Director Gu made bubbling sounds from his belly as his body shook grotesquely.

“Are you serious?”

Even Executive Director Seol showed surprise for the first time.

“I object. Manager Myeon. Power. Excessive. Burning down the house to kill a rat.”

Director Gol clattered his jaw as he expressed his concern.

“Gurrrrgl, grrk, gurururu.”

Director Yuk said something, I suppose.

“Are you serious? You shouldn’t have much left, right? Well, it works in our favor.”

Director Won stretched the corners of his lips beneath his ears as he opened and closed the four hands growing from his temples.

“Fufu, I won’t try to stop you. To begin with, who could?”

Director Mong laughed softly, covering her mouth.

And it wasn’t only the executives.

“Are you serious?”

“Oh, you. What are you plotting?”

“No, Manager Myeon. Really?”

“Grrrk, grrk, grr.”

All my superiors in Extraction Team 1 reacted similarly.

The same was true of the trio from the Strategic Planning Office and the duo from the Order Control Room.

“You’ll grant me permission, won’t you?”

At Manager Myeon’s words, every gaze once again focused on Executive Director Ahn, seated at the head of the table.

The gigantic eyeball contracted grotesquely and trembled during a brief moment of silence.

After a moment that seemed to last an eternity, Executive Director Ahn answered.

“……Approved. But you will bear responsibility for the consequences yourself.”

***

“Hey.”

The raspy voice directly in front of me snapped me back to my senses.

When I raised my head, my eyes met Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi’s. She had a cigarette between her lips and was tousling her purple hair as she looked at me.

“Did you call me?”

“Who else do you think I was talking to?”

What a personality.

Since I had no one around whom I could express what I really thought, it seemed I was becoming increasingly skilled at insulting people in my head.

“What did you say your name was?”

“Jeong Haeil, from Extraction Team 1.”

“How old are you?”

“I was born in ’98.”

“We’re the same age.”

Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi narrowed her red eyes as she looked me over.

“You said you’d run into the Department of Anomalous Disaster Management?”

“Yes. I encountered them during an extraction job in a Distortion Zone.”

At my answer, she let out a long sigh, roughly ran a hand through her purple hair, and took several deep drags from her cigarette.

“Want one?”

I shook my head when she discreetly held out the pack.

“No, I don’t smoke.”

As soon as we left the Grand Conference Room, she had asked Manager Myeon for permission to ‘borrow me’ for a moment and then immediately dragged me to the smoking room.

When speaking to her superiors, she had seemed as cold and brusque as ice, but now that we were alone, the impression she gave off was quite different.

‘At least she seems human.’

Although, of course, it was also possible that she only looked that way on the outside.

“How long have you been working here?”

“It hasn’t even been a few months yet.”

At my answer, she let out a short scoff.

“Ha. I’m surprised you’re still alive. Well, I guess you must have something special about you if you ended up in Extraction Team 1. That seven-faced monster wouldn’t have hired just anyone as an Employee.”

Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi absentmindedly gazed at the glowing tip of her cigarette.

The reddish flame was reflected as a tiny point in her eyes.

“I thought I’d be the first to die too.”

Those words, spoken indifferently, carried too much weight for me to easily find anything to say in response.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have a lot of things you want to ask me, don’t you?”

She was right.

Of all the coworkers I had met so far, she was the one who seemed most like a normal person.

“It must drive you crazy that this place is full of nothing but fucking lunatics, right? Humans and monsters alike.”

I almost nodded at that scathing but accurate assessment.

“Everyone treats me well.”

“You’re fucking crazy too.”

Fuuu.

Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi exhaled a long stream of smoke and put out her cigarette.

Just when I thought my suffering as a passive smoker was finally over, she pulled out another cigarette, placed it between her lips, and lit it.

Suddenly, she pinched the ends of her short purple hair between her fingers and let out a small laugh.

“Colored eyes, colored hair. We’re all weird, but pretty, aren’t we?”

“Yes, I suppose.”

“Pretty, my ass.”

I had no idea what the hell she expected me to say.

Without paying it any mind, Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi continued.

“You’re not from the Adjustment Department, right?”

“No.”

“Must be nice being pure-blooded. Na-gyeom and I came from the Adjustment Department. Anyway, there are a few things I want to ask you.”

Adjustment Department.

I recalled the explanation I had heard before.

A department whose sole reason for existence was to use human emotions as raw materials to manufacture products.

Consumables whose every kind of positive and negative emotion was extracted from them down to the depths of their souls before they were eventually discarded.

And among them, only a tiny minority who managed to survive for a long time and prove their abilities were recruited by other departments.

‘So she belonged to the Adjustment Department.’

Just how deeply must she have suffered?

Just as I was about to lose myself in those thoughts, Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi sensed the change like a ghost and immediately became furious.

“What’s with that look? Can’t you look me in the eye? Do you pity me?”

“No.”

“Or do you think it’s ridiculous that someone from the Adjustment Department would talk like this to the young master of Extraction Team 1?”

“No.”

“Just because the monsters pamper you so much, it seems you’ve gotten the wrong idea. You too, just like Na-gyeom and me, only have value as long as they can use you……”

“That’s enough.”

A cold, elegant voice.

The clicking of high heels cut through the smoke-filled air of the room.

Manager Batori had approached without either of us noticing. She narrowed her blood-red eyes and looked back and forth between us with a languid smile.

“You must never forget your manners. No matter how impatient you may be, how dare you bare your teeth at someone of my own blood?”

Although her voice was much softer than usual, it carried a weight that seemed to crush everything around her.

At this unusual side of Manager Batori, Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi’s face paled slightly.

“Lower your head further. The insolence gleaming in your eyes offends my sight.”

“I didn’t know it bothered you. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t believe I shared my noble blood with you when you were barely managing to cling miserably to life just so you could wag your tongue over such trivial matters, did I?”

“I misspoke. It won’t happen again.”

Apparently, even the composure Yoo Seulbi managed to maintain was not to Manager Batori’s liking.

With a sharp finger, she gently lifted her chin.

Yoo Seulbi’s eyes began to tremble, and the fingers holding her cigarette started to shake.

“Or would you like to take this opportunity to have Director Mong modify you and make you complete, like the others?”

At those words, Yoo Seulbi flinched.

A terror incomparably deeper than what she had shown moments earlier flooded her eyes.

“N-No. Not that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry……”

“That’s right. If you fall into those disgusting hands, who knows what color your soul will end up being dyed. Look at the other humans. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes. You’re right. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Manager Batori’s eyes curved slightly in satisfaction, and she withdrew her finger, but her warning wasn’t over yet.

“Why do you think you were able to survive while your insignificant companions were torn apart? Because of your ability? Or luck?”

“Thanks to Manager Batori’s grace.”

“I see you understand well. Then how dare you use that mouth, which received such grace, to disturb someone I cherish? Hmm? Try answering me.”

“I’m sorry. I truly committed an offense worthy of death.”

“An offense worthy of death? Yes, killing you wouldn’t be difficult. But if you are one of my dependents, you should also show proper respect toward someone of my own blood.”

Scritch.

Manager Batori lightly dragged a fingernail across the back of Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi’s neck.

“Ngh……!”

Yoo Seulbi flinched with a brief groan.

Her white skin split open in an instant, and dark red blood began to well out, but the wound immediately started closing at an unnatural speed.

“Fufu, I think that will suffice. Good, let’s go. Everyone is waiting.”

Manager Batori turned elegantly and left the smoking room.

After staring at her back for a few moments, still stunned, I turned my gaze toward Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi, who was still clutching her bloodstained neck, not yet recovered from the shock.

Yoo Seulbi roughly wiped the drops of blood from the back of her neck with the sleeve of her suit, frowned deeply, and muttered.

“…….”

I discreetly observed her reaction before speaking cautiously.

“I’m sorry. All of this happened because of me……”

At my words, Assistant Manager Yoo Seulbi stared at me for a few moments as though she were looking at an idiot.

Her lips moved as though she were about to let out a curse, but in the end, all that came out was an exhausted sigh.

“Forget it. How is any of this your fault? The problem is this damn impulsive temper of mine.”

She haphazardly wiped the remaining blood from her neck and started walking ahead of me.

“Let’s go.”

There was none of her earlier aggression left in her voice, only profound exhaustion.

I silently followed Yoo Seulbi as her purple hair swayed in front of me.

‘What a strange person.’

First she spoke normally, then she got angry, then she became terrified…… She was a complete mess.

And then there was that wound that had regenerated so naturally, just like Manager Batori’s.

She had come from a department where people’s emotions were extracted as resources until they were discarded.

And now I had also learned that some of the other humans had been modified by Director Mong.

I recalled the backs of all those people who, dressed in elegant suits, had sat in the Grand Conference Room and calmly discussed the project.

And once again, I reflected on that painful truth.

There definitely wasn’t a single normal human being in this company of monsters.