In life, there are moments when you face overwhelming adversaries.
It might be a senior in school, a forced defeat event in a game, or even just your parents.
Regardless, the monstrous foe clashing fiercely with Kang Han was no different, the embodiment of a “forced defeat event” meant to torment the player.
Annoying gimmicks, an unyielding health bar, and a ridiculous ability to draw aggro from monsters scattered across the laboratory.
No matter how skilled a berserker, defeating it solo was impossible.
Boom! Boom!
The Distorter slammed its limbs into the ground and leaned its massive body backward.
The generator embedded in its enormous body, composed of flesh and metal, began to rotate with a dull, resonating sound.
As it did, nearby electronic devices quivered, releasing unstable currents.
Dust-covered monitors flickered to life one by one, displaying strange noise and afterimages on their screens.
The monstrous mass of flesh surged forward with a roar.
“Graaaah!”
Kang Han roared back, swinging his greatsword downward in a vertical slash.
His face flushed red as his veins bulged, covering half his visage—he was entering a frenzy state.
The Distorter focused its energy in one direction, using its long limbs to parry the strike.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing echoed through the laboratory.
Kang Han staggered back half a step from the impact but quickly regained his stance, gripping his greatsword tightly.
The Distorter extended another limb toward him.
Kang Han crouched low to evade and swung his sword sideways.
This time, he landed a hit.
The greatsword sliced through one of the Distorter’s limbs, sending shards of metal and flesh scattering everywhere.
But the Distorter was unfazed.
Irregular currents erupted from its central generator, causing nearby machinery to tremble violently.
Blue electricity arced through the air, blanketing the interior of the laboratory.
Nearby terminals on iron shelves sparked like fireworks.
Sizzle!
One after another, the machines detached from the monster began to erupt in bursts, like a wave of cascading explosions.
Facing the intense onslaught, Kang Han spat blood and muttered,
“At this power level… how many Kim Laras would it take to handle this?”
The Distorter began utilizing its entire body as a weapon, flailing its long limbs to suppress Kang Han.
He raised his greatsword like a shield to block the attacks, but the force forced him to one knee.
“Grr…!”
Drawing on a burst of explosive strength, Kang Han lunged forward.
The Distorter tried to block him, but he adjusted his direction, ducking under the swinging limbs.
His greatsword gleamed as it pierced deep into the Distorter’s core.
The generator sparked violently as it absorbed the foreign object.
The Distorter tried to shake Kang Han off, but he held firm, gripping the sword tightly.
With a roar, Kang Han twisted the blade and yanked it hard.
Screeeeech—Crash!
The Distorter’s body split in two as shards of metal and flesh flew everywhere.
The central generator emitted sparks and a noise akin to a scream.
“We… we won!”
In the shadowy corners of Umbra Zone, Gwak Dohyeong shouted as he emerged from his hiding spot, having watched Kang Han’s battle unfold.
The fight had been so intense that even I, nearby, could barely hear him over the chaos.
Does he really have to proclaim a flag every time something happens?
Of course, even without him saying it, the Distorter would likely have revived with its monstrous regenerative abilities.
Still, I scolded Gwak Dohyeong.
“Stop getting distracted and focus on finding clues. There are terminals everywhere.”
“O-okay.”
We were using the moment when the Distorter briefly activated the broken machines around it to gather clues.
To do so, we had to approach the Distorter while Kang Han kept it occupied—a risky maneuver, but worth the gamble.
At that moment, Wi Seoyeon’s urgent voice rang out from the speakers.
Team 1! Can you hear me? Get out of there immediately.
I don’t care if you retreat, just hurry!
“Why?”
I kept my eyes on the screen and asked curtly.
Although my question probably didn’t reach the briefing room, Wi Seoyeon promptly explained.
The masses of flesh spread throughout the lab are converging on your location.
What are you doing to cause this? Are you even still alive? Please…
So it’s that pattern.
Soon, the entire lab would be overrun by monsters.
At that point, not even the protagonist or a berserker could guarantee survival.
We had to move quickly.
I instructed Gwak Dohyeong.
“They’re coming again. Look sharp.”
The Distorter unleashed yet another energy wave.
The invisible force swept through the space like a storm.
All nearby electronics came alive, emitting a cacophony of noises.
Approaching! Chuchuchu Beepchu! Meet us in McDoria! A revolution in flavor!
A massive energy explosion has been detected; investigation teams—
From that day forward, we opened a new chapter in histo—
Meaningless noises overlapped and echoed around us.
Broken terminals flickered erratically; some powered on briefly before suddenly shutting off.
Each time the Distorter absorbed and released energy, the flow of noise surged like waves, amplifying and receding.
Amid the chaos, Gwak Dohyeong maintained his focus, diligently inspecting the scattered terminals on the floor for any clues.
I was doing much the same.
Then, amidst the cacophony, a peculiar voice reached my ears.
“Wait a second.”
I raised my hand to stop Gwak Dohyeong.
“What? This isn’t the time to stop!” he said in frustration.
“Quiet,” I replied, listening closely.
Through the chaotic noise, there was something distinct—a serene and clear presence that stood apart from the rest.
–If you are watching this video, it means you’ve come close to uncovering the truth about this laboratory.
I turned toward the source of the sound.
Amid the pile of terminals, one stood out—worn yet remarkably well-preserved.
“Found it…!”
The screen of the terminal flickered, displaying a video of a woman.
Her face looked weary, but her resolute gaze pierced the screen.
Her voice cut through the noise, vividly reaching my ears.
I am Lee Yoon-jung, the director of this laboratory.
I am leaving a record of what happened here.
Gwak Dohyeong, catching his breath, leaned in to look at the screen.
“Is that really… the director? Is this the information we’ve been looking for?”
“It is. And it’s definitely important,” I confirmed.
Just then, the director’s voice shifted, becoming unnervingly cold.
[I don’t know what you’re doing in that space, but if it’s something unnecessary, stop immediately.]
“Unnecessary?” I murmured, taking the terminal.
Whatever it was, I figured we could figure it out later by reviewing the contents.
For now, judgment would have to wait.
Meanwhile, the director’s earlier kind tone had vanished entirely.
She issued another warning, her voice chillingly stern.
[Leave that place immediately. This is your last chance if you wish to remain among the living.]
“Then give me a reason,” I muttered. “Not that I’d stop even if you did.”
Turning to Gwak Dohyeong, I nodded.
“Let’s go. We’ve found everything we need.”
Nearby, Kang Han had fully embraced his berserker mode.
Covered in blood, he was laughing joyfully.
A pang of guilt ran down my spine for pushing him into such an exhausting battle.
…No, wait.
After all, everything we’re doing here is for Kang Han’s sake.
He should at least put in this much effort for the cause, shouldn’t he?
“Ha-ha-ha!”
Watching Kang Han, lost in his berserker frenzy and roaring with laughter, I couldn’t help but smile myself.
Yeah, you’re enjoying this too, aren’t you?
“Haa…”
The lights in the briefing room, though aged from years of use, glowed warm and gentle.
Of course, the fact that it was still within this grotesque dungeon remained unchanged, and Wi Seoyeon, left alone, nervously bit her nails.
It had been two hours since the other teams split up and began exploring the dungeon.
Team 2 had almost reached the panic room without encountering any major incidents.
On one of the many screens filling the briefing room, Kim Lara, Jin Mugyeol, and Kim Jinsu were visible.
Lara and Mugyeol were chatting and laughing, while Jinsu maintained a sharp, vigilant demeanor.
‘No problems there,’ Wi Seoyeon thought.
The real concern was Team 1.
Oddly, just as Team 1 entered the Umbra Zone, all nearby CCTVs had simultaneously gone offline.
Whether it was sheer bad luck or a deliberate act of sabotage remained unclear.
Wi Seoyeon, however, wasn’t one to sit idle and wait for results to unfold.
Clenching her fists, she continued experimenting with the resources she had at hand.
Her current focus was identifying the location of the “woman in the speaker” who claimed to be the lab’s director.
The process was simple enough.
Wi Seoyeon had control over which areas of the lab’s internal speaker system received sound.
By sequentially disabling sound transmission to individual sections and observing where the woman’s voice ceased, she could pinpoint her location.
If disabling the speakers in Section C stopped the woman from responding, her location could be determined instantly.
The dungeon’s sections were so intricately divided that the process took time, but Wi Seoyeon persisted and finally neared the end of her experiment.
Wi Seoyeon looked down at the speaker settings panel. Her fingerprints were clearly visible through the thick layer of dust she had pressed through.
“Almost there.”
Three sections.
Only three sections remained.
“How is it that you can detect the monsters?” Wi Seoyeon asked casually while manipulating the panel.
One of the zones where she had disabled the speaker fell silent.
Yet, the voice continued.
[There are many ways I receive information about the monsters’ movements, but if I had to choose the most significant, it would be that one.]
Two sections left.
Only two steps remained to pinpoint the lab director’s location.
Wi Seoyeon adjusted the panel again, continuing the conversation.
“What is ‘that one’?”
Another speaker in a specific zone was silenced.
Yet the lab director responded once more.
[Are you curious about that?]
The response came through loud and clear.
Wi Seoyeon exhaled softly, glancing up at the ceiling.
“It’s over.”
The lab director would undoubtedly be in the final remaining section.
Though she didn’t appear on any CCTV footage, she was surely hiding somewhere in a blind spot.
If the director attempted anything suspicious, Wi Seoyeon was confident she could stop it remotely from the briefing room.
As these thoughts crossed her mind, an unsettling possibility she had been avoiding began to surface.
It was a matter of probability.
‘…What are the odds that the section containing the lab director would be the very last one left?’
Her gaze swept over the countless zones displayed on the screens in the briefing room.
While it was impossible to count them precisely due to the varying screen sizes, it was clear there were hundreds.
A chilling sense of foreboding ran down her spine.
Even though she had already identified the director’s location, Wi Seoyeon hesitated and placed her hand back on the panel.
She disabled the speaker in the section where the director was presumed to be and spoke.
“Can you hear me?”
And then—
[…]
Silence.
For a moment, the tension drained from Wi Seoyeon’s taut muscles, and she slumped back into her chair.
‘It was just an absurd coincidence, that’s all.’
The very fact that she had ended up in such a secretive dungeon was already beyond imagination.
A few more peculiar events occurring on such a day shouldn’t have been surprising.
As she slowly pushed away those uneasy thoughts, a voice she should not have heard reached her ears.
[Ah, sorry for the delay—I got caught up in something else. Did you call for me?]
“…Ah, ah…”
Wi Seoyeon froze like a statue, staring at the panel with disbelief.
The experiments were supposed to have concluded.
But why?
And with that, she realized a devastating truth she hadn’t wanted to confront.
A page beyond the last chapter had always existed.
Wi Seoyeon’s heart began pounding wildly.
She felt the sweat dripping from her trembling fingertips.
[Seoyeon, you’ve gone quiet all of a sudden. Are you okay?]
Despite completing her experiments, the lab director was still hearing her and responding.
Which could only mean—
‘She’s here. She’s been here from the beginning.’
Wi Seoyeon’s face turned pale as her thoughts crystallized.
The blood drained from her shaking hands and feet.
The ceiling light in the briefing room, once warm and comforting, now felt like an unblinking, watchful eye.
The light flickered slightly.
At first, she had thought it was due to old equipment.
Now, she couldn’t shake the feeling it was deliberate.
[Ah, are your experiments all finished?]
Thump.
Wi Seoyeon’s heart sank.
The ominous feeling was overwhelming.