WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau ◈

Chapter 45: Arachne

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-Bang!

Hair lashed out, leaving a deep dent in the wall beside me.

“Can’t you tangle its legs one more time?!”

“I’m trying!”

Song A-rin shouted urgently, turned her head again, and swung her hand.

The hair bent in the opposite direction, narrowly missing us. She clicked her tongue and shouted.

“That thing’s starting to adapt!”

I had wondered why it was crashing into the walls noticeably less often than before.

If physically shaking it off was no longer an option, then how were we supposed to escape that monster?

I racked my brain and searched inside my jacket. I felt nothing except the hard Manual.

Come to think of it, hadn’t those two been sent off with guns, too?

“You two! Where did you put your guns?!”

I hurriedly looked at them.

“I lost mine while I was running!”

“I dropped mine when I got caught at the first-floor entrance!”

“The first-floor entrance? Is that where the monster you called instead of me is...”

“That’s right!”

Yoo Da-on nodded frantically before I could finish.

I had to make a decision.

“Let’s split up!”

Song A-rin nodded with a grim expression.

“...Fine. I’ll hold that thing off, so...”

“No! I’ll do it!”

“What nonsense are you talking about now?!”

Song A-rin’s grim expression turned to disbelief as she shouted.

The reason was simple.

Both Yoo Da-on and Song A-rin looked like they had less stamina left than I did. In fact, both of them seemed to be reaching their limits.

On the other hand, I could still hold out for a while.

“When we reach the stairs, Ms. Da-on, you go down first! Then, after one more lap, Ms. Song, you go down!”

“Are you insane?!”

“And either find Ms. Chae-yeon or prepare as much as you can! Anything is fine!”

“Listen to me...!”

“Just do it!”

When I shouted, both of them flinched. Yoo Da-on glanced at me, then started running toward the stairs.

Once again, only Song A-rin and I remained.

As we approached the stairs, Song A-rin looked at me several times before saying,

“...You really mustn’t die!”

“I won’t die, so get out of here now!”

“If you really die, I’ll kill you!”

Spouting such ridiculous nonsense, she ran down the stairs.

I turned around and looked at it running on all fours. After confirming it was still chasing me, I started running again.

From the perspective of an ordinary predator, it should have chased the weaker and slower targets. Yet it ignored Yoo Da-on and Song A-rin as they went down the stairs and ran straight toward me.

Did it just want a slightly bigger meal? Or was its field of vision narrow? There was no way to know right now.

Just two laps, then I would head downstairs.

Forcing down the pain in my legs, I ran through the old classroom hallway again.

One lap, then two.

This should be enough.

Praying that the others and I would not cross paths, I ran down the stairs.

Second floor, then first floor.

The first-floor entrance where I had originally hidden came into view.

I ran in the opposite direction from the route I had taken upstairs. Yoo Da-on said she had been caught around here...

Found it.

A gun gleaming black in the moonlight entered my sight.

I had realized something when I fired the gun earlier.

My shooting skills had not rusted. When I fired in the Cube last time, I thought my eyes had adjusted my aim. Maybe that had not been the case.

At some point, the gun had started to feel like a perfect fit in my hands.

I rolled across the floor as though leaping and grabbed the pistol.

The familiar sensation and unfamiliar heavy weight settled into both hands, and I quickly pulled the trigger.

-Bang!

The bullet lodged in the spot where its eyes had been sewn shut, and it screamed.

This should buy me some time...

Alarm bells rang in my head as I prepared to run.

Wait.

Thinking back, when I encountered it in the night-duty room earlier, its eyes had also been sewn shut with black thread. That meant it had been chasing us this entire time without eyes.

Before I could even ask how, its hair rushed toward me.

Could it have been following us by sound all this time?

I quickly rolled across the floor and avoided the hair.

The Manual fell from inside my jacket and opened to a random page.

[Manual for Office Workers]

[KH - How to Deal with an Entity Without Sight]

1. The best way to deal with an entity without sight is, naturally, to make no sound.

2. However, some containment objects can even hear your heartbeat.

3. In such cases, we recommend making noise to draw the object’s attention before escaping.

4. Be careful. Most people see a being that has given up sight as having a weakness. On the contrary, these are objects that survived despite giving up sight. Always keep this in mind when dealing with containment objects.

Make noise.

There were not many things here that could make noise.

I quickly took off a shoe and threw it at the wall with all my strength.

-Thud!

-Bang!

The moment the shoe hit the wall and made a sound, it turned its hair and smashed the wall.

“Tasty?”

It muttered as it gripped the shoe tightly.

A narrow hallway, and that thing above my head.

Looking up from below, I could see it more clearly.

It was absolutely not human.

Only the part where its neck was attached was human. Beneath it was a spider’s torso.

It looked as if someone had attached a human neck and limbs to a spider’s body.

An odd sense of incongruity came over me. The way it was put together using a human body felt like something I had seen somewhere before.

-Tap, tap.

Holding the shoe, it felt it all over before crushing it and tossing it aside.

“...Tasty...”

With the pistol tucked inside my jacket and the fallen Manual in my other hand, I slowly began crawling.

Do not forget what I learned as a recruit. Crawl quietly and slowly. Never raise your head.

Repeating it to myself several times, I quietly crawled along the floor.

My limbs ached, but what else could I do?

After crawling for some time, I raised my head and looked back only when I thought I had escaped its shadow.

It was still feeling around with its hands and feet as if searching for me.

Now I finally understood how it came straight over when I broke that vase.

I slowly got to my feet, removed my remaining shoe and threw it in the opposite direction, then tiptoed away.

It was still diligently feeling around for the source of the sound made by my other shoe.

* * *

After walking for some time and checking again and again that I could no longer hear it, I kept walking with an inward sigh of relief.

First, I had to go to the gymnasium. Before that, I had to find Jang Chae-yeon.

I opened the Manual.

Could the Manual give me additional information? It had included annotations during the Red Lady incident.

“...I will now begin registering a containment object.”

When I whispered, the Manual immediately opened on its own and began creating an entry.

[PRV - Object Name: Arachne - Record of Kim Jae-heon, Human Resources Team]

I had never called it Arachne.

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the object name, but the Manual refused to erase the words, as though it knew it was right.

Let’s see. What should I write?

I needed to select only the most important points, if only for whoever would read this later. Too much information would tire the reader.

After several rounds of deliberation and deep discussion with the Manual, the following containment object catalog was completed.

[PRV - Object Name: Arachne - Record of Kim Jae-heon, Human Resources Team]

[This object has no eyes. Aim to make as little noise as possible when moving.]

[Physical attacks are not easily effective. If Hypnosis or mental attacks are possible, use those methods.]

[The body becomes younger in the space where this object is present. This has not been clearly confirmed, so personnel who enter afterward should revise this entry.]

[This object appears to consume human flesh. If those captured cannot be rescued quickly, abandoning them is recommended.]

A new registration? Did that mean nobody had entered this place until now?

Or had those who entered been unable to use the Manual? There was no way to know.

Was this enough for now?

In the end, there was no additional information.

Clicking my tongue, I slowly closed the Manual and began walking again.

Where the hell was that woman, Jang Chae-yeon?

I was starting to feel desperate. But I could not exactly shout for Jang Chae-yeon.

As I walked slowly, faint footsteps began pattering behind me.

I had a very, very bad feeling about this.

Along with that ominous feeling came a chill that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I really did not want to turn around, but I did.

A young girl was following behind me.

<If a child starts following you, you must shake them off somehow.>

The words I had read came back to me.

How was I supposed to shake her off?

I tried jogging lightly.

The girl followed in quick little steps.

After walking and running several times, I realized something.

This child followed me at exactly my pace.

In other words, I had to run if I wanted to shake her off.

The problem was that if I ran, I would inevitably make noise, greatly increasing the chance of calling that monster, Arachne.

“...”

As I desperately racked my brain,

someone placed a hand on my shoulder.

I jumped while covering my mouth and turned around.

It was little Jang Chae-yeon.

Wearing a shabby white T-shirt and gray tracksuit pants, she looked at me with relief.

“Found you.”

Not even knowing who had been looking for her.

Before my frustration could boil over, an idea struck me.

This could work.

“Why?”

“Follow me.”

“Okay.”

I nodded as I looked at Jang Chae-yeon and the little girl following behind me without the slightest question.

This way, we could get through quietly.

“You can fly, right?”

“Huh?”

Jang Chae-yeon looked at me blankly.

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