WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 30 - Manager's Office (1)

"H-hyung-nim…? Wait a second!”

Kang Mincheol was the first to notice something was wrong, like a skittish prey animal sensing danger.

"What now, you idiot?!”

Ha Dongmin snapped irritably, his face twisting in annoyance, but as the surroundings dimmed into darkness, even he froze.

"Wh-what the hell is this?!”

“H-Hyung-nim! I don’t know what it is, but we need to hide now!”

Kang Mincheol rushed to open a nearby door.

-Click! Click!

But none of them would open.

Meanwhile, Yoon Seyi’s expression turned strange. His pupils became unfocused, as if he were being entranced by something.

"Ah……Aah……!”

"What the hell’s wrong with you now?! Shit! Snap out of it!”

That was when it happened.

-Skrrrrk, thud! Skrrrrk, thud!

From deep within the darkened corridor came the sound of something dragging itself forward. All three turned toward it at once. And saw…it.

It was a towering roughly humanoid figure, but its body was grotesquely bent, as if its waist had snapped. It crawled forward using both legs and an unnaturally long right arm.

Strangely, it held a file folder in its left hand, using it to cover its face. Its skin was gray. Its clothes hung in tattered, rag-like strips.

"Ah......."

"Kgh......!"

"Ugh......!"

All three let out stifled groans. There was no mistaking it. This was the entity known as the Manager. It stopped. Then, in a distorted, mechanical voice, it addressed them.

“Violation of the quiet hours… Property damage…”

It sounded like a death sentence. Ha Dongmin snapped.

“Y-you freak, what the hell do you want?!”

Driven by sheer terror, he pulled the trigger.

-Ratatatatatatatatata—!

Gunfire exploded through the narrow hallway. For a brief moment, the muzzle flashes gave the illusion that this incomprehensible entity could be fought.

-Thud! Thuud! Thud!

The bullets pierced straight through the Manager’s body, but not a single drop of blood came out.

Seeing that, Ha Dongmin screamed even louder.

“What the fuck?! I paid to stay here! Why the hell are you showing up and pulling this shit……!”

At that moment, the Manager raised one long, thin finger and pointed at him. Then large stapler pins shot into Ha Dongmin’s mouth, sealing it shut.

-Thunk! Thunk! Thuuunk!

"Mph! Mmmph! Mmmm…! Mmmrgh......!"

He writhed trying to scream, but no sound could escape. Then the Manager lowered the file covering his face.

"Mmph......!"

The instant Ha Dongmin met its gaze and saw what was inside, his very existence began to collapse.

-Thud. Thump!

Suddenly, his body began to come apart. As if the joints holding him together had simply vanished, his left and right arms dropping to the floor.

"...!"

Ha Dongmin tried to scream, but his head, chest, and the rest of his body broke apart piece by piece, scattering across the ground. Not a single drop of blood was spilled.

-Thun, thud!

Before anyone realized it, the Manager had approached. It calmly picked up the scattered pieces of Ha Dongmin’s body and began placing them into a box. Even then one could hear the sounds of something struggling from within the box.

"Mmgh......! Mph!"

Ignoring it completely, the Manager closed the lid with practiced ease and sealed it with tape. Written on top in bizarre lettering was:

[Abyss, Pending Delivery]

Watching this disassembly, Kang Mincheol finally broke.

“Uwaaaargh—-!”

He lost all reason and bolted toward the emergency exit.

But the moment the Manager looked at his back, something strange happened.

The exit, which had been just within reach, began drifting farther and farther away.

The hallway stretched like taffy. He was now running across an endless distance.

-Drip! Driiip!

A tar-like, sticky liquid began pouring down like rain from the ceiling, clinging to his ankles.

"Agh! Let go of me!”

He struggled desperately to tear it off, but it wouldn’t budge.

Then, every door along the hallway burst open at once.

From inside, dozens of long, thin arms belonging to the Manager shot out, grabbing hold of him.

“Aaaah! I’m sorry! I’m sorry—! Aaaaaaargh!”

But those hands showed no mercy. They crushed and compressed him, like kneading meat into a ball.

-Crack! Snap!

Bones shattered and organs burst. And soon, he was reduced to a cube of flesh, about 50 cm wide.

And yet, Kang Mincheol was still alive.

On one face of the cube, his terrified eye remained, darting wildly. On the opposite side, his mouth screamed in agony.

"I’m sorry……I’m soooorryyyyy—!”

But soon, he too was placed into a box and sealed shut.

And the same words appeared on top of it.

[Abyss, Delivery Pending]

While his companions met such horrific ends, only Yoon Seyi stood there, his face filled not with fear but with ecstasy.

"Ah……! Manager!”

The moment he saw it, he understood. This was what he was meant to become.

Recently, his body had been itching, writhing with strange changes. He hadn’t understood what was happening, only that he felt irritation. But now that he saw the Manager, he knew.

Yoon Seyi smiled in awe.

'I can become something that great…!'

The Manager, too, seemed to sense the transformation within him and spoke.

"Unauthorized mutation……Remove your outer layer and reveal your true form.”

At those words, Yun Seyi didn’t hesitate and did as told.

"Aaaaargh! Hahahahaha!”

He burst into laughter like a madman. His fingernails, now sharpened into claws, dug under his chin as he tore into his own flesh. Then, he ripped away the skin from his chest, stomach, and thighs, like peeling off a soaked wetsuit.

“Aaaaagh! Graaaah!”

Yoon Seyi revealed himself. Raw red muscle and exposed veins writhing in the open air. Even as blood sprayed everywhere, his facial muscles twisted, trying desperately to form something resembling joy.

“I…I can become something like you as well now……!”

But the Manager’s response was cold.

“Mutation rate insufficient. Classified as a defective product……”

“What…? What? What do you mean…?”

The moment he was judged defective, his ecstasy vanished. In its place came overwhelming pain. The agony of having torn off all his skin flooded back at once. His eyes rolled back as he convulsed violently.

“Aaaaaagh—! Why?! I wanted to become like you—! Graaaaah!”

The Manager treated him differently from the others.

"Initiating vacuum packaging.”

A plastic bag wrapped around his body and began sucking out the air.

-Fwoooooosh!

The bag shrank rapidly, compressing him completely. His body flattened like dried jerky. He couldn't move at all.

Only his eyes, wide with absolute terror, twitched faintly from side to side.

The Manager gathered the two boxes, and the vacuum-sealed body, then turned away.

"Complaint resolved……"

* * *

Inside the room, Park Minho held his breath.

Something was clearly happening outside.

He could hear muffled groans and things being crushed.

But it was as if there was a barrier. He couldn’t clearly make out what was happening beyond the door. Even though bullets had punched multiple holes through it.

Thump! Splat!

Something heavy, like a chunk of meat, hit the floor.

-Riiiip!

The sound of tape sealing a box.

He had no idea what was going on, but one thing was certain: he had to stay completely still.

After a while, he heard something dragging itself across the floor and passing right by the room he was hiding in.

'Please…please just go past…!'

Fortunately, it did. The footsteps just brushed past Park Minho’s room, then moved further away.

"Haah......."

He sat there, drenched in cold sweat, unable to move. Outside, only suffocating silence remained.

'It’s over......'

Just to be sure, he waited a while longer before finally opening the door and peeking out.

The hallway looked normal. Only a quiet, desolate goshiwon hallway illuminated by fluorescent lights.

But the three raiders were nowhere to be seen. The bullet marks remained clearly on the wall, yet there wasn’t a single trace of them left, which made all this even more terrifying.

Park Minho returned to Room 303, locked the door tightly, and crouched beside Seol Suyeon, trembling uncontrollably for a long time.

* * *

Half a day later, Seol Suyeon woke up.

"Ugh……Oppa?”

Park MInho let out a sigh of relief when he saw her. The color had returned to her face, and there wasn’t a trace of illness left.

"Are you feeling better?”

"What happened……?”

Seol Suyeon knew she’d been seriously sick. It had felt worse than just a bad flu, but now that she was awake, her body felt completely fine. She couldn’t help but be confused.

"Ah, about that…”

As Park Minho calmly explained everything that had happened, her expression filled with shock.

"Oppa......!"

Guilt washed over her. While she had been unconscious, he’d gone through all that.

"I’m so sorry. I feel…like I just held you back……”

Her eyes welled up with tears. But Park Minho just gave a small smile.

"What are you talking about? It’s not like you chose to get sick. And if it weren’t for you, I ‘d died to those tentacles, remember?”

"But Oppa, are you okay? You look really pale, you know?”

"Huh…? I’m fine.”

Although he said that, the fear on his face had yet to fade. Suyeon stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"You went through all that alone. I’ll help you now…”

"Suyeon......"

It was just a simple hug, but warmth rushed back into Park Minho’s cold, frayed mind.

His hands were still trembling. Gunshots and screams still echoed in his ears. But he could feel himself calm down, little by little.

"Ah......"

They were safe now. The raiders were gone. Suyeon had recovered. All that desperate running had been worth it.

'Thank God.'

After holding her for a while, Park Minho suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, right. There’s something you need to take quickly.”

"Huh? What is it?”

"Hang on."

He grabbed two pills from nearby.

They were the anomalous trait pills ‘Strong Mind’ and ‘Breath Recovery.’ If they weren’t taken within a day, they’d lose their effect.

After hearing the explanation, Suyeon swallowed them right away.

"Uh……? I feel something. Like it’s surging up?”

"I guess that’s the trait settling in.”

First, ‘Strong Mind’ helped one endure the aura of fear emitted by entities. While others would mentally break and run, one could hold one’s ground.

Second, ‘Breath Recovery,’ an extremely useful ability for Seol Suyeon.

It restored about 80% of one's stamina after completely exhausting it once a day. After listening carefully, Seol Suyeon spoke up.

"Where did you even get these things?”

"From a vending machine.”

Naturally, Park Minho explained everything. The Cleaning Supervisor, the special machine beyond it, and the Manager’s office.

After listening carefully, Seol Suyeon spoke up.

"Erm, Oppa?”

"Yeah?"

“You said you can check entry and exit records in the manager’s office, right? Then, do you think my younger sibling’s record might be there?”

"Huh? Now that I think about it…”

Park Minho paused for a moment, then nodded.

“He came to the Backrooms three years ago, right? There’s no way he stayed on Floor 0 the whole time. There’s a high chance he passed through this Goshiwon floor.”

It was definitely something worth checking.

* * *

The next day, after getting a full rest, the two of them headed straight for the Manager’s office.

Park Minho had contacted Yumi as well, but this time she refused, saying that she was too scared of the Cleaning Supervisor to come.

"I kind of want to meet this Yumi as well.”

After hearing about her, Seol Suyeon seemed curious.

“How did she survive here alone for four months…?”

"Right? Honestly, if it weren’t for her, we would have been totally screwed.”

"Do you think we could take her with us? It’s not good for her to stay here forever…She needs to make it to Floor 7’s survivor zone if she wants to be safe.”

"Yeah, you’re right. Let’s talk to her properly after we finish this.”

Park Minho nodded slowly. He didn’t feel great about leaving Lee Yumi behind on this Goshiwon floor either.

“Let’s invite her for a meal or something after we’re done.”

Since he’d promised to cover her stay anyway, they needed to meet again anyway.

"Then we can talk it out.”

"Okay, Oppa.”

Soon, they arrived at the area where the Cleaning Supervisor stayed. Park Minho tensed up a bit, but when they actually saw it, the Cleaning Supervisor barely paid them any attention.

Its eyes, visible through the gas mask, were glowing green, and it simply went about work, cleaning, showing them no hostility whatsoever.

"I’ve never seen an entity like that before.”

“Wait until you’ve seen it angry…”

Even though it seemed safe, they carefully passed without provoking it. They stopped by the vending machine to restock.

"Suyeon, smoke grenades are the best. You should always carry them.”

Park Minho handed her two smoke grenades and some sikhye while he replenished his ammo.

Then they entered the Manager’s office. Inside, it looked surprisingly normal, with a computer, documents, and office supplies placed here and there.

"Oppa, this computer works.”

"Let’s see. Oh…You can search names here. What’s your brother’s name?”

"Seol Suhyeok."

"Suyeon, Suhyeok."

-Clack, clack.

Park Minho typed quickly, and then the name popped up immediately.

[Entry Record – Seol Suhyeok.]

"There! Suyeon! It’s there!”

They didn’t know if it was the same person, but just seeing the name was promising. Looking closer, it was a record from three years ago. It showed he had stayed in a goshiwon for one week.

"Is it him?"

Seol Suyeon’s eyes filled with tears instantly.

"It is. The birthday matches…the age matches…and the time too.”

It was a huge relief. If there had been no record here, there was a high chance her younger brother had died on Floor 0.

"According to this, he stayed in Room 301 at All-in-One House Goshiwon. If that place is nearby, there might still be traces left in that room.”

But Seol Suyeon shook her head.

"Let’s not push it. We don’t even know how big this place is. And someone might’ve already cleared it out.”

She already felt deeply indebted. The last thing she wanted was for Park Minho to put himself in danger again because of her.

"Alright. But if it’s nearby, we can just check it out. That much should be fine, right?”

"Okay, got it.”

At that moment, a thought suddenly crossed Park Minho’s mind, which urged him to search for Lee Yumi’s name as well.

-Clack, clack.

He typed in her name. A result immediately popped up.

[Entry Record - Lee Yumi]

"She shows up as well. Let’s see, yeah, she entered four months ago……”

Park Minho read through the information with mild curiosity.

But the next few lines made his expression freeze over completely. No, it felt like the blood in his entire body had gone cold.

[Occupant: Lee Yumi]

[Note: Deceased due to gunshot wounds]

[Current Status: Fully checked out]

"Huh...?"

He checked again and again, thinking it might be someone with the same name. But despite it being a common name, there was only one Lee Yumi listed. And the entry date matched exactly what she had mentioned.

'Why? The scanner didn’t detect anything…'

But thinking about it, that had only been Park Minho’s assumption. Just because something wasn’t an anomalous entity didn’t necessarily mean it was human.

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