WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 31: Is This a Dream?
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First impressions were incredibly important.
Whether an actor started their filmography with comedies or military action movies could leave a half-permanent impression on people.
In that sense, OongNyamNyam19 from the Telegram chatroom was the type to completely ruin their first impression.
OongNyamNyam19: Do I really need to quit my job?
OongNyamNyam19: What if the world doesn't end in eleven days? I worked really hard to get hired here.
OongNyamNyam19: Couldn't I just play it by ear and take a half-day off on January 23? I've stocked up on tons of ramen and emergency rations at home...
OongNyamNyam19: How do you pack one of those survival bags? Don't keep it to yourselves, tell me too ㅠㅠ
They were the type who needed a “Let me Google that for you” link for every question, expecting everyone else to spoon-feed them answers.
It was practically inevitable that OongNyamNyam19's posts would be thoroughly ignored in the chatroom.
Still, nobody outright said OongNyamNyam19 was fucking annoying.
Not because everyone was some kind of saint. With no idea what might happen in the world, there was no reason to make enemies by talking shit about someone openly.
In other words, the moment a place to talk behind someone's back appeared, everyone immediately started doing just that.
And that mostly happened in the new chatroom InariSushi1300 had created.
InariSushi_1300: It's so nice and clean without people too lazy to Google. Hehe.
It was, so to speak, the [100 Million Club], since it gathered only users with starting funds of at least $100 million.
AlwaysNegative_1100: Great InariSushi.
Dumpling_992: Greetings, brothers. You may call me Dumpling.
BbamPakaBam_1000: Upvote if you wanna kill all those idiots who need everything Googled for them lol. Me first.
After completing a modest verification of my own, I too shed my old nickname and was reborn in a new form.
YonjeUniversityLOVE_1111: (An emoticon of a chimpanzee grinning broadly and saying, "Let's keep this up!")
InariSushi_1300: Hehe.
Unlike the previous Telegram chatroom, which had grown to nearly fifty people, the 100 Million Club barely had more than ten.
They had even added an underscore between their nicknames and starting funds to make themselves look more sophisticated, setting themselves apart from the usernames used in the bait room.
Maybe that was why, but compared to the previous room crawling with trolls, the quality of information was definitely better.
Viet_1191: Current situation on the east coast. jpg
Viet_1191: Pneumonia infection risk areas announced by the WHO
Viet_1191: Saudi civil war in full swing. The princes' war has begun. jpg
Viet_1191: How to enjoy pho with cilantro
Because of the chatroom's nature, users could not post directly and had to upload information as announcements, which was inconvenient. Still, it was a price worth paying.
For the record, I had roughly secured InariSushi_1300's location over the past few days.
I had set up quite a bit of surveillance equipment throughout the Gyeongsang region General Kang had mentioned, and they had spotted a man who appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties in an uninhabited mountain area.
His clothes were far too casual for a hiker, far too clean for a lost person, and he seemed to hide when he saw vehicles passing along a nearby national highway.
That alone was not enough to be certain, but if we watched for long enough, we would probably get a satisfactory result.
As you could probably tell already, the Enigmas I had dispatched across the country were gradually returning, one by one. The Enigmas sent to nearby regions had arrived long ago, while more than half of those sent to distant Seoul, South Gyeongsang Province, South Jeolla Province, and Jeju Island had already returned as well.
Every one of those with foreign appearances had been assigned to a research wing.
The remaining personnel were, for now, exclusively handling the Central Control Room and communications room.
That made a total of twenty-three research directors. Of course, with no researchers having entered the shelter yet, they would need to lend a hand not only at their assigned labs, but at other labs as well for the next few days.
Crackle!
Then the walkie-talkie clipped to my chest received a transmission.
[Administrator.]
It was General Kang's voice.
[The researchers have arrived.]
I hoped our shelter would make a good first impression too.
* * *
“Uh, are we really headed in the right direction?”
“Yes. You seem quite worried.”
“Haha...”
Eom Taeyun, a doctor of astrophysics, awkwardly raised the corners of his mouth.
The doctors, including Eom Taeyun, were riding in a heavily tinted van that looked fit for celebrities.
Assistant Manager Ji Younghee, the woman Eom Taeyun had seen before, sat in the driver's seat, while Deputy General Manager Lee Junsu sat beside her.
“...”
He hated to say it, but honestly, this felt like he was being kidnapped.
There were ten of them and only two of the recruiters. Besides, if something suspicious were going on, would they not have confiscated everyone's phones already? So he tried not to show it.
Still...
The vehicle was heading far deeper into the countryside than he had expected, and that kept giving him a bad feeling.
No, at some point it had stopped being even a country road. They were driving along a winding, unpaved mountain path.
“...”
Eom Taeyun was not the only one feeling uneasy. The other doctors seated beside him exchanged furtive looks, their faces pale.
Then the van stopped in the clearing of an abandoned mine that looked as though it had closed thirty years ago, and their anxiety reached its peak.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
He had thought only idiots got lured to Cambodia with offers of big money, but he could see how people might fall for it this way.
Of course. He should have realized something was wrong when they offered an astrophysicist an annual salary of $70,000 in the Republic of Korea.
Just as Eom Taeyun was seriously considering calling the police, one researcher asked in a trembling voice.
“Is there really a Research Lab here?”
“The entrance is rather shabby, isn't it? I understand. This really is an abandoned mine.”
“!”
Deputy General Manager Lee Junsu stood with their hands behind their back and spoke as if they understood all the scientists' concerns.
“But if we truly intended to harm you, would we have brought you here so carelessly? To put it bluntly, we would have confiscated the phones in your hands first.”
Then Assistant Manager Ji Younghee, who had been waiting beside them, pulled sheets of paper from a briefcase and handed them to the researchers.
“...What are these?”
“Some of you may have noticed already, but the research facility where you will work does not exist aboveground. Its very existence is classified. Therefore, to enter, you must sign a nondisclosure agreement promising not to leak anything to the press or outside parties.”
Eom Taeyun immediately read the nondisclosure agreement.
What the hell is this...
The document itself looked convincing enough, but looking at the dark, sinister entrance to the abandoned mine did nothing to settle his nerves.
It felt like the moment he stepped inside, someone would bash him over the head and harvest his organs.
Eom Taeyun was not being dramatic. Anyone would think the same if told there was a research facility inside that dark, ominous abandoned mine.
“If you truly cannot trust us, shall we use this drone to film the inside and show you first?”
Deputy General Manager Lee Junsu had already taken a small drone from the passenger seat.
The camera on its underside was linked to Lee Junsu's smartphone in real time, and its lens displayed the desolate landscape around the abandoned mine exactly as it was.
Eom Taeyun could even see his own face, so it did not appear to be footage filmed in advance.
“...”
They were being this confident. Maybe he could trust them once?
He was scared shitless, but an after-tax annual salary of $70,000 was no joke.
Honestly, if not for that, he would have run away already...
Then a woman who had been nervously fidgeting with her fingers since earlier spoke softly.
“I... I'll sign it.”
“Dr. Lee Mina. An excellent choice.”
“Th-there was research equipment I really wanted to work with...”
She had the anxious manner of someone down on their luck and desperate for money. Biting her lip and fidgeting with her fingers, she eventually made up her mind and handed over her signed form.
One by one, the others began signing as well, unable to hide their suspicion. Eom Taeyun, whose nose was already thoroughly hooked just like theirs, signed the agreement too.
“Then shall we send the drone in first?”
With a what-the-hell attitude, Eom Taeyun spoke.
“...Let's just go. There's so much snow here, and it's cold.”
“Then we'll escort you in immediately.”
Deputy General Manager Lee Junsu strode toward the abandoned mine entrance without caring about the snow piled ankle-deep around them. They expertly opened the rusty fence gate, then easily removed the folding gate haphazardly blocked by planks and rotten plywood.
“Assistant Manager Ji Younghee?”
“Yes, Deputy General Manager.”
As though she had been waiting, Ji Younghee took portable flashlights from a large bag and handed one to each person. Her bag had looked heavy from the start. Apparently, it was stuffed with all kinds of equipment, from the drone to flashlights.
“The ground is uneven, so watch your step. Just stay close behind me.”
“...”
Not a single person replied.
Furrowing his brow, Eom Taeyun moved his flashlight around and illuminated the mine's interior.
Dark as hell.
He had worried that bats or rats might jump out, or that the place would reek of stale mold, but surprisingly, the air itself was not that musty.
They must have been doing the bare minimum of maintenance.
They walked through the pitch-black rocky passage for several minutes. Just as Eom Taeyun began worrying they had been scammed, a clean mechanical device that did not suit the sinister abandoned mine at all appeared at the end of his flashlight beam.
“Get on. It's a special cargo lifter, so there is plenty of room even with a vehicle onboard.”
“...Hm.”
Eom Taeyun ran his hand along the elevator frame. The flashlight reflected smoothly off its surface, and it appeared brand-new.
If it had been old, he would never have gotten on. But this much seemed worth summoning the courage for.
Clang!
The problem was that, as befitted an industrial freight elevator, it was built with open metal mesh on every side. The inside of the abandoned mine was fully visible beyond the flashlight beams.
Not a single light was on. It felt like a ghost could jump out at any moment. He could hear squeaking sounds every so often too.
I could never come here alone...
Swallowing hard, Eom Taeyun asked just in case.
“...How far down does this go?”
Deputy General Manager Lee Junsu checked the panel and answered calmly.
“Hmm, I understand it goes a little farther down than five hundred meters underground.”
F-five hundred meters?
With anxiety climbing back into his throat, Eom Taeyun repeatedly glanced at his phone screen to see whether he still had a signal.
They descended for several more minutes. Just as the signal bars at the top of Eom Taeyun's phone disappeared completely, he swallowed dryly and seriously considered bolting back to the surface...
Hiss... Boom!
Deputy General Manager Lee Junsu and Assistant Manager Ji Younghee stepped off the lift with perfectly calm expressions. Then they approached a granite wall blocking every direction.
“Researchers, please wait there.”
He had been planning to.
No, if he saw anyone suspicious emerge nearby, he intended to mash the close button and flee back to the surface.
Whirrrr...
But Eom Taeyun's firm resolve stopped the moment what looked like a dead-end wall began opening to either side.
More precisely, he could not hide his shock at the white light pouring from within the opened “wall.”
“...!!!”
He cautiously stuck his head out and looked inside. A pristine corridor stretched on before him, so clean that he could not believe it was inside an abandoned mine. Bright LED lighting was a bonus.
“Now, come in.”
...It really was a secret research facility?
But did people not say that the stain of suspicion did not fade easily?
Still, if they had made an entrance like this, it was only polite to go inside.
It absolutely was not because he could not suppress a scientist's curiosity...
Apparently Eom Taeyun was not the only one who thought so. The other researchers cautiously got off the lift and headed toward Deputy General Manager Lee Junsu.
Two large military Humvees were parked inside the passage.
“Get in.”
“...”
It looked convincing, but the stain of suspicion did not vanish so easily...
However, Eom Taeyun's thoughts stopped completely when they encountered a tunnel stretching more than three kilometers, a military tunnel far larger and sturdier than that tunnel, and the massive door at its end.
“?”
It was far too large to be called a door.
Every researcher's brain, including Eom Taeyun's, froze for a moment.
“Ah, General Kang. Can Gate One be opened? Yes, yes. Please do.”
...General?
Wooooooom...
Beyond that door were cages that appeared to belong to a military facility, enormous soldiers who could have been Space Marines or robots, robotics doctors who had half-lost their minds at the sight and could only gasp, “Huh, huh!”, and another door with the exact same specifications as the one they had just passed.
“...”
Uh.
Ah.
He did not remember much after that.
“The soldiers stationed here are strictly prohibited from speaking with you except during emergencies. Please do not attempt to speak to them.”
“Ah, even if you ask why those people are so tall and monstrously built... I don't know much myself. Haha.”
“This is the research facility. It is where you will work from now on.”
“Astrazen Technology's research facilities specialize across twenty-three different academic fields and possess numerous cutting-edge precision installations, including a large hadron particle accelerator.”
“Ah, you know this equipment? It is a rare device imported from the United States, and there are only four in the entire world...”
“These are your accommodations. This should be enough for one person, right? Feel free to bring your families later when it is convenient. Haha, just kidding. Who would want to live underground forever?”
“When you have a headache, you can take a light walk over there. It's fairly spacious for an underground facility, isn't it?”
“Now then, we will soon proceed with your final interviews with the directors of each research wing...”
H-how, how, how was something like this hidden underground in the mountains of Gangwon Province?
Where had the budget even come from?
Whenever he thought he had been shocked enough, something new appeared. Whenever he started to adjust, something even more astonishing emerged. He could not keep his mind together.
It was obvious just from the dazed expressions on the many researchers, including Eom Taeyun.
Whatever else was true, this was certainly not a facility an ordinary company could construct.
At minimum, it had to have been made in cooperation with international organizations, right? The researchers he occasionally saw all looked foreign, and while Korea was certainly among the developed countries, a facility this enormous could absolutely, definitely, never in a million years have been built by Korea alone.
“...”
He did not know. He had experienced too many dopamine-filled events in a single day for his brain to work properly...
Whatever else, being able to use that research equipment “freely” was completely insane.
Even if he had to pay them money for it, that would have been a bargain, yet they were even going to pay him a salary?
Was this a dream?
Still dazed as he was led around, Eom Taeyun finally realized that his mouth had been hanging open for nearly an hour when he met Margaret, the aerospace research director, who was so vigorous that it was hard to believe Margaret was in their fifties. Honestly, he had thought Margaret was in the late thirties.
“Mr. Eom? Is something wrong?”
“...Ah, no!”
Eom Taeyun sat more tensely than he had when defending his doctoral dissertation, with a posture more polite than ever before.
“Th-the reason I applied is...!”
They said he would not see the outside world for a month if he got hired, but so what?
He had to get this job no matter what!
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