NoveLight ™
The Fourth Attempt
[User: Han Kain ("Wisdom")
Date: Day 23
Current Location: Tier 1, Room 101 (Room of Curses – Media of Distorted Logic)
Sage's Advice: 3]
Bang!
Exploring the upper floors was far easier than searching the basement.
Bang!
It was incredibly convenient just to shoot everything in sight. With a gun I got from Songyi, I kept shooting as we advanced, and oddly enough, my aim was improving with practice.
I paused briefly to recharge my blood.
From this incident, we learned that we didn’t need to draw blood from ourselves to reload the pistol’s magazine. The broadcasting station was full of corpses, and the blood overflowed everywhere.
“Oh my! My dearest—”
Bang!
“…”
“Elena, it’s—”
Bang!
“…”
Apparently, since this was a broadcasting station, Elena occasionally encountered people she seemed to know. But they weren’t real people. In fact, anyone who recognized Elena and approached her posed an even greater danger.
We had no choice but to shoot everything as we passed, and while Elena flinched, she didn’t stop us.
Shooting everything that moves was one thing, but where should we even start exploring?
“Elena, do you have any idea where we should search in ABS?”
“Rather than relying on my knowledge of the station, it feels like the hints are in the information you’ve already uncovered, Kain.”
“Information I found?”
“Didn’t you discover the ‘Warnings’ in the security room downstairs? There might be something similar on the upper floors.”
Warnings? Could they exist upstairs as well?
… Come to think of it, who even created those “Warnings” in the first place?
We moved to the second floor and headed toward the offices. Had most of the people descended and died during the chaos on the first floor? The office was empty.
Inside the office, I found laminated sheets with the “Warnings” posted on the wall:
“The warnings really do exist upstairs. Let’s do what we did before—violate them one by one and confirm the results.”
As I turned to leave, Songyi grabbed my arm.
“Kain oppa.”
“Hm?”
“Do we really need to do it ourselves? You mentioned that turning back on the stairs earlier caused a monster to appear. This time, it feels like there might be a similar risk.”
I understood what she meant. During the basement search, I was alone, but the upper floors were crawling with employees besides us.
Did we really need to risk ourselves?
Elena nodded in agreement.
“Songyi’s right! There are plenty of cameras here. Let’s just ‘ask’ an employee to conduct the tests for us while recording everything. We can monitor from a tablet connected to the cameras.”
The Elena who flinched earlier when I shot station employees was gone, replaced by someone fully endorsing the idea of using those same employees as sacrificial pawns.
It wasn’t a bad idea, though.
After about 30 minutes of fiddling, we connected the cameras in the office to a tablet.
Now, all we needed was an employee willing to venture into dangerous areas for us.
“How should we convince someone? Threaten them with a gun?”
“Oppa, in a world where people laugh off death, do you really think their lives are a bargaining chip?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
Guided by Elena, we headed up to the 4th floor. Unlike Songyi and me, Elena moved confidently, as if she’d been here several times before.
Had the chaos on the first floor not reached the 4th? The floor was bustling with people. Should I just shoot indiscriminately? But we also needed someone to do the task.
“Kain, shoot everyone except the person I point out. The ones you see now? Feel free to kill them.”
I shot about four people at random.
At this point, it no longer surprised me that the employees didn’t run away or panic at the sight of their colleagues being shot. Instead, they seemed entertained, as if watching a show.
Then, Elena grabbed my arm.
“Don’t shoot the next one. Songyi?”
“Yes?”
“Use your mental suppression on me now.”
As the bracelet glowed, Elena stepped forward and started conversing with a man who had just emerged from the hallway.
Three seconds into their conversation, I could tell.
From the context, it was clear that this employee… had feelings for Elena.
Well, everyone experiences unrequited love at least once.
I wasn’t sure what Elena said to him, but he followed us out with a flushed expression, unable to hide his excitement.
In the hallway, Elena attached one of the cameras we had prepared to the man.
“Alright, Mr. Jinwook! Could you head to the elevator for us?”
“Of course, Elena! By the way, could I ask what exactly you’re preparing?”
“Oh my! Where’s the fun in knowing beforehand?”
Elena’s “preparation” was probably a one-way ticket to hell.
“Haha! I must be so short-sighted.”
After Jinwook entered the elevator alone, we decided to test Warning #1: “Only press one floor button at a time.”
“Mr. Jinwook! Could you press both the 3rd and 4th-floor buttons simultaneously?”
The moment Elena gave the instruction, Jinwook froze.
…
“Mr. Jinwook?”
“WhatdoyoumeanmadamIcan’texplainel-eva-torsarerestrict—”
Suddenly, he began speaking at a rapid, breathless pace. “Madam”?
The man, who had been spouting nonsense, paused to catch his breath and continued.
“Thinking about it, Miss Elena, you seem unfamiliar with the station’s warnings. Under no circumstances should you press multiple floor buttons at once. Our superior has strictly forbidden it.”
“Mr. Jinwook, who exactly is this ‘superior’ you’re referring to?”
…
Instead of answering, he started trembling uncontrollably.
Then, he ripped his clothes and began thrashing about madly before bolting out of the elevator.
Bang!
We must have tampered with something we should never have touched.
For a moment, silence settled among us.
“Elena unnie, do you have anyone else you can bring out like that?”
“There are plenty. But it seems like the employees are bound by some kind of restriction that prevents them from breaking the ‘Warnings.’”
“Just bring someone else. This time, I’ll try deceiving them myself.”
Through a similar process, we brought out another man.
...Just how many broadcasting station employees has Elena seduced? She said she was an aspiring actress, and honestly, with her charisma, she would’ve been a rising star in no time if this were reality.
This time, we didn’t mention breaking any warnings.
Instead, we pre-pressed one elevator button ourselves and then sent the employee inside. Deceived by Songyi’s bracelet, the employee unhesitatingly pressed another button.
As the elevator doors closed, we quickly switched to the tablet to monitor the camera feed.
The inside of the elevator turned pitch black.
Realizing something was wrong, the employee suddenly dropped to his knees, wailing.
“I-I’m so sorry! Sir! Director! I’m sorry! It was a mistake! This stupid fool made a mistake!”
Suddenly, the man began violently smashing his body against the elevator walls.
The camera broke in an instant. Just before the connection was severed, we caught sight of multiple white shapes emerging near the elevator doors.
“Should we try again?”
“Let’s bring someone else. We’ll adjust the camera position this time.”
From then on, we systematically violated the warnings to see what would happen.
Warning 1: Only press one floor button in the elevator at a time.
“It seems like the elevator stops in a place filled with nurse-like monsters.”
“From the video, you can see other rooms in the distance. The monsters don’t kill the employee immediately—they seem to drag them somewhere.”
“What do you think they do to them?”
“…”
Warning 2: There is no ‘missing floor’ between the 4th and 5th floors. If you encounter a strange floor, exit immediately.
“This one is truly bizarre. Going down or up normally doesn’t seem to trigger anything.”
“But after repeating the process a few times, a missing floor suddenly appears.”
“What is this floor exactly? Elena, do you know anything about it?”
“There’s definitely no such strange floor in the broadcasting station.”
“Could it be another part of the ‘hospital’?”
“It’s such a strange space. Completely empty, very vast. And the employee just kneels there, apologizing profusely for who knows what.”
“What’s that over there, in the corner on the right?”
“That… is an enormous eyeball.”
The massive eye wasn’t watching the employee. It was staring at us, directly through the camera.
Feeling deeply unsettled, we immediately disconnected from that camera.
“Things are getting more and more horrifying.”
“Let’s move on, oppa.”
Warning 3: Always knock before entering the restroom on the 6th floor.
“Ah, shit! Sorry, that just startled me.”
“It’s eating their arm, isn’t it?”
“You’re disturbingly calm about this, Elena.”
“Watching through the tablet makes it feel like a movie.”
“If you knock and enter, it seems like a person simply appears and leaves. But if you enter without knocking, a flesh-eating monster comes out. Let’s keep that in mind. Onto the last warning.”
Warning 4: Never go to the rooftop.
“Songyi?”
“Wait a moment.”
…
“Is something wrong?”
…
It was strange. Songyi, who had always been able to easily control people’s movements with her bracelet, couldn’t seem to make the employees head to the rooftop.
No matter what Songyi tried, the employees with the cameras would only linger near the door leading to the rooftop on the top floor. None of them ever opened the door.
“This is weird.”
“What exactly does it feel like?”
“It’s like they’re incapable of recognizing the rooftop door. It feels familiar somehow…”
“Familiar?”
“It’s the same feeling I had when I tried to use the bracelet on unnie before. Back when ‘Athanasia’ was controlling her, no matter what I did, I couldn’t override her influence.”
“What did you do to me back then?”
“…”
Songyi didn’t answer. Why was Elena even asking about that now?
“I think I understand. Just like Athanasia had a stronger influence over you back then, something here is preventing us from reaching the rooftop.”
“What should we do?”
“If it’s hidden this well, we absolutely need to see it for ourselves. Let’s go up there ourselves.”
After killing off the remaining employees, we decided to head to the rooftop ourselves.
Standing before the rooftop door, the three of us froze.
We didn’t say it out loud, but we all understood the situation.
What had happened to those who broke the previous warnings?
The employee who pressed two elevator buttons simultaneously was dragged to a hellish hospital filled with nurse monsters.
The one who entered the missing floor between the 4th and 5th floors crumbled after encountering the enormous eyeball.
The one who entered the 6th-floor restroom without knocking was devoured.
…
The rooftop would undoubtedly be another horrific place. And now we were about to step into it ourselves.
“Kain.”
“Yes?”
“When we go in, if it feels like we’re about to die…”
“…I’ll make it quick. It’s better if the three of us die by gunshot.”
“Count me in.”
“Alright. If we keep talking like this, we’ll never go in. Let’s just do it.”
After reassuring each other that, if necessary, we’d shoot each other to avoid worse fates, we opened the door to the rooftop.