Surviving as an Office Worker in Monster Management Bureau

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– rustle!

I step into the crumbled wall, the sound of stone fragments breaking beneath my feet.

“What on earth happened here?”

Yu Da On looks around with a puzzled expression.

I recall the black hole I saw earlier.

The ability to shift time, and the collapsed Management Agency building.

“If my reasoning is correct, we might have come to the future… or the past…? Or maybe another timeline…?”

“Could it really be that? We’ve certainly experienced many things we can’t explain with words.”

“But for it to be the distant future or the old past, the buildings and their internal layouts are too similar to our current era.”

I survey the surrounding buildings.

Structures that bear no difference from the times we live in. Even the sundae soup restaurant across from the Management Agency stands with the same sign.

“You’re right. So, should we consider this a different timeline?”

Yu Da On nods and begins walking.

The ruined first-floor corridor greets us.

“I was so shocked on my first day here.”

As Yu Da On walks, she continues speaking.

“People died as soon as we entered, we ran around with the Team Leader, then went underground, and that’s where we met Kim Jae Heon.”

“It was definitely a day I can’t forget.”

It was a day where I was straddled between the ordinary and the extraordinary, and then plunged into a completely unusual reality.

“Is there a way back?”

“There has to be.”

If there’s an entrance, there must be an exit. It’s just that I might not be able to find it.

“Since the Main Management Agency has become like this, we need to find some usable items inside.”

I recall the day I met the Gangseo Branch Chief.

When she knocked twice on the desk with a pen, the door opened.

In the basement headquarters, there might be useful items to find.

“Should we head to the Branch Chief’s Office first?”

“Uh, not the Basement Isolation Room?”

“If the isolation wasn’t properly conducted there, it’d be nothing but a dead end.”

I imagine dozens of containment objects like the Dream of the Butterfly roaming around…

We shouldn’t go there.

I lead Yu Da On toward the elevator.

Contrary to the desolate and crumbled interior, the elevator still had lights on and was functioning.

“Let’s take this up.”

“Isn’t it dangerous?”

“…”

I glance at the side of the elevator.

There was a sign that read [Emergency Exit].

“Oh, there are stairs.”

Yu Da On mumbles as she peers through the door.

“Shall we take this? If the elevator collapses, it’d be a huge deal.”

“…”

Did the Management Agency have an emergency exit?

I pull out the manual and unfold it.

[Manual for Office Staff]

[B – Emergency Stairs]

1. The Management Agency does not have emergency stairs. All movement must take place through the elevators, and if you discover emergency stairs, you must never enter.

2. Should you happen to enter the emergency stairs, close your eyes and huddle in the corner. The Security Team will come to assist you.

3. If you must escape on your own, do not go down. Keep moving upward until you can see an exit.

“Let’s take the elevator.”

“Huh? If Kim Jae Heon said it like that…”

Yu Da On nods and presses the button for the elevator.

With a cheerful bell sound, the elevator doors open.

“Where should we go?”

When I press the button for the floor where the Branch Chief’s Office is, we start rising with a clunk.

“By the way, what’s the Branch Chief like?”

“The Branch Chief?”

Right, how should I explain?

“She’s kind of mysterious?”

“Mysterious?”

“She tends to hide her information well, I guess.”

Even after looking twice, I still know little about her.

“But she must be really strong.”

I wonder if I should say that she might never lose as long as that Branch Chief has her health.

If she’s strong enough to handle something like that, what kind of situation did she encounter?

As the elevator doors open, a wide corridor appears.

The Branch Chief’s Office, which should have been closed, stands wide open, and unlike the first floor, there are dried bloodstains scattered everywhere.

“There seems to have been a fight…”

“…”

I cautiously step inside.

No one was around. Just bloodstains strewn about.

No corpses in sight, only blood.

“Da On, do you smell anything?”

“Smell?”

Yu Da On closes her eyes and sniffs.

“No, I don’t smell anything. Just a bit of blood, but Kim Jae Heon, do you see anything?”

“Nothing.”

If there’s nothing visible or smelling, we should be safe to enter.

I pick up a pen off the desk and tap it twice on the tabletop.

– clatter!

The middle of the desk splits, revealing a staircase, causing Yu Da On’s eyes to widen in surprise.

“Did you know about this too?”

“I saw it once last time.”

“…You must be a bit close.”

Yu Da On murmurs.

“We’ve only met twice; what kind of closeness is that?”

If meeting twice made us friends, I would have been a recreational instructor rather than an office worker at the Management Agency.

As I walk down the stairs, I find the iron doors I had seen last time lined up in a row.

“Wow…!”

Yu Da On exclaims in amazement while surveying the surroundings until her gaze stops at one side.

“Kim Jae Heon.”

“Yes?”

“Was that door originally open?”

“…It shouldn’t be open.”

The doorknob that had been closed when I met the Gangseo Branch Chief is now open.

[Name: Iron Door]

[Age: X]

[Specialty: X]

[Ability: Selection]

[Background: The door has opened for the last hope of humanity.]

[Vulnerability: -]

I recall the words I saw before.

[If the time comes, the door will open for humanity's last hope.]

[If that day arrives, the door will open automatically.]

The fact that the door opened automatically suggests that,

“It might already be too late.”

“What?”

“Perhaps humanity here has already perished.”

If the door for humanity’s last hope has opened, it means humanity’s fate has run its course enough to rely upon that last hope.

Could the one who entered here have found hope?

What kind of device was set up as a last resort at the Management Agency?

If it’s been this heavily secured, it must be of significant help to us as well.

“Let’s go in.”

I stride forward.

As I enter, the pungent, metallic smell becomes stronger, and Yu Da On sticks close to my side and whispers.

“Kim Jae Heon, it’s the smell of blood.”

“I know.”

“Something’s here. …This is…”

Sniffing with her eyes closed, Yu Da On murmurs.

“It’s a sweet smell…?”

A sweet smell.

Yu Da On’s eyes widen as she looks at me, and we both exchange glances.

“Dream of the Butterfly.”

“Chrysalis.”

As our words finish, a dragging sound begins to echo.

“We need to run now!”

I start searching my pockets, and this time I grab a handgun.

I had acquired two Critical earlier when the summer night dream and just a moment ago. Under normal circumstances, it shouldn’t be a major issue—

While preparing to escape, I step back slowly, and Yu Da On suddenly stops in her tracks.

Her body stiffens as she mutters in a dazed voice.

“…Me?”

It was Yu Da On.

Or rather, I should say it looked like Yu Da On.

While her face resembled Yu Da On’s, scales and other things were embedded in her, and she was muttering incomprehensible words.

Wearing a suit that was so torn it looked like rags, her lower half was already transformed into that of a butterfly.

Naturally, the vision of a translucent window comes to mind.

[Name: Dream of the Butterfly (Complete)]

[Age: Created one year ago]

[Characteristics: Immortal]

[Ability: Domination]

[Background: On her first day, the man who walked with her died. Constant parasitism over the past year destroyed her mind, leaving only her body to endure endless suffering.]

[Vulnerability: Think of where you are sent in time, and decisively conclude to close the future.]

“…Ugh…”

Seeing herself, Yu Da On covers her mouth and starts to retch.

This was the first display of disgust from someone who usually remains calm and collected.

“Da On!”

“I… look like that…”

“Da On!”

“…I’m fine.”

Yu Da On stares at herself while trying to cover her mouth.

“What should we do?”

“…”

“…Should we run away…?”

Shoot a non-dying enemy that looks just like my colleague?

That… no. Yu Da On’s face was looking at me, and a glimmer of light returned to her usually dazed eyes.

“…”

It begins to speak something.

“…”

Die,

“…”

Human,

“…”

Give.

My feet wouldn’t move.

And at that moment, countless monsters appeared behind her.

Where there should have been eyes and a nose, there was nothing, with abnormally long arms and nails.

I swiftly pulled out my handgun and aimed for her forehead, firing.

– Ping!

As if expecting it, the bullet ricocheted off her forehead.

“Da On!”

They lunged toward Yu Da On and me simultaneously, and I quickly turned around, shouting at Yu Da On.

[Chronos’ Shield: 1.5 seconds]

Yu Da On leaped in front, spreading her arms as a translucent barrier appeared, halting all the monsters, and I had to choose as well.

Bring it to a decisive conclusion.

Could that possibly be the weakness of the Complete Dream of the Butterfly?

It most likely wasn’t.

I jumped forward and took aim with my gun.

[Critical: 2 -> 1]

Critical is ultimately a technique that deals fatal damage to everything.

So, it should inflict significant damage on that as well.

The world turns black and white, slowing down.

My eyes fixate on the monster that was Yu Da On, or perhaps on Yu Da On herself, and I think,

“…Huh…?”

In every corner, I could see no red marks.

[Critical: 1 -> 2]

Simultaneously, Critical begins to build up again, and the world returns to normal.

“What is this…?”

She had no weakness.