NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Transferred Like a Dog (2)
“Code D-End issued, this is a real situation.
As of this moment, for your safety, please move to the emergency evacuation area and remain there.
Do not leave the emergency evacuation area under any circumstances.
Once again, Code D-End has occurred……”
The voice from the announcement woke me up.
Even though it was drowned out by the loud siren, it was still clear.
I slowly raised my body.
“Code D-End issued, this is a real situation……”
Emergency codes were used at the Paranormal Research Facility when an emergency or public notice occurred.
The situation was classified using three words: Non-Safe, Disaster, and D-End.
Usually, emergency codes were issued when a Phantom Species escaped from an isolation room, or when an accident occurred during research, leading to an emergency disaster.
If the situation was life-threatening for the staff, Non-Safe was issued.
If the research facility itself was at risk of collapse, Disaster was issued.
If the situation posed a threat to the nation or the world, D-End was issued.
Code D-End.
Did that mean a situation had arisen that threatened not just the Paranormal Research Facility, but the entire nation?
“What the hell was that just now……”
The mysterious darkness that swallowed me like a black hole had consumed everything.
What on earth was happening?
As I looked around, my eyes widened in shock.
All the isolation room doors were open.
The Phantom Species that were supposed to be inside had all vanished like ghosts.
Seeing the empty, stark-white isolation rooms left my mind blank.
Researchers were sprawled across the floor.
There were no visible wounds, and no traces of blood, but without exception, they were no longer breathing.
I staggered through the corpses, their dead eyes staring lifelessly like rotting fish.
“Code D-End issued, this is a real situation……”
Rationality returned far too quickly.
I stopped walking aimlessly.
Naram noona, was she alive?
“No, she must be alive.”
The corpses lying at my feet reinforced the theory that she might be dead, but I refused to give up hope.
Naram noona had always been lucky.
She once won second place in the lottery, had been selected in prize draws, and even found an egg with two yolks more often than most people.
Maybe she was outside the range of this disaster, and she managed to escape unharmed.
Even amid this anomaly, Veritas was functioning properly.
With a sliver of hope, I sent a message to Naram noona.
0_4_138 Woo Seo-ho ▶ 「Noona, where are you? If you’re alive, please reply.」
There was no response.
“……”
But my thoughts remained unchanged.
If noona had really been caught in this anomaly and lost her life, I would probably collapse right here.
I quickened my pace.
Aside from experiments, noona usually worked in Zone 0 doing administrative tasks.
Her workspace was close to the emergency evacuation area.
If she was alive, she was most likely there.
As I passed through Zone S, I took in the countless bodies of staff members.
They looked as if they had lost their souls—silent, tranquil, and still.
None of the familiar faces were among them.
For a moment, my steps felt lighter, then they became heavier.
Despite the many corpses around me, I felt no grief.
To me, death was as common as the countless versions of myself that had piled up in the past.
This wasn’t a normal reaction.
Even I could feel that something within me was missing.
Feeling the cold stillness in my chest, I kept walking forward.
To reach Zone 0 from Zone S, I had to go through Zone H.
Zone H contained isolation rooms for hostile Phantom Species classified as hazardous, like H-I-01.
Since all the isolation room doors in Zone S were open, it was highly likely the same was true for Zone H.
With the whereabouts of the escaped Phantom Species unknown, I had to be extremely cautious.
And, as expected—
“Hello.”
The statue that had snapped my neck just yesterday was blocking the passage.
Not exactly a welcome sight.
Neutralizing H-I-01 was simple.
When within its range, I just had to hold my breath.
After countless cleaning sessions inside its isolation room, I was neither afraid nor nervous.
I held my breath and moved forward.
Even as I approached it, my mind was occupied only with thoughts of Naram noona.
As I was about to pass by the Phantom Species, which looked like a carefully sculpted Greek statue—
My neck snapped in an instant with a sickening crunch.
The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the bloodstained statue.
***
“Huaahk!”
I jolted upright in a place filled with the corpses of researchers.
On a nearby pillar, the words “S-AREA” were inscribed.
Cold sweat trickled down my back, and my heart pounded violently.
“Did I die?”
I had thought that no death could ever terrify me—only cause me pain.
But I was feeling fear.
It was an unexpected, sudden death.
The sensation of H-I-01 gripping me and the pain still lingered vividly.
Why did my neck snap?
I was certain that I hadn’t been breathing.
I stood still for a long while, waiting for my racing heart to calm down.
For the first time in ages, I felt fear from death.
Since my first death, the sense of survival had faded, but now it was etched into my heart again.
“Hoo.”
As my breathing returned to normal, I slumped to the ground, repeatedly getting up and sitting back down.
It seemed I was still human.
I never expected that returning to where H-I-01 was would be this terrifying.
After a considerable amount of time, curiosity overcame fear.
Heading back to the corridor, I saw my corpse lying on the floor and H-I-01 standing idly in the same place, bloodstained.
When the Paranormal Research Facility was first established, its founder, Jung Yong-jin, discovered that each Phantom Species had its own unique ‘rule.’
Phantom Species only acted within their established rules and never broke them.
That truth had remained unchanged for years.
H-I-01’s rule was to snap the necks of living beings that breathed.
Yet, it had just broken its own rule.
“……”
Right now, I had two choices.
I could take on the unpredictable H-I-01 head-on.
Or, I could wait for the trained Grade 2 agents to arrive.
Since Code D-End had been issued, they would surely reach the Paranormal Research Facility soon.
Veritas vibrated.
0_1_100 Kang Naram ▶ 「Seo-ho…」
It was Naram noona.
0_1_100 Kang Naram ▶ 「What is going on right now…? I’m so confused…」
0_1_100 Kang Naram ▶ 「Everyone around me is dead… I’m in the emergency evacuation area, but what should I do? The doors suddenly locked, and I can’t get out… I have no idea what’s happening outside…」
0_1_100 Kang Naram ▶ 「I’m really scared… Seo-ho, you’re okay, right…? Everyone else is okay too, right…?」
One of my choices had just disappeared.
0_4_138 Woo Seo-ho ▶ 「I’ll be there soon.」
I took a deep breath.
Right now, the only person who could reassure Naram noona was neither Director Jung Yong-jin, nor Eighteen, nor the Grade 2 agents.
It was me.
Naram noona needed me.
So, I had to go.
I grabbed a secret weapon that had been propped up next to the cleaning supply cabinet.
A tool with a curved end, designed to grip the head of a nail and remove it using leverage.
Commonly known as a crowbar.
Holding my breath, I stepped forward and swung the crowbar at H-I-01’s head.
Upon being struck, H-I-01 broke its rule and responded immediately.
My neck snapped with a crack.
The letters "S-AREA" were etched onto the pillar in my blurred vision.
I stood up again.
Once more, I approached H-I-01, struck it with the crowbar, and my neck snapped.
I repeated the process mechanically, over and over.
Unlike before, my heart remained eerily silent.
Death could never stop me.
For someone who resurrected endlessly, death was nothing more than pain and an obstacle.
Humans fear the unknown, and that is why death is terrifying.
It is the one true end that all people share, an incomprehensible void.
But the shroud of mystery around death had already lifted for me, and the darkness that enveloped it was merely a new beginning.
I understood death.
And because I understood it, I knew its value.
All my countless deaths must have been worth far less than the kind smile of the gentle woman who once extended a hand to me, someone despised and avoided by all.
The corridor was littered with corpses, each one wearing my face.
As the bodies piled up, cracks began to form in H-I-01’s hardened exterior.
The creature, once as still as a calm lake, began to tremble.
The larger the cracks grew, the more violently it shook.
Like a frightened child, H-I-01 trembled, its gaze shifting away from me and toward the many deaths surrounding it.
Death was fair to everyone—except for me, Woo Seo-ho.
Even Phantom Species, wielding incomprehensible powers, could not escape it.
After countless resurrections, the plaster finally crumbled.
H-I-01, its soft inner flesh exposed, stared at me with hollow eye sockets.
If one were to sculpt a shadow into three dimensions, it might look like this.
“Ah… Aaaah…”
The shadow greeted me in a ghastly voice, like nails screeching against a chalkboard.
“Hello.”
H-I-01 could no longer snap my neck.
Splat!
It felt like striking soft jelly.
I looked down at the dead Phantom Species.
‘Disgusting monster.’
Setting aside my revulsion, the researchers’ assessment was accurate.
Anyone who saw the corridor filled with my corpses would never consider me human.
Drip, drip.
Warm liquid trickled from the corner of my mouth.
◆System: Would you like to absorb the Phantom Species [H-X-01] Neck-Snapping Statue?
If I were to make a confession, there was one secret I had kept from everyone.
Naram noona, Eighteen, and the researchers all believed my only ability was resurrection.
But the truth was different.
I was an unknown lifeform that could absorb Phantom Species and make their abilities my own.
A secret known only to me and Director Jung Yong-jin, beyond even the understanding of Paranormal Research Facility’s advanced science.
With most of the researchers dead, was there even a point in hiding it anymore?
I opened my mouth wide and devoured the corpse of H-X-01.
◆System: The trait ‘Neck-Snapping’ has been activated.
I felt full.
Reading the new hologram could wait.
Right now, my priority was noona.
I kicked off the ground and sprinted forward.