Chapter 154: The Ark of the Golden House (4)

4. How to Reach the Upper Floors

You must use the stairs, without exception.

Elevators that occasionally appear out of nowhere, as well as certain passageways, are traps meant to lure people in, so do not enter them carelessly.

At best, they may send you all the way back down to the lowest floor. At worst, they may never open their doors again.

Su-myeon and his companions continued forward, forcing their way through the water that hindered their every step.

Along the way, they spotted an elevator that seemed almost to be inviting them inside, but they kept walking.

“Generally speaking, it's better not to take an elevator in a situation like this, right?”

Su-myeon nodded at Rachel's question.

“Unless you honestly think there's no other way forward, it's usually better to avoid them.”

After all, there was no way a ghost story would have installed an elevator to the surface out of consideration for its visitors' tired legs.

It wasn't a particularly funny joke, but Rachel gave a faint smile at Su-myeon's remark.

She needed even that kind of idle conversation to keep herself from dwelling on the sinister sounds of the water or the fact that its level had gradually risen to her waist.

“At least we got here pretty quickly.”

Su-myeon shone his flashlight on the stairs ahead and started toward them.

After trudging through the water for so long, the sensation of his thoroughly soaked clothes was unpleasant.

The three of them finally climbed out of the water and were able to catch their breath while wringing out their clothes.

Once Su-myeon had squeezed out most of the water, he opened his inventory and took something out.

It was a gas cylinder he had prepared in advance.

Inside was a highly toxic anesthetic gas.

In small quantities, it produced a powerful anesthetic effect, but excessive exposure could be fatal.

There was an obvious reason he had taken it out at the stairs.

Something here needed to be dealt with.

3-4) Pipes of False Song

Never shine a light on the ceiling while passing through the stairwell.

If you are unlucky enough to illuminate the pipes, all the mouths attached to them will open at once and begin screaming. Prolonged exposure to these screams can cause various psychological disorders, so exercise caution.

At that very moment, dozens of faces were probably melted into the pipes above their heads.

“Considering what they've become, they're practically dead already.”

Su-myeon explained that the best thing they could do was grant them peace by putting them all to death, even if it had to be done this way.

Rachel nodded.

She had to do her best to ignore the droplets of water that kept falling from above.

She had no desire to look up.

Perhaps because the Siren was a ship, most of its monsters had become fused with the vessel's facilities.

Thanks to that, they also tended to remain relatively docile unless provoked under specific conditions.

Su-myeon opened the valve of the high-pressure cylinder filled with toxic gas, allowing it to disperse gradually, and the group quickly moved on.

When they finished climbing the stairs and finally reached the deck where the passenger cabins were located, they found a long row of rooms stretching ahead.

“We'll have to check every cabin, so this part is going to take quite a while.”

Su-myeon spoke while gently rolling his neck to relieve the stiffness that had built up from being so tense.

This was where the real tedious work began, but he didn't consider it the absolute worst thing imaginable.

After all, what Korean gamer hadn't, at least once, gone around opening every single door and drawer just to collect a bunch of insignificant loot?

If he thought of it as more or less the same thing....

'It's still going to be tedious, though.'

Even so, they couldn't afford to leave a single monster behind or overlook any survivors.

“We can't just blow the whole place up like we did with Alice Hotel. There's no helping it.”

Doing something like that to a ship would be a problem if they ended up sinking along with it.

Checking everything one by one was their best option.

As everyone mentally prepared themselves for the long, exhausting task ahead, Han-su opened the nearest door first.

Click—

SPLAAASH—

The moment Han-su opened the door, the blood-filled water inside came pouring straight toward him.

“.......”

“.......”

Su-myeon and Rachel instinctively leaped backward, watching carefully in case something emerged from the bloody water.

But nothing else came out.

The situation had simply become even more disgusting.

Su-myeon struggled to suppress his laughter as he watched Han-su standing there with his eyes tightly shut, holding his breath beneath the blood-soaked water that had drenched him.

'Ah, I'm glad I wasn't the one who opened it.'

“Here, at least rinse your hair and face with this.”

Still fighting back laughter, Su-myeon pulled a large plastic bottle of drinking water from his inventory.

Han-su obediently lowered his head in front of him, and Su-myeon poured the water over him.

Only then could Han-su finally breathe again, muttering under his breath.

“Damn it....”

That was enough to make Su-myeon finally burst into a quiet chuckle.

Had they experienced so many things like this that they simply found them funny now?

Rachel could only blink at Su-myeon and Han-su, who were laughing in a situation that would probably have sent her into a panic.

“Since you're already filthy, why don't you keep opening the doors?”

“......That would probably be best.”

Rachel was bewildered by their exchange, but the two of them proceeded to inspect the cabin that had been filled with bloody water as though nothing unusual had happened.

After confirming that even the bathroom was empty, the group moved on to the next door.

Aside from the surreal metallic stench of blood that had left the floor soaking wet, they continued searching the rooms one by one without much trouble along the dark, echoing corridor.

The other two were so unperturbed that Rachel was able to remain calm herself, without letting fear overwhelm her.

They opened dozens of rooms that way, but the three of them failed to obtain even a single minor item.

The same was true of survivors.

“......I thought that if anyone was still alive, they'd be here....”

These cabins were the sort of place where an ordinary person would feel safest.

But for there to be absolutely no one, even after checking so many rooms....

Were they going to end up finding no survivors at all?

“This is starting to feel a little discouraging.”

“...Can't be helped.”

Han-su answered with an unpleasant expression as the blood covering him gradually began to dry and stiffen.

Every room had a bathroom, so he could have washed himself if he wanted to.

However, neither Su-myeon nor Han-su particularly wanted to use the water here.

After another fruitless search, the group stepped back into the corridor.

“Still, we need to check all the remaining rooms....”

Click—

Su-myeon stopped speaking when he heard a door.

The sound hadn't come from any of them.

After all, the three of them had only just stepped back into the corridor, and they had deliberately left the doors of the rooms they had searched open to avoid confusion.

“......I saw it. The third room on the left just closed.”

Rachel spoke up, displaying the keen observational skills expected of an agent.

Su-myeon immediately headed toward the room she had indicated.

Knock, knock—

After knocking politely, Su-myeon spoke in a low voice.

“Excuse me, are you a survivor? We're government agents sent here to rescue survivors.”

Providing just enough information to establish trust and reassure a victim.

After trying it many times, he had found this to be the most effective way to introduce himself.

Of course, it would never have worked in an unusual place like The Mountain of the Red Cloak.

But when dealing with a small number of people who hadn't formed a larger group, this approach was the most effective.

And just as Su-myeon had expected, a voice came from beyond the door after several seconds of silence.

“D-did you really.... Really...... come to save us? Can you really... really...... get us out of here? Can we leave this place......?”

It was the voice of a man who sounded middle-aged.

Su-myeon asked calmly, trying to persuade him.

“Yes. We're agents from an organization that specializes in dealing with supernatural phenomena like this. Would it be all right if we opened the door?”

But even after hearing Su-myeon's explanation, the man inside continued muttering to himself, sounding hesitant.

Su-myeon frowned slightly and leaned closer, pressing his ear toward the door.

As he listened carefully, the man's muttering became just clear enough to understand.

“What should I do...? What am I supposed to do...? What if they kill Ji-hye...? I could leave by myself... But I want to get out... I want to get out of here, but... I can't leave Ji-hye behind.......”

After barely making out the man's words, Su-myeon squeezed his eyes shut.

Rachel and Han-su looked at him questioningly when they noticed the change in his expression.

Su-myeon clicked his tongue softly and whispered to them.

“Looks like someone with him has turned into a mermaid. Section 3-5.”

Rachel immediately covered her mouth.

***

Back at the Governance office in reality, the employees were working out countermeasures of their own.

“For now, I think the best option is to move everything except the documents approved for disclosure to the fifth floor and tighten security.”

“That sounds like the safest approach. Let's change the security clearance requirements so only the bare minimum number of people can enter for the time being.”

At present, everyone who had been part of the organization since its earliest days, including Hwi-yeon, was authorized to enter.

If they wanted to narrow that down further....

“Let's make it so only two people can get in: Team Leader Lee and Chief Han.”

Ju-hee drastically restricted the list with that single suggestion.

Hwi-yeon nodded in agreement.

After quickly deciding on their countermeasures, the three women hurried back to the office without even having had a proper lunch.

However, the office wasn't empty.

“......Huh? Mr. Ji-hoon, why are you here alone? Are you back already?”

Ji-hoon, who had been sitting at his desk using his phone, answered her question.

“Oh, it turns out Mr. Kurosaki can't eat crab either. So we went to the gukbap restaurant right out front instead.”

Apparently, Kurosaki had said he wanted to try Korean gukbap.

Ju-hee frowned at that, but Ji-hoon continued.

“Then Manager Park said he'd buy him some snacks that are popular in Korea, so they went to that café nearby that sells Dubai chewy cookies.”

'Wait, isn't that trend already over?'

Ji-hoon chuckled, saying that the manager really was something else, but Ju-hee felt grateful that he had managed to buy them some time.

“Looks like he's keeping him occupied for us.”

“Then let's gather the documents first. Everything on Team Leader Kang's desk, Ms. Ju-hee's desk, and mine needs to be moved upstairs.”

Hwi-yeon spoke urgently as she swept up all the documents on her desk and gathered them into her arms.

If they took the time to sort through the materials, Kurosaki might return before they finished.

But if they were too obvious about hiding information, that could also cause trouble if the matter was reported to higher authorities.

Seeing the women rushing around, Ji-hoon helped Ju-hee clear Han-su's desk without even knowing what was going on.

It didn't take them particularly long to gather everything up.

The four of them carried armfuls of documents up to the fifth floor.

All they needed to do was put the materials away, change the security clearance settings, and make sure Mu-yeon and Ryang's existence remained better concealed.

With those two priorities in mind, Hwi-yeon pressed her fingerprint to the scanner and entered the fifth-floor storage room.

However—

“......Manager Park!”

“Oh my God, Manager!”

The four of them saw Du-pal lying collapsed inside.

They threw down their documents and rushed toward him.

Hwi-yeon hurriedly checked his pulse.

Although it was somewhat slow, his heart was definitely still beating.

“What on earth...?”

Ji-hoon quickly tried to lift him onto his back, but Du-pal was a large, well-built man, and getting him up wasn't [N O V E L I G H T] easy.

In the end, Mi-ae and Ju-hee joined in, helping Ji-hoon hoist him onto his back and supporting him from either side.

“First, call 119...!”

Of all times, the Governance's entire medical team happened to be away.

They couldn't allow outsiders into this part of the building, so they would have to get Du-pal to the elevator first.

While the three of them struggled to move him, Hwi-yeon hurriedly examined the storage room.

Her gaze swept the room, searching for anything that might be missing.

Then her eyes stopped on one particular spot, and Hwi-yeon instinctively covered her mouth.

“We're... in serious trouble.......”

Only one thing was missing.

Su-myeon's computer.