A dark, bronze-hued mansion.

I silently walked behind Supervisor Park Minseong.

The supervisor, who had achieved the crazy feat of "disguising himself as a guide robot to fool other machines and rescue a poor new employee," evaluated his own actions like this.

“Their AI didn’t seem particularly advanced. Maybe about as smart as a Roomba? So I figured I could fool it for a bit!”

Although that machine didn’t seem all that dumb to me, I was nonetheless immensely grateful and moved to tears that his timing had saved me.

“But, uh, how did you manage to become a guide robot…?”

“Oh! My special equipment.”

Supervisor Park grinned as he showed me a piece of cloth hanging around his neck.

Ah!

I recalled the description he once gave about his personal equipment.

– "Mine’s a camouflage item. It can’t transform me into a person, and its duration is short. I just use it as a last-ditch effort when things get dicey."

Until now, I had only heard about such items where they were useless or ineffective in ghost stories. Finally, I was seeing it in person.

“In limited situations, it’s pretty handy, huh?”

I almost wanted to borrow it as a parent seed and spend money crafting new gear of my own.

But of course, that wasn’t the immediate priority!

“Great. Whew. Since we’ve even found you, Roe, let’s hurry up and get out of this insane place.”

“Does that mean you’ve found a way out?”

“...”

Supervisor Park didn’t answer and just smiled.

‘He must have something up his sleeve.’

I decided to follow him quickly for now.

“This way.”

We climbed up the stairs from the basement level.

Not long after, the surroundings took on a yellowish hue, transitioning from bronze to brass-colored light, revealing a massive corridor.

‘It’s the ground floor.’

That alone could have been reassuring, but…

The first floor was in utter chaos.

“Ahhhhhh!”

“Mmph! Uuurrgh!”

“M-My ear! My EAR!”

Screams echoed from all directions.

‘So two hours have passed.’

It seemed the employees who had been hiding were now getting caught by the guide robots, and, like me earlier, are losing other body parts…

“…”

Supervisor Park didn’t even glance toward the corners where the screams were coming from and kept moving.

“Roe, don’t turn your head.”

“…”

The veins on his hands bulged as he clenched his fists.

“It’s tough, but right now we’re barely managing to keep ourselves alive. If you want to keep racking up points… you’ll also have to learn to let go.”

“…”

Suddenly, I recalled a moment from the talk show when the supervisor had resigned himself to survival.

– "…I have a family member in the hospital. If anyone can check on them when this filming ends, I’d appreciate it. If possible."

Somehow, I felt I understood how this seemingly kind-hearted supervisor was enduring in this place.

At any rate, I didn’t argue.

Before long, the supervisor seemed to have safely reached his intended destination.

And that place was…

“We’re here.”

“…”

A window.

It was the opaque glass window that Go Yeongeun had struggled so hard to open earlier.

‘Don’t tell me we’re escaping through there?’

However, instead of struggling to pry open the window, the supervisor simply raised a hand and lightly knocked.

Knock—knock, knock knock.

At that, the window creaked open.

“…?!”

No, it didn’t just open.

The entire pane slid down to the floor. This was…

‘…a terrace door!’

So it wasn’t even a window in the first place!

‘Is that why the exploration logs said…?’

-------------------------------

The 19th entry is a testimony of a visitor who attempted to exit through a window but has been omitted due to credibility issues.

This exhibition does not have windows.

-------------------------------

What I had assumed was just typical ghost story phrasing turned out to be true—there really weren’t any windows.

“Let’s go in.”

“Yes.”

But there was no time to be surprised. I immediately stepped outside through the now-open terrace door. A small hexagonal terrace space with a long sofa and table came into view.

However, the view beyond the terrace was shrouded in thick black fog, as if we were not permitted to see what lay beyond.

Click.

As Supervisor Park closed the terrace door while scanning the surroundings, a person sitting on the sofa stood up and tapped me on the shoulder.

“I knew you’d make it.”

“Deputy Manager.”

It was Deputy Manager Eun Hajae.

And standing next to him, meeting my gaze with calm vertical pupils, was our Lizard Manager.

“Our Team Leader suggested expanding the search radius when you weren’t nearby, and look, you really did come up from the basement.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Did you deliberately head to that eerie basement to look for an exit? That’s so like you.”

I glanced back at Supervisor Park.

In a situation with no information about the floors, he had taken the bold step of going down to the ominous basement. Only now did I fully realize how courageous that decision had been.

‘Thank you so much…’

Thanks to him, I kept my eyes intact.

But seriously…

“How exactly did you manage to open this? Someone else said they tried repeatedly but failed.”

“? I opened it by hand.”

“…”

Of course you did.

‘When your body fails, your brain suffers instead…’

Now that I looked closely, the terrace door handle seemed loose and wobbly.

If the guide spotted this, wouldn’t it be horrifying?

However, the Team D superiors, accustomed to their leader’s knack for creating unique solutions, calmly began a meeting instead.

“Well, now that all our members are here… Shall we attempt an escape, Team Leader?”

“Yes.”

“…Do you have a viable escape method?”

“Yes.”

“…May I ask what kind of method it is?”

The lizard manager answered succinctly, 

“We’ll tie a rope to the terrace railing and explore the exterior wall of this exhibition space.”

“….”

Excuse me?

“From the outside, there must be a floor with a main entrance. We’ll exit through there.”

Well, that’s… something.

“I see.”

I might have been intrigued if this cursed mansion didn’t have 7000 floors underground.

And if there weren’t an easier way to escape with the item in my briefcase.

‘I could use this to get out.’

Thinking about the candle that was likely setting by now, I raised my hand.

“Just a moment, please.”

If I show them the actual item while explaining, I might be able to convince them.

Just need to stall a bit until it’s ready.

And perhaps, save some lives in the process.

“I was with two other new hires before we got separated. They should still be nearby. If you give me some time, I’ll go out and look for them…”

“……”

“……”

Ah.

“Roe,” said Deputy Manager Eun Hajae, her tone calm.

“There are only three rookies here, including you.”

“……”

“They recruited a few high-performing staff and threw them in here. But even those guys must know… they were just filling numbers.”

“Senior—”

“Quiet.”

The deputy manager silenced the supervisor and continued.

“You remember lunch, right? The higher-ups in the meeting room. Those bird-brained idiots are probably hoping this is an A-Grade anomaly.”

I remembered.

— “I’m telling you, it’s confirmed to be a high-grade darkness, but there are civilian survivors! This could revolutionize our high-quality resource procurement!”

“So, they’re thrilled at the thought of the survival rate being the highest among A-Grade darknesses. A-grade dream essence is always out of stock, after all.”

“……”

“New hires? They put all of you in here assuming everyone could die and be written off as an expense.”

Opening the A-grade manual and securing a dried-up source of the finest materials is more profitable.

Field exploration teams do get higher life insurance payouts the longer they survive, but in the end, they’re just expendable.

They pale in comparison to more valuable resources.

“Remember this: The further up in ranks someone is, the less they value human life.”

Deputy Manager Eun sighed as she pocketed her cigarette.

“So just focus on keeping yourself alive.”

“……”

“We don’t have time. Let’s get moving. Sympathy will only make things harder for you.”

I barely managed to speak.

“That’s not what this is about.”

“You’re a good kid. Sure, if you’re lucky, maybe they’ll…”

“One of the new hires have the escape item!”

“…?!”

That was, of course, a lie.

“There’s no need to take risks climbing down a rope without knowing what’s outside.”

But this much was absolutely true!

“With that item, we can safely escape from here.”

* * *

I headed back to the first basement floor.

My legs were trembling at the thought of moving around here alone, but the clear goal dulled my fear slightly.

Find my colleagues.

“I’m giving you 20 minutes. If you can’t find them by then, you’re coming back.”

The lie I spun about a game-changing escape item my fellow new hires ‘supposedly had’ worked, more or less.

The time they gave me was short, but it was doable.

‘They couldn’t have gone far.’

When humans experience shock, their mobility decreases. Most likely, they’d look for somewhere to hide and recover their mental state.

And I’d even given them a hint before.

About where to hide.

‘The vents.’

And at the seven-minute mark of my search, I found a colleague crammed into a duct along the outer corridor of the first basement.

It was Baek Saheon.

“……”

“……”

“Hey.”

Baek Saheon avoided my gaze.

“You want to get out of here?”

He gave me a very suspicious look but eventually nodded.

“Then tell me where Goral is.”

This sounded oddly like a threat to snitch on a fellow captive, but…

“She went into the left exhibition hall. Probably hiding behind the sofa or something!”

“……”

Without hesitation, he spilled her location. Some comrade he is.

In any case, I successfully found Go Yeongeun after that.

By this point, 14 minutes had passed.

“Roe Deer…! Thank goodness, really…!”

I briefly explained to the teary-eyed Go Yeongeun how a superior had helped and urged us to keep moving quickly.

I also gave her some advice.

“I told them the key escape item was with one of you. Please stick to that story.”

“…!”

I handed her a piece of paper with the candle mold drawn on it from my briefcase.

Go Yeongeun carefully tucked it into her suit pocket and nodded.

“Keep quiet and play along, right?”

Yes!

Baek Saheon, who had been entirely overlooked during this process, looked like he had plenty to say, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

Maybe he could sense we were getting closer to escaping.

By the time I opened the terrace door and stepped out with my two colleagues, exactly 19 minutes had passed.

Done within 20 minutes. Whew.

“I found them.”

“Wow.”

“I kind of expected this from Roe, honestly.”

The deputy manager and supervisor both had something to say as my fellow new hires started to pick up on the vibe. No one seemed particularly welcoming.

Meanwhile, the lizard manager was already pulling out a rope on the terrace.

“Ah, uh…”

“There’s no need for introductions.”

Manager Lee Jaheon, tying a pulling knot to secure the rope to a pillar, spoke in a flat tone.

“Explain the item in your possession within 200 seconds.”

Both of them swallowed nervously in unison.

I immediately stepped in.

“May I explain on their behalf?”

“Go ahead.”

Now it was time for a proper explanation.

If I use the right keywords, this candle…

“This item can deceive the guide machines.”

Manager Lee Jaheon paused his movements.