Chapter 31: Is This a Dream?
Translator: ShutDoor
First impressions were incredibly important.
After all, whether an actor began their filmography with a comedy or a military action movie could define their image almost permanently.
In that sense, WoongYumYum19 from the Telegram chat was the sort of person who had completely botched their first impression.
WoongYumYum19: Do I really need to quit my job?
WoongYumYum19: What if the world doesn’t end in eleven days? I worked so hard to get this job.
WoongYumYum19: Couldn’t I just keep an eye on things and take a half day off on January 23? I’ve stocked up on tons of ramen and emergency food at home…
WoongYumYum19: How do you pack one of those bug-out bags? Don’t keep it to yourselves. Tell me too T_T
They never thought to look anything up themselves and just expected everyone else to spoon-feed them. A so-called “finger princess”, one might say.
In a way, it was inevitable that his, or perhaps her, messages would be completely ignored in the chat.
Still, no one in the chat came right out and told WoongYumYum19 that they were fucking annoying.
Not because everyone there was a saint, but because no one knew how things would turn out and there was no reason to make an enemy by insulting someone to their face.
In other words, the moment they had somewhere to talk behind that person’s back, that was the first thing they did.
And most of that backbiting took place in the new chat room InariSushi1300 had created.
InariSushi_1300: It’s so nice and clean in here without any finger princesses. Haha.
It was called the [100 Billion Club], since it gathered only users with at least 100 billion won.
OnlyNegativeThoughts_1100: The Great InariSushi
Dumpling_992: Mad respect, bros! Just call me Dumpling.
Ppampakabam_1000: Upvote if you want to kill all those fucking finger-princess morons lol. I’ll start by upvoting
After providing a modest bit of proof myself, I shed my old handle and was reborn in a new form.
YeonjeUniversityLOVE_1111: (An emoji of a chimpanzee grinning broadly and saying, “Let’s keep this up!”)
InariSushi_1300: Haha.
Unlike the old Telegram chat, which had swollen to nearly fifty members, the 100 Billion Club barely had more than ten.
An underscore (_) had even been added between the name and the initial-funds figure in each handle for a touch of sophistication, setting them apart from the handles used in the “Fish Trap”.
Perhaps that was why the quality of information was markedly better than in the old room, which had been crawling with trolls.
Viet_1191: Current situation on the east coast.jpg
Viet_1191: Areas at risk of pneumonia infection announced by the WHO
Viet_1191: Saudi civil war enters full swing. Revolt of the Princes begins.jpg
Viet_1191: How to enjoy pho with cilantro
The nature of the chat room meant we could not publish posts directly and had to share information as announcements, which was inconvenient, but that much was tolerable.
For the record, we had roughly pinned down InariSushi_1300’s location over the past few days.
We had installed quite a few surveillance devices throughout the Gyeongsang area General Kang had mentioned, and apparently one of them had identified a man who appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties on a deserted mountainside.
He was dressed in everyday clothes rather than hiking gear, and his clothes were far too clean for someone lost in the mountains. He had even seemed to hide when he saw a vehicle passing along the nearby national highway.
That alone was not enough to be certain, but observing him over an extended period would likely produce satisfactory results.
As that should make clear, the Enigmas dispatched throughout the country were gradually returning one by one. Those assigned to nearby regions had arrived long ago, and more than half of those sent farther afield to Seoul, South Gyeongsang Province, South Jeolla Province, and Jeju Island had already returned as well.
Every one of those with a foreign appearance had been assigned to a research building.
For the time being, the remaining personnel were exclusively staffing the central control room and communications room.
There were twenty-three research institute directors assigned in total. Of course, with no researchers in the shelter yet, each of them would have to lend a hand at other institutes as well as their own for the next few days.
Crackle!
Just then, the walkie-talkie attached to my chest received a transmission.
[Administrator.]
It was General Kang’s voice.
[The researchers have arrived.]
I hoped our shelter would make a good first impression too.
*****
“Uh, are you sure we’re going the right way?”
“Yes. You seem quite worried?”
“Haha…”
Eom Tae-yun, who held a doctorate in astrophysics, managed an awkward smile.
The PhDs, Eom Tae-yun included, were riding in a heavily tinted van of the sort celebrities might use.
The woman he had met before, Assistant Manager Ji Young-hee, was behind the wheel, while Deputy Manager Lee Jun-su sat in the passenger seat.
“…”
It sounded ridiculous, but honestly, this felt like a kidnapping.
Of course, there were ten of them and only two on the other side. Besides, if those two had anything sinister in mind, would they not have confiscated everyone’s phones already? That thought helped him conceal his unease.
Still…
He kept getting a bad feeling because the vehicle was heading far deeper into the countryside than he had expected.
At some point, they had left even the country roads behind and begun driving along a winding, unpaved mountain road.
“…”
Eom Tae-yun was not the only one with a bad feeling. Pale with fear, the other PhDs beside him were surreptitiously exchanging looks.
Their anxiety reached its peak the moment the van stopped in the clearing at an abandoned mine that looked as though it had closed thirty years ago.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.’
He had thought only idiots got lured to Cambodia by promises of high pay, but anyone could have fallen for a setup like this.
Of course. He should have known the moment someone offered an astrophysicist like him an annual salary of 70 million won in South Korea.
Just as Eom Tae-yun began seriously considering calling the police, one of the researchers asked in a trembling voice.
“I-is there really a laboratory here?”
“The entrance does look rather shabby, doesn’t it? I understand. This really is an abandoned mine, after all.”
“!”
Deputy Manager Lee Jun-su clasped his hands behind his back and spoke as though he understood all their concerns.
“But if we truly meant you harm, would we have brought you here so carelessly? To put it bluntly, we would have confiscated the phones you’re holding first.”
Assistant Manager Ji Young-hee, who had been waiting nearby, took some papers from a briefcase and handed them to the researchers.
“…What’s this?”
“Some of you may already have realized this, but the research institutes where you will be working do not exist aboveground. You might say their very existence is classified. To enter them, you will therefore need to sign a nondisclosure agreement promising not to disclose anything to the press or outside parties.”
Eom Tae-yun immediately read through the nondisclosure agreement.
‘What the hell is this now…’
The document itself looked convincing enough, but the sight of the dark, sinister entrance to the abandoned mine did nothing to calm his anxiety.
It felt as though the moment he stepped inside, someone would club him over the head and harvest his organs.
Eom Tae-yun was not being melodramatic. Anyone told there was a research institute inside that dark, sinister abandoned mine would think the same thing.
“If you still cannot trust us, shall I send this drone inside first and show you the footage?”
Deputy Manager Lee Jun-su had already retrieved a small drone from the passenger seat.
The camera beneath the drone was linked to Lee Jun-su’s smartphone in real time, and the bleak scenery around the abandoned mine appeared clearly through its lens.
Since Eom Tae-yun’s own face was visible, at least it did not seem to be prerecorded footage.
“…”
If they were being this confident, perhaps he could trust them just this once.
He was scared as hell, but an after-tax annual salary of 70 million won was no joke.
Honestly, if not for that, he would have fled long ago…
Just then, a woman who had been fidgeting anxiously with her fingers for some time spoke in a small voice.
“I-I’ll sign…”
“Dr. Lee Min-a. An excellent choice.”
“Th-there was a piece of research equipment I really wanted to use…”
With the anxious air of someone in a tight spot and short of money, she bit her lip and fidgeted with her fingers before finally handing over the signed form, as though she had made up her mind.
One by one, the others began signing despite their lingering suspicion. Eom Tae-yun, who had already been thoroughly reeled in, signed the agreement as well.
“Then shall we send the drone in first?”
Resigned to whatever might happen, Eom Tae-yun replied.
“…Let’s just go. It’s cold out here with all this snow.”
“Then I will take you inside at once.”
Deputy Manager Lee Jun-su strode toward the abandoned mine entrance without caring about the ankle-deep snow. He deftly swung open the rusty fence gate, then easily cleared away the accordion gate at the entrance, which had been crudely blocked with wooden boards and rotting plywood.
“Assistant Manager Ji Young-hee?”
“Yes, sir.”
As though she had been waiting for the cue, Assistant Manager Ji Young-hee pulled portable flashlights from her large bag and handed one to each researcher. The bag had looked heavy all along, and apparently she had packed it full of equipment ranging from the drone to the flashlights.
“The ground is uneven, so watch your step or you may trip. Just stay close behind me.”
“…”
Not one of them answered.
Eom Tae-yun furrowed his brow deeply and swept his flashlight across the interior of the abandoned mine.
‘It’s dark as hell in here.’
He had secretly worried that bats or rats might leap out, or that the place would reek of musty mold, but surprisingly, the air itself was not particularly stale.
Apparently they performed at least the bare minimum of maintenance.
They walked through the dark rock passage for several minutes. Just as he began to worry that this might all be a scam…
At the edge of Eom Tae-yun’s flashlight beam, a clean mechanical installation utterly out of place in the sinister abandoned mine came into view.
“Climb aboard. It’s a special cargo lift, so there would be plenty of room even with a vehicle driven onto it.”
“…Hmm.”
Eom Tae-yun ran a hand over the lift’s frame. The flashlight beam reflected off its smooth surface, making it look brand-new and only recently installed.
He would never have ridden it if it were old, but this looked safe enough to brave.
Clank!
The problem was that, true to its nature as an industrial freight elevator, it had an open steel-mesh structure on every side, leaving the interior of the abandoned mine fully visible in the light of their flashlights.
Not a single light was on, making it feel as though a ghost might leap out at any moment. Squeaking noises could also be heard every so often.
‘I’d never come here alone…’
Eom Tae-yun gulped and asked, just in case.
“…Um, how far down does this go?”
Deputy Manager Lee Jun-su checked the instrument panel and answered calmly.
“Hmm, I understand it descends a little deeper than five hundred meters underground.”
F-five hundred meters!
Once again nearly choking with anxiety, Eom Tae-yun kept glancing at his smartphone screen to check whether he still had a signal.
After several more minutes of descent, the signal indicator at the top of his phone finally went completely dark. Eom Tae-yun swallowed dryly and was seriously considering making a run for it when…
Hissss— Thud!
Deputy Manager Lee Jun-su and Assistant Manager Ji Young-hee stepped off the lift with perfectly calm expressions. Then they approached a solid granite wall.
“All of you, please wait there.”
That was exactly what he intended to do.
In fact, if anyone suspicious appeared nearby, he planned to hammer the close button and flee to the surface immediately.
Whirrrrr-
But Eom Tae-yun’s firm resolve vanished the moment what had looked like a dead-end wall began opening to either side.
More precisely, he could not hide his astonishment at the white light pouring from inside the open “wall”.
“…!!!”
He cautiously poked his head out to look inside and found a spotless corridor stretching onward, so clean that it was impossible to believe it lay inside an abandoned mine. Bright LED lighting came as a bonus.
“Now, please come inside.”
…This really was a secret research institute?
But didn’t they say that the stain of suspicion was not so easily erased?
Still, if they had gone to the trouble of building an entrance like this, it was only polite to go inside.
It absolutely was not because he could not suppress a scientist’s natural curiosity…
Apparently Eom Tae-yun was not alone in thinking so, as the other researchers also crept off the lift and headed toward Deputy Manager Lee Jun-su.
Two large military Humvees were parked inside the passage.
“Climb aboard.”
“…”
It looked convincing, but the stain of suspicion was not so easily erased…
But that thought vanished when Eom Tae-yun encountered the tunnel stretching on for more than three kilometers, the military tunnel that was far larger and sturdier still, and the enormous door at its end.
“?”
It was far too large to be called a door.
The minds of Eom Tae-yun and every other researcher ground to a halt.
“Ah, General Kang. Is it possible to open Gate One? Yes, yes. Please do.”
…General?
Vwoooooom—
Beyond the door stood metal barriers that appeared to belong to a military installation, colossal soldiers impossible to distinguish from space marines or robots, robotics PhDs who had half lost their minds at the sight and could do nothing but gasp, “Huff, huff!”, and another door built to the exact same specifications as the one they had just passed.
“…”
Uh.
Ah.
After that, he did not remember much.
“The soldiers stationed here are strictly forbidden from speaking with you except in an emergency. Please do not attempt to engage them in conversation.”
“Ah, even if you ask why they are so tall and monstrously built… I am afraid I do not know much myself. Haha.”
“These are the research facilities. This is where you will be working from now on.”
“Astragen Technology’s research institutes cover twenty-three different fields of specialization and possess numerous state-of-the-art facilities for precision research, including a large hadron collider.”
“Ah, you recognize this equipment? It was brought in from the United States, and only four of them exist in the entire world…”
“This is where you will be staying. It should be more than adequate for one person, wouldn’t you agree? You may bring your families here later, whenever it is convenient. Haha, I am joking. Who would want to live underground like this forever?”
“When you need to clear your head, you can take a short walk over there. It is rather spacious for somewhere underground, isn’t it?”
“Now, it is about time for your final interviews with the directors of your respective institutes…”
H-how? How?
How could something like this be hidden underground in the mountains of Gangwon Province?
Where had the budget even come from?
Every time he thought he had seen enough to be amazed, something new appeared. Every time he thought he was getting used to it, something even more astonishing emerged. He could not keep his wits about him.
That much was obvious from the dazed, slack-jawed expressions on Eom Tae-yun and many of the other researchers.
Whatever else might be true, this was clearly not a facility a single corporation could have built.
Had it perhaps been constructed in cooperation with an international organization? All the researchers they occasionally saw looked foreign too. South Korea might be one of the developed nations, but there was no way, absolutely noooo way, it could ever build a facility this enormous on its own.
“…”
He did not know anymore. He’d had so many dopamine rushes in a single day that his brain had stopped working…
Nothing else mattered. The idea that they could use all that research equipment “freely” was genuinely unbelievable.
They ought to be paying the company for the privilege, yet the company was even going to pay them a salary?
Was this a dream?
Led around in a daze, Eom Tae-yun only realized he had spent a full hour or so with his mouth hanging open when he finally met Margaret, the aerospace research institute director. Margaret looked remarkably youthful and vigorous for someone in their fifties—he had honestly taken the director for someone in their late thirties.
“Mr. Eom? Is something wrong?”
“…N-no!”
Even more tense than when he had defended his doctoral dissertation, Eom Tae-yun sat in the most respectful posture he had ever assumed.
“Th-the reason I applied is…!”
If he passed, he would not be able to see the outside world for a month, but who cared about that!
He had to get the job, no matter what!
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