“What exactly do you mean by ‘the rules have changed’?”
Kim Sera retrieved a map, her teeth worrying her lower lip as she pinpointed their current location.
A crimson dot marked the map.
“If the point where we first descended was… here.”
Her fingertip traced a line from that spot, extending to indicate another point.
“We should be in this section right now. But…”
Where Kim Sera’s hand had stopped.
There was no mark.
A ‘blank space,’ entirely absent from the map.
I drew a sharp breath.
“Are you saying a path not on the map has appeared? Couldn’t it simply be that only this section has changed?”
She shook her head.
“Alpha, these ‘rules’ aren’t mere regulations. They’re closer to a contract, allowing the Ghastly to manifest within reality.”
“A contract? Does that mean we’re not the only ones bound by them?”
“Exactly. The reason physical force doesn’t affect the Ghastly is that it’s meaningless unless we neutralize them based on established rules.”
“And the map changing implies…”
“That the rules have changed. Which, in turn, means the entire map’s reliability has been utterly compromised.”
A heavy silence settled between us.
Kim Sera turned her flashlight beam behind them, murmuring softly.
“It seems… we should report this to the Agency first. Let’s head back for now.”
Tracing our path back through the waterways we had traversed, guided by the map, we quickened our pace.
Before long, a faint glow piercing through from above caught our eyes.
The moment we confirmed the light, we exchanged silent nods.
We immediately accelerated.
Our footsteps echoed repeatedly on the damp floor, and the visibility steadily improved.
We approached the exit.
Finally, the manhole we had initially descended through appeared before us.
Light streamed down along the rim of its metallic lid.
Investigator Kim Sera was the first to step onto the ladder.
I followed closely, while Task Force Member Kang Suji brought up the rear.
Once the order was established, we began our ascent without delay.
With flashlights clenched in our mouths, we illuminated the path upward, and the outside light filtering through the manhole’s cracks grew progressively clearer as we climbed.
The open exit felt tantalizingly close.
[CrazyBitch: But, doesn’t the reflection of the light look a little off? lol]
[Bystander1: Now they’re nitpicking about light. So old-fashioned, lmao.]
[CrazyBitch: Haha, hey, what generation are you, scrub?]
[Bystander1: Lololol, typical old-timer. Asking about generations. Higher than yours.]
[NotHuman: Aren’t you generation 120050? I thought you only had three juniors, two died, and there’s only one left? And even that one got devoured by you ages ago lolololololol]
[CrazyBitch: What timeline are you in! Is it the same as mine? You’re dead.]
The chat window, once again, was filled with arguments over trivialities.
‘The Ghastly Gallery’s’ standard, indeed.
Tearing my gaze away, I stepped onto the last rung of the ladder and ascended through the open manhole.
“Kim Sera. The report…?”
The moment I emerged from the entrance, the anticipated sunlight was nowhere to be found.
What lay before me was an oppressive, black expanse, its end unknown.
Not a single glimmer of light was visible.
There was no wind, no sound.
Instead, a writhing darkness, as if alive, seeped in from all directions, consuming my vision.
I instinctively glanced down at my feet.
Where the concrete floor should have been, a black liquid pulsed and separated.
In that instant, sensation vanished from my toes upward.
My soles melted away, my calves dissolved, and then my knees and thighs, until the blackness engulfed me up to my waist.
As my entire body slowly sank, as if submerged in a bog,
At the very edge of my vision, I saw Kang Suji’s head, precariously clinging to the ladder, still remaining.
“Don’t come up—”
A desperate warning erupted from my throat, but my face was swiftly swallowed by the encroaching darkness.
Soon after, my vision was completely severed, vanishing entirely.
****
[Moving to the last saved point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE0.]
[Doppelganger Overlap Ghastly]
[Type of Death: Digestion.]
[Tip: The path upward is not always an open one.]
****
My vision, which had been consumed by darkness, soon bled into white.
“Hup—”
After a brief void, I opened my eyes again to a familiar sight.
In the center of the living room, a worn sofa faced a low table.
On the table, a half-eaten cup of ramen and an uncovered laptop screen emitted a faint glow.
It was a perfectly ordinary domestic scene, utterly unlike the oppressive darkness from moments before.
*Vzzzt—*
Just then, my phone vibrated in my palm.
[Military Base Regular Training Announcement][Regular military training will be conducted. Please do not be alarmed by noise or vehicle movements during training, and ensure your safety.]
[Military Base Regular Training Announcement][We ask for the understanding of our citizens. Your active cooperation and understanding are requested for smooth training operations and safety.]
These were familiar messages.
Once again, I had returned to the beginning.
Unconsciously, I recalled the last phrase from the Ghastly Gallery.
It was the only hint I possessed.
[CrazyBitch: But, doesn’t the reflection of the light look a little off? lol]
A remarkably brief sentence.
Yet, to me now, those words were not merely a comment, but the sole clue I could use for deduction.
If that CrazyBitch…
If what that user said was true, then the light I had seen was not an escape route, but a trap.
I clung to the possibility those words suggested.
This time, just as in the previous loop, I followed the same motions.
Contacting Kang Suji.
Arriving at the rendezvous point.
Introducing the team members.
All the same sequence, the same scenes.
With the exception of a single variation.
After confirming the two had descended the ladder, I immediately climbed back up the ladder and out of the manhole.
The rule she had mentioned:
One could exit the underground waterway through the manhole at any time.
I needed to verify if that rule was still valid.
To see if the escape rule had, in fact, changed.
The result: no anomalies.
When I emerged from the manhole, the suffocating darkness I had witnessed in the previous loop was gone.
The personnel controlling the perimeter outside stared at me with bewildered expressions.
To emerge immediately after deployment.
Typically, one only resurfaces if there’s a problem.
Indeed, the gazes of my two companions, seeing me ascend right after descending, were far from kind.
Very much so.
‘It never happened anyway. It’s fine.’
I repeated the words to myself.
‘This is a necessary process.’
‘This is a necessary process.’
‘This is a necessary process.’
Murmuring like a self-hypnotist, I erased their disapproving expressions from my memory.
Next, I promptly verified another rule.
The rule stating that if one exited midway through the passage, they couldn’t immediately re-enter, also remained valid.
The manhole was firmly sealed.
I returned home immediately and compiled the facts I had discovered.
These were the rules I had organized:
[Rulebook – Doppelganger Overlap Ghastly]
Rule 1. The Map
1-1. The underground waterway map is based on the rules of the Ghastly.
1-2. If a path not present on the map appears, it signifies a change in the rules.
1-3. When the rules change, the entire map’s reliability collapses.
Rule 2. The Escape Route (Manhole)
2-1. The manhole is a valid escape route, allowing exit from the underground waterway at any time.
2-2. However, a light appearing to be an exit may not necessarily be a true exit.
2-3. If the ‘reflection of light’ appears unnatural, it is a trap (?).
2-4. If one approaches the trap, their body will dissolve into a black liquid and be digested (?).
Rule 3. Re-entry Restriction
3-1. If you exit midway through the manhole, you cannot immediately re-enter.
3-2. A closed manhole will not reopen until a certain amount of time has passed.
So many questions still lingered.
I still knew far less about the Ghastly than I understood.
Though I had jotted these down, I couldn’t be entirely certain of their absolute accuracy.
I looked out the window.
A black sun hung in the sky.
The city dissolved under its light.
And finally, I met my end, witnessing the CEO Ghastly’s magnificent birth within it.
****
[Moving to the last saved point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE2.]
[Doppelganger Overlap Ghastly]
[Type of Death: Evaporation.]
[Tip: Do not look directly at the black sun. Observe it only from the periphery of your vision.]
****
And then—
This was the third loop.
****
The three-way path.
We had just arrived at the point where we first confirmed the anomaly in the rules.
Kim Sera, who had been scrutinizing the map, paused, illuminating it with her flashlight.
Her gaze remained fixed, and a moment later, a flustered voice escaped her lips.
“…That’s odd. This place should’ve been… a two-way split.”
Hearing her flustered tone,
We followed her suggestion and returned to the entrance we had first used.
Up to this point, there seemed to be no issue.
But this time was different.
Drawing upon my experience from the previous loop, I scrutinized our surroundings and immediately noticed an anomaly.
Around the base where the manhole was located.
Though it was undeniably the path we had taken, not a single footprint remained.
The damp cement surface was smoothly bare, as if no one had passed through.
While this might simply be due to environmental factors,
There was no harm in confirming it.
I immediately grabbed Kim Sera’s arm, stopping her as she reached for the ladder to ascend.
Then I called Kang Suji.
She turned her head, having been unusually quiet since descending into the underground waterway.
In situations like this, a straightforward, blunt approach was necessary.
“Yes?”
I took a breath, then stated firmly,
“Kang Suji. Can you reach the manhole?”
