Those words—that they would now provide information on the Blackout Zone.
At those words, the expressions of everyone in the briefing room changed.
It was the information they had all wanted so badly.
Even if our goals were the same yet different, we had to go in there to achieve them.
And the fact that such words had come from the agent’s mouth meant……
“Before that, one moment. Does sharing that information mean that we’ll soon be entering the Blackout Zone?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
In response to the intellectual orc gentleman’s question, the agent said that, then added,
“Two days from now, you will be the first to enter the Blackout Zone.”
“By first, you mean……”
“It means that your entry into the Blackout Zone will not be limited to this one time.”
That much was obvious.
But it seemed the agent meant something slightly different.
“This is based on the special nature of the Blackout Zone.”
“Special nature…?”
“The interior of the Blackout Zone can no longer be considered the Gangnam we knew. According to what we have determined so far, it is a kind of otherworld. We have confirmed that laws different from those of the world we live in apply there.”
As he said that, the agent operated the screen.
It wasn’t a photograph.
The interior of the Blackout Zone was filled with darkness, and even modern technology could not dispel it.
Therefore, the material shown on the screen was not a photograph, but an illustration.
And for reference material, the illustration was strangely unrealistic.
Rather than something meant to replace a photograph… it truly looked like someone’s creation.
“Ugh…!”
A familiar sound of retching reached my ears.
I sympathized. Even I was struggling to hold it back.
Old Owlbear spoke in a trembling voice.
“Am I seeing this correctly…?”
The reference image showed an obstetrics and gynecology building.
The building itself looked like something we could see anywhere in the modern world.
The clinic must have been a successful one, because the building was large enough to occupy an entire block.
But that entire block was completely isolated from the outside world, as though trapped inside a giant box.
And the main material that made up that box was……
“We call that box-shaped structure the Human Wall.”
…Humans.
The box-shaped structure, made of thousands, tens of thousands of humans, was connected organically, as if it were a single living creature.
The people forming the box had been flattened as though crushed under a compression press, stretched out to cover the maximum possible surface area.
And the ceiling that formed the box.
The ceiling, like the other sides, was made of humans stretched out long.
Except that there, round human eyeballs were packed densely across it, producing nothing but revulsion.
“The Human Wall is a structure closer to a phenomenon of sorts. The military attempted to break through it by projecting firepower, but failed. However, that is not the only characteristic it possesses.”
With those words, the agent operated the screen again.
What appeared then was a map of Gangnam marked with Xs.
“It has randomly rearranged the spatial coordinates inside the Blackout Zone. In other words, even if we enter the Blackout Zone from the direction of Segok-dong, the place where we emerge may be somewhere in the middle of Gangnam.”
And that seemed to be why he had described it as laws different from those of our world.
In that place, the laws of space as we knew them appeared to be jumbled together.
But then, one question arose.
“…Then how do we get out?”
“By using a door.”
…Use a door?
I had only a moment to be puzzled before the agent continued his explanation.
“Among the doors inside the Blackout Zone, two at random come under special laws. One of those two is an exit. If you use that door, you can leave the Blackout Zone.”
“Then what about the other one…?”
“That door is connected to another area.”
It seemed to be a kind of… continuation.
“So it’s like… an extraction shooter genre.”
“What is an extraction shooter?”
The intellectual orc gentleman, Seo Doyun, asked with a furrowed brow.
And not only him; Old Owlbear, Min Aji, and Yu Inha were all focusing on the unfamiliar term that had popped out of my mouth.
“Ah, well. It’s one of the game genres that’s popular these days.”
I coughed awkwardly, trying to smooth over the gaming term that had slipped out, and continued explaining.
“It’s a game where you enter a designated danger zone, complete objectives or farm supplies, then find a set extraction point and get out safely. If you fail to find the exit, or die there……”
“You lose everything you had.”
Mr. Seo Doyun stroked his chin as he pinpointed exactly what I meant.
Outwardly, he was a rugged orc, but in terms of how quickly his mind worked, he was definitely among the fastest in this room.
“That is a similar analogy.”
The agent affirmed.
“…So, we’re supposed to go in there, avoid or break through the monsters, search the map, find an exit that’s generated at random, and escape. If we die along the way, that’s the end.”
“Correct. However, the difference between a game and reality would be the presence or absence of chances. You do not have resurrection.”
At the agent’s calm confirmation, a heavy silence fell over the briefing room.
Extraction shooter. It sounded like a plausible modern game genre, but if you had to stake your own life on it in reality, it was no different from hell disguised as survival.
On top of that, with a rule where you lost everything if you died once, and a map where immortal monsters like human-skin-clad mimic beasts were roaming around.
It was hardcore beyond belief.
“Then how do we distinguish these doors? I doubt there’ll be a neon sign saying ‘exit’ glowing in front of us the moment we go in.”
The orc gentleman pointed out sharply.
Just as he said, if we couldn’t find the exit, it meant we would wander that grotesque space forever.
The agent moved to the next screen.
On the screen was a blurry image of a single iron door standing alone in the middle of a wall.
“Unfortunately, they cannot be distinguished by appearance alone. It may be an ordinary bathroom door, a shop’s emergency exit, or even the wardrobe door of a private home. However, there is a distinguishing feature.”
“What distinguishing feature?”
“There exists a special entity guarding the door.”
“You may think of it as a sort of gatekeeper. Whether it is an exit or a door leading to the next area, there is always a special entity nearby that is on a different level from the other monsters.”
In game terms, it would be something like a boss mob you had to defeat in order to move on to the next stage or escape.
The faces of the mutants, myself included, sank heavily.
Even the mimic beasts that didn’t die and wore human skins were already overwhelming enough, and now there were entities on a different level.
But if you asked whether we hadn’t anticipated it at all, that wasn’t the case either.
Assuming only mimic beasts existed in there would have been far too optimistic.
There would undoubtedly be other monsters besides mimic beasts.
“Then that concludes the basic explanation regarding the Blackout Zone. Next is the operation.”
The agent operated the screen again.
The familiar image of the obstetrics and gynecology clinic reappeared on the screen.
“The ROK Armed Forces have secured several points of entry into the Blackout Zone. This is the point you will be entering through: Gangnam Sarang Obstetrics and Gynecology.”
An obstetrics and gynecology clinic.
Just hearing it already sent a chill over me.
Perhaps because… the mimic beast we had encountered at Outpost Four before had cried with the voice of a baby.
“That place is…!”
“Captain Kim Hyeongcheol. The briefing is not over yet. Please raise any personal issues afterward.”
“I was not told we would be entering that place!”
“But isn’t it exactly what you wished for so desperately?”
The agent cut off Captain Kim’s words as if to say that was the end of it.
“That area has been determined to have a lower danger level compared to other areas. It has been confirmed that the only monsters present inside are mimic beasts.”
But considering that, hadn’t Captain Kim’s reaction been far too extreme?
As if realizing that everyone was harboring that question, Captain Kim twitched his fingers and added an explanation.
“…That place is where the existence of mimic beasts was confirmed for the first time.”
But those words did not explain everything.
Still, since he seemed to want to hide it, we did not go out of our way to ask.
Just what had happened at that obstetrics and gynecology clinic for the face of a veteran officer, one who must have gone through all sorts of hardships, to turn so deathly pale?
‘…Well, I suppose I’ll find out once we go in.’
Though it would certainly not be a pleasant experience.
“That concludes the briefing. The time given to you is exactly forty-eight hours. During that time, please get sufficient rest and complete your equipment checks.”
With those words, the agent in the suit gathered up his documents and left the briefing room.
After he departed, only a heavy silence settled over the room.
The two days passed swiftly.