A weekday afternoon, with children attending their respective classes in the classrooms and on the playground.
Suddenly, a black van—entirely out of place—arrived at the parking lot behind the elementary school.
Clack.
Stepping out were six men and women dressed in black suits.
Varying in gender and age, the six began their briefing out of sight of the elementary school staff.
"The starting point of the Deep Warehouse begins the moment you open the door and set foot on the stairs. For important details, reread the distributed report."
At Chief Lee’s words, the other five turned their gazes toward their terminals.
[Anomaly Name: Deep Warehouse]
[Type: Spatial]
[Threat Level: Undetermined]
[Containment Level: Safe]
[Details: An anomalous space occurring in the gym storage room on the playground of XX Elementary School, Incheon. Confirmed that the interior area of the storage room beneath the podium, where gym equipment is kept, has expanded to an abnormally massive size. Three elementary students are missing. Currently, no additional information updates from inside the Deep Warehouse have been made. At the time of dispatch for Anomaly Investigation Department Team 1 and Emergency Support Department Team 4, only confirmed that most of the interior space was filled with gym equipment. No anomalous entities confirmed.]
-Record 1: XX/XX/20XX Anomaly Research Headquarters, Anomaly Investigation Department Team 1, investigation began -> Missing
-Record 2: XX/XX/20XX Anomaly Processing Headquarters, Emergency Support Department Team 4, emergency support due to disappearance of Anomaly Investigation Team 1 -> Missing
-Record 3: XX/XX/20XX Anomaly Processing Headquarters, Field Response Department Team 3, secondary investigation and missing persons search begun
Threat Level: Undetermined. Containment Level: Safe.
These ratings remained because, at the very least, the Bureau could control the anomalous space through simple procedures, and no cases of the warehouse affecting the outside had been reported.
Therefore, even today, when the third entry was scheduled, the elementary students were still attending classes.
"Chief. Who are the relevant personnel?"
"The principal and one security room employee. The PE teacher has undergone memory erasure measures. The parents of the missing children have been made to believe, through memory distortion, that their children left for a long-term field experience learning trip."
"Understood."
"However, for this entry, neither the principal nor the security room employee will be present."
In a way, memory erasure and memory distortion were measures closer to protecting the victims.
Because if parents were told that their child had gone missing in a strange space with their fate unknown, they would have no choice but to despair.
In the end, if they failed to find the child or found them dead, they would endure the same heartache—but there was still a clear difference in how the news was delivered.
In the PE teacher’s case, according to an additional report, after the three children went missing, the teacher had developed severe depressive symptoms along with health problems, making memory erasure measures unavoidable.
The six immediately headed to the gym storage room beneath the playground podium.
The gym storage room’s door was utterly ordinary.
A common steel door.
However, due to the previous incident, it was firmly locked.
"All right, deep breaths, everyone."
Hoo...
Along with those words, the six checked their equipment.
Truthfully, there wasn't anything particularly special about it.
One pistol, shock-dampening gear worn beneath their suits, and one suicide pill.
For an anomaly that had swallowed two teams, it could be seen as woefully inadequate—but this couldn't be helped.
Because if the two teams had left more information, they would naturally have been issued equipment accordingly.
Because of this, Chief Lee had inwardly realized something.
Their mission right now was not focused on anomaly processing and missing persons investigation—but rather on somehow obtaining additional information updates.
Clunk.
Creeeak...
"Entering."
Tap-tap-tap.
And so the six disappeared into the dim interior of the storage room.
Creeeak...
Thud.
And the door of the Deep Warehouse, having swallowed six more people, shut firmly.
* * *
Creeeak...
Thud.
"Descend while maintaining vigilance."
Field Response Team 3 slowly made their way down the stairs.
In a normal gym storage room, the stairs would have ended after about two steps, but now that it had become an anomalous space, it was a towering staircase that required dozens more.
Furthermore, there were no railings, making it a dangerous situation where one wrong step could lead to an immediate fall to the side.
However, Team 3 succeeded in getting all the way down without difficulty.
"Deputy Lee Gyeongseong. Begin Hansel Recording from now on."
"Understood. ...This is Deputy Lee Gyeongseong of Field Response Team 3. Starting recording."
Hansel Recording.
It referred to the method of leaving records at set intervals or distances for subsequent teams, in situations where real-time information transmission to the Bureau was impossible.
Lee Gyeongseong immediately took out a small recorder from his bag and began briefing about the interior space.
"The interior takes the form of an extremely expanded gym storage room, and the ceiling is not visible."
Elementary school gym storage rooms contain items needed for PE classes, such as cones, balls, and vests.
This Deep Warehouse was no different.
The moment they reached the floor, they could see items strewn about haphazardly front to back and left to right, or stored inside large wire-mesh containers.
"Furthermore, judging by the dusty state... it basically appears to follow the expanded form of a gym storage room. And..."
"...Wait a moment, Chief. That thing over there..."
Just as they were about to slowly move while leaving records at the spot where the six had arrived, a newly joined female staff member pointed into the distance and spoke to Chief Lee.
"Isn't that... a recorder?"
"What?"
At her words, Chief Lee quickly passed between the randomly rolling balls.
And he picked up something flashing with a red light.
It was the same type of recorder that Lee Gyeongseong was holding.
"...Did Anomaly Investigation Team 1 or Emergency Support Team 4 leave this?"
Chances were high that Team 4 had left it.
Because they would have attempted entry knowing that Team 1 had gone missing and that information hadn't been updated.
And, as if to prove those words, a red light could be seen blinking at regular intervals.
"Chief. What should we do?"
"...Continue recording. And drop them at the same intervals."
"Understood."
Chief Lee picked up the dropped recorder, put it to his ear, and pressed the play button.
[Static... chk... This is K of Emergency Support Team 4. Beginning Hansel Recording according to internal protocol. Target anomaly, Deep Warehouse. Static.]
It was indeed the Emergency Support Team's recorder.
The characteristically inorganic voice made one wonder if it was truly human, but since no one was as dependable as the Emergency Support Department, Chief Lee quickly grasped the contents of the recording.
[...Over.]
Click.
"I've confirmed the contents. It seems Anomaly Investigation Team 1 didn't conduct a Hansel Recording. Instead, they appear to have tracked the rolling balls inside the space."
"Should we track the recorders as they are?"
"Hmm..."
Chief Lee pondered for a moment.
Emergency Support Team 4 had already moved following Team 1's trail.
Tracking Team 4's recorders in this situation was highly likely to be dangerous in many ways.
'If Team 1's disappearance wasn't a simple one, then there's a high possibility that Team 4 was swept away too, and all of us would be swept away as well.'
Furthermore, if they didn't check other spaces that the two teams hadn't visited while tracking, there was a possibility that they wouldn't be able to properly grasp this space's information.
In the end, Chief Lee decided to split the team.
"We'll split into one, one, two, and two. One person will wait here, quickly securing information on adjacent zones only, and wait for the possible return of the missing persons and the remaining team members. Staff Kim Seoyeong. You'll do it."
"Understood."
"The remaining four will be paired off to investigate new zones. I will track Team 4 alone."
"Won't that be dangerous?"
"It is dangerous. But it's not like you all aren't in danger either."
"..."
"And everyone except Staff Kim Seoyeong begins recording. One person per team will proceed with Hansel Recording. We'll conduct three recordings simultaneously in total."
Beep. Beep.
Then red lights came on in the suit neckties of the five people, including Chief Lee.
It meant real-time video recording was active.
"And... now, let's sync our watches. Four hours. Team members who return before that—if the remaining personnel haven't returned by then, go straight back to the Bureau and report."
"Understood."
"Then... dismissed."
Immediately, the five ran quickly in their assigned directions.
Left alone, Kim Seoyeong immediately took out additional terminals from her bag and established a kind of forward base.
Looking behind, the stairs they had descended were still there, motionless.
They said that sometimes malicious spaces make the entrance disappear.
Fortunately, it didn't seem to be that bad.
Having quickly finished investigating the vicinity of the entrance and organizing her records, Kim Seoyeong noticed an unknown sound coming from nearby.
"...Anomalous phenomenon detected. This is Staff Kim Seoyeong of Field Response Team 3. Beginning record."
Thud.
Thud, thud... thud, thud, thud...
"...The sound of elastic balls bouncing. It's coming from about 50 meters away. Current location is directly beneath the stairs of the Deep Warehouse..."
Thud...
"...The sound has increased to two. The source is in the northern direction that the team members didn't take."
Thud. Thud, thud...
"...Whew. The sound seems to be getting closer."
Clack.
Kim Seoyeong loaded her gun in preparation for any eventuality and kept her eyes on the entrance in the direction of the sound.
There were partition walls at regular intervals, like in a massive logistics warehouse, and the sound was coming from beyond them.
There were no doors dividing each zone, so with careful observation, she could see beyond the partitions.
Then, she spotted something moving in the distance.
Click.
Shining her flashlight into the distance, she saw a basketball rolling along by itself.
"...A basketball is rolling by itsel... Agh!"
At that moment, Kim Seoyeong collapsed with a thud from a sudden violent impact to the back of her head.
Barely regaining consciousness, she quickly aimed her gun behind her, but there was no one there.
There was only... a soccer ball rolling beside her.
After that, different balls began flying at her one by one, intermittently.
From all directions.
"I was hit by a soccer ball that suddenly flew in from somewhere. I believe there is an anomalous entity or phe—"
Thwack.
Thud.
Rumble...
Another ball came flying in from somewhere.
It was a bowling ball. Kim Seoyeong couldn't dodge it, and went down after taking it straight to the head.
"Ah..."
Red blood gradually began to flow across the floor, but regrettably, there was no one near her.
Rumble.
Thud. Thud, thud...
Pitter-patter.
A moment later, the balls near the space where Kim Seoyeong had collapsed began rolling rapidly all at once toward somewhere.