Team Leader Lee carefully made his way through the warehouse interior, thick with acrid dust.
He had just picked up and listened to the third recording—the log of Emergency Support Division, Team 4—but no remarkable information about this space had come from it.
*For now... the layout certainly does remind me a lot of my elementary school days.*
Perhaps because it was unmistakably an elementary school gym storage room, there was little difference from Lee's own childhood memories.
That is, except for the scale.
Air choked with dust from the lack of ventilation.
Balls and gym equipment carelessly thrown aside and abandoned after previous classes.
And the dark interior, plus storage cabinets that looked like they'd leave a bruise if you bumped into them wrong.
Lee took in this familiar scenery as much as possible, striving to detect the invisible sense of wrongness.
*Hmm...*
Nothing had happened so far.
He hadn't set out long ago, so he wasn't far from his other team members.
Thus, if anyone screamed, he could immediately rush to their aid.
But judging by the fact that they, too, showed no major reaction, it was possible that the anomaly had not yet properly manifested.
*Still, I can't let my guard down. It already devoured the Emergency Support Division, after all.*
*Squelch.*
[Third record. Physical traces of Anomaly Investigation Division, Team 1, are being sporadically discovered. After clearing away the balls and equipment on the floor, traces of leather shoes provided by the Management Bureau remain.]
Lee listened to the recorder he had picked up moments ago and casually pushed aside the balls at his feet with his toes.
Then, faintly, part of the dust-covered floor was revealed to be in a clean state.
*Team 1 of the Investigation Division had five members. Emergency Support Team 4 also had five... Is the space so vast that ten people's whereabouts are completely unknown?*
It wasn't impossible.
Right now, even the location where the Anomaly Management Bureau headquarters stood... was a kind of massive anomalous space.
The Anomaly Management Bureau was built upon a space where smooth, hard white flooring stretched endlessly, with no sky, ceiling, or walls to speak of.
In other words, the Bureau headquarters could be considered to not exist on Earth.
*But with this kind of density, there should be special rules, laws, or phenomena present.*
Anomalies were capricious.
But upon closer inspection, most possessed at least a minimal sense of causality.
For example, in the case of 'Anomaly Designation: Old Tomb,' the method of holding ancestral rites had been distorted and remained as a kind of rule.
To perform it, one had to collect ritual items while avoiding the fog-shrouded tomb and the rotting corpses leaping out from it.
*...That library I encountered before was the same.*
The library that had given him those terrible memories—where his very existence had been erased—likewise possessed its own rules, along with fitting objects and backgrounds.
That was why Lee believed this 'Deep Warehouse' was not simply imitating an elementary school gym storage room.
Elementary school. Gym. Warehouse.
Among these three keywords, there definitely existed something functioning as the core.
It was while Lee had been moving along the trail for some time.
*Tak-tak-tak-tak!*
"!"
*Click.*
At the sound of footsteps from afar, Lee drew his pistol and aimed forward before he even realized it himself.
After checking once that the recording device in his tie was functioning properly, he began to guard against the gradually approaching sound.
*Huff... Huff...*
*Tak-tak-tak.*
"Stop."
"...!!"
What finally revealed itself... was a figure armed with a gas mask, bulletproof vest, and other equipment.
At Lee's order, the figure in the gas mask stopped immediately.
It raised both hands, then trembled as if delighted upon seeing Lee's appearance.
*Kururung...*
*Teong... Teong-teong...*
"..."
Lee frowned instantly at the sight and asked.
"Don't tell me... are you reinforcements!"
"Identify yourself."
"Team 4, I'm called Q!"
Lee had finally encountered his first missing person.
* * *
"Haa... Haa..."
"...Have some water."
As if he had been running hard, the man who identified himself as Q was breathing roughly through his gas mask.
Lee watched him quietly, then opened a bottle of water from his bag and held it out to him.
"Thank... you."
*Glug. Glug.*
*Splatter.*
Q had been in such a hurry that he spilled nearly half the water without even drinking it.
Lee quietly waited for him to calm down.
"Whew... thank you."
"Not at all. More importantly, you survived alone? Where are your other team members?"
Then the man, wiping sweat from the smooth, hard skin protruding from beneath his gas mask, spoke.
"We all got separated. The remaining team members... are probably dead."
"All of Team 4, you mean."
"Yes, yes."
Team 4 had been completely wiped out.
Then what about the missing elementary schoolers and Anomaly Investigation Team 1?
"Team 1... I don't know, but I think they're probably dead. I saw bloodstains."
"Is that so."
"I couldn't even find the missing elementary schoolers."
*Whew...*
Lee barely suppressed his craving for a cigarette.
If Anomaly Investigation Team 1 had been completely wiped out as well, then his and his team members' lives were in danger too.
*Should we pull out?*
"Ah... sorry for asking this late, but what is your affiliation?"
"My affiliation?"
"Yes. And did you come alone? Where are the others? Ah, and are you all adults? Above thirteen?"
The man stared fixedly as he asked Lee.
Lee brushed off that gaze nonchalantly and rose from his spot, avoiding the questions.
"Let's get out of here for now."
"Please answer the questions."
"I wonder what answer it is you want."
"I think it would suffice if you came with several people, same affiliation, and adults."
"Hmm... Age, is it? Then the elementary schoolers might still be alive."
"How could that be?"
"Hm?"
"Hup. It's nothing."
"..."
In the end, Lee chose to retreat.
The current situation was far too dangerous.
He intended to quickly rendezvous with Kim Seo-young and escape, even if it was just the two of them.
"Q, I'd appreciate it if you took the lead."
"Huh? Me...? I've been through hell running away in here...!"
"Isn't your armament far better than mine? Honestly, the pistol they issued me is practically useless."
"...Whew, I understand."
In the end, Q, wearing his gas mask, took the lead with his assault rifle.
Since Lee was the one giving directions anyway, it didn't matter who walked in front.
"This way, correct?"
"Yes."
"This place is incredibly vast; how do you remember all of it..."
"Shouldn't that be the bare minimum?"
"Where? From your team? Or from the organization you belong to?"
"Yes."
Could it be that this 'Deep Warehouse' had an anomaly phenomenon that made one crave cigarettes?
Lee kept rummaging through his empty pocket.
*The moment I get out of here, I'm smoking one no matter what.*
His wife had nagged him endlessly to quit, so he had barely managed to stop a few days ago, but it was a return to the status quo after all.
He felt like he'd die from stress if he didn't at least smoke.
"This way. Turn right here, then straight ahead. Let's keep going."
"Understood."
Was it because they had gone from being alone to being two?
Q was unusually talkative.
"Come to think of it, what do you think about this space? It is a dangerous situation, but... it suddenly reminds me of PE class in elementary school."
"I suppose I feel something similar."
"Back in the day, when we played tag, we'd hide in the gym storage room, and when class was ending or starting, we'd come in to get balls."
"..."
*Crunch. Crunch.*
"Honestly, back then I only chased fun, so I couldn't tell, but it was truly dangerous. The gym storage room, I mean. I nearly tumbled down because I couldn't see just two or so steps."
"..."
"While playing tag inside, I'd get hit in the head by balls another class had carelessly thrown after their lesson ended. And getting slammed into steel storage cabinets during scuffles wasn't uncommon."
"...Is that so? Then what did you do in those situations?"
"Well, I don't really remember. Whew, ah, and this stuffy air too—looking back, it was quite dangerous. It must have been swarming with all sorts of dust and germs..."
"...Fuck."
"Excuse me? What did you just say?"
"Whew... it's nothing. By any chance, do you have a spare gas mask?"
"...No."
Lee had no choice but to cover his nose and mouth with his sleeve.
Though it was far too late at this point.
"And if you got trapped because of friends' mistakes... it was hard to find even that nearby entrance. I think it was darker than this place, too."
"I suppose so."
"Ah, by the way, what should I call you?"
"There are only two of us anyway; what's so important about a name."
"Huh? What do you... Come to think of it, this is strange. Who are you? You are from the same affiliation as me, right?"
"I am from the same affiliation as Q, yes."
"Then why aren't you talking? Or can't you?"
Then, suddenly, Q began aiming the muzzle of his assault rifle at Lee.
"What the fuck..."
Lee sighed at that extreme reaction and spoke.
"You think I'd recklessly divulge my information not knowing what stunt the anomaly might pull? It seems you haven't completely absorbed the memories after all?"
"What? What do you mean..."
"I suppose there are no mirrors here. You're not human right now, are you? Did you think I mistook your true form for a human? I can see all those smooth, hard things like bowling balls through your gas mask. Your arms and torso are packed full of balls, all bruised and discolored. Is it clumsy because it's a newly formed anomaly? Or is even this intentional?"
"..."
*Click.*
*Click. Click.*
"You really were going to shoot. Good thing I learned a thing or two in my spare time. So what, balls are imitating humans?"
Before anyone knew it, a magazine and a single bullet were in Lee's hand.
"But you couldn't even copy how to shoot a gun? It doesn't fire just from pressing that. Is this thing stupid?"
*Clatter. Clatter.*
"First off, thanks for the info. Childhood, age, roughly that sort of thing. The rules, I mean. Seeing as you specifically wanted adults, people above thirteen. Then our team members are in danger too. Perhaps they've already been gotten to."
"...Q, Q, Q, 4, Team 4, my affiliation."
"Log start. Field... no, name and affiliation to be specified after escape. Anomaly Designation, encountered an anomalous entity within 'Deep Space.' Name... let's roughly designate it as 'Ball Human.' 'Ball Human' appears to be an imitation of Q from Emergency Support Division, Team 4. Currently, Emergency Support Team 4 and Anomaly Investigation Team 1 are all dead. The missing elementary schoolers may still possibly be alive."
"---------."
The flesh of Q wearing the gas mask began to crumble.
And what burst out from within were countless balls of many types.
*Thud. Kurururu...*
The bowling ball that had served as his head fell to the floor.
Then, with a *swick*, it flew toward Lee's head.
"Fucking hell. Wait, so are all these balls anomalous entities?"
Just then, Lee heard the sound of countless balls rolling from afar.
"Everyone just stay alive..."
The 'Deep Warehouse' began to turn hostile toward Lee.