Chapter 1:

 I Want to Go Home (1)

For a game developer at a mid-sized company, getting off work on time is like an author’s stockpile of saved manuscript chapters.

What does that mean?

‘It simply doesn’t freaking exist.’

The national law that supposedly lets new hires and experienced employees enjoy a healthy work-life balance for a while after joining a company clearly did not apply to us.

Well, to be precise, we could go home.

What era do we live in now? The culture of getting chewed out for skipping overtime has mostly disappeared.

But when the person beside you, the person two seats away, and the person three seats away are all surviving on caffeine instead of water and staring at their monitors with dead eyes, there aren’t actually that many people who can just ignore that and leave.

Even if you’re still learning. Even if you literally have nothing to do. It’s generally better to stay at your desk and at least look busy.

Of course, I actually did have work to do.

“Eighteen iced Americanos, three watermelon juices, and two whole cheesecakes, please.”

“Eighteen Americanos… yes. The drinks will be delivered, and you’ll carry the desserts yourself, right?”

“Yes.”

It was a strange request—having only part of the order delivered separately—but the employee, who had taken my orders countless times before, simply nodded without question.

I didn’t want to carry heavy things, but since I was already out, I wanted to get a little fresh air.

As a non-smoker, I rarely got opportunities like this.

Which meant I had to enjoy them whenever they came.

“Ha…”

I let out a sigh and sat down in a corner.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

My phone kept vibrating.

After stuffing the company credit card and receipt into my pocket, I pulled out my phone.

The CocoaTalk chatroom filled the screen.

Kim Seojin: We’re heading to karaoke for round two. Anyone late, come straight here~

‘Was today… the reunion?’

I thought so. No wonder the notifications had been so noisy.

Jurim: Okie

Lee Yumin: Got it~

Kim Cheolsu: Where? In front of the intersection?

Lee Yumin: OMG Cheolsu came?

Jinwoo: Rare creature spotted

Kim Cheolsu: LOLLLLL

Kim Cheolsu: Successfully escaped the company dinner.

Jinwoo: 🎆

Lee Yumin: Yeah, in front of the intersection. The usual place.

Kim Cheolsu: Thanks. I’ll be there soon.

Lee Yumin: Drive safely. Stop looking at your phone~

Kim Cheolsu: LOL okay. The car’s stopped right now. There are way too many people…

Jurim: Some celebrity showed up nearby.

Kim Cheolsu: Ah, that explains it…

As I stared blankly at the conversation—

Bzzz.

A new notification popped up.

When I tapped the screen, a private message appeared.

Kim Cheolsu: You’re really not coming? You said you’d tell us about your new job.

That reminded me of the excited bragging I’d done a few days ago.

‘I’d already laid the groundwork by boasting that I got into my dream company.’

The company I currently worked for.

SFS Soft, introduced with the slogan “Adding Scare to SF,” had been founded by a group of people centered around one famous developer.

Their specialty was 3D adventure games with science-fiction settings, such as their flagship title Orbis, and they had many fans—including me.

After graduating from college, I’d gotten sick of the exploitative black company that an upperclassman had introduced me to. So the moment I saw SFS Soft’s rare public recruitment announcement, I applied.

And got in.

Naturally, I’d spent quite some time bragging about it.

The problem was…

‘This place was still a company.’

People say life is a comedy when viewed from a distance.

Being the one providing the service instead of receiving it revealed that there were plenty of downsides.

And one of those downsides was this:

No time to attend reunions.

Me: Going all the way to round four? I might make it by then.

Kim Cheolsu: I don’t think it’ll last that long…

Kim Cheolsu: Hang in there.

Me: Don’t go. You work too.

Kim Cheolsu: LOL. Thought you were a wage slave, turns out you’re a drowning ghost dragging others down with you?

Me: Work.

Kim Cheolsu: LOL

Me: Ah, when will I be emancipated from serfdom?

Kim Cheolsu: LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Kim Cheolsu: Light changed. Gotta go. Bye.

A sudden wave of misery washed over me, but I endured it.

This was the hell I had chosen.

Sure, seeing my friends go off to have fun without me made my body twist with envy, my teeth ache, my bones throb, and tears well up a little…

But it was fine.

I could endure it.

“Number 71, your cakes are ready.”

“Thank you.”

I struggled to lift the boxed cakes, pressed the elevator button, and scanned my employee ID card.

Back at the office, I stepped inside and was greeted by the familiar sight of a horde of zombies staring at their monitors, half-dead.

The update was scheduled for next week, so it couldn’t be helped…

Still, my eyes inexplicably became moist.

Thunk.

“Have some late-night snacks. The CEO paid.”

I set everything down on the nearest empty desk and rubbed my sore arms.

“Sugar…”

“Me too…”

“Ughhh…”

The zombie horde, equipped with dark circles as their default gear, shuffled over.

“Thanks. Must’ve been tough carrying all that by yourself.”

“Thank you… By the way, shouldn’t Assistant Manager Park be going home? You haven’t been here long…”

“I’m debugging… still have some things left to do.”

“Take breaks. Keep this up and you’ll collapse…”

“Haha…”

Laughing awkwardly, I picked up an Americano that had just arrived and returned to my desk.

Then I popped one of the red ginseng candies being handed out by my coworker into my mouth and looked at the screen I’d left running.

‘One script error… inventory bag error, movement speed bug… send an email to graphics about this part. This one goes directly to Assistant Manager Lee…’

I organized my task list and continued working.

At least today, I thought I could leave after another two hours or so.

Sure, tomorrow would be busy because of it…

But that couldn’t be helped.

Doing extra work today wouldn’t make tomorrow any easier.

As that thought crossed my mind, longing for my home—located relatively close to the company—began to well up.

‘I really need to find a place nearby.’

My current apartment was close to my previous workplace, which meant I spent three hours a day commuting.

‘Honestly, this is killing me… I’m exhausted.’

People keep saying rental fraud is everywhere these days… Who was it that knew a lot about real estate? …Cheolsu lives nearby. Maybe I should ask to crash at his place for a few days while apartment hunting? Ah, but I’m short on spare cash…

While my thoughts wandered—

Tap!

“Ah.”

I accidentally hit the Enter key.

Looking down reflexively, I let out a short sigh and rubbed my face.

‘…Get it together.’

Home was home.

Work was work.

And being tired wasn’t an excuse to do sloppy work.

Just as I moved my finger toward the Backspace key—

Ding!

[ERROR]

[-WaitMutex: #########]

‘…Huh?’

An error window appeared.

I frowned and blinked.

‘What’s this…? A syntax error?’

Did errors normally appear in windows like this?

Swallowing my confusion, I moved the cursor to close it.

But before it could reach the X button—

[ERROR]

[-WaitMutex: mir######]

[ERROR]

[-WaitMutex : miráb####]

[ERROR]

[wOrLd : mirábĭlis]

The changing text made me blurt out:

“Huh?”

The moment I hurriedly tried to call my supervisor—

THUD!

“W-What?!”

A dizzying sensation hit me.

My body lost its balance and dropped downward.

The office chair I’d been sitting in was gone.

Instead, rough flooring scraped against my palms.

Eyes widening, I looked up.

The scenery twisted and slammed into my vision.

Before me lay a dark, cramped room.

*’W-Where…?’

Frowning, I slowly looked around.

A pale light shining from behind me helped illuminate the surroundings.

Objects that looked like they had been ripped straight from a free game asset website.

A bloodstained metal cabinet.

And beside it…

A boarded-up… entrance…?

The damp air brushing my nose and the dull ache in my rear provided a faint sense of reality.

Yet my mind remained numb.

It felt just like those two weeks of nonstop overtime at my previous company—

‘Did I finally lose my mind from exhaustion?’

Maybe I should’ve slept more.

The moment that thought crossed my mind—

CRAAACK!

“Gah!”

The sudden noise made my shoulders jerk upward.

What was that?

What was happening?

My stiff neck turned toward the sound.

One of the four wooden planks covering what should have been a doorway had split in half.

My mouth hung open in stunned confusion.

‘…Could I get out through there?’

The instant that thought appeared—

A shadow moved between the small crack in the wood grain.

No.

Not a shadow.

A blood-red eye, webbed with veins, rolled beneath a transparent membrane.

Its horrific pupil spun around.

Then—

Stop.

It found me in the darkness.

Silence followed.

And then.

It.

The grotesquely enormous eye stared at me and grinned.

My heart turned cold.

That monstrous eyeball in front of me…

One.

Two.

Three.

Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!

So many.

So many of them.

And then, in a gentle voice, they asked:

“There you are, David?”

At that moment—

SCRRRAAPE SCRRRAAPE SCRRRAAPE SCRRRAAPE

Long fingers touched the remaining boards.

A skin-crawling sound scraped across my eardrums.

The breath that had felt distant suddenly rushed back into my lungs.

My floating consciousness crashed back into reality.

Cold sweat streamed down my back.

All tangled thoughts vanished.

Instinct filled my head.

Run.

I glanced once at my arms.

The soreness from carrying heavy loads had vanished.

Then I sprang to my feet.

As a modern office worker, there was absolutely no way I could fight some eyeball monster like that.

And sitting still wasn’t going to magically save me.

Even if this was some bizarre dream brought on by overtime, I had no desire to experience being killed by that thing.

To survive.

To truly survive.

SCRRRAAPE

I turned my trembling body.

SCRRRAAPE

I searched the room.

A chair.

Buried in the darkness.

SCRRRAAPE

I found it.

I stepped forward.

My sweat-soaked hand slipped.

I held my breath.

My pounding heartbeat sounded distant.

Bracing myself against the cabinet, I climbed onto the chair.

There was a window behind me.

The only exit available.

I reached toward it.

At that.

Very.

Moment.

CRAAAACK.

Thud.

BOOM…

“It’s open?”

Crunch…

The sound that absolutely should not have come from inside my mouth made me reflexively frown.

After smoothing out my wrinkled brow with my fingertips, I opened my mouth.

The apple had been perfectly ripe.

Sweet and tart.

It tasted exactly as an apple should.

But…

‘…I washed it twice, so why is there sand…? And pebbles…?’

Nothing about this made sense.

Even setting aside the fact that I’d already washed it twice at a nearby well…

It had grown on a tree.

Why was I chewing on rocks?

‘Did wild animals step on it or something? …Wait, there are animals here?’

Whatever.

Forget that.

“Ah… thih dumm applhe…”

I repeatedly opened and closed my mouth while mumbling complaints through the pain, but it refused to subside.

Twisting my body in irritation didn’t help either.

Pain didn’t decrease just because you squirmed.

Time solved all things.

The pain in my teeth was eventually worn away by time as well.

Just like the countless questions I’d thrown into the void since being abandoned in this miserable world.

After irritably tossing the remaining apple pieces out the window, I looked at one of my arms.

The two elaborate cross-shaped star symbols were still there.

“Ha…”

Letting out a deep sigh, I looked around.

Unlike the place where I’d first arrived, I was now in a lived-in cabin.

The candlelight flickering across the walls seemed to soothe my exhausted mind.

Touching the still-sore corner of my mouth, I sat down and recalled everything that had happened since arriving here—and everything I’d learned about this world.

‘So today makes… ten days.’

Today was the tenth day.

In other words, it had been ten days since I, a game developer, had become trapped inside Mirábĭlis, a horror game of the RPG Maker-style genre created by the CEO of the company I’d recently joined.

Ten days since I had been unable to return home.