RTN 08

chapter 8

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I gritted my teeth and ran. Barefoot, with my hands clutching a bunch of syringes. The hallway, unnervingly white, was completely empty. Lucky break.

I slid to the end of the hallway and immediately pulled the ID card from my pocket, pressing it against the security pad.

Failed. Failed. Failed.

The security pad didn’t budge. Only the number of attempts rapidly decreased.

The ID card had been taken from a researcher by Baek Ihyeon as I was being led out. It was supposedly to keep an eye on me, but the researcher relaxed soon after. I had lain on the experiment table pretending to have no energy and didn’t move at all.

When the researcher, unable to bear the boredom, pulled out a tablet and lowered their gaze, I grabbed a nearby storage locker and slammed it onto the experiment table with all my strength.

The locker broke, spilling syringes filled with drugs all over. They were the same syringes the researcher had first injected me with when I was brought to the lab.

Startled, the researcher rushed over, and I jabbed a syringe into their neck, knocking them out. I rifled through their coat pocket, grabbed the ID card, and then, taking all the remaining syringes, I ran out of the lab without much difficulty.

I immediately took the emergency stairs down to the basement and ran like hell until I reached the Level 1 security room at the end of the corridor—it had only taken a moment.

“They’re definitely going to take you to the lab. They investigate anything suspicious there. Look for a chance and escape somehow.”

That’s what they said when I was being transferred with the other strangers from the gate to the battleship.

“There’s a Level 1 security room in the basement. Find the best weapon there.”

I asked if they meant to fight with it, and they waved their hands.

“It’s a bio-adaptive weapon. Extremely expensive and rare. If you attach it to your body, no one will dare to kill you.”

“Some attach it externally, some require surgery. Just hold it and rub it on your arm. Once it bonds completely, the weapon is yours.”

“You can only have one bio-adaptive weapon per person. Don’t try just anything.”

People eagerly shared all their knowledge with me.

For good reason—if I was deemed an ordinary stranger, we’d all die uselessly. I had to survive, for the others’ chances of survival were higher if I lived.

The soldiers currently treated me and the others as a single unit. They seemed to want to preserve all factors related to me until my value was assessed.

“Pick the best-looking one. You’ll see the grade.”

“No, the grades disappeared after the patch.”

“What? They’re still there. I just died of a heart attack while playing the game. There are grades. S-rank only goes to emperors, so A is the highest here. If there’s none, B is fine. Don’t even look at anything below F.”

“If you attach something trivial, they’ll kill you for insolence. You have to be too valuable to kill.”

“Forget everything else, just find the security room first. You can tell a good weapon at a glance.”

“Go down to the basement. At the end of the corridor.”

The directions were precise, and reaching the security room wasn’t difficult. The problem came next.

It wouldn’t open!

No matter how I tried the ID card, the security pad just blinked a red warning light and went out.

I swallowed a curse. The card belonged to a low-level researcher. It wouldn’t work. I needed a higher-ranking key.

I immediately grabbed the elevator. I didn’t have time to run upstairs via the stairs. By now, they probably noticed my escape attempt.

The elevator doors opened. A researcher inside was buried in a tablet and didn’t even glance at me, so I jabbed a syringe into their arm.

After the researcher collapsed limply, I stripped their coat and pulled the ID card from the pocket. The title was no different from the card I already had.

I hung it around my neck, grabbed the tablet and coat, and stepped into the elevator.

“3rd floor. Don’t go there.”

I pressed the button for the 3rd floor and repeatedly hit the close button.

“It’s dangerous. There are lots of researchers stationed there.”

No, I had to go. The security room probably wouldn’t open with just any key.

The surest way was to get the key of the highest-ranking person here. To find them, I had to go where there were many people.

As the elevator ascended, I quickly put on the coat, buttoned it, and let the ID card hang over my chest. My heart pounded through my fingertips with tension.

“You said you can see the status window.”

Baek Ihyeon’s voice echoed in my mind.

“We’ll soon verify if you really can see it, and your fate will be decided based on the result.”

The problem was whether that verification could truly prove I could see the status window.

Even if I could, there was no guarantee they’d spare me. I might be used as a test subject and stuffed somewhere as a specimen.

To make matters worse, I didn’t even know how to open the status window, and I hadn’t seen it once since leaving the gate.

Maybe it only worked inside the gate, or its time limit had already expired. Then I’d be no different from anyone else.

So I couldn’t just wait. I had to secure my own safety.

“I want to know who’s behind you.”

Behind me? There was no one.

It was just bad luck. Like being struck by lightning on the street. Somehow, I ended up here.

Maybe a god dropped me here because I prayed too recklessly to see Baek Ihyeon, or maybe I was a trivial creature caught in a cosmic error.

Whatever the reason, I was here, and there was no one behind me. If I had a solid backer, I wouldn’t be suffering like this.

But Baek Ihyeon doubted me, and I couldn’t prove anything, so I had to act myself.

I had already tried escaping the transport ship multiple times. I had tried every possible method with others, but nothing worked.

This was my chance. If I missed it, there wouldn’t be a second. I had to succeed.

And the others who fell into this world with me—they had said before the soldiers dragged me away:

“Please save us.”

They repeatedly apologized for watching me silently in front of the soldiers, but it didn’t matter. Even I would have ignored them.

And if I could save them, I should. They had valuable knowledge, since none of us had ever played the game.

There was also a child. The first one I had guided to the exit.

Just starting elementary school, curious enough to touch the game his older brother had turned on, his last memory at the crosswalk in front of school. People guessed it was a traffic accident.

The child had stuck close to me all day and turned pale, unable to cry properly, as the soldiers dragged me away.

The elevator doors opened.

A few researchers walked the corridor. It looked like a regular office. Either they didn’t know I had escaped, or my escape wasn’t considered a commotion. Either way, it worked in my favor.

I shielded my syringe hand with the tablet, stepped into the corridor, and pressed against the wall, scanning my surroundings quickly with my eyes.

Offices and labs were wide open and accessible, but I couldn’t waste time checking each one.

I slowed slightly and scanned the seating chart on the wall. I didn’t see any high-ranking person.

Passing meeting rooms, storage rooms, and management offices with no results, I finally arrived at a lab. On the seating chart, one title caught my eye:

Research Team Leader, Jang Seokju.

Here it was. I peeked inside. The leader’s seat was empty, and a few researchers were talking. If I could get them out, I could manage somehow.

A researcher walked by. As we brushed past, I jabbed the syringe into their arm. They made a sound and lost balance, collapsing.

Other researchers rushed over, alarmed. The lab emptied as everyone surrounded the fallen researcher. I slipped into the lab in the commotion.

That’s when the announcement came over the PA:

• Emergency situation.

I ran to the leader’s seat and pulled at the drawer. Locked.

• Emergency situation. A stranger has escaped from the lab. All units, assume defense posture.