Chapter 01
I Want to Go Home (1)
To a mid-sized game developer, leaving work on time is like a writer having a saved draft ready to publish.
What does that mean, you ask?
It simply means—
“There is no such thing, damn it.”
Whether you’re a rookie or experienced, there’s an unwritten rule in many companies that they “test your work ethic” for a while after you join.
Of course, technically speaking, you can go home.
This is the modern era. No one really scolds you for skipping overtime anymore.
But when everyone around you—the person next to you, the person next to them, and the person next to them—is drinking caffeine like it’s a meal replacement and staring at their monitors with dead eyes, it’s not easy to just pack up and leave.
Even if you have nothing to do, it’s better to stay and look busy.
Of course, I do have work.
“Eighteen iced Americanos, three watermelon juices, and two cheesecakes, please.”
“You want the drinks to go and the desserts separately, right?”
“Yes.”
It was a strange order splitting items, but the employee who had taken my orders multiple times didn’t even question it.
I didn’t want to carry everything at once, but since I was already out, I wanted to take a little break.
As a non-smoker, these small pockets of free time are rare.
So I should enjoy them when I can.
“Haah…”
I let out a breath and sat in a corner.
Bzzzt, bzzzt.
My phone kept vibrating.
I pulled it out of my pocket along with my corporate card and receipt.
The KakaoTalk chat window filled the screen.
Kim Seojin: Second round—karaoke. Latecomers come here~
“Ah… was today the reunion?”
I think it was. No wonder the notifications were so loud.
Joorim: Ok
Yoomin: Got it~
Kim Cheolsu: Where? The intersection?
Yoomin: Huh, Cheolsu’s coming?
Jinwoo: Rare species spotted lol
Kim Cheolsu: lololol
Kim Cheolsu: Got out of work party duty successfully.
Jinwoo: (fireworks emoji)
Yoomin: Yeah, meet at the intersection. Same place as always.
Kim Cheolsu: Thanks, I’ll be there soon.
Yoomin: Drive safely. Stop looking at your phone~
Kim Cheolsu: lol ok. Car’s stopped anyway… too many people.
Joorim: Probably because some celebrity showed up nearby.
Kim Cheolsu: Oh, that makes sense…
I stared blankly at the conversation.
Bzzzt.
Another notification.
Kim Cheolsu: You really not coming? You said you’d tell your “new job story.”
That reminded me of what I had proudly bragged about a few days ago.
“That I joined a dream company…”
The company I currently work for.
“SFS Soft,” introduced with the slogan “Adding Fear to Science Fiction.”
It was a company founded by a group of developers centered around one famous developer.
They mainly produced 3D adventure games with sci-fi settings, like their flagship title Orbis, and it was a company admired by many—including myself.
After graduating, I had gotten tired of exploitative “passion-pay” black companies my senior introduced me to, so when SFS Soft posted a recruitment notice again after a long time, I applied immediately—and got in.
So I had been proudly talking about it everywhere.
The problem was…
“This is still a workplace too.”
Life is often a tragedy when seen up close but a comedy from afar.
Being on the receiving end of a service and being the one providing it were very different.
And one of the downsides was this:
No time for the reunion.
Me: You going to the 4th round? I might make it then.
Kim Cheolsu: Probably not going that far…
Kim Cheolsu: Good luck.
Me: Don’t go. Work instead.
Kim Cheolsu: lol I thought I was a slave, but you’re dragging me down too?
Me: Work.
Kim Cheolsu: lolol
Me: When does slavery end?
Kim Cheolsu: lolololol
Kim Cheolsu: Light turned green. I’m going.
A sudden wave of sadness hit me, but I endured it.
I had chosen this hell myself.
Even though I was jealous of my friend going out without me, even though my body twisted, my teeth hurt, my bones ached, and I felt like crying a little…
It was fine. I could endure it.
“Number 71, your cake is ready.”
“Thank you.”
I picked up the cake box with effort, pressed the elevator button, and scanned my ID card.
Back at the office, I saw a group of zombies staring at their monitors with half-dead eyes.
The update was next week—there was no helping it.
It made my eyes sting a little.
Thud.
“Everyone, please eat the night snacks. The CEO bought them.”
As I set the bag down and rolled my aching arms, I relayed the message.
“Finally…”
“I want some…”
“Ughhh…”
The zombie-like staff slowly gathered.
“Thank you. You worked hard alone.”
“Thanks… but should you really not go home, Park? You just started…”
“I still have debugging to finish.”
“Take it easy. You’ll collapse like that…”
“Haha…”
I awkwardly smiled and returned to my desk with an iced Americano.
I popped a piece of ginseng candy from a colleague into my mouth and checked the screen I had left running.
Script error… inventory bag bug… movement speed glitch…
I quickly organized tasks and continued working.
Maybe I could leave in two hours.
Of course, that would make tomorrow busy, but that couldn’t be helped.
Thinking about it made my desire to go home—close to the office—grow stronger.
“I really should find a place nearby.”
My current home was close to my previous job, meaning my commute took three hours a day.
“Honestly, it’s exhausting…”
Real estate scams are getting bad lately… who do I even know who’s good with housing? Cheolsu lives nearby… should I ask to crash for a few days while I look?
While I was thinking—
Tap!
“Huh?”
I accidentally pressed Enter.
I looked down at my hand, then sighed and rubbed my face.
“Focus…”
Home is home, work is work.
And no matter how tired I am, I can’t do sloppy work.
As I moved my fingers toward backspace—
Ding!
[ERROR]
[-WaitMutex: #########]
“…Huh?”
An error window popped up.
I frowned slightly.
“Is this a syntax error?”
But since when did errors appear like this?
As I tried to close it—
[ERROR]
[-WaitMutex: mir######]
[ERROR]
[-WaitMutex: miráb####]
[ERROR]
[wOrLd : mirábĭlis]
The text kept changing.
“…Huh?”
A sound slipped out before I could stop it.
I was about to call for help when—
Thud.
“Wha—?”
A strange sensation hit me, and my body collapsed.
The chair I had been sitting on was gone.
The rough texture of the floor beneath my hands felt unfamiliar.
When I lifted my head in panic, the scenery warped.
A dim, narrow room.
“W-where… am I…?”
I slowly looked around.
A faint light from behind helped me see unfamiliar objects that looked like free assets from a game site, and a blood-stained metal cabinet.
And beside it…
“A door… blocked with wooden planks…?”
Then—
CRACK!
One of the planks split in half.
I couldn’t even close my mouth.
Something moved behind the gap.
No.
It wasn’t just a shadow.
A bloodshot eye, tangled with vein-like patterns, moved beneath the crack.
It rolled around… then stopped.
It had noticed me.
Silence.
Then—
It smiled.
My heart turned cold.
One…
Two…
Three…
Four… five… six… seven… eight… nine… ten—
Many eyes filled the gap, stacking and crowding together.
A voice spoke, disturbingly gentle:
“Were you… here?”
At that moment—
CRRRRUNCH… CRRRRUNCH…
Long fingers scraped against the remaining planks.
My breath caught.
My instincts screamed.
Run.
Without hesitation, I moved.
No modern office worker could survive that thing.
Even if this was a dream, I didn’t want to die here.
I ran.
Behind me—
CRUNCH… CRUNCH…
“Did… you… open… it?”
Crunch…
Something I shouldn’t have heard echoed in my mouth.
I frowned, rubbing my face.
The apple I was eating was sweet and properly ripe.
But…
“…Sand? Pebbles…?”
Why?
I had washed it twice at a well nearby.
“Did animals step on it…? Are there even animals here?”
Whatever.
“Ow… this hurts…”
I muttered, but the pain didn’t go away.
Time would fix it.
Like everything else in this cursed world I had been thrown into.
I threw the remaining apple outside the window and looked at my arm.
Two ornate cross-shaped marks still floated before my eyes.
“Haah…”
I sighed deeply and looked around.
Unlike the locked room from before, this was a lived-in hut.
Candlelight flickered on the walls.
I sat down, thinking back on the days since I arrived.
“So… today makes ten days.”
Ten days since I, a game developer, had been thrown into Mirabilis, a horror RPG Maker-style game made by the CEO of the company I recently joined—
…and I still hadn’t returned home.
