Chapter 05
. Welcome to Extraction Team 1
“Ugh…!”
I gasped and opened my eyes, and a ceiling completely different from the office came into view.
A pure white, sterile-looking light illuminated a ceiling that looked as if it had been thoroughly wiped clean, like a dried film of skin. It felt chillingly cold, almost suffocating.
I instinctively tried to sit up, but something firmly restrained my arms under the blanket, making them stiff and unmovable. Something was inserted into my wrist.
‘…Where am I?’
Slowly turning my gaze, I saw a space that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
A medical bed with charts clipped onto it, neatly arranged medicine cabinets, a clean white interior, and a simple cot. It looked like an ordinary infirmary.
Except for the things that couldn’t be explained in between.
For example, a jar containing a twitching eyeball, a glass tube glowing with dark, cold blood like low-temperature ink, and emergency equipment with something pulsing like a heart attached to it.
My gaze, which had been scanning the room, stopped at the IV line inserted into my arm.
What was flowing slowly through the tube was clearly far from normal fluid.
A faintly glowing, strangely murky green liquid.
A crooked label read “Vitality Potion (Industrial Use),” and bubbles floated up while it occasionally boiled and gurgled.
Something similar to what I had seen in that extraction room yesterday.
A chill crawled down my spine.
I didn’t know what it was, but I was sure of one thing—it was definitely not normal IV fluid.
“No… this isn’t right.”
I grabbed the IV line with shaking hands.
My arm tingled as if it were giving a final warning, but when I forced my strength to pull it out—
Shaaak.
The curtain was pulled open, cutting through the silence.
What appeared from behind the curtain was also not human, just like the infirmary itself.
It wore a white coat.
A normal doctor’s coat you would see in a hospital.
But inside the coat, dozens of black, jelly-like tentacles wriggled out.
The tentacles crawled across the floor. Some of them held a stethoscope. Some carefully wiped tweezers.
A few even brushed the floor as they moved, touching the tips of my feet.
‘It’s dressed like a doctor…’
In this insane company, if you wear a coat, you’re a doctor. If you wear a tie, you’re an office worker.
Things like having extra limbs or a body that looked like it was melting didn’t matter at all.
As it rolled up its sleeves, a mass of flesh-like structures that looked like tongues slid out from inside.
One of them spoke like a tongue flicking out.
“Pa-tient… st-stable aw-awake. Good recovery. Ex-cellent.”
Every time the tentacle-mouth formed words, the ending of each syllable warped like jelly.
A voice full of discomfort.
The grotesque doctor stepped closer.
The organs and protrusions inside its coat made wet, disturbing sounds as they moved.
“Pa-tient… confirmed recovery. Rest… sufficient.”
A transparent, slippery tentacle picked up the IV line, expertly removed the needle, and pressed gauze onto my arm.
There were no gloves. No nails.
Only a layer of mucus-like fluid that smelled vaguely like disinfectant.
“You are… fine now. Can return.”
“Ah… thank you, doctor… I assume?”
I instinctively used polite speech.
Just the fact that it wore a coat forced me to assign it a title.
If I wanted to survive this company, manners and awareness were essential.
The tentacle doctor seemed satisfied and lightly waved one of its limbs.
I couldn’t tell if it was a “goodbye” gesture or a warning meaning “see you at lunch.”
Clack.
At that moment, the door to the infirmary opened, and the sound of steady footsteps approached.
Disciplined walking. And a familiar unpleasant feeling.
I turned my head reflexively.
“Oh— you’re finally awake, rookie?”
Hand Manager.
No— Hand Deputy.
A well-built man in a normal suit.
Seeing his fist-like head opening and closing again made my vision feel like it was shaking my brain directly.
“You fainted. Are you okay? Health management is important in this company.”
“Ah… yes. I think I overworked myself before joining. I was up all night preparing for employment exams… I’m fine now.”
A surprisingly natural lie came out of my mouth.
Fear had turned me into an actor.
A forced smile stuck to my face.
“Heh, I see? Young people these days really work hard! Good attitude!”
‘I don’t want your praise…’
Where exactly was he even speaking from? He didn’t have a mouth or even a proper head.
When I looked again, the Hand Deputy’s head—his fist—opened and closed like a handshake.
“Since it was a special IV, you should be full of energy now. Let’s go. Lunch time is already well past. Morning work was handled by Section Chief Mae roughly.”
“Yes. Thank you. I’ll get ready quickly.”
I carefully got up from the bed and followed him out of the infirmary.
My legs were still weak, but I forced myself not to faint a second time.
The tentacle doctor lightly tapped my cheek with one tentacle before leaving.
That was the last thing that happened before I left the infirmary.
Hand Deputy was already leaning against the wall outside.
His fist-head twitched again.
“Too bad about lunch. Our cafeteria food is very fresh and good.”
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine anything like bibimbap or duck salad coming from this company cafeteria.
“Too bad indeed.”
“Or are you the type like Assistant Manager Batory, who brings lunch?”
“Yes. I actually prefer lunchboxes.”
The words came out automatically.
At least bringing a lunchbox gave me an excuse to avoid the cafeteria and Hand Manager.
At my answer, his fist-head clicked as if snapping fingers.
“Just as I thought! Our rookie is diligent! Let’s finish work quickly too.”
Behind the door of the infirmary locking shut with a click, I stepped into yet another nightmare.
“By the way, Haeil, what was your major?”
As we walked, Hand Deputy continued speaking while clenching and unclenching his fist-head.
Crack. Pop.
Each syllable drilled into my brain. The sound of joints twisting felt like bones grinding together.
Every time his fist opened and closed, something inside me felt like it was creaking too.
I never thought I’d be interrogated by a monster in my life.
“Psychology. I dropped out after enlisting as a non-commissioned officer, so technically I’m just a high school graduate.”
I answered while slightly lowering my head to avoid eye contact.
Not that it mattered where I looked—he had no real eyes anyway.
“Oh, interesting background. Psychology too? I like that. Mental strength matters in our line of work.”
I could feel that painfully well already.
Hand Deputy shrugged his fist.
“Anyway, welcome to our team. Extraction Team 1 is a pretty good department.”
“…I see.”
I replied as sincerely as I could manage.
At the end of the corridor, flickering fluorescent lights stretched ahead.
The floor was polished clean, but it felt like another shadow was following mine.
Ignore it. Getting used to it is the only way to survive.
“Almost everyone here is talented. We rank number one in performance. Of course, some departments don’t like us for that, but extracting from dimensional entities is an impressive job.”
“Dimensional entities… extraction?”
“Yeah. The ones you saw during yesterday’s tour.”
At the unfamiliar term, I asked back.
Hand Deputy nodded—well, his wrist nodded.
“It’s about extracting energy sources. Most of them are kept under containment control.”
“Containment control…?”
They didn’t feel very controlled yesterday. They had eyes. They touched me.
“What we do is extract stable amounts of energy from them daily. Like milking a cow.”
“Ah…”
“Confusing, right? Don’t worry, you’ll learn everything. There’s even field work originally, but we’re resting for now. The Dimensional Disaster Management Division has been stirring things up.”
A flood of incomprehensible words came at me.
I forced a smile.
The energy extracted is sent to the Refinement Team… then to the Fusion Team…
He continued talking, but I could no longer process it.
One thought lingered in my mind.
Why are those things called employees?
The baby monster in HR.
The seven-faced Section Chief Mae.
Hand-headed Hand Deputy.
The tentacle doctor in the infirmary.
Why are they employees instead of dimensional entities?
They looked the same as the monsters I saw in the extraction room yesterday.
No. Even more grotesque.
And yet they had names. Titles. Conversations. Sometimes even laughter.
Something was different.
Clearly different.
But I didn’t know what that difference was.
“We’re here.”
Hand Deputy said.
I looked up.
The heavy steel door from yesterday stood in front of me.
A faint red sign read: “Extraction Room D Zone.”
Beside the door was a scan panel far larger than a human hand—large enough to place something else entirely.
Hand Deputy tilted his head and placed his hand—his fist—on it.
Beep—
An overly cheerful electronic sound rang out, and the door slowly opened.
“Welcome, rookie. This is where we’ll mainly work.”
I stepped inside.
A strange mixture of metal, glass, and biological texture filled the space.
Rows of containment chambers lined the walls.
Inside them, incomprehensible forms writhed.
Some floated like beating hearts.
Some tangled in bone, fur, and veins, muttering while self-replicating.
Some rolled on the floor as liquid or solid, constantly rewriting their own structure.
Each chamber was connected by complex tubes, through which reddish, sticky fluid was being drawn upward.
It all collected into a central transparent tank.
Inside, the substance—whether fuel or blood—condensed and pulsed violently.
This was the extraction room.
And those were dimensional entities.
The place where I would work.
My vision wavered.
Dizziness surged.
And through that distortion, I saw something else.
‘What is that…?’
In the middle of this grotesque extraction room stood someone.
A woman in a white lab coat.
Long white hair flowing down to her waist.
Her skin was so pale it looked almost transparent, without a single visible vein.
Her eyes were a vivid ruby red, but they felt lonely and empty.
Cold. Beautiful.
I exhaled without realizing it.
So overwhelming that just looking at her felt forbidden.
As if she contained all the beauty in the world.
Her existence itself felt like a fragile miracle of balance.
The fact that something like this could exist—noble, pure, alive—
It made something inside me collapse.
My legs weakened.
“…Haeil?”
Hand Deputy’s voice came from beside me, but it sounded like it was underwater.
I could only see her.
She didn’t even look at me.
Just stood calmly in front of a massive containment chamber, reading some document.
I didn’t care what she was doing.
Not right now.
Because in this moment, I was deeply relieved just by her existence.
And that feeling shattered exactly three seconds later.
“You are late.”
She spoke without turning around.
A clear, beautiful voice like rolling jade beads.
But behind the tablet she was holding, something red dripped.
Drip. Drip.
Not ink.
The smell of iron.
“Ah, Manager Batory. The rookie fainted this morning, so I took him to the infirmary for IV treatment.”
At Hand Deputy’s report, she slowly turned her head.
Pale skin. Red lips. Perfect features.
But the moment my eyes caught the red stain at the corner of her mouth—
Ssshhk.
With a chilling sound, her lips tore open all the way to the sides of her face.
Her skin split apart, revealing rows of razor-sharp shark-like teeth and a massive crimson maw.
The beauty from moments ago was gone.
A predator’s grotesque mouth opened right in front of me.
“Oh… so this is the new bloodline you mentioned?”
A long, snake-like tongue slid out, licking the blood at her lips.
‘Ah…’
I had felt relief just moments ago.
Relief that I was not insane. Relief that I had seen something noble.
But the moment that soft, beautiful face split open—
It felt like witnessing an angel’s mask revealing the truth beneath.
Beauty was a lie.
And truth melted my spine starting from my feet.
I forced myself not to faint as I stared at her distorted face.
Her voice, soft and elegant, carried a metallic tremor like an old vinyl record.
“How fragile. How pitiful and suppressed your expression is. Your blood taste… no, your expression is quite delicate.”
A faint smile lingered in her tone.
It was not a smile of kindness.
It was the smile of a predator tasting food before eating.
I froze completely.
My certainty that I had met a human collapsed with every word she spoke.
“You… are Haeil Jeong, correct?”
Creak. Creak.
Under her elegant neck, her cervical bones twisted with the sound of gears locking together.
Her head turned almost 180 degrees to face me directly.
I felt like the world itself had lost focus.
“I will remember you. Since you are now part of my bloodline, I hope you survive for a long time.”
That was not encouragement.
It was a prophecy.
A curse.
And perhaps… the wish of a gourmet looking at fresh prey.
