THBPC 12

To Not Forget That I Am Human

A bright red fragment from Assistant Manager Son’s head fell onto the tip of my shoe, staining it.

Looking at the remains of a “fellow being” scattered across the floor, I had already forgotten even the urge to vomit—the only thing that could have proven I was still human.

click, click.

At that moment, the sound of shoes cut through the lobby noise like a blade.

The roar of Section Chief Geum, who had been boiling with rage, and the rough breathing of Chief SIK dragging chains—everything, even the dust falling from the ceiling, seemed to freeze in place.

White light began to pour in from the end of the hallway.

click, click.

A steady, mechanical rhythm of footsteps.

Not the lively walk of Assistant Son, nor the heavy steps of Chief SIK.

It was perfect—measured, as if drawn with a ruler.

Five figures appeared.

They wore pure white suits without a single speck of dust from head to toe.

Where their faces should have been, there were grotesquely twisted gas masks.

The sound of filters turning—shh, shh—ripped through the silence.

“Ah, speak of them and they appear.”

Assistant Son, standing beside me, muttered softly.

His fist—just moments ago crushing a human skull with eerie brilliance—tightened slightly in tension.

The lead figure of the Order Control Office raised a gloved hand slightly.

That single motion made dozens of monster employees part ways like the Red Sea.

“Situation terminated.”

The voice leaking from behind the gas mask was sharp like scraping metal, yet chillingly calm.

“The quarantine breach is being handled by the Order Control Office. All remaining personnel must evacuate the area immediately.”

The masked figures pulled out white stun batons and strange spray devices from inside their coats.

They walked toward scattered human corpses and monster remains as if picking up trash from a clean hallway.

I stared blankly at the scene.

It felt like lead had filled my veins instead of blood.

And just as that blood on the floor was about to be stepped on by their white shoes—

A red-lensed gas mask slowly turned toward me.

“Let’s go, child.”

A cold yet gentle grip caught my wrist.

Báthory Manager.

She smiled as elegantly as always, but her grip was impossible to resist.

Her red eyes scanned my pale face as she whispered lowly.

“It is not wise to anger those in white.”

She turned without looking back and led me toward the office.

Chief SIK followed behind like a guard, chains clinking.

Section Chief Geum and Assistant Son also quickly left the lobby.

Behind us, a hissing sound rose, followed by pale smoke.

Human lives, blood, and chaos were all erased within it.

After leaving the extraction room, passing through the hallway, and entering the office, I finally let out a rough breath.

“Ha… haah…”

Báthory leaned over my chest as I gasped for air.

“Do not be too frightened. No matter what anyone says, you are a precious blood kin.”

Her whisper was so close it brushed my ear.

Feeling the steady vibration from her voice—and something like a heartbeat against my chest—I slowly regained my breathing.

A few more days passed.

With time, some things inevitably become familiar—and familiarity dulls everything.

And when dullness grows, holes begin to form in the mind.

Before opening the door, I bit my lip slightly.

It had become part of my routine.

Before entering the office, standing in front of the quarantine room, or encountering unknown vibrations in empty hallways.

Honestly, it felt like I was just biting my lip whenever things didn’t go right.

The work itself had become familiar.

Memorizing rules, following protocols—that was always my strong point.

Reading the manual on the tablet, performing extraction step by step, activating containment devices when dimensional entities showed abnormal reactions.

I could now do it without hesitation.

They even said I was good at it.

The first time I saw a dimensional entity, it was still grotesque.

But now—even if its arms split into tentacles, even if its back tore open and it screamed until my eardrums felt like they would burst—if I bit my lip once, I could still follow the rules.

I couldn’t deny I had adapted.

The problem was elsewhere.

Separate from work, my mind was slowly developing holes.

A company where quitting meant death.

A place where I had to survive every day among monsters and dimensional beings by following rules and reading the atmosphere.

And something else had been added on top of it.

“Is it okay for me to look human?”

I had become, quite literally, a human who must not act like one.

A few days ago, when Assistant Son crushed someone’s head—

I saw it.

I was shocked, but I didn’t scream. I just left.

Maybe that was when doubt first began to grow inside me.

“Am I still a human? If I am, why am I still alive?”

Chief SIK still treated me as his subordinate and took care of me.

When we went out for extraction work, he would tap my back with his heavy foreleg and swat away threatening entities with his tail.

I was grateful for that.

Truly grateful.

But I still couldn’t properly communicate with him.

Even when he growled something, I just guessed and responded.

“Have a good day today.”

“I will do my best, Chief.”

I just said whatever fit the situation.

He would nod.

Even if I didn’t understand him, he seemed to think the conversation worked and would clink his chains.

But Assistant Son was different.

These days, I avoided him.

“I can’t look at his face.”

He didn’t even really have a face anymore.

We no longer drank coffee together like before.

The fact that he had crushed a human skull with that fist would not leave my mind.

And neither would my own reaction—standing there like a helpless prey, unable to do anything.

Assistant Son still smiled.

He still said things like, “You’re doing well, Haeil.”

He was still kind.

But every time I heard that voice, my fingertips went numb.

I was holding myself together so I wouldn’t collapse.

I reminded myself of that several times a day.

And so, I entered the extraction room again today.

I faced horned monsters, cleaned up the mucus of sobbing dimensional beings, and acted like an employee just to survive.

But still—still.

I hadn’t forgotten that I was human.

To keep from forgetting, I wrote it on my apartment wall every night.

I am human.

That sentence was the last boundary of my sanity.

gurrrk.

The sound of draining water made me lower my head.

A few droplets slid down my palm.

My face was already wet, but I couldn’t tell if it was from washing or sweat.

I slowly exhaled and looked at myself in the mirror.

“Am I going to starve to death?”

The words slipped out unconsciously.

I skipped lunch today because it felt ominous.

My excuse was always the same.

“I brought lunch.”

Of course, that was a lie.

I had no food left.

All that remained in my room was half a pack of expired instant noodles and a bottle of some strange probiotic drink that tasted like vinegar.

I had no time to go to the market, and more importantly, no way to leave.

The company was my home, and home was the company.

One step from office to house.

A closed world.

“When do I start living like a person?”

There were no people at work.

And at home, there weren’t even monsters.

My face in the mirror was getting paler each day.

It felt like one day I might simply disappear.

Not as a person. Not even as Haeil.

I wiped my dry face and opened the bathroom door.

click.

“Oh, you finally came out?”

Báthory Manager stood there holding a tumbler.

A white-glowing wrist, red-painted nails.

A clear straw inside the tumbler.

At the end of the straw, a dark red liquid swayed.

“Ah, Manager Báthory.”

“Fufu. I was waiting since it was almost the end of lunch break.”

Her gaze landed on me as she tilted her head slightly.

No makeup on her face.

Neatly brushed silver hair.

And that grotesque smile stretching her lips.

“Did you eat?”

“Yes, lately lunchboxes are easier on my stomach.”

A ridiculous lie came out automatically.

Her eyes slowly moved down my arms.

Empty hands.

No lunch bag.

But she said nothing and only smiled.

Her eyes tilted slightly.

A small mouth under her collarbone seemed to laugh softly behind the half-open shirt.

“If you have no appetite… would you like a sip?”

She shook the tumbler lightly.

I forced a smile.

“Haha, you’re joking, right?”

“Who knows?”

She spun the straw with her finger and looked straight at me.

Her gaze slowly rolled over me like ice in a glass.

“Or perhaps… does our meal not suit you?”

“What?”

For a moment, everything felt frozen.

My heart dropped.

I barely held my expression together.

Then she laughed a beat later.

Her lips stretched beautifully.

“I mean the company cafeteria.”

“…Ah. Yes. A little, I guess.”

“Fufufu. Don’t be too nervous.”

She lifted the straw to her lips again.

A heavy step echoed down the hallway—Chief SIK.

Chains followed.

Afternoon work had begun again.

Báthory brushed her silver hair back.

The motion was elegant… and threatening at the same time.

I avoided her red eyes.

She was smiling, but her gaze was not warm at all.

She stepped closer with the straw still in her mouth.

“You look unwell. Your color, your eyes… everything has lost its light.”

I forced a smile.

“I’m fine, Manager. I just haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Sleep?”

Her red eyes narrowed slightly.

She continued slowly, as if tasting wine.

“Those who cannot sleep are not suffering from the body’s rebellion. It is the mind that is restless. And a restless mind means the abyss is calling you.”

Her tone was elegant, like a soft rug in an old mansion—comforting, yet unsettling.

I simply nodded.

I had no idea how to respond.

She shook the tumbler lightly.

“…I will tell Section Chief Maen about the afternoon work. You should come with me for a little talk.”

“I’m fine. I just need some rest.”

“A moment is enough. Have you been to the break room? It is quiet and comfortable.”

Her red, eerie gaze pressed down on my face.

As she stepped closer, I instinctively stepped back—but hit the bathroom threshold and had nowhere left to go.

And then—

A tearing sound.

The back of Báthory Manager’s head slowly split open without warning.

From her silver hair, a mass of red flesh writhed outward.

Veins of muscle extended like tendrils, wrapping tightly around my arm.

“…Ah… ah…”

Before I could even make a sound, I was already caught.

My arms and wrists were locked, my feet half lifted from the ground.

The tendrils dragged me slowly but firmly.

“Manager… I’m really fine… I—”

“Jung Haeil.”

She called my name gently.

My struggling body froze.

Her hand moved to my lips.

“Be quiet. Your voice is trembling too much.”

“….”

“It is only that your mind needs a little time to settle.”

I said nothing.

No—I couldn’t say anything anymore.

Like a sheep being dragged to slaughter, I was pulled helplessly forward.

My shoes scraped across the floor.

Báthory never once raised her voice.

She simply walked calmly and elegantly, dragging me toward the break room.

Before the door opened, she said without turning back:

“It is fine. Just a little… sharing of blood.”

Blood?

The door closed.

click.

The lock fell into place.

The lights flickered.

Even after the door shut, the room was silent.

So silent I could hear my heartbeat clearly.

“Sit.”

She leaned back into a deep chair and spoke calmly.

Silver hair resting on her shoulder.

I carefully sat in the chair she pointed at.

The moment I touched the seat, a cold feeling crawled up my spine.

And when I looked at her—

I felt it for the first time.

A sensation I had never experienced before.

An emotion that could only be named by instinct.

Ancient, primal fear.

Báthory was smiling.

Her lips were soft, her voice calm, her posture composed.

But behind that shell, I could feel overwhelming hunger.

Like a deer facing a predator.

Like a rabbit realizing a hawk before it strikes.

Breath itself felt like betrayal.

My mind felt like it was splitting.

It was hard just to look at her.

My head burned.

Cold sweat dripped down my back.

“Are you afraid?”

Her red eyes narrowed.

Predator’s eyes.

Deep crimson that swallowed light.

She opened and closed her lips slowly.

Words like old wine.

But behind them were fangs.

“It is alright. That fear is justified.”

The skin around her neck split slightly.

A massive mouth appeared beneath it, tasting the air.

“The feeling you have in front of me… is proof that you are human.”

Ah.

The word “human” clearly reached my ears.

It seemed… this was the shape of my death.