Chapter 13
Heart-Pounding Tea Time with Manager Batori (1)
The break room was unusually quiet.
Even the sound of chains from the corridor outside, the machine noises, and the faint vibration of the air purifier—all of it was completely blocked by the walls.
The chair I was sitting in was so soft it swallowed my hips, but my back felt as stiff as if I were sitting on a bed of thorns.
Manager Batori, sitting across from me, was quietly watching me.
Her tumbler was placed on the desk for the moment, and her pale, soft fingertips were neatly folded together.
With her head slightly tilted, she looked like a gentle counselor ready to listen sincerely.
But I knew.
That posture was entirely the leisure of a predator.
—Are you afraid? It is alright. That fear is natural. The feeling you have in front of me is proof that you are human.
I couldn’t answer for a long time after hearing that.
My throat was dry. My mouth was parched.
She smiled.
A chill, like ice, crawled down my dried throat.
A beast smiling with composure, not yet intending to tear apart its prey.
That was Manager Batori now.
“…She’s still smiling.”
At least for now, it wasn’t a face that said she would kill me.
I steadied my trembling heart and lifted my head as calmly as possible.
“…What do you mean by that, Manager?”
“Fufufu.”
A breath mixed with the scent of blood and dust slipped out as her lips slowly curled.
That smile was as thin and cold as an old glass cup.
Only one eye and one corner of her lips were smiling, but beneath that, small eyes were blinking one by one along her neck.
Some of them twitched as if trying to break through the skin.
“Do you intend to insult this body?”
Her voice was clear.
But at the same time, extremely low.
It whispered like an illusion in my ears, a terrifying warning that made the floor itself feel like it was trembling.
I felt my spine freeze at her words.
My fingertips twitched slightly, and my knees shook under the chair.
‘I’ve been found out.’
No—maybe I never even managed to hide it.
Those eerie red eyes were telling only one truth.
She had known from the very beginning.
My acting just now had only entertained her.
I suppressed the urge to run.
Manager Batori had already defined me as an interesting toy.
The more I panicked, the more I struggled, the sooner her sadistic amusement would be fulfilled.
‘Why… hasn’t she said anything until now?’
I didn’t know.
The only thing I understood was this: lies were useless in this place.
I lowered my gaze carefully.
If I kept lying here, my blood might end up in that tumbler next.
I took a shaky breath and twisted my fear into something resembling respect and composure.
I bit my lip. My tongue circled my dry palate several times before I finally spoke.
“…Me.”
“Hm?”
“Are you… going to kill me?”
The moment those words left my mouth—
Manager Batori’s eyes flickered ever so slightly.
She tilted her head slowly.
Picking up her tumbler again, she lifted the corner of her lips and said:
“That depends on your answer. Speak. It is the only path for you not to break.”
Inside the tumbler, ice and something like blood clashed with a sharp, grinding sound.
I inhaled.
Manager Batori was still quietly watching me.
Crimson eyes, perfectly composed posture, and the scent of blood lingering at her fingertips.
Whatever I said, whatever expression I made—she already knew.
That fact had become painfully clear.
“….”
I quietly drew in a breath.
My throat moved as I swallowed.
Then, forcing myself to calm down as much as possible, I began speaking one word at a time.
“To be honest…”
Manager Batori’s pupils slightly contracted.
She rested her chin on her hand.
Her pale, long fingers framed a smile that still looked gentle—but now I fully understood its meaning.
“I’m scared. Because I’m human.”
“Fufu, of course you are.”
She whispered a laugh.
I continued as if being chased by it.
“Honestly… it was all too strange. I couldn’t remember anything, there were no instructions, the lights suddenly went off…”
“And?”
“And then Manager Moon was there. Those… seven faces…”
I clenched my fist without realizing it.
The smell of that day still clung to my palm.
Mold, dust, iron—something damp and unsettling.
“After seeing those faces… I got strangely scared… but when I stood in front of them… I just signed it. The contract.”
Manager Batori’s red eyes half-closed.
As if she were savoring something.
I cleared my throat and continued.
“If I stopped talking even for a moment, I felt like I’d be swallowed by the silence.”
“I’ll skip what happened after. As you know… the door disappeared, my house got connected to the company, and the work became… bizarre.”
At my words, Manager Batori nodded very slowly.
Like a reader re-reading a very interesting book from the beginning, curious about the next page.
“And then I came to Extraction Team 1. Manager Moon, Deputy Hand, Chief Clerk Food, Deputy Chief Mok…”
“Fufu, that expression you made when you first saw us is still so vivid.”
“It was scary. Really, really scary…”
I confessed everything to her while feeling humiliation and fear.
I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood.
Maybe I was just trying to appease a predator.
“I just… acted and smiled to survive.”
Good morning, Chief Food Clerk.
Yes, Deputy Hand. Thank you for the coffee.
Manager Moon, thank you for your hard work today.
“All of it… I did it just to survive. I keep thinking… why?”
I lowered my head.
I couldn’t lift my face anymore.
“And once I get used to this company… I don’t even know what comes next. Why am I here? Why am I even being kept alive?”
As soon as I finished, the tumbler made a clinking sound.
Ice and blood—or something like it.
Manager Batori slowly lifted it and exhaled softly.
“Your story… is quite delicious.”
Her red eyes sparkled.
That gaze pierced deeper than everything I had said so far.
“More so than flesh mixed with pretense. A broken, surrendered piece of meat is far more exquisite. However—”
She placed the tumbler down.
The sound of steel touching the table stabbed into my ears like a nail.
“Jeong Hae-il. You still have not answered.”
Manager Batori leaned forward slightly.
Like a beast taking a short breath before biting a neck.
A red vein—something I had no idea where it came from—slowly crawled out beneath the table.
It wriggled like a vein, crawling along the floor.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
She slowly tilted her head back.
Her silver hair slipped over the chair.
“How much do you know about yourself—and this company, above all?”
The question was simple.
But the answer was too difficult.
“This company…?”
I repeated it inwardly.
And I started forcing my mind to work.
What could I say? How much could I reveal?
What would be dangerous to say?
“First…”
My lips began to dry again.
I spoke very carefully.
“The salary is 68 million won… and at the time of hiring… there was a 3 million won signing bonus.”
One of Manager Batori’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
Seeing that reaction, I gained a bit of courage.
“There are also meal support, welfare points, paid leave beyond legal minimum… and mental clinic services… it was all written there…”
As I spoke, my voice gradually got smaller.
“I thought… the benefits were… beyond what a normal small or mid-sized company would offer. It seemed like a good company.”
Silence.
The break room went completely quiet.
“Puhahahahahaha!!”
Manager Batori burst into laughter.
It was sharp, beautiful—and grotesque at the same time.
Like a pearl embedded in blood-soaked velvet.
“Signing bonus? Salary? Benefits? Ahahaha!”
She kept laughing, hitting her knee lightly with one hand.
“Hah… hah… calm down, calm down. I haven’t laughed like this in a long time.”
She wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and looked back at me.
“Jeong Hae-il.”
Her red eyes deepened again.
Her smile stayed frozen—but the laughter still echoed beneath it.
“You… know far too little about yourself, and about this company.”
As her laughter faded, my heart began to race.
Something terrible felt like it was about to follow.
“W-What… do you mean?”
I asked carefully.
Manager Batori slowly shook her head.
“Not knowing is not a sin. However—”
Her red eyes pierced through me.
“One who enters this company is never allowed to live without knowing. If you are human, you must strive to understand, or your pathetic life will not be preserved.”
I swallowed.
The meaning of her words sank heavily into my chest.
“Do not be too tense. This place is still good for you, and the fact that we will not consume you does not change.”
Her lips slowly relaxed into a smile.
A beautiful and lethal smile.
“Besides, how could I possibly eat a member of my own bloodline?”
She rested her cheek on her hand and whispered.
“Your surprised face is quite cute. I was just teasing you.”
“Thank you… Manager.”
I bowed my head and forced a smile.
But inside was different.
What does that even mean?
A good place for me?
Just because we’re on the same team, she won’t kill me?
‘Was it really just a joke?’
My reason and fear collided—one wanting to believe it was a twisted joke, the other trying to analyze how much of it was real.
Even while thanking her, I couldn’t meet her eyes properly.
My expression was a forced smile. My facial muscles were stiff.
And then—
“Still. Innocence alone cannot be passed over.”
The moment she continued speaking, smiling elegantly—
Crack.
A horrifying sound.
Her abdomen split open.
More precisely, the white flesh-like layer under her shirt and body began to tear apart.
Inside, red mucous membrane and muscle writhed.
And from within—
Dozens of flesh tendrils.
Thin, disturbingly precise, grotesquely writhing things.
Shot out toward me.
“Ghh—!”
Before I could even scream,
One tendril wrapped around my neck.
Then another. And another.
Flesh tightened around me, sensing my heartbeat, slowly but decisively constricting.
“This place is not something you may deny.”
I tried to raise my hand, but resistance was meaningless.
The tendrils were soft like silk—and yet as hard as iron.
Manager Batori was still smiling.
More beautiful and terrifying than ever.
Even as her abdomen split open, even as blood and tendrils poured out.
Her eyes did not waver.
“Do not worry. You will not die.”
Her voice remained calm and elegant.
Like a noble tone from the highest balcony of an opera house.
But what followed was far less comforting.
“A small punishment is necessary for a foolish child drowned in doubt and forgetfulness, is it not?”
Her red eyes sank deeper.
“And blood flows upon trust.”
And at that moment—
A thin tendril slipped directly into my ear.
My breath stopped.
A wet, hot, suffocating sensation began tearing through my mind.
