DAY 20.
Kach—
Accompanied by the faint hiss of a pressure valve releasing, the containment unit door slowly slid open.
Justin stepped out, clad in a full set of living flesh armor.
The crimson mass clinging to her body was grotesque and vivid. The enormous eye embedded in the center of her chest was shot through with blood vessels, twitching faintly as if still alive.
Without proper mental preparation, even some of the more fragile clerical staff might suffer an immediate mental breakdown just from seeing this E.G.O.
Strapped to Justin's back was an equally grotesque greatblade, formed of the same living flesh.
Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought Nothing There had once again put on human skin and escaped.
As Justin exited the containment unit, the work-evaluation machine beside her flashed with a glaring yellow light.
"That makes no sense…"
Justin frowned at the rating displayed on the machine, clearly puzzled.
"This was the first work of the day. There hasn't even been any Qliphoth overload yet…"
"And it was a standard communication task."
"So why did the evaluation almost drop to Poor?"
She exhaled, rubbing her shoulder.
"Good thing I was wearing Mimicry. If I'd still been using the Magic Bullet set, I'd be lucky to escape without being crippled…"
"…Oh?"
At that moment, the elevator at the end of the corridor opened, and a familiar figure stepped out.
"Well, well," Chunbon said, arms crossed as she leaned against the elevator door, her tone dripping with undisguised teasing.
"Even our elite here can't handle that dog properly, despite wearing the best Red-resistant armor."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Do you think you deserve the trust the Manager placed in giving you that E.G.O?"
"Chunbon."
Justin turned to look at her colleague.
"Don't say that like you have some special relationship with the Manager."
She smirked.
"You think I don't know? Someone tried to invite the Manager out to dinner yesterday, got completely ignored, and ended up sitting alone outside the private room—straining her ears just to catch a bit of the conversation inside."
"You—!"
Chunbon's face flushed red. She huffed, then waved it off.
"Whatever. I don't care."
"Trying costs nothing."
"If the Manager responds, great—it's an honor."
"If not, I just live my life like usual."
"Or maybe," Justin said with a shrug,
"the Manager's just too nice to bother arguing with a clingy little tagalong who's always trying to stick close."
"Doesn't matter."
Chunbon walked up to the containment door, staring at the cold metal gate. Her voice grew quieter, more complicated.
"We exist here to work, get paid, work, get paid…"
"But if that's all there is, then how are we any different from walking corpses?"
"Even Abnormalities have souls, Justin," she said softly.
"Don't treat yourself like you're worth nothing."
Something was definitely wrong with Nothing There today.
Even Justin and Chunbon—both with maxed-out Courage and Prudence, wearing the best equipment available—came dangerously close to receiving Poor evaluations in the subsequent work attempts due to insufficient PE-box output.
(Because of the abnormally low success rate, X did not dispatch Audrey, who wore Gaze, to work today.)
Qliphoth Meltdown: Level 5.
Inside the intermediate corridor leading to Nothing There's containment chamber, Faust stood quietly.
Only one door remained between her and that horrifying existence, yet unlike usual, it did not open immediately after the door behind her sealed shut.
Beep—
The communicator on Faust's chest lit up with an incoming transmission from the Manager.
"Faust, emergency situation. Nothing There's condition is different from the past few days."
X 's voice came through the line.
"Especially now—it's showing changes that don't match any prior records."
"So I'm authorizing you: if things turn dangerous, you may request immediate termination of the task and withdraw at once."
"Manager," Faust replied calmly,
"your highest priority is energy production. This order has no practical meaning."
"…Malkuth."
Hearing the department head's voice instead of Faust's, X frowned deeply.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean," Malkuth continued,
"the Control Team has no need for employees who cannot even perform management work properly."
"Even if she's my right-hand woman, Manager. The Control Team does not accept dead weight."
"Energy demands are increasing day by day. If you remain as sentimental as before, then I must question—"
"—whether my initial evaluation of you was overly generous."
"Malkuth!"
X slammed his hand down on the desk. The impact rattled everything on its surface, making even Angela glance over in surprise.
He was genuinely angry.
"Are you trying to overstep your authority?"
"This is a Level 5 employee we're talking about, not someone expendable!"
His voice was harsher than ever before—
the first time since getting to know her that he'd called her by her full name.
"Do not treat your subordinates like ants whose lives don't matter!"
Compared to the chaos and confrontation in the Manager's office, Nothing There's containment unit was eerily silent.
Even after Faust entered, the quiet persisted.
There was no deafening roar like a revving engine.
No nauseating drip, drip of viscous fluids hitting the floor.
Even the massive, twisted canine body was gone.
In its place stood a huge, pulsating cocoon of flesh, positioned exactly where the monstrous dog had once been.
"…An abnormal condition," Faust murmured.
She stared at the fleshy cocoon. For once, her usually icy expression showed unmistakable confusion.
"This is strange… Nothing There's current state resembles the 'aberrant growth' phase that normally only appears after containment failure."
"For this to occur inside the containment unit…"
"This should be unprecedented."
"Should I report this to the Manager in advance?"
Thump—thump—thump—
Heavy, terrifying heartbeats echoed from within the cocoon.
"…No."
Faust lowered her communicator.
"This time… Nothing There has not yet revealed that form. Reporting prematurely may only cause unnecessary confusion for the Manager."
"Better not to say anything."
Despite knowing full well what kind of monstrosity might emerge from that cocoon, her face showed no panic.
"Then," she said quietly,
"Faust—begin the work."
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