Chapter 7

I walked through the Red Doors holding the Doll I’d taken from the iron bars.

I was terrified the bats clinging to the ceiling might attack me.

Why? Because bats carry tons of germs, right?

I even remember a news article about someone who collided with a flying bat, got kissed by it, and died of sepsis a few days later.

‘Please, just stay calm…’

I silently pleaded with the bats as I focused on finding the Altar.

The rule is that if the Basement door is open after 10 PM, you must offer this Doll at the Altar.

I was scanning in every direction for it when something felt off.

‘Was this building really this big?’

The width of this bizarre Basement was easily the size of a sports field.

Since the building above ground was only the size of a small shopping center, the difference was clearly strange.

Piles of scrap materials were scattered around, forming walls that made it a proper maze.

“Boribori, don’t you have some kind of pathfinding magic?”

I asked Boribori half-jokingly, half-seriously, trying to shake off the tension clinging to me like dampness.

Boribori, who had been following behind me, still gave no answer.

I’d noticed it over the past few days.

Boribori didn’t seem to understand what I was saying.

Of course, that was just my baseless guess.

Maybe she understood but was deliberately ignoring me.

If that were really the case, what a demonic way to behave.

So I’d just go with ‘she doesn’t understand’…

Suddenly, I realized how little I actually knew about ‘Boribori.’

What her true identity was. Why no one else could see her.

Where she’d lived and what she’d done.

Why she treasured that filthy padded jacket so much.

I was wandering around with those thoughts when it happened.

“Aaaaah!“

Someone screamed from beyond that pitch-black corridor.

Then came the sound of rapid footsteps approaching me.

Just as I felt something was odd about the sound, a woman started shouting wildly in front of me.

“Someone! P-please save me! Save me!”

When something completely unexpected happens, people tend to freeze for a few seconds.

That’s exactly what I was doing, caught off guard.

“Security guard! Help me! Get me out! Let me ooout!!!”

That snapped me back to reality.

The rudeness of calling me ‘mister’ when I’m only twenty-five.

There weren’t many people in the world who did that.

Wait, wasn’t she the woman who’d been with Jang Geunbeom earlier?

Now I looked, her hair was a vivid pink.

A hair color like that was hard to forget once you’d seen it.

“What happened? What’s going on?”

I looked at her more closely.

She was barefoot, having lost her shoes, and her top had been torn off, leaving her in just a bra.

In one word, she looked like the heroine who’d barely escaped a chainsaw murderer.

As I was pushing those thoughts deep into the back of my throat, she spoke.

“J-just promise me you’ll get me out of here. Please… My name is Kim Iryeong, and I live over in Cheongdo-dong. I’m twenty years old… I’m not a suspicious person!”

Introducing herself without even being asked.

She was probably afraid that if I thought she was ‘suspicious,’ I might not help her, or might even leave her behind.

Kim Iryeong’s eyes were fixed on my ‘Security Vest’ as if nailed to it.

The situation seemed dire, but I guess there’s a certain sense of security that a uniform provides.

“…There’s something here. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something. Don’t ask me any more about what it was. Ah… I don’t even want to imagine it! They’re definitely all dead!”

She clearly wasn’t in her right mind.

But scattered among her words were things that stuck into my mind like spikes.

“If everyone’s dead… did Jang Geunbeom and that other woman come in here too?”

“……”

Kim Iryeong clamped her mouth shut.

At that moment, a feeling of helplessness and shock spread through my chest like spilled ink.

People dying while I’m working a security gig—

Isn’t that way too big an incident for me to be dealing with?

But unlike my heated chest, my mind went cold, like it had been dunked in ice water.

I was surprised at how calm I could be.

What came to mind then was—

“Have you seen something like an Altar?”

The Dori Building security Rulebook.

No matter what happens, I have to follow what’s written in it.

I needed to place this Doll on the Altar.

Maybe Kim Iryeong knew where the Altar was?

“…Altar.”

Kim Iryeong’s eyes actually changed, like she knew something.

But that only lasted a moment—

“No! I’m not going back there! Just get me out of here!”

She grabbed my Security Vest and shook me with more strength than I expected.

They say people exert more than double their normal strength in crisis situations—maybe that was it.

Her grip was overwhelming, but one thing was certain: Kim Iryeong knew where the Altar was.

“Iryeong, just guide me to the Altar, that’s all. I can’t explain the details, but I absolutely need to place this Doll there.”

“…A-are you talking about the rules?”

“Huh?”

I was caught off guard—I didn’t expect the word ‘rules’ to come out of her mouth.

But then Iryeong started moving her lips quickly, as if talking was the only way to calm herself down.

“Nikon told me! He said there was a Rulebook! And that following it exactly was the only way to survive!”

Who the hell was Nikon?

The more I heard, the more questions piled up.

It reminded me of my first day working at a restaurant.

#

“So, let me get this straight?”

‘Nikon’ was a creepypasta YouTuber.

He’d gone missing while working security in this building.

Jang Geunbeom and Iryeong’s group came to this building to bite at that bait.

And then they were attacked by something in the Basement.

“So you don’t know what attacked you?”

“I d-don’t know. Ever since I was little, I’ve had a kind of sixth sense. I can tell at a glance. Whether someone likes me or hates me… Whether something’s dangerous or not…”

Apparently, Iryeong had started her YouTube career under the name ‘Female College Student Shaman.’

A pretty girl. Creepy stories. A shaman.

Those three elements blended well, and she’d hit 50,000 subscribers in under six months.

“I can’t be sure, but it was dangerous. All I could think was that I had to run…”

The dangerous thing that existed in this Basement.

Could it be that ‘Wogijagi’?

With the information I had right now, that was my best guess.

“The Altar is over there…”

After we walked for a bit, Iryeong pointed at something with her finger.

I followed the line of her index finger and saw a stone structure made of stacked flat stones beneath the Red Doors.

On top of the flat stone sat a single white plate, reflecting the lantern light.

“…Mister, if we put the Doll on the Altar, we can get out, right?”

“I hope so.”

I placed the Doll on the white plate.

Click—

What was going to happen now?

Thump, thump—

My heart pounded.

Iryeong, clinging close to my side, was also looking around with expectant eyes.

But as time passed, nothing really changed.

I’d predicted something dramatic would happen, and my ego felt a little deflated.

“We can get out of here now, right!?”

Iryeong trembled.

Her voice was hysterical with fear.

I figured I should check, so I pulled out the Rulebook and read it again.

3. Basement Entry Prohibited

After 10 PM, the Basement entrance shall be fully sealed and patrols reinforced. If the Basement door is found open, offer a sacrifice at the Altar below.

3-1. Sacrifice Handling Guidelines

A sufficient stock of sacrifices is placed in storage containers within the Basement.

4. Survival Rules Upon Encountering Wogijagi in the Basement

Remove all items bearing your name.

If you make eye contact, you must say “Komori.”

Upon encountering limbs such as legs or arms, offer the clothing worn on that body part.

5.━─━─━───.

Odd numbers must become even, and even numbers must become odd.

Wogijagi-nim, wogiwogijagijagi─.

I realized something.

─If the Basement door is open, find the Altar and offer a sacrifice─.

That’s what was written, sure.

But nowhere did it say ‘that will allow you to escape.’

It was in that moment that I felt the malice radiating from this Rulebook.

Earlier, when I’d seen the Basement entrance gaping open through the bushes, I’d thought of a fish’s gills.

Maybe my ominous intuition had been right.

It was a mouth.

And when a mouth opens, it’s usually because it’s hungry.

To close a hungry mouth, you have to push food into it.

After swallowing the food and feeling full, the creature naturally closes its mouth.

‘Surely not…’

Making humans enter the Basement to offer Dolls at the Altar.

What if that whole act was ‘feeding’ all along?

Then Iryeong’s words—that the door had closed the moment they entered—made sense.

The creature, now full, had shut its mouth.

The prey that came inside had their way out blocked.

‘The rules were designed from the start without any assumption that the reader would survive.’

Thud—

At that moment, Iryeong collapsed like a broken marionette.

“…We’re all going to die here, aren’t we? Nikon said it too. Those four rules written there are just bait to lure in food.”

“Bait?”

“He said it’s like swapping parts into a broken machine… pushing things like us in to use as sacrifices! He said they’re planted there deliberately to make us die! God… fuck…”

Nikon.

That faceless man had apparently been able to read these special rules too.

He’d reached a conclusion similar to mine.

These rules weren’t designed for the ‘Dori Building security guard’ to survive.

But really? Was that actually true?

They hire a security guard, give them this Rulebook, all to lure people into the Basement?

Rules are supposed to exist for protection and safety.

Thinking with that as the baseline, something felt like it was missing a crucial piece.

If there was truly no way out of here, then they wouldn’t have used the word ‘entrance’ in the first place.

The word ‘entrance’ clearly contains the meaning of ‘exit’ as well.

“Iryeong, did Nikon say there were four rules?”

“I don’t know. That’s what he said. I can only see two though. They give me a bad feeling.”

Iryeong sighed as she looked at the open Rulebook.

“Nikon must have gone crazy from being trapped here and started spouting nonsense.”

No, I don’t think it was nonsense.

My mind started spinning again.

Nikon said there were four rules.

But Iryeong could only see up to two.

What about me, then?

5.━─━─━───.

Odd numbers must become even, and even numbers must become odd.

Wogijagi-nim, wogiwogijagijagi─.

I could see up to the fifth rule.

Could it be that different people can see different numbers of rules?

That was entirely possible.

After all, in this place—

I was the only one who could see ‘Boribori.’

I was the only one.

The only one who could see this fifth rule.

Once I realized that, I understood what this ‘fifth rule’ was.

This was the exit.

The key to survival.

Jingle, jingle—

A bell sound came from the distant darkness.

In that instant, Iryeong’s pupils dilated as if they’d rolled back, and she went into a panic.

“I-its coming! That thing is coming! Aaaah! You son of a bitch! Yeah, come on! Come at me!”

Iryeong’s fear had peaked, and she’d flipped into a cornered-animal ferocity.

I never knew humans could get that brave when facing death.

Rather than being overwhelmed by its presence, I felt like I was catching the fire of her desperate rage.

Scowl—

At that moment, Boribori—who had been yawning lazily the whole time even in this situation—suddenly furrowed her brow hard.

“Zil lekh-! Puk-!”

I couldn’t understand the language.

But the fur standing up on her tail communicated blatant hostility clearly enough.

Jingle…

Soon, the clear bell sound from afar slowly stopped.

Then, as if turning back toward the darkness, the sound gradually faded away.

And when it had become completely silent—

“…I-I think my cursing scared it off!”

Iryeong, who had been forgetting to breathe, let out a weak, exhausted laugh of joy.

I had a lot I wanted to say, but explaining was a hassle, and there was no time.

“Iryeong, I’ll get you out of here, so stop calling me mister from now on.”

“…Huh?”

Got it. I’ve caught the core of the rules!

How to escape from this Basement!