Surviving Among the Entities

24 hours.
The time that had passed on the smartphone she was holding.
After waiting for quite a while with no progress in the situation, Lee So-young, a new employee at Sarang Corporation, calmly muttered to herself.

‘Is this a dream? Or have I gone insane?’

The pure white walls surrounding her on all sides.
The large studio apartment measuring about 10 meters in length, width, and height had no entrance, exit, or windows.

[Welcome to Dr. Janus’s Surrealism Shelter!]
[This is the interior of the Surrealism Shelter, an invention created by Dr. Janus.]
[When reality manipulation is detected, it automatically activates, analyzes the pattern of the reality manipulation wave, and produces nanomachines that provide the necessary immunity.]
[Producing the nanomachines takes up to 24 hours.]
[The produced nanomachines are automatically injected into the shelter visitor, and once immunity is generated, you can return to your original location.]
[Note: This is not the “Room You Must Have Sex to Leave.” It is a public space. Please refrain from excessive public displays of affection.]

The only thing there was the bizarre instructions.
Even those were written in an unfamiliar language, yet she could read and understand them, making her think it must be a dream.

‘But I can feel pain. Then it’s not a dream, is it?’

Just what had happened?
She recalled the last ordinary, or rather, relatively ordinary daily life she could remember.

[A position has opened up in the special department, and you’ve been assigned there, So-young.]

A few days after Sarang Corporation’s chairman, Seung-hoon Lee, gave a speech.
Her boss had come to find her as she was preparing to resign.

[“Huh? So suddenly?”]
[“The salary there is 5 times your current one.”]
[“I’ll do it!”]

The special department she ended up being assigned to was feeding a young girl named Frankenstein.
To be precise, it involved feeding her, giving her baths, and attending to her every need, which was quite bizarre.

[“You can fit all that in?”]
[“Ung! Pudding tasty! Best!”]

The amount the girl, who looked to be around six or seven years old, could eat far exceeded an adult’s capacity, to an unbelievable degree.
But an even more incomprehensible event suddenly occurred.

[“Reality manipulation detected, reality manipulation detected.”]
[“Huh?”]

Suddenly, an adult woman’s voice came from the mouth of the girl who had been eating pudding as usual.

[“Emergency situation, permission granted for multi-dimensional camouflage release. Searching for the most suitable tool in the current situation, ‘Dr. Janus’s Surrealism Shelter,’ activating said tool.”]

And when she came to, she was here.

‘Frankenstein still hasn’t woken up either.’

The Frankenstein who had entered this place had fallen asleep.
As she stroked the sleeping girl’s head, a sudden noise reached her ears.

[“Immunity granted, returning to original location, time discrepancy with reality detected, normalizing time.”]

When she regained her senses, she was already outside.
Not in the large studio apartment-like office remodeled for a child that she had last seen, but in an unnamed vacant lot, with Lee So-young unceremoniously dumped there as she looked around.

‘Where is this?’

There were many people in the vacant lot who appeared to be homeless.
Regaining her senses, she recalled the final phrase.

‘Time discrepancy with reality detected? Normalizing time? Could it be that the white room wasn’t reality, and the flow of time was different from reality? The white room normalized the distorted time gap before sending me out?’

She had no occult knowledge.

‘That means… my watch!’

But she was quick-witted and grasped the gist of the words, quickly turning on her smartphone to check the time and date.

‘Damn, it’s been 6 months!?’

The company must have fired me by now, right?
Thinking about that first in this situation, I really am just a commoner.
As various thoughts rushed in like a storm, someone spoke to her.

“Miss, did you also come for job hunting?”
“Pardon?”
“You came here to look for day labor jobs, didn’t you?”

The homeless people in the vacant lot gathered around her.
Upon closer inspection, they were not homeless but well-dressed office workers.

“Job hunting?”
“Yeah, job hunting, guys like us have to do day labor……”

Then, a siren sounded.
Startled, Lee So-young hugged the still-sleeping Frankenstein.

“We’ve got work! Slaves! Anyone who can use Python! Anyone who can use Java! Anyone who can use C++! We need two each!”
“Me! Me!”
“I can do C++!”
“I can use all three!”
“What about HTML?”

People swarmed like bees.
Following that, more people arrived.

“Is there a math professor here?”
“Y-Yes, here!”
“Get in the trunk.”
“Yes!”

An elderly man crammed himself into a car trunk.

“Are there any doctors related to medicine? We’re developing a new drug, you see, and we need doctors. We’re only taking three.”
“Me! I was a professor of life sciences at Seoul National University!”
“I was a doctor of chemical engineering!”
“I have a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Johns Hopkins University!”
“Alright, all three of you get in the trunk.”

Just what kind of madness was this?
Why were people with doctorates seeking employment here like homeless people?

“Miss, you’re a fresh graduate, aren’t you? This is how the job market originally was.”
“Even with a doctoral degree?”
“Hahaha, ‘Engineering majors have good job prospects,’ ‘Engineering majors don’t have to worry about making a living,’ ‘Science majors make good money’ – those were all things of the past.”

The young homeless man took something out.
It was his doctoral diploma, proving he was a talent who had earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT.

“Not anymore.”

“One day, Mr. Seung-hoon Lee said something.”

The homeless man who had shown his diploma began speaking as he poured Lee So-young a cup of mixed coffee.

“‘Philosophy is the nourishment of the mind,’ he said, and had us read many philosophical books.”

Up to that point, it was fine.
But the higher-ups interpreted it differently.

“To show their loyalty to Mr. Seung-hoon Lee, national leaders and corporate executives began hiring people who had studied liberal arts for important positions.”
“Why?”
“Because Mr. Seung-hoon Lee would supposedly like that.”

To gain favor with that cult leader?
Lee So-young, quick to catch on, sensed the atmosphere was ominous and remained silent.

“At first, they just placed one or two liberal arts graduates in important positions. But as it repeated, they placed more and more in important positions, and when there weren’t enough seats, they ousted those with science and engineering backgrounds. And eventually, that incident occurred.”
“What incident?”
“During one of his speeches, Mr. Seung-hoon Lee said, ‘My spiritual hometown is philosophy and liberal arts, and that is where I will always be. Discriminating against liberal arts is wrong, and while it may not bring material prosperity, it is the ultimate discipline that brings spiritual prosperity and enriches the soul.'”

It hadn’t been that long ago.
At most, it was a story from a few months back.

“Countless holders of science and engineering degrees were ousted from important positions. In an instant, 99% of important positions were filled with liberal arts majors.”
“Then wouldn’t the existing work not proceed properly?”
“Ah, the science and engineering degree holders could continue their work as contract workers, so there wasn’t much disruption to projects. This is where those who couldn’t even get contract work come.”

Once again, people came looking for them.

“This time, our company wants to manufacture an item.”
“Oh, what kind of item?”
“A smartphone that automatically charges its battery using body heat. It would be great if it could fully charge after being held for just 10 minutes.”
“Pardon? How do we make that?”
“That’s for you to figure out.”

Lee So-young’s head spun.

‘Not a reversal of liberal arts and sciences, but what is this?’

And why were they constantly praising Seung-hoon Lee, that cult leader chairman?
He was dissatisfied with the company and gave that cult speech to the entire world, and it actually worked?
Or did he brainwash people somehow?

[Weeeeee-!]

At the sudden siren, all the job seekers froze.
Not just them, but also the people who had come to recruit job seekers – they all stopped and took out their smartphones.

“It’s time for Mr. Seung-hoon Lee’s philosophy lecture.”

Lee So-young also took out her smartphone.
The screen turned on by itself, displaying the familiar face of a man.

[“Hello again, everyone. While daily life is a part of our routine existence, even small changes can make us feel special. I have started this communication with you all to share that realization.”]

It was definitely a familiar face, but slightly different.

[“What small change in daily life have I discovered this time? I’m sure you’ve all noticed. Yes, it’s a mustache. I wanted to try growing a mustache, so I grew this little mustache. How is it?”]

He stroked the small rectangular mustache under his nose.

[“Now, shall we discuss something else?”]

‘They’ve all gone insane!’

Lee So-young left the vacant lot, carrying the sleeping Frankenstein.

The sudden start of the cult leader’s mustache speech.
Just like in the past, he was spouting nonsense, so she turned off her smartphone, but the others listened intently.

[“Huh? Why are you listening to this seriously? Of course we have to listen. It’s the words of the world’s greatest racer, so isn’t it natural to listen and follow them attentively?”]

What does being the world’s greatest racer have to do with speeches?
Her head was spinning to the point of nausea, and Lee So-young just kept running aimlessly.

“Buy my artwork, I painted these artworks myself.”
“How much?”
“Just give me 10 million won.”
“Wow! A street artist’s work for 10 million won! That’s incredibly cheap!”

The streets were overflowing with artists.
Not just street painters, but also people doing strange acts in the name of performance art.
Some were painting with their genitals, others were doing calligraphy with brushes stuck in their buttocks, and others were vomiting paint they had consumed to create paintings.

“This week’s required reading is Finnegans Wake.”
“BabababababarararararanonogarararamimiminanarinariririuuuunderundercovercoverinthunderthunderyouloudloudcatcatandpuppuppawhowhowhodfoundfoundawhoobawhorawnewsawsawghoughhoughsughsughsatahemiahemiahemiohemiohemHAW!”
“I haven’t even finished Ulysses yet!”

Many had gathered to discuss abstruse books.
Not just a few, but hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people.

“I heard the major corporations are having a merger race this time.”
“I hope it starts soon.”

She heard the nonsense that companies would merge through racing, and the nonsense that countries would race to determine the sovereignty of islands.
Some even said they would race over a woman, with the loser having to leave.

‘What kind of insane, beggar-like world is this!’

She ran and ran for quite a while.
Finally regaining her senses, she rushed into a restroom in a shopping district and vomited while clinging to the toilet bowl.

“Uurgh!”

A world where everything was settled through racing?
A world ruled by the cult chairman?
Obscene artists running rampant and insulting art in the name of art?
A world where you had to read incomprehensible books every week and write book reports?

“Huuh, huuh, this has to be a dream, it has to be……”

Then, another siren sounded.
Following that, a broadcast came from the entire building.

[“Shortly, there will be a time for self-critique. Did we truly live a fulfilling week? Did we, as humans, do things we should not have done? Within morality and conscience, the true value……]”
“……It’s like an insane world.”

She stroked the sleeping Frankenstein’s head.

“Please wake up. Even that strange white room would be fine, just do something.”

Beep-!

Her smartphone suddenly rang.
Could it be another strange broadcast?
With trembling hands, she turned on the screen, revealing a bizarre creature with only a mouth and ears.

[“Hello, I am the announcer for the wall-mounted TV made for you, the Announcer.”]
“What is this again?”
[“The first news: We, the entire wall-mounted TV crew, are disgusted with this world where only those obsessed with racing exist. Yes, as expected, we have once again realized this is an insane world beyond imagination.”]

The video quality was poor.

[“Thanks to everyone’s attention being focused solely on racing, we cannot even report on other dimensions since we cannot cross the barrier, so we can only keep watching the obvious racing. Our intern, Intern, now vomits at the mere sound of a vehicle’s exhaust, and our reporter, Reporter, went to another dimension for coverage but couldn’t return. A world without diverse news is truly hellish!”]

It kept flickering as if about to turn off, with constant noise interference.

[“The root cause of all this was an incident caused by a certain Mr. Lee (26) residing in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, who is currently using his power and wealth to spread his philosophical feces, oblivious to the fact that the world is becoming a complete mess due to people’s excessive loyalty! Moreover, they say that if another six months pass, this beggar-like racing world will become fixed as reality!”]
“Huh?”
[“Next, the second news: We, the entire wall-mounted TV crew, have discovered Lee So-young (27), one of the few maintaining her sanity in this insane world.”]

Before she could feel fear at the bizarre creature on the screen mentioning her name, her eyes widened.

[“How about it? Don’t you want to restore the world to its original state? This insane, beggar-like, childish world that could only come from a child’s imagination?”]

The bizarre creature whispered.

[“We will help you. No, not just us, but many others will help as well.”]

Without realizing it, Lee So-young nodded.

[“We will make you the protagonist.”]