After work hours ended.
"Your mental state today was really not very good."
On the way back to the manager-exclusive bedroom, Angela's voice sounded especially clear in the quiet corridor.
"I already told you—you should spend more time resting in your own room, instead of coming to the office so early just to write in your diary."
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze seeming to casually sweep over X 's visibly tired face.
"Relax , Relax … People always say women have their 'time of the month,' but men actually have something similar too."
X tried to dispel her concern with a clumsy joke, forcing a light smile.
"It's just that for women it's physiological, while for us men, it's more like a psychological low point that comes in cycles."
Seeing Angela turn her pretty face toward him in confusion, X continued making things up:
"Basically… every month there are just a few days where nothing's really wrong, but you still feel restless for no reason."
"…There is no physiological or psychological evidence supporting that statement."
Angela frowned slightly. Her beautiful brows knit together almost imperceptibly before quickly Relaxing again.
"However, human psychological mechanisms are extremely complex, and individual differences are vast… It's not impossible that this unique sensation of yours is, for you personally, an indescribable truth."
"Alright, alright, I'm really fine—don't worry~"
"Since you insist…"
Angela nodded slightly, stopping at the bedroom door and resuming her standard secretary posture.
"Then I won't disturb your rest. Good night, X ."
"Good night, Angela."
Click.
The door closed.
The heavy metal door slid shut with a faint sound, sealing off the outside world completely.
The day's work had finally come to an end. Dragging his heavy steps, X practically threw himself onto the soft bed.
Yet he couldn't fall asleep.
Staring at the ceiling, his thoughts churned chaotically.
Something was definitely wrong with him.
It was just that brief, strange communication from the morning—a faceless voice calling itself "B"… yet it felt like a massive stone had been thrown into the calm lake of his mind.
The ripples still hadn't settled, leaving him distracted the entire day.
It wasn't just Angela—even the Control Team employees, who had only been working with him for a few days, had keenly noticed that something was off.
During dinner after work, they had even gathered around him, cautiously expressing their concern and asking if he'd run into any trouble.
How had he brushed it off back then?
He seemed to recall smiling and saying he hadn't rested well and felt a bit sleepy…
"The 'inner' Lobotomy Corporation that person mentioned… what exactly is it…?"
X closed his eyes and pondered for a long time, but still came up empty.
At last, a powerful wave of drowsiness surged in, washing over his taut nerves.
"Ah… forget it…"
X let out a long breath, giving up on the futile thinking.
He shifted his slightly stiff body, pulled the blanket higher, and adjusted himself into a more comfortable, Relaxed position.
"No use thinking about it. I still have to open a new department tomorrow…"
"If that 'B' wants to say something, they'll contact me again eventually… I'll just wait for them to explain it themselves."
He began consciously guiding his thoughts, recalling lighter—even pleasant—moments from the day's work, trying to overwrite the heavy unease.
He thought of today's tasks, of the bird's repeated escapes, of the Welch's soda the employees had shared with him, of that beating Heart of Aspiration…
And finally, X thought of that quiet presence—so gentle compared to the Abnormalities that constantly caused trouble—
One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds.
How strange… why did his thoughts keep drifting uncontrollably toward the Abnormalities?
X suddenly sensed that something was off.
This feeling didn't come from the outside, but from within his own consciousness—a subtle, disorienting sense of weightlessness.
As though his entire being were slowly sinking into a bottomless body of water, everything around him growing blurry and unreal.
Just as X wondered whether he should open his eyes and sit up to shake off this strange sensation, his eyes opened on their own.
And in that instant, a vast scene—both familiar and utterly unfamiliar—flooded into his vision like a tidal wave.
Familiar, because the room's layout and furniture were almost identical to the main rest area of the Control Team that he saw every day through countless surveillance screens in the manager's office.
Unfamiliar, because what lay before him was no longer the slightly cartoonish, data-filtered imagery processed through a "cognitive filter."
It was unmistakably real—tangible, immediate.
The texture of the paint on the walls, dust motes floating in the air, shadows cast by furniture beneath the emergency lights…
This hyper-realistic presentation, stripped of all intermediaries, instead filled X with a strong sense of dissonance and uncertainty.
What's going on…?
I just went to sleep—how did I end up here?
Panic stirred in X 's heart.
Could it be… that because he'd come into contact with that mysterious "B" and learned the beginning of things he wasn't supposed to know, he'd now been sent into some sealed-off section of the company to be silenced?
Was it the company's upper management?
Or was it B themselves?
"No… no, that's not right… calm down…"
X forced himself to take deep breaths.
B had clearly said they intended to reveal three secrets about the company.
If they wanted to silence him, there would've been no need to go through all this trouble… B could likely be ruled out.
Then was it Angela?
Did she have the ability to relocate him here without his knowledge?
But what would her motive be?
Why would she do something like this?
That didn't add up either… She had always acted like a dutiful secretary. Occasionally distant, yes—but she'd never shown any malice.
Though, admittedly, he did feel an inexplicable sense of fear toward her…
After running through and discarding one seemingly plausible conspiracy after another, a possibility that sounded the least reliable—yet somehow best fit the situation—slowly surfaced in X 's mind—
Was he… having an unusually lucid dream?
A so-called lucid dream?
The thought allowed him to Relax a little. The surroundings were still terrifyingly real, but at least now he could face them with a calmer mindset.
"If this really is a dream—or something like one… then based on what I usually see through the cameras…"
X tried to recall the layout of the Control Team.
"If I remember correctly, this door in front of me… yes, at the end of the corridor behind it, should be the containment unit for One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds…"
An uncontrollable thought surfaced:
Should he… go take a look?
But at that point, X hesitated.
Reason told him that in such a strange and unknown situation, staying put, doing nothing, and waiting to wake up was the safest option.
Acting rashly—especially wandering around a place that looked exactly like the inside of Lobotomy Corporation—who knew what he might run into?
Yet deep within his heart, that innate curiosity toward the unknown, mixed with an indescribable urge to explore, began to coil around his heart like thin vines, tightening bit by bit.
Combined with his fear of the current situation, and his desperate desire for answers…
In the end, driven by both fear and curiosity, his urge to seek the truth overwhelmed his caution.
X took a deep breath, slowly stood up, and stepped toward the door that slid open automatically to either side—entering the familiar corridor.
The walls on both sides gleamed with cold metallic luster, and the overhead lights cast a harsh white glow.
At the end of the corridor, the containment unit door stood firmly shut.
He reached out, his fingers touching the icy door handle. After hesitating for a moment, he still couldn't hold back.
Click—
X opened the door.
As it swung open, a burst of light flared—