Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Editor’s Survival Rules Episode 22

ep5. Shopping! Warehouse-style Mart! (2)

Warehouse-style marts sell items very cheaply, but in bulk quantities instead.

So I, living alone, rarely have occasion to use them.

In fact, I’ve only been to one exactly once.

A few years ago, during a company workshop.

I usually buy necessary items online, but back then my section chief who sat in front of me suggested we go shopping directly at a warehouse-style mart.

He said he had just gotten a membership.

Following him there to look around was my first and last time…

-Do you remember the response manual for that Special Zone?

Cha Si-eon’s voice broke through my reverie.

I answered, trying to stay calm.

“I remember it.”

What I mainly did at the Management Bureau was read rulebooks.

So I remembered it clearly.

The rules of this place.

And how meaningless they were.

—

Action Guidelines for Missing Persons in the「Trap-Installed Warehouse-style Mart」

You are currently in the「Trap-Installed Warehouse-style Mart」under observation by the Government of South Korea.

This is an emergency situation where you may not only lose your life but also suffer severe pain, so please familiarize yourself with the action guidelines below and respond carefully.

■ Common Precautions

Common precautions are not recommended in the「Trap-Installed Warehouse-style Mart」.

■「Trap-Installed Warehouse-style Mart」Action Code

The「Trap-Installed Warehouse-style Mart」is a warehouse-style mart type Special Zone with invisible traps installed throughout.

The traps in this place are invisible until activated, making prediction and disarmament impossible.

Activated traps inflict realistic and fatal effects on target subjects, manifesting as injuries, gunshot wounds, burns, crushing, severing, explosions, and other damage.

Additionally, all entities wandering this Special Zone are hostile to humans.

These dangerous entities will attack you immediately upon discovery, and their physical capabilities far exceed those of healthy adult males.

Therefore, attempting to fight these dangerous entities is not recommended.

For the above reasons, attempting to escape from this place is equivalent to crossing a battlefield with your bare body.

Citizens are advised to carefully assess your own capabilities before attempting escape or choosing to rest in peace.

—

The most hopeless Special Zone among Type 1s.

That was my impression after reading the「Warehouse-style Mart」rulebook.

Moreover, Kwak Jae-gyeom had also said from the side.

-It’s Samboilsa.

-Samboilsa?

-The warehouse-style mart you’re looking at now, hyung. It’s called ‘Samboilsa (Three Steps One Death)’ because one person dies every three steps.

Kwak Jae-gyeom’s carelessly smiling face flickered before my eyes.

The place I had been dragged to was that extremely vicious.

Vicious enough to earn the self-deprecating nickname ‘Samboilsa’.

Vicious enough for the Management Bureau to cleverly distance itself by using the term ‘action guidelines’ instead of ‘survival rules’.

-As you already know, invisible traps are installed throughout that Special Zone. Also, all entities with mobility in this place are dangerous entities.

Cha Si-eon explained gravely.

The Management Bureau classifies non-human entities wandering Special Zones into ‘dangerous entities’ and ‘neutral entities’.

Dangerous entities are like the「Moving Gun」that attack humans indiscriminately.

Neutral entities are like the「Railroad Police」or「Thing Wearing Old Military Uniform」that at least don’t attack without reason.

But the「Warehouse-style Mart」only has dangerous entities.

Moreover, this fact connects uncomfortably with Cha Si-eon’s next explanation.

-The exploration rate of that Special Zone is only 17%. Only the spatial structure, trap types, and dangerous entity varieties have been identified, but no strategy or escape routes have been confirmed yet.

In short, escape impossible.

It was a natural result.

To escape from the「Train Station」, a ticket was absolutely necessary.

And tickets could only be obtained through interaction with neutral entities.

Thinking with the same logic, in this place with only dangerous entities, there was no way to find an escape method.

In this completely blocked situation, I muttered gloomily.

“Then I’m going to die here?”

-The rescue team has already departed.

Long live the Management Bureau!

-Escape is impossible, but destruction is possible. When a Special Zone is destroyed, the personnel inside are naturally released.

Long live physical force!

-But there’s a problem to solve before that.

Just as I raised both arms in joy, Cha Si-eon poured cold water on me.

-There’s a risk that Mr. Seo Do-un could get caught up in explosions or collapses during the rescue team’s breakthrough of the「Warehouse-style Mart」. So you need to move to a safe location before the rescue team arrives.

“Where should I go?”

-The underground parking lot.

I received a mission.

Move to the underground parking lot while avoiding traps and dangerous entities.

The reward is survival.

-The scale of that Special Zone ranges from the 2nd floor above ground to the 3rd floor underground, with each floor’s area being about one and a half soccer fields. Mr. Seo Do-un’s current location is the 1st floor store, and the destination is the underground 2nd floor parking lot. When going down floors, you’ll use the moving walkway.

Taking the moving walkway down 2 floors.

In the Samboilsa Special Zone, even this wouldn’t be an easy task.

Fortunately, the Management Bureau didn’t overestimate me that much either.

-You’ll move to the destination following my instructions. Even minor mistakes can be fatal, so please concentrate.

It meant a team leader-level agent would personally command.

If they told me to go on my own, I’d obviously die within three steps.

-We’ll depart once Mr. Seo Do-un’s heart rate recovers. Before that, please put on the protective gear and earpiece.

Heart rate?

Ah, this smartwatch belongs to the Management Bureau.

But they never said they’d be monitoring my biometric information through this…

I was dumbfounded but moved as instructed for now.

The special vest the Management Bureau told me to wear had all sorts of things stored in it.

I took out goggles and a mask from there, put them on, and tightened the belt.

Since I couldn’t keep holding the smartwatch to my ear, I also put on the earpiece.

It was when I was putting on thick cut-resistant gloves on both hands.

CRASH-!

A loud noise echoed from somewhere.

As I tensed up, Cha Si-eon explained.

-A citizen who just entered the Special Zone has died.

“Are there other people here too?”

-Right now it’s only Mr. Seo Do-un. Even before that explosion happened, it was only Mr. Seo Do-un.

I felt a chill at Cha Si-eon’s words.

I’m alone here.

It was the same even before that explosion happened.

Then the person who just died in that explosion?

They had just been dragged in right before and died.

Truly in an instant.

Perhaps before even taking three steps.

I unconsciously touched the bandage wrapped around my head.

Come to think of it, I wasn’t in a position to talk about others.

I also got hit in the head as soon as I arrived here.

I’m only alive because I was lucky enough to get grazed.

-Are you ready?

“…Yes. I’m ready.”

Whether it’s luck or whatever, let’s just focus on surviving for now.

-Then please climb up to the top of the storage rack. Move onto the storage rack and avoid the traps in that section.

But it wasn’t easy from the start.

The storage racks in the warehouse-style mart were made of bare steel frames.

A 3-tier structure with a total height of roughly 5 meters.

It wasn’t shaped like something you could step on to climb either.

But what choice did I have? I’d die if I couldn’t do it.

I forcibly crawled up, stepping on the rack’s frame and the goods stacked inside it.

Creak-!

As I climbed up, the product boxes stacked at the very top of the storage rack crumpled and shook.

Ugh, this isn’t going to collapse, is it?

I swallowed my anxiety and lay flat.

My head touched the ceiling, so I couldn’t stand up.

As I crawled precariously like that, I soon reached the opposite end of the storage rack.

-Cut off the blood-stained clothes and drop them.

I cut out the t-shirt I was wearing underneath with the knife.

Then I dropped the piece of cloth with dried blood onto the floor.

Bang-!

The moment the fluttering cloth touched the floor, it scattered into threads.

“…Are you sure we came the right way?”

-There are wires. Move to the opposite storage rack without touching the floor.

“….”

My struggles after that were pitiful.

Clumsily throwing the wire.

Grabbing that line and trembling as I crossed to the other side.

Barely arriving and then crawling up again with great effort.

Crawling along and throwing the wire again.

After repeating this four times, it felt like my forearms would snap.

“Urrgh…!”

I crawled up to the fourth storage rack with all my might.

Then suddenly my view opened up.

Fortunately, this was the end of the storage racks.

Ahead was a section where various items were displayed at human height.

And beyond that, a moving walkway going down underground.

Finally.

But it was too early to celebrate.

-There’s a dangerous entity.

“Yes, I can see it.”

There was something frantically moving around between the displayed items.

It wore something like clothes and walked on two legs, but it wasn’t human.

A large barcode scanner replacing its head.

And a body that seemed to roughly imitate a person.

It was a「Product Organizer」.

-As you already know, “employee”-type dangerous entities with barcode scanner heads will unconditionally attack when they discover humans.

I nodded silently at Cha Si-eon’s warning.

Of course I know well.

That「employee」is also one of the extremely evil pillars leading Samboilsa.

-The「Product Organizer」patrols its assigned area and organizes disheveled products. This dangerous entity recognizes its surroundings only through visual information.

Along with Cha Si-eon’s explanation, the smartwatch blinked.

A floor plan of that display shelf section appeared on the LCD screen.

Then a red line moved like solving a maze, leaving a trajectory.

-This is the movement path of the「Product Organizer」. You must pass through the display shelf section without being spotted by the employee.

The employee’s movement path was irregular like neurotic scribbling.

Moreover, it was excessively fast.

-I’ll make the judgments, so just move according to my instructions. Speed should be as fast as possible, directions will be forward, back, left, right.

At Cha Si-eon’s request, I exhaled the breath I had been holding.

Whoo-

First, while the employee had its back turned, I climbed down from the storage rack and pressed my body against the nearest display shelf.

After a moment, Cha Si-eon pronounced firmly.

-Forward.

I kicked off the floor and ran.

-Forward, left, right.

I followed the subsequent instructions as well.

As I moved without hesitation, the instructions became even faster.

-Forward, right, forward, stop. Back, forward, forward.

I continued moving like a game character controlled by directional keys.

But I couldn’t seem to make progress forward.

Due to the employee’s frantic movements and fast speed, I had to keep going back and forth in similar locations.

-Back, left, forward, forward, right, right, maintain speed!

Cha Si-eon shouted loudly.

I was gradually getting out of breath.

It might be different if I were running straight in one direction.

But constantly changing directions and repeatedly stopping and running quickly drained my stamina.

-Back!

Cha Si-eon demanded retreat and I kicked off the floor again.

But I could instinctively tell.

That I was a step too late.

There were still several steps left in the straight corridor where I needed to retreat.

The employee’s shadow fell toward the corridor where I stood.

Just as I thought we’d encounter each other face-to-face, Cha Si-eon shouted.

-Push the display!

I rammed into the display shelf with my body as hard as I could.

Then the large TV displayed on top of the shelf tilted and fell noisily to my opposite side.

Crash-!

The sound of expensive electronics being smashed.

Beep beep beep beep-!

And suddenly urgent mechanical sounds.

The next moment, the shadow that had been approaching me disappeared.

-Forward!

At Cha Si-eon’s shout, I ran with all my might.

-Unwrap the bandages and throw them!

I also recklessly tore off the bandages wrapped around my head and threw them away.

The moment the blood-stained bandages floated above my head.

Whoosh-!

What, what!?

The bandage I threw burst into flames just like that.

I continued running while watching the scattering ashes in shock.

When I leaped straight over the railing in front, a moving walkway heading to the lower floor greeted me.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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