Chapter 1

001. The insurance payment has been decided.

001.

Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle.

Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle.

The phone on the desk vibrated loudly, drawing attention to itself.

I couldn't help but feel uneasy, wondering why it was ringing when I had set it to silent.

The sight of Manager Kim, who was sitting next to me, frowning slightly, made my heart beat even faster.

"What is it during a meeting?"

Manager Kim Tae Kyun, who had set his phone to ring, was scolding me.

His eyes, full of anger, made me feel as if I had committed a grave sin.

But I knew from experience that showing surprise here would only make things worse.

Instinctively, I had to think of a suitable excuse.

Fortunately, my survival instinct naturally made me speak.

"Ah, I'm sorry. Sanggang said they would call with something important."

"Sanggang? If it's them, you should answer. Go out and take the call quickly."

"Yes, Manager."

Negotiating with Sanggang, who had been entrusted with the OEM project, was originally Manager Kim's job.

Since he had passed it to me because he didn't want to do it, I could act as if nothing was wrong.

Even in a meeting with Chief Choi, Manager Kim spoke as if he were the leader, which was really hard to watch.

I glanced at Chief Choi's face.

No matter what anyone said, Chief Choi Seok Jin was the leader and chair of this meeting.

When he nodded, I could leave the meeting room.

"Phew."

The meeting room, filled with an uncomfortable atmosphere, made it hard to breathe. It felt much better to be out.

If I hadn't come up with an excuse at that awkward moment, it would have been a tiring day.

I glared at the phone that had put me in a bind.

However, the number on the screen was unknown.

Since the call with Sanggang was scheduled for the afternoon, it probably wasn't them, but it could be something else, so I had to answer.

"Yes, this is Jang Seohu."

"Hello, Mr. Jang Seohu. Insurance that protects your assets like family assets. Wonil Insurance."

"I don't need insurance."

But the call was not from Sanggang, but from an insurance company.

'Damn. This spam is really annoying.'

There are so many places to call, but it's spam.

I wondered what the government was doing, collecting taxes and not blocking such things.

A sigh came out involuntarily due to the shock.

I looked at my watch, not wanting to go back into the meeting room.

It was almost lunchtime, and I had a sudden idea.

'It's almost over. I'll just skip it.'

I thought I could ask Kim Sun Ah to take the minutes and use the phone call as an excuse to skip the meeting.

The spam call felt a little helpful.

I quickly sat down and typed on the keyboard.

"Jang Seohu (Mechanical Development Team 2): Sun Ah, I have an urgent task from a company, so I can't attend the meeting... :("

"Kim Sun Ah (Mechanical Development Team 2): Hmm... Really? You're not just trying to skip it, right?"

'She's like a ghost.'

Kim Sun Ah, who is younger than me, has a very sharp sense.

Her sharp sense must have helped her overcome all the bullying and hardships after joining the company with a high school diploma.

"Kim Sun Ah (Mechanical Development Team 2): Just don't come. If you come, Manager Kim will just get mad."

"Jang Seohu (Mechanical Development Team 2): Thank you so much!!! I'll treat you to a cold Americano when lunch is over!!!"

"Kim Sun Ah (Mechanical Development Team 2): Just get out of here quickly without getting caught. And make it a chocolate latte, not an Americano."

"Jang Seohu (Mechanical Development Team 2): Yes!!!"

Kim Sun Ah, who usually seems a bit harsh, looked a bit more cheerful this morning.

At least I had some free time until lunch was over.

I quickly looked around the office and saw my target.

"Jang Seohu (Mechanical Development Team 2): Let's get coffee and then lunch."

"Lee Dong Chan (Mechanical Development Team 3): Already?"

"Jang Seohu (Mechanical Development Team 2): The meeting is a drag if I stay here."

"Lee Dong Chan (Mechanical Development Team 3): Damn, let's meet on the 1st floor."

Sure enough, only my colleague understood my heart.

'At least I have one decent colleague, even if he's a bit of a fool.'

A colleague of the same age, but still a bit of a fool.

Since we have the same taste in fun, he's more than just a colleague; he's a best friend.

Even though he seems to be busy with work, his immediate call was a true sign of a company employee.

"Let's skip the coffee and go straight for lunch. I'm feeling really sick after working late yesterday."

"Sure. How about Jjamppong?"

"That's good, but let's go for Pho. There's a new part-timer there who's really cute."

"Ha ha. Crazy bastard. Let's go."

Thanks to Lee Dong Chan's nice choice of menu, we headed straight to a Thai restaurant.

As he promised, a quite cute part-timer greeted us.

Thanks to that, we ordered two bowls of Pho and started chatting.

"Did you hear? Another one from the tax department collapsed."

"I heard. I've heard it a few times from Manager Kim, who is his colleague. He keeps pushing insurance on us, saying his wife sells it. I'm so pissed off."

"Let's skip the talk about such people; it ruins the appetite. Anyway, is it normal for people to collapse from overtime like this? It's really scary."

The company I work for is Glory Electronics, part of the Glory Group.

Although it mainly deals with B2B and is not well-known, it is a mid-sized company with a considerable scale.

In a reality where getting a job is as hard as picking stars from the sky, I thought it was a blessing to be here.

However, even so, people collapsing from overwork makes me feel uneasy.

Hearing this, I suddenly remembered an incident from the past.

"Do you remember? A few days after we joined, a section chief collapsed from a stroke in the office."

"Yeah. I remember. I was so scared that I immediately got insurance. A really strong one."

I had no intention of working so hard that I would collapse from overtime.

I might as well quit.

But insurance is for unexpected events.

I had taken out insurance rather hastily after the shocking incident I saw when I first joined the company.

"I should get insurance too. Where did you get yours?"

"Where? I'll tell you later."

I had taken out insurance in a hurry due to work, and I remember it was a foreign insurance company recommended online.

I had received compensation for a traffic accident earlier this year, but the name didn't stick in my mind.

'Was it Universe Life?'

Anyway, it was something similar.

* * *

"Sun Ah, here's your chocolate latte."

"Thank you."

"I ran here so it wouldn't melt. Where's Manager Kim?"

"He's on an external assignment. He said he'll go straight home from there."

I gave Kim Sun Ah a chocolate latte as a bribe and a thank you, and she told me that Manager Kim was on an external assignment.

'What kind of external assignment? He's probably just sleeping at a sauna again.'

It's not for nothing that Kim Tae Kyun is a permanent manager.

Even if he pushes work through connections, there's a limit.

But how can anyone promote someone who treats the company like their home?

Even if it's because of the great principle of employment stability, it's still a problem.

At the very least, shouldn't he be removed from the busiest development team?

Today, I couldn't stop the anger rising inside me.

"Seohu, wait a moment."

"Yes, Assistant Manager."

As soon as I sat down, someone called me.

The clear, crisp voice was pleasant to hear.

But I tried to hide my crumpled face.

'Why are you calling me again? I'm so busy.'

The owner of the voice, which could have been ASMR, had a beautiful appearance to match.

But nothing caught my eye.

Two years had taught me her true nature.

"Do you have an urgent task?"

"I have a meeting with Sanggang, so I need to prepare."

"But there's still a lot of time left. You need to prepare for the test today, so come with me."

"Ah, yes."

Why ask if you're going to tell me to come anyway?

I answered inwardly, gathered the equipment, and followed her.

"These are samples to test the defective products. You need to rework them with the countermeasures we implemented this time. I'll check my emails for a moment, so start working."

"......Yes."

"I'll be back soon, so don't do anything else. I'll check when I come back."

Shin Min Hee, who had thrown her words and disappeared, left a back view that I didn't like.

Sitting at the workbench, I saw an enormous amount of work.

She probably won't show up until I finish it alone.

I've experienced this many times, so I no longer have any small hopes.

"Ha, this is hell. Should I just quit?"

A manager who is a complete old-school authoritarian, a cold senior who only has a high school diploma, and a direct senior who only assigns me busy work.

And a chief who turns a blind eye to all this.

I knew there was no such thing as a beautiful company.

But this place was too much.

So, it was inevitable that my dream became quitting.

And perhaps the day I achieve that dream is not far off.

《Rumble.》

A massive sound that resonated not in my ears but in my soul.

Everyone in the world stopped in their tracks.

* * *

Something indescribable was happening.

People gathered in the office, startled by the sudden sound.

"Did you hear it? Everyone heard it, right?"

"I heard it too. They can't all have heard it wrong."

It wasn't just me; it wasn't a hallucination.

Shin Min Hee, whose face was stiff, Kim Sun Ah, who kept fiddling with her phone, and Kim Tae Kyun, who had just returned from an external assignment.

Everyone heard the strange, soul-penetrating sound.

The sound instinctively instilled a sense of unease.

That's why no one could focus on their work and everyone was standing around.

"Is there a war or something? Get back to work. Are you going to get paid for doing nothing?"

Even though his face had turned pale, Manager Kim was shouting.

Under normal circumstances, people would have rushed back to their seats, but no one moved.

They could feel that something was happening.

And then it really began.

"Look, look over there!"

Someone shouted.

People's gazes followed the finger pointing out the window.

I did the same.

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble.

Boom─────!!!!

"Ahhhhhh!"

Everyone screamed at the sound of a thunderclap, like a bomb had exploded.

The clear sky from a moment ago was gone.

Dark clouds rolled in, covering the sky, and thunder roared, a sound I had never heard before.

The darkness that enveloped everything, not letting a single ray of light in, was terrifying.

And then, something beyond belief happened.

《The time has come.》

A massive voice echoed.

The strange sound that suddenly rang out penetrated everyone's minds.

But the problem wasn't the voice that said "the time has come."

'What the hell is this? Why can I understand it?'

It was a language I had never heard before, yet I understood it.

Clearly, the sound that entered my ears was a foreign language, but after it entered my brain, it conveyed its meaning in a bizarre way.

It was incomprehensible.

Something was wrong.

The moment I heard those short words, I instinctively realized it.

But such a realization was of no help to me or anyone else.

《Repent for your sins and prepare to welcome the new master.》

The voice that rang out again spoke of our sins.

And a new master?

I wished someone would explain what was happening.

But there was no explanation.

Only an entity that acted on its words.

Crack─────!!

'What is that?'

It didn't distinguish between sky and earth.

Spaces breaking apart like in a CG.

The world was shattering with the sound of a giant tree being split.

It was a scene that was hard to believe even though I was seeing it with my own eyes.

And the shattered spaces slowly merged and stabilized.

Filled with intense darkness.

And a massive crack appeared there.

Spewing out unknown monsters.

The moment the monsters that would destroy the world set foot on it.

《It has begun. Your time as masters ends today.》

The voice that rang out with the flood of monsters declared clearly.

The destruction of humanity.

"Monsters!"

"Run! Ahhhh!"

The scene outside the window showed monsters killing people on the streets.

A brutal massacre that was too cruel to watch.

I trembled, unable to do anything as I watched the scene.

'......I'm going to die.'

Shivering, I realized that I was going to die.

The monsters that were killing people without hesitation would soon come for me.

I realized that this was my death.

Ding!

But maybe not.

.

.

.

I had insurance, a solid partner for such moments.