-This orphanage provides the following rules of conduct for the safety of employees who work at night.
Please do not disclose the following information to anyone outside the nursery, and the nursery will not provide any compensation for accidents caused by violating these items.
This sign was obviously not there when I arrived during the day.
"...For the safety of our night staff."
Vikir muttered to himself.
Below the sign,
there were a number of caveats.
(1). If you see a child alone in the hallway during your nightly patrol, ignore them and go back the way you came.
If the child approaches you or tries to put something in your hand, immediately leave the area as quickly as possible.
We strictly prohibit children from walking in the hallways at night and will never leave a child alone without a guardian under any circumstances.
(2). If a group of children approaches the guardhouse and tells you that there is a problem with the water pipe in room 66 on the 6th floor of the main building, reply that you understand and then lock the door to the guardhouse.
Afterward, hum your favorite song. 'They' hate the sound of singing.
For your information, there are a total of 65 rooms on the 6th floor of the main building, and room 66 does not exist in this building.
(3). Masturbation is absolutely prohibited in this orphanage, regardless of gender.
Anytime, anywhere, in any manner.
(4). If, while patrolling the halls, you find that no matter how far you walk, you never seem to get to your destination, and you keep seeing the same scenery over and over again, you should immediately exit by the fire escape stairs, crouch down with your forehead against the wall in the corner, close your eyes, and cover your ears.
Daytime security guards check the fire escape stairs first thing when they arrive for work.
Stay in that position until morning when you hear chickens crowing.
* If there is anything else on the list below that negates item #4, you should never pay attention to it.
(5). Occasionally, a body is found that has committed suicide. This is a common occurrence in other orphanages, so you can follow the usual protocols.
However, if you find the body of a child hanging in a very ordinary place, be careful.
Calmly check to see if there's anything to step on and if there isn't, and you're wondering how a child could have gotten up there and hanged himself, immediately leave the area as fast as you can, go into the security office, turn off the lights, and lock the door.
Note the order very carefully, it's turn off the lights and lock the door, not lock the door and turn off the lights.
Also, in this case, you should never sing. You shouldn't even make a breathing sound if you can help it.
'It' has darkened ears.
(6). If you're patrolling a hallway and there's nothing around you, but you hear something like a strange breathing sound in your ear, immediately get low and get on the floor.
Then crouch down and make yourself as small as possible and likewise make no sound.
If the sound subsequently stops, call another employee to locate and clean the stain on the ceiling.
(7). There are always two night patrols at all times, no exceptions, no exceptions, absolutely no exceptions.
(8). If there is someone hanging out in the center of the lake above the nursery, never go near it, and lock all hallway doors.
You should also lock all the windows in the ceiling and at the top of the attic on the top floor.
For reference, the lake is 35 meters deep.
(9). You should never knock on an empty room. Do not pull a locked door handle more than three times.
And under no circumstances should you put your ear to the door and eavesdrop on anything.
(10). If a child you don't recognize comes up to you and asks for the name or address of the night patrol, etc., you should never answer.
If you are dutifully wearing your name badge, there is no reason to ask for your name, and your address is personal information, and the orphanage bylaws do not allow you to ask for it.
Also, as in paragraph (1), the orphanage does not leave children alone without a guardian.
(11). If you see a group of children in the center of the stairs on the 6th floor of the main building, Room 6, with only their upper bodies over the railing, asking for help, do not take a single step closer.
You should leave the area as quickly as possible without looking back.
Also, try to yell or sing as loudly as possible.
Due to the structure of the building, this location is just an ordinary wall and there is no 7th floor in the main building.
(12). If you need to go to the restroom during a night shift, be sure to take a companion with you.
No matter how often or how inconvenient, you should always have at least two people in the restroom.
But the best thing to do is to avoid going to the restroom at night.
(13). If you are walking down the hallway and hear a moan from within the walls, laugh out loud immediately.
You should laugh until the moans turn into cries.
If the cries then stop, leave the area as quickly as possible, go to the guardhouse, and lock the door.
And do not check the attendance of the children in the nursery for three days, starting with the next morning's check-in.
(14). Item 4 doesn't exist in this handbook; any nursery would leave that ominous number blank.
If you see something written in the number 4, always do the opposite of what it says.
Never follow number 4.
*If you see anything else in the list above that negates #14, don't pay attention to it.
It seems like a strange list of rules.
Vikir nodded, sensing the ominous vibe of the notice.
'... Shallow tricks.'
The usual tricks of the demons, feeding off of human fear.
If the night guard did indeed see something, it would be dismissed as a simple matter of discipline.
Vikir ignored the notice and stumbled through the darkness of the corridor.
The guardhouse in the center lobby of the corridor was unlit, its door firmly shut, and not a single breath escaping from within.
'The night watch must have seen something.'
This will make my job easier.
Vikir stepped quietly past the front of the guardhouse and made his way to the back of the third building.
Just then.
"...!"
Vikir stopped in his tracks.
At the end of a long hallway. There was a figure standing there.
A girl in a white pajamas, standing still and staring this way.
It was Nymphet.
"...."
Nymphet stared at Vikir with a strange expression on her face, and then she disappeared down the other side of the corridor.
Vikir quickly scrambled to his feet and headed back to where Nymphet had been.
But when he rounded the corner, the Nymphet was gone, leaving only a torn piece of curtain lying on the floor.
"What was that? Did I see something?
Vikir furrowed his brow and bent down to pick up the piece of curtain from the floor.
And then. The words on the curtain were imprinted deeply on Vikir's retina.
'Help me.'
Suddenly, Vikir's mind flashed back to item number one on the sign.
'This is a very unpleasant place.'
Vikir immediately began to chase after Nymphet.
The layout of the building was clear in his mind.
Vikir focuses on the spaces where Nymphet could disappear from view in an instant.
But something doesn't feel right.
'…Is this ...?
Vikir realizes that from the moment he saw the Nymphet, he's been seeing the same scene over and over again around every corner in the hallway.
Same walls, same ceiling, same floor, same windows, same view out the window.
Vikir's brow furrowed slightly.
'Illusion? Trap?'
Naturally, his mind flashed back to the sign he'd seen earlier.
Number 4. And number 14.
'Did it say to take the fire escape stairs, crouch against the wall in the corner, close your eyes, and wait until dawn?'
But at the very end, in #14, it vehemently denies it.
Which option, then, should we follow, number 4 or number 14?
Vikir turns his head and sees a staircase leading to an emergency exit, illuminated by a green mana lamp.
He's trapped in a labyrinth of corridors, so he might as well get out through the emergency exit.
Kkigigigig...
Vikir twisted the rusted handle of a door at the far end of the corridor and pushed it open.
Stairs glowing dimly in green. An eerie shadow.
Where?
The door swung open and an unexpected scene came into Vikir's view.
There was one passenger who came before Vikir on the emergency exit stairs.
"My Lord in the heavens. Hallowed be thy name, on earth as it is in heaven, thy will be done... lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil....."
The shivering woman with her eyes tightly closed is clearly Dolores, the student council president and saint.
She had been reciting the Lord's Prayer with her forehead pressed against the wall of the emergency exit.
Vikir couldn't help but sigh softly behind his mask.
'... What the hell is she doing here?'