NovelForge

# The Gap in the Library Library, 3rd Floor, Business Administration Section. 2:47 PM. Kim Jun-ho was buried between stacks of books. On the laptop screen in front of him was a file titled 'Organizational Management_Final Assignment_Final Version(3).docx', and the pen in his hand had been frozen in the same spot for the past five minutes. "Analyze the flow of power within an organization." That was the assignment topic. The professor's words still echoed in his ears. It was too abstract. It lacked something. Kim Jun-ho sighed and closed his laptop. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. The skin where the lenses had touched felt sore. Usually, this was the point where stress set in. Even though there were six days left until the deadline. 'It's not like I have to do anything more than submit it.' That's what he thought. That's what he always did. Ordinarily. Rationally. An A grade was difficult, but a B+ was sufficient. He didn't know exactly what "sufficient" meant, but it was just sufficient. The library was quiet. Being a Tuesday afternoon, there weren't many people. Most of the students sitting at various desks had their heads down. Typing on laptops, turning pages, or just sleeping. Kim Jun-ho stood up. He walked around the Business Administration section. Reading the spines of books as he went. 'Strategic Management', 'Financial Analysis', 'Marketing Principles'... They were famous books. The kind of titles any college student might have heard of once or twice. Among them, one book stood out. Even its color was different. It had a gray cover with gold lettering, but the letters were so small he had to get closer. Kim Jun-ho pulled out the book. 'The Logic of Systems' The subtitle read: 'How to See What Is Invisible.' The author was... unclear. The name was really faint. Or maybe it had worn away. The publisher was the same. It seemed oddly old, and it was strange that it was in the library system. He just opened it. The first page started with an absurd sentence. "The world you see has been designed by a system." Kim Jun-ho almost laughed. Was this a self-help book? A book like this in the Business Administration section? He turned the next page. "Humans see patterns. Because they see patterns, they follow patterns. Because they follow patterns, the system moves. Because the system moves, reality is created. Those who don't understand reality become slaves to the system." This was... something different. Kim Jun-ho took the book back to his seat. He put his management assignment aside for now. He had become curious about what this book was. He looked at the table of contents. Chapter 1. The Visible Layer and the Invisible Layer Chapter 2. Information Asymmetry and the Birth of Power Chapter 3. Reality Created by Feedback Loops Chapter 4. Those Who Make Rules Within Rules Chapter 5. Eyes That Read Systems 'Analyze the flow of power within an organization.' That sentence came back to him. It occurred to him that maybe this was what the book was talking about. Not how power flows, but why it flows. Who designed it. Kim Jun-ho began reading Chapter 1. Something caught his attention from the first paragraph. "Consider the concept of 'rank' in an organization. Rank is not merely a position. It is a gate that determines the level of information access. The higher the rank, the more information one can access. It is believed that those who access more information make more correct judgments. And that belief becomes reality. But actually, it's the reverse." Kim Jun-ho underlined that part with the pen in his hand. "Those of higher rank do not possess more information; they have the authority to select which information to access. And to prove that their judgment is correct, they only see the information they need. This is not called selective information processing. This is called power." The fluorescent lights in the library flickered. Or rather, they didn't flicker—they always pulsed like a heartbeat. Kim Jun-ho was just noticing it for the first time now. The next paragraph was even stranger. "If you belong to an organization, you are already a component moving within a system. All your choices may seem free, but the range of information you can see has already been determined. If you trust your superior, then the world your superior shows you becomes your only reality." Wait. Kim Jun-ho looked away from the book and stared at the ceiling. He thought about his own life. First-year Business Administration student. His father was a company employee. So was his mother. They always followed their superiors' orders. They followed the company's rules. And they thought that was natural. They told him that this was how the world was, that everyone was like that. Kim Jun-ho naturally thought the same way. But now this book was saying something different. That... made him uneasy. No, not uneasy. It was some other emotion. Not a clear emotion, but a blurry one. Like someone standing behind you, but you don't know it. Kim Jun-ho returned to the book. "But if you are reading this text, then you already have the qualities to become a slave to the system. The most dangerous kind of slave is not one who doesn't know they are a slave. It is one who knows and accepts it anyway." What is this nonsense? Kim Jun-ho let out a scoff. The library was so quiet that his voice sounded louder than expected. The student in the next seat briefly looked up, then looked back down. Kim Jun-ho turned the page again. And stopped. Or rather, it wasn't the book page that stopped—it felt like the entire world had stopped at that moment. In the middle of the book, as if someone had been waiting for him to be there, there was a single sentence. That sentence was printed larger than the others. As if it were shouting. "If you are reading this sentence right now, your life begins from this moment." Below it, in smaller letters, was an addition. "Because you have just awakened." Kim Jun-ho's hands trembled. He put the book down. And looked around. The library was still quiet. The weather outside the window was still overcast. The clock still showed 2:52 PM. What is this? Like a rational student, Kim Jun-ho tried to cover it up with a laugh. This was a common tactic in self-help books. Making readers feel special, stimulating them, getting them to keep reading. A trick. But... When he brought that finger back to the book, when his hand reached to turn the next page, his fingers were clearly trembling. The moment his finger touched the paper to turn the page, the world screamed. It wasn't a sound but a vibration. A frequency flowing through his bones. Kim Junho dropped the book. Or rather, the book slipped from his hand. There was a difference. The library lights flickered. Not once or twice, but continuously. The LED panels on the ceiling contracted and expanded like a heartbeat. Books around him launched themselves from the shelves. Not falling, but bursting outward. The smell of paper and mold condensed into a single point. "What... what is this?" Kim Junho tried to stand but froze. The floor in front of his feet began to boil. More precisely, the floor began to glow. Neither white nor black, but something in between. A manganese light. Like a photographic negative revealing reality's inverse image. And that light began to form a circle. With geometric precision. A perfect circle was etched into the floor. Lines spread within it. Hexagons, octagons, complex curves. Like circuit diagrams on a motherboard. No, more complex than that. They weren't lines but characters. Characters Kim Junho had never seen before. The angles were strange. They curved in directions other than three dimensions. It took 0.3 seconds to realize he was standing in the center of that circle formation. He tried to step away to escape, but at that moment, the circle flared. Like a sound wave. Like a pulse. Like a heartbeat. His body trembled. His bones sang. He could hear the sound of his internal organs vibrating. His heart felt like it was pounding against his eardrums. This wasn't fear. This was physical violation. Someone was plucking an instrument inside his body. "Ah..." A voice so faint he couldn't tell if it had actually made a sound. The lines of the circle grew brighter. Light grew like fingers. Those fingers began to wrap around his ankles. A sensation neither cold nor hot. It felt like something between existence and non-existence was burrowing into his flesh. Was this real? He looked at where the book had fallen. It was still on the floor. "The Logic of Systems." That book was also within the circle's influence. The pages were turning on their own. Without any wind. New letters were appearing on the open page. Handwriting. But with a thickness and pressure impossible with a single finger. As if carved by a blade, leaving marks deep in the paper. He could read the letters. —Welcome, awakened one. Kim Junho's legs gave out. He fell to his knees. Or rather, gravity suddenly seemed to point in a different direction. His body was being pulled toward the center of the circle. He clawed at the floor with his fingers. His nails broke. On a library floor with no dirt, something black was lodged under his nails. It wasn't dirt. It was light. The circle's light had stained his hands. "Who... who are you!" This time, sound came out. A voice like his throat was tearing. At that moment, the circle exploded. Not light but vibration. Kim Junho's world shattered like a screen. The library split into multiple layers. Each layer moved at different speeds. The ceiling spun rapidly while the floor rippled slowly. The bookshelves expanded and contracted like a breathing organism. The center blurred. He was being pulled. Toward the center of the circle. Or rather, into the circle itself. It felt like that geometric shape was sucking in his entire body. A sensation of being condensed into a single point. The last thing he saw was the library's ceiling. And a massive eye piercing through it. No, not an eye but a lens. A camera lens with an aperture opening and closing. Beyond it, stars were visible. But not stars—numbers. Numbers composed only of zeros and ones, falling endlessly. And sound. A voice. A voice heard with his entire body. A vibration transmitted through his bones, not his ears. —You have awakened. —Now your game begins. —Congratulations. Kim Junho's consciousness fell into a deep well. In his final moment, he saw the marks left by his fingers on the floor. Five nail scratches. What was embedded in them wasn't the circle's light, but his own confidence. That was gone now. The circle closed quietly. The library became silent again. Only the book remained on the floor. And on the book's last page, new letters were written. —Stage 1: Confirm your identity.