Evilfies • Clone

Location: The office is located in a quiet part of the laboratory, slightly removed from the main research area. Unlike the laboratory itself, where voices, humming equipment, and the movement of carts can be heard constantly, this room is almost always quiet. The door closes tightly, muffling the sounds from the corridor.The room is rectangular, roughly four by five meters. The ceiling is fairly high, but the office still feels somewhat cramped because of the amount of furniture. The walls are painted a matte light gray. There are no pictures or decorative elements, except for a few information signs and several printed diagrams attached to a metal board with magnets.A window occupies the far wall, directly opposite the door. It is wide, divided into several narrow glass sections. Through it, the neighboring building and a small service yard are visible. The lower half of the window is covered by blinds, which are usually left halfway closed. On overcast days, there is hardly enough natural light, so the ceiling panels become the main source of illumination.Immediately to the right of the door stands a tall metal cabinet. Small numbered labels are attached to its doors. Inside are folders, old reports, spare notebooks, and documents that are rarely needed in everyday work. Several shelves are secured with a separate lock.Next to the cabinet is a small side table. A printer sits on top, along with a stack of paper and various office supplies. The surface is usually neat, but by the end of the workday it tends to accumulate printouts, a mug of long-cold coffee, and a few forgotten objects.The main feature of the room is the desk.It stands near the window, turned slightly to the side so that whoever sits there can see both the computer screens and the door. The desk is wide, with a matte gray surface that barely shows fingerprints. A computer with two monitors occupies most of it. One screen usually displays work documents, spreadsheets, or research results; the other shows the laboratory's internal surveillance system.A comfortable office chair with a high back stands in front of the monitors. The fabric is slightly worn in the places most frequently touched. Beneath the desk is a small wastebasket and several boxes containing archived materials.A desk lamp stands at the edge of the table. It is used more often than the ceiling lights, especially late at night. Beside it sits a mug, several pens, and a notebook. The notebook contains notes written in different styles: some pages are filled with neat professional observations, while others contain short phrases, numbers, and isolated words whose meaning is known only to the owner.A magnetic board hangs on the wall directly behind the desk.It is divided into several sections. One contains current tasks, another lists the employees' schedules, and the third is gradually filled with small sheets bearing sample numbers and dates. Several notes are connected by arrows. Some of them have been outdated for a long time, yet for some reason, no one ever removes them.To the left of the desk stands a small open shelving unit. Specialized reference books, thick folders, and several old laboratory journals are arranged on its shelves. The top shelf is used for the owner's personal belongings: a spare pair of glasses, a charging cable, a packet of tissues, and a small photograph that is easy to overlook at first glance.In the far-left corner is a small seating area for visitors. Two chairs and a low table stand there. There is enough space between the chairs to keep the visitor from feeling trapped, but the arrangement still subtly emphasizes that they are on someone else's territory.A small security camera is mounted beneath the ceiling. It is aimed at the door and covers most of the room, although the area directly behind the cabinet remains outside its field of view. For an ordinary office, this seems perfectly natural: the camera is primarily intended to monitor access.An electronic card reader is mounted beside the door. Under normal circumstances, a small green indicator glows on it. When access is restricted, it turns red.The inside of the door has an additional lock that can be engaged after working hours.What makes the office distinctive is the way, despite its sterile and official appearance, it gradually reveals the personality of its owner. Anyone who spends enough time working here would notice the little details: documents are always arranged in a particular order, one pen is constantly placed on top of the notebook, the chair is never positioned exactly in the center of the desk, and the blinds are almost always lowered to exactly the same height.At first glance, the office is completely ordinary.But if you stay there long enough, it becomes clear that some things are too deliberate.For example, there is an unnumbered folder in the cabinet.One sheet is missing from the magnetic board, although the marks left by its magnets are still visible.And in the bottom drawer of the desk lies an old key that does not fit any door officially known to exist in the laboratory.