SCP Foundation

The Ryugyong Hotel, located in Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Item #: SCP-031

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-031 is currently contained in the Ryugyong Hotel, located in the city of Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea¹. As the nation it is located in is currently governed by an authoritarian regime with near-complete control of state and national media, the possibility of information regarding SCP-031 being released to the world at large is minimal. As said regime is also cooperating with the Foundation in order to maintain physical security of the site, Foundation personnel are instructed to comply with their directives, so long as they do not interfere with larger Foundation aims.

The structure of the Ryugyong Hotel serves to contain SCP-031 within the central spire. Three secondary spires (located at 120-degree intervals from the central pyramid) house Type-9 Heaven's Blade Restriction Systems² calibrated to focus a disruptive energy field towards the central spire. Although unable to prevent physical escape of SCP-031, the system serves to prevent SCP-031's psychic energies from escaping the structure and affecting off-site personnel.

Reclamation efforts of the hotel are currently underway, with local government forces utilizing hazmat-suited personnel armed with flame projectors and chemical sprayers to decontaminate areas affected by SCP-031. However, due to the slow pace of progress and SCP-031's defensive capabilities, reclamation efforts are drastically behind schedule.³

Personnel who become affected by SCP-031's psychic abilities are to be terminated immediately to prevent their bio-matter from becoming incorporated into its physical matrix.

Description: SCP-031 is an amorphous organism with a mass of over 7,500 kg that has infiltrated the ductwork and maintenance infrastructure of the building. Tendrils emerging from SCP-031's central mass have spread through the hotel's plumbing and ductwork to all 105 floors of the building. At its peak, over 75% of the hotel's 3,000 rooms were contaminated by SCP-031. Reclamation efforts have destroyed ██% of the initial infestation, but over ███ rooms remain affected by SCP-031.

SCP-031 tendrils terminate in a pod-like structure (sporocarp) consisting of an ovoid structure approximately two meters in length, with multiple cilia-like structures branching off of the main body. On some occasions, subjects in the presence of an SCP-031 sporocarp will instead perceive it as an individual the subject had a close emotional connection to in their past. The SCP-031 sporocarp will metamorphose into the shape of the person perceived, and attempt to persuade the subject to remain with them for an extended period of time.

The SCP-031 sporocarp will next attempt to make physical contact with the targeted individual with their cilia-like structures. Digestive juices will be injected into the subject's body, and their flesh will be consumed and incorporated into SCP-031's body mass. In the meantime, a secondary flagellum will engulf the subject's cranium and brain, replacing the blood vessels with its own tendrils, which will maintain life support of the affected brain by some yet-undiscovered means. The tendrils will decerebrate the subject and transport the subject's cranium back through the building's ductwork where it is incorporated into the central mass.

Footage taken through surveillance drones indicate that there are currently █,███ crainia in the network of tendrils attached to SCP-031's central mass. By all indications, the brains contained within are still alive, and may be conscious.

History

SCP-031 was recovered on 10/22/1948, following contradictory police records taken after a riot in the city of [REDACTED], where several civilians had gathered around a local motel professing love and devotion to a cultlike leader, whom they referred to as "The Beloved." Once initial contact and assessment was made, the civilians were pacified through widespread distribution of inhaled tranquilizers and aeresolized amnestics. MTF-Psi-7 was able to recover SCP-031 from the condemned hotel it had taken residence in and move it into containment.

In its initial form, SCP-031 consisted of a single amorphous entity approximately 75 kg in weight, of vaguely humanoid shape. It had not yet manifested the ability to consume and incorporate human bio-matter into itself, and primarily expressed the anomalous property of inspiring feelings of love and devotion in those who beheld it. As of 11/16/1948, SCP-031 had been classified as Safe and was in containment at Site-██.

Unfortunately, the Korean Conflict (which began on 6/25/1950) resulted in the destruction of the Foundation containment site at Pyongyang and the loss of all anomalies contained within. By the end of the conflict in 1953, all other anomalies were accounted for (either recovered or confirmed destroyed) aside from SCP-031, which was presumed lost and in the wild.

Foundation assets first became aware of the re-emergence of SCP-031 in 1992, when construction on the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang suddenly halted. Personnel liaising with the local regime confirmed that an anomalous effect had resulted in the disappearance of numerous workers employed in the construction of the hotel, and a Foundation Mobile Task Force was dispatched to investigate. All members of the MTF were subsequently lost in action, and the site was locked-down and declared off-limits. All work on the Ryugyong Hotel ceased for over sixteen years, aside from the installation of the Heaven's Blade Restriction Systems on the secondary spires.

In 2008, increased infiltration of SCP-031 into the building's infrastructure resulted in the possibility of its discovery by outside persons: the local regime immediately ordered that windows be installed on the structure to hide the existence of SCP-031 from others, resulting in the loss of ███ more construction workers. Unfortunately, this was perceived as the resumption of construction on the building, resulting in expectations that the structure would actually be completed and opened to the public in the future. Reclamation efforts commenced within the year, utilizing flame and solvent-projecting equipment to destroy SCP-031 tendrils and sporocarps, with each team accompanied by a political officer assigned to terminate any personnel who became assimilated into SCP-031.

As of this current date⁴ reclamation efforts are still underway. Foundation personnel are continuing to liaise with the local regime and monitor their progress, which is slow but steady.