First Resolution (2)

Seeing the messages unfurl before my eyes, my jaw dropped.

The status window's functions are being unlocked?

Was there something like this?

And points, too?

I'd simply left this status-window thing alone because it was there without seeming to do anything. So it had features like this all along?

I was about to reach out.

"Whew! That was close!"

Quras's voice pulled me back to reality.

"Ah."

Only then did it truly sink in.

I'd resolved this damn giant incident.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

I rose from my seat and let out a shout.

It was a desperate shout filled with my very soul. Everything I'd done up to now flashed past me like a panorama, making my emotions surge even more.

At least now, no one else would have to suffer because of the giant incident.

The faces of everyone who'd survived alongside me flashed through my mind. I'd never see them again. Those connections had vanished forever, too.

But if I'd resolved the incident, that was enough.

Live well, all of you, somewhere without any fucked-up shit.

You've all been through a lot.

"Phew!"

I forced back the tears welling up in my eyes and looked at the two agents.

Come to think of it, my hands felt empty.

"Ah, but... I think I might've left behind that medicine I got prescribed."

"I figured you would, so I kept it."

Quras held up the box.

"Oh! That's a relief! But you're going to take it back, right?"

"Obviously. This is an ultra-high-risk hazardous substance."

That was a little disappointing. If I'd been able to keep it, I could've used it as a weapon. But I'd taken it out in front of the agent, so there was no helping it now.

"Well, it wouldn't be useful to me anyway. But, agents, a building just collapsed in the middle of Seoul. What are we going to do about this?"

What are we really going to do?

"Don't worry about that."

At some point, Gorgodio had already reverted to his normal form.

He said this as he adjusted his black jacket.

"The Administration Bureau can cover up a single collapsed building somehow."

"You can do that? Really?"

"That's the power of the Administration Bureau. Have you ever seen a strange phenomenon in your life, like on the news?"

"I haven't, but... is that all?"

Had the Administration Bureau been smoothing everything over whenever something happened?

"Exactly. That's the power of the Administration Bureau. We have all kinds of people, after all."

Quras draped an arm over my shoulder.

"This guy's useful beyond imagination. Right, Gorgodio?"

"He was astonishingly calm and bold. How can an ordinary person be like that?"

For the first time, Gorgodio gave me a suspicious look. Now that the incident was over, it seemed his normal judgment had returned.

"I'm just like this normally. Besides, you can't survive that hospital without being this bold."

"I suppose that's true."

"I mean, you must've made it out because you had that much presence of mind and quick thinking. Almost nobody gets out of there alive. Anyway, let's leave the rest to the Control Team and head back."

"Understood."

Are we heading back?

"This should come out as C-rank, right? We resolved it incredibly quickly."

"We handled it so quickly that it might even be rated D-rank."

"No way. This medicine was the decisive factor."

"True, but it would've been the same if the Administration Bureau had brought a high-firepower weapon."

The two agents talked among themselves about whether it was C-rank or D-rank, but from where I stood, it was simply laughable. If we hadn't stopped this, it would've been an S-rank world-ending incident, damn it. And in the previous run, we hadn't stopped it at all.

"So you assign ranks like that too. I suppose your performance improves when you resolve higher-ranked incidents?"

"Exactly. Let's get moving."

"Yes. What should I do?"

"Obviously, you have to come with us. There's a lot to discuss. Ah, there it is. The car's here. Let's take that."

So I got into the car with the two agents.

As soon as they got in, they began reporting to headquarters. With no one left to talk to, I simply looked out the window and surveyed the chaos.

Police and firefighters had come rushing in, and there were onlookers and reporters, too... I had no idea how they were going to cover this up, but they'd handle it somehow. If they handled it well, nothing would happen; if they failed, it would turn into another giant incident.

Looking at it, I couldn't see anything resembling flesh in the building's wreckage.

Had it all disappeared because of the medicine?

As expected, it was one terrifying hospital.

What on earth was Cheongakmeri Hospital?

...

I'd check the status window after going to the Administration Bureau.

* * *

It was a considerably large building.

"This is the Administration Bureau building?"

"Yeah."

"Is it okay to have it sitting out in the open like this?"

"You hide trees in a forest and buildings in a city. Go on in."

"Oh. That sounds pretty convincing."

I went straight inside the Administration Bureau building.

"This really is just like Men in Black."

The first thing I noticed upon entering was how much this place resembled Men in Black. You know—the movie had that huge space inside it, too.

"We've arrived on the first floor. The handoff is complete. We're heading up now. Hey, rookie! You have to come to our Suppression Team! I'll be waiting for you!"

Quras put his phone in his pocket and shook me by the shoulder.

"I'll decide after I see what it's like."

"The moment you called me Roy Mustang, you crossed the point of no return. Anyway, good work."

"But you said you'd heard that joke a lot..."

"It may have been your first time, but I've heard it a hundred times. Anyway, wait here and someone will come. Bye."

He raised his hand, held up his index and middle fingers, and turned away coolly.

"Yes. You agents worked hard too."

Only after saying goodbye to the two agents did I finally feel that everything was over.

Should I check out these status-window features now?

It was only visible to me, and I didn't need to say anything aloud, so it should be fine. But we were at Administration Bureau headquarters, which made me a little self-conscious.

As I stood there blankly, thinking about it,

"Poke poke poke."

Someone touched my shoulder from behind.

"Poke poke poke."

It felt less like touching than poking me with a fingertip.

Was there a Zealot standing behind me right now?

"Ah."

When I turned around, a woman with striking long, wavy beige hair was standing there.

"Are you the hospital survivor and the witness to this incident?"

She had a gentle-looking face and a soft voice.

Was this woman an agent too?

"Ah, yes. That's me."

"Come with me. There are a lot of things we need to discuss."

"Yes."

I immediately followed the woman.

ㅡClick-clack, click-clack.

The appearance of a new person prompted me to put my observation skills to work. Judging by her high heels, she seemed to be an office worker rather than a field agent like Gorgodio or Quras.

"Excuse me, what should I call you?"

"Hmm, call me Agent Jamtree. That's what you should call me."

"Then I'll call you Ms. Jamtree. I'm—"

"Stop."

"Pardon?"

Jamtree stopped and turned to look at me.

"Don't say your name."

Quick to catch on, I nodded.

"Understood. I noticed everyone seems to use something like codenames."

Jaaldi. Gorgodio. Quras. Jamtree.

None of them were ordinary names. They didn't seem to be names used in English-speaking countries, either. They really were more like codenames.

"There must be a reason we're not allowed to use our real names."

"Sharp. That's right."

"They had something like that at Cheongakmeri Hospital too."

We continued down the hallway like that and got on an elevator.

We arrived at a room that looked like some kind of interrogation room. I have trauma from interrogation rooms. Was my brain going to get sucked out again?

But unlike the fake Administration Bureau, which had looked like a counterintelligence interrogation office, this place had an overall white interior and futuristic design, which made it feel more open.

"Have a seat there."

"Yes."

Jamtree sat across from me and took out a tablet.

"First, congratulations on escaping Cheongakmeri Hospital. It's an extremely dangerous place with almost no survivors. Surviving at all is an incredible stroke of luck."

"Yes... I heard the basics from Agents Quras and Gorgodio."

"Mm-hmm. Can you tell me how you escaped? And if there's any useful information, tell me that too. We need to add it to the rulebook."

"The rulebook."

So that's how it worked?

"So you listen to survivors like me and add to the rulebook that way?"

"Some things agents discover themselves, and sometimes we hear them from survivors like this. That place hasn't been fully cleared."

"Not completely cleared..."

From the way she put it, there must be other anomalous phenomena that had been "completely cleared."

"There must be a lot of places like Cheongakmeri Hospital?"

"Mm-hmm. Of course. More than you'd think. A lot more."

"It's a wonder the world hasn't ended yet."

"Stopping that is our job. So, will you tell me?"

"Yes. But it's a little long. Is it okay if I tell it in order?"

"Mm-hmm. Please do. Slowly, and in as much detail as possible. Take all the time you need. Oh, and if you've learned a new rule, there's a reward too."

"That's something to look forward to. So where should I start... Actually, I once encountered something like a vampire."

"Hm?"

I explained that part first.

Naturally, I embellished it.

One late night, while trying to cross a street via the subway, I heard a strange voice there. I moved as if hypnotized and met a blonde woman.

"I immediately felt like I'd been hypnotized. My body was moving on its own. Then I noticed the woman's long fangs. 'Ah, this is a vampire,' I thought. So!"

In that situation, I took the cross necklace from inside my shirt and held it up to the vampire. Luckily, I carried it around because I'm Christian. Anyway, the vampire frowned and hesitated, and I realized I had garlic stored inside me, so I let out a huge shout.

"And then the woman turned into dark smoke and disappeared! She really was a vampire!"

"Ah, um. Mm-hmm. Hmm... That's amazing."

An awkward smile.

"That was some really impressive quick thinking."

"It's a little embarrassing when I put it that way."

Telling someone a story I'd made up was a little awkward.

But I had to embellish it this much.

"Actually, I went crazy after that. I became obsessed with the delusion that the vampire would come after me."

"That's not strange. It's a natural reaction."

"Yes... But because of that, I started frantically searching for information, and eventually became convinced that people in black suits were suddenly chasing me."

"What...?"

"No, but it really felt like they were. I kept seeing them. Around me."

At this point, it would be strange for me to know about the fake Administration Bureau and still be alive. So I decided to use this as a smokescreen.

Sure enough, Jamtree's expression grew serious, as if she knew about the fake Administration Bureau.

"So I ran away while I was going crazy."

After that, I looked for a live-in job in the provinces and ended up getting hired as a guard at Cheongakmeri Hospital.

"Wait. Did you say you were a guard? You got hired as a guard?"

"Yes."

Her hands moved busily.

"A guard... Our records indicate that the guard is an anomalous entity?"

"So it really was? I'd noticed something was off, too. The predecessor was very strange, and so was the guard's rulebook."

Come to think of it, my replacement had been strange too.

That guy who appeared when I left the hospital.

No matter how I thought about it, he wasn't human.

"Hmm? The guard's rulebook? Can you tell me about it in detail?"

They didn't have this information either?

"Yes. I'll tell you what I remember. But the rules were strange. They didn't quite add up."

"All of them. Explain them in detail."

ㅡTap-tap-tap.

What is she, a tablet ghost?

The speed at which she typed was no joke.

Anyway, I explained all the rules.

"How..."

Jamtree stared at me, stunned, and said,

"How did you survive?"