Chapter 39
I was trembling at Spandall's bizarre imagination when the elevator arrived. Whenever I see an elevator, I think of Cheongakmeri Hospital. Feeling a little tense, I stepped inside.
"If children saw something like that, they'd go insane. They'd never grow up to be normal adults."
There was no way a child who had wandered in and out of a zoo of aberrations like it was their own home from a young age could grow up to become a new worker for a new nation. Their innocence would be steeped in wickedness, and before long, they would turn into Devil Children.
"Then they'd become agents."
Spandall said that with a sly smile.
Soon, the elevator arrived in the basement. When the doors opened, I saw a dark corridor with not a single light on. It looked dangerous and sinister at a glance.
It had exactly the atmosphere needed to imprison aberrations.
"Anyway. You're saying there are monstrous things captured by the Management Bureau down here. Why were they captured? In my opinion, wouldn't it be better to eliminate them rather than keep them locked up?"
"There are various reasons."
I followed Spandall while listening to the explanation.
"Aberrations. Anomalies. Materials that can be obtained from monsters like those."
"Materials?"
"They're very unusual things. Some possess the power to fight anomalies. Others are used to maintain the Management Bureau."
"So you keep them locked up because they're useful, and extract things from them or something?"
"That's right."
"How do you extract them?"
"Torture."
An ominous smile,
"Huh?"
"Keeping them locked up and extracting what you need is close to torture... don't you think?"
Spandall said it as if it were extremely amusing, but when I thought about it, the statement wasn't wrong.
They kept monsters locked up underground and extracted whatever they needed from them. I didn't know the details, but it did seem close to torture. Humans really were frightening too. From an aberration's perspective, humans were aberrations.
"There are also cases where they can't be eliminated. Or cases where they reappear somewhere else after being killed, so they're kept in containment."
"Hmm... The former sounds like the kind that regenerates infinitely. As for the latter, do they respawn somewhere unknown to the Management Bureau when killed? So you keep them contained instead?"
"Huh?"
My sharp insight seemed to impress Spandall, because Spandall stopped and looked back at me.
"You're clever. I'm surprised. Then would you like to make contact with an unknown entity without your senior's help?"
"What? Wait!"
ㅡZiiing.
The wall opened. It slid sideways with a ziiing, like a door on a science-fiction spaceship. Before I could react, Spandall shoved me inside, and the door closed.
"Hey! Open the door! You fucking bitch!"
ㅡBang bang bang!
It wouldn't open!
ㅡZiiing!
It was a different door that opened. As expected, it led to a dark room with not a single light on. I was afraid after Spandall had just told me such terrifying things, but I shook my head once and turned around.
Right, so this was a test?
Throughout history, the best way to get one over on a senior with a bad personality was to show them that you were even more capable than they could imagine.
"Since I think I can see everything happening in here, I'll narrate as I move. I'm entering that room now."
Saying that, I entered the room.
It was hard to see because the lights were off, but the room was roughly thirty-three square meters. In the middle of it was something extremely bizarre.
A pillar as thick as a massive tree trunk.
The outside of that thick pillar was densely covered with countless things that looked like human molars!
"Aaaagh...!"
A disgustingly grotesque sight!
"What the hell is this!"
That wasn't all.
ㅡSquirm.
The teeth felt as if they were continuing to grow. I didn't know how it worked, but could teeth be sprouting endlessly from that pillar-like thing?
As I watched that horrifying sight, I realized it was time to test the new ability I had gained.
I had the detection ability.
Ah.
Looking closer, a small window had already appeared in the corner of my vision. The sight of those teeth had been so shocking that I apparently hadn't noticed it.
[You encountered 'The Gum Where Teeth Keep Growing'.]
...
That's all?
Wasn't there any other information?
"Oh, come on!"
Was this all a 3,000-point ability could do?!
I was so shocked that I was about to awaken as a foaming-at-the-mouth ability user, but then I came to my senses, realizing that at least I had learned its name.
The Gum Where Teeth Keep Growing. Its characteristics were exactly as its name described. It seemed to be the gum of some aberrant life-form, with the characteristic of sprouting an infinite number of teeth.
Then what was I supposed to do?
"The teeth seem to keep growing... If they continue, won't they eventually fill this room? I think we should remove them before that happens."
The moment I said that.
ㅡZiiing.
The door opened, and Spandall entered.
"Good eye. You managed to observe that already?"
"Ah, Senior Spandall! You startled me! How could you shove me in here by myself!"
"Because it's safe... Honestly. You don't understand your senior's concern. Since it happened so suddenly, it became an experience for you too, didn't it?"
Experience or not, I wanted to put Spandall in a muscle-destroying hold right now.
"And I feel like I heard something pretty harsh."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"It definitely sounded like some kind of profanity..."
"Senior Spandall! That isn't important right now! What exactly is that thing? Is it something whose teeth keep growing, just as I said?"
"Mm. That's right."
Got it!
I had completely redirected Spandall's attention!
"Correct. This is called the Tooth Tree, and as you can see, its teeth keep growing. Isn't it wonderful?"
"It's not wonderful at all. So why is it being kept in containment? Does it have some use?"
"Take a guess."
"Hmm."
Could it be useful?
I had no idea.
"I'm not sure."
"Ufufu, I suppose I have to teach my junior the truth of the world."
"The truth...?"
What truth?
"You collect these teeth, you see. Then you make dentures or gums and supply them to dentists. That's how the Management Bureau funds itself. You could call it a kind of creative economy, couldn't you?"
"Aaaaaaaagh!"
As the price of glimpsing the world's secrets, I went completely insane. My mind was consumed by horrifying madness, and I never even wanted to visit a dentist again.
"W-wait, no! You're lying!"
"I'm serious."
"I'm going to ask Senior Jamtree!"
"Go ahead."
Spandall really lied without changing expression at all.
"Ugh... Fine. I'll ask her. Anyway, how do we remove these?"
"It's simple."
Spandall raised a hand.
And then.
ㅡFshhh!
Several sharp thorns sprouted from the hand.
"Oh!"
Was this what it meant to be a thorn ability user?!
ㅡSwwish.
Spandall extended the thorns even farther and inserted them between the teeth. Spandall moved them back and forth with a grating sound, skillfully pulling out the molars.
ㅡClatter.
Several molars fell to the ground. It was an extremely grotesque and unpleasant sight.
"Seeing those molars fall like this gives you an ominous feeling, doesn't it?"
"What are you going to say this time?"
"You know how, in serial-killer dramas, the killer collects the victims' teeth..."
"Senior Spandall, you're with the fake Management Bureau, aren't you!"
"How rude. Now, there's some equipment over there. Pull out the teeth and fill the box with them. This is normally the Containment Team's job, but you'll be doing it today."
"Ah, yes."
"For your information, it's the easiest job in the Containment Team. So don't have trouble with it, okay?"
"Understood. This much is simple."
As Spandall instructed, I opened the cabinet in the corner and took out the equipment. It was a tool designed to rapidly pull out the massive number of teeth packed tightly together.
ㅡCrack!
I quickly pulled out the disgusting teeth. The holes left behind by the extracted teeth looked incredibly grotesque. Looking inside, it seemed new teeth were slowly growing in the holes.
Ignoring the blood trickling out from inside, I put the teeth into the box.
It wasn't quite as easy as it looked.
Spandall had done it very simply with those thorns... Just how powerful were they? Spandall was stroking the thorns as if filing nails.
The sight of Spandall grooming the thorns in the darkness matched that sinister impression perfectly, making Spandall look like some kind of witch.
"What are you looking at?"
"Those thorns. They're incredibly powerful, right? Like Senior Gorgodio's or Kuras's."
"Ufufu, I'll show you someday."
"Do you fight too, Senior Spandall?"
"Often. Surprisingly enough, I'm a combat agent."
Did Spandall stab people with those slender thorns like a Zealot? If so, I hoped Spandall would shout, My life for Aiur! When Spandall fell, Spandall could say, Orolololo.
"Whew, I'm done."
I had removed every tooth from the Tooth Tree.
"So what are these used for? And don't tell me about the gums."
"Haah. You really don't believe anything your senior says."
"Please tell me another use already."
"You grind them finely and sell them to be put into empty cremation urns. Sometimes cremation leaves no powder behind, you see. The powder is used to fill them instead."
Please stop lying already!
Was this person a permanent resident of the World Politics board?
"If you're finished, carry it and follow me. There's work to do."
"So that's the real reason."
I only half-listened to Spandall's lies and followed Spandall.
We arrived in front of another room.
ㅡZiiing.
The door opened. This time, I entered together with Spandall. Inside, protective suits were hanging on the wall.
"Put on a protective suit. Be careful. Before you put it on, familiarize yourself with the rules beside it."
"Yes."
A rulebook was posted on the wall.
----------------
[Tooth Fairy Management Rules]
1. Supply teeth regularly.
2. Never expose bare skin.
3. Never open your mouth.
ㄴ3-1. For the above reason, communicate through sign language while working.
4. Do not show your fingernails or toenails.
5. Cover your entire body with a protective suit.
6. Do not allow the Tooth Fairies to leave the room.
7. After a Tooth Fairy finishes eating, it gives you a neatly wrapped gift box. Where and how it produces the gift is unknown. If you want to investigate, obtain permission from the Containment Team research lab.
8. The contents of acquired gift boxes are often impossible to identify, so place them in the box, seal it, and take it to the Containment Team research lab.
9. Do not mistake a gift from a Tooth Fairy as an expression of 'thanks,' and do not feel any bond or intimacy toward it. If you think you have become close to a Tooth Fairy, immediately visit the Management Bureau's Mental Health Team.
10. If you have ever worked as a dentist, never enter.
----------------
"Simple. I've memorized it all. It looks like these teeth are fed to monsters called Tooth Fairies."
"Try it."
"Yes."
I immediately put on the protective suit and roughly signaled that I was ready. Spandall opened the door for me, and I entered the room where the Tooth Fairies were confined.
[You encountered 'the Tooth Fairy'.]
ㅡPudadadak!
Like a seven-star lamprey.
Grotesque, forearm-sized worms with such bizarre heads were flying around while flapping dragonfly-like wings. They were disgustingly grotesque. Even worse, two thin, humanlike arms were attached to the upper part of their wormlike bodies.
The box in my hands was full of the teeth I had just pulled out. I scattered the molars as if I were feeding pigeons.
ㅡSwhack!
ㅡPudadadak!
The Tooth Fairies went berserk and began gnawing on the scattered teeth.
Damn... Did the Containment Team really make a living raising monsters like these? Whatever those people did, they couldn't be normal. They had to be people with a few screws loose, like Senior Spandall.
I missed Gorgodio and Kuras.
ㅡCrunch.
All the teeth had been consumed.
ㅡWhoosh.
The largest Tooth Fairy flew in front of me. At some point, it had picked up a pink box larger than its own body. It was neatly wrapped with a green ribbon.
ㅡFlutter!
It flew wildly around me, moving as if it were clamoring for me to accept the gift. I almost felt fond of it... but then I remembered the rules.
[9. Do not mistake a gift from a Tooth Fairy as an expression of 'thanks,' and do not feel any bond or intimacy toward it. If you think you have become close to a Tooth Fairy, immediately visit the Management Bureau's Mental Health Team.]
[3. Never open your mouth.]
I'd be screwed if I opened my mouth to say thank you.
I accepted the gift without a word.
Could there be a basketball inside?
It was roughly that size and weight.
I quickly left before the Tooth Fairies could follow me out.
After confirming that the door was closed, I took off the protective suit and went outside.
"Clap, clap, clap. Good job. Congratulations on completing the two safest tasks in the Management Bureau's Containment Team."
"It was simple."
"They're low-risk containment entities that anyone can handle. Even so, I was nervous. I thought you might say thank you."
So that was what Spandall was worried about.
"Of course I wouldn't do that. Someone that careless wouldn't qualify as an agent. They said not to show your teeth, so why would I greet it?"
"..."
Why was Spandall staring straight at me?
"There are dangerous ones too, aren't there? Not just things like this?"
"That's right. Even experienced Containment Team members risk their lives to work with those. That's the Containment Team's job."
"..."
The Containment Team really was dangerous.
"Anyway. Senior Spandall, here's the gift the Tooth Fairy gave me."
"How cute. I want to open it right away."
"You can't."
"Take it to the Containment Team research lab, and today's containment-work experience will be over."
"It was an informative experience."
Today's takeaway.
Never transfer to the Containment Team.
"If you transferred to the Containment Team, I'd be lonely."
"I'm not going."
"You really aren't going to?"
"Huh?"
"Really really really really?"
Huh?
"What...?"
"What if I just opened this?"
ㅡWhoosh!
Spandall suddenly snatched the box away. Then Spandall removed the ribbon with the thorns and opened the box.
What was inside the box was not a basketball.
"Huh?"
It was Spandall's head.
A severed head.
Eyeballs were embedded all over the head, staring straight at me.
"Senior?"
I raised my head.
There was a woman in a suit standing there without a head.
And then.
"My hea d fe ll o ff A A A A A A A A A A!!"
The severed head screamed.
The headless body staggered toward me and grabbed my face.
ㅡCrack!
.
.
.
[You died after your head was pulled off.]
[Death count: 11 -> 12]
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[Restarting.]