Chapter 40
"Gyaaaah! Eek!"
I panicked at the sudden death. Did I die because my head was ripped off? The vivid sensation of my neck bones crunching made me nauseous. I flailed around, trying to put my head back on.
"My head!"
Of course, my head was still attached... Realizing that, I wondered.
What the hell was that?
I had been receiving basic quarantine-team training from Ms. Spandall. I hadn't made any mistakes. The Tooth Tree and the Tooth Fairies were no different. I had carried everything out perfectly, demonstrating my abilities.
But then Spandall's head suddenly appeared inside the gift box from the Tooth Fairy, and Spandall's headless body ripped my head off.
"Cough, cough!"
Just as I was about to feel terrified all over again at the fact that I had died one more time, I heard a voice.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Huh...?"
When I raised my head, I saw Ms. Spandall's face.
Though I hadn't known her for long, it was the expression I'd been seeing all along. She looked as if she were smiling, yet there was a sinister feeling, as if she had something hidden behind that expression.
"..."
What the hell was this bitch...
What the hell was this woman!
Was she not merely a senior with an odd personality, but something suspicious? When had this started? Was it an anomalous phenomenon? Had I suddenly been caught up in one? If so, when? Had I been attacked? Or had my senior been attacked first and killed me?
Dangerous.
Whatever the case, it was dangerous to stay with this woman. I had to escape immediately or let someone know what was happening. Thinking that, I looked for a way out.
But then.
"Th-this is..."
This was the Management Bureau's underground containment facility.
I was in the elevator with Spandall. I had returned to the exact moment when the doors opened and I was about to step out.
The escape route...
There wasn't one.
Except for taking the elevator upstairs.
"Senior. Wait. Let's go upstairs for a moment."
When I reached out to press the floor button,
ㅡGrab.
Spandall grabbed my wrist.
Then she leaned close to my face and said,
"Why did you suddenly start screaming and thrashing around?"
"...Senior Spandall."
"Tell me."
That...!
"Why did you do that? Hmm? Do you have some secret you can't talk about? Hmm? You do, don't you? Will you tell me, just me? Tell your kind senior all about it. Your secret. Hmm? You know something, don't you?"
The hand holding my wrist moved from my wrist to my head.
"Could there be a secret in this brain?"
"Fuck!"
I shook Spandall off and kicked off the floor.
If there was no escape route, I would just have to create one.
"Groong. Where are you going? Don't you like learning from your senior? You have to learn quarantine work."
"Shut up, you monster bitch!"
"Today we're learning about the Tooth Tree and the Tooth Fairies. Aren't you interested? We have to gather a whole lot of teeth, make dentures, and supply them to dentists. That's how we fund the Bureau. You know, they use real teeth when they film crime dramas about serial murders."
"I said shut uuuup!"
I didn't know where it had gone wrong.
But if I stayed here and panicked, my death count would only keep increasing.
I absolutely, absolutely couldn't increase my death count any further!
A single death cost 2,000 points, and you're telling me to die again?!
ㅡTadadadak!
I ran through a corridor so dark that not a single ray of light reached it. It was difficult to make anything out in the darkness. On top of that, strange sounds were coming from every direction.
-Haaaaaaa!
-Aaaah. Aaaah. Aaaah.
The strange howls of monsters.
It wasn't just that; I could hear human voices too.
-Excuse me. Please get me out of here.
-Geunhong! Geunhong! I'm here!
-Aaaaagh! Save me! Save me! Save meeeee!
Was I hallucinating? I looked from side to side as I ran. There were containment-room doors along every wall of the corridor, and the sounds were coming from inside them. Were there people in there crying out? Or had I been consumed by an anomalous phenomenon and started hearing things?
ㅡWiiiiiiing!
ㅡGrgrgring!
I heard something like a sharp machine spinning. Then, along with a horrific scream, a monstrous cry like someone being torn apart burst out... Someone was dying in there!
Someone was being tortured to death inside that containment room!
"Huff, huff!"
Fear surged all the way into my brain.
Where the hell was I?
Was this even the Management Bureau's containment facility to begin with?
This place was a hell where people were tortured!
I had no idea where I was.
The dark corridor stretched on endlessly.
Then it happened.
ㅡZiiing.
ㅡFlap-flap-flap!
The door ahead opened, and a huge swarm of Tooth Fairies burst out. A horde of monsters with horrifying teeth flew straight toward me.
-Emergency situation detected.
-Emergency situation detected.
-Emergency situation detected.
Hearing the siren, I screamed.
"No!"
If those things bit me, I'd definitely die! And not just die—I would have all the flesh torn off my body and eaten, and every bone would be gnawed clean!
I had only been alive again for a few minutes. I couldn't die like that again...!
ㅡFlash!
I spun around and ran.
"What the hell is going oooooon!"
Why had this happened?
I had planned to relax in the safe confines of the Management Bureau and deal with anomalous phenomena at my leisure.
I had been complacent.
Just entering the Management Bureau didn't make anomalous phenomena disappear from the world!
I hated myself for letting my guard down!
ㅡFlap-flap-flap!
"Stop chasing me!"
The Tooth Fairies were hot on my heels. I couldn't let myself be torn apart alive. Even in the grip of terror, I moved to survive, and soon I found an open door.
It was a containment-room door.
"In there...!"
Should I go in? Since it had double doors, if the inner door hadn't opened too, I might be able to hide. Besides, if it was open, there was a chance that whatever had been inside had left long ago.
Either way, if I kept going like this, the Tooth Fairies would catch me. I made a snap decision and entered, as if placing a desperate bet.
Then I closed the door.
ㅡPapapak!
The Tooth Fairies pounded on the door like mad. Had they flown into it and crashed? I backed away while checking whether the door would open.
"Huff, huff...! They can't open it?!"
I could hear them pounding away, but the door didn't open. After confirming that the containment room's inner door was closed, I slumped to the floor.
"Huff, huff...!"
My heart was pounding as if it would burst. Fear and confusion were eating away at my mind. Honestly, this was the first time I had felt fear this intense since I was in the hospital.
I had been in a safe place called the Management Bureau with an experienced senior, only to suddenly encounter an anomalous phenomenon. The emotional whiplash was enormous.
"What do I do now... No. Can I even solve this in the first place?"
As I calmed my fear, I assessed the situation.
I didn't know either the reason or the cause. It had happened suddenly; I had died, and then I had ended up like this again. I was in a situation with not even the bare minimum of information. I tried to use my detection ability, but nothing appeared.
To solve this, I would have to do something while dying. That was simply how my ability worked. I had to die again and again to figure everything out from scratch.
But.
"I have to die again...?"
That was impossible.
A single death was worth 2,000 points...!
Besides, I didn't even know what other penalty might come with dying again, so what the hell was I supposed to do?!
This situation felt downright malicious. It was as if something were driving me into a corner to increase my death count.
"K-krrrgh! Y-you there...!"
As I clutched my head, I heard a voice from inside the inner door.
It sounded like a human voice. I cursed inwardly. So there was another anomaly inside the containment room.
"H-hey! Is someone there?"
"What...?"
A voice filled with fear.
It sounded like a real person shouting.
"..."
I sensed confusion.
"If you're there, please open the door...! There's no time!"
If.
If I were still the person I had been before unlocking the abilities in my status window,
I would have opened the door without hesitation to get information and check what was inside. But I couldn't act so rashly anymore.
Whatever was inside... to put it coldly, there was a high chance it was the kind of anomaly that pretended to be human to make me open the door.
"I know you're in there! Open it! Open it! Hurry!"
Someone was screaming from inside the inner door,
ㅡFlap-flap-flap!
while the Tooth Fairies were going berserk outside the door in front of me. No. They couldn't be the only ones. More anomalies might arrive... and even Senior Spandall, who wasn't normal herself, might find me.
If that happened, it was all over.
It might be better to check what was inside.
"Wait."
What if that too was a trap?
Come to think of it, it was suspicious that this particular door happened to be open. What if whatever was inside had caused this? What if it had created this anomalous phenomenon to make me open the door?
Nothing was certain, and everything was ambiguous. It felt as if the world itself were trying to deceive me.
ㅡFlap-flap-flap!
But I was being forced to choose.
"Groong. What are you doing going in there on your own? Open the door. Put my head back on."
"Fuck!"
I didn't deliberate for long. The moment I heard Senior Spandall's voice outside, I chose to open the inner door. If that monster did anything, I'd get my head ripped off and die again.
ㅡZiiing.
When the door opened, I saw someone in the middle of the darkened room.
It was a man seated and restrained in a chair.
A man in a black suit and sunglasses.
Almost...
Like a fake Bureau agent.
"You...?"
The man in the suit raised his head and looked at me.
"I-Identification... You're not in the database... Y-you! You're a new Bureau agent, aren't you?!"
The man in the suit shouted in surprise.
How did he know that?
When I stared at him, he continued.
"You haven't been an agent of this Bureau for long...! Wake up! There's no time! This is your last chance! This is the fake Bureau! You joined the fake Bureau!"
"What?"
What was this supposed to mean?
"Untie me right now! I'm an agent of the real Bureau! We have to resolve this situation! Hurry!"
The man in the suit struggled and shook his body. Since he was restrained, all that happened was that the chains clanked.
Confusion began to overwhelm my fear.
"You're really an agent of the real Bureau?"
"Yes! There's no time to explain in detail! Untie me right now!"
I had neither the time nor the grounds to make a judgment.
I quickly ran through the possibilities in my head.
"Then answer me."
I asked in order to determine whether he was telling the truth.
"You. Do you know Section Chief Lee Dohyeong?"