Chapter 71
"So that's why you were sleeping at the Bureau."
"Yes. I even want to bring my bedding."
I slept like a log.
The Bureau is scary when the lights are off, sure, but that's a basement thing. Besides, I'd already escaped, so I wasn't that worried.
Honestly, the Bureau is more comfortable than a house with ghosts.
"Grong must have been scared. Still, it's a relief that Spangdal rescued you. Here, have some coffee. Drink up and calm down."
"Thank you. Just imagining what would've happened if it weren't for Senior Spangdal gives me chills."
If there hadn't been any salt or red beans, they probably would've bickered all night.
No, wait.
They could've just picked me up and thrown me out the window.
Or if that didn't work, they could've put a sieve over my face like a fencing mask, held me down, run to a nearby supermarket to buy salt, and then taken me to the sea to dump me in it.
Come to think of it, there are endless ways to clear one of these things.
It's the age of creativity, after all. Creativity is a spear that pierces the world. Even if anomalies unfairly mess with you, a flash of inspiration should let you turn the tables and screw them over right back.
"By the way, a ghost breaking into someone's house—honestly, that's extremely rare. And a ghost with enough physical force to open a door and come in on its own, no less."
"Rare? If ghosts count as anomalies, I feel like they'd be pretty common."
Jaldi stood there with his arms crossed, looking at me.
"Common, low-risk anomalies—the so-called petty spirits—usually can't physically harm people."
"Pardon?"
"You see it on broadcasts too, don't you? Someone being tormented by a ghost and having nightmares. That's the kind of thing petty spirits do. They just make you feel bad or give you nightmares. They almost never kick down the front door and charge at you."
Then what?
Why the hell did that petty-spirit bastard steal my innards?
"Well, rather than bursting in through the door, it's more common for a ghost to suddenly appear in your house and leave you terrified."
"..."
I'll have to think about that separately.
"For now, I understand. You're saying petty spirits that kick the door open and come charging in aren't common. Still, Team Leader, I think it would be nice to have something like exorcism tools."
"I'll issue you some. Since a rare ghost showed up, I'll give you something good."
"Oh! Thank you!"
Handing out exorcism tools right away—this is the Bureau, all right!
Getting items one by one like this gives me a weird sense of accomplishment.
An agent's suit, a pistol, silver crosses, garlic supplies, exorcism tools—at this point I don't even have room in my pockets anymore. What am I, Doraemon?
"I'll put in a request. You can pick it up in the afternoon."
"Understood."
Around then, Mr. Spangdal arrived at work.
"Ah! Senior Spangdal! Thank you so much for last night!"
"Yeah... did you sleep well at the Bureau?"
"It was as comfortable as home. I was even thinking of bringing a sleeping bag."
"Don't do that."
"Spangdal. Good work. You're taking very good care of the newbie."
Mr. Spangdal nodded and went to sit down at his desk.
"Chok, chok, chok."
As I was doing that, Mr. Jamtree poked my neck with his finger.
"But, Grong. Why did you call Spangdal? Hm? Not me or the team leader."
"Well, you see..."
There was a reason for that.
Besides, Mr. Jamtree didn't seem like a combat type to begin with. Calling Jaldi felt less like calling on a senior when something happened and more like calling the platoon leader.
"Senior Spangdal is really good at fighting. He stabs everything to death with those spikes, so I figured he'd be perfect for ghost-hunting."
"Heh heh heh, true enough."
"I guess a powerful esper can catch ghosts too."
"Not necessarily, so don't let your guard down."
Mr. Spangdal must have been listening, because he said that.
There must be different kinds of esper powers too.
Some are just good at physical fights, and some also have powers that work on anomalies.
To be blunt, you can always deal with physical stuff with a gun. So the latter is more useful. Against those anomalies, brute force often doesn't work.
"Then let's start work. As yesterday, we'll monitor the internet today too."
"Yes. Ah, but Team Leader Jaldi, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Do you happen to know the World Politics board?"
"Of course. We just haven't trained you on that yet."
As expected, there's something there.
"It seems suspicious. So there really is something?"
"Yes. It's exactly as you guessed. Come sit here."
"Yes."
I went over and sat in front of Jaldi.
"The World Politics board is publicly known as a psych ward. The Bureau's investigation revealed that most of its users were mentally ill."
"Most of the users, huh. Then there must be people not in that majority."
"Normal people who use it for fun. They make up about 90 percent."
"Hmm, that leaves the carefully winnowed 10 percent."
Jaldi nodded.
"What are those 10 percent doing?"
"Who knows."
"Huh?"
"They're guys even the Bureau can't track. Whether they're real humans, or anomalies, or even a fake Bureau internet task force—nobody knows."
"..."
"They could be some other suspicious group as well. One thing is certain: among the countless fake supernatural posts on the World Politics board, some are real, and it's those real posts that get written by that carefully winnowed 10 percent of users."
As I thought.
"They definitely have something going on. Are they dangerous?"
"It depends. But not right now, I think."
"Understood."
So they're not dangerous right this second.
"But won't you investigate them later? I'm kind of interested."
"For now, the Bureau is investigating them regularly as well. If we do more, I'll let you know."
"Yes."
And so I started today's work.
* * *
After that, nothing that could be called a major incident happened. I spent my days busy as an agent, carrying out my duties.
They were all large-scale tasks tied to suppressing awareness of the vampire incident, and typing away in the office wasn't exactly my thing, but as the Bureau's top-class agent Grong, I handled them perfectly.
When I had time to spare, I'd go to the training facility and practice shooting.
My K2 marksmanship, needless to say, was flawless.
Still, I thought I needed a bit more practice with pistol shooting.
Right now, I'm mainly practicing accurate rapid fire with one hand against multiple moving targets. Once I get used to that, I'm thinking of trying akimbo with two pistols.
I kept up that routine, commuting back and forth every day.
"..."
Honestly, I get wary no matter where I go.
Ghosts.
Anomalies.
Supernatural phenomena.
You can run into things like that anywhere. You could call it a random encounter; whether you meet one or not is pure luck.
If I'm even a little late noticing them, I'll get ambushed and lose 2,000 points.
Even a petty spirit can easily kill me, Grong, the Bureau's top-class agent—a terror to Hanse-geon-class vampires and a nightmare to Kurosuna-class fake Bureau agents.
What's more, physical attacks hardly work on them.
After taking down Jinjo in the subway that day, I turned into a mad vampire hunter, wandering the streets covered in cross tattoos. Back then I kept glancing around suspiciously, always on guard for vampires that could jump out from anywhere.
My current situation probably isn't all that different.
"..."
I always move carefully.
I might look suspicious, but I'm wearing my agent suit right now. Since it's causing perception suppression, it's not really a problem.
"Ah."
Maybe it's because I've been moving so tensely.
I'm hungry.
"Meat."
At times like this, meat is the answer.
I should eat some good meat and recover.
That's what people live for.
Since I work at the Bureau, I don't have to worry about money. Let's buy some hanwoo from a nearby butcher and head home. I'll grill it at home.
Thinking that, I found a butcher shop that sold hanwoo.
The butcher shop's signature pink lighting gave me a warm feeling.
I drifted over as if under a spell and checked the meats displayed in the case. So, what looks good? If it's hanwoo, isn't marbled ribeye the obvious choice? I should buy enough to eat my fill.
But then.
"Huh."
The meat.
looks very strange.
"..."
A wrapped human hand.
It was displayed in the case.
Beside it, I could see a human calf.
A foot.
An eye.
An ear.
Before I could fully process any of it, I was already running with my pistol drawn.
Then my vision warped.
* * *
The moment I came to, I immediately took in the reality of my situation.
Current situation.
I'm in what looks like a restroom stall.
I was sitting on the toilet, and the door was slightly open.
"..."
Cold sweat is pouring down my body, and goosebumps are breaking out all over me.
Last memory.
I went to the butcher shop, and they were selling human flesh. I reflexively drew my pistol and sprinted, then my vision suddenly twisted and I woke up here.
...I got caught up in an anomaly.
Probably one of those anomalies that transports you somewhere else.
I clenched my teeth and moved only my eyes to scan left and right. I don't know where this is. I can't move recklessly. Since I don't know what danger may be lurking here, I can't make a sound.
Detection?
Clue?
Nothing's coming up.
What does that mean?
For now, I'll do what I can.
I'll gather as much information as I can using my hearing.
All I can hear is the sound of the vent fan.
I don't sense any human presence.
After confirming that much, I stood up.
When I looked behind me, there was a notebook sitting on top of the toilet tank lid. I stared at it for a moment before cautiously reaching out.
I opened the notebook without making a sound.
1.
I'm Park Min-cheol, born in '99, living in --.
I've never written anything like a will in my life, but I'm writing one here.
I don't know what I should write, but there were monster-like bastards outside the bathroom.
If they catch me, I think I'll die.
They seem like kidnappers, but they're definitely not human.
I don't think I can get out of here alive.
I'll write my contact information below.
If anyone finds this, please report it.
I don't know where this is.
I just want to let people know that I died here.
Mom, Dad, I love you.
2.
I'm Kim Seo-yoon, born in 2002.
I'm so scared of the monsters I can't do anything.
I'm just hiding in the bathroom right now, but
it feels like they're going to come in any second.
I'm so scared.
I'm just crying.
I'm trying not to make any noise.
I'll write my contact information below, so if you find this, please report it.
Mom and Dad, I love you.
3.
Where are you, Min-cheol-hyung and Seo-yoon-noona?
We're together.
I'm scared. Help me.
I miss my mom.
4.
I'll write something too.
I was looking at meat in the butcher shop, and when I came to, I was here.
At first I thought it was a kidnapping, but there are too many things that don't make sense, including the monsters.
It's hard to believe, but it feels like I was teleported or something.
After seeing the monsters, I just accepted it.
The people above must have come here before me. They're probably all dead.
Was the one who wrote No. 3 a kid?
I've always wanted to die, but now that I'm here, I just want to live.
I took the notebook with me, but it kept disappearing.
I'm going to look for a way to escape.
If I come back here, I'll write more.
I'm leaving my contact information.
Please report me too.
I'm Kim Seung-hyun, born in '89, living in --.
5.
Sorry, but I erased all the contact information you wrote.
Those monster bastards look almost human, so what were you thinking writing down your contact info?
What if those bastards read it and do something?
People who come after us, don't write anything personal.
A name and birth year should be fine since there are lots of people with the same name, but don't write your region or anything else.
I don't know whether, if one person dies, another person comes here
or whether, if one person leaves, another person comes here.
What I'm sure of is that there didn't seem to be anyone else here besides me
and all that's here is monster bastards roaming around.
The people above are probably all dead.
I want to live, so I'm willing to do anything.
Seems like I can't take the notebook with me.
If I come back, I'll write down anything else I find out here.
The next people should be careful too.
Share anything you find out.
See you on the World Politics board when we get out.