Chapter 75
An isekai adventure.
Just hearing it makes it sound thrilling and fun. You'd think it'd be a blast, hunting monsters and leveling up while living a carefree life.
"Fuck."
The problem is that all I have around me now are horrifying monsters, so what's got my heart pounding is fear.
I can't accept an isekai like this.
Still, let's try to think positively.
Maybe it's because the fad has passed, but I hear modern isekai worlds have no dreams or hope. Supposedly, it's normal to do backbreaking labor in a painful medieval fantasy world just to scrape by and get bullied by some weird witch.
Well, even if that were the kind of world it was, it'd still be fun to go on a group trip with my vampire-hunter friends.
Anyway.
I kept a close watch on all sides as I moved, using the cover piled up here and there.
This seems to be a factory site. There's a factory and even canned food. That means that out there, not only butcher monsters but regular monsters must be living too.
This is literally a dimension where monsters live.
Which means that even if I kill the butcher monsters in this factory, it would mean nothing. If I kill them, police monsters will come. If I kill those too, wouldn't army monsters come next?
The point isn't to take them down.
It's to find a way out.
As I wandered around the area like that,
ㅡDing, ding, ding!
I heard what sounded like a bell I had never heard before.
I immediately took cover and checked the situation.
"..."
After waiting a bit, the butcher monsters started coming out of the factory. Dozens of them came out... Could that sound have been a signal for break time?
They all came out to catch their breath?
Seeing them like this, they look like monsters only in appearance; they're not all that different from humans. Good start. I got useful information about their break time.
If I'd been inside, I'd have been exposed by all those monsters pouring out on break.
I lay low without moving a muscle.
ㅡThud, thud.
The butcher monsters passed by nearby, but... perhaps because of the scent enchantment, they didn't notice me.
How long had it been?
ㅡDing, ding, ding!
The bell rang again.
The monsters are heading back into the factory.
Looks like break time is over.
I waited until all of them had gone inside, then came out. It really was lucky there was a pile of refuse.
Now then, let's start exploring again.
Right now, I'm Alice.
Alice who came to Wonderland.
"..."
Should I try going outside the factory grounds? I'm kind of curious what's out there. Maybe there are cars or something they drive around in.
As I moved while thinking that,
ㅡSwish.
I felt a presence.
"...!"
I immediately drew my pistol and turned my head. I aimed toward where the sound came from and looked for whoever made it. A monster? No. They're bigger than humans. There'd be no way I wouldn't see them. Then what, another kind of monster?
As I was thinking that,
"D-don't shoot!"
The floor opened up like some kind of lid, and a person came out from inside!
"I-I'm human, h-human! I'm not a monster!"
What the hell is this guy...?
I walked up with my pistol still aimed.
"Who are you?"
A human?
Could he be a survivor from this factory?
So there was a survivor!
Surviving in a place like this is insanely lucky!
He probably wrote something in the notebook.
Which number is he?
Either way, there's a high chance he has useful information.
"A survivor! I'm a survivor! Don't shoot! Hh, h-hic! It's been so long since I last saw another person...!"
But he looked completely out of his mind.
If a homeless man evolved into a wild man, it'd look something like this. His hair was a mess and his face was pitch-black. His eyes were darting around too; no matter how I looked at it, he was not normal.
"You can't stay out there! Come inside first...! You never know when they'll show up!"
The man said, trembling.
Still, it did seem safer to go inside the hideout he had made than to stay out here.
But I can't trust him... He says he's a survivor, but I don't even know who he is. And if he's a survivor who woke up in the factory bathroom and somehow lived, I have no idea how he's survived this long.
That was what I thought, but
"All right."
This is intel.
I walked toward him.
Besides, if he's really a survivor, I can't just leave him alone.
"Come in! Come in!"
He seemed to be welcoming me very enthusiastically. He must have been that starved for human contact and that lonely.
He stepped aside a little and held the lid open for me.
I looked left and right before going into the burrow.
Once I was inside the dark burrow, he lowered the lid.
It's dark.
ㅡPop!
Suddenly, a light came on.
He had some strange device in his hand.
"So this is your hideout."
"Y-yeah! I made it!"
He dug into the factory grounds and made a small hideout with a lid on top... That's some seriously impressive survival instinct. That glowing tool looks pretty unusual. Could he have gotten it here?
"H-heh, heh, heh... W-wow, an actual person...! Ha, haha!"
He babbled incoherently while looking at me.
"Hic! H-hic! I don't even know how long it's been!"
He laughed, cried, and trembled all at once.
A natural reaction.
If you'd survived in this insane world, you'd go mad too. I let him calm down in silence.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I'd seen a civilian caught up in an anomaly like this as an agent. How should I handle him? Should I reveal that I'm a Bureau agent?
After thinking for about five minutes and waiting for him to calm down, I asked,
"You're a survivor, right?"
"Yeah!"
"Did you see the notebook?"
"Yeah! The notebook! Did you see what I wrote?!"
"A lot of people wrote in it. Which number are you?"
"Number 5...! I'm number 5!"
Number 5?
Ah!
Number 5 is that perceptive guy!
And a Sejeongge user, too!
"The one who said to erase personal info?"
"Yeah! That's me! I was the one who wrote at the end, right? That I was going to look for the factory door!"
Looks like it.
Number 5 said he'd gather some information and then try going outside the factory. After that, number 6 came along, so I thought he'd died. So he was surviving here all this time?
"I even wrote that we'd see each other on Sejeongge! Do you know Sejeongge?!"
His eyes lit up as he spoke to me like someone greeting a friend he'd met after decades.
"I know it. I use it often."
"Wow...! See? I knew it, things like this really do exist in this world! Haha! Y-you! Are you a fixed nick?! Or an anon?! If you're a fixed nick, I might know you...!"
Most of the board users I'd seen were anons.
"Fixed nicks would get traced, though."
"Exactly! But the way you say that... you know something, but I guess you're not a real fixed nick!"
"A real fixed nick? What does that mean?"
"W-we! The real fixed nicks use the forum too, but we also use another secret messenger! If you were a real fixed nick, you'd have gotten an invite link!"
"..."
So there was something like that on Sejeongge too.
"To avoid the Bureau?"
"Yeah! Yeah! To avoid the Bureau! If they catch you, you disappear on the spot, huh?!"
The eyes of the man who'd been speaking excitedly suddenly widened.
Then, breathing hard, he shouted in fear.
"Black suit and a pistol... don't tell me you're from the Bureau?!"
"Calm down. I'll explain. First, I'm from the Bureau."
"Aaaagh!"
"Quiet."
I immediately reached out and covered his mouth.
The Number 5 I saw in the notebook seemed very level-headed, but he doesn't look anything like that now.
"What do you know about the Bureau? Isn't it an organization that arrests people who uncover the truth of the world?"
"T-tha-that's right...! So many of our teammates have gone missing! My God! A Bureau guy really showed up!"
"Calm down. That's because they got caught up in a ghost story."
"What...?"
"There are two kinds of Bureau in this world. One is the organization you described, the one that hunts down and eliminates people who uncover the world's secrets. We call that the fake Bureau."
"The fake Bureau...?"
His eyes widened.
"I'm from the real Bureau. We wage war against that fake Bureau and protect victims like you."
"I-it was like that?!"
It was surprising, for sure.
I was shocked too at first.
"So you can trust me. I'm a real Bureau agent, Grong. That's my codename. What's your name?"
"I'm Kim Seongjin... B-but really? About the Bureau?"
"Yes. But that's not what's important right now. You. How have you survived all this time? What have you been eating, and how long has it been? Answer me."
"W-well..."
Kim Seongjin scratched his head.
"Th-the food's all over the floor, right...? T-that flesh-weed stuff..."
"The fuzzy stuff?"
"Yeah! It's edible! H-haha... weird, right? But I can't help it! I was hungry! If I don't eat, I'll starve to death! Aaaagh!"
He suddenly went into a fit and tore at his hair.
I covered his mouth again and said,
"I understand. It was a survival choice. It's not strange. I understand completely. I would've done the same."
"A-ah, aaah! Hic!"
"There are many people who made difficult decisions to survive, just like you. Focus on the fact that you're alive. That's the most important thing."
"Khh...! Ngh, hic!"
Never thought I'd be doing counseling too.
Kim Seongjin cried for quite a while, as if his emotions had overflowed.
I waited silently for him to finish.
By the way.
So that fuzz-like weed was edible.
"By the way, Kim Seongjin. Water? Where did you get water?"
"Hh, huff... T-there's a place behind the factory where they dump wastewater or something... It didn't seem like completely filthy water, so I could drink it..."
"Good. How long has it been since you got here?"
"I don't know... a long time... a really long while..."
Enough time to go insane.
And yet it was precisely this madness that let him build a hideout and survive by eating fuzz and wastewater.
In this insane world, madness isn't a choice; it's a necessity.
You need madness to survive.
So he really is Number 5.
Just as I'd seen in the notebook, he has the will to survive and he's smart.
"Couldn't you go back into that bathroom all this time? You should've been able to write something in the notebook."
"I went! But I couldn't write anything else in the notebook!"
"What?"
"I-I wrote that in the notebook and went out. To find out about this world. But I ended up failing... I thought I'd get caught on the way. T-there's no way a person could explore a place like this in the first place, right? And besides! I was scared to go back into the factory! So I hid nearby and... that's how I lived."
He was rambling.
"I did go back to the bathroom once. But I couldn't write in it... It had already been updated to number 7... Ah, I think my turn had already passed, so I couldn't write anymore."
Seongjin said, biting at his thumb.
So it really is a supernatural notebook.
It seems the notebook has rules for how it can be used.
"Yeah! You can't even take it outside in the first place!"
"I tested it myself. When I tried to take it out, it came back."
"Right, right! Ah, anyway! You said you're a Bureau agent! Then you're here to save people like us?!"
Only then did a hopeful expression appear on Seongjin's face. It was the face of someone intensely anticipating something, someone who had found a sliver of hope in a dreadful abyss of despair.
I...
I still haven't found a way out.
I got caught up in it.
"..."
I thought for a moment about what to say.
My conclusion was to cooperate with this guy.
He's been here longer, so he probably knows more than I do.
"For now, yes, I came to save you."
"A-ah, aaah! Finally! Finallyyy! I can get out of hereeee!"
"Wait. I'm also looking for a way to escape."
"What...?"
"There are lots of anomalies like this. Besides a human meat factory like this, there are also horrific monster hospitals and the like. As an agent, I get deployed to those places and also find ways to get out. If there are victims, I rescue them, and for people who come later I also make and hand out things like safety guides."
This isn't a lie.
This is actually what our agents do.
"We'll do the same this time. So let's cooperate. We'll find a way out together. Once we go back, you might even get memory erasure treatment at our Bureau. You can forget the horrible memories and return to society. Understand?"
As I said that,
"A-alright! Okay! I'll do whatever you say! Got it!"
He nodded vigorously.
"Hic! I'm so relieved...! I didn't want to die here! You, you said your name was Grong, right? Don't abandon me! I'll do anything, so take me with you when you escape! Please! I'm begging you! I want to go home...!"
"I know, so calm down. Kim Seongjin. We're Sejeongge users, aren't we? Let's work together."
"Y-yeah! I'll work hard! B-but your agents read Sejeongge too...?"
"There are surprisingly a lot of things there. Even stuff related to the fake Bureau. Ah, but I'd also like to know a bit more about you Sejeongge users."
"I-I don't know that much either..."
That's not important right now.
"I'm not asking about that now. What we need to think about is escaping. So, Kim Seongjin. Tell me what you've learned while living here."
"I-I'll tell you. I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything. I know a lot. There's stuff I've learned while living here."
He shook the dandruff off and began to speak.