Chapter 84
"Why on earth do you like that damn Department Head Lee Dohyung so much?"
"I'm not using him because I like him. I'm using him as something like a benchmark for power. Anyway, what kind of weapon is it? I'm terribly eager to see it."
As expected, the Bureau really did have anti-anomaly weapons.
But that was too obvious.
In the first place, this is an organization that fights anomalies, so if it didn't have even one decent weapon, the fight itself wouldn't work. In fact, it would be stranger if they didn't have any.
"To be honest, they're a bit hard to call weapons."
"Huh?"
"Generally speaking... eliminating anomalies that defy comprehension is very difficult. You have to either follow specific rules or find something that works."
"That's true. In fact, the things that can be handled with a gun seem to be the easy ones."
"Exactly. Vampires are a good example. They're the kind of thing you can deal with through straightforward combat."
"Yes. Of course, that doesn't mean vampires aren't dangerous."
Vampires are extremely dangerous bastards.
Likewise, physical weapons did work on the descendants of the Singing Star... but only in the sense that they worked at all. The army was defeated in an instant, and the world was eroded away.
"So, when you come face-to-face with an unknown anomaly that ordinary weapons won't work on, these are the things you can use right away."
Jaaldi opened the safe and took something out.
"What's this?"
It looks like some kind of cube?
No.
It really is a cube.
A plain cube with six differently colored faces.
"A cube with anomalous properties."
Is this a weapon?
"It could be called an anomaly in the shape of a tool."
"An anomaly in the shape of a tool...!"
"Well, there are real weapons, but those require high-level clearance, so let's skip them. Anyway, this is a safety-grade tool, and by that I mean the Bureau has fully explained its usage and effects."
So it's literally a safe tool.
"So this cube has some special ability that lets it deal with anomalies?"
"That's right."
If the usage has all been figured out and it's safe, then it's more than enough.
"There was something this useful?! It would've been nice to use it sooner!"
"It was just that there was no opportunity. I'll explain how to use it."
Use anomalies to fight anomalies.
That is the very motto of our Bureau.
I could tell this was suspicious, and yet... I couldn't deny that it was useful.
"An anomaly imposes a special rule. If you get caught up in it, you can be helplessly taken down. But if we deploy an anomaly on our side? Two anomalies can clash and produce a new result."
"Ooh...!"
"Through that, we can discover the solution, or even suppress it."
So this cube-shaped anomaly also imposes those kinds of rules!
"This cube is a tool that's very fun and intuitive to use. First, when you encounter an anomaly, scramble the cube as much as you like. Then throw it at the target."
"Throw it? What happens then?"
"It forcibly makes them solve the cube."
"Huh?"
It forcibly makes them solve the cube?
"What, some sort of hypnosis? Making it solve a cube?"
I imagined a bizarre-looking anomaly busily solving a cube.
That's absolutely the worst.
"Similar, but completely different. Just understand it as the cube's rule. Anyway, you can't just solve the cube any old way. At least one face has to be entirely one color."
"Hmm...?"
Can you even solve a cube like that?
Wouldn't it be ruined from the very first scramble?
When I asked Jaaldi about that, he said,
"There's no need to question it. It will just happen. Anyway, the first time is allowed even if the colors aren't unified, but after that."
I swallowed hard.
"What happens?"
"The target's body begins to twist like a cube. There's an experiment record on it; I'll show you sometime."
"No way...!"
What in the world!
"What a vicious tool this is!"
"If you throw it and hit them, they are forced to solve the cube, get stunned, and if they make a mistake there, they literally self-destruct."
"If only this could smash all the anomalies!"
"That would have been nice. But when anomalies fight each other, strange results do come out. Still, for the most part, it buys time against anomalies or deals decent damage. It's a very useful cube."
"Ah, right."
If it's an anomaly, it should be able to recover from a bit of twisting right away.
"But if an anomaly gets hit by this, will it start trying to solve the cube? Come to think of it, that's a little funny."
"It's rare for humans to solve it directly by hand. Well, I have experiment records for that too, so I'll show you sometime. There's a pure-white ghost in the Bureau's basement, and we've made that thing solve it before."
"Huh?"
A pure-white ghost in the Bureau's basement?
"..."
I got chills for a moment, but Jaaldi was perfectly normal.
What is that supposed to imply?
"Grrong?"
I changed the subject for now.
"By the way, where did you find this cube?"
"At the international cube competition held seventeen years ago."
"Ah."
"Anyway, the Bureau has a lot of tools like this. Ah, don't worry about retrieval. We've already built the methods for it."
"That sounds like it wouldn't be a normal method."
"Good eye."
As expected, our Bureau makes very active use of anomalies.
"Pack the rest of the equipment."
And so, I finished preparing to set out with Jaaldi.
If this had been real geocaching, it would've been fun.
* * *
By car, we arrived near our destination in no time.
According to the GPS, there was supposedly treasure somewhere in this mountain ahead. From here on, all we had to do was hike and scout with Jaaldi.
I got out of the car right away.
"Your eyes have changed."
"Yes."
It was true that I had gotten my hopes up at the mention of treasure hunting, but I had already regained my composure.
"That was sort of a joke. We're going into a dangerous area to work, so I won't keep joking around."
"Excellent. Let's go."
Jaaldi snickered and took the lead.
"Yes. But I do want to try real geocaching sometime. I mean geocaching as a game, not this anomalous stuff."
"Hmm."
"What, no company outings or anything? Leave the planning to me. I'm confident when it comes to recreation."
"You're the first person like that I've ever met... I'll think about it for now."
"I don't like empty promises, Team Leader."
"W-well... don't make me speechless."
"Ah! What the hell!"
"Seriously, who is the department head here?"
Anyway.
The preparations are perfect.
Firearms for physical combat. Garlic weapons and garlic ammo prepared for a war against vampires. On top of that, the anti-anomaly cube. And Jaaldi's psychic powers as well.
Whatever shows up, we'll be able to handle it.
"By the way, Team Leader. What if we suddenly get dropped into some anomalous space? I'm considering that possibility too. The regulars on the World Politics board suddenly disappeared en masse, and this sure looks like that, doesn't it?"
"I think so too. For now, there's no need to worry too much. I brought a detector, so we should be able to avoid it beforehand."
"Oh! Bureau gear really is something else!"
When I fell into the human meat factory, the scenery suddenly changed all at once too.
Probably on the way to the butcher shop, I satisfied some specific condition and got thrown straight into another dimension. If I could've known ahead of time with a detector, I wouldn't have gone that way.
"Grrong. Start geocaching."
"Yes."
I took the portable GPS device and got my bearings.
"Since you never know what might happen, always stay alert."
"Of course."
Jaaldi and I began geocaching in earnest.
We climbed the mountain path, checking the GPS to find our destination.
Even so, we remained thoroughly on guard.
I would've preferred this to be real treasure hunting instead of agent work.
"..."
Jaaldi was also scanning the area in a very practiced manner. Come to think of it, this is the first time I've ever worked with Jaaldi alone.
The memory of the last episode... of leaving him to die alone because I didn't make a wish to the demon came back to me. I'm too sorry to even look him in the face.
"By the way, this is some unexpected hiking in a suit."
I always think this, but Jaaldi looks incredibly good in a suit.
"It's common enough. It's not like I never have to climb mountains. Still, the mobility isn't a problem, is it?"
"That's true."
This agent suit only looks like a suit on the outside; in truth, it's special equipment with all sorts of technology woven in. Its mobility is excellent, needless to say.
"This is basically a department head dragging the team out hiking on the weekend..."
"That's a lame joke, Grrong."
Light chatter while keeping a close watch.
Geocaching was going very smoothly.
But then.
"Ah... fuck."
What the hell is that corpse hanging from that tree?
ㅡDing.
[You have encountered the 'ghost of someone who hanged themselves in the mountains.']
It wasn't a corpse, it was a ghost?!
Why the hell are there so many ghosts!
"Team Leader. Something's appeared over there."
Sway, sway.
As I calmly spoke while looking at the ghost swaying on the noose, a chill voice came from behind me.
"A ghost, huh."
"Yes."
"Looks like a minor ghost."
"Ah, a minor ghost."
I was startled for a moment, but this wasn't the first ghost I'd seen. Besides, I'd already exorcised minor ghosts before. I had already regained my composure, with a red bean-and-salt mixture in hand.
But.
"Ah! What the hell is this!"
Before I knew it, a rope was looped around my neck!
I can't breathe.
Could this be the ghost's power? How do I deal with it? I couldn't throw red beans and salt at the ghost because it was too far away. For the moment, I hurriedly tried to smear the red beans and salt onto the rope. Whatever it was, since the ghost made it, it should work.
But for some reason, my arms were hanging limp below me like a corpse's, and I couldn't move...!
At this rate, I can't use my trump card, the cube!
Just as I was about to suffocate.
ㅡThwack!
Jaaldi slapped something onto my forehead.
"A talisman?"
My body feels lighter.
The rope and restraints are gone?
Then, after just a few leaps, Jaaldi reached the tree the ghost was hanging from, took out a bundle of bells from inside his clothes, and swung them lightly.
ㅡJingle.
Then the ghost disappeared.
[You have driven away the 'ghost of someone who hanged themselves in the mountains.']
[As a reward, you have obtained 100 points.]
A clear reward even popped up!
"I was startled, Team Leader. Thank you for saving me."
"It's fine."
Jaaldi came over as if nothing had happened.
If I'd run into that ghost alone, I'd have thrown away another life pointlessly, right? Even though I'd already prepared red beans and salt, I still got taken down.
Just because it's a minor ghost doesn't mean you can underestimate it.
"Grrong. As you know from last time, minor ghosts aren't much of a threat. They're about the same as running into a mugger."
"It's trivial, but if it's dangerous, then I guess it's dangerous."
In a world like this, muggers or minor ghosts are just ordinary field mobs. It only gave exactly 100 points just now, after all.
So it's the kind of ghost you'd commonly run into on a mountain.
"By the way, Team Leader. What exactly is that talisman?"
"It's a ghost-exorcism talisman."
"Did you get it from some fortune-teller's shop?"
Jaaldi nodded.
"There are a lot of shamans in Korea. They've studied how to catch ghosts for a long time, so there are plenty of ways to deal with minor ghosts. So there's no need to worry too much about them."
"Ah."
The shaman houses you'd commonly see around the neighborhood.
They were all amazing people.
"Well, if an ordinary person ran into something like that in the mountains, they'd naturally faint or die. But we're agents. We have to get used to it."
"Yes."
"Exorcising ghosts isn't even anything special."
Exactly.
"No matter how special and eerie something is, once you get used to it, it's just work."
For example, think of slaughterhouse workers processing pork.
A lot of people feel intense aversion and horror toward cutting up the carcass, bleeding it out, and removing the innards. Plenty of people would say they absolutely couldn't do it.
But once it becomes the job that feeds you, it's nothing more than a task.
"Fear is important, but so is becoming numb to it."
"Maintaining the right balance matters."
"Actually, most ghosts use fear. If you don't get scared, you gain a huge advantage."
"Understood. Then, Team Leader, did these ghost bastards make the board regulars go missing?"
"Hmm... we'll need to look further. This doesn't seem to be the end. The forum users would know how capable shamans are, too. And a single minor ghost wouldn't cause a mass disappearance."
It definitely doesn't seem like our treasure hunt will end here.
"By the way, what about the anomaly detector?"
"It probably didn't go off because it was a ghost."
I see.
Anyway.
I moved with even more tension than before.
As we moved, we got very close to the coordinates the GPS was pointing to. If we kept going for just five more minutes, the target would appear... though our mission is reconnaissance.
"We'll be there soon. What should we do?"
"Go on for now. It's reconnaissance, but there still hasn't been any reaction, so let's keep going."
"Yes."
A few minutes later.
ㅡBeep-beep.
We had arrived.
"It's right here. If we dig up this ground, I think something will come out."
"Hmm... strange."
"Yes?"
"There are no signs of digging."
Jaaldi crouched down and brushed the ground.
"So they didn't go missing after getting caught up in something following the excavation—they went missing before ever reaching here."
"Judging by the lack of traces, that seems to be the case. Wait. Then didn't they disappear for some reason other than the treasure?"
"It seems so."
They disappeared before we even found the treasure.
Then it doesn't seem like the treasure is the problem.
"Grrong. Dig."
"Yes."
I rolled up my sleeves and took out a folding shovel.
ㅡScrape!
Digging in the mountains while wearing a suit makes me feel like some kind of gangster.
As I kept digging.
"Ah... fuck."
"You swear a lot."
"Team Leader. There's a corpse inside."