Geocaching (4)

I stared blankly at the unfamiliar building for a moment.

Our Bureau building had vanished without a trace, and a building I'd never seen before stood there. The strangest part was that everything else in the scenery was exactly the same.

That convenience store over there was still there too... It was just the building that had been replaced.

"What on earth is going on here?"

Could the Bureau have transformed somehow?

I asked, clinging to that hope.

"This is truly astonishing."

Jaldi didn't seem to know anything about this situation either.

What would the Bureau chief know, anyway?

"The possibilities I can imagine are two. One: something huge happened while we were away on business, and the Bureau really did disappear. Two: things were strange from the moment we found the body. We fell into an abnormal space that looks as if the Bureau doesn't exist."

I found myself nodding at that cool-headed analysis.

That was the kind of insight you'd expect from the Bureau chief.

"If something happened big enough to erase the Bureau, the world couldn't possibly be fine."

I decided not to panic over this anomaly, but to analyze it calmly and work out a plan. Sudden disasters were routine for agents anyway. There was nothing left to be surprised about now.

"Wouldn't you say so?"

"There are so many disasters that would happen if the Bureau disappeared that I couldn't possibly explain them one by one."

"Exactly. That makes the second possibility seem more likely."

Thinking we'd fallen into an abnormal space seemed reasonable.

"I think so too. It could be some kind of parallel world."

"A parallel world...!"

Is that so!

So this was a kind of parallel world!

"For now, that's one possibility we can consider. Well, there are ghost stories like that, aren't there? Stories about suddenly being transported to a parallel world. For example, there's something called the Mandela Effect."

"The idea is that what people thought was a mistake was actually because they had moved to a parallel world."

"Yes."

In fact, it was a ghost story about people who had lived in a world where Mandela was dead unknowingly moving to a parallel world where Mandela was alive.

"Good. Then let's assume this place is a parallel world and operate accordingly."

"Understood. But can we get back?"

"Don't worry too much. We'll find a way."

Jaldi patted my shoulder and encouraged me.

"And I'm really curious about a parallel world without the Bureau. Where do they handle anomalies and the like?"

"I'm wondering the same thing."

Could this be a world with neither anomalies nor a Bureau?

Before I got caught up in ghost stories, I thought I lived in a world like that too.

"..."

By then, I was starting to feel a vague sense of unease.

The unease that maybe I, too, had moved to a parallel world... What if I hadn't thought I lived in such a world, but had actually been living in one?

Could this possibly be my original world?

"For now, I'll check around the Bureau. In fact, the Bureau has various external secret facilities. I'm curious what happened to those too."

"What? There were places like that?"

"Yes."

We got back in the car.

I cleared my mind of distracting thoughts.

This situation was strange, but since I was here with such a reliable Bureau chief, it wasn't all that terrifying.

If we knew it was an abnormal space, all we'd have to do was escape. If I helped even a little, Jaldi would lead me out.

"I'll really just follow your lead, Team Leader."

"Just trust me. I handled all kinds of things while working my way up to Bureau chief. I've even had plenty of experience escaping after being thrown into abnormal spaces alone, just like you, Grong."

"That's our Bureau chief!"

"Hmph... I'll show you what I'm capable of."

So this was finally where I'd get to see the power of Bureau Chief Jaldi, worthy of being compared to Chief Lee Do-hyung!

* * *

So I went with Jaldi to where the Bureau's disguised secret facility was, but as expected, this place too had been replaced by a different building.

"As expected."

"Let's check two more places."

Those two places were the same as well.

Everything related to the Bureau had really disappeared cleanly.

We hadn't seen any anomalies on the way either.

It literally felt like a world with only the "Bureau" missing.

"It does seem highly likely that this really is a parallel world without the Bureau."

"Yes. Hold on, Team Leader. Sejeongge is still here, at least."

Sejeongge itself is still there.

I can't feel any difference. I can log in too. But the chatroom link the blue mod gave me is dead.

"The chatroom I used to contact the blue mod is dead. I don't think I can get in touch through it either."

"Understood. Let's leave that for now."

Sejeongge wasn't important right now anyway.

What concerned me more was something else.

"But Team Leader. If this is a parallel world without the Bureau, what happened to the Vatican faction or the Islamic faction?"

If there was no Bureau, what happened to those two factions?

"There's no way to know. But I have a feeling the Islamic faction isn't here."

"Why is that?"

"You said before that Saladin, the highest-ranking holy warrior of the Islamic faction, came to Korea."

Our Sal-hyung!

It's been ages since I've heard that!

"I don't know what purpose he came for. But... if he came when there was no Bureau, he'd be able to act freely on Korean soil without any restrictions."

"Right."

"Then it wouldn't be strange if Korea became an Islamic country."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes. But there's no sign of that."

No, you're saying our Sal-hyung could turn Korea into an Islamic country?

Could that even make sense?

It sounds more realistic that he'd carry out large-scale terror attacks instead.

"Anyway, it seems like there's nothing we can figure out right now. We need information."

"Hmm... Ah, that place would be good."

"Where?"

"That PC café."

A PC café?

"Let's go in and gather some information."

"Team Leader. You're saying an agent should go to a PC café and do searches? Doesn't that look a little off?"

"The Bureau isn't here, is it? It can't be helped. For now, let's search to see what's different from the reality we know. Doing it on a phone would be inconvenient."

"That's true. Understood."

I parked right away and went into the PC café with Jaldi. Come to think of it, it had been ages since I'd been to one. It had been far too long.

"This seat looks secure."

"The couple seat?"

The couple seats here were set up for two people, so they looked secure.

So I sat down in the couple seat with Jaldi and started searching.

"Should we order some food?"

As I looked over the menu, Jaldi watched my screen with interest.

"This is very well set up."

"PC cafés are all like this these days."

"But doesn't the menu feel like something you'd see at a rest stop?"

"Oh, now that you mention it."

There were some overlapping menu items, after all.

"I'll have coffee."

"Then I'll order ramyeon too."

"Ramyeon?"

"Should I get one for you too, Team Leader?"

"No."

I ordered the food and started searching.

The key was figuring out how this parallel world differed from our real one. I couldn't get truly reliable information from the internet, of course, but I could at least get a general picture.

For example, if the president had changed, that would be a huge difference. I was checking with that in mind when the food arrived.

"Wow!"

Look at that, it's steaming hot, hey!

I'd been caught up in a strange phenomenon, but there was no great danger, and above all, because Jaldi was with me, I felt so reassured that my appetite was huge.

"Let's eat!"

Just as I was about to take a bite with my chopsticks.

I felt a gaze.

"..."

Jaldi was staring at me intently.

"Team Leader? Do you perhaps want some?"

"Give it here."

"Huh?"

"Order another one."

"No! You're just taking mine?!"

"I should've ordered one too... You carefree little rascal. Do you even realize we've fallen into an anomaly? You're eating like nothing's wrong."

"You're really taking it! Hey!"

In the end, Jaldi stole my ramyeon. I had no choice but to order yukgaejang and go back to searching.

In that way, I filled up and finished gathering information.

There were no differences.

The president was the same too, and Jaldi also said there didn't seem to be any changes after searching for specific incidents.

"A parallel world without the Bureau... Team Leader, if this is really a parallel world, there's one thing I'd like to check."

"What is it?"

"My parents. They'll both be here, right?"

Jaldi, in the driver's seat, leaned back with folded arms.

"If the only thing that's changed is the Bureau, then they should be there."

I figured as much.

"But."

"Yes?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why not?"

"Do you know the doppelganger ghost story?"

"Yes. I do."

"If you rush off to see your parents, a terrible tragedy could happen. I think we shouldn't contact anyone we know in this world."

"Hmm..."

"Even if they're your parents in a parallel world, it wouldn't feel good if something went wrong."

It was a convincing opinion.

If this really was a parallel world, there'd be a me living in this world too. If that caused something like a doppelganger to appear... who knew what might happen?

"Don't go."

Jaldi's red eyes turned toward me.

Was that, literally, a reasonable order?

Or... was that meant to stop me?

I couldn't tell.

"Understood. If that's what you say, Team Leader, then not going is probably the right call."

But I couldn't go against Jaldi in this abnormal space.

"Still, if we learn more about this place, it'd be fine to sneak over and take a look then."

"You're right. We can't act rashly now."

After that, Jaldi and I kept going around here and there.

* * *

Evening.

In the end, we didn't find anything else.

As time went on, my certainty that this was a parallel world without the Bureau only deepened. As a result, our target of investigation narrowed.

"That building that replaced the Bureau. We should investigate that."

"Yes. That's what it comes down to in the end."

That building standing where the Bureau used to be.

There might be some secret to it.

"Let's eat dinner first and rest. Is there anything you'd like to eat?"

"I feel like we've only been snacking today. How about meat?"

"Good. There's a barbecue place up ahead."

"Heh-heh-heh, I'll grill it well for you."

Agents knew the restaurants around the Bureau very well to begin with. Finding the place wouldn't be a problem.

We parked right away and went to the barbecue restaurant.

It was bustling and noisy.

When we went in, there were a lot of people, probably because it was dinner time.

"Even the barbecue place's name is the same."

"How many?"

"Two, please."

"Please go over there and sit down."

"Yes. Team Leader, let's go over there."

We went to the corner seat and sat down as instructed.

For some reason, I felt like I'd been eating a lot with Jaldi today.

"They have a pork belly and pork neck set here. Should we order it?"

"Order it."

There was a kiosk on the table, so I ordered right away. But if we ate and then went in to rest, where were we supposed to rest? More importantly, since this was an abnormal space, we couldn't exactly separate.

No way... Were we supposed to book a room and sleep together after going in?

While I was thinking those odd thoughts, the server brought over the plate of meat.

"I'll grill it."

"Let's see what you've got."

"Heh-heh-heh, I'm a pro at this. I also eat a lot of garlic."

"You and that garlic."

"It's my lifeline."

ㅡSizzle.

I placed the pork belly and pork neck on the grill and cooked them.

Just as I was carefully grilling them with garlic arranged around the edges.

ㅡCreak!

The barbecue restaurant door opened, and a group of people came in.

"Aigoo, Auntie! Ten people here! Got room?"

"Of course, of course! Come on in!"

A booming voice.

I sensed something very strange from them.

"Wow, there are a lot of people here."

"It seems like it's always crowded here."

"Youngest, you know what I told you, right?"

"Yes. I know."

A group of men in black suits.

As they came in, they took off their sunglasses.