Chapter 88
I bought some everyday items at the convenience store and left.
I sat in the passenger seat and waited a bit until Jardi came in. As soon as she got in, she wordlessly started the engine, and the car moved.
And so, we arrived at the hotel parking lot.
We went to the desk, checked in, and stood in front of the elevator.
We waited in silence, and the doors opened.
Got in.
...
But...
Doesn't this elevator seem a little slow going up?
In silence, we reached the sixth floor.
Room 608.
I held up the key card and went inside.
"...It's not very spacious."
"Yeah, you're right."
Only then did the silence break.
Jardi went in first.
I went in too, inserting the key card into the slot beside the door.
As the lights came on, the hotel room came into view.
Ah.
This is really driving me crazy.
Going into a hotel alone with Jardi?
This situation is making me crazy.
It's driving me insane...
I unpacked first and sat on the sofa.
"Gron."
As I sat quietly fiddling with the remote, Jardi called out to me.
"Y-yes?"
"Why are you so flustered? Just think of it as an overnight stay for the operation."
"Of course that's how I'm thinking about it."
"Hmm..."
"Operation overnight stay" or not, it's way too awkward entering a hotel together...!
"This is an anomalous space. Rather than being apart, it's only proper that we rest in the same room. No need to make a fuss."
"I know. Splitting up would be dangerous."
"Right. So there's no need to worry about it."
Like I could actually do that!
"Understood. I'll just make myself comfortable like I'm at home."
"Do that... Hmm, anyway."
"Yes."
"For now, though..."
Jardi trailed off, avoiding my gaze.
"I'm thinking of taking a shower."
"A shower?!"
"I'll knock before I come out. Then keep your head turned away. Understood?"
"Th... understood."
What happens if I turn my head?!
Or am I supposed to bring Jardi a towel while she's showering?!
"Hmm, then I'll shower first... wait here."
I don't know why such a plain, ordinary line makes things even more awkward. Anyway, Jardi took the bag and went into the shower room.
Feeling awkward, I turned on the TV and gathered information on my phone while half-listening to the news.
ㅡShaaah.
But I can't concentrate because I can hear the water running in the shower room.
Jardi is probably washing up diligently in there right now.
It keeps distracting me.
"Why the hell aren't Padak and that bastard Kim Seongjin getting back to me?"
Those guys still haven't contacted me.
I kept monitoring Sejeong board too, but nothing unusual was posted, and I wanted to try writing something myself too... but with the fake Administration Bureau's main base right next door, I couldn't risk it.
"Phew."
Anyway, a lot happened today.
There's a lot to think about and a lot to discuss.
But I also have to think about what to say to Jardi. She's the bureau chief. What sort of judgment is that veteran agent, who has risen to such a high position, making about this situation?
Right now, Jardi was probably thinking inwardly about countermeasures and responses, the report she'd file if we escaped, and even the future direction of related operations and plans.
Because I can't read her mind, I worry even more.
What kind of existence is the fake Administration Bureau, and...
what connection does it have to our Administration Bureau?
Above all,
what are the identities of Mr. Spangdal, Section Chief Jo Seong-chun, and the Reality Re-recognition Device, who had all become aberrant?
Maybe those, too, are related.
ㅡKnock knock.
I heard a knock.
It was Jardi's signal.
"I've turned my head!"
I turned around immediately, and the shower room door opened.
"You don't have to answer like that... and, uh, don't suddenly turn around."
"Come on, why would I do something like that! I won't, so rest easy!"
"I'm not doubting you; I'm just saying I'm embarrassed."
Jardi, that emotionless woman, is embarrassed?!
ㅡRustle.
I heard Jardi doing something behind me.
Is she putting on clothes?
Or what is she doing?!
As I spent those heart-pounding moments, Jardi said,
"Done."
That must be the signal that I can turn around.
When I turned back,
with her damp hair, Jardi was wiping it with a towel, wearing a white T-shirt and dolphin shorts.
"Why are you staring so blankly? Gron, you should hurry up and go in and wash up too."
"Understood!"
I quickly grabbed what I needed and went into the shower room.
I stripped quickly and took a shower.
To suppress the strange feeling, I counted Mr. Spangdal in my head. But that felt like it would make things even weirder, so this time I counted Kim Seongjin in my head.
Kim Seongjin, one.
Kim Seongjin, two.
Hmm... that's a pretty good combination, isn't it?
Me, Jinseop, and Kim Seongjin—if the three of us became vampire hunters, that would be pretty fun. Maybe there's a parallel world like that somewhere out there.
While entertaining those bizarre thoughts, I washed and dried myself off. Then I put on my T-shirt and, carefully controlling my wet feet, pulled on my shorts as well.
ㅡKnock knock.
I knocked out of courtesy before coming out.
"I'm out."
"Okay."
Jardi had turned away.
"Ah, I came out wearing clothes."
"..."
Jardi slowly turned to look at me.
"Right... well, we're both dressed comfortably, but we still have things to do."
"Yes."
"Come here and sit."
I wiped my feet properly and went to sit down.
A man and a woman in casual clothes.
And both just out of the shower.
Jardi gave off a pleasant scent.
"That group of men."
As I sat quietly, Jardi began the conversation.
"No matter how I look at them, they seem like fake Administration Bureau agents. You can tell just from their suits and sunglasses. That's their standard-issue gear."
I was already certain thanks to Jinseop's existence, but Jardi had identified them just by looking at their suits and sunglasses.
"Then is this world simply a parallel world where they've replaced us? There's another possibility: that this place is their main base."
A simple parallel world?
Or is this their main base?
"I've thought that far too. Those are about the only two possibilities I can think of right now."
Jardi nodded.
"Which do you think is more likely, Team Leader?"
"I think it's the latter."
The fake Administration Bureau's base.
I lean toward the latter too. This isn't just a parallel world. It looks like a world where their base exists.
The basis for that judgment is simple.
Those fake Administration Bureau bastards have already shown up in our world many times and caused all kinds of chaos. In fact, they came from here.
That's the conclusion I reach.
"Gron. We've gained some very valuable information. We found out where the fake Administration Bureau bastards, our bureau's sworn enemies, are coming from."
"Until now, we didn't even know where they were appearing from."
"Right."
She crossed her arms.
"This is highly encouraging. It's as good as exposing the true nature of the aberration. If they have a real base of operations, then maybe we can even eliminate them."
Elimination.
Yes.
"You mean eliminating them."
Jardi, as the bureau chief, is thinking about wiping out the fake Administration Bureau.
"How exactly are you planning to eliminate them? What, are we going to invade here and detonate a nuclear bomb?"
"If necessary."
In an extremely cold tone.
"..."
Detonating a nuclear bomb to wipe out the fake Administration Bureau bastards.
...Is that really right?
Even if this is a parallel world, people live here.
If you ask whether I sensed anything strange about them, not at all. No matter how you look at it, they're just ordinary civilians.
If a nuclear bomb went off... they'd die.
Yeah.
They'd die.
They'd be killed.
How is killing them in order to eliminate the fake Administration Bureau any different from killing the people of our world? To stretch it a bit, isn't that basically killing foreigners?
Since this is basically a parallel world anyway, does that mean we can just go ahead and blow it up with a nuclear bomb or whatever? Or is a parallel world also treated as an anomalous space, so it doesn't matter?
Whatever the case, it's not something I can accept.
If Jardi really holds such an extreme view, then I'd be seriously wrong about her.
I feel a different kind of tension than before.
Even so, I spoke up.
"Team Leader. Are you really saying we might use a nuclear bomb as an option?"
"As I said, if necessary, we can consider using one."
She was putting it indirectly, but that means she can use it.
"If we did something like that... by this world's standards, we'd be the fake Administration Bureau. A bunch of crazy ghost-story freaks suddenly trying to detonate a nuclear bomb."
Wouldn't that make us look just like the fake Administration Bureau?
"Gron. I understand your thinking. Certainly, the people here showed no difference from the people in our world."
Jardi knows that too.
"But this is a world where the fake Administration Bureau is the real one. In other words, an anomalous space. Even if it looks normal, the people here could be fake beings derived from an aberration, couldn't they?"
"Of course, that's possible."
The logic being that if the entire world is fake, then the people in it are fake too.
I agree that it's possible too.
But at this point... how do you even distinguish the fake from the real?
No, is there even any point in distinguishing them?
Only those with a specific agenda would make such a distinction.
"What we have to protect are the people of our world."
"So people from other worlds aren't supposed to be protected?"
"..."
I stared into Jardi's eyes.
Though her face was as expressionless as ever, I felt like I could read it now.
Our Administration Bureau is different from the fake one.
Unlike those fake Administration Bureau bastards who come in and wipe out everything, civilians and all, when something happens, ours focuses on rescuing civilians.
"Team Leader. I think I understand why those fake Administration Bureau agents come to our world and wreak havoc. They're probably acting on the same ideology we just talked about. Since it's another world, they don't worry about the small stuff and boldly eliminate threats. Isn't that basically it?"
"...That..."
The reason the fake Administration Bureau acts so ruthlessly in our world.
That might be exactly the reason.
Jardi is also implying that she can be ruthless in this world too. If that's the case, couldn't the other side do the same?
"For now, since the true nature of this world and the fake Administration Bureau hasn't been fully revealed, I can't speak definitively, but whether that kind of approach is really right... I'm not sure."
The difference between a real world and a parallel world.
How are you even supposed to tell them apart in the first place?
Something like that can change however you look at it.
If cases really exist like in Mandela-effect ghost stories, where people move to parallel worlds without even realizing it, doesn't that mean all worlds are organically connected in the first place?
"..."
Jardi quietly gazed at me.
Is she someone I can follow?
I know she's a woman with the values and conviction to protect the people of our world. But if that's the case, couldn't the fake Administration Bureau agents on this side... also be doing it to protect their own world?
Then the beliefs of the two organizations are essentially the same.
Just as I can't follow the fake Administration Bureau that split my head open, if Jardi had the same mindset and convictions.
I can't follow her.
"Gron."
"Yes."
"You're right."
"Huh?"
"I'll have to think more about this matter. But, Gron, you would agree that the people of your own world matter more, wouldn't you?"
"That's true."
That's right.
In the end, your own world is more important.
But my beliefs don't point only to that.
"Team Leader. I'll ask bluntly. From the bureau's perspective, what does it mean that I'm thinking this way? Am I unqualified as an agent?"
At that, Jardi shook her head.
"Not at all. In fact, that kind of reflection is what makes an agent truly an agent. In that sense, you're not unqualified; if anything, you have more than enough. You're an excellent agent."
"..."
"Let's stop here for today. Lie down now. Tomorrow will be even busier."
"Ah, yes."
For now, I lay down as told.
"...But wait a second."
"Yes?"
Suddenly, Jardi turned solemn.
While I tensed up, she turned her head to the side and said,
"Why is there only one bed...?"
"Huh?"
"Didn't they definitely say it was a double room?"
Come to think of it, there is only one bed.
Ah.