Geocaching (13)

With a blank expression, Jinseop began describing what happened.

"From what he saw, everyone there was like him."

"People like you? You mean ordinary people who came for the same examination?"

"Yes. That's what I thought. I wanted to talk, but the agents stopped me, so I couldn't. We were lined up and moved along like that, and each person was taken into a different room one by one."

"..."

"It was my turn. When I went into the room, there was this strange chair with wires attached to it. They told me to sit in it, but... I got scared for a second and asked what it was. Then the agents silently grabbed me and forced me into the chair. Then they put something like a lid over my head and... ah, aaah... eugh...?"

"Song Jinseop!"

Suddenly, Jinseop started drooling and his head snapped to the side!

I immediately laid him down properly and supported his neck so it wouldn't snap. What the hell? Did the hypnosis cause some side effect while extracting his memories?

"Eeeugh..."

"Pull yourself together!"

I splashed water on Jinseop's drooling face.

"E, ehek... keup, ah... huh?"

"Are you coming to your senses a little?"

"Ah, ah! Something's going into my head! It's coming in!"

"What do you mean, it's coming in?!"

Around then, Jinseop started seizing, his whole body trembling.

His unfocused eyes were darting around crookedly, as if he were cross-eyed, and he was pounding the floor wildly with his hands and feet. I held him tight so he wouldn't hurt himself, while still focusing hard not to miss any information.

"An Administration Bureau agent's mindset...! Aaah! Long live the Administration Bureau! For humanity! We must fight for humanity! Be the first to sacrifice yourself, and coldly decide who will be sacrificed! If you're about to die, it's better to blow yourself up in glorious fashion! You must not be taken by the anomalies!"

Jinseop's shrieking movements came to a sudden halt.

"..."

Deathly silence.

"J-Jinseop?"

I checked, thinking he might be dead.

He was breathing.

Thankfully, he wasn't dead.

Looks like he'd passed out.

"..."

I felt my chest go cold.

Those fake Administration Bureau bastards... don't tell me this is how they recruit agents? Were they kidnapping people caught up in anomalous incidents and forcibly brainwashing them into agents?

It was truly appalling.

It was just as shocking as having my brain ripped out.

The reason the fake Administration Bureau agents were filled with such fanatical conviction was finally revealed. It was all because of that brainwashing device.

I took a gulp of water and shook my head.

"Crazy anomaly bastards...!"

These bastards really are anomalies.

Not only did they rip my brain out, they were systematically brainwashing ordinary people. If this isn't an anomaly, then what the hell is? How can an organization this inhumane even exist?

If an ordinary person gets caught by these guys, they're just done for.

There are only two choices: get eliminated or get brainwashed. Even if you become an agent out of sheer necessity, you won't live very long.

They really were an organization beyond imagination.

This was extremely useful information.

With that thought, I kept analyzing it.

"Why would they do something like this?"

Though inhumane, their purpose is clear. In the end, these fake Administration Bureau bastards are still a group that fights anomalies.

Of course, that is dangerously reckless, and countless agents will die. In their style, when an unknown anomaly appears, they just feed agents into the grinder first. Because of that, they have to churn out agents with brainwashing devices, too. Otherwise, they'd all be worn down and used up.

Then are all the fake Administration Bureau agents victims of brainwashing?

Section Chief Jo Seongchun, Department Head Lee Dohyeong, and people like that too? They're all victims of brainwashing?

Maybe the ones with some rank weren't brainwashed. Maybe it was only the lower-ranking agents. If you're going to command brainwashed people, after all, you need sane people on top.

But... what if literally everyone is a brainwashed agent?

What exactly are the fake Administration Bureau's upper brass?

A crazy psychopath who brainwashed every subordinate with a hypnosis app? You're saying they can pull off something this insane without hesitation if it's to fight anomalies?

No matter what, they're as questionable and secretive as the upper echelons of our own Administration Bureau.

"Uh... ugh?"

Jinseop came to.

"Are you feeling a bit better now?"

"Ah... what happened? My head is so dizzy..."

"You don't remember? The memory that had been sleeping in your head has surfaced."

"What memory?"

He had no memory at all of what he'd said while hypnotized.

"..."

The fake Administration Bureau.

I felt a strange sense of betrayal toward these bastards.

I definitely thought they had some human side when I saw them at that company dinner last time. Didn't they have such a lively get-together at that barbecue place? It was such a warm, homely dinner, the kind you'd expect at an office full of middle-aged office workers.

So they were all brainwashed after all?

Does brainwashing make everyone's tastes similar? Like it turns you into an ajusshi, making you enjoy booze and meat?

Well... maybe they only implant the mindset of an agent and nothing else changes. What you need to fight anomalies is brains. If brainwashing dulls your judgment, you'll just get taken down.

Anyway.

"Song Jinseop. Curious about your memories? Even I was so shocked by them that I can hardly say anything."

"W-What...? What in the world did the Administration Bureau do to me!"

"If you want to hear it, I'll tell you. But choose carefully."

"You think I wouldn't want to hear it now? Tell me!"

Jinseop was starting to show some guts.

"You were made to sit in the brainwashing device right after going in for the examination."

"What?!"

I explained what I'd just heard to Jinseop. As he listened, he clutched his head, shaking all over with fear.

"This is crazy...! So all my beliefs about the Administration Bureau were just implanted! Ah, aaah! Something's wrong with my head!"

"..."

Maybe Jinseop had it easier during the apocalypse than he does now.

"Hey! Th-then what am I supposed to do now?!"

"What do you mean?"

"It looks like the brainwashing has been lifted, and if I go back to the Administration Bureau like this, I'll just be screwed! If I keep getting thrown into these crazy missions, I'll die!"

That was true.

A rookie agent's lifespan probably wouldn't be that long.

"I was fine because I thought it was for humanity...! But thinking about it, I'm just dying! Humanity or not, they kill anyone suspiciously involved with anomalies, and if they look normal, they drag them off and brainwash them instead! What am I supposed to do now?! If this keeps up, I'll die! I'm still a high school student...!"

A desperate plea.

I saw my close friend Kim Seongjin in him. And if there had been any weaklings among the vampire hunters, they probably would have looked like this.

Just ordinary people who had merely been caught up in an unlucky anomalous phenomenon.

"Song Jinseop."

I grabbed Jinseop's shoulder.

"I'll find a way to get you out somehow. I'm an Administration Bureau agent, someone who rescues people like you who've been caught up in anomalous phenomena."

"Ah...!"

Jinseop dropped to his knees.

"Sob, sob...! Sob!"

"I understand. It's enough to make you cry. Here's a handkerchief, so cover your mouth and cry."

Watching Jinseop cry made the thought that I had to do something surge up strongly.

This was an opportunity.

A chance to secure an agent from the fake Administration Bureau.

If I brought Jinseop to our headquarters, we'd be able to get a lot of information in many ways. Up until now, the fake Administration Bureau had been treated as a pure anomaly, so even in the middle of this war, we hadn't gotten much information. That stagnant information situation would change drastically because of Jinseop.

This could be a huge merit, and just so happened, I'd also started having doubts about our own Administration Bureau's upper ranks. Using this merit, I might even be able to make contact with them.

But to do that, I'd first have to escape with Jinseop... and even if I did escape, there was a big problem.

The strangest part is that I somehow know Jinseop's personal details so well. If I'm interrogated about that, what should I even say?

And above all.

"Ah... but wait. Isn't Department Head Lee Dohyeong rampaging right now? How are we supposed to run away?"

"..."

How the hell are we supposed to get past Department Head Lee Dohyeong?

I'm going insane.

And I had no idea what had happened to Jaaldi. Like in the roleplay earlier, Jaaldi was the team leader of my squad and a motherly figure. Without Jaaldi, escaping at all would be impossible.

If she dies, all I can do is die too.

This is hopeless for now.

"Let's move for now. We'll find a way."

"Y-yes... but what should I call you?"

"Call me Grong."

"Huh?"

"Mention Pororo and you're dead."

"Ah, yes! Understood!"

For now, let's look for Jaaldi.

Jaaldi is a seasoned agent and an Administration Bureau department head. She would have aimed not for combat, but survival, and if she made it out alive, she'd try to meet up with me.

What I need to do is hope Jaaldi survives, avoid the catastrophe that is Department Head Lee Dohyeong, and head to wherever she might be hiding to rendezvous with her.

* * *

And so, I wandered this insane world together with Jinseop.

For now, there's nothing I can do except move.

"The side I thought was fake was actually real... that's way too shocking. But Agent Grong, what exactly are the Bureau's monster agents?"

"Those monsters. Have you seen them?"

"Not in person, only in records. Ah, I did catch a glimpse during the last vampire incident."

"Who did you see?"

"It was something registered in the database as Curas."

Ah!

Right!

That bastard Jinseop was right there back then!

It was back when Mr. Curas and I were breaking through. Jinseop was there. Right after that, the vampire angel Geuhanak also descended. It was a situation where Jinseop could have witnessed Curas.

This means I might even be able to uncover the secret of the database.

"How did Curas look?"

"Uh... hm?"

Huh?

What?

My vision's weird.

Uh.

Uh-uh.

"..."

At some point, Jinseop and I were lying face-down on the floor. No, that wasn't right. Jinseop's lower body was standing there alone without an upper body.

Both Jinseop and I had been cut in half at the waist, and our upper bodies had fallen away.

Swish.

A horrific nightmare monster is approaching.

He was holding a sword.

"D-Director Lee Dohyeong..."

.

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[You were cut in half and died.]

[Death count : 18(-1) -> 19(-1)]

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[Restarting.]