Chapter 32
Surisan was a small mountain you could summit and come back down from in about two hours.
If you're wondering how I knew that.
“Hey~! Yoo-hoo! What are you two doing over there~? Why aren't you shouting yoo-hoo?”
“You shout yoo-hoo on a mountain you can climb in 30 minutes?”
“Seriously, no romance at all, that girl....”
Because we'd already gone up to the summit in the morning.
If, as Choi Yuna said, hiking had been the only goal, we'd have finished in 30 minutes flat.
But since the purpose of the mission wasn't hiking, it took two hours as we looked around even places that weren't really paths.
Luckily, we still hadn't found any other abnormal phenomena.
On this clear, summery day, what fog?
“This is the Gunpo side, so why is the Field Response Team from Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District coming here?”
“The Gyeonggi area doesn't have its own branch. It's divided up and managed by the Seoul branch.”
“Then won't the initial response be too slow?”
Choi Yuna pointed to Surisan, then me, then Kang Chaeyoung, and finally herself.
“What we're doing right now is the initial response.”
So that was it. Well, it wasn't like we'd been deployed after something had happened, like at the hospital.
My gaze passed Kang Chaeyoung, who was stretching, and Choi Yuna, who was looking at her terminal, and settled on the entrance leading into the mountain.
Since it was close to the subway, there were quite a lot of people going up and down the mountain even though it was a weekday lunchtime.
If those people knew that the mountain they were hiking on was like a dormant volcano that could blow at any time.
What would they do?
“Boring~. I love it.”
“Same here.”
“I hope it keeps being boring like this.”
I didn't mind if time didn't pass quickly. I didn't mind if we ran out of things to talk about.
We kept wandering around the area, hoping this place would stay just another hamster-wheel day like always.
4 p.m. Two hours until clock-out. In other words, if nothing happened for two hours, the night watch team from somewhere else would end up hugging the bomb.
“By the way, does anyone have information on the medicine they give at the psychological counseling room?”
“Should I send you the report, oppa?”
“Please do.”
Buzzzzz!
[Have You Not Taken Your Medicine Yet?.txt]
What kind of name is that?
After Kang Chaeyoung tapped her terminal a few times, the entity information came through to my terminal.
++++
[Entity Report]
Have You Not Taken Your Medicine Yet?
Grade: Level 1
Classification: Entity Type
‘Have You Not Taken Your Medicine Yet?’ is an entity discovered in 1896 by the Ba■■ pharmaceutical company in Germany.
At the time, the German Bureau launched an investigation after confirming that the pharmaceutical company was continuously supplying medicines to the market that could not have been manufactured with the technological level of the era.
The investigation revealed a massive machine beneath the pharmaceutical company's land, and it was confirmed to be the entity's true body.
Through negotiations with the pharmaceutical company, the German Bureau recovered the entity in exchange for providing some pharmaceutical technology from the near future.
Subsequently, memory erasure procedures were carried out on all parties involved in the incident.
‘Have You Not Taken Your Medicine Yet?’ has an appearance similar to a gum vending machine that appeared in the United States in 1888.
The entity provides capsules containing medicines suited to the user's symptoms whenever a coin is inserted, regardless of the value of the inserted currency.
According to information confirmed so far, nationality and currency type are not important.
It is presumed that the only determining factor is whether the coin has actually been used before.
The medicines provided by the entity have different effects depending on their color.
Experiments have shown that these medicines are highly effective in treating most internal injuries, diseases, and psychological problems except external wounds.
However, unlike the other types, the medicines used for psychological symptoms were observed to last only about 24 hours.
For complete treatment, continuous dosing was required until the symptoms disappeared, and the same phenomenon was observed in Bureau employees, N-grade personnel, and civilians alike.
After the signing of the 606 Treaty, the entity was transferred to the Republic of Korea Bureau.
At present, the entity is stored underground on Bureau-owned land in ██ City and operated for the purpose of supplying medicine needed by employees.
The Bureau uses the entity to produce capsules for N-grade personnel with various symptoms, and after the experiments end, memory erasure procedures are carried out on all relevant personnel.
No side effects caused by the medicines provided by the entity have been found so far.
The following is a list of medicines confirmed so far.
(Only the effects of the medicine you took can be confirmed.)
Red pill: has therapeutic effects on mental illnesses such as hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, and PTSD.
The effect lasts 24 hours after ingestion, and repeated doses may be necessary depending on the severity of the symptoms.
The entity ‘Rest Easy’ dislikes the idea of using medicine to control the human mind, so do not take out the medicine in front of it.
+++
What in the world is this.
Ever since the village where time stopped, I've been thinking that I don't know why entities, of all things, have such a deep history and tradition.
At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if a 350-year-tradition original entity eatery showed up....
“Uh....”
“What's wrong?”
There were certain words in the entity report's explanation of the red pill I had taken—words related to psychiatric symptoms—that stood out to me for some reason.
24 hours.
Could my mental problem have been something that could be cured in a single day?
I couldn't even live like a normal person for a whole week?
Just how severe would a mental illness have to be to last more than two days?
All I'd done since not taking the medicine was stop by the interrogation room.
“…Ppaya.”
What the hell. Is my mental illness weak? Or is something else affecting me....
“Oppa!”
“Huh.”
I was so deep in thought that I'd forgotten I was in the middle of a mission.
Kang Chaeyoung, who had been pressing her fingers hard into my cheeks, puffed out her own cheeks.
“Don't get distracted by anything else~! We're on a mission, aren't we?”
“I'm sorry.”
I lowered my head at that perfectly reasonable statement.
Then Choi Yuna brought a finger to my other cheek.
“He's good in actual combat.”
“Wh-wha-wha-what!?”
“Senior, please put ‘during management missions’ before that.”
Saying that with such a serious expression and tone is just asking for misunderstandings.
At the hospital, we were husband and wife in name only, after all.
And if there aren't situations like that, I never end up getting involved with girls anyway... no, let's not think about that.
“I know he's good, since he survived Stage 4~.”
“You didn't actually see it yourself. Quick wits, bold moves suited to the situation, and even his own routine.”
“Wh-wha-wha-what!?”
“Senior, please.”
Don't make me out to be some insanely capable stud in front of the entity.
Choi Yuna smiled, the corners of her mouth lifting, as she looked at the blushing Kang Chaeyoung.
I didn't know what she was embarrassed about or what exactly she was smiling victoriously over, but they seemed to be having fun.
I guess that's what friendship between girls is like.
Ah, why aren't the other Field Response Team members here yet.... Please, let them be men.
Whoooosh.
I turned my eyes away from the two of them and looked back toward the hiking trail.
“Hmm....”
If only an hour and a half went by without incident, we'd be heading back to the office.
“Hey, seniors.”
“Why?”
“What's up?”
It should have been that way.
“We were circling around the mountain, right?”
I should've gone home, opened the Gallery, and recommended the hamburger place I ate at today to those bastard shut-ins writing secret diaries on the Gallery.
“Kang Chaeyoung, get ready.”
“Okay.”
Where the mountain should have been, there was now a forest of immeasurable size.
No, we were already inside the forest.
A raw forest with no trace of the civilization that had been there until just moments ago.
“Since when?”
We had been chatting while looking at the terminal, but I hadn't completely let my guard down.
“The process of the fog appearing was skipped.”
“The entity report update is up to date?”
“The people dispatched from Yeongdeungpo District were wiped out. Their information probably hasn't been reflected yet.”
“For real....”
The two of them quickly pulled out the weapons they'd brought from their bags.
I followed their lead and started making the minimum preparations needed to survive.
I put on the Bureau-issued stab-proof vest and took a pistol in hand.
A day when even the word gun feels this unreliable.
This is so absurd. Can absurdity get any more absurd than this?
The time was 4:40. Two hours still remained before sunset.
“The sun is setting.”
Yet, as if the order of the world meant nothing, the sun was already becoming the horizon's prey.
Choi Yuna checked the pistol's magazine and opened her mouth.
“From now on, we will begin field operations for the Level 3 entity, the Forest of Those Without Faces. Priority one is survival, priority two is rescuing any civilians who may still be left.”
“Is priority three protecting the newbie~?”
“Good.”
“I'll work hard so we don't end up needing to divide the priorities.”
While we exchanged a short conversation, the horizon had already swallowed the sun completely.
The darkness took over the place where the light had been.
Only the light of the full moon hanging in the sky—or rather, the moon that had been there from the very beginning—served as illumination and lit our view.
“Do you two have no experience with this entity?”
“This entity came to Korea this year. We don't know.”
“It came to Korea this year?”
Where the hell is this bastard from, and why is it coming into Korea?
“Rather than asking us, it'd be faster to have Team Leader explain the 606 Treaty to you later, dey.”
No, there's a faster way.
[Gather Up, You Fucking Bastards Holed Up in the Secret Room and Making Me an Outcast]
Author: Gallery Shitposting Is Easy, Right
Please, if you know anything about the 606 Treaty and the Forest of Those Without Faces, please tell me everything
I'm screwed. Even if you buy me a cyber burger, I can't be saved
Please, brothers. If things go well, I'll do a boogie giveaway, please.