Chapter 38
“Heh heh heh. If not now, when will we ever get an opportunity like this?”
“Right? A novel would skyrocket with humor this highbrow, right?”
I had a dream.
A dream in which a blue dokkaebi told a certain author, as a joke, to title the next chapter as an announcement that the series was going on hiatus.
A dream that ended with the author, possessed by something evil, pressing Enter while imagining a hilarious future.
“As if.”
“Seong-bin?”
Upon opening my eyes, I saw a completely unfamiliar ceiling. Lower in my field of vision, Team Leader Imina was... peeling and cutting up an apple.
My whole body felt weak, as though I'd been submerged in water, and my head felt half-foggy, but I knew it wasn't a dream.
“It feels like forever since I've seen you, Team Leader.”
Even though only two days had passed.
“Naturally, right? You've been sleeping soundly for a whole week.”
“A week?”
Team Leader Imina came over carrying a plate with the apple she'd hacked to pieces.
“That's right. But don't worry, okay? Your hospital stay won't be deducted from your response-rest period.”
“What incredible benefits.”
The plate Team Leader held out contained small apple pieces mixed with large strips of peel still covered in plenty of flesh.
“I know this is a rude question, but isn't it usual to use a knife to peel an apple?”
“It'd be a waste, wouldn't it? The peel has more nutrients, too.”
The leisurely stream of silly conversation brought a smile to my face.
Even rolling around in a field of dog shit, the world of the living is still better. Except for the forest.
“What about the seniors and the civilians?”
Imina put an apple slice in her mouth, smiling lazily with her eyes as usual.
“The civilians all~ made it back to their daily lives without incident.”
“What about the people we couldn't find?”
“According to the Information Team's confirmation, there were only three civilians caught up in ‘The Forest of the Faceless Ones.’”
Then where was Minseo's mother?
“Apparently, the child got separated after failing to follow her mother and getting distracted by a cat. The seniors took her home safely, okay?”
“That's a huge relief.”
At the word “seniors,” I followed Imina's gaze toward either side of me and looked over.
“……”
On the left, Choi Yuna slept in an exemplary upright posture, as though she'd eaten a poisonous apple and fallen asleep.
“Gororong…gororong….”
On the right, Kang Chae-young was sleeping curled up, the blanket already fallen to the floor.
“Are you both all right?”
“Of course~. Don't worry, Seong-bin. You're in the worst shape here.”
“But I woke up first.”
“That's because it's four in the morning. They woke up three days ago.”
I thought it was evening because it was dark outside the window, but I hadn't expected it to be before dawn.
…Then did Team Leader come here at four in the morning to peel apples?
“How did managing Eternal Life General Hospital go?”
“Ah, that? Don't get me started. The director kept pestering me, saying he'd close the hospital for ten years if I gave him Seong-bin.”
What.
“He said he'd never seen a human survive five whole seconds against the Faceless Man, even with a degraded entity, and that he wanted to conduct thorough clinical experiments and an autopsy?”
For some reason, the entities are taking an interest in me!? Should I write a novel called that?
“You went into the operation first, Team Leader, so how does the hospital know about that…?”
“Because it took quite a while to handle? I only got back a few days ago, too~.”
“You've had a rough time.”
“It's nothing. I've seen the youngest wake up, so I'll be off now, okay?”
Without giving me time to say anything else, Team Leader placed the plate of apples on top of the dresser and left the hospital room.
“… Could you at least turn off the light before you go.”
“Oops, I forgot~.”
Click.
“Then get plenty of rest!”
Good grief. The instant I muttered to myself, Imina suddenly reappeared, switched off the light in the hospital room, and vanished again.
Surely she hadn't heard me. She must have just remembered and come back.
Using Seoul's nighttime city lights as a guide, I felt around for the plate and put an apple slice in my mouth.
At the same time, I picked up the terminal beside the plate and opened the gallery.
Ah, what a welcome sight—that familiar UI.
Gwanbung's Mom Today~ [15]
Ah, I'm fucking craving tarakjuk lol [24]
From now on, the 2,464,234th newbie funeral [51]
Ent12ties Are Open to Everyone [2]
From now on, the 2,464,234th newbie funeral
Author: SettingWankModder
Iiiiiit's tiiiime to beeeegin !!!!!!!!
[Comments]
EntityFucker: He was a fine lump of dopamine.
AarghComeAtMe: Damn, at least leave us a picture of the Team Leader before you go.
Hound: Seriously, if it's been a week, we have to assume he's dead.
WhiteHacker: Now who's going to give us an account number?
ㄴResidentGhostNo. 1: Don't be mean and say he never gave one in the first place ㄴㄴㄴㄴ
[Ent12ties Are Open to Everyone]
Author: GayWeirdGay
Entities can be encountered by cleansing the mind, energy, and body and facing the abyss. Here's how. First, eat Bureau food for 30 days to purify your body...(more)
[Comments]
OrphanGrinder: You're just telling people to join the Bureau, you crazy bitch.
PistilSurgerySurgery: What's so good about encountering them, you idiot?
The same old gallery, with my death flag as the only new addition.
It was a little strange that the secret posts I'd been seeing so often lately were nowhere to be found, but I figured they must have had something to discuss among themselves.
[I Set a World Record Against the Faceless Man—How'd I Do?]
Author: GalleryingIsEasy
That bitch broke the rules, used hacks to reach Gear 3, and came charging at me.
But yours truly survived a full five seconds after getting caught—holy shit, fuck yeah lol
His dad's some scientist or whatever, so you'd think that motherless bastard wouldn't act like an orphan,
but he acts like a fucking orphan—whoops! I didn't have a father either!
In the end, my superior orphan power brought me back alive. That's what I'm saying.
So now get ready to answer all the questions you've been pestering me with.
It's not like I can do much if you don't, but answer me anyway. Guarantee me this and that.
[Comments]
DadIsAMartialArtist: How do you never make a normal survival report even once….
AarghComeAtMe: Team Leader photos! Team Leader photos! Team Leader photos! Team Leader photos!
TrappedAtHome: Can a single-parent family really not beat a no-parent family?
WhiteHacker: If you're alive, send me your account number, you crazy bastard.
Vrrrrrr-! Vrrrrrr-! Vrrrrrr-!
I missed the endless vibration of this terminal.
This tremor nestled in my hand keeps me alive in this harsh life….
It's not for nothing that a cultivator builds spiritual roots just to browse the gallery, saves an apocalyptic world just to browse the gallery, or browses the gallery even as a dungeon master.
“Mmmm….”
Oops.
Choi Yuna groaned, apparently bothered by the phone's vibration.
In a hospital room, silent mode is basic courtesy.
I hurriedly switched it to silent mode, and the frown on her forehead relaxed as she went back to sleep with a peaceful expression.
“Gororong…gororong….”
The other one looked like they could sleep soundly even if I played a NewTube video at full volume….
I looked at the terminal again.
DadIsAMartialArtist: So what exactly are you curious about?
ㄴ(Author) GalleryingIsEasy: Everything. Scientist Madnificent, the 606 Treaty, the Seoul Management Bureau that's worse than a shitty little company, entities that break the rules, and so on. What else was there? Anyway, bring it all! Bring everything!
ㄴHound: If you just explain the 606 Treaty, that should explain more than half of that.
ㄴSettingWankModder: I cooked up a summary post. Hold on.
ㄴAarghComeAtMe: Team Leader photos! Team Leader photos! Team Leader photos! Team Leader photos!
Ignoring the last comment, I watched NewTube videos and caught up on what was happening in the world.
Stocks that were still rising, a challenge on a web-novel platform that had only recently launched, fine dining you could eat for 15,000 won….
After encountering several pieces of news as bizarre as the entities, a summary post went up before long.
[Let's Find Out What the 606 Treaty Is]
Author: SettingWankModder
If I went into detail, it'd take a paper-length post, so I'll just give you the key points in a brief summary.
If there's anything you don't know, leave a comment or make a post and I'll answer.
The 606 Treaty was signed ten years ago on June 6, Memorial Day.
It covers the Republic of Korea and every country in the world (including the Vatican),
and in exchange for concentrating all entities of Level 1 or higher in Korea,
Korea gets priority over everything the entities haven't invaded.
Whatever the Bureau and the government request, the entire world has to provide, one way or another.
Resources, weapons, food, capital, technology, classified information… even people.
In the case of phenomenon- and location-types, they couldn't be brought over, so I remember there being Bureaus around the world in name only,
but it seems they've been bringing those types over too since a year ago?
Anyway, that's why there's a Bureau in every corner of the country.
My head throbbed.
I'd expected them to take in one or two dangerous entities at most.
‘Is this mine? No, all of that is yours!’
I know I'm not exactly a deep thinker, but what on earth were the higher-ups thinking when they made a treaty like this?
What benefit could they possibly have seen in pulling a PIMBY instead of a NIMBY?
Even if they gave away everything else, shouldn't South Korea have gone under ages ago if it got all the entities?
If just two or three of the entities I'd encountered decided to act up, wouldn't an anomalous apocalypse be a certainty?
My head was spinning, but there was still more to read, so I turned my eyes back to the terminal.
What was it that made this possible again? Some scientist had discovered it, but I can't remember who.
To summarize, the total amount of entities capable of exerting power within a given area is fixed.
Even squeezing them all into the narrow area of the Korean Peninsula
is a trick to suppress as much as possible the number of entities running wild outside Bureau control.
Korea was chosen for an irrefutable reason, but anyway, that's why all the entities were concentrated in Korea.
That's roughly all you need to know.
[Of All the Countries in the World, Why Here?]
Author: GalleryingIsEasy
There are neighboring countries to the side, a country above us, and the world's police too, so why dump them all in Korea of all places?
This is supposed to be the company I'm destined to work at for life? Fuck off. I'd rather kill myself.
No, okay, let's give them the benefit of the doubt five billion times and assume there was a reason for it.
Why Korea of all places? Why dump entity shit here, in already-hellish Joseon, instead of any of the countless other countries in the world?
[Comments]
DadIsAMartialArtist: [Cat-eared girl shrugging her shoulders meme]
ㄴDadIsAMartialArtist: So that's it… I see… yes, that did happen… You still don't know? It's….
TrappedAtHome: We laughed our asses off when we found out too.
Hound: But once you know why, it does make sense.
AutoSaveIsEssential: It's like asking which country wins the archery gold medal.
ResidentGhostNo. 1: You really hit the **NUCLEAR MIND**.
SettingWankModder: When we got the report, our whole team thought the entire world had rigged the election.
WhiteHacker: Does anyone have that screenshot of the meeting minutes from back then?
ㄴPistilSurgerySurgery: I do.
A little later, after seeing the reason Korea had been chosen that PistilSurgerySurgery uploaded, I had no choice but to accept it.
Why it had been the Republic of Korea.
Why the people who heard the news firsthand at the time had no choice but to accept it.
[Why Korea Became an Entity Farm. EU]
Author: PistilSurgerySurgery
[Photo showing 248 votes for South Korea and 1 vote for Japan]
+++
[Entity-Isolation Country Vote Results]
Reasons for voting for each country
South Korea: (blank)
Common reason given by the other 248 countries: After observing parallel worlds containing entities using ‘Mirror World,’ the possibility of humanity's extinction was lowest when the Republic of Korea was at the center.
The examples of the observed parallel worlds mentioned in that reason are as follows.
All organizations and individuals mentioned are from the Republic of Korea.
A world with a Bureau that defeated ■■, centered around an office worker with special eyes.
A world with a Bureau containing a man who went from an ordinary person to a vampire's angel, a demon god of magic, a saint, and ■■.
A world where South Korea confronts bizarre creatures with magic in Seoul, which has become an apocalypse.
A world with a secret company that isolates anomalous entities for the sake of a world where anomalies do not exist.
A world where four exorcists prevented the end times.
A world where a black grim reaper led the entire world, covered by Objects, to peace.
A world where Assistant Manager Han ended the Age of Gods and ushered in the Age of Man.
In accordance with the voting results stated above, the Republic of Korea is hereby designated as an 'Entity-Isolation Country.'
Accordingly, all independent sovereign states and autonomous territories of the world unanimously agree to conclude Treaty No. 606 with the Government of the Republic of Korea.
+++
As history has proven, it was because far too many exceptionally capable people had emerged from this cramped little country.