Chapter 51
“Yu… Mr. Yoo Se-chan?”
Yoo Se-chan approached Lee Yun-deok, who was stammering.
“You know me? I guess the team leader at least explained things to you.”
“I’ve only heard your name.”
“Knowing the name means you know half the person.”
“Er, um, who are you…?”
Lee Yun-deok looked flustered as he stared at Yoo Se-chan standing before him.
Yoo Se-chan ignored the question, pulled a yellow sheet of paper from his pocket, and stuck it to Lee Yun-deok’s forehead.
“Huh?”
“What do you mean, ‘huh,’ you little shit? Get out of this poor employee.”
Fwoooooosh.
“U… uuuu……”
Suddenly, white smoke began billowing from every opening in Lee Yun-deok’s face.
The smoke gathered in one place and soon began taking the shape of a person, but—
Woooooo….”
Yoo Se-chan pulled out another talisman, held it in his hand, and muttered something. The smoke promptly scattered.
I was left dumbfounded by the spiritual spectacle that had suddenly unfolded before my eyes.
“Um, what exactly is going on right now…?”
“Bleeegh!”
I was about to ask Yoo Se-chan to explain the situation when he suddenly began vomiting a lump of blood.
“Are you all right?”
I went over to Yoo Se-chan, passing Lee Yun-deok, who had gone rigid like a jiangshi.
Yoo Se-chan suddenly grinned and leaned against me.
“I thought I was going to die, you bastard…!”
Thud.
Those were Yoo Se-chan’s last words before he passed out and collapsed.
In front of the containment chamber for ‘It’s Because of the Fan.’
One superior coughing blood, one employee from another department turned into a jiangshi, and me, with no idea what to do.
Could this be because of the fan, too?
This was a complete shitshow.
***
This was my first visit to a Management Bureau-affiliated hospital as someone other than a patient.
Yoo Se-chan was lying in bed, covered from head to toe in Cover Gel, which was supposed to be extremely effective for treating wounds.
“I’m ashamed.”
The person who spoke while looking at Yoo Se-chan with me was Research Team Leader Choi Min-su.
He had appeared with the Medical Team just as I was about to call the team leader, unsure how to resolve the situation.
“At present, Gwanak Branch has recognized the current situation as an attack by another organization and entered emergency mode.”
Another organization. It was common knowledge that the Management Bureau wasn’t the only organization involved with entities, after all.
“Places like Unquestioning Obedience or the Entity Liberation Headquarters?”
“How does a newcomer who’s barely arrived know those two places?”
Was it not okay for a newcomer to know about them?
“I learned those names while managing an entity last time.”
“I see. Which entity did you manage?”
“Yeondoo High School.”
“If it’s that place, I can see why they would have come up.”
Research Team Leader Choi Min-su readily accepted that answer. After all, Yeondoo High School was an entity that turned all sorts of information into questions, so I suppose it could have come up.
“What happened to that employee?”
“We’ve placed him in isolation and are performing memory manipulation. It isn’t mental contamination.”
“It isn’t mental contamination?”
“Because a human soul isn’t an entity.”
A soul? Did he mean the soul I knew about?
Choi Min-su calmly tossed out fairly explosive information with an utterly unruffled expression.
“He’s not the only one who was possessed, and you’re not the only one who was targeted. It would be more accurate to view this as a wide-ranging attack on Gwanak Branch.”
Coincidentally, this was happening while I was the only member of the Field Response Team at the branch.
“Can you tell me a little more?”
“There’s no reason I can’t. That fellow will probably be dispatched on a mission once he wakes up.”
“If I refuse to listen, can I stay out of it?”
“If you’re willing to turn your back on several hundred lives, by all means.”
The hostage card was too powerful for me to resist, and I sighed.
Choi Min-su looked at me and began his story, saying, ‘Our brat should learn from you.’
“What do you think of the afterlife?”
“Hmm….”
The afterlife. Did he mean heaven, hell, reincarnation, oblivion, and so on?
“I’ve lived without giving it much thought, since I don’t follow a religion.”
“What do you think it’s like?”
“I’m not sure. I imagine it differs depending on the religion a person believes in.”
The director of the orphanage was Buddhist. They used to say that when a person died, they reincarnated until they attained enlightenment.
The vice director, on the other hand, was Christian. They always told me to behave properly, saying that I could go to heaven only by doing good deeds.
Reincarnation and going to heaven were both ultimately favorable outcomes based on how one lived in this life, so their conclusions were the same.
But whenever I asked why, they always gave me completely opposite answers.
“You have good instincts. As expected of the Field Response Team’s second Destroyer….”
“I’d rather not be called that.”
“Hahaha.”
Choi Min-su looked intrigued by my response.
“For someone on the Field Response Team, you’re quite open-minded. Is it because you’re new?”
“It’s not that.”
I simply thought that if death was the final journey, it would be nice if the conclusion at least aligned with what that person had believed.
“To skip the explanation and give you the conclusion, you’re right.”
“…Are you saying the afterlife is realized according to what the deceased believed while alive?”
“That’s right.”
Choi Min-su spoke about something resembling top-secret information as casually as anything.
“Is this information I’m allowed to know?”
“Ordinarily, you shouldn’t. But as I said earlier, you’ll be taking on a mission.”
That meant it was information I needed to know in advance, like an entity report.
“After countless experiments and trials, the Management Bureau became able to observe the afterlife, if only briefly.”
“Does the past tense mean it’s impossible now?”
“Hmm. It became impossible with Treaty 606. As I said, souls aren’t entities.”
Just as Choi Min-su finished his preamble and was about to begin in earnest—
“Why are you making so much noise by the bedside when someone’s lying down?”
“You’re awake.”
Yoo Se-chan opened his eyes and began complaining to Choi Min-su.
“You keep talking about sending me on a mission when it’s uncomfortable to lie down…. I’m telling the team leader.”
“It was the plan from the start. Why complain now?”
“Knowing about it doesn’t mean I want to agree.”
Watching the two exchange sharp but non-hostile words, as though they were fairly close, I felt left out for some reason.
“I’ll explain things to our youngest, so you can go. Don’t go filling his head with another department’s stuff.”
“Fine. Listen carefully to your senior’s remaining explanation.”
Choi Min-su said that and stood by the ward door. Then he turned back toward me and bowed his head.
“I sincerely apologize that you nearly came to harm because of one of our team members. We’ll compensate you for this later.”
I nodded, and Choi Min-su left the ward with a final “Thanks.”
“I hate seeing that guy. Every time I see him, I end up with more work.”
“Are you feeling all right?”
“Eeeh. It hurts just the right amount, just the right amount. For only dying three times, this is a bargain.”
“Three times?”
Three deaths. The phrase suddenly brought the problem at Yeondoo High School back to mind.
“Huh? Didn’t the team leader teach you?”
“As I said, I only know the name.”
“Then I’ll teach you later, Park Ppit-pi. But first, let’s talk about the afterlife.”
After finishing, Yoo Se-chan coughed several times.
Fortunately, blood did not come pouring out as it had earlier.
“We’re short on time, so let’s talk while I’m being discharged.”
“Shouldn’t you rest a little longer?”
Yoo Se-chan sat up, sending flakes of Cover Gel tumbling down.
“If I rest any longer, I’ll die again. Help me out.”
With those ominous words, Yoo Se-chan hastily threw on his clothes and left the ward.
I couldn’t begin to guess what he meant by ‘already dead’ and ‘dying again,’ but he was something of a lifesaver, so I assumed there must be a reason and followed him.
Maybe he had a lot of bonus lives, or he was a regressor.
Our destination was a place I knew all too well, one the Management Bureau visited more often than anywhere except the dormitory: the Field Response Team office.
“Since we’re going on an assignment, bring anything you need. I’ll explain things bit by bit on the way.”
“If Senior and I leave, there won’t be anyone from the Field Response Team at Gwanak Branch.”
“Normally, yes. That’s why I probably would’ve gone alone, leaving you behind.”
Crunch.
While talking, Yoo Se-chan bit his finger until it bled, then began writing on a yellow sheet of paper.
“But then you’d die. And I’d die because of it.”
“I don’t know what basis you have for saying that.”
“I don’t really know either. Why would your death be the cause of mine? It says I’ll be ‘torn apart by an old geezer,’ so how am I supposed to guess?”
His vague explanation left me completely unable to understand what he was talking about.
At times like this, it was time to use the friend card.
I messaged the team leader and my seniors, who were away on assignment, through the messenger app. Their replies came surprisingly fast.
[Me: Senior Yoo Se-chan says I should cooperate with him on a mission. Is it okay if I go along?] x3
[Team Leader Imina: Yes~. Listen to Se-chan. But if he starts yelling, don’t listen to him.]
[Senior Kang Chae-young: Why did that senior come to the branch? He’s fine otherwise, but ignore him if he suddenly gets angry.]
[Senior Choi Yu-na: Sometimes he gets so angry he seems like a different person, but just let it go. Other than that, he’s fine.]
The replies all agreed that he was reliable, but that he sometimes suddenly became hot-tempered.
There were endorsements, and my life was apparently on the line, so maybe I should cooperate.
“I don’t think I need to pack anything. Can I get information on what operation we’re participating in?”
Yoo Se-chan stopped writing talismans for a moment.
Then he opened his mouth with a meaningful smile.
“The Exorcist, Ghostbusters, and Shaman King.”
A bundle of talismans flew toward me at the same time.
“Soul salvation, evil-spirit exorcism. Entity management.”
Seeing his face, which practically radiated an eerie aura, I had a feeling this mission wouldn’t be easy either.