Chapter 19
Ganghwa Island.
Originally a hunting ground for fixers, it was now spring—the season when migratory birds were on the move.
Ganghwa Island, a migratory bird habitat, had become a veritable den of monsters lately.
But for some people, visits from these giant migratory birds had become a hobby.
They were people who loved taking pictures of birds.
[Still, it’s easier to photograph migratory birds than before]
Author: Heron Dad
I used to have to stand in the mud for hours, waiting it out,
but these days, I can just use a telephoto lens from a rooftop in Gimpo and get a shot.
(Photo)
I just named her Heron Girl. Pretty, right?
ㄴ Damn, it’s fucking huge. Whoa.
ㄴ Seeing its head stick out between the mountains is something else…
ㄴ Pretty from a distance.
ㄴ How the hell do fixers catch these things?
ㄴ What are you talking about? Fixers don’t catch them either. The contribution points aren’t worth it lol
ㄴ JOAT
ㄴ Still, you should be glad. Yeah.
ㄴ If bugs had become anomalies and started wandering around too, there wouldn’t be any cities or countries left.
ㄴ The ones we’re damn lucky only come out of windows: anomalous bugs
ㄴ Factos
But the subjects of their photographs were monsters.
Even at this very moment, one was threatening Cheong Harin’s life.
“Eek!”
‘To the right.’
“Ugh!”
‘Behind you.’
“Aaah…!”
With Rubina’s help, she was managing to dodge somehow, but that was all.
She could only dodge; she had no chance to attack at all.
Even though her senses and physical abilities had improved dramatically after awakening, there was nothing she could do when attacks came from every direction, leaving her no room to dodge.
‘Shit…! Why are even the chicks this dangerous?!’
Right in the middle of a nest.
Four chicks were taking turns attacking her, and when they couldn’t catch Cheong Harin, even the mother joined in. Now it was a five-way fight.
She wondered if she could just jump out of the nest, but it wasn’t as though she’d have a better chance outside it.
The whole area was covered in heron nests.
‘I never wanted to learn about heron ecology like this…!’
Herons came all the way up to Korea in spring, then headed south again in autumn.
While they were here, they built nests and raised their chicks. Huge flocks worked together to protect the young.
That was why their nests were packed so densely together.
Since Cheong Harin had been carried off by Heron Dad, whose nest happened to be in the middle of the nesting grounds, she’d ended up in a living hell.
The one saving grace was that the birds had grown too big to build nests in trees.
Whenever they tried, the trees broke. And since predators weren’t much of a threat when the birds gathered in flocks, the entire wetland had naturally become their territory.
‘Stay calm, Harin.’
“Do I look like I can stay calm?!”
‘Don’t try to get to the nest beside you. Try to get out from underneath the nest.’
“Underneath? But they’re packed so tightly there’s no room…?”
‘You can make room with the weapon you have.’
“My weapon…? Oh.”
Only then did Harin remember the sword at her waist.
After gaining her new ability, she’d sold all her firearms because of the cost of ammunition, but she’d never been willing to part with the sword her father had left her.
“Can I use this instead of the needle?”
‘I can switch it out for any bladed weapon in existence.’
“Damn it, if I’d known that, I would’ve done it ages ago.”
‘Of course, after a fight, the only thing I can store inside my body is the IV needle.’
“That’s still something.”
Anyway, she could swing the sword in place of the IV needle.
That meant the IV line had endless possibilities.
For now, she was only swinging an ordinary iron sword. But what if she got a Geburah that existed in the form of a weapon?
Could she swing that weapon around with her long, tube-like arm?
‘Though, given my luck, I’m not sure I’ll get even one before I die….’
A brief glimmer of hope, followed by a deep sigh.
By now, Cheong Harin had gotten used to the chicks’ attack patterns. She dodged another series of beak strikes and muttered,
“Just switch the needle for my sword. I’ll get under the nest right away.”
‘Aren’t you leaving everything to me?’
“W-well, I’m not used to handling the IV line yet.”
‘You know that the more you rely on me, the more control of your body passes to me, right?’
“It does?!”
Come to think of it, she remembered a junior at the Cheong Clan Alliance showing her a post from the Fixer Gallery once.
It must have been when they were talking about what they’d do if they got a Sephira together.
[Sephira Basics]
1. A Sephira chooses a fixer. (It can also abandon them.)
2. If two fixers compete for one, the one who resonates more strongly with the Sephira is chosen.
3. Fixers with a high level of resonance must undergo regular checkups conducted by the Talent Management Division.
ㄴ Why number 3?
ㄴ If that goes wrong, you become a living Sephira. Yeah.
ㄴ What’s a living Sephira?
ㄴ Someone who looks human but is a Sephira.
ㄴ You can think of them as no different from an object.
ㄴ So they literally ‘Sephira’ you. Damn.
ㄴ According to the Management Bureau’s official materials, they can feel pain and everything, apparently.
ㄴ For real?
ㄴ That really is a living Sephira. Damn.
“A living Sephira… So that’s what it is.”
‘That’s right. So don’t rely on me too much. You have to fight for yourself, Harin.’
“O-okay.”
In the middle of all the chaos, she dodged an attack, brought the IV line around in front of her, and immediately swapped the needle at its end for the sword at her waist.
“So I should think of it like swinging a whip…?”
‘If you expand your senses, you can control the entire tube as if it were part of your body. But you’re not used to moving in ways beyond human movement yet, so it’s best to think of it that way for now.’
“Right. First, I have to get out of here…!”
There was a huge difference between a whip and a sword, but in the end, both were used to attack a target.
Whoosh!
The sword at the end of the snaking tube went CRUNCH!
It just grazed the side of the mother heron’s neck—the one launching the fiercest attacks.
‘So close.’
Though her first attack had only grazed its target, it was a good try.
It was only natural to make mistakes like this over and over before getting closer to success.
“One more time…!”
Crunch.
“Again!”
Crunch.
But none of Cheong Harin’s repeated attacks landed on the mother heron.
Perhaps feeling she couldn’t just stand by and watch, Rubina asked cautiously,
‘Would you like me to help?’
“No…!”
Cheong Harin smiled and swung her arm again.
The sword tip at the end of the tube lashed out and broke the nest beside the mother once more.
‘But you’ll just wear yourself out if you keep this up.’
“No. Just one more time…!”
Crunch!
Crack, crack…!
‘…Were you aiming for this from the start?’
Harin’s sword swings, which had looked like a complete mess, had all served a purpose.
After all, she could barely swing her only weapon properly.
In a situation like this, it was obviously easier to break apart the stationary nest than to hit a moving heron.
The part of the nest where the mother heron had been sitting dropped away like a slice of cake.
With its center of gravity thrown backward, the mother lost its balance and flapped wildly.
The startled chicks all stopped attacking Cheong Harin at once.
“I may be weak, but my survival skills are second to none!!”
Cheong Harin flung herself through the opening.
The chicks’ beaks chased after her as she fled, but the newly hatched birds weren’t very good at pecking yet.
“…Phew.”
The chicks kept trying to squeeze through the gaps.
But they didn’t seem able to reach where Cheong Harin was.
As the tension left her, she let out a small sigh and flopped down on the ground.
“When is San-a-nim… coming…?”
A peace she’d barely managed to find.
At the same time, all her pent-up resentment came rushing back, and tears streamed down her face.
“Damn it…! I was supposed to wake up, sign my Grade Da employment contract first thing, and start my happy fixer life…! Why is life so cruel to meee…! Was it really so wrong to want a can of beer—?!”
This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, but strangely enough, it felt like things had gotten worse since she met Baek San-a.
As if the god of fate were saying, ‘You spent all your luck meeting Baek San-a, didn’t you? Now… you’ll just have to deal with it.’
But Cheong Harin would never let go of Baek San-a.
Her one and only stroke of good luck after a lifetime without any.
Baek San-a.
Those three syllables!
The gloom in her heart quickly gave way to anger.
“Damn it… I’m not going to die. No way….”
She had to grit her teeth and survive.
She’d survive, find the god of fate, and punch that god in the face—not once, but ten times.
‘Wait.’
“What!”
‘Harin. Try not to get worked up.’
Cheong Harin, who’d been fuming, took a breath and calmed herself.
‘They’re getting closer.’
“Getting closer…?”
‘Look ahead.’
When she looked up at the sky through the broken branches, a black mass was gradually drawing closer.
Countless flapping wings began to come into view.
Amid them, red particles kept scattering and vanishing.
“What’s that flock of herons…?”
‘The person you’ve been looking for is coming.’
“San-a?!”
Cheong Harin sprang to her feet.
At the same moment, she heard a metallic clang, like metal splitting along a crack.
The ground tilted, and Cheong Harin began to slide.
‘Watch out!’
“Aah!”
Her body tumbled down before she had a chance to catch herself with the IV line.
She’d fallen from a height of at least two stories, but luckily, the damp earth softened her landing, leaving her backside unhurt.
“Damn. What was that?”
When Cheong Harin hurriedly got up, she saw a strange sight.
Why on earth was there a steel framework and ventilation system beneath the birds’ nests?
“What? Why is something like this here…?”
‘It must have cracked when you cut through the nest earlier. I guess it was hidden by the shadow of the nest.’
What sort of facility would someone deliberately hide beneath the nests of dangerous migratory birds?
It couldn’t be a government secret research facility.
There was no reason to put one here when they could build it in the city.
Perhaps a fixer or a fixer agency had hidden away slush funds—or…
“…Could it be a criminal organization?”
* * *
I’d always had a habit of digging into things when something felt off.
That was what happened when life was hard.
You started feeling like the world kept screwing you over, and then naturally? You couldn’t help but? Get suspicious?
“Heh heh heh. So that’s why those guys were trying so desperately to keep people out.”
I couldn’t help laughing at the message I’d just received from GOD.
[GOD : A hideout made by a criminal organization?]
[GOD : That’s certainly possible]
[GOD : The migratory birds have created a natural barrier for them]
Compared to the surface and sky, where magical beasts flew and roamed, the underground was relatively safe.
That was why, even under the protection of the Invisibility Cloak that guarded the city, Korean institutions still buried important facilities underground as a precaution.
But were institutions the only ones who did that?
Criminals, who were always forced to take risks, probably wanted to go even deeper underground.
A place for secret deals, or somewhere to store things…
Once you dug a place out, you could use it for all sorts of things.
[GOD : They don’t fly in every direction, just when they’re heading a certain way]
[GOD : This definitely smells fishy]
[AnomalyLivingItsBestLife360 : S*x]
[GOD : Good grief]
[AnomalyLivingItsBestLife360 : Hehe, I’m just happy, that’s all]
[GOD : Is that really something to be happy about?]
[AnomalyLivingItsBestLife360 : Of course]
[AnomalyLivingItsBestLife360 : Free contribution points just rolled right into my lap]
[AnomalyLivingItsBestLife360 : Free is the best]
It was still a fifty-fifty chance, but I had a feeling there was something on Ganghwa Island.
If there was, there was a good chance Cheong Harin had already found it.
Honestly, at this point, her bad luck was more like an anomaly and bad-guy detector.
‘Cheong Harin’s bad luck is my good luck….’
I’d have to tell her someday.
Tell her not to think of herself as unlucky.
Tell her that her bad luck was helping guide the world in a better direction.
…I couldn’t exactly tell her I was happy it was helping my contribution points.
Even an anomaly would say, ‘That’s a bit much.’
Just as I thought that, my body crossed the narrow strait between Ganghwa Island and Gyeonggi-do.
Right after that, I heard a strange sound.
Rrrrrrrrr—!
“What?”
I couldn’t see clearly through the flock of herons surrounding me, but there was no mistaking the sound of a modern weapon of war.
I dodged easily, and a hail of bullets sent the innocent herons tumbling from the sky in droves.
I’d learned the strongest flying techniques among insects when I was a mosquito. Something like this wouldn’t hit me.
The thing that had attacked me looked like a type of autocannon mounted on a ship to shoot down fighter planes.
There was no way something like that could be operating without a human—or a system set up by humans—controlling it…
Their secret base was somewhere nearby.
“Why’s the welcome so fiery? Are they not even trying to hide it?”
Or had they already taken out several fixers this way?
Since strong fixers of Grade Ga or higher hardly ever went around beating up magical beasts, it was a bet worth taking…
How narrow-minded.
Did they really not consider that a bored—or rather, furious—pet might show up because its butler had been kidnapped?
Rrrrrrr—.
Rrrrrrrrr!!
“Hey, hey, hey.”
I floated through the air and took off my anomaly-wave suppression suit.
I pressed and compacted it, then stored it inside my body for a little while…
And as I dodged the incoming shells, the nearby herons fell from the sky on their own.
As the herons chasing me disappeared, my view finally cleared.
As soon as I figured out where the shells were coming from, I deliberately let one of them hit me.
Any foreign object that pushed its way into my body would trigger a droplet launch, so naturally, a shell counted too.
Pew—!
The droplet shot out in the blink of an eye, threaded between countless shells, and clanged.
It reached the spot where the shells seemed to have been fired from.
What if I immediately swapped places with the droplet?
My body got crammed into the narrow barrel, and its elasticity tore the metal apart with tremendous force.
Clang, clank, krrrk.
“Aaagh!!”
“W-what? Why’s the barrel…?!”
Woo Cheonyeop, Deputy Director of Byeoksa, I’m counting on you.
I trust you’ll handle the cleanup.
My bangs are covering my face, so I can deny it!
“…A kid?”
“You idiots, what are you doing?! Attack! That kid’s trespassing!”
“A-are we really allowed to attack? They look like a kid…”
“Would you rather not shoot and get killed by the boss, or shoot and get yelled at a little less?”
“Firing!!”
As I strode away from the burst cannon barrel, bullets rained down on me.
Maybe a stray bullet had hit the explosives behind the cannon barrel, because I heard an explosion.
“Are they trying to blow up their own base?”
The blast set the surrounding area ablaze, but luckily, it didn’t trigger any secondary explosions.
I’d immediately sprayed blood around to keep the fire from spreading.
People have to be kept alive. It’d be a disaster if they died over something like this.
Bullets kept flying at me, but my automatic defenses took care of them, so there was no need to dodge.
The people making a futile effort without realizing it was futile lost consciousness and collapsed in a heap,
and the clatter of guns hitting the metal floor rang out one after another.
This counts as legitimate self-defense, officially sanctioned by Deputy Director Byeoksa, right?
