Chapter 8
… ─[[ Fixer Gallery ]]─ …
[Isn't an office representative just someone who sits around browsing the gallery?]
[Anomaly Living Its Best Life 360]
If you thought this was bait, you've come to the right place.
Just curious, so I thought I'd ask.
What does a fixer office representative actually do?
ㄴ Aw, damn it
ㄴ LMAOOOOOO
ㄴ I had a feeling it'd be something like this, but I clicked like I was under a spell. Fuckㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ I'm the head of the Tuhon Guild) There's plenty to do.
ㄴ I'm the head of the Tuhon Guild) Just off the top of my head: filing regular tax returns, distributing rewards based on performance, interviewing and training new fixers, and going on missions (depends on the office, but usually a star fixer is the representative, so the rep tends to take the toughest missions). You also have to inform affiliated fixers about newly emerged Clipa (if you don't and a fixer dies, you're fucked).
ㄴ I'm the head of the Tuhon Guild) What else was there?
ㄴ Anomaly Living Its Best Life 360*) Too long. Gimme a summaryㅠ
ㄴ I'm the head of the Tuhon Guild) You little shit, I went to all that trouble writing it out for you!
ㄴ Never thought I'd live to see Uncle Tuhon get madㅋㅋ
ㄴ I'm the head of the Tuhon Guild) What else… deciding who gets a newly acquired Sephira, who to send when the Management Bureau issues a call-up (basically like picking the national soccer team and sending them off).
ㄴ I'm the head of the Tuhon Guild) There's a shit ton more, but a lot of it isn't stuff I can write on the gallery, so I'll leave it at that,,,
ㄴ Anomaly Living Its Best Life 360*) What's the national team?
ㄴ I'm the head of the Tuhon Guild) ?
ㄴ ?
ㄴ Why doesn't this guy know what the national team is?
ㄴ Are you seriously an anomaly collaborator?ㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Anomaly Living Its Best Life 360*) I've been found out ㄷㄷ
“Damn it.”
As expected, the representative has a shitload of work to do.
Does Mr. Woo Cheonyeop really think I can handle all of this by myself?
No way, right?
‘Is this some kind of pressure to make me work like a dog from now on because I spent half a year lazing around…?’
Either way, if he tells me to do it, I'm doomed to have to do it.
Can't I just get another six months off somehow?
I took a single day off from the gallery yesterday, and now I've been browsing it all day today….
I'm getting a firsthand taste of why smokers have such a hard time quitting.
“Can't someone else handle all the office-performance alchemy for me? And take care of all the annoying paperwork too…. Then being the representative might be doable.”
ㄴ Anomaly Living Its Best Life 360*) But are there really no representatives who just run an office like I said?
ㄴ Anomaly Living Its Best Life 360*) A representative who lies back in a chair and only browses the galleryㅇㅇ
ㄴ If an office had a representative like that, nobody would join, dude.
ㄴ There is a representative who just eats their pet foodㅋㅋ
ㄴ Oh, that placeㅋㅋㅋ That's an exception.
ㄴ If Best-Life really is an anomaly, that could workㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Anomaly Living Its Best Life 360*) Damn, do people really do that?
ㄴ Why are you talking like a real anomaly, man?
ㄴ Are you actually gay?
My brain had already turned to mush.
Thinking about it any harder wasn't going to give me an answer.
Let's just hire someone to look after the pet.
That was the whole point of this discussion in the first place.
The offer to remove the bomb collar is tempting, but for now, shouldn't I treat it as a long-term project, like ‘I'll get around to it someday~’?
“Connect me to Cheong Harin.”
I murmured into the terminal, and it started ringing before long.
Brrring, brrring.
“I hope she won't turn the job down just because it's feeding a dog.”
Well, she did say she'd hardly ever done any real fixer work, so it should be fine, right?
Calling it feeding a dog, but really all she has to do is hang out with me.
Getting paid to hang out and do nothing? Honestly, no working adult could turn down an offer like that.
But the call cut off after only a few rings.
— The terminal is turned off.
— Please leave a message.
“She said she was broke. Don't tell me she can't even pay her electricity bill?!”
From what she'd said about getting by on survival rations, it did seem like she had almost no money for living expenses.
She can't even charge her terminal because she can't afford electricity….
“Well… maybe she'll check her messages and get back to me.”
If I can't reach her right away, what can I do?
I just have to wait.
Time to browse the gallery!
“Let's see… Is there anything interesting…?”
… ─[[ Fixer Gallery ]]─ …
[Mwah hah hah][9]
[Why is that the True Ancestor's fault?][15]
[(Repost) Recruiting fixers to help clear Window][1944]
[Ugh, I really don't wanna go to work][108]
[Woman, human woman, warm like sunshine by day, human woman][81]
“Whoa. This one has two thousand comments.”
Windows are a type of anomaly that spew out unknown life-forms.
They appear unpredictably in the world, and many of them will devastate the surrounding area if they aren't removed in time.
They're such a well-known anomaly phenomenon that they always come up when people ask what fixers are for. Posts about Windows are a perennial favorite on the Fixer Gallery.
Apparently, you can sign up, work for a little while, and get paid, so it's a good way for people who've finished their office work and have time to kill to earn some pocket money.
Even if a huge crowd shows up and everyone's share gets smaller, they say you'll still get enough to cover three days of food.
No idea what kind of Window it is this time, but it should get absolutely wrecked by the fixers' sheer numbers… Hm?
[(Repost) Recruiting fixers to help clear Window]
Author: Tower Master
Hello, I'm Kim Rok-hee, representative of Loki Tower.
After the Cheong Clan Alliance was dismantled, we acquired the clearance rights to ‘Window Da-112,’ formerly owned by the Cheong Clan Alliance, at auction.
We plan to begin the full-scale operation today.
Since this Window is notorious for overwhelming its opponents with sheer numbers, our office may not be enough to cover every gap, so we're asking for support.
The compensation for participating fixers will be 40% of the amount posted by the Management Bureau. Please note in advance that the 40% will be divided according to each person's contribution recorded in the system.
Those who wish to participate, please leave a link to your Management Bureau-issued fixer license in the comments.
ㄴ I'm in (link)
ㄴ I'll help (link)
ㄴ Thanks for the pocket money (link)
Oh.
It was Window Da-112?
The one the Cheong Clan Alliance said they'd close but never got around to because they were dismantled?
“Hmm. This might actually be a close match.”
I've mentioned this before, but this Window is… how do I put it?
It's a Window with an absolutely insane number of bugs.
The Management Bureau's nickname for it is ‘Cockroach Nest.’
It's swarming with wildly prolific bugs that look like a cross between cockroaches and locusts. Leave them alone for a single day, and their numbers double.
“Wait, is it really a close match?”
But we should remember that the Cheong Clan Alliance said they'd close this place, then left it alone for months.
Thanks to the Window-sealing kit provided by the Management Bureau, the bugs haven't been able to crawl outside all this time. But that doesn't mean they've stopped breeding.
The Window-sealing kit is just a temporary measure that physically blocks off the Window, nothing more.
Depending on the width of the space inside and how those things reproduce, thousands or even tens of thousands of bugs could pour out the moment they open the Window.
The Loki office, which took over the mission, must know that too. Looks like they're trying hard to gather fixers….
“…If something goes wrong, could they spread all the way here?”
The ghost office Woo Cheonyeop set me up in is about one kilometer from the former Cheong Clan Alliance office.
Window Da-112, the target of this operation, is right between the Cheong Clan Alliance office and the ghost office.
It sounds like they're going to set up a transparent dome to keep the bugs from escaping….
Honestly, even with thorough precautions, accidents can still happen. And there are quite a few restaurants in Doksan-dong that I recently found within a one-kilometer radius of Window Da-112.
Yeah, that ramen shop I ate at with Cheong Harin the other day.
That one's within the radius too.
It'd be a problem if the owners got attacked, or if their restaurants were attacked.
They're not delivering my meals anymore, either!
“I should probably go take a peek….”
With this many people signed up, they probably won't check one by one whether every registered fixer showed up, right?
Still, just in case, should I leave a link for the ghost office representative?
I'll make it anonymous. Use the Wi-Fi here for the IP….
ㄴ I'm in (link)
ㄴ Your registration has been confirmed.
* * *
At the same time.
Cheong Harin gaped at the sight of the enormous crowd.
“Wait…. Did they really call in everyone who commented?”
The Management Bureau had posted the compensation for clearing Window Da-112 as 40,000 credits.
Forty percent of that was 16,000 credits. Assuming everyone who commented had shown up, each person would get an average of just eight credits.
“That's barely enough for two days of food? Sigh….”
And Cheong Harin couldn't even spend all of that on food.
She still used conventional weapons for fixer work, so she had to pay for the ammunition she used.
‘Seven-millimeter rounds cost 20 credits per hundred right now….’
So she'd break even after firing about forty rounds.
If the bugs' carapaces were hard enough that it took ten shots to kill one, she'd only manage to take down four.
The Management Bureau had estimated that there were at least tens of thousands of bugs inside the Window, so Cheong Harin's kill count wouldn't make much of a difference.
The fixers who'd come to help would also be paid according to their contribution to the operation, so there was a good chance she wouldn't even get the eight credits she'd calculated as an average.
“Ugh… I came because I needed money, but I'm just dead weight here too….”
She couldn't help but worry about it.
Should she save her bullets and use her longsword instead?
She didn't know how long the bugs' arms were. What if she got sliced up while swinging her sword?
Or… should she just watch from the back after all?
‘…No, I can't. I'm sure there are plenty of people thinking the same thing as me.’
It'd be nice if all two thousand fixers gave the operation their best.
But without anyone to rally around, they were no better than a disorganized rabble.
They'd be the first to run if a gap opened anywhere along the line.
So Cheong Harin couldn't run.
As the former number four in the Cheong Clan Alliance, she wanted to take at least some responsibility for the trouble they'd caused.
“Right. I need to finish this place off first. Then maybe I can finally sleep easy….”
The voices of the citizens who'd swarmed the office still seemed to ring in her ears.
Trash like you.
You bastards have abandoned all decency.
You can't trust fixers….
“I'm sorry….”
As she found herself apologizing without thinking, a booming voice came through the speakers at the center of the giant dome surrounding the Window.
[Hello, everyone. I'm Kim Rok-hee, Tower Master of Loki Tower, and I'll be leading today's operation. It's a pleasure to meet you.]
The fixers who'd been scattered around began applauding and gathering toward the center, where a woman holding a staff stood.
Kim Rok-hee bowed to those around her several times, then continued.
[First of all, I'd like to thank you for lending a hand with our mission. We would've been grateful if even a hundred people had helped, so we never expected this many of you to show up.
I believe you've all joined us in our greater cause of addressing the wrongs committed by the Cheong Clan Alliance and restoring public trust in fixers. Would you all agree?]
A thunderous cheer rose from the crowd.
Looks like they were all thinking along the same lines.
Then came a long, tedious, high-minded speech of thanks and an overview of the operation….
About fifteen minutes later, the buzzer finally sounded, signaling that the sealed Window was about to open.
[Please do everything you can to keep the dome from being breached. The members of Loki Tower will move in as soon as the first wave stops and do their best to subdue the queen.]
As soon as Kim Rok-hee finished speaking, there was a clank, then a ka-kang!
The Window-sealing kit split apart with a loud racket.
Before long, the ominous sound of beating wings began to grow louder.
The sound of bugs the size of people was utterly repulsive.
Fixers who'd faced this kind of anomaly before were fine, but those who hadn't were already gagging.
Cheong Harin, who was still holding up relatively well, stared at the swarm spreading like black fog and muttered in shock:
“Wow, that crazy bastard Cheong Jinsu never planned to clear this Window in the first place…?”
The Cheong Clan Alliance, with just fifteen people, was going to close this Window?
Just as Anomaly Living Its Best Life had said, that was absurd.
Honestly, maybe Anomaly Living Its Best Life deserved thanks for bringing down the Cheong Clan Alliance and preventing the operation from getting underway.
It seemed they'd taken on the mission relying on one piece of large-scale anomaly-operation equipment that was probably wandering around the black market by now.
Even with that equipment, it was hard to imagine how they could've handled this many bugs.
It hadn't even been five minutes since the Window opened, but the sky inside the dome was pitch black.
They were all cockroach-locust hybrids, each the size of a human, searching for light.
“Yaaaaah!”
Shing!
The moment one swordsman sent a silver blade of energy slicing into the sky, the assisting fixers all drew their weapons.
[Let me remind you once again: protecting the dome is our top priority. Our goal is to finish this without any harm to civilians!]
Listening to Tower Master Kim Rok-hee reiterate her instructions, Cheong Harin drew the longsword at her waist.
“Phew…. Let's get started…!”
She couldn't reach the bugs flying overhead anyway, so her targets were the ones closer to the ground.
“One down!”
A bug that had clung to the dome wall and was trying to break through physically—crunch!
Cheong Harin's downward strike nearly cleaved it in two.
Kweeeek!
The bug let out a horrible shriek and swung its sharp rear end wildly, but Cheong Harin nimbly dodged the attack—.
Crunch!
Once again, she brought her sword down from above and completely severed the bug's already half-cut body.
“Phew. Good thing they're easier to break than I expected.”
If their shells had been impenetrable even to bullets, she wouldn't have managed to kill a single one. Thank goodness her sword could get through.
Cheong Harin had been sharpening her beloved sword for months, ever since she'd heard she was going to help close the Window.
With the only keepsake her father had left her by her side, her fear gradually faded away.
“Yaaah!”
Crunch.
Crunch!!
“Die!!”
Two, three, and then four.
Cheong Harin kept slaughtering the bugs one after another.
As she watched the bugs die doing the same stupid thing over and over, she thought, What idiots. And that was when—
Boom!
“Ghk!”
The fifth one.
Just before she could cut the bug in half after it tried the exact same thing, another bug flew in from somewhere, slammed into Cheong Harin, and sent her flying.
She traced an arc through the air before barely managing to roll sideways against the wall.
She slid to a stop on the ground and saw other bugs beginning to gather around the one she'd cut halfway through. They were protecting it.
“These things are working together…!”
At that moment, there was a sizzle.
An ominous sound, like something melting, reached her ears.
Cheong Harin instinctively turned toward the source of the sound.
“…!”
There was a hole in the dome.
It was only just big enough for a hand to fit through, but it was gradually widening, perhaps because of the red secretion the bugs had spat out.
‘What? Why is there a hole…? No, more importantly, are they trying to get out through here?’
Were they much smarter than she'd thought?
Had they realized the fixers were concentrating their attacks on the queen and were trying to smuggle some eggs out in advance?
That'd be a problem even if they killed the queen and closed the Window.
If these things established a nest somewhere hidden and started multiplying, the disaster would be even worse than it was now.
The Clipa scale for how dangerous anomalies were to the world might shoot right up.
Bugs raised inside their nest were one thing. A swarm that escaped containment and spread through the world was another.
“That can't happen…!”
Cheong Harin shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Everyone!! The bugs are trying to get out!! There's a hole in the dome!!”
But there wasn't a single fixer nearby who could hear Cheong Harin's call for help.
Instead of the fixers who'd been all around her, there were bugs everywhere.
Only then did Cheong Harin realize.
The fixers hadn't disappeared. They'd just ended up inside the bugs' stomachs.
Even now, several fixers were screaming as the bugs devoured them.
‘Did they know this was the weakest point…?!’
Even with an office leading the operation, it was difficult to distribute two thousand fixers evenly.
Of course, there'd be places where only the less capable fixers had gathered.
Maybe the bugs were communicating with each other, searching for weak spots and then concentrating their attacks as soon as they found one.
And the place they'd chosen was where Cheong Harin had been standing.
Bzzzzzz.
“Hngh!”
More swarms of bugs rushed toward Cheong Harin, the only person left nearby, intent on getting rid of her.
Their mandibles and forelegs, evolved into blades, came at her from every direction.
All she could do was dodge the relentless, unpredictable attacks.
Meanwhile, the hole kept growing by the second.
It was now big enough for a bug to stick its head through.
‘Shit, if I could just kill those things clinging to the wall, I could buy some time…!’
With all the resolve she could muster, Cheong Harin flattened herself against the ground and dashed forward.
Thud, thud!
Several bugs plunged toward the ground like dive bombers, trying to catch her and sending shock waves through the area.
“Ngh!”
The ground shook.
As Cheong Harin danced across the trembling ground, she drew her sword again and was about to bring it down on one of the secretion-spitting bugs when—
“Die—!”
—Squelch.
“Huh?”
Her stomach suddenly grew hot, and something hot rose up her throat.
A moment later, blood poured from her mouth.
It wouldn't stop, as if to warn her that her life was in danger.
“Kheok….”