Chapter 279: Ch 279: A dangerous Choice
Ryu Jaegwan looked at his superior.
The agent from Team Hyumoo 1 who had infiltrated the secret archives of
the Gangwon-do branch on the right date to read unauthorized information.
’...A dangerous choice.’
He had certainly thought so.
But he couldn’t stop him.
In the first place, investigating a Supernatural Disaster that the Bureau had
sealed itself was a dangerous act.
And to even collaborate with the Daydream Director.
It was a reckless act that Ryu Jaegwan himself would never have committed
if things hadn’t progressed ’like this.’
’This warrants disciplinary action.’
So, since it had come to this, he had decided it was better to have a bit more
information.
And... after learning the information, he was going to decide.
’...Whether it’s okay to let this investigation continue.’
About the risk of repeatedly entering a ghost story so severe that the
Disaster Management Bureau would sacrifice an entire city for it.
It was certainly a direction he could understand....
But for the result to be... ’we’ve forgotten something incredible.’
"...About that city?"
"No. It’s not simply that. Our team, the Team leader...."
Team leader?
’Why him all of a sudden....’
Agent Choi, who had stopped mid-sentence, suddenly lifted his head and
met Ryu Jaegwan’s gaze.
Ryu Jaegwan felt a strangely sunken look flash across that gaze, but....
"...Hm. For now, shall we get out of the archives? We should do this
safely."
Agent Choi soon returned to his composed demeanor.
He shrugged, exchanged a few friendly gestures with the will-o’-the-wisp,
and finished preparing to withdraw.
And as he left the archives, he was even seen off by the will-o’-the-wisps,
who were thrilled to have received a load of buckwheat jelly.
"Thank you~ We’ll see you again next time!"
It was an attitude that seemed to have taken into account the possibility of
being caught by his superiors.
-It’s better to do things like this lightly. Just like usual.
-As if I did it on the sly because the paperwork was a pain and took too
long.
He was aiming for the ’Agent Choi being Agent Choi’ effect.
To make sure no one would think he had actually come to check the
cognitive erasure records while entering a sealed Extinction-class Disaster.
And he had already deceived Agent Grape in a similar fashion.
-See! I told you he’d believe me if I said I was skipping this investigation
because I thought we’d be suspected for using too much vacation leave!
-Hah....
-No, I’m telling you, that Grape kid has a surprisingly soft side!
’Hoo.’
Of course, the fact that, as a result of this choice, only people from a
pseudo-religious private company (including Contaminated Entities) had
gone on the investigation... weighed heavily on his mind.
Ryu Jaegwan had been constantly anxious, thinking that one of them, either
himself or his superior, should have remained on the investigation, but his
superior was quite nonchalant about that part.
-Hmm, well, there were some pretty decent people there. We also needed to
see how things would proceed when it was just them for once.
Ryu Jaegwan wondered.
Was the current Agent Choi still thinking the same thing?
His superior, who, after reading the records about Segwang Metropolitan
City, was still feigning nonchalance.
-Well, Grape is probably leading them around just fine.
"Employee Yong, we have to move."
"Just, just a moment, please."
I paused for a moment, trying not to be overwhelmed by the facts swirling
in my head.
So.
’The Emergency Rescue Squad was originally the Blue Dragon Team.’
But the Blue Dragon Team went missing in Segwang Metropolitan City,
and their vacant spot... was filled by the Hyunmu Team.
’And the Hyunmu Team... was a team dedicated to the termination of
disasters?’
....
But why wasn’t it on the wiki?
’No.’
I can’t get too bogged down in this right now.
I don’t have time to worry about unanswerable questions like this inside a
ghost story where my companions have disappeared.
’What I can do.’
Right. I have to start with what I can do. And that is....
"...Show me that again, please."
"Hm?"
The torn Talisman.
I grabbed the library checkout card that Wolf Leader had found in the glass
lantern and began to meticulously re-examine its back.
Every single pattern, line, and structure.
"What are you doing?"
"I’m trying to memorize it."
The shape of this Talisman.
"Ah, you’re planning to get a similar new Talisman from the Disaster
Management Bureau."
"...!"
"You must have guessed that the problem started when that Talisman was
torn."
"..."
"Employee Yong, you still seem to have ties to the Disaster Management
Bureau."
I just nodded my head slowly.
I wondered if this was a new expression of suspicion, but.
"Be careful. The company won’t be too happy about it. Still, when it’s a
matter of children’s lives, as many as a whole school, a person’s heart can’t
help it."
"...!"
Wolf Section Chief just chuckled, said that, and patted my back.
"Alright, you’ve memorized it all? Let’s move again. We have to find a way
to escape."
"...Yes."
I put the torn Talisman back into the broken glass lantern, then reburied it in
the pile of dirt in the backyard. No matter how broken and torn it was, I
didn’t know what role it might be playing.
Instead, I took something else.
"A small piece."
"Yes."
A shard of the glass lantern that had completely broken off.
I find just that one piece from the pile of dirt and carefully pocket it.
"Shall I lend you a handkerchief? If it’s for sample collection."
"It’s alright. I have something I brought with me."
I wrapped the glass shard in a tissue and put it in my pocket.
Come to think of it....
"Do you also collect samples from the Darkness?"
"If we have time before escaping, we do. The researchers ask for it."
Wait a minute. A researcher who would make the Field Investigation Team
do something like sample collection....
"By any chance, does their name start with Gwak?"
"Ah, that’s right."
"..."
"I see he’s still working there?"
Is ’still working there’ all there is to it....
I couldn’t bring myself to say that he, too, was in fact still working there.
But with a gentler and more generous atmosphere than before, Wolf Leader
continued the topic.
In a completely unexpected direction.
"Hmm, if it’s someone who’s still there... by any chance, is Haegeum still at
the Disaster Management Bureau?"
"...!?"
Wait a minute.
"Agent Haegeum... you mean?"
"Yes. She was great at making bold moves, and had a lot of guts. Above
all... she was lucky."
"..."
"She would have done well if she’d come to Team B."
Discerning eyes shine from behind the Wolf Mask.
"Anyway, she was such a passionate young agent, I figured she’d still be
employed."
He was right.
Of course, the thought of Agent Haegeum having a passionate and young
rookie phase felt strange for some reason.
I almost showed him the bell I received out of a sense of familiarity, but I
held back, remembering that the person before me was likely not the ’real
Team B Leader from the past.’
But at the same time, a very fundamental question arose.
If he trusts me to some extent as a person from the future, why....
"...Aren’t you going to ask what happened to Daydream in the future?"
Why doesn’t he ask about his own direct future?
"Well."
"..."
"There’s no need."
Wolf Leader laughed silently.
And as he prepares to climb back up to the Infirmary, he asks gently.
"You’ve heard of Oedipus, haven’t you?"
"...You mean the story from Greek and Roman mythology?"
"Yes. He received a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his
mother, and it came true exactly as foretold.... Why do you think that is?"
A low voice is heard, climbing the wall.
"It’s because people heard the prophecy. Like a butterfly effect, it actually
caused the prophecy to be fulfilled."
"..."
"The very act of knowing the future might lead me to that future, so there’s
no need to volunteer for such a headache. Understand?"
"...Yes."
It was an astonishing display of self-control.
[A self-fulfilling prophecy, what an interesting excuse this fellow can make.
Indeed, he seems to be in much better shape than that shabby, has-been
beast....]
[Oh. That’s right. Mr. Roe Deer, how about listening to some advice from
this Braun for the first time in a while?]
’...What is it?’
Soon, the cheerful host’s voice becomes slightly low and soft, as if he’s
realized something.
[How about killing that fellow right now?]
What?
[Then he might just wake up in reality looking exactly like that.]
’...!’
[Just as you might hope that your ordinary old superior, who regenerated
both his hands in the dream of this sealed city, would wake up in reality
with both hands intact.]
Like Supervisor Park Minseong?
’No, that’s ridiculous.’
Because in the first place, that Wolf Leader is a projection created by the
ghost story....
[Of course, maybe not, but who’s to say? A guess can’t be a guarantee! But
just in case, on the off chance, I mean....]
....
[Just give it a try. There’s nothing to lose. It’s a safe bet.]
I looked at Wolf Leader.
Remembering his current state.
...In the Annex, stabbing a stone into his own stomach.
[Wouldn’t the party in question like it, too? Oh, to return to one’s good old
self. It must be the dream of every actor.]
"..."
[Of course, this is merely a suggestion, Mr. Roe Deer. As your Good Friend,
I have only advised you of a new path!]
[So let’s think about it.]
"Come on, up you go."
"Yes."
I couldn’t give Braun any definite answer.
I just followed Wolf Leader, climbing the school wall, grabbing the
windowsill of the third-floor Infirmary, and pulling myself up.
In my confusion, I put aside the fact that Braun’s words were within the
realm of reason.
But it was the next moment.
The moment I lifted my head toward the Infirmary....
"Well now. We have company."
"...!"
A situation unfolded that was enough to blow away my confusion.
There was a student in the Infirmary.
A Black Silhouette standing in front of the door.
The thing in a school uniform was watching us as we climbed up from the
window....
And the next moment.
"...!"
As the student tried to turn and run, Wolf Leader and I simultaneously
lunged forward and snatched him.
Thud.
The black figure, unable to leave the Infirmary, falls over. I urgently tried to
restrain our opponent with the Infirmary’s curtains. But at the same time....
I recognized his appearance.
Bleached hair and piercings.
The transfer student?
Unlucky bastard.
It was the student I had borrowed the uniform from.
"...!"
In the meantime, Wolf Leader, who had instantly pinned down the
struggling student, asks.
"Can you speak?"
But there is no answer. I saw the student staring at Wolf Leader with an
expressionless face.
That expression had no hint of someone looking at a human....
’Wait a minute.’
-To the students of Sekwang Technical High School, outsiders look like
monsters.
It’s because we entered the game by exploiting an error. Of course, we
entered this school by reading a book, not a text file, but....
We won’t be accepted as members of the school. Because.
’We’re not wearing school uniforms.’
And.
I... can wear a school uniform.
"..."
Thump, thump.
Feeling my heart pound, I brought a hand to my chest.
The tattoo.
The circular, complex structure that organized the Contamination was still
on my skin.
I pick one of them.
A word that looks like a broken font from a computer error.
"...Leader."
I ask for his understanding.
"I’m going to try a different method."
I placed my hand on that tattoo.
The next moment.
The bell of Sekwang High School rang.
I was standing in the Infirmary as a student in an old school uniform.
"...!!"
The pupils of the student pinned to the floor shrink. A reaction of shock.
And now I ’know.’
’We don’t use our voices.’
Because only communication through text was permitted.
Just like that time long ago, I took out a piece of A4 paper from the
Infirmary and wrote on it with a pencil.
Thanks for lending me the uniform last time
I was the transfer student
who brought you to the infirmary
Remember?
And I hand it to my classmate.
As I look at the man in the Wolf Mask, he slightly loosens his grip on the
classmate’s arm.
I watch as the classmate, who has barely freed one arm from the outsider’s
grasp, scribbles words on the paper....
What are you?
Why are you here again?
I want to know about this school
There was a lot to ask.
Like how he moves.
What he knows about the torn Talisman.
But....
I chose something completely different for my first question.
Out of a certain premonition.
Why can’t we speak?
Why?
Because we have to be quiet
Why do we have to be quiet?
As if frustrated and full of resentment, the classmate scrawls his words
across the A4 paper.
Because we’re inside a library, you idiot!
....
’I knew it.’
As if a blow to the head, everything clicks into place.
The reason why nothing could be seen around our high school, just
darkness.
The reason why, from within the countless passages of Hanbit Library’s
bookshelves, I could only see this high school through the window....
It’s simple.
’Because it’s not a window to the outside.’
This high school is inside the library.
The reason nothing is visible around the school is simple.
Because there’s nothing there.
A space enclosed by the backs of bookshelves.
This place has become a part of Hanbit Library
Sekwang Technical High School.
It existed inside Hanbit Library, completely swallowed whole....
’....’
The wiki updates.
A Strange High School
A peculiar high school facility that can be entered by activating a special
trigger within Hanbit Library.
It seems a nearby public high school, once a partner institution of the
library, was swallowed into the library.
’....’
After the Day of Disaster, some of the agents trapped in the sealed Sekwang
Special City made a certain decision to preserve the students until they
could be rescued.
As a result, the high school where the students were was placed under the
protection of ■■, who took Hanbit Library as a sanctuary, and it came to
exist as a special section of the library.
Because the Blue Dragon Team put the high school inside the library.
And this.
Right
So if you can get out, get out now
It means that all the students of Sekwang Technical High School were
originally all human.