An agent of the Disaster Response Agency.
And the one his guillotine now pointed to—
Ho Yuwon.
A supernatural disaster.
“......”
“As soon as we return to headquarters, I’ll file the report. ‘Black Tortoise 1 Team intends to seek formal registration of this supernatural disaster for termination.’”
Agent Choi’s gaze locked with Ho Yuwon’s.
Between their frozen expressions, the agent’s eyes burned.
“Let’s see how far that lunatic cult-company of yours is willing to go to keep saving an executive once the Disaster Response Agency has their name on record.”
“...Ah.”
And then—
“So you want to register ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) me as a supernatural disaster and have the Agency manage me directly? Until I die? Until I’m... terminated?”
Beyond the black smoke stood something foul.
“That’s very cruel of you.”
It spoke in a smooth voice.
“A government agent, threatening a civilian... It’s not like I killed anyone in front of you, sir.”
But Ho Yuwon’s eyes were calm, almost flat.
“Someone was going to die anyway. Does it stop being death if the Agency is the one to choose who it is? Does it suddenly become rational?”
“......”
“While you’ve been busy deciding who’s the more acceptable person to kill, did you really think someone like me wouldn’t come out of that process?”
Ryu Jaegwan ground his teeth.
At that moment—
“Eh? So you just kill whoever, then?”
“...!”
“We were just talking about how if someone’s going to die anyway, we shouldn’t kill good people—but you went ahead and killed someone without even asking the rest of us, didn’t you, Director?”
Brushing dust off herself as she approached was Deputy Lee Seonghae.
Ho Yuwon’s smile deepened.
“Sounds like you’re saying it’s bad to not cooperate with the group... That’s worrying. You’re part of a company, and yet you think it’s fine to refuse to cooperate with your superior and make personal criticisms?”
“Why? I didn’t attack you. And that’s a weird way to put it—I just said you did something bad.”
Looking genuinely puzzled, Lee glanced at the director, then hopped lightly over to stand beside the employee.
“And I’m on vacation, so it’s fine if I’m not working!”
“Wow. Brave of you.”
“Yup. I guess I am a little like that!”
“......”
“......”
“...Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
Weighing the nuisance, Ho Yuwon finally turned away from the irritating employee.
Toward 130666.
“Employee. Will you continue accompanying me for my project? As work?”
And then, with a small add-on:
“And those people keep interfering with my duties... I’d like you to restrain them, for security purposes.”
“...!”
The agents’ expressions hardened.
Under the shadow, the yellow lantern turned toward them—
Then looked back at the director.
Refusal
“...!”
Reason:
▶ Existing assignment (Mumyeongchanran Church exploration) complete
▶ Damaged uniform
Will report to assigned researcher after return to isolation room
Uniform?
In that moment, they noticed it.
From inside the coat, through a tear in the fabric, something was seeping out.
Something formless.
Clumped, fleshy matter bulging and spilling outward as if it had lost all shape.
130666 pressed a gloved hand over it and covered it in black mist—almost as though aware of their eyes.
Some even caught a faint signal in that gesture.
Something like... embarrassment.
“...!”
Agent Choi’s gaze changed.
Hope.
“That uniform—we can fix it for you.”
The employee’s eyes met his.
“Come with us. We’ll get you something really nice, maybe even with running water installed. The workshop folks are incredibly skilled, I swear.”
But—
Not possible
Reason: Offer violates work regulations
“...Work regulations? Can you explain a little more about what that means?”
Not possible
Reason: Offer violates work regulations
“......”
“Wait, so you’re saying you’re not even considering changing jobs?”
The gaze dropped to Lee Seonghae.
Resignation not possible
Reason: Offer violates work regulations
“You can’t resign either? Eh, that’s—”
Before she could finish, the employee turned away.
He was about to leave, heading back.
To Baekilmong’s underground.
To the isolation room.
“...Hold it!”
Agent Choi rushed ahead to block the way.
“I’ll help you get back.”
......
Question: Reason
“You pulled me out of that box.”
“...! Right. I owe you.”
Taking Ryu Jaegwan’s quick assistance, Agent Choi continued.
“We’re near Cheonan. Even with short-step technique, it’ll take hours to walk to the company in Seoul, right?”
Instead of his usual retort, Ryu Jaegwan simply stepped up beside him.
“You don’t have a car, and you can’t teleport. Come on, I’ll take you.”
......
Silence.
And then—
Question: Transportation method
There.
“Worried I’d make you ride a bicycle? Nah. We’ll use something else.”
Agent Choi set off casually, as though leading him along.
Toward the well.
“This is a secret, but this well’s in a good spot. The ley lines flow through it, so back in the day the Agency used it for emergency deployments to the provinces. They say they sealed it off when there was a procedural issue.”
He added that because of its symbolic link to that function, they’d even used it as an escape point when the village became a supernatural disaster.
“Remember? When you came for the village festival, you had that tip manual I wrote. I mentioned the well in there. Haha. What did you think, reading that?”
Another silence, then—
Unknown
“...Fair enough. Don’t worry about it.”
And then—
“Anyway, it’s not used now, but if we send the right signal, the transport function might kick in. So let’s go ahead and use it.”
Of course—
It was a lie.
There’s a record, but no way it’d actually reactivate.
The Agency wasn’t stupid—if it could still be used, they’d have moved it long ago.
But it was a plausible enough story.
“With that, you’ll open your eyes and be in Seoul. Sounds good?”
Not going to happen.
The plan was to get him into the well—a fully enclosed space where escape was impossible—and then use a transport ability.
A makeshift glass prison.
...He’d hoped not to use it unless necessary.
But there was no other way.
“This well won’t get you handed over to the Agency or anything. I swear on the goblin lamp.”
An oath meant nothing.
They weren’t going to use the well anyway.
...Did he catch on?
It was possible. This damn junior had an annoyingly sharp sense at moments like this.
The kid really had the instincts for the job.
Please.
Ho Yuwon’s stillness was also unsettling. He should have been scheming to interfere or to take the employee himself, but he was oddly quiet and well-behaved.
And the fact that Deputy Lee was following along... gave him a bad feeling.
But he couldn’t tell her to stop. He couldn’t risk tipping anyone off.
Agent Choi sharpened his focus and kept walking.
Behind him, Ryu Jaegwan was probably getting the makeshift glass prison ready.
Thanks, Jaegwan.
His junior, hopeless at lying, was rushing to prepare in order to back him up—helping him capture someone who’d just returned alive.
Agent Choi kept moving.
Step.
Step.
With each footfall, the well drew closer...
“Here.”
Ryu Jaegwan quickly pried open the sealed top.
...Damp, trapped air drifted out, carrying a strange smell.
Agent Choi inhaled and, smiling, turned to 130666—no, Kim Soleum.
“...It’d be hard for you to go in first, right? I’ll go down ahead and show you it’s safe. See? Could be other stuff in there.”
The gas mask looked at him in silence.
He grinned, then lowered a foot into the well.
Good, the footholds are still here.
They hadn’t collapsed.
Carefully slotting his boots into the wall crevices, he climbed down as quickly as possible.
To lure him without any variables.
And when his boots finally touched bottom—
“Oh! Looks like it’ll work! Come down.”
At his call, the horned figure peered inside.
“...Once you’re down here, I’ll send the signal to activate the transport.”
Please.
......
Tap.
Black boots stepped down the wall, descending.
The smoke drifted down like pooling mist, yet 130666’s body arrived in the well in a way that defied physical logic—fitting for a supernatural phenomenon.
Hah...
A strange swell—whether nausea or something else—rose in Agent Choi’s throat, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Gotta pull this off.
To make the act more convincing, he reached through the black smoke and set the goblin lamp down in the center of the well floor.
As if he were really sending the activation signal.
In truth, it was a silent signal meant for someone else.
For Ryu Jaegwan.
“Alright, so...”
Now, Jaegwan needed to move in and help capture him.
But then—
Light burst from the goblin lamp at his feet.
“...!!”
Wait.
This is...
The kind of reaction you only saw when a transport signal truly activated at a nexus point.
It was really going to transport?
To where?
And the strangeness didn’t stop there.
Within the black smoke of 130666’s body, something shone—similar to the lamp’s glow.
A small rectangle, inside an inner coat pocket.
“...?”
As if to confirm it, 130666 took it out.
It was... some kind of employee ID. But not from Baekilmong.
The company name read—
“Yu-Kwae Research Institute”...?
And in that instant—
The light grew stronger.
“...!”
Those watching from above also caught on immediately.
Damn!
Ryu Jaegwan hesitated for a split second, then clenched his teeth and leapt into the well. He couldn’t let only those two be transported.
And trailing behind, Lee Seonghae leaned in.
“Oh.”
Sensing this was serious, and wanting to “help” the nice people, she jumped in after them.
She had the whole day free, after all—it was her day off!
And so, moments later—
When Ho Yuwon quietly approached the well and peered down—he saw this:
“Ah.”
The well was empty.
Ho Yuwon gripped the stone rim with both hands, a rush of elation in his fingers.
***
......
It’s dark.
Noisy.
The muscle aches, the bone-deep chill from sleeping on a cold surface—it’s making my whole body ache.
I’m definitely sprawled out on some kind of concrete floor... But I’m so damned tired, my eyes are glued shut, and I can’t...
Tired?
“...!!”
I snapped my eyes open.
The back of my neck was damp, as if I’d woken from some skin-crawling nightmare. I wiped away the cold sweat beading there and let out a breath.
“Huu...”
......
...Wait.
...That voice.
I—I just made a sound.
“...!!”
And my hands—bare hands. With nails, knuckles, fingerprints. Ordinary human hands. I ran them over myself. Hair. Cold sweat. Teeth. A face...
I lifted my head and looked around.
Right next to me, reflected dimly in a dark pane of glass, was a silhouette.
“...A person.”
It was me.
I just stared, blank, at the human figure reflected in the glass.
I couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
It was only a beat later that I realized—
There were several familiar figures collapsed around me.
And...
That this place was a subway platform.
“......”
I staggered to my feet. The station name, hidden behind a pillar, slid into view...