’What do you mean?’ I wanted to ask, but my mind had, in fact, already
understood Agent Haegeum’s words.
It felt like a part of my brain had burst from the shock.
’...The Sealing Ritual is collapsing?’
So, the disaster in Segwang Metropolitan City... will be completely
unleashed?
And that’s,
’...in one week.’
An immense sense of fear began to wash over me reflexively.
Having just experienced the reality of that ’disaster’ firsthand, a panic so
tangible it was almost electric rose from my mind like goosebumps.
’Then....’
It’s over.
’What’s going to happen?’
Even though I knew the horrific truth of the seal, even though I had seen the
suffering of Segwang Metropolitan City’s citizens with my own eyes, my
face must have been deathly pale.
Because in a few days, that scene would befall the entire country!
Helplessly... no, wait a minute.
I looked back at Agent Haegeum.
There was no way I was the only one feeling this terror.
"Does the... Management Bureau not know?"
If they knew, they wouldn’t have just wasted the last 300 days. They would
have surely come up with some kind of countermeasure on their own.
The problem was, if they had a countermeasure, there was no way these two
agents would be speaking in such a tone about an Extinction-class Disaster
breaking out in a week.
’...Are they keeping it a secret?’
Agent Haegeum frowned slightly.
"You know how it is. There are hardly any agents or personnel in the
Management Bureau who know about that special city."
...!
Right. Because they had erased all the agents’ memories and made the city
cognitively inaccessible.
In that process, the Blue Dragon Team’s very existence had been erased, and
the organization had even been restructured as if that was how it had always
been.
But.
"But surely ’someone who knows’ must know."
"..."
Looking into Agent Haegeum’s eyes, I realized who she was talking about.
’Someone who led the Sealing Ritual.’
Someone who pushed forward the ghastly idea of maintaining the Sealing
Ritual by using the people who died endlessly as fuel, making May 4th, the
Day of Disaster, repeat infinitely.
That person in the higher echelons must know.
"...But from what Choi and I have gathered... there have been no particular
movements within the Management Bureau for the past few months. If they
were taking any measures, it should have affected the Sealing Ritual, but
that means even that hasn’t happened."
"That’s...."
Wait.
A horrifying assumption flashed through my mind.
If they aren’t moving now, could it be that...
"...Are they waiting for the seal to disappear completely?"
"..."
"Do you think they’ll perform the Sealing Ritual again, right after it
disappears?"
"Yes."
"...!"
"If they have to seal it anyway, they’ll go with a method that’s already been
proven. I believe there’s a high probability they’ll choose that over an
uncertain reinforcement."
Ha.
"The only problem is... where they’re going to get the ’sacrifices.’?"
Agent Haegeum seemed to feel tension only from that unknown question
itself.
But I already knew the answer.
...They could just offer up the freed citizens of Segwang Metropolitan City
all over again.
’This is insane.’
The hair on my head stood on end.
I opened my mouth urgently.
I have to talk about this....
"Agent Haegeum, have you... discussed the Sealing Ritual with the other
agents?"
About the human sacrifices, I mean.
I tried to refer to it vaguely, but the next moment, I met Agent Choi’s eyes
and knew.
"Why beat around the bush, Grapes-ie? I already heard."
...!
A dry voice, seemingly weary, came from his bitterly smiling face.
But there was almost no anger or confusion.
...He was calm, as if he had already mulled it over a lot.
"Ah. Are you worried about being tracked? It’s fine to talk here. We’re right
under the tiger generals sanctuary, so they can’t follow us."
And he added.
"...It’s a place the Management Bureau doesn’t even know about in the first
place."
"..."
"We tried to somehow get the living citizens out and maintain the existing
Sealing Ritual itself... but we just couldn’t interfere with the ritual at all."
Blue pupils looked at me.
"Right up to this point, with 7 days left until the seal ends."
"..."
His head must have been about to explode.
His direct hubae and a former spy hadn’t woken up since they went missing
in an Extinction-class Disaster, someone in the agency he’d dedicated his
life to was hiding a ghastly secret, and there was no telling what impulsive
thing Ho Yuwon might do....
Seeing his gaunt eyes, which had clearly gotten no rest during his leave of
absence, a chill ran down my own spine.
A crisis right at our doorstep.
’I’m going crazy.’
All sorts of things to deal with swirled in my head. The well-being of
Director Ho and the Security Team, the state of the researchers at Twilight
Station, the rent for the Blood Broadcasting Station, the Lizard body that
was being stored at Manager Lee Jaheon’s company residence....
The suffocating gaps of 293 days.
But all these worries would become pointless if we couldn’t stop the
Extinction-class Disaster that would strike in a week.
But sealing Segwang Metropolitan City again... I couldn’t bring myself to
think of that act positively.
If it ends up one way, it’s hell for some people; if it ends up another way, it’s
hell for others.
’...At this point, how much does Director Ho know?’
No, get a grip.
If I couldn’t change the fact that the situation was upon us, I had to move
faster.
I had to resolve this situation somehow.
"Agent Grapes, be careful...."
"I’m fine."
I stood up from my seat without support. My legs were trembling.
My head cleared.
The first thing I needed was....
"I’d like to see Yeongeun, I mean... Agent Peppermint."
The incident where the seal began to unravel.
Let’s get the details from the person who was the focal point during the
Train Shelter escape.
Quickly.
* * *
It was less than half a day later that Ms. Go Young-eun arrived at Agent
Choi’s hideout, guided by Agent Haegeum.
"Soleum!"
Yeongeun looked perfectly fine.
Instead of the haggard padded jacket from the Segwang Special City
Subway, she was in the same neat and tidy appearance as when I first saw
her at the company, wearing casual clothes without any alterations.
...Which also meant that all her visible body parts were there.
-The body parts that Yeongeun lost at the Body Casino....
-She got them back from the Body Casino after the escape.
-...!
-That’s right.
"You really woke up. I’m so, so glad...."
-Less than a fortnight after the escape, she called for Choi and asked him to
tell her how to enter Segwang Metropolitan City again, ’the way to escape
by dying.’
-In the end, she went right back in as soon as she recovered. And she went
to the reopened Body Casino and found every single part she had lost.
-All that’s left is her ring finger. She said someone else had already taken it
from the pawnshop.
I saw Ms. Go Young-eun’s left hand, missing its ring finger, sweep over her
face, hiding a sigh of relief.
Then I spoke with difficulty.
"Yeongeun. I should have come to see you, but given the current situation,
it was difficult, so I asked the agents to invite you here."
"Of course, it’s fine! No, you must be exhausted, having just woken up with
all your strength gone and everything...."
But a flicker of curiosity passed through Ms. Go Young-eun’s eyes when
she realized I was in better shape than she expected. Instead of asking about
it outright, however, she just quietly closed her mouth.
...Even in that, I felt a strange passage of time.
"Yeongeun, are you doing well? ...I heard you’ve been entering the special
city’s subway."
"Me...? I’m better than before. I’m living with my aunt. My aunt... has
forgotten about what happened, though."
Ms. Go Young-eun’s voice seemed to darken for a moment, but then it
returned.
"Actually, part of the reason I’m trying to get reinstated as an agent is so I
don’t have my memory erased."
Ah.
"You might say it’s calculating... but losing my memories feels like losing
myself."
She added that she had implicitly postponed the memory wipe by
expressing her desire to ’be reinstated’ right after her rescue.
"Afterward, I just fudged it and said I got my body parts back thanks to an
Item. ...It feels a bit excessive, doesn’t it? This is the Disaster Management
Bureau, not Daydream."
"No. I completely understand."
Especially from the perspective of Ms. Go Young-eun, who had tried to get
a Wish Ticket while having lost her memories of her family in Segwang
Metropolitan City, without even knowing why she’d forgotten.
And....
Thinking that far, I couldn’t bring myself to speak further.
I couldn’t bear to say it again so nonchalantly after telling the two agents, so
I had planned to say it when all three of them were together.
’Damn it.’
But time was short, and ruin was approaching.
"Yeongeun."
"Yes?"
"There’s... good news, and bad news."
A bitter smile appeared on Agent Choi’s lips and then vanished.
But as he listened to my next words, even that bitter smile disappeared
without a trace.
"To start with the good news, there’s a possibility that the others will also
wake up safely."
"That’s... that’s really good news!"
A spark of joy lit up Ms. Go Young-eun’s voice before she quickly
composed herself.
Agent Choi’s eyes were also on me.
"Are Assistant Manager Haje and Ryu Jaegwan... and Manager Lee Jaheon
alive? The three of them also disappeared from the train... I figured they...
fell together."
I nodded slowly. A flash of cold anger crossed Ms. Go Young-eun’s face.
"...That Chief Conductor pushed them, didn’t he?"
"..."
"I knew it. So that’s what happened. That crazy bastard...."
Saying she didn’t regret hitting him at all, Ms. Go Young-eun took a breath
to regain her composure and spoke.
"Still, I’m glad they’re alive. ...We couldn’t find any trace of the four of you
in the subway, no matter how hard we looked."
"..."
"Then you were on the surface, right?"
"Yes. ...It was completely unexpected, but people were living on the
surface of Segwang Metropolitan City, too."
I met Ms. Go Young-eun’s eyes.
"And they were dying every day."
"...Excuse me?"
The atmosphere grew chillingly cold.
"...What does that mean?"
I told her.
Of the tragedy of Segwang Metropolitan City, where May 4th repeated
itself.
"...!!"
And....
"...That’s, the way to seal the disaster?"
"..."
"By repeating the day over and over, so that no matter how much time
passes, the disaster never leaves the city’s radius, people are just... dying
every day?"
Emotion slowly began to boil in Ms. Go Young-eun’s dazed words.
"Then what about my mom and dad?"
"Yeongeun...."
"It’s been years... n-..."
There was a sharp intake of breath. I hurriedly went to her side to pat her
back, but Ms. Go Young-eun pushed my hand away.
...!
"..."
For a while, there was no answer from her bowed head.
Then, a slow mumble could be heard.
"...Is this real? This is reality? It really... happened like that?"
"...It could just be my speculation,"
"But you were always right! Your deductions were always right! What’s the
point of saying that now...."
She caught her breath again.
A piercing silence settled in the cave.
I saw Ms. Go Young-eun’s tightly clenched fists.
They were trembling, pale as a sheet.
I saw Agent Choi slowly rise and silently approach Ms. Go Young-eun’s
side.
He, and Agent Haegeum too, were deathly pale. But they didn’t show their
shock in front of the person whose family was involved.
After barely catching my breath, I asked him a suggestive question in a
small voice.
"...Do you know?"
That Ms. Go Young-eun....
"If I know that the special city’s seal will break in 7 days?"
...!
"I know. The ability to hear ’rumors related to the special city’ didn’t
disappear even after I came out. In fact, those rumors were part of the
reason I kept trying to go into the subway."
Ms. Go Young-eun’s voice was cracked.
"I was thinking."
"...Yes?"
"If we just let that seal break... couldn’t it maybe break while my mom and
dad are still alive?"
...!
"It’s May 4th repeating over and over. So if the timing is just right, if it
breaks at a time when a lot of people are still alive... wouldn’t they be fixed
in a living state?"
[Oh, an interesting speculation!]
I, on the contrary, felt my blood run cold.
It seemed unlikely that things would turn out so conveniently and well, but
I couldn’t bring myself to refute it.
"...Yeongeun. In that situation, this entire country will... in a matter of
days."
"We can just run away somewhere far. If we go to the other side of the
world, we might be safe...! And-"
Ms. Go Young-eun’s voice was breathless, yet cold.
"Why should I have to care about that?"
"...!"
"Whether it goes to ruin or not, they can figure it out themselves, I don’t
care, ha, I’m sorry...."
Ms. Go Young-eun gritted her teeth.
"No, I’m not sorry at all. ...I only want to apologize for getting angry at
you, Agent Choi."
"..."
Agent Haegeum set down her sword.
And slowly patted Ms. Go Young-eun’s back.
"Actually, you don’t have to apologize for that either. I feel much the
same...."
"..."
I could see that Ms. Go Young-eun was gritting her teeth and crying silent
tears.
They seemed to be tears not of sadness, but of agony and rage.
...A suppressed indignation, similar to the counselor’s.
I also suppressed a surge of emotion.
’...Is there really no way?’
Was Ms. Go Young-eun’s idea just a personal plan or wishful thinking?
Or....
....
Wait a minute.
"What if we end it before then?"
"...Excuse me?"
"Before the seal breaks, if we end the disaster... it might be possible."
"Agent Grapes!"
"Wait."
But Agent Choi looked at me instantly.
A strange light flickered in his eyes.
"So, you’re saying that if the disaster ends right before the seal breaks... the
citizens could end up alive."
"Yes."
It felt like a spark was igniting in my head.
I now know how to get out of the subway.
’I just have to walk along the maintenance tracks.’
If I set foot on the surface of Segwang Metropolitan City in the morning
when the day resets.
At some point in the very beginning, before the city itself becomes
completely contaminated.
’The attempt to end it... I can try it...!’
And I already had a ’method’ I had been preparing after getting a hint.
-Then somehow smuggle out the dream incubator that Daydream Inc.
copied -and try installing it in the remaining Cheerful Research Institute
facility The Daydream Potion Maker that I smuggled out.
And the ones I entrusted it to....
The researchers.
....
In my mind, the experience of May 4th, the Day of Disaster, and the content
of that note clicked together.
I almost had it, but not quite. But....
"Even if the chances are slim, we can at least try, can’t we?"
I raised my head.
Ms. Go Young-eun was catching her breath.
In her eyes, the conflict of not wanting to hope and a fierce calculation
flashed like electricity.
"Yeongeun."
"..."
"Have you ever visited Twilight Station in the special city’s underground?
There’s a resort pop-up store there, and there...."
"...You’re talking about Mr. Heo-un, right?"
"Yes. And the Daydream Researchers should have been there...."
But looking at Ms. Go Young-eun’s expression, I knew the answer.
"They weren’t there... were they?"
"No."
...!!
"Wait a moment."
Just before my blood ran cold, Ms. Go Young-eun’s calm voice was heard.
"I’ve heard a ’rumor’ that Director Ho... has secured the Daydream
employees who went missing in the subway."
...!
"I think the current project team... probably has them secured somewhere
in a subway station."
....
"...Are those people... necessary for the attempt to end it?"
I nodded.
"Then... let’s go meet them."
"...!"
"Before it’s too late, let’s go see Director Ho."
D-6 until the Day of Disaster.