Chapter 118

30 minutes earlier.

I was sitting in the manager’s office with Cha Si-eon.

How long had we been there, in a place without Manager Kwon Mu-seop himself, idly flipping through meeting materials?

Click—

“Sorry, you waited long, didn’t you?”

Manager Kwon Mu-seop and Deputy Manager Yoon U-jeong entered the room.

Kwon Mu-seop was in full dress uniform, as if he had been outside.

Yoon U-jeong was in service uniform, as usual.

“My external schedule ended later than planned, whew…….”

Explaining the reason for his delay, Kwon Mu-seop walked over busily.

Kwon Mu-seop took off his outerwear and sat on the sofa.

Yoon U-jeong also sat across from us and asked Kwon Mu-seop,

“How was the atmosphere?”

“Brutal…… They fought for ages over how to tally the deaths.”

“No, why are they fighting over that?”

“They are people for whom numbers are important. They were practically risking their lives by ministry over whether to tally the deaths from the time of disappearance or the time of discovery.”

“So what did they decide?”

“They did not reach a conclusion.”

“This is driving me insane…….”

At Yoon U-jeong’s sigh, Kwon Mu-seop pressed hard at the corners of his eyes as if exhausted.

The Bureau had many meetings.

Especially since 「National Museum of Korea Where a False God Looks Down」 stopped functioning, the managers had been called around even outside the Bureau.

Because the number of victims suddenly added was far too high, chaos had broken out above as well.

“No, they have to decide quickly so we can do our work. Right now, the number of victims from 「National Museum of Korea」 has passed 1,000. They say if we add the remains not yet classified, at least 300 more will likely come out. What are they doing, dragging things out like this?”

Yoon U-jeong looked dumbfounded at Kwon Mu-seop’s words.

As Yoon U-jeong said, the number of victims from 「National Museum of Korea」 was still increasing even now.

And the overwhelming majority of those victims were the remains that had been blocking the passages of 「National Museum of Korea」.

When the excavation of remains first began, they had expected the number of victims to be around 800.

The basis for that estimate was that 「National Museum of Korea」 had been abandoned for roughly 2 years, and 「False God」 ate 1 person every day.

So they had set the minimum at 700 and added 100 more while considering variables.

But once classification actually began, the real number of victims far exceeded the estimate.

As the already serious situation worsened further, it seemed those above were fighting over where responsibility lay.

And there, the Bureau seemed to be a shrimp getting its back broken in a fight between whales.

“An audit will probably come down on our side soon.”

“Ah, tell them to come. We submitted all our reports. When we asked them to supplement our personnel, they dodged the subject like that, and now they have the nerve…….”

Yoon U-jeong kept grumbling, and Kwon Mu-seop laughed weakly.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop was by no means an easy person, but in subtle ways, he was the neighborhood punching bag.

Still, he was our manager, so I hoped he did not get hit outside.

Kwon Mu-seop leaned back against the sofa and caught his breath, then soon raised his waist with a groan.

“I skimmed the report on the way here. You both suffered during vacation. It would have been nice if you had come back well rested.”

Kwon Mu-seop spoke while opening the report placed on the table.

It was the report on Cha Si-eon’s and my consecutive exploration of 「Railway Station」 and 「Library」.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop, who had been scanning the report, sighed deeply once more.

“So Si-eon flowed into 「Railway Station」 first…….”

But that was all he murmured.

He did not question the fact that Cha Si-eon had been dragged into 「Railway Station」.

Rather, he looked as if what was coming had come.

It seemed Cha Si-eon was doing work related to Agent Lee Seop in an area I did not know about.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop also seemed to know that.

Perhaps because of that, Kwon Mu-seop could not easily open his mouth.

Cha Si-eon, on the other hand, began reporting dryly.

“First, the exterior condition of Railway Station was good. The form of ruins we last observed appears to have been completely restored.”

“I see…….”

“The location where I flowed in was the waiting hall of 「Railway Station」. The siren sounded the moment I entered, and crushing and paralysis symptoms began approximately 20 seconds later. Immediately after the helmet I was wearing was damaged, Mr. Seo Do-un was also dragged into the waiting hall of 「Railway Station」.”

“When Do-un came, the crushing moved to Do-un’s side.”

“Yes.”

“And after that, when you made contact with Do-un, you were immediately transferred to 「Library」?”

“That is correct.”

Kwon Mu-seop was silent for a while.

He quietly flipped through the report, then soon murmured with a bitter smile.

“Should we at least thank 「Crow」 for this?”

“Then Do-un would feel a little disappointed.”

“That is true.”

At Yoon U-jeong’s words, Kwon Mu-seop laughed while furrowing his brow.

Then he became serious again and murmured,

“To think it even stopped the attack it was making and targeted only Do-un repeatedly…….”

“Why does it do that only to Do-un?”

“I wonder……. But if 「Crow」 really moved Do-un for the purpose of rescuing Si-eon, then it would mean 「Crow」’s side also knew. That Do-un is the siren’s priority attack target.”

“…….”

It was a chilling thing to hear.

So, in other words, does this not mean I am treated as a priority target for disposal among the entities of Special Zones?

“It is inappropriate to leave 「Railway Station Where the Siren Sounds」 as it is.”

At that moment, Cha Si-eon opened his mouth.

“So I would like 「Railway Station」 included among the Special Zones to be stopped this time.”

The 「Big Cat」 rings that had entered second production would soon be completed.

The number of rings being made this time was 3 in total.

The number of Special Zones whose operation we could stop was also 3.

Whether the Special Zones whose functioning could be stopped with a 「Big Cat」 ring were limited only to Type 1, or whether Type 2 or Type 3 was also possible, had not yet been confirmed.

However, because of the limited quantity, they could not take pointless risks or perform experiments, so for the moment, only Type 1 Special Zones were being treated as targets to be stopped.

That was why Cha Si-eon suggested including 「Railway Station」, a Type 1 Special Zone, among those targets, but Kwon Mu-seop immediately furrowed his brows.

“Do you not know the target selection criteria?”

“I know them.”

Kwon Mu-seop looked at him as if asking, and you are saying this while knowing that?

Except in very special cases, the Bureau operated extremely conservatively.

To what extent? To the extent that people said they protected themselves too much.

The operation to stop Type 1 Special Zones, which would begin soon, was the same.

So Special Zones with severely high danger levels were naturally excluded from the targets.

But stopping Special Zones that had already stabilized was a loss.

As a compromise between the two, mid-grade Type 1 Special Zones that could produce maximum efficiency with minimum loss were being mentioned as operation targets.

It was not as if he did not know this.

Cha Si-eon continued to test his opinion.

“But we cannot continue leaving an uncontrollable zone as it is. Monitoring has also been suspended, and if reorganization proceeds as it is, there is a possibility it will become like 「National Museum of Korea」. If that time comes, response will become even more difficult.”

“…….”

“Moreover, continuing to bear the risk of 「Railway Station」 is wasteful. Because of that, even meaningful data is being left alone. So now, we must resolve it and move on.”

At this point, did he not come here determined?

Cha Si-eon seemed to want to deal with 「Railway Station」 by any means.

On the other hand, Kwon Mu-seop’s mood was not very willing.

The composition felt somewhat strange.

In the Bureau, there was a saying that “it is common knowledge that Cha Si-eon obeys Kwon Mu-seop.”

But as if making those words meaningless, Cha Si-eon, sitting beside me now, was pushing Kwon Mu-seop head-on.

“How exactly are you saying you will carry out that operation? And what about the fact that the siren targets Do-un first?”

“Mr. Seo Do-un can enter after the inside has been cleared, as during 「Hotel」. And regarding the operation, I think the response strategy we discussed before is worth attempting.”

“…….”

“If you assign convicts to me, I will try it myself.”

Is he saying he will clear 「Railway Station」 with only convicts?

By what method?

Of course, if they entered as a group, they would be able to buy time.

Because the siren’s crushing attacked one person at a time.

And that crushing could be interfered with from the side.

Did he mean they would respond while buying time like that?

The idea was novel, but in any case, it was a gamble with lives at stake.

On top of that, he was not saying he would do it with team members who were in sync with him, but with convicts.

No, in the first place, using convicts itself meant they were assuming a few would die.

But Team Leader Cha himself would personally command and attempt that.

I had already felt it several times, but Cha Si-eon sometimes became recklessly foolhardy without any plan.

Even to my eyes it looked like this, so what would it look like to Kwon Mu-seop or Yoon U-jeong?

Silence flowed.

Kwon Mu-seop silently clenched and unclenched his hand.

Every time he clenched his fist, the tendons on the back of his hand stood out.

Was it only my imagination that I felt a faint anger in that hand movement?

“No, but can we even choose this?”

At that moment, Yoon U-jeong cut in.

“Last time too, we tried to stop 「Hotel」, but 「Crow」 changed it to 「National Museum of Korea」. Don’t we have to get permission from 「Crow」 first? Isn’t that right, Manager?”

“Yes, that may be so.”

Kwon Mu-seop answered Yoon U-jeong’s half-joking question briefly.

At that moment, I was certain.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop is angry right now.

At the cold atmosphere Kwon Mu-seop was giving off, I too watched the mood.

Even though Yoon U-jeong had deliberately interrupted once, the atmosphere did not easily loosen.

No, rather, it was gradually becoming more and more like thin ice.

It was then.

Ding! Ding!

Alarms rang as if overlapping.

Perhaps a group notification had come for the senior officials, because the sound rang simultaneously from Kwon Mu-seop’s, Yoon U-jeong’s, and Cha Si-eon’s smart devices.

Cha Si-eon looked at his smartphone and said,

“They say Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s autopsy results came out.”

---

We all moved to a seminar room.

The people from the Research Division had already arrived and were sitting there.

“You said the autopsy results came out.”

“Yes. First, the deceased’s cause of death is said to be death from shock due to excessive bleeding.”

The researcher immediately explained the autopsy results.

But from the very start, I could not understand.

Excessive bleeding?

When I first found Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s body, it had been almost intact.

“As far as I know, there were no particular external injuries at the time of discovery.”

“The bleeding occurred inside the body. If you look at the back page of the report, there is an illustration.”

We all turned the pages of the report together.

There was a human body diagram commonly used in hospitals drawn there.

And over that human body diagram, something like a stain that was difficult to define had been added.

A shape like roots growing from a circle near the chest.

“This is modeled after the wound of unknown cause with tissue loss that was inside the deceased’s body.”

“Wound with tissue loss?”

“A wound with tissue loss refers to a wound where body tissue has been completely lost.”

At the researcher’s explanation, we looked down at the human body diagram again.

A lost wound.

Then did that mean the inside of his body had been empty by the size of this large stain……?

“Inside the deceased’s body, tissues such as bones, muscles, and organs were lost in the same form as that illustration. And it appears the deceased died from bleeding that occurred from those cut surfaces.”

To think only the inside of the body had been torn away while the outside remained intact.

A deep silence settled over the incomprehensible situation.

Kwon Mu-seop broke the silence and asked the researcher,

“Has Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s time of death come out?”

“The deceased’s time of death is estimated to be around 4 a.m. on June 5.”

“…….”

4 a.m. on June 5.

That was the time when I had secured 「False God」’s core.