Chapter 156

To everyone at the Bureau.

Hello. This is Seo Do-un.

If you are reading this, it probably means I am no longer of this world.

First, I hope my death is not too great a sorrow to you.

To begin with, I…….

Nooo!

As another scream surged up, I clamped both hands over my mouth.

Then Baek Sa-ra also covered her mouth as if enduring something.

Cha Si-eon, who was beside her, also somehow grabbed his own chin with a serious face and began staring into the distance.

All of us on the arch swallowed what we had to say for different reasons.

In that state, 30 minutes that felt almost eternal passed.

The 「Funeral Procession」 finally ended.

“Careful.”

Baek Sa-ra, who had gone down first, caught me as I descended on the wire.

But after gauging my weight, she said to Cha Si-eon, who was coming down from the arch,

“I think I can carry him on my back.”

“Hold your blade.”

But it was rejected at once.

Baek Sa-ra looked at Cha Si-eon as if protesting.

But I did not want to get involved in this back-and-forth.

“Hurry…….”

At my urging, Cha Si-eon picked me up and began running with Baek Sa-ra as before.

Surely they won’t pull out the wills first thing on the very day we disappear.

Surely they will hold on to hope for about 2 days.

There is a possibility the command staff will open the wills of the missing agents first.

But they probably won’t deliver them to the recipients right away.

Considering the nature of the matter, they will act cautiously. Yes.

……But what if the recipients of the will are Bureau agents who know exactly what the situation is?

Cold sweat flowed just from imagining it.

Of course, I disliked the idea of dying and having my will revealed, but returning to a world where my will had been revealed was unpleasant in yet another sense.

If I had to choose between the two, I would choose living, but if possible, I wanted to live with dignity.

Had this desperation finally reached the heavens?

VROOOOM—!

A familiar engine sound came from beyond the fog.

“Oh, it’s Team Leader Cha.”

Then came a cheerful voice.

“Huh? Baek Sa-ra was here too?”

It was Jeong Jin-u’s voice.

The sound of the bike engine cut off, and footsteps followed.

“No, what’s with Team Leader Cha’s hair? Are you filming a martial arts movie?”

“I met the 「Monks」.”

“Wow, that’s what you look like old? The world really is unfair.”

“More importantly, why are there two of you?”

“Three people can’t ride.”

There was not much informational value in Jeong Jin-u’s words.

Then another voice broke through that nonsense.

“Jeong Jin-u came to find Baek Sa-ra.”

This was Han Seung-yo’s voice.

“Me?”

“You’re the only one without a light.”

“That’s right, Sa-ra. This is a senior’s heart.”

Han Seung-yo and Jeong Jin-u answered Baek Sa-ra, who asked back.

If they are going to start a conversation, I wish they would put me down too.

But as if he had completely forgotten about me, Cha Si-eon continued speaking while carrying me as he was.

“What happened to Nos. 9 through 12?”

“No. 9 and No. 11 rendezvoused, and Seung-yo is No. 12. He said he was moving toward you, so I picked him up.”

So it seemed Jeong Jin-u had ridden out on the bike because he was worried about Baek Sa-ra, who had no light.

Then he had met Han Seung-yo alone, and since Han Seung-yo was going in the same direction anyway, he had picked him up while he was at it.

But since he had met Baek Sa-ra here, there was no need to move farther.

Jeong Jin-u asked Baek Sa-ra,

“But did you have a light?”

“No.”

“The light with me belonged to Mr. Seo Do-un. Baek Sa-ra joined us midway.”

“Agent Do-un?”

Jeong Jin-u looked for me.

Only then did Cha Si-eon seem to remember my existence too.

But, urgh, this bastard.

Just as Cha Si-eon had done earlier, he peeled me off and showed me to the people.

“What is this?”

Jeong Jin-u made a fuss after seeing me.

Han Seung-yo did not show much of a reaction, but perhaps he was inwardly surprised, because his gaze fixed on me.

“We met the 「Monks」, and this happened.”

“You got old, and Seo Do-un got younger?”

“Yes.”

“Wow…… He really is on another level…….”

Jeong Jin-u looked at me in pure wonder.

To escape this spectacle, I spoke seriously.

“Did you perhaps see 「Railway Station」 or 「Island」 on your way here?”

Jeong Jin-u stared at me.

Then he pressed a hand around his own chest and monologued,

“I suddenly want to get married. I want to take my son to places like baseball stadiums.”

Please do not use another person’s abnormality as your motivation for marriage…….

Cha Si-eon asked Jeong Jin-u, who was firing off nonsense,

“Have there been any unusual points so far?”

“Uh, no. Just the same bridge the whole time.”

Jeong Jin-u finally answered the question, but this was also a problem in its own way.

Jeong Jin-u had traveled quite a long distance.

At first, he had been above our heads, so on his way here, he had gone about halfway around this circular road.

Moreover, agents from No. 3 to No. 7 were scattered around the remaining half.

In that case, the end of the ring should have begun appearing by now.

Why is there no news at all?

“What was the route here like?”

“Like going out for a stroll?”

“Then please keep riding in this direction. If you discover anything unusual, signal us, and if not, circle around once and rendezvous with us.”

“Got it. I’ll check the others’ condition too.”

“Senior Han, you should move with him as well.”

“Right.”

At Cha Si-eon’s request, Han Seung-yo nodded too.

For now, the plan was to go around the full circle.

Jeong Jin-u turned to get on the bike.

Then, as if remembering something, he turned back toward us.

“Before that, you three stand together.”

Jeong Jin-u gestured to us.

Click—!

Jeong Jin-u took a picture of us with the tablet camera.

Looking at the picture he had taken, Jeong Jin-u snickered and said,

“It looks like a family photo.”

Who decided that…….

I did not particularly like Jeong Jin-u’s remark, and Baek Sa-ra seemed the same.

By contrast, Cha Si-eon said as if it were nothing,

“Please send it to me too.”

“You want it?”

“I will attach it to the report.”

Cha Si-eon did not budge despite Jeong Jin-u’s continued teasing.

Perhaps because he really had aged, he was not getting baited at all.

While he was at it, Jeong Jin-u took a few more pictures.

“Communications are down. I’ll send the pictures after we get out.”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m going. Take care!”

With Han Seung-yo on the back, Jeong Jin-u waved to us.

Then, as if we would soon meet again, he began riding smoothly once more.

---

There were still three of us.

Meanwhile, Jeong Jin-u’s bike was circling quickly and was already meeting the other lights.

At that speed, Jeong Jin-u would soon complete one circle.

But there was still no signal at all.

No matter how thick the fog was, there was no way a huge area like 「Railway Station」 or 「Island」 would not be visible.

I began to feel gradually anxious.

Is our hypothesis wrong, or is space distorted?

Why is 「Crow」 this quiet?

At this point, it seems like it should be interfering or intervening.

As the situation showed no sign of resolving, impatience began to build.

I felt as if I suddenly understood why children rolled on the floor, unable to contain their own frustration.

Because my inner capacity was still narrow, even light stress was difficult to bear.

Damn it.

As expected, it was not pleasant.

Becoming a child who could do nothing.

Being endlessly powerless and able only to watch the world move.

At that moment, Cha Si-eon, who had been running while carrying me, suddenly stopped dead.

Then he looked back at Baek Sa-ra, who had stopped before he had.

“Why?”

“Wait a moment.”

Baek Sa-ra went back along the path we had just come from.

This path was on the bridge, no different from the road we had been running on so far.

But perhaps sensing some wrongness, Baek Sa-ra began carefully observing the surroundings.

After some time.

“Please come here.”

Baek Sa-ra called us.

“Do you see that?”

Baek Sa-ra pointed toward the roadway.

It was an ordinary roadway.

It only looked whitish because the fog was too thick.

“The lane markings are misaligned. And they are too long.”

Lane markings?

Baek Sa-ra crossed over the guardrail and entered the roadway.

The road had a generous three lanes in one direction, and white dotted lines divided them.

Baek Sa-ra stood in front of one of those white lane markings.

Just as Baek Sa-ra said, the line was about 1.5 times longer than an ordinary lane marking.

And the middle part was slightly misaligned.

At a glance, it looked like a trace of a painting mistake.

But Baek Sa-ra began persistently tracing that sense of wrongness from there.

After stepping back over the guardrail, Baek Sa-ra examined the bridge railing and said,

“The interval between the railings is different too. Team Leader, please shine the light toward the river.”

As Baek Sa-ra requested, Cha Si-eon turned on the searchlight and shone it toward the river.

Because of the thick fog, even with the light shining, nothing could be seen clearly.

We stared persistently down there, and soon discovered it.

“That…….”

“It seems it was not a circle.”

Baek Sa-ra muttered while looking at the river water beneath the bridge.

Down below, covered in fog, blue river water flowed.

But exactly where we stood, the river water was empty.

As if only this river-water block had been removed.

Or as if the miracle of Moses had occurred, and only the water below here had parted.

But that blank space had neither been deleted nor parted.

It was an area where space had curled down below, causing the water surface to slant.

“It seems they overlaid 「Railway Station」 and 「Island」 to make a circle, then cinched the waist once.”

“So not a circle, but a figure-eight shape……?”

At my words, Baek Sa-ra nodded.

That was right.

The long road of 「Great Bridge」 had not simply been connected into a single circle. Its middle had been twisted, forming a shape where two circles touched.

The place we were circling was the empty circle among them.

Then in the other circle…….

“It seems the exit is on the opposite side.”

By opposite side, did she mean beyond that place where the water surface was slanting and creating a bottomless abyss?

If we cross there, can we escape this hamster wheel…….

That was when it happened.

Cha Si-eon snatched Baek Sa-ra by the waist and threw himself sideways.

That was a calamity for me too, hanging from his opposite shoulder.

Just as I thought I had suddenly been thrown.

CRASH—!

Something massive fell where Baek Sa-ra had been standing.

“……!”

Without even knowing what it was, I tangled together with Cha Si-eon and Baek Sa-ra and rolled across the ground.

But there was no time to lie sprawled there.

Cha Si-eon used the momentum of rolling to stand again and began running.

Baek Sa-ra was the same.

Without understanding what was happening, I looked behind us over Cha Si-eon’s shoulder.

Something was charging fiercely toward us.

The moment I recognized it, my breath caught.

「Big Cat」.

On top of that, it had something in its mouth.

Something black.

Something with a beak and feathers…….

I felt my mind going blank.

What 「Big Cat」 held in its mouth was 「Crow」, hanging limp as if dead.