Chapter 42

Baek Sa-ra was appointed to the Bureau 4 years ago through a special track.

At the time, she was only 21 years old.

She was the youngest agent, and among the Field Division personnel at the time, she was the only woman.

Perhaps it was only natural that all kinds of attention gathered on Baek Sa-ra.

“Honestly, if you only look at Sister Sa-ra’s face, she’s just pretty. So apparently, when she was a rookie, there were a lot of people who creepily hit on her.”

Baek Sa-ra was certainly an uncommon beauty.

On top of that, she had just become an adult back then, so it seemed the people around her would not leave her alone.

“But since noona didn’t react, there were apparently people who got pointlessly offended by that. The problem was that among them was Sister Sa-ra’s team leader at the time…….”

“Oh…….”

I had only heard this much, and it was already sticky and unpleasant.

A superior who hit on a new recruit in his own team and even got offended.

Seeing one tells you ten, so I felt as if I could already guess what came afterward.

“That team leader was overly nice to her at first, but whether he got rejected midway or what, from a certain point, he started bullying Sister Sa-ra like crazy. Public humiliation was standard, and he made her do pointless things to roll her around, and even during work, he picked fights over nothing.”

“Ms. Baek Sa-ra endured that?”

“For about 3 months.”

This sounded like she overturned everything after 3 months.

Sure enough, it was right after Baek Sa-ra completed her 3-month probationary period and became a regular agent.

That day too, the team leader attacked Baek Sa-ra out of habit.

“Why is your expression like that? If you have a complaint, just say it. Don’t sit there sulking because you’re a woman.”

It was something he said while they were eating in the cafeteria.

In a place where not only his own team, but other teams were present, as if he wanted them to hear.

That was also a kind of display.

A vulgar showing-off that he could crush a fairly admired female agent beneath him.

Baek Sa-ra’s former team leader was that sort of person, and because Baek Sa-ra knew what was inside him, she had silently endured for the first 3 months.

“No, sir.”

“What do you mean, no? You’re pointlessly sensitive anyway. What, are you on your period?”

On top of that, this level of public humiliation was something that always happened.

So the situation that day itself was nothing particularly special.

“You’re such a fucking princess. Must be nice, having so many excuses.”

A completely ordinary, everyday level of harassment.

But that day was the day after Baek Sa-ra became an official agent, and the team leader should have known that difference.

If he had, he would have made a slightly better choice after seeing Baek Sa-ra’s bright smile.

“Hey, are you laughing?”

“Are you jealous?”

“What?”

At Baek Sa-ra’s unfamiliar response, the team leader let out a hollow laugh as if she were absurd.

Then he was about to press her again, but Baek Sa-ra moved one step first.

“If you’re jealous, do it with me.”

The next moment, Baek Sa-ra’s cafeteria tray planted itself in the team leader’s face.

The seated team leader fell over together with his chair, and Baek Sa-ra also leapt over the table.

What followed was a one-sided assault.

Baek Sa-ra climbed on top of the fallen team leader and struck him mercilessly.

Then, before those around them could pull her off, she grabbed his hair and raised him up.

The blood pooled in the team leader’s nose and mouth streamed down according to gravity.

Whether this should be called a coincidence, or quite malicious.

The blood that had poured down just so happened to wet his crotch.

“So visually, it really looked like he was, well, doing that.”

“……So what happened?”

“Sister Sa-ra got disciplinary action and moved teams. Still, since her official appointment had already finished, she didn’t get fired. The fact that the team leader had bullied her during that time was taken into consideration to some extent, and Manager Kwon Mu-seop was the team leader of the team next to hers back then, and he protected her by saying he would take her and manage her.”

“She deliberately held out until the probationary period ended?”

“Judging by the dates, wouldn’t that be the case?”

This was a little chilling.

If she caused an accident during her probationary period, she would be kicked out, so she endured for now and then struck him immediately on the day after official appointment.

“But this isn’t the end.”

“That team leader got revenge or something?”

“No, not that. Um, menstruation happens once a month, right?”

“Don’t tell me…….”

When I covered my mouth, Jae-gyeom nodded solemnly.

“At first, that team leader was apparently furious and swore he wouldn’t let it go. But since she had already moved to another team, he couldn’t touch her, and exactly one month later, Sister Sa-ra went directly to that team leader.”

“She went to him and?”

“According to witnesses, she said, ‘You have to do it this month too,’ and suddenly kicked him in the face. So that person was carried away covered in blood again, and the nose bone they had barely put back together broke again.”

“……That was the end of it, right?”

“No……. Apparently, it continued for a full 5 months. Every month, whenever that day came, she went and wrecked him, then wrecked him again.”

Ms. Baek Sa-ra, that is too much……!

Why? Why go that far?

In shock and horror, I desperately ran my hope circuit.

“S-still, she stopped before filling half a year.”

“It wasn’t that Sister Sa-ra stopped. That team leader resigned.”

In the end, she drove him out…….

“Getting beaten on a set date was one thing, but the nickname ‘Field Division Menstruating Man’ spread everywhere in the Bureau. Because of that, he developed depression and social phobia, and eventually…….”

Ah, so this was what it meant.

That if Baek Sa-ra marked you, even men menstruated.

“In any case, after that, no bastards approached Baek Sa-ra. It’s a Field Division Survival Rule passed down only orally, one seniors always tell new recruits.”

Kwak Jae-gyeom looked at me as if asking whether I understood.

I understood Baek Sa-ra’s violence.

But I did not understand a single thing beyond that.

“But is it okay for employees to fight like that? You said she got disciplinary action at first.”

“Of course it isn’t.”

“Then why did the team leader quit?”

It was true that the team leader had done wrong, but Ms. Baek Sa-ra’s actions afterward had also been excessive.

No matter how special this group was, could behavior like this be tolerated?

No, insubordination was punished more severely in the military.

And the Bureau was an organization that handled firearms, no different from the military.

“I also only heard this from my seniors, but it seems Sister Sa-ra got hold of that team leader’s weakness.”

“What weakness?”

“I don’t know that far. But well, if he was the kind of guy who hit on even his subordinate, he probably had plenty of things he could be faulted for, right?”

Right, people did not do only one thing.

Then what did this mean in the end?

That team leader had done something wrong enough that he could not make a sound even if he was beaten on a designated day, and Baek Sa-ra used that weakness to abuse that person every month?

……This is truly chilling, isn’t it?

“According to the older guys, Sister Sa-ra seemed like she was enjoying it instead.”

Even just hearing it, it seemed that way.

Otherwise, how could she go to beat someone on a set day every month?

It was not something she did impulsively because her emotions had intensified.

She calmly set a day and beat a person according to plan.

While even holding a weakness that prevented him from resisting.

“Sister Sa-ra doesn’t attack anyone without a reason. But when a reason appears, how should I put it, she’s a little demonic. You saw it, right? How she handled the convicts in the Special Zone.”

I saw it. And I heard it.

“They merely have human shapes. Every single one of them is a vicious murderer. If you pity them, how would the victims who died without guilt, or their families, feel?”

“So never sympathize with them. To begin with, the humans sent to me are ones who deserve to fall into hell.”

“There are quite a few Exploration Team missions that involve going in with convicts. But usually, people really hate that work. Bluntly put, it’s an execution, and no matter how bad a bastard is, if you talk to him and get familiar with his face, human feeling develops, you know. But Sister Sa-ra has none of that at all.”

“I see…….”

“Well, I’m not saying this to badmouth Sister Sa-ra. I’m just telling you so you know. Noona is unusually favorable to you, hyung. She really isn’t originally a kind person.”

I nodded to show I understood.

Certainly, she did seem unusually generous to me.

Why? Did she like the role-play of “lifesaver”?

After thinking for a moment, I asked Jae-gyeom in return.

“Aren’t you fairly close with Ms. Baek Sa-ra too?”

“I go to the hair salon with her.”

With a somewhat proud face, Kwak Jae-gyeom showed off his blond hair.

Ah, right.

I had heard that the hair salon expenses for the Exploration Team people who had infiltration missions, and Kwak Jae-gyeom’s, were paid from the Bureau budget.

To think this guy’s blond hair was maintained with tax money…….

But rather than being close because they went to the hair salon together, I felt like he was simply close because he was Kwak Jae-gyeom.

This guy’s sociability had already been confirmed at our company.

Jae-gyeom had something like a country dog’s side, welcoming anyone and playing well with anyone.

And if she let a country dog come close and was favorable to her lifesaver, was she not simply a kind person?

While I was thinking this, Jae-gyeom added,

“Well, Sister Sa-ra is also a little lenient to Page juniors.”

“Page?”

When I asked back at the unfamiliar term, Jae-gyeom covered his mouth with an expression that said, Oops.

What is this reaction?

“Uh, I think it’d be better to hear that directly from Sister Sa-ra. It’s not just my story.”

Jae-gyeom, equipped with an automatic commentary function, holding back his words was unusual.

Was it that Baek Sa-ra’s frenzy was a Bureau Survival Rule, so it was fine to say, but this was personal?

When I stared at him in puzzlement, Jae-gyeom quietly added,

“If you’re curious, ask her carefully later. If you ask, hyung, she’ll probably tell you.”

---

Whether it was training done with the body or studying done with the head, the principle was the same.

Learning through repetition.

And applying it naturally.

I pressed Kwak Jae-gyeom’s knee and shoulder at the same time.

Then Jae-gyeom, who had been standing with my head caught under his arm, immediately wavered.

After finally knocking him down, I climbed on top of him and struck him straight in the face.

BANG—!

My palm and the helmet Jae-gyeom wore collided, creating a splendid sound of impact.

If it had been his bare face, at least his nose would have bled.

“Well done. You’ve grown much more used to it now.”

Baek Sa-ra, who had been watching, said this in a satisfied voice.

Hehehe.

At hearing praise for once, I inwardly grew smug.

But there was no end to learning, and people must always be humble.

“Jae-gyeom, escape.”

Along with Baek Sa-ra’s instruction, I floated into the air.

Jae-gyeom had bucked his hips upward and thrown me to the side.

Jae-gyeom took the position over me just like that, and our positions were reversed in an instant.

“But you must concentrate until the very end. Otherwise, you’ll be counterattacked like this. Mr. Otter, your weight class isn’t favorable either, so you must always think of ending things with the first strike. With the intent to kill rather than die. Understood?”

Baek Sa-ra was kind yet frightening today too, and today’s training ended like that.

It had already been 3 weeks since I began basic training.

Perhaps because my stamina had increased during that time, now I no longer became senseless like before even when training ended.

Is this what it means to become stronger?

If I keep diligently advancing like this, perhaps choking Cha Si-eon may become possible!

Imagining that splendid future, I closed the locker door.

Then I turned to leave the changing room, and suddenly, the lights went out.

A blackout?

The moment I raised my head in surprise, I realized I was sitting in an unfamiliar space.

“……!”

It had started again.

I hurriedly looked around.

First, the place where I was sitting was one of many rows of seats.

A comfortable but narrow seat.

And beyond the dim darkness, a stage was visible.

I immediately realized the identity of this space.

Almost at the same time, a message appeared on my smartwatch screen.

-Entered 「National Theater That Roots Out the Fake」.

-Discard all items except clothing, shoes, smartwatch, and earpiece.

-Thoroughly conceal Bureau affiliation.

But what did this mean?

Discard my items?

As I was confused by the unexpected instruction, a new message arrived.

-This Special Zone has been seized by contaminated people.