Chapter 45

CRASH—!

The 「Fake Human」 was thrown down in one move.

And I was the one flustered by what I had done.

What did I just do?

Ms. Baek Sa-ra, are you watching?

You have finally turned a frail editor into a human weapon.

“You must concentrate until the very end.”

Ah, right.

I had been admiring myself blankly, but I remembered Baek Sa-ra’s words and moved again.

This 「Fake Human」 was definitely stronger than me.

So I had to end it in one move.

A strike? No, that would not guarantee an end.

Then, rather.

I grabbed one leg of the fallen 「Fake Human」.

There were parts of the human body that could never be trained.

Namely, joints.

Intending to twist and break the 「Fake Human」’s ankle, I hooked my leg around its leg.

Mm, but.

Had there been anything saying these things had joints exactly the same as humans?

CRUNCH—!

Why does a bad feeling never turn out wrong?

Before I could even twist it, the 「Fake Human」 broke its own ankle and freed itself from the hold.

“Urgh……!”

Horrified, I prepared for a counterattack.

BANG—!

At that moment, the door opened.

The teddy bear poked his head in again.

And the 「Fake Human」 abruptly stopped moving.

The 「Fake Human」, whose pupils had even returned to normal, groaned beneath me.

“S-save me…….”

At the sight of the 「Fake Human」 becoming a skinny old man again and suffering, I was genuinely flustered.

On top of that, my current posture, standing there trampling an old man, was the model of unfilial conduct.

“No, this is……!”

I was about to protest when the skeletons rushed in.

I moved backward to avoid them.

But their target had never been me to begin with.

CLACK—!

The skeletons handcuffed Im Jong-hak, who was a 「Fake Human」.

And the teddy bear came toward me and grinned.

“Whoa, looks like you worked out?”

You bastard…….

“These guys are rude like this. If you’re alone with them, their eyes flip and they rush you, like, bam.”

“You tested that while knowing it?”

If I had not been wary in advance, I would have been done for.

Since I was upset anyway, I deliberately snapped at him.

“If that was the case, you should’ve told me beforehand, or at least tied it up! I almost died!”

“Ah, we want to do it safely too. But when these guys’ eyes flip and they start hunting, they get crazy strong and break out of restraints. That’s why we just don’t tie them. If we tie them, only the person gets screwed.”

When I burst out in anger, the teddy bear made a sly excuse.

And what the teddy bear had just said was true.

I knew that habit too, but it would be more natural to say this much.

When I continued getting angry, the teddy bear pretended to soothe me and led me outside.

Then he said to me and Choi Sang-eun, who had come out first,

“We caught all the fakes now, so you can relax. Sorry if it was scary.”

What is this?

The teddy bear suddenly became kind.

“Raid Leader!”

At that moment, one skeleton who had inspected the performance hall ran over to the teddy bear.

“There are two dead people inside.”

“Oh no, how unfortunate. Everyone, a moment of silence.”

The teddy bear clasped his hands as if praying and bowed his head.

Then the other skeletons also closed their eyes and bowed their heads in similar postures.

Seriously, what is this politeness?

I thought they were an insane violent group. Were they not?

And it seemed they had not found the Bureau vest I had thrown off yet.

It had fallen under the seat, so they seemed to have simply passed it by.

As I secretly stroked down my chest, Choi Sang-eun asked the teddy bear,

“Please explain now. What is all this? Where on earth is this place, and why am I here?”

Choi Sang-eun, who had been asking urgently, suddenly turned pale.

“Could it be that I’m already dead?”

“No, there are separate dead people, so why are you like that? Mister, you’re perfectly alive.”

The teddy bear answered with a giggle.

“Mister, have you played games?”

“Games?”

“When you’re playing a game and hit a bug, you go outside the map and wander around where there isn’t supposed to be a path. It’s like that. You just got unlucky, glitched wrong, and fell in here.”

“What does that even mean? Then what are those monsters? And that stage earlier too…….”

“Ah, don’t ask me. When you go to a mountain, there are lots of bugs, but you don’t know their names. They’re just bugs like that.”

The teddy bear’s explanation was quite clear despite its lack of sincerity.

He seemed fairly accustomed to the Special Zone’s environment.

But for Choi Sang-eun, who was experiencing all this for the first time, it threw him into confusion.

So I cut in.

“Then what are you guys? Are you people who live here?”

“Us? We’re just helping people.”

……Really?

“Getting out of here is surprisingly easy. But people don’t know that, so a ton of them die all disorganized. Even if they know, if they get overwhelmed by those fake bastards’ numbers, they’re wiped out. So we’re managing things.”

Seriously?

Were you really good kids?

“Are you from some organization or institution?”

“Huh? No, we’re just doing this among ourselves.”

“Then just vigilante activity?”

“Vigilante?”

At Choi Sang-eun’s question, the teddy bear scratched his costume head.

Then he looked back at the skeletons and asked,

“What’s a vigilante?”

“Isn’t it a YouTuber?”

“…….”

At the teddy bear gang’s innocence, Choi Sang-eun and I lost our words.

These guys were a little rough and stupid, but they did not seem like bad guys.

Come to think of it, the message earlier had only told me to hide that I belonged to the Bureau.

In other words, making contact as an ordinary citizen was fine.

Thinking this, I felt somewhat relieved.

“Follow me for now. There are other people who came here first too.”

The teddy bear gestured and took the lead, and Choi Sang-eun and I followed him for now.

At that moment, Choi Sang-eun took the performance brochure out of the inner pocket of his suit and asked,

“Where are the officials who made this manual?”

“Ah, you shouldn’t bring that with you. The next person has to see it too. Hey, No. 7! Put this back in the theater.”

“It says there that this place is managed by the government.”

“Managed, my ass…… Huh? Aaaah!”

The teddy bear, who had been walking swaggeringly, suddenly shouted and stopped.

We startled along with him and looked around, but the teddy bear pointed at Choi Sang-eun and shouted,

“I, I figured it out! Choi Sang-eun! The name consonants are the same as that bastard!”

Name consonants?

That bastard?

As Choi Sang-eun and I stared blankly, the teddy bear exploded in anger.

“Cha Si-eon! That fucking bastard! Ah, shit, I thought your name felt unpleasant the moment I heard it! This was why!”

……Good grief.

So kids these days call initials name consonants.

And Team Leader Cha, just when I am about to forget, you make your presence known like this……?

“Cha Si-eon?”

“He’s a seriously psycho bastard. That bastard sucked us dry and threw us away!”

“Sucked you dry?”

“We seriously didn’t do anything, but that bastard threatened to drag us in. So we begged him to let us off and did everything he told us to, and we really rolled around like dogs. But that bastard used the hyungs who went around with me as bait, and three of them died. Then after he used us all up and didn’t need us anymore, he fucking stabbed us in the back! He dragged away all the hyungs left, and only I barely ran away, fuck……!”

The teddy bear denounced him intensely, and I worked hard to manage my expression.

If they find out I belong to the Bureau, I will really be in trouble…….

Meanwhile, Choi Sang-eun’s face hardened for a different reason than mine.

“He used them as bait and they died? What kind of situation was that? When and where did it happen?”

“Was it last year? It was some red place with old houses, but it was my first time there too, so I don’t really know where. We were just dragged there.”

This atmosphere is not good.

Choi Sang-eun looked ready to dig into the issue like the reporter he was.

And what made things even more troublesome was that even my trust in the Bureau was on the floor.

Because I did think Cha Si-eon might really have done something that vicious…….

What do I do?

I conflicted silently.

But I soon realized this was a useless worry.

“What does this person named Cha Si-eon do?”

“He’s a public servant. Those guys made that manual.”

“A public servant did something like that? Which ministry does he belong to?”

“Ministry? I don’t think he has a religion.”

The teddy bear was rough but kind, and also a little lacking.

Should I call this fortunate, or pitiful?

In any case, it seemed he would not be able to provide proper information.

The teddy bear, who had stopped briefly, began moving again while huffing in anger.

“He’s really a total bastard. They just put manuals here and left, so we’re the ones taking care of this place!”

“This is my business card.”

“Oh? Why are you giving me this?”

“Later, once we get out of here, please make sure to contact me. If you tell me about that person named Cha Si-eon and this space, I’ll look for a way to help. And can you give me your phone number?”

Choi Sang-eun was certainly a reporter.

But what was this?

Unlike Choi Sang-eun, who was passionately securing a source, the teddy bear remained lukewarm even after receiving the business card.

This should be a good opportunity to expose Cha Si-eon’s human rights abuse.

“Mm, well. If you get out of here safely, mister.”

“Is there a separate way to get out of here? Can’t we just go to the exit?”

“Of course not. Did you come in through a door, mister?”

“Then what do we have to…….”

“It’s easy. If you take one of those 「Fake Humans」, you can get out right away.”

---

Route A. Escape through the 「Thing in the Old Uniform」

One person can escape per 1 「Fake Human」.

---

“So that is why you caught those fakes?”

“Yeah. If we don’t filter them out, people get fooled by them, go around with them, and die.”

The teddy bear spoke calmly.

But could I really believe all of this?

Who was responsible for the cleanly cut-out 「Fake Human」 section from the brochure placed inside the performance hall?

There was no one else who could have done that except these guys.

Hiding my suspicion, I asked the teddy bear,

“How long have you been here?”

“Us? Has it been a month now?”

Only a month.

It was not as if they had been here that long.

What exactly is their goal? Truly volunteer work?

“Then may I use one of those fakes?”

Choi Sang-eun asked, pointing to the handcuffed 「Fake Humans」.

They were being dragged along in a row by the skeletons.

“Not for free. We caught them. We need to get paid for our trouble so we can eat and live too.”

When money came up, Choi Sang-eun instead looked convinced.

I was the same.

If this jumbled space had someone wearing a bear costume head volunteering out of the kindness of his heart, that would be too frightening.

But he was camping out here because of money?

Because it made sense, my heart grew comfortable too. Yes.

Then the only problem left was this.

“How much should the payment be?”

At Choi Sang-eun’s question, the teddy bear answered lightly,

“You decide that yourself, mister.”

Decide it himself? What did that mean?

I had expected him to run his mouth to sell it as expensively as possible.

The teddy bear climbed the stairs without further explanation.

Once we reached the third floor, a lobby with sofas came into view.

And there, 6 or 7 people were sitting.

Toward those people, the teddy bear shouted loudly.

“Escape tickets are here! Today, 3 tickets. Call the price!”

What?

Before I even had time to be startled by the teddy bear’s shout, the people sitting in the chairs jumped to their feet and answered.

“20 million won!”

“25 million!”

“27 million……!”

Astonishingly, they began an auction.

It was yet another new, insane sight.