Chapter 49

“How did you get here?”

I had asked because I was genuinely glad to see her.

But for some reason, Baek Sa-ra looked at me and let out a great sigh.

“That’s inappropriate.”

“What do you mean, inappropriate?”

“Why are you acting like a homeowner welcoming a guest?”

Ah, was that a little strange?

After living here for about a week, without realizing it…….

When I belatedly recognized the weirdness, Baek Sa-ra sighed again and said,

“You should come out when you’re told to come out. Or at least do a reasonable amount and then come out. What were you going to do if you got hurt like this?”

At my instructor’s reproach, I watched her mood for a moment.

Then I quietly asserted,

“Still, I think I’m quite strong now.”

“There’s no way.”

Baek Sa-ra smiled like an iron wall, as if the idea was absurd.

I used that opening to subtly change the subject.

“But how did you really get here?”

“I came with authorization. Approval for agent deployment came through one hour ago.”

Baek Sa-ra answered and opened her bag.

Then she took out a rustling paper bag and handed it to me.

A paper bag that felt somehow warm.

When I opened it without understanding why, inside was a hamburger combo.

“……!”

“I came in a hurry, so I just bought something quickly. ……Mr. Otter, you look happier to see that than me.”

Perhaps because my expression was too desperate, Baek Sa-ra muttered while looking at me.

No, of course I was happy to see both.

The domains were simply different.

Ms. Baek Sa-ra was an object of welcome that required me to preserve social dignity, but a hamburger combo was an object before which my primal desire was permitted!

I was nearly possessed by the appetite surging over me, then came back to my senses and said,

“But eating this alone is…….”

“So what? Considering everything Mr. Otter has gone through, this much isn’t even preferential treatment.”

Choi Sang-eun had gone through that hardship with me.

He was even educating the new arrivals right now.

“The person named Choi Sang-eun is leaving today, and he can eat something tastier outside, so hurry and eat. ……Looking at me with those eyes now is too late.”

Baek Sa-ra spoke as if dumbfounded, but I was sincerely grateful to Baek Sa-ra.

So I did not refuse any further and took out the hamburger to bite into it.

The taste of civilization after so long…….

“Mr. Otter, you should leave today too.”

Baek Sa-ra said this while watching me eat the hamburger.

“Once Mr. Otter leaves, I’ll capture that contaminated person.”

Sitting on the sofa, Baek Sa-ra slightly lifted her voluminous skirt.

Quite ominously, a large knife was strapped to Baek Sa-ra’s calf.

At that sight, I was surprised for a moment, then smiled.

“That puts me at ease.”

It truly felt reassuring.

At first, I had wondered why only Baek Sa-ra had come alone.

Even dressed prettily.

But thinking about it again, this was correct.

This 「National Theater」 had many restrictions on firearm use because of 「Alpha」 and 「Delta」.

On top of that, that teddy bear had fierce hostility toward the Bureau and Cha Si-eon.

In the middle of all this, sending in armed agents made no sense.

So the one most suited to the current situation was probably Baek Sa-ra, who specialized in close combat and was also skilled at disguise.

I swallowed what was in my mouth and continued.

“It usually takes about two hours until we catch the 「Fake Humans」 and leave. We have to teach the new arrivals about the 「Fake Humans」 and then move. But today, Mr. Choi Sang-eun and I are leaving too, so other handover matters will be needed, and I think it’ll take a little longer. Will that be all right?”

If I did not leave quickly, Baek Sa-ra’s standby time would become that much longer.

So I was asking for her understanding, but Baek Sa-ra stared at me.

Then she asked as if truly curious,

“Why do you go that far, Mr. Otter?”

“Pardon?”

“Some people say you do it because you’re greedy for money. Is that true?”

“Greedy for money?”

“As of yesterday, you rescued 9 citizens. That will all be included in your performance bonus, right?”

“Ah……!”

I had not even thought of this, but another performance bonus would come in, wouldn’t it?

Will I be able to buy a house in Seoul soon?

When I startled, Baek Sa-ra let out a faint laugh as if she knew that would happen.

Then she added again.

“There are also people saying you’re too immersed in playing hero.”

“That really isn’t it…….”

At that absurd sound, I simply laughed.

Playing hero? As I have said before, what I did was not anything special.

It would be one thing if I had spent my own money, but even the money had been immediately taken from the Bureau’s budget.

“I just knew the situation here, so I did what I could do.”

“I thought that might be the case. But doing something with good intentions doesn’t mean everyone will see it favorably.”

“Do they need to see it favorably? The people watching are just outsiders who only watch anyway.”

“If you put it that way, the people here are outsiders too.”

“Mm, that’s true.”

At my quick agreement, Baek Sa-ra let out a deep sigh.

Then she asked back in a voice that had grown lower.

“Then did you just do what you could at the 「Railway Station」 too?”

“Pardon?”

“When you handed the Ticket to Lee Sol. Was that also something you could do?”

I thought for a moment and answered.

“That was closer to something I ended up doing.”

“Haa…….”

At my answer, Baek Sa-ra sighed and propped her chin on both hands.

In that posture, she somehow looked sulky, then muttered as if talking to herself.

“It’s inappropriate.”

“What is now…….”

“That my lifesaver is someone who does that for just anyone.”

Baek Sa-ra cupped both cheeks and lifted only her eyes to look at me.

At her somehow prim gaze, I was rather flustered.

What am I supposed to say to this?

“Would you like some french fries?”

I had worked up some courage to say that, but perhaps it had the opposite effect, because Baek Sa-ra’s sigh only deepened.

I was sensibly finishing off the hamburger in front of her when it happened.

From my smartwatch came a sound that shattered this rare peace.

-Mr. Seo Do-un.

Cha Si-eon’s voice.

-Kim Hae-seong found Mr. Seo Do-un’s vest in the performance hall.

The vest? Ah, the one I took off on the first day……!

Damn it, I couldn’t retrieve it, so I had just shoved it under a seat in the performance hall!

“How did he find that now?”

-It seems he was trying to steal the wallets and other belongings of the citizens sacrificed in the performance hall.

That bastard is doing all kinds of things now that he’s desperate.

Baek Sa-ra, who had grown serious along with me, asked Cha Si-eon,

“What should we do?”

-Kim Hae-seong’s current location is the first-floor performance hall. Now that he knows the Bureau has been deployed, there is a high probability he will occupy the performance hall as-is.

That would be the case. Because there was a rule that one must not cause a commotion in the performance hall.

But if that bastard held out there, the people could not leave.

Because the exit was behind the performance hall’s stage.

-Mr. Seo Do-un, go down and draw Kim Hae-seong’s attention. Baek Sa-ra, in the meantime, enter through the opposite door and subdue Kim Hae-seong.

“You want her to catch Kim Hae-seong in the performance hall?”

-If it is not during a performance, some noise is acceptable.

Cha Si-eon answered my startled question.

-Just be careful not to dirty the performance hall or damage property.

It would be nice if that were as easy as it sounds.

I had no choice but to trust Ms. Baek Sa-ra for this.

“Mr. Otter, wait a moment.”

When I hurriedly got up, Baek Sa-ra stopped me.

Then she took something out from under her skirt and handed it to me.

An object that gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.

It was a pistol.

---

I entered through the side door of the performance hall.

An empty performance hall under soft lighting.

The teddy bear was standing on that stage.

And he was on the phone with someone.

“Please let me off just once, Boss…… Please, just once. I really have nowhere to go now…….”

The teddy bear, who had been pleading desperately, turned toward me at the sound.

Then, without hanging up the phone, he asked me,

“Are you really one of the Bureau bastards……?”

Clink—

He asked while lifting my vest.

His voice held more fear than hostility.

“Boss says he’ll kill you.”

The teddy bear muttered in terror.

“He says he’ll kill you no matter what he has to do. He says he’ll never leave you alone…….”

A threat full of malice.

Why? What did I even do?

Because I interfered with your business?

It wasn’t business in the first place, but unjust exploitation. Are you angry because that money-making was interrupted?

From one to ten, all of it was bullshit.

Ignoring that bullshit, I called the teddy bear.

“Kim Hae-seong.”

The teddy bear, Kim Hae-seong, flinched when his name was called.

“Stop now. You know it’s already over for this line of work.”

“……Then what am I supposed to do?”

Kim Hae-seong muttered in a dejected voice.

Then he exploded in anger again and shouted at me.

“What am I supposed to do when this is the only thing I can do? You people did nothing while I ended up like this, so why are you only fucking with me now! Fuck!”

Sharp tentacles poured out from beneath Kim Hae-seong’s mascot head.

I did not know whether he was trying to take his anger out on me, or to take me hostage.

What was clear, however, was that this was Kim Hae-seong’s last chance.

Just as Kim Hae-seong’s tentacles were about to fly toward me.

SLASH—!

Baek Sa-ra, who had appeared behind Kim Hae-seong, cut Kim Hae-seong’s throat with her knife.

“Grgh……!”

Kim Hae-seong staggered in shock, and blood surged from his neck.

Patter—

Baek Sa-ra caught all the blood falling toward her skirt with the skirt itself.

Then she stabbed Kim Hae-seong’s body again and again.

SQUELCH—! SQUELCH—! SQUELCH—! SQUELCH—!

Under the blade gouging mercilessly into him, Kim Hae-seong shook helplessly.

“U-aaaagh……!”

Kim Hae-seong screamed while vomiting bloody foam.

WHOOSH—!

Kim Hae-seong’s tentacle sliced through the air and flew toward Baek Sa-ra.

Baek Sa-ra lightly rolled her body and dodged.

Baek Sa-ra, who had retreated briefly, kicked off the floor and charged again. Then the terrified Kim Hae-seong made the worst possible mistake.

CRASH—!

The tentacles that had tried to grab Baek Sa-ra struck the stage floor.

CRACK—!

The hard tentacles pierced straight through the wooden floor, and we froze all at once.

“U-aaaagh…….”

Flash— flash— flash—!

Lights came on toward Kim Hae-seong, who had realized his mistake.

“S-save…….”

THWIP—!

A bolt that flew from somewhere pierced Kim Hae-seong’s neck.

Kim Hae-seong collapsed.

Lightly and quietly, like paper blown by the wind.

“Contaminated person Kim Hae-seong, silenced.”

As the lights illuminating Kim Hae-seong slowly turned off, Baek Sa-ra muttered into her earpiece.

Then she was about to approach to check Kim Hae-seong’s body.

-Are you Baek Sa-ra?

An unfamiliar man’s voice rang out from Kim Hae-seong’s hand.

It was the sound coming from the smartphone Kim Hae-seong held, which was still on a call.

Baek Sa-ra, whose name had been called exactly, stopped dead.

-I heard rumors, but they were true. You look good, hey.

“Who are you?”

-Hey, you don’t remember your oppa’s voice? I’m hurt. We went around together, didn’t we? In that place soaked with blood.

Sharp venom settled in Baek Sa-ra’s eyes.

What is this? Do they really know each other?

-Anyway, you sure laundered your identity properly. When you’re the most monstrous one of all. Do the Bureau bastards not know either? What you did to your older sister…….

With a murderous face, Baek Sa-ra tried to snatch that smartphone.

-Do not approach!

At that moment, Cha Si-eon shouted, and Baek Sa-ra belatedly stopped.

In that split-second moment, the smartphone exploded.

BOOM—!

“Urgh……!”

Sharp fragments flew at Baek Sa-ra.

Still, because she had stopped her steps at the last moment, there were no major injuries.

However, a new problem occurred.

Flash— flash— flash—!

Had it judged that this explosion was Baek Sa-ra’s doing?

The spotlights focused on Baek Sa-ra.

THWIP—!

The firing sound followed.

But the moment the lights came on, Baek Sa-ra rolled away and dodged.

When the shot failed, the lights chased after her.

THWIPTHWIPTHWIP—!

Baek Sa-ra dodged the flying bolts one after another and ran toward the exit.

But when Baek Sa-ra tried to leave the performance hall, the lights abruptly turned off.

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD—!

Instead, what seemed like heavy footsteps rang out.

CRASH—!

Something that fell from above blocked Baek Sa-ra’s path.

It was a man who looked easily 190cm tall.

It was a face I knew well, but because of the short hair, I was a little late recognizing it.

That thing was none other than Cha Si-eon.