Chapter 50

Short hair. And a dark gray combat uniform.

Because of those two out-of-place elements, I recognized Cha Si-eon’s face one beat late.

And after recognizing Cha Si-eon’s face, I realized as if I had been struck by lightning.

That thing was the 「National Theater」’s special dangerous entity, 「Alpha」.

Cha Si-eon—no, 「Alpha」—charged at Baek Sa-ra.

「Alpha」 closed the distance in an instant and launched a roundhouse kick into Baek Sa-ra’s body.

CRASH—!

Baek Sa-ra guarded with her arm, but it was useless.

Baek Sa-ra was shoved backward almost as if she had been thrown.

Before she fell, Baek Sa-ra grabbed the armrest of an audience seat.

Then she pulled with her arm and dodged 「Alpha」’s attack as it flew in again.

WHOOSH—!

Baek Sa-ra cut the bastard’s shoulder with her knife.

But it did not budge.

「Alpha」 drove Baek Sa-ra back again, and Baek Sa-ra retreated while keeping it in check with her knife.

It was then.

THUD—!

Another special entity dropped from behind the stage.

That one was also wearing a dark gray combat uniform.

Jet-black hair, and Kwak Jae-gyeom’s face, not smiling at all.

It was 「Delta」.

That thing, 「Delta」 as well, charged toward Baek Sa-ra.

“Ms. Baek Sa-ra, behind you!”

I shouted, but Baek Sa-ra did not look back.

No, it seemed she already knew 「Delta」 had appeared.

But with 「Alpha」 in front of her, she had no time to look away.

Just when 「Delta」 was about to attack Baek Sa-ra from behind.

BANG—!

With a single gunshot, 「Delta」 stopped abruptly.

Faint smoke rose from the muzzle of the pistol in my hand.

I did practice shooting.

Unfortunately, I did not hit 「Delta」.

Still, it seemed I succeeded in distracting those bastards.

The bullet missed and embedded itself in the wall.

“…….”

“…….”

Sure enough.

「Delta」 began running toward me with enough force to kill.

Aaagh, Jae-gyeom, it’s hyung……!

“You idiot……!”

When I ended up being chased by 「Delta」, Baek Sa-ra lamented.

Then, as if venting her anger, she planted her knife into 「Alpha」.

“Go behind the stage!”

Baek Sa-ra, who had barely shaken off 「Alpha」, shouted while running toward the stage.

I also ran toward the stage from where I had been standing in front of the entrance.

Right before 「Delta」 attacked me, Baek Sa-ra and I joined up in front of the stage.

Baek Sa-ra snatched the gun from me.

Then she immediately shot 「Delta」 in the chest.

BANG—!

Jae-gyeom got shot……!

Baek Sa-ra turned her body just like that and fed a bullet to 「Alpha」 as well, which had already followed us.

BANG—!

Good, a headshot.

After giving 「Alpha」 and 「Delta」 one shot each, Baek Sa-ra dragged me and went over to the backstage area.

There was no need to ask where we were going.

The 「National Theater」’s special dangerous entities 「Alpha」 and 「Delta」.

They had been assigned individual codes because of their high risk, but in the end, their essence was still 「Fake Humans」.

So we had to go to the outdoor terrace where the 「Thing in the Old Uniform」 was.

Because that entity was the natural predator of 「Fake Humans」.

But getting there was no easy matter either.

When we crossed behind the stage curtain.

RATTLE RATTLE RATTLE—!

The unfinished 「Fake Humans」 hanging from the steel frames were flailing their arms and legs, struggling.

The steel structure shook wildly under the struggles of hundreds of entities.

Among them, a few finally snapped the cords they were hanging from.

Then they ran on their arms and legs and attacked us.

Urgh, these bastards too……!

Right, from their position, we must be the thugs who shot their mother and set her on fire.

Baek Sa-ra aimed the gun at them, then seemed to change her mind and pointed her arm upward.

BANG—! CLANG—! SCREEEE—!

Just as a metallic sound rang out, the steel frame, unable to withstand the weight and struggling of the 「Fake Humans」, tilted.

THUD—! THUUD—!

The steel frame collapsed and crushed the 「Fake Humans」 beneath it.

Baek Sa-ra did not stop there. She immediately set fire to the stage curtain too.

Click, BOOM—!

……Right. Since we had already become targets, there was no need to be careful.

On top of that, when the flames blazed up, the 「Fake Humans」 left us and rushed toward them.

Then they began putting out the fire with their whole bodies.

Maybe this performance hall was closer to those bastards’ “main body” than their “mother.”

Leaving that mess behind, we ran again.

It was when we were climbing the stairs to go to the third floor.

SCREECH—

“Dodge!”

Baek Sa-ra’s shout rang out along with a sharp friction sound.

CRASH—!

Immediately after, something like a huge beast attacked me.

It was the black-haired Kwak Jae-gyeom, 「Delta」.

“Krgh!”

「Delta」 descended on a rope and crushed me just like that, and I slid over the stairs like a sled.

My mind grew distant at the feeling that my whole body was being shattered.

But that lasted only a moment.

CRUNCH—!

At the sensation digging into the nape of my neck, I woke up in shock.

“U-uaargh!”

「Delta」 bit me.

No, it was trying to eat me.

Teeth digging in mercilessly, and hot liquid pouring out all at once.

I felt like I would go insane because I could not tell whether that was the bastard’s saliva or my blood.

When it bit down in one huge mouthful and pressed with its jaws, I could not breathe.

The sensation of being strangled was desperate and yet cozy, and on that precarious tightrope, for some reason, I remembered.

The hanged man made of white rose petals.

Did you feel like this too?

If so, perhaps this end would be like father, like son.

As I felt my consciousness drift away, I let the strength leave the arms I had been flailing with.

The next moment.

CRASH—!

Just as I thought my body was rotating, my eye level changed in an instant.

And in my grip was 「Delta」’s hair, its head slammed into the floor.

“Hah, haah……. Hah…….”

Without knowing what had happened, I panted.

I almost died.

Did I do this?

I was stunned, but this was not the time to wonder.

「Delta」 was still moving.

Damn it, this monster…….

I had barely managed to throw it, but I was no match for it in strength.

There was no choice but to run. Where is Ms. Baek Sa-ra?

It was when I was looking around for Baek Sa-ra.

THUUD—!

Something fell hard in front of me.

……It was Baek Sa-ra.

“Urgh…….”

Baek Sa-ra was in pain.

When I looked up, 「Alpha」 was looking down at us.

-Move to 10 o’clock!

At that moment, an order came from my smartwatch.

The voice sounded a little strange, but for now, I helped Baek Sa-ra up and moved in the 10 o’clock direction.

There was a passage leading underground that way.

THUD—!

「Alpha」 finally came down to the first floor.

-Left passage. Go into the dressing room and lock the door!

I ran without even knowing where the dressing room was.

Then I blindly closed and locked a door.

But this door was not a metal door, but a wooden one.

The lock was nothing but a crude button on the handle.

If bastards like 「Alpha」 or 「Delta」 twisted and broke it, it would break as much as they wanted.

Then we would be rats trapped in a jar.

Click—!

From outside came the sound of someone grabbing the doorknob.

It had to be 「Alpha」.

Click, click, clickclickclick—!

Every time the doorknob shook, my knees shook too.

I stared at that door and desperately prayed to someone.

Please, please……!

After a moment like that.

The door remained closed, and the noise stopped.

“Ha…….”

Letting out a sigh, I sank down on the spot.

This dressing room was also part of the performance hall.

So it seemed they could not break it.

Thank goodness. I lived…….

As I let out another long, long breath, a voice came from the smartphone.

-Do-un.

I now knew whose voice this was too.

-You did well. To think you held out this long against 「Alpha」 and 「Delta」. Si-eon and the kids are heading there now, so hold on just a little longer.

It was Manager Kwon Mu-seop’s voice.

-Is Sa-ra all right?

I looked back at Baek Sa-ra beside me.

At that, Baek Sa-ra answered calmly.

“I was struck in the head by 「Alpha」. My focus is a little blurred, but I am recovering. It appears to be a temporary phenomenon.”

-All right. Both of you, tend to yourselves first for now.

“Yes.”

At the end of the two people’s conversation, I cut in.

“Manager, can we hold out with this door?”

-Unless there is a special exceptional situation, they will not break that door. Those entities’ priority mission is to protect the 「Theater」.

“Then could we use this performance hall’s structures to lock those bastards in?”

Right now, because we had locked the door from the inside, those bastards could not come in.

Then if we reversed the positions?

Wouldn’t those bastards be trapped inside?

-No. Those guys are fairly smart too, so they will not just stay trapped quietly. Si-eon will arrive soon, so do not overdo it. Do-un, you treat yourself first.

At the word treat, I newly realized what state I was in.

Like a corpse attacked by a vampire, my neck and face were covered in blood.

“Mr. Otter, sit down.”

Baek Sa-ra called me.

This dressing room was lined with dressing tables.

When I sat in the chair before one, Baek Sa-ra knelt on the floor and examined the wound on the nape of my neck.

“Urgh……!”

“I have to disinfect it, so endure it for just a little.”

Baek Sa-ra said this while pouring a stinging liquid onto my neck.

I had wondered why someone who came to fight was wearing a long, fluttering skirt.

Everything from small bombs to antiseptic was coming out from under there.

After pouring on the antiseptic, Baek Sa-ra washed my neck with a handkerchief.

Once the blood was wiped away, clear teeth marks were revealed.

……I won’t be able to eat with Jae-gyeom for a while.

If I see that guy’s healthy teeth, the nape of my neck will sting.

The 「National Theater」’s special dangerous entities, which I had only heard about, were far more brutal than I had imagined.

Their identities were 「Fake Humans」 made from the memories of agents who had been sacrificed here, in other words, eaten.

These bastards emerged about 1 year ago.

They were a serious threat even from the Bureau’s perspective.

So the Bureau launched several extermination operations, but it was no use.

The previous entities modeled after Kwak Jae-gyeom’s appearance, 「Beta」 and 「Gamma」, were successfully captured and eliminated, but before long, they were generated again.

That was how the identification code had reached the current 「Delta」.

The conclusion reached at that time was that the 「National Theater」 had already secured Cha Si-eon and Kwak Jae-gyeom’s personal data.

And that it liked these two people quite a bit, so if they disappeared, it immediately made them again.

The fortunate point was that it could not make multiple entities of the same kind at the same time.

If a dozen or so things like 「Alpha」 were swarming around, that really would be cheating…….

Even the fact that additional production was possible was a headache, but the bigger problem was that those bastards were sometimes sighted in other Special Zones too.

So the Bureau took what it considered a special measure.

That was Cha Si-eon’s long hair and Kwak Jae-gyeom’s blond hair.

In a place where life and death were decided by split-second judgment, mistaking an enemy for an ally was truly fatal.

So to create a momentary sense of incongruity or wrongness, the two men’s styles had been changed to something out-of-spec.

……When I heard that explanation from Jae-gyeom, I had thought, What kind of bullshit is this?

But after experiencing it myself, I understood.

In any case, we had been marked by those entities and still survived.

As Manager Kwon Mu-seop had said, we had put up an incredible fight.

As I was in the middle of this mental victory, Baek Sa-ra let out a faint sigh.

Then, moving away from me, she muttered,

“I forgot Mr. Otter was the kind of person who uses guns like that.”

A gun? Ah, come to think of it, the situation was similar to the time in the 「Hospital」.

In that I had fired a gun I could not even hit anything with and gotten dragged into Baek Sa-ra’s battle.

……Mm, am I going to get scolded again?

As I quietly watched her mood, unexpected words flowed from Baek Sa-ra’s mouth.

“I’m sorry.”