Chapter 54

■ Precautions within 「National Theater That Roots Out the Fake」

3. Your inner self may be reflected in the performance.

Though rare, the content of the performance may depict your past or trauma.

If the actions on stage feel like your own story, close your eyes and endure.

---

Installing surveillance cameras inside Special Zones was one of the Bureau’s major duties.

There was even a separate division dedicated to that work, called Control Team.

However, there were no Bureau surveillance cameras installed inside the performance hall of the 「National Theater」.

They had tried installing them several times.

They had even tried hiding micro cameras.

But cameras inside the performance hall were immediately damaged by the entities.

The conclusion the Bureau reached was this.

“Most performances strictly prohibit unauthorized filming. Therefore, the 「National Theater」 also thoroughly blocks filming inside the performance hall.”

Because of this situation, the contents of the 「National Theater」’s performances could only be confirmed through survivor testimony.

And there had been no record of survivors watching different performances during the same time period.

At least, not until now.

“What I saw was people wearing traditional masks. Those people were playing something like tag. What do you mean by a white man? There were a few people wearing white hanbok, though.”

People wearing traditional masks.

It seemed he was talking about the 「National Theater」’s third performance, 「Hide-and-Seek」.

The 「National Theater」 had 7 performance patterns in all.

Numbers 1 through 6 were standardized performances with titles such as 「Ganggangsullae」 and 「Wailing」.

On the other hand, performances that reflected an audience member’s past or trauma were classified as number 7.

And when performance number 7 unfolded on stage, not only the person concerned, but the other audience members saw that same performance as well.

So the person whose trauma it was could suffer severe mental pain once again. That was what the manual said, but…….

“Then what about the wagon wheel? Did you perhaps see animals like angels, lions, bulls, or birds?”

“No, there was definitely nothing like that.”

Choi Sang-eun shook his head repeatedly.

I looked at Choi Sang-eun and forced myself to swallow dry saliva.

“I see. Thank you for confirming. Then please go home safely.”

---

My situation was special.

The fact that I kept suddenly being dragged into Special Zones was special, peculiar, and strange.

It was not exactly new anymore, but still.

What am I supposed to do if it throws new confusion at me every single time……?

It was when I was holding my head alone.

Click—!

Senior Associate Heo Gu-yeong of the Aftercare Team entered the interview room where I was.

Unlike earlier, when he had almost been in tears, his face was now blooming brightly.

“Rescued Person No. 84 has gone home!”

Rescued Person No. 84 meant Choi Sang-eun.

“Thank you so much, Agent. Ah, really, I survived thanks to you…….”

Heo Gu-yeong, who expressed his gratitude to me, was a young man with thick eyebrows and a neat impression, the so-called meet-the-parents free-pass type.

His personality seemed almost the same as his face.

In other words, unlike the beasts of the Field Division, he was an ordinarily polite and sociable person.

“We wanted to resolve it at our level if possible, so I’m sorry for troubling you.”

“No, thanks to this, I was able to say goodbye to Mr. Choi Sang-eun too.”

“I’m really grateful that you say that……. Really, people like reporters are really hard to deal with. Especially when they even have a sense of mission like this person, really, whew…….”

Heo Gu-yeong shook his head as if exhausted.

Perhaps because he had truly suffered, he was overusing the adverb “really” wildly.

“In any case, it was resolved as soon as you came, Agent. As expected, rapport is important in everything……. Oh, and Agent. Could you please sign here?”

Having finished complaining, Heo Gu-yeong opened his bag.

Thinking, of course, that some document needed my signature, I picked up the pen.

But…….

“What is this?”

“It’s limited merch for S.O.C.H. third-generation members. Please sign on the body part.”

What Heo Gu-yeong opened and showed me was a glass craft piece.

It was stained glass that had rendered the shape of an otter with pieces of colored glass.

It looked like it could be hung by a window like a wind chime.

What is this unnecessarily high-quality otter merch?

Yu-ju, is this you again?

When did you make this?

No, how on earth did you make this?

Heo Gu-yeong held out the merch along with a name pen and requested my signature.

Putting my confusion behind me, I wrote my name on the streamlined body of the glass otter.

Then Heo Gu-yeong quietly opened his bag again.

“I’m really sorry, but while you’re doing it, could you please sign these too? My team leader and team members asked as well.”

10 identical boxes came tumbling out.

When I stared at them in surprise, Heo Gu-yeong grew embarrassed and explained.

“Ahaha, it’s a bit many, right? We joined as a group during the third generation.”

“Why did you do that……?”

“The third generation was first-come, first-served registration. So we waited in the office, and as soon as the form opened, we all joined together. The competition was fierce, so a few people failed in the end too.”

No, that isn’t what I’m asking……?

When I stared at him with wavering eyes, Heo Gu-yeong nodded proudly.

“Everyone in our department is a true fan of yours, Agent. Especially our team leader.”

“…….”

“Ah, did I burden you too much? I’m sorry. I suddenly asked you like this…….”

“No, not at all. Writing my name is not difficult at all, but…….”

I tried to offer a suitable excuse, but in the end, I trailed off.

How should I explain this?

It was about time to address it once.

Honestly, when I first heard about S.O.C.H., I thought they were teasing me.

I thought the mountain of gifts piled up in my lodging was a rather unusual welcome ceremony.

When Yu-ju suddenly said she was a fan, she was Jae-gyeom’s friend, so it was simply cute.

Up to this point, I too could accept it as something like that.

But the excessive attention pouring down every time I went to the training hall.

The force of S.O.C.H., which had caught and beaten down a contaminated-person gang in a short time.

The news that even the Head of the General Affairs Division, not an ordinary employee but an older, senior figure, was in S.O.C.H. made me feel more and more that something was off.

And now, in this moment.

Right here, where an employee from another division, the same sex and around the same age as me, called himself my fan and requested my signature.

I had no choice but to ask a fundamental question.

What on earth is this?

Why are people going this far?

Is it all right for me to keep gulping down this poisoned wine?

Yes, I too was someone’s fan.

I liked certain works and an author so much that I even changed my career path.

But I…… don’t want to depict that author as an animal and keep them with me…….

I had truly a lot I wanted to say, but I swallowed everything rampaging in my mouth.

Then I offered one sentence, refined as much as possible.

“I am not used to this kind of attention…….”

“Ah! Right, you weren’t. I’m sorry. I saw it in the bylaws.”

“Bylaws?”

“The S.O.C.H. bylaw that says to only look with your eyes. Because Agent Seo is an introvert.”

“How did you know I’m an introvert?”

“Uh, everyone knows that. At your appointment ceremony, Agent, you almost got motion sick. Your face went completely white.”

Right, that happened too.

The day I wore this Bureau full dress uniform for the first time.

The day I had to receive my appointment certificate alone in front of hundreds of people because I was the only appointee.

My appointment ceremony, which had been extremely merciless to a person whose hobby was reading and whose job was editing, had been last month…….

“Whew, I’m sorry. I got ahead of myself.”

Perhaps because my complexion had gone pale again, Heo Gu-yeong quickly apologized.

He even tried to clear away the boxes on the table, so I shook my head.

I did not know what was what, but I opened the boxes and silently began writing my name.

Writing my name a few times was not particularly difficult.

Though I still did not know how I was supposed to digest this situation, which was gradually becoming burdensome…….

“Hmm, Agent. I’m really not saying this to burden you…….”

As I was writing my name in cramped letters on the glass, Heo Gu-yeong quietly began.

“But in fact, we are the team that is most affected by you, Agent.”

“Affected?”

This was the first I had heard of it.

I had almost no point of contact with the Aftercare Team.

When I went home, for some reason Cha Si-eon had come out, so I had not even met the Aftercare Team.

When I stared at him with eyes asking what he meant, Heo Gu-yeong elaborated.

“The reporter from earlier is Rescued Person No. 84, and this number starts again from 1 every year.”

Then does that mean Choi Sang-eun was the 84th person rescued this year?

Come to think of it, I had had a number too.

When I came out of the 「Railway Station」, I was Rescued Person No. 12.

When I came out of the 「Hospital」, I was Rescued Person No. 12 and No. 13.

……Wait, isn’t that double counting?

“Last year, there were 208 rescued people. But this year, by April, there are already 84. Among them, the citizens rescued by you alone number 15, Agent. Thanks to that, we’ve been quite busy lately.”

Heo Gu-yeong smiled brightly even while saying they were busy.

That sight overlapped with Ha Yu-ju, who had said it was fun because she was busy.

Right, Manager Kwon Mu-seop had said something like this too.

That they did not simply watch because they liked it.

That when they saw someone in trouble, of course they wanted to save them.

As he said, it seemed people’s hearts were all similar.

But how did the number of people I rescued become 15?

1 person, Lee Sol, from the 「Railway Station」.

5 people, including Jang Han-bin, from the 「Sports Complex」.

10 people, including Choi Sang-eun, from the 「National Theater」.

That would be 16, so the total did not match.

Was Choi Sang-eun excluded because he had actively escaped?

No, perhaps it could be Jang Han-bin’s side.

Of course, what mattered now was not a difference of 1 or 2 people, but whether it was right to count all of this as people I had rescued.

Putting aside the 「Sports Complex」, where Jae-gyeom had been with me too.

“The people from the 「National Theater」 were going to come out anyway.”

“Of course that is also true. But for us, prognosis is more important than the number of rescued people.”

“Prognosis?”

When I asked back, Heo Gu-yeong’s expression grew much more cautious.

“I said there were 208 rescued people last year, right? But only 126 of them are still alive.”

“Pardon?”

If only 126 out of 208 were alive, then what about the remaining 82?

Had they died within a year? No. In less than a year?

After escaping that living hell with such difficulty, why?

“Is it perhaps because of contamination?”

“No, contaminated people or convicts are not included in this number to begin with.”

“Then…….”

At the cold intuition, I trailed off.

Then Heo Gu-yeong drove in the wedge in a bitter voice.

“They took their own lives.”