Chapter 57

I looked at Kwon Mu-seop with eyes where an earthquake had broken out in my pupils.

“It’ll be a little uncomfortable, but safety comes first.”

Kwon Mu-seop cheerfully answered my silent scream.

“Safety……?”

“This week, even if you get dragged away, there’s no personnel available to respond immediately. So I thought it’d be better to just go with you.”

He was serious.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop was truly trying to reproduce the possessions experiment that Jae-gyeom and I had done.

We decided not to do this because it caused a major incident, didn’t we?

Besides, is it right for someone who’s a manager to personally step forward?

“But why you, Manager, of all people…….”

“There’s no spare personnel. The kids are all busy.”

“Still, wouldn’t it be a big problem if something happened to you, Manager?”

“Haha, it’s a big problem if something happens to anyone.”

At my concern, Kwon Mu-seop smiled brightly.

That’s true. Every life is precious.

But are the absence of the Head of Field Operations and the absence of an ordinary agent the same?

“You don’t need to worry too much, Do-un. My instincts are pretty good. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

I feel like instincts being the basis is itself the problem.

Meaning for someone to stop him, I looked at Deputy Manager Yoon U-jeong of Field Division, who was standing behind Kwon Mu-seop.

Then Yoon U-jeong smiled and reassured me.

“It’s all right, Do-un. If something happens to the Manager, everyone moves up one position.”

Manager, you heard that just now, right?

I think the deputy manager is after your position.

“All right, then let’s do well for the week.”

Taking my silence as acceptance, Kwon Mu-seop patted my shoulder.

And so, I came to understand Kim U-in’s sour expression at least a little.

---

It went without saying, but possessing Kwon Mu-seop was far more difficult than possessing Kwak Jae-gyeom.

Kwon Mu-seop was a superior 10 years older than me.

Kwak Jae-gyeom was a roommate 5 years younger than me.

Even putting aside these characteristics, it was the same.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop’s daily schedule itself was far more complicated than Jae-gyeom’s.

As a bonus, the timing was unsettled too.

“Group 2 is standing by at the entry location for 「Church That Draws Revelations」.”

“Group 3 has arrived at the entry location for 「Amusement Park That Seeks Angels」.”

“Group 1 has completed preparations to enter 「Island Where Blood Falls」.”

Situation reports came from all around.

Split screens filled the large screen at the front.

And from the command seat, the more than 100 Control Team agents and the monitoring booths surrounding them were clearly visible below.

This was the Bureau’s Situation Control Room.

In a space large enough to fit two movie theaters, communications, reports, and real-time footage moved rapidly.

It was a sight that even felt overwhelming.

So this is where they monitor the internal situation of Special Zones.

……Then was my image also broadcast at full scale on that enormous screen?

Cold sweat flowed just imagining it, and I turned my eyes away from the main screen.

Naturally, my gaze reached the Control Team monitoring booths, and I made eye contact with a man there.

A familiar face.

The fox-faced Control Team agent who had picked a pointless fight with me in the training hall and been thoroughly dealt with by Baek Sa-ra.

His name was, was it Yeon Ga-ram?

For some reason, Yeon Ga-ram was glaring at me with blazing eyes.

And yet when our eyes actually met, he flinched and turned his head.

Still a peculiar person.

“Manager, all personnel have completed entry preparations.”

“Group 4, enter. Group 2, stand by.”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s order, the Group 4 agents, who had been standing by in a place that looked like a hangar, entered the tunnel ahead.

The heavily equipped Response Team took the lead, and the comparatively lightly dressed Exploration Team followed behind.

Had they run through that tunnel for about 10 minutes?

The far side of the tunnel gradually brightened, and a new space appeared.

They had arrived at 「Funeral Hall Visited by the Dead」.

“Group 2, enter. Group 3, stand by.”

Once Group 4 arrived safely, Kwon Mu-seop gave another order.

This repeated several times.

“Group 1, enter.”

Finally, Group 1, which included Response Team 3, also entered their operation site, 「Island Where Blood Falls」.

Group 1’s reset of 「Island Where Blood Falls」 was the main mission of this Intensive Suppression Week.

「Island Where Blood Falls」 was one of the few outdoor-type Special Zones, with an entire island copied whole.

And its original form was a very small island that could be circled in 20 minutes.

However, 「Island Where Blood Falls」 had already succeeded in growing once, and its space had expanded several times over.

On top of that, as space distorted, previous exploration content became meaningless, and its power to devour humans also grew stronger.

They said 16 percent of this year’s first-quarter victims occurred here, so that said it all.

In the end, this Special Zone had received an out-of-grade determination in the last danger assessment, and its reset was decided.

“Group 1 has successfully entered 「Island Where Blood Falls」. No unusual matters.”

Along with the report from Group 1’s head monitoring officer, the scenery of the island filled the screen.

It was the appearance of 「Island Where Blood Falls」 shown through a Group 1 agent’s body camera.

At a glance, it looked like a well-made park.

Blue grass and artistic buildings harmonized there.

But if one looked closely again, absurd twisting could be found.

That space had been distorted and expanded as much as possible, and terrain and buildings continued infinitely in all directions.

Group 1 had to find and destroy the Special Zone’s “core” in that vast space.

The platoon-sized Group 1 slowly entered the interior of 「Island Where Blood Falls」.

Their steps carried a weight similar to heading toward a battlefield—no.

A weight no different from it.

---

Bam bababam bam—!

With music that had now become familiar, Agent Mumu, the Bureau mascot, appeared on screen.

-Hello, prospective agents of the Special Management Bureau. I am Agent Mumu, in charge of your basic education.

-Today, we’ll learn about the cores of Special Zones!

Agent Mumu winked, blinking eyes made of black dots.

The educational character was needlessly seductive.

-A core is the heart of a Special Zone.

-Every Special Zone has one core, and if this core is destroyed, the Special Zone stops activity and collapses.

-However, a destroyed core is restored again with time. So permanently eliminating Special Zones is currently impossible.

Agent Mumu looked sad.

Beside it, several photos with poor image quality appeared.

They were photos of a pitch-black sphere buried in smoke, flames, or complex substances.

-This is the appearance of a core we have observed.

-This core is hidden in the deepest space of a Special Zone, or inside the body of a specific entity.

Mumu suddenly wore a white coat and raised its eyebrows intelligently.

Beside it, a black sphere floated up.

-The Bureau is attempting to investigate the cores of Special Zones, but there are still many difficulties.

-The biggest problem is that cores cannot be secured. This is because a core disappears immediately when artificial contact occurs.

Beside dejected Mumu, the black sphere vanished as if melting.

-So for now, we only find and destroy cores when resetting Special Zones.

-Of course, this isn’t easy either. Special Zones have a tendency to desperately protect their cores.

-That’s why it’s advantageous to aim for the reorganization phase when destroying a core!

Mumu, having given up on research, hung a rifle over its body instead of a white coat.

With that, Mumu bang-bang-banged away at a new core.

-But you must not let your guard down just because it’s the reorganization phase!

-If the core is threatened, the Special Zone will withdraw all activity and focus on protecting the core.

-So when destroying a core, be careful and swift! Let’s all value everyone’s lives!

Agent Mumu winked again.

It was when I was being disturbed by the seductiveness of this snake character.

Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

Manager Kwon Mu-seop responded to the sudden knocking sound.

The door opened, and Deputy Manager Yoon U-jeong appeared.

“Is Do-un doing well?”

I quickly removed my earphones and answered.

“Ah, yes. I’m doing well.”

“Goodness, look at him being punished beside the Manager. Poor thing.”

“Haha…….”

“And Manager, whew…… This reminds me of the old days, so it’s troubling.”

Yoon U-jeong sighed while looking back and forth between me and Kwon Mu-seop.

I felt I knew why, so I glanced toward Kwon Mu-seop.

This was the Head of Field Operations’s office.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop was working with his back straight like an ascetic monk.

Matching that atmosphere, I too had been solemnly watching educational videos.

On top of that, Manager Kwon Mu-seop was currently wearing full combat gear.

Sitting at a desk with even a gun slung over him, it was indeed a somewhat troubling sight.

But as if he had not even thought of it, Kwon Mu-seop asked me,

“Do-un, are you perhaps uncomfortable?”

“Asking that is what’s uncomfortable, Manager.”

Before I could answer, Yoon U-jeong clicked her tongue.

“Suffering outside, suffering inside. Do-un, you have it hard……. Do-un, if the Manager talks in his sleep at night, you can put tissue in his mouth.”

Yoon U-jeong grinned and whispered to me.

Kwon Mu-seop, who heard that, laughed heartily.

“Tissue seems a bit dangerous.”

“If it’s dangerous enough, you should wake up. And what are you worried about? I’ll be here.”

Kwon Mu-seop, concerned about safety accidents.

Yoon U-jeong, aiming for a chance at promotion.

Even though a lower-ranking person was teasing him like that, Kwon Mu-seop only smiled and asked back,

“Deputy Manager, aren’t you busy?”

“I am busy. I was in the control room until now and just came out.”

Yoon U-jeong answered indifferently and rummaged through her pocket.

Clink—

“Your identification tag and ring, Manager.”

“You brought this personally?”

“I was stopping by to see Do-un too.”

What Yoon U-jeong handed to Kwon Mu-seop was a Bureau identification tag that looked like dog tags.

And a silver ring attached to it like an option.

“Then take it easy. Don’t punish Do-un too much.”

Yoon U-jeong handed over only the identification tag and soon went back.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop hung it around his neck, then asked me too, to confirm.

“Do-un, you have your silver ring too, right?”

“Yes, I’m wearing it.”

I raised the hand with rings on it and showed it to Kwon Mu-seop.

On my left hand, two rings were worn.

One was the black ring Baek Sa-ra had given me.

The other was the silver ring issued by the Bureau.

Since it was uncomfortable when the rings hit each other, I had put them all on one finger, and the contrast of black and white was blatant.

“Yes, since we don’t know when you’ll need it, it’s good to wear it.”

The silver ring was an item that worked strangely well in Special Zones.

That was why it was one of the Field Division agents’ essentials, and seeing Manager Kwon Mu-seop take even a silver ring along with his identification tag made it feel newly solemn.

“It was tiring following me around all day, wasn’t it?”

“No, sir.”

In truth, it was tiring.

“Since it’s the first day, it was hectic in various ways, but from tomorrow it should be a bit better.”

As if understanding my hardship, Kwon Mu-seop smiled apologetically.

And in my eyes, that looked like the smile of a holy saint.

It was only natural, because a person at the rank of manager was operating an emergency system alone to save me.

Deputy Manager Yoon U-jeong had mocked this sight, saying it was troubling, but I found that seriousness rather impressive and was grateful for it.

It was when respect for Kwon Mu-seop was growing freshly inside me.

Kwon Mu-seop suddenly called me seriously.

“But Do-un.”

“Yes, Manager.”

“What happened with your girlfriend?”

“…….”

I was truly sorry, but in one sense, I felt I understood.

Why people looked down on the Manager like this.