Chapter 68

Bam bababam bam—!

Hello, prospective agents.

Today, we’ll learn about the history of the Special Management Bureau!

January 19, 20XX.

A dismembered corpse was discovered in the bathroom of a commercial building in Gangseo-gu, Seoul.

The police judged it to be a murder and corpse abandonment case and began an investigation.

However, after checking all nearby CCTV, the only conclusion they could reach was that “a dismembered unidentified corpse had appeared on its own.”

The identity of the corpse was revealed to be Mr. K, a resident of Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, but they could not find the circumstances at the time of his disappearance, a specific cause of death, or any sign of criminal suspicion.

It was from this time onward that missing person reports in the Seoul area increased sharply.

9 months later, on October 19.

Mr. (beep—), the first person to return alive from a Special Management Zone, came to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

-I was dragged into another space and barely escaped.

-Inside, there are other people besides me, and several have already died. There was a monster in there that harms people.

Mr. (beep—) testified like this, but the police did not believe him.

So Mr. (beep—) submitted 22 mobile phones as evidence.

They were the mobile phones of people who had gone missing across Seoul.

In that way, the existence of a special space was first recognized, and a department dedicated to Special Management Zones was established within the National Intelligence Service.

This dedicated department was the Special Management Department, the predecessor of the Special Management Bureau!

---

“You know how the Bureau came to be, right?”

“Yes. I heard the first survivor’s testimony was the trigger.”

“That was Sol’s dad.”

“Pardon?”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s calm revelation, I was startled.

The first survivor of a Special Zone. That person was Agent Lee Seop?

“Wasn’t he originally a government agent?”

“No, he was just a civilian. You can think of him as being in exactly the same situation as you.”

I truly did not know this.

Come to think of it, the first survivor’s name had been awkwardly beeped out.

If they could not reveal his real name, they could have written it with initials like the victim mentioned earlier.

That beep seemed like post-processing after his original name had been revealed and then later covered.

“At first, the National Intelligence Service set out to understand the situation, but there was nothing they could do. Then Sol’s dad was dragged into a Special Zone again, and he came back after finding out how we could enter Special Zones.”

“He found out how?”

“Mm. You know the abandoned buildings and abandoned tunnels we use when entering Special Zones. Those were all made using information Sol’s dad brought back.”

“How on earth…….”

“He himself could not explain it well either. He said someone helped him, but he did not even know whether that was really a person.”

“…….”

Did he really receive some divine revelation?

If Lee Seop had not discovered how to enter Special Zones, Special Zone exploration could not even have begun.

I, and innocent citizens, were suddenly dragged into Special Zones while living ordinary daily lives.

Simply out of bad luck, like dolls caught by a claw machine, with no will of our own involved at all.

But the Bureau could freely enter most Special Zones.

Because it had secured passages connected to each Special Zone.

Those passages existed throughout Seoul, mainly in the form of abandoned buildings, abandoned tunnels, and the like.

I had wondered how they had created such passages too, but to think this was also Lee Seop’s achievement.

In any case, through Lee Seop, the Special Management Department set foot inside Special Zones.

With that, all of Lee Seop’s words were proven true, and the Special Management Department realized.

That this strange phenomenon was not an incident of a size they could handle.

In the end, the Special Management Bureau was created, and Kwon Mu-seop was a member of the special forces transferred in at that time.

Thus, Special Zone exploration began centered around the special forces.

The government spared no support, and at the time, finding out the identity of Special Zones was the highest-priority goal.

They did indeed learn many things.

The information revealed so far about Special Zones and the Bureau’s current system were, for the most part, established during the time Agent Lee Seop was there.

There were many sacrifices, but everyone could endure because they were certain they were moving forward little by little.

But that precarious hope was cut off one day.

“Lee Sol said her father had passed away.”

I spoke again.

“I also heard that he had fallen in the line of duty. But is it true that he really died?”

“More precisely, he disappeared. 4 years ago, in a Special Zone.”

Kwon Mu-seop answered calmly.

“That is why even the total-war period unfolded. At first, we tried to find that friend, and then it grew more and more overheated.”

They waged total war to find one missing agent.

At a glance, it seemed like a romantic story, but in reality, it was not necessarily so.

“Do-un, what do you think would happen if a primitive person got into an elevator?”

“He would probably be trapped there without being able to do anything.”

“That’s right. If he just pressed one button, he could get out, but a primitive person would not be able to do something that easy.”

He probably would not. He would not even know what a button was.

“He would not know how to press a button, and even if he happened to press one by chance, he might wander around on the wrong floor, or try to force the door open and fall. The probability of pressing only the first-floor button properly and getting out would be extremely low.”

“Are you saying that is what we are like when exploring Special Zones?”

“That’s right. A primitive person cannot operate an elevator. Unless a modern person shows him an example, it is almost impossible alone. Of course, if one pours in infinite time and manpower, an answer may come out someday. But what we have to figure out is not how to operate one elevator, but the identities and rules of 37 spaces where people die at the drop of a hat.”

Kwon Mu-seop’s words were not an exaggeration.

The reason I had excavated various solutions was also thanks to the Bureau’s rulebooks.

If someone told me to start from zero without such background knowledge, I would not have been able to do anything either.

Like a primitive person trapped in an elevator for the first time in his life.

“In that sense, Sol’s dad was truly incredible. Because he continued uncovering the systems of Special Zones on his own. But thinking about it now, I think he had one. A modern person telling him the secrets.”

Kwon Mu-seop smiled briefly, as if recalling the past.

His smile was soon erased, followed by a quiet murmur.

“That friend was an asset we absolutely could not afford to lose. So we searched like mad, but in the end, we could not find him. Even though we went around breaking dozens of Special Zones apart.”

They fought a life-and-death struggle for nearly 2 years.

But in the end, they could not find Lee Seop.

Countless agents died, and ultimately, the higher-ups no longer allowed their runaway behavior and put a leash on them.

By reducing personnel and changing the policy line.

Those who were wounded or disillusioned left the Bureau.

And when the ones who remained were forcibly pulling the organization back together, that incident began.

“The Bureau was reorganized, and we began exploring Special Zones again. Naturally, that friend was mentioned often. Because we had to discuss how we had done things before.”

Senior Agent Lee Seop had discovered it.

Lee Seop had done it this way.

If Lee Seop had been here.

It was a situation where such stories could not help being repeated.

“But from a certain point onward, physical symptoms began appearing in personnel who said that name.”

In minor cases, light dizziness.

In severe cases, they even lost consciousness along with nausea.

At first, they suspected coincidence, and after it repeated several times, they suspected illness and the like.

“Then eventually, they were dragged away as a group. The agents in our division who had been analyzing that friend’s materials day and night, all at once, into the same Special Zone.”

Was this phenomenon coincidence, or contamination?

They did not know.

One thing certain was that the agents dragged away like that all died.

“They were dragged away suddenly, but in theory, it was a Special Zone they could easily escape from. Because its rules and escape routes had already all been grasped.”

“Then why…….”

“That Special Zone ignored all its rules and attacked. Only our people who had been dragged in that way, in particular.”

“Was that Special Zone perhaps the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Sounds」?”

“Mm, that’s right.”

Kwon Mu-seop forcibly smiled while frowning.

And only then did I realize.

The reason they had only watched Lee Sol, trapped in the 「Railway Station」.

If one knew the rules, and if one had a bit of preparation, taking 1 person out of the 「Railway Station」 was not difficult.

Because all one had to do was enter with money or a silver ring and buy a Ticket.

It could be done in 20 minutes. No, if one hurried a little, within 10 minutes.

But that was it.

So they had only watched.

“……Then Lee Sol’s father did not fall in the line of duty, but is there?”

“We don’t know.”

Kwon Mu-seop added in a voice mixed with a sigh.

“There is no way to confirm it.”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s words, I furrowed my brow.

I felt like I was about to remember something, but I could not remember.

When I received hypnotherapy from Kim U-in.

When I saw Lee Seop’s face and heard his name.

I could not remember the situation immediately before that.

I felt like I had seen something important.

“In any case, in that situation, you appeared. First as the lifesaver who saved Sol, and then as someone with the same special constitution as that friend.”

“I see.”

“The reason I did not explain this in advance was because there was no guarantee that you would play the same role as that friend. And I also thought it would not particularly help you. Your head must already be complicated enough, and I thought you would be frightened if you heard even this kind of story.”

It was a reason I could understand.

Separate from the fact that an old fox was sitting in Manager Kwon’s stomach.

“I was already thinking it was about time to tell you. Since we confirmed the crow attached to you.”

“Do you truly think that crow gave me hints?”

“Mm.”

Manager Kwon Mu-seop nodded without any addition or subtraction.

But I still had a hard time accepting it.

Let us say that crow was a modern person who pitied the primitive people trapped in an elevator.

Then was there any need to be this unfriendly and merciless?

This side was human, and communication was entirely possible.

Even without throwing me around and rolling me like this, I could understand and cooperate.

So why, deliberately?

The possibilities that came to mind immediately were three.

That the crow had only limited ways to approach me.

That it had little interest in whether I lived or died.

Or, if neither of those, that all of this was our interpretation.

But looking at the results, it was difficult to deny all of Kwon Mu-seop’s interpretation.

We had stopped the functioning of a Special Zone.

We had figured out the operating method of the elevator that a primitive person could never have discovered.

“So that is why you personally took charge of me. To confirm that possibility.”

“I am sorry I did not tell you in advance.”

“No. I understand everything now.”

I also understood well why the Bureau looked after my life.

In the end, it was because I had utility value, and this was not a bad story for me either.

Favor without reason was difficult to sustain.

So a definite relationship of interest was rather more trustworthy.

When I nodded, Kwon Mu-seop smiled gratefully.

Then he opened his mouth again.

“Yesterday, you asked whether I was close to Sol’s dad, right?”

“Yes.”

“He and I were like you and Si-eon.”

“You were not very close, then.”

“No, we were close.”

At my distancing, Kwon Mu-seop laughed as if dumbfounded.

“We really were close. From when he was first a civilian uncle, I took care of him and supported him……. It was exactly the same as you two. Si-eon is also on constant emergency standby because he never knows when you will be dragged away.”

That was true.

When I was dragged into a Special Zone, I heard Cha Si-eon’s voice before I could even look around.

Whatever else, I should acknowledge that I owed him that.

“Has Group 1 not come out of the field yet?”

“They are coming out now. They will return to headquarters within 2 hours.”

It had been a while since I would meet Team Leader Cha instead of 「Alpha」.

When I saw that face, would I feel a little grateful, or would my irritated feelings still be stronger?

Curious myself, I inwardly waited for my case officer’s return.

And he did not return.

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■ Emergency Notification / May 12

* Our side suffered casualties in 「Island Where Blood Falls」

* 6 dead, 11 injured, 1 missing

* Missing: Cha Si-eon