Chapter 69

『You may cry, boy.

Before the tears you swallowed harden, spit them out aloud.

You may rest, man.

The world does not vanish just because you close your eyes.

Remain yourself, son.

Do not become a thing without a face.』

I forced myself to turn the page, then paused for a moment at the lines that entered my eyes.

For some reason, a sigh escaped me at the sentences I had met again after so long.

So I closed the book I had been reading again.

As expected, this kind of escapist reading could not organize the tension that had filled me all the way to the top of my head.

2 days had passed since Intensive Suppression Week ended.

In that time, Group 1’s fallen personnel increased from 6 to 7.

The condition of the injured was also terrible.

Agents whose arms or legs had been shattered so completely they could not even be reattached.

To them, a death sentence of another meaning had been handed down.

The smell of death was vibrating everywhere.

I too could not be free from that corpse-stench.

I closed the book and turned on my tablet out of inertia.

Then I opened again the operation report from Group 1 that had been uploaded yesterday.

---

■ Operation Report for 「Island Where Blood Falls」

Operation Period: May 9–12, 20XX

Personnel Deployed: 30

Operation Objectives

: Reset of 「Island Where Blood Falls」 (suspended on May 11)

: Acquisition of a fragment of 「Big Cat」 (added on May 11)

■ Operation Log / Day 3

21:00 Entered J-5 Area

21:11 Confirmed 「Alpha」’s departure

21:15 8th engagement / 「Big Cat」, 「Gardener」

21:44 Broke through J-5 Area

21:54 Standby order

22:35 New mission “Acquire a fragment of 「Big Cat」” issued

■ Operation Log / Day 4

06:00 Entered J-6 Area

06:17 9th engagement / 「Big Cat」, 「Gardener」

06:42 Retreat

07:00 Entered B-5 Area

(Omitted)

13:30 Entered J-6 Area

13:47 12th engagement / 「Big Cat」, 「Gardener」

14:09 Secured a fragment of 「Big Cat」

14:21 Withdrawal order

15:00 Entered and broke through F-7 Area

15:10 Entered and broke through G-2 Area

15:20 Entered and broke through H-4 Area

(Omitted)

16:00 Entered A Area, 13th engagement / 「Big Cat」, 「Alpha」, 「Gardener」, 「Echo」

16:11 「Big Cat」 retreated

16:17 「Gardener」 repelled

16:29 「Alpha」 retreated

16:33 「Echo」 repelled

16:46 「Island Where Blood Falls」 reorganized

---

The 13th engagement, which inflicted severe damage on Group 1’s personnel, occurred just before the operation ended.

Until immediately before that, Group 1’s personnel had been fairly uplifted.

The reason, of course, was the mission that had changed the previous day.

-Reset mission for 「Island Where Blood Falls」 suspended.

-Secure a fragment of 「Big Cat」.

Naturally, a sudden mission change required an explanation, and the command staff willingly revealed the reason.

-Phenomenon of Special Zone activity stoppage confirmed.

-Fragment of 「Big Cat」 likely medium.

Like Kwon Mu-seop and Baek Sa-ra, Group 1’s personnel were also excited by this news.

So they forgot even their accumulated fatigue, broke through a difficult area, and fought two fierce battles against 「Big Cat」.

In the 12th engagement, they won a great victory and obtained a fragment of 「Big Cat」 as well.

Now all that remained was escaping safely from there.

They were veterans, and their morale was piercing the sky.

So they advanced, breaking apart the obstacles blocking their path with refreshing force.

When they were before the exit, Group 1’s personnel were certainly uplifted.

But that did not mean they had relaxed their tension or let down their guard.

Then why did it turn out like this?

It was probably because the enemies were as desperate as us, no, more desperate than us.

---

BEEP— CLICK—!

Late at night, the sound of the door opening rang out.

As soon as I heard it, I got up and ran to the entrance.

The front door opened, and Jae-gyeom came in.

“Welcome back. You worked hard.”

“…….”

Though I greeted him, Kwak Jae-gyeom looked at me once, then dropped his gaze again.

It had been almost a week since I had seen Jae-gyeom’s face again.

But Jae-gyeom’s expression was coldly hardened in a way I had never seen before.

His face was gaunt, and his eyes were dead.

“Did you eat?”

At my question, Jae-gyeom reluctantly nodded and came inside.

Judging by his gait, there did not seem to be anywhere greatly uncomfortable.

He merely seemed exhausted.

And the backs of his hands were mottled with scraped wounds.

Kwak Jae-gyeom had been detained in the Bureau detention center for the past 2 days.

But the wounds on the backs of his hands were still beaded with blood, as if they had just happened.

There was no way he had gotten hurt in 「Island Where Blood Falls」.

It seemed he had hit a wall alone in the detention center or something.

“Are you all right?”

At my question, Jae-gyeom stopped short, then murmured almost too quietly to hear.

“I’ll rest a little.”

Jae-gyeom entered his room just like that and shut the door firmly.

I had no choice but to watch him.

Kwak Jae-gyeom had also been in Group 1, and he had carried out the mission in 「Island Where Blood Falls」.

A Area, where Group 1’s final engagement occurred, was the entrance of 「Island Where Blood Falls」.

It was extremely unusual for 「Big Cat」 and 「Gardener」 to ambush anyone there.

2 seconds after entering A Area, the first death occurred.

It was because of the 「Sticky Blood」 vomited by 「Big Cat」.

After that, through our personnel’s response, 「Big Cat」’s body was half-destroyed.

「Big Cat」 fled, leaving only 「Gardener」 behind, and 「Gardener」 was soon repelled.

During this process, 2 people exploded to death, and blood rained down.

Group 1 moved urgently to gather the injured.

However, what several members heard was not the team leaders’ orders, but 「Voice of the Dead」 from 「Echo」, which had appeared at some point.

That was a trap, and what waited behind the trap was 「Alpha」.

「Alpha」 defeated the scattered personnel one by one and seized firearms.

Then came a gunfight.

1 person died instantly, and 3 suffered gunshot wounds.

Meanwhile, the flowers planted by 「Gardener」 bloomed.

Flowers that had grown from inside their bodies tore through the personnel’s flesh and finally came into full bloom.

By this point, the number of dead was already 6.

The gunfight ended when Cha Si-eon neutralized 「Alpha」.

Response Team 2 also succeeded in repelling 「Echo」.

With that, the engagement ended, but they had also passed the deadline.

The reorganization phase of 「Island Where Blood Falls」 had ended.

At that moment, the Special Zone that had been stopped began to stretch itself awake.

Like a cicada shedding its husk, space swayed, and the floor tilted.

The team leaders, sensing spatial reorganization, ordered their team members to escape.

At that moment, an agent from Response Team 4, who had been entranced by 「Voice of the Dead」, mistook Response Team 3 for dangerous entities and attacked.

Im Su-ho of Response Team 3 nearly got shot, and Kwak Jae-gyeom grappled with the Response Team 4 agent.

At that moment, space distorted and clung to them.

Just as they were about to be dragged into the spatial reconstruction, Cha Si-eon grabbed them and pulled them out.

After that, Cha Si-eon himself seemed to have tried to get out too, but there was not enough time.

Space collapsed, and 2 days had passed since then.

Cha Si-eon was still missing.

---

Another day passed.

Breakfast had already been skipped, and it was almost lunchtime, but Kwak Jae-gyeom still had not come out of his room.

Knock, knock—

“Jae-gyeom, are you awake?”

Thinking this was slowly becoming untenable, I knocked on Kwak Jae-gyeom’s door.

But no answer came back.

Is he still sleeping?

I feel like I should at least feed him lunch.

It was when I was about to try opening Jae-gyeom’s door.

Ding—

A message alert rang from my tablet.

-Agent, is Kwak Jae-gyeom all right?

It was Ha Yu-ju.

-He does not seem very all right. He is not eating and is staying in his room.

At my reply, Ha Yu-ju’s message bubble appeared and disappeared.

It seemed she was writing something, then erasing it, over and over.

After about 10 seconds of that, a new message arrived from Ha Yu-ju.

-Agent, could you come out for a moment?

-Right now?

-Yes. I have something to give Kwak Jae-gyeom, but I think he will hate it if I go myself…….

We agreed to meet in the break room 30 minutes later.

On the corridor leading to the break room, I encountered several employees.

But unlike before, no one offered even a greeting with their eyes.

Everyone merely passed by like ghosts, their faces hardened and their gazes fixed far away.

The front of the vending machines in the waiting room, where people would normally gather in twos and threes, and the external communication booths were also empty.

That hollow space seemed to speak for the Bureau’s unsettled state.

It was when I was sitting alone in the empty break room.

“Agent.”

At the familiar voice, I turned my head.

Ha Yu-ju was trotting toward me.

“Um, this…….”

As soon as Yu-ju came in front of me, she held out a heavy plastic bag.

Inside it were plenty of snacks, drinks, and the like that could be eaten simply.

“He probably won’t come out of his room. So I thought he should at least eat this…….”

“Should I give this to Jae-gyeom as is?”

“Yes. But please don’t say I gave it to you…….”

Yu-ju trailed off in the middle of explaining.

Then, as if emotion had suddenly surged up, she furrowed her brows and poured it out.

“That kid hates it more when other people worry about him. His temper is secretly awful……. Still, he probably won’t get irritated or anything at you, Agent.”

Yu-ju seemed annoyed at the temperament of her friend, who would not even let her worry comfortably.

Understanding her feelings fully, I smiled bitterly.

Normally, he merely looked like a hearty, unserious guy, but Kwak Jae-gyeom unexpectedly had a sensitive side.

Then again, if he were only unserious all the time, he would not have gone into the detention center either.

The reason Kwak Jae-gyeom had been locked in the detention center.

It was because that guy had beaten up the Response Team 4 agent as soon as he came out of 「Island Where Blood Falls」.

Kwak Jae-gyeom said Cha Si-eon had gone missing because of that agent, lost his reason, and threw punches.

It was not wrong, but one had to consider that the agent too had been in a delirious state.

So he should not be blamed unconditionally.

And punching him should especially not have happened.

They had even been carrying live rounds at the time.

So throwing an agent who had barely returned alive from the jaws of death into the detention center was probably not an excessive measure.

“Jae-gyeom’s head is probably complicated too. Once Team Leader Cha comes back, everything will be all right.”

I tried hard to run a hope circuit while also comforting Yu-ju.

As it happened, a rescue team had been deployed into 「Island Where Blood Falls」 at dawn today.

Since 60 hours had passed since Cha Si-eon was isolated, it could not exactly be called a swift response.

But I had heard there was no need to be hastily pessimistic.

Because it was no one else but Cha Si-eon, everyone believed he would surely be alive somehow.

“Ah…….”

But when Yu-ju heard what I said, she became flustered instead.

When I looked at Yu-ju at the strange sign, Yu-ju chewed on her lip.

Then, with a face full of dismay, she spoke with difficulty.

“The operation to rescue Team Leader Cha, it…… was suspended this morning…….”