Chapter 97

The Otter Café opened as scheduled.

Jae-gyeom and Yu-ju smiled with their thumbs raised in the colorful Otter Zone.

They’re having fun, those brats…….

“Yu-ju is busy managing the café, and Jae-gyeom is busy helping beside her.”

Baek Sa-ra showed me a photo of Jae-gyeom and Yu-ju as she spoke.

“Is that why you came instead?”

“Yes. Yu-ju told me to give these to Lord Otter.”

Sitting on my hospital bed, I opened the paper bag Baek Sa-ra handed me.

What came out from inside was an otter cookie, an otter cup holder, otter stickers, and a ☆The Otter Has Stopped It☆ towel.

They were the Otter Café perks that Ha Yu-ju and her gang had poured their hearts into making.

“I am grateful that they thought of me, but still, every time I receive something like this, I feel as if I am being teased…….”

“Enjoy it, Lord Otter. Everyone likes it.”

When I muttered timidly, Baek Sa-ra answered with a smile.

Today was the third day since I came out of 「National Museum of Korea Where a False God Looks Down」.

Immediately after I came out, I was nearly exhausted to collapse, so I slept like the dead until yesterday, and only barely came to my senses today.

Naturally, my physical condition was still poor, so I had not yet been discharged.

“Still, it is a relief that it was not canceled.”

“Yes. They said the managers gave permission, saying we should do it since it had already been prepared anyway.”

At Baek Sa-ra’s explanation, I nodded.

In truth, this Otter Café had nearly been canceled without a word.

Because the matters related to the post-event cleanup of 「National Museum of Korea」 were too serious.

“But are they not holding a funeral for Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol?”

“No, the fallen personnel from 「National Museum of Korea」 already had funerals without bodies last year. So there will not be another separate one.”

“I see…….”

First, Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s remains had been recovered after nearly 1 year.

It was a mournful but fortunate thing.

At the same time, it was also bewildering.

Despite all that time, Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s body had maintained the exact appearance it had while he was alive.

So that body was now being examined by the Research Division.

“And the excavation of remains is still ongoing?”

“Yes, it seems they have only just finished clearing the passage side. It will take at least 1 more day to recover even the remains piled on the rooftop. Classification will take far longer than that.”

On top of that, as I had predicted, the substance blocking the exit of 「National Museum of Korea」 had been the bodies of victims.

「False God」’s gastric fluid had mixed with the bodies and hardened, but when the core of 「National Museum of Korea」 stopped operating, the substance clinging to the bodies disappeared, leaving only half-melted human bones.

Recovering all those bodies and identifying them was also the Bureau’s work.

“So the other divisions seem to be in emergency mode right now too.”

“Other divisions?”

“Yes. 「National Museum of Korea」 was a zone that could not be monitored, so even the victims could not be counted. But since so many victims were added this time, it seems things have become difficult.”

“Ah…….”

The Bureau had many divisions other than Field Operations and the Research Support Division.

There was the General Affairs Division, which compiled Bureau statistics and results, and the External Cooperation Division, which communicated closely with other institutions in order to conceal the existence of Special Zones.

These departments had counted the victims of Special Zones and smoothed things over so their disappearances would not become visible.

But this time, hundreds of victims had been added all at once, so it seemed they were frantic with cleanup.

Because of that, the situation in the Bureau was fairly unsettled.

So S.O.C.H. had also tried to read the mood and give up on the event, but despite that, the Otter Café opened successfully thanks to support from the manager line, just as Baek Sa-ra had said.

“The managers are amazing too. To permit an event café in the middle of all this.”

“It is also a loss for good things to be buried under bad things. That already happened during 「Ant Hill」, so this time, they told us to just do it. It is a rare achievement, so they said it would be nice to commemorate it.”

Right. There was no need to focus only on heavy things.

No, the heavier the time, the more necessary it was to change the atmosphere.

Thus the Otter Café had opened splendidly today, later than scheduled.

“And since I am here, I should also tell you that we are trying to get approval for Lord Otter to carry a firearm.”

“A firearm?”

“Yes, it seems you should carry one from now on. You suffered this time too, after all. Especially when dealing with contaminated people.”

“…….”

I had no intention of asking, “Do I have to shoot people now too?”

Although I had not used a gun, there were already several people who had died through me.

Of course, they had all attacked me first.

I had only survived there.

Since it was self-defense, I did not think I needed to feel guilty.

So I wanted to avoid thinking about it if possible, but in truth, I could not easily shake off their afterimages.

When I was alone, the moments of death kept surfacing.

“You are tired, are you not?”

When I said nothing, Baek Sa-ra examined my complexion and spoke.

“You need to rest more, so I will get going too.”

“Ah…….”

I unconsciously reached out toward Baek Sa-ra as she stood.

Then I was startled and pulled my hand back, but it was already too late.

Baek Sa-ra was looking at me with round eyes.

Baek Sa-ra looked back and forth between my face and my hand once, then smiled and asked,

“Shall I stay a little longer?”

Of course, it was a joke.

A Baek Sa-ra-style joke thrown out knowing I would refuse.

Normally, I would obviously have shaken my head too.

But right now, I could not readily say I was fine.

So after hesitating 10 times, I endured the shame and looked up at Baek Sa-ra.

“…….”

At that moment, the smile disappeared from Baek Sa-ra’s face.

Belatedly thinking that the atmosphere had become strange, I shifted my gaze again.

Then, while I was thinking of what to say to smooth it over, Baek Sa-ra opened her mouth before me.

“I…….”

Slide—!

“Mr. Seo Do-un, do you have time right now?”

The door opened at the same time.

Cha Si-eon, who had skipped both knocking and manners, barged in as well.

So I answered that uninvited guest in a bright voice.

“Yes, I have time!”

“……?”

“……?”

At my delighted response, Cha Si-eon and Baek Sa-ra looked at me with puzzled eyes.

Cha Si-eon had an expression asking why I was welcoming him, and Baek Sa-ra had an expression asking why I was welcoming him.

But I was truly glad to see Team Leader Cha.

Because Cha Si-eon was also a person.

Cha Si-eon showed displeasure at my welcome with his eyebrows, then asked Baek Sa-ra,

“Do you still have business here?”

“…….”

“Ah, Ms. Baek Sa-ra. I am sorry for holding you back when you must be busy.”

“…….”

Baek Sa-ra silently looked back and forth between me and Cha Si-eon.

Then, as usual, she smiled and nodded.

“Yees, Lord Otter. Then I will see you again later.”

For some reason, it felt as if she was speaking through clenched molars, but Baek Sa-ra smiled prettily and stood.

Cha Si-eon stepped aside so Baek Sa-ra could leave.

As Baek Sa-ra left the hospital room, she glanced briefly at Cha Si-eon.

But whether Cha Si-eon did not notice that gaze or ignored it, he simply shut the door.

Slide— click—!

Then he came over to my side and sat down. Mm.

I wonder about it anew.

How exactly did their Kongjwi and Patjwi dynamic come to be?

Patjwi was extremely powerful, but that did not mean Kongjwi seemed likely to fall behind either.

“I came to convey the cleanup status of 「National Museum of Korea」.”

Cha Kongjwi, no, Team Leader Cha, was silently working as always today too.

“First, among the 91 people staying in that Special Zone, 12 were rescued. Among them, some rescued persons are in a state of severe malnutrition, so they are currently receiving treatment.”

Starting with malnutrition…….

“What were the causes of death for the people who could not be rescued?”

“Blood deficiency, evaporation of the brain and organs, and starvation.”

Cha Si-eon’s voice was monotonous.

But the contents he listed were not at all.

“Could it be because they ate 「Imitation Rice」?”

“That is our assumption. The 12 rescued persons had stayed in that Special Zone for less than half a month. Most did not eat 「Imitation Rice」, and even if they did, it was only in small amounts.”

Animals eat food and make blood and flesh.

That was why it had disappeared.

When 「National Museum of Korea」 stopped, the blood and flesh made by eating 「Imitation Rice」 disappeared along with it.

“I thought they would naturally recover, like during 「Ant Hill」.”

Without realizing it, I made an excuse.

Then Cha Si-eon answered as if I had said something pointless.

“Even if we had known the result, there was no better option. If you had not stopped the Special Zone then, we would not have been able to save the 12 who were not contaminated either.”

Yes, this was not wrong either.

I nodded at Cha Si-eon’s words.

“And Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s body is being examined by Analysis Team 2. The contamination value is normal, but the bodies of the other contaminated people from 「National Museum of Korea」 are also currently measuring 0 contamination, so they say it is not a reliable result value.”

“I see.”

“Another unusual point is that after we recovered it, livor mortis formed on Team Leader Kang’s body.”

“Livor mortis……?”

Livor mortis was a kind of bruising that formed on the skin when blood circulation stopped after a person died.

That purplish bruise began to form 1 or 2 hours after death, and became darkest after 10 to 15 hours.

In other words, there was no way for it to newly appear on the body of someone who had died 11 months ago.

“Does that mean the Team Leader was alive until just before?”

“We cannot conclude that. It is a space where common sense does not apply, so the number of possibilities is infinite.”

Cha Si-eon answered calmly, but I could not stop making guesses.

Last July, Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol had entered the 「False God」’s mouth himself to find the core.

But Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s body, when discovered again, was extremely intact.

Even though the other people eaten by the 「False God」 had half-melted down to the bones.

And the form of the 「False God」 described by Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol had been a “whale bone specimen.”

But the form of the 「False God」 that I saw had been closer to a snake.

At present, it was impossible to know whether it had simply changed form, or whether it had been replaced by another entity.

On top of that, the place where Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s body had been discovered was beneath the Ten-Story Stone Pagoda.

The very place where the 「False God」 had been coiled.

“By any chance, if contamination becomes extremely severe, can one become a dangerous entity?”

I asked, hoping my ominous guess was wrong.

But Cha Si-eon’s gaze, which had been looking at me, drifted to the side.

Avoiding my gaze like that, Cha Si-eon said,

“That is not yet known.”

Twinge—

At that moment, the pain I had forgotten for a while was felt inside my organs.

The stomach cramp was starting again.

Without knowing what signal this was, I murmured the words that came to mind.

“The 「Hotel」…….”

“…….”

“Come to think of it, what happened with the 「Hotel」 operation?”

I had asked Kwon Mu-seop too, but he had not answered me.

There was nothing separately posted on the Bureau’s internal network notice either.

So when I asked directly, Cha Si-eon opened his mouth carefully for some reason.

“That day, after Mr. Seo Do-un departed from the operation, it was revised. So Agent Yeon Ga-ram was deployed into the 「Hotel」 instead of Mr. Seo Do-un.”

They changed the order.

Since they had gone to the trouble of securing the core, withdrawing would have been a loss.

Thinking that it had been a wise decision, I asked back,

“So did it succeed?”

“No, it failed. Both the core and the ring were destroyed.”

At Cha Si-eon’s answer, my stomach cramp abruptly stopped.