Recharge and Q&A (Part 1)
The leave I received after returning from the Eternal Life General Hospital was three days long. For the understaffed Field Response Team, it was generous. For someone who had risked their life on a mission, it felt far too short.
Should I consider myself lucky just to get any break at all? I’d heard rumors that in some other Anomalous Entity Management Bureaus, people who took down entities close to god-like beings still showed up for work the next day. And those were office workers.
So even though it was a weekday, I was once again headed straight for my bed.
They gave me a handmade lunchbox after I donated blood at the hospital. Apparently these days phone game merch is pretty generous too, so you guys should go donate as well.
UltraDadEnergy: killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill
ㄴEntityPuncher: Report this guy to the armband one more time and I’m snitching
DadIsAMartialArtist: This dude’s mentality is something else bb
ㄴPaidToPost: He learned some weird shit again
Author: SettingSlaveReformer
First day on the job, no training, thrown straight into the Backrooms for a week. Then immediately hit with a luck-based gacha Russian roulette mission. After that, straight to a Level 3 hospital. Looking at this guy now, isn’t he exactly the kind of talent the Bureau wants?
Normally even if you survive your first assignment, eighty percent of people end up with PTSD or become total wrecks unless they get their memories erased. So what the hell is this kid? Why is he fine? Is he actually an entity pretending to be human?
ForumJunkiePro: You caught me. Yep, this body is %^#*&$@
ㄴManagingTheManagers: Entity cosplay gets you banned for a month
ㄴForumJunkiePro: Sorry
ㄴTrappedAtHome: lmao you fucking idiot hahahahahahaha
Author: DarkArtsSurgerySurgery
When I was classified as a patient in orthopedics and opened my eyes, the Doctor was smiling like a damn sunshine and said, “This is the patient’s spine.” I told him to give it back, and then he ripped out my pelvis too. What a fucking memory.
WhiteHacker: What the hell, how did you survive?
Ghost1: The “give it back” part in that situation is insane lol
ForumJunkiePro: What? How did you live?
ㄴ(Original Poster)DarkArtsSurgerySurgery: My spine was in such good condition they waived the hospital fee
ㄴForumJunkiePro: For real…?
Like this, time melted away while I lay in bed posting random garbage and browsing the forums. Meals? I only needed to eat dinner. The cafeteria was open twenty-four hours, so it didn’t matter when I went. And every single time I went, Manager Kwak Choon-bong’s head was inevitably sitting on a tray.
Greeting my superior’s body parts every time I ate wasn’t exactly pleasant. Especially when I could see the clean-cut cross-section where it had been severed. Thanks to that, I had managed to collect several Special Meal Vouchers… but it still felt incredibly off-putting.
I didn’t have anyone to go with, either. So out of my three days of leave, I had already spent one full day and half of another just forum-surfing. It wasn’t all mindless shitposting, though.
Author: ForumJunkiePro
Our boss keeps getting caught in the menu so new recruits don’t have to. Every time I report it I get one of these. Does this thing actually give you a special meal? Or am I the one being used as the special meal?
HuntingDog: Boss is fucking awesome. I’ve never been able to use one. Save it for an anniversary or something
OrphanCrusher: Real, the flavor is so good you wouldn’t even notice if your parents died while eating it
GayAnomalyGay: It’s JMT
ㄴGhost1: What the hell is JMT
ㄴGayAnomalyGay: Just My Taste
ㄴGhost1: Fuck off
Author: ForumJunkiePro
I’ve only seen the team leader and one other team member so far. Am I going to end up traveling all over the country on business trips like them? The bonuses are insane and it’s nice, but honestly life is more important than money. Can’t I just take the base salary?
EntityPuncher: Count yourself lucky it’s only nationwide. Back in my day we had overseas assignments
ㄴ(Original Poster)ForumJunkiePro: What? Doesn’t the Bureau not exist overseas?
ㄴEntityPuncher: After Treaty 606, every country started dumping their entities on South Korea. Didn’t they teach you that in orientation?
ㄴ(Original Poster)ForumJunkiePro: The only things they taught me were “have pride” and “survive on your own”
ㄴEntityPuncher: They must not be including it in new recruit training anymore
PaidToPost: It’s been ten years since the treaty was signed. The people who lived through the transition period are few, so they don’t bother explaining it anymore
While gathering information like this, I was also collecting some decent bait. Most of it was just lucky finds, though.
Bzzzz.
My terminal vibrated. It wasn’t the forum app. It was a messenger notification.
[SeniorChoiYu-na: What are you doing?]
The person contacting me was Choi Yu-na. Honestly, she was the only one who would reach out. From the team leader, I had received a text after leaving the hospital saying “good work.” She said we’d talk about the details in person and told me to rest well. According to my senior, even personal matters were only discussed at work. She respected her team members’ private lives and didn’t make personal calls. In many ways, she was the model superior.
[Me: I’m just lying down and resting.]
[SeniorChoiYu-na: Have you eaten?]
[Me: I ate dinner yesterday.]
[SeniorChoiYu-na: Come out. Let’s eat.]
[Me: It’s been a while since dinner time. You still haven’t eaten?]
[SeniorChoiYu-na: You haven’t eaten either.]
I had no real reason to refuse. Besides, there were things I hadn’t gotten to ask my senior about the hospital mission. Like that wooden doll that suddenly appeared, or how the hospital had let us go surprisingly easily.
We agreed to meet in thirty minutes. I grabbed two Special Meal Vouchers from my desk and headed out.
“You’re here?”
“Yep.”
She wasn’t wearing her usual Bureau suit, but something much more casual. I’d half-expected her to wear a suit even on her day off, but apparently not.
“It doesn’t even cost anything. Why haven’t you eaten?”
“Every time I look at the menu I see the manager. It started to feel like I was at work.”
“Ah.”
My senior nodded as if she understood perfectly.
“And you haven’t eaten either, right?”
“I cooked for myself.”
“Then you did eat. So you have eaten.”
“I didn’t eat dinner, so it still counts as not eating.”
With a senior who refused to lose even a single verbal exchange, I entered the cafeteria.
Please enjoy your meal after viewing the menu.
As soon as we stepped inside, the chef appeared and greeted us. Why did this person, who was clearly the chef, come out to say hello every single time we entered? Even fine dining chefs only come out to explain the dishes, right? Actually, it might be better if he didn’t come out while we were eating.
“We’d like to use the special meal service.”
For two people, one voucher is sufficient.
“Oh.”
The chef, whose face resembled a yaksha, took only one of the two vouchers I held out and slipped it into his pocket.
We will serve you the full course.
With that, the chef disappeared back into the kitchen.
Squelch. Squelch.
There were only a few other employees eating, so my senior and I sat down at a corner table.
“I wasn’t even thinking about using the special voucher.”
“I figured I should at least return the favor for the lunchbox.”
“Thanks. I get to try the rumored special meal because of you.”
She lifted the corners of her mouth, genuinely looking forward to it. If it turned out to be good, maybe I should save the vouchers to use as bribes later. That would mean seeing Manager Kwak Choon-bong more often, though.
Appetizer course.
The table filled up faster than I expected.
For the gentleman, five kinds of one-bite appetizers. For the lady, Mediterranean salad.
“Thank you.”
Once you finish, we will bring the next course. Please enjoy at your leisure. Would you like wine with your meal?
“I’m fine, thank you. Senior?”
“Me too. I want to focus on the food.”
When we declined the pairing, the chef vanished once again.
The appetizers that came out were delicious. Even my tastebuds, numbed by MSG and strong flavors, found them intuitively good.
“This is really good.”
“It is.”
“But why is your menu different from mine?”
“Is it?”
Unlike my plate, which was centered around animal protein one-bite dishes, my senior’s plate was nothing but vegetables.
“What is this, customized?”
I once read a manga where reaching the pinnacle of the five elements let you know what the other person wanted to eat. Did the chef have that kind of ability?
“Want to try some?”
My senior speared a piece of vegetable with her fork and held it out to me.
“Ah.”
“I can eat it myself.”
“Your arm will fall off.”
That kind of joke was a bit much.
With no choice, I accepted the salad she offered and ate it. The light dressing and hidden flavors created a subtle, mysterious taste.
“So this is the kind of flavor you like.”
Using the same fork I had just eaten from, my senior took a piece of my raw beef tartare and put it in her mouth.
“And you like this kind of taste.”
“I tend to eat a bit salty.”
Even if we got stranded in a place-type anomaly later, it didn’t seem like she would scold me for drinking directly from a water bottle.
We continued sharing bites of every dish that came after. By the time we reached the main course and only dessert remained, I felt like I was starting to understand her palate.
“You said you had questions about the hospital mission, right?”
“Yes. There were too many things that didn’t sit right to just let them slide.”
The latter half of the mission couldn’t be explained away with simple luck. If we had been lucky, we wouldn’t have been classified as patients from the very beginning.
“Alright. Ask me anything you’re curious about.”
“Thank you. Then…”
“But I’ll go first.”
My senior suddenly took the initiative.
“You have something you want to ask me?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s do give and take.”
It couldn’t be anything too serious. At most, she’d ask about my personal information or why I acted weird on the forums.
“Why did you join the Bureau?”
A heavy straight punch came flying from a direction I had never expected.