A Clever Trip to Hell (2)
Chungju Base Central Control Room.
Han A-young, who had been deep in research, came rushing in after getting the call, flustered beyond belief.
She was so frantic that she hadn't even properly put on her usual lab coat.
"Doctor, here's the CCTV footage."
Spotting her entrance, one of the control officers quickly played the video.
The footage that appeared was shocking.
The moment the angel, having chomped down a burger with gusto, hopped onto a portal leading to hell inside a computer game.
The countless sensors installed in the containment cell all screamed in unison, showing anomalous readings.
And the angel got sucked right into the monitor.
Most in the Agency knew that the entity presumed to be Persephone had her sights set on the angel.
They'd speculated she might make a move eventually.
That's why they'd given the angel the ring made from studying Anomaly-36 first thing.
But no one expected her to act this fast.
Persephone must be the impatient type.
"Contact HQ on the emergency line and alert the entire base."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Han A-young first ordered contact with HQ.
She then activated admin privileges and accessed the secret system.
The ring they'd given the angel had a return-to-coordinates function as its main feature for emergencies.
But it was packed with other functions too.
The most obvious one: GPS tracking.
She immediately checked the angel's current position.
"Hmm..."
She let out a groan at the readings.
> ANOMALY-1004 LOCATION
> Latitude: 36.4°N
> Longitude: 22.5°E
> Site: Tainaron Cape, Peloponnese Peninsula, Greece
The angel's position on screen: coordinates 36.4°N, 22.5°E.
Tainaron Cape, the southernmost tip of the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece.
A place mythologically suspected as an entrance to the underworld.
Given that, the angel had clearly been dragged to the underworld.
"She won't hurt her, at least..."
Han A-young gnawed at her nails.
From what they'd seen so far, Persephone didn't seem hostile toward the angel.
If anything, she'd call it fondness.
Some theories even said Persephone deliberately lured Hades, but canon had her as the one kidnapped by him.
Han A-young figured she wouldn't be harsh with the angel.
Even when slipping in the pomegranate seeds, she could've sent more but held back to just one.
So Han A-young believed the angel would be fine, but the anxiety lingered.
A moment later.
-Static crackle.
Noise flickered across the main monitor in the control room, then connected to HQ.
Confirming the link, Han A-young reported without delay.
To rescue the angel would require serious manpower.
Moving that many needed more than her authority—HQ's help was essential.
"That's why... I believe we should immediately pull agents from the Greek base and deploy them."
Despite the urgency, Han A-young answered calmly, word for word.
The recipient, listening quietly, finally spoke.
The voice didn't sound human—like computer TTS.
"Pardon...?"
Han A-young paused, thinking, then realized what they meant.
"Ah... the stairs!"
The 72 emergency stairs, temporarily sealed off and isolated from all global bases.
A staircase leading underground had appeared there at some point.
Deeming it too risky for personnel, they'd kept sending in drones and robots, but they kept failing.
In light of that, Agency staff tacitly suspected it might be an entrance to the underworld.
HQ was proposing to send forces there.
"Gasp..."
HQ deploying 100 special ops made Han A-young jump.
HQ Special Ops were the Agency's elite of elites for major anomaly wars.
Sending 100 meant HQ had made a major call.
She worried if it was too much, but the angel's safety trumped all.
Instead of arguing, Han A-young saluted.
"Right away."
For the first time in Agency history, an unprecedented rescue team was assembled.
The mission: rescue Anomaly-1004 and investigate the afterlife, humanity's great fear.
"Ah... no... hiss..."
I teared up as I plucked a single golden feather.
The uncle's eyes wavered at the sight.
"Wh-what do I do... treat it like the Golden Fleece...?"
I'd gone through the trouble of plucking it, but he hesitated, not taking it.
Even by his standards, it was tricky.
I didn't like that after all that, he wouldn't take it.
"Poo..."
I pouted my lips and said,
"My feather... it's super duper soft and fluffy..."
"..."
"Just take it, pleeease."
"Sh-should I...?"
The uncle finally took the feather I offered.
Why hesitate if he was gonna take it anyway? I kept pouting.
That's when—
-Thud thud thud.
A woman with flowing blue hair came running across the river from afar.
"Whoa... walking on water..."
I was admiring her when the uncle spotted her and bowed in a fluster.
"H-He-Hecate, ma'am?"
The blue-haired woman hopped lightly onto the boat as she neared.
"Pretty sis..."
Up close, I couldn't help but gasp.
This blue-haired sis looked straight out of a cartoon—unreal.
Her proportions beat most models, and those jewel-like blue eyes were stunning.
"Wah... sooo pretty."
"For real? You like sis?"
"The prettiest! Prettier than Precure Luna from the moon!"
"Luna...?"
Hearing my honest awe, the sis's lips twitched.
"Well, I am prettier than Selene."
She grinned wide, then cleared her throat and got serious.
"Ahem... proper intro time. I'm Hecate. Our queen asked me to look after you."
"Queen...?"
"Huh? You don't know? Guess the humans didn't tell you."
She tilted her head, then whispered with a grin,
"Our queen's suuuper pretty. Wanna come meet her?"
"Prettier than you, sis...?"
"Sadly... yeah. Even Hades loses his mind over her."
Hecate sis was already super duper pretty, so yeah, I wanted to see someone even prettier.
But...
"Um... but... A-young sis said not to go with strangers..."
Han A-young always nagged that—don't follow strangers. Lots of bad people out there.
"Oh, no worries. We'll send you back when it's time. This sis is a goddess of boundaries, y'know."
"..."
"I can totally send you back."
"Doggie too...?"
"Yup, your cute pup too. I swear on the Styx."
The cowering uncle beside her jolted at her words.
"Um... Hecate, ma'am...?"
"What."
"Swearing on the Styx is..."
"So what."
"..."
The burly muscly uncle couldn't even meet her eyes.
If he feared her, she must be crazy strong.
Then yeah, following her seemed smart.
I could always toss the ring and bail solo anyway.
But she promised to send the doggie too, so better trust her for now.
I glanced around, then nodded.
"I'll go with you, sis..."
"Good choice, good choice."
The grinning sis patted the muscle uncle's shoulder.
"Alright, let's shove off."
"Shove off..."
The spooked uncle started rowing.
My golden feather sparkled in his hand.
"Huh...?"
Hecate sis's face hardened as she saw the feather.
She turned to me and asked,
"Angel. What's with that feather?"
"Oh... Uncle said he needed gold coins, so I plucked one instead...?"
"What...?"
Hecate sis's pretty face twisted up.
Oof...
Feeling the mood sour, I poked the doggie.
"Doggie."
-Woof!
"Wanna scoot to the corner...?"
The doggie nodded like, hell yeah.