Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Doppelganger Overlap Anomaly (2)
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'Stay calm.'
Getting flustered wouldn't benefit me in any way.
First things first—analysis.
I carefully reviewed the events leading up to the Auto Save in my mind.
What the Anomaly Gallery veteran, 'Veteran84', had said.
Stage 3 anomalies have no spatial limits.
He'd also let slip that you could survive by leaving the area where the anomaly exists.
That meant the prison-like barrier or restriction—one you could never escape without clearing the anomaly—had vanished.
For now, my first step was to verify that.
I grabbed the coat hanging nearby and zipped it all the way up.
I packed water and a power bank for my phone into my bag.
The places to check were the five locations listed in the alert texts.
Gwangju City, Seongnam City, Hanam City, Icheon City, and Yeoju City in Gyeonggi Province.
I started walking along the entire border of Gyeonggi Province as marked on the map.
National roads with cars passing sporadically, rural paths lit only by lonely streetlights, deserted bus stops with no signs of life.
Normally, someone like me—a regular person—would have no way to detect the anomaly's boundaries.
But fortunately, I had a means to check.
My phone, connected to the Anomaly Gallery.
A red light blinked in the upper right corner of the screen, indicating the stream was live.
The streaming window.
If you're inside the area, the light stays on continuously.
If you leave, it shuts off immediately.
I kept walking through the night air, phone in hand.
The sound of traffic lights changing on the road, the roar of exhaust-spewing vehicles.
Between it all, I checked the streaming window as I moved.
I walked all day.
And finally, I had my answer.
The evacuation zones marked in the safety texts matched the actual anomaly area pretty closely.
Cross the boundary, and the stream went dark. Step back in, and it lit up again.
Everywhere else was outside the range.
Even if I knew this and tried to push for evacuations, no one would listen.
Just some random civilian, not a politician.
Not many would pay attention to me.
Especially not over five separate regions.
My motivation for confirming this was simple.
I couldn't pull off something this absurd on my own.
It was beyond my abilities.
But was it impossible for everyone else too?
Some organization—whether the Foundation or the military—was already mobilizing.
They'd only sent the evacuation alerts after three days.
That meant they'd known from the start which areas were dangerous.
The picture was coming into focus.
They'd predicted the disaster would strike.
Yet they waited until the final day to send those urgent texts to civilians.
If they'd just wanted to hide it, they would've kept it quiet until the end.
But those frantic messages reeked of desperation.
Only one explanation.
The government or military was confident they could neutralize it.
And they'd tried, banking on that confidence.
But somewhere along the line, the plan went wrong.
That failure led to the total collapse of the entire city in the final moments.
***
Think simply.
A failure means they can try again.
And being able to try again?
That was no disadvantage to me.
I pulled out my phone and dialed the number.
Top of the recent calls list.
The voice that had cut off amid static in those final moments.
Suppression Team, Kang Su-ji.
The moment I held it to my ear, a long silence stretched out.
Then came the cold, repeating mechanical tone.
*Beep— Beep— Beep—*
The call never connected.
I set the phone down and turned toward home.
The room was shrouded in darkness, and outside the window stretched only a silent night sky.
Right now, I had only one option.
Observe.
Attempt contact while keeping my eyes on the sky.
From that day on, I tilted my head back as much as possible, watching the heavens.
The anxiety that I'd miss something crucial if I looked away even for a second gripped my throat relentlessly.
Day 1.
No changes.
The sky was serene, as if nothing had happened.
As if I'd just imagined the whole thing, nothing occurred.
Day 2.
Still no changes.
No more text alerts after the first day.
Nothing like a hint amid the Anomaly Gallery's noisy chatter.
I even started doubting myself.
Had I really seen the black sun that day?
Day 3.
My nerves were on edge that day.
I glared at the sky with paranoid intensity, but let my guard down for a moment.
Just a few minutes.
The brief time it took to glance away and grab the cup on the table.
When I looked up again, it was already there, hanging in the sky.
The black sun.
A massive black sphere suspended overhead.
Sublime black light leaked from its surface, spreading in all directions.
The scene replayed that day's horror exactly.
Building exteriors melted and flowed downward.
Windows shattered like liquid.
Even concrete spread across the ground like water.
People dissolved before they could scream.
Their skin turned to sticky fluid, bones crumbling, bodies spilling onto the floor in seconds.
My phone began vibrating violently.
Dozens of emergency texts poured across the screen.
[Investigator Kim Sera]: Alpha! If you're in the Gyeonggi area right now, run!
[Suppression Team Kang Su-ji]: Alpha Agent!
[Emergency Disaster Alert] [A major threat has occurred across all of Gyeonggi Province. Residents and visitors in Gyeonggi must evacuate the area immediately.]
[Emergency Disaster Alert] [This is not a drill. This is a real situation alert. Evacuation zones: Gwangju City, Seongnam City, Hanam City, Icheon City, Yeoju City in Gyeonggi. If you are in these areas, move to a safe zone immediately.]
[Emergency Disaster Alert] [Gwangju City-wide: Risk of building collapses and communication failures. Citizens, avoid open areas outside buildings and head to government-designated shelters immediately.]
[Emergency Disaster Alert] [Seongnam area roads under control. Avoid vehicle travel. Check Ministry of the Interior and Safety website or disaster broadcasts for shelter locations.]
[Emergency Disaster Alert] [Damage spreading. Observed phenomenon confirmed as atmospheric anomaly. Residents: Do not open windows. Avoid direct exposure to the light.]
Before I could even read them all, a massive roar filled my ears—the sound of buildings crumbling.
Concrete cracking, rebar snapping with agonized shrieks.
My phone rang amid the vibrations.
—Alpha! ...O-overlap phenomenon has started!
*Static crackle—*
It was definitely Kang Su-ji, the same one we'd spoken to three days prior.
But now, it was too late.
The moment the black sun rose, the story had become a script barreling toward its scripted end.
I let the phone slip from my limp hand and gazed out the window.
This time, I could see it in more detail.
*Crunch—crack—split—*
A colossal cracking echoed from the sky.
The black sun.
No—better to call it a massive black egg.
Because something was being born.
Its surface split like a shell, black light seeping from the fissures.
From within, black wings writhed and slowly unfurled.
The moment the wings fully spread, the entire sky plunged into darkness.
In the gap between, horns protruding from either side of its head flashed briefly.
Black wings.
A sky drowned in shadow.
And massive horns gleaming like a crown on either side of its head.
It wasn't just some anomaly.
It was a silhouette worthy of calling itself a devil.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
['Doppelganger' mimics 'Devil'.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
***
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Returning to the last save point.]
[Most recent save point: AUTO SAVE 2.]
[Doppelganger Overlap Anomaly]
[Death Type]: Evaporation.
[Tip]: Do not look directly at the black sun. Observe only from the edge of your vision.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I opened my eyes.
My phone alarm was blaring.
[Military Exercise Notice] [A regular military exercise will be conducted. Do not be startled by noise or vehicle movement during the exercise. Please prioritize safety.]
[Military Exercise Notice] [We ask for your cooperation and understanding to ensure smooth training and safety.]
This time, I wouldn't repeat the same mistake.
I called Kang Su-ji immediately.
We'd exchanged emails for days, and we'd just been chatting moments ago.
That meant, at this point, she could still answer calls.
"Kang Su-ji?"
—Alpha? I got your email.
"Where are you right now? Are you deployed on an anomaly-related mission?"
—...How did you know? Are you one of the personnel called up this time too?
Now I knew why she hadn't responded for three days.
At the start of my loop, she'd already entered the anomaly.
And at the point of my death, the black sun had risen.
Meaning their neutralization attempt had failed.
"...By any chance, do you have an open spot right now?"