Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: The Intruder's Demand
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While Se-jin was locked in a fierce struggle inside the sewer, the Tale Management Bureau was just as frantic.
Victims from new tales kept popping up, and tales requiring constant oversight were running rampant without a single day's respite. Every department was swamped, with no one catching a break from their duties.
This held true even for Kim Do-hyun, the sole remaining member of the New Tale Investigation Squad still stationed at the Bureau.
With Tae-jun hospitalized, Do-hyun had to shoulder all the work the two of them used to handle together. Memories from before Tae-jun joined flickered to mind, but the nostalgia they stirred paled against the sheer exhaustion.
Do-hyun stretched vigorously before laying his hands back on the keyboard.
His eyes burned with dryness, and a dull ache throbbed in his lower back, but there was no helping it—he had to push through.
It was an endless slog of tedious paperwork that barely felt like Bureau business.
"Hoo... Guess I should at least grab a cup of coffee before wrapping up."
Still, it beat dealing with actual crises, so a faint undercurrent of relief laced even his workload.
Ding—The door opens.
As the water boiled in the coffee pot, the elevator chimed its arrival.
"Squad Leader, you back already?"
"Euyi."
Do-hyun, thrilled at Se-jin's return and brewing an extra cup, felt a flicker of doubt cross his mind.
'Hang on... wasn't that voice different?'
If so, it had to be someone from another department.
Woo-seok sprang to mind right away, but as senior researcher, he was busier than ever.
Tension seized Do-hyun in an instant, stiffening his arms.
He'd never faced it himself, but the Merchant had breached these halls before.
It was only natural for Do-hyun's face to harden as he turned from the coffee pot.
"...Sorry, but this is a restricted area. No outsiders allowed."
A complete stranger—an old man he'd never laid eyes on—stood there as if he belonged.
A strange sense of familiarity prickled at him, but he couldn't place it just yet.
He could only vaguely surmise that anyone brazen enough to waltz in here wasn't your average civilian.
"Heh heh. My bad. But I reckon there's a fella here who can help me find my memories."
Yet the old man's dialect, his clothes—everything clicked into a sudden revelation for Do-hyun.
"Lee Young-gil..."
"Wha? You know me? How the hell you know my name... And ain't you a bit too mouthy for a young punk callin' an elder like that?"
The old man's eyebrows twisted at a sharp angle.
It was a face brimming with killing intent, the kind only a man who'd racked up every sin imaginable in his youth could wear.
There was no telling how he'd made it here.
But with the Merchant's prior invasion as precedent, the Bureau's security clearly wasn't ironclad.
Moments later, the old man smoothed his expression and spoke as if nothing were amiss.
"Eh, I ain't here to scrap with that other guy anyway. You know 'bout that pale blue tissue? That's why I'm here..."
Do-hyun's hand drifted casually to the pistol on his desk.
Tae-jun had been caught off guard once before—no room for complacency.
The confusion rivaled what he'd felt facing the Merchant and Jo Hu.
How did he know what he knew? How had he gotten in? Questions hammered at Do-hyun's skull.
He'd already alerted HQ via phone, so the response team would arrive any minute.
But the elevator bottleneck was sure to slow them down.
"Three minutes... Can I hold out?"
Do-hyun muttered like a sigh.
One stab and he'd drop dead; the enemy boasted unfathomable regeneration.
"So anyway, that blue tissue's here, right? Don't need much—just gimme one sheet."
Do-hyun swore to himself he'd die before surrendering the tissue.
"Sorry, no clue what you're on about. Want some bathroom TP instead?"
Lee Young-gil barked a laugh at that.
He didn't stop for a good long while, oblivious to what was so hilarious.
"Gutsy tryin' to pull one over on me, but I know the score. You don't got a clue, but there's folks helpin' me out."
Lee Young-gil stretched a hand toward the ceiling.
"Up there, y'know. 'Course, you wouldn't get it even if I spelled it out."
Do-hyun listened intently to every word while racking his brain for a way to subdue him.
"But... if you ain't gonna play nice, guess I'll have to get my hands dirty."
In answer, Do-hyun leveled his pistol.
"Aigoo... There's a way we both walk away happy, so why make it messy?"
Do-hyun had stalled plenty—now it was just about surviving.
Bang—!
Flame erupted from the pistol as the bullet streaked forth.
Its speed was such that even the Merchant would barely track it, let alone this old man who'd eaten Tae-jun's bullets point-blank—he had no chance to dodge.
Of course, the round burrowed straight into the old man's gut.
Yet as if that too were expected, the wound knit itself shut seamlessly.
"Even this counts as an atta—"
Do-hyun fired relentlessly, granting no reprieve.
The bullets shredded his stomach, pulverized his leg joints, and churned his brain to mush inside his skull.
The old man's body spasmed and toppled backward.
"That buys me a little ti—"
But smooth sailing was too much to hope for.
In a blink, space warped—and Do-hyun's gun hand was sliced clean off.
"Wha—what?!"
No blood poured out.
This was nothing like the Shop's hemostasis.
Deformation was already creeping over his severed arm.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ —
This record is for you, whoever reads it someday via barcode scanner.
You'll probably glimpse fragments of my memories.
No way to know what form that'll take right now.
Dumping too much info from the start would just muddle things.
So just follow along my memories.
Day one.
Lucky break.
No clue if it'll be months ahead.
Could even be years.
But I ain't leavin' till my mission's done.
All I got now is rations to last ages and everything I brought for research.
Day two.
No change yet.
Can't see outside from here, so maybe the world's stabilized in that one day.
Not likely, though.
Day three.
Time to kick off the research.
Planned to take it easy for a week, but I feel like time's short.
Max three years if I ration food tight.
Ain't got the expertise, so who knows how long it'll take.
One week gone.
Regret skippin' records, but too damn busy—no excuses.
I gotta revive this game's protagonist.
That's how I'll atone for all my sins.
And today, preps for that research are finally complete.
One month—believe it passed already?
As crazy as it sounds, it's true.
You'd chew me out for slacking, but hear me out first.
My plan hit a snag.
Talkin' 'bout reviving the protagonist—you—as a tale.
One month and a half.
No major changes.
Despair-inducing, but plenty of time left.
Should manage within that.
Two months.
Failed.
My skills fell short.
Need more study.
One year. Yeah, a full year by my count.
Impossible to track exact days here, but that's my math.
No records 'cause nothin' worth writin'.
Sucked up every scrap of knowledge I could.
Senior researcher level now, no doubt.
But still, failure.
Startin' to wear thin.
Dunno what day it is anymore.
Stopped countin'.
Locked alone in a sealed room is hell beyond imagin'.
Gonna turn into a tale at this rate.
Somethin's comin' for me.
Madness.
Yeah, madness.
One mirror here.
My reflection stares back.
Weird.
Only one of me in the world, so why two at once?
Research failure?
No! Success!
But somethin's off.
Flubbed the math?
Research failure?
Gotta be success.
Einstein said you can't handle time and space separate, but really?
What if time and space are tales too?
That's why I can't pierce the story.
All food gone—must be three years now.
Took a year and a half to regain sanity.
Poured every other minute into research, but failed.
Reviving the protagonist? Impossible.
But that's not the end. Kept at it and found another path.
Just switch the target.
And today, I succeeded in swapping the story's protagonist.
This record ain't for you anymore.
No defense if you curse my failure.
Just added a tale for you—don't hate me too much.
From here, it's all for 'me'.
Remember that.
Yeah, record ends here.
One last thing: find the clock.
I gave that role to the protagonist.
The moment you find it, all your questions vanish.
—
"...You talkin' to me right now?"
The notebook from underground had hurled a massive lump of info my way.
Along with utter chaos.