Chapter 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Management Bureau Gangwon Branch
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I pulled my collar tight and scanned my surroundings.
"...This is a bit much."
This wasn't the Anomaly Management Control Department Gangneung Branch I remembered.
The once-luxurious lobby was stained red. Shattered chandelier fragments lay scattered below, soaked in blood. The staff, who had been bustling through their daily routines, were frozen solid as stone.
I slipped my hand into my pocket and gripped the fist-sized statue that fit perfectly in my palm—Peanut. I whispered to it.
"The situation... doesn't look good."
Warning lights flashing in the Management Bureau lobby.
Floors stained with blood.
Agents transformed into marble statues, impossible to check for signs of life.
All the evidence pointed to one clear conclusion.
"Containment failure..."
I didn't think an anomaly had broken into the Management Bureau. If even this hidden facility had been breached, Gangneung city would already be in ruins by now.
The problem was...
"I have no idea which anomaly did this."
An anomaly that turns people to stone?
Five candidates sprang to mind immediately.
The 'turning people to stone' gimmick was pretty common.
In times like this, even my knowledge of the original story wasn't much help.
The minor incidents in the 'Anomaly Management Control Department' were mostly random anyway.
What? A containment failure at the Management Bureau is a 'minor' incident?
In a world with endings like city destruction, national annihilation, continental wipeout, and... even global extinction, wasn't that just par for the course?
"Well, from where I'm standing... city destruction or world end, it's all the same."
A gun or a cannon—both kill just the same.
Who in their right mind would see a gun pointed at them and think, 'Phew, at least it's not a cannon'?
To push back the rising fear, I kept up the idle thoughts and pulled Peanut out of my pocket.
No matter the situation, it was my shield that had saved my life at least once.
Perched on my shoulder, it swung its legs happily, giving me an inexplicable sense of reassurance.
"Alright, let's do this."
Thanks to it, I mustered some courage.
The courage to not run away and check what had happened.
Stepping out of the entrance, the metallic tang of blood grew thicker.
A human corpse hung over the slogan [We are humanity's last bastion], evoking the fall of that very bastion—a chilling sight.
But I had no intention of fleeing.
"...Not that I could even if I wanted to."
You need an escape route to flee.
Once inside an anomalous entity's space, there were only two ways out.
Defeat the entity or uncover its rules and escape.
Unfortunately, no rules were apparent here.
"See anything, Peanut?"
It shook its head.
The doll on my shoulder shook no.
My lips felt parched for no reason. I smacked them and stepped into the lobby.
Crunch— Crushed crystal shards crumbled underfoot.
At that moment, the Management Bureau—frozen in marble silence—detected new life entering.
The first to react was the long-dormant broadcast system.
[Kiiiiieeeek----!]
"Hrk...!?"
It sounded like a living thing stirring from a long slumber.
Piercing noise assaulted my ears. Startled, my body froze—and that's when the cacophony hit.
Screams from the moment disaster struck the Management Bureau. Static from the destroyed broadcast equipment. Thunderous booms from microphones hitting the floor.
"Ugh...!"
Only after the uproar subsided did something resembling speech emerge.
[He... Hel... Hello...]
Vrrr—
A heavy mechanical hum filled the air as the electronic display above the lobby information desk lit up.
Slogans meant to boost staff morale, like 'This is humanity's last bastion, the Anomaly Management Control Department Gangwon Province Branch!' began scrolling slowly.
Hello... everyone? A new day has begun. Civilian casualties from anomalous entities on November 30th totaled 21, the lowest this year. Today as well...
I stood there dumbfounded for a moment before hastily channeling starlight to steel my resolve.
A dark, ominous building. A blood-soaked lobby broadcasting this message. It was straight out of a horror flick cliché.
Thanks to that, I could half-listen to what came next.
...Thus, I respect the Management Bureau's will to protect perfect humanity.
Clack.
A marble shard the size of my thumb dropped before my eyes. The gentle announcer's voice continued uninterrupted.
However, current humanity is imperfect. Your varied, freewheeling appearances are wrong. Immediately consume the marble shard before you and refer to Management Bureau Manual Article 3, 'Suicide Methods,' to become one with us.
"What...?"
Even with a thousand hours in 'Anomaly Management Control Department,' I knew the Management Bureau was a mad place that ground people up for the public good—but not so insane as to make healthy staff suicide.
So this was an anomaly-corrupted broadcast. It couldn't be real.
Recalling that snapped my foggy judgment back into focus.
I quickly gathered starlight in my hand and backed away from the marble shard a few steps.
Even then, the soothing voice gently coerced irrational actions.
If you encounter a colleague unable to perform 'Suicide Methods' or unwilling to do so, please assist them directly.
That's when the anomaly struck.
Grind. Crrrunch. Grrrrrind. Teeth-gnashing sounds echoed from all directions. The statues I'd dismissed as ordinary began to stir with life.
Thud! The corpse hanging over the slogan crashed to the floor. Instead of blood, plaster dust poured from its shattered body.
Only then did I guess its identity.
A monster obsessed with filling the world with perfect works. One that wielded marble statues, turning bitten victims into zombie hosts.
CA-1F-68
Renaissance Virus
Brainwashing failed? Then the next pattern was obvious.
"Damn...!"
Red glows flickered in the eyes of the frozen statues. Like pupae emerging from cocoons, marble shells cracked as they awoke.
Their forms were anything but ordinary humans.
Plaster and marble chunks flowed where blood should.
Deep wounds and missing limbs were replaced entirely with marble, and their pallid skin held no trace of vitality.
Zombies with bodies tough enough to deflect blades and bullets. Corpses I couldn't even resist with normal means came charging.
But anomalous entities weren't exclusive to them.
"Peanut, you're up."
Smash—!
No sooner had I spoken than the massive wooden statue smashed through marble, bursting onto the scene. Its painted eyes gleamed menacingly.
Seizing the gap as the statues hesitated, I quickly sorted my thoughts.
Renaissance Virus. The space containing that mad bastard was C-Wing Containment. And C-Wing was on basement level 13.
"It's not fully loose yet."
I knew the Renaissance Virus's main body.
If containment had completely failed, the lobby wouldn't have greeted me with these weak mobs.
So... containment was partial failure. It had infected and released at least one staff member.
The main body was still locked down, and someone somewhere in the facility was resisting, preventing full breach.
And that location was probably... basement level 15, overseeing facility containment.
"The issue is getting there..."
Krunch—!
Peanut's fist effortlessly pierced a marble statue. The one with a hole through its heart twitched before crumbling to particles.
But the situation wasn't great.
Even Peanut would struggle to push further.
Creating a variable was my job.
"Alright. Let's try it...!"
I couldn't use my ability here. It had to be saved for C-Wing. Overusing it would knock me out first.
So I drew the basic weapon issued to anomalous artists in the game.
"Hup—"
With strong intent to sculpt, I gathered starlight in my hands like prayer. Spreading them, sculpting knives materialized between my fingers.
Without hesitation, I hurled them all at one statue and shouted.
"Peanut! See the elevator ahead?"
It nodded. In the dark chaos, I barely made out the motion. Summoning four more knives and scattering them, I continued.
"We're heading there! I'll protect myself, so clear the path!"
Four charging statues exploded on the knives.
Peanut's demeanor shifted.
Abandoning defense, it focused on breaking through like a tank, shoving statues aside.
At the end of that path.
A heavy wooden fist crumpled the elevator doors. Glass shattered, plummeting into the abyss.
I glanced at the pursuing statues and stepped onto Peanut's extended hand, clambering to its shoulder.
"Jump!"
At my command, it hurled itself without hesitation into the endless underground depths.
Management Bureau basement level 15, control room.
A place normally sealed to all, but not today.
Containment failure. With the worst scenario unfolding, such restrictions meant nothing. This was the Gangwon Branch's last line of defense.
Isolation Team 3 Leader Han Yura, who had barricaded the door against anomalous entry, leaned against the control room wall, inspecting her wound.
"...I think I'm done for, huh?"
The bite on her forearm from the statue was hardening irreversibly. Her black bob was turning white from the tips.
The flowing blood had become plaster dust, mottled and grayish, and her arm's veins gleamed pure white, filled with marble.
Worse was her mind.
"Sorry, ma'am. It's our fault..."
"Stop! Don't come closer. I might bite you right now."
She finally understood the 'perfection' that damned statue CA-1F-68 'Renaissance Virus' preached. Her subordinates, with whom she'd shared life and death, now repulsed her.
People looked like grotesque flesh lumps. She wanted to tear into their irregular bodies right now and cover them in marble.
Even so, drawing her pistol and aiming at her head was her final will to die human.
"Ah, I miss Mom."
Han Yura murmured softly, finger on the trigger.
That's when the anomaly happened.
[Opening the door]
"Huh?"
A sinister-looking wooden statue flung the door wide open.