Chapter 9
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Anomalous Artists
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Han Sohee, the director of the Gangwon Province Research Institute, had always believed she knew quite a bit about anomalies.
Ever since she got caught up in her first anomalous incident at seventeen, she'd spent fifteen years rising to become the Management Bureau's youngest research director, encountering every kind of anomaly along the way.
From safe-rated ones to disaster-rated. And even the unclassified ones capable of triggering extinction-level scenarios.
She'd walked the steady elite path, facing countless anomalies.
Or so she thought.
"Oh? How did you know?"
When the girl popped out of thin air with that endearing voice, it truly startled her.
The director's office was at the heart of the Management Bureau research institute. Even if invisible, it was packed with all sorts of detection-type anomalous entities.
She couldn't have imagined a human—let alone an anomaly—slipping in undetected. It made her wonder if there was a hole in the office's security.
"...How?"
To her instinctive question, the girl replied as if it were no big deal.
"Shall I show you?"
Starlight gathered in her palm.
Unlike the instinctive aversion that came with anomalous activation, this warm light embracing the stars drew the eye in.
"Rene, do me a favor."
The starlight vanished in that instant.
As the girl's words ended, her hand—brimming with starlight—turned transparent silver.
The now-transparent hand passed lightly through the desk. It even pierced the anomalously reinforced wall of the director's office without effort.
"This is..."
It was a familiar trait.
The Management Bureau's Gangwon branch's biggest headache. The disaster-rated anomaly 'Renaissance Virus' that had killed over a hundred agents—she, as the research director, couldn't possibly not know it.
Renaissance Virus's signature ability: Phantasmagoria.
That was why the Bureau had to seal the virus inside a plaster statue.
"...No way, is that the Renaissance Virus?"
Even so, she asked again because she couldn't believe the situation.
It had been 2025 years since humanity first confronted the existence of anomalous entities head-on. Countless attempts had been made to safely seal disaster-rated ones during that time.
All had failed without exception.
"Ah, yes, it is."
Isolation was the best method.
Periodically sacrificing humans to sustain the anomalous entity. Surrounding it with ironclad defenses to prevent escape, maintaining flawless surveillance.
Even then, complete control was impossible—isolation failures happened like clockwork every year. That was the reality.
But a human containing an anomalous entity inside them? Was that even possible? Without any damage or loss of life?
"Sorry, but could you do a quick test for me?"
The first possibility that crossed Han Sohee's mind was, naturally, possession.
The Renaissance Virus taking over this girl's body. The worst-case scenario.
Of course, the odds were low. If so, she and Han Yura would already be dead.
Besides, once inside a host, that virus couldn't use phantasmagoria. The isolation protocol of sealing it in plaster wasn't arbitrary.
Still, as research director, she had to do what needed doing.
"Hmm, it won't hurt... right?"
"No. It's just a simple test—read a few lines from this."
Reassuring the girl—who shrank her shoulders and clasped her hands between her thighs like she hated needles—Han Sohee handed over the notebook.
Only then did Baek Eunha cautiously accept it.
The notebook's cover bore the Management Bureau's motto.
[We are humanity's last bastion.]
Turning the page with her small hand, the familiar bureau rules from the game floated up letter by letter on the first page.
[0-1: All activities of the Anomaly Management Control Department must be strictly concealed.]
[1-1: Always prioritize the lives of citizens without violating rule 0-1.]
[1-2: Always maintain political neutrality...]
It didn't take long for Baek Eunha to read all the rules aloud in her clear voice.
Only after the final line—"If you can see all these rules, you are human. Your mind is untainted, so rest assured"—did Han Sohee tell her to stop.
"You're definitely human, but..."
Taking back the notebook, Han Sohee wore a complicated expression.
Anomalous art wasn't fully understood yet. There were so few anomalous artists cooperating with the Bureau.
It might just be some unknown anomalous trait of theirs.
As she pondered that, the girl timidly asked,
"Um, is... is it a problem that I took Rene...?"
It was a natural question for Baek Eunha.
In the Anomaly Management Control Department's lore, anomalies stored in bureau research institutes belonged to that bureau.
The Bureau wanted nothing more than to destroy anomalies, but who knew? It might cause issues later.
"Pfft, no problem at all."
Contrary to her worry, Han Sohee didn't care. As research director, she was just curious.
"Yura, could you cancel all my appointments?"
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster... for if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
It was a phrase every bureau agent carried in their heart. The bureau's battlefield wasn't on the surface, but deep in the watery depths, in the unfathomable abyss below.
Researching that abyss was the research director's job. That was why no research director was ever truly sane. Han Sohee knew that full well.
"I've finally found an exciting specimen."
"Eek?"
Han Yura glanced between her sister—eyes sparkling with excitement—and the girl, who shivered with inexplicable foreboding.
Then, with a soft sigh, she nodded.
As Han Yura left,
"How about becoming an official bureau collaborator, Eunha?"
"Uh..."
Han Sohee made her offer.
Honestly, it wasn't a bad deal.
In this hopeless world, the only sane group was the Management Bureau.
Plus, even asking her opinion put her in the top 10% for personality.
Among those fighting anomalies beyond common sense, few still clung to it.
Han Yura had explained the benefits of being a bureau collaborator.
Rewards proportional to the risk level of resolved anomalies.
Mutual protection clauses where the bureau directly shielded you from anomalous threats.
Since identities of those involved with anomalies were often erased, bureau guarantees of identity, and more...
All solid perks.
Especially legal contact with anomalies.
She wanted to know her ability's limits and scope anyway. Safe experiments were win-win.
So, without hesitation, she took Han Sohee's hand.
"Sure."
Official Civilian Collaborator: Baek Eunha
[Warning! Riot in A-17 sector storing anomalous artworks! Looks like Pietà's handiwork!]
"Uh..."
As if on cue with fate's prank, the bureau's alert system blared right then.
In the waning light of the sun, a single door stood alone in the mountains of Gangwon Province.
A door of pure white marble, meticulously carved over days by ten artists.
Of course, it wasn't just any ordinary door.
A door infused with spatial interference-type anomalism. As the apparent leader turned the handle, a sticky, eerie energy oozed out from within.
"Everyone ready?"
Instead of words, the ten cloaked artists drew their weapons in reply.
The anomalous artist community Pietà numbered around 10,000 in total. But elite combatants numbered fewer than a few hundred.
150 of those elites had died in Korea. Pietà's worst disaster since its founding.
Their sacrifice couldn't be in vain.
"A tiger dies and leaves its pelt; an artist dies and leaves their work."
Of course, it wasn't just sentiment.
The annihilation of elites meant the group's strength was crippled.
With 150 combatants dead, they had to recover their final works somehow to offset the loss. They needed to see this 'God of Art' they'd vowed to create.
For those chasing unattainable ideals, it was a remarkably pragmatic judgment.
"Don't let their deaths be in vain."
Nothing remained at their atelier. They had to find what those 150 brilliant artists had risked their lives to make.
The most likely place? The Anomaly Management Control Department.
Personnel weren't fully assembled yet, but they couldn't wait. Any longer, and the bureau would recover from the isolation failure shock, making infiltration impossible.
"Our comrades are dead, but their will lingers, trapped in the bureau."
Creeeak—
The marble door slowly opened, revealing the bureau's pristine marble corridor beyond.
The ten artists stepped inside without hesitation.
Exactly ten minutes later, Sector A was half-destroyed.
Seeing it, Pietà leader Jang Bar smiled.
At this rate, they'd find their objective in time.
That hope shattered with a girl's voice echoing through the smoke-filled corridor.
"...Hmm, for anomalous artists, this is quite the messy scene?"
A voice showing no fear amid dozens of rampaging anomalous artworks.
The moment instinctual dread hit, a girl appeared amid starlight.
"I'll fix it for you."
With a single finger snap, repairing every half-ruined isolation cell.