Terraforming (2)
I was currently hiding near the building where the Anomaly Exploration Team was staging before departure. If you asked why I was hiding—well, because if they spotted me, who knows what kind of fuss they'd make.
Badmouthing me was fine. I'm an Anomaly, after all; I could listen to that kind of thing all day. The problem was if seeing me caused them to delay their departure schedule. That wouldn't do, would it?
So I stayed hidden nearby, ears perked, eavesdropping. Even I had to admit the whole setup looked pretty ridiculous.
Why ridiculous?
Because I was currently clinging to a utility pole.
…Well. Like anyone else was going to do this job for me.
Anyway, despite hanging off a utility pole in plain view, they hadn't noticed me at all. Of course, that was because I had nudged the future ever so slightly to make sure they just barely couldn't see me.
But as I'd said before, my manipulations only worked in truly tiny increments. So this was a complete tightrope walk. And there's always some jerk who has to interrupt a tightrope act.
"Ngh! Get away from there!"
These flying rats!
A chicken—no, a pigeon was trying to land on my head!
I flailed my hands as best I could to shoo it off, but the pigeon showed not the slightest intention of giving up!
In the end, I beat my ears frantically as I chased it away—and finally, finally succeeded.
"Haah… what on earth am I even doing with myself."
A sigh escaped me before I could stop it. Why would a pigeon suddenly try to perch on my head of all places?
A little sulky over the pigeon's tyranny, I failed to take stock of my surroundings. My ears, however, kept quietly collecting every sound nearby, and they dutifully reported to me.
"S-Spoiler Fox!"
"Wh—why is it on a utility pole?!"
In an instant, the area around the utility pole erupted into chaos.
And realizing what was happening, I froze solid.
'D-don't tell me they saw me fighting a pigeon…?'
That worry flashed through my mind first, but there was something far more pressing. The fact that I'd been caught!
See? Flying rats ARE a harmful species!
Cursing the pigeon with every fiber of my being, I racked my brain for a way out of this situation. And the option I chose was—
"Of the thirty-six stratagems, running is the best!"
I immediately leapt from the utility pole into a nearby thicket, burst straight out the other side, and bolted.
And in the middle of all that, my tail managed to collect a souvenir from every branch along the way.
Honestly, today's luck was terrible!
After Spoiler Fox fled, one of the Anomaly Exploration Team members who had watched the whole thing let out an awkward laugh.
"What on earth was that?"
The man stared for a moment in the direction the fox had vanished. But a voice soon made him turn his head despite himself.
"Ju-hwan, just let it go. When have you ever seen that thing do anything remotely explainable?"
The voice belonged to Kim Ji-hwan, my senior and mentor. I answered him, naturally enough, that I'd never seen anything of the sort.
And yet something in his words made me shudder.
"But you're calling it 'that thing'! What if it decides to attack us someday…!"
The thought of Spoiler Fox launching an attack had come to me all too easily. My face went a little pale at it. Kim Ji-hwan, watching me, gave me a look that plainly said pathetic.
"Haah. Kid, we're the Anomaly Investigation Unit. You're a rookie, sure, but how long are you going to be this jumpy?"
"Th-that doesn't mean scary things aren't scary…."
I talked back timidly, but all I got in return was that same pitying look. I had no choice but to shut my mouth.
And so, after that little piece of comedy—nothing like the fox's fears—the Anomaly Exploration Team proceeded exactly on schedule.
"Everyone! Load up!"
At the team leader's command, everyone boarded their assigned vehicles. Then, one after another, the engines turned over, and the convoy pulled out without delay.
And so the Anomaly Exploration Team began its journey toward the target zone.
Along the route they traveled, people waved and called out greetings. Watching them, I felt something strange stir in my chest.
"Senior. This feels a little surreal, doesn't it? Everyone welcoming us like this."
"Well… I suppose it means people are that interested in this particular Anomaly."
I couldn't say for certain. But it was easy to see from the news and social media that this Anomaly had captured the public's attention.
So my senior was maybe half right. What the other half was, though, I had no idea.
Lost in these thoughts while staring out the window, a sudden question occurred to me.
"Come to think of it, senior. Is this Anomaly really as dangerous as all that?"
"Hmm? Probably… yeah, it is. We barely have any data on this type, you see."
And with that, my senior launched into a long explanation. It went on and on, but it could be summed up simply enough.
Most Anomalies share common features. Some take a humanoid form, for instance.
Granted, nearly every Anomaly is something no one has ever seen before. But apparently, more of them than you'd expect resemble Anomalies that have appeared in the past.
The one that had emerged this time was different. This Anomaly was an environment-corrosion type—in other words, an Anomaly that terraformed a specific region however it pleased.
Few of the Anomalies that had appeared so far had affected an area this broadly, which was exactly why the relevant data was so thin.
That was why the government had organized the Anomaly Exploration Team. They needed to uncover the creature's true nature—and a way to contain it—as soon as humanly possible.
Whatever dangers it might hold, they couldn't just leave it alone, could they? Of course, that accounted for half the reason. The other half was publicity.
Nobody was going to make a fuss about that, though. Anomalies are exactly that terrifying.
Listening to all this, I felt a knot of tension form in my stomach. I mean, the fate of South Korea was riding on our hands!
I hoped our investigation would turn up something harmless, but I knew as well as anyone that hoping for that was just wishful thinking. All I could do was sigh.
After roughly two hours, we reached the target zone. We drove as deep into the mountain as the vehicles allowed, but before long, the time came to proceed on foot.
"Everybody off! We set up camp here—keep it orderly! Move fast on that base camp!"
Everyone who'd climbed out of the vehicles moved with flawless precision. They operated like people thoroughly accustomed to this kind of work. I, meanwhile, couldn't quite find my place in it all.
Well, I was a rookie of barely two months.
So I stuck close to my senior's side and helped with his work. About thirty minutes later, we finished constructing the base camp.
"Alright! Everyone gather round! Final briefing before we move out!"
What a set of lungs on him.
He looked young for it, but he was the one leading the entire Exploration Team. I didn't even know his name. Still, he was the boss, so boss's orders it was.
At his call, we all assembled in one place, fixing our eyes on the team leader as he stepped up onto a hastily built platform.
"Ah, ah. Mic check."
Once the microphone had finished emitting some truly skin-crawling feedback and confirmed itself in working order, the team leader began to speak.
His speech was long, but it could be boiled down to three things.
Don't play hero.
Don't poke around for no reason.
If you judge there's danger, run. We have no power to fight back.
That was about the size of it. We'd all been briefed on this place beforehand, so he was only hammering home the cautions.
But I didn't think this was the kind of thing a team leader should be saying. So I quietly asked the senior beside me.
"Senior."
"What is it?"
I told him what was bothering me. My senior snorted, as if I'd said something ridiculous.
"Rookie. He's saying it because he's the team leader."
"…Sorry, what?"
"About time you started figuring this stuff out for yourself, isn't it?"
With that, my senior said nothing more. Clearly I was meant to think it over on my own. So I carefully combed back through everything I'd seen and heard so far.
And at last, I understood why the team leader—and my senior—had said what they did.
We were the Anomaly Investigation Unit. Right now, we belonged to the Anomaly Exploration Team.
Even before joining the Exploration Team, we had traveled around investigating Anomalies. And that work had always been steeped in danger.
And we had always, always put our own lives first. Even if the government cursed us for it. Even if the people cursed us for it.
The team leader knew this full well. That was why he'd gone out of his way to say it.
Our essence was the Anomaly Investigation Unit—and even now that we belonged to the Exploration Team, he was telling us not to forget it.
"Haah. Senior. We really are the Anomaly Investigation Unit, right?"
Having caught the intent behind the team leader's words, I asked just to make sure. My senior looked at me as if to say, he finally gets it.
"Isn't that obvious?"
Right. We were the Anomaly Investigation Unit.
Which meant nothing had changed.
Before I knew it, the team leader had finished his address and was ordering us to move out. It was finally beginning.
Shoulders loaded with gear, we set our footsteps toward the mountain.
"Hehehe. You never saw this coming, did you?"
Peekaboo.
My head poked out of the trunk of one of the vehicles. Thankfully, the Exploration Team had already departed.
I pushed the trunk lid open and hopped down with a sprightly little boing, then began surveying my surroundings.
Rows of simple pop-up tents stood in neat lines, all of them empty. There were a few people guarding the place, granted, but only one or two.
Having confirmed that, I gave my tail a pleased swish and showered myself with praise.
"Hehe, spotting the vehicle the Exploration Team would ride in was pure luck. Thanks to that, I got to sneak aboard before they left."
That's our fox for you!
I was standing there, hands on hips, swelling with pride, when footsteps reached my ears and I darted behind the vehicle. Two people walked right past.
"Ahh… I wanted to go too."
"Go on back. Honestly, it's safer staying here."
Mm-hm. True enough.
And with plant zombies likely to show up, somebody needed to stay behind and serve as my information network.
Having arbitrarily assigned them their roles, I waited until they were out of sight. The moment they disappeared, I emerged.
"Hmm. Well then, I'll leave this place in their capable hands…."
I turned my gaze toward the mountain the Exploration Team had set out for. It had already been partially claimed by the Anomaly.
And it seemed there were other Anomalies besides the environment-corrosion type as well. This mountain was shaping up to be a decidedly hostile place for the Exploration Team.
"Alright. Shall we?"
The plan was simple: sightsee, and while I was at it, save the Anomaly Exploration Team as a bonus.
My ears and tail, apparently looking forward to the tourism, wouldn't sit still.
And so I set off toward the mountain.