Traces
Unit 716.
“You weren't here to house-hunt, and you went over it piece by piece? Impressive.”
Won-goo said, looking at Jos. It was half a joke, and Jos flashed him a wide grin—until he caught sight of Montage's face and hastily shuffled backward.
“Found something real interestin' thanks to that, boss.”
“Whether it's interesting or just plain shady, we'll have to see. Either way, I'll allow the compliment.”
“That's right. Our boy's reliable when it counts.”
The apartment was around ninety square meters—tight quarters once a few grown men filed inside. It was an older building, and the layout lacked anything resembling modern polish.
“This is a terraced-style complex, ain't it?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Outside it don't look it, but the interior's structured exactly like one. Don't that strike you as odd?”
“Is there anything in this world that *isn't* odd anymore? By any sane measure, no. Nobody even knows where these buildings came from or how they got welded together.”
“Fair point…… everythin' went to hell anyway…….”
As he spoke, Montage slid his sunglasses down and swept the room. The place was a wreck, but a fair amount of household belongings still remained.
“Ain't this an apartment from Seonyudo?”
“Seonyudo? How could you possibly know that?”
“Look at that busted picture frame. Says somethin' like ‘Top Three Fishermen of Seonyudo.' Stuff like that's usually a trophy from the island, ain't it?”
“Unbelievable…… sharp eyes as always, boss.”
After finishing his sweep, they entered the deeper part of the unit. It was a space that couldn't accommodate many people, so only the heads went in while the rest waited outside.
Jos led them to the master bedroom.
Inside it was a basement. The facility was so absurdly out of place that everyone fell silent for a few seconds, staring at the floor.
Perhaps because the structure let in so little light, the depths of the basement were pitch black, its interior impossible to make out.
It was like staring down a bottomless pit—the kind of darkness that bred genuine dread.
“It really is somethin' strange, right?”
Jos said, puffing up with pride.
“Hey now, Director Gong. Apartments don't usually come with these, do they?”
“Someone built it separately.”
“Nah. It ain't the first floor—how in the world would you even build this? Ain't it more like a portal? You go in and come out somewhere else? That's where my suspicion's sittin' strong.”
“If it were a portal, light would've spilled out the moment it opened. There's been no reaction like that, so it's not a portal.”
“Then we can just go in? Is that safe?”
“We're not marching in blind. First—Hyung-nim, your ability. Anything turning up?”
“Out here I can't see anything either. Inside? Can't say.”
“Hmm…… hold on, then. Hyun-sung!”
Won-goo called out.
“Yes, Hyung-nim!”
“Go fetch the Mage.”
“Understood, Hyung-nim.”
If it had been just their own crew, Won-goo would have called for Mu Beob-sa directly. But with outsiders present, he never displaced Lee Hyun-sung from his position.
He knew full well how much weight Hyun-sung placed on that kind of thing.
“What seems to be the matter?”
“Let's run a Wisp.”
The two exchanged a few quiet words, and Mu Beob-sa promptly produced a Wisp. It darted swiftly down into the basement.
In the meantime, Won-goo was pulling a glasses case from inside his jacket. The A-One's Glasses—a reward he'd received just recently, still warm from the claiming.
“Let me take a look first.”
He put on the glasses and leaned just his head into the basement, scanning.
The A-One's Glasses weren't limited to combat—they worked just as well for probing unknown spaces, exactly like now.
Won-goo surveyed the underground space through the lenses.
In a fraction of a second, information about the interior flooded his mind as a simulation—data of himself entering and searching the area.
The space was roughly thirty square meters.
Far too large to exist on the ground floor of a seven-story apartment building. And its ceiling cleared two meters with room to spare. It was unmistakably a space that had no business existing in physical reality.
“Looks like a plain old hideout, honestly.”
“How did anyone even build this? Is that possible?”
Pacific asked. It made you wonder how he'd climbed to the seventh floor given the elevator didn't work—but there was nowhere a wheelchair couldn't take Pacific. Where there were stairs, he simply climbed the wall.
It demanded something closer to acrobatics than labor, an inconvenience most people would balk at, but Pacific pulled it off with absurd ease. Like it was just another Tuesday.
“With the right Gift, it's not impossible. Could be an item, too.”
“There are items that grant spaces like *this*?”
“There's nothing this world doesn't have.”
“Good grief……”
“Nobody's inside, so we can go in.”
“No traps or anything?”
“This is a pretty good item. If I couldn't find it with this, then it doesn't exist.”
He said it while sliding the A-One's Glasses back into their case.
“And if something *does* turn up later?”
Pacific needled him from the side.
“Shit! Then I wouldn't know either, would I? In that case, don't go in.”
“Why are you getting so worked up?”
“Look at this, Montage-hyung. I did my sweep, didn't I?”
“I did.”
“Anything come up?”
“Nothing so far.”
“And I ran my own verification on top of that. What more do you want? If something *still* pops out of a place like this, that's just fate. Yeah? Right?”
“Fine, fine. No need to start hollerin'.”
“Aigoo…… step aside. Our boy's good at this sort of thing.”
“Enough already. Jeez……”
Won-goo jumped straight down inside. There was no ladder of any kind, which meant he'd have to jump his way back out too—a genuine annoyance.
“See? Nothing here.”
“So it seems.”
One by one, the others dropped down into the basement.
Montage stepped in and read the room.
A single slow circuit of the space was enough for him to reconstruct who had been here and what they'd done. After one more pass over the floor and ceiling, he spoke.
“Well now. One of 'em survived.”
“A man? A woman?”
“A man. 'Bout this tall—maybe a little over seventy kilos. And……”
“There's more?”
Montage lowered his sunglasses again, studying the floor.
“This bastard's got long hair.”
“You mean he wears it long?”
“Long? Looks like he ties it back, more like.”
“That's Respect.”
Pacific said.
“You can't confirm off that alone.”
“Long hair, ties it back, exactly this height—that's him, plain as day. Exactly the same as when I saw him back when I was peddling goods. Wasn't this bastard holed up here and then bolted?”
“Could've run, could've ended up as Taildog chow. Hyung, can you tell how long ago?”
“At *least* a month. He was living here.”
“Hmm……”
There was a considerable stockpile of food—not enormous, but substantial.
Which meant it was plausible he'd come to the apartment, dosed his men with drugs to divert attention, and then slipped away to hide here.
“Right? That raises the odds it's Respect considerably.”
“Probably.”
“He seems to have been here quite recently, too.”
“Maybe he was living here and couldn't make it back because of the Taildogs.”
“So this is why A-bal searched everywhere and never found him. Clever little rat.”
“He did run fast, I'll give him that.”
“Hey, look here. Somethin' fun in this spot.”
With that, Montage zeroed in on an anomaly in the wall.
A strange pocket of space adhered to the wall.
Inside it sat a single backpack.
A subspace backpack, packed with survival supplies and a hefty amount of coins.
Mostly silver, but a full twenty gold coins as well.
“It's Respect, all right.”
“Connected to the incident from before, you think?”
Montage asked.
“That's about the shape of it.”
“Then that part's yours to handle, Director Gong.”
But Director Gong shook his head.
“Can't do that.”
“Huh? Nobody'd blame you for it.”
“Tie incidents together carelessly and there's nothing you *can't* connect—and justifications multiply like weeds. You keep your accounting clean. This gets split evenly.”
As if Won-goo had no greed? Twenty gold coins opened up an enormous number of doors, right then and there.
And yet he insisted on splitting it, because he knew—deep in his bones—how fissures begin with the smallest of things.
“Honestly……”
“Splitting it this way is correct.”
“You really sure about that?”
“Next time a case like this comes up, then you can be the one to yield. How's that?”
Montage let out a short laugh.
“All right. Deal.”
The shelter town hall meeting convened in Sanghae's office.
Every business in the shelter was in attendance, and everyone was murmuring with grave expressions on their faces.
The news had spread.
Word that the old guard of Shelter Sabbath—Won-goo's crew—had been wiped out.
Matching the mood, Sapiens and Sanghae wore equally serious looks.
“Honestly, Director Gong did stick his neck out too far.”
A stubborn-looking man spoke up first.
“That's right. Remember when that thug came in here and wrecked the place……”
Geosan was quick to jump in and pile on. He was still wrapped in bandages from the beating Won-goo had given him.
A survivor who worked the Field would have healed from wounds like those ages ago—but Geosan was administration. With no real need to invest in his stats, he was comparatively fragile.
“True. Geosan-san says he bled big-time over this one.”
“Son of a bitch…… What did the mint-chocolate crowd ever do to him? Soon as that bastard doesn't like something, out comes the hammer. Honestly, I hope that gangster rots.”
“Aigoo…… you said the same last time, and look—have you shelter bosses learned a blessed thing? Can't say anyone's got warm feelings for Director Gong, but…… he was still a neighbor, y'all. That's cold.”
Surprisingly, the one to step up on Won-goo's side was Dr. Woo.
“Well, that's a surprise. Weren't you the one with the biggest grudge against him, Dr. Woo?”
“Even so, we lived in the same shelter. Could anyone act that heartless? And ain't we all agreed the shelter got on its feet thanks to Director Gong's muscle? Now that man's dead. Shouldn't we at least pay our respects first? World's turned upside down and all, but this here just ain't right.”
At Dr. Woo's words, the murmuring of the shelter merchants stopped dead.
Then Dr. Woo turned his gaze toward Sanghae and Sapiens.
“That said…… I've got one question. Did Director Gong truly get taken down?”
“…….”
“…….”
Neither Sanghae nor Sapiens answered right away. They were both playing it exactly as they'd agreed beforehand.
They knew a clumsy explanation would only breed suspicion.
“My my…… with a reception that frosty, I'd have to take it as gospel…… And yet, Director Gong, of all people……”
Dr. Woo spoke with his mouth hanging open, as if he still couldn't believe it.
Gong Won-goo.
Insufferable, irritating man that he was, there was no denying his skill as a survivor.
When it came to handling incidents, in particular, he had no rival—truly in a league of his own.
“A man came from Ganjeol Point. There's no reason for Ganjeol to bluff about this…… and the man they sent isn't the type to bluff either.”
“Goodness……”
“And today's meeting isn't about Director Gong's death.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Ganjeol sent formal notice that they intend to swallow this shelter.”
“What……? Ganjeol? *This* place? Right after Director Gong died?”
“That's why I called this meeting.”
“Could it be…… did Ganjeol have even the smallest hand in Director Gong's death?”
“I don't know.”
“That answer don't sit easy neither…… ‘I don't know,' he says…… which means it *could* be so, don't it?”
“Dr. Woo. There's no evidence and no witnesses.”
“But don't it strike you strange? And this incident Director Gong took on…… wasn't that a case handed down *from* Ganjeol?”
“They signed a contract, though, so Ganjeol wouldn't have intervened in the case directly.”
Sapiens answered in Sanghae's place.
“Ain't that the same as sayin' they were involved *indirectly*?”
As the conversation went on, the expressions of the shelter bosses grew graver and graver.
The issue of Gong Won-goo's death had already fallen out of everyone's interest, and attention was climbing toward the far greater threat.
“For now…… sorting that out isn't the order of business. The problem is that Ganjeol came out and openly declared they're taking this shelter.”
At that, the faces of the business owners hardened like stone. They understood perfectly well just how serious the situation was.