Chapter 9
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 9Object Head (8)
Inspector Go Jin-tae, who explained all the circumstances, let out a bitter sigh. Although he was wearing a hospital gown and his limbs were wrapped in bandages, the burns he suffered were significantly minor compared to the shocking moment back then. Besides him, the 6 police officers filling the hospital room. By explaining the exact same circumstances as Go Jin-tae, they proved that he was not lying.
"Still, it's a relief, Chief. No one was seriously injured, right." "That's right. We aren't seriously injured, are we. So should we all get discharged now?"
At Go Jin-tae's words, the police officers who were watching TV or secretly eating snacks immediately lay flat and made groaning sounds.
"Oh my. The mental fatigue is immense." "Eugh, the butt I bruised when I fell is throbbing~." "……Anyway, it hurts~."
Not only Go Jin-tae, but the other police officers also only had similarly minor injuries. When you actually look into it, not a single one of them was injured to the point of needing hospitalization.
Yet, the reason they are amicably lying in the hospital room. It's because of the mental fatigue they acquired since that day.
They've recovered now since they took a rest, but. At the time of admission, it was a total mess, with them seeing hallucinations or complaining of dizziness. Extreme stress and broken mentalities. He thought they wouldn't be able to return to society for the rest of their lives.
"So, is there anything else you're curious about?"
Go Jin-tae asked the visitor as if snapping at her. An unfamiliar visitor who came since the morning. The counterpart, who introduced herself as a biotechnology doctor, was a beautiful woman. She, who possessed an affable smile by default, gripped the voice recorder placed on the desk and muttered like a procedure.
"Concluding the audio recording of the incident report from Inspector Go Jin-tae. Current time 11 hours 38 minutes 47 seconds. 48 seconds. 49 seconds."
Beep. As the recording turned off, the voice recorder disappeared into the woman's pocket. She put on a good-natured smile and bowed her head politely.
"Thank you for your cooperation. Inspector Go Jin-tae. This could serve as valuable data for our research team." "……." "Then you may wrap up this incident here. We sincerely thank you all for your hard work in figuring out the truth of the incident." "...Who decided that?"
Go Jin-tae's strangely edgy reply. The police officers who were giggling at the woman's beauty were instead startled. However, even at Go Jin-tae's aggressive response, there was not a single hint of agitation from the woman's side.
"Who are you to commend our hard work?" "Our research team works as a specialized research team directly under the state. I am conveying words of gratitude as a proxy." "That's why I'm asking who you are to act all high and mighty pretending to know things."
Go Jin-tae's thorny reaction, which had never happened before. It was to the point where Jeong Ho-yeon, who was in the bed right next to him, had to step in to stop him instead.
"Chief? What's wrong with you. This isn't like you."
Go Jin-tae didn't even give Jeong Ho-yeon a glance. Just looking at his expression, it seemed like he would slap her cheek at any moment. The woman answered.
"It seems I acted like I knew too much. I apologize. I'm sorry." "That thing about being a research team directly under the state. It's a lie, isn't it?"
The corners of the unagitated woman's mouth remained motionless as if stiffened. They were smiling eyes, but strangely cold.
"On what grounds?" "There's this thing called intuition. Police intuition that you wouldn't know. Look here, missy. Me? I know when people are lying. Especially those fox-like eyes."
The Inspector points at his eyes.
"Swindlers often have eyes like that." "……." "Drop the thought of deceiving the police by pettily hiding your true intentions and speak. You came knowing everything, right? You were just trying to sound us out with this."
It was definitely a harmonious hospital room until just a moment ago. The heavy and cold air created by Go Jin-tae makes the atmosphere threatening. If it were an ordinary punk, they would have quickly gotten swept up and confessed everything, but the woman only maintained her smiling face before fumbling to pack her belongings.
"An elder hasn't even finished speaking, yet you disrespectfully……." "Inspector Go Jin-tae."
Her tone changed. Still an affable smile and a kind voice, but the core is different.
"I know you're quick-witted and a veteran. But if you've eaten police rice for a long time, at least distinguish between when to step forward and when to stay put."
She became a completely different person, as if she had taken off a mask. The police officers also became mute as if they had eaten honey and cast vain glances.
"When you are all discharged, return to your daily lives as if this incident never happened. There was no such thing as an Object Head, and the urban legend is just a type of occult fiction."
Her gaze landed on Jeong Ho-yeon behind him. A gaze that says she knows everything. A realistic sense of fear completely different from the Object Head rushes in.
"If you want to spend a long, long time with your junior, make your judgments well."
The woman, who stood up from her seat, tapped Jeong Ho-yeon's bed and then left the hospital room. Go Jin-tae jumped up and shouted at the back of the leaving woman's head.
"The YouTuber video. You guys made them delete it, didn't you?"
Standing in front of the hospital room door, she stopped while holding the doorknob.
"They uploaded an apology video this morning saying it was manipulated. If the video is fake, how are you going to explain what we saw? What on earth is the true identity of what you guys are hiding?" "Are you trying to make your wife a widow?"
Jeong Ho-yeon and the other police officers desperately stopped Go Jin-tae, who was about to lunge at her.
Now everyone knows. If they step forward any further here, they won't just take off their police uniforms, but they might be smelling incense from inside a coffin. It's an incident that transcends the scope of public power. They must wrap up the incident here and truly return to their daily lives as if nothing happened. If they don't, the related persons including Go Jin-tae could disappear without a rumor under the pretext of confidentiality.
"Inspector Go Jin-tae. This is the final line."
As she grabbed the doorknob and opened it, men in black military uniforms waiting outside the door escorted the woman away. It felt as if a massive storm they couldn't comprehend at their level had swept through. In the hospital room where the atmosphere had been ruined, Go Jin-tae kicked the bed and breathed heavily.
"What kind of crazy bitch is that!"
March 8th, night. I opened my eyes again today, but my head is still on fire. Since the first time I realized my existence. Up until now. My head had never once gone out.
Because I don't sleep, I lived with a constantly awake mind. That did not act as fatigue. I don't have the fatigue that ordinary humans complain of.
However, there is mental fatigue. This recovers on its own if I just stay still without any action. Since I don't sleep, I don't know the feeling of being refreshed. I only know roughly how that feeling operates.
What happened on the mountain was indeed what I did, but it's not because I wanted to do it. The taser. I'll speak honestly. I thought it wouldn't work. Because I am an anomaly, not a human. I believed human weapons wouldn't be able to inflict any damage on me. But when the prongs of the taser actually lodged into my chest, a pain I had never felt before stimulated my entire body.
It was my first time experiencing something like that. So I got angry.
The flame moves according to my emotions. I've been thinking about it all this time, but it seems the flame on my head is the result of my imagination being visually outputted. I can't create an image, but when my emotions become intense, it's clearly revealed as a flame.
The anger that soared in a fit of emotion was spewed out exactly as it was. And it turned the surroundings into a sea of fire in an instant.
All the police officers who were at that spot fainted. Perhaps the phenomenon I caused inflicts massive damage on humans' mental strength.
Even if I was angry because of the taser, it didn't directly lead to the desire to kill the opponent. In the perilous situation where the incident occurred, fortunately, the flame moved according to my thoughts. I sucked in the fire before it could catch onto the people, and was able to prevent an unintended murder.
I moved them to a safe place so the police officers coming over from the opposite side could naturally discover them, and then I ran away. And here I am now.
I am fast. I unintentionally realized it when running away from the dog, but as expected, I am an entity that shouldn't be considered by human standards. A speed unrecognizable by humans. I ran with a truly anomaly-like speed and escaped the mountain. Thanks to that, I could come this far distance that couldn't be reached in a short period of time unless by vehicle.
There is one thing I forgot because I was running away in a hurry. The suitcase. I say it's not mine anyway, but because I left the megaphone and various necessities there, my head hurts. Ultimately, excluding the suit I'm wearing, I've basically returned empty-handed just like the beginning.
No, wait. I'll add one more thing.
The hand mirror. Absurdly, to think the thing I grabbed and brought out even in the midst of that was the hand mirror. This probably won't be of any help in living my life from now on.
I peered into the mirror. The calmly blazing flame head. There is no temperature, nor is there a medium for the fire to catch on. A blue flame abruptly floating above the severed neck cross-section.
Every time I look in the mirror, I realize who I am. Not a human. I am not a human.
'I know. That I'm not human.'
Even knowing it, I keep repeating and recognizing it. The more I realize I'm not human like this, the more it draws out questions that bite each other's tails.
Then what am I? Who am I? Why was I born and exist? What on earth is the purpose of my existence?
It might sound like a philosophical question, but it's also a stimulus that reminds me of my original goal to find the meaning of my existence. My existence. I must find that out.
'Then how?'
I have no knowledge. I have no acquaintances. I have no tools. There is absolutely no way for me to blend in among people and seek help.
Ultimately, because I lack this damn head. Because I am different from people, the things that are natural to others are lost to me.
'If only I could use the internet.'
If only I could just use the internet, half of my current worries would be resolved.
I slipped out of the abandoned tunnel where I had been crumpled up. Running away from an abandoned house in an isolated forest, the place I reached was an isolated abandoned facility. To think it's the same kind of place in the end. I am destined to live alone.
Crunch, crunch.
My dress shoes tread on the gravel floor of the abandoned tunnel as I make my way. While only hurrying my aimless steps endlessly, I suddenly felt the presence of humans.
It's a forest again. It's not a mountain like last time, but the trees are thick, and traces of people remain even until recently. I headed towards there. A wide clearing. There's a parking space, and further beyond, there's even a store selling camping gear.
This is a campsite. Because the weather is still cold, there is only one tent, but still, there are people. A large tent sitting alone in the clearing. Whether they are a couple, a man and a woman are rubbing against each other inside the tent and playing affectionately.
'…….'
In front of the locked tent door, there is one small portable table, and on top of it is a laptop. The screen was left abandoned with a YouTube video related to camping paused on it.
'It should be okay if I use it for a bit, right?'
I crouched down in front of the table without permission and operated the computer. It's my first time using it, but surprisingly, I am skilled at using it. I fell into a brief thought at the YouTube search bar.
'What was the name of that YouTube channel again?'
Those YouTubers who first came looking. The channel of those people who created the situation for the first time by capturing my appearance on video. I carefully fumbled through my memories and barely recalled it.
'Ghost Hunting.'
When I search, the channel name pops up. It was Hunting Ghost. The order was wrong. It's a comedy that the channel I'm looking for pops up properly, perhaps because there are many cases of people getting confused like me.
'Let's see what they filmed.'
I clicked the channel, but a questionable screen was revealed. The most recent video is none other than an apology video. A large man with tattoos standing in front of a green chroma key. I definitely remember his name as Oh Hyeong-tae.
"Hello. My name is Oh Hyeong-tae, a YouTuber running the Hunting Ghost channel. I borrow this space to reveal the fabrication related to the Object Head video from last time, and offer my sincere words of apology to everyone."
It's fake? I'm right here in plain sight, yet it's fabricated? That can't be. Even if they don't give a good impression, they've never lied.
'Wait.'
I see a questionable point. Oh Hyeong-tae's face. He is excessively gaunt. For someone who was scared because of me, the person has shrunk as if he lost 10kg compared to when I saw him last time.
To say he suffered a lot mentally, the video related to me must have definitely hit a mega jackpot, right? Otherwise, there's no way that many YouTubers could have swarmed over claiming they wanted to see me.
'What happened.'
I scrolled down the screen and checked the comment section. While there are comments criticizing Oh Hyeong-tae for fabricating it. Instead, an ironic situation was unfolding where cyber wrecker YouTubers were defending Oh Hyeong-tae.
He definitely saw something on that mountain. It's not just one or two people who witnessed incomprehensible phenomena. Oh Hyeong-tae is currently receiving threats, and so on.
Because of this, in the latest comments, comments that are still confused are continuing in real-time.
'Receiving threats?'
Amidst the rampant speculative comments, the most reasonable and suspicious speculation is indeed a threat. The story that Oh Hyeong-tae, having received a threat from some organization, is saving his life by lying that it's a fabrication.
'Who on earth?'
Who would do such a thing? Who on earth is exerting this kind of influence to hide my existence? One comment caught my eye.
'Bureau of Surreal Management.'
A comment claiming he is receiving threats from the Bureau of Surreal Management, which hides and isolates such supernatural entities. Of course, the contents continuing in the replies were tremendous criticism and condemnation. You're spouting nonsense lost in delusion, get lost, an elementary school kid is acting up again, and so on. It's mostly rampant with content calling them a schizophrenic patient comparing a fictional creation that is merely an urban legend to reality.
'What is the Bureau of Surreal Management?'
I searched for the Bureau of Surreal Management in the search bar. But the contents that come out are a type of urban legend. As only conspiracy theories, urban legend stories, and secondary creations are searched, I can't obtain normal information.
Whether it's true or not is uncertain, but according to information related to the urban legend. I can only know that it's a global agency that captures and isolates unidentified entities like me.
'Assuming Object Heads like me actually exist, it's hard for only the Bureau of Surreal Management to be fake.'
The next thing I searched was information related to Object Heads. Likewise, it's content mainly composed of secondary creations, but posts telling stories in some communities remain.
Object Heads discovered in specific areas. Mostly, like me, an object is situated in place of a head. Radios, TVs, cameras, and even natural phenomena.
'…It would be nice if I could meet them.'
If only I could meet other Object Heads and talk with them. I might obtain a way to find out my true identity.
The problem is where they are. The Object Heads appearing as stories are either posts from a few years ago or lack location information. However, I grasped one definite piece of information.
According to common information about sightings, Object Heads tend to believe themselves to be human. Because of that, the places they are discovered are areas with a lot of people.
'Let's go where there are people.'
But I must not get caught, so I must move while hiding as much as possible.
"Is someone outside?"
Ziiiip.
The tent zipper opens and a man pokes his head out. The man, discovering my figure, tumbled down into the tent without even being able to let out a scream.
"⋯Heo-eo-eok!" "Oppa, what's wrong?" "G-ghost⋯!"
In that meantime, I escaped his line of sight with bizarre speed. The woman, who poked her head out belatedly, got angry at the man.
"There's nothing there! Why are you playing a scary prank?" "I-it's real! There was a person whose head was a will-o'-the-wisp!" "Stop playing around! If you keep doing that, I'm going home!"
I slipped out of the campsite and walked the path again. The place I will go is the city. If the information in the stories is true, there will be anomalies like me somewhere in the city. Meeting them and figuring out the true nature of my existence is my immediate goal.
'And there's something I need to be careful of.'
Bureau of Surreal Management. Their authenticity is still unclear, but if assuming they exist, they will be the biggest threat to me. They are chasing me.