EP.4 The Fuse -1
EP.4 The Fuse -1
It was true that Divine Beasts strong enough to shake the world had become my companion animals.
And it was also true that the Divine Beasts had defeated the countless enemies who threatened me.
But if anyone asked whether I was strong, the answer was obviously no.
I considered myself an endlessly weak human, and even among humans I figured I was on the weaker side.
Flashy abilities—riddling enemies with rapid fire or cutting them down with brilliant swordsmanship—were far beyond me.
At best, what I could do was flee desperately and use cheap tricks.
In that sense, I didn't think the judgment I'd made that day was wrong.
"You...! You're the bastard who ran off with the egg I'd hidden!"
I meant my decision to flee instead of rescuing the woman before me.
"..."
"Why aren't you saying anything? You're the guy from back then, aren't you!"
I didn't want to talk and let it turn into a verbal fight.
The day had already exhausted me, and I had no energy for another argument.
What was I supposed to do now?
Should I just deny it and say it wasn't me? Or should I run away again? Or if not that...
"Miho."
"Yeees~! Why did you call me, dear husband?"
I had spoken too softly for the woman before me to hear, yet my Companion Fox somehow caught it and came running.
"Please cast an illusion on that woman so I'm invisible to her."
"Understood!"
I decided to rely on Miho and spare myself the trouble.
"Huh? An illusion all of a sudden, what on earth...! Huh, wha...?"
The woman kept rubbing her eyes as if she'd encountered a bizarre sight.
Unable to see me even though I was right in front of her, she looked bewildered.
"As expected, Miho's illusions really are reliable."
"Of course! If it were an ability that offered my husband no help at all, I'd have bitten my tongue and killed myself, then been reborn!"
I was grateful for the help, but talk like that was way too heavy.
No matter how much she liked me, I wanted her to stop saying she'd die for me.
"Now that I look at her, she is the woman from back then, is she not?"
"Right. She seemed to know my face, so I called you before things got annoying."
"Aha! In other words, you relied on me! Please rely on me all you want, dear husband!! I can do anything for you, after all!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Rather than thank the ever-overzealous Miho aloud, I stroked her head in praise.
"Eheheh!!"
All I had done was stroke her head, yet Miho flattened her ears and wagged her tail furiously. I could not help smiling.
It fascinated me that someone whose obsession was usually terrifying could look as innocent as Tia at times like this.
"In that case, dear husband! Shall I get rid of this insect bitch who's bothering you in advance?"
One word of praise sent the fox into overdrive, and she proposed something cruel without hesitation.
Her consistency was almost impressive. Yes, that was Miho all right.
"You don't need to go that far. Let's just get Tia and go home."
"Okay!"
Under ordinary circumstances, our paths should never have crossed.
We had met again by chance, but surely there would not be a third encounter.
"No way the same thing will happen twice, right?"
...I fervently prayed that it really would not happen.
***
"Haaah..."
God was dead!
Why did every bad feeling I had come true?
One woman glared at me as though she wanted me dead.
A hulking man silently worked out with dumbbells.
Another woman sipped tea with a bright smile.
The next morning, I was summoned to the Director's office and found those three waiting for me.
"Some of you know one another, while others do not, so I will make introductions. These three are my official direct agents. From the right: Lee Da-hye, Khan, and Miria. And this person is..."
"Director, sir! Why is a man like this here!"
Lee Da-hye slammed the table and shot to her feet.
She apparently had so many complaints about me that she was willing to cut off the director mid-sentence.
"Agent Da-hye, I understand how you feel, but is it important enough to justify interrupting me?"
"Th-That is not what I meant...!"
"If you intend to raise an objection, do so after I've finished speaking at the very least. I'll gladly hear you out then."
"I-I'm sorry..."
Director Edwiner quietly rebuked her outburst, making the chain of command unmistakable.
Honestly, seeing him act like a proper Director for the first time was a little impressive.
But, well, wasn't this only natural?
Hmm...?
"To continue, this is Yoo Seon-ju, who has unofficially joined my direct agents. You will be working together for some time, so I arranged this meeting to introduce you."
As soon as the director finished speaking, Miria, the woman who'd been beaming, raised her hand and asked a question.
"Director, what does 'unofficially' mean?"
"Ah, my explanation was lacking. Consider him a secret agent who is indeed an agent, but must not be known as one. So, going forward, you all must keep the fact that he is an agent confidential."
"Understood."
As soon as Miria finished, Lee Da-hye—the woman with whom I had already made a terrible first impression—raised her hand.
I had a pretty good idea what she intended to ask.
"Director? I simply cannot comprehend this! This man, an agent?! During the last mission, not only did he steal a Divine Beast egg I'd hidden, but he also ran off and left me in danger!"
"Is that your complaint?"
"It's my complaint, but at the same time, it's an important issue for all of us! How could we possibly entrust our backs to a colleague who pretends not to see someone in need of help and runs away?"
"If that's the case, what are your thoughts on the matter?"
The director tossed the problem to me, as if indicating that this was something I needed to resolve myself for it to mean anything.
"It's true that I ran away, as she said. However, I had reasons for it."
"Explain those reasons to them in detail."
"First, because I'm weak. Could an ordinary person who knows nothing about fighting really have fought well against terrorists? It'd have been lucky if I didn't end up with a hole between my eyes."
In reality, if it weren't for Miho and Yata, I might've been killed by terrorists long ago.
"Second, because at the time, I was carrying an egg. There's no particular need to explain it, but for someone like me who can't fight, taking an egg coveted by terrorists and going to help her would've been a monumental act of insanity."
If I'd done that, I'd have lost my life in vain, and the government would've lost the egg — which was more important than my life — to the terrorists.
I thought there could be no worse scenario than that.
"The third reason I ran away... was simply that she didn't seem reliable."
She had made the mistake of bluffing when we first met.
I'd simply come to distrust her, seeing her needlessly provoke the terrorists at every turn.
"As I thought."
"Hmm... that makes sense."
"I had a feeling that's how it was~"
The director and her colleagues nodded in understanding, even though I hadn't even explained in detail yet.
...Guess she's had a lot of issues all along, huh? That woman.
"Urk...! Even so, just ignoring someone in danger and walking away is too much!"
"I did intend to report it, it's just that I couldn't because it was outside the coverage area."
"Th-Then, what was your reason for taking the egg I'd hidden?"
"I had no idea it was an egg hidden by a government agent. If I'd known, I wouldn't have touched it..."
"Kyuii..."
It was only when I saw Tia growing increasingly gloomy that I realized I'd almost made a mistake and quickly corrected myself.
"Ahem!! I'd have carefully retrieved it so it didn't fall into the terrorists' hands, and then called for help."
I mustn't forget.
Tia was my one and only conscience—my sole refuge...
"I believe the reasons have been sufficiently explained with this. Does anyone have any other dissenting opinions?"
"No..."
"Good. Now that the hard feelings between agents have been cleared up, let's get to the actual mission briefing."
"Before that, may I ask one question as well?"
"Ah, of course."
"You said my being an agent is a secret that must not get out. I'd like to know the reason why you're sharing that secret only with them."
Given that they were agents in whom the director placed deep trust, it was certainly clear they weren't traitors to the organization.
Still, I became curious about why he wanted to go out of his way to share my secret with them.
"That very reason is what relates to this mission."
In other words, all I had to do was sit tight and listen to the director's story.
So I accepted it and quietly waited for his next words.
"Before explaining the mission, allow me to relay one piece of major news. The hideout of the terrorists who attempted to steal the dragon's egg the other day has been discovered as of this time."
"Finally!! At last we can take revenge on those bastards!"
Da-hye rejoiced enthusiastically.
However, after a moment, she noticed that the other people's expressions weren't good and tilted her head.
"What? What's with everyone?"
Could it be she really didn't understand?
"It's the timing that's strange. The timing of when the terrorists' hideout was found."
"They're meticulous enough that the government couldn't discover them no matter how much they searched over the past five years, Da-hye."
"But it was found now, at this timing. If that's the case, wouldn't you have to conclude that they leaked the info on purpose?"
"You're all correct. This is an obvious trap. At the same time, it's a trap that we have no choice but to walk into."
Aha, so that's what it was.
I felt like I understood the reason the director had just called it a trap.
"As the sweep of the terrorists' hideout is a major matter, I must personally leave to command on-site the following day."
"Of course! I want to go quickly and grab at least one more of them myself!"
"Da-hye, we can't go."
"Huh...? Why not?"
"Because as long as the director is away, someone has to stay here and guard."
"Won't the government agency's security agents do that?"
What a relief that at least the other two were quick-witted...
I needed to be thankful they didn't shatter the illusion I'd still held about agents.
"What needs guarding isn't a government agency, but me and the dragon, correct?"
"Ah...!!"
"That's right. As long as he is an unofficial agent, I cannot bring him to the field. Ultimately, you and the dragon that follows you must inevitably remain here."
"Couldn't you hide him somewhere safe, like a protective facility?"
"I considered that possibility, but ruled it out entirely because of the report I received from Agent Seon-ju the day before."
"May I ask what kind of report it was?"
"Get Agent Seon-ju to tell you that himself."
He was foisting it on me again?
What an utterly self-serving man.
"When I left for the place I was assigned after receiving the mission from the director, the terrorists were already tailing me. The fact that they tracked my position and followed me, even though the mission was supposed to have been received in secret, points to one thing."
"That a traitor inside the government has been continually monitoring his movements."
"And is continuously leaking information to the terrorists~?"
"What you two are thinking is correct. Otherwise, that situation can't be explained."
"In short, even if we attempted to hide Agent Seon-ju, the traitor inside the organization would somehow find out, rendering it pointless. Do you understand now, Agent Da-hye?"
"Ah, I see..."
There was no way the traitor would fail to learn that the Director had to be away, and the terrorists were not the sort to sit around doing nothing once they knew.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they'd created this situation in the first place.
"Therefore, agents to guard him and the dragon must remain behind separately, and those agents are precisely you three."
"Then the mission this time is to guard Agent Seon-ju and the dragon?"
The Director answered Miria with a nod, then turned to me and asked a question.
"How is it now, Agent Seon-ju? Is that a sufficient answer to your question from earlier?"
"Yes."
It wouldn't do to say "it's a secret" and not share information, then tell me to just trust them blindly.
It was a matter of trust. Both the person being protected and the people protecting him would inevitably feel uneasy.
"I believe both sides have now grasped the situation, so let's conclude the discussion here. I trust you'll discuss among yourselves and formulate a detailed countermeasure plan on your own."
Either way, from tomorrow on, he'd be busy with preparations for the terrorist sweep operation.
The fact that he'd invested this much time in me was as good as saying he was looking out for me to that extent.
So asking for more, or acting spoiled and demanding more from him, would be shameless.
"Lastly, if you have time, take Agent Seon-ju with you to the training grounds. You should show him your combat abilities. Wouldn't that let him, the one being guarded, rest easy as well?"
"Ugh, what a pain..."
"Understood."
"Got it."
They were truly reassuring people.
Well, except for the one insincere woman.
"Hmm..."
A government training ground, huh...
"Director, what should I do at the training grounds when I don't have any combat ability?"
"Since you're utterly useless, just bring some popcorn, Seon-ju."
Haha, fuck.
I could not argue when he was right.