EP.2 Government Agency - 1 (Revised)
EP.2 Government Agency - 1 (Revised)
Three hundred years ago, in an era when human society was still ruled by monarchies, humanity was nearly driven to extinction by the Divine Beasts.
The soldiers who fought against the Divine Beasts, the kings and nobles scrambling just to survive, the common people who knew nothing—all were ravaged and slaughtered.
A catastrophe more horrific than any natural disaster.
A bare handful of humans survived that calamity, but all were consumed by despair and the terror of the Divine Beasts.
They had even abandoned the will to go on living.
At their darkest moment, as they stood on the verge of suicide, a man appeared before the survivors and called on them to rebuild their nation.
The survivors looked at the man and asked if he would become their king.
But the man refused. That was not the kind of society he wanted.
A society without an outdated class system, where all people were equal and every individual was their own sovereign.
The man united the survivors and rebuilt the nation around that ideal.
And through ceaseless effort and cooperation, he succeeded in reviving the country.
Afterward, the man and countless others established an agency to preserve the nation's stability...
That agency was the government agency of today.
"I never imagined I'd see it in person one day."
A single colossal structure visible through the window.
It perfectly matched the photograph printed in textbooks alongside the entry for the government agency.
Seeing it come into view meant we were approaching the capital.
[Welcome to Central City!]
Right on cue, a holographic woman greeted us cheerfully as we passed through the tollgate.
My city had nothing like that kind of technology.
So the capital really did operate on a different level, huh?
Mysterious sights that inspired a different kind of wonder from the vast natural landscape.
To think a city once reduced to rubble had developed so far in three hundred years.
Thinking about that, my chest even swelled with a sense of awe.
"Kyuiiit~!!"
Tia seemed quite taken with this place too.
[What's the status?]
"We'll be arriving shortly."
[Please hurry.]
"Understood."
A conversation went back and forth over the radio.
Judging by the content, it didn't sound like I'd have time for a leisurely tour of the capital.
As if on cue, the driver stepped harder on the accelerator and started speeding along.
He drove so aggressively that my vision spun, then brought the car to a stop at our destination.
Urp...!!
"We have arrived."
[Confirmed. I'll head down shortly.]
In the end, I did not even get a proper look around. All I got was motion sickness.
And in that state, I was unceremoniously dropped off in front of the government agency.
"What's that?"
"A heinous criminal...?"
People started murmuring as they looked at me. That was how bizarre I must have looked.
I was currently bound by a boa constrictor.
I looked like a traitor bound in rope and dragged before the authorities.
To think my first-ever visit to the agency would be like this...
The building's interior was no different. My appearance drew the attention of everyone around me.
Humiliating.
Thank goodness there was a warning sign prohibiting photography inside the building.
If a picture of me in this state ended up on someone's social media, I'd have to bite my tongue and kill myself.
"Would you like me to untie you right now?"
I gave a little shake of my head toward Miho, who was looking at me with pity.
It was humiliating, but I could endure it if it made negotiations possible.
"Thank you for your work. The Companion Snake restraining you will be returned to its keeper once your escort is complete."
"Yes."
While we waited in the lobby, a woman in a different suit appeared and took custody of me.
She was likely the superior of the agents who'd been ordered to abduct me.
Just as I was wondering whether she was the secretary to whoever was in charge, she spoke to me in a quiet voice.
"Even if it's uncomfortable, please bear with it a little longer. We'll untie you the moment we arrive."
Her tone was so indifferent that I wondered whether she was a machine.
By contrast, the Companion Fox beside me reacted in the exact opposite way.
"You were uncomfortable?! I'll tear this snake to shreds and free you right this instant!"
I shook my head rapidly.
I told you, you did not need to worry!
"Kyuit!"
Come to think of it, our Tia was...
She looked like she was enjoying herself. Well, to be fair, there were a lot of fascinating things inside the building.
They must have piqued Tia's curiosity.
Still, how should I put it... the complete lack of concern for me stung a little.
I was starting to feel a little sorry for myself.
"Director, I've brought him."
We stood before the door that appeared to be our final destination.
The secretary knocked on the stylishly decorated door.
"Ahh, good work. Just send that young man inside."
A man's voice, rich yet mellow, came from inside the door.
I immediately knew that the man beyond the door was the one who had ordered my abduction.
Hearing the secretary call him Director confirmed it.
After all, I had heard there was only one Director of the government agency.
"Director? We don't know what this man might do. Isn't that too dangerous?"
"It's fine, just send him in. Or do I seem so weak to you that you think I need protection?"
"N-no, not at all!"
"Then I hope you'll follow my wishes."
"Understood!"
It was a brief exchange, but there was one thing I could glean from it.
If I tried any cheap tricks on the man inside, I would lose a hand.
I thought so because an intense pressure was already bearing down on me from inside, even though we had not yet made eye contact.
"Come in."
The boa constrictor that had been binding me slithered away, and at the same time, the firmly shut door opened.
Beyond the fully opened door lay a room steeped in antique elegance.
Inside, a man brewed coffee while an eagle flapped its wings in my direction.
"Well then, excuse me."
"Ah, come in. Take a seat and make yourself comfortable."
Unlike his earlier voice that had carried such pressure, this voice was exceedingly soft and gentle.
I could see he was being considerate of me, but that very quality made it all the more awkward.
It just made me tense for no good reason.
"Is coffee all right?"
"I'll pass. I can't really drink bitter stuff."
"A pity. I brewed enough for two since I heard a guest was coming."
"If you pile in a bunch of sugar and cream and give it to me, I'll drink it gratefully."
I hated bitter coffee, but I liked sweet drinks such as caramel macchiatos.
Two warm cups were set down on the table in front of the sofa.
One was a deep black, and the other was a pale brown.
"It's not poisoned. You can rest assured and drink it!"
Without my even asking, Miho, who had tasted the coffee first like a royal food taster, declared it fine.
Then she handed me the cup with the rim her lips had touched turned toward me.
A blatant request for an indirect kiss.
"Hm? You're not going to drink it?"
"...I'll drink it later."
When I set down the teacup, Tia trotted over and took a sip of the coffee.
"Kyuit?!"
She immediately scrunched up her face and spat the coffee back out.
Even sweetened, coffee was not a drink for children, so her reaction was only natural.
"Before we get down to business, let us introduce ourselves. My name is Edwiner Rodmil. You may already know that I am the twentieth Director of the government agency."
A handsome middle-aged man with blond hair and blue eyes.
Someone who had risen to the position of Director had to be at least in his fifties, yet he looked no older than a man in his thirties.
To think someone like him actually existed... the world really was full of surprises.
"My name is Yoo Seon-ju. I-I'm a second-year high school student."
Who knew it would take this much courage for an adult to introduce himself as a high school student...
I understood that now.
"Good, now that introductions are done, let's move on to the next matter."
"Yes."
"Well then..."
Director Edwiner, who had been drinking his coffee, suddenly set his cup down and rose abruptly to his feet.
I wondered if I should stand up too, but before I could, the Director bent at the waist into a ninety-degree bow.
"I am truly sorry about this whole affair! I offer you my sincerest apology!"
"...Excuse me?"
"You are a civilian who became caught up in an incident caused by the government's failure. I owe you an apology."
"Is that so?"
"Furthermore, although you should have been brought here with the utmost courtesy, we resorted to such rough measures to avoid the suspicion of others. I beg your forgiveness."
"If that was the reason, then it's fine. So please, raise your head."
"No, and beyond that, considering what I am about to discuss with you, I must apologize in advance."
"I'll hear it and judge for myself! Please stop apologizing and proceed with the discussion."
This was intimidating. The Director was bowing to an ordinary person, and I was terrified that someone might witness it.
If the Director of the nation's highest agency took that kind of attitude toward an ordinary person like me, it only put me in an awkward position.
The public might turn against me.
His ability and public image were so strong that seventy-five percent of the population supported him.
Even an article I'd seen said that the current Director was the greatest in history, next only to the very first one.
That was why his respectful apology only made me more uneasy.
"Very well. Then let us get down to business."
"Yesss..."
The Director relaxed his posture, sat back on the sofa, and sipped his coffee.
He was acting as if nothing had happened. Was it an act, or was he just quick to switch gears?
I could not say why, but he was starting to get on my nerves.
"Before I get to the main point, the hatched baby dragon is here, I take it?"
He threw me a blunt question out of nowhere.
I was taken aback, but I decided to probe what he already knew.
"Yes. However, the fact that you specifically asked about a dragon rather than an egg—may I take that to mean you already know to some extent?"
The Director nodded in answer.
Then he pulled a remote control from his pocket and began manipulating something.
A moment later, the projector switched on and played a video across the projection screen.
CCTV footage of Tia and me exiting the mountain and heading back home.
Fortunately, Miho's image had not appeared on the footage.
Miho's illusion could fool even security cameras.
"This is footage captured by a security camera near the mountain. I could scarcely believe it, so I replayed it several times, but it remained the same."
"I've been completely caught."
With footage that conclusive, there was no point hiding it any longer.
So I dispelled the illusion concealing Tia and revealed her to him.
"Kyuit?"
Tia, who had been resting comfortably, curled up on my lap.
Noticing someone new looking at her, she turned toward him and tilted her head.
"A dragon that appeared suddenly... fascinating. May I examine her for a moment?"
"Yesss, go right ahead."
I didn't mind, but that wasn't a matter that required my permission.
"Kyuit!!"
Sure enough, Tia smacked away the Director's hand with her tail as it approached her, refusing to be touched.
She was making it clear that she did not want anyone but me touching her.
"Hmm, so unless one earns her heart, even touching her is out of the question."
"I'm sorry. That's something I can't do anything about..."
"It's quite all right. When a stranger suddenly tries to touch her, this kind of reaction is only natural."
Director Edwiner remained perfectly calm, without the slightest hint of alarm.
Was this the composure that came with years of agency experience?
He was so hard to deal with that I felt suffocated.
"I've now confirmed everything I absolutely needed to see, so let's move on to the next topic."
I had assumed he would plead with me for a chance to examine Tia.
He didn't. That was rather unexpected.
"I'll ask you point-blank. Will you become a government agent?"
"I refuse."
Agent—the number-one dream job among elementary schoolers, the great aspiration of job seekers, the ideal profession for a prospective groom, and the pinnacle of public service.
It referred to those who served in the government agency responsible for every element necessary to sustain the nation: administration, welfare, law, politics, public order, and so on.
Since agents worked at the heart of the nation, only the country's elite could enter the profession.
It was a profession completely beyond an ordinary person like me.
"Your reason for refusal?"
"Because it's an offer far beyond my station, considering I haven't even graduated high school yet."
"If that's the reason, there's no need to worry. Your qualifications have already been proven by the fact that you have earned a dragon's heart."
"Even if others acknowledge it, I don't think I'll be able to acknowledge it myself. I'm sorry."
"Hmm. To my ears, though, it sounds as if you're refusing for a different reason."
A sharp observation.
In truth, qualifications and conditions did not matter to me.
I simply wanted to leave the mundane world behind and live freely and peacefully.
I did not want to work for any organization.
Even a recruitment offer from the nation's most prestigious government body would not change that.
"Even if that were the case, I would still refuse."
"You are remarkably determined. However, if you do not become an agent, the situation will become extremely difficult."
"And why is that?"
"There are two reasons you need to become an agent. One is the safety of the people close to you, and the other is that baby dragon."
"Personal protection of those close to me...?"
"Do you happen to know just how many people there are targeting you?"
"Huh?"
At his words, images of other Divine Beasts suddenly surfaced in my mind.
I started imagining them finding out I had contracted with Miho and Tia, and coming to try to kill me.
"The government employs many people, and some of them are traitors."
But Director Edwiner began a story entirely unrelated to what I was imagining.
"Traitors who sell information to outlaws and cooperate with them. No matter how many we root out, more keep crawling out like cockroaches."
The larger an organization grew, the harder it became to keep every member under control.
Even the nation's foremost institution, the government agency, suffered from that problem.
"This is classified, but the theft of the dragon egg was also the work of traitors. Even I never imagined that an egg guarded in secret for seventy years could be stolen in a single day."
"The dragon egg was under the government agency's protection for seventy years?"
"Yes. We kept it under strict guard because we expected it to hatch thirty years from now."
Come to think of it, I recalled that the terrorist leader from before had also said something about its hatching.
He'd said it would hatch thirty years later, according to the informant...
That informant was the traitor inside the agency.
"Even classified information has leaked out. If so, the likelihood that information about you will be spread to the terrorists is high."
He had a point.
That also meant this CCTV footage might already have fallen into the terrorists' hands.
I grew uneasy.
"The terrorists will try to take the dragon from you. What do you think would be their most effective method?"
"...A hostage."
"Correct. They would try to use someone precious to you as a pawn to strike a deal. If so, ought we not to prevent such a thing from happening in advance?"
"If terrorists threaten innocent citizens, is the government not responsible for protecting them?"
"A perfectly valid point. Yet, in reality, we are not in a position to protect them completely. If they go so far as to threaten the people around you, there will inevitably be casualties."
"Can't you protect even them?"
The Director shook his head.
So this was too much to ask after all.
"Regrettably, the government is suffering from a severe manpower shortage. We can barely assign protection to even one specific individual."
My head was starting to ache.
I'd thought the Divine Beasts were the only enemies, but it turned out there was one more enemy I had to be wary of.
Fuck!
"However, if you become an agent and lend us your strength, I swear we will protect your family no matter what—even if we must reassign personnel we can ill afford!"
There was no room for choice.
Whether the job made me a slave no longer mattered.
If I thought about my family's safety, I had to accept this offer.
Still, I needed to hear the other reason.
"And the other reason? Why do I need to become an agent because of this dragon?"
"As I said, the agency protected and managed the dragon egg for seventy years before terrorists stole it. Surely you understand how serious that was?"
"Yes."
"At present, it can be viewed as recovered, thanks to you, but we are unable to issue a clear official stance."
"An official stance?"
"That mankind's greatest enemy, a Divine Beast, was born early, and that this Divine Beast is following an ordinary person. This fact is a matter that must not be made known to the public. What action do you think the government ought to take at this time?"
"Do you mean that the dragon should be protected and managed on the agency's side?"
"Precisely. I know the dragon follows you, but we cannot leave her in civilian custody. If you became an agent, however, we could tell anyone with clearance that a particular agent was protecting her in secret."
"But if I don't become an agent, that means you'll have no choice but to take this little one away."
"Just as you say. If the fact that an ordinary person is keeping a Divine Beast were to get out, the situation would become problematic. After all, with so many citizens still fearing Divine Beasts, if it were known to be a Divine Beast unaffiliated with the government, it would only sow chaos."
If I refused to hand my Companion Animal Tia over, I might end up at odds with the government.
But if I became an agent, the problem could be resolved cleanly.
In other words, anyone privy to the classified information would accept that she was under an agent's protection.
"Hmm."
Was the choice not already made for me?
"I am deeply sorry to make you this offer. Under normal circumstances, you would have every right to keep her, but this is the only way to satisfy everyone involved."
Director Edwiner even slammed his forehead onto the table as he begged forgiveness.
So that was why he'd said he had to apologize in advance earlier.
He had plenty to consider as well.
I couldn't just stubbornly insist on my own way.
"Could you give me one day to think it over?"
I could not accept so easily when I still did not understand Director Edwiner's true intentions.
The offer itself and whether I trusted Director Edwiner were separate matters.
I had learned the reasons he'd proposed the agent position.
However, I needed to judge whether those reasons were sincere or concealed some ulterior motive.
That judgment was mine to make. I had to think it through carefully.
"Very well. I would appreciate an answer by tomorrow, if possible, since we will need to reassign protection and surveillance personnel."
"Understood. I'll come back tomorrow with my answer."
"Ahh, I'll be hoping for a favorable reply."
The time had come to face reality.
I had to accept that I could no longer return to the life I once had...
A life that refused to go my way was exhausting.