Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: World Politics Bulletin Board #1
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"Ah!"
The moment the alert popped up, my fist clenched tight on its own, and a cheer burst out of me. The thrill of having survived and made it back washed over my entire body.
It lasted only a moment.
A reward of 300 points?
It felt like I was taking a loss no matter what I did. Dying once gave 2,000 points, but the escape reward wasn't even half of that.
Still, since it was just a plain escape, I could understand the stingy payout. The process of finding a way out had been bizarre, but if I got tripped there again later, I could escape the same way. Maybe I'd get another 300 points then.
I had escaped.
But was it resolved?
How could I resolve the Hanseol Human Slaughterhouse incident? Resolution meant complete neutralization. A state where no one else would ever get tripped into that insane factory again—that would be resolution.
Could it be done with brute force?
Since the truck crash had worked, maybe the Management Bureau's firepower could smash the factory itself.
But that place was just a fragment of another world.
It'd be like destroying the Geumseong Cement plant in that industrial complex—Korea wouldn't vanish because of it.
"..."
Maybe it was a space that had an escape method but no way to resolve it?
Cheongak Mary Hospital had been like that.
A space with an escape method but no resolution.
Just as the Management Bureau had said, this world was full of anomalous spaces like hospitals and factories, and unlucky people just kept getting caught up in them.
My molars ground together at the thought.
Still, if we could distribute rulebooks like we did at Cheongak Mary Hospital, we could save a bunch of people who got caught. I'd even written down the info while impersonating Section Chief Lee Do-hyung at the end.
With a bit of luck and some guts, anyone reading that note could escape just fine.
"Whew."
For now, I let out a sigh of relief at being back alive and looked around.
No one in sight.
An alley?
Oh, right.
This was the alley near my house. I'd been heading to the butcher shop when I suddenly got tripped to the human slaughterhouse.
How much time had passed?
Checking my phone, it had been almost a full day. Anomalous spaces and reality had such random time differences.
There were a ton of missed calls from the Management Bureau.
I should call them in and make my report.
"..."
But...
I couldn't bring myself to touch the phone right away.
It felt like a call from Kim Seong-jin could come any second.
Had he really failed to escape? I'd succeeded by feeding my intact corpse into the grinder.
But there was no body for Kim Seong-jin. So he'd had no choice but to ride the truck through the curtain.
Whether that counted as escape or just sent him to another anomalous space, who knew.
"Please call...!"
He'd survived that hell and even met a Management Bureau agent—failing to escape now would be too cruel.
I gripped my phone tight, but no call came.
Despair set in.
Had there really been no way out for him?
"No."
It could just be a time delay keeping him from calling. Plus, as we'd guessed, the factory probably had more than one escape method. Both the grinder and the truck could be valid.
I kept thinking.
A person falling into the Hanseol Human Slaughterhouse bathroom was a straight-up anomaly. Even the Butcher Monsters couldn't control that variable.
The normal route was deliveries via truck.
As Kim Seong-jin had said, when a real-world human suddenly dropped into the factory—an anomaly—their human meat got generated in the freezer to fix the "error."
Destroy that generated meat, fix the error, and you returned to reality.
Maybe it was just as sudden and shocking for the monsters. Just like we saw it as an anomaly, maybe they did too?
So if that generated corpse got processed into cans and delivered normally, it would erase the escape method. I didn't know why the grinder got a different ruling, though.
"No...!"
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed Kim Seong-jin couldn't come back!
If I stretched it a bit, those monsters processed corpses of real-world humans that they received. So they'd naturally use a passage connecting their world to reality—the truck and the curtain.
That meant Kim Seong-jin had escaped correctly via the second method!
"Call already!"
Was this just my cope?
I clutched the phone waiting for a call, but nothing.
"World Politics Board!"
I should check the World Politics Board first.
Digging into this might reveal info on those Go-nics. Through them, maybe even on Kim Seong-jin. The punk might've escaped but was too scared of the Management Bureau to call.
Right as I thought that.
Screech.
A car pulled up in front of me.
"Grong!"
Spandal hopped out, rushing over with a shocked look.
"Senior Agent Spandal?"
"What happened to you!"
"Well, I got caught up in an anomaly and..."
"Exactly!"
The Management Bureau must've noticed I was gone.
"Good thing you're safe!"
"Ah."
Spandal pulled me into a tight hug.
This felt nice.
"Yesterday, we detected you'd vanished without warning. We figured it was an anomaly... and it really was."
Yeah, figured.
"Yes. It was a truly horrific time. Coming back feels like a miracle... Oh, and I got caught up around here? We might see spillover to civilians. Shouldn't we control the area or something?"
"Already done. The whole area's locked down."
"Yes?"
Already?
"We designated the entire radius around your disappearance as a hazard zone."
Now that she mentioned it, there were no signs of life around.
If I hadn't gotten that call, I'd have thought the empty streets meant another anomaly.
"We were scanning for anomaly signals nearby when yours popped up."
A bit late, but they did respond.
Lock down the area and scan for anomalies. Maybe they'd even figure out how to enter the Hanseol Human Slaughterhouse?
Establish entry methods, then plan a subjugation—couldn't hurt.
"But Senior Agent Spandal? Mind holding on a bit longer?"
"Huh? Oh, uh!"
She finally let go.
Kinda disappointing.
"A-anyway... Glad you're back safe. Let's head to the Management Bureau."
"Yes. I'll make my report. Got a lot to say."
Especially about Kim Seong-jin.
I headed back to the Management Bureau with Spandal.
"Good to have you back, Grong. I was really worried we'd lost you. Not only did you return, but you even got results. Well done."
"I never expected this either."
"You okay, Grong? Any mental strain?"
"I'll report on that in detail later. Oh, thanks for the coffee, Senior Agent Jamtree."
Both Jaaldi and Jamtree were looking at me with deep concern.
"Alright, time to start the debrief. I'll explain everything in detail."
"Go ahead."
I launched right into the report.
It was based on the escape loop. I'd suddenly dropped into the human slaughterhouse, explored it, found a survivor, and figured out a way out together. I told them about Kim Seong-jin and the note too.
"What a horrific place..."
Spandal's face darkened as she listened.
"A human slaughterhouse... Truly nightmarish. As you thought, Grong, it's definitely a different type of anomalous space from Cheongak Mary Hospital. The hospital eroded reality, but that factory seems like its own pocket dimension."
"Yes."
No doubt an otherworld.
"Team Leader Jaaldi. Are there a lot of spaces like this?"
"Yeah, quite a few. The Management Bureau tracks and monitors them. Schools and prisons are prime examples—we've got full entry and exit conditions mapped, so we periodically distribute rulebooks and run rescues."
Schools and prisons.
"Anyway. We detected an anomaly reaction near where you vanished. The butcher shop—that's the key. Could be a type that manifests via the shop and abducts people straight from reality."
Investing there to nail down entry methods sounded solid.
"I think the butcher shop's one of the conditions too. The survivor note mentioned it."
"Jot down everything you remember from the note."
"Yes. Oh, but I only grasped the essentials, so it's not perfect."
"We'll need memory enhancement. Jamtree, get it."
"Got it."
What?
Jamtree soon brought over a weird hat. It looked like half a watermelon hollowed out, with bizarre scientific symbols jutting from the rind.
"Memory aid device. Wearing it should make things clearer."
"No way there's tech like... Well, you did say memory wipes are possible."
Guess I'd try it.
"Hehe, you look cute, Grong."
Jamtree giggled.
Spandal was avoiding my eyes too.
The hat looked utterly ridiculous...
"This doesn't seem like a look I want to see in a mirror. I'll just write it down."
Oh.
The note's contents came back crystal clear. I wrote down everything I recalled—the final traces of those who'd died there.
-I am Section Chief Lee Do-hyung of the Management Bureau.
Even the parts where I'd impersonated Lee Do-hyung came flooding back word for word.
"That damn Lee Do-hyung impersonator... Why'd he use that name?"
Jaaldi said in disbelief.
"It was all that came to mind on the spot. Mentioning the real Management Bureau felt iffy, so I borrowed the fake one's name."
"Not sure that was wise... Anyway, the note's contents are tragic. Plenty more must've died without leaving traces."
"Yes."
This part was pretty depressing.
"But Grong, you figured out an escape method and made it back alive. This'll save a lot more people."
"That's a huge relief."
"Yeah. You'll probably be digging into this human slaughterhouse for a while—investigating and such."
This was big for the Management Bureau.
"Oh, is subjugation possible?"
"If the truck crash did damage, maybe. But it's a pocket dimension, so we approach with caution. What if we smash it and people still trip in? No factory means no escape method either."
Wait, that perspective?
"Either way, we know it exists, have partial entry conditions, and an escape method. Putting it under Management Bureau watch will cut casualties big time. This is your achievement, Grong."
Jaaldi's praise swelled my chest with pride. But thoughts of Kim Seong-jin flooded in, souring my mood.
"Your face fell. Because of that Kim Seong-jin guy?"
"Yes. Not sure if he escaped or not."
"He's a key witness in this incident, so we need to secure him. Jamtree, start the investigation."
"Yes?"
Investigation?
"Grong, you said he's a regular on the World Politics Board? This could be our chance to unmask those veiled Go-nics. Don't worry—we'll find Kim Seong-jin for sure."
"Whew! I'll work hard too!"
Hang on, Kim Seong-jin!
No matter your situation, I'll find you!