The Slashed Nightmare
Geocaching #10. But something about the landscape of my trauma feels off.
"Huh? What the—?"
In my memories, this hellscape had been a grotesque, nightmarish space. The saturation had leaned toward ashen tones, but it hadn't been all that different from reality. The only real change was that every single person in the world had their eyes and mouths sewn shut. Yet now... the scenery had transformed.
Collapsed buildings stood in every direction. And they hadn't collapsed in any ordinary way. It looked as if something had sliced clean through them. Massive structures were severed at an angle from the middle, their upper halves sheared off. The fallen debris made it seem as though they'd simply toppled.
What the hell? It wasn't like this before. Why are all the buildings cut like that?
"Team Leader? Was the scenery always like this? The buildings are all sliced clean through and collapsed."
The buildings that must have once been rectangular pillars now stood sheared at sharp diagonals, like the tip of a blade.
"I don't know," Jaaldi answered flatly. "Originally, this anomalous space wasn't much different from reality. But now... as you can see, the buildings have been cut."
Indeed. They had been cut.
"Doesn't it feel like something swung a massive sword and sliced everything apart?"
"D-don't tell me..."
The moment I heard those words, a certain figure flashed through my mind.
"Department Head Lee Do-hyeong...?"
I said it while glancing at Jaaldi. She remained silent. That silence was an unspoken confirmation.
"That's insane! How is that even possible?! No matter how strong he was, he wasn't some complete monster! How the hell could he cut through buildings?!"
Even if I stretched my imagination to its limit, I could accept someone cleaving a thick tree in half with a sword. If the blade was longer than the tree's diameter, a single strike could do it. But this was buildings. Structures far larger than any sword's reach. No matter how monstrous Department Head Lee Do-hyeong was, cutting through buildings shouldn't be possible...!
"There is no one in this world who wields a sword better than Lee Do-hyeong. If that man underwent surgery and became that horrific anomaly... then it might be possible."
"Even so!"
"There could be other possibilities, but this is the only one I can think of right now. After all, the Fake Bureau bastards said they were going to retrieve him."
She was right. Other possibilities were hard to consider when the evidence was already right in front of us.
"It seems they intend to capture Lee Do-hyeong, who's become an extreme anomaly and is rampaging around..."
"..."
"This is a far more dangerous situation than we imagined. If the already powerful Department Head Lee Do-hyeong has become even more monstrous, and the Fake Bureau retrieves and uses him..."
"That would be... truly terrifying."
"Yes."
Jaaldi's eyes grew serious. But my mind, which had been steeped in tension, fear, and dread, was instead becoming clearer.
"My head's clearing up now."
The extreme anomalous space I had feared, the one that had terrified me, had been destroyed. And by none other than Department Head Lee Do-hyeong. It meant he had shattered the space of my trauma. Because of that, my fear had faded.
Why be afraid of a place someone else could destroy? Even if this bizarre otherworld existed, if someone like Department Head Lee Do-hyeong was here, everything could be smashed apart!
Thinking that, Department Head Lee Do-hyeong suddenly felt incredibly familiar and endearing. That was right. Even after becoming an anomaly, he was still a true agent who fought against anomalies. He must not be in his right mind after the surgery. The transformation must have stripped him of his human consciousness. But the conviction etched into his body would never break!
—Long live the Bureau!
—For humanity!
Even without his sanity, fighting against anomalies was exactly what Department Head Lee Do-hyeong did. It was a noble act, comparable to vampire hunters who threw their lives away fighting vampires. An existence worthy of being compared to Van Helsing, the greatest vampire hunter at his peak.
"Team Leader. What should we do from now on? Please tell me. This is a very serious incident."
Now that the fear had subsided, my mindset as an agent returned. This was an extremely important matter. Geocaching, parallel worlds, the identity of the Fake Bureau—those were interesting, but not as much as Department Head Lee Do-hyeong. I had to find out more.
"Your eyes have sharpened. That's the Grong I always rated highly."
"Well, this used to be my trauma space. But it's cooling down now. No need to be scared of a place that Department Head Lee Do-hyeong can destroy, right?"
"I think that way of thinking is excellent."
Jaaldi placed her hand on my head. A smile formed on her lips.
"Good. We'll begin the mission now."
"Yes."
"If the Fake Bureau agents retrieve and use the anomaly-ified Lee Do-hyeong, we don't know what will happen. We have to prevent that."
Prevent it.
"To do that, we'll need information."
"Right."
Jaaldi stepped forward.
"From now on, we'll search for the Lee Do-hyeong entity. We need to find out exactly what state he's in."
"Understood."
"Follow me."
* * *
Every landscape I'd seen before had changed. Back then, no matter where I went, monsters with sewn eyes and mouths had swarmed, and their reflections had appeared in every window and pane of glass. Now, all I could see was ruins. Even the broken windows scattered everywhere showed no monsters inside. Everything had been wiped out by Department Head Lee Do-hyeong. This insane world no longer frightened me at all. Especially not when Jaaldi, who was practically a mother to me, was by my side.
"We'll assume Lee Do-hyeong's combat power has increased to an incomparable degree compared to before."
"Considering he can cut through buildings, yeah."
He'd become a disaster incarnate. I was praising Department Head Lee Do-hyeong in my heart, but that didn't mean he'd become an ally. Personal feelings and reality were clearly different.
"With this level of power, direct combat is absolutely out of the question. We shouldn't even consider fighting him in the first place."
"I agree. Even originally, I couldn't beat Lee Do-hyeong in a one-on-one fight. If he's gotten stronger, there's no need to say more. Combat will only be a last resort."
Come to think of it...
"By the way, I still don't really know your combat abilities, Team Leader. What kind of superpower do you have?"
"It's a type of destruction specialization. It's hard to explain in detail. You'll see when the time comes."
Destruction specialization, huh. During the Giant Apocalypse, I'd seen Jaaldi climb the tower alone while causing explosions everywhere. So that was it.
Anyway, Jaaldi and I searched through the ruins, looking for anything that could serve as information. Then, suddenly—
Jaaldi gave a hand signal to stop. Up ahead, we could see the Fake Bureau agents. Two of them were on alert while one appeared to be doing something. We quietly observed them.
"Anything unusual?"
"Nothing, sir."
"Then let's take a short break."
Break time? The agents settled down and began chatting while eating what looked like energy bars.
"Originally, we could sometimes see the shapes of foreign entities in the glass, right? Now we can't see them at all."
"Didn't the Department Head take care of them all?"
"That might be it. Anyway... he's really something else. Lee Do-hyeong is our Bureau's strongest agent, but he wasn't originally at this level, was he?"
"Well, it just means he's abnormal now."
While eavesdropping, I organized the information. They were questioning why the monsters that used to appear in the glass were gone. Had Department Head Lee Do-hyeong really dealt with them? The Fake Bureau also seemed to believe that the buildings had been sliced by him.
"Abnormal... Even if we retrieve him, will it really work out? I'm uneasy about it."
"I don't know either. Still, once we retrieve him, it'll work out somehow. Look, even after becoming a foreign entity, he's still attacking other foreign entities. He's an excellent agent."
"That's true."
"Besides, it'd be a waste to stop now. So many have already died."
Foreign entity-ification... So that's how they phrased it.
"Let's move again."
"Yes."
Break time was over. The agents started moving again.
"That's some useful information. It seems the Fake Bureau is planning to retrieve the 'foreign entity-ified' Lee Do-hyeong and use him somehow."
"Yes."
"But there's something that's bothering me... Originally, these Fake Bureau bastards didn't use anything unknown. But now they're trying to."
"Something unknown?"
Jaaldi explained. Unlike our Bureau, which utilized anomalies, the Fake Bureau didn't show any such behavior. Made sense—they prioritized smashing everything to pieces.
"Ah, comms security. Arrived at A18 sector. No issues reported."
The agents began communicating. It was a shame Jamtree wasn't here—she could've intercepted it.
"Roger, signal clear."
The agent lowered the radio.
"Done. Now we're switching with Team B. They want us to return."
"Yes."
They seemed to be doing relay-style exploration. The agents quickly retreated. We watched them for a moment.
"In terms of searching for Lee Do-hyeong, they're ahead of us. Let's keep tailing them."
"I'm curious where this Team B is headed. Will they come this way too?"
"I think they'll go explore somewhere else. Anyway, tail them carefully. If necessary, eliminate them. Got it?"
"...Of course."
The secrets about the Fake Bureau's identity were being revealed, but they were still the enemy. If it came down to it, we'd have to fight. We returned to the starting point—the front of Cheongak Mary Hospital. The hospital itself wasn't visible, shrouded in fog, but if we crossed that fog, it would appear. The Fake Bureau agents moved beyond the mist.
"They went inside."
"Right."
As Jaaldi said, if they hadn't entered the hospital yet, it seemed they could come and go like this. We didn't need to worry about escaping.
After waiting a bit... they came out. Were those the Team B agents? I quickly scanned their appearances—what?!
Wait a second...!
"...!"
That was Jin-seop?! There were two agents who looked like middle-aged men, and the third one was Jin-seop! I was certain. That bastard was definitely Song Jin-seop!
No, was that crazy bastard out of his mind?! Whether it was the vampire incident or this Lee Do-hyeong search operation, why did he only get thrown into insane missions? Was he living with his life on the line?
"Grong?"
"Ah, no. It's nothing."
I was momentarily shaken, but I didn't show it outwardly. Right now, I wasn't just unrelated to Jin-seop—I was in a hostile state. I couldn't casually acknowledge him.
"What a hellish landscape. Alright, let's get to work."
The Fake Bureau agents moved. Jin-seop followed behind them, holding a submachine gun and keeping watch in all directions. Their path... was different from before. They seemed to be using a different route.
"Let's go too."
"Yes."
Jaaldi, who had been observing, began moving.
"..."
Was meeting Jin-seop in this space a stroke of luck? I'd wanted to keep talking to him. If I could speak with him, I felt like I'd learn more about the Fake Bureau. Even now, if things went well, I might be able to make contact with him. I was registered in the Bureau's database, but if it was Jin-seop, I could probably convince him somehow.
But right now, both he and I were in far too dangerous a situation. I just had to pray we didn't die...!
I shook my head once. I couldn't let my mind wander to other things now. I had to focus on tailing them.
* * *
How long had we been moving? Suddenly—
"H-hey! Look at that! It's appeared!"
A Fake Bureau agent shouted. I reflexively looked in the direction he was pointing. Beyond us, at the tip of a building sliced clean at a diagonal angle, like a sharp blade—
A man was standing there.
"T-that's...!"
"That's Department Head Lee Do-hyeong?!"
"Wait! We didn't hear about anything like this!"
The agents cried out in shock. The man's appearance was horrific. His eyes and mouth were sewn shut, just like the malicious figures I'd seen at Cheongak Mary Hospital. But there was a difference. His body was split down the middle, with a suture line running through the center...! He'd been torn in half and sewn back together like some insane patchwork doll! That thing, transformed into an unimaginably grotesque form, was Department Head Lee Do-hyeong!
And on top of that, what the fuck! Where did his usual ponytail go, and why the hell did he have weird twin-tails now?! Did getting split in half apply to his hairstyle too?!
"Contact! Contact! We've made contact!"
"Department Head Lee Do-hyeong! We're from the Bureau!"
"L-let's talk first...!"
While the Fake Bureau agents were shouting, Lee Do-hyeong suddenly leapt into the air—
—Whoosh!