The Director's Charge
It was like the ascension of a monstrous bird.
In ancient times, the people of old predicted that when such an eerie bird took flight, an entire dynasty would fall.
His two-pronged, snow-white hair fluttered as if heralding the end of an era.
The ascent had been powerful, yet the landing was impossibly light.
So light that if he had touched down on water, only a single ripple would have formed.
Thus did Director Lee Do-hyeong descend upon the earth.
—Flash!
At a speed beyond imagination.
In a single step, he launched himself forward with a gust of wind, charging straight toward us in a direct line.
"Huh?!"
His speed was so great that I couldn't even register it properly. In the blink of an eye, his sword swung.
—Whoosh!
The wind pressure sent my body flying—no, it wasn't the wind. Jaaldi had grabbed the back of my neck in a panic and hurled me away. As I rolled and regained my balance, I looked ahead.
A black line appeared across the building that had been our cover.
—Rumble!
It began to collapse.
"W-what the fuck!"
If Jaaldi hadn't thrown me, that slash would have cut me in half or buried me under the rubble!
How the hell did he just slice through a building like that?!
"Run!"
Jaaldi's fierce shout snapped me back to my senses.
She wanted me to escape alone?!
—BOOM!
Right after, an explosion erupted so loud it shook the world.
"Survive! Fall back toward the hospital! If I don't make it, find a way out on your own!"
"Understood!"
I turned and sprinted like a madman...!
Deafening roars echoed from behind.
Jaaldi was fighting Director Lee Do-hyeong to buy me time. She had stayed behind and sacrificed herself during the vampire incident too. To make her sacrifice herself again...!
—BOOM!
But right now, there was nothing I could do except run. One look was enough. Director Lee Do-hyeong had become a transcendent anomaly. His twin-tails alone made that obvious.
Jaaldi couldn't possibly win. If she faced him, she'd only lose and die. Of course, since he seemed to have lost his reason, she might find an opening to escape, but if not, it would be over in an instant.
First, retreat toward the hospital.
Then, assess the situation and figure out how to handle this mess.
"Hoo!"
It was an unexpected turn of events, but I was calmer than ever.
I couldn't let Jaaldi die. If she died, I'd have no way out either. The hospital escape method through the admission consultation required a man and woman as a set. There was also the option of readmitting as a patient, but would that even work? I had no idea what would happen during a re-admission.
Besides, with Director Lee Do-hyeong rampaging in this insane world, was the hospital even safe? That was the real question. Every other building had been reduced to rubble, so why was the hospital still standing?
Whether I knew it or not, there had to be some major secret hidden here.
I couldn't do this alone.
I needed Jaaldi with me.
—Rumble!
Explosions continued to thunder from behind as I fled. As expected of a Bureau department head, she was holding her own somehow.
But then.
Something began to appear in the distance.
A great many somethings... What the hell?
—Skid.
I stopped running and took a closer look.
They were the residents of this world.
Monsters with their eyes and mouths sewn shut were swarming toward us in a massive group!
"Shit...!"
Why were they suddenly appearing now when I hadn't seen them before?!
Was it because of Director Lee Do-hyeong?!
There were way too many!
"..."
"..."
"..."
They walked toward me. No sound came from them, no grotesque movements. They simply advanced as a group. The sight of that abnormal collective moving in such an ordinary way was deeply unsettling.
"Haha."
If this were before,
I would've been driven mad by sheer terror at the sight.
"I'm not scared anymore, you bastards!"
But now, I felt no fear at all. At best, they were just insignificant monsters that could be destroyed. What was truly terrifying was the hospital's surgery and transcendent beings like Director Lee Do-hyeong.
My nerves had grown far too thick to be afraid of these small-fry!
—Rat-tat-tat!
Gunfire rang out.
Was Jaaldi shooting?
Or the Fake Bureau agents?
I immediately took cover behind some rubble and traced the source of the shots. It was fine to pause for a moment. Those sewn-shut creatures moved slowly anyway. I could check the gunfire first and move afterward.
Since I wasn't afraid, I could act calmly, which would keep me safer.
As I scanned the area,
"F-fuck! Fuck!"
I saw an agent firing at the stitched creatures while fleeing. The agent was none other than Jin-seop. His sunglasses were gone, and he was blasting away with a terrified expression.
Why was he alone?
Had he escaped by himself?
Or had his unit been wiped out?
Both were possible.
With Director Lee Do-hyeong rampaging and the sudden tide of stitched monsters, there was no good solution. It was entirely possible to get separated while running.
"Don't come any closer, you bastards—!"
—Rat-tat-tat!
Watching Jin-seop unload his submachine gun, I thought.
This.
Was a good opportunity.
Ever since I'd learned he had become a Fake Bureau agent, I'd wanted to make contact with him. But there had never been time, and getting information on Fake Bureau agents had been too difficult to make any progress.
In that sense, being able to meet Jin-seop alone right now was a huge chance.
Of course, he would recognize me as the Bureau entity Grong, but even just making contact would be beneficial.
—Click!
Jin-seop began reloading with a desperate look.
"Hah!"
In that moment, a stitched creature appeared and interfered. Jin-seop showed considerable inexperience. Panicking, he dropped his magazine.
Back during the Giant Apocalypse, he would've kicked it away with practiced ease and reloaded calmly. But now, none of that composure was visible. He was acting like a genuinely terrified rookie agent who had lost his cool.
How had someone like this been brainwashed into attempting suicide bombing?
How had such conviction been instilled in such a short time?
Whatever the case, if I was going to act, now was the time.
Jin-seop, I'm coming!
"Hey!"
"Huh...?"
I pulled out my pistol and shot the creature approaching Jin-seop through the head. As it collapsed, Jin-seop cried out in shock.
"Grong?! Is that really you?!"
Of course this bastard knew me!
He frantically pulled out a fresh magazine.
I wasn't about to let him reload.
"Stop! Stay still!"
"What the hell?! Where did you even come from—!"
I tackled him with a shoulder charge, knocking him aside.
"Gah!"
As Jin-seop fell, I lunged and pinned him down. I grabbed his arms to stop him from doing anything stupid and shouted.
"You're a Fake Bureau agent, right?!"
"What?! You're the fake one, you monster bastard! B-Bureau, for—"
What the hell was this crazy bastard doing, shouting some kind of suicide chant?!
"Were you planning to blow yourself up?!"
I stopped him immediately.
"Guh!"
This lunatic was trying to self-destruct the moment he got the chance!
What was he, an infested terran?!
"Shut up and get up! This is temporary cooperation! You don't want to die here either, do you?!"
I hauled him to his feet while scolding him. He still couldn't accept reality. With someone like this, the best approach was to just bark orders and drag him along by force.
"What...?"
"Can't you see the monsters coming?! Let's get out of here!"
"B-Bureau, for—"
"Goddamn it!"
This frustrating bastard!
—Boom!
I immediately suplexed him.
"Kuh!"
I didn't want to do this to my soul partner Jin-seop, but the situation was too dire. Even now, the stitched creatures were closing in from all sides.
"Take it off!"
"H-huh...!"
I roughly tore open the front of his suit jacket. As expected, a bomb was strapped inside. His preparedness was enough to impress even a suicide bomber.
I yanked the bomb out and threw it far away.
"N-no!"
"What do you mean, no?! Song Jin-seop! Snap out of it!"
"What?!"
The moment I said his name, his eyes widened dramatically.
"How do you know my name?! Don't tell me you monsters have information on our agents!"
"You could say that."
As I spoke, I fired my pistol and shot a stitched creature approaching from the side.
"But is that really important right now? Fake Bureau agent Song Jin-seop. This is temporary cooperation. We can't die here. Get up. We're running together."
"Shut up! Like I'd ever team up with you monsters!"
"I'm not a monster."
This raw reaction.
Jin-seop wasn't a monster or an anomaly.
Just like me, I was human too.
"The real monster is something like Director Lee Do-hyeong over there. Do I look like a monster to you?"
"E-even if you look human now, you could transform into a monster...!"
Transform?
Was that how he saw it?
I analyzed the situation.
Right now, Jin-seop saw me as "human." He believed I only became a monster after transforming.
Then what about Spandal?
They recognized Spandal as a monster. Just like the ones I'd seen in the dark underground of the Bureau when the lights were out.
Did they distinguish based on appearance before and after transformation?
Either way, interrogating Jin-seop would give me answers.
"I'm not transforming, so let's go! Staying alive is the priority right now!"
"Ah...!"
Still unable to fully grasp the situation, Jin-seop was dragged along as I forced our escape.
* * *
We ran for a long time.
The explosions grew distant, and the stitched creatures disappeared from view.
We had put considerable distance between ourselves and the center of the incident.
"Let's rest here for a bit."
I leaned against a wall.
Jin-seop glared at me.
"Fake Bureau agent Song Jin-seop. What's with that look?"
"Shut up! Calling me fake when you're the outsider here!"
"Why am I an outsider?"
"You're the Fake Bureau's Grong!"
"Is that what it says in the Bureau database?"
"H-how do you know that—!"
Song Jin-seop at this point was still inexperienced.
Time to test the waters.
"Song Jin-seop. You're still a high school student, aren't you?"
"What?!"
"You haven't been an agent for long. Not even a few months."
"...!"
Jin-seop's eyes trembled violently.
This was something I knew because I'd gone through the Giant Apocalypse with him.
At the start of the apocalypse, he had been a high school student. Yet suddenly he was an agent? He had still been a high schooler during the building incident, so if he became an agent after that, it hadn't even been a few months.
What could have happened in such a short time?
How had this conviction been built so quickly?
"For someone so inexperienced, you're awfully devoted. Why did you become an agent?"
