Chapter 20: Management Bureau - ??? 『????』(2)
Chapter 20: Management Bureau - ??? 『????』(2)
What is the easiest way to infiltrate the Management Bureau?
A large-scale invasion?
Sneaking in under the cover of darkness?
Finding a gap in security?
Or perhaps some special, esoteric means?
All wrong.
"Keep up the good work."
"You too. Working hard even this late at night. Take care."
The guard standing next to the Otherworldly Power detector didn't even look back to see who had greeted him; he simply replied to my greeting mechanically.
The memory of what I looked like probably didn't even register in his mind.
If he were a guard with an exceptionally keen sense of duty, he might have thought I looked like someone familiar.
But he would have quickly dismissed that thought.
He’d tell himself there was no way such a Mutant would show his face at the Management Bureau. He wouldn't want to take responsibility if a problem actually arose.
And that was how the Black Marauder bypassed the Management Bureau’s security and stepped inside.
That’s just how it is.
Even the Management Bureau is, ultimately, a public institution. As long as you look human, you can just walk right through the front door with confidence.
People get caught because they insist on blasting Otherworldly Power to tear through defense facilities.
Of course, it's impossible to enter high-security areas this way, but getting inside the main building doesn't require much.
Even so...
There are more surveillance cameras than there used to be.
With that thought, I moved through the blind spots of the cameras hanging from the ceiling. I didn't know how much facial recognition technology had improved, but it certainly wouldn't be worse than before.
Moving through the blind spots, I kept my pace leisurely so as not to look suspicious.
—Registration number 30-0623-C, Hero. Please report to the consultation desk.
"Move fast! The response team has already departed!"
"Hey, isn't that the one who's currently suspended? That's a scoop!"
"The Dining Hall hasn't closed yet, has it?"
"It's because you spent way too long training!"
The sound of announcements searching for someone.
The sight of Management Bureau Heroes rushing out on a mission.
The clamor of reporters lurking deep into the night, hunting for a scoop.
A pair of men and women drenched in sweat, seemingly having just finished training.
The familiar sights of a group I once belonged to.
It was all a nostalgic scene.
An institution where Awakened and non-Awakened work together for the sake of humanity, where the Awakened are respected, and Heroes are recognized.
If Dong-hun had seen this, he surely would have been pleased.
As I moved with those thoughts, a flow of people formed toward the exit, as if it were the peak time for everyone to leave.
"Ah, sorry."
My small frame bumped into someone trying to head out.
I bowed my head to the man as he offered an apology and continued forward.
"I feel like I've seen her somewhere..."
The man I bumped into muttered to himself, but his interest quickly faded as he turned away and headed for the exit.
In the midst of the crowd where similar collisions happened repeatedly, I pushed forward against the current. What I was looking for lay beyond that flow.
* * *
I saw several "Authorized Personnel Only" signs, but I ignored them and kept going.
Before long, my destination came into view.
A hallway that was clean but strangely stained, giving it a lived-in feel. Nameplates with numbers hanging on the doors. Various faint sounds reaching my ears if I listened closely.
This place hasn't changed a bit.
I had wondered, but it was still the same pathetic dormitory with no proper soundproofing.
A dormitory so flimsy it was hard to believe Kim Tae-jun, a high-ranking official, lived here.
Is it a trap after all?
The possibility I had considered from the start crossed my mind.
The idea that Danger Rifle might have given me fake information to sell me out to the Management Bureau.
Even so, I didn't feel the need to prepare for anything in particular.
Whether it was a trap or not, I could always find a way to escape, so what did it matter?
I should check it out first.
I walked down the hallway, my Pry Bar resting on my shoulder, making a rhythmic tap-tap sound.
Room 304. Room 306... Room 311.
Found it.
Before breaking the door down, I enhanced my hearing to check for any sounds inside the room.
"I'm telling you. You have no idea how hard it is to work at the Bureau. Money? Yeah, the pay is great."
It was definitely Kim Tae-jun's voice.
He was chatting as if he were on the phone, but at the very least, it was certain he was here.
I wedged the Pry Bar into the door frame and gave it a slight shove.
Crack.
Pulling the door with its shattered lock, I slipped into the room.
A studio apartment of about twenty square meters.
A strangely unbalanced room where the furniture was polished to a shine despite the cramped space. On the bed in that room, Kim Tae-jun was lying down, talking on the phone.
"What the—who are..."
Thud.
The phone fell from Kim Tae-jun's hand, and a look of horror washed over his face.
"Black Marauder..."
"Stay quiet, and I'll stop at your limbs."
Though that might increase depending on the results of the interrogation.
"Wha—what! What is this?!"
His voice was trembling with fear, as if he truly had no idea why I had come.
At least it's not a trap.
I placed my hand on Kim Tae-jun's neck and poured strength into my grip to crush his carotid artery.
Grab.
However, my effort vanished into thin air.
My hand, which had been pressing down on his throat, turned into a fist as it lost its target, and the frantic life signs I had felt until a moment ago completely disappeared.
What?
I hadn't even taken my eyes off him, yet Kim Tae-jun had vanished in an instant.
Did he have a teleportation ability too?
No.
Something was too strange for that.
All sound had vanished.
The noise that had been coming from the other rooms was cut off, and I couldn't feel a single presence nearby.
Flicker. Buzz.
The lights on the ceiling began to flicker.
A clear anomalous phenomenon.
Otherworld Erosion? A large-scale teleportation?
I adjusted my grip on the Pry Bar and rushed out into the hallway.
All the lights in the hallway were already out, and only the green emergency lights pointed toward the exit. Even those emergency lights were flickering painfully, signaling an end in this bizarre situation.
Strangely, this situation resembled something in my memory.
The disappearance of people nearby. A building sunk in darkness. Lights flickering without meaning. If my guess was correct, a grotesque sound would follow.
Creeeeak. Creeeeak.
A bizarre metallic sound, like a rusted hinge groaning, echoed out. It was a sound that somehow grated on the nerves, yet conversely felt reassuring.
That probably meant I was just that familiar with the sound.
"I thought foresight wasn't to be trusted, but it seems moving my old bones was worth it."
The voice of an elderly man echoed in the dark hallway. I slowly turned my gaze. A sturdy-looking wheelchair, and upon it, an ordinary Old Man.
Wearing a slightly worn jumper and a flat cap over his white hair, the Old Man looked no different from those found in nursing homes or hospitals. However, any Hero who had lived through the era of upheaval would know that he was far from ordinary.
"What's different from that fellow... is the hair color? It's been so long since I've seen him that I can't quite remember."
From the moment I fell into this bizarre situation, I had expected him to appear.
But a part of me had been praying it wouldn't be him, so my heart wavered at his appearance.
"Open your mouth. You're not him, but I'd like to hear that voice again after all this time."
The Old Man picked up the cane resting on his lap.
Despite being a plain wooden cane, it radiated an intense presence as it swayed. The walls surged forth in geometric blocks, lunging to seize me.
It was a movement so fast I couldn't even perceive it, as if the building were asserting that this was how it had always been shaped.
Creeeeak. Creeeeak.
The entire hallway tilted, and the wheelchair rolled down the incline.
The Old Man arrived before me, trapped within the walls, and the tilted hallway returned to its original state.
Our eyes met. His aged gaze, transcending worldly affairs, scrutinized me thoroughly.
"Indeed, you look like him. Especially that sullen expression."
What's wrong with my expression, you old geezer?
Since I didn't want him reading too much information from me, I poured strength into the hand holding the Pry Bar.
Rumble. Thud.
Despite the power I poured in, the concrete walls only let out a thunderous roar and showed no sign of breaking.
"It's useless. Wasn't the knowledge copied? This isn't something that can be escaped with mere strength..."
I already know that. Shut up, you old geezer.
Suppressed emotions unraveled, and a massive amount of mana swirled throughout my body.
I should thank my comrade.
He had provided a battlefield where I could pour out all my strength for the first time in a long while.
Crack. Screeeech.
Cracks began to appear in The Wall.
My right arm slowly pushed forward, destroying The Wall.
"...I see. I understand why the Bureau called for me."
There is nothing that cannot be broken by simple physical force. If it doesn't break, it's simply because the physical force was insufficient. I put that into practice with my whole body, shattering the architect's space.
Boom!
My right arm burst through The Wall, and the red Pry Bar revealed itself. Amidst the concrete fragments scattering in every direction, I swung the Pry Bar toward the Old Man's head.
It was an attack swung with considerable force, half-serious, unlike when I was breaking the limbs of rookie Heroes.
The aftermath of the force from that swing rippled outward.
The shockwave radiating from the Pry Bar swept through the surroundings, wrecking the building, and the walls that had swallowed my body exploded, scattering concrete everywhere.
My body, having lost its support, floated in the air. As I corrected my posture, I saw the Old Man's face. He was neither flustered nor angry.
A cold face calmly assessing the situation. His combat stance, which I had seen countless times.
"To shatter space... A-Rank is out of the question; you're at least O-Rank. I'll have to give those Bureau fellows a piece of my mind."
Old Man. Let's save the talk for after we're done.
Because right now, I'm going to enjoy this moment too.
BOOM—.
A massive roar, loud enough to make my ears ring, echoed out.
The natural result traveled up my right hand, which had swung the Pry Bar.
The sensation of colliding with something solid.
It must be a wall.
Without checking the result of the attack, I kicked off The Wall to pivot my body. I have no hobby of confirming failed attacks.
Immediately, a black wall materialized where I had just been. A wall that existed naturally, as if it had been there from the beginning.
From this point on, I couldn't stop moving for even a second.
A single restraint, a single mistake, would lead to defeat.
I continued to swing the Pry Bar, and the walls manifesting from thin air swallowed the Pry Bar, halting my attacks.
The walls, serving as both offense and defense, narrowly grazed my skin, and in exchange for evading the attacks, my Pry Bar was blocked by the walls.
Walls repeatedly manifested and vanished, and I simply moved my body instinctively.
A battle that repeated itself like a scripted play.
"Why don't you say something? Even your stubbornness is exactly like his."
For a brief moment, he opened his mouth.
An act meaningless in combat.
After readjusting my grip on the Pry Bar, I thrust my right arm forward. Naturally, a wall appeared, but this time I didn't stop and kept pushing through.
A moment that couldn't even be called a lapse in concentration. But between masters, it was a significant moment.
Clang!
A refreshing sound, like a nail being driven into a wall, rang out as the Pry Bar pierced through.
He tilted his head back to dodge the Pry Bar, as if he had expected The Wall to be pierced.
"Watch your head."
I spoke for the first time as I yanked the Pry Bar back.
Snag.
The sensation of something catching on the end of the Pry Bar. I pulled it back with all my might.
CRASH!
The Old Man, his head caught by the Pry Bar, collided with The Wall with a magnificent sound.
I couldn't see the expression of the Old Man who had been forcibly pulled from his wheelchair, but he must have been greatly flustered.
I wanted to savor the sensation of victory for a moment, but I immediately retrieved the Pry Bar and threw myself backward.
As expected, walls manifested again to restrain me, and I was once again able to narrowly evade them.
I've landed a hit, so now I should find a way to get out of here.
I hadn't caught Kim Tae-jun, but it didn't really matter since I got to loosen up after meeting an old comrade.
It was a good workout for the first time in a while.
And seeing a comrade's face after so long didn't feel bad either.
Now then. How should I escape?
I glanced at the Old Man, wondering if he would let me go. He still had a cold expression, but a vein was bulging on his forehead.
Ah, he's pissed.
When that Old Man gets angry, he becomes incredibly persistent.
With that thought, I moved away from the Old Man to find a way to escape this space.
The Lord of Infinite Castles.
An S-Rank Awakened with his hands in countless nations, and the architect of every Management Bureau.
The old geezer who used to handle our rear support. And right now, he was chasing me like a man possessed.