Chapter 72
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Does Hope Exist?
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Agent An Jae-seong decided to head to the central courtyard of the Hanmaum Saetdol Apartments alongside the Fixer.
He wanted to observe the Fixer a bit longer.
Rumors claimed the Fixer had single-handedly slain a demon, destroyed the Cursed Mountain Lodge, resolved the Lunar Blossom Sect's long-standing issues, and even dragged their secretive oracle out into the world.
It had been less than a year since he appeared, yet he'd achieved all this in a mere two months.
The world called him a superhuman or a hero, but Agent An Jae-seong deeply doubted the Fixer's existence.
'These aren't feats one person can accomplish.'
That's why surveillance was necessary.
The Fixer might be using some cheat, or could even pose a threat to humanity.
Thus, the Anomaly Management Department couldn't just ignore this irregularity.
Monitoring beings with excessive power was only natural for the department dedicated to humanity's safety.
Agent An Jae-seong had a duty to watch the Fixer to the end and judge if he was truly dangerous.
"The first-floor search is done anyway. Let's head to the next floor right away."
"It's a huge relief that the vanguard left such clear records."
"Yeah... They even filmed the way out. If we just follow it, we should definitely make it outside."
It was truly grateful that they'd left records even in such a dire situation.
However, the Fixer had no intention of escaping exactly as Agent Seo Yu-na had indicated.
"I don't think blindly following the escape route is the way to go."
"Pardon? Then do you have another method?"
The Fixer nodded at Agent Yoon Ha-seo's question.
Agent Seo Yu-na, who had dragged herself out with a body cam for the sake of those who came after her, even as her mind shattered.
Thanks to her, they'd learned the anomalies' traits and extracted info from the Silent Codex.
It was immensely thankful and a remarkable achievement. Still, the Fixer had no plans to retrace her exact path.
The footage she left showed the way to the exit, but it was highly unreliable.
The video quality was poor in places, and it relied heavily on luck—trying to mimic it exactly would likely fail.
"The footage is too vague in too many spots. We can't reproduce it 100%. So from now on, we'll take a slightly different approach. First, we'll enter Room 108. Wait about five minutes, then exit and head to Room 203."
"Huh? Jumping from Room 108 straight to 203?"
"Yep. Easy way to the next floor."
"No, Fixer, how do you even know about this...? I-is this info reliable...?"
The Fixer showed her the journal he carried in response to Agent Yoon Ha-seo's skeptical gaze, as if questioning its truth.
Information more reliable than what Agent Seo Yu-na had risked her life for.
[Hanmaum Saetdol Apartment Escape Record]
#1
This apartment's internal structure is twisted arbitrarily.
If you're unlucky, no matter how much you wander, you won't reach the next floor.
So in the end, I leave this record.
If you're on the first floor, head straight to Room 108. That's step one.
Never give up. You can definitely get out.
#2
If you can't find Room 108 or aren't on the first floor,
enter Room 11 on that floor.
High chance you'll return to the first floor.
Though there's a very low chance one of your senses might be lost.
Still worth trying. Don't lose courage.
#3
Once you find Room 108, it's simple.
Pick the lock, enter, wait five minutes, then exit.
You'll be on the second floor.
On the second, find Room 203.
If not, enter Room 205, stock up on food, and hold out for a day.
Filling your stomach and hydrating is crucial.
#4
After a day, the floor's structure changes again.
Odds of Room 203 spawning increase.
Once found, enter and hide in the bathroom immediately.
Hold your breath for about 30 minutes.
Don't get caught. Hang in there. Then you can reach the third floor.
"This... does that mean someone besides us wandered this apartment...?"
"Probably."
It wasn't their world, but in some similar yet slightly different parallel, someone had surely roamed these Hanmaum Saetdol Apartments, trying to devise a strategy.
The final record left by lost souls hoping someone would find it before they died.
An item that summoned a journal from a world without a Fixer, penned by its hardcore veterans.
[Name: Tattered Journal]
[Description: A notebook recording the final moments of the lost.]
[Effect 1: Open when you don't know how to escape.]
[Effect 2: Open when you've lost your way or direction.]
The reward from completing the 'Lodge Keeper' challenge after conquering the Cursed Mountain Lodge: the Tattered Journal.
It detailed the surest, fastest way through up to the fifth floor.
"Let's follow this journal. Let's do our best to get out today."
"O-okay! Fighting..."
"Agent Yoon Ha-seo. What do you mean 'fighting'?"
"Ow. Senior, that hurts..."
Agent Park Jae-hyeon lightly tapped the head of Yoon Ha-seo's hazmat suit, and she rubbed it with a pout.
The group's expressions weren't too bad yet.
"Fixer, there's Room 108. Found it quicker than expected."
They set a timer for five minutes and spent time in Room 108.
After catching their breath in the awkward silence, they opened the door to find themselves on the second floor.
Unlike the first, the second floor was overgrown with grass. Completely different from the footage. Time had probably warped the place.
The grass wasn't just on the floor—it climbed walls and ceilings, giving an eerie sense of being inside a plant-type anomaly's gut.
Was it the distortion of the space itself?
Mental strength began plummeting sharply.
[Reason is paralyzed by the scent of vegetation.]
[Mental strength decreases by 1.]
[Mental strength decreases by 2.]
[Mental strength decreases by 1.]
Three mental strength drop events in total.
This wasn't exclusive to the Fixer.
All Anomaly Management Department agents on the second floor suffered at least three drops, with Agent Yoon Ha-seo taking a critical hit that drained a whopping 15 points.
Yoon Ha-seo's remaining mental strength was a mere 5 points.
If it dropped further, she'd collapse mentally, going mad and attacking her teammates.
"Ugh... Ah... I-it's impossible. I... I can't... go any further..."
"What are you saying? Agent Yoon Ha-seo! Hey! Ha-seo!"
"Uwaa... No... Don't wanna..."
Agent Yoon Ha-seo broke down.
Just seeing the second floor's scenery had drained her mental strength excessively, and instinctively, she wanted to give up to survive.
[Status: Despair, Fear, Hopelessness]
"What do we do about this?"
"Well... Haah. This is driving me crazy."
Agent Park Jae-hyeon sighed, then pulled something from Yoon Ha-seo's assistant bag and jabbed it into her thigh.
"Stabilizer. Too much is bad for the body, but no choice."
The stabilizer resembled an auto-injector from a nerve agent antidote kit—slam it down, and the needle pops out for self-administration.
A drug only the department produced, it temporarily halted mental drain and slightly recovered lost mental strength—an emergency item.
It warned against more than twice daily, but in a pinch, you had to use it.
"Eut...!"
"Feeling better now? Agent Yoon Ha-seo. Respond."
"Y-yes! Sorry."
After the stabilizer, Yoon Ha-seo sprang up as if nothing happened and apologized to the group.
'Isn't the stabilizer too effective?'
As he stared in bewilderment at the sudden change, Agent Park Jae-hyeon approached the Fixer and whispered.
"Long story, but Ha-seo has stabilizer dependency."
"Pardon?"
"She's got exceptional drug tolerance, you could say. So..."
From what Agent Park Jae-hyeon explained, Yoon Ha-seo had superior physiological drug receptivity compared to normals.
She could take over seven doses daily of a stabilizer that wrecked livers after two—owner of insane liver function.
The Fixer now understood how she'd become a department agent.
Superhuman tolerance for stabilizers and stimulants, with liver performance several times better, letting her live on drugs without issue.
And it showed more against anomalies.
"Ugh, uwaa! Get away!"
Her face showed utter disgust at the anomaly, but her hands precisely targeted vitals.
She wasn't normal either. Her movements screamed trained combatant as she butchered the dream-devoured.
"Agent Yoon Ha-seo moves perfectly like that for 30 minutes after a stimulant."
"Wow..."
Stabilizers to block mental drain, stimulants to boost combat power.
She pulled more than her weight.
'A doping warrior, huh.'
Agent Yoon Ha-seo was the type who spiked in strength via doping. The stabilizer-stimulant combo was so broken that the Fixer handed over all his drugs to her.
"Agent Park Jae-hyeon, don't you have some ability like that?"
"Huh? Well... Nothing to brag about, but my mental strength is higher than average. That's it."
"Ah."
To the Fixer, Agent Park Jae-hyeon had seemed oddly calm from the start.
He wasn't scared of the White-Faced Bride—just surprised. Against anomalies, annoyance over fear.
[Status: Composed, Cool-headed, Steady]
Agent Park Jae-hyeon definitely wasn't normal.
Exceptionally high mental strength, always with 'Composed' status.
"Agent An Jae-seong seems the most normal, though."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing."
The Fixer and agents resumed wandering the second floor.
To reach the next, they needed Room 203.
"Uwaa. More bugs than before!"
"Makes sense. Perfect bug habitat."
To find Room 203's door, they had to rip grass from walls. Unavoidably touching corridor grass, bugs swarmed out each time.
Agent Yoon Ha-seo flailed wildly amid flying bugs, and Agent Park Jae-hyeon pulled her from the swarm.
The crawling bugs weren't true anomalies and low threat, but their absurd numbers obstructed vision.
From flies to all sorts of pests infesting the grassy apartments, breeding massively on residents' corpses and rotting flesh.
'Bugs surging. Time for the next anomaly wave?'
Tougher superiors than dream-devoured lurked. Signs of emergence from the second floor.
"Here! Room 205 has water and food—grab 'em first. Bound to be useful."
Crushing charging bugs, the Fixer found Room 205's entrance.
Per the Tattered Journal, only 203 and 205 were safe on the second—time for a break.
The Fixer wasn't tired, but the agents lacked his stamina, needing rests.
"Must be the food and water from the journal."
Room 205 had a huge fridge in the living room center. The Fixer cautiously opened it: mystery cooked dumplings and bottled water inside.
Power off, it was stuffy and warm, ripe for mold.
[Name: Dumpling-Shaped Thing]
[Threat Level: Incident-Class]
[Category: Meal, Emergency Ration, Meat]
[Base: Dumplings of unique-flavored meat. Ingredients unknown.]
[Usage: Ingest orally or use to attract anomaly's attention.]
No readout on the water, but the dumplings triggered one.
Highly suspicious. Better not eat, the Fixer judged.
"Anyone hungry?"
"Nope."
"After those anomalies, my stomach's queasy—no solids for days, just water."
The Fixer packed the dumplings and water, then resumed hunting Room 203. Anomalies then poured out again, charging them.
Fifth assault already.
"Life signs detected. Damn... Another wave. Estimated 12."
Anomalies swarmed in waves periodically. Each survived assault increased dream-devoured numbers.
"These damn things!"
"Eek! G-get away!"
The 12 anomalies pressured the team similarly, extending tendrils to grab limbs.
As time passed, they hounded the agents over the Fixer, as if knowing their lower mental strength.
'Clear intent. Can't kill me, so targeting agents.'
Preying on the weak was natural.
The Fixer's skill kept them holding, but problems arose.
After 30 minutes in Room 203's bathroom, reaching the third floor.
"F-Fixer! They're swarming from all sides."
"Huh? How many?"
"No idea. Screen's full..."
"Full screen?"
Agent An Jae-seong's face paled checking the motion detector.
Upon third-floor arrival, it showed cockroach-like swarms crawling from everywhere.
'Gauged my limit from prior waves. Sending more than that.'
Judged fair fight impossible against the Fixer.
Creating an opening by exploiting human altruism—anomaly style.
'Beast acting cunningly.'
Placenta of Dreams, data gathered, sent hordes to kill agents instead. Numbers beyond imagination.
Corridor-filling dream-devoured.
And their screams.
[Witnessed a horrific sight.]
[Mental strength decreases by 14.]
Mental strength plummeted instantly.
Overwhelmed by anomaly numbers, the human mind crumbles.
Agents' egos shook from the waves; excluding Park Jae-hyeon, the other two's SAN hit critical.
"This... Too many to handle..."
"Th-this... C-can we... s-survive...? Fixer! We followed your plan... and more come...!"
Agent Yoon Ha-seo, staring at the motion detector, screamed in despair, showing anxiety symptoms.
[Status: Tension, Anxiety, Fear]
Yoon Ha-seo's status worsened critically.
Anxiety of imminent death spiked her mental drain, convulsing worse than before.
"Hey! Get a grip!"
"Ahh...!"
"Eyes open, inject stabilizer. Keep panicking, and I'll leave you here. Agent An Jae-seong too! Snap out of it! Don't quit! If you die, it'll bug me too!"
"S-sorry, senior... S-stabilizer. Injecting now."
Terror-stricken Yoon Ha-seo, teary-eyed from Park Jae-hyeon's shout, jabbed stabilizer into her thigh.
"Better?"
"Y-yeah... Mind's calmer..."
Yoon Ha-seo regained her wits. Fifth dose already—hers gone, now using Fixer's.
'Everyone's in bad shape. Need to clear fast.'
How to handle that horde?
How to smash them to despair the anomaly?
The Fixer pondered.
Then, his bracelet stirred—Hong-ran asserting presence.
-Me! My turn. Finally time for me to shine! So frustrating! Summon me already!
"Not yet."
-Why!
"Hong-ran, your fuel efficiency sucks."
-Wh-what!? Fuel efficiency... bad...? Me?
"Yes. And summoning now would tank agents' mental strength."
The Inferno Ghost King demanded unsealing.
Fire-attuned as expected—wanted to torch everything green, twisting in agony.
'Three minutes drains 100 mental—too soon. Save Hong-ran for later.'
Ghost King was his ace, last resort.
Use in true crisis. Not yet.
"C-coming...! Stabilizer now!"
Agent An Jae-seong injected too, unable to endure. Only Park Jae-hyeon held sanity before anomalies.
Seemed utterly hopeless.
Incident-class anomalies flooding in.
Hard to endure with average mind.
Perfectly natural to panic, the Fixer thought.
"Aaaah—!"
Corridor-packed dream-devoured charging them.
Numbers swelled from self-proliferation?
Left alone, they'd overflow the apartment.
But horror wasn't just numbers.
Dream-devoured alone? Manageable.
But.
"Th-that..."
Even post-stabilizer, Agent Yoon Ha-seo recoiled in terror.
Amid the anomaly wave: a massive outlier.
Tree roots arbitrarily piercing its body—an infected form.
"Agent... Kim Seong-ho...?"
Agent Kim Seong-ho had entered voluntarily.
Efforted strategy in the no-go zone.
Not one to be toyed with undead like this.
[Name: One Who Couldn't Dream]
[Threat Level: Catastrophe-Class]
[Category: Anomaly, Mutant, Infected]
[Base: Embodiment of malice toward humans, contempt for humanity.]
[Extermination: Physical kill or destroy Placenta of Dreams.]
Creature made using missing Agent Kim Seong-ho's body and head.
Catastrophe-class for mental torment, not physical.
"K-kill... me... Please... Someone... m-me..."
He wasn't dead yet.
Faint environmental awareness remained.
Pain sensation intact.
Pure mockery of humanity.
Proof dignity meant nothing; warning to mankind.
Anomaly mocking humans.
Scoffing at lives, deaths, noble sacrifices.
[Faced an extremely horrific scene.]
[Mental strength decreases by 20.]
[Status Abnormality: Mental Collapse]
No way Yoon Ha-seo could beat the incident's culprit.
Did their struggle mean anything? Could they handle gate-crossed anomalies?
Endless respawns.
Couldn't block cosmic malice with frail human power.
Meaning faded.
Fear, despair, hopelessness.
Beyond: overwhelming powerlessness.
Unable to prove her worth against the anomaly tide, Agent Yoon Ha-seo collapsed.
Does hope exist for humanity?
Humans too lowly, inadequate against alien entities.
Unspeakable cosmic evils.
Powerless. Utterly so—wanting death.
-Realize it. You're mere bugs.
Whispers echoed.
In crumbling mind, Yoon Ha-seo shed bloody tears toward it.
Escape impossible—human mental strength couldn't shake this terror.
Vast galaxy panorama unfolded, scrambling her head.
The gate: Great Mother's womb.
Don't reject her.
Worship, revere.
"N-no..."
Shivering, Yoon Ha-seo drew her knife.
Aimed to shed hazmat, slit her throat.
Better self-end than yield to monster's will, attack allies.
Bloody tears streamed from her eyes.
"No!"
Agent Park Jae-hyeon stopped her.
Held her from suicide, injected his reserved stabilizers in succession.
He'd brought Yoon Ha-seo himself.
Drawn by lots for response team, scared to enter alone, asked his 23-year-old junior assistant to join.
Now that young junior faced death. If she died, guilt would crush his life.
Park Jae-hyeon gave her all his share too.
"No... Don't... Like this..."
Bloody tears from his eyes too.
Mental collapse: final abnormality when mental hits zero, last stand of human will against death.
Park Jae-hyeon's mental at limit, yet he endured.
Defy despair. Protect humanity.
First mindset of Anomaly Management agents.
He reaffirmed it amid Great Mother's hallucinations.
"Ah..."
"Sorry. Should've moved faster."
The Fixer took the knife from Yoon Ha-seo. Stood before them.
Breakwaters exist everywhere.
The Fixer was theirs now.
Saving Agent An Jae-seong from anomaly grasp delayed Yoon Ha-seo and Park Jae-hyeon rescue by seconds.
But not too late.
"Both of you, stay close, hold each other tight, and listen to this."
The Fixer handed a cassette player to bloody-teared Yoon Ha-seo.
"Reverse the roots and wash the numbers. Purity to energy, energy to divinity, divinity returns to emptiness. When false and true unite, evil cleaves itself."
⟨ Recording of Reverse Root Washing Sutra ⟩
The deep male voice from the player gripped Yoon Ha-seo's mind.
The White-Faced Bride, suddenly approaching, began praying, embracing them in her arms.
The Placenta of Dreams surely reveled in human death, despair.
Pathetic.
"Ate a few people and got cocky."
The Fixer extended his arm before the horde, grasping empty air.
A heavy hilt formed in his hand.
Yes, time to draw it.
Made in Tiger Year, Month, Day, Hour—Four Tigers.
Ward mountain-like evil, cleave true. Thus, Evil-Slaying Blade.
The vibrating blade, etched with 28 lunar mansions, screamed to be drawn—vowed to sever all approaching evil.
The sword emerged from void.
Malice-filled must be utterly destroyed.
Never tread human realm again.
'Underestimated humans. Now I'll kill in earnest.'
The Fixer swung at the anomaly wave.
No chants or effort needed.
The Four Tigers Evil-Slaying Sword grasped his intent perfectly, cleaving everything ahead.
Some accumulated merits released; charging anomalies shattered to fragments.
Even Agent Kim Seong-ho's body to ashes.
Liberated from anomaly torment.
Light-faded corridor left with anomaly remnants.
Agent An Jae-seong's gulp echoed loudly.
Corridor horde vanished in one go.
Silence enveloped; none spoke first.
"We... survived...?"
The Fixer apologized to questioning Yoon Ha-seo.
"Sorry. Should've saved you sooner—delayed a bit. You okay?"
Yoon Ha-seo glimpsed light.
The brilliance Monk Gu Hye-ryeong saw first meeting the Fixer.
Yoon Ha-seo wanted to grasp that light. Reach it without drugs.
"I... want to... go to the end too."
"Pardon?"
"Can't leave this thing... that did this. Take me too. Won't collapse again."
Strength returned to her dulled eyes.
Only one way to save those driven to death by despair.
Does hope exist in this world?
Yoon Ha-seo answered.
Hope exists.
Quitters get culled—she chose advance.
Help or hindrance.
Retreat meant eventual mental crumble.
Knowing she'd be a burden, she extended hand to Fixer again. Hoping he'd grasp it.
"Could die. As you saw. Not easy. Still going?"
"I want... to go. Quitting and escaping... I'd never fight evil again. Feels that way. I'll just burden, but help me, Fixer."
Inefficient to drag her to end.
She might die midway.
Yet Fixer couldn't refuse.
"Alright. Together. Let's kill the bastards toying with lives."
The Fixer grasped the helping hand.
Agent Yoon Ha-seo rose again.
Her heart subtly changed.
Wouldn't break easily.
She'd seen hope before her eyes.