Chapter 184
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: What Awaits After Death
“We've secured the combat data.”
“The combat details, surrounding environment, anomalous phenomena during battle—all of it is automatically transmitted to the server in real time.”
Grief was fleeting; they proved their elite status as Foundation special forces by throwing themselves into the work.
“This is a summarized report of the incident inside the zoo.”
Perhaps it was a desire for vengeance for their comrades.
I read the report they handed over and reviewed the body cam footage.
[Giraffe's anomaly: accelerates time on targets it licks, causing rapid aging. Treat clothing as part of the body—do not close distance; eliminate from range.]
They entered the zoo and handled the entities like professionals.
In an instant, they identified the entity's anomaly and weaknesses, then efficiently neutralized or eliminated it using their equipment.
[Penguin's anomaly: traps targets in endless time loops. Energy source identified as the target's life force. Loops also affect memory, so subject is unaware.]
[Memory storage activated. Upload immediately after loop. Do not panic. Emperor penguin flock suspicious—Adelie penguin standout.]
[Anomaly identified. Adelie penguin binding flock and activating anomaly. Elimination complete.]
Swift and precise to their assigned positions.
The command center, operating from a separate hideout, monitored the full situation, analyzed intel, and relayed it.
[『Shim Ha-seong, 40, Foundation special forces...』]
[Entity with information processing ability detected. Noise canceller activated.]
[Anomaly trigger unclear: attentive listening or conversation closure?]
[Exclude both.]
[Understood.]
An invisible drone fired special adhesive, sealing the human-faced owl's mouth.
Then, white noise blasted from the agents' earpieces, blocking all sound.
[Human-faced owl neutralized.]
[12 entities neutralized, 9 eliminated.]
[Hunt down all entities in the zoo like this.]
They seemed on track to wrap things up with exceptional skill.
[Wait, comms are...]
[Gear isn't functioning prop—]
Sudden noise flooded the screen.
Only the timestamp in the upper right corner remained visible.
Audio cut out the instant the noise overtook the feed.
[2025/11/27 21:35:04]
The screen noise cleared.
The upper right timestamp had changed.
[2027/12/10 18:17:38]
Two years had passed in a blink.
Beyond the screen, piles of skeletons in agent uniforms.
The zoo, untended, lay in ruins, with animal bones scattered everywhere along the paths.
“This is as far as it goes.”
Mr. Lee Hyun shut off the monitor.
“No survivors.”
Ms. Eun-seo bit her lip.
She kept biting it blue throughout the briefing.
“The Foundation special forces—Dawn's Children—are completely wiped out, except for the two of us.”
“The zoo's current state matches the last body cam frame, right? Animal bones still there, agents' bodies unrecovered.”
“Yes. Internal observation shows no changes from that final scene.”
The Foundation was now avoiding entry.
Signal cutoff, two years vanishing in seconds, mountains of animal bones along the paths—it all screamed trap, hell.
“Enter, lose external contact after a set time, five seconds stretch to two years, endless waves of anomalous beast entities... Yeah, straight suicide.”
“Bone analysis revealed many beasts not native to the original zoo.”
Buffalo.
Siberian brown bears.
Siberian roe deer.
Poison dart frogs.
Tortoises.
Sharks.
Centipedes.
Jellyfish, and more—fish, reptiles, mammals, arthropods, no limits.
“Jellyfish have bones?”
“Unknown anomaly, but the corpse didn't decompose—perfectly preserved.”
Enter, and some unknown anomalous beast attacks with 100% certainty.
Perhaps as many beast entities as beasts on Earth.
“No way to destroy the zoo yet?”
“Unfortunately...”
“There is a way.”
I headed to the office with full confidence.
‘Reverse Quest Publisher, Forgotten Alchemist's Equivalent Exchange Scale.’
Quest Publisher had monthly limits, but I'd saved two for emergencies.
Worst case, sacrifice something on the scale for intel.
[This month's ticket issuance limit has been exhausted.]
Or so I'd thought.
[Cannot use Forgotten Alchemist's Equivalent Exchange Scale.]
[Reason: Exchange cost (Reward: 10-year ban on Forgotten Alchemist's Equivalent Exchange Scale / Cost: Your life and the lives of 100 closest to you)]
Something was seriously wrong.
“Honey, check the CCTV.”
『Understood.』
Two intel-specialized entities were now offline.
Careless? Maybe, but with CCTV coverage and Sarang monitoring 24/7, securely fixed to the floor—no theft possible.
“Too careless?”
『Scan complete. My oversight.』
Sarang played back the CCTV.
The office looked normal, intruder-free—my entry the first and last.
『All CCTV feeds masked with the same looped footage.』
“Hacking? Nothing outpaces you.”
『Not hacking. Physical overlay—illusion, photo, or projection attached then removed.』
“Either way, bad news.”
Illusion means an entity wielding undetectable illusions.
Latter means an entity fast enough to fool a digital life's nanosecond gaze.
“Just to check: zoo interior CCTV unhackable?”
『Yes. Attempted—connection severed.』
No choice but direct entry?
Actually, one more option.
“Oh! Mr. Lee Seung-hoon! Long time no see!”
Ran into a suit guy after ages.
Now Earth branch chief, decked in gold-rimmed glasses, gold watch, gold tattoo on his nape.
“Trying a style change lately. Thoughts?”
“Suits you well.”
“Gol-den Praise!”
“Info on the Seoul Zoo incident.”
“Full details: 1 quadrillion tons of gold.”
No full intel.
“Then, ways to neutralize or eliminate the zoo.”
“Partial: 1,000 tons of gold.”
I pulled gold from the Void Pocket.
It melted on extraction, vanishing—office wall dissolved, revealing a swimming pool beyond.
“Gol-den Swimming Pool!”
Molten gold sloshed in the pool.
Nearby suit guys teared up, bowing.
“Branch chief! We love you!”
“Branch chief best! Sob sob! Take me!”
“Gol-den Employee Welfare!”
Other suit guys dove into the golden pool.
“Gol-den Holy Fucking!”
“Gol-den Mother Fucker!”
“Gol-den Excessive Pleasure-Induced Respiratory Paralysis and Resulting Psychotic Break!”
Ignoring the rampaging suits, the chief snapped his fingers.
“Thanks for the trade.”
Info flooded my mind.
Meaningless info.
“The zoo wasn't the problem.”
Killing every animal on Earth.
“The world was.”
That would normalize the zoo.
No more from the suit guy.
Partial splits still demanded 100,000+ tons.
[Graduation's done! Diploma's the best! Who knew I'd start a company!]
She, presumed from our grad program, had founded her firm—swamped nonstop.
‘Cut my trades, gold reserves low.’
Cash-rich, could buy gold, but Golden Omnipotence Inc.'s gold doesn't recirculate.
‘Thus, tapping Earth's gold risks market chaos—off-limits.’
Not small amounts—minimum one-ton units.
Home, pondering solutions.
‘All beasts becoming entities. Or potential to.’
Body cam corpses: thousands minimum, maybe tens or hundreds of thousands.
‘Hostile to humans, clear. But why not overwhelm from the start?’
Reality ain't a tower defense game.
Better to crush with full force once than trickle units—no losses, quick end.
‘Beasts lack that intellect? Human faces, but not human smarts?’
Or limited human-faced beasts?
‘Zoo animal numbers?’
Or...
‘False hope.’
To dangle survival.
To tease escape.
Slow torment.
‘Assume fixed spawn rate per wave.’
Playful malice or hard limit.
‘Scrap zoo-spawn hypothesis. External beasts entering as entities.’
Implications: space-manipulating beast.
Time-manipulating beast.
Minimum two anomalies.
“Beast variety and numbers make it likely.”
Headache after ages.
Cracked a fortune cookie on a whim.
[Don't forget the bonds of the past. Remember them.]
Same advice as before.
‘Smoke to reset.’
Out to the garden.
Lit up at the ashtray by the porch.
“Getting dark.”
World plunged into darkness.
Clouds?
“...”
Looked up: whale in the sky.
A human-faced whale huge enough to swallow Bucheon whole.
Crashing down, gaping maw toward the ground.
“Shit.”
Body heavy.
Invisible force crushing me.
『Seung... hoon... sir...』
Sarang's voice choppy—interference.
Not internal data; physical anomaly.
‘Target me?’
Whale's gaze locked on.
Human-faced crickets clinging to the whale.
Human-faced mole crickets.
Human-faced honey bees.
‘Their anomalies hid this approach, pinning me?’
As many anomalies as beasts worldwide.
Nightmarish difficulty.
‘Not just swallowing.’
Whale's maw pure void.
Anything touching it—gone.
‘Atomic disassembly?’
No pain.
End here?
“Debate solves every problem. So everyone, let's debat—”
Darkness hit before last words.
Familiar tulip in the void.
『One.』
Three blooms on a stem.
One golden petal wilted, fell.
[Next news: Last night, 13 members of an animal rights group found dead after illegal entry to a Seoul zoo.]
Two fried eggs.
Bowl of rice.
Two spoons soy sauce, one spoon sesame oil.
[No animal wounds. Police leaning toward weapon, illness, or accident.]
And a bowl of memories.
“Hmm.”
Scooped a big bite of finished soy sauce egg rice.
“Second regression.”