Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 127. Reality
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-Splash...
I turn my head from the rippling sea to look at the three of them.
"...Does anyone have any good ideas, by any chance?"
No one answered me.
"Good."
How the hell are we supposed to resolve this?
I couldn't even fathom the idea that it was solvable in the first place.
With the branch chief gone and things having escalated this far, how was I supposed to survive?
"Chaeyeon."
"Yeah."
Jang Chaeyeon stared at me blankly after hearing my words.
"Is there any way we can safely make it to the Management Bureau?"
"...It's not impossible."
Jang Chaeyeon murmured while gazing at the rippling water.
"...You're not saying we ride you, right?"
Yoo Daon muttered while grabbing her own arms as if to refuse.
Ah. So there was a way to grab Yoo Daon's arms and fly.
As I stared at Yoo Daon, she fidgeted with her mouth but reluctantly lowered her arms. Jang Chaeyeon shook her head at the sight.
"The Gangdong Branch has paths prepared for quick access to the mountains at all times."
"What kind of paths?"
"These ones."
Jang Chaeyeon skillfully pushed through the trees again and stopped somewhere.
A single tree in front of her.
She stared at the tree and placed her hand on it.
-Clank!
Something fell from inside the tree with a sound, and then Jang Chaeyeon stared at me before extending her hand.
"...Grab it."
"Huh?"
"Hand. Grab it."
I reached out and took Jang Chaeyeon's hand at her words.
"Everyone else, grab hands too."
"Ah, got it!"
"Do we really have to do this..."
As I extended my hand, Yoo Daon grabbed it, and Song Arin grabbed Yoo Daon's, forming a line like a human train.
"So, what do we do now, Chaeyeon?"
"From now on, we're going to walk by folding the ground."
"Uh..."
She said it with such a confident expression, spouting nonsense.
Walk by folding the ground?
"Don't let go or you'll fall, so be careful. And don't talk."
With that alone, Jang Chaeyeon stepped forward,
and the world rushed past like a highway.
"Wha-"
There wasn't even time to be surprised.
As Jang Chaeyeon gently led my hand, I followed behind her, stepping along.
We walked over mountains, across the sea, and over skyscrapers.
"Wow! The high, guhgh!"
And behind us, Yoo Daon, who had been chattering excitedly only to spit something out like it had gone in her mouth.
After crossing mountains and passing over the sea,
"...Huh."
In just three steps, we stood atop what I assumed was the Gangdong Branch rooftop.
"Ptooey! Ptooey!"
I forced my gaze away from Yoo Daon, who was spitting vigorously as if something had gotten in her mouth, and looked at Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin.
"Do you have any sense of the current situation?"
"If I think back to what you said..."
Song Arin murmured with her hand on her chin.
"The most likely scenario is that we've been flung into another timeline."
"...But the snow has stopped."
"Does the snow stopping definitely mean the operation is over?"
"At least for the ones I've done."
"That would usually be the case, but..."
Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon began debating with serious faces.
"So something went wrong?"
"But failed operations usually don't end with just a timeline glitch."
"...Right. The world would obviously end."
I sank into thought while listening to them.
It had been the same when I saw the wedge managed by the Gangseo Branch.
"For now, shall we head inside the Management Bureau?"
Even at the Gangdong Branch, we'd find out once we went in.
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon hesitated at my words, and Song Arin, seeing her expression, closed her eyes with a sigh before standing next to me.
"White-hair. You stay there with black-hair. And you, come with me."
"Sure, whatever."
"...Okay."
Jang Chaeyeon nodded honestly at Song Arin's words.
"Uh, what about me?"
"Black-hair, you stay with white-hair and keep an eye on things."
"Hmm..."
"Please, Daon."
"Ah, yes. Got it."
Yoo Daon nodded at my words and stood blankly next to Jang Chaeyeon.
"Let's go."
"Understood."
Song Arin took the lead familiarly, and I followed behind her.
"...White-hair shouldn't go into the Gangdong Branch."
Once the two were completely out of sight, Song Arin spoke as we opened the rooftop door and descended the stairs.
"Because of the Cube incident?"
"Not just that, but it could be seen as the trigger in the end."
"Trigger?"
"The vibe at the Gangdong Branch is different."
-Tap, tap, tap...
Only the sound of our footsteps echoed in the quiet Management Bureau interior.
"The Gangseo Branch has a laid-back side to it. Maybe because it follows the branch chief's personality? Of course, they only scramble to fix things when incidents reach right under their noses."
"Ah, I think I get what you mean."
Like they only clean up after a big accident hits. They do clean up, and the atmosphere is good because of it.
Is that why I'm the one suffering?
"The Gangdong Branch is more like the military."
"Like the military?"
You mean a mess?
"I don't know what you're thinking, but it means it's extremely disciplined."
Song Arin quickly added upon seeing my face.
"They try to handle everything precisely like clockwork. That's why everyone's exhausted and on edge."
"No wonder Chaeyeon gave off that vibe too."
"She's just born that way."
-Clunk. We opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
Countless people were rushing through the hallway.
People shouting, people running with guns.
"Isn't this déjà vu?"
"...An incident has happened. And it seems they're still operational."
Song Arin murmured and headed somewhere, ignoring the people.
"Where are you going?"
"To meet an old acquaintance."
Song Arin said that much and strode forward without hesitation.
No one paid us any mind.
Sometimes people glanced at us, but when Song Arin looked back, they just went blank-faced and ran ahead.
"Song Arin, you're not... right now..."
"Right. Making them forget us."
"You didn't have to..."
Song Arin replied to my murmur.
"It's a hassle otherwise."
So her.
Soon, Song Arin stopped in front of a door.
[Management Team]
"Management Team...?"
Before I could murmur, Song Arin opened the door and strode in.
"Wait a second, Song Arin...!"
"Hey!"
Has this woman finally lost it?
Before I could stop her, Song Arin yelled as she entered the office.
"You there!"
"..."
In the place she barged into yelling, an elderly man with white hair sat in a chair.
"...It's been a while."
He looked at Song Arin with a weary, fatigued face.
I also checked above his head.
[Name: Choi Soo-cheol]
[Age: 67 years old]
[Talent: None]
[Abilities: None]
[Background: The insight and experience of someone who rose solely through effort can sometimes shine brighter than any ability.]
[Weakness: He's an ordinary human. Attack his vitals, and he dies.]
"Didn't think the kid from the Gangdong Branch, after going to Central, would come back here again."
"This isn't the time for reminiscing."
"And who's the one next to you."
He stared at me intently.
"Looking sideways at my head like that, you've brought another weirdo, huh."
"Uh..."
"Listen to me!"
Before I could respond, Song Arin yelled, and the old man squinted at her.
"Fine, fine. I don't know what the rush is about."
"Is this reality right now?"
"...Ah."
At her words, the old man smiled as if realizing something and looked at her and me.
"You want a reality check?"
"...Yeah."
"I thought something big happened with that urgent look."
He pondered for a moment before pulling something from a drawer.
"A mirror?"
A mirror?
He started angling the mirror this way and that, and Song Arin and I appeared in it.
"..."
I narrowed my eyes at the mirror, but no translucent windows were visible.
Why can't I see it with my eyes?
"Let me see."
He murmured leisurely while looking at the mirror.
"I don't know how you got to the Gangdong Branch, kid."
"..."
The old man looked away from the mirror and stared at Song Arin.
"It's reality."
"..."
Song Arin's expression hardened, and the old man sighed deeply at the sight.
"There's a reason it shouldn't be reality, huh."
"The Gangdong Branch wedge operation didn't fail?"
"It succeeded, as always."
"Then do you know why things are like this?"
"If we did, they wouldn't all be running around like that."
"Got it. Sorry to bother you after so long."
"It's fine."
He waved his hand and leaned back deeply into his chair.
"Tell Chaeyeon to take care too."
"...Okay."
Song Arin replied curtly, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me out the door.
"Hey, wait. Song Arin...!"
"Be quiet for a sec. Give me your phone."
Song Arin kept dragging my arm while snatching my phone to check it.
"No signal still. Means the base stations are down. Infrastructure's failed. The scariest part is that this is reality."
Song Arin murmured seriously, crossing her arms irritably and tapping her own arm.
"Then this is disaster-level—"
"Song Arin."
"Yeah."
"Can we trust that old man?"
He was a regular person with no abilities, and if my eyes were right, the mirror was just an ordinary one.
Song Arin nodded without a hint of doubt at my gaze.
"He's not trustworthy in general. Bad at handling people."
"..."
"But for reality checks, he's the best across Gangseo, Gangdong, Gangbuk, and Gangnam branches combined."
Why go to such lengths for a reality check?
As I thought that, Song Arin hurried forward with an urgent face, murmuring.
"Let's go up. We need to grab the others quick—"
Just then, a crowd murmured loudly from afar, interrupting Song Arin.
"What is that?"
"It's a fish!"
"It's coming this way!"
A fish?
-Boom!
A crashing sound came with people's screams.
What Eileen said flashed in my mind.
The fish tank, and the one missing fish.
"Song Arin. Go up and bring some people."
"What are you gonna—"
"Heading there first. If you don't hurry, I might die."
"Hey!"
Ignoring Song Arin's yell from behind, I drew my gun and ran toward the noise.
Countless people fled in the opposite direction from me.
It was pandemonium.
"Waaah! Waaaah—"
Someone screamed in terror before a crunch cut it off abruptly.
The floor was getting wet with water, and by the time I reached the source,
-Crunch, crunch...
No more screams from people.
It was a massive fish.
It looked like a crucian carp, but when it opened its mouth, it revealed not fish teeth, but human ones.
Blood splattered everywhere, and people missing lower or upper bodies floated on the water.
A translucent window floated above its head.
[Name: Fish]
[Age: 3 years old]
[Talent: None]
[Abilities: Ingestion]
[Background: The fish released from its tank by someone is happily eating its food.]
[Weakness: Fish can't survive out of water.]
Every time it opened its mouth, glimpses of human corpses appeared,
-Crunch!
Blood sprayed as people's bodies tumbled to the far end.
It snapped its mouth shut and lifted its lifeless eyes to look at me.
Water was rising to my ankles.