Chapter 254
Chapter 254
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 254. Greed
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"Have you really not eaten anything?"
"I couldn't eat something so abstract in the first place."
The Gangbuk Branch Manager looked at me in disbelief at my words.
"Then what did you eat?"
The Branch Manager stared at the Gangbuk Branch Manager again.
"You know that if something poses a major threat to the Management Bureau internally, we can dispose of it on the spot, right?"
"You think I'll just die that easily?"
The old man chuckled, and the Branch Manager narrowed one eye.
"You think I'm joking?"
She clenched her fist, and the smile vanished from the old man's face.
A strange tension hung in the air, and the Gangbuk Branch Manager raised both hands.
"Got it. I'll talk. It's not like I reached this age without learning some integrity."
"You're the one who's gone completely off the rails, kid."
The Branch Manager unclenched her fist.
"I know it's hard to explain properly. I've already swallowed it all."
"...You ate it in such a hurry. Orders from above?"
"Solo decision."
The Branch Manager stared at the old man, and he turned to look at me before speaking.
"Stuff like that."
"Pardon?"
"Have you ever felt that way?"
"..."
"Intense emptiness and rage."
"Emptiness and rage..."
"That's the scraps I have left."
Stuff like that? Emptiness and rage?
The old man smiled after spouting that incomprehensible nonsense.
"Then the memories you ate from Chaeyeon-ssi’s sister, Arin-ssi, and Daon-ssi..."
"I don't remember."
The old man smiled,
and at the same moment, the Branch Manager clenched her fist and lightly smacked the old man's face.
-Pow!
But the sound that burst out was anything but light.
With the sound of a leather sack exploding, the old man slammed into the wall.
Dust and bits of furniture scattered, and the Branch Manager strode over, grabbing the old man by the collar and hoisting him up.
"Didn't I say there wouldn't be a second time?"
The Branch Manager glared down at the old man, and he lifted his head.
Surprisingly, there wasn't a scratch on him.
"As expected of the Management Bureau's mad dog—straight to the fists."
-Pow!
The Branch Manager swung again, and with an enormous sound, the old man's head snapped to the side.
What was that?
It felt like something had just slipped out.
Did something pale and hazy fly out?
Was it my imagination? The moment I thought that, the old man's voice rang out.
"This was a deal. I can't talk about it, so understand—"
"I get what you're doing from your position, but I told you not to touch anyone in my branch."
"You must really like her."
The old man sighed.
"Doesn't it hurt? Giving your heart like that, sometimes getting betrayed, and even if not, watching them die and leave you someday?"
"..."
The Branch Manager stared down at the old man.
"Sorry, but that's happened more than once or twice."
She opened her mouth.
"And I've already got my answer to that question."
The old man let out a hollow laugh at her words.
"Yeah. I was talking nonsense."
The Branch Manager slowly released her grip, and the old man brushed off his clothes as he stood.
"Damn. My bad for asking."
Then he looked at me.
"I made deals with each of them."
Deals?
With the aesthete, the extremists, the hospital?
Come to think of it, when I saw the Gangbuk Hospital Director, my eyes had shown me something.
What was it?
Right. He said the hospital had reported the Greed.
The Branch Manager nodded.
"Yeah. I get it."
"You're okay with that?"
"No."
The Branch Manager spoke as she looked at him.
"I'll report this to the Bureau Director."
"...Do that."
The Gangbuk Branch Manager nodded, and the Branch Manager looked at me.
"You okay with that, Jaeheon-ssi?"
"...Yeah. Sure."
I'd gotten my answer.
The Branch Manager nodded with a suspicious look.
"Alright. I'll pass that along to the others."
"Yes."
The old man nodded, and the Branch Manager stared at him quietly before grabbing my wrist and pulling me along.
"Let's go."
"You're extra commanding today."
"Want me to crush your wrist?"
"Sorry."
"You too."
As the Branch Manager started dragging me by the wrist, the Gangbuk Branch Manager looked at me.
"Don't give your heart to things that will leave. Or to things you can never attain."
I looked at his face.
His wrinkled hands, and the face that should have been full of stubbornness was filled with regret instead.
A translucent window appeared above his head.
[Name: Kim Pilsu]
[Age: 73]
[Trait: Greed]
[Talent: Greed]
[Background: Even though he shouldn't see it, what is he thinking while showing what shouldn't be seen?]
[Weakness: Greed is ultimately a deficiency.]
"You're doing well enough, so don't worry too much."
"Yeah."
He waved his hand, and the Branch Manager led me away.
This time, not to the basement, but through the door to the Branch Manager's office.
"Take care."
"You too."
The Branch Manager walked on, brushing off the Gangbuk Branch Manager's farewell.
Warm sunlight poured down the corridor.
After walking for a while, the Branch Manager turned to face me.
"Kim Jaeheon-ssi."
"Yes."
"Come with me."
"You're the one who's been holding my wrist from the start, Branch Manager."
"Why do you have to nitpick everything? Hurry up."
She clicked her tongue and kept walking.
We started down the stairs.
Right. The Gangbuk Branch didn't have elevators.
"Where are we headed, Branch Manager?"
"I think so."
The Branch Manager muttered as she glanced at me.
"You should look in a mirror."
"...A mirror?"
The mirror I'd seen in the Gangbuk Branch.
How did the Branch Manager know about that mirror?
And why?
"Why?"
"You saw it, Jaeheon-ssi."
"Yeah."
"I think that guy was hiding something."
"...Hiding something?"
I didn't feel like I'd been hit with anything.
"You might not notice, Jaeheon-ssi. Not right now."
The Branch Manager muttered as she kept walking nonstop.
"But do you know what that mirror is?"
"Well, I'm a Branch Manager too. Our Bureau Director drills every Containment Object into our heads or we don't get to sleep..."
The Branch Manager made a horrified face like it was the stuff of nightmares.
Not like some military hazing.
"Is the Bureau Director around your age, Branch Manager?"
"Are you saying I'm old now?"
"I didn't say anything."
The Branch Manager glared at me, and when I hurriedly raised my hands, she looked away again.
"But why are you still holding my wrist?"
Is it because she hasn't felt human warmth in too long? Should I share some youthful vigor then?
"Don't get any weird ideas. My life's too busy to accept your confession, Kim Jaeheon-ssi. Once my life calms down a bit, I might think of you as a fond memory now and then."
"No, there's an age gap too, so—ow!"
The Branch Manager squeezed my wrist hard, and a scream escaped me from the excruciating pain.
"Just follow quietly."
It's not broken, right?
*
After arriving at the containment level, the Branch Manager started navigating the maze-like paths like it was her own home.
"You know the way too?"
"Of course."
"The Bureau Director made you memorize that too?"
"Of course."
She answered like it was obvious and kept walking.
Whether it was the Bureau Director's thorough training or not, following behind her soon brought familiar sights into view.
The mirror.
What I'd seen back then wasn't anything good.
Of course, thanks to that illusion, I'd gained some wariness toward the regressor.
A translucent window appeared after a long while.
[Name: Mirror]
[Age: Created 49 years ago]
[Trait: Projection of Desires]
[Talent: X]
[Background: How could he make people happy? He agonized over it all day. Soon, he reached a conclusion. He would make a mirror that lets people see what they desire.]
[Weakness: It won't break from physical shock. You must deny what's inside it for the mirror to reveal the truth and the future.]
The Branch Manager stood in front of the mirror.
"..."
She frowned, then pulled my wrist to place me beside her.
As Daon said, no grandma makeup smell.
The idle thought didn't last long before something began to reflect in the mirror.
It wasn't me or the Branch Manager.
It was Song Arin.
"...Arin-ssi?"
"..."
Why was she there?
Song Arin opened a door and headed somewhere.
Looking tired yet familiar, she entered after punching in a code.
"...Kim Wanwoo?"
It was where the regressor's brain was kept.
"Damn it..."
Song Arin scratched her cheek and muttered.
"This extraction is weirdly slow. Did I miss something? Gotta report this."
She clicked her tongue and left through the door.
Soon, the Branch Manager's phone rang.
On her phone screen was the name [Gangseo Branch Employee Song Arin].
"Yes, Song Arin-ssi."
The Branch Manager slowly answered the call.
"I see. Got it."
Then she hung up.
"Kim Jaeheon-ssi."
"Yes."
"Have you ever thought something was off?"
"...What?"
"Among the feelings you had meeting Kim Wanwoo... hmm, no emptiness or rage?"
Emptiness and rage.
The emotions I basically felt toward the regressor were more impatience and wariness than emptiness or rage.
When did I ever feel emptiness and rage—
"Oh."
There was one time.
"Branch Manager."
"Yes?"
The Branch Manager looked at me.
"If you could regress—"
"..."
"...Sorry."
"It's fine."
She gave a wry smile as she looked at me.
Not full regression, but she'd been through a loop before.
"...Anyway, if you could regress, why would you?"
"I..."
She closed her eyes, lost in thought.
"It was always the same thought."
"What...?"
"Have you ever lived alone in a ruined world?"
The Branch Manager looked at me.
"Even when we met, they were already broken."
I wonder why Yoo Daon's face flashed in my mind.
"That's when I realized. Ah, I can't live without people."
The Branch Manager said that as she looked at me.
"So I went back. To not be lonely."
To not be lonely.
"...And you, Jaeheon-ssi?"
"I..."
I can't regress.
I just receive the manual baton from my past self.
That's why sometimes I think.
Why do I keep passing this baton to myself?
The manual said it.
Because it wants me to be happy.
But am I passing the baton because I want to be happy?
"...Who knows."
That was all I could answer in the end.
That's why I realized even more.
'I'll live for myself.'
The traces of the regressor's life lingered everywhere, literally.
My opposition to him, our fight.
Was all his running through this past, all his actions, really just to live for himself?
Was it truly such a petty reason?
-Fwoosh!
The moment I thought that, the mirror changed.
The Branch Manager's eyes widened, and I calmly watched the mirror.
The mirror reflected a river.
In front of that river, a man wore a despairing expression.
It was Kim Wanwoo.