Chapter 259
Chapter 259
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 259. Manual
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Encounters with the unknown always tend to frighten people.
Even if you're not afraid, it's natural to feel tense.
But this time was a bit different.
"Let's enter."
Following the Branch Chief's words, the four of us stepped inside, and damp, humid air immediately began pressing down on us.
I looked ahead and saw a three-way fork in the path.
Left, center, right.
It's never perfectly straight.
I clicked my tongue and glanced up overhead.
Vines hung down.
Not a zoo—more like a jungle.
Before I could even look around, the Branch Chief turned to Ahn Sanghyeon.
"There's a path to the right. It doesn't look like there are too many obstacles, so roll on through."
At the Branch Chief's words, Ahn Sanghyeon didn't budge.
He simply turned his gaze toward me.
"Shall I roll?"
"...Me?"
"Yes."
Why are you looking at me?
I tried darting my eyes away to avoid Ahn Sanghyeon's stare, but his expression was like that of a loyal dog waiting for permission, leaving me no choice but to nod.
"Let's go."
"Since Kim Jaeheon wants me to roll, I'll roll. My own opinion isn't factored in here at all."
"What about my opinion?"
"Haha! Hahaha!"
Ignoring the Branch Chief's muttering in disbelief, Ahn Sanghyeon let out a booming laugh and began rolling off.
...
I watched Ahn Sanghyeon roll into the distance, then turned to the Branch Chief.
The Branch Chief stared blankly at the sight before shifting her gaze to me.
"You two really get along well."
"He just seemed like he was trying to sell me out so he could make me roll."
How badly must the Branch Chief have wrecked him every time he rolled for him to go so far as to throw me under the bus?
"You don't beat him too hard or anything, right, Branch Chief?"
"Won't he die if the Branch Chief hits him?"
Yoo Daon tilted her head beside me, and the Branch Chief smiled as she looked at her.
"But even if I hit Yoo Daon, she probably wouldn't die, right?"
"I don't die no matter who hits me."
Who was it that said innocence can overcome both human benevolence and malice?
Once again, at Yoo Daon's words carrying no hidden intent, the Branch Chief seemed at a loss for words. She shut her mouth, let out a sigh, and broke into a kindly smile.
"Yeah, that makes sense."
She looked completely like a grandmother gazing at her granddaughter now.
"Uh, Branch Chief... you're acting a little weird..."
"Oh, what are you saying? It happens. Yes, indeed."
I sank into thought while listening to their exchange.
She definitely wasn't like this before. How did things end up this way?
But if I scolded her, she'd back down too much, and it wouldn't feel right for me to say anything anyway.
Both of them are older than me—I'm not in a position to be scolding them like this.
It'd be nice if the Branch Chief gave her a proper talking-to...
I glanced at the Branch Chief, but she just wore that kindly smile.
"Where should we go?"
We couldn't stay like this, so I looked at the Branch Chief and asked. She let out an "Ah" and peered ahead.
"Straight ahead."
"What about the left path?"
"Someone else will handle that one."
...
Can't go? Don't know? Not even "we're not going"—but "someone else will go." What the hell?
Whether she didn't notice my stare or had decided to ignore it, the Branch Chief stepped forward.
"Hurry up! We're short on time!"
"...Let's go."
"Yes!"
Yoo Daon followed happily behind me with a bright smile.
But where did Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon go?
*
"Where are you taking us?"
"I've told you it's the zoo how many times?"
Song Arin glared irritably at the man in sunglasses, who replied calmly while looking back at her.
No time for this right now.
Jang Chaeyeon sat anxiously in the passenger seat, peering out the window.
She'd thought she'd be riding with the man, but the car had pulled away carrying only Yoo Daon and him.
And the one who'd come to pick her up was this guy in sunglasses.
...
Jang Chaeyeon wasn't particularly close to the man.
Awkward was the more accurate word than close.
Her first memory of him was right after the Cube incident, when she'd been taken into custody.
Whether he sensed her feelings or not, the man brought the car to a stop.
The luxury sedan glided smoothly to a halt, the doors flew open, and Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon leaped out.
Jang Chaeyeon looked up ahead.
The iron gate stood wide open, as if something immensely powerful had ripped it apart, with human footprints leading inside.
"Let's go in."
The man strode forward, and Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon exchanged a glance before following behind him.
The moment they passed through the gate, Jang Chaeyeon wrinkled her brow at the musty smell, but the man paid it no mind as he headed toward the left path.
...
"It'll be fine, right?"
At Song Arin's mutter, one person sprang to mind for Jang Chaeyeon.
It wasn't the man.
It was the woman currently glued to his side.
Yoo Daon.
It was a thought she had from time to time, but if her memory served right, she hadn't been like this at first.
Sometimes Yoo Daon would show a pure innocence untouched by the world's grime when she spoke, yet at others, she'd reveal parts so blackened by it that Jang Chaeyeon always felt an intense sense of déjà vu.
Maybe she wasn't as pure as she and the man believed—
"Here."
Lost in the thought, she halted at the man's words and looked ahead.
"...What is this?"
Song Arin voiced exactly what Jang Chaeyeon was thinking.
Countless CCTVs were arrayed there.
The man stepped up to the CCTVs and began scanning the screens.
"Love Zoo."
"...You know this place?"
"There's a lot I could say if I started explaining, but let's just call it a place that handles necessary work."
With that, the man began manipulating the CCTVs.
Soon, they started displaying the surroundings.
One thing rolling along like a fireball, smashing up the path as it went.
"At least one path's been cleared."
And three people walking slowly.
The Branch Chief, Yoo Daon, and the man.
"...So why didn't you bring us along specifically?"
Jang Chaeyeon looked at the man as she spoke, and he gazed back at her from behind his sunglasses.
"Your capabilities are insufficient."
...
...
Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin's steps came to a halt.
*
"Branch Chief, is this really your first time here?"
For a first-timer, she navigated too smoothly.
It was like she was strolling through a place she'd already visited, pretending it was new.
There was just a faint sense of wrongness in the Branch Chief's movements.
"First time..."
The Branch Chief muttered, then averted her eyes.
A crumpled animal cage came into view.
[Kind Crocodile, Crocker]
"This zoo is my first time."
She said that, and Yoo Daon stared straight at the Branch Chief.
By the time I was startled by her uncharacteristically emotionless gaze, she had turned away, sidled up beside me, and lightly gripped my arm.
"Jaeheon."
"Yeah?"
She leaned in close and whispered softly into my ear.
"Be careful. I have a bad feeling."
Unlike her usual cheerful tone, her voice brimmed with caution as she whispered in my ear and scanned our surroundings.
Her expression sharp, she gripped my arm and led me along.
Just what was making Yoo Daon this tense?
I checked above the Branch Chief's head, but her status window still wasn't visible.
I didn't think the Branch Chief had been replaced. She wasn't the type to change, and she sure as hell wasn't easy to imitate.
"Branch Chief."
She turned to me at my call.
"It's different here, isn't it?"
...
She looked at me and sighed.
"Even when I tell them straight up as we go, they don't listen."
At her words, Yoo Daon stepped in front of me like a shield and locked eyes with her.
"You can make that face too?"
...
What kind of face was that?
Yoo Daon said nothing in response to the Branch Chief, simply staring her down. The Branch Chief held her gaze, sighed once more, and turned to me.
"Once people enter the Management Bureau, they usually live out their days without any promotions to speak of, then die or retire."
...
Her eyes shifted between me and Yoo Daon.
"Sometimes, very rarely, certain people get a shot at promotion."
"...Team Leader?"
"If you mean Team Leader Heo Chan, I'll just say he possesses team leader qualities in abundance. I don't like discussing people's pasts."
The Branch Chief kept looking back and forth between me and Yoo Daon as she spoke.
"From the Management Bureau's view, Kim Jaeheon and Yoo Daon have surpassed the singularity."
Singularity?
"...Just the two of us?"
"Yes."
"What about Arin and Chaeyeon?"
The Branch Chief looked away at my question.
"Not everyone can surpass the singularity. Only a tiny fraction of an already tiny group can. You two are extremely rare cases."
She kept walking onward.
"Of course."
Before we knew it, the two of us had stopped, and the Branch Chief was facing us.
"It's no easy test. This place is under strict containment by the Containment Team to begin with."
...
"Deaths are a given, and you'll see things I obliterated at the start popping up now and then."
She muttered as she regarded me and Yoo Daon.
"But for that, you'll witness things—and find what you're seeking."
...
"For example, in Yoo Daon's case, her parents' whereabouts or the hospital."
Yoo Daon merely looked at the Branch Chief without much reaction.
"...Not interested?"
"Nope."
She said that and turned to me.
"What do you want to do, Jaeheon?"
...
As I stayed silent, the Branch Chief spoke up.
"In Kim Jaeheon's case, the thing he's most curious about..."
...
"...His childhood friend or whatever."
My chest trembled.
...
Slowly, I slipped a hand into my pocket and grasped the manual.
The manual lay still in my hand, doing nothing—no reaction, not even opening.
There are those who live eternity through a single fleeting memory.
What could I do for someone like that?
"...Let's do it."
I nodded, and Yoo Daon nodded as well.
"I'll do it too, then."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
Yoo Daon nodded.
"My path was set long ago."