Chapter 284
Chapter 284
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Knowledge is Power
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Silence.
The others were staring at us.
Some with fearful expressions, some with curious ones, and some...
"As expected from the rising star of the Gangseo Branch."
"Thanks for the praise, but we're from HR."
"Aren't you the Human and Containment Incident Response Team?"
"We're just HR."
I forcibly tore my eyes away from the burdensome gaze treating me like some great figure and looked around.
"Oh. That's Jang Chaeyeon. No wonder they said there aren't many white-haired people."
"Jang Chaeyeon from the Gangdong Branch? Why's she in Gangseo's HR?"
People murmuring while looking at Jang Chaeyeon.
"That's Song Arin."
"Whoa, for real. Mad Dog Song Arin."
"I thought she was at Central. Demoted or something?"
"Even if it was under Central Branch, that's still huge. Why...?"
And people murmuring while looking at Song Arin too.
"But who are those two?"
"No idea. That black-haired woman doesn't seem like a normal person, at least. Let's be careful."
"That guy over there is just standing quietly, but he's chatting happily with Gangseo's lunatic. Probably not right in the head either."
People whispering while looking at me and Yoo Daon.
"Is Ahn Sanghyeon's nickname Gangseo Branch Lunatic?"
"Haha, I've gotten that nickname before. Nice folks, aren't they? Giving me a nickname even though we've never met."
He was genuinely thankful for this.
I averted my gaze from Ahn Sanghyeon, who spoke with an embarrassed, shy expression, and looked at the other three.
"Ugh."
"You alive?"
"I'm not dead, though?"
"Never mind."
Song Arin talking to Yoo Daon.
"...What're you looking at."
And Jang Chaeyeon threatening the others with a cold glare.
It seemed HR had made themselves known at lightning speed.
"Alright!"
Then, someone clapped their hands.
Their face was oddly hard to see.
A woman continued in a lively voice.
"As you can see, someone just died from contamination! Let's all hurry and resolve it! Find the source of the contamination, deal with it yourselves if you can, or report the situation to others via your radios!"
Her voice shouted as if a person's death was no big deal.
"Then let's head out!"
And the others began dispersing in small groups, following her words.
"She's still around, huh."
"You know her?"
Song Arin muttered irritably, and when I looked at her curiously, she nodded.
"She took charge just like that the first time I went with Whitey. No one died then, though."
"Now that you mention it, the voice is the same."
Jang Chaeyeon nodded at Song Arin's words, and Song Arin furrowed her brow slightly too.
"Not another long-lived freak wearing someone's skin like the Gangseo Branch Chief?"
"The Chief is human, you know."
"Human? That thing?"
That thing.
"He is human."
Just a bit unusual. By her logic, Yoo Daon wouldn't be human either.
Song Arin widened her eyes slightly but soon shook her head vigorously and looked at me.
"Anyway, we should do what she said now."
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon furrowed her brow slightly, looking displeased at Song Arin's words.
"So, what exactly do we do?"
"...Mainly, anomalies pop up all over the riverbank."
Song Arin muttered as she started walking.
"Most anomalies form and vanish within this riverbank... but sometimes one gets particularly big."
She glanced elsewhere for a moment.
"If it grows too much, boom. It explodes and threatens people's daily lives."
With a bitter expression, she muttered and gradually picked up her pace.
"So to avoid seeing that happen, we have to stop it quick."
"Got it."
Memories of the Myeongil Apartments incident surfaced.
The dead were innocent, and the perpetrator wasn't human.
It might be the duty of those in this line of work to resolve it.
"Yeah."
Perhaps reading my expression, Song Arin patted my shoulder and started walking.
"Let's do what we can."
"..."
Her voice was oddly bitter, and Jang Chaeyeon stared ahead expressionlessly upon hearing it.
"So, how do we do it?"
"What do you mean how."
Song Arin looked at us.
"We walk."
*
We trudged through the squelching, flesh-like mud.
"This is harder to walk through than I thought..."
"...Hoo... Hoo..."
Yoo Daon panting as she trudged along, and Jang Chaeyeon, out of breath for the first time in a while, huffing heavily.
Weren't you building up your stamina lately?
"Still nothing visible or detectable so far."
And Song Arin, who would normally tease Jang Chaeyeon here or say something to Yoo Daon, was simply scanning the surroundings with a serious face.
It would've been great to have Ahn Sanghyeon here, but he left with his colleagues, saying he had to go with them.
"...Normally, you'd feel screams or fear around here at least..."
"...Huh...?"
And no sooner had she said that than Yoo Daon sniffed the air.
"What...? It smells so..."
"So, what?"
"Sweet..."
"...Sweet smell?"
Song Arin furrowed her brow, and at her mutter, Yoo Daon and I exchanged glances instantly.
"A sweet smell?"
"Yeah, exactly. That sweet smell from back then!"
Yoo Daon bent halfway over and started sniffing harder, and I hurriedly drew my gun and stood behind her.
"No, what the hell is a sweet smell!"
"Butterfly's Dream."
Song Arin shouted irritably, and I gave her a brief explanation.
After I explained the sweet smell from the Butterfly's Dream incident and its connection, Song Arin's expression hardened slightly.
"That smell was here?"
"Yes."
"...Then..."
Song Arin glanced at Yoo Daon, who blinked back in confusion.
"Huh?"
"...No, nothing."
Song Arin closed her eyes once, took a deep breath.
"What're you doing. Let's go."
And just as she started walking,
-Screeech!
A scream from afar, or like a massive rat shrieking.
Song Arin whipped her head up, and my legs were already moving.
"Let's go!"
If there's a sound, something's there.
We all started running, and the sound grew closer.
-Screeeeech!
-Screeeeeeee!
"What the hell is that noise...!"
Song Arin shouted irritably while covering her ears, and I felt a strange impatience burning through my body.
"This won't do. Daon, come with me first-"
-Thud!
A breaking sound from that alley,
And before I could finish, something red splattered onto the flesh wall.
That's-
"Blood smell."
Yoo Daon muttered in an emotionless tone and grabbed my arm.
"Don't go, Jaeheon. I'll go first."
"Wait, Daon...!"
Before Yoo Daon could charge in, I grabbed her arm. And at the same time.
-Splat!
An even louder sound, something shattering, red blood completely staining the wall.
"..."
I took a deep breath and issued calm instructions.
"Daon, up front. Arin next to me, Chaeyeon at the rear."
"Got it."
"Okay."
The three took their positions.
"If anything lunges, I'll kill it on sight. If I judge it's not human, it's dead."
"Got it."
Jang Chaeyeon nodded, and I advanced with my drawn gun.
"..."
Yoo Daon rounded the corner with her awl ready, and Song Arin and I slowly followed.
"...This is..."
Song Arin covered her mouth with one hand, and Jang Chaeyeon, following behind, pinched her nose too.
Blood was splattered everywhere.
A horrific stench filled the air, and the blood-soaked floor and walls of flesh pulsed even faster than before.
"P-Please... spare me..."
And in the center, a man knelt, his entire body drenched red.
Several corpses lay beside him.
Jang Chaeyeon reached out, and Yoo Daon raised her awl.
I quickly checked above the man's head.
[Name: Kim Taek-hwang]
[Age: 36]
[Talents: None]
[Trait: Quick Hands]
[Background: He possesses hands incomparably faster than others.]
[Weakness: An ordinary human.]
"Human."
As I lowered my gun, Jang Chaeyeon lowered her hand too.
Only Yoo Daon kept hers raised.
"...Jaeheon."
"Yeah."
"...The sweet smell's still there."
At her words, I hurriedly scanned the surroundings.
All I saw was the trembling man and the corpses.
My gaze shifted to the corpses,
[Name: X]
[Age: X]
[Talents: X]
[Trait: X]
[Background: Mimicry for deceiving someone is inhabiting this corpse.]
[Weakness: X]
"Chaeyeon! That corpse over-"
I opened my mouth urgently, and at the same instant, the corpse shot up and lunged at me.
"Ugh...!"
Jang Chaeyeon reached out, but her hand rose too late, and Yoo Daon's swing with the awl was delayed too.
The corpse gaped its mouth wide and pounced on me,
-Thud!
From elsewhere, another corpse leaped and body-slammed it.
The two corpses sprawled on the ground.
"...Hah... Hah..."
I calmed my racing heart and looked aside,
"That one still has brain activity."
Song Arin muttered, hand extended.
"That's why the hypnosis worked just now."
"...Not just that."
It wasn't mimicking a living person. It left one lone living person and mimicked the surrounding corpses.
An utterly inefficient method.
As if designed to target someone who could discern it...
"..."
"...Why. You okay?"
"...Those things."
I looked at the two sprawled corpses.
"They know about me."