Chapter 394
Chapter 394
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Lost Life
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Familiar?"
Song Arin looked at Yoo Daon while pinching her nose, and Yoo Daon looked back at Song Arin before hurriedly shaking her head.
"No, I mean. Well, what is it. It's not that this smell is familiar, but like. This smell is familiar."
"...So you're smelling something we can't? And it's not the corpse smell."
Jang Chaeyeon spoke flatly as she watched Yoo Daon rambling, and Yoo Daon nodded vigorously upon hearing her.
"Yes! That's it!"
"Then this scene is new to you?"
Jang Chaeyeon pointed at the pile of corpses in front of us while looking at Yoo Daon, and Yoo Daon froze for a moment upon hearing her.
"...Honestly, I don't remember. I... don't even remember being in a place like this."
...
Come to think of it, that makes sense. If we assume Yoo Daon's memories and past were fabricated, they wouldn't have shown her mountains of corpses like this.
...
I frowned slightly at the pile of corpses, then moved my foot, and Song Arin grabbed my wrist in horror.
"Hey! You're not going over there to check it out again!"
"Yes."
"Ah, why do you have to check it out yourself! It looks super weird just from here! Do you only feel satisfied if you go touch everything...!"
"Yes."
"Ugh..."
Song Arin pressed her temple as if she had a headache and muttered, while Jang Chaeyeon looked at me calmly and replied.
"I'll go with you."
"Me too..."
"You stay."
Yoo Daon raised her hand, but Jang Chaeyeon shook her head at her, and Yoo Daon shut her mouth.
"Stay here for now."
"...Okay."
Yoo Daon nodded at Jang Chaeyeon's words and stopped in place, while Song Arin rolled her eyes around before gritting her teeth.
"Fine, I'll go too."
"You don't have to."
"I'm going!"
Song Arin snapped back at Jang Chaeyeon's amused words and stomped over to stand beside me.
"Let's go."
...
Seeing the two of them ready, I slowly walked toward the mountain of corpses.
"Ugh..."
The smell grew stronger the closer we got, and Song Arin covered her mouth, dry-heaving as if she might vomit.
"...Ugh."
"You can stay back."
"What are you talking about? I'm totally fine."
Song Arin shot back at Jang Chaeyeon's words with an indignant look and glared at her, while Jang Chaeyeon shrugged and walked ahead unfazed.
"Are you okay, Chaeyeon?"
"Breathing through my mouth."
"Ah."
That works, then.
I turned away from Song Arin, who looked betrayed, and headed toward the pile of corpses.
It was still a bizarre mix of deformed bodies and intact ones layered together.
And,
"...No bugs?"
"Huh?"
Song Arin, breathing hard through her mouth, tilted her head at my words.
"Yeah?"
Normally, if corpses—especially rotting ones—were piled up like this, there'd be all sorts of byproducts swarming it.
And those byproducts were usually bugs.
"...Just the corpses."
"Exactly."
"And not even any external injuries."
Jang Chaeyeon muttered next to me as she examined the corpses too.
Just as she said, there wasn't a single visible wound.
Rotting corpses with not a single bug.
Yet no translucent window popped up.
"Any chance this is a sterile room?"
"Even if it was sterile to begin with, it's not anymore since we came in."
Song Arin refuted that theory, and Jang Chaeyeon furrowed her brow.
"Let's be careful for now."
"I'm being plenty careful."
With that, I reached out and touched the corpse.
It felt like touching rubber.
Genders varied. Men and women.
Even ages.
Some were young, others elderly.
"No common traits at all, which makes it even more confusing."
Song Arin clicked her tongue and muttered, and I nodded too.
"We can't figure anything out from this."
...
Only Jang Chaeyeon stared intently at the corpse before tugging my sleeve.
"I've seen enough."
"...Me too."
I followed behind Jang Chaeyeon as she said that.
Let me think.
Corpses where only decay has occurred.
Time has passed, but...
Back in front of Yoo Daon, she was fidgeting anxiously as she watched us.
"Daon?"
"Yes?"
Yoo Daon looked at me at my question, and I started asking her what was on my mind.
"Did you smell something specific?"
"Ah..."
Yoo Daon nodded as if suddenly realizing something.
"Well, how to describe it. When I was little, my parents... when they hugged me, there was always this smell. That kind of smell."
"What kind?"
"Milk... like that. A bit warm and cozy?"
Warm and cozy is a far cry from corpse stench.
"...I see."
I nodded slowly and looked around the set.
The set, all these corpses, and Yoo Daon.
Just looking at this... honestly, the biggest hypothesis is...
"Black hair's probably an experiment too."
...
I hadn't wanted to say it out loud, but I couldn't refute Song Arin, so I kept quiet.
"Yeah... probably."
Even Yoo Daon herself seemed to think so as she nodded with that expression.
"...But her face looks too much like her parents' faces for that."
"Well, if they're using inhumane methods to make kids, they could make them look alike somehow."
Song Arin muttered about clones or whatever and looked away.
"To make a kid, you don't have to— Ow!"
"We get it, no need to explain."
Jang Chaeyeon smacked Song Arin's mouth, and Song Arin pouted her lips shut.
"Daon's pa...rents are probably here."
I couldn't bring myself to say "parents," but "creators" felt even worse.
I'd think of a better term later. Something fitting for those barely-human things.
For now, with that familiar smell Yoo Daon mentioned and even the set here...
The Management Bureau headquarters has Ahn Sanghyeon and the branch chief, so they'll hold it off somehow.
"Alright."
I'd made my decision.
"From now on, no more sneaking around."
Time to change our approach entirely.
"Let's declare all-out war."
"Just the four of us?"
"We can handle it."
What's there to fear?
"...Why?"
Jang Chaeyeon looked at me, and Song Arin eyed me with worry.
"The reason?"
Honestly, there were plenty if I wanted to list them.
They surely knew we'd entered, we weren't set up for a stealth attack anyway, and our goal was finding Yoo Daon's parents to begin with.
But above all,
"I'm pissed. Treating people's lives like toys."
At my words, both of them fell silent, and Song Arin sighed first as she raised her hand.
"I'll check if any other people... or whatever those things are... are coming."
"...Then I'll smash."
The two looked at me with resigned expressions.
Yeah. That's the spirit.
"Chaeyeon. We're smashing everything from now on."
"If that's what you want."
Jang Chaeyeon let out a small sigh and reached out toward the set,
-Craaaack!
And it started to crumble.
Yoo Daon watched the scene with a complicated expression.
"...Feels kinda like childhood memories breaking apart."
"Nothing's certain yet."
I responded calmly to her words.
"But if this is what memories are, better none at all."
...
"Instead, I'll make you better ones."
...
"Well, and if Daon's parents really were good people, I'll take responsibility and..."
"Take responsibility how?"
Yoo Daon finally smiled as she looked at me.
"Make the same memories for me, Jaeheon?"
"...Impossible."
How could I recreate her childhood memories? I'm not Song Arin.
Yoo Daon laughed out loud delightedly at my response.
"Then we'll do that once we know the results."
With that, Yoo Daon grabbed a cushion rolling beside the torn-up Jang Chaeyeon with both hands and tore it—Riiip!
"I'll help too."
Yoo Daon smiled brightly.
"You look like you're enjoying it more than expected?"
"Not purely enjoying, but it's comforting."
Yoo Daon answered my question playfully.
Well, considering what we've done together over time, she figures there are some good memories too.
"Exactly."
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
She shot at the pretty wallpaper, Jang Chaeyeon led the way smashing the set to pieces, Song Arin timidly kicked over a sandcastle.
Yoo Daon watched us laughing happily, occasionally stomping and smashing things herself to join in.
And so, we demolished countless sets.
Playgrounds, restaurants, houses, cafes—every place related to daily life.
Before long, we stood in the midst of total wreckage.
Shattered debris everywhere, broken cups.
"...This is kinda refreshing."
Jang Chaeyeon muttered with flushed cheeks, and I nodded too.
Smashing stuff relieves stress more than I thought. Maybe set aside a day to go around breaking things later.
As I thought that,
-Step.
A sound came from somewhere, and we all turned toward it in unison,
-Step, step.
Along with the sound of footsteps.
"...Was fun while it lasted."
"Yeah."
One man and one woman appeared.
Familiar faces.
The ones we'd seen on the rooftop—Yoo Daon's parents.
The difference now...
"...A baby?"
The two were holding a newborn infant.
We four stared at them, and the woman spoke.
"In such a nice time like this, did you really have to come out and interrupt—"
-Bang!
Before she could finish, my bullet pierced her forehead, and I spoke.
"Hey, Min Noa."
-Shrrr!
The manual unfolded. As if urging me to speak.
"How do you punish traitors inside the Management Bureau?"
[Office Manual]
[BT - Manual for Encountering Management Bureau Traitors]
1. Nothing special. Mobilize all your talents and abilities to eliminate them.
"Got it."
I raised my gun and looked at the two.
What to say.
...
I pondered for a moment before opening my mouth.
"We've come to retrieve our team member's lost life."