Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 67. Response Team
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"How's that? Isn't my idea great?"
"No, it's lame."
Song Arin sharply cut off my words and replied.
"Hey, why do I have to go on a filial piety trip?"
"Shh...!"
I covered Song Arin's mouth as she spoke without restraint, and with muffled sounds, she glared at me.
I'd heard from Team Leader that the workshop had been a massive flop, which was a shame, but the Gangseo Branch Chief had approved a pretty hefty budget.
The kind of budget that a simple company dinner couldn't even touch.
The rest would come as bonuses.
In the midst of sharing the good news, there was one experiment I wanted to try.
"Puha...! No, I mean, why make us do an experiment you could do yourself?"
"No, I can't do it, so who else should I ask?"
"Look at you saying that so shamelessly."
Here's the gist.
In a short time, we'd been caught up in too many anomalies.
Then, like a bolt of lightning, a thought struck my mind.
That's right. What if the problem is me?
So, if I just sent the other four on a trip without me, wouldn't that work? That's what I suggested.
"...Well... if that's what Jaeheon wants, but..."
Yoo Daon smiled awkwardly, looking troubled.
"...Do we have to...?"
Jang Chaeyeon blinked as she spoke.
And Song Arin gave the same response as before.
To solve this, all I had to do was send someone other than me.
"No, then just do the dinner, why an amusement park...!"
Song Arin protested, looking utterly baffled.
"You don't get caught up in anomalies at bars."
I didn't, after all.
"You're saying such bullshit with such a straight face that it's weirdly convincing."
Song Arin stared at me blankly, let out a low sigh, and turned her gaze to Yoo Daon and Jang Chaeyeon.
...
...
...
The three women's gazes crossed uncomfortably, and finally, Song Arin let out a deep sigh as she looked at me.
"...Just once. We won't stay long. We'll come right back."
"...Should I go talk to him...?"
"Do that."
Yoo Daon glanced at us cautiously, and when Song Arin nodded, she scurried over to Team Leader and started speaking to him.
...
Jang Chaeyeon came to my side, stood there with a dissatisfied face, and then opened her mouth.
"Want me to pick you up?"
"That's not allowed either."
What if something happened when picking me up?
...
Jang Chaeyeon propped her chin on her hand sulkily, and Yoo Daon, having finished talking with Team Leader, came trotting back toward us.
"It's... okay...?"
"Then we have to go..."
Song Arin sighed in response, then glared at me.
"I'm only doing this because you're worried. Otherwise, no way."
"Yes, thank you."
"Sigh. Tomorrow it is, then."
And so our day ended, and the next day, the four of them, including Team Leader, headed to the amusement park for work.
Song Arin, Yoo Daon, and Jang Chaeyeon's messages were lighting up my phone, but since I had nothing to do, I was happily chatting and entertaining the three of them.
Their messages cut off with a note that they'd be back after lunch.
And then, no one contacted me until sunset.
[Unable to connect-]
...
I look at my phone worriedly.
The sun was already dipping low outside the window.
"This won't do."
I stand up from my seat.
Better check it out first.
I pick up my phone and call Sunglasses Guy.
[...What's going on?]
"You're at the Management Bureau, right?"
[Of course.]
I explain the situation to the man, and he falls silent for a moment.
[As it happens, there's an incident there suspected to be a disappearance phenomenon, and the Response Team is about to be dispatched.]
"...Pardon?"
What is this?
[Connecting you.]
Without even asking my opinion in my bewilderment, the call ends.
*
Response Team.
The ones who enter zoned or otherworlded areas, risking their lives to create manuals or maps for those swept up in them.
Overshadowed by the Containment Team and Management Team, and not a place for those with exceptional talents.
But if you asked for the Bureau's toughest bastards, this team would always come up first.
Naturally, the Management Bureau recruits based heavily on talent.
The Containment Team takes the exceptional, the Management Team takes those with good observation or composure, placing people where their abilities shine best.
But the Response Team is different.
It's where those who've lost family or loved ones to otherworlds throw themselves in, carrying grief and hatred with nowhere else to go.
A place entered purely on willpower, unrelated to personal talent. And they either come out with their loved ones or as corpses.
Sadly, most come out as corpses.
Recently, one team from there had been making the rounds.
"No, I mean, the HR Team did that here—"
"Does that even make sense? According to the kid who survived the ICU, it's impossible."
"But they came out alive."
"That's what's weird. Did they really survive? What if their brain was completely rewired and they're already a mole infiltrated into the Bureau without us knowing?"
"Then the Bureau would've done something about it."
"But it doesn't add up. Unless they had special eye gear or telepathy, how could they—"
"No, that's—"
"So—"
"Cut it out."
A young voice stops the two.
The man and woman, deep in heated debate, turn to look at a woman.
She had faded platinum blonde hair.
Her youthful face and small stature were offset by gray eyes that gleamed strangely in the light, eyes dulled like those of someone who'd crossed battlefields many times.
Her hand fidgeted endlessly with her pistol grip, like she had OCD, and wearing a bulletproof vest even in the office made her look either insane or ready to deploy at any moment.
"...Team Leader."
"Regardless of how the HR Team pulled it off, the key point is that godforsaken Gangseo University Hospital was shut down for years."
Fluent Korean flowed from the mouth of the woman who looked utterly foreign.
"That's enough to call it the Response Team's greatest achievement. Isn't it?"
"...Yes."
The woman who'd been suspicious of the HR Team replied in a deflated voice.
"Be honest. Whether their brains got rewired or they came out fine or as vegetables, I don't give a damn."
That's the Bureau's problem, she said, fiddling irritably with her pistol grip before tossing a few photos onto the table.
"What matters is the result. They killed that doctor, turned half the hospital upside down, and escaped clean."
She begins examining the spread-out photos.
"Skill to scout all the obstacles, threats, and hidden monsters around Gangseo University Hospital and drive a van right in."
Her gaze lands on the photo of the balding man.
"And combat prowess to hold their own against monsters if needed."
Her gaze shifts to the photo of the expressionless woman with white hair.
"Years of experience, and ingenuity to fight monsters with human-limited abilities like hypnosis."
Her gaze reaches the photo of the irritated-looking woman with purple hair.
"Courage that fears no death."
She looks at the photo of the smiling black-haired woman, then finally at the last photo.
"And finally, the intellect and force to command it all, position people perfectly, and step in personally when needed."
Her gaze nails onto the photo of the black-haired man with a weary face.
"For a team that just splits salaries, they sure have too many top talents, huh."
Shall I pay them a visit? As she mutters, someone flings the door open.
"Team Leader! We've got a report of a suspected new otherworlding site!"
"Spill."
She stands, tightening her bulletproof vest straps.
"It's an amusement park. Entrance not found yet, but frequent disappearances reported! Gangbuk Response Team's already deployed!"
Disappearances.
Her eyebrow twitches.
"Lead the way."
"Yes!"
She strides out with a fierce expression.
When she was young, she lost her entire family at a cathedral during a trip.
The Management Bureau took her in, and from the orphanage for families of the missing, the moment she understood the world, she devoted herself to the Bureau.
How much blood did she cough up fighting and documenting? After all her seniors died, she naturally took the Team Leader role per the internal rule: the longest survivor becomes leader.
In the three years since, the Team Leader hadn't changed.
"Gear up."
"Yes!"
The team members following her rush out in a group.
...
Her gaze flicks to the photo of the weary-faced man, then back ahead.
If only I had abilities like that.
Don't think bad thoughts.
She shakes her head a few times and steps forward.
Soon, the Response Team door closes, leaving only bright lights illuminating the empty office.
*
"...Hello?"
"What the hell is this situation?"
And there, she came face-to-face with the man she'd just been talking about.
Response Team staff buzz and point at him.
"That's..."
"Yeah, the HR Team guy..."
"Wow..."
She looks at him too.
Ordinary office attire, weary expression.
He glances briefly above her head, twitches one eyebrow, then shifts his gaze to her face.
Quirky habit.
His glance above her head was extremely brief, but she didn't miss it. Observation was the sole force keeping her alive this long.
"...Are you the Team Leader?"
"People usually don't peg me as one right away."
"The vibe, maybe? You give off that aura."
"Let's say. What's your business?"
"I heard there's an anomaly at your destination."
"...There is."
"Can I tag along?"
He meets her eyes.
"I've got some concerns."
"...You know where we're headed?"
"Yes. I do."
Should I refuse? As she's pondering, her phone rings.
Click. She flips open her phone.
"...Feature phone...?"
The man's bewildered voice sounds, but ignoring it, she reads the message in front of her.
[Annoying Sunglasses]
[Take him along.]
She lets out a deep sigh and looks at him.
"Let's go. I don't know what you're thinking, but it might not be as easy as you imagine."
"I know."
He replies without a hint of hesitation and pulls a manual from his inner pocket.
"...Fine. Hop in."
Clunk. The truck door opens, and he climbs in.
Let's see if this guy's skills live up to surviving that hell.
With that thought, she follows him into the vehicle.
The truck roars off, belching thick black exhaust.
Destination: Gangbuk amusement park.
In the darkening sky above, only the moon shone brilliantly.