Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 87. Camping
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"Sorry."
...
"I'm sorry."
...
"Hey, forgive me just this once. Please?"
...
"What if I apologize one more time?"
"...What the hell are you doing?"
I must have bowed ninety degrees to the manual a dozen times by now when Song Arin finally stared at me, looking utterly baffled.
"I'm apologizing."
"To who?"
"The manual."
"Is he seriously losing it?"
"You got a fever?"
Song Arin furrowed her brow, and Jang Chaeyeon played along by pressing the back of her hand to my forehead with a worried look.
A cool sensation spread over my skin.
"...No fever."
"No fever, and you're still spouting nonsense."
"I know it sounds crazy, but the manual told me to apologize."
"You're not actually sick, are you?"
Now even Song Arin was looking at me with concern.
"Ah, I'm totally fine. Right now, the manual—"
-Shwaaa!
As I turned to look at the manual while saying that, it finally flipped open with a rustling sound.
[Office Manual]
[Gangseo Branch, On the Forest]
0. Please reread item PLZ once more.
1. Unless a specific cycle arrives, locations managed by each branch are fundamentally off-limits.
2. The forest is the largest-scale containment object managed by the Gangseo Branch.
3. Be warned. This is not a place that requires guides written by response teams or equivalents. There are no separate guidelines for survival.
4. First, the location you are in is the 'stake' provided by the Management Bureau. You must camp here for several days to assist the Containment Team's 'stake' operation.
Hold on. Camping?
I decided to read the rest later and checked out the tent and combat rations the Team Leader had left behind.
Is that why he dumped all this stuff here?
I looked up at the sky.
The sun hadn't set yet, but the weather was turning ominous, so it seemed like we should pitch the tent soon.
"Should we set up the tent first?"
"You know how to pitch a tent?"
"I did it in the military at least."
I picked up the tent, and the four of us crowded around to get it up.
Two heads are better than one, and surprisingly, it went up pretty quickly.
Big enough for about six people to sleep in.
I surveyed the gear the Team Leader had left.
Food, water, canteens, assorted camping supplies, and even sleeping bags.
"...Why'd he give us sleeping bags?"
It's basically summer right now?
I examined one, and it was even thicker—a winter-grade sleeping bag.
"Keep it handy."
Jang Chaeyeon picked up a sleeping bag from the ground and said.
"Huh?"
"He didn't give it to us for no reason. I mostly worked at the Gangdong Branch, so I don't know much about the Gangseo Branch, but since it's a containment object that needs periodic management, better to be prepared."
She spread the sleeping bag on the ground and sat lightly on it.
Soon Yoo Daon and Song Arin started placing theirs in their spots too.
"How should we arrange the sleeping spots?"
"I'll take the outside."
Better if the one who's run in freezing cold at least once sleeps on the edge.
I raised my hand, and Yoo Daon raised hers too.
"I'll sleep on the outside too! I've frozen to death a few times, so I'm surprisingly used to the cold!"
...
Sometimes I can't tell if Yoo Daon's being serious or joking.
In the end, we settled on me, Jang Chaeyeon, Song Arin, and Yoo Daon in that order.
Once we finished setting up, the sun had set and darkness had fallen.
-Click!
I turned on the electric lantern the Team Leader had given us.
The light illuminated our four faces.
"This kinda feels like a company retreat, huh."
"Yeah. We didn't get to enjoy the last one properly."
Song Arin sighed in response.
Let's see. Time to read the rest now.
In the silence, I opened the manual and started reading again.
[Office Manual]
[Gangseo Branch, On the Forest]
5. The 'stake' operation takes a long time. Find ways to survive for that duration.
We have food, so meals shouldn't be an issue.
6. The weather outside is highly variable. Do not panic. Protect your bodies as much as possible with the gear you brought.
...
That's why the sleeping bags.
7. Someone may call out to you. Ignore it, or if you can't trust yourself to, go out and fight.
8. You may go outside. But do not venture too far. The Management Bureau cannot guarantee your safety beyond the line they set.
9. If you follow the above, the "stake" operation will end safely, and the Management Bureau will come pick you up afterward.
10. If you judge that the operation has not been completed properly, check the manual again.
The rest wasn't visible.
...
I closed the manual with a thud, and three pairs of eyes turned to me.
"What?"
"Just amazed that you all read stuff like this and stay so calm."
"This is nothing."
Jang Chaeyeon nodded.
"Well... nothing else to do, huh."
Maybe step out for a bit.
-Ziiiip.
I unzipped the tent entrance and stepped outside.
Soon, rustling sounds followed as someone stood beside me.
Black hair fluttered in the wind.
"Wow, the wind's really picking up. I thought it was summer."
Yoo Daon tied her hair back and spoke in a bright voice.
"Not cold, Daon?"
"I'm the toughest one here, right?"
She raised her arms in a flex, smiling.
"Tough doesn't mean you should let it hurt."
"True enough."
She smiled softly.
"...Feeling a bit better?"
"About what?"
"You know. This and that."
We hadn't really talked properly since the hospital incident.
Same with the cruise, the amusement park. It'd been a while since we'd had a deep conversation.
"Hmm..."
Yoo Daon looked up at the sky, then at me.
"Honestly, yeah, it's gotten better."
"Oh, really?"
"If you're asking if I've completely escaped the past, no, not yet. I still haven't met the doctor I hate the most..."
Her voice trailed off.
"But I've met a lot of new people, and most importantly, I met you, Jaeheon."
Yoo Daon gazed up at the sky.
Her eyes sparkled with starlight.
"Thanks to you, Jaeheon, I'm always happy."
"That's because you did well, Daon."
We stared blankly at the night sky together for a moment.
"What are you doing! Go to sleep!"
The zipper opened, and Song Arin's irritated voice rang out.
Not sure why she's so annoyed.
"Coming in."
"Let's go!"
Back inside the tent, Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin had their backs turned to each other, doing their own things.
Jang Chaeyeon was reading the manual, Song Arin scrolling on her smartphone.
They're really not talking at all.
"Turn off the light?"
"I'm fine sleeping now."
"Me too."
"Same here."
"Turning it off then?"
-Click. The lamp went out.
It was still too hot to crawl into sleeping bags, so I flopped down on top of mine.
"...Tired."
Felt like I hadn't properly rested since the Midsummer Night's Dream incident.
"Go to sleep."
Maybe hearing me, Jang Chaeyeon's soft voice came from beside me.
"I'll keep watch."
"Keep watch or whatever... you need sleep too, Chaeyeon."
"I'm not that tired."
"What do you mean..."
Before I could say "it's the sound," exhaustion overtook me and I passed out.
*
Cold.
As cold as sleeping naked in midwinter.
I curled up, and someone tapped my shoulder.
"Wake up."
"...Ugh."
I cracked my eyes open. Jang Chaeyeon was tapping my shoulder.
"Get in your sleeping bag."
"...Why is it so cold?"
Without a word, she unzipped the entrance.
-Whoooosh!
"Damn it... so cold...!"
A blizzard rushed in, and Song Arin, already curled worm-like in her sleeping bag, grumbled sleepily as she pulled it over her head.
"...This can't be real."
"Places where common sense doesn't apply are our daily life."
Jang Chaeyeon calmly rezipped it and looked at me.
"Cover up with the sleeping bag, and you'll be fine."
...
"Or should I put you to sleep?"
"...I'm good."
I pulled the sleeping bag over me and dozed off.
Whispering voices droned on endlessly, but I fell asleep quickly.
*
My eyes snapped open suddenly.
I sat up and looked outside the tent.
Dim light seeped in, so I unzipped it.
Damp wind blew in.
"Ugh..."
Song Arin mumbled and shifted, so I quickly stepped out and rezipped to not wake her.
...
No trace of the blizzard; the air was still thick with humidity.
Not surprising anymore.
The trees seemed denser than yesterday.
Squinting at them, something caught my eye.
Something was hanging from a tree.
A thick branch had a rope dangling from it, with a person tied there.
Before I could react, a translucent window appeared.
[Name: X]
[Age: X]
[Talent: X]
[Abilities: X]
[Weakness: They failed.]
Snap. The branch broke, and the body fell.
What the hell. What's going on. Mental attack?
Doesn't make sense. I'm resistant to mental attacks.
But if it pierced my resistance? What if this is an illusion? Or a real person hanging there?
But I can't see corpses.
The thought hit me, and my trembling hands immediately pulled the manual from my pocket.
[Office Manual]
[Gangseo Branch, Stake]
1. If a problem arises, reserve personnel must go drive in or check the stake.
2. If you find a body hanging from a tree branch, head east.
3. If you find a body buried in snow, head north.
4. If you find a body burned to death, go south.
5. If you find a body burst by the wind, go west.
6. Good luck.
"Everyone, wake up."
Something happened.