Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Office Worker with Exceptional Eyes
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After that, things didn't exactly proceed like clockwork... but somehow they got done.
Perhaps because the adult form died or was neutralized, all the other larvae and monsters dropped dead on the spot. Apparently, that counted as successful containment, because the internal lockdown procedures were lifted.
I heard that the fully armed Management Bureau staff who arrived from outside were surprised by how uneventful the surroundings turned out to be.
Yoo Daon and I were given the VIP treatment as successful containment operatives.
Probably because it was an emergency situation, we weren't granted any time to rest.
Of course, Yoo Daon had been issued fresh clothes.
"...Explain yourself."
And just like that, Yoo Daon and I found ourselves sitting awkwardly in a room with a desk straight out of a Western spy flick.
The main difference was that a couple of people were staring right at us.
A man and a woman, standing there in that order, gazing at us with grave expressions.
I slowly take in the people around me.
First, the man on the far left.
His face screamed secret agent to anyone who laid eyes on it.
Short-cropped athletic haircut, muscular build, intimidating square jaw, sunglasses, and a pitch-black suit. It was self-explanatory.
The person beside him was a different story.
I look at the woman staring straight at me.
Wavy purple hair falling exactly to her shoulders, slightly upturned purple eyes—but a cute face that clashed with her intense gaze. Tight jeans clinging to her body, a white tank top, and a wasp-thin waist to boot.
She was dressed like someone out for a fun day.
She catches my eye and raises one eyebrow.
A slight migraine flares up.
As I press my temples to ease it, she raises the other eyebrow and starts staring me down even harder.
Ah, this is seriously uncomfortable.
I glance away, trying to peek above the man's head,
"Let's begin."
but the man speaks up, forcing my attention onto him. Since he'd summoned Yoo Daon and me right after the crisis ended, he probably had some intel already. No need to tip him off that I was scanning his info.
"First, confirmation. ...Yoo Daon, joined Security Team... ...one day ago. Ability: Immortality. Correct?"
"...Yes, that's right."
Yoo Daon responds in a state of high tension.
The man nods and turns to me.
"Next... Kim Jaeheon. HR Team affiliate, eyes that can grasp fragments of people's information. Correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
His questioning style was aggressive, but his voice carried more of the nuance of routine procedure than outright intimidation.
"Confirmation complete. First off, on behalf of the Management Bureau, I'd like to extend our thanks."
The man bows his head slightly. The woman doesn't bow—in fact, no, she's staring at me even more intensely than before.
Why is she staring so much? It's legitimately scary.
"In the Management Bureau's long history, claiming we've never had such mishaps would be a lie. But to be frank, these things usually end in failure. Out of 100 incidents, we'd be lucky if internal resolution before external intervention happened even 10 times. The other 90 had to be handled from outside."
...
"Subduing that containment object, no less. When we got word of the escape, I couldn't even eat, bracing myself to wipe out the branch and nearby cities."
The man removes his sunglasses and rubs his eyes.
They were the fatigued eyes of a mid-level manager.
"Thanks to you two, everything got a whole lot easier. I could say thanks a hundred times and it still wouldn't be enough."
"We were just doing what needed to be done!"
Yoo Daon replies in her rigid posture, snapping to attention again.
"That's appreciated. So, what I was saying—"
"Before that."
The woman, who had stayed silent until then, finally speaks while eyeing me.
"This kid seems like he's hiding something."
"Me?"
Am I the one she's talking about?
I point at myself with my index finger to double-check, and she narrows her eyes before shoving her face right up to my nose.
Her purple eyes lock onto mine, and the migraine surges back; I grimace involuntarily and clutch my temple.
"What are you doing? I can't hide something if there's nothing to hide."
"Mister. This guy's constantly pushing me out."
She bulges her eyes at me, and I keep rubbing my throbbing temple while staring her down.
[Name: Song Arin]
[Age: 21]
[Specialty: Hypnosis]
[Talent: -]
[Background: Possessing imperfect hypnotic abilities, she has no choice but to be hypersensitive to everything. And yet, the Management Bureau is the only place she can belong.]
[Weakness: Just grab her head and smack it once if she gets annoying.]
Ignoring that insane weakness line, I check on Yoo Daon. Isn't she under hypnosis?
"?"
Yoo Daon tilts her head, looking puzzled at me.
Doesn't seem like it.
"See? This guy just looked at me, then checked out the girl next to me. He definitely knows something!"
Purple-hair—no, Song Arin—points at my face and yells.
The man sighs, pinches his brow, and looks at her.
"If anything, I want to ask you, Song Arin. When did I say you could use your ability? Do you think we're interrogating them? We're here to give thanks."
"Don't make me laugh. If it was just thanks, would we have come? They'd have sent some branch department head."
She stares me down, and I stare right back.
Should I really smack her head once?
While I'm seriously considering it, the man takes action first.
"Enough. Keep spouting nonsense, and I'll have you removed."
...
Song Arin, hearing that, opens her eyes into half-moons again before stepping back a few paces and leaning against the wall.
"...Sorry about that."
"No big deal."
The man bows his head, and I wave it off.
"Like I said multiple times, we're here to express gratitude. Whatever she said, ignore it. Ideally, higher-ups should come praise your efforts... but the situation's a bit dicey."
The man lets out a deep sigh.
"But it does resolve some questions."
"Questions?"
"To be honest, how much do you know about the object you contained?"
...
I pause to think. How much should I tell this guy?
Sensing my hesitation, he waves it off.
"If you want, we won't disclose this conversation. Can't we do that much for the guy who saved a whole branch? Pure curiosity on my part."
...
Honestly, it didn't matter if I told him.
"Fine. But in exchange, can I ask one thing?"
There was something I wanted to know too.
"Of course. As long as I can answer. So, how much did you know?"
The man readily agrees, leaning back in his chair.
"...Butterfly's Dream, or Butterfly's Life adult form."
"...Huh."
The moment I say the name, he stares at me.
"Where'd you learn that name?"
"I saw it."
"...No wonder hypnosis doesn't work."
The man gives a wry smile and glances at Song Arin, who looks equally stunned staring at me.
"If you know that much, you must grasp its traits well. To elaborate, the object you contained isn't all that strong on an individual adult level."
Not that strong?
I recall Yoo Daon, who'd died at least a dozen times. Yoo Daon wears a strange expression, clearly thinking the same.
"Its terror isn't raw power. It's the horror of seizing society before anyone regains their senses. Your loved ones get parasitized without you knowing, and then you do too, all unbeknownst. In a city full of people... it's nothing short of a disaster."
The man exhales deeply and continues.
"But luckily, you and this young lady managed internal containment incredibly fast, so external suppression didn't take long. Otherwise, we were prepared to wage war inside."
He mutters that they'd been ready to wipe out all internal personnel if needed, sighing again.
He tells this horrifying story so casually.
"But lo and behold, someone took down the adult form. And not trained containment personnel, but people handed temporary authority. Even more shocking: one a Security Team newbie of just one day's tenure, the other a non-combatant—office worker—who just started."
"We put in some effort ourselves, you know. Like, we even unleashed butane gas and all that."
He bursts out laughing at my words.
"Haha! As if a containment like that would fall to human-made weapons! If guns or fire worked, we wouldn't have emergencies like this!"
Then why'd you give us those?
"That's what makes it all the more impressive."
The man stares at me.
"Not fighting back with the fire they gave you—but triggering the emergency protocol."
His eyes gleam strangely.
"You've got talent."
I know that look.
It's the gaze of a professor spotting a prime grad school candidate.
This guy's planning to exploit me somehow.
Treat me like a grad student!
"No thanks."
"I haven't said anything yet."
"Anyway, no. I won't accept any offers."
"Well... ...understood."
He smacks his lips regretfully and leans back again.
"So, what did you want to ask?"
...
I stare at the man.
"When I set the ceiling on fire, something came down to this branch. ...No, it revealed its presence. And it devoured the adult form."
...
"What was that?"
The man stares back at me.
Song Arin covers her mouth, staring too.
After a long silence, the man speaks.
"...You've really got sharp eyes, huh?"
"Will you tell me?"
"A promise is a promise."
He glances around, and Song Arin nods before moving to lean by the door.
Thud.
Yoo Daon staggers and slumps over the desk.
"Put her to sleep for a bit. Nothing good comes from her hearing this."
Song Arin brushes her hair behind her ear while looking at Yoo Daon.
The man turns to me.
"How do you think the Management Bureau handles all these countless containment objects?"
"...Exceptional people?"
"Not wrong."
The man nods.
"But we couldn't do it on our own power. And we couldn't borrow from others either. So we had to come up with a way."
"...What is it?"
"It's..."
As the man opens his mouth, the room lights flicker off and on.
A chilling sensation spreads through my body.
"...Sorry."
The man bows his head slightly.
"Say any more, and heads will roll. Haha."
I can't tell if that's corporate talk for getting fired or literal decapitation.
"Anyway, we'll be going."
He stands, scraping his chair loudly.
"By the way, one proposal."
"No thanks."
That grad-student-hunting gaze again.
"...Got it. We'll send you back to HR Team then."
He smacks his lips once more and opens the door.
"Let's go."
"...Hmph."
Song Arin glares at me with a wounded-pride frown before following the man out.
"Tomorrow—no, you'll need leave. Start work in about three days. Your office is the one you were using."
With that, he waves and steps out.
"Thanks for the entertaining story."
Then he and Song Arin walk out of sight.
As he turns his back, I quickly check above his head.
[Name: ? ? ?]
[Age: ? ? ?]
[Specialty: ? ? ?]
[Talent: ? ? ?]
[Background: Pay your respects to his dedication for humanity.]
[Weakness: ? ? ?]
Literally nothing readable.
*
"...You sure we can just let him go?"
Song Arin asks the man as they leave the room and head out of the branch.
"Can't fight a guy's strong will."
"That's not it. Whatever it is, that man's too good to rot as an office drone. He shouldn't rot."
She mutters, loath to admit it, and the man chuckles heartily.
"Right. That girl too—that guy's quite the specimen."
"Then why not scout him?"
"Didn't scout."
The man says slyly.
"But we laid the board."
"?"
Song Arin looks puzzled, and the man nods at her.
"You'll see."
*
Three days later, as the man said, I returned to HR Team.
The one difference: the team name had been slightly reworked.
[Human and Containment]
[Incident Response Team]
"Oh! Jaeheon, you're in this department too?"
And in walks Yoo Daon, waving as she opens the door.
From the name to tossing Yoo Daon in, looks like my input wasn't considered.
Should I quit?
"Our salary went up this much!"
"Shall we start with the paperwork?"
Too much money to quit over that.