Chapter 10 - Things That Couldn't Be Conveyed #4
Things That Couldn't Be Conveyed #4
Translator : Elizabeth
Central Information Management Office.
Regarding that institution, I had never heard of it properly even when I was actively working as an Administration Bureau agent.
'Because access permission itself wasn't given to F-Rank personnel.'
Permissions by rank handled within the Administration Bureau are truly absolute.
Money, information, and even various benefits that make it seem like one lives in a completely different world!
On top of that, institutions related to the center have truly thoroughly blocked information leakage to the outside.
Therefore, right now.
[↳ Who on earth are you?]
"...I."
Receiving the question from the figure calling themselves the Gallery Mod, I pondered for a moment.
Clearly, I was a common F-Rank agent until just before entering the Daycare, but now I am something similar to an Anomaly.
"...."
I tried to reply by tapping my fingers, but sentences were not easily written.
'H, How should I do this?'
Just how much of my current situation should I convey?
It was when I was worrying for a long time like that.
Ding!
"....?"
「▶ You have succeeded in contacting a figure in a quite important position within the humans' Administration Bureau. If you do well, wouldn't you be able to conciliate the figure to be favorable to you and extract various important information?」
"H, How...?"
I don't have any means to make that Gallery Mod an ally though...?
「▶ Congratulations. You have a very powerful weapon.」
Weapon? What weapon?
I reflexively looked back at the doll.
This...?
Ding!
「A Quest has arrived.」
「▶ You, having grown into a full-fledged Anomaly, have now entered a time to boldly reveal your presence.」
「▶ Conciliate the target, 'Gallery Mod', as an ally by taking a picture of yourself and sending it (Incomplete)」
"....?"
I rubbed my eyes momentarily and looked at the status window again.
「▶ Target, 'Gallery Mod', a picture of yourself...
"What is thiiis?!"
Quest conditions that make my head spin!
Feeling a burning sensation on my face, I had to try to understand the situation while trembling for a while.
The Gallery Mod's day is busy.
[Fuuuuck gore pics running~~~!!!]
[Breaking news just popped shiver (Link)]
[Fuck don't enter the post above, got fished]
[Honestly, isn't all that talk about Awakener this Awakener that all just bubbles?]
[Office jobs make way more money, so why do something like an agent banging your head?]
"....."
Checking the posts coming up every day one by one, she has to weigh whether they harm the atmosphere within the gallery.
She had to go through a re-verification process every day to see if there were any errors in the boards divided by rank from A to F.
Therefore.
Strange posts claiming to have been in the 'Daycare' and obtained abilities of entities by acquiring a peculiar ability were also being observed closely.
[They say the Daycare really closed?]
Until not long ago, before receiving the news that the Anomaly disappeared from the world.
"....."
The Anomaly disappeared.
Then it was a natural level that survivors inside that Anomaly were automatically processed as eliminated.
「Account Deletion」.
Therefore, the Mod deleted that victim's account.
「Login attempt confirmed.」
"....?"
When a login was confirmed from an account thought to be dead, and judgment was made that it was indeed the person's phone—
[↳ Who on earth are you?]
The Mod tried sending a DM to that unidentified user.
It shouldn't happen, the Mod thought.
Thump. Thump.
Trying to ignore the strange goosebumps knocking on her chest, she waited for the existence's answer.
**[↳ User: I, I'm a person trapped here...
↳ Are you saying you are Agent Park Jun-seo himself?
↳ User: Uh... It's similar but...
↳ ?]**
If it's right, it's right, if not, it's not; what is 'similar'?
**[↳ User: By any chance, can you help me a little?
↳ I don't have such authority. I just sent a DM to check if your existence could cause damage to the Gallery and Administration Bureau network.
↳ User: Uh...]**
The target was silent again for quite a long time.
But whether they were or not, what the Mod had to do was no different.
**[↳ I plan to completely delete your account in 10 minutes.
↳ That is the mission assigned to me, and the rule of the Administration Bureau.
↳ User: You can't do that!
↳ No, I must delete it.]**
That is the rule of the Administration Bureau.
It was a mission assigned to her, and also the Mod's own principle that no exceptions could be made.
If she goes astray, everyone becomes endangered.
Doing work related to Anomalies meant taking on such risks and bearing full responsibility.
**[↳ Your existence possesses potential danger to the Administration Bureau network.
↳ I have an obligation to prevent this in advance.
↳ User: I said you can't?!
↳ No, I will.]**
There is no compromise. There was no leniency either.
If the target deviated from the Administration Bureau's principles and rules, the work the Mod herself has to do doesn't change—
**[↳ User: Ah, I don't know anymore.
↳ User: (Photo)]**
"?"
And the Mod faced it.
In the photo, a picture of an unidentified girl taken with earlobes dyed bright red.
'...Child?'
The Mod was flustered.
Just how can a figure who is clearly inside the Daycare be a child?
Then what happened to the owner of the phone right now?
How? How? Ah?
Zzzzt.
Suddenly, unknown goosebumps climbed up her spine like an electric current.
Something is strange. The sensation, the moment I saw the photo, my heart beat so fast, beat, ah. Ah?
Vision is dyed dark, and she is engulfed in a feeling as if the space is twisting strangely.
When she barely regained consciousness, the Mod—she was standing alone in an unidentified space.
"....?"
Clearly, she lay her body on a device that could access the network in a facility under the Administration Bureau, but why?
"Hmm, hmm~"
Far away, beyond the darkness, someone's presence was felt.
Causing discomfort as if scratching the deep bottom of emotions the moment it is heard.
The presence of an existence she felt she should never face.
Step.
Footsteps were heard.
Something is getting closer.
No, don't come, don't come closer to me, please, no, ah...
While lightly trampling on her desperate wish, something was slowly approaching this way in the darkness.
Please, I'll do anything, please—
"Ugh, ah..."
Moans she isn't even aware of keep flowing out between her lips.
Cold sweat flows endlessly, and blood only cooled down coldly as if scalded by cold water.
**[↳ Nggok
↳ User: ?
↳ You, to me right now, what, ook]**
Becoming polluted. Ah, pollution, coming through the transmission, ah, ca, cannot reject.
Delete account quickly... No, first have to disconnect the neural network—
Stopping the hand that was about to disconnect the neural network for a moment, she tried thinking once—No, isn't this my thought... actually not that urgent of a situation?
'...Wait.'
That young girl is trapped alone inside an Anomaly, but she kept thinking only 'bad' thoughts about eliminating that existence; this might actually be an act that needs serious reflection.
'Ah.'
Thoughts, thoughts keep flowing on their own.
If she doesn't 'promise' to help that child, a compulsion strong enough to make her feel the impulse to die from sadness pressured her existence.
Teacher, I was wrong, I will become a good child.
If I don't decide right now, I die.
'S, Stop.'
Make a decision.
'Shouldn't, do that...'
Decide.
"....."
.. ... ....
-
Ding!
「Quest complete.」
"...Ah?"
「You have successfully formed a friendship with the target, 'Gallery Mod'.」
「Now, the existence in question is your reliable friend.」
**[↳ ...I'll put your account deletion on hold for a moment.
↳ User: ????
↳ Because notifying unilaterally without even hearing the proper situation is a mean thing to do.
↳ I can't become a bad child.
↳ User: ...Bad child?
↳ Hic.]**
Bad child?
I tilted my head at the familiar nuance, but with a feeling of 'surely not', I just decided to fold the thought.
Like that.
The young girl in the Daycare, who didn't know the reason, shared various conversations with the Mod who suddenly took a favorable attitude.
"Hmm..."
I thought for a moment.
Where did the stern attitude trying to delete my account from the face of the earth forever without an inch of compromise go?
[- So, how did you end up trapped there like that?]
Why is only the figure of the Gallery Mod (presumed), who became much more obedient than before, left?
"Good is good!"
If I can gain the favor of a total stranger with just one photo of myself, isn't that rather better?
「▶ You seem to have realized your value even a little. How about using this actively from next time?」
"Sh, Shut up."
Leaving the status window saying weird things behind, I was in the middle of talking with the Mod.
"Ah, battery."
It seemed the phone would turn off in the middle, so I had hurriedly connected the charger to the outlet.
For reference, the charger was inside the drawer of the Director's Office, and electricity was working very well in the outlet.
There was no part I could understand in that series of processes, but I just let it pass saying 'Good is good!'
**[↳ User: ...Then, can you return my deleted gallery account too?
↳ That is, ah...]**
The Mod didn't answer for a moment, but soon returned quickly.
**[↳ I'll restore that for you sooner or later. Still, it won't be the same account as before. Your current situation is a very special case so.
↳ User: Ah, as long as I can see the gallery, it doesn't matter!
↳ I'm sorry, I'm not a bad child.
↳ User: ...?
↳ N, No, it's nothing.]**
What is it? Seriously what is it?
I felt something iffy, but since she obediently grants my requests, let's take it as a positive signal!
**[↳ I've temporarily sealed the permission to leave comments or write posts.
↳ Here you can only exist completely as a flow, meaning a ghost account.
↳ User: So you mean I can only lurk?
↳ ...This is the best for now.
↳ If we went further, we might get caught by the Administration Bureau and get in really big trouble...
↳ User: Just this much is enough!
↳ User: Thank you!]**
Even just this much is something to be grateful for.
I accessed my heart's hometown, 'F-Rank Posts', after a long time and faced various posts.
"This is the taste...!"
A feast of various shitposts, pure malice!
At the rushing dopamine felt after a long time.
I was playing holding the phone while lying on the fluffy bed in the Guest Room for a long time.
If hungry, I ate rice, and when feeling icky, I headed to the bathroom to wash.
Beyond moving the body, gradually, looking at this small and tender body also didn't feel awkward anymore.
'Truly an animal of adaptation...!'
Amidst the nonsensical situations surrounding me, it was while I was gradually regaining stability.
Ding-dong.
I, who was spending life in the Daycare, was dumbfounded at the doorbell sound suddenly heard from outside the door.
"Wh, What...?"
This is a Daycare...?
Someone rang the bell from outside.
Just by that fact itself, tension in my whole body soared enough to make my thoughts stop.
"Ung-ae-ya."
Holding the doll inhabited by my reassuring ally, the Crying Child, and also packing the phone, I headed to where the sound came from.
"....?"
And there, I could discover a white paper envelope that slipped out stealthily through the gap under the door.
"This is..."
What on earth is it?
In an environment where no presence was felt, I approached the place where the paper envelope was carefully and picked it up.
**「【Special Health Checkup Guide】
Hello, 'Little Lamb'. You have been designated as a 'Precision Checkup Target' for the year ■■■■.
We at Sungjin Mental Hospital plan to commit to medical treatment with our best for Little Lamb's health check, so please visit the lobby of this hospital according to the time as soon as you check the envelope.」**
"Eh?"
Whoosh.
While reading the content of the envelope, my mind ended up going blank.
That was understandable—
Where did the internal facilities of the Daycare, which were warm just a moment ago, go?
"Uh...?"
Under the sky dead in ashen gray, only a dull-colored building was located in front of my eyes.
"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh?!"
【Sungjin Mental Hospital】
Reading the handwriting written very clearly on the outer wall of the building—
I had one conviction.
"Ha, Have to go back..."
I instinctively looked back, but the appearance of the Daycare internal facilities that warmly embraced me no longer existed anywhere.
"Ah."
It seemed I was swept up in an abnormal phenomenon.
「▶ The Anomaly in question seems to have a very big interest in your health. It seems not bad to see a medical examination just once.」
Thud.
I ended up collapsing in place with a distant feeling.