The Dreamer Who Scatters Crimson Blood - 4
The reunion with the Intelligence Chief was a disaster.
Good reasons to communicate with the Intelligence Chief were rare to begin with, but this time, the moment I lifted the communication orb, my breath caught in my throat.
"Audit Department Chief. Is the Academy faring well?"
"Ah—yes."
A haggard face, eyes burning with some inexplicable fury, and a body that swayed faintly from side to side. Perfect. The absolute, textbook picture of overwork.
That pitiful, tear-jerking sight nearly left me unable to answer properly. Asking whether the Academy was fine — that hardly seemed like something the person currently least fine should be saying.
How did he end up looking like that.
If not for the Intelligence Chief's gaze, I would have pounded the floor and wailed on the spot. I knew overwork was his default state, but even so, this was a bit much.
"I see. That's a relief."
The quiet sigh he let out — as if he were truly relieved — made me lower my eyes.
Seeing him like that was both pitiful and terrifying. That might well be a glimpse of my own future.
He doesn't need to show me that.
That kindness of deliberately displaying a future that made me dizzy just imagining it. I was so grateful I could cry.
No — maybe the Intelligence Chief himself had received that same lesson from someone in his youth. This was the will of overwork, handed down through the Empire…
"If there had been problems at the Academy as well, it would have been quite the headache."
The bizarre delusion was mercifully cut short by a lament thick with exhaustion.
"Is it the North?"
I carefully opened my mouth as the Intelligence Chief rubbed the back of his neck. If something was grinding a department-chief-level official this thoroughly, it had to be that. The North had been in an uproar for some time already.
At my words, the Intelligence Chief quietly nodded.
"Indeed. Prioritizing the North over the Red Wave is the correct call."
I shared the same thought, so I offered no particular objection. Between a bothersome, irritating pack of reactionaries who could be suppressed, and the North that had nearly ended the Empire — if I had to choose one, it would naturally be the North.
The only regrettable part was that the Empire's — more precisely, the Ministry of Special Affairs' — attention was too thoroughly fixed on the North. That would make it rather hard for me to receive support.
"Thanks to that, I had quite a time peeling the Mukgwangdae free."
Oh.
As if reading my thoughts, the Intelligence Chief continued.
A matter-of-fact tone, but the content was anything but. I never expected him to send the Mukgwangdae even under the current circumstances. I'd assumed they would have been sold off to the North as well.
"I'm grateful for the consideration."
"Support of this level is only natural. Think nothing of it."
He said not to think about it, but both of us knew the real meaning: I've given you this much support, so handle it without any noise.
Of course I planned to handle it quietly. If things got loud and flashy, I'd be the exhausted one — why would I make a scene?
Besides, three section chiefs were attached. This was a mission you couldn't fail even if you tried. Absolutely.
"I'll send them back quickly."
"That's very kind of you to say."
The Intelligence Chief, who had been dark throughout the entire call, finally managed a smile.
The discovery of a spy by the Second Section Chief, the dispatch of the Mukgwangdae from the Ministry of Special Affairs. A double blessing I hadn't enjoyed in a long while — I felt genuinely pleased.
"Isn't that overkill?"
On the other hand, at the news that the Mukgwangdae was coming, the First Section Chief tilted her head. She seemed happy enough looking at the Fourth Section Chief, but still reacted as if there was no real need for the Mukgwangdae to come along.
"Who knows how many of them there are. Force is better when it's excessive."
I answered her firmly. Honestly, as she said, the Mukgwangdae was overpowered force to use against the likes of the Red Wave.
But we had no idea whether there would be ten of them or a hundred — wasn't it better for force to be numerous and strong?
"They came during the Third Glory incident too."
"That's true."
When I brought up precedent, the First Section Chief accepted it. Since the Mukgwangdae had already moved during the Third Glory suppression, it wasn't particularly strange for them to move no matter who the opponent was. That was why precedent mattered.
"It'll be over in no time!"
Her giggling words made me nod on my own. It would definitely be over quickly.
The Mukgwangdae had prided themselves on quick work ever since their days as the Fourth Section. They even handled troublesome jobs on their own with crisp efficiency when deployed.
"We might just end up watching this time too."
Besides, during the Third Glory suppression, hadn't they handled everything among themselves? I just watched, and the First Section Chief only came in late for interrogations.
Maybe the Red Wave would just get thoroughly wrecked by the Mukgwangdae while passing by. I'd love it if that happened.
"What do you mean 'we'? Leave me out of this."
While I was feeling proud of walking the fine path of a salary thief, a voice thick with exhaustion came from beside me.
I glanced over and saw Charles — no, the Second Section Chief — scowling.
"Out of the three of us, I'm the only one working myself to the bo—"
"Charles. Cut the nonsense and have a cookie."
A cookie was jammed into the mouth of the Second Section Chief, who had been about to launch into some heartfelt lament. Sensing a long speech coming, the First Section Chief had physically cut him off.
"Did well, right?"
"You did great."
She asked as if seeking praise, so I fired off a thumbs-up. This time, the First Section Chief had done well. We'd finally had a good atmosphere going, and he almost ruined it.
But the Second Section Chief, full of obsession and grit, chewed the cookie stuffed into his mouth a few times and swallowed it whole.
"I'm the only one working — just me!"
Then he raised his voice while rapping the desk. Though "rapping" was just a light patting with his palm.
"Sometimes when you work, you grind while others play. Is this your first day as a bureaucrat?"
Whether he pounded or raised his voice, the indignation didn't particularly land, so my answer came out indifferent.
When people handle different fields, someone rests while someone else grinds. A guy who'd been a civil servant for quite a while shouldn't miss something this basic.
The First Section Chief seemed to agree, nodding vigorously beside me, and the Second Section Chief roughly scrubbed his dry face.
"I wouldn't be like this if I were just struggling with regular work. It's because of the cover identity."
"Because of the cover?"
For a moment I wondered what he meant, but something roughly came to mind.
"I heard Charles returns after evening."
A few days after we started extracting the Second Section Chief, I'd spoken with Gerhardt.
"Ah, yes. The lab doesn't distinguish between day and night, so after evening is fine."
"That's a relief. I was worried that by holding him during the day, he might not be fulfilling his role."
From what I heard, assistant teachers seemed to grind hard even at night. If he was grinding day and night, I wondered whether he was properly getting free time or sleep.
Anyway, the Second Section Chief seemed to be managing fine as an assistant teacher, so I just let it pass. He needed to live like an assistant teacher so others wouldn't find it strange.
Just how bad is it.
But if he was venting this much frustration, I wondered what on earth was going on.
"Come on, you just have to stay in the lab, right? Isn't that easy?"
Unlike me, who was seriously worried, the First Section Chief didn't seem to grasp the gravity of the situation — or maybe she did and was doing it on purpose — as she spoke with a grin.
"That's just a prison. A prison."
The Second Section Chief seemed to share my thoughts, shuddering as he barely managed to answer.
But calling it a prison was going too far. How could you compare a research lab to a prison?
Prisoners have human rights, at least.
Graduate students don't. Prison wins.
But looking at the two of them starting to grab each other by the collar and hair, I couldn't quite say that out loud.
With trembling hands, I unwound the bandage tied around my shoulder.
The wound I'd taken in the North was healing strangely slowly. Probably a hex used by high-ranking shamans.
Finally.
But that didn't matter. What mattered was that the wound had fully healed.
Only after confirming that not a single scar remained on my shoulder did my heart begin to pound. Now I could go to him.
"The injuries are more severe than expected. Rest until you've recovered."
"Understood."
During combat in the North, several members including myself had been wounded. Not critically, but recovery was bizarrely stalled. Thanks to that, the entire Mukgwangdae had returned to the Imperial Capital.
There was no pain, but it was a Northland hex full of the unknown. No telling how it might act later, so receiving treatment in the Imperial Capital was proper. So I had meant to catch my breath for a while with this opportunity—
"It seems we'll have to find another unit for the Academy deployment."
"…What?"
The moment I heard those words, my heart raced. Academy deployment. It was painfully obvious who that deployment was going to meet.
I strongly insisted to the Minister of Special Affairs that there was no need to find another unit, that I would move immediately — but it wasn't accepted. On the grounds that if I forced myself and ended up with a permanent injury, the damage would be critical.
Still, for better or worse, the entire Ministry of Special Affairs was absorbed in the North, so they couldn't find a unit to replace the Mukgwangdae. How bad was it that I, still recovering, was the freest personnel available?
"…Once your injuries have healed, you'll be deployed. But if it takes too long, we'll have no choice but to find another option."
"Yes. I'll keep that in mind."
That was enough. The vague condition of "if it takes too long." The Minister of Special Affairs had already decided to send the Mukgwangdae.
In reality, the treatment period ran longer than the healers predicted, but no unit appeared to replace the Mukgwangdae. I was relieved. I hadn't lost the chance to see the Chief.
"Don't push yourself too hard. Not getting hurt is the most important thing."
Then I needed to focus on recovering from the wound. The Chief always worried even when we took the smallest injuries.
The way he wiped the wound site with worried eyes. That warm touch had felt so good, but I never wanted to see that sad look again.
Chief.
Clutching the bandage that didn't have a single drop of blood on it, I bowed my head. I wanted to see his face filled with joy, not clouded with worry.
And now I could. Just as the Minister of Special Affairs had promised, I could move now.
…Master.
I'm on my way to see you.