Welcome to the Management Bureau

Mary opened her eyes.

She had never been able to sleep before, yet this was a symptom that began after she was confined to the place known as the Isolation Facility—which its owner insisted on calling the Management Bureau. The symptom appeared whenever the facility drained an unusually large amount of her power.

She used to be terrified of it. Now the sleep felt almost familiar.

The room was decorated entirely in pink, as if it belonged to a princess. Mary sat motionless in the exact center of the Management Bureau, eyes wide open.

At first she had been locked inside a plain square isolation chamber. After several rounds of expansion and renovation, however, she had been given this room from which she could observe every anomaly in every direction.

It was not something she had asked for. It was the work of Jeongchan, the director who managed her.

Even while overseeing Mary, he still wanted to keep an eye on the other anomalies. The room was a clear display of that peculiar managerial obsession.

Simply thinking about the man made her entire body freeze and her mind go blank with fear. Nevertheless, she was genuinely satisfied with the room he had built for her. From here she could watch all the other anomalies. Observing their first moments and the ways they changed was surprisingly entertaining.

Thud.

A new colleague has arrived.

A fresh anomaly dropped from the air into one of the isolation rooms.

It looked vaguely human but possessed no intelligence. The moment it landed, chains animated by the Bureau’s will surged up from the floor, trembling violently before crashing over the creature like a wave. They swallowed it slowly, like a serpent, then coiled inside the chamber into a writhing cocoon.

The Management Bureau absorbed the power the anomaly carried. From now on it would have that power drained every day, just like Mary.

Once the creature’s strength had been siphoned to a certain limit, the chains released it. At the perfect moment, the Management Director appeared.

Without hesitation Jeongchan stepped into the isolation room containing the new arrival.

“This one feels weak. Did you drain its power the second it arrived again? Honestly… give it back for now.”

He spoke into empty air, communicating with the Bureau itself. The facility obediently returned the stolen energy.

The anomaly, restored, immediately bared its savagery. Jeongchan tamed that ferocity with practiced ease. Only the new arrival’s terror-filled screams echoed through the Management Bureau.

Is it fortunate that it isn’t female? Or unfortunate?

The answer depended on one’s point of view, so it was impossible to say. In the end, every anomaly met the same conclusion: total submission to the Management Director.

Jeongchan’s “management” was complete.

Physical chains were no longer necessary. The instant an anomaly surrendered, invisible shackles bound it far more tightly.

The once-quiet Management Bureau grew even more oppressively silent.

A few anomalies used every ounce of their inner strength to suppress memories that threatened to resurface while watching the Director work. Most, however, simply remained motionless so they would not be noticed.

None of it mattered to Mary.

No matter how many new anomalies arrived or how little time he had, Jeongchan always came to her.

“My sweet Mary~ Come here and give me a kiss!”

Even after months of pretending she could not communicate, he still spoke to her exactly the same way.

“It looks like more people are trying to break into the Management Bureau. Their goal seems to be harvesting energy. The Bureau lets them in for the same reason—it wants the energy too. In the end, everything comes down to an energy struggle.”

“We have to stop them. The ghosts keep suggesting we hire staff and set traps, but I disagree. If you all already possess enough power and authority, shouldn’t you be able to block them yourselves? The ghosts worry you’ll run wild inside the Bureau, but my concern is different. I’m afraid you’ll get hurt or lost.”

Jeongchan rummaged in his coat and pressed a sticker onto Mary’s surface. It melted into her like snow on warm skin.

“This is a location-tracking sticker. They say it will show me where you are no matter where you go. This should ease my worry about losing any of you.”

He grumbled that the Bureau had charged him full price with no discount, then continued.

“You will defend this place from intruders yourselves and manage it properly on your own. What do you think, Mary?”

As always when he tried to solicit her opinion, she remained silent.

Jeongchan gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

“I know you can talk.”

“……!”

It had to be a bluff. There was no way.

“The other anomalies already told me.”

Mary squeezed her mind’s eye shut.

Damn it, who was it?

He teased every new arrival; there was no way to guess ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠which one had cracked.

“We’ll start working soon. I’d like you to take full command—from defense to overall management.”

“……”

“I won’t ask a third time. Understood?”

“Yeees…”

Jeongchan froze at the sound of her voice.

No.

Mary knew this pattern far too well.

“I can’t hold back any longer. Come here right now!”

After several more anomaly-space explorations and rulebook revisions, she somehow ended up with thirty coins.

No one had guessed correctly.

Countless question marks stabbed into him.

Argument would be pointless until he showed proof.

(Anomalies moving with perfect discipline under Mary’s command.)

(Divers standing in precise formation while their mother directs them from behind.)

(Raopf conducting a live broadcast in real time.)

Where am I?

A low-ranking member of the Murky Current faction within the Amryu Association opened his eyes inside the Management Bureau. Before him stretched a pristine corridor lined with white lights, resembling a research facility.

Disgustingly clean. Meanwhile I live in the sewers.

The youngest member of the Murky Current faction, who had been selling drugs through the sewers, had recently taken on every dirty job after their trade routes collapsed. Brothel solicitation, gambling scams, contract killings—he did it all. Yet his income had plummeted.

If I could’ve just kept moving product through the sewers, I would’ve earned dozens of times more.

The fortune that had been within reach still haunted him. That was why he had risked everything to collect mana.

Honestly, anomaly spaces aren’t that big a deal.

The sewers and the few anomalous spaces he had visited recently had been laughably easy. He genuinely couldn’t believe people actually died in them.

Anomalies seemed like trash too.

That was why, while exploring an anomaly space, he had walked straight through a newly appeared door without hesitation. The fact that stable areas didn’t gather high-quality mana had also played a part.

If this doesn’t pay off, I’ll quit collecting mana and just kidnap that Jeongchan guy instead.

Information about the people who had nearly destroyed the sewer operation had already spread throughout the Murky Current faction. The bounty on them was enormous.

They might hunt terrifying anomalies, but they were still human. Knives would work on them. With that in mind, the low-ranking member had decided to target Jeongchan, the one with the least notoriety.

He picked up the sheet of paper lying beside him.

What a load of crap.

The gang member sneered and tore the guideline sheet to pieces. It was obviously just more nonsense.

Let’s start today’s mana collection.

He ripped up the paper and measured the surrounding mana. Murky, low-purity mana began to rise. The purity was the same as in stable anomaly spaces that even civilians could escape from, but the rate at which it gathered was different.

If I go deeper, I might be able to earn a lot more money.

His mind was filled with thoughts of wealth when he noticed a fallen phone on the ground.

The phone rang. He instinctively answered it. The action felt forced; his body moved before his mind could stop it.

Only then did he realize something had gone horribly wrong.