ep11. The Ant Hill that Deprives the Five Senses (3)

Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop was, genuinely, a good person.

But was he a supervisor I could actually respect? Well. Hmm.

For starters, after one full day of observation, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kwon Mu-seop turned out to be even more human than I'd expected.

"MuMu... Cha Si-eon... take care of MuMu..."

First of all, I'd assumed it was a joke, but the man talked in his sleep. Seriously.

Shff, shff. THUMP—!

He was also hopelessly useless in the mornings, groggy from low blood pressure until nearly noon.

Clink. Plop, plop—!

And on top of that, his eating habits were blatantly, unapologetically unbalanced. I mean, if he was going to be like that, couldn't he at least ask for the carrots to be left out of his own meal in the first place? A man his age, doing this... whatever.

Still, no. There was no need to fault a man over such trivial habits. Some authors are dreadful people while writing magnificent works. Chief Kwon Mu-seop carried a heavy position; as long as he did his job well, that was enough.

The problem, however, was that even that was getting a little... murky.

"Team 1 breached Zone H-3 at approximately 0600 this morning. Currently reorganizing in the passage."

"Team 2 finished the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Church that Draws Revelations mission at 1303 yesterday and began the Abandoned Factory that Catches You If You Move mission at 0500 today."

"Team 3 completed the Amusement Park Seeking Angels mission at 1735 yesterday. We're holding at the entry zone of the Water Park Connected to All Water and will launch after cooling until 2000."

"Team 4's dwell time in the Funeral Home Where the Dead Return is extending. Due to an engagement that broke out in the mortuary and a structural collapse-burial accident, we haven't been able to extract yet. Seven wounded, two seriously injured. Requesting support for follow-up operations."

"Team 5 continuing deep exploration."

"Team 6 standing by. We'll be ready to enter the Body-Swapping Meditation Center."

With that, the situation reports from the command staff came to an end.

"......"

But Kwon Mu-seop, seated at the head of the table, said nothing at all.

"Chief."

Yoon Woo-jeong waited a beat, then called out to him.

Still resting his chin on his hand, Kwon Mu-seop was scribbling something in his notebook.

"Chief Kwon?"

"Ah, yes. I'm listening. Just thinking for a moment."

At his excuse, I stared off into the distance.

Because I had seen it. I had seen the sparrow Kwon Mu-seop was drawing in his notebook...

Brushing past my stunned silence, Kwon Mu-seop asked, with a perfectly straight face:

"Have any Mercenary Entities appeared?"

"Yes. Team 4 engaged Echo in the mortuary for one minute and six seconds."

"What happened to Echo?"

"Cornered, it smashed through the mortuary entrance and fled."

"Good. Report immediately if Big Cat, the Gardener, or Alpha show up as well. I'm counting on you all today, too."

"Yes, sir!"

The officers snapped to their feet and answered in unison. There was something quietly stirring about their crisp discipline.

But my head was still full of nothing but the sparrow Kwon Mu-seop had doodled.

* * *

Ba-da-ba-BAAM! Baaam—!

With MuMu's sage warning, the training video came to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an end.

Just then, Kwon Mu-seop's voice drifted in from outside my earphones.

"Diligent, aren't you. Keep at it."

I glanced over. Kwon Mu-seop was looking at my tablet screen. He was still in his combat uniform, but leaning back against the sofa, he looked utterly at ease.

The chief had been in exactly that state ever since the meeting ended. Yesterday he'd seemed busy with work; today, for some reason, he was oddly idle.

"That material—helpful at all?"

"Yes, sir. It's easy to browse by keyword."

"Good to hear. We worked hard making it, and then nobody ever got to use it."

"Never got to use it?"

"General Affairs built it thinking we'd be getting new personnel. Then the higher-ups slashed the headcount, and in the end, not a single person touched it..."

Kwon Mu-seop mournfully confessed his past humiliation. Call it modest, call it useless — the man in charge of field operations looked, frankly, a bit of a slacker. But then, since he was already being useless, I figured I'd quietly fish for the answer I'd been wanting.

"There's something I'm curious about."

"Mm? What is it?"

"It's a bit off-topic, but I received a lot more in compensation than the regulations allowed. When I came out of the Railway Station."

Good. That was natural enough.

"Ah, that? We just threw in extra. You made quite an impression back then."

And yet Chief Kwon Mu-seop was every bit as natural. Sliding right past it, smooth as a snake slithering over a wall. Haha. This guy, huh.

"It was over three times the maximum payout, though?"

"That's how impressive you were."

"That would all be taxpayer money, though."

"Nope, it isn't. There's a scholarship foundation the officers set up. The money came from there, so don't worry. Not taxes."

...and with that, Kwon Mu-seop chuckled heartily.

He lies like that — with such an innocent smile. This man had absolutely no intention of admitting he'd paid out of his own pocket. Well, fine. "Actually, it was me" might be an embarrassing thing to say. Maybe he was just the sentimental type who could casually drop a hundred grand on a good impression.

Except — if that were true, he'd have paid it alone. Why would he and Team Leader Cha have split it?

The half-true, half-dodging answer only tangled my thoughts further.

Just then, Kwon Mu-seop's phone rang.

"Yes, Deputy Chief."

"Chief, Team 1 has sighted Alpha."

"......!"

The voice crackling through the phone made me flinch.

"No engagement. Alpha botched a surprise attack and fled. They also found traces believed to belong to the Gardener."

Two Mercenary Entities had appeared. And both of them were targeting Team 1.

"Is that so? Understood."

And with that, Kwon Mu-seop simply hung up. His back, slouched against the sofa, showed no intention of moving an inch.

"Aren't you getting up, sir?"

"Hm? It's fine. The kids will handle it."

"Still..."

"Do-woon."

At the sound of my name, I winced. Had I really just talked back to my commander? Naturally, I braced myself for a scolding.

"Honestly, I can't get up."

"......?"

"It's been too long since I wore full gear. I can barely move in it."

"......"

"So let's just rest. The Deputy Chief will sort it out."

Smiling as he said it, Kwon Mu-seop left me utterly speechless.

Chief Kwon Mu-seop was, genuinely, a good person. But if you asked me whether he was a supervisor I could trust, I wasn't sure I could nod along without hesitation.

* * *

Another day passed.

By day three, the front lines had grown fiercer. Team 2 took casualties mid-mission; several agents from Team 3 fell into the water and nearly drowned. Team 1 ended up in an engagement responding to a pincer assault by Alpha and the Gardener. Even command and the control team were on constant alert, monitoring the situation nonstop.

Chief Kwon Mu-seop, meanwhile, remained as leisurely as ever. As if he were off in a world of his own, he kept doodling and spent most of each day sprawled across the sofa. And despite claiming his gear was too heavy to stand up in, he'd added more supplies to it, hanging off his body in clusters. At this point, he looked practically like a Christmas tree.

"Being well-prepared never hurts, after all."

Nobody had said a word, and yet there he was, defending himself. Yoon Woo-jeong had just walked away snickering, so apparently he was feeling a bit sheepish alone.

"Right, sir. Being prepared is never bad..."

And besides, all of this was effort spent on keeping me alive. So by rights, I should have been grateful.

But why, then? Why did it only grow more unsettling by the day? Being grateful and trusting him were two different things, and somewhere along the way, I'd started to pray. Please, let nothing happen. Let there never come a moment when Chief Kwon Mu-seop and I get dragged into a special zone together.

It was a futile prayer. As always, God was not on my side.

* * *

It was night, and I was asleep, when—

"...Woon-ah. Do-woon-ah. Wake up."

A hand shook my shoulder.

"Huh...? Yes...?"

I rubbed my eyes and sat up, woken by Chief Kwon Mu-seop — and then flinched, curling in on myself.

It was freezing. And everything around me was blindingly white.

Startled, I looked around. This was... the mountains? Bare, skeletal trees stood packed tight beneath a hazy, washed-out sky. The grass had all withered, yellowed and bent over.

It was May. Nothing about the season matched the scene before me.

As I stood frozen for a moment, Kwon Mu-seop grabbed my arm and asked:

"Do-woon-ah. Can you hear my voice?"

"What? Yes. But where on earth..."

"What do you see right now?"

What do I see? Chief Kwon Mu-seop, I see you.

— Chief, can you hear me?

Just then, Yoon Woo-jeong's voice rang out from Kwon Mu-seop's chest — from the radio clipped near his shoulder.

"Yes, we hear you."

— You've entered the Ant Hill that Deprives the Five Senses.

"Ah, is that it? No wonder it's cold."

— Nothing severed or missing, right?

"No, we're fine."

— That's a relief. Though we were already on alert, and you just had to go and cause an incident anyway...

Yoon Woo-jeong laughed in sheer exasperation. But I couldn't manage a laugh.

I checked my own senses first.

My eyes saw. My ears heard. The feel of my skin, registering the cold, was normal too. Which left...

I raised a hand to my nose and sniffed.

There should have been lingering traces of the soap or lotion I'd used before bed. I couldn't smell anything at all.

Strangely, the discovery put me at ease.

This was the sense whose loss was most dangerous here. The order of peril ran sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. Losing my eyesight, especially, would have been lethal — so if it had to be anything, this was the best roll.

"My sense of smell is paralyzed."

— Smell? You got off easy. And you, Chief?

Yoon Woo-jeong sighed and asked Kwon Mu-seop as well.

"Ah, me...?"

Kwon Mu-seop smiled awkwardly and confessed.

"I can't see."

"......"

At this point, I supposed I had to believe. In the existence of a God utterly devoted to tormenting me.

I had prayed so desperately — and yet I had been dragged into a special zone together with Kwon Mu-seop after all. And right now, the man couldn't see a thing.