Jangmak
Jangmak
Special Countermeasure Bureau for Anomalous Phenomena, abbreviated as SCBAP.
Field Team 6 Leader Kang Seo-ha examined the people she had rescued from the Jangmak.
Men and women were mixed together indiscriminately, wearing only thin scraps of cloth like underwear, looking around in bewilderment.
"Where are we?"
"Does this mean we successfully escaped?"
"Whoa, we survived! We finally made it out alive! We escaped from that goddamn island at last!"
They were in the middle of the city almost naked, staring at each other, but too busy scanning their surroundings and cheering with raised arms to care about their outfits.
They looked like they'd been isolated on a remote island, cut off from civilization for a long time.
Their bodies were caked with dirt and sand, and their skin was sunburned to a reddish hue.
"Please calm down and wait here for the support team. Do not move anywhere without my permission—stay put."
"Yes, understood, Agent-nim."
The people obeyed her words meekly.
Following Kang Seo-ha's instructions, the group moved inside the building.
Their attire was way too conspicuous for wandering around downtown, but no one else paid any attention to what they were doing.
Observing the reactions around her, Kang Seo-ha pulled out her phone and pressed a button.
She slipped on wireless earphones with a mic attached.
[This is Field Team 6, Kang Seo-ha speaking. We've rescued people from a Chaos-grade Jangmak. Come to my location for the exact spot.]
.......
She held the earphone in place with her hand as she reported the situation on-site, then wrapped up the call and looked over the group.
"Um, so what happens to us now? Can we go home?"
A woman who had been waiting for her call to end clasped her hands together and asked cautiously.
"Once the support team arrives, you'll get physical exams and give statements about the incident. Once your safety is confirmed, you'll be able to return home safely. They'll give you the details."
"We can go home."
"Phew, what a relief."
The people sighed in relief upon hearing the answer.
Time passed, and the support team arrived at their location.
"Good work, Team Leader Kang Seo-ha-nim. We'll take custody of the rescued civilians."
"Yes."
"Are you alright, Team Leader-nim? If you need anything, just let us know."
"I'm fine. Please take care of the injured agents from the field first."
She nodded toward the other agents.
The injured ones were sitting there, and others were trembling and muttering nonsense like they weren't in their right minds, all gathered in one spot.
The support team agent bowed to her and moved to tend to the wounded.
"......."
The support team agents were checking on the survivors' conditions and handling the follow-up.
Kang Seo-ha watched them before quietly crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
Her gaze grew colder.
"Team Leader-nim, are you okay?"
A support team agent asked, looking her over.
Many injuries had occurred escaping the Chaos-grade Jangmak. Missing persons reports and deaths had followed, and the survivors were suffering all sorts of aftereffects.
Was Kang Seo-ha, who had commanded the on-site rescue amid all that, really unscathed?
"As I said, I'm fine. More importantly, when will the field personnel reinforcements for each team happen? If you know anything, tell me."
Her expressionless eyes made her look angry.
The support agent answered somewhat tensely.
"Additional personnel selection will happen soon. As you know, Team Leader-nim, Jangmak entry conditions are extremely strict, right? It takes time to select suitable candidates."
"But a lot of field agents got hurt this time too. The damage from Jangmak is only increasing, but we don't have nearly enough field personnel to respond. Please tell your team leader that we urgently need talented reinforcements for the field teams."
"Yes, yes."
The support agent bowed his head.
He finished the conversation and left, but Kang Seo-ha stood there with arms crossed, watching the site get cleaned up.
*
Evening.
I finished studying at the school library and came home.
I made eye contact with Noona sitting on the living room sofa.
"Eaten yet?"
"Yeah, I have."
"Cool."
I grabbed some random dinner stuff from the fridge and put it on the table, sneaking a glance at Noona.
She peeked at me, then looked away when I noticed.
Something was off.
"Noona, got something to tell me?"
"Huh?! Why? What?"
"If you've got something to say, spit it out. Looks like you do."
"Ah, no! Nothing...!"
She jumped in surprise, trailing off—it was obvious she had something she wanted to say to me.
But why hold back?
Ever since escaping [The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Milk], Noona had been consciously avoiding me.
Now that life was settling back to normal after that unidentified space, the tension had eased, and memories of what happened were resurfacing, making her embarrassed.
No matter how unavoidable the situation was.
Step-siblings doing that kind of stuff.
Something we'd never even dream of normally.
The hot, thick skinship. The emotional connection and pleasure we couldn't take responsibility for.
We needed time to put distance between us again and cool our feelings.
Once the wall treating each other as non-romantic had cracked, rebuilding it meant making it thicker and sturdier, right?
That's why Noona was wearing a bra at home now, and we weren't trading dirty jokes or playful teasing like before.
The memories were so intense that Noona looked even hotter to me now, so to suppress my surging desires, I kept my distance too.
But seeing her hold back like that when she clearly wanted to say something made me curious.
"Noona, nothing weird happen?"
"Huh???"
"If something strange happens like before, tell me. We could get kidnapped again."
We'd escaped [The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Milk], but I was always on guard for something else happening to us.
Nothing had gone down yet, but we could get dragged off somewhere in our sleep.
Still, obsessing over every possibility would be excessive paranoia, so I lived normally.
"Weird stuff?"
"......?"
"Nah, I'm good so far. Nothing's happened to me—what about you?"
"Same here."
Cha Hye-rin smiled awkwardly.
Suspicious, but since she said she was fine, I didn't pry.
"I'm heading to my room first."
She scurried toward her room.
I watched her back.
With my strengthened Clairvoyance, I enjoyed the jiggle of her ass before hastily looking away.
Ah, no, can't do this.
Before I knew it, I'd memorized the color of her panties.
Terminal case. Trying to distance myself and cut conversations just made me obsess over her body more.
"Noona."
"Yeah?"
"Wanna get chicken tomorrow?"
It felt like she'd been waiting in the living room till I got home.
She greeted me, then headed straight to her room.
Better to order tasty food and chat casually like old times than keep awkwardly avoiding each other.
"Chicken? Which one?"
She never turned down delivery food. We devoured chicken, pizza, pork feet, bossam—you name it.
Though after that shrimp combo pizza led to us getting dragged into [The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Milk] that night, we'd been avoiding pizza lately.
Chicken should be fine, though.
No solid link between pizza and weird rooms anyway.
We were just paranoid.
Picked out chicken menus with Noona.
Tomorrow, chicken party at home.
Cha Hye-rin's mouth watered, and I love chicken too—looking forward to it.
*
Next morning.
Cha Hye-rin headed to school with a light heart.
Seeing her step-brother Cha Yu-hyeon just reminded her of that room, leaving them awkward for a while.
But thinking about eating chicken together tonight lifted her spirits.
She basically found her little bro super comfy.
Step-brother from their parents' remarriage.
At first, she was wary of the new sibling, but he turned out mature and reliable.
The timid Cha Hye-rin could mess around freely with him now—dirty jokes, hitting or biting when annoyed.
Family who took childish pranks without pretense.
To Cha Hye-rin, Cha Yu-hyeon was a comfortable, precious family member.
She consciously ignored the occasional glimpses of him as a man.
He was family, not a lover.
Maintaining boundaries as opposite genders was what she wanted too.
But after [The Room You Can't Leave Unless You Milk], they'd crossed that line big time.
Embarrassing to make dirty jokes with him now. His hot hands hugging her from behind, groping her breasts—still vivid, stirring faint excitement, so she focused on calming her own heart first.
That's why she wasn't telling him about uni stuff.
How could she tell her little bro her breasts were weirdly stabbing with pain every time she got to school?
Consulting a male sibling about breast pain inside? That's for the OB-GYN.
But the OB-GYN said nothing was wrong.
So why did her chest feel backed up every time she came to school?
Feeling uncomfortable, Cha Hye-rin entered the lecture hall and sat down.
Before class started, she hunched over and massaged her stinging breasts.
They felt lumpy and sore when idle, so kneading released the tension.
But then.
"......?"
Her breasts eased a bit, but something warm leaked from her nipples.
Sneaking her hand into her top away from prying eyes to check, Cha Hye-rin flinched in shock.
A bit of breast milk was on her hand.