“Aigoo, long ti no see. Not a word from our cold-hearted MZ Grapes the whole ti you were off……”
Agent Choi, who was walking into Black-Tortoise Team 1’s waiting room with an Aricano in hand, paused when he saw .
“Did you go off training on so mountain while you were off? You look totally skin and bones! Hey hey, Jaekwan-ah. You agree, right?”
“Pardon?”
Agent Bronze, who was frowning as his superior pulled his arm and pointed at , also froze and looked flustered as he realized what condition I was in.
“…Did sothing happen?”
I barely managed to answer.
“I didn’t, sleep, very well…”
“……”
“……”
It was the truth.
For five nights and six days, I’d worked day and night as a mascot at a ruined resort…
Agent Choi and Agent Bronze exchanged glances for a mont, then, as if coming to a silent agreent, quickly moved to sit on the nearby sofa next to .
“You didn’t get enough rest?”
I looked at them with a feeble expression, saying nothing.
Ryu Jaekwan asked carefully,
“I heard you didn’t co in to recharge your dokkaebi fla lantern during your ti off. …Are you all right?”
Ah.
“Yes, I’m fine… I guess I forgot since I didn’t need it.”
“……”
Phew.
For reference, the dokkaebi fla finally regained its energy after I coaxed and comforted it.
Apparently, sothing had gone wrong because it was overwheld by the mascot’s energy, but when I recharged it on my way to work this morning, it seed to regain its usual cheerfulness as it returned to the form of my arm.
Though now, just ntioning the Security Team suit makes it tremble and give a dramatic thumbs-down.
“I’m sorry. You even made sure I could use my vacation ti.”
“That’s sothing you were entitled to anyway, wasn’t it?”
Agent Choi dropped his playful tone and continued comfortably,
“Hmm… Grapes-ie, you know there’s a really nice hot spring run by the bureau out by Seoraksan, right? How about we all go together next ti we’re off? It’s pretty nice for an employee benefit.”
“……”
With coworkers… to a hot spring?
…But realizing what exactly that hot spring was, I quickly nodded.
I did want to see what the Disaster Managent Bureau’s facilities were like at least once.
“Yeah. Good choice. …Still got so spirit, huh!”
“…?!”
Agent Choi ruffled my hair and patted my back.
“When you work hard and then suddenly rest, it all catches up to you at once. Physically and ntally.”
“……”
“But you still made it to work right on ti. Good job.”
I only ca to avoid getting exposed as a spy…
And after going through a ghost story under Daydream Inc.’s jurisdiction this ti, the Disaster Managent Bureau’s ghost stories honestly felt like fairytales in comparison……
Of course, I couldn’t actually say that, so I just nodded.
“Thank you.”
Then I leaned back on the sofa and spent the waiting ti…
Except for the effort it took not to be startled when Agent Choi tried to suggest playing a board ga—which I absolutely refused—there was nothing of note.
Fortunately, there were no calls for either.
And in the afternoon, after lunch.
“Agent Grapes!”
I t Go Yeongeun from the Preliminary Investigation Unit, who had co by with so docunts.
“Did you hear? You know, Vermilion-Bird Team 2’s… Agent Hwagak, who worked with you, Agent Grapes…”
Ah.
Go Yeongeun didn’t yet know about the the park incident, but it seed she’d learned about Jang Heowoon’s condition through other ans.
“…No, this is the first I’ve heard. What happened…?”
Go Yeongeun’s face gradually lost its expression, and as if holding back tears, she continued speaking.
“Yesterday, he was found in a severely contaminated state, and I heard he’s now in the isolation ward. I heard he was transferred to Seoraksan…”
“……”
“They say he must’ve gotten caught up in so sort of supernatural… disaster while you were on break.”
“Are you two talking about our rookie?”
“…!”
Go Yeongeun and I both turned our heads at the sa ti. There stood the Vermilion-Bird Team 2’s leader, Jang Heowoon’s superior at the Disaster Managent Bureau. He gave us a bitter smile.
Haa……
“Yeah. I guess for new agents, this could be a bit scary. When your coworker suddenly doesn’t show up to work, it’s unsettling, right?”
“……”
“But he’s all right, given the circumstances. That’s just how it is with people. If you look for a way, you’ll find one. What’s important is that we got him out.”
Behind the glasses of the Site Cleanup Unit’s Vermilion-Bird Team 2 leader, I could see that unique determination agents have.
But at the sa ti, there was a familiar sense of fatigue and sadness…
…As if rembering the agents they’d never managed to return to their original selves.
‘Damn it.’
I suppressed a sigh and the urge to curse.
In any case, the fact that Jang Heowoon was in a treatnt facility and not a glass prison ant his cover hadn’t been blown. That was a relief…
“Still, it’s impressive that friend of mine brought him back. Hey, Haegeum-ie!”
“Huh?”
When the Vermilion-Bird Team 2 leader waved his hand, soone approaching from down the hall ca closer.
It was the team leader-level agent who’d entered the the park, Team Leader Haegeum from Black-Tortoise Team 3.
‘T-Team Leader…!’
I nearly choked.
“Ah. The rookies?”
“Ahh, right. These rookies entered in the sa batch as our kid, and… this one’s the new hire for the Black-Tortoise Team this year.”
“Oh. The destroyer!”
……
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