“……”
Gradually, the monstrous form faded, revealing the dried-up, apathetic face of the sergeant.
“I wasn’t… trying to kill him… Just… scare him a little…”
Huu.
“That kind of intimidation doesn’t work on soone like him.”
I looked down.
My heart was pounding.
What should I do now?
Does this an my mission is a complete failure? My Wish Ticket… Can I even still get one? How do I resolve this situation? What do I need to—
“Soleum-ah.”
“……”
“Cough— Kim Soleum. Hey.”
From below, with a small cough and a clogged voice, Agent Choi grinned.
“That blade didn’t hurt much, did it?”
…!
“A blade like that isn’t sothing you can just keep moving on after it’s stuck in your foot. You saw it, too, right? When that elite team mber from your company got hit.”
I saw it.
In the Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace ghost story.
The mont the blade struck, Assistant Manager Jin Nasol had collapsed, barely able to stifle her groans.
And the fact that it didn’t really hurt , that ans…
“It ans you’re not such a bad guy, right?”
“……”
“Grapes. It’s not too late.”
…!
“If I don’t report you, I can quietly take care of this myself. There are plenty of people in the Bureau with unusual backgrounds.”
“……”
“Let’s just cover this up. Then, just like you said, you can go on living as a new recruit who escaped from that scam company and joined the Disaster Managent Bureau.”
Agent Choi’s eyes were calm and clear again.
“Just… keep working with us as the youngest on Black-Tortoise Team 1. Saving people.”
“……”
“I don’t know why you’re still tied to that damned company… but be honest. Wasn’t it a lot more fun being on our team?”
“……”
“And maybe, just maybe, we could grant your wish, too.”
His low voice carried a warmth.
“I’ll help you, Soleum-ah.”
……
I moved my hand.
“Agent.”
“Yeah?”
“Please stop lying. It won’t work on .”
“…!”
I twisted Agent Choi’s left arm behind his back.
Thunk—
The pager fell from under his left elbow. I grabbed it and crushed it.
“You…!”
As expected.
“Agent Choi.”
While pressing both of his hands behind his back, I spoke firmly.
“I already know.”
“……”
“Pressing the pager you stick under your left elbow is your usual way out of situations.”
Agent Choi’s eyes widened.
“But when it becos too difficult to retrieve the pager like this… you usually start thinking up ways to subdue your opponent. Normally, you use your dokkaebi fla, but sotis you also use a book you got from Ijeong Bookstore.”
“……”
“But you only do that when you need to protect soone you’re rescuing. In this situation, you’ll choose escape. Jay-ssi, there’s another pocket inside this person’s pants pocket. There should be a sneaker shoelace in there. Please take it out.”
The sergeant did as I asked.
Agent Choi’s smile turned pale when he saw his own escape item in my hand.
I declared,
“I know you. I can predict everything you’ll try to do.”
“……”
“Don’t make the situation worse with pointless attempts.”
“Haha… you bastard.”
His voice trembled.
“What are you?”
“……”
“Who are you?”
I couldn’t answer.
This was all to make sure he couldn’t act recklessly, to instill a sense of caution.
I then systematically stripped Agent Choi of all his weapons and stored everything in my inventory tattoo.
That was the first stage of neutralizing him.
‘Huu.’
But instead of feeling relieved, my head was spinning.
Next. What next…
‘I have to get out of here.’
It was too dangerous to stay here with Agent Choi. If the Disaster Managent Bureau managed to track us down, it would be trouble.
‘The motel.’
For now, we should go to a third location.
“Walk. Quietly.”
“……”
“No funny business.”
I stood Agent Choi up and held him. With the sergeant on the other side, to anyone else we would just look like two coworkers helping a drunk colleague.
As we left the Dream Incubation Chamber, I tried to think of a way to clean up this ss…
“Soleum-ah.”
“……”
Agent Choi smiled with a cold sweat.
“So what are you going to do, bury sowhere? Or… hand over to Daydream Inc.?”
“……”
“But you know better than anyone how awful those bastards are. You saw with your own eyes how they were about to use the kids we barely rescued from the Ocean Palace as test subjects.”
We kept moving.
“You’re really going to hand over to them? Seriously?”
“……”
“Just tell what you were doing in the Bureau. I’ll help you.”
I couldn’t say a word.
And… I knew he wouldn’t help anyway.
He was just waiting for to slip up or let my guard down for even a second.
If I showed even the slightest weakness, the experienced Agent Choi would either send straight to the glass prison, or escape and co back with backup.
That would be the end. No…
‘Is it already over?’
My stomach churned.
It felt like I had passed a point of no return.
I’d thought I could just quietly sneak out the docunts Director Ho wanted, but now… there was no going back.
I realized I was about to fall into a swamp I’d never be able to get out of.
I felt like throwing up.
‘……What do I do?’
Is there any way?
There’s no use in Daydream Inc.’s potions that erase mories or force secrecy oaths.
‘He’d get caught in less than a week.’
Agent Choi gets a company check-up every week to make sure nothing suspicious has gotten into him. He’d be caught there.
If only, if only…
“Um…”
“……”
“Excuse .”
I looked at the sergeant across from .
The sergeant glanced at the agent he was supporting and restraining, and spoke.
“This person… Disaster Managent Bureau…?”
“…Yes.”
“Hmm… I don’t know what’s going on, but…”
The sergeant spoke as if he had realized sothing.
“You seed to know each other… and seed able to communicate.”
“……!”
“How about… talking it out, for now?”
But what was I supposed to say?
I couldn’t reveal what I was doing as a spy, or exactly what Daydream Inc. demanded from , and those were the most important things. Director Ho’s binding was in place.
If I left that out, what could I talk about…?
……
Only the parts of that weren’t about being a spy.
Kim Soleum.
What I wanted.
What I’d been thinking about as I worked at the Disaster Managent Bureau.
Whether I ever intended to deceive them.
“……”
Maybe… I could at least talk about that.
At the very least, I could say that I had no intention of harming the Disaster Managent Bureau.
If I could just prove that I hadn’t done any real harm, maybe we could find a compromise, sohow.
For now… I’d try that.
“…Yes.”
After stepping out into the alley and moving toward the road, I saw a taxi parked there and spoke quietly to Agent Choi.
“We’re going to take a taxi.”
“……”
“Don’t make a scene.”
“Smart, Mr. Roe Deer.”
If there were civilians around, he wouldn’t be able to act rashly or attack. He’d worry that the taxi driver might get hurt or even killed in the process.
‘This way, I can actually prevent any unexpected incidents.’
I felt uneasy about using even this, but there was no other choice.
“Let’s get in.”
The three of us got into the back seat of the taxi together. Then, to keep the driver from being alard, we kept up the appearance of supporting a drunken friend…
“Soleum-nim!”
“…!!”
A familiar face turned from the driver’s seat.
Soone who wasn’t the taxi driver. He looked at with a voice full of regret.
…It was Director Ho.
‘What is this.’
How did he get here?
Why… here?
But shock overtook all other questions.
Director Ho made his declaration.
“Oh dear, you’ve been caught.”
“……”
No.
“But you secured things very quickly! I ca out to greet you myself so you wouldn’t have to trouble yourself coming to .”
Director Ho’s gaze shifted.
Ignoring the sergeant as if he didn’t exist, his eyes settled on the person in the middle of the back seat, restrained by us—Agent Choi.
“How do you do?”
Sothing inhuman. Sothing that clearly showed unbridled hatred and resentnt toward the Disaster Managent Bureau.
That’s what was looking at the bureau agent next to .
In turn, a tense smile spread across Agent Choi’s face.
“Doesn’t really feel like you’re asking about my well-being, does it?”
“Oh dear, that’s not it.”
A smile appeared on Director Ho’s face as well.
“You’ll be at peace soon.”
No.
“Please wait.”
I hurriedly stepped into Director Ho’s line of sight.
My back was damp with cold sweat.
“If he dies, disappears, or mutates, a notification will be sent to the Bureau imdiately.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s certain. So it would be much more efficient and safer to simply place a binding on him and let him return to his daily routine…”
“Soleum-nim.”
Director Ho looked at and smiled apologetically.
“You’ve been exposed so quickly, it’s hard for to trust your judgnt any longer…”
A chill ran to the tips of my hair.
“I’ll handle this myself.”
“……”
Stiffly, I turned my head.
Over Agent Choi’s face, a circular ripple began to spread.
Director Ho’s spell.
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