The sound of a bell.
Jingle.
The clear chi was proof of existence.
A sign of so sacred force that wards off evil.
Jingle.
Then ca footsteps.
A brisk, unhesitating stride, an alarm in motion, heading straight for its destination.
Lively, yet not frivolous.
The footsteps drew closer and closer to the officetel, stopping briefly at the open doorway, casting a shadow inside.
And then.
“Let’s see, the civilian who arrived first is… No.”
An agent of the Disaster Managent Bureau appeared.
A long scar across his neck.
A smile.
Black-Tortoise Team 1.
My forr superior.
“So we’ve got the cult company here.”
Agent Choi.
His smiling mouth belied the cold, calculating eyes scanning the scene.
With a heavy gaze, Agent Choi swept over the blood-soaked living room and the corpse of the assistant director who had gouged out her own eyes.
“Not a coincidence, is it?”
“…!”
Jingle.
Agent Choi gestured casually behind his back.
But I knew what was there.
A massive jakdu.
An illusion of blue light shimred faintly along its steel edge.
Agent Choi moved his arm…
“Well then…”
“I surrender!”
Kang Yihak threw up both hands and dropped to her knees with a dramatic thud.
“…?!”
[Oh! Are knees being offered at a discount now!]
But Agent Choi didn’t so much as blink.
“Yeah? Even better.”
“Wait! Wait!”
Desperately fending off the jakdu’s descent, Kang Yihak spoke faster.
“Eh-heyy, Agent-nim, you rember , right? We t in that Darkness case where you got that super expensive conch shell!”
“Of course I rember.”
Agent Choi smiled faintly.
“You’re the cult company employee who tried to use injured kids as hostages to escape, aren’t you?”
“That wasn’t ! That was Assistant Manager Butterfly acting on her own!”
The sergeant stood there, blank-faced, wondering what this back-and-forth was about.
“Actually, we were just passing through to see if there were any useful Darknesses to claim, but this clearly isn’t our league, so we were about to leave!”
“Oh~ so you’re saying you have nothing to do with this ss?”
“Does that even matter? What matters is this.”
Kang Yihak quickly turned her head, speaking solemnly to the sergeant.
“Director Cheong, are you still on the line?”
“She… already hung up.”
“Okay.”
Grinning, Kang Yihak looked back at Agent Choi.
“What matters is we’re offering Darkness intel we’ve gathered at rock-bottom prices!”
She made a crisp, clear gesture, pressing her thumb and forefinger together in a circle.
[Heavens.]
“Eyy, rock-bottom? Co on. A good civil servant pays full price for good intel. And as for you, civilian…”
Agent Choi pulled his hand from behind his back with a smile.
And stepped forward.
“I’ll make sure they put extra snacks in your prison als.”
The jakdu swung.
Thud.
But a massive, black, beastly forepaw blocked its path.
“…!”
The sergeant’s mutated left arm.
Even so, the jakdu’s blade had driven deep between the monstrous claws, as if it might sever them outright.
Crackllllle.
Sparks flared where steel t claw.
Just looking at that trembling paw suggested unimaginable pain, yet the sergeant did not flinch.
He rely stared at Agent Choi over the jakdu’s edge.
“We’re just… going, to leave now. We won’t try anything… So let us go… We’ll cooperate…”
“Ohooh, how can I cooperate with you if I let you just walk awa—”
Agent Choi’s reply, given with a smile, faltered mid-sentence.
He looked back at the sergeant.
His expression changed.
“…You.”
Because of the day-uniform security gear that obscured silhouette and features, he hadn’t recognized the other man’s identity.
Now, with the transformation, he realized.
…That night, when Director Ho placed those bindings.
The sa sergeant I’d t in the Dream Cultivation Chamber the night Agent Choi had caught doing work as a spy.
“……”
In that mont, a surge of imnse conflict and emotion flashed across Agent Choi’s face.
But in the next second, it was suppressed, smothered.
Priorities reasserted themselves. His voice returned to a professional, asured tone.
“…So even the Security Team is here? Wow, this must be serious. I’ll need full statents. As quickly as possible.”
“There’s a misunderstanding here. We were just here trying to earn so extra profit, that’s all. If you could just guarantee that part…”
“I’ll just tell you everything.”
“…!”
Lee Seonghae raised her right hand and stepped forward.
“A-Assistant Manager?!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, yes.”
Without even glancing at Kang Yihak, Lee Seonghae spoke brightly.
“An agent working hard to save civilians deserves our help.”
“……”
“So could you please put the jakdu away? The Security Team officer looks like he’s in a lot of pain!”
Agent Choi studied Lee Seonghae’s face for a mont, then finally retracted the jakdu with his usual easygoing smile.
“Alright then.”
He quickly listened to her briefing.
Lee Seonghae gave a precise account of the ‘Man in the Screen’s actions and the clear potential for this crisis to spiral out of control.
For a mont, it seed like she might ntion the USB in her possession, but she glanced at both the sergeant and the carrier holding , then deliberately chose not to.
She must have thought it would put us in danger.
“Okay.”
…All the while, the blade of the jakdu remained right in front of the carrier crate’s bars.
I held my breath.
Kept the smoke inside.
…So the other person wouldn’t detect anything.
Agent Choi listened to Lee Seonghae’s testimony word for word, never letting his guard down.
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