‘…Is this guy a total idiot?’
Why walk into sothing like that on purpose.
He wrote exactly that onto the boat.
The reply ca back.
Soone asked for help.
“……What a damn sucker.”
Yet sohow, he couldn’t bring himself to sneer.
Because he’d personally seen, back in Jisan Village, that this agent was soone who actually kept promises.
“……”
Baek Saheon stared at the paper.
The agent was requesting sothing.
We found a spot in this facility
where we can see outside.
Could you look at my drawing
and explain where in Jisan Village
this view is located?
Baek Saheon was about to write ‘With what nerve—’ when another line appeared.
If I learn anything about Jisan Village
during this operation, I’ll share it with you.
You’re directly involved, after all.
And at the end.
I apologize about not being able to compensate you with an item.
……
Ha… fuck. Seriously!!
Baek Saheon tore at his hair, but in the end he scribbled back.
Fine. Show the drawing first.
* * *
‘Oh.’
Baek Saheon agreed to share Jisan Village intel.
Surprisingly smooth again, just like last ti. Apparently the ‘agent infiltrating a cult’ story was playing well…
‘Guess giving him that initial Jisan Village info was the hook.’
Or maybe… seeing how easily he snapped and vented, maybe he just needed an emotional garbage bin.
Anyway, now I had Baek Saheon’s simple hand-sketched map of the village morized.
[Hooh, Mr. Roe Deer, your ordinary ex-roommate actually has so drawing skills.]
Yeah.
The map was clear and easy to read. The well, the pine tree, the hanok where we’d been held, even the spot with the village guardian shrine were marked nicely.
And where we’d just looked out from in this Authority Zone was…
‘…Under the well.’
– If there’s an entrance, it’s probably around here.
aning, the Jisan Village well sits right over where this underground bunker’s exit should be.
A strange feeling.
[Indeed, rather intriguing. So, are the twins who vanish every lunchti slipping out to check the well via the entrance? Or heading deeper into so other hidden facility?]
[But this fact… Oh, if everything goes by your plan, Mr. Roe Deer, we’ll know soon enough!]
Right.
Once I’d shown I could use an ‘item’ to communicate and gather intel, Ho Yoowon and Assistant Manager Eun Haje took on another job.
– We’ve got to tail them, of course.
Carefully track where those twins disappeared to at lunchti.
To figure out what exactly this underground bunker was preparing.
– I’ve said this all along, if we don’t first understand what’s going on here, we can’t handle sudden incidents or dig up specific intel.
Sticking close to the convert grandma would draw so eyes, but it would also make strange movents look less suspicious.
Since they’d already shown that ‘performance’ last night.
‘Even if we’re caught, Ho Yoowon doesn’t seem like the type to go down easy.’
Besides… how should I put it, the so-called executives of this Happy Ending Sect, well. I’d seen that they were supposedly strong in theory, but sohow there’s no real psychological tension about them.
‘It all just feels shallow. Fragntary, so to speak…’
Still, the mystery of the place and the oddity of the situation were enough to make the air feel strange.
So I sat quietly, matching the village landmarks to the underground bunker’s angles and layout, calculating against the map, and waited for the other two to return.
And, by the ti the lunch period was nearly over—
“Found it.”
Ho Yoowon and Assistant Manager Eun Haje had co back with sothing.
Still in her grandma disguise, Assistant Manager Eun Haje caught her breath, then urgently knelt and started sketching on the floor with her finger.
She was drawing the bunker’s interior.
“If we see it this way, this side is north. The connected east is the dining hall, east-west is the converts’ living quarters.”
And then… smack dab in the center.
“Here’s that big hemispherical chamber where they’ve cramd all the coffins. The place they call a ritual hall but really it’s for corpse disposal.”
Symbolic.
And…
“There’s a passage behind the coffins.”
Her finger slid downwards.
South.
“That’s where the twins are going.”
……
“So? Anything to cross-check with whatever ‘informant’ you contacted?”
There is.
I ntally overlaid Baek Saheon’s map on top of Eun Haje’s rough sketch…
And that’s when I realized.
The place the twins went.
It’s right under the Jisan Village guardian shrine.
And what had been under the shrine?
‘The Centipede Sage.’
Of course, the centipede was dead and even its liquor had been sealed by Agent Bronze’s bullets. Nothing should be left there now.
Only the empty space where the shrine once stood. And yet…
What are they trying to do down there?
“Hm. That’s not a good sign.”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje frowned at my explanation.
“Then how about one more check?” Ho Yoowon suggested.
Hm?
“Just a quick peek inside. We wait till the twins co back out, then slip in.”
Ho Yoowon smiled faintly, turning to Assistant Manager Eun Haje.
“Ms. Falcon. If you refuse, I might get sad thinking you don’t trust …”
“…Fine. Just don’t ditch if it goes bad.”
With an unamused face, Assistant Manager Eun Haje looked back at .
“Alright. We’ll check inside and look through the converts’ area too, so stay put and wait.”
Hm.
“Don’t worry. If anything slls off, we’ll pull back fast.”
Then maybe I should go instead this ti?
Isn’t it risky to have the sa people go twice? Maybe I…
“Mm, Roe…”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje patted my shoulder.
“You know you’re dragging around that black smoke right now, yeah?”
Ah.
“Sorry, but with that plus the yellow flicker you’ve got going, you’ve got a full dramatic entrance effect. You’re basically a walking billboard.”
……
Right……
“Just stay here. Instead, could you try to pin down the exact location of the bunker’s exit while we’re gone?”
I nodded quietly.
“Okay. Then see you at dinner ti.”
And with that, they went out to search again…
“Let us gather and pray for happiness.”
Ti passed, and soon the appointed dinner hour arrived.
But.
“……”
“Grandma Kim Bokja… didn’t co?”
Neither Assistant Manager Eun Haje nor Ho Yoowon showed up to the evening al.
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