[Oh, isn’t that an escape item?]
Right.
An item usually issued one per field agent, letting you ergency-exit a supernatural disaster while bypassing the normal clear procedure. It was exactly what I’d been asking Ho Yoowon for a mont ago, sothing I badly needed. But…
‘…Why this, now?’
In a mont this urgent?
I looked back at Agent Bronze, but that mosaic-blurred face avoided my gaze and was talking about sothing with Agent Choi instead.
It was as if they wanted to let slide, smoothly and without comnt, whatever was inside the jacket.
No way…
‘Use it now?’
If I used it, I’d jump to a Bureau-designated exit point and my custody would naturally pass to them.
But then what about the others left here?
What’s the intent? Is this Agent Bronze acting alone?
“Then let’s begin.”
And just as Agent Choi moved things forward quickly, regardless of my confusion—
“First off, the condition for that box counting soone toward the quota is that they’re a sentient being…”
“Excuse e!”
A hand shot up. Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae’s was first.
“I’ve got it. The fastest, simplest way!”
Very much the ‘company employee’ line.
“You said this is a cult, right? So we just find the two worst people among them and throw them in, yess?”
“……”
“Right?”
“Strike firstt. Doesn’t have to be any of us.”
Sure.
Agent Choi was trying to proceed sensibly. ‘Let’s brainstorm within the ti we have,’ like that.
But there’s a problem.
With this roster, I can already tell how the conversation ends.
‘The guillotine’s at our throats. This isn’t a group that can sit and debate…!’
First off, Assistant Manager Lee Songhae will absolutely insist we grab two bad actors from this base and feed them in. She’s the type who didn’t care when her own team mber died. With ‘cult compound’ as a backdrop, she’ll have no compunctions.
“Ah, that’s a decent proposal. As it happens, that box has already swallowed one cult official. The other official is back there unconscious.”
“Oh, nice! Makes it easier to toss in.”
Lee Seonghae bead, and Ho Yoowon smiled too.
But.
“Bronze-ah, did I just go deaf? I feel like I heard soone, in front of governnt agents, say we should haul civilians into a supernatural disaster.”
There’s also soone here who won’t let that slide.
Agent Choi threw it out like a joke, but ended up speaking with a sigh.
“Gosh, of course I understand the sentint! But that sort of thing should really only be considered at the very end—”
“C’mon, we’re already short on ti. There’s no reason for good people to try sothing new, get put in danger, and get scared, rightt?”
“……!”
Huuu.
“I’m not saying we should just toss in any random believer. If it’s a cult official-level type, I honestly think society’s better off if they diee! And even if they actually get detained, it’s not like they’ll face any serious punishnt…”
Lee Seonghae propped her chin on her hand and nodded, solemn.
“This is a good chance to exact retribution!”
A brief mont of silence passed.
“…That’s quite a personal judgnt, isn’t it?”
“I won’t make you agents do the pickingg. I’ll go select the other one myself, so just wait! Even if the box follows, it’ll be nearby, and I’ll just dodge it and slip them inn!”
“No—”
“Please wait a mont.”
Agent Bronze spoke up.
One might think he was about to join in trying to stop Lee Seonghae.
But…
“We will be the ones to make the selection.”
“…!!”
The modern Supernatural Disaster Managent Bureau is an organization that can say, ‘If soone must die, let it be that one.’
It weighs malice, chooses the evildoer, and sends them to the place of death to dam a greater loss of life.
The living proof of that is this very agent who once played the killer at the mountain lodge. As he spoke, he flicked his gaze toward the box, now a half-step closer, and sounding tense.
“Has anyone here personally witnessed a mber of that cult’s leadership causing nurous fatalities?”
“Well, I did see it, yeah.”
The assistant manager spoke up.
Assistant Manager Eun Haje is a realist. Given a situation, if a moderately gentle option is appropriate, she’ll more or less accept it.
“They killed at least dozens just to brew so liquor.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Bronze-ah.”
“Agent.”
Agent Bronze cut off his senior.
“Rules are rules.”
– An agent’s life always cos first.
And if there is a confird malefactor, then that person should be the one to die.
“Given a proven thod, prolonging debate based on conjecture only makes it harder to decide.”
…It was rational.
“And with the passage of ti, we might be unable to choose the proven option even if we want to.”
In the anti, the cult official might co to.
…Or the box might draw too close.
“We should act while we still have room to do so.”
Even Agent Choi had no reply to that for a mont.
The current carried the room past the halfway mark.
[Hm. Coming together more neatly than expected. Sacrificing a third party, is it. Neatly wriggled out.]
[The guilt-laden twin role will suffer a long torture unto death in the box. Swapping out an extra ans little anyway.]
Braun’s voice sounded deflated.
Agent Choi said nothing back. I saw how Ho Yoowon was smiling as he watched the others’ discussion settle.
And then, silence.
‘…Is this really okay?’
The truth of the Happy Ending Sect tangled my thoughts.
I couldn’t very well subdue all these people who were clearly prone to sudden moves. I couldn’t bark at them to listen either, and even if I could, there wasn’t a better special alternative than this. And yet…
‘I could maybe buy so ti to try other things, by pulling the box in by going aggro myself…’
“Grapes-ie.”
I turned my head.
Agent Choi had been sunk in thought, staring at the floor and then back at the box, over and over. As if doing the math…
And before I knew it, he had picked up the dokkaebi lantern he’d set down.
“…You were planning to move and lure the box yourself, weren’t you? Until everyone else could get out safely.”
…!
“Still the sa. Khh, nailed it again.”
He laughed.
“But that’s not for the youngest to do, yeah? There’s an order to things.”
Wait.
Agent Choi flashed a grin.
The eyes of soone who had made up his mind.
“Still, as an agent, I should try at least one thing I can do. …Thanks.”
Hey!
Agent Choi stood and moved. Agent Bronze scrambled up after him at the sudden motion, but it was too late. The box sensed the agent laden with stories and moved to follow him…
“By their standards, that’s almost a less hypocritical agent. Not very bureau-like. Don’t you think so too, Roe Deer-nim?”
Shut up!
“Which is why I’ll make a selection as well, Roe Deer-nim.”
Thud.
“One more befitting the bureau.”
Agent Bronze was shoved by Ho Yoowon’s hand.
His body struck the box.
Thud.
二
一
Agent Bronze.
Vanished.
‘……’
I saw Agent Choi’s wide eyes. Ho Yoowon’s smile, Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae’s blinking eyes, Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s scowl, predictions skimming through my head…
‘No.’
Request : Hold position
I shot toward the box in a rush of smoke.
And disappeared.
Inside.
goblin note:
another choi ltdown in 3… 2……
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