Chapter 193: Ch 193: Director Ho’s Spell
I rolled to dodge the falling blades.
But the downpour of blades had already struck my foot.
"...!"
At that moment, Agent Choi lunged at me with frightening speed and pulled
something else out with his hand.
A round object.
A glass marble, glinting in the light of the Dream Essence.
’The emergency glass prison!’
If that hits me, I’ll be bound and transported straight to the Disaster
Management Bureau’s infamous glass prison.
The moment that happens, it’s all over.
The spy mission. The Wish Ticket. Everything.
’No.’
Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the blade embedded in my foot and rolled to
the side.
Ping, ti-di-ding...
The glass marble I barely dodged bounced away with a cheerful sound.
But the prison was already open.
"...!"
LET THE ROPE OF
JUSTICE FALL UPON
THE SINNER
Countless hands reached out from within the emptiness of the glass,
grabbing hold of me.
I clung to the office furniture, but it was hopeless. I was dragged in. My
hands, scraped along the floor, had my fingernails shattered as they were
pulled.
There was no time to take out any items.
’Braun!’
– Oh, you’re desperately hoping for the devoted help of your Good Friend,
are you, Friend!
– But I’m afraid that will be difficult.
What?
– This is a decision made for more interesting developments, so I trust
you’ll graciously understand, Mr. Roe Deer. Ah, but my heart aches, too! Of
course it does...
– The troubles of a friend!
My blood ran cold.
I was trapped in the glass.
Chalalalak.
With a clear, sharp sound as if the glass was resonating, I was separated
from the outside world as if I was looking through a shattered mirror.
’Braun?’
No answer. Fuck!
’No.’
I grit my teeth.
If the agent contacted the Disaster Management Bureau now, everything
would be over.
And Agent Choi is absolutely the kind of person who would do just that!
’He’s already started contacting them.’
The glass marble spun in Agent Choi’s grip. It was a kind of emergency
ritual to summon the warden of the prison.
’Damn it, damn it!’
How do I stop this? How do I persuade him? He’s a warm person who
sometimes lets his emotions get the better of him, but that only works when
there’s a gap to exploit.
Now that he knows I’m a spy, he’ll throw me in the glass prison first, and
then—
...
Wait.
Instead of looking at the hand holding the glass marble, I looked at his
other, left hand.
He was holding a crumpled piece of paper.
’...’
There it is.
"Is that the note I gave you? Did you solve the riddle recently and that’s
how you found this place?"
Agent Choi didn’t answer, just kept rolling the glass marble in his hand. But
I kept talking, undaunted.
"At the very least, when you received that note, did you think I was
genuinely asking for help to help someone else?"
"No."
"...!"
"At first, I assumed there must be some trick to it. Given your background."
...!!
"What are you so surprised about? You transferred from Daydream Inc. to
the Bureau here using your real name. Did you really think no one would
notice?"
The shock hit me like a hammer to the head, and the result became clear.
’It was suspicious.’
Yeah. I definitely thought it was strange.
When it turned out the C-squad’s Lee Kangheon didn’t exist, and when
Supervisor Lee Seonghae, who supposedly exchanged messages with him,
said she’d never met him either.
It was easy enough to deduce the reason with just a little thinking.
That person never existed in the first place.
It was just someone posing as a Daydream Inc. employee to dig for
information.
And that person was Agent Choi.
So he’d known from the beginning that I was from Daydream Inc...
"But you know."
Agent Choi’s voice turned hollow.
"You’re really good at your job. ...You work hard."
"..."
"Trying so hard to help everyone you meet, including kids and even the
annoying ones, without picking or choosing. Willing to do anything, even if
it means getting hurt or taking a loss."
His voice shook.
"That’s not something you can fake. Usually, Daydream Inc. employees
can’t stand losing out. So I thought. ...Maybe, just like you told Jaekwan,
you really did fake your death at the company and run away."
...!
"So I figured, if I kept you on our team and managed you well..."
Agent Choi gripped the glass marble tightly.
"I just believed what I wanted. Hah, making a mistake like this after all
these years."
"..."
"Yeah, people only act if they think they’ll get a greater benefit even if they
take a loss. And I forgot about your tendency to risk your life for a Wish
Ticket. But..."
Agent Choi’s eyes darkened.
"Mr. Roe Deer. Are you even human?"
"..."
"What was that form just now? And what is this place? What are you doing
to the Disaster Management Bureau that Daydream Inc. would grant you a
wish? Say something."
I kept my mouth shut.
Agent Choi met my eyes for a moment, then finally smiled.
"Pointless, isn’t it?"
"..."
"Yeah. You can talk as much as you want after you get to prison..."
"Prison?"
A voice came from above Agent Choi’s head.
"...!"
Looking over him was the black shadow of a monstrous form resembling a
giant wolf, with teeth and eyes jutting out haphazardly.
It was the sergeant.
He had returned.
As I continued to stall for time, I clenched my teeth and shouted,
"Aim for the glass marble!"
"Son of a—"
Agent Choi tried to grab the blade at his waist, but it was too late.
The teeth closed in.
Crunch.
The blade was shattered, and the glass marble was crushed together with
Agent Choi’s hand.
"Urk!"
As the glass marble shattered between those jaws, the makeshift prison
holding me broke apart as well.
I immediately sprang forward and, seizing the opportunity, subdued Agent
Choi.
Targeting the area where his reaction would be slowest.
His neck.
"...!"
I deliberately aimed for the scar on his neck.
Whether it was guilt or tension, I couldn’t tell, but a chill ran down my
spine.
Thud.
Agent Choi was pinned to the floor. From the wolf-like monster’s black
muzzle that bit his arm, fangs and tongue-like lumps appeared, as if about
to bite it clean off...
"Don’t."
I gasped, speaking urgently.
"Don’t kill him."
"..."
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 someone like him."
I looked down.
My heart was pounding.
What should I do now?
Does this mean 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 something you can just keep moving on after it’s
stuck in your foot. You saw it, too, right? When that elite team member
from your company got hit."
I saw it.
In the Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace ghost story.
The moment the blade struck, Assistant Manager Jin Nasol had collapsed,
barely able to stifle her groans.
And the fact that it didn’t really hurt me, that means...
"It means 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
Management 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 me."
"...!"
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 becomes too difficult to retrieve the pager like this... you
usually start thinking up ways to subdue your opponent. Normally, you use
your dokkaebi flame, but sometimes you also use a book you got from
Ijeong Bookstore."
"..."
"But you only do that when you need to protect someone 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
Management 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 mess...
"Soleum-ah."
"..."
Agent Choi smiled with a cold sweat.
"So what are you going to do, bury me somewhere? Or... hand me 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 me over to them? Seriously?"
"..."
"Just tell me 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 me 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 me straight to the glass prison, or escape and come 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 documents 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 memories 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 me."
I looked at the sergeant across from me.
The sergeant glanced at the agent he was supporting and restraining, and
spoke.
"This person... Disaster Management Bureau...?"
"...Yes."
"Hmm... I don’t know what’s going on, but..."
The sergeant spoke as if he had realized something.
"You seemed to know each other... and seemed 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 me, 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 me that weren’t about being a spy.
Kim Soleum.
What I wanted.
What I’d been thinking about as I worked at the Disaster Management
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
Management Bureau.
If I could just prove that I hadn’t done any real harm, maybe we could find
a compromise, somehow.
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 alarmed, we kept up the appearance of supporting a
drunken friend...
"Soleum-nim!"
"...!!"
A familiar face turned from the driver’s seat.
Someone who wasn’t the taxi driver. He looked at me 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 came out to greet you myself so
you wouldn’t have to trouble yourself coming to me."
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?"
Something inhuman. Something that clearly showed unbridled hatred and
resentment toward the Disaster Management Bureau.
That’s what was looking at the bureau agent next to me.
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
immediately."
"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 me and smiled apologetically.
"You’ve been exposed so quickly, it’s hard for me to trust your judgment
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.