Chapter 243: Ch 243: Sekwang Subway
An agent of the Disaster Management Bureau.
And the being his jakdu was pointing at.
Ho Yoowon.
A supernatural disaster.
"..."
"As soon as we’re back at the bureau, I’m filing the report. ’Black-Tortoise
Team 1 seeks formal approval to register the entity in question as a
supernatural disaster with the aim of termination.’"
Agent Choi and Ho Yoowon locked eyes.
Between cold, set faces, the agent’s gaze burned.
"Let’s see if that insane cult company that grinds people up will keep
bailing out an executive once he’s been tagged by the bureau."
"...Ah."
And.
"What, you’ll register me as a supernatural disaster and have the bureau
manage me directly? Until I die? Until I’m terminated?"
The profane presence beyond the black smoke.
"That’s awfully cruel."
It spoke in a smooth voice.
"A government agent threatening a civilian... It’s not like I killed anyone
right in front of you."
But Ho Yoowon’s eyes were flat.
"Someone had to die anyway, didn’t they? If the bureau does the choosing,
does that make death not death? Does that make it rational?"
"..."
"While you’re in the business of selecting the ’more acceptable’ dead... did
you think something like me wouldn’t emerge?"
Ryu Jaekwan ground his teeth.
Then.
"Eh. So does that mean you’ll just kill whoeverr?"
"...!"
"We were just talking about how, if someone has to die, we won’t kill any
good people. You’re the one who, without any agreement, went and shoved
a person, Directorr."
Brushing dust from herself as she walked up was Assistant Manager Lee
Seonghae.
Ho Yoowon’s smile deepened.
"It sounds like you’re saying non-cooperation with the group is bad... That
worries me a bit. You belong to the company. Are you allowed to defy your
superior and make personal accusations?"
"Whyy? I didn’t attack you. And that’s a weird read. I’m just saying you did
something bad."
Lee Seonghae glanced at Director Ho as if baffled, then hopped over to
stand by the employee.
"Also, I’m on leave so I’m not on the clock. It’s finee!"
"Wow. How brave."
"Yup. Kinda my thing!"
"..."
"..."
"...Well, not that it matters."
After weighing the scales, Ho Yoowon finally turned his head, choosing to
ignore the annoying employee.
Toward 130666.
"Mr. Employee. Will you continue to accompany me for my project? As
part of your duty."
And, appended.
"And those folks keep interfering with your work... I’d like you to restrain
them a bit. For security."
"...!"
The agents’ expressions hardened.
The yellow lantern-light under the black shadow swept over the agents...
Then looked back at the director.
Denied
"...!"
Reason :
► Existing assignment (Church of the Luminous Unknown exploration)
concluded
► Damaged uniform
Shall return to Isolation Room and report to the supervising researcher
Uniform?
At that moment, they noticed it.
From inside the employee’s coat, through torn fabric, something was
seeping out.
Something amorphous.
Clotted, flesh-like masses, overflowing as if losing their form and forcing
their way out.
130666 pressed the spot with a gloved hand and covered it with black mist,
very much as if conscious of being watched.
Someone even caught a faint signal in between.
A trace of something like shame.
"...!"
Agent Choi’s eyes changed.
Hope.
"We can fix that uniform too."
The employee’s gaze met his.
"Come with us. We’ll set you up real nice, even run a line for you. The
workshop folks have serious skills."
But.
Impossible
Reason : Proposal violates work rules
"...Work rules? Can you explain what that means in more detail?"
Impossible
Reason : Proposal violates work rules
"..."
"Hang on. Are you not considering switching jobs at all?"
The gaze dipped to Lee Seonghae.
Resignation impossible
Reason : Proposal violates work rules
"Not even resignationn? Eh, that’s..."
And before Lee Seonghae could finish, the employee turned his body.
He was about to leave immediately and head back.
Down to Daydream’s underground.
To the Isolation Room.
"...Wait!"
Agent Choi hurried forward and blocked the way.
"I’ll help you return."
...
Question : Reason
"You pulled me out of the box," Ryu Jaekwan spoke up.
"...! Right. We owe you."
Accepting his help without hesitation, Agent Choi continued.
"We’re near Cheonan. Even if you quick-step it all the way to the Seoul
HQ, it’s still hours on foot, yeah?"
Instead of his usual rebuttal, Ryu Jaekwan quietly stepped to his side.
"You don’t have a car, and you can’t teleport. Hm? We’ll take you."
...
Silence.
And then.
Question : Means of transport
Gotcha.
"Were you worried we’d stick you on a bicycle? Nah. We’ll use something
else."
Agent Choi started walking, casually guiding him.
To the well.
"It’s a secret, but this well’s on a good spot. Ley lines run here, and back in
the day the bureau used it as a corridor for emergency deployments to the
provinces. They say it got sealed due to procedural issues."
An added note, because of that numinous function’s symbolism, when this
village became a supernatural disaster site, they’d also used it as an escape
point.
"Remember? When you came for the village festival, you took the manual
with the tips I wrote. It mentioned the well. Haha. How was it, reading
that?"
After another beat of silence.
Unable to confirm
...
"That happens. Don’t worry."
And...
"Anyway, we don’t use the well now... but if we send the agreed signal, the
transit function should come back online, so let’s just go ahead and try it."
Of course...
This was a lie.
’Records exist, but there’s no way it would come back.’
The Disaster Management Bureau isn’t stupid. If it were a corridor that
could be reactivated, they’d have moved it.
But it sounded plausible enough.
"I’m going to use that to move us. Close your eyes and when you open
them, we’ll be in Seoul. Sound good?"
That won’t happen.
The plan was simply to put him down into the well, herd him into a space as
enclosed as possible so he couldn’t run, and then use the transport ability.
’A makeshift Glass Prison.’
...It was a method he’d rather not use if he could help it.
There was no other way.
"Using this well won’t get your identity handed over to the bureau or
anything like that. I swear on the dokkaebi."
He could swear any which way he liked.
They weren’t going to use the well anyway.
’...Did he catch on?’
It was possible. This damn hoobae had a filthy knack for catching on, and
only at moments like this...
Really, he was born to be an agent.
’Please.’
The way that director Ho just stood there also bothered him. He’d expected
him to try something, to interfere, or pull some trick to take the company
employee back. But strangely, he kept quiet and behaved.
And Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae following along didn’t feel great
either.
But he couldn’t tell them to quit it. He couldn’t risk tipping anyone off that
something was off.
Agent Choi moved with his nerves wound taut.
Behind him, Ryu Jaekwan would be getting his own makeshift Glass Prison
ready.
’Thanks, Jaekwan-ah.’
Some part of his heart broke seeing his hoobae—who had no talent for
lying, and who had just now made it out alive—was moving fast to back
him up however he could.
Agent Choi kept walking.
Step.
Step.
With the sound of footsteps, the well drew near...
"Here."
Ryu Jaekwan quickly pried off the blocked top of the well.
...The trapped, damp air exhaled out and left a strange smell.
Drawing a breath, Agent Choi turned to 130666... No, to Kim Soleum, with
a smile.
"...It’d be hard for you to go first, right? I’ll go in and show you it’s safe.
See? There might be other things down there."
The gas mask stared at him in silence.
Agent Choi flashed a grin and set a foot into the well.
’The footholds... luckily, they’re still there.’
They hadn’t caved in.
Carefully wedging his feet against the well wall, he climbed down as fast as
he could.
To lure the other in with no variables.
And when his feet finally touched the bottom...
"Oh! Looks like this’ll work! Come on down."
At his shout, the horned one peered inside.
"...As soon as you’re down, I’ll try sending the transport signal."
Please.
...
Tap.
Black work boots walked down the well wall, descending.
The smoke drifted down and pooled at the floor, but true to a supernatural
phenomenon, 130666’s body arrived inside the well in a way that ignored
physical norms.
’Ha...’
A surge rose up Choi’s throat. Nausea or something else, he couldn’t tell.
But right now, there was no time to dwell on it.
’I have to do this.’
To make the act more convincing, he reached through the black smoke and
set the dokkaebi lantern on the exact center of the well floor.
As if he were really about to send the transport signal.
In truth, it was a different, tacit signal.
One for Ryu Jaekwan.
"Alright, then..."
Jaekwan had to, right now, help him capture this thing.
But, at that moment.
Light burst out of the dokkaebi lantern on the floor.
"...!!"
Wait.
’This is...’
Something you only saw when a transport signal actually activated at a true
ley-line node.
Was this really going to transport them?
’To where?’
And the strange things didn’t stop there.
Amid the black smoke, something akin to the lantern’s light gleamed from
130666’s body.
A small rectangle glowed inside an inner pocket.
"...?"
As if to check it himself, 130666 took it out.
It was... something in the form of an employee badge. But not Daydream’s.
The company name printed there was...
’Cheerful Research Institute...?’
In that instant.
The light grew stronger.
"...!"
Those watching from above realized entirely what was happening.
’Damn!’
Ryu Jaekwan hesitated for a beat, then gritted his teeth and hurled himself
down into the well. He couldn’t let just those two be transported.
And peering in after them, Lee Seonghae did the same.
"Oh."
Sensing the situation was unusual, and in order to ’help’ good people, she
jumped into the well.
She had taken a vacation day today, so she had plenty of time!
Thus, a moment later.
When Ho Yoowon quietly approached the well and looked down, he saw
this.
"Ah."
There was nothing in the well.
Hands tingling with rapture, Ho Yoowon gripped the stones at the well
mouth tight.
* * *
...
It’s dark.
Loud.
Muscle aches, bones sore from sleeping on something cold. Such sensations
wore a person down.
I was definitely sprawled on a concrete floor... But I was so damned tired
and heavy-lidded I couldn’t even open my eyes and—
Tired?
"...!!"
I snapped my eyes open.
Something clammy ran down the back of my neck, like from a goosebump-
inducing dream. I wiped away the cold sweat with my hand and let out a
breath.
"Huu."
...
...Wait a second.
’...My voice.’
I just... used my voice.
"...!!"
And my hands, my hands are bare. Fingernails and knuckles and
fingerprints—my ordinary hands. I feel around with them. There’s hair, and
cold sweat, and a face...
I lifted my head and looked around.
Right beside me, a silhouette reflected in a dark window.
"...Human."
It was me.
I stared blankly at my human reflection in the glass.
I had no idea what on earth was going on.
So I realized a beat later,
That several familiar people were collapsed around me.
And that...
This place was a subway platform.
"..."
I staggered to my feet. The station name, hidden behind a column, slid into
view...
Sekwang Transit Authority
SEKWANG STATION
"...!!"
And then I understood.
This place.
It’s the subway of Sekwang Special Metropolitan City.
goblin note:
I should have explained when it was first mentioned (oops) but the ’special’
in Sekwang Special City is supposed to be, uh, special (badum-tss) (ty btw
for kirinki’s correction). In real-life Korea, Seoul is called ’Seoul Special
City’ or ’Seoul Special Metropolitan City’ because it’s the capital city. So
for Sekwang to just go poof and disappear like that means a major city
vanished just like that.
In Korean, it’s just called ’Special City’, but the official designation in
English (for Seoul) is Metropolitan City, so I kinda combined the two. From
here on out, I might just call it simply Sekwang Special City or Sekwang
City throughout the dialogues or narrative to keep things short.