Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 117

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Editor’s Survival Rules Episode 117

ep18. Karma (1)

Sparks were flying from the sky.

The tiny flames cooled and turned to gray ash as they fell.

Even those became black feathers by the time they fell on me.

I was watching the countless black feathers falling.

And beyond them, there was something.

Beyond the hazy veil, whether it was fog or clouds.

Something very massive and simply massive.

Something so massive it was beyond comprehension.

Like a mountain already conquered and carved away piece by piece.

Or existing like a slave.

It spoke to me.

The same words it always said.

Over and over again.

Again and again.

Words it had said to me.

Words I would forget completely when I woke from the dream.

But it was still speaking.

As if those were the only words it knew how to say.

* * *

A day at the Special Management Bureau begins with dawn jogging.

The Response Team at the front, shirtless and shouting slogans.

The Exploration Team, more dignified but maintaining the same pace as the Response Team.

The Control Team steadily following the Response and Exploration Teams.

Even the Support Team, who decided to go slowly and kindly let the other teams go ahead.

In my early days of employment, I used to run with the Support Team.

But now I could finish the run behind the Response Team formation.

Of course, I’d be gasping for breath when the jogging ended.

After that, physical training would begin immediately.

The intensity of training varied by team.

The Response Team, doing pull-ups and push-ups like crazy as if I was muscle and muscle was me.

The Exploration Team, still maintaining dignity while dedicating themselves to superhuman high-intensity CrossFit.

The Control Team, not as intense as the Response or Exploration Teams, but faithfully performing their set routine.

And the Support Team, who would quietly warm up and disappear early.

Among these, I was following the Control Team’s training routine.

At first, I couldn’t even follow half of it and would collapse.

But now I was managing to complete all the reps.

At the beginning of this year, I was an office worker whose New Year’s resolution was to exercise three times a week, but I’d fail within a month and promise to try again next year.

This was truly remarkable progress.

I was catching my breath in the dormitory after finishing morning training.

“Hyung, I seriously need to make a suggestion.”

Kwak Jae-gyeom came over to me and muttered.

“It was supposed to be a 3-night, 4-day schedule, but it got cut short on the second day. In the morning, no less. We should get our vacation time back.”

Kwak Jae-gyeom was making his case quite seriously.

But I wondered who this proposal was really for.

“The ocean was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s cherish it as a good memory.”

“No, hyung…”

No matter how pitifully he called out, it was useless.

My social energy was already depleted and wouldn’t be recharged for a while.

I wouldn’t go anywhere for at least a month.

There would be no private appointments or outings whatsoever.

Unlike me, who was determined to become a hermit, Kwak Jae-gyeom seemed genuinely disappointed by this situation.

Last week, my ambitious summer vacation was cut short after just two days due to Cha Si-eon and my entry into the Special Zone.

And while we were gone, it seemed chaos had erupted at the Management Bureau again.

Even when I left for vacation, the Management Bureau was continuously monitoring my location.

But my GPS signal, which had been in the East Sea, suddenly moved to Yongsan Station.

Moreover, that signal was cut off in less than a minute.

Only transmitting a loud siren sound through my smartwatch.

So the Management Bureau went into emergency mode once again.

Deputy Manager Yun Woo-jeong called Cha Si-eon but couldn’t reach him.

He called Baek Sa-ra again and confirmed that Cha Si-eon had also gone missing.

To make matters worse, all the CCTVs at the “Train Station” had been destroyed last February and were useless.

So the Management Bureau staff were practically dying of worry, even considering the possibility of our deaths.

Because of this situation, I had to deal with a tremendous difference in tension when returning to the Management Bureau.

My perception at the time was at the level of ‘I was just playing at a resort until just now.’

But the Management Bureau staff’s perception was ‘the guy we thought was dead has returned alive.’

So Cha Si-eon and I were welcomed almost like people who had opened their coffins and returned.

Since everyone seemed to have gone through heaven and hell while I was unaware, I tactfully returned my remaining vacation days.

Kwak Jae-gyeom was quite shocked too, so he was quiet for a day or two after Cha Si-eon and I returned.

But as time passed, he seemed to belatedly feel like he’d been shortchanged.

“We didn’t even get to eat sashimi.”

We could eat sashimi here too.

“Most of the ingredients we bought are still left over.”

We could eat those here as well.

“We didn’t get to do the paragliding we reserved either.”

This guy really seemed disappointed.

Judging by how he’d been passively arguing since yesterday evening that my vacation should be compensated.

But no matter how much he appealed, what couldn’t be done couldn’t be done.

“Team Leader Cha and I went missing and turned the Management Bureau upside down. How could we take another vacation in this situation?”

“That’s true, but…”

“And last week we had free time, so we could all go out together. But things will get busy again now, so can you afford to be away from your post?”

“Probably not…”

Kwak Jae-gyeom was disappointed but understanding.

It was good that he caught on quickly, but somehow I felt like I was scolding a child…

No, it wasn’t just a feeling—that’s actually what happened.

Kwak Jae-gyeom was younger than the interns at the publishing company I used to work for.

An age where, if he were in society, he’d be attending school or just learning to work.

If Kwak Jae-gyeom had been an ordinary college student, he probably would have been out having fun enthusiastically.

Like he did at the ocean this time.

So honestly speaking, I didn’t understand why Jae-gyeom was at the Management Bureau.

He was neat and handsome with good social skills.

He wasn’t bound like me, and he could do what he wanted outside.

“Jae-gyeom.”

“Yes?”

“Why did you join the Management Bureau?”

“Come on, hyung…”

I just asked a question, but Kwak Jae-gyeom looked at me like I was being too much.

At that aggrieved look, I became puzzled instead and added.

“I’m really asking because I’m curious.”

“Ah, I thought… you were going to grill me like the team leader does.”

Kwak Jae-gyeom looked at my expression and then patted his chest in relief.

So this time I became bewildered.

“When did I ever grill you like that…”

“No, it’s just that you’re asking questions you never asked before. This is the first time you’ve asked me something like this, hyung.”

Kwak Jae-gyeom pretended to be hurt, half-joking, half-serious.

Then as if nothing had happened, he grinned again and said.

“I joined the Management Bureau just because, well, I got hit by a hit-and-run, so I’m dealing with it.”

“Hit-and-run?”

“People who get hit by hit-and-run accidents also hang banners until they catch the culprit, right? It’s exactly the same as that.”

Good attitude of actively tackling problems.

But isn’t this case a bit different?

“But this work is too dangerous. Sometimes you have to risk your life.”

“That’s true. That’s why our team leader kept opposing it too.”

“Team Leader Cha did?”

“Yes. When I said I wanted to join the Management Bureau, he really hated the idea.”

Hmm, that’s understandable.

Kwak Jae-gyeom is a teenager that Cha Si-eon barely managed to pull out of the hellhole called the Special Zone.

So if that kid said he wanted to go back into the hellhole, there’s no way he’d be pleased.

“So I also listened to the team leader and tried to just return to society, but that wasn’t easy either.”

“What wasn’t easy about it?”

“When I went back home, the absence of my parents and older brother felt more real. I couldn’t just pretend none of that happened and live on.”

“…”

“I felt like I needed to at least understand what I went through before I could live normally again.”

Even while talking about losing his family, Jae-gyeom’s expression and tone remained calm.

As if he had been refining it for a long time.

After Jae-gyeom spoke so matter-of-factly, he added with a smiling face again.

“Besides that, I also wanted to do rescue work like the team leader.”

Hmm…

If he joined the Management Bureau with this mindset, wouldn’t Jae-gyeom’s current job satisfaction be at its worst?

But I didn’t want to nitpick at a kid who was saying admirable things.

So I kept my mouth shut, but Kwak Jae-gyeom glanced at me and added.

“Though the Management Bureau’s policy has changed and we hardly do any rescues anymore…”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“I just shot myself in the foot.”

As honest as ever.

The honest Kwak Jae-gyeom acknowledged the organization’s weakness and complained.

“Honestly, there are times when I get disillusioned too. But since having the Management Bureau is better than not having it at all, I think enduring here is also important work. Most other people are probably holding their positions for the same reason.”

I nodded at Jae-gyeom’s explanation.

Yeah, I think everything he said is right.

Perhaps noticing that I was quite impressed, Kwak Jae-gyeom smiled and asked me.

“Hyung, do you know why the Management Bureau’s symbol is a rat snake?”

“The Management Bureau’s symbol was a rat snake?”

“Ah, hyung. You see Mumoo all the time.”

“Ah.”

So he wasn’t just a snake but a rat snake.

I was actually curious about this.

Why the Management Bureau’s character had to be a snake of all the many animals.

“He’s a house snake.”

“House snake?”

“You know the guardian deities that protect houses in Korean folk beliefs, right? They’re called household gods.”

“Like the house lord deity or the site master?”

“Yes, yes. The house snake is also one of those household gods, and its characteristic is that it protects the house from places like under the roof or in storage rooms where people can’t see it.”

I searched for house snakes while listening to Jae-gyeom’s explanation.

But quite a frightening description came up.

The house snake is one form of the wealth deity that brings luck and fortune to the household, and it’s said that when a house snake settles in a house, fortune comes, but when it leaves the house, that household falls into ruin.

I combined Jae-gyeom’s explanation with what I searched and answered his earlier question.

“Like a house snake, hide and protect the country – something like that?”

“Yes, exactly right.”

Jae-gyeom nodded with a smile.

His expression was quite confident, as if he clearly understood his role.

* * *

My smart study partner, the Mumoo agent.

I learned the secret of Mumoo’s birth after a whole 4 months.

So he wasn’t just a snake but a guardian deity.

A house snake that hides under the roof to protect the house.

It was quite a fitting symbol for the Management Bureau’s stance of managing and concealing the unknown threats of the Special Zone.

But the name of the mercenary company created by Management Bureau defectors is Apophis.

Apophis was the name of a giant viper that appears in Egyptian mythology.

Anyway, this side is also a snake.

However, unlike the house snake, Apophis is classified as an evil deity.

This is, hmm.

Could this be a naming choice that contains Director Moon Ho-san’s declaration of ‘screw public interest, I’ll pursue private interest’?

If so, Moon Ho-san’s naming sense might really not match mine at all…

And besides the house snake and Apophis, there’s another snake around me.

The “Fake God” that dominated the “National Museum of Korea.”

That too was in the form of a snake.

It’s still a mystery.

Why did something that was originally in the form of whale bones change its appearance to snake bones?

Would it be too much of a stretch to connect this with Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol who died in the line of duty at the “National Museum of Korea”?

While I was imagining the correlation between these snakes by myself.

New information arrived for me.

“The autopsy results for Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol have come out.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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