Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 118

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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 118

ep18. Karma (2)

30 minutes ago.

I was sitting in the section chief’s office with Cha Si-eon.

How long had we been idly flipping through meeting materials in that place without Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop himself.

Click-

“Sorry, did you wait long?”

Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop and Deputy Manager Yun U-jeong entered the room.

Kwon Mu-seop was dressed in formal uniform, as if he had just returned from outside.

Yun U-jeong was in work clothes as usual.

“The external schedule ended later than expected, phew…”

Kwon Mu-seop walked over busily while explaining the reason for being late.

Kwon Mu-seop took off his outer coat and sat on the sofa.

Yun U-jeong also sat across from us and asked Kwon Mu-seop.

“How was the atmosphere?”

“Brutal… They fought for a long time over how to count the casualties.”

“Why would they fight over that?”

“These are people for whom numbers matter. They practically fought to the death over whether to count casualties from the time of disappearance or the time of discovery, by department.”

“So what did they decide?”

“No conclusion was reached.”

“This is maddening…”

At Yun U-jeong’s sigh, Kwon Mu-seop pressed his tired eyes firmly.

The Management Bureau has many meetings too.

Especially since “The National Museum of Korea Under the False God’s Gaze” stopped, section chiefs have been called outside the Management Bureau as well.

It was because the suddenly added number of casualties was too large, causing chaos above as well.

“No, they need to decide quickly so we can do our work. Right now the casualties from the “National Museum of Korea” exceed 1,000. If we add the remains that haven’t been classified yet, at least 300 more are expected to come out, so why are they dragging their feet like this?”

Yun U-jeong was exasperated at Kwon Mu-seop’s words.

As Yun U-jeong said, the number of casualties from the “National Museum of Korea” was still increasing.

And most of those casualties were remains that had been blocking the corridors of the “National Museum of Korea.”

When excavation of the remains began, the number of victims was estimated at around 800.

The basis for the estimate was that the “National Museum of Korea” had been neglected for about 2 years, and the “Fake God” devoured one person per day.

So they set the minimum at 700 and added 100 more considering variables.

But when classification actually began, the real number of casualties far exceeded expectations.

As the already serious situation worsened further, those above seemed to be fighting over responsibility.

The Management Bureau appeared to be caught in the crossfire like a shrimp whose back bursts when whales fight.

“An audit will come down to our side soon.”

“Ah, let them come. We’ve made all our reports. When we asked them to supplement our personnel, they gave us all that runaround, and now they’re…”

Yun U-jeong continued grumbling while Kwon Mu-seop smiled weakly.

Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop was no pushover, but he was somewhat of a scapegoat.

Still, since he’s our section chief, I hope he doesn’t get beaten up outside.

Kwon Mu-seop leaned back on the sofa to catch his breath, then soon made a groaning sound and straightened his back.

“I roughly looked at the report on the way here. You both worked hard during your vacation. It would have been nice if you could have rested properly.”

Kwon Mu-seop said while opening the report on the table.

It was the report on mine and Cha Si-eon’s consecutive exploration of the “Train Station” and “Library.”

Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop, who was skimming through the report, sighed deeply once more.

“So Si-eon was drawn into the “Train Station” first…”

But he only muttered this.

He didn’t question Cha Si-eon being dragged to the “Train Station.”

Rather, he had an expression like what was bound to come had come.

It seems Cha Si-eon is working on matters related to Agent Lee Seob in an area I don’t know about.

Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop seems to know about it too.

Perhaps that’s why Kwon Mu-seop couldn’t bring himself to speak.

On the other hand, Cha Si-eon began reporting in a dry manner.

“First, the exterior of the train station was in good condition. All the ruined forms we last observed appear to have been restored.”

“I see…”

“The location where I was drawn in was the waiting hall of the “Train Station.” The siren sounded as soon as I entered, and the crushing and paralysis symptoms began about 20 seconds later. Right after the helmet I was wearing was damaged, Seo Do-un was also dragged into the waiting hall of the “Train Station.””

“When Do-un came, the crushing transferred to Do-un’s side.”

“Yes.”

“And after you made contact with Do-un, you were immediately transferred to the “Library”?”

“That’s correct.”

Kwon Mu-seop was silent for a while.

He quietly flipped through the report, then soon muttered with a bitter smile.

“Should we send a thank-you note to the “Crow”?”

“Then Do-un would feel a bit left out.”

“That’s true, I suppose.”

Kwon Mu-seop smiled with a furrowed brow at Yun U-jeong’s words.

Then he became serious again and muttered.

“The siren stopped its attacks and only targeted Do-un repeatedly…”

“Why does it only do that to Do-un?”

“Well… But if the “Crow” really moved Do-un for the purpose of rescuing Si-eon, it would mean the “Crow” side also knew. That Do-un is the siren’s priority target.”

“…”

That was a chilling statement.

So this means I’m known among the Special Zone entities as a priority elimination target.

“It’s inappropriate to leave “The Siren-Ringing Train Station” as it is.”

Then Cha Si-eon spoke up.

“So I’d like to include the “Train Station” among the Special Zones to be shut down this time.”

The rings of the “Big Cat” that entered second production will be completed soon.

A total of 3 rings will be made this time.

We can shut down the operation of 3 Special Zones.

It hasn’t been confirmed yet whether the “Big Cat’s” rings can stop only Type 1 Special Zones, or if Types 2 and 3 are also possible.

However, due to the limited quantity, we can’t take unnecessary risks or experiments, so currently only Type 1 Special Zones are being considered for shutdown.

So Cha Si-eon suggested including the “Train Station,” which is a Type 1 Special Zone, as a target, but Kwon Mu-seop immediately frowned.

“Don’t you know the target selection criteria?”

“I know them.”

Kwon Mu-seop looked at him as if to say ‘then why are you saying this?’

The Management Bureau operates very conservatively except in very special cases.

To what extent? Enough that they’re criticized for being overly cautious.

The same goes for the Type 1 Special Zone shutdown operation that will begin soon.

So Special Zones with seriously high danger levels were naturally excluded from consideration.

But stopping already stabilized Special Zones would be a loss.

As a compromise, mid-level Type 1 Special Zones that could achieve maximum efficiency with minimum loss were being discussed as operation targets.

He couldn’t be unaware of this.

Cha Si-eon continued to test his opinion.

“But we can’t keep leaving uncontrollable areas as they are. Monitoring has also been suspended, and if reorganization proceeds like this, it could become like the “National Museum of Korea.” When that time comes, response will be even more difficult.”

“…”

“Moreover, continuing to bear the risk of the “Train Station” is also wasteful. Because of that, even meaningful data is being neglected. So now we need to resolve it and move on.”

At this point, I wonder if he came with a plan.

Cha Si-eon seemed to want to deal with the “Train Station” somehow.

On the other hand, Kwon Mu-seop didn’t seem very inclined.

The dynamic is somewhat strange.

There’s a saying in the Management Bureau: ‘It’s common knowledge that Cha Si-eon submits to Kwon Mu-seop.’

But making that saying seem meaningless, Cha Si-eon sitting next to me was now pushing back against Kwon Mu-seop head-on.

“How exactly do you plan to carry out that operation? And the Siren is targeting Do-un first?”

“Mr. Seo Do-un can enter after the internal cleanup is finished, just like with the 「Hotel」. And regarding the operation, I think the response strategy we discussed before is worth trying.”

“….”

“If you assign me the prisoners, I’ll try it myself.”

Don’t tell me he’s planning to clean up the 「Train Station」 with just prisoners?

How?

Of course, going in as a group could buy some time.

Since the Siren’s crushing attacks one person at a time.

And that crushing can be interrupted from the side.

So he’s planning to respond while buying time like that?

The idea is novel, but it’s still a life-or-death gamble.

And he’s saying he’ll do it with prisoners, not with team members he’s in sync with.

No, using prisoners in the first place means assuming some of them will die.

And Team Leader Cha is saying he’ll personally command and attempt that.

I’ve felt this several times already, but Cha Si-eon sometimes becomes recklessly rash.

If it looks like this to me, I wonder how it looks to Kwon Mu-seop or Yun U-jeong.

Silence flowed.

Kwon Mu-seop silently clenched and unclenched his hands.

Every time he made a fist, the tendons on the back of his hand stood out prominently.

Is it just my imagination that I can feel subtle irritation from those hand gestures?

“But wait, can we actually choose this?”

That’s when Yun U-jeong interjected.

“Last time too, we tried to stop the 「Hotel」 but 「Crow」 changed it to the 「National Museum of Korea」. Don’t we need to get permission from 「Crow」 first? Isn’t that right, Section Chief?”

“Yes, that could be the case.”

Kwon Mu-seop gave a short answer to Yun U-jeong’s half-joking question.

That’s when I was certain.

Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop is angry right now.

I found myself reading the room along with the cold atmosphere Kwon Mu-seop was giving off.

Even though Yun U-jeong deliberately broke the tension once, the atmosphere didn’t ease at all.

No, it was actually becoming more and more like walking on thin ice.

That’s when it happened.

Beep-! Beep-!

Alarms rang overlapping each other.

As if a group notification had been sent to the executives, the sound came simultaneously from Kwon Mu-seop’s, Yun U-jeong’s, and Cha Si-eon’s smart devices.

Cha Si-eon looked at his smartphone and said.

“They say the autopsy results for Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol are out.”

* * *

We all moved to the seminar room together.

People from the Research Department were already there sitting and waiting.

“You said the autopsy results are out.”

“Yes. First, the cause of the deceased’s death is said to be shock death due to excessive bleeding.”

A researcher immediately began explaining the autopsy results.

But I couldn’t understand it from the start.

Excessive bleeding?

When I first discovered him, Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s body was almost intact.

“I understand there were no particular external injuries when he was found.”

“The bleeding occurred internally. If you look at the back page of the report, there’s a diagram.”

We all turned the pages of the report together.

There was a human body diagram commonly used in hospitals.

And on top of that human body diagram, something like a stain that was hard to define was drawn over it.

A shape where something like roots had grown from a circle near the chest area.

“This is a reproduction of the defect wound of unknown cause that was inside the deceased’s body.”

“Defect wound?”

“A defect wound refers to an injury where body tissue has been completely lost.”

At the researcher’s explanation, we looked down at the human body diagram again.

A wound where tissue was lost?

So the inside of the body was hollow to the extent of this large stain…?

“Inside the deceased’s body, bone, muscle, organs and other tissues were lost in the form shown in that diagram. And it appears the deceased died from bleeding that occurred at those cross-sections.”

The outside was intact while only the inside of the body was torn away.

A heavy silence fell over the incomprehensible situation.

Kwon Mu-seop broke the silence and asked the researcher.

“Has the time of Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s death been determined?”

“The deceased’s time of death is estimated to be around 4 AM on June 5th.”

“….”

June 5th, 4 AM.

That was the time I had secured the core of the 「Fake God」.

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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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