Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 126

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Survival Manual for Editors, Episode 126

ep18. The Rescuer (10)

“…….”
Team Leader Cha offered no answer, something visibly unsettling him.
“If you have something to say, then say it.”
I found myself irritated and muttering the words, and Cha Si-eon paused briefly before responding in a perfectly measured sentence.
“I question whether Seo Do-un’s assistance justifies accepting the proposal, so I prefer not to consent.”
“…….”
Only at moments like this did it become so very clear.
I felt a surge of emotion, then exhaled sharply.
“Understood. So, Team Leader, that operation you mentioned earlier in front of the Deputy Manager—realistically, what success rate do you assess?”
“There are too many variables. I cannot evaluate it until I confirm the prisoners’ condition first.”
“You’re saying we’d need eleven Class-S prisoners who obey you to make it even remotely feasible, but is that realistic?”
“…….”
“Of course, if the point is just the attempt itself, fine. But if the goal is to save Lee Sol, wouldn’t it be better to be more serious about this?”
“……So what exactly are you proposing to do?”
“Your plan only needs two additional elements.”
I presented to Cha Si-eon the most rational method to avoid failure and senseless death.
But he immediately showed his resistance.
“Say something that makes sense.”
“It does make sense.”
“Hardly…….”
“Does what you’re doing make sense? While we’re at it—you think Lee Sol’s ‘humanitarian disposal’ is actually justified, don’t you?”
“…….”
“That’s why you’re risking your life alone. You acknowledge that judgment, so you can’t openly oppose it, and that’s why you’re trying to create variables on your own.”
At my words, Cha Si-eon’s expression hardened, then his gaze fell.
I drove the point home.
“Choose one. Either follow the decision from above, or save Lee Sol.”
Cha Si-eon fell silent again.
I found this quiet mode rather tiresome, so I didn’t wait and spoke again.
“If you’re thinking ‘it would be right to follow their decision—Lee Sol can’t receive special treatment’—then consider it more rationally.”
“I am making a rational judgment.”
“I don’t think so.”
At my point, Cha Si-eon’s expression grew troubled.
But that reaction was entirely misdirected, so I spoke clearly again.
“I’m not saying your words and actions contradict each other, nor am I saying it’s irrational that you can’t abandon Lee Sol.”
“……?”
“Right now, the most irrational thing is abandoning Lee Sol.”
Cha Si-eon’s brow narrowed.
As if asking what nonsense I was speaking.
So I asked him directly.
“At this point, can you really not treat Lee Sol as special?”
“That wouldn’t be desirable.”
“But you can’t help it, so you risk your life at every chance.”
Now I saw it clearly.
Why Cha Si-eon had been acting like he was desperate to die.
Before understanding, I thought perhaps his mind was simply broken. But it wasn’t.
Cha Si-eon had always maintained a consistent purpose.
Rolling alone to get me out safely from the Island.
Recklessly attempting to obtain fragments of the Big Cat.
Lee Sol lay at the end of all of it.
Apparently realizing his private motivations had been exposed, Cha Si-eon muttered quietly.
“That also wouldn’t be desirable.”
“Which is exactly why that judgment is irrational.”
I rejected his remorse—if it could even be called that—immediately.
Then I explained again to Cha Si-eon, who still didn’t grasp it.
“It’s already an established fact, so denying it accomplishes what? If you sprain your leg, does it heal by saying it’s undesirable? No. Running on that injured leg is simply an irrational act.”
“This is different. A sprained leg is a physical problem, but this is…….”
“A mental one. But the cases aren’t different.”
I laughed silently at Cha Si-eon’s counter-argument.
Yes, a physical injury is visible, so you know it and I know it.
But certain problems are only seen by those who look, only known by those who understand.
And even the person involved often remains ignorant, letting it fester.
Of course, those people must solve their own problems.
Solving someone else’s problem for them isn’t help—it’s interference.
But if they’ve even forgotten the problem exists, then perhaps someone nearby can point it out once.
“Lee Sol has already become special.”
“…….”
“She’s taken on too much meaning to the people at the Management Bureau.”
If I only said this much, he’d voice again that it wasn’t desirable.
“Team Leader, you suspect where Lee Sol’s father is, don’t you?”
When I mentioned Lee Seob, Cha Si-eon’s expression turned cold.
But I didn’t care.
Not in the slightest, I converted their weaknesses and secrets into language.
“Yet you’ve just let it be all this time. Under the pretense of inevitability.”
“…….”
“So his daughter got dragged into that place and now she’s about to die. In the same form as her father, or perhaps she’ll die because her father was never saved. A fifteen-year-old with no guilt.”
I could see the tension in Cha Si-eon’s jaw.
As if he were gritting his teeth, yet I didn’t stop.
“Lee Sol is the past you turned away from, brought back in bodily form. So she can only be special. Lee Sol isn’t just a girl—she’s your own past.”
A buried past returning in a crueler form.
Most people call that retribution.
“And now you plan to kill it again with your own hands.”
“…….”
“If you could live with that, then yes, that would be rational. But you can’t do it. You’re already spiraling out of control, and if Lee Sol dies too, do you think you’ll be able to manage the aftermath?”
“……What are you talking about?”
“You’re already spending your own money on compensation, needlessly antagonizing good citizens, and people call you suicidal—you’re reckless. And you keep getting criticized by superiors for it. The physical problems, the financial problems—they’re all already exposed. You’re causing trouble for people around you and your own life’s hanging by a thread. So what’s different? Honestly, a broken leg would be preferable.”
Cha Si-eon’s expression hardened in a completely different way than before.
A raw, stung look.
I hadn’t wanted to go this far either.
But you gave me no choice to do otherwise.
“So this is unavoidable. Or should I say—you tell people all the time to ‘endure through willpower,’ but when the mind actually starts to break, you act like none of that applies? Humans die mentally just as they die physically—it’s a trait of the species. The signs are already overwhelming, and ignoring them is irrational.”
“…….”
“So this time, save her no matter what. You cannot give up on this.”
When buried pasts return in crueler forms, most call that retribution.
But it doesn’t come only to punish.
It can also be a chance to set the past right, and so this is unavoidable.
Saving Lee Sol is something you must do whether you like it or not.
“And this isn’t just your problem alone. The degrees may differ, but there are probably quite a few people for whom Lee Sol has become special. This is entangled with them as well.”
Cha Si-eon didn’t deny my words.
He held his chin in his hand for a long time, then finally exhaled deeply.
“Even if I agree, the Deputy Manager won’t permit it.”
Would it kill you to say ‘understood’ first?
I wasn’t satisfied with this procedureless manner of speaking either, but I decided to treat it as assent and moved on.
Besides, there was a bigger mountain still ahead.
“The Deputy Manager will be difficult.”
“He will be.”
“What was the mood when I left this morning?”
“…….”
Team Leader Cha said nothing.
Yes, I understand this silence.
He’d taken plenty of heat.
But having come this far, I couldn’t stop.
There in that room, we briefly plotted together to overcome the great ordeal that was Kwon Mu-seop.
And we reaffirmed our resolve for tomorrow.

* * *

The next day.
“Why again…….”
Kwon Mu-seop muttered weakly upon seeing Cha Si-eon and me.
Particularly wary of me, Deputy Manager Kwon shot us a suspicious look.
I smiled brightly toward the Deputy Manager, and Cha Si-eon adopted a suitably harmless posture.
“Team Leader Cha acknowledged there was a flaw in yesterday’s operation.”
“……?”
At my sudden remark, Kwon Mu-seop eyed us with doubt.
“We overlooked something crucial. As you and Deputy Manager Yun said, this isn’t something we can decide among ourselves.”
“What do you mean?”
“We can’t suspend the Special Zone without the Raven’s consent. So Team Leader’s operation was fundamentally flawed from the start. Even if I try to enter the Train Station, if the Raven doesn’t want that, I’ll be rerouted elsewhere.”
“Is that what you came to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“Is that really all?”
“Well, actually…….”
As I continued hesitantly, Kwon Mu-seop laughed as if in disbelief.
I hoped that smile would linger as I began again.
“I think I need to enter the Train Station first.”
Fortunately, the smile remained on the Deputy Manager’s face.
Kwon Mu-seop spoke, still smiling.
“Both of you, get out.”
Still smiling, he issued the dismissal without mercy.
Then, changing his mind, he gestured to Cha Si-eon.
“No, wait. Cha Si-eon, you stay.”
Kwon Mu-seop clearly intended to grill Team Leader Cha further, and I hastily interjected.
“Deputy Manager, this is an important consideration. If the Raven’s options include the Train Station, then I’ll be pulled there by some means. So I need to verify. We prepare to suppress the Train Station, I enter it, and then we’ll have our answer. If I get rerouted elsewhere during entry, Team Leader will give up. But if I enter the Train Station safely, then this is something we must do.”
But this is what must be done—if I reach the Train Station without incident.
I advocated earnestly while concealing these true intentions.
Yet Kwon Mu-seop surely saw through this obvious stratagem.
“Do-un, rein it in a bit.”
He was still smiling at me, but Kwon Mu-seop seemed to be reaching his limit.
It felt like we’d both get chewed out if I kept pushing, but there was no turning back now.
“Deputy Manager, I’m not planning to throw my life away recklessly. If I’m being pulled there involuntarily, that’s one thing, but I don’t want to walk into certain death of my own accord.”
Kwon Mu-seop narrowed his brows and sighed.
As if to say: you know the value of your own life, yet you’re doing this?
I’d anticipated it, but Kwon Mu-seop wasn’t easy.
And if the first stage looked like this, the next one would be dismissed the moment I mentioned it.
Thinking I’d lose ground by dragging this out, I just threw it all out at once.
“So I’m requesting this: in Team Leader’s operation, please assign Management Bureau personnel instead of prisoners.”
At that moment, all smile drained from Kwon Mu-seop’s face.

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