Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 129

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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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Editor’s Survival Manual Chapter 129

ep19. Exploration! Timeless XX! (2)
Kim Ji-an didn’t seem to be lying.
So the researchers moved to another room and dressed her in a hazmat suit.
“……Really? I have to wear this? And talk while wearing it?”
“Yeah.”
“Just to be safe.”
“It’s so hard to breathe…… I’m so uncomfortable. Do I really have to wear it?”
“It makes us uneasy.”
“Us.”
“No, no…… If you suspect anything, run a test on me. Is it enough just to have me wear this? What about me?”
“Alright, alright.”
“We’ll measure your contamination level later.”
Kim Ji-an, suddenly dressed in a hazmat suit alone, stood isolated in the room.
The researchers placated her dismissively.
Though the tone was different, the Research Department seemed to have as good a rapport as the Field Team did.
“I feel kind of embarrassed being the only one wearing this…….”
“It’s fine. It’s not strange at all.”
“So you don’t remember anything, right? Get Oh Tae-o in here.”
The Research Manager suddenly called for Oh Tae-o.
A nearby researcher immediately made contact, and while that was happening, Kim Ji-an watched footage of herself from the Management Bureau’s CCTV, moaning half under her breath.
“No, no…… What is this? Oh, I’m so scared right now……!”
……The more you looked, the more she seemed like a different person.
The Kim Ji-an who had come to find me felt restrained.
This Kim Ji-an, by contrast, seemed like someone who valued honesty over restraint.
“No, look, senior. It couldn’t have been me, right? If it was really me, I would’ve already cried when you said that…….”
“That’s true.”
“So I thought you came prepared.”
It was while Kim Ji-an was continuing to review the CCTV footage of the meeting room where I, Cha Si-eon, and she had been together.
Oh Tae-o appeared in response to the Research Manager’s summons.
“I told you it wasn’t me…….”
But the moment he arrived, he began complaining to the Research Manager.
It seemed he had his own story.
Overall, everything was a complete mess.
So Cha Si-eon, Kim Ji-an, Oh Tae-o, and I began a four-way confrontation right there.
Kim Ji-an spoke first from inside the hazmat suit.
“I haven’t contacted any Management Bureau staff recently. And on that day, I left work early from my current job and went straight home. I was tired, so I lay on the couch before taking a shower, and when I came to, it was midnight. So I thought I’d just fallen asleep by accident.”
For Kim Ji-an, that day seemed to have been simply an exhausting one.
But a few days later, her former supervisor suddenly contacted her, and it seemed she was interrogated about an incident she knew nothing about.
Startled by that, she rushed in today.
I took over the narrative, understanding Kim Ji-an’s situation.
“I met an acquaintance at a cafe in Mapo-gu Manwon-dong that day and parted around nine in the evening. Afterward, I was waiting for Jae-gyeom to return when Kim Ji-an approached me and spoke. She informed me of Lee Sol’s current situation and the atmosphere among the Management Bureau’s superiors about disposing of her.”
“There’s no way I’d know something like that…….”
Kim Ji-an, flustered, turned toward Cha Si-eon.
At that plea from inside the hazmat suit, Cha Si-eon spoke up.
“I received a call from Kwak Jae-gyeom around 9:15 p.m. It was a report that Kim Ji-an had approached Seo Do-un. I had both of them come in immediately. Since Seo Do-un was right there, I couldn’t ask Kim Ji-an for detailed circumstances. In the meantime, Acting Director Oh Tae-o came in, and I was only speculating it was his doing.”
“No, I’m telling you it wasn’t me…….”
Oh Tae-o, indignant at being implicated, protested again.
“I only helped after Ji-an contacted me. I didn’t bring up anything first…….”
“Didn’t it seem strange to you that Kim Ji-an knew everything about our internal situation?”
“I just thought she’d heard a rumor somewhere…… maybe from Team Leader Jo Eun-bi…….”
“Oh Tae-o…….”
At Oh Tae-o’s helplessness, the Research Manager finally lost his temper.
“You fool! If you thought she’d heard a rumor, you should’ve reported it to me first! Why are you opening the containment area!?”
“Then you’re just letting Lee Sol die……?”
“…….”
But Oh Tae-o, as always, remained unfazed.
Moreover, he succeeded in turning the Research Manager into an idiot with barely any effort.
The Research Manager was left speechless, and in that moment, I asked Oh Tae-o.
“Then it wasn’t you who relayed my departure schedule to Kim Ji-an?”
“No. I found out about your going out through Ji-an in the first place…….”
“……When did you find out?”
“The day before you went out. Ji-an sent an email. She said she’d meet you tomorrow and come back together, and asked me to show her Lee Sol.”
“No, it wasn’t me. I never sent such a message.”
“…….”
Oh Tae-o answered calmly while Kim Ji-an hurried to deny it.
In between them, my head went blank.
The day before I went out?
My departure had been decided late in the evening the day before.
Moreover, I’d only shared my schedule with those around me the morning of.
“Manager Oh, what time did you receive that email?”
“Um…… 9:03 p.m.…….”
At Oh Tae-o’s answer, I felt as if ice water had been poured over me.
This didn’t make sense.
My call with the Author ended around 8:40 p.m.
My departure was decided spontaneously at that moment.
Yet in just twenty minutes, my departure schedule was shared via Oh Tae-o’s email.
This was something Kim Ji-an couldn’t have done.
At that point, only the Author and I knew about my departure.
But I had never sent an email to Oh Tae-o, and there was no way the Author would have done so either.
Then who was left?
The Raven, watching my every move.
There was nothing else I could think of.
“Manager Oh, why did you send me the containment records for Lee Sol?”
“You asked me to, didn’t you? The agent…….”
“Me?”
“Ji-an said so. She said the agent needed them.”
“No, no……! That wasn’t me…….”
Once again, responsibility hung suspended in the air.
Kim Ji-an had had no reason to act that way last week since she didn’t know about Lee Sol’s situation.
Yet according to Oh Tae-o, opening Lee Sol’s containment area and sending me the containment records were both done at Kim Ji-an’s request.
“Ha…….”
I felt a dry laugh rising in my throat.
It seemed my impression that Kim Ji-an’s eyes had looked distinctly dark was no illusion.
The feeling that those dark eyes resembled those of a raven didn’t seem to be mere fantasy either.
* * *
We gathered and tried to reconcile our accounts, but we couldn’t reach any real conclusion.
We barely managed to remember that Kim Ji-an had experienced a similar blackout while working at the Management Bureau.
But there was no further progress, and the Research Department decided to measure Kim Ji-an’s contamination level.
They also agreed to investigate where and how the email exchanged between Oh Tae-o and Kim Ji-an had been sent, and to follow up.
I conveyed my vague suspicion that the Raven might have been controlling Kim Ji-an, along with observations about the color of her eyes and the temperature of her hand when she was being manipulated.
After leaving the Research Building, I asked Cha Si-eon.
“What kind of person was Kim Ji-an originally?”
“Just as you saw her today. She did her work properly, but she was somewhat…….”
“Please speak honestly. I’ll take it into account.”
“She had a tendency to be flustered. She didn’t communicate efficiently, and when asked to get to the point, she’d panic suddenly, making conversation difficult. And she generally seemed intimidated by the Field Team staff.”
……Taking that into account, maybe Kim Ji-an wasn’t inefficient at conversation — perhaps she was simply ordinarily sociable.
That’s why when I tried casual conversation with her, she panicked when Cha Si-eon pressed only for the point.
“But for someone so intimidated, she used awfully familiar terms with you, didn’t she?”
She called him “Cha” informally.
The nickname seemed to have developed from calling him that so often it became natural.
“That was because of Lee Sol.”
“Lee Sol?”
“When Lee Sol’s father was still with the Management Bureau, Lee Sol’s home caught fire and burned down completely. At that time, for safety reasons, Lee Sol’s family lived at the Management Bureau for a while.”
Lee Sol, what kind of life have you lived…….
“The Research Department staff frequently played with Lee Sol back then, and so I often found myself in her presence as well.”
So that’s how adults become close when there’s a child involved.
“Did you notice anything strange when you saw Kim Ji-an last time?”
“I didn’t notice anything particularly out of place. We didn’t exchange many words, and given the circumstances, it didn’t seem unusual that the atmosphere was different from before.”
“…….”
That was true.
The dark-eyed Kim Ji-an had barely spoken in front of Cha Si-eon.
The same was true when riding in the Management Bureau vehicle with its dashboard camera.
When we were alone together at the cafe, she spoke quite a bit.
If this too was all intentional behavior…….
“You said the Raven might have been controlling Researcher Kim Ji-an.”
“Yes. Though I don’t have evidence yet.”
I had no evidence, but my intuition was telling me that.
The moment I thought that, my spine prickled again.
The thought that the Raven might still be watching kept raising goosebumps on the back of my neck.
The Raven’s — or rather, the suspected controller’s — behavior through Kim Ji-an was remarkably subtle.
Making me aware of Lee Sol’s situation and sending me the data, so that I ultimately had to throw myself into the problem.
I’d felt it before, but the Raven understood my thoughts and actions far too well.
As if predicting a future I don’t even know myself.
If that were truly the case, what was the Raven’s purpose in orchestrating all of this?
As I struggled to suppress my confusion, Cha Si-eon spoke beside me.
“Then we can expect the Train Station Operation to succeed.”
At those words, I forgot how serious things were and let out an involuntary laugh.
If my estimate was correct, an entity from the Special Zone had been controlling a real person.
It had even infiltrated inside the Management Bureau itself, causing chaos among people.
It was incredibly serious, but none of that mattered to him — he was just saying the Train Station Operation would go smoothly.
His resolve was extraordinary.
This man too carried deep resentment.
Well, let’s think positively for now.
This operation had received the Raven’s approval.
And so far, nothing involving the Raven or intended by it had ever failed.
So surely this time would be no different.
I spun up my optimism circuit like this, burying my confusion.
But the optimism I’d carefully assembled shattered before we could even begin.
The higher-ups denied the Train Station Operation.
And a few days later, an inspection from the Special Management Bureau came down.

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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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