Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 147

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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 Rules for an Editor, Episode 147

ep20. An Editor’s Checklist (4)
“I’ll say it again: our top priority is a safe operation. We don’t need to succeed on the first attempt. We’ve factored in withdrawal and re-entry scenarios, so we’ll proceed safely in accordance with the situation on the ground.”
Cha Si-eon spoke in the quiet Waiting Hall of Yongsan Station.
Before him stood roughly thirty people.
All Management Bureau personnel.
We’d borrowed Yongsan Station in the dead of night under the pretext of a special forces training exercise.
It was true that we belonged to the government, it was true that most of us were former special forces, and it was true that we were conducting a training exercise—so it wasn’t exactly a lie.
“The Attack Team scans the space with the Control Team and tracks the drone’s movements.”
About a dozen people moved at Cha Si-eon’s command.
Sharp footsteps echoed like the sound of a downpour, but Yongsan Station at 3 a.m. remained eerily quiet.
This was precisely the atmosphere of the Train Station Special Zone that I remembered.
A place that ought to be crowded was empty instead, every store locked behind shuttered doors, and that desolation made it feel as though I’d been left alone in a world after civilization’s end.
But in just a few hours, this place would fill with people again.
And they would go about their ordinary lives, completely unaware we’d ever been here.
“The vanguard team also moves to the designated location, discusses our response plan, and conducts the training exercise.”
Vanguard team—that was me.
And two support personnel to back me up.
“Vanguard team, let’s move!”
A man who took his steps as casually as if heading out on a picnic at the word to move.
It was Jeong Jin-u, of Exploration Team 2.
Jeong Jin-u was a young man with large eyes lacking a double eyelid and ruddy lips.
When I first saw him, I thought he was about my age, but seeing how Cha Si-eon treated him as a senior made it clear he was probably in his early to mid-thirties.
True to his role in the exploration team, he had a lean, wiry frame with compressed muscle beneath, and carried the clean, professional bearing of a white-collar worker.
And this man had originally been part of the Attack Team until he requested not to be grouped with me, which is how he ended up in my vanguard team.
…….
And the shadow standing behind him, or rather a presence like a living wall, was Han Seung-yo of Crisis Response Unit 6.
He possessed physical prowess comparable to Cha Si-eon’s, spoke very little, and was also a man in his early to mid-thirties.
With sun-darkened skin and closely cropped hair, he was unmistakably part of the Response Team.
Me, Jeong Jin-u, Han Seung-yo.
The three of us were the vanguard team, scheduled to be deployed first during the special operation at the Train Station.
The reason I have two supporters is because the Raven might spirit me away to somewhere else.
If that happens, my supporters would be stranded at the Train Station—and dead.
That’s why they assigned two of them.
If I disappear from the Train Station during the main operation, the two of them must keep saving each other from the siren’s sound until the extraction team arrives.
Conversely, if I remain at the Train Station, and if the siren’s sound concentrates on me alone as we predict, then keeping me alive becomes their responsibility.
Either way, it’s a situation where we’ll be in suffocating confrontation with the siren.
“I’m a little nervous. It’s been so long since I’ve been inside the Train Station.”
Yet Jeong Jin-u still maintained his carefree, pleasure-outing demeanor.
Not that there was any particular need to demand seriousness from him.
The fact that he was included in this roster already guaranteed his competence.
“You’re gonna get tackled every twenty seconds or so—it’s no small thing. Agent Do-un, are you going to be alright?”
Jeong Jin-u suddenly turned to me and asked.
I nodded in response.
“I’m planning to wear protective gear.”
“Come on, is that gonna help? It’s not like you’re falling on your own—you’re getting plowed into by other people and flying across the place.”
Jeong Jin-u shook his head vigorously and shot a look toward Han Seung-yo.
A warning that said: from now on, this wall of a man is going to be hitting you.
……Certainly, once I’m in there, I’ll be getting struck and sprawled out repeatedly.
Like a rugby player, until the Attack Team silences the Great Siren’s sound.
Even back at the Train Station during last summer’s vacation, Cha Si-eon grabbed and shoved me twice, and later I found bruises on my arms and knees.
But what can I do—this isn’t a situation where I can afford to protect myself.
I’d already accepted my role, but Jeong Jin-u had started puzzling over something on his own.
Then he suddenly snapped his fingers and spoke cheerfully.
“Should we ride a motorcycle?”
“Here?”
“Yeah!”
Ride me on a motorcycle and tear through this place?
Without giving the siren a chance to bear down on me?
At Jeong Jin-u’s daring proposal, Han Seung-yo opened his mouth for the first time.
“Railway Police.”
“Oh, you think the cops’ll come shut this down?”
Right, there’s the Railway Police here too.
The Railway Police appear whenever public order within the station is violated.
But their standards of public order are deeply skewed.
Killing a person and putting them in an Item Storage Locker—acquitted.
Threatening a ticket booth attendant—guilty.
Beating someone down with a fire extinguisher—acquitted.
Breaking a store’s glass window—guilty.
They don’t care about humans fighting amongst themselves; they only care that you don’t touch their facilities and staff…….
But what about speeding through the Waiting Hall on a motorcycle?
It certainly looks like the act of a madman, no matter how you look at it.
“But anyway, Sara’s just gonna stop you, right?”
Jeong Jin-u said this while looking over at Cha Si-eon and Baek Sa-ra on the far side of the Waiting Hall.
Then he immediately bounded off lightly toward them, fluttering like a leaf.
Jeong Jin-u said something to Cha Si-eon and Baek Sa-ra.
Then he came fluttering back to us.
But he came back without saying anything, so I asked.
“What did they say?”
“Don’t make unnecessary work for yourself.”
“Ah…….”
As expected—no mercy.
Whether we rode motorcycles or not, the Railway Police in this building were going to be eliminated anyway.
By Baek Sa-ra, who belonged to the Crisis Response Team along with Cha Si-eon.
Our actual target is the Great Siren outside this building.
So we had no choice but to fight the Railway Police eventually.
To send the drone outside, we’d first have to breach the Glass Ceiling of this building.
And there was the possibility of Mercenary Individuals appearing as well.
Actually, everyone was mentally prepared for them to show up.
So the Crisis Response Team was composed of five people, including Cha Si-eon and Baek Sa-ra, in case the Railway Police or Mercenary Individuals appeared.
“But when the ceiling glass breaks, which one does the Railway Police attack?”
I could hear voices from the Attack Team, speaking from a little distance away.
The Attack Team consisted of three people initially, but two from the extraction team would also join after purchasing tickets and transfer to drone operation.
“The one who brought the drone.”
“The one who launched it.”
“The one who operates it.”
“The drone.”
But opinions were splitting wildly even before they’d started anything.
“The motorcycle.”
And Jeong Jin-u, unwilling to let go of his motorcycle idea, quietly tried to slip in a suggestion.
Jeong Jin-u seemed like the type who had to do what he wanted to do.
Meanwhile, the Attack Team was approaching a reasonable compromise without reaching a conclusion about Schrödinger’s Railway Police.
“Let’s just trust Teresa.”
“Trust Teresa.”
“Give the sword to Teresa.”
So Baek Sa-ra really was known as Teresa in the field…….
The personnel who’d come on this reconnaissance were each running simulations of their assigned roles.
The grimness that comes from risking one’s life was notably absent.
If anything, they seemed delighted.
At finally doing what they were meant to do.
So I wasn’t particularly nervous either.
I couldn’t be optimistic just yet, but still—maybe it would work out somehow.
Whirrrr—
Then I heard something spinning.
Looking over, the Attack Team was launching a drone for a test flight.
A sample drone had been delivered earlier, apparently.
They seemed to be doing a demonstration run with it.
The drone rose smoothly, tracing a spiral pattern.
Oh, well done.
Very well done.
Well done, yes, but why won’t it stop and——
CRASH!—
It slammed directly into the Glass Ceiling and exploded.
Shatter—shatter—shatter—!
The reinforced glass that formed the ceiling naturally shattered into pieces, and the fragments came raining down to the floor in a brilliant cascade.
…….
Everyone fell silent and stared at the drone operator.
As all eyes converged on him, the drone operator spoke calmly.
“Practice like it’s the real thing.”
…….
In the deepening silence, I could almost hear Cha Si-eon’s blood pressure rising.
But the Crisis Response Team didn’t need to step in directly.
The Attack Team members were already beating the drone operator themselves.
Though beating him wouldn’t reattach the gaping hole in the ceiling.
Cha Si-eon quickly dialed someone and began managing the aftermath.
If someone reported it and police or fire trucks arrived, things would spiral out of control.
People must remain completely unaware we’d ever been here.
But instead of remaining unaware, we were gifting civilians a gaping hole in their ceiling…….
I suddenly began to feel tense.
Would we really be okay?
“See, switching teams was the right call.”
Meanwhile, Jeong Jin-u was alone in nodding and laughing.
* * *
The next day.
I stopped by the Research Building and visited Director Go Hong-sang, still in quarantine.
Director Go was dressed in gray training clothes issued by the Management Bureau.
Director Go seemed to have many thoughts the moment he saw me.
Somewhat glad to see me, wanting to maintain his dignity, and also seemingly a bit put out—Director Go displayed the twisted emotions of a middle-aged man pretending indifference with an “Hmph,” while gazing at me with distant eyes.
At least he appeared to be in good health.
So I merely greeted him and passed by the distant gaze of Director Go, heading to find Oh Tae-o.
Oh Tae-o’s Research Lab also had Kim Ji-an, whose quarantine had been lifted.
Though Kim Ji-an was still under suspicion of contamination, and thus also wore the same gray training clothes.
“Hello, Teacher Seo Do-un.”
“Hello, Kim Ji-an. How are you feeling?”
“Yes, fortunately my numbers keep dropping, so it looks like I’ll be able to go home soon.”
It was rare good news.
Then Oh Tae-o, sitting beside her, asked Kim Ji-an a question.
“Are you going back to the company you worked for……?”
“I’ve already left the company…….”
“Why?”
“Senior…… there aren’t many companies in society that give out a week of sick leave. Especially not in the humanities.”
Kim Ji-an answered distantly to Oh Tae-o, who asked the reason with an innocent face.
“Humanities?”
I was surprised at her words, and Kim Ji-an looked at me questioningly instead.
“I heard you were a researcher.”
“The humanities…… we research too…….”
“Oh, of course. I’m in the humanities as well.”
“I was in charge of the mythology and religion division.”
Mythology and religion?
“To interpret Type 3 Special Zones, you need knowledge of mythology and religion.”
“Ah…….”
I finally understood.
Type 3 Special Zones were said to be very different in appearance from Type 1 Special Zones.
So they must have formed a team with specialists in mythology and religion.
“But now our division doesn’t exist at the Management Bureau anymore.”
It seemed that way.
Most of what I saw during my time there were researchers from Oh Tae-o’s division in white coats.
“So the hallucination you saw at the National Theater was just recorded and filed away. That records matches the memo you brought back from the Hotel this time—quite meaningfully.”
Kim Ji-an, who’d lost her current job due to being caught up in her former workplace, was still kind-hearted enough to take the initiative and examine the materials she could access.
This was the reason I’d been called.
But before getting to the main point, Kim Ji-an asked me a question.
“But before that, Teacher Seo Do-un—have we ever met you somewhere before?”

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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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