Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 151

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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, Chapter 151
ep21. Shrouded in Mist (1)
Operation Start: 1 minute 45 seconds.
Baek Sa-ra burst into the Waiting Hall on a Motorcycle.
Vroooom—! Screech—!
She didn’t slow down even on the slick marble floor, banking hard into a turn.
Her chestnut hair, tied high in a single knot, fluttered like a banner.
Two more sirens wailed in the meantime, and I stumbled backward while fixing her image in my mind.
“Railway Police—no response!”
Screech—!
Jeong Jin-u reported the Motorcycle’s integrity, and Baek Sa-ra came to a stop before us.
Operation Start: 3 minutes 7 seconds.
Baek Sa-ra dismounted from the Motorcycle.
Jeong Jin-u took it and swung into the seat instead.
And Han Seung-yo, who had just saved me again, hoisted me onto the seat behind Jeong Jin-u.
“Stay safe, Otter….”
Wail—!
Baek Sa-ra’s warning was swallowed by the siren’s scream.
Vroooom—!
Jeong Jin-u threw the throttle wide open.
“Ugh…!”
Nearly flying off, I seized Jeong Jin-u’s waist in panic.
Snap—!
A familiar pressure bore down on my head.
But only for a moment—I felt the force suddenly lift away behind me.
“Otter Agent—is it working?”
“Yes, seems we can evade it!”
“Motorcycle evasion successful! See? I told you it would work!”
Jeong Jin-u was the type who did what he wanted in the end.
And he was honest about his joy when his stubbornness paid off.
Vroooom—!
“…!”
He was actually riding with the front wheel lifted off the ground.
Caught in that stunt against my will, I gripped him in terror.
Perhaps he found my panic pathetic.
—Aren’t you being careful?
Baek Sa-ra’s cool warning came through the earpiece then.
—What did Jeong Jin-u do?
—Is Jeong Jin-u insane?
—Is Jeong Jin-u trying to die?
Followed by reproaches from the rest of the team.
“….”
Perhaps he thought he might face a beating.
Rumble-rumble—
Jeong Jin-u shifted to safe driving.
Operation Start: 5 minutes 32 seconds.
Boom—!
Baek Sa-ra detonated the electronic display board in the Waiting Hall.
It was to shield the team’s line of sight.
Crunch—crunch-crunch—!
Fragments of the shattered board cascaded to the floor, and amid them, something long and black grew forth.
Slither—!
It was the Railway Police.
—Railway Police appeared.
Baek Sa-ra reported the situation calmly and drew the sword from her back.
The Railway Police spun like a propeller, and Baek Sa-ra pivoted with blade raised, meeting its strike.
Clang—! Clang—!
The ring of steel cut through the Motorcycle’s engine roar.
But the Railway Police’s movements were invisible to me.
All I could see was Baek Sa-ra dancing alone as her body twisted, and sparks flying at the edges.
Clang—! Clang—! Screech—!
After several collisions like this.
Something tangled in Baek Sa-ra’s blade, and she yanked it forward as if she’d been waiting, drawing her Handgun.
Then she shot the wire caught on the sword clean away.
Bang—!
With a sharp crack, the black wire shattered into fragments, scattering.
I gazed at Baek Sa-ra, standing straight among the debris, mesmerized.
This was the first Monster I had ever witnessed.
An inexplicable horror that sliced through necks with light movements, that cleaved bodies in two.
Yet she severed it so easily.
Even the nightmare lodged within me felt like it was being cut away.
—Railway Police silent.
—Moving in.
Operation Start: 8 minutes 11 seconds.
Cha Si-eon and the rest of the team entered the Waiting Hall.
Thud—! Thud—!
The attack team set down a hundred Drones that looked like coffins.
While they unloaded the Drones, the extraction team stationed Mobile CCTVs throughout the Waiting Hall and moved to secure tickets.
The Drone attack team finished their preparations within seconds of entry.
Whirrrr—!
One Drone lifted into the air.
It traced the same spiral they had executed at Yongsan Station the week before.
Crash—!
The Glass Ceiling shattered just as before.
And from within those fragments, the Railway Police grew forth without fail.
This entity too seemed to recognize the Drone as a human tool.
The Railway Police dove at the Drone operator.
But at Operation Start: 10 minutes.
The second Railway Police was dismantled again by Baek Sa-ra.
Meanwhile, the monitoring Drone ventured beyond the collapsed ceiling and scanned the form of the Great Siren.
And at that moment, I was evading my twenty-eighth siren wail.
“Seo Do-un, wear my Helmet!”
Jeong Jin-u shouted at me.
My Helmet was almost destroyed, hanging on by a thread.
I tore it off and discarded it.
Then I removed Jeong Jin-u’s Helmet and put it on my head.
Through the Motorcycle’s side mirror, I caught a glimpse of Jeong Jin-u’s face bare.
He was grinning, his face flushed with exhilaration.
Operation Start: 13 minutes 33 seconds.
—Great Siren modeling complete.
—Great Siren noise source location transmitted.
—Coordinates confirmed.
In response to the Control Team’s report, the Drone operator glanced at a Tablet and answered.
Two more Drones took flight.
—Great Siren showing hostile response!
With the warning from the Situation Room, the sky suddenly darkened.
A deep shadow fell across the Glass Ceiling that had reflected the blue sky.
It was the Great Siren’s hand.
Boom—!
The Great Siren brought down its hand—broad as a volleyball court—onto the ceiling.
Crash—!
The Glass Ceiling shattered completely, cascading like a downpour.
—Hey, Cop Sir, it’s over there!
While hail-like glass fragments fell on my head, some agent was joking around.
But that levity didn’t last long.
—Drone undamaged.
The Drone that had dodged the attack dove at the Great Siren’s neck.
Bang—! Boom—!
With a thunderous explosion, firelight flashed.
Eee—eeee—
Simultaneously, the siren’s pitch fractured.
Static—crackle—!
The siren soon cut out entirely, replaced by sounds like a broken radio’s noise.
—Siren sound ceased.
Operation Start: 15 minutes 50 seconds.
Cha Si-eon declared the Great Siren neutralized.
With the siren’s manic wailing silenced, an eerie stillness descended.
Jeong Jin-u slowly brought the Motorcycle to a stop.
Then he gazed upward beyond the shattered ceiling.
Static—crackle—
The Great Siren hung with its head tilted to one side, its neck severed halfway through.
This entity had been the Management Bureau’s nemesis for years.
Yet no one dared cheer at its miserable state.
Instead, a solemn tension hung over the site.
—Mercenary Entities confirmed?
—Not yet.
—Team 2, commence secondary strike.
At Cha Si-eon’s command, roughly ten Drones surged into the air at once.
Boom—! Bang—! Bang—!
Thunder and crimson fire bloomed.
Explosions followed explosions, then another.
Screech—!
Like an old telephone pole tilting, the Great Siren’s massive body began to topple.
—Mind the impact.
At Cha Si-eon’s warning, the team withdrew from beneath the Glass Ceiling.
Moments later.
Boom—!
A thunderous crash shook the ground beneath our feet.
The Great Siren fell against the steel frame of the ceiling, and its horrible, massive siren head hung down over us.
Cha Si-eon looked up at it for a moment, then surveyed the surroundings.
He was waiting for the Mercenary Entities.
The Type 1 Special Zone does not want the Train Station compromised.
This was our hypothesis, but the total absence of response until this point felt ominous.
Creak—
In the meantime, the Great Siren grasped the dented ceiling framework, attempting to lift itself.
Its hand was skeletal, crudely mimicking a sculpture of interwoven rebar.
Impossibly elongated and sharp at once.
So when it gripped the ceiling frame, the steel, unable to bear the weight, began to crumble.
Creak—creak—! Boom—! Bang—!
The Great Siren’s hand, which fell to the Waiting Hall floor along with the collapsing ceiling.
The moment that hand writhed on the floor, Cha Si-eon and the Crisis Response Team moved to engage.
Rat-a-tat-tat—!
Under the barrage, the metallic fingers bent, broke, and finally severed, flying free.
Ping—ping—clang-clang—!
Boom—!
A Drone then blasted away the Great Siren’s elbow joint.
Static—crackle—!
Noise poured from the Great Siren’s speaker where its neck was caught on the ceiling.
Did I only imagine that sound like a cry of agony?
The siren now hanging close was truly vast.
It was corroded with rust, as if neglected for years, shabby in aspect.
Six months ago, when I first saw it, the shock was immediate and vivid.
An entity nearly ultimate, quickly eroding my will to survive.
Yet the aura of dread it once possessed was now gone.
Now it was nothing but pitiable scrap metal, violated and brought low.
Boom—!
The Great Siren’s arm jerked upward with the explosion, then fell slack across the floor and ceiling.
As it naturally bridged the two, Cha Si-eon asked:
—Baek Sa-ra, can you enter?
—Possible.
—Confirm the Core location. I’ll provide cover.
—Understood.
Baek Sa-ra began climbing along the Great Siren’s arm.
She trod on tangled wires and climbed straight up to the ceiling.
Moving like a cat across the steel frame, Baek Sa-ra approached the Great Siren’s collarbone region.
Static—crackle—
The Great Siren continued to emit noise.
Baek Sa-ra drew a Knife and carefully began to probe beneath its collarbone.
Slice—cut—
Screech—crackle—
For some time, the knife’s thin sound and the siren’s noise continued.
—…Core located.
Operation Start: 22 minutes 39 seconds.
The Core of the Great Siren was found.
But what those around me felt was not relief or accomplishment—it was deep sorrow.
To think the Core emerged from that exact location.
I glanced briefly at the Motorcycle’s side mirror, then turned my head away.
Jeong Jin-u had his eyes reddened, jaw clenched.
—Seo Do-un.
Cha Si-eon’s voice came through the earpiece.
I knew what I had to do and stepped down from the Motorcycle.
Then, as Baek Sa-ra had done, I readied myself to climb toward the ceiling.
That was when—
—Watch out!!
Cha Si-eon suddenly shouted.
I started and looked up.
The Great Siren still lay tangled in the steel frame.
No apparent movement was visible.
Then what—above?
I looked up in confusion.
The collapsed ceiling.
Baek Sa-ra.
The Great Siren.
And beyond that, something blue… water?
Water?
What hung above our heads was not the blue sky.
It was a blue river and, floating within it, a small island.
I froze in confusion.
If a bomb fell from the sky, the terror might at least make sense.
That would be a memory etched into this space.
But what was falling toward us now was another world entirely.
The island’s landscape descended rapidly from that great height toward us.
Like closing a book.
Like different pages folding into one.
As I stood overwhelmed by that impossible sight.
Cha Si-eon, reaching my side, seized and dragged me.
“Baek Sa-ra, get down!”
Cha Si-eon shouted at Baek Sa-ra while gripping my arm.
Baek Sa-ra caught the Wire and leaped from the ceiling.
But I could not hear her land.
The landscape fell faster, flipping the entire Space in a single breath.

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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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