Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 192

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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 192

ep26. Bodies Swapped (10)
We had secured a hundred and thirty-eight body fragments in total.
The “Scattered Ones” comprised fifteen varieties, and their bodies were divided into anywhere from a minimum of nine pieces to a maximum of twenty-eight.
So if the variety of body fragments we’d collected was evenly distributed, we could complete at least one body divided into nine pieces.
Of course, the curse of probability might subtly leave us short by a piece or two on several bodies.
But that wasn’t much of a problem either.
We could just go hunt down the Body Thief again.
This was a C-Grade Special Zone, after all.
It was the first time I’d ever found a Special Zone this manageable.
“I’ll match the pieces we’ve collected with Seo Do-un and me. Since Team Leader Cha’s got more fragments, Jae-gyeom, go help their side.”
Following Jeong Jin-u’s instructions, we sat down on the floor and began assembling the body fragments.
And as I performed this collaborative work, I came to understand a new function of Kwak Jae-gyeom’s body.
“Is there a shoulder piece?”
Flinch—
“Check that side.”
Twitch—
“That doesn’t fit there.”
Glance—
This was nothing less than the Team Leader Automatic Reflex Function.
Every time I heard Cha Si-eon’s voice from behind, my Kwak Jae-gyeom body would move of its own accord, attempting to assist Team Leader Cha.
As a result, I kept jerking and twitching while helping Jeong Jin-u, constantly glancing back toward Cha Si-eon.
“Agent Seo Do-un, are you going to keep getting distracted? You need to focus on me.”
“It wasn’t intentional……”
I let out a low chuckle in response to Jeong Jin-u’s half-joking rebuke.
Then Cha Si-eon called out to Kwak Jae-gyeom.
“Jae-gyeom.”
“Yes!”
The body of Kwak Jae-gyeom rose reflexively in response.
And there I was, trapped inside it……
“He’s really become Jae-gyeom now, hasn’t he.”
“……”
I chuckled again at Jeong Jin-u’s remark and sat back down.
“Agent Seo Do-un, if you’d rather work with Team Leader Cha, you can go. I’m fine on my own.”
“No. I don’t wish to work with him……”
“Your words say one thing, but your body says another.”
“No, I think the automatic reflex and personal preference are separate matters.”
Though Jeong Jin-u was joking, I responded in earnest, firmly declining.
This wasn’t idle talk—I genuinely didn’t want to be near Cha Si-eon right now.
Because Kwak Jae-gyeom’s Team Leader Automatic Reflex Function wasn’t limited to his voice alone.
“Team Leader Cha, how much have you had your team members conditioned in the past? It’s like Pavlov’s dog.”
At Jeong Jin-u’s words, Cha Si-eon glanced at me.
And standing before him in my body, Kwak Jae-gyeom murmured something.
“I condemn the psychopath team leader.”
“…?”
“Ugh!”
Cha Si-eon barely reacted to Jeong Jin-u’s words, but whipped his head around at Jae-gyeom’s comment.
Jae-gyeom clapped my own mouth shut and then, horrified by Cha Si-eon’s gaze, hastily offered an excuse.
“The words came out wrong!”
“That’s quite a long slip of the tongue.”
“No, that wasn’t what I meant……”
Jae-gyeom floundered and glanced toward me before continuing in a pitiful voice.
“I shouldn’t say this, but through Seo Do-un’s eyes, the team leader seems a bit……”
“A bit what.”
“……”
In the end, Jae-gyeom swallowed his words.
A wise decision.
I gave Jae-gyeom a single nod and then quickly turned my head away, refusing to look at Team Leader Cha.
The Team Leader Automatic Reflex Function in Kwak Jae-gyeom’s body applied not just to Cha Si-eon’s voice, but to his appearance and very presence.
So, much as I hated to admit it, I found myself harboring a peculiar admiration for Cha Si-eon.
Damn it…… Was humanity truly such a weak creature.
Of course, since it was Kwak Jae-gyeom’s body and Kwak Jae-gyeom’s brain, it was only natural—if natural was the right word—that I would think and react in Jae-gyeom’s manner.
The constituents of a human being.
Cells, deficiency, and yearning.
The cells were certainly Kwak Jae-gyeom’s.
The deficiency, I couldn’t say, but judging by this admiration I felt toward Cha Si-eon, the yearning was also Jae-gyeom’s to some degree.
Which made it all the more remarkable.
Even inhabiting Kwak Jae-gyeom’s body, swayed by his particular qualities, I remained myself.
* * *
“Good.”
Jeong Jin-u looked down at the floor and brushed his hands lightly clean.
Through our joint effort, we had succeeded in matching the fragments together.
Revealed before us were the forms of two Scattered Ones.
A woman curled on her side and an elderly man cradling his head.
I gazed down at them impassively, as if looking at a broken marble puzzle fitted back together.
Then I shifted my gaze toward Jae-gyeom.
Kwak Jae-gyeom was also looking at the completed fragments.
But the face of mine that Jae-gyeom was wearing bore an oddly complicated expression.
“The personal effects would be the dentures and the hairpin—that should be enough, right?”
Han Ji-su had meanwhile retrieved the Scattered Ones’ personal belongings from a shelf in the Prayer Room.
Both items appeared to be connected with these fragments.
Han Ji-su placed the hairpin at the head of the female fragment and the dentures at the head of the elderly male fragment.
“Wouldn’t it be better to use only one and keep the other?”
I asked, observing the scene.
“That way, the next person who’s pulled in can escape right away.”
If we complete just one Scattered One, we can all escape.
So why complete both?
“That’s a fair point, but this zone sees almost no civilian influx. Even if we leave it, the Body Thief will reclaim the items before the next person uses them.”
“Since the personal effects matching could be off, completing both increases the odds.”
Jeong Jin-u answered me, and Han Ji-su added her support from beside him.
“And as Jeong said, this zone sees almost no civilian influx. Maybe one or two people enter per month.”
True enough, there was no one else in this Meditation Temple besides us right now.
Moreover, the Guide had made it clear.
To pull humans into a space requires the master’s command.
Or else one must grow capable of acting independently.
And if the material for growth is humanity itself, this Meditation Temple was structured to make growth difficult.
The only threat was the Body Thief, but despite its grotesque form, its actual essence was no different from a walking piñata.
It was pummeled by people and spat out escape items.
“Could it be that it lacks motivation because things are too safe?”
“Possibly. It does have the feel of a defective product.”
“I think the bell is the problem. If not for the bell, the Body Thief would have caused significant casualties.”
The bell sounded like the kind of bell rang during prayer or worship at a religious facility.
This Meditation Temple was itself a kind of religious institution.
And most religions are founded on the spirit of love and compassion.
Then could this place’s awkwardness be the result of overlapping memories of war and memories of faith?
If threat and protection happen together, and because of that it sits in limbo, neglected on all sides……
I was forming such a hypothesis to myself when it happened.
“About that Body Thief.”
Jae-gyeom, who had been silent until then, suddenly spoke.
“If there’s a person trapped inside it……”
But he couldn’t finish the thought.
Because he knew there was no help for it.
And no one in this room was unaware of what Jae-gyeom had alluded to.
Just as Lee Seob or Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol had shown, there could be someone trapped inside the Body Thief entity itself.
None of us were ignorant of that fact.
But for now, we pretended not to know.
Because there was no other way.
Or rather, because we couldn’t thoughtlessly destroy this rare, stable Special Zone that we were maintaining to give that one person peace.
I wasn’t the only one holding the lever.
Everyone here was exhausted from constantly weighing another person’s life at every moment.
“For now, let’s focus on the operation at hand.”
Jeong Jin-u gently dissipated the heavy atmosphere that had fallen.
At that, Han Ji-su took out the Bible from her bag and said,
“Everyone, please stand behind me.”
Only the final procedure remained.
With the Scattered Ones’ bodies matched and their belongings placed beside them, what was left was mourning.
“Lord, grant eternal rest to those without names.”
Han Ji-su opened the Bible and began to pray.
“Eternal light shine upon them. May the nameless ones and all those who have departed this world find peace and rest in God’s mercy……”
Han Ji-su recited the prayer in a monotone, and the word “rest” became lodged in my mind.
And then, immediately after.
Screeeech—
Heavy footsteps echoed at the entrance of the Prayer Room.
Growwwl— Grrrrr—
It was the Body Thief, come to attack us again.
“I thought it might be easy, but……”
Jeong Jin-u let out a light grumble and gave Cha Si-eon a meaningful glance.
Cha Si-eon silently drew out his knife.
The two of them moved slowly, closing in on the Body Thief.
Seconds later, the two men and the Body Thief tangled together.
Cha Si-eon’s knife tore a long gash in the Body Thief’s hide.
The Body Thief thrashed, raising its sharp forelegs high.
Just as those keen claws were about to rake down on Jeong Jin-u.
Dong—
The bell rang.
The Body Thief convulsed as if struck by lightning.
The Body Thief could only be attacked; it could not attack.
I watched the scene in silence and thought to myself:
The bell rang, so my body will probably switch again.
The moment I had that thought, my vision suddenly inverted.
Had I switched again?
I was still in the Prayer Room.
But the surrounding scenery looked from a completely different angle.
My perspective was oddly elevated, the colors drained.
Wondering what this could be.
A shooting pain seized my entire body, and I let out a scream.
Grrrrrrk—!
But the only sound that came from my vocal cords was a meaningless rasp.
What’s happening? I’m now……
I looked around in agony.
Directly ahead were Seo Do-un and Han Ji-su.
To the side were Cha Si-eon and Jeong Jin-u.
And when I turned my gaze backward, beyond the tattered black hide I saw Kwak Jae-gyeom.
Could it be that I’ve switched bodies with the Body Thief?
Grrrrk— Grrrrr—!
I thrashed in agony.
I felt like I was dying.
My entire body ached.
The fact that blood didn’t flow didn’t mean torn flesh didn’t hurt.
And I—this body—had been trapped here for far too long.
Damn it, damn it, I want out of here.
Want to die, want to die!
I writhed frantically, trying to shed this hide.
In my thrashing vision, my own form appeared.
Seo Do-un’s body was looking at me.
And the person inside it seemed to realize something quickly.
That this was a heaven-sent opportunity.
Seo Do-un drew the knife.
Then, trying to cut his own throat, he moved with all his strength.

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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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