Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 196

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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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The Editor’s Survival Manual Episode 196

ep27. A Simple Solution (3)
What kind of person is Yeon Ga-ram?
If someone asked me that a month ago, I would have said I didn’t really know.
Ten days ago, I would have called him merely an odd person.
Four days ago, I would have said: “He possesses a unique operational logic that seems to function neither positively for himself nor for others, so maintaining appropriate distance would be advisable if you value peace.”
And today, seventy hours after Yeon Ga-ram’s body was severed.
This is what I would say.
Yeon Ga-ram is a tender-hearted man given to tears.
Two days later, when I saw Yeon Ga-ram again, one side of his head was wrapped thickly in bandages.
His half-visible face was pallid and sallow, while only his eyes were puffy and red.
He looked as though he’d neither slept nor eaten properly.
Of course, he’d forced himself to eat out of obligation.
Which was why he bore the telltale signs of indigestion.
In this pitiful state, Yeon Ga-ram sat on the bed in my room, simply staring at us.
“Welcome.”
Instead of Yeon Ga-ram, who stared blankly at us like a borrowed cat, the Response Team 4 Senior Officer greeted us.
“All well, I hope?”
“Yes, well. I heard Officer Seo was injured. You’ve been through quite an ordeal.”
After exchanging pleasantries with the Response Team 4 Senior Officer, I surveyed the situation in the Small House.
Besides Yeon Ga-ram and the Response Team 4 agents, the Medical Team and Post-Management Department staff had also been dispatched here.
To respond to any emergencies that might arise.
And among them sat Yeon Ga-ram, vacant and still.
“Yeon Ga-ram, eat something.”
It appeared to be mealtime, so the Response Team 4 Senior Officer handed Yeon Ga-ram a bun and milk.
Without appetite, he chewed the red bean bun wordlessly.
Watching that mechanical mastication, Jae-gyeom muttered so only I could hear.
“He looks incredibly anxious.”
“Naturally he would be.”
“True enough, but…”
Jae-gyeom glanced sideways at Yeon Ga-ram.
That was when it happened.
“Sniff… sob…”
“Hey, hey. Why are you crying again…”
Mid-bite, Yeon Ga-ram suddenly began to weep.
With the bun still in his mouth, he sobbed pitifully, and Jae-gyeom, witnessing this, muttered again.
“This certainly doesn’t seem to be his calling.”
I could only agree.
I’d thought the Management Bureau housed only people who’d march into infernos shouldering burdens.
But I understood Yeon Ga-ram’s state well enough.
Soon it would be decided whether he’d leave here alive or depart this world as he was.
We left the weeping Yeon Ga-ram behind and stepped into the living room.
Moments later, the Response Team 4 Senior Officer emerged from the bedroom and sighed.
“He was fine yesterday, but now that it’s come to this…”
“He must be anxious, naturally.”
“Phew…”
The senior officer exhaled a long, weary breath.
We’d done everything we could.
Now we could only wait for results.
“I’ll check on Yeon Ga-ram’s current condition using the Guide.”
At my words, the senior officer nodded with concern.
“Hello, master! I’m so glad you’ve come back!”
“Regarding Yeon Ga-ram’s condition—thanks to your consideration, he’s safely recovered the body parts he’d lost. Once the wound heals properly, his vital functions should proceed smoothly.”
“What’s the probability that Yeon Ga-ram will survive?”
“It’s all or nothing—death or life, one or the other. Discussing probability is meaningless. Results will speak for themselves.”
“When exactly will his fate be decided?”
“2:19 PM today. One hour and thirty-eight minutes remain!”
“That’s quite soon.”
The senior officer nodded upon hearing the exchange between me and the Guide.
Then, without being asked, the Guide spoke again.
“I can keenly sense your will to see Yeon Ga-ram survive, master. But life doesn’t always unfold as we wish. So, I’d like to propose an additional option!”
An additional option?
“Should Yeon Ga-ram perish, I can convert him into an entity of this space. However, since this would be our first attempt, failure is possible. Would you like to proceed?”
“You’d make Yeon Ga-ram into an entity?”
Upon hearing my translation, the senior officer’s face went ashen.
The Guide spoke up again.
“Doesn’t mankind wish to survive in any form? I simply want to be of help to you, master.”
“…Let me ask for the precise details first.”
“If he becomes an entity, will Yeon Ga-ram still be Yeon Ga-ram?”
“If you and others call him Yeon Ga-ram, then he will remain Yeon Ga-ram.”
“Will Yeon Ga-ram retain his self-awareness if he becomes an entity?”
“If you wish, I can tune it so that his human consciousness as Yeon Ga-ram is preserved as much as possible!”
“Tuning…”
“Does that even make sense?”
“The subject’s own wishes seem paramount here.”
Die as he is, or become an entity of the Special Zone and live a little longer.
If such a choice were offered to me, what would I do?
I’d naturally choose the former, but I couldn’t speak for others.
“Should we ask Yeon Ga-ram directly?”
One of the Response Team 4 agents spoke up.
But the Response Team 4 Senior Officer hesitated.
To ask a man who might be dead in an hour and a half: “Yeon Ga-ram, would you like to try becoming an entity if you die?”
“Please ask for more details about what becoming an entity entails.”
“Once converted into an entity, the new Yeon Ga-ram will be bound to this space. He cannot leave. He will retain consciousness, but must follow predetermined patterns. And if those patterns become fixed, his consciousness will gradually fade. However, rest assured—he will still be Yeon Ga-ram.”
“This is… a bit much.”
“Still, let’s check what the subject wants. I’ll go ask.”
The Response Team 4 agent, who had some acquaintance with Yeon Ga-ram, stood abruptly and headed to the bedroom.
Shortly after.
The sound of Yeon Ga-ram wailing drifted back from across the room.
“This isn’t right…”
The Response Team 4 Senior Officer shook his head, muttering.
“A person should die as a person. This doesn’t seem right at all.”
Unable to bear Yeon Ga-ram’s cries, the Response Team 4 Senior Officer headed to the bedroom himself.
Over the next hour, we endured a chaotic time.
The wailing Yeon Ga-ram agreed to become an entity to survive.
But ten minutes later, he changed his mind. And five minutes after that, he changed it again.
Yeon Ga-ram repeated this cycle throughout the remaining time, weeping all the while.
Everyone gathered in the Small House watched as he wept like livestock being dragged to slaughter.
This went on for a full hour and a half.
When everyone’s stress reached its breaking point, the countdown began.
One minute before the time hold expired.
“Huff, huff… gasp…”
Yeon Ga-ram sat on the bed, taking deep breaths, then whimpered again.
We watched him anxiously, counting down the seconds.
Thirty seconds remaining.
Yeon Ga-ram’s breathing quieted.
The room fell silent as a tomb.
Ten seconds remaining.
No one moved. We waited for the result.
And at 2:19 PM.
Thump.
Yeon Ga-ram, who had been sitting, suddenly toppled sideways.
“What—what happened?”
“Yeon Ga-ram, hey!”
The Response Team 4 agents cried out in agitation.
But Yeon Ga-ram didn’t move a muscle.
The Medical Team immediately laid him flat and began examining him urgently.
Then they unwound the bandages around his face.
“Breathing and pulse are normal. No significant abnormalities in the facial region.”
“Then why did he collapse?”
“That, I’m not entirely certain…”
While the humans fell into confusion, the Zone Manager spoke up.
“Congratulations! Yeon Ga-ram’s body has been successfully restored. But he fainted from the overwhelming tension. Please care for this poor fellow warmly, and he’ll wake soon!”
“Yeon Ga-ram…”
“That little bastard…”
“I’m gonna kill him…”
I should have softened the translation.
As I relayed the Zone Manager’s words verbatim, the Response Team 4 agents fell silent for a moment, then erupted in curses.
Then they began glaring ferociously at the sleeping Yeon Ga-ram.
* * *
Fortunately, Yeon Ga-ram awoke safely.
He was overjoyed to discover he’d survived.
The Response Team 4 agents suppressed their irritation and congratulated him on his safe return.
And the Response Team 4 Senior Officer, as he left, spoke in a tone laden with meaning—foreshadowing the trials Yeon Ga-ram would soon endure.
Afterward, Yeon Ga-ram and all the staff members dispatched to care for him withdrew.
Jae-gyeom and I saw them off and remained in the Small House.
Then we asked the Zone Manager this.
“Is there any way to bring the Body Thief here too?”
“Ah, that’s impossible. The Body Thief is a Type-1 entity, bound to its own space. Just as I cannot arbitrarily extract Moon Ho-san’s left hemisphere or Yeon Ga-ram’s, I cannot take it either.”
This is exhausting.
Yeon Ga-ram had somehow managed to survive, but now the Body Thief came looking for me.
And it continues to linger in my mind.
“Is the Body Thief bothering you?”
“Not particularly.”
“It’s definitely bothering you.”
Kwak Jae-gyeom studied my expression as he spoke.
Just as I’d experienced Kwak Jae-gyeom in the Meditation Center, he’d experienced me as well.
And it seemed that experience had made him more sensitive to my state.
“Right now, there’s no other way.”
“I know.”
Or do I?
There is, in fact, a way to grant the Body Thief peace.
It’s just that it’s not cost-effective.
Destroying the Meditation Center wouldn’t be efficient, nor would using the Big Cat’s ring to halt the Meditation Center’s operation prove expedient.
We have two of the Big Cat’s rings remaining.
How to use them is still under discussion.
There’s contention between those who argue we should preserve them as a contingency and those who insist we should halt the most dangerous Special Zone to achieve maximum efficiency.
Using one on the Meditation Center would be, as I’ve said many times, financially unsound.
We naturally called it ‘no other way’ without further thought.
Despite having sufficient alternatives available.
“This work doesn’t seem suited to you either.”
Jae-gyeom murmured, looking at me.
His words struck me in a different way altogether.
Had he only just figured that out…?
I was staring at Jae-gyeom in disbelief when—
Just as before, the Zone Manager began speaking unbidden.
“Master, why do you agonize? You already know the answer.”
“…”
“What are you saying all of a sudden?”
“When faced with two undesirable paths, one simply forges a new path.”
Damn it. Can it read my thoughts too?
“Is there another way?”
Upon my translation, Jae-gyeom asked in return.
And so my heart grew rather heavy.
There is, in fact, a simple solution.
But I hesitated to voice it because the risks are too great.
My choices are not limited to two.
Nor am I forced to choose one and pull the lever.
The Trolley Dilemma forces a binary choice upon humankind.
But when such situations truly arise, humans have historically resolved them by seizing the person who engineered the dilemma in the first place and destroying them—rather than dutifully accepting the binary choice.
“What’s the other way?”
“Kill the Big Cat.”
“What?”
“All of this—it solves itself if we just eliminate the Big Cat.”
“You’ve struck the core. That’s the answer, master!”
“You wish to slay the Big Cat, the very source of all tragedy?”
“Now is truly the time to meet the newly born god!”

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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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