Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 41

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Editor’s Survival Rules Episode 41

 

ep9. Rooting Out the Fake (2)

 

“Still having trouble walking?”

 

A kind voice as if speaking to a young child.

 

“Then I guess we’ll have to take you to kindergarten.”

 

Baek Sa-ra looked down at the man in fox costume she had tripped with a gentle face that matched such a voice.

 

The man stared blankly at Baek Sa-ra, then forced a smile.

 

Then, as if it was nothing, he tried to get up, but Baek Sa-ra tripped him again.

 

Thud-!

 

This time he fell forward.

 

The man in fox costume froze while lying face down.

 

As silence continued, Baek Sa-ra asked the man’s gang.

 

“Your friend is learning to walk, aren’t you going to help him?”

 

At Baek Sa-ra’s words mixed with laughter, the gang hesitantly helped the man up.

 

Then Baek Sa-ra kicked the back of his knee with her foot, making him fall again.

 

Thump-!

 

The man collapsed helplessly once more.

 

Since he fell onto a soft mat, it probably didn’t hurt.

 

But his dignity and pride must have been crushed beyond repair.

 

Sure enough, the man’s face, which had been smiling smoothly, turned bright red.

 

But even in the midst of this, he didn’t attack Baek Sa-ra.

 

He just endured like a dead frog that had met its natural enemy.

 

Baek Sa-ra was also persistently looking down at the man.

 

Like a snake contemplating how to swallow the prey before its eyes.

 

It was when such a thin-ice atmosphere continued.

 

A tall man grabbed Baek Sa-ra’s arm.

 

It was Han Ji-su, who had come with Baek Sa-ra.

 

“Senior.”

 

“Yeah, I got it.”

 

“Let’s hurry over there too.”

 

Han Ji-su stopped Baek Sa-ra and gestured to the man in fox costume.

 

Then the man in fox costume and his gang got up as if they had been waiting and quickly left the training ground.

 

As the surroundings became quiet due to their humiliating exit, Han Ji-su shouted in all directions.

 

“Sorry for causing a disturbance! Everyone please continue what you were doing!”

 

The training ground buzzed at Han Ji-su’s apology.

 

Sounds of laughter, jeers, and complaints briefly followed.

 

With those sounds ending, the agents returned to their respective training.

 

And Jae-gyeom and I, the other axis of this incident, became somewhat awkward and whispered to each other.

 

“Jae-gyeom, what’s this situation?”

 

“It’s a situation where Baek Sa-ra was being Baek Sa-ra.”

 

“She’s coming this way.”

 

“Smile, hyung. Just smile for now.”

 

Baek Sa-ra, who had conquered the world, walked toward us leading Han Ji-su.

 

As Baek Sa-ra approached within arm’s reach, Kwak Jae-gyeom greeted her with a smile.

 

“Noona, you caaaame…!”

 

But Jae-gyeom’s earnest smile didn’t last long.

 

Because Baek Sa-ra smiled brightly and pinched one of his cheeks.

 

“Jae-gyeom, how can you be smiling right now. You should take care of your partner.”

 

“Ah, noona, if employees fight, there’s disciplinary action…!”

 

“When did I tell you to fight. If someone makes a mistake, you should counsel them well so they don’t do it again in the future.”

 

That’s right, Ms. Baek Sa-ra didn’t fight.

 

She just made a person who was standing fine fall down three times.

 

If you call that counseling well, I can’t help but object as an editor, but, hmm.

 

Let’s just stay quiet for now. Before Jae-gyeom gets in trouble.

 

I turned away from Jae-gyeom and nodded to Han Ji-su.

 

Han Ji-su, who had been caught in an explosion at the “Hospital Hunting Humans,” had recently been discharged and was in rehabilitation.

 

Han Ji-su without his mask had monolid eyes with three whites showing and a thin face.

 

So he was a young man who sometimes looked sleepy and sometimes looked sharp.

 

“That guy earlier is Yeon Ga-ram from Control Team 4.”

 

Han Ji-su said while exchanging eye greetings with me.

 

“He’s a loser who likes hierarchy games and has a severe inferiority complex, so just ignore him. Earlier too, he was just jealous that the agent you helped was selected as an outstanding performer.”

 

“Wow, he really picked a fight for that reason? Isn’t he crazy? Where did his age go?”

 

Kwak Jae-gyeom, who had somehow escaped from Baek Sa-ra, was indignant.

 

But it would have been better if he hadn’t.

 

Baek Sa-ra laughed as if it was absurd and pressed Jae-gyeom’s temple with her thumb.

 

“What’s the point of getting angry now.”

 

“It hurts, noona…!”

 

Kwak Jae-gyeom collapsed onto the mat and gasped for breath, and ah.

 

For some reason, I recalled the afterimage of Baek Sa-ra I saw in the Hospital Special Zone.

 

The sight of her grabbing Rescuer 12’s collar and pressing on his injured spots.

 

The behavior of pouring out gentle verbal abuse until she made her opponent cry.

 

Baek Sa-ra’s extraordinary conduct was effective here too.

 

As I watched in fear, Baek Sa-ra turned to look at me and smiled brightly.

 

“Hello, Otter.”

 

“Ah, yes. Hello, Ms. Baek Sa-ra.”

 

“How’s your condition today?”

 

“My condition is fine, but…”

 

“But?”

 

When I trailed off, Baek Sa-ra tilted her head.

 

So I glanced sideways toward the entrance where that gang had fled earlier.

 

“I’m not sure if this will cause talk later.”

 

“It’s fine. They started the trouble first, right?”

 

“Still, I’m worried you might get unnecessarily involved because of me.”

 

“Picking a fight with Otter is the same as picking a fight with me.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I’m in charge of you, Otter.”

 

Ah, in that sense.

 

I nodded in agreement at Baek Sa-ra’s smiling words.

 

I’m currently receiving basic training from Baek Sa-ra.

 

Originally, I should have been tormented by that psychopath Cha Si-eon, but Ms. Baek Sa-ra suddenly volunteered and Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop gave me the choice.

 

Both are excellent instructors, so do as you like.

 

So I chose Baek Sa-ra.

 

The surface reason was that the Response Team that Cha Si-eon belongs to is a team specialized in firearm use.

 

On the other hand, the Exploration Team that Baek Sa-ra belongs to are specialists in interpersonal operations deployed inside Special Zones in various situations.

 

Considering my current situation, the Exploration Team style is more suitable… but that’s actually an excuse.

 

I just didn’t want to be worked to death by Cha Si-eon. Yeah.

 

According to Jae-gyeom, when I chose Baek Sa-ra, Cha Si-eon was quite hurt in his pride, but well, is that my concern?

 

Anyway, I came to be with Baek Sa-ra like this.

 

And as I expected, Baek Sa-ra was an excellent instructor.

 

However, what made me somewhat conscious was because of what Baek Sa-ra said with a smile on the first day of training.

 

-I’m going to teach you how to value your life.

 

-It seems like my lifesaver is being too reckless with his life.

 

Ah, that’s right.

 

She’s been plotting something since the “Warehouse-style Mart.”

 

It seems scolding him over dinner last time wasn’t enough.

 

“So next time, please deal with it firmly too, Otter. That way I can save face too.”

 

Baek Sa-ra concluded with a smiling face.

 

At that, Kwak Jae-gyeom looked back and forth between me and Baek Sa-ra with quite aggrieved eyes.

 

An expression asking why only he was being scolded.

 

Sorry, I couldn’t protect you.

 

“Shall we start today’s training then?”

 

Baek Sa-ra, having finished the preparations, clapped her hands lightly.

 

So we got ready and stood up, but unexpected words came from Baek Sa-ra’s mouth.

 

“First, what could Otter and Jae-gyeom have done in that situation earlier?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“The distance to those guys was about 6 meters, and all three were off guard.”

 

Collecting evidence of workplace bullying and securing witnesses… would I get beaten up too if I said that?

 

As I just blinked my eyes, Baek Sa-ra turned to Han Ji-su.

 

“Ji-su, want to try answering?”

 

“Approach naturally, then strike the middle person’s jaw or vital point, then expand response to the right person, leaving the left one to Sara senior.”

 

“Good answer. If you’re not confident in counters, there’s also the method of waiting for them to turn around and then ambushing. The important thing is not giving them a chance to respond.”

 

Teacher, isn’t the pace too fast…?

 

“Otter, what would happen if you did this in society?”

 

“I’d be investigated by police or fired from the company.”

 

“That’s right. But there are no police in the Special Zone. So you can fight without worry.”

 

Watching Baek Sa-ra cheerfully say such terrifying things, I let out a dry laugh.

 

“Will there be many occasions to fight other people?”

 

I muttered in perplexity, then immediately regretted it.

 

Occasions to fight other people?

 

There was no need to ask.

 

Even just so far, there had been more than enough.

 

At “Siren-Sounding Railway Station,” at “Hospital Hunting Humans,” at “Sports Complex with Running Corpses.”

 

I had faced off against other humans in life-or-death situations.

 

In reality, there was always someone who died in my place each time.

 

The only Special Zone where I didn’t fight other people was “Warehouse-style Mart with Traps,” which was the only one where the environment was too extreme.

 

I realized I had said something stupid and expected criticism.

 

But what I got back wasn’t sharp rebuke, but an unexpected counter-question.

 

“How far does being human extend?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

When I couldn’t understand immediately, Baek Sa-ra asked back with an innocent face.

 

“Are the group that dismembered people and turned them into money still human?”

 

At her genuinely curious voice, I was at a loss for words in a different sense.

 

“When doing bad things, they act all buddy-buddy as colleagues, but when things get a bit unfavorable, they sacrifice the useless ones first – are they really human?”

 

At this more profound question than expected, I couldn’t readily speak up.

 

Baek Sa-ra gazed at me quietly, then smiled prettily again and said:

 

“If those things are also human, then naturally you’d have to fight every moment, wouldn’t you?”

 

* * *

 

Whirrrr-

 

Warm air hit my face.

 

When I barely managed to focus my eyes and look ahead, Kwak Jae-gyeom was blowing air at my face with a hair dryer.

 

“Mister, snap out of it. If you sleep here, your mouth will go crooked.”

 

Kwak Jae-gyeom, who had just finished washing up, was chattering at exhausted me.

 

I barely came to my senses at that sound.

 

Ah, after finishing training and washing up, I felt like I might collapse.

 

I forced myself to get up and walked like a newborn giraffe.

 

Then Kwak Jae-gyeom clicked his tongue from behind.

 

“Oh my, what are you going to do if you’re struggling with this? Sara noona went really easy on you today too.”

 

“That was going easy…?”

 

“Totally. You should see how brutal Sara noona is when she’s drilling Ji-su hyung sometime. You’ll think, ‘Ah, she was an angel to me.'”

 

“Baek Sa-ra is really completely different when working versus normally…”

 

“Different? How so?”

 

Jae-gyeom asked back as if he’d heard something strange.

 

So I answered naturally.

 

“She’s gentle normally.”

 

“Wow, favoritism is this scary.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Hyung, Sara noona is just someone who speaks softly, but she’s absolutely not a gentle person. She’s just being particularly nice to you.”

 

What is this about?

 

This time I made an expression like this was news to me.

 

Then Kwak Jae-gyeom shook his head and said:

 

“Hyung, when you were dragged to the Hospital Special Zone before, our team leader didn’t tell you that Exploration Team 1 was there, right?”

 

That’s right.

 

So I cursed that bastard in my mind a bit.

 

“That was because he was worried you might get hurt because of Sara noona.”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s lucky that Sara noona remembered and thought well of you saving Lee Sol at the Train Station, otherwise it could have been dangerous. Honestly, we saw Sara noona being that friendly to someone else for the first time with you, hyung.”

 

It could have been dangerous?

 

…No. Actually, it had already been dangerous.

 

I recalled nearly being sacrificed to Baek Sa-ra and quietly closed my mouth.

 

But perhaps mistaking my silence for disbelief, Jae-gyeom said defensively:

 

“Ah, it’s true though. When I was first appointed, the first thing the seniors warned me about was not to approach Baek Sa-ra. Do you know why?”

 

“Why?”

 

At my question, Jae-gyeom hesitated for a moment.

 

Then, as if the mere thought was frightening, he said with a slightly pale face:

 

“They said if you get on Baek Sa-ra’s bad side, even men will menstruate.”

 

What kind of nonsense is this now.

 

Right, this is the Special Management Bureau.

 

It was a dark world where ghost stories never ceased.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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