Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 6

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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 6

Episode 6. ep2. Thought I Had Escaped (1)

“Rescuer 12, consciousness recovered.”

I turned my head toward the direction of the voice.

This place was completely white not just the ceiling, but all around.

So I thought it might be a hospital.

My ordinary assumption crumbled the moment I saw the person standing beside me.

What was looking down at me wasn’t a doctor or nurse, but a human wearing a hazmat suit.

Not a single strand of hair visible, just a pure white hazmat suit.

“Are you conscious? Can you see this?”

The hazmat suit asked, waving a pen in front of my eyes.

But the motion of moving the pen was too careless.

It didn’t seem like they were really curious about my condition.

“Where is this place…?”

“Don’t worry, this is reality! Fortunately, you made it out alive. Nothing cut or broken, and your limbs are all intact too!”

The hazmat suit spoke with a young man’s voice.

Moreover, he blabbered on about things I didn’t even ask.

“It was really cool, giving the ticket to the kid at the end. And then saying ‘pay it back to anyone later’… Wow! It was like watching a movie. I seriously got goosebumps, you know?”

I was listening to that chattering when I was startled and tried to sit up.

No, I tried to sit up but failed.

Because as soon as I lifted my shoulders, the hazmat suit guy pushed me back down.

It was more like suppression than restraint, so I immediately protested.

“What are you doing?”

“Don’t move, the examination isn’t finished yet.”

“Examination?”

“We’re measuring contamination levels. Let’s see, you’re speaking well, and your pupil response is, hmm, looks fine. Blood pressure and pulse are all normal. But this part hurts, right?”

“Argh!”

The hazmat suit pressed down hard on my left shoulder.

Exactly where the fire extinguisher had hit.

When I writhed in pain, the hazmat suit chuckled.

“It’s okay, just a scrape.”

I looked at the hazmat suit in disbelief.

Then the hazmat suit spoke with a voice mixed with laughter.

“Rescuer, even if you had gotten on that train and come out, no one would have blamed you. Of course your own life is most important, right?”

What is this sudden talk about?

“So we didn’t have much expectation either, but when you took care of the kid first and came out alive yourself, we all got excited for the first time in a while! We’re always seeing disgusting stuff, so for once we got to watch a hero movie. So just wait a moment, we can’t give you hero treatment but we’ll show you decent respect.”

You’re going to show me respect after pressing on my injury?

I was dumbfounded but stayed put on the bed for now.

I caught a glimpse when I tried to sit up, but this wasn’t the time to argue about anything.

I wasn’t wearing clothes but some kind of fabric scraps draped over my body.

Something like patient surgical gowns where you’d be naked if you untied just one knot.

Facing someone in a hazmat suit in this state made me think things had gone to hell.

So I calmed down for now and asked the hazmat suit.

“Is that kid here too?”

“You mean Sol? Yes, she came out fine too.”

“Where are my clothes?”

“Scheduled for incineration, is there something important?”

“Incineration?”

“We don’t know what you might have brought out from inside.”

It’s ridiculous but I have no words to argue back.

So I let the minor things go and asked about something more important.

“How am I alive?”

My last memory was Sol getting on the train instead of me.

And the black forms that mercilessly crushed me.

The pressure I felt then is still vivid now.

The rough texture of the black forms, and their acrid fishy smell too.

It would have been stranger if I hadn’t died.

The hazmat suit answered my question.

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“That’s why we’re analyzing. We have no idea how you survived either.”

Beep-

Then a machine sound rang out from the side.

The hazmat suit glanced at the monitor beside the bed and spoke into a radio.

“Contamination measurement complete. Normal.”

Who is he reporting to?

Click-

Then a door in the distance opened.

What came through that door wasn’t a person but a serving robot.

On top of the robot that rolled naturally toward me were clothes instead of food.

“Once you change clothes, someone in charge will come get you.”

Who is this person in charge?

The explanation was quite lacking, but the hazmat suit was already busily packing up.

Then before turning around, he gave me a meaningless thumbs up.

“Rescuer, fighting!”

An equally meaningless fighting cheer.

After that, the hazmat suit left through the door the serving robot had entered.

I unfolded the delivered clothes with a suspicious feeling.

Gray-colored tracksuit divided into top and bottom.

I don’t understand what’s going on.

I was rescued, right?

I put aside my doubts and put on the pants first.

Then as I was pulling my head through the t-shirt hole, another door burst open.

“Seo Do-un.”

The man who opened the door called out my name abruptly from the doorway.

He seemed to be a security officer of this place, wearing a black tactical vest.

Unlike the hazmat suit who acted light as if he’d blow away in the wind, this man spoke with a voice devoid of emotion or inflection.

“Follow me.”

At that heavy voice, I stood up for now.

I put on the slippers placed under the bed and went outside the door to find a wide corridor.

The atmosphere was similar to a hospital.

But the scale was much larger than a regular hospital and the atmosphere was more desolate.

There weren’t even any windows.

The man walked ahead through that gloomy corridor and I followed behind.

But just how big is this facility?

We’ve been walking for almost 10 minutes but the same corridor keeps continuing.

“Where are we going now?”

At my question, the man stopped abruptly.

At the same time, the ivory-colored wall beside us suddenly disappeared.

No, it became transparent.

What? Was this wall actually like a magic mirror or something?

Through the wall that had become transparent like glass, I could see a wide space.

Just like the place where I had woken up, it was completely white with only a single bed sitting there.

And some girl in that room saw me and came running over.

Who is that… no wait, Lee Sol?

The one running toward me was none other than Sol.

What the hell, why is she acting like that too?

Sol was wearing scraps of surgical cloth draped over her body, just like I had been moments ago.

Wait, isn’t this child abuse?

But aside from her clothing, she looked fine.

I could tell from the way she was running over like that.

Sol came up to the glass wall and shouted something.

But the soundproofing was so good that I couldn’t hear anything at all.

Crackle-!

Just then, a mechanical sound came from beside me.

-…mister! Can you hear me?

At the same time, Sol’s voice mixed with static reached my ears.

Looking to the side, I saw the man holding a radio with an indifferent expression.

Sol’s voice was coming from that radio.

It seemed he was trying to let Sol and me communicate.

I looked back and forth between the man and Sol before answering.

“Yeah, I can hear you.”

-Mister, are you okay? Do you know how scared I was thinking you were dead? What happened to you?

As soon as I answered, Sol started getting worked up.

Then before long, her eyes turned red and she hung her head.

-Ah, really… thank goodness…

At Sol’s choked voice, I also let out a sigh.

Now it finally felt real.

We’re alive, both of us.

“Are you okay?”

-I’m not sure. I think I’m fine, but the people here keep…

Sol answered while sniffling at my question.

But her words were cut off abruptly.

Looking to the side, I saw the man had already turned off the radio and was putting it away.

“We let you meet for confirmation at Lee Sol’s request. Please follow me again.”

When the radio was cut off, Sol frantically pounded on the wall.

But that wall also changed back to an opaque ivory color.

Sol’s figure was no longer visible.

I stood my ground in that spot as if protesting this one-sided cutoff and asked.

“How long does Sol have to stay in there?”

“She’ll be quarantined until safety is secured.”

But what came back was a very generic answer.

* * *

“Ah, you said it went to print. Thank you, Editor-in-Chief. Yes, yes. I’ll contact the author later myself. No, yes.”

I bowed and scraped as best I could into the phone.

I had no choice.

Looking at the date, a full three days had passed since the day I left work.

Thanks to that, I had become someone who went three days without contact and was absent without leave.

All while leaving new book preparations and author meetings hanging.

Fortunately, the editor-in-chief had handled the urgent matters so there were no delays in the schedule.

Moreover, for some reason I was listed as having been in a traffic accident.

“My body is… yes… fine.”

Perhaps because of that, the editor-in-chief was actually asking about my well-being, ugh.

My conscience was pricked because it felt like I was covering up with lies.

But since the current situation was certainly no less serious than a traffic accident, let’s just compromise.

“Yes, I’ll contact you when I’m discharged.”

I finished the call and put the borrowed cell phone on the desk.

Then the person sitting across from me calmly retrieved that phone.

It was the very man who had guided me here.

The man I was properly facing was quite, no, extremely handsome.

He had perfectly proportioned wolf-like features with incredible charisma, and even his physique was impressive.

Nearly 190cm tall with a lean, muscular build.

With such a guy only making cold expressions, it wasn’t easy to feel any human warmth toward him.

What was surprising in all this was his long hair.

Given that rigid atmosphere, it seemed like he should have a military buzz cut to match.

For some reason, he had hair that fell to his shoulders tied up in a topknot.

But even that was far from any sense of vanity or looseness.

Rather, it felt more like a member of some suspicious, extra-legal organization, making it even more unsettling.

“There are a few things we need to confirm, so please cooperate.”

The topknot man spoke without even revealing his identity.

So I made the same demand in return.

“Before that, I’d like to hear an explanation.”

“Video education will be provided later. Please save questions for then.”

“Shouldn’t you at least tell me who you people are?”

“We’re government affiliated.”

The topknot man answered perfunctorily.

Then he arbitrarily started saying what he wanted to say.

“Do you remember what happened after putting Lee Sol on the train?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Did you hear any sounds or have any dreams?”

I reluctantly answered and then frowned.

Sounds? Dreams?

I don’t remember.

But it seems like I did have some kind of dream.

“That’s fine. Then please explain the situation when you were bartering with ‘the one wearing the old military uniform.'”

“What exactly do you want me to explain?”

“Seo Do-un’s bartering succeeded on the fourth attempt. We’d like to know the circumstances of using the book you had as a bartering item at that time.”

I mulled over the man’s question and slightly frowned.

“You were watching all of that?”

“Monitoring is conducted at all times.”

“Then why didn’t you come to rescue us?”

“It was a response according to manual.”

“Manual?”

I asked back in disbelief.

“You’re saying your manual here is to stand by and watch people die? Does that make any sense?”

When I got worked up and confronted him, the man spoke in an annoyed tone.

“If you show an uncooperative attitude, your return home may be delayed.”

“Are you threatening me right now?”

I was so dumbfounded I let out a hollow laugh.

Normally I would have cooperated, thinking it’s better to keep things pleasant.

But what the hell is this supposed to mean right now?

You were watching the entire situation inside?

But you just left us alone because you were responding according to the manual?

And when people were dying left and right, you didn’t budge an inch, but now you’re acting all high and mighty interrogating people?

I was so incredulous that I glared at the man sideways.

The man observed me for a while, then placed some kind of bag on the table.

Then he opened the bag with mechanical movements and showed it to me.

“This is the compensation money scheduled to be paid to Mr. Seo Do-un.”

Inside were bundles upon bundles of fifty-thousand-won bills.

“However, the amount and timing of the compensation payment may change at my discretion. Will you cooperate?”

Ha, so now you’re going to bribe me with money?

“…What was the question again?”

But still, it was too much money to refuse.

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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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