Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 68

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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 68

 

ep12. It Was a Disappearance (3)

 

Ba-bam ba-ba-bam bam-!

 

Hello, prospective agents!

 

Today we’re going to learn about the history of the Special Management Bureau!

 

January 19th, 20XX.

 

Dismembered corpses were discovered in the restroom of a commercial building in Gangseo-gu, Seoul.

 

The police determined it to be a murder and body abandonment case and began their investigation.

 

However, after checking all the surrounding CCTV footage, they could only conclude that ‘the dismembered corpse appeared on its own.’

 

The identity of the deceased was revealed to be Mr. K, a resident of Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, but they couldn’t find the circumstances of his disappearance, the specific cause of death, or any criminal evidence.

 

It was from this time that missing person reports in the Seoul area increased dramatically.

 

Nine months later, on October 19th.

 

Mr. (beep-), the first survivor of a Special Management Zone, came to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

 

-I was dragged to another space and barely managed to escape.

 

-There are several other people inside besides me, and some are already dead. There was a monster that harmed people.

 

Although Mr. (beep-) testified like this, the police didn’t believe him.

 

So Mr. (beep-) submitted twenty-two cell phones as evidence.

 

Those were the cell phones of people who had gone missing throughout Seoul.

 

This was how the existence of special spaces was first recognized, and a department dedicated to Special Management Zones was established within the National Intelligence Service.

 

This dedicated department is the Special Management Department, the predecessor of the Special Management Bureau!

 

* * *

 

“You know how the Management Bureau came to be, right?”

 

“Yes. I heard it was triggered by the testimony of the first survivor.”

 

“That’s Lee Sol’s father.”

 

“What?”

 

I was shocked by Kwon Mu-seop’s calm revelation.

 

The first survivor of the Special Zone. That person was Agent Lee Seob?

 

“Wasn’t he originally a government agent?”

 

“No, he was just a civilian. You can think of it as exactly the same situation as yours.”

 

I really didn’t know this.

 

Come to think of it, the name of that first survivor had an awkward beep censoring.

 

If they couldn’t reveal the real name, they could have expressed it with initials like the previously mentioned victims.

 

That beep censoring seemed like post-processing where they had originally revealed the name and then covered it up later.

 

“At first, the National Intelligence Service stepped in to assess the situation, but there was nothing they could do. Then Lee Sol’s father was dragged back into the Special Zone, and he brought back information on how we could enter the Special Zones.”

 

“He brought back the method?”

 

“Yeah. You know the abandoned buildings and abandoned tunnels we use when entering Special Zones? They were all created using information that Lee Sol’s father brought back.”

 

“How on earth did he…”

 

“He couldn’t explain it well himself either. He said someone helped him, but he wasn’t even sure if that someone was really human.”

 

“…”

 

Did he really receive some divine revelation?

 

If Lee Seob hadn’t figured out how to enter the Special Zones, Special Zone exploration would have been impossible to even start.

 

I, and innocent citizens, were living ordinary daily lives when we were suddenly dragged into Special Zones.

 

Simply unluckily, like dolls caught in a claw machine, with absolutely no will of our own.

 

But the Management Bureau could freely enter most Special Zones.

 

Because they had secured passages connected to each Special Zone.

 

These passages were located throughout Seoul, mainly in the form of abandoned buildings and abandoned tunnels.

 

I wondered how they created such passages, but this was also Lee Seob’s achievement.

 

Anyway, the Special Management Department gained entry into the Special Zones through Lee Seob.

 

Through this, Lee Seob’s words were all proven to be true, and the Special Management Department realized.

 

That this strange phenomenon was not a situation of a size they could handle.

 

Eventually, the Special Management Bureau was created, and Kwon Mu-seop was a member of the special forces transferred at this time.

 

Thus, Special Zone exploration began centered around the special forces.

 

The government spared no support, and at that time, discovering the identity of the Special Zones was the top priority.

 

They actually discovered many things.

 

The information discovered about Special Zones so far, and the current system of the Management Bureau, were mostly established during the time when Agent Lee Seob was there.

 

There were many sacrifices, but everyone could endure with the conviction that they were moving forward little by little.

 

But that precarious hope was suddenly cut off one day.

 

“Lee Sol said her father had passed away.”

 

I spoke up again.

 

“I also heard that he died in the line of duty. But, did he really pass away?”

 

“To be precise, he went missing. Four years ago, in a Special Zone.”

 

Kwon Mu-seop answered matter-of-factly.

 

“That’s why we even deployed an all-out war. At first, we tried to find him, and then it gradually became overheated.”

 

They waged an all-out war to find one missing agent.

 

It sounds like a romantic story at first glance, but the reality wasn’t quite like that.

 

“Do-un, what do you think would happen if a primitive person got on an elevator?”

 

“They’d be trapped helplessly, unable to do anything.”

 

“Right. They could get out just by pressing one button, but the primitive person wouldn’t be able to do that simple thing.”

 

That would be the case. They wouldn’t even know what a button is.

 

“They wouldn’t know how to press buttons, and if they pressed one by chance, they might wander around on the wrong floor, or they might fall while trying to force the doors open. The probability of successfully pressing the first-floor button and escaping would be extremely low.”

 

“Are you saying that’s how we are when exploring Special Zones?”

 

“Right. A primitive person can’t operate an elevator. Unless a modern person shows them how, it’s almost impossible alone. Of course, if you invest unlimited time and manpower, you might find the answer someday. But what we need to figure out isn’t how to operate one elevator, but the identity and rules of thirty-seven spaces where people die at the drop of a hat.”

 

Kwon Mu-seop’s words weren’t an exaggeration.

 

I was able to discover various breakthrough methods thanks to the Management Bureau’s manual.

 

If I had to start from zero without such background knowledge, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything either.

 

Like a primitive person trapped in an elevator for the first time in their life.

 

“In that sense, Lee Sol’s father was really amazing. He kept uncovering the Special Zone systems by himself. But thinking about it now, I think he had one. A modern person who told him the secrets.”

 

Kwon Mu-seop smiled briefly as if recalling old times.

 

His smile soon disappeared and was followed by a quiet murmur.

 

“He was our asset that we absolutely couldn’t afford to lose. That’s why we searched for him like crazy, but we couldn’t find him in the end. Even though we destroyed and searched through dozens of Special Zones.”

 

They fought desperately for nearly two years.

 

But they couldn’t find Lee Seob in the end.

 

Countless agents died, and eventually, those above no longer allowed their rampage and put them on a leash.

 

While reducing personnel and changing the approach.

 

Those who were hurt or felt disillusioned left the Management Bureau.

 

And when the remaining ones were forcibly pulling the organization together, that incident began.

 

“The Management Bureau was reorganized and we resumed Special Zone exploration. Naturally, there were many mentions of him. We had to discuss how things were done in the past.”

 

Senior Lee Seob had discovered it.

 

Lee Seob used to do it this way.

 

If Lee Seob had been there.

 

It was a situation where such stories had to be repeated.

 

“But at some point, physical symptoms began appearing in personnel who mentioned that name.”

 

At the least, mild dizziness.

 

In serious cases, they would lose consciousness along with nausea.

 

At first, they suspected it was coincidence, and after it repeated several times, they suspected some kind of disease.

 

“Then eventually, they were dragged away as a group. The agents from our department who had been analyzing his data day and night, all at once, to the same Special Zone.”

 

Was this phenomenon coincidence or contamination?

 

They couldn’t tell.

 

One thing was certain: all the agents who were dragged away like that died.

 

“They were suddenly dragged away, but theoretically, it was a Special Zone they could easily escape from. It was a place where the rules and escape routes had already been fully identified.”

 

“But why….”

 

“That Special Zone attacked ignoring all the rules. Only our people who were dragged there like that.”

 

“By any chance, is that Special Zone the ‘Siren-Sounding Railway Station’?”

 

“Yeah, that’s right.”

 

Kwon Mu-seop frowned and forced a smile.

 

And I finally realized.

 

The reason why they only watched Lee Sol trapped in the “Train Station.”

 

If you know the rules and prepare just a little, rescuing one person from the “Train Station” isn’t difficult.

 

Whether it’s money or a silver ring, you just need to go in and buy a ticket.

 

It would take 20 minutes, or if you hurry, even less than 10 minutes.

 

But that’s how it was.

 

That’s why they only watched.

 

“…Then Lee Sol’s father didn’t die in the line of duty but is still there?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

Kwon Mu-seop added with a sigh-mixed voice.

 

“There’s no way to confirm.”

 

I frowned at Kwon Mu-seop’s words.

 

Something feels like it should come to mind, but it doesn’t.

 

When I received hypnotherapy from Kim Woo-in.

 

When I saw Lee Seob’s face and heard his name.

 

I can’t remember the situation right before that.

 

I feel like I saw something important.

 

“Anyway, that’s when you appeared. First as the benefactor who saved Sol, then as someone with the same special constitution as that friend.”

 

“I see.”

 

“I didn’t explain this beforehand because there was no guarantee you’d play the same role as that friend. And it didn’t seem like it would particularly help you. Your head was already complicated enough, and I thought you’d get scared if you heard this kind of story too.”

 

It was an understandable reason.

 

Separate from the fact that Manager Kwon Mu-seop had a cunning snake sitting in his belly.

 

“I was already thinking it was about time to tell you. Since I confirmed that crow attached to you.”

 

“Do you really think that crow gave me hints?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Manager Kwon Mu-seop nodded without reservation.

 

But I still found it hard to accept.

 

Let’s say that crow is a modern person who took pity on the primitive people trapped in the elevator.

 

Then is there a need to be this unfriendly and merciless?

 

We’re human and communication is entirely possible.

 

We could understand and cooperate without being thrown around and rolled like this.

 

But why go to such lengths?

 

Three possibilities immediately came to mind.

 

Either that crow’s methods of approaching me are limited.

 

Or it has no particular interest in whether I live or die.

 

Or if neither, then this is all our interpretation.

 

But looking at the results, it’s hard to completely deny Kwon Mu-seop’s interpretation.

 

We stopped the Special Zone’s operation.

 

We figured out how to operate the elevator, which primitive people could never have discovered.

 

“So that’s why you took charge of me directly. To verify that possibility.”

 

“Sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand.”

 

“No. I understand everything now.”

 

I also understand well why the Management Bureau looks after my life.

 

In the end, it was because I had utility value, and this wasn’t a bad story for me either.

 

Kindness without reason is hard to sustain.

 

So clear mutual interests were actually more trustworthy.

 

When I nodded, Kwon Mu-seop smiled gratefully.

 

Then he spoke again.

 

“Yesterday, you asked if I was close with Sol’s dad, right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“He and I were like you and Si-eon.”

 

“So you weren’t very close.”

 

“No, we were close.”

 

Kwon Mu-seop laughed incredulously at my distancing.

 

“We were really close. From when he was first a civilian, I looked after him and took care of him…. It was exactly like you two. Si-eon is also constantly on alert because he doesn’t know when you might get dragged away.”

 

That’s true.

 

Whenever I got dragged into a Special Zone, I’d hear Cha Si-eon’s voice before I could even look around.

 

If nothing else, I have to acknowledge being indebted to him like that.

 

“Hasn’t Team 1 come out of the field yet?”

 

“They’re coming out now. They’ll return to headquarters within two hours.”

 

I’ll be meeting Team Leader Cha instead of “Alpha” for the first time in a while.

 

When I see his face, will I feel somewhat grateful, or will the annoying feelings still prevail?

 

Curious about it myself, I secretly looked forward to my handler’s return.

 

And he didn’t come back.

 

—

 

■ Emergency Alert / May 12th

 

– Casualties occurred on our side at “The Bleeding Island”

 

– 6 dead, 11 injured, 1 missing

 

– Missing person: Cha Si-eon

 

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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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