WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 571: The Management Bureau Is an Elephant (1)
──────
- Cha Jin-cheol
Someone who walked straight into a tiger's den to understand the tiger.
That was me, Cha Jin-cheol, rookie agent of the Management Bureau.
There was one thing I'd realized recently.
As far as I knew, agents were the most arrogant people in the world.
That included A-ri.
I didn't think Agent Mook-seong was quite that bad, though.
* * *
--- Creak!
I got out in front of a massive detached house on the outskirts of Seoul.
It was a picturesque mansion, complete with expensive-looking rock formations, an impressive garden, and even a small lake.
It was excessively luxurious for a place inhabited by fewer than ten people.
Still, considering it was the residence of Jang Min-cheol, chairman of Taeseong Group, one of Korea's leading conglomerates, I supposed this was only natural.
“Ah, Junior Cha, why do you drive like that?”
“...”
“You were way too rough. Shouldn't you be training to drive before you train to shoot?”
Agent Kim Ji-ho, my training officer, got out while clutching the back of his neck. He seemed deeply dissatisfied with my driving.
Even I had to admit it was rough.
There was hardly ever any need to drive, even in the Hotel, where we'd been through battles on land, sea, and air.
Rather than improving, my driving had gotten far worse than it was before I entered the Hotel.
“I'm sorry, Senior Kim.”
“Ah, forget it. Let's get to work.”
My training officer, Agent Kim Ji-ho, was an unbelievably arrogant person, but he also forgot minor annoyances quickly.
That was one of his few good qualities.
“You know what we have to do, right? Rookie, begin.”
He only jerked his head, clearly telling me to do it.
That wasn't arrogance this time. It was probably part of teaching a rookie how to work.
Still, it was a little irritating.
I approached the mansion and rang the bell.
--- Ding-dong!
“...”
“...”
“One more time-”
“No, no, Junior Cha. Do you think those people don't know we're here?”
We had contacted them beforehand, so there was no way they didn't know.
“This is their way of protesting. Like this. Who are we? Taeseong Group, one of Korea's ten largest conglomerates!”
“...”
“Who am I? Jang Min-cheol, chairman of Taeseong Group! So shouldn't you take my circumstances into account? Ha! What a joke.”
Did he really have to say it like he was putting on a play?
Was this also a strategy for pressuring Taeseong Group?
“We could just force the door open-”
It sounded reasonable, so I got into position.
“Hey, hey! You idiot, when I said force, did you think I meant with your arms? That's not what I meant-”
--- Crash! Craaack!
The door opened.
“Let's go in.”
“No, how did you force it open like that?”
Normally, seeing someone display strength like that should've been enough to make them collapse in shock. Kim Ji-ho was an agent, though, so he only looked dumbfounded.
At first, I'd hidden not only my Inheritance but even the Blessing of Courage to conceal the fact that I came from the Hotel...
At some point, I stopped hiding a little superhuman strength.
In the Management Bureau, in the world of agents, that level of unusual ability wasn't particularly rare.
Kim Ji-ho had his own trump card too.
Once we entered, Taeseong Group's owner, Chairman Jang Min-cheol, was waiting exactly as Kim Ji-ho had predicted, his eyes blazing.
“What... What kind of outrageous behavior is this?!”
“Outrageous? Are you talking about us? We contacted you beforehand.”
“Contacted me! Ha! Do you think all you need to do is contact someone before openly carrying out a kidnapping? If I contacted you in advance and demanded that you hand over your family, would you give them to me without resistance?”
“Chairman, sorry, but I don't have a family, so that threat means nothing to me.”
Kim Ji-ho and I had come to take Chairman Jang Min-cheol's youngest son, born late in life.
“Shut up! You, you bastards! Do you know where you are? We, we-”
His son's safety was at stake, so he seemed unable to think straight.
The elderly woman beside him tried to calm the agitated chairman, then stepped forward with tears in her eyes.
“Please, everyone, think this over. How much has Taeseong Group donated all this time? Seo-jin... Seo-jin may have committed a ‘minor’ wrong this time, but if you give him a chance to atone-”
“He can atone at Headquarters.”
“Lies! Do you think we don't know? You bastards would never let Seo-jin live-”
--- Bang!
One gunshot brought silence to the room.
--- Bang! Bang!
More shots followed.
Kim Ji-ho was shooting apart several sculptures decorating the mansion.
He was destroying property right in front of them, yet nobody dared protest.
The chairman and his wife, who had been passionately arguing only moments ago, were trembling. The mansion's guards didn't even dare approach.
That was right.
They were terribly afraid of us.
The chairman's roar was nothing more than the barking of a frightened dog.
“All right, all right. Have you come to your senses now?”
“...”
“We're busy too, so I'll say this one last time. Move. Raise your voice one more time, and I think the obituary of Taeseong Group's chairman will be on the front page of the Hankook Ilbo tomorrow.”
There were no more obstacles.
Thanks to that, we were able to enter the mansion and search for the chairman's youngest son, Jang Seo-jin.
“Junior Cha.”
“I'm listening.”
“You don't need to entertain the pathetic threats of ordinary people.”
“I just wanted to hear what they had to say...”
“Do you like horror movies?”
A horror movie, out of nowhere?
“I don't watch movies much.”
“Watch some occasionally. There's a lot to learn from them.”
“I don't understand what you mean...”
“The thing about villains in well-made horror movies is that they barely talk.”
“...”
“They hardly communicate either. They just use violence without warning or do things nobody can understand.”
He was talking about how to make ordinary people fear us.
Thanks to my experience in the Hotel, I knew that much too.
Our disagreement lay in what came next.
“I understand how to make people fear you. I just wonder why we have to become frightening monsters.”
“I told you. It benefits both us and ordinary people.”
“That's what you think. It isn't what I think, is it?”
It was an incredibly insolent response for a rookie only three months into the job, even in my own opinion.
I felt a little sorry for Kim Ji-ho, but I wanted to see how he would react.
I'd become a rookie agent to understand the Management Bureau.
“... You'll understand someday too.”
Rather than forcing me to agree, the senior agent took a step back.
Wasn't that interesting?
In a normal company, if a rookie told a senior, ‘That's your opinion, and mine is different,’ their reputation would be ruined.
The Management Bureau's culture, or more precisely, the culture among agents, was surprisingly horizontal.
Every agent was a Regressor, which meant they all had egos as bloated as medieval royalty.
I’m royalty, but so are you.
We wouldn't tolerate ordinary people, commoners, acting up toward us, but royalty should respect one another.
That was the feeling.
Then Kim Ji-ho murmured in a near whisper.
“Junior Cha.”
“I'm listening.”
“Sometimes I get the feeling that you're curious about what kind of people ‘we’ are.”
“...”
I'd thought he was a little clueless. Did he have this kind of awareness too?
“That's not a bad thing. Understanding the people you'll be with for a long time benefits everyone.”
“People I'll be with for a long time?”
“You don't seem used to it yet. You and I will keep meeting, not only in this life, but in the next one and the one after that. We'll spend more time together than any family or friend-”
“...”
“...”
Ji-ho, that isn't something two men should be saying to each other.
“Ah, fuck. No, I wasn't swearing at you, Junior-”
It seemed he'd realized it too.
“How did I end up saying something like that? Anyway, what I mean is, trying to understand people is good. But there's one thing you should know.”
“What is it?”
“The Management Bureau is an elephant.”
“I don't understand.”
“You've heard the parable of blind men touching an elephant, right?”
“...”
“The Management Bureau you see and the Management Bureau those ‘above’ see will be completely different.
“The Management Bureau a newcomer sees and the one a veteran sees are different.
“Then what kind of perspective does ‘A-ri’ have on the Management Bureau?”
“Let's go in. This looks like Jang Seo-jin's room.”
* * *
- Kim A-ri
When I got out of bed early in the morning, I had a text message.
“... So this day has come.”
The message was simple and clear.
‘Agent Kim A-ri, in consideration of your many years of dedication and accomplishments, especially your achievement in escaping the Hotel, you are hereby promoted.’
“...”
Today, I would be promoted.
I would rise to the heart of the most powerful organization governing the entire Earth.
I could say with certainty that the authority of The Silent, the leaders of the Management Bureau, couldn't be compared with that of any secular ruler.
To put it a little childishly, from today onward, I would have the power to kill the President of the United States with a flick of my finger.
“...”
I wasn't as happy as I'd expected.
Maybe it was because of the shocking experiences I'd had in the Hotel.
Maybe it was also because I had little interest in wielding power.
Still, I felt an intense curiosity.
I wanted to know the countless secrets I would now be able to access.
* * *
When I stepped outside, a black car was waiting in front of my house.
I got in and saw a familiar face in the driver's seat.
“You're awake.”
“... It's really strange hearing you speak politely to me.”
The driver was Park Hyun-min, the head of the Management Bureau's Korean branch.
With a position like that, he was genuinely a far more powerful figure than Korea's president.
He rarely needed to speak politely to anyone, and he had even less reason to serve as someone's driver.
“From the moment you received that text, you have become the most noble person beneath heaven.”
“What am I, some king?”
“Can you really be compared to an ordinary king?”
“...”
“I envy you. Truly.”
“...”
“It is also an honor.”
“Just drive.”
“Of course.”
As I leaned blankly against the back seat, the car traveled along a genuinely bizarre route toward a strange place that existed nowhere in the world.
Well, I should relax.
It wasn't as though the head of the Management Bureau's Korean branch would suddenly assassinate me.
More importantly, I had time to think.
What would I learn from now on, and what would I be able to do?
Why had those who sat in the position of The Silent before me decided to promote me?
Some of The Silent must be Former Participants, right?
Was there a chance I would meet the previous owner of Wisdom today?
...
My thoughts became tangled.
Too many possibilities came to mind at once, making it impossible to guess what would happen.
“What are you thinking about?”
“A lot of things.”
“... I'm curious.”
“No. Focus on driving.”
It took less than two hours to reach our destination.
“... Isn't this Australia?”
“That's right.”
From Seoul to Australia in two hours by car, not even by plane...
Was there some kind of secret passage only someone promoted to the level of Korean branch chief could know about?
...
I should just accept it.
Before long, every piece of information that person knew, along with even more secrets, would be in my hands anyway.
“Can you see something like a tower over there?”
“I can.”
“Please head that way.”
When I glanced back, Park Hyun-min had stepped out of the car and was bowing politely.
“I am not qualified. You are.”
“Thanks for showing me the way.”
“Not at all. But...”
“But?”
“If you're grateful, may I ask you a question?”
“...”
“What are you thinking about right now?”
He was quite curious.
Then again, for someone at the Management Bureau's upper ranks, curiosity itself was probably one of the driving forces that kept them alive.
“I'm curious too, just like you.”
“About what?”
“The Silent.”
“Yes.”
“What are they silent about?”
“...”
I walked toward the tower.
Footnotes:
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