WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau ◈
Chapter 17: Between Ninety Seconds and Four Minutes
──────
Questions like this used to make the rounds online.
There is a button here.
If you press this button, you will spend 100 million years in a separate dimension. In return, you will receive an enormous sum of money.
However, from the moment you press the button, you will suffer eternal agony in a room you cannot leave for 100 million years. Yet once that time has passed, every memory of those 100 million years will disappear.
What I was going through now did not seem all that different.
But this time, someone was orchestrating it.
It was not that I had been trapped by some irresistible force. It was more like someone larger and stronger than me had locked me in solitary confinement while holding on to the doorknob.
I had to break the setup.
What did it mean to break the setup?
To do that, there was one thing I needed to prepare and one thing I needed to show.
“...”
“...”
Jang Chae-yeon met my eyes, then quickly turned her head away.
I had gone on a few blind dates in my life.
Not a single one had gone well, and each had ended in an awkward parting. The biggest reason had been my eyes.
‘We just met, but you know too much about me. It’s kind of scary.’
‘Sometimes, it feels like you can read people’s minds. It gives me chills.’
‘You’re not my type.’
‘You look like someone worn down by work.’
Anyway, I had taken a lot of unfair flak because of my eyes.
As a result, blind dates never ended well for me.
Still, I was a man with some blind-date experience.
“The weather’s nice, isn’t it?”
“It’s raining.”
“Right. What are your hobbies?”
“None.”
“Ah.”
But experience alone did not seem to be enough.
As I racked my brain because no more questions came to mind, she looked at me and let out a quiet sigh.
“Hey... why are we doing this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you keep doing something so meaningless?”
“To get out?”
“Do we need to do something this pointless to get out?”
“If I say we do, will you play along?”
Jang Chae-yeon stared at me.
Her usually emotionless eyes met mine several times. Then she let out a deep sigh, turned toward me, and faced me properly.
“My hobby is taking walks. Like I said, I was an only child, and both my parents have passed away.”
“I see.”
“What about you?”
“Like I said, I have a younger sister... and both my parents are alive and well.”
“Is your sister an ordinary person?”
“Pardon? Well... probably?”
“What are your hobbies?”
“Nothing in particular. As you know, when you work at the Management Bureau, you don’t have time to find hobbies.”
There were so many deaths that I felt bad for the bereaved families every time I sent them money.
“...That’s true.”
Jang Chae-yeon looked into the distance.
“Then why did you become an office worker instead of joining the Containment Team? With your ability, you could have been on the Containment Team right away.”
“That was where they assigned me. I’m fine with it. At least I don’t have to risk dying.”
“The Management Bureau is bad at judging people.”
“Don’t say that anywhere else. I already ended up like this because the Management Bureau noticed me.”
If not for the Dream of a Butterfly incident, I would have been living quietly and peacefully. How had things ended up this way?
“How did that happen?”
Jang Chae-yeon tilted her head.
Come to think of it, I had never told Jang Chae-yeon about my ability. Not about the Dream of a Butterfly incident, either.
“Well... a lot happened.”
We had time to spare anyway.
I dropped down beside Yoo Da-on, who was still frozen in the same pose, and began telling my story. Jang Chae-yeon sat neatly across from me and listened.
“Fortunately, I could see those things with my eyes, so...”
“Hmm...”
“And when I shot them with my gun like this...”
“Oh...”
“But actually, that gas canister was nothing special, so...”
“...”
Sometimes she looked pleased. At dangerous moments, she widened her eyes and focused as though she herself were in danger. When things were resolved, she let out a sigh.
I could not flatter her by calling her a good storyteller, but the way she listened was a talent in itself. It made the person speaking enjoy telling the story more. Perhaps because of that, I became more enthusiastic too.
After I finished telling her everything, she stared at me.
Her eyes seemed to shine a little more brightly than before.
“...You were a cool person.”
“Well... um... thank you.”
Straightforward praise like that somehow made me feel awkward.
“...I should tell you my story too.”
She placed her hands neatly on her knees and continued.
“I joined the Management Bureau as soon as I awakened this ability. ...You could say they made me join.”
“Made you join?”
“The Management Bureau is always short on staff. They try to recruit people with useful abilities like mine no matter what. They have all kinds of methods. My case was relatively gentle.”
Did they really have to go that far, Management Bureau?
“Anyway, I worked as a member of the Containment Team... and then this incident happened. Everyone on my team died.”
Jang Chae-yeon continued calmly.
“Why did they die?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Right. Of course.”
“...”
“...That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
It was not easy to make your own story sound this bland, but she had managed it.
“...So how do we solve this problem? There is a way, right?”
“Yes. There is.”
“What is it?”
“We wait.”
“...I told you, nothing happens if we wait. This place will not move until we break.”
“I know.”
“...Do whatever you want.”
In the end, she hugged her knees and remained where she was.
* * *
A day passed.
During that day, I realized that I felt none of the needs necessary for living, such as hunger or sleepiness.
Not having to worry about hunger was an advantage, but it also meant I could not pass the time by sleeping.
“...”
I looked around.
The information visible to my eyes had not changed, but it did not bother me.
We had no time, yet paradoxically, time was all we had.
I approached Jang Chae-yeon and spoke to her.
She responded to my stories, even if only briefly.
On the second day.
Nothing was much different. There was no night here, so I could not even tell whether it was the second day or still the first.
The only difference was that Jang Chae-yeon had begun talking to me little by little.
“...Are you okay?”
“With what?”
“Aren’t you overwhelmed? Aren’t you afraid that this might never end?”
“Not at all.”
“Why?”
“If I were alone, I would probably be terribly scared, overwhelmed, and slowly losing my mind because I could not endure it for long. But I’m not alone.”
“...”
“Chae-yeon is beside me right now. So I’m not scared.”
“...”
She stared at me, lowered her head, and sat back down.
On the third day.
Nothing changed.
On the fourth day.
The same.
On the fifth day.
Still the same.
On the sixth day.
There was nothing more to say.
Around the time a week had passed, Jang Chae-yeon approached me again and asked,
“...I’m bored.”
“I figured.”
She sat beside me.
I did not stop her.
About two weeks must have passed.
We decided to do something more productive.
“...It’s not coming out well.”
“I suppose not.”
Jang Chae-yeon groaned as she held a piece of stone and carved something into the wall.
“Just use your ability.”
“That would have no meaning.”
“Seriously.”
She eventually put down the piece of stone and sat beside me again.
“I’m resting today.”
“Is it okay not to finish it?”
“There’s always tomorrow.”
“True.”
“So I’m resting today. Don’t you have any more interesting stories?”
“What story am I supposed to tell today? ...How I worked in Human Resources, paid out severance as regular wages, and nearly got my jaw knocked off by the team leader?”
“You told me that story the day before yesterday.”
“Ah.”
“But it’s okay if you tell it again.”
Jang Chae-yeon gave a small smile.
“I’ll forget it. Tell me again.”
* * *
Another week passed.
“I’m almost done.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t look.”
Jang Chae-yeon muttered in satisfaction while holding her stone. When I tried to look over, she covered my eyes with both hands.
“I’ll show you when it’s finished.”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“Let’s go somewhere else. Hurry.”
In the end, Jang Chae-yeon stuck close behind me and pushed me away. It was not her strength that forced me to move, but the feeling of her pressed against my back.
* * *
About a month passed.
As I sat still, Jang Chae-yeon casually sat beside me.
“Tell me a story.”
“I really have nothing left to say. At this rate, I’ll have to tell you about crawling across the floor as a child.”
“Then tell me.”
“I need to remember it first. You should tell me more about yourself too.”
“I’ve told you plenty.”
“Still, I’ve told you more.”
“Hurry.”
“...The time Da-on spilled coffee on her laptop two days after joining Human Resources?”
“You told me that last week.”
“Well, what am I supposed to...”
“But I just forgot it.”
She looked at me with a gentle smile.
She could make an expression like that too?
“Tell me.”
In the end, another day passed as I told Jang Chae-yeon meaningless stories.
About two months seemed to have passed.
“...”
“...”
Now, Jang Chae-yeon sat close enough that our shoulders nearly touched, blankly staring elsewhere.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“...”
“...”
A long silence passed, and once again, neither of us said anything.
“...I have something to say.”
“Yes.”
Tap.
Jang Chae-yeon rested her head on my shoulder.
“Honestly, at first, I regretted it a lot.”
“Yes.”
“I was scared. I remembered the pain I had gone through.”
“Yes.”
“So I resented you a lot, and I blamed myself a lot too. I kept wondering why I had done that.”
“Yes.”
“But after being here, I think you were right.”
“About what?”
“That there would be no problem if there were two of us.”
Jang Chae-yeon slightly turned her head and met my eyes.
Her breath tickled the bridge of my nose from close by.
“Do you want to see what I was making before?”
“Sure.”
She stood, took my hand, and led me along. I followed her.
I was there.
More precisely, there was a drawing of me that Jang Chae-yeon had made with a piece of stone.
It was far more detailed than I expected, and I could not help clicking my tongue in surprise.
“...When did you start drawing this?”
“From when you were staring blankly somewhere else.”
“...Wow.”
Jang Chae-yeon turned around and smiled softly at me.
“It’s enough now.”
“Is that all?”
“No.”
She approached me again and looked up at me.
“I’m not scared anymore.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
She laughed out loud.
“Let’s just stay like this a little longer.”
A short silence passed.
Then a window appeared before my eyes.
[Your understanding of Jang Chae-yeon has increased.]
[Due to your bond with Jang Chae-yeon, you can use the Joint Skill: Coordinate Ripping.]
[Coordinate Ripping: 3 uses remaining]
I smiled softly at Jang Chae-yeon and answered,
“But it’s time to leave now.”
“Huh?”
Leaving her standing there in confusion, I got to my feet.
Then an explanation appeared before my eyes.
[Coordinate Ripping: You share a coordinate of your choosing. Then she tears it apart. Do not forget. Coordinates do not exist only in reality.]
So my eyes were the coordinate-designating kind.
I looked at Jang Chae-yeon.
“Don’t panic, no matter what happens from now on.”
“...I’ll trust you.”
She nodded. After looking at her once more, I muttered inwardly.
‘Coordinate Ripping.’
In that instant, the world looked different.
The surroundings began to distort, as if graph paper had been laid over the world I had been seeing.
“...What is this...?”
“Shh.”
Perhaps Jang Chae-yeon had started seeing something else too. I stopped her as she muttered in alarm and carefully looked around.
I looked at what could not be seen.
I searched wildly, and soon, I saw a distortion unlike the others.
It felt as though only that part of the paper had been crumpled.
“Over there!”
When I pointed at it, Jang Chae-yeon looked in that direction as well. She stretched out her hand and clenched her fist.
Crack.
Something twisted.
Whoosh...
Wind began to blow.
Sound began to return.
“Huh?”
Yoo Da-on’s voice began to reach us.
“...You were beside me just a moment ago, so when did you...”
Thud, thud, thud!
Before Yoo Da-on could finish speaking, someone rushed at me and hugged me tightly.
“...You did it.”
Jang Chae-yeon wrapped her arms around me, holding me so tightly it felt as though she would crush me.
“...You did it...”
“We both did it.”
“...No, when did you two suddenly get so close?”
Yoo Da-on approached us, sounding dumbfounded.
“A lot happened...”
“Shh.”
Jang Chae-yeon placed her index finger against my lips.
“Keep it a secret.”
“...Well, if you insist.”
“...This isn’t excluding me, right?”
Leaving Yoo Da-on behind as she protested, I looked around.
Soon, information appeared before my eyes again.
[Name: Cube]
[Age: Year of Manufacture XXXXXXXXXXX]
[Trait: Reality Alteration and Absorption]
[Talent: X]
[Background: The Cube, created far away, possesses the functions of reality alteration and absorption. Whether it absorbs by altering reality or alters reality by absorbing it, the order has not yet been decided. What the Cube has currently absorbed is a city.]
[Weakness: Coordinates // // // // die die die die die die die die die]
[Critical is charging.]
[Critical 0 -> 1]
Someone seemed very angry.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
