WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau ◈
Chapter 22: Loop
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To me, Critical was my last bastion.
You could think of it as a golden ticket that was hard to obtain again once used.
It was different from Yoo Da-on, who had an unlimited supply of tickets.
The moment I raised my gun and aimed it at the thing,
“!”
Before I could react, it leaped at me. Yoo Da-on was the first to respond, hooking her right arm around its right arm and deflecting it before blocking the scalpel thrust toward her with her left arm.
“Ghk...!”
Blood spurted from her arm. At the same time, Jang Chae-yeon reacted and stretched out her hand, sending its body flying backward with a powerful impact.
Could we take it?
“...This is strange.”
Jang Chae-yeon muttered as she looked at her hand.
“There’s no sense of impact.”
“...And it’s fast.”
Yoo Da-on rubbed her arm as she spoke. There was already no trace of a wound left on it.
“I can’t keep blocking it forever, either.”
“Then I’ll block it for you.”
“...But you can’t protect me forever, either.”
I really wished they would stop fighting.
I looked at it.
“Deceive me. Deceive me. Deceive me. Deceive me.”
It shook its head over and over, muttering the same words.
Should I shoot it?
If I used Critical, I could end this for certain.
But the words I had seen earlier came to mind.
[Your understanding of ??? has increased.]
[Name: Basement]
[Age: -]
[Trait: Repeating Type]
[Talent: -]
[Background: Why are there madmen everywhere who want to make art using humans? Even though people who blame their materials for their own lack of artistic sense can never achieve greatness, he opens a workshop to prove his own stubbornness.]
[Weakness: This space will disappear along with its master.]
[Critical: 0 -> 1]
The information I had read about the Basement bothered me.
I had a feeling that using it now would cause trouble when I truly needed it.
Should I save it?
My expression grew serious without me realizing it.
Then, seemingly misunderstanding my expression, Yoo Da-on went, “Hup!” and took a hair tie from her pocket, tying up her hair.
Her black hair was gathered into a perfect ponytail.
“It’s okay! I can handle it alone! Don’t worry!”
“...I can do it too.”
Jang Chae-yeon slowly nodded as she looked at me.
“If you just stand there counting stains on the ceiling, it’ll all be over!”
Was that really the right expression to use there?
Yoo Da-on charged forward confidently.
Crunch!
As she rushed in, it drove its scalpel into her arm again, spraying blood into the air.
But without even flinching, Yoo Da-on pushed forward, threw her head back as far as she could, then slammed her forehead into it.
Crack!
With the sound of something shattering, it staggered several steps back. Seizing the opportunity, Jang Chae-yeon opened her eyes wide, stretched out her hand, and clenched it.
Boom!
It was pushed backward once more.
“...It really is strange.”
She frowned.
“The sense of impact is faint.”
“Right?”
Yoo Da-on replied calmly as she returned to us.
Her clothes were tattered again.
The Management Bureau really should give her some new clothes.
“It feels like... hmm. Like I’m hitting something that’s somewhere else.”
“...”
Somewhere else?
Elsewhere.
Jang Chae-yeon met my eyes, apparently having arrived at the same thought.
“Are we thinking the same thing right now?”
“I think so.”
“...Are you two going to have a close little conversation while leaving me out again?”
Yoo Da-on grumbled at our exchange.
“Sorry, Da-on. I’m really sorry, but could you fight that thing one-on-one for a moment?”
“...It’s not difficult.”
“When I give the signal, duck immediately.”
“...Okay.”
Yoo Da-on answered sulkily and stepped forward.
“What should we do?”
Soon, Yoo Da-on rushed at it. As something tore, Jang Chae-yeon calmly looked at me.
“If I designate the coordinates, can you use your ability to scratch and tear through them?”
“Got it.”
Jang Chae-yeon nodded as though she understood.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether “scratch” was the right way to put it. But I didn’t know what else to call it, either, so I decided to go with it. It didn’t matter how I got there as long as I got to Seoul.
I drew my gun.
“Now!”
The moment Yoo Da-on heard me, she ducked.
[Coordinate Ripping: 1 -> 0]
[Coordinate Ripping: 0]
[Time until Coordinate Ripping is restored: 24:00:00]
Thankfully, this one recovered with time.
Then, graph paper spread over the world.
This time, I wasn’t targeting a pinpoint.
It was a wider area.
And yet, something I normally could not target.
A new sheet of graph paper overlaid the one already before me.
If what I had seen until now was space, what I saw now was something beyond space.
Jang Chae-yeon seemed to understand my gaze as well. Opening her eyes wide, she looked where I was looking and stretched out her hand.
Soon, that place was cleanly cut away, revealing the monster with a startled expression.
“How-”
I swiftly drew my gun and fired several shots.
Flames burst from the handgun, and its body twitched.
As expected, ordinary weapons were nowhere near enough.
But the people beside me were not ordinary.
Yoo Da-on opened her eyes wide, leaped at it, and wrapped her arms around its waist.
“Now!”
Jang Chae-yeon looked at that spot without hesitation, clenched her fist, and wrenched it in the opposite direction.
Crunch!
Its waist bent grotesquely before being severed with a snap.
Yoo Da-on’s arm and shoulder, which had been holding it, twisted grotesquely as well with a horrible sound.
“Kyah...!”
The creature died without even managing a scream, while Yoo Da-on bit down on her lip and writhed in pain.
“Da-on!”
I rushed toward her.
“...I’m... fine.”
Yoo Da-on answered in broken pieces, breathing heavily.
Soon, her arm began returning to normal.
“Are you okay?”
“...It hurts.”
Yoo Da-on groaned as she touched her arm, which had already returned to normal.
“That really hurt.”
“...Sorry.”
“It’s fine. We were trying to catch it anyway.”
Jang Chae-yeon bowed her head to Yoo Da-on once more. Yoo Da-on stared at her, then sighed again and shook her head.
“...More importantly.”
Yoo Da-on seemed to have recovered from her injuries. She glared at me.
“You need to explain now. How the two of you got so close. And! That thing you’ve had since the Cube incident... that... what was it... Anyway, that!”
She seemed to mean the Joint Skill.
“...”
“You’re not going to tear someone’s body apart like this and then refuse to explain, are you?”
“...”
In the end, perhaps Jang Chae-yeon did have a conscience. She slowly nodded, shifted her gaze, and looked at me.
“...It’s not difficult.”
We ended up briefly explaining what had happened during the Cube incident. After hearing it, Yoo Da-on worked her lips repeatedly as though she had been wronged.
“How is this fair...! Make one for me too! One of those... things we can use together!”
“Am I the one who makes them?”
Even if Telekinesis and my eyes worked well together, how were my eyes supposed to work with Immortality?
No matter how hard I thought about it, no ideas came to mind.
“...Let’s go for now.”
It wasn’t something I got to decide anyway.
When the time came, my eyes would decide on their own. If not, then... there would be nothing. I felt sorry for Yoo Da-on, but still.
I walked ahead.
When it seemed impossible to reason with someone, you were supposed to run away.
When I opened the door, the same corridor appeared again.
And the stairs.
“...Is it over?”
Yoo Da-on let out a relieved sigh, and Jang Chae-yeon’s expression also lightened as though some weight had been lifted from her heart.
“Then shall we go up?”
Yoo Da-on said lightly as she climbed the stairs.
Slice!
Something cut through her neck, and her head fell off.
“Th-that scared me.”
As if experiencing déjà vu, she held her neck again.
Her neck returned to normal.
“...Huh? Aren’t we leaving?”
Yoo Da-on touched her neck and looked at me in confusion.
I felt the same way.
Why could we not leave?
Had something gone wrong?
Cold sweat ran down my back.
“...Ah, no way.”
Jang Chae-yeon’s face went pale.
“...Did you think of something?”
Seeing her expression, I had a bad feeling.
“...I’m sorry.”
She bowed her head.
“...Maybe I made a mistake.”
“A mistake? Ah-”
One sentence came to mind.
[4. If you have carefully checked the above manual, please nod your head.]
I remembered Yoo Da-on holding both of her cheeks.
Had Jang Chae-yeon nodded then?
She had.
Flip, flip, flip.
The manual opened.
[Manual for Those Who Broke the Manual]
1. Finding this manual means that you took the wrong path and descended into the Basement.
2. Please act according to the manual. Failure to follow the manual may have serious adverse effects on your body or mind, and the Management Bureau bears no responsibility for this.
3. Open the door in front of you and enter, but do not answer no matter what speaks to you.
4. If you answered when something spoke to you, close your eyes, crouch where you are, and wait until it passes.
5. Please check the notice posted on the wall visible after passing through the room for the rest of the manual.
6. Never go back up the stairs.
“...I’m sorry.”
Silence fell with Jang Chae-yeon’s apology.
Something had gone wrong.
Seriously wrong.
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