WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau ◈
Chapter 32: 486
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Jang Chae-yeon’s fist landed squarely on Yoo Da-on’s head.
-Thwack!
“That hurts!”
“Pant... Pant...”
Yoo Da-on clutched her head and complained, while Jang Chae-yeon gasped for breath.
“Why... aren’t you crying?”
From where I stood, Jang Chae-yeon looked more likely to cry.
Clutching her swollen, bright-red right hand, Jang Chae-yeon looked at Yoo Da-on with an aggrieved expression.
“What am I supposed to do if I can’t cry?”
Meanwhile, Yoo Da-on only held her head, looking calmly at Jang Chae-yeon.
At this point, wasn’t Yoo Da-on’s head the one tormenting Jang Chae-yeon’s hand?
“No, why did you want something like that?”
“...I got hit too.”
That was true.
I remembered Yoo Da-on’s hand striking Jang Chae-yeon’s head at a perfect right angle on the subway.
We had to resolve this somehow.
This was exactly what good personnel were for, wasn’t it?
I looked at Song A-rin and gestured toward Yoo Da-on with my chin.
“Make her cry.”
“I was wondering when you’d finally ask me.”
Song A-rin let out a deep sigh and stepped forward.
Using someone with Hypnosis just to make one woman cry.
“Hey. Just stay still for now.”
“Yes.”
At Song A-rin’s words, Yoo Da-on sat still and closed her eyes.
Soon, tears began falling from her eyes in drops.
“Hit her.”
At my words, Jang Chae-yeon raised her hand again and flicked Yoo Da-on’s forehead.
-Thwack!
That cheerful sound I had already heard enough of rang out again.
All four of us turned to the sign.
<First, flick Yoo Da-on’s forehead until she cries.>
Amazingly, nothing had changed.
“It’s ridiculously picky. Crying because of Hypnosis doesn’t count as crying?”
Song A-rin kicked the innocent floor in irritation.
“Hmm.”
I turned to Yoo Da-on.
[Name: Yoo Da-on]
[Age: 23]
[Trait: Immortality]
[Talent: Regeneration (Pending)]
[Background: Unable to die, she has left her unfortunate past behind and is proudly demonstrating her abilities as a member of the Human Resources Team. She will do her utmost to live up to the expectations of those who believe in her.]
[Weakness: It is impossible for you as you are now.]
That was no help at all.
Was there a more useful method?
No matter how I looked at it, I was still a man. Maybe something would change if I hit her.
I walked toward Yoo Da-on, who was bickering with Jang Chae-yeon.
-Thwack!
The same cheerful sound rang out as before.
“...?”
Yoo Da-on opened her eyes wide and looked at me.
“Uh...?”
Maybe this was the expression of someone stabbed by a trusted subordinate.
Tears began streaming from the woman who had been staring blankly at me.
“Huh? Huh?”
Yoo Da-on blinked and frantically wiped away the tears pouring down her face with her sleeve.
“What’s wrong with me? Huh? I’m really sorry. Huh?”
Jang Chae-yeon and Song A-rin both stared at me.
“...Well. Um. I’m sorry.”
The guilt was no joke.
I crouched in front of Yoo Da-on and diligently wiped away her tears with my suit sleeve.
“I’m really sorry. Did it hurt?”
“No, it didn’t hurt at all. I’m really used to pain.”
Yoo Da-on answered calmly as she kept wiping away her tears.
“This feels really strange.”
“I’m sorry.”
“...”
“...”
“Hey, trash. I don’t know what happened, but it’s over now.”
Fortunately, as the atmosphere headed further toward disaster, Song A-rin stepped between Yoo Da-on and me and pointed at the sign.
The words on the sign vanished, and new ones began to appear.
<Second, be praised for doing well.>
What was this now?
This time, I had no idea who the sign was referring to.
Was it me? Could I really have been someone desperate for praise?
I looked at Yoo Da-on.
She was looking at me with the same expression.
It wasn’t Jang Chae-yeon, since hers was already done.
“...”
“...”
Our gazes turned to Song A-rin, who was only staring at the floor with a bright-red face.
“...Shut up.”
“Surprisingly, the three of us haven’t said anything yet.”
“I said shut up.”
Song A-rin glared at me, and my temples immediately began throbbing.
“Damn it, don’t use a brainwashing ability on people!”
“You won’t shut up!”
“When did I say anything?”
“You’re talking right no-”
“You’ve worked really hard!”
Yoo Da-on’s sudden voice stopped both Song A-rin and me.
Yoo Da-on was clapping enthusiastically.
“You came all the way here at such a young age and worked so hard, right? You’ve really worked hard.”
Then I should play along too.
“You really are amazing, Ms. Song A-rin. We were able to return alive from the musical because you were there.”
I stopped speaking and began clapping along with Yoo Da-on.
Song A-rin’s face grew so red that it now matched the purple of her hair.
“You all really want to di-”
“The sign changed.”
At Jang Chae-yeon’s flat voice, all three of us turned to the sign. Just as she said, its words were disappearing.
It had been resolved with just two compliments.
Song A-rin clenched her fist and strode toward the wall, then began punching it. The other three of us had no choice but to press our faces close to the sign again.
<Third, reunite with a friend you have not seen in a long time.>
A friend I hadn’t seen in a long time...
“Is it you?”
“I... don’t have that many friends.”
At Jang Chae-yeon’s question, Yoo Da-on shook her head with an awkward expression.
The two of them looked at me.
“I think it’s me.”
Reunite with a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time.
I remembered what had happened in the musical.
“I’m always watching from nearby.”
That voice still seemed to linger in my head, like an auditory hallucination.
But how was I supposed to meet that person again?
According to the manual, this room would not open until an achievable desire had been fulfilled.
In other words, theoretically speaking, this room considered it entirely possible for me to meet that person again.
How was that possible?
My head began to ache.
They were always watching from nearby? How?
Even if they really were somewhere near me, how could I call them out?
I narrowed my eyes and looked around.
One person was banging her head against a wall, and two people were staring straight at me.
Naturally, there was no one else in sight.
I thought back to the circumstances in which I had met that person.
Inside the musical, when I was being assimilated by a containment object.
Then there was only one thing I could think of.
I pulled out my handgun.
Before the others could react, I fired several shots into the ceiling.
Gunshots rang through the enclosed room.
Then a familiar mechanical voice I had heard once before filled the room.
<A threat to a containment object and the Containment Chamber has been detected. Forced suppression will begin.>
“Hey, are you cra-!”
Song A-rin, who had been banging her head against the wall, looked at me urgently. Jang Chae-yeon stepped in front of me as though she had sensed something, while Yoo Da-on rushed to the front with a sharp expression and spread both arms wide.
-Shhhhh!
A chilling presence descended.
An overwhelming presence I had not felt since the Dream of a Butterfly incident.
Desperately, I darted my eyes around as I scanned the empty air-
and met the eyes of a child in a black dress, standing with her arms folded as she looked at me.
“Why have your methods always been so extreme?”
The child spoke as though scolding me, then turned toward the darkness and gave a small bow.
The darkness writhed, then vanished.
“...Don’t do this again. Next time, you’ll really get scolded.”
Still speaking as though reprimanding a child, she disappeared.
“...Did you see that?”
No one answered.
Song A-rin was still looking at me with an urgent expression. Jang Chae-yeon still stood firmly in front of me in the same pose, while Yoo Da-on remained in front with her arms spread wide.
It felt as though time had stopped.
It had not merely felt that way.
Time had definitely stopped.
Soon, the three of them began moving again.
“...What was that?”
“There’s nothing there.”
“Huh...?”
All three of them only looked at the ceiling with puzzled expressions.
The words on the sign began to disappear.
“Anyway, we solved it, right?”
Ignoring the suspicious looks from the three of them, I watched the next words appear on the sign.
<Fourth, happi->
Before the words could fully appear, they vanished and the door opened.
Yoo Da-on smiled brightly.
“It’s over!”
Had the door opened before the words were fully written?
“You don’t have any desires?”
She wasn’t some living Buddha. Did that even make sense?
Yoo Da-on smiled gently at my question.
“I told you. Right now is the happiest time of my life. What desire could I possibly have?”
And so, the Room You Can’t Leave Unless You XX incident ended much sooner than expected.
Still, it felt as though more things were weighing on my mind now.
What exactly was that child? More than that, Yoo Da-on’s calm, smiling face would not leave my mind.
I should go back to my desk and organize what I knew.
* * *
But the first thing I heard when I returned was the team leader’s voice.
“Kids, go on a retreat.”
“Excuse me?”
“No, I heard there’s a nice lodge somewhere along the east coast. A retreat sounds nice, right?”
This old man was trying to sell us out again-
“I said I don’t want to go! I like working!”
“I’ll come along too.”
“The retreat sounds fun. Should we buy meat to bring along?”
My worries vanished in an instant.
Nothing would happen! We could just go and have fun!
...Right?
Footnotes:
“486” is a Korean pager code meaning “I love you.”
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