Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau - Chapter 36

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Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau ◈

Chapter 36: The Mountain God

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When I was young, I once read a novel about a murder at a mountain lodge called Gwigok.

Back then, I wondered how frightening it would be to walk through the dark corridors of Gwigok Mountain Lodge.

“How long are you going to keep walking like that?”

“I told you not to talk to me...!”

For some reason, the person with dark purple hair walking ahead of me kept drawing my attention, so I did not feel scared at all.

The reason she would not walk behind me was the ridiculous claim that she could not bear to look at my back. At this point, it felt like watching a fan meet their idol, so it was not even surprising anymore.

Still, if I had linked Song A-rin with Jang Chae-yeon through Method, should she not be quieter? Why was she so chatty?

I had imagined her only saying things like, “Shut up,” or “Die.”

“We need to go down here.”

“Eek!”

At my words, Yoo Da-on nodded and looked below. Song A-rin only flinched while still making foolish noises.

Even if she had come to resemble Jang Chae-yeon, Jang Chae-yeon had never reacted to me that dramatically.

I looked at Jang Chae-yeon’s back.

Her white, or perhaps silver-white, hair seemed to absorb the light and glow even in the darkness as she discussed something with Yoo Da-on.

“We’re going down.”

“I’ll go down first, so the rest of you follow one at a time.”

It seemed their discussion had ended.

After Jang Chae-yeon looked at the three of us and spoke, Yoo Da-on immediately began walking slowly down the stairs.

A faint creak sounded.

The stairs had creaked when we walked on them. How was she going down so quietly?

“I’ll go first.”

Song A-rin took the lead.

She too walked down the stairs while making as little noise as possible.

“Let’s jump down.”

“Excuse me?”

Jang Chae-yeon looked at me and casually dropped a bombshell.

“Are you confident you can go down as quietly as they did?”

“...No.”

“Right. So jump with me. I’ll catch you.”

Jang Chae-yeon held out her hand with a gentle smile.

It felt like she was doing this on purpose somehow.

“Understood.”

There was no reason to refuse.

I placed my hand on top of hers, and Jang Chae-yeon jumped over the stair railing.

Still holding her hand, I climbed over the railing as well.

“...Oh.”

Just before we hit the floor, we landed lightly.

The other two came down while staring at us with dumbfounded expressions.

“Let’s go.”

Jang Chae-yeon brushed her hair into place and walked ahead. It did not seem like my imagination that she sounded pleased with herself.

With us like this, were we not invincible?

With a small hope in my heart, I looked around.

It was so quiet that I could hardly believe this was where the meat party had been held earlier.

I had no idea when they had finished cleaning up, but the place was spotless. There was no trace or presence of anyone.

“What time is it?”

“Seven thirty.”

It was absolutely not time to go back yet.

I narrowed my eyes and looked around, then made eye contact with something strange on the dining table.

If someone molded a clay statuette in the shape of an infant, it might look like this.

It gave off an oddly unpleasant feeling.

Then something appeared above the statuette.

[Name: Sad Past]

[Age: Created 18 years ago]

[Trait: Double]

[Talent: -]

[Background: You who do not understand what God has said, now that His words have come true, it has come to remain here.]

[Weakness: He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, for the former things have passed away.]

What a complete headache.

“...!”

While I was struggling with the weakness, Song A-rin looked at the statuette and quickly turned away.

“What is it?”

“...This is it.”

Song A-rin spoke in a subdued voice. Still facing away, she pointed at the statuette.

“After seeing this, I lost my memory.”

This?

But my temples did not hurt at all.

I carefully examined the statuette, but I still did not feel anything.

“Don’t touch it.”

“You think I’m crazy enough to touch this? Who would touch something this disgusting?”

“Did you just say it was disgusting?”

A hoarse voice came from ahead of us. I instinctively drew my gun and aimed it forward.

The grotesquely long neck, the bloodshot eyes visible through the hair, and the bent waist.

She was no different from the woman I had seen earlier.

No. There was one difference.

“...I can’t see anything.”

There was nothing above the woman’s head.

Was she not human?

No, that made no sense. I had been able to see even things that were not human. It did not make logical sense for her information to suddenly not appear like this.

“Should I restrain her?”

“Do it.”

Before the woman could even open her mouth, Jang Chae-yeon stretched out her hand. Something invisible immediately swept forward and pushed the woman away.

Or it should have.

“...!”

Jang Chae-yeon looked startled, and I could only stare at the woman in the same confusion.

She had not moved a single step.

Jang Chae-yeon swung her hand once more.

-Bang!

The floor around the woman buckled.

The force was enough to flatten an ordinary person against the ground like a squashed frog.

Yet she still did not move at all, only watching us.

“...It doesn’t work. We need to find another way...”

“Bad news, but Hypnosis doesn’t work either.”

As though she had anticipated what Jang Chae-yeon would do next, Song A-rin added that.

“Are you done, child?”

The woman clicked her tongue and laughed.

“Different powers from humans, and you are still so calm. So the Management Bureau has come again after all.”

Again?

I glanced at Jang Chae-yeon, and she met my eyes.

“...Are you referring to the Mountain God?”

“You killed the Mountain God and now you pretend not to know?”

When the woman shouted, the floor shook.

“I heard outsiders had come after so long, and they turn out to be Management Bureau scum who deserve to be chewed to pieces.”

“Everyone, get back!”

Jang Chae-yeon rushed forward and held out her hand.

-Kwaaaang!!!

The floor split apart, and the mountain lodge literally “exploded.”

Thick smoke spread before my eyes, but no debris struck my body.

“Is everyone all right?!”

“I’m alive!”

“I’m okay too!”

Song A-rin and Yoo Da-on’s voices rang out.

“Chae-yeon, are you okay?!”

There was no answer.

“Chae-yeon!”

I called Jang Chae-yeon’s name through the thick dust, but she did not respond.

“What the...”

Through the fog, I saw a translucent window rushing toward me.

It was too late to shoot.

I quickly crossed my arms and braced for the impact.

“Urgh!”

A sharp pain shot through my arm as a kitchen knife stabbed into it.

“Jae-heon!”

Yoo Da-on, who had rushed over before I knew it, kicked away the person who had attacked me.

“Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine.”

Ignoring the sharp pain in my arm, I looked at the person Yoo Da-on had kicked away.

It was the owner of the mountain lodge.

The man gripped a kitchen knife and rushed at me again.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Yoo Da-on caught the man’s knife with her gloved hand, and the two began fighting hand-to-hand.

I quickly drew my gun again and aimed it at him.

My target was...

The muzzle pointed at his head, then lowered to his leg.

-Bang!

“Aaargh!”

I fired as the man stepped forward and hit the top of his foot. As he fell while clutching his foot, Yoo Da-on’s leg shot up at a right angle and struck his chin cleanly.

“Gurgle...”

The man collapsed with foam spilling from his mouth. Song A-rin hurried over to me.

“You’re hurt?!”

“That’s not important right now. Where is Chae-yeon?”

“You should know best, shouldn’t you?!”

“I can’t see her, that’s why!”

I could see Yoo Da-on’s window.

I could see Song A-rin’s window too.

But Jang Chae-yeon’s window was nowhere to be seen.

It was as if she had suddenly vanished from the world.

The dust began to clear.

Only the spot where Yoo Da-on, Song A-rin, and I stood remained clean, as if nothing had touched it.

Everywhere else had been reduced to ruins.

A cloudless night sky stretched above us.

Jang Chae-yeon was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the team leader.

“...It collapsed. All of it.”

Song A-rin muttered in a blank voice.

“We need to contact headquarters...”

“...Look over there.”

Yoo Da-on interrupted Song A-rin and pointed somewhere.

The dark forest surrounding the mountain lodge.

There were people in the forest.

No. They were not people.

They were things made of dirt.

I remembered using modeling clay in elementary school to make people.

Limbs of mismatched lengths, bodies made without any consideration for hands or feet, and faces crudely carved with plastic sculpting knives.

The only difference was that these things were hiding behind trees, watching the three of us with bright smiles carved into their faces.

“...Let’s run.”

Song A-rin muttered.

“What about Chae-yeon?”

“Try finding her if you can. Do you see her?”

“...”

I looked around once again.

The name Jang Chae-yeon was nowhere to be found.

“I’m not saying we should run far away. We need to regroup first. Then we can look for that woman or whatever. The three of us have no way to stop those things here.”

It was annoyingly correct.

The things hiding behind the trees began slowly moving toward us.

“This way!”

At Yoo Da-on’s voice, Song A-rin and I turned our heads.

Somehow, Yoo Da-on was already sitting in the driver’s seat of the van we had arrived in.

“Get in! Hurry!”

The things walking toward us began to run.

-Thud! Thud!

The ground shook.

As if we had agreed beforehand, Song A-rin and I got up and ran toward the van. Yoo Da-on leaned out the window and waved at us.

Fortunately, we were faster.

I quickly climbed into the passenger seat, and Song A-rin sat in the back and slammed the door shut.