WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau ◈
Chapter 38: Clay Doll
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-Bang!
I barely rolled out of the way as a clay doll’s fist slammed into the floor.
“There’s no sign of this ending!”
Yoo Da-on shouted as she fell back toward me.
“I have to agree!”
I could only agree with her as I changed magazines.
If Jang Chae-yeon had been here, it might have been different. But without anyone capable of actual combat, I could see no way to fend off the fists of these mindless heaps of clay.
Even after shooting them several times, they only flinched. Not a single one properly went down.
“When is Ms. A-rin coming back?!”
“I’ve been waiting anxiously too!”
Song A-rin, currently the least useful person in this situation, had taken on the role of scout to find us an escape route.
Why was she taking so long?
I looked at the fist flying toward us again.
I quickly rolled across the floor before it could hit me, while Yoo Da-on barely managed to avoid it by pulling back.
“This way!”
At last, I heard the voice I had been waiting for.
Song A-rin was vigorously waving at us from a building that appeared to be the village church.
“Over there. Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
Yoo Da-on and I pushed past the dolls and tried to escape.
Fortunately, our legs were faster than theirs.
-Thud!
Yoo Da-on crossed both arms and blocked a clay doll’s fist.
Something cracked in her arms, but without even blinking, she kept running to avoid the dolls.
“Are you all right?!”
“No problem at all!”
She said it as if having her arms shattered had become an everyday occurrence.
Fighting might have been impossible, but as long as Yoo Da-on was here, we could escape somehow.
Sometimes I stopped the dolls with my gun, and when it was too late to dodge, Yoo Da-on took the attacks for me. Somehow, we made it to the church.
The moment we arrived, Song A-rin grabbed Yoo Da-on and me by the arms, shoved us inside, then strained to close the massive doors.
The doors shut with a boom. After securing the enormous wooden bar, Song A-rin hurried over to us.
“Are either of you hurt?”
“I’ve got a few scrapes, and my arms hurt.”
“My clothes are a little torn!”
“You’re alive, so that’s enough.”
-Bang! Bang!
Something pounded its fists against the doors from outside.
Fortunately, the doors did not seem like they would collapse anytime soon.
“I was going to head for the car, but I found something in here.”
“What do you mean, something?”
“There’s something underground.”
Song A-rin bit her lip as she spoke.
“I said this before, but this is the early stage of a god’s birth.”
“You said gods didn’t exist.”
“That’s right. Human belief is what creates gods.”
Song A-rin stared directly at me.
“So a god is being born now.”
It took me a moment to understand what she meant.
“...Ah.”
“Do you get it? The fanatical belief of some group is giving the Mountain God physical form.”
“Then do we just find that group and smash them?”
“If we’re not too late. But it’ll soon be too late.”
Song A-rin pressed her lips together tightly.
“If it fulfills all the conditions to become a god, what do you think it’ll do first?”
God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being.
I recalled the clay dolls’ background.
The Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, and dolls that strangely resembled people.
“...It will create Humans.”
“Right.”
She nodded.
“The first thing every god does after becoming a god is the same. They create something.”
“And those creations have started moving.”
“They’ll soon become part of this world as entities with minds of their own.”
“Hah.”
“If that happens... they’ll become entities that are difficult to take down.”
Song A-rin looked through the church’s tall windows.
“What happens if we can’t stop it?”
“A great war. It’ll use its creations to wage a holy war and gain faith.”
“Would it kill the damned Management Bureau to know about this stuff ahead of time?”
“I agree.”
A sigh escaped me.
“Communications are down, and the way back is blocked. So unless some ridiculously strong Containment Team member suddenly appears out of nowhere, we’re the only ones who can solve this?”
“...”
Song A-rin nodded with a gloomy expression.
“...Then we have to do it.”
There was no one else to solve this, and we could not run away.
The world itself was practically holding a knife to my throat and telling me to do it.
What terrible sin had I committed in a past life?
“What do we need to do?”
“Like you said earlier, we need to deal with the followers first. Then... we find the main body and take care of it quickly.”
“The main body? Where do you think it is?”
“...”
Song A-rin pointed at the floor.
“...Is that what you meant when you said there was something underground?”
She nodded.
I was not mentally prepared for this yet.
And it felt like I was still missing something.
As I held my head and thought, the pounding grew louder.
“Then you two should go down.”
Yoo Da-on answered calmly and stood in front of the doors.
“I’ll hold them off.”
“Can you hold them off alone, Ms. Da-on?”
“Who knows?”
Yoo Da-on turned her head slightly toward me and smiled confidently.
“I can hold them off until you finish the job, Mr. Jae-heon. No, I will.”
“...”
Was this right?
No matter how tough Yoo Da-on was, those Humans made of clay...
Humans?
“Ms. A-rin.”
“Should I stay too?”
“That’s not it.”
That was part of it, though.
“If time passes and the Mountain God becomes more of a god, then its creations will become closer to humans too, right?”
“Well... normally, yes?”
“Then won’t they eventually develop intelligence too?”
“...I think I know what you mean.”
Song A-rin nodded with a hand on her chin.
“Fine. I’ll stay.”
“Ms. A-rin, you’ll die if you get hit even once!”
“Black Hair is right.”
Ignoring Yoo Da-on’s words, Song A-rin stepped forward with a fierce smile.
“But I just need to make sure they can’t lay a finger on me.”
“I trust you.”
“I shouldn’t be saying this now, but I think I can do even better when you trust me.”
After meeting Song A-rin’s eyes once, I pulled Yoo Da-on down the stairs.
Yoo Da-on muttered worriedly.
“Will Ms. A-rin be all right?”
“She’s exactly the person we need for the job.”
Yoo Da-on could not hold back that many dolls.
And me? What could I do? Shoot a gun?
Even if that conclusion was only reached by process of elimination, Song A-rin was the only person who could stop them completely.
It would have been different if Jang Chae-yeon were here.
As if trying to lighten the mood, Yoo Da-on spoke brightly.
“So now we just need to defeat that Mountain God, right? Mr. Jae-heon, you have another good plan, don’t you?”
“Hmm.”
“It’s okay if you don’t! I can buy you time.”
Yoo Da-on’s trust was so heavy that it felt like it would crush me to death. Yet the words that should have appeared if I had come up with a good plan were nowhere to be seen.
[Critical: 0]
I stared at the silent window, as though it were telling me I still had not thought hard enough.
Other people solved problems with the flick of a finger. Why did I have to think myself to death every time?
It was so unfair.
With a deep inward sigh, I ran forward. Soon, a wide basement appeared before us.
“...This must be the place.”
It was clearly a place for prayer.
There were benches like the ones you would see in a church or cathedral, and strangely enough, an overturned wooden Buddhist temple block lay among them. It was a place where all religions had somehow united.
“There should be people here... but there aren’t?”
“You’re right.”
Would that not prevent us from accomplishing our goal of dealing with the followers?
“Should we trash the place?”
“I have a lighter!”
“Do you smoke?”
“I probably won’t get lung cancer, but I don’t really want to smoke!”
Yoo Da-on diligently set fire to papers and books with her lighter.
It was impossible to burn desks and chairs with just a lighter.
If I had known this would happen, I should have secretly stolen some Butane Gas.
Should I really steal some next time?
As I idly thought about that and kept setting things alight, at least the papers and books were all burning away.
“Shall we go?”
Yoo Da-on’s refreshing voice brought me back to my senses.
“Let’s.”
I followed her down the stairs.
* * *
Song A-rin’s gaze followed the two people descending below.
The black-haired woman who always smiled, yet whose thoughts were impossible to read.
And...
“...”
Her gaze lingered on the man’s retreating back.
He claimed it was only his eyes that were remarkable, but whenever she heard the ideas and solutions he came up with, he offered answers that could not be found through his eyes alone.
He did not speak prettily, but he was not foul-mouthed either, making him difficult to hate.
And because of that damned white hair, he was a man her eyes kept drifting toward for no reason.
Just how much did Jang Chae-yeon like him that I could not take my eyes off him?
“He can’t get hurt... I’ve lost my mind. I should worry about myself.”
She tied up the feelings that nearly spilled from her mouth and threw them far away. Clicking her tongue, she turned her gaze toward the doors.
-Thud! Thud!
A deafening roar rang out, and the doors burst open as though they had shattered.
The clay dolls poured inside.
In that short time, their movements had become orderly, and they appeared far more intelligent.
And that was her opportunity.
If they had intelligence, they could be hypnotized. Newly born intelligence was especially easy to hypnotize.
The creations awakened alongside the Mountain God’s awakening were still no different from children.
Song A-rin focused her mind.
As if by a miracle, the countless clay dolls came to a stop.
Cold sweat streamed down her forehead, but she ignored it and concentrated with her eyes wide open.
Soon, only silence remained.
None of the dolls could move. They stood frozen in place.
Still sweating coldly, Song A-rin muttered.
“Hurry up. You’re the only reason I’m holding on right now.”
In her mind, the sight of a man continuing down the stairs played over and over again.
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