Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau - Chapter 39

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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

Chapter 39: Faith for Favors

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We made our way down through the endlessly stretching underground.

“Have you thought about how we’re going to defeat it?”

“I’m still thinking.”

This party composition felt very familiar.

I looked at Yoo Da-on, who was running hard.

It was that familiar no-DPS party setup.

“We’re a little short on firepower, after all.”

“It would’ve been different if Ms. Chae-yeon were here.”

Of course, I couldn’t say we would win just because Jang Chae-yeon was here, but it might have made the fight a little easier.

After running for who knew how long, we finally saw an exit as we continued downward.

Yoo Da-on, who had been running toward the exit, stopped and signaled for me to stop. I quickly followed suit.

“...What is it?”

“There are people.”

I whispered as I approached, and Yoo Da-on pointed outside as she whispered back.

I followed her and peeked outside. Just as she said, people had gathered there, bowing toward something.

People filled a massive clearing.

“Mountain God...”

The strange thing was that they were nothing like the hooded secret-society members one might imagine.

There were elderly people who looked like they could be tending fields in any rural village, and villagers who looked like they should be driving tractors nearby.

They bowed as they looked upward.

I followed their gazes.

“...Huh.”

There was a gigantic wooden newborn.

More accurately, it was not a newborn, but it gave off a similar feeling.

If something that did not understand humans had clumsily tried to imitate one, wouldn’t it make something like that?

Was that its true body?

I quickly examined the Mountain God.

[Name: Mountain God]

[Age: Created 80 years ago]

[Trait: Wish Collection]

[Talent: Creation]

[Background: Though it has existed only a short time, this religion, cultivated across generations, avoided being weeded out by the Management Bureau for longer than expected. As a result, a new god is about to come into being once again.]

[Weakness: Do not forget that faith existed before a god was born.]

Do not forget that faith existed first.

It ran along the same lines as what Song A-rin had said.

“Excuse me...!”

As I was thinking of how to deal with it, Yoo Da-on tapped my shoulder and whispered.

“Isn’t that Ms. Chae-yeon...?”

“What?”

At the end of Yoo Da-on’s pointing finger, Jang Chae-yeon was tied to a pillar, unconscious.

Everyone had their backs to her as they lowered their heads and bowed to the Mountain God.

She was alive.

It felt as though a huge thorn lodged in one corner of my heart had finally been pulled out.

“Should we save her?”

“As long as we can avoid being spotted.”

I met Yoo Da-on’s eyes, and we nodded to each other.

The risk of being discovered versus the benefit of having Jang Chae-yeon join us again?

It wasn’t even worth considering.

“I’ll fight if it comes to that.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

Yoo Da-on and I quietly made our way around the back.

Careful not to make any noise, we slowly headed toward Jang Chae-yeon.

I couldn’t tell whether she had fainted or was sleeping, but she didn’t notice us even after we arrived. Her eyes remained closed.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be injured.

“She’s unconscious.”

Yoo Da-on narrowed her eyes as she examined Jang Chae-yeon.

“It looks like a mild concussion from a heavy blow.”

“How can you tell?”

“I’ve died a lot.”

Yoo Da-on answered with a gentle smile.

“She’ll wake up if we wake her.”

There was something slightly questionable about that, but I carefully shook Jang Chae-yeon’s shoulder.

“Ms. Chae-yeon, wake up.”

“...Mm.”

“Ms. Chae-yeon.”

After I shook her shoulder a few more times, she finally opened her eyes slowly.

“...Did you come to save me?”

“You could say that.”

Jang Chae-yeon gave me a soft smile.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Jang Chae-yeon turned her gaze toward the ropes, and they soon loosened and fell away.

“How did you end up here?”

“I managed to block the attack. But after that, something grabbed me and dragged me away.”

That was why she had disappeared.

“Then can you... win against that with brute force?”

“Me?”

Jang Chae-yeon stared at me, then slowly shook her head.

“I can’t win through brute force. I might be able to hold it back with everything I have.”

Right. I was too shameless to expect her to win.

“I’ll be satisfied if you can just hold it back. Da-on and I will take care of the worshippers.”

Jang Chae-yeon nodded.

“Let’s strike before they notice us.”

Our first priority was incapacitating them. If that failed, we would kill them.

I drew my gun, and Yoo Da-on clenched her fists.

Jang Chae-yeon held out her hand. An invisible wave spread across the floor, and...

-Boom!

As if it were only natural, something blocked it.

The people turned to look at us.

“An intruder!”

“Someone is interfering with the Mountain God! Kill them!”

People wielding sickles, axes, and hoes rushed at us with murderous expressions.

I drew my gun and fired.

-Bang!

“Argh!”

“Mr. Kim!”

A man shot in the leg collapsed.

I could keep shooting like this.

This time, I aimed at a middle-aged woman holding a hoe and fired at her leg.

-Thud!

The grotesque child, whose eyes had been closed, opened them.

Its eyeballs rolled, meeting mine.

A chill ran down my spine.

It wasn’t quite like the thing I had encountered in the Management Bureau basement, but it felt similar.

At that moment, soil rose from beneath the ground and wrapped around the woman’s leg.

“Ahh! Mountain God!”

The middle-aged woman cried out in ecstasy and raised her hoe again.

“The god protects us! Go!”

A god could even stop bullets? Would bullets stop if I believed in a god too?

“Stick close and follow me.”

Jang Chae-yeon spoke calmly and began running ahead.

The ground shook, and dirt poured down before us, but when Jang Chae-yeon waved her hand, it avoided only us and fell to the ground.

“Attacking will be difficult. I’m counting on you.”

“I’ll deal with the people!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Yoo Da-on moved to the side and shouted confidently.

“What is that woman? Kill her!”

A burly man shouted as he swung an axe at Yoo Da-on.

The axe fell onto her neck.

-Thwack!

Her neck twisted at an unnatural angle, and blood sprayed out. Yet she pulled the axe embedded in her neck out with one hand and struck the man’s head with its handle.

-Crack!

“Urgh...!”

The man’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed, and Yoo Da-on began running toward the others with an expressionless face, axe in hand.

“Don’t overdo it!”

“Yes!”

When I called out to her, she flashed a bright smile as if nothing had happened and ran off again.

Farming tools pierced her arms, neck, and body, but she ignored them as she ran around beating people with the axe handle.

As I followed Jang Chae-yeon, I sank into thought again.

I pondered the nature of gods.

If becoming a god only required many people to believe in something, then the lottery would already have become a mass religion’s god of odds.

Ordinary belief alone could not summon a god.

There had to be some kind of actions and outcomes to accompany it.

Then what separated faith from mere belief?

“...”

I followed Jang Chae-yeon while looking at the Mountain God, whose presence was overwhelming.

The closer I got to it, the tighter my chest felt, and the stronger the urge to lower my head became.

This was not a mental attack. If I had to describe it, it was something closer to awe.

“Guh, blub!”

Dirt poured down from somewhere, followed by Yoo Da-on’s muffled cry.

“Ms. Chae-yeon.”

“Yeah.”

“Please go help Da-on for a moment. Subdue the others while you’re at it, and draw their attention.”

“...Will you be okay?”

Jang Chae-yeon looked at me worriedly.

“I have to be.”

If it couldn’t be physically destroyed, then I was the only one who could do this.

“Just clear a path for me.”

“Okay.”

Jang Chae-yeon nodded, and I focused.

[Coordinate Ripping: 3 uses remaining]

The world changed into graph paper.

This time, I wasn’t tearing apart a specific area.

Just as much as possible.

As if she understood my gaze, Jang Chae-yeon held out her hand and clenched her fist.

-Crunch!

Everything before my eyes crumpled.

The pressure weighing down on me vanished.

“See you in a bit.”

“I’ll trust you.”

Jang Chae-yeon said that, then turned around and held out her hand.

“Wow! I suffocated and died once!”

“Focus.”

Still feeling dirt falling around me, I ran deeper inside.

The farther in I went, the stronger the sense of awe became.

My steps naturally slowed, and before I realized it, I was slowly walking toward the Mountain God.

“...”

I forced my head up and faced it.

It merely looked at me without doing anything.

No dirt fell as it had before.

But I knew.

“The awe I feel isn’t because you’re a god.”

What was the difference between faith and belief? Why did no god of the lottery exist, while the Mountain God could come into being?

“It was because they believed you existed.”

People who bought lottery tickets believed in the lottery, but they did not believe a god of the lottery existed.

But these people had believed for a long time that the Mountain God was real.

Normally, the Management Bureau weeded them out before a god could be born, but exceptions like this happened.

It stared at me.

“If you were a god, you wouldn’t have let me get this far.”

How could an omnipotent god fail to kill a mere human?

The awe I felt now came only from the wishes sent by countless people.

Something continued to collapse outside.

Jang Chae-yeon and Yoo Da-on were already wearing down the Mountain God’s strength and mind, while Song A-rin had succeeded in taking over its forces alone.

“You are a clever child.”

The Mountain God, silent until now, finally spoke.

It had the same voice as the woman who had looked at me in the mountain lodge.

It spoke in a gentle voice.

“The Management Bureau is always like that. They so readily give up on human faith, all because they claim to be acting for people.”

“I see.”

“They believed in me. I was born to grant their wishes. In conclusion, I was born for humanity.”

“You could see it that way.”

“Yes. So why don’t you join them? I will grant you glory and wealth.”

So this was why Wish Collection was its trait.

“Many people called on me, wishing for wealth and honor, and I can finally grant their wishes.”

People’s wishes were surprisingly similar.

Let me live well. Let me make lots of money. Let me be healthy. The repertoire wasn’t very original.

But now that I had spoken with it, I understood.

A god was not human. That was why it could not properly fulfill those wishes.

If someone asked to become rich, it was easier to kill the wealthy people around them than to shower gold coins from the sky.

In other words, wasn’t it basically a Monkey’s Paw on a species-wide scale? That was only my hypothesis.

I drew my gun.

“It seems you do not like my proposal.”

“Are you afraid?”

At my words, the Mountain God scoffed in a low voice.

“What do I have to fear? There is nothing special about you. You are not someone who dies and returns to life, someone who can control minds, or someone with great strength. Why would I fear a human like you?”

“You could think that.”

I looked at the translucent window before me.

[Your understanding of one who seeks to fulfill humanity’s immense wishes has increased.]

[Critical: 0 -> 1]

The commotion outside died down.

It seemed the two had finished subduing everyone.

Sharp tree roots burst from the ground.

It was utterly underhanded, but I had expected it.

Before one could pierce me, a clay figure that had appeared from somewhere was impaled by the root.

“Hey! Are you alive?”

Song A-rin appeared with a cheerful shout, riding piggyback on the clay figure.

Piggyback?