WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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

Chapter 4: The Rookie Who Won't Die

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Before examining the fallen monster, I quickly checked Yoo Da-on.

Did it even need to be said?

She lay there with her eyes closed as though asleep, with nothing where her arms and legs should have been.

If someone said she had not died here, nobody would believe it.

If she were an ordinary person, that is.

I looked over her head once more.

[Name: Yoo Da-on]

[Age: 23]

[Trait: Immortality]

[Talent: -]

[Background: Caught up in a bizarre incident, she cannot easily find peace. Even if all her limbs are torn off.]

[Weakness: If you had to name two ability users you should never make enemies of, they would be regressors and immortals.]

And as expected, a new entry I had never seen before had appeared for her as well.

But that was not the important thing right now.

“Is there anything I can do?”

Muttering to myself, I started looking for a way to help her.

Should I pick up her arms and legs and attach them?

But I really did not want to do that.

Honestly, just looking at this scene was not good for the mind of someone who was only a slightly unusual office worker.

“...Ugh.”

Yoo Da-on suddenly groaned with her eyes closed.

Then the... pieces of Yoo Da-on scattered everywhere began gathering toward her body.

I had never seen time reverse, but if time were reversing around Yoo Da-on, perhaps it would look like this.

Her arms and legs reattached themselves to her body. There was not a single mark on her, as though she had never been injured.

But the blood splattered around her and her torn, ragged suit made it possible to infer what had happened to Yoo Da-on's body.

“Ugh...”

Not long after her body returned to normal, Yoo Da-on opened her eyes with a groan.

“Are you awake?”

“...Huh?”

She blinked at me, and I nodded back at her.

“You're... alive?”

“Looks like it. I'm surprised too.”

“No, not me. Employee Jae-heon.”

“I meant that too.”

Yoo Da-on looked confused.

“No, then that monster...”

“I took care of it.”

“How...?”

“I shot it with a gun?”

“What?”

Yoo Da-on's eyes widened.

“It was that fast and strong?”

“Believe it or not, my vision suddenly got better.”

How was I supposed to explain this?

“I guess... I can see things that aren't visible.”

“Things that aren't visible?”

“Yes. Magic eyes, I guess?”

Yoo Da-on blinked at my answer, then hesitantly looked at me again.

“...You're not surprised?”

“By what?”

“...That I can't die.”

“Ah.”

I considered what to say for a moment, but what would denying it change? I shrugged and answered Yoo Da-on.

“I knew.”

“What?”

“It's the ability with my eyes I mentioned earlier... I'll explain as we walk. We don't have much time.”

“...Right.”

With a groan, Yoo Da-on brushed off her knees and stood.

Drops of blood fell from her suit pants, but she did not care. She brushed the blood away with her hand, then casually pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and began wiping the blood splashed across her face.

But that was not what mattered.

“Ahem.”

I cleared my throat, took off my suit jacket, and held it out to her.

“...?”

She blinked at me.

“Um... Your clothes.”

It was common sense that when someone got sliced apart, their clothes got sliced apart too.

Her torn clothes, with some parts completely missing, left Yoo Da-on's body exposed.

She looked down at herself, her face turning bright red as she draped my jacket over her shoulders.

“...Thank you.”

“It's nothing.”

Her skin was pale. She had a good figure, too.

After having that useless thought, I took the Manual for Office Workers out from inside my clothes and began reading it again.

[Manual for Office Workers]

2. The location of the Containment Control Room is as follows.

2-1. The door to the Containment Control Room may differ from what you imagine, and it may change depending on circumstances. However, its location does not change, so the most convenient method is to find it by location rather than by the door's design.

Following the manual's instructions, we started toward the Containment Control Room. Yoo Da-on kept rubbing her neck and groaning, as though it were stiff, before following behind me.

Silence continued for a while.

We both had a lot to say, yet neither of us knew where to begin. In a short time, we had encountered a mimic anomalous entity. Yoo Da-on had been cut into pieces once, and I had developed a new ability after a single bullet pierced a bizarre life-form's weak point.

“...Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Are you not afraid?”

Yoo Da-on suddenly asked something completely out of nowhere.

What was she suddenly going on about?

When I stared at her, she quickly blushed and looked away.

“No... I don't mean I'm full of myself or anything. It's just... a lot of people are afraid when they see someone die and come back to life.”

“Ah.”

Honestly, it had been a little grotesque. Wouldn't anyone think that after seeing someone put their body back together like a puzzle?

But was it really such a big deal?

“Not really?”

“Really?”

“It's not like I've worked here for long, but I work for the Management Bureau. Of course, I'm an office worker, so I've never seen strange things directly, but I've heard plenty of things.”

Rooms you could not leave unless you did XX, or monkeys that screened your ideology. There were all sorts of things you heard about while working at the company.

“...Do you think everyone here will be like that?”

“I don't know.”

I had not even revealed that I had an ability, and when I joined, even my team leader did not seem to know about it.

“I thought things would be different if I came here. I thought everyone would understand me and not treat me like a monster.”

As she walked, she slowly began speaking.

“But this happened before I could even find out.”

“Well, won't this end eventually?”

The words, You won't die even if you get killed, so you'll keep working whether you like it or not, rose to the tip of my tongue.

But I barely swallowed them.

There was no need to say that.

“Once this is resolved and we return to our everyday lives, things will be fine. I don't think you need to worry yet.”

“...Thank you, Employee Jae-heon.”

She smiled softly and looked forward again. Of course, the blood covering her neck, face, and clothes did somewhat diminish the effect of that smile.

“So, what kind of ability do you have?”

“Me?”

Yoo Da-on nodded at my question.

Right. I knew that she could not die anyway, so there was no reason not to tell her.

“Well...”

I briefly explained my ability. I could see people's abilities and traits.

I did not mention Background or Weakness. Honestly, I could not imagine anyone liking another person knowing their background and weaknesses.

Imagine someone suddenly appearing and saying, “I saw your weakness with my supernatural ability!” Even I would find that a little, no, very scary.

After hearing my explanation, Yoo Da-on blinked her large eyes at me.

“Isn't that incredibly useful?”

“Do you know how strange it feels to hear that from someone who can't die?”

“This isn't always a good thing, you know?”

“That's what I should be saying.”

My life was already full of too much information. I had not wanted to know that my professor in my major recruited graduate students as a pastime.

After walking for a while and exchanging pointless remarks, we soon arrived at the place written in the manual.

“Let's see. Here it is.”

“Here?”

A wooden door stood out in the middle of the modern corridor.

The handle was even missing, leaving only a hole.

Yoo Da-on looked at me doubtfully.

“Honestly, in such an irrational world, wouldn't a normal door be even more irrational?”

Did they not say that in a world of one-eyed people, the two-eyed person was the abnormal one?

With that, I pushed the door open.

It creaked as it opened.

And behind it was...

“...A computer?”

An incredibly old computer sat there.

It had an extremely thick monitor, like the kind I had only seen as a child.

The manual in my hand opened on its own.

[Manual for Office Workers]

3. This is the heart of containment.

3-1. Once you turn on the computer, containment will begin automatically.

3-2. Please remember that the resolution of this matter is entrusted only to the Authorized Agent.

3-3.

3-4. Good luck.

“...”

The blank section felt truly ominous, but there was nothing I could do now.

“...I'll press it.”

Yoo Da-on nodded solemnly.

I slowly reached out and turned on the computer.

Beep!

With a strange sound, the computer slowly powered on.

Then the world went dark.

Something grabbed my wrist.

“Argh!”

“It's me! Me!”

Holding tightly onto my wrist, Yoo Da-on desperately made it clear that it was her.

“W-What is happening?”

I wanted to know too.

I looked at the monitor, the only thing shining in the darkness.

Only one phrase was written on it.

[Alteration in Progress...]

Rumble!

The room began shaking wildly.

I fell onto my backside, and my gaze naturally turned toward the ceiling.

Then my eyes began displaying something.

[Name: ? ? ?]

[Age: ? ? ?]

[Trait: ? ? ?]

[Talent: ? ? ?]

[Background: Having guarded this place for a long time, it possesses a history beyond anything you can imagine.]

[Weakness: -]

Something enormous was hanging from the pitch-black ceiling, looking down at us.

Something huge whose form I could not even make out.

“...Heon, Employee!”

“Employee Jae-heon!”

That was where my memory ended.

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