WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau ◈
Chapter 57: Gangseo Branch Chief
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I stared at the Branch Chief, who was staring straight at me with red eyes, as thoughts close to a life review flashed through my mind.
How had things turned out like this?
The job had somehow come to an end.
The escape had been fairly successful, and the incident itself had ended without spreading too widely.
In a place where things that endangered cities happened every day, one person going missing was, in a way, far too ordinary.
But it seemed the higher-ups did not see it that way.
“Honestly, I’m more surprised you haven’t been called in until now.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Of course.”
The man in sunglasses answered with a shrug.
“Someone like you is exactly the sort of person the Branch Chief would want to see.”
“She’s not going to see me and suddenly say she’s putting me in field work, is she?”
“...Probably not.”
He was silent for a moment before answering.
That made me even more worried.
“Why aren’t you calling in the other team members?”
I had thought this last time too, but at some point, it had begun to feel like I was the only one summoned whenever something happened.
The man looked at me and smiled meaningfully.
“I think you know why.”
“...”
“People at the Management Bureau aren’t fools. Even if they realize late that something happened, they know who solved it.”
“Then wouldn’t it be nice if they solved things before they happened?”
“Isn’t that everyone’s wish?”
He pressed the elevator button for the top floor.
The top floor, where the Gangseo Branch Chief was.
“There’s something I should tell you before we go.”
Inside the elevator, he looked at me and spoke.
“What is it?”
“There’s a reason every Branch Chief is called a Branch Chief. Of course, the Management Bureau’s Branch Chiefs are rather sensible, but...”
“But?”
“Well, just be careful. Oh, and one more thing.”
As the elevator doors opened, he looked at me with a truly serious expression.
“Never talk about age.”
“...Pardon?”
“It’s important, so I’ll say it twice. Never talk about age.”
“No, but...”
“Good luck.”
He stopped in front of an ordinary office door and looked at me.
“Just keep that one thing in mind. Now go on.”
After saying only that, he left.
Then the door swung open.
Facing the Branch Chief amid calm lighting and comfortable-looking chairs, I began our conversation.
Or rather, I had been about to begin it.
That was what had happened until just now.
* * *
She sighed.
“Mr. Kim Jae-heon from the Human Resources Team.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know why you were called here?”
Honestly, I thought I had an idea.
“I encountered too many problems in a short time.”
“That is close, but not quite accurate.”
She looked at me.
“The Containment Team resolves problems three times a day sometimes. Encountering a lot of trouble is nothing unusual.”
But I’m on the Human Resources Team.
I forcibly swallowed the words that had risen to my throat and met her eyes again.
As though she had never opened them, she was once again looking at me with smiling eyes.
“What matters is that you survived every one of those incidents.”
“...”
This was worrying. Was she about to say something like, “You’ve been specially promoted. Starting tomorrow, report to the Containment Team field division”?
“There are many people in the Management Bureau. Some join after becoming caught up in an extraordinary life, while others begin as ordinary office workers at the Management Bureau and, at some point, become involved in the extraordinary as though they were enchanted.”
She smiled with an expression that made it impossible to tell what she was thinking.
“And Mr. Kim Jae-heon has shown quite impressive results in all those incidents. No, to be honest, results that would be unbelievable for a beginner.”
“...”
“Is it because of those eyes?”
“...”
If this followed the sorts of developments I often saw in movies, dramas, and novels, she might suddenly covet my eyes and pluck them out.
Perhaps she read my expression, because the Branch Chief quickly waved her hands.
“Don’t worry. I only mean to praise you.”
“Praise...?”
“Whatever your intentions may have been, countless people have survived because of your efforts so far.”
She suddenly rose from her seat and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
“On behalf of the Management Bureau, thank you for everything.”
“...I only did what was necessary.”
“That is why I would like to give you a gift.”
“A gift?”
She took four sheets of paper from a drawer and handed them to me.
Four luxurious tickets gleaming gold.
“I heard there’s a luxury cruise next month. It’s run by a company that one of the Management Bureau’s partner companies contracted for employee benefits, and every review was excellent.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
A Management Bureau cruise.
I had heard rumors about it before. I remembered hearing an agent from the Information Security Team, who had single-handedly manipulated a major incident, say in the cafeteria after receiving the tickets and returning that it had been the best cruise of their life.
They were just giving me something like this.
I accepted the gold-glimmering tickets.
“...But there are five people on our team.”
“Ah... You mean Team Leader Heo Chan, aside from the four who resolved this incident.”
The Branch Chief rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment.
“There are only four tickets left... If I can get one more, I’ll give it to you. I’ll let you know if I find one.”
“Thank you.”
Maybe she was not such a bad person after all.
“Then...”
The Branch Chief clapped her hands.
“You worked hard. Get some rest.”
“...Ah. Yes.”
What? Was that it?
That was nothing much.
I stood up with a dazed expression. She smiled gently, waved at me, and spoke quietly.
“By the way, you didn’t see how old I am, did you?”
“Uh, what?”
“Never mind. Go on.”
“Ah, yes.”
Ugh. Meeting someone important really was exhausting.
I quickly left the office.
* * *
The Branch Chief stared at the door he had gone through. Then, at a sound from behind her, she sighed.
“Make your presence known before appearing.”
“My apologies.”
“How many times have I told you that entering without a word is not a good habit?”
“My apologies.”
The man in sunglasses, who had escorted him there, appeared behind her.
“What do you think?”
“What is there to say? He is a monster of a rookie who appeared like a comet when we needed him.”
“His eyes are exceptional, after all.”
“His eyes? Honestly, those are not that important.”
The man fell silent at her words.
“It is still possible to hide information.”
“It seems there is still much he cannot see.”
“But his growth is rapid.”
“He reminds me of you when you were young.”
The man fell silent at the Branch Chief’s words.
It was impossible to falsify information that could be seen. But concealing the information itself was effective.
“What matters is how he applies it.”
Being able to see something was useful, yet ultimately a very useless ability.
What mattered was the flexibility to infer what was needed from it, and the ability to act on it immediately.
The reasoning ability to draw close to the right answer by deducing what could not be seen. And even leadership, the ability to communicate smoothly with others and put a plan together.
“If he continues like this, he may rise very high.”
The Branch Chief smiled in satisfaction.
“...”
The man thought that he would probably run away if offered a high position, but he did not bother saying it aloud.
“Should we give him a special promotion?”
“I think it would be better to give him more vacation time and reduce his workload.”
“Hmm, is that how young people think these days? Work, balance, life. I know all about that too.”
She nodded.
“Anyway, understood. I already gave him cruise tickets.”
“You gave him those too?”
“Of course. Shouldn’t we invest at least this much in someone who will become Gangseo Branch’s wildcard?”
She chuckled confidently and nodded.
“Everyone is already up there, after all.”
She looked toward the sky.
“Right now, every pair of hands is urgently needed.”
Following her gaze, he too looked up at the distant sky.
The two of them looked beyond the blue sky.
* * *
“Cruise tickets?!”
I looked at Song A-rin, who stood beside me with wide eyes and shouted.
“Four of them, too!”
“...”
“Tickets?”
Song A-rin and Jang Chae-yeon looked delighted, clearly knowing about cruise tickets. Yoo Da-on only tilted her head as though she knew nothing.
Lastly, Team Leader Heo Chan seemed sulky, playing a mobile game while asking, “Where’d mine go?”
“I know they’re famous, but is it really that exciting?”
“Hey, Management Bureau cruises are a perfect performance-bonus system where you can’t even get a reservation!”
Song A-rin made a great fuss, and Jang Chae-yeon nodded as well.
“...There are countless people who want to go but can’t.”
“So it is that good.”
That was nice.
Seeing those two so happy, it had to be a good thing anyway.
Yeah. I should go and rest for once.
Ever since my vacation ended, it felt as though the work coming in had suddenly decreased. It was probably just my imagination.
I absentmindedly organized the tickets and sank into thought.
This was comfortable... This kind of life.
It was wonderful.
The door swung open, followed by the sound of steady footsteps.
“Is this the Human Resources Team?”
“Ah, yes. Who are you?”
Team Leader Heo Chan rose from their seat to greet the visitor.
“Hello. I’m from the Management Team.”
A familiar voice.
I turned toward its source.
A tall, gaunt figure. Lifeless eyes.
[Name: Kim Wan-woo]
[Age: 28]
[Trait: Regression]
[Talent: X]
[Background: 402nd Iteration]
[Weakness: You have already been warned.]
“I’m Kim Wan-woo, newly transferred to the Management Team.”
His lifeless eyes turned toward me.
“The reason I’m here is that I received a report that a containment object related to the Turntable handled last time by Human Resources Team employee Kim Jae-heon was found.”
“...”
He blinked blankly as he looked at me, then spoke again.
“I’d appreciate it if you could help with this one work matter.”
“...There’s something strange about his eyes.”
Yoo Da-on, beside me, whispered to me.
“I agree.”
I had no choice but to whisper back.
Footnotes:
The Branch Chief’s “work, balance, life” is a deliberately awkward version of the phrase “work-life balance.”
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