WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Surviving as an Office Worker at the Anomaly Management Bureau ◈
Chapter 58: Proof of Absence
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With the two people determined to follow, I followed the gaunt man.
Song A-rin? When I said we were going to the Containment Chamber, she said, “Ugh, the atmosphere there is awful,” and stayed behind to do paperwork.
“...I told you it was dangerous.”
“I’m really tough!”
“Danger isn’t a problem at all.”
The two of them spoke with complete confidence, while he merely raised an eyebrow as if that was only to be expected and kept walking.
As I watched him, all sorts of thoughts swirled through my mind.
Had he come looking for me after regressing, or had some incident occurred while I was gone, forcing him to regress again?
What had happened while the iteration count rose from the three hundreds to four hundred?
“By the way, what kind of job is this if you had to call an office worker like me?”
“It’s related to the Turntable.”
The man answered in a completely flat voice as he walked.
“A mental attack?”
Then it would be better not to bring Yoo Da-on and Jang Chae-yeon.
“No.”
“Then why me?”
At my question, he stopped walking and looked at me.
“The Gangseo Branch chief told me to go to the Human Resources Team.”
That was unexpected.
I had assumed this man had no choice but to call me after several attempts.
Was I being too full of myself?
As I felt a little embarrassed, he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button. The elevator carrying the four of us descended with a mechanical hum.
As it slowly descended, a thought suddenly struck me.
Right. This was my chance. If not now, I might never get another chance to ask this man anything.
“Um... how did you end up changing tea-”
“I was an office worker at first too. I kept working hard to survive, and before I knew it, I ended up here.”
“Ah, I see. Then do you have any abili-”
“I have no abilities.”
Why was he making it so obvious that he had heard my questions in advance?
“Then what kind of containment object is this that an office worker like me needs to go see?”
Only after hearing that question did the man speak after a long silence.
“...I don’t know.”
“Pardon?”
“No matter who observed it, they saw something different.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
No, what would calling me solve just because it could not be observed?
“What happened next?”
“I don’t know that either. The team leader told me to bring you for now.”
That was not the answer I had hoped for from a regressor.
No, did he really know nothing?
As I racked my brain, trying to determine whether his behavior was genuine,
Ding.
The elevator stopped with a cheerful sound.
We walked through the underground area, which I felt like I had seen only recently.
“...It’s been a while.”
“Not for me.”
“When did Jae-heon visit this place without me?”
“Several things happened.”
I avoided Yoo Da-on’s curious gaze as I answered.
How could I say, “I came here to do some work because I was curious about your background”?
“Have you been here before, Chae-yeon?”
Changing the subject quickly was more comfortable in times like this.
I looked at Jang Chae-yeon as I asked. She looked around and slowly shook her head.
“I came often when I was at Gangdong Branch. This is my first time since coming to Gangseo Branch.”
“Do the underground Containment Chambers at Gangdong Branch and Gangseo Branch look different?”
“...Hmm.”
At my question, she looked around once more and slowly shook her head.
“I don’t think there’s much difference.”
Then even if I got lost in Gangdong Branch’s underground area someday, I should be able to find my way somehow.
“This way.”
He guided us with practiced ease.
I followed him down a dim corridor. He stopped at the room directly beside the one that held the Turntable and looked at me.
“The team leader is waiting inside.”
“You’re not coming with us?”
“I’m not.”
He answered as though it were obvious.
He wasn’t going? Was he really not going to regress here?
“It’s fine if those two come too, right?”
“That isn’t for me to decide...”
“Let them in.”
At the rough voice of a man, he shrugged and pointed to the door. Yoo Da-on, Jang Chae-yeon, and I entered, following the voice.
Before going in, I looked at him.
He hurried off somewhere without even looking back.
[Name: Kim Wan-woo]
[Age: 28]
[Trait: Regression]
[Talent: X]
[Background: 402nd Iteration]
[Weakness: You have already been warned.]
There had not been a single regression.
If he had not regressed even once on the way here, did that mean the event that triggered his regression was happening somewhere else?
“You’re here!”
As I pondered the issue until my head hurt, I turned to inspect the face of the man who had called us.
A rugged, bearded face and a huge body that looked as though it could drink an enormous amount of alcohol.
Soon, his information appeared before my eyes.
[Name: Jeong In-deok]
[Age: 52]
[Trait: Adaptation]
[Talent: Way Out]
[Background: It would be a lie to say he has lived comfortably during his time at the Management Bureau, but one way or another, he is still diligently doing his work at Gangseo Branch alongside the one colleague from his cohort who has not resigned. Along with a bear-like wife and a panda-like daughter.]
[Weakness: Take away his job.]
Why were the weaknesses of people with families always about taking away their jobs?
“So you’re Kim Jae-heon from Human Resources!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“No need to be so formal. We’re all Management Bureau family anyway.”
His pot-lid-sized palm thumped against my back.
My body swayed on its own. Yoo Da-on grabbed my shoulder, then glanced sideways at the man. He raised his pinky finger and looked between Yoo Da-on and me.
“...Office romance?”
“Pardon?”
What was he even asking?
And the two of them reacted differently to that question.
“Come on... it’s not like that...”
“No.”
Before I could answer, they both spoke at once.
“We’re just, um... well. Not yet-”
Jang Chae-yeon cut off Yoo Da-on, who was speaking hesitantly.
“No.”
“...”
“Just coworkers.”
“...”
Yoo Da-on glanced at Jang Chae-yeon, and Jang Chae-yeon avoided her gaze and looked elsewhere.
“...Well, good luck!”
Then he simply laughed and gave my back another slap.
There was far more feeling behind it than before.
“So... what do you need me to do?”
“Ah, right.”
He clapped his hands and pointed somewhere. All three of us looked in that direction.
It was an eyeball.
Not a black hole, not a Cube, not anything else. Just a human eyeball floating inside a transparent box.
“...This is...”
“...A heart?”
“An eyeball?”
“...A hand?”
The three of us had each said something different, then looked at one another as though we had planned it.
At my answer, he sighed.
“As expected, everyone sees something different.”
“...What is this?”
“It’s a work sent by the Turntable’s creator... Well, you know who I mean.”
“...”
At his words, I stared at the gently swaying eyeball.
“It doesn’t seem particularly dangerous.”
“They all seem that way. When we first saw the Turntable, we thought it was harmless too. We only understood what it really was after an employee ended up in a psychiatric hospital.”
I narrowed my eyes at the man, who told such a horrible story as though it were nothing.
Then translucent text appeared above it.
[Name: Proof of Absence]
[Age: Created two days ago]
[Trait: Expression of Absence]
[Talent: X]
[Background: This work of art shows what people feel they lack. To someone she particularly favored, she left this message: “The moment you desperately feel an absence, you will be able to find the form you desire.”]
[Weakness: The day anyone realizes exactly what this looks like, it will have fulfilled its purpose and crumble away.]
...
Why did I feel that this background was referring to a specific person?
And why did I feel that person might be me?
Unconsciously, I slipped a hand inside my jacket and touched the small statuette.
Then was the absence I felt now an eye?
Yoo Da-on saw a heart, and Jang Chae-yeon saw a hand.
What did those two feel was missing?
“So, did you find anything out?”
“I don’t know.”
There was no need to tell him I knew all of this. It would look stranger if I were the only one who could figure out what others could not.
He looked at me.
“Can you stay behind for a moment?”
He stared at it for a while, sighed deeply, then gestured for the other management staff to leave.
“Us too?”
“Yeah.”
At his words, Yoo Da-on and Jang Chae-yeon repeatedly looked back at me as they went outside.
Silence settled over the room.
He shrugged, looked around, then took a small key card from his pocket and handed it to me.
“...Is this a Containment Chamber key card?”
“That’s right.”
I remembered the man in sunglasses opening the Turntable’s door with this key.
“...Why are you giving this to me?”
“Where should I begin?”
He scratched the back of his head as though annoyed, then opened his mouth.
“This containment object was delivered to the Management Bureau as a package.”
“Pardon?”
“And it was addressed to you.”
“...What?”
It became more horrifying the more I heard.
“So an emergency meeting was held. The branch chief said they would meet you... Well, since they said it was fine to call you, I suppose that means it’s fine to give you this key too.”
“No, is that really okay?”
Could they really use it this casually?
“I heard you can make Entries in the manual. Could you check it once?”
...
Should I try making an Entry?
I took out the manual.
-Flap, flap, flap!
The manual opened.
“Register containment object. Name... Proof of Absence.”
[Manual for Office Workers]
[PRV - Proof of Absence - Revised Edition by Kim Jae-heon of the Human Resources Team]
[No special notes.]
No special notes, and a revised edition?
Someone had already written it.
When I glanced at the Containment Team leader, he smiled apologetically.
“My apologies. I heard a young fellow could use the manual like it was an extension of his body, so I got curious.”
“It took me twelve years to handle that thing,” he added, shaking his head.
“Anyway, we’ll manage it here, but take it with you if you need it.”
“Is that why you called me?”
“Yeah.”
“Then... what about the person who joined the new team?”
“Ah. Kim Wan-woo?”
“Yes.”
“Well... he’s sharp.”
After thinking for a moment, he spoke.
“He acts as though he knows everything. When I was considering whether to call you, I only got as far as saying ‘Human Resources Team...’ before he volunteered to go get you himself.”
The more I thought about it, the more difficult it became.
“Well. That’s enough talk.”
He said he had a lot of work to do and headed for the door.
“Thanks for the help with the Turntable.”
With only those words, he disappeared through the door.
...
What was that about?
* * *
After that, nothing really happened.
For about a month, I repeated the routine of going to work and coming home, while the amount of work decreased with each passing day.
Then, eventually, the day arrived.
“I never thought I’d get to come here in my life.”
Song A-rin muttered in an emotional voice.
“It’s pretty...”
Yoo Da-on opened her eyes wide.
“...”
Jang Chae-yeon stood there with a satisfied expression.
I followed their gazes as well.
A cruise ship with a white hull beautifully decorated in gold.
As I looked at the ship with <Golden Eye> written across it in large letters, I found myself feeling good too.
Right, we had worked hard all this time, hadn’t we? Nothing happened for a month and the work decreased, but that was all because of what we went through back then!
Just in case, I had brought all my guns, Butane Gas, and even an emergency radio!
No matter how unlucky I was, there was no way an accident would happen on a ship, right?
I confidently placed a foot on the stairs leading aboard.
The dark seawater shimmered with a murky light.
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