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

Chapter 6: The Butterfly's Dream / Life

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I fled, dragging Yoo Da-on along by the arm.

I recalled the strange creature's weakness.

[Empty vessels make the most noise.]

It was an extremely famous proverb.

But it had conquered the Management Bureau at an absurdly fast pace. It couldn't simply be less threatening than it looked.

So was this thing actually a dud? Would it die if I just closed my eyes and shot it?

Of course, that was ridiculous.

Then what did it mean?

The first thing that came to mind was the mimicking monsters I had encountered about three times.

In the hallway, in the Security Team office, and finally in the underground corridor.

They had all shared one clear trait.

They weren't hostile from the beginning.

The one in the hallway had simply passed me by while behaving like an ordinary person. The one in the Security Team office had only spoken to me and never attacked.

Even the monster Yoo Da-on shot, when it first encountered us, raised both hands to show it meant no harm instead of firing its gun.

Why?

There's a saying that if you don't use your head, your body pays the price.

I didn't think that saying was wrong, but I'd learned something in life.

The opposite was also true.

When your body is weak, your mind suffers.

Mimicry among predators was entirely possible. Chameleons hid before swallowing insects in one bite, after all.

But that was a way to catch insects more easily. A chameleon didn't hide and pretend to be an insect.

I could understand hiding among humans. As a predator, not provoking the prey's wariness was important.

But did a predator really need to go through the bothersome procedure of speaking with its prey?

Did it have a reason to raise both hands and go through the procedure of showing that it was harmless?

That was what struck me as strange, and I reached a conclusion.

There had to be a reason it behaved that way.

Two possibilities immediately came to mind.

1. Its true form had limited abilities.

2. It couldn't copy someone through mimicry.

First, number one.

Limited abilities in its true form.

I didn't know what counted as limited, but considering Yoo Da-on had been torn apart right in front of me, I couldn't think it was that weak.

Still...

I looked at the caterpillar following me.

It was slow.

Not so slow it might as well have been crawling, but slow enough that I could easily escape while dragging Yoo Da-on.

But then, was the thing that tore Yoo Da-on apart a different entity?

That didn't make sense. The strange mark on her back was impossibly identical to the one on the man who had been mimicked.

Could that caterpillar turn into the monster from earlier?

That was possible.

How?

I remembered Yoo Da-on from before.

Yoo Da-on, confidently saying that things were going well.

And the caterpillar's Talent.

[Perception Distortion.]

What if the caterpillar had distorted Yoo Da-on's perception somehow and made her misunderstand the situation?

Then why was I fine? Was I actually not fine either?

I quickly pulled out the manual and began searching for the page I needed.

Let's see. Mental... mental...

[Manual for Office Workers]

R - Mental Domination

1. If you suspect that you are under mental domination, read the items below.

2.

3. If you cannot read item 2, you are normal. If you can read item 2, you are under mental domination. Immediate suicide is recommended. If that action is difficult, refer to [T - Methods of Suicide].

Okay. I was fine.

Let's not doubt the manual.

Number two. It couldn't copy someone through mimicry.

If it couldn't mimic someone even after killing them, perhaps it deliberately tried to get close to people.

But if that was the case, I still needed to figure out how it had taken control of the Management Bureau so quickly.

Good. That about wrapped everythi-

[Your comprehension has increased.]

[You can now see additional information about Life of a Butterfly.]

[Critical: 0 -> 1]

What was that supposed to mean?

I turned my eyes to the caterpillar still diligently following behind me.

[Name: Life of a Butterfly Larva]

[Age: ???]

[Trait: Parasitism]

[Talent: Perception Distortion]

[Background: Oppressed by the Management Bureau for a long time, it is breeding offspring to find those with the potential to become butterflies. These offspring simply follow their instincts, searching for hosts that can become new butterflies.]

[Weakness: All living things have a juvenile stage. For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it requires metamorphosis.]

The description had grown.

A lot.

Still dragging Yoo Da-on, I carefully read through it.

In other words, the thing chasing me was the larva of some monster called Dream of a Butterfly.

Did being a larva mean it was weak right now?

Should I really take out Yoo Da-on's handgun and shoot it?

I looked at Yoo Da-on, who was twitching, and only then realized that her description had changed too.

"Ugh... ah..."

Yoo Da-on groaned in pain.

I checked her again.

[Name: Dream of a Butterfly Yoo Da-on (Pupa)]

[Age: 2 ?]

[Trait: Mimicry / Immortality]

[Talent: -]

[Background: A larva has taken root inside the body of the immortal human woman. She is an excellent host with great potential to become an adult.]

[Weakness: In the normal ecology of parasites, if the host dies, they seek another host.]

This was it.

The reason that monster had emerged earlier was because Yoo Da-on had killed its host.

In other words, if I killed Yoo Da-on now, the creature that had lost its host would emerge.

And Yoo Da-on would come back to life in perfect condition.

But there was a problem. There was only one way I could win in a one-on-one fight against that monster.

[Critical: 1]

I looked at the window that I could now open without even looking at a person.

If I used this, I could save Yoo Da-on.

But that wouldn't solve the problem.

[Dream of a Butterfly Larva]

[Dream of a Butterfly Pupa]

What I had encountered so far were a larva, a pupa, and something that had awakened midway through becoming an adult.

I had needed to use an ability called Critical just to catch something that had failed to fully become an adult.

And according to the background description, somewhere out there, an adult was producing caterpillars to create more adults.

To end this disaster, I had to somehow eliminate that adult. And without [Critical], I couldn't see any way to do it.

Should I leave Yoo Da-on behind and eliminate the adult? Logically, that was the right choice. Without this ability, I couldn't think of any way to win.

"I can take it on, right?"

"...Thank you."

I remembered Yoo Da-on's confident face. I remembered her embarrassed face when I gave her my jacket.

Then I remembered the hand that had shoved me away from the monster attacking me.

"Dammit."

The caterpillar was still some distance away.

I pulled the handgun from Yoo Da-on's waist.

Bang! Bang!

After I fired several shots at the caterpillar, it curled up and stopped moving for a moment.

Unfortunately, it seemed ordinary bullets couldn't kill it. What if I ran out of ammo?

But I hadn't fired the gun to kill the caterpillar in the first place.

"It'll only hurt for a moment."

I aimed the black-glinting handgun at Yoo Da-on's forehead.

"Ugh... ngh..."

Had she heard my voice? Her eyes opened halfway.

Then she gently pressed her forehead against the muzzle.

"..."

I pulled the trigger as I looked at her.

Bang!

A hole opened between Yoo Da-on's brows, and she fell backward.

Blood spread into a pool behind her.

Now it began.

I stepped back a few paces and aimed the gun forward.

With my finger on the trigger, I held my breath.

Crack.

Yoo Da-on's back began twisting grotesquely.

Rip!

Blood sprayed as her back split open, and something crawled out before rushing toward me.

I would kill it.

[Critical: 1 -> 0]

Once again, my eyes fixed on the monster. The world turned grayscale, and everything began to slow.

Its solar plexus glowed.

Bang!

I pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew toward it as if drawn in and pierced its solar plexus precisely.

It collapsed without even being able to scream.

I looked at the caterpillar.

I had pumped it full of bullets earlier, so it should have been far awa-

Thud!

A massive impact struck me.

"Urgh!"

As if something heavy had hit me, my body lifted into the air before rolling across the floor.

My whole body hurt.

Sliiide...

A huge shadow looked down at me.

It was the caterpillar.

"...I'm screwed."

Crack.

The caterpillar's head split apart.

There was nothing inside but a single sharp stinger.

Was that how it stabbed people?

I needed to run, but my body wouldn't listen.

Was I going to die like this?

I squeezed my eyes shut.

What would happen after it hit me? Would my sense of self disappear? Would I become a monster like them?

Grab.

At that moment, someone seized the collar of my shirt.

Then a familiar voice rang in my ears.

"Why are you closing your eyes? Get up right now!"

I slowly opened my eyes and looked behind me.

I met Yoo Da-on's eyes as she strained to pull me by the collar, with the stinger embedded in the floor beside us.

"Seriously, you're so heavy!"

She wiped the blood from her forehead and looked at me. The hole had already vanished.

"After you saved me, do you think I'd let you go like that? Get up already!"

She grinned.

"...My legs are a little numb."

"Sure, let's go with that."

With Yoo Da-on's help, I stood. She placed my arm around her neck and supported me.

"Can you walk?"

"Give me a little time."

"Then we'll go like this for now."

I looked at the caterpillar.

It still seemed unable to pull its stinger out of the floor, repeatedly pulling its body backward.

"What do we do now?"

"Dream of a Butterfly."

"What?"

"Find Dream of a Butterfly's Containment Chamber. Now!"

"Okay!"

Without asking any more questions, she dragged me along.

I had survived.

If we solved just one more thing, we could somehow break through this shitty situation.

As I walked with Yoo Da-on supporting me, relief finally washed over me.

It seemed I had made the right choice after all.

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