Editor’s Survival Guide — Chapter 18
Chapter 18. Episode 4. Welcome to the Special Management Bureau (3)
“If I become an agent, will I be working under you, Cha Si-eon?”
“No. You will not be assigned to a team, Seo Do-un, and will instead perform an individual role.”
“Then I’ll give the offer serious consideration.”
“Pfft! Hhk, I’m sorry.”
Gwak Jae-gyeom sprayed his own team leader, then hurriedly covered his mouth.
With half his face now damp, Cha Si-eon stared darkly at his team member.
When Gwak Jae-gyeom shrank beneath that glare, Cha Si-eon turned it on me instead.
But as neither his subordinate nor his teammate, I could meet it with composure.
I had genuinely been worried.
That if I became an agent, I might be assigned to this team and forced to serve under its vicious team leader.
It wasn’t as though we had some grand, ill-fated connection, but for some reason, I simply didn’t want to work under you. Yes.
That had made me reluctant to choose “Become an Agent,” but with the problem resolved, I felt immensely relieved.
Cha Si-eon, on the other hand, looked slightly offended.
“Do you have difficulty functioning in groups?”
“No. I function perfectly well in professional settings.”
“If you require special consideration, tell us in advance.”
“No, you have already been more than considerate enough.”
“Then perhaps you should review the contract.”
Smiling pleasantly, I dismissed Cha Si-eon’s provocation, and he held out the contract in a fit of lingering spite.
—
■ Special Management Bureau Agent Appointment Contract
Article 1 (Contracting Parties)
Party A: Director of the Special Management Bureau
Party B: Seo Do-un
Article 2 (Contract Term)
The term of this contract shall extend from February 19, 20XX, until the appointee’s special circumstances (the phenomenon of forced entry into Special Management Zones) have been resolved.
Article 3 (Nature of Work)
Assigned duties: Exploration of Special Management Zones and rescue of human lives
Work location: Analysis Team 5, Special Management Bureau
Article 4 (Compensation)
Base salary: 2,170,300 won
Allowances
① Hazard-duty allowance: 2,700,000 won
② Special-training allowance: 1,250,000 won
③ Confidentiality allowance: 1,500,000 won
④ Mission-performance allowance: Calculated and paid separately upon performance of a mission
⑤ Fixed meal allowance: 100,000 won
—
The figures were dazzling even on a second look.
Of course, if I regarded them as the price of my life, I could not simply rejoice.
But what was Analysis Team 5 doing under “work location”?
“Didn’t you say I wouldn’t be assigned to a team?”
“Analysis Team 5 is not the department in which you will work. It is the department that will work on Seo Do-un.”
Seo Do-un was a person, so why was I being used as the object of the verb *work* rather than its subject?
As I repeated Cha Si-eon’s words in my head, my pupils began to quake.
“Team Leader, saying it that way is bound to give him the wrong idea.”
Gwak Jae-gyeom interjected and explained again.
“Analysis Team 5 is the department investigating the phenomenon that pulls you into Special Zones, Hyung. It’s listed as your work location because they’ll be exclusively responsible for your case.”
“I see.”
“You didn’t misunderstand anything strange, did you?”
“For a very brief moment, I thought I was going to be subjected to human experimentation…….”
I spoke through clenched molars and smiled.
When I looked at Cha Si-eon that way, his expression said he had stated nothing inaccurate.
Hahaha. Look at that personality.
—
Article 5 (Probationary Appointment and Term)
① A person appointed under this contract shall undergo a three-month probationary appointment period.
② If, during the probationary period, the appointee is forcibly drawn into a Special Management Zone and deemed fit to perform their duties, the appointee shall immediately receive appointment as a regular agent.
③ If, during the probationary period, the appointee is not forcibly drawn into a Special Management Zone or is judged manifestly unfit for duty, the appointee may be dismissed in accordance with relevant regulations.
④ If dismissal is finalized, the appointee shall return promptly to society.
—
“We included a probationary period to account for the possibility that, as you hope, it was merely a coincidence. You will receive full pay during probation as well.”
Cha Si-eon explained without being asked.
But immediate appointment as a regular agent if I was pulled into a Special Zone, and dismissal if I wasn’t pulled into one for three months?
Wasn’t that a little too blatant?
“It seems the talent the Bureau wants is someone who gets pulled into Special Zones frequently.”
“That is the primary reason.”
I gave a small laugh at Cha Si-eon’s answer.
Only now did I understand why he had emphasized so strongly in the hospital that I must not die.
To me, the phenomenon of being repeatedly pulled into Special Zones was a disaster.
But the Bureau seemed to regard it as a hidden opportunity.
That much was clear from their attempt to recruit me and establish an entire department to handle my case.
It was rather offensive, but from my perspective, I would be fortunate if this arrangement could at least shelter me from the storm.
That would truly be fortunate—but could I trust this organization without reservation?
Wouldn’t they merely squeeze out everything useful and discard me like garbage afterward?
“You may resign at any time.”
Cha Si-eon spoke while I glared at the contract.
“The Bureau is the same as an ordinary company. If the work does not suit you, you may quit.”
“……Are there no disadvantages if I quit?”
“If you serve for less than one year, you will not receive severance pay.”
I laughed weakly at Cha Si-eon’s answer.
Then I signed the contract.
“A wise decision.”
“I desperately hope so.”
“Dying on the payroll will at least feel somewhat less unfair than dying unpaid.”
You truly had every sign of a rotten disposition.
Anger surging, I stared at Cha Si-eon.
At that moment, he held out his hand.
I looked at it briefly, then shook it because I had little choice.
But, hm.
I couldn’t tell whether I had taken a human hand or a tiger’s forepaw.
Apparently, I should simply abandon the idea of strangling Cha Si-eon.
Still holding my hand, Cha Si-eon spoke with an expressionless face.
“Welcome to the Special Management Bureau.”
Whatever else it was, it was a welcome.
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* * *
I had failed to notice while fleeing through the 「Hospital That Hunts Humans」, but I had sustained quite a few injuries.
Never mind all the scrapes and bruises from rolling over piles of stone.
Fragments of metal and rock had embedded themselves in my left shoulder and calf, leaving each wound in need of five or six stitches.
So, under the pretext of waiting for duty, I was allowed to rest for a while.
Medical leave from the very moment of appointment. Being a public servant certainly was nice.
“These are the quarters where you’ll be staying, Hyung.”
Gwak Jae-gyeom guided me to my accommodations.
But when we arrived, the place was far too grand to call mere quarters.
It was simply a properly luxurious home with a large living room and several bedrooms.
What was more, something I had seen only in photographs or on screens was displayed in the living room.
Wel) Congratulations on Agent Otter’s Appointment! (come
A colorful banner, with gifts piled high beneath it.
In other words, it was a sight I had encountered only in articles about celebrity birthdays.
“What is all this?”
“Uh, who knows? It looks like S.O.C.H. prepared it.”
When I asked in surprise, Gwak Jae-gyeom answered with surprise of his own.
But S.O.C.H.?
Ah. The Save the Otter Campaign Headquarters…….
“When did they do all this? Did these people run over the instant they heard Human Resources was drawing up a contract?”
“That group actually exists?”
“Of course. It has a lot of members, and every one of them is completely serious.”
“I thought you had a manpower shortage.”
“That’s exactly why they grit their teeth and do things like this. What other pleasure is there for people drowning in work, unable to go outside, and earning nothing but an oversized salary? They can only find an oxygen tank and shamble after it like zombies.”
This bastard was subtly cutting despite that smiling face.
As he spoke, Gwak Jae-gyeom arbitrarily opened one of the gifts.
“Oh, is this handmade?”
That made me curious too.
So I approached while imagining something like a knitted doll, only for a beautifully gleaming weapon to emerge from the box.
……What did you call something like this? A dagger? A stiletto?
“There’s a message too.”
Gwak Jae-gyeom held out a postcard illustrated with an otter holding a knife.
In tidy handwriting, it said,
—Wishing Agent Otter a longer life☆
“Are they mocking me, by any chance?”
“It looks that way, but they probably mean no harm.”
Gwak Jae-gyeom casually pushed the gift aside.
Then he crossed the living room and opened a door at the back.
“You can use this room, Hyung. If you don’t like it, we’ll give you another one. My room is next door.”
Don’t tell me you live here too……?
I wanted to ask, but gathered up the last of my social graces and held back.
My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Gwak Jae-gyeom grinned and asked,
“Still better than living with our team leader, right?”
“That’s true.”
At my immediate agreement, Gwak Jae-gyeom snickered even harder.
I looked around the room I would be using.
The space had everything it needed.
There was even a large window, and I went straight toward it.
I had walked for nearly twenty minutes while traveling here from the place where I signed the contract.
But I had passed through nothing except indoor corridors and had yet to leave the building.
That was why I opened the window—to see what kind of place this was.
Looking outside, I could see the building’s structure at a glance.
It formed a square with an open space in the center.
Consequently, a single continuous gray building stood across from me and to either side, while a fairly large garden lay below.
When I raised my head, I could see only blue sky beyond the building’s outer walls.
Yet for an early-spring sky, it was strangely clear and high.
Then Gwak Jae-gyeom spoke.
“That’s an artificial sky.”
“What?”
Startled, I looked at the sky again.
That was artificial?
Aside from a slight mismatch with the season, I felt no incongruity at all.
“Why would you build something like that……?”
“Employee welfare. This place is underground, so people can’t see the sky.”
“We’re underground?”
“Yes. You see it in movies sometimes, don’t you? Underground air-raid shelters or bunkers.”
Was everything underground automatically a bunker……?
If this was a bunker, a leaf was an umbrella and a pebble was a stone wall.
When I recoiled at the Bureau’s scale, Gwak Jae-gyeom puffed himself up.
“There probably isn’t a more expensive or secure facility anywhere in the Republic of Korea.”
I had no choice but to concede that point.
The majesty and sense of security projected by the space before me were that powerful.
It made me realize anew that I had entered an utterly preposterous world.
* * *
The following morning.
Gwak Jae-gyeom knocked on my door and asked,
“Hyung, are you busy by any chance?”
As though I could be.
After breakfast, I had merely been leafing through some Bureau manuals.
When I opened the door and stepped out, Gwak Jae-gyeom gestured behind himself with his eyes.
“You have a visitor. Would you like to meet her?”
Surely it wasn’t S.O.C.H.
With a touch of wariness, I looked over Gwak Jae-gyeom’s shoulder.
There, I found a woman with two sharply contrasting characteristics.
The woman standing in the living room was a rare beauty with a gentle air.
At the same time, she was a gravely injured patient covered here and there in bandages and adhesive dressings.
Such a neat and elegant person in such an inexplicably dire condition.
I stared at her, wondering what in the world she did for a living.
Then the woman smiled brightly and greeted me.
“Hello, Otter.”
I was wondering if she too belonged to S.O.C.H. when I abruptly recognized her and stared.
The woman facing me wore an eye patch, leaving only one eye visible.
But that eye curved as gently as a deer’s.
When she saw that I had recognized her, the woman smiled more broadly and said,
“This is our first time meeting without face coverings. I’m Baek Sa-ra.”
It was a rather sudden reunion.