Chapter 254: Greed
“You really didn’t eat it?”
“How does one even eat something so abstract in the first place?”
The Gangbuk Branch Head replied, looking at me as if he found my question absurd.
“Then what did you eat?”
The Branch Head stared intently at the Gangbuk Branch Head.
“You know that if something is deemed a significant threat to the Management Bureau, it can be summarily executed, right?”
“Do you think I’d die so easily for you?”
The old man laughed with a ‘heh heh,’ and the Branch Head narrowed one eye.
“Do you think I’m joking?”
She clenched her fist, and the smile vanished from the old man’s face.
A strange tension flowed between them. The Gangbuk Branch Head raised both hands.
“Alright, alright. I’ll talk. What’s the need for all this? To be so upright at your age…”
“It’s the young ones who are completely out of line.”
The Branch Head unclenched her fist.
“But you should know it’s hard to speak properly. I’ve already swallowed it all.”
“…You ate it in quite a hurry. Was it a directive from above?”
“An independent decision.”
The Branch Head stared at the old man. The old man looked at me and spoke.
“That kind of thing.”
“Huh?”
“Have you ever thought of it that way?”
“…”
“Intense futility and rage.”
“Futility and rage…”
“That’s the dregs I possess.”
That kind of thing? Futility and rage?
While saying incomprehensible things, the old man smiled.
“Then, the memories of Ms. Chae-yeon’s sister, Ms. A-rin, and Ms. Da-on that you ate…”
“I don’t recall.”
The old man smiled.
Simultaneously, the Branch Head clenched her fist and lightly struck the old man’s face.
-THWACK!
But the sound that erupted was anything but light.
With a sound like a leather pouch bursting, the old man was slammed into the wall.
Dust and fragments of furniture scattered. The Branch Head strode over, grabbed the old man by the collar, and lifted him up.
“Didn’t I say I don’t give second chances?”
The Branch Head looked at the old man. He raised his head.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single wound.
“True to being a mad dog of the Management Bureau, leading with your hands first, I see.”
-THWACK!
The Branch Head swung her hand again. With a tremendous sound, the old man’s head snapped to the side.
What was that?
It felt like something just flew out.
Did something pale and whitish fly up?
Was it an illusion? As I thought that, the old man’s voice was heard.
“This was a transaction. I can’t speak of it, so please underst—”
“I might generously overlook the actions you take from your position, but I told you not to touch the personnel of my branch.”
“Must be someone you quite like, I see.”
The old man sighed.
“Doesn’t it hurt your heart? To give affection like that, only to sometimes be betrayed, and even if not betrayed, to see people who will eventually die and leave you?”
“…”
The Branch Head stared down at the old man.
“I’m sorry to say this, but it wasn’t just one or two people who have done that.”
She opened her mouth.
“And I’ve already settled on an answer to that question.”
At her words, the old man let out a hollow laugh.
“Right. I spoke nonsense.”
The Branch Head slowly released her grip. The old man brushed off his clothes and stood up.
“Ah, well. My mistake for asking.”
Then he looked at me.
“I made deals with each of them.”
Deals?
With Aestheticism, the Troupe, the Hospital…?
Come to think of it, when I saw the Gangbuk Hospital Director, my eyes showed me something.
What was it?
Ah, right. It said he saw and spoke of Greed at the hospital.
The Branch Head nodded.
“Right. I see.”
“So you understand?”
“No.”
The Branch Head looked at him as she spoke.
“I’ll be sure to report this matter to the Director-General.”
“…Do as you wish.”
The Gangbuk Branch Head nodded. The Branch Head then looked at me.
“Are you alright, Mr. Kim Jae-heon?”
“…Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
I’d heard the answer, after all.
The Branch Head nodded with a doubtful expression.
“Alright. I’ll convey it to the others that way.”
“Yes.”
The old man nodded. The Branch Head silently stared at the old man for a moment, then grabbed my wrist and pulled.
“Let’s go.”
“You’re exceptionally forceful today.”
“Do you want me to break your wrist?”
“My apologies.”
“You too.”
Just as the Branch Head was about to pull me away by the wrist, the Gangbuk Branch Head looked at me.
“Do not set your heart on things you must leave behind. Or on things you cannot attain.”
I looked at his face.
His wrinkled hands, and a face that should be full of stubbornness was instead filled with regret.
A semi-transparent window floated above his head.
[Name: Kim Pil-su]
[Age: 73]
[Specialty: Greed]
[Talent: Greed]
[Background: Showing what need not be seen, what could he be thinking?]
[Weakness: Greed is, in itself, a deficiency.]
“I’m doing well in my own way, so don’t worry too much.”
“Likewise.”
He waved his hand. The Branch Head led me away.
This time, not underground, but through the door to the Branch Head’s office.
“Take care.”
“You take care too.”
Dismissing the Gangbuk Branch Head’s farewell curtly, the Branch Head moved on.
Warm sunlight streamed down the corridor.
How long had we walked? The Branch Head turned and looked at me.
“Kim Jae-heon.”
“Yes.”
“Follow me.”
“In the first place, Branch Head, you’re the one holding my wrist.”
“Why do you have to pick at every little thing I say? Hurry up.”
She clicked her tongue and moved forward.
We began climbing the stairs.
Right. The Gangbuk Branch doesn’t have an elevator.
“Where are we going, Branch Head?”
“It’s just my thought.”
The Branch Head muttered as she looked at me.
“I think we need to take a look at the mirror.”
“…The mirror?”
The mirror I saw when I came to the Gangbuk Branch.
How does the Branch Head know about that mirror?
And why, in the first place?
“Why?”
“Well, you saw it, didn’t you, Mr. Jae-heon?”
“That’s right.”
“From what I see, that bastard is hiding something.”
“…Hiding something?”
I didn’t particularly feel like anything had been done to me.
“You might not know it, Mr. Jae-heon. Not yet.”
The Branch Head muttered as she walked on without pause.
“But do you know what the mirror is?”
“Well, I am a Branch Head too, after all. Our Director-General won’t let me sleep unless I memorize every single isolated object in my head…”
The Branch Head made a horrified, terrified expression.
And this isn't even some military absurdity.
“Is the Director-General around the same age as you, Branch Head?”
“Are you saying I look old now?”
“I said nothing of the sort.”
The Branch Head glared at me. I hurriedly raised my hands in surrender, and she averted her eyes.
“But why are you holding my wrist?”
Has it been too long since she felt human warmth? If so, should I share some of my youthful vigor?
“Don’t get any strange ideas. My life is far too busy to accept a confession from Mr. Kim Jae-heon. Maybe when my life settles down a bit, I’ll occasionally reminisce about it.”
“No, there’s also quite an age difference between us, so—GAAAK!”
The Branch Head tightened her grip on my wrist, and a terrible scream involuntarily escaped me from the intense pain.
“Just follow quietly.”
I hope my wrist isn’t broken.
*
After arriving at the isolation floor, the Branch Head began walking through the maze-like paths as if it were her own home.
“Do you happen to know the way too?”
“Of course.”
“Did the Director-General make you memorize that too?”
“Obviously?”
She answered as if asking why I’d bother with such an obvious question and kept walking.
Whether the Director-General’s education was thorough or not, as I followed the Branch Head, a familiar place soon came into view.
The mirror.
What I saw back then wasn’t particularly good.
Although, thanks to that illusion, I was able to cultivate a sense of wariness towards the Regressor.
A semi-transparent window I hadn’t seen in a long time floated up.
[Name: Mirror]
[Age: Created 49 years ago]
[Specialty: Projection of Desire]
[Talent: X]
[Background: How can I make people happy? He was tormented by this thought all day long. Soon, he reached a conclusion. I should make a mirror that shows people what they want to see.]
[Weakness: It does not break from physical impact. One must deny what is inside it for the mirror to yield truth and the future.]
The Branch Head stood before the mirror.
“…”
She furrowed her brow, then pulled my wrist and placed me beside her.
As Yu Daon said, it doesn’t smell like grandmother’s cosmetics.
My pointless thoughts were cut short as something began to appear in the mirror.
What was reflected wasn’t me or the Branch Head.
It was Song A-rin.
“…Ms. A-rin?”
“…”
Why is Song A-rin there?
Song A-rin was opening a door and heading somewhere.
Looking tired, yet familiar, she entered a place after typing a passcode.
“…Kim Wan-woo?”
It was the place where the Regressor’s brain was floating.
“Ah, shit…”
Song A-rin scratched her cheek and muttered.
“The extraction is oddly slow. Did I misidentify something? I need to report this.”
Tch. She clicked her tongue and walked back out the door.
Soon, the Branch Head’s phone began to ring.
Looking at her phone, the caller ID read <Gangseo Branch Employee Song A-rin>.
“Yes, Ms. Song A-rin.”
The Branch Head slowly answered the phone.
“Is that so? Understood.”
Then she hung up.
“Kim Jae-heon.”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever thought something was strange?”
“…About what?”
“Among the emotions you felt while meeting Kim Wan-woo… Hmm, was there no futility or rage?”
Futility and rage.
Basically, the emotions I felt towards the Regressor were more like impatience and wariness, not futility and rage.
When did I ever feel futility and rage—
“Ah.”
There was one time.
“Branch Head.”
“Yes?”
The Branch Head looked at me.
“If you were to regress—”
“…”
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright.”
She looked at me with a bitter smile.
Even if not regression, she had been back before.
“…Anyway, if you were to regress, why would you do it?”
“I…”
She closed her eyes and fell into thought.
“It was always the same thought.”
“What kind…?”
“Have you ever lived alone in a ruined world?”
The Branch Head looked at me.
“Even if I met people, they were already broken.”
I wonder why Yu Daon’s face momentarily flashed through my mind.
“Seeing that, I realized. Ah, I cannot live without people.”
The Branch Head said that and looked at me.
“That’s why I went back. To not be lonely.”
To not be lonely.
“…What about you, Mr. Jae-heon?”
“I…”
I cannot regress.
I merely run, having received the baton called ‘Manual’ from my past self.
That’s why I sometimes think.
Why do I keep passing this baton to myself?
The Manual said it wanted me to be happy.
But am I passing the baton because I want myself to be happy?
“…I’m not sure.”
In the end, that was the only answer I could give.
And so, I understood even more.
‘I will live for myself.’
The traces of the Regressor’s life were literally everywhere.
My confrontations with him, my fights with him.
Did he really run through all this past, did he act, all for the sake of living for himself?
Was that truly such a trivial reason?
-WHOOSH!
The moment I thought that, the mirror changed.
The Branch Head’s eyes widened. I looked calmly at the mirror.
The mirror was reflecting a river.
In front of that river, a man was making a face of utter despair.
It was Kim Wan-woo.