Chapter 282: Riverside
It feels like it's been quite a while since the Butterfly's Dream Incident ended.
Time really flies. It feels like just yesterday that I discovered something non-human right before my eyes.
"But why are we going there?"
"Just because."
"There's no way it's 'just because'."
The elevator doors opened, and Song A-rin shot me a look.
"Did you hear something somewhere, or what? Did someone tell you to go?"
"Well, someone did ask me to do it."
"And you're just doing everything people ask?"
"You still came along, though. Thank you."
"...She really never holds back a single word."
She let out a deep sigh and stepped out. Yu Daon and Jang Chae-yeon had also arrived at the isolation room.
"What is it, feels like it's been a really long time since we've been here?"
"It has been a long time."
"I really thought I was going to die back then."
"Well, you technically did die initially."
"Ugh, just thinking about it makes me feel weird."
I moved along, conversing with Yu Daon.
"But, Daon-ssi."
"Yes?"
"You're really not experiencing anything strange with your body after that incident, are you? Like, something feeling off?"
"Hmm... I think I told you last time that there wasn't anything."
As she said that, Yu Daon began touching her body here and there.
"Doesn't seem like there is!"
"...Well, if anything does come up, please let me know."
"Yes!"
Yu Daon nodded with a smile, and at the same time, Song A-rin, who was walking beside me, let out a deep sigh.
"I was really speechless back then."
"Huh?"
"I was suddenly dispatched to get a situation briefing, and they told me that one security team member and one office worker had prevented a branch takeover."
She narrowed her eyes.
"And I had no idea they were such weirdos."
"Aren't you on the same team as those weirdos now?"
"I am a weird person."
She shrugged and answered.
"..."
Only Jang Chae-yeon walked on silently without saying a word.
She looked a bit sulky, too.
"Chae-yeon-ssi, is something wrong?"
"...Use a story I know."
Ah, that makes sense.
Jang Chae-yeon hadn't even participated in the Butterfly's Dream Incident.
"It's the fault of the person who wasn't there."
Then Song A-rin raised one eyebrow, and Jang Chae-yeon, seeing that expression, looked offended and was about to say something when—
"We're here!"
At Yu Daon's bright voice, we all stopped.
"..."
"..."
"It's not very well organized."
Song A-rin and I fell silent, and Jang Chae-yeon, who was looking at the isolation room, spoke calmly.
She was right.
The isolation room was still encircled by black tape and was completely unorganized.
There were no bloodstains, but the marks I had scorched on the ceiling with the butane gas and the dents in the wall from where Yu Daon had crashed into it were still there.
"...Is it even okay to go in?"
At my muttering, Song A-rin and Jang Chae-yeon stepped over the black line as if it were nothing.
"Hey, is it okay to just step over it like that?"
"Yah. You secretly went all the way to Gangdong Branch for the wedge operation behind the Gangseo Branch Head's back, and now you're scared of crossing a simple 'Do Not Enter' line?"
"Now that you mention it, you're right."
Once we crossed the black line, the room, still without a single light on, greeted us.
"Did they clean up all the corpses that were here?"
"Why is she stating the obvious?"
Yu Daon muttered with a sense of wonder, and Song A-rin gave her a reproachful look and made a bitter expression.
"Thanks to that, Gangseo Branch is still suffering from a manpower shortage. A lot of people really died back then. Especially the security team; it was practically wiped out. Probably everyone died except for those who were off-duty and the Black-Haired Woman."
"The office workers too?"
"That side had relatively few casualties."
"Really?"
"Well, the HR Team handled everything."
"Huh?"
This was the first I was hearing of this.
When I made a face showing I didn't understand, Song A-rin blinked.
"You didn't know? The Team Leader managed to lead the people out well, so hardly any office workers died."
"This is my first time hearing about it."
"Really? The Team Leader didn't say anything?"
"No."
"I see..."
So that had happened too.
I nodded and stepped inside.
Damp air enveloped my entire body.
Was the air this damp back then?
"Wow, look at this, Jae-heon-ssi! This is the mark where I was embedded in the wall!"
Yu Daon, looking fascinated, fitted her body into the person-shaped dent in the wall.
"Wow! It's a perfect fit!"
"...Is she really older than me?"
"What are you doing? You should call her unnie right now."
"The day I call her 'unnie' is the day I'll bite my tongue and kill myself."
Song A-rin muttered as if disgusted and looked at Yu Daon, who was matching her body to the wall.
"...Uh."
And next to me, Jang Chae-yeon was staring blankly at another spot.
"Chae-yeon-ssi?"
"What's that?"
She pointed at something with her finger, and following her finger, Song A-rin's and my eyes turned.
"...What is that?"
Song A-rin narrowed her eyes.
A small, honeycomb-like object was hanging there.
It looked exactly like a honeycomb that had been completely burned in a fire, the kind you sometimes see on TV or in videos.
I stared quietly at the honeycomb, but nothing appeared to my eyes.
"Shall we take it down?"
"...Is it okay to just take it down?"
"You were the one who suggested we come in first."
At Jang Chae-yeon's words, Song A-rin muttered with a sour expression, and when Jang Chae-yeon looked at her as ifæè¡ ing her, Song A-rin gritted her teeth.
"Yah, when did I say I was worried? Ha, seriously. I'm not scared of something like that at all?"
"Then catch it."
"What. Kyaaah!"
As soon as Song A-rin finished speaking, Jang Chae-yeon swung her hand, and the honeycomb above fell and landed precisely on Song A-rin, who screamed and caught it.
"You said you weren't scared."
"..."
Jang Chae-yeon spoke to Song A-rin in a voice tinged with laughter, and at the same time, she suddenly raised her hand and began hitting her own head wildly.
"Ow, ow. Ow. Ow."
"You brat. Today, either you or I are going to die. Let's dig a grave for one of us right here and now."
Song A-rin glared at Jang Chae-yeon with furious eyes, while Jang Chae-yeon kept punching her own head.
"Stop that and give that thing to me."
I snatched the honeycomb-like object Song A-rin was holding and examined it. A thud! and a scream from Song A-rin sounded beside me, but I ignored it and inspected the honeycomb.
"...Is this what you wanted to show me?"
Of course, the Manual didn't answer my question.
"Uh, what is this?"
Just then, Yu Daon, who had been looking around until then, approached me and sniffed.
"The smell is really strong too?"
"Smell?"
I sniffed, but I couldn't smell anything.
Yu Daon furrowed her brow slightly.
"How should I describe it? The smell of protein burning?"
"..."
What exactly does that mean?
"The smell of a burning corpse."
"...Thank you for the precise explanation."
Maybe I didn't need to know that precisely.
I thanked Yu Daon for her correction, stared blankly at the object, and then held out my hand.
Was she asking for it?
I handed the honeycomb to Yu Daon, and she started looking it over from all angles.
"But, Daon-ssi."
"Yes?"
Yu Daon, who had been looking at the honeycomb, looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Where did this come from?"
"This? This honeycomb-like thing?"
"No. It's a more fundamental question."
Where did this Butterfly's Dream come from? How did the Management Bureau come to isolate such an object, and why did it get released?
And fundamentally, why did the Manual call me here?
Does it want me to do something?
If so, what exactly is that 'something'?
"Well... I wonder?"
"Does anything come to you? Like a feeling or something?"
"Hmm... ...Doesn't seem like it."
Fortunately, even to my absurd question, Yu Daon answered without seeming to mind much. I bowed my head slightly in gratitude and looked at Song A-rin.
"A-rin-ssi."
"Huff... Huff... What..."
Song A-rin, whose hair was now disheveled from fighting with Jang Chae-yeon, looked at me.
Looks like they had a really fun fight.
"Is the inside of the isolation room designed for easy escape?"
"If it were that easy, the world would have ended thousands of times already."
But it seems easy?
I didn't voice that thought aloud.
"Then, do you know where this Butterfly's Dream came from?"
"This thing?"
Uuum, Song A-rin furrowed her brow slightly, then took out her smartphone and started typing something intently.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm texting the old man. Just a second."
She moved her fingers busily, typing something, and soon shoved the screen in my face.
<Found it near the river. About thirty years ago? The Gangnam Branch Head caught it and put it here.>
"That's what it says."
"Near the river..."
"Uh, uh...!"
In the middle of our conversation, at the sound of Yu Daon's voice, we both hurriedly looked at her.
"That crazy Black-Haired Woman, what kind of trouble is she causing now...!"
Song A-rin glared with furious eyes, as if looking at a child causing trouble, and at the same time, the honeycomb in Yu Daon's hand began to burn.
-Whoosh!
"Ah, hot!"
Yu Daon hurriedly dropped the honeycomb, and Jang Chae-yeon stretched out her hand and caught it in mid-air before it hit the ground.
"...What is this?"
Jang Chae-yeon looked at me and Yu Daon. As Yu Daon shook her reddened hand, it had already returned to its original state.
"Daon-ssi, are you okay?"
"Ja, Jae-heon-ssi. I didn't do anything. Really!"
"I understand."
I hurriedly checked the status window above Yu Daon's head.
[Name : Yu Daon]
[Age : 23]
[Specialty : Immortality]
[Talent : Regeneration (Undetermined)]
[Background : She doesn't even have a clue what just happened. While she thinks she probably didn't do anything wrong, she's still racking her brains wondering if she might have messed up somehow.]
[Weakness : Just say it was Yu Daon's fault once.]
Fortunately, it didn't seem like anything major had happened.
"Why did this burn?"
"Maybe it's looking for a host and leaves a mark?"
Jang Chae-yeon answered my muttering.
I hope that's not the case.
Just as I thought that,
-Tap, tap, tap...!
Someone started walking towards us.
"..."
The four of us looked towards the source of the sound with tense expressions.
"Found you."
Eileen was standing there.
"Come with me for a second. She says she needs help."
She looked at us.
"What...?"
"She said we need to go to the Riverside."
At her words, the bodies of Jang Chae-yeon and Song A-rin froze solid.