Chapter 430: Wonsan Bombardment
I thought I would be the one driving, but contrary to my expectations, it was Sunglasses who took the wheel.
Chae Hageum. The name 'Sunglasses' rolled off the tongue more easily than his real name.
"I will ensure your safe arrival to the destination."
"I'm worried it might not be safe."
The Branch Chief laughed in response to Sunglasses's words, and hearing that, Sunglasses also laughed.
"Was it twenty years ago? It reminds me of the incident in the US when you were shot by a robber while riding in a car."
"I didn't get shot; I caught the bullet mid-air."
"Well, ordinary people don't do that."
Scary people.
I should never try to spin tales like that.
What kind of heroic tales could I even tell? Fighting a Regressor, fighting a Troupe, fighting Aestheticism...
"..."
Now that I think about it, I have been through some pretty major incidents.
"Kim Jae-heon... sir."
In the middle of the conversation, Sunglasses stared straight at me.
"You've grown up a lot."
"..."
Grown up a lot.
Well, thinking back to our first meeting, it wasn't strange to hear that.
Back then, I had just survived the Butterfly Dream Incident, and aside from Yu Daon, I had no one by my side.
"I told you not to talk down to people like that."
But before his words even finished, the Branch Chief scolded the man.
"No, Branch Chief. That's not what I meant."
"What I'm saying is, don't use a tone that sounds like you're looking down on people. The person on the receiving end might feel bad, you know?"
The Branch Chief stared intently at Sunglasses, and Sunglasses gave a slight bow of his head to me.
"My apologies. That wasn't my intention."
"Ah, yes. I know."
The Branch Chief was unexpectedly strict in some ways.
As I thought that and looked at the Branch Chief, he gave me a thumbs-up.
What was that about? Did he want to show the image of a great superior saving a subordinate from a bad habit?
If so...
I gave a slight thumbs-up back to the Branch Chief, and he smiled a kindly smile.
This feels like watching a scene where someone says, 'Our older sister is a bit simple-minded, but she's a good person.'
Wait, but then will Sunglasses get upset?
Suddenly, my eyes met Sunglasses's, and he gave me a thumbs-up.
We both have a hard time dealing with our older superiors, huh.
Thinking that, I blankly stared out the window.
"Where are we going this time?"
"Ah. This time..."
At my question, the Branch Chief trailed off.
"We're going to the Central Branch."
"...The Central Branch?"
Are we finally going to the Central Branch I've only heard about?
"Weren't we going to meet the owner of that mirror? The man, or whatever?"
"That's right."
The Branch Chief nodded, and Sunglasses continued the explanation.
"We can't just go there directly."
"Why not?"
"We need to get permission first."
"Permission?"
"Well... frankly, someone of the Branch Chief's caliber... if something big happens wherever they go, it's a problem. Even if there's a one-in-a-million chance the Branch Chief accidentally swings a fist and destroys a building, that's also a problem."
No matter what, isn't this treating the Branch Chief too much like a fool? This is enough to make even the Branch Chief get angry—
"I already said I was really sorry that time!"
"Did you really break it?"
"No, I just swung my hand a bit too hard trying to catch a fly and put a crack in the wall!"
"To be precise, you exposed the rebar in the reinforced concrete, so they had to do construction again."
"They deducted it from my paycheck!"
I vowed never to mess with the Branch Chief again.
"But was the Central Branch in a place like this?"
Literally, shouldn't it be in the center?
But we're currently in the mountains.
"Ah, originally, the Central Branch was right in the center of Seoul, as you said."
"Then why...?"
"The government asked us to relocate, saying it incited anxiety among citizens."
"The Management Bureau listens to that kind of request?"
"It was a time when we needed to cooperate closely with the government due to the Riverside Incident, and we also got some complaints about property prices falling."
"I see."
Having that conversation, Sunglasses drove the car deeper into the mountains, and soon a modern building with the sign <Hansarang Nursing Home> came into view.
"A nursing home?"
Well, the Branch Chief is old enough to go to a nursing home.
"If we used an abandoned building, people would sometimes come in for ghost hunting, you see."
So there was a backstory like that.
After parking the car in the Hansarang Nursing Home parking lot, as I was about to get out, Sunglasses slowly opened his mouth.
"By the way, Branch Chief."
"I know."
"..."
What is it? Why? What's going on?
As I looked at the two of them, Sunglasses slowly spoke.
"We have a tail."
A tail?
My hand naturally moved toward the gun in my pocket, but Sunglasses shook his head.
"But there's something a bit strange about it."
What's strange about it?
I looked at Sunglasses, and he exchanged a look with the Branch Chief that seemed to say he was perplexed.
"It seems to be a Management Bureau vehicle, specifically a vehicle belonging to a Management Bureau employee."
"Huh?"
Does that mean there's a traitor inside?
"Then isn't that an even bigger problem?"
"Well, you see..."
At my question, the two exchanged another troubled look.
Hey, don't just exchange looks, say something.
"You need to tell me."
"Instead of that, why don't you see for yourself?"
See for myself?
I slowly turned my gaze.
In the distance, not extremely far but within sight, a car was parked.
It looked familiar.
"..."
An empty car.
"It's empty though?"
"That's a Management Bureau agent's car."
"How can you tell?"
"Veteran intuition."
What kind of answer is that?
As I stared intently at Sunglasses, he answered calmly.
"Other Bureau employees might not know, but especially those at the Team Leader level and above... each has a car assigned to them, and there's a serial number for them."
"Don't the Team Leaders know that either?"
"Of course not."
There's a strangely sinister side to this.
While I was thinking that, Sunglasses spoke again.
"And that car belongs to a Response Team Team Leader."
"...Who?"
"The Response Team Team Leader of the Gangseo Branch."
"..."
The Response Team Team Leader of the Gangseo Branch?
"Has the Gangseo Branch Response Team Leader changed?"
"Is that likely?"
Then, does that mean it's the person I know?
I stared intently at the two, and Sunglasses nodded.
"It's that person, alright."
"...Eileen..."
Why on earth did she follow us here? No, more importantly, she shouldn't have gotten caught in the first place.
My younger sister always used to tell me:
It's okay to do bad things. As long as you don't get caught.
But if you think you'll get caught, don't even attempt it.
Contrary to those words, Eileen was now caught.
And the fact that Eileen was here meant...
"Perhaps—"
A sharp pain shot through my head, and the expression of the man wearing sunglasses turned grim. The Branch Chief was the same.
"It seems Song A-rin has come too."
"It appears so."
"...How did you two shake it off?"
"Equipment."
Sunglasses answered calmly, and the Branch Chief also shrugged his shoulders.
"Just grit your teeth. Of course, if I got hit unaware, I probably would have been affected too."
Is she even human?
And as the three of us stared at that car, eventually, after a short while, the car door opened and four people appeared.
"So, if you just hadn't been hypnotized, we wouldn't have been caught."
"Don't talk nonsense. They were already looking at us, so we had to distort their perception."
"That's right. I could smell the auntie's perfume the whole time."
"..."
The four of them grumbled as they approached me, and when they met my gaze, they averted their eyes as if they had done something wrong.
"Hey, I told you to just tell me and come along."
"I did tell you, but you said no!"
At my words, Jang Chae-yeon muttered, and the other two, excluding Eileen, nodded.
"Was that the case?"
"It's a long story."
Letting the conversation between Sunglasses and the Branch Chief flow in one ear, I sank into thought about what I should say.
"...Following us... I don't mind. Personally, that is."
I hastily added.
This wasn't for me to decide, but for those two, specifically the Branch Chief, to decide.
"...Hmm..."
The Branch Chief looked at the four of them for a moment, scratching his cheek, then nodded.
"Frankly, I'm fine with it."
"I'm actually grateful. I get to see the legendary HR Team's skills firsthand."
"..."
This is burdensome.
But since they had come all the way here, there was no helping it.
"Then..."
I nodded, and in the end, a large group consisting of me, the Branch Chief, Sunglasses, and the HR Team members, including Eileen, entered the Central Branch.
*
The parking lot was vast.
So vast it was almost the size of a department store.
"...Ugh."
Song A-rin let out a deep sigh, and seeing that, Sunglasses shook his head.
"That's why you should have caused a reasonable amount of trouble around the Central Branch."
"I'll say it again, I did nothing wrong."
"If you say so."
"It's true. They started talking to me rudely first and picked a fight, so I just paid them back double."
"Why double?"
"Well, if you get hit, of course you pay back double. Do you only pay back exactly what you received?"
As we continued walking while listening to their conversation, a huge elevator soon appeared before our eyes.
"This is it."
"It's less impressive than I thought."
"That's how the Management Bureau is."
After Jang Chae-yeon answered my mutter, we got on the elevator and began slowly descending.
It felt strange because it was more crowded than usual.
"Since it's the headquarters when we arrive... there probably won't be anyone there."
"Aren't there a lot of people?"
"Since personnel have been dispatched to all four branches... they've automated things as much as possible."
The Branch Chief began explaining with a laugh.
"To be perfectly honest, besides the Director-General, there probably won't be anyone there..."
"The Director-General?"
"Ugh. Don't even mention him. That old fogey, just because he doesn't want to leave his room... he talks so much and is so stubborn... If I got my hands on him, I'd just give his head a good...!"
Ding! With a sound, the elevator doors opened.
"Who's going to do what?"
An old man's voice was heard.
I slowly turned my gaze. An old man was standing there, looking at us.
To be precise, he was looking at the Branch Chief.
The Branch Chief froze for a moment, and the Director-General slowly took something out of his pocket and placed it on the floor.
It was a bottle cap.
"Commence Wonsan Bombardment."
"Commence!"
The Branch Chief immediately headbutted the bottle cap.