Editor’s Survival Guide

“For that monster to stop, one person has to die. Isn’t that right?”

Black’s words were closer to confirmation than a question.

An irritatingly smart bastard.

Well, that must have been why he had thought to shove a person into the Storage Locker.

I had been suspicious from the moment Orange bragged that he had made a fortune through the Storage Locker.

Orange had only been doing stupid things, so it did not seem like he could have come up with an idea like that.

Then who had used their head?

There was no one but Black.

White was not part of Orange’s gang, and Blue had the air of someone drifting apart on his own.

“Mr. Blue, you remember what Otter said at first, don’t you? He said that monster turns off and on every 40 minutes. But that wasn’t actually true, was it? It only happened the first time. The second time, when around 40 minutes passed, it went berserk instead.” Sure enough, Black had quickly seen through the 「Moving Gun」 too.

But damn it, this was also my mistake.

It was my blunder for not knowing the convicts had been here this long.

“What would the difference be? During the first 40 minutes, Purple was shot to death, and during the second 40 minutes, no one died. That’s all, isn’t it? And even while the monster was suddenly going wild, it stopped right away once a few people died.”

Black was already certain.

Now, all that remained for him was to choose a sacrifice.

“If you understand, come over here, Mr. Blue. We don’t have time right now.”

Ah, he had already finished choosing too.

Right. As the one who joined late, I would look the easiest.

Black repeatedly tried to coax him, but for some reason, Blue did not budge.

Instead, Orange, who was beside him, shouted.

“Hyung! Kill that bitch instead of him!”

At Orange’s interruption, Black squeezed his eyes shut and opened them.

But Orange did not see that and jerked his body.

“You heard what she did to me!”

“Be quiet. This isn’t the time.”

“What do you mean it isn’t? You said you’d get revenge for me! You said you’d do it my way this time!”

Orange shouted and rammed his wheelchair forward.

Orange’s wheelchair struck Black’s leg.

Black endured it a few times, then shoved the wheelchair away hard with his foot.

CRASH—!

The wheelchair fell over, and Orange was flung out with it.

Orange, sprawled on the floor, looked up at Black as if shocked.

Then Black said halfheartedly,

“Listen to me. Can’t you see I’m busy right now?”

“What is this? You said you’d do it for me…… I did everything you told me to, hyung…….”

“That’s why I’m taking care of you too.”

Black’s tone remained fairly rounded even now.

It was a courtesy possible only because there was not the slightest emotion in it.

Perhaps Orange felt that too, because his expression grew even blanker.

That guileless face soon crumpled miserably and hid inside his heavy body.

I had no intention of pitying him, but it was a rather wretched sight.

Black thought Orange had given up and turned his head back toward us.

But then Orange, his face covered with both arms, spoke loudly.

“Hyung! When we chose who’d get the injection, who did you pick?”

For someone speaking while curled up, his voice was strangely bright.

“One vote for White was mine. Other than that, there was one abstention, and everyone else picked me. That abstention vote, wasn’t it yours, hyung?”

“Well, I don’t remember.”

Black answered carelessly, as if it was annoying.

It was a lie without even the will to deceive the other person.

At that carelessness, Orange giggled with his face covered.

“How long has it even been for you not to remember…… That injection, seriously, it hurt like hell…… I didn’t want to take it, so I really begged you to let me off just once, bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bugh.”

Orange, who had been giggling, spat out a grotesque sound like a broken machine.

All of us startled and stared at Orange.

Orange’s back was bulging and shifting.

“Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-guh-guh-guh-guh-guh-guh-kh-gahk.”

Orange’s voice split even more severely.

Black, who was closest to him, stepped backward as if flustered.

Then something ripped through Orange’s back and shot upward.

What spread out like wings were human arms.

White and slender.

But so long that their elbows touched the ceiling.

Before we even had time to be shocked by the sight, those arms attacked Black and Red.

BANG— THUUD—!

Black was slammed into the wall.

Blue stepped back before he could be caught up in it, and Red was crushed outright by a huge fist.

After taking care of its own gang first, Orange’s arms flew at White too.

Before she could be struck, White abandoned her wheelchair and rolled away.

BANG—!

Then she brought her heel down on the crown of Orange’s head.

When Orange was struck, the pair of arms sprouting from his back also flinched as if they had been shocked.

In the meantime, White sprang up and shouted.

“Ji-su, take Black!”

At White’s shout, Blue ran to Black.

White kicked the wheelchair in that direction, and Blue seated Black in the wheelchair that arrived exactly where it needed to.

And for some reason, that wheelchair was handed off to me.

“Mr. Otter, run!”

At White’s shout, I pushed the wheelchair without understanding why.

Black hung limp, as if he had lost consciousness.

BANG—! BANG, BANG—!

As I held on to Black, who was sliding down, gunshots rang out behind me.

Startled, I looked back and saw White and Blue shooting Orange with pistols.

What the hell, why did you change genres without me……?

Orange raised his body beneath the enormous arms.

White and Blue ignored the sprouted arms and kept shooting only Orange.

Under their concentrated fire, Orange’s head dangled as if it were about to fall off.

But Orange did not collapse.

Instead, the parts hit by bullets swelled and bulged, and long arms shot up from those places too, sprouting everywhere like bamboo after rain.

Orange’s appearance became even more grotesque.

Perhaps deciding this would not work, White and Blue stopped firing and turned around.

Then they ran full tilt and caught up beside me.

Blue muttered in a flat voice.

“The doping effect is damn strong.”

“Is this the time to joke?”

“We don’t have time, so you handle the gun, senior.”

“Don’t die.”

“Yes.”

After exchanging a few words with White, Blue broke away to the side.

White kept running beside me, matching my pace.

Looking at White, who was running far too well, I shouted as if coughing blood.

“What the hell are you people?!”

“Didn’t you figure it out?”

“I need to know something before I can figure anything out……!”

“I’m Baek Sa-ra of Special Management Bureau Exploration Team 1. Blue is Han Ji-su from the same team.”

Right, White did seem like that might be the case.

But I really had not known Blue was from the Bureau too!

“But why are you here, Mr. Otter? You went home last week.”

“You know me?”

“Of course. You’re Seo Do-un of ‘Pay it back to anyone later,’ aren’t you?”

“Ghk……!”

What was with that bizarre, absurd title?!

Startled by the cringe-inducing name, I ended up biting my tongue.

“Are you all right?”

When I was in pain, White looked at me innocently.

I forced myself to nod and recalled White’s actions until now.

When I stepped on the trap, White had appeared the latest.

At first, I had thought it was because her leg was inconvenient, but that was not it.

White had recognized me and been late because she was writing “Special Advice!” on the order.

With this, the Bureau bastards’ high-handed move made sense too.

The reason they had not told the convicts about the 「Moving Gun」.

It was because of White and Blue.

Since Bureau people had infiltrated, the group would not be wiped out.

And since they were ignorant of the danger, they were easier to roll around here and there.

They really were consistently devilish bastards.

In any case, I could understand that much.

But there was still one thing I did not know.

Why had that bastard Cha Si-eon not told me there were Bureau people here……?

Perhaps Baek Sa-ra also found that strange, because she asked me instead.

“You spoke with Team Leader Cha Si-eon, right? The Cha Team didn’t tell you we were here?”

“He didn’t!”

“He always does that.”

Does he always do that?

Is that just how he is?

And you just let that pass like this?!

Rage surged all the way up my throat.

But I forced it down and asked something more important.

“Where are we going now?”

“To the 「Moving Gun」.”

“Pardon?”

“We’re going to make it kill Black before it goes berserk.”

Baek Sa-ra answered clearly.

When I stared at her in shock, Baek Sa-ra added with smiling eyes,

“That’s why I was chasing the gun from the beginning.”

Ah, I had worried for nothing.

There had been someone right beside me who had been preparing to offer up a sacrifice from the start.

As I stared at her, at a loss for words, Baek Sa-ra glanced at her wristwatch.

Then she sighed and muttered.

“Oh dear.”

“What is it?”

“It seems it’s about time for the 「Moving Gun」 to fire a high-powered bullet.”

THUMP—!

The moment Baek Sa-ra finished speaking, a vibration came.

It was a vibration I had already felt several times.

It did seem that the 「Moving Gun」 had fired something again.

But since we could not tell where it had fired or what it had fired at, we stopped for now.

After a few seconds like that.

From far away, Blue, Han Ji-su’s shout rang out.

“Get down!”

I understood the demand, but there was no time to follow it.

No, to begin with, it was the wrong judgment.

BOOM—! BOOM—! CRRRAACK—!

With the sound of something exploding, the floor split open.

The crack rushed all the way to my feet in an instant.

When I staggered, Baek Sa-ra grabbed my shoulder.

But my T-shirt with the otter on it made her hand slip off lightly.

What I felt immediately afterward was the loss of gravity.

And perfect empty air.

THUUD, THUD— CRASH—!

A pile of concrete fell, and twisted rebar followed.

I was hurled down with them, and dust rose thickly.

But for some reason, it did not hurt much.

Instead, tinnitus struck my eardrums, and the world danced in two layers.

There was something beneath me.

A crushed wheelchair and a crushed Black.

“Mr. Otter!”

Baek Sa-ra skillfully descended beside me.

Then, before checking me, she felt the pulse of Black, who was pinned under my back.

After examining Black, Baek Sa-ra clicked her tongue hard.

At that sound, I was certain of Black’s death.

“Mr. Otter, can you hear my voice? Are you sleepy? Don’t fall asleep. Keep your eyes open!”

Baek Sa-ra said that while slapping my cheek repeatedly.

I wanted to answer, but my voice would not come out properly.

So when I grimaced and turned my head, Baek Sa-ra looked relieved.

Then she placed something in my hand.

A cold, heavy mixture of metal and plastic.

It was a pistol.

I could not understand why.

I did not know how to shoot something like a pistol.

On top of that, my vision was spinning right now, so what was the point of handing me something like this?

But Baek Sa-ra showed no consideration for my circumstances and pushed the gun onto me as she stood up.

Then she looked down at me and muttered as if talking to herself.

“I’d like to keep you alive if possible, Mr. Otter, but honestly, I can’t guarantee it.”

After reciting those incomprehensible words, Baek Sa-ra lowered the zipper of her work clothes.

ZIP—

The loose top slid down, revealing a stab-proof vest fitted tightly to her body.

When she tore off the thick mask as well, only a black mask remained, and her hair spilled down.

Baek Sa-ra twisted her long brown hair up in a single motion.

Then she began pulling something out from both sides of her waist.

Large, black blades emerged from Baek Sa-ra’s pants.

They were machetes with flexible curves like fish.

Baek Sa-ra spun the two machetes in both hands and leapt down from the ruins.

With unfocused eyes, I followed Baek Sa-ra’s figure.

There was something where Baek Sa-ra was heading.

A monster with an arm made of guns hanging down, impossible to tell whether it was organic or inorganic.

It was the 「Moving Gun」.