Editor’s Survival Guide

“Is walking still difficult for you?”

A kind voice, as if speaking to a small child.

“Then I should take you to kindergarten.”

With a gentle face that matched that voice well, Baek Sa-ra looked down at the fox-faced man she had knocked over.

The man stared blankly at Baek Sa-ra, then forced a smile.

Then he tried to get up as if nothing had happened, but Baek Sa-ra tripped him again.

THUD—!

This time, he fell forward.

The fox-faced man froze while lying face-down.

As silence flowed just like that, Baek Sa-ra asked the man’s group, “Your friend is learning to walk. Aren’t you going to help him?”

At Baek Sa-ra’s laughter-laced words, the group hesitated and helped the man up.

Then Baek Sa-ra stamped the back of his knee with her foot and knocked him down again.

THUD—!

The man collapsed helplessly once more.

Since he had fallen onto a soft mat, it probably did not hurt.

But his dignity and pride must have been crumpled as much as they could be, enough to make him want to die.

Sure enough, the man’s face, which had been smiling slickly, flushed bright red.

But even then, he did not attack Baek Sa-ra.

He merely endured like a frog that had met its natural predator, as if dead.

Baek Sa-ra also stared down at the man persistently.

Like a snake pondering how to swallow the prey before its eyes.

That thin-ice atmosphere continued.

Then a tall man grabbed Baek Sa-ra’s arm.

It was Han Ji-su, who had come with Baek Sa-ra.

“Senior.”

“Mm, I know.”

“You people, go quickly too.”

Han Ji-su stopped Baek Sa-ra and gestured to the fox-faced man.

Then the fox-faced man and his group got up as if they had been waiting and left the training hall.

When the surroundings grew quiet after their humiliating exit, Han Ji-su shouted in all directions.

“Sorry for causing a disturbance! Everyone, please continue what you were doing!”

At Han Ji-su’s apology, the training hall grew noisy.

For a while, laughter, jeers, complaints, and similar sounds continued.

With those sounds as the end, the agents returned to their respective training.

And I and Jae-gyeom, another axis of this situation, had grown somewhat awkward and whispered to each other.

“Jae-gyeom, what kind of situation is this?”

“It’s a situation where Baek Sa-ra did a Baek Sa-ra.”

“She’s coming this way.”

“Smile, hyung. Just smile first.”

Baek Sa-ra, who had pacified the world, led Han Ji-su and walked toward us.

When Baek Sa-ra came close, Kwak Jae-gyeom welcomed her with a smile.

“Noona, you caaaaaame……!”

But Jae-gyeom’s devoted smile did not last long.

Because Baek Sa-ra, smiling brightly, grabbed one of his cheeks and stretched it.

“Jae-gyeom, how can you smile right now? You should take care of your partner.”

“Ah, noona, if employees fight each other, disciplinary action……!”

“When did I tell you to fight? I’m saying that when someone makes a mistake, you should admonish them well so they won’t do it again.”

That’s right. Ms. Baek Sa-ra did not fight.

She only made a person who had been standing perfectly fine fall over three times.

As an editor, I could not help wanting to object to describing that as admonishing someone well, but, mm.

Let’s just stay quiet for now. Before I end up like Jae-gyeom.

Ignoring Jae-gyeom, I bowed my head to Han Ji-su.

Han Ji-su, who had been caught in the explosion at the 「Hospital That Hunts Humans」, had recently been discharged and was in rehabilitation.

Han Ji-su without a mask had sanpaku eyes with no double eyelids and a thin face.

So he was a young man whose impression sometimes looked sleepy and sometimes looked sharp.

“That guy earlier is Yeon Ga-ram from Control Team 4.”

Han Ji-su said this while exchanging eye greetings with me.

“He likes pecking-order games and has a serious inferiority complex, so just ignore him. Earlier, he did that because he was upset that you were selected as an outstanding agent, Agent Do-un.”

“Wow, seriously? That’s why he picked a fight? Is he insane? Where did his age disappear to?”

Kwak Jae-gyeom, who had escaped from Baek Sa-ra at some point, grew indignant.

But it would have been better if he had not.

Baek Sa-ra laughed as if dumbfounded and pressed Jae-gyeom’s temple firmly with her thumb.

“What’s the point of getting angry now?”

“It hurts, noona……!”

Kwak Jae-gyeom collapsed onto the mat and gasped for breath, and ah.

For some reason, the afterimage of Baek Sa-ra I had seen in the hospital Special Zone came to mind.

The sight of her grabbing Orange by the collar and pressing on his injured spot.

The behavior of calmly pouring out verbal abuse until she finally made the other person cry.

Baek Sa-ra’s extraordinary conduct was valid here too.

As I watched in fear, Baek Sa-ra turned to me and smiled brightly.

“Hello, Mr. Otter.”

“Ah, yes. Hello, Ms. Baek Sa-ra.”

“How is your condition today?”

“My condition is fine, but…….”

“But?”

When I trailed off, Baek Sa-ra tilted her head.

So I glanced sideways toward the entrance where that group had fled.

“I’m not sure whether this will cause talk later.”

“It’s fine. They were the ones who picked a fight first.”

“Still, I’m worried you might get dragged into something because of me.”

“Picking a fight with Mr. Otter is the same as picking a fight with me.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m in charge of Mr. Otter right now.”

Ah, that was what she meant.

I accepted Baek Sa-ra’s smiling words and nodded.

Right now, I was receiving basic training from Baek Sa-ra.

If things had gone as originally planned, I would have had to suffer under the psychopath named Cha Si-eon, but Ms. Baek Sa-ra suddenly volunteered, and Manager Kwon Mu-seop gave me the choice.

He said both were excellent instructors, so I could do as I liked.

So I chose Baek Sa-ra.

The surface-level reason was that the Response Team, to which Cha Si-eon belonged, was a team specialized in firearm use.

On the other hand, the Exploration Team, to which Baek Sa-ra belonged, consisted of specialists in person-to-person operations deployed inside Special Zones in all kinds of situations.

Considering my current circumstances, the Exploration Team style was more suitable…… but that was actually an excuse.

I simply did not want to be rolled around by Cha Si-eon. Yes.

According to Jae-gyeom, when I chose Baek Sa-ra, Cha Si-eon’s pride was quite wounded, but again, how was that my business?

In any case, this was how I came to be with Baek Sa-ra.

And as I had expected, Baek Sa-ra was an excellent instructor.

Only, I felt subtly self-conscious because of what Baek Sa-ra had said with a smile on the first day of training.

“I’m going to teach you how to value your life.”

“Because my lifesaver seems to spend his life too freely.”

Ah, right.

I had thought she seemed to be lying in wait for something since the 「Warehouse Club」.

Apparently, scolding me while we ate last time had not been enough.

“So next time, Mr. Otter, please respond firmly too. That way, I can save face as well.”

Baek Sa-ra concluded with a smiling face.

At that, Kwak Jae-gyeom looked back and forth between me and Baek Sa-ra with rather wronged eyes.

His expression asked why only he was being scolded.

I’m sorry. I could not protect you.

“Then shall we start today’s training?”

Baek Sa-ra, who had finished putting things in order, clapped lightly.

So I prepared myself and stood, but unexpected words came from Baek Sa-ra’s mouth.

“First, in that situation earlier, what could Mr. Otter have done with Jae-gyeom?”

“Pardon?”

“The distance from those friends was about 6m, and all 3 of them had their guard down.”

Gathering evidence and securing witnesses for workplace bullying…… if I say that, will I get hit too?

When I only blinked, Baek Sa-ra turned to Han Ji-su.

“Ji-su, would you answer?”

“After approaching naturally, strike the chin or vital point of the person in the middle. Then expand the response to the person on the right. I will leave the left to Senior Sa-ra.”

“That is a good answer. If you are not confident in a counter, there is also the method of waiting until the opponent turns around and then launching a surprise attack. The important thing is not to give the opponent a chance to respond.”

Teacher, the lesson is moving too fast……?

“Mr. Otter, what happens if you do this in society?”

“You get investigated by the police or fired from the company.”

“That’s right. But there are no police in Special Zones. So you may fight without worry.”

Looking at Baek Sa-ra saying terrifying things so brightly, I let out a dry laugh.

“Will there be many occasions to fight other people?”

I muttered this in distress and immediately regretted it.

Occasions to fight other people?

There was no need to ask.

Even until now, there had been more than enough.

In the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Sounds」, the 「Hospital That Hunts Humans」, and the 「Sports Complex Where Corpses Run」.

I had faced off against other humans with my life on the line.

In fact, each time, there had been someone who died in my place.

The only Special Zone where I had not fought other people was the 「Trap-Installed Warehouse Mart」, whose environment had simply been too atrocious.

Realizing I had said something stupid, I expected criticism.

But what I received in return was not a barbed scolding, but an unexpected question.

“How far does one have to go to be human?”

“Pardon?”

When I did not understand immediately, Baek Sa-ra asked again with an innocent face.

“Is a group that chops up people and turns them into money human?”

At her voice, which sounded truly curious, I was left speechless in another sense.

“When doing bad things, they mingle plenty as comrades, but when things become a little disadvantageous, they sacrifice the useless one first. Are they truly human?”

At the question, which was deeper than expected, I could not readily open my mouth.

Baek Sa-ra stared quietly at me, then smiled prettily again and said,

“If even things like that are human, then shouldn’t you naturally fight every moment?”

---

Whirrrr—

Warm wind struck my face.

When I barely focused my eyes and looked ahead, Kwak Jae-gyeom was blowing air at my face with a hair dryer.

“Mister, come to your senses. If you sleep here, your mouth will twist.”

Kwak Jae-gyeom, who had just come out after washing, was grinning at me, who was utterly exhausted.

At that sound, I barely came to my senses.

Ah, after finishing training and washing, I feel like I might faint.

I forced myself up and walked like a newborn giraffe.

Then Kwak Jae-gyeom clicked his tongue behind me.

“Good grief, what will you do if you get tired from this? Sister Sa-ra went really easy on you today too.”

“That was going easy on me……?”

“A lot. Later, try watching how terrifying it is when Sister Sa-ra rolls Ji-su hyung around. You’ll think, Ah, she was an angel to me.”

“Ms. Baek Sa-ra is completely different when she works and when she’s normally around…….”

“Different? How?”

Jae-gyeom asked back as if he had heard something strange.

So I answered naturally.

“She’s kind normally.”

“Wow, favoritism is this scary.”

“Hm?”

“Hyung, Sister Sa-ra is just someone who speaks calmly. She is absolutely not a kind person. She’s only being unusually nice to you.”

What does that mean?

This time, my expression became one of hearing this for the first time.

Then Kwak Jae-gyeom shook his head and said,

“Hyung, before, when you were dragged into the 「Hospital」 Special Zone, our Team Leader didn’t tell you Exploration Team 1 was there, right?”

That was true.

So I had cursed that topknot bastard a bit inwardly.

“That was because he was worried you might get hurt because of Sister Sa-ra.”

“What?”

“See, it’s fortunate that Sister Sa-ra saw it favorably and remembered that you saved Lee Sol in the 「Railway Station」. If she hadn’t, it might have been dangerous. Honestly, it was the first time we’d seen Sister Sa-ra be that favorable to someone else.”

It might have been dangerous?

……No. It actually had been dangerous already.

I remembered how I had almost been sacrificed by Baek Sa-ra and silently closed my mouth.

But perhaps mistaking my silence for disbelief, Jae-gyeom said resentfully,

“Ah, it’s true. When I was first appointed, the first thing my seniors warned me about was not to approach Baek Sa-ra. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

At my question, Jae-gyeom hesitated briefly.

Then, as if frightened by the thought alone, he spoke with a slightly pale face.

“Because if Baek Sa-ra marks you, even men menstruate.”

What kind of bullshit is this now?

Right, this was the Special Management Bureau.

A dark world where horror stories never ceased.