Editor’s Survival Guide

“Does that mean the Director jumped through time or something?”

“But for it to be as you say, Director should have disappeared in front of us first. Is that not right?”

“Um, if we go all the way to concepts like time travel or parallel worlds, the story will get too big, so I think it would be best to focus only on the phenomenon before our eyes for now.”

I first calmed Kim Seon-ung and Kwon Mu-seop, who were throwing question marks at me.

“The Director who was with us left his arm here. But the other Director who came out of that room has both arms. Moreover, he says Deputy Director never grabbed his hand, and even this watch is 13 seconds slower, so could we not say that an unidentified time difference has occurred?”

“Huh…….”

At my words, Deputy Director Kim Seon-ung let out a long sigh.

“Then is this Director truly the real Director?”

“That, I do not really…….”

“How dare you speak of someone being real or fake?” Director Go shouted sharply after hearing our conversation.

Director Go was extremely sensitive right now, and I could understand his feelings.

Because I naturally recalled the conversation I had once had with Cha Si-eon.

“What do you think composes a human?”

“Lack and longing?”

“Cells.”

If this Director Go really was Director Go from 13 seconds across time, then this Director Go would also possess Director Go’s lack, longing, and cells.

But could we call Director Go himself Director Go with only that?

Then what about the Director Go who left with only an arm behind?

That Director Go was also Director Go, but he was not this Director Go.

Moreover, what if the one-armed Director Go was still alive somewhere in space-time?

If we pretended that Director Go did not exist and got along well with this Director Go, would that be a happy ending?

It was a dilemma that made smoke feel like it might come out of my head.

So of course it had to be even more serious for the person involved.

In fact, Director Go’s eyes had been half rolled back ever since he saw his own arm.

“Stop talking nonsense and find a way out. Have you just given up on requesting rescue?”

At Director Go’s urging, Kwon Mu-seop opened his mouth.

“It is difficult to request rescue due to the communications problem, Director.”

“Then should you not bring another alternative?”

“As of now, we have no choice but to explore directly.”

“You are saying we will wander around this place? With only this member composition? Are you thinking before you speak?”

Director Go pressed Manager Kwon with reprimands.

Then Kim Seon-ung cut in.

“Director, the current situation is not good. It is doubtful whether they can identify our location from outside, and even if they identify it, whether they can enter…… There should still be 20 days left until the nascent phase ends, so at a time like this, it is better to move while we have stamina.”

The Deputy Director persuaded the Director for a long while.

Then Director Go, who barely softened, said,

“In that case, tell Manager Kwon and that friend beside him to go.”

What is this supposed to mean now…….

“It is more dangerous to split up, Director. Right now, we must move together.”

“What are you saying? Are you telling me to wander around together?”

“No, Director. What I mean is…….”

In the end, the Deputy Director took the Director to a corner of the corridor.

Then, with his back to us, he began whispering something.

What is that…….

Quite flustered by the behavior of the higher-ups, I turned to Kwon Mu-seop beside me.

But Manager was, oh dear.

With hollow eyes, he was enduring an extreme sense of fatigue.

Ah, Manager. Just what kind of fights have you been fighting outside…….

I belatedly realized what kind of gun barrel Cha Si-eon and I had made Kwon Mu-seop shoulder.

So I felt guilty, then forced myself to say,

“St, still, the Deputy Director seems to be on our side…….”

“The Deputy Director is on our side. He used to be the Field Division manager.”

Ah, I had heard of that before.

The old manager who had been said to be like a tiger.

So that was why his coordination with Manager Kwon Mu-seop was natural.

Certainly, Deputy Director Kim Seon-ung had the presence of a field officer.

Director Go Hong-sang looked like the heaviest thing he had ever lifted for a living was either a book or a fountain pen.

On the other hand, Kim Seon-ung had a bear-like build, so if he put his mind to it, he seemed capable of snapping fountain pens or the like cleanly in half.

Even so, Kim Seon-ung assisted his superior, Go Hong-sang, loyally, or skillfully.

A short while later, Kim Seon-ung, who had finished speaking with the Director, came over to us and said,

“The Director has been persuaded. But he says we should go after 5 minutes.”

“5 minutes?”

“5 minutes to mentally prepare.”

“Ah.”

In the distance down the corridor, Director Go was leaning against the wall and taking deep breaths.

Yes, in a way, he had died and come back to life, so the shock must be great in many ways.

On the other hand, Deputy Director Kim’s side was excessively calm.

“What should we do with this arm? If it is remains, we should take it. If it simply fell off, I was thinking of throwing it away.”

“Let us take it for now, just in case.”

“Mm, shall we?”

Kim Seon-ung answered lightly and tucked the arm wrapped in his outerwear under his side.

Should I call this bold, or insensitive?

At that moment, Kwon Mu-seop lowered his voice further and asked Kim Seon-ung,

“But are we taking the Director with us as he is?”

“We should.”

“If this is an abnormal phenomenon that only applies inside the Special Zone…….”

“Then matters will become a little complicated.”

Kim Seon-ung’s gaze turned toward me.

At those words, I realized anew the seriousness of the situation.

If the head of the Bureau went wrong inside a Special Zone, the Bureau’s policy line would change in some way.

My treatment, as the cause of this incident, would also change considerably.

Most of all, the problem of Lee Sol could be pushed completely to the back.

It was a story that chilled the liver in many ways.

But this too was something we could discuss only after we got out of here first.

“We should aim for the core after all.”

“I think so too.”

“Since this is the first exploration of a nascent-phase Special Zone, we will examine the state of the space first and identify risk factors.”

“Do that. Since this is the field, I will also follow Manager Kwon’s command.”

“As for the Director…….”

“The Director too, of course. Just follow the manual.”

“Thank you.”

While the Deputy Director and Manager spoke, I looked around once.

This was the corridor of hotel guest rooms.

But all the lights were out except for the green light of the emergency exit.

So the long corridor was dim and bleak.

A nascent-phase Special Zone with almost no identified information.

A Special Zone became stronger the longer it endured, and the more humans it ate.

So I had thought very briefly that perhaps a nascent-phase Special Zone would be weak like a baby.

But such optimism was impossible now.

Because Director Go had disappeared while leaving one arm behind.

This place too was clearly a danger zone.

A short while later, Director Go, who had finished his mental preparation, came toward us.

“From now on, we will proceed with exploration of the unexplored 「Hotel」 Special Zone. Everyone, please follow my instructions.”

Once we gathered in one place, Kwon Mu-seop opened his mouth.

“「Hotel」 is a zone that has been reset 5 times until now. During that time, 「Hotel」’s core has only been found on B1. So we will also search for the core on B1. If Agent Seo Do-un and I move at the front, Deputy Director, please support our field of view from the rear. Director, please move along with Deputy Director, and I ask your understanding that we cannot provide protocol.”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s explanation, Kim Seon-ung and I nodded, and Director Go clicked his tongue briefly.

“Before leaving the floor, we will only check the state of the guest room Director came out from.”

Kwon Mu-seop took me and approached the guest room that Director Go had run out from.

For a moment, he first put his ear to the door and examined the situation inside, then carefully opened the door.

Then unexpected light leaked through the gap in the door.

“……?”

Did the Director not say it had been dark in there?

The inside of the guest room we had first entered too.

But the guest room whose door opened this time was softly bright with orange light.

On top of that, what was placed on the floor there was, candles?

Dumbfounded, I looked in order at the several candles drawing a heart on the guest room floor, the bouquet of roses placed on the table, and the colorful balloons stuck to the ceiling.

“Director, did you see those things when you came out from inside earlier?”

“……No, I did not.”

Director Go murmured as if surprised.

It was then.

A person’s shadow moved inside the guest room.

Kwon Mu-seop sensed danger and hurriedly covered the door.

But he did not close it completely, and after examining the sound for a moment, he slowly opened the gap in the door.

We looked into the guest room again through that gap.

“……!”

But the guest room prepared for a proposal had vanished, and instead, a room painted entirely crimson with blood appeared.

Splash—!

And blood pooled on the floor and pushed up to the entrance.

THUD—!

Kwon Mu-seop closed the door before the blood could overflow.

Then he slowly opened the door again.

What we saw next was…….

Rattle— rattle— rattle—!

The sight of the guest room’s small items and furniture going round and round like laundry inside a washing machine.

“…….”

“…….”

Kwon Mu-seop took out the necktie he had roughly put in his pocket earlier and threw it into the guest room.

The necktie was sucked in with a whoosh and spun with the furniture.

Watching that, Kwon Mu-seop murmured blankly.

“What on earth is this?”

“I do not really know either…….”

Did some sort of error occur?

Could it perhaps still be remodeling?

We opened and closed the door several more times.

Each time, the guest room continued showing different forms and atmospheres.

“There is no guarantee the path down will be normal either. Just in case, please follow 10 steps behind us.”

We stopped observing the guest room and went down through the emergency stairs.

Eventually, when we reached the hotel lobby, we faced another unexpected sight.

The hotel lobby was full of people.

Not missing people or contaminated people isolated in a Special Zone, but ordinary people who seemed to have come to stay at the hotel or eat.

It looked so much like reality that I almost thought we had come outside.

“Have we come out into reality?”

“No, Manager. I think the season is a little different. There is a person over there wearing a coat.”

It was July now, when the heat wave had begun.

But the people walking around the lobby were wearing thin coats, cardigans, and so on.

They were outfits suited to early spring or late autumn.

“Is something tangled here too, like what happened in the guest room earlier…….”

From the open balcony on the second floor of the lobby, we carefully observed the people naturally coming and going.

Then Director Go Hong-sang, who had been waiting behind us, grew impatient.

“What are you doing? Are you not searching for the core?”

His voice was not particularly loud.

But at that moment, the people passing through the lobby all stopped at once.

Then they looked up toward us.

“……!”

The gazes of dozens of people instantly gathered on this side.

But, what is this? Their eyes are too big.

They were all opening their mouths in circles, and their eyes were as large as those mouths.

As I thought, why are their eyes like that, I soon realized.

That their eyes were gaping open.

Ah—?

Ah?

Ah, ah?

Ah-ah-ah-ah?

The people who had black holes in both eyes made sounds like water drops with their mouths wide open.

Then they slowly floated up like balloons and began approaching us.