Editor’s Survival Guide

“The operation date has been confirmed as July 16 at 10 a.m.”

“Wow, exciting!”

At Cha Si-eon’s words, the 「Railway Station」 members cheered with both hands raised.

And while the people grew noisy, Cha Si-eon looked back and forth between his smartphone and my face.

Cha Si-eon, checking my heart rate in real time without even the will to hide it…….

As if confirming there was nothing abnormal, Cha Si-eon took his eyes off the smartphone and spoke to the people again.

“There are 7 days remaining until the operation. Operation participants have been excluded from regular duty, so please focus on training from now on.”

“Wow, exciting!”

“In addition, please submit your wills by July 13.”

“Yes, sir!” They answer incredibly well.

The 10 men answered in unison like kindergarteners going on a picnic.

With this going on all around me, I felt even my own tension dropping along with them.

They really do not give me a chance to become solemn…….

Like this, operation preparations were proceeding smoothly.

I too planned to focus on coordinating with Jeong Jin-u and Han Seung-yo, who were in the same group as me, for the remaining week.

But Jeong Jin-u, who was supposed to move with us to the training hall, was nowhere to be seen.

He had been beside me just now, so where did he go?

As I looked around for Jeong Jin-u, Han Seung-yo, who was beside me, spoke shortly.

“Over there.”

I looked in the direction Han Seung-yo pointed.

Near the entrance of the conference hall, Jeong Jin-u was speaking with Baek Sa-ra and the other Exploration Team agents.

“「Island」 still has not appeared?”

“Yes. They say the convicts deployed for initial exploration keep coming back out from the entrance.”

I approached to join Jeong Jin-u and ended up hearing an unexpected story.

“Ah, Lord Otter.”

At that moment, Baek Sa-ra saw me and acknowledged me first.

“Lord Otter, she says.”

And Jeong Jin-u repeated Baek Sa-ra’s words and snorted.

Whether Baek Sa-ra had not heard it or was simply ignoring it, she only smiled brightly at me.

Then she pointed over my shoulder with her hand.

Behind me?

While I unconsciously turned around.

THWACK—!

A dull sound rang out.

When I looked forward again, Baek Sa-ra was still smiling, and for some reason, Jeong Jin-u had bent over and was clutching his own shin.

“Nothing happened.”

“I see.”

I decided to gladly believe Baek Sa-ra’s words.

Jeong Jin-u looked up at me like someone who had been betrayed, but there was an aspect of self-inflicted consequence to this, so I decided to pretend I had not seen it.

At that moment, Han Seung-yo spoke behind me.

“Is there a problem with 「Island」?”

“It is not quite a problem yet. Today is the 53rd day since 「Island」 was reset, but they still cannot enter.”

“What do you mean, they cannot enter?”

When I asked back beside them, Jeong Jin-u, who had brushed off his shin and stood back up, answered.

“It seems the Special Zone has not been generated yet. They are trying to enter, but they keep being bounced back out from the entrance.”

“Does this usually happen?”

“No, it is quite rare. Maybe the Special Zone side is gathering power to catch us.”

Jeong Jin-u said this with a cheerful laugh.

Jeong Jin-u looked as fresh as a washed cabbage stem and had a rather good personality too.

So he seemed like the kind of person who would get along anywhere and be popular regardless of gender.

Unfortunately, this cheerful man did not seem to be very familiar with the proverb that words become seeds.

---

---

■ Precautions When Writing a Will

1. Write sincerely and seriously. This will may become your final words to your precious people.

2. If psychological agitation occurs while writing your will, calm yourself through deep breathing, intentional delay, attention shifting, etc.

3. If you feel any of the impulses below, take particular care not to carry them out.

① Desertion

: Your unannounced departure will not only disrupt the operation, but also place your colleagues in danger.

② Fighting

: Fighting with colleagues before an operation helps no one.

③ Impulse purchases

: The fact that you normally did not buy something means there was likely a reason for it. Do not arbitrarily calculate the allowances you may receive from this operation and spend excessively. Even if you receive various allowances after the operation succeeds, you may instead fall into hardship because of a large bill.

④ Confession

: Your morale may instead be greatly broken.

: Difficulties in interpersonal relationships may arise upon return after the operation.

: If you do not return after the operation, the person confessed to may experience secondary trauma.

: Other divisions have been filing continuous complaints to the Field Division. Please exercise particular restraint regarding workplace confessions.

---

They are called precautions when writing a will, yet not a single thing here helps with writing one…….

With a blank sheet before me, I clicked the pen I had received from Author Na Bit for a long while.

Right after my appointment, I had not known what was what, so I had written my will roughly.

This time, I wanted to write it properly, but I could not get a feel for it.

First, the people who would see a will were the dead person’s family or people around them.

In my current situation, that would be the Bureau people.

Then what message should I leave for the Bureau people who would be informed of my death?

After thinking, I picked up the pen.

Then I wrote a sentence as my hand moved.

-Thank you for everything.

A sentence as insincere as the phrase printed on the wrapper of disposable wooden chopsticks.

-I will go ahead first. Everyone, stay strong.

As if that would give anyone strength.

-The culprit is 「Crow」.

That is not a will, it is a dying message…….

What should I do? I do not know what to write.

It was not as if I could ask someone else to show me the will they had written either.

Mm…….

Uuumm…….

Did my father think this much when he wrote his will too?

At the thought that suddenly came to mind, I smiled bitterly.

Recently, my father comes to mind now and then, belatedly.

Perhaps because I had heard that the male figure I saw on the stage at 「National Theater」 might not have been my father, but me.

Or perhaps because I was writing a will.

The only will I had ever received in my life was my father’s.

I put the pen down for a moment and leaned back against the chair.

Old thoughts rose like dust.

It was because it was dawn.

My father passed away when I was 20.

It was what people call an “extreme choice,” and I was the first to discover it.

Because of that, I was called all over the place.

And not long after, I received a will that looked like a bill.

As befitted someone who had given orders to people while alive, it was a will with clear instructions.

It was unfortunate.

To be more honest, at the time, it felt as if the world had collapsed.

My father was too enormous a presence to me, and the me of that time was a 20-year-old who had never left the palm of my father’s hand.

When that father suddenly vanished, it felt as if I had been thrown out onto the street overnight.

That was also the first time I realized my life had not belonged to me.

I felt bewilderment at how easily the being who had controlled my life had left.

So I had felt as if I were less than dust.

It took a ceaselessly long time to come out of that deep mire.

The only fortunate thing was that there, I encountered a certain author’s sentences.

It was before I had even called myself that author’s fan.

I blindly burrowed into that author’s book, which I had encountered by chance.

To me, dying while crushed by my own smallness, those sentences were a refuge.

They were a friend that taught me my misery was not mine alone, and a teacher who taught me how to breathe again.

And they were a curtain that hid me from the world while I stood back up.

During my weakest days, I hid between those sentences like a dying bird.

But those sentences did not let me die. They continued to teach me.

How to live.

That I only had to keep living.

“Ha…….”

I laughed like a sigh and picked up the pen I had set down for a moment.

So to be honest, right now is rather not bad.

The 20-year-old me had been young and ignorant, so I could do nothing.

But now, I am different.

I know how to live.

Of course, when something enormous comes rushing in, I still stagger.

But I do not get swept away and despair for too long.

Because I know how to decide for myself what kind of person I will be and what I will do.

So I decided to do what I wanted to do and what I could do.

I decided to stop asking why this had happened to me of all people and focus on what was before my eyes.

There is only one thing I want to do right now.

I have become fairly attached to the people struggling in this dark place to fulfill their roles.

I have come to want to see the story where they finally succeed.

So I must not die either.

After thinking it over, I decided to accept Cha Si-eon’s advice to “write as shameful a will as possible.”

So with the pen I had received from the author who saved me, I began writing a will that would make even me scream if I saw it in the morning.

---

Time passed quickly, and the day of the operation arrived.

We gathered in front of the passage leading into 「Railway Station」.

There, aside from the personnel being deployed to 「Railway Station」, Response Teams 1 and 2 were waiting as well.

The current time was 9:59 a.m.

Cha Si-eon, who had been looking at the clock, spoke to me, Jeong Jin-u, and Han Seung-yo.

“Then I wish you luck.”

We nodded without smiles.

“Group 1, enter.”

“Let’s go.”

At Cha Si-eon’s instruction, Jeong Jin-u led us toward the tunnel.

After we walked into the long, dark tunnel for some time.

With a strange shaking, the surroundings brightened.

Before we knew it, we had entered a wide waiting hall.

The moment we realized we had entered 「Railway Station」.

WEEEEEE—!

A siren sound that tore at the eardrums immediately rang out.

“Spread out!”

Jeong Jin-u’s shout was swallowed by the siren and was barely audible.

But we moved away from one another on our own.

A little over 10 seconds after the siren sound stopped.

CRUUUSH—!

Strong pressure poured down over me.

As expected, I was the priority target.

CRACK—!

The moment a crack formed in my helmet, Han Seung-yo grabbed me by the collar and pulled me out of the spot as if yanking me free.

In the meantime, Jeong Jin-u shouted,

“First hit, Seo Do-un, evasion successful!”

WEEEEEE—!

And the siren immediately rang out again.

This time too, the one who saved me was Han Seung-yo, and Jeong Jin-u relayed the situation again.

“Second hit, Seo Do-un, evasion successful!”

WEEEEEE—!

Without even giving me time to catch my breath, the same situation repeated.

“Third hit, Seo Do-un, evasion successful! Come in!”

After the three confirmations, Jeong Jin-u shouted toward someone.

Immediately after.

VROOOOM—!

With a roaring engine sound, a pitch-black bike charged into the waiting hall.

The one who appeared riding the bike was none other than Baek Sa-ra.

That flashy entrance marked the true beginning of the 「Railway Station」 operation.

***

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