Chapter 105

Episode 105. There Is No Line 10 in Seoul (5)

****

It didn’t take long to climb out of the underground bunker. Excluding the exploration part, it was just a matter of following the stairs up.

I managed to reach the exit in about ten minutes… and was instantly surrounded. The Recovery Department staff had their guns pointed at me. What’s going on?

Ah, right. The Mimic.

“Director! Take off your gas mask!”

I hurriedly threw off the gas mask. I also placed my weapon on the ground.

“Director Kim! The operation is complete!”

“Dr. Kim!”

The Recovery Department leader lowered his gun and shouted. Can a person’s voice really be that loud?

“The Director has returned alive! Medical team, stand by!”

They must’ve thought I was dead. As I looked around with a confused expression, the Recovery Team 1 leader walked up to me.

“Good work. Let’s go this way first…”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. With the Director’s return, everything will be resolved. It seems the operations in other areas were also successful.”

I nodded awkwardly.

The leader handed me a foil blanket. Why does this crappy foil blanket never improve? It’s so uncomfortable.

****

The scene was still chaotic.

I sat in an ambulance, wrapped in that crinkly foil blanket. The sun outside was already setting.

About 12 hours had passed since I entered the bunker.

“What about the other team members?”

The Recovery Team 1 leader sighed.

“Most of them have returned. Once visibility was lost on Basement Level 4, everyone retreated. We’re not sure where the Special Forces Science Officer is, though… Did you witness their death?”

“They fell into the underground pit.”

The Recovery Team 1 leader closed his eyes tightly.

“Understood. Please rest for now. We don’t know how injured you might be.”

“I’m not injured at all.”

“You won’t know until we check. I know someone who lost three toes to a landmine and didn’t realize it until they took off their socks back at base.”

“Why?”

“Adrenaline constricts peripheral blood vessels. It suppresses pain. So you might not even notice your toes are gone, and the bleeding is limited…”

The leader’s sudden rambling made it clear his mind was in turmoil. Was it because of the deaths during this operation? Or—

“Actually. Mimics kept coming out of the bunker. In the form of the Director and Special Forces members. We killed as many as we could.”

I flinched. That couldn’t have been a pleasant experience. Just imagining it is horrifying.

“The Followers of the King of Darkness weren’t the real threat. Our enemy, the one threatening humanity, was lurking just a sewer’s distance away.”

Right. I nodded.

“Understood.”

My head hurts. Did I inhale some gas underground? I was wearing the gas mask the whole time, though.

But I still had unanswered questions. Why did the Science Officer fall into the pit, and what lies at the bottom of that pit?

****

My head hurts.

“Blink your eyes.”

A doctor who had rushed to the scene shone a penlight in my face. I did as I was told.

“Any pain?”

I shook my head.

“This is my first time meeting the Director. Just as I’ve heard. You really do look like a student. I thought it was an exaggeration.”

I frowned a little. This doctor. Instead of treating me, what nonsense are you spouting?

“Were you tense?”

“Ah. Yes.”

“It’s fine. Go tend to other patients.”

The doctor nodded.

And then disappeared somewhere.

****

I boarded a vehicle heading back to the base. Nanami was driving. Maybe she came to escort me, I’m not sure.

“Why the long face?”

“Ah. The Science Officer I was with died.”

“I don’t know if this will comfort you, but… today, underground organizations across the country were completely wiped out. The authorities even stepped in to crush them.”

“A small consolation, I guess.”

“Don’t be too upset. Everyone in the Special Forces knows they could die at any moment. They’re prepared for it.”

I nodded slowly.

“Their death isn’t your fault.”

“But I was the one who told them to go to the deepest part of the bunker. And they fell because of that.”

Nanami pondered my words for a moment.

“The fall wasn’t your fault. Do you think someone else would’ve made a better decision? No. If it weren’t you, they might not have even been able to go down there.”

Nanami looked out the window.

“It’s strange. We just went through that mess, but the people in this city have no idea. They don’t know what just happened here.”

Well. That’s our job, after all.

The city outside the window looked surprisingly peaceful. People seemed oblivious, going about their daily lives.

****

[ ※ Restricted Access Notice ※ ]

[This document is locked under Director-level clearance.]

[This document is protected by harmful memetic agents. Do not open it if you do not have the proper clearance.]

[Regarding the Underground Independent Ecosystem]

[Author: Professor Park, Geology Department]

[I’ve read the report.]

[So. Your claim is that there’s a kilometer-deep ecosystem underground that produces organic compounds like petroleum, and it sustains itself through geothermal energy and hydrocarbons?]

[This is the source of petroleum.]

[It’s not entirely implausible. Oil companies have long researched microbial communities living on underground hydrocarbons. They say it affects the quality of oil.]

[The same bacteria have been found in oil fields on the opposite side of the globe. This could support Lee Se-ah’s claims about the massive SLiME-petroleum layer.]

[But even if an underground biological layer is possible. Are you saying the entrance to the underground world is in Seoul? That’s a bit hard to believe.]

****

[ ※ Restricted Access Notice ※ ]

[This document is locked under Director-level clearance.]

[This document is protected by harmful memetic agents. Do not open it if you do not have the proper clearance.]

[Regarding the Underground Independent Ecosystem. Reply.]

[Author: Research Department Head Lee Se-ah]

[Professor Park, Geology Department. I heard you were close with the former Director who’s now missing. Have you heard anything recently? I’m curious about the former Director’s thoughts on this matter.]

[Anyway. The truth is far more complicated.]

[There’s no city without an underground. The most famous would be the Paris Catacombs, dug since Roman times. There are entrances to the underground world all over the city.]

[This is the reality of the urban underground world.]

[First, Basement Level 1. The surface layer. Sewers, storm drains, building basements, etc.]

[Basement Level 2. Bunkers, air-raid shelters, subways, etc. About 100 meters deep.]

[Basement Level 3. This is where the endless cave networks are. Ecosystems based on oil, geothermal energy, and hydrothermal vents.]

[Basement Level 4.]

[Well… I don’t know about that. But maybe we’ll find out if we go down that 8-kilometer-deep pit.]

****

[ ※ Restricted Access Notice ※ ]

[This document is locked under Director-level clearance.]

[This document is protected by harmful memetic agents. Do not open it if you do not have the proper clearance.]

[Regarding the Underground Independent Ecosystem]

[Author: Professor Park, Geology Department]

[One last thing. You said the Science Officer fell into the pit. Would a trained Special Forces soldier really just slip?]

[The Abyss must’ve called them. I don’t know exactly what kind of supernatural phenomenon it is. Nor do I need to.]

[It’s not a coincidence that a city was built above where the Abyss opened. The Abyss is open, so people gather and cities form above it. Do you understand?]

[The Abyss that calls us isn’t just somewhere far away. It’s in the shadows of your closet, the darkness of subway tracks, the sea. Every unseen place is the Abyss’s domain.]

[Ah, how horrifying.]

[Those who join hostile groups know this truth. They choose to join the Abyss rather than resist it.]

****

Lee Se-ah looked away from the screen. She buried her face in her hands. It wasn’t because she saw a ghost or something terrifying.

“Sigh.”

Just a brief exchange of words about research on paper. Yet, she had to imagine the horrifying truth that would haunt her nightmares tonight.

This case was particularly unpleasant.

****

[Underground Bunker Infiltration Operation]

[Author: Special Forces ‘Moon of Seoul’ Team Leader]

[The operation’s objective was to eliminate and investigate hostile groups in the underground bunker. The objective was achieved, but the Special Forces Science Officer went missing.]

[According to the Director’s testimony, they fell into the deep underground.]

[We are considering an investigation into the cave for hazardous cleanup, but it doesn’t seem feasible in the near future.]

[Multiple Mimics and hostile group members were eliminated.]

****

[Sick Leave Application]

[Author: Special Forces ‘Moon of Seoul’ Team Leader]

[I would like to use all available sick leave, annual leave, and vacation days to take a 3-month break. My apologies.]