Chapter 25

Episode 25. The Returnee (2)

***

The Returnee, Ahn Yuri.

She was staring into the void.

Ahn Yuri used to joke sometimes, saying that if she ever returned home, she might get captured by the government or some research institute. She never thought that might actually happen.

Ahn Yuri destroyed the drone that was chasing her, grabbed the drone’s fragments, and said, “I don’t know who you are, but tell the top brass to come here themselves.”

Honestly, she was just saying it offhand.

Ahn Yuri pondered. What if the soldiers she saw earlier come into her house? Should she attack them? If they come to negotiate, what should she say to survive?

What happens if she kills the soldiers? Even if she kills them all, won’t helicopters come chasing after her later? Like in some video game.

“……”

The Returnee perked up her ears.

The sound of a window breaking. Footsteps, and then the clinking of a gun being loaded. Someone was coming.

***

I leaned casually against the door.

The Returnee was sitting in the corner of the room, hugging her sword. Aside from the sword, she just looked like an ordinary woman.

“I am Dr. Kim, the Director of the Foundation.”

“No. Don’t come any closer.”

I sighed.

“Miss. What’s your name?”

“Ahn Yu— Wait, why should I tell you that?”

“Miss. We already know everything about you. Your lifelong GPS records, financial records, internet history, academic records, relationships, everything.”

Actually, we don’t.

The Returnee only appeared today. There wasn’t enough time to find out everything. But if we asked the information team, we could probably confirm most of it.

The Returnee didn’t respond.

“……”

“Miss. I’m going to make you an offer now. Cooperate with the Foundation, and I promise we won’t harm you.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Well…”

I’ve seen how the Foundation deals with hostile humanoid supernatural phenomena.

Reality Adjusters. They dissected them while pumping them full of enough anesthetic to knock out an elephant, and when the supernatural phenomenon opened its eyes, they just cut the spinal cord and ripped out the brain.

If this person keeps resisting, she’ll meet a similar fate.

“You’re going to kill me.”

“If you cooperate with the Foundation, nothing will happen to you. Just cooperate.”

The Returnee frowned.

“What happens if I don’t cooperate?”

To be honest.

It would be better to die quickly.

“I’m sorry, but we will dissect you. Even if it means sacrificing everyone in this area. Preferably alive, or at least your corpse.”

“You guys are the villains.”

I can’t argue with that.

“Yeah. Anything else to say?”

“No. Get out of my house before you kill me.”

This isn’t getting through. I tossed the valve cap of the pressure container to the Returnee. She reflexively caught it.

“What’s this?”

“Final piece of advice, Miss. I’ll tell the researchers that you’ve decided to fully cooperate with the Foundation, so when you wake up, declare that.”

“What—”

“Sweet dreams, Returnee.”

Pssshhh.

The pressure container I brought started spewing gaseous anesthetic. I threw the container itself at the Returnee after the cap.

Thud.

The target collapsed.

“Ah, ah, is the retrieval team still on standby?”

[Standing by. This is Science Officer Min.]

“Target is down. Retrieve the target and clean up the scene. I’ll be withdrawing now.”

[Huh, already? We’ll prepare to move in immediately. Is the target definitely neutralized?]

“She’s lying down right now.”

I held my submachine gun and looked at the fallen Returnee. Her eyes were half-open, but she didn’t seem conscious.

[We’re moving in. Director, please step aside.]

I picked up the sword the target had been holding.

The weapon the target had been holding was a greatsword about 1 meter long, with an ivory-decorated leather scabbard. Definitely not something easy to come by.

It’s highly likely to be a supernatural phenomenon.

***

This is the isolation room.

Right now, a fresh Returnee is locked up in the Foundation’s isolation room. The Special Forces are on standby next to me, ready to pump in inhalation anesthetic if necessary.

The supernatural weapon is also secured in a separate isolation room.

“Last chance.”

“You lied to me.”

“If you declare now that you’ll cooperate with the Foundation, you can leave alive.”

“You—”

Creak.

The iron door of the isolation room started to buckle. She’s trying to break out by force. I crossed my legs and stared at the iron door.

“Should we open fire?”

“Wait.”

Bang.

The iron door was thrown to the ground, and the Returnee escaped from the isolation room. She walked out and looked down at me sitting on the chair.

Strange, the isolation room shouldn’t be this easy to break out of. The Special Forces members aimed their guns at the Returnee and blocked her path.

I raised one hand.

“Miss. Do you know what you’ve done now? You’ve taken dozens of civilians hostage, threatened the Foundation, destroyed facilities, and attacked Foundation personnel.”

“So what?”

“Take one more step, and my research team will turn you into a brain in a jar. This time, I won’t be able to stop them.”

The Returnee stopped at this threat. I slowly stood up. The Returnee flinched under my gaze.

“Go back into the isolation room. Good.”

I gestured to shoo the prisoner, and the Returnee backed into the isolation room.

The Returnee slumped into the chair inside the isolation room with a dazed expression, and I leaned against the door frame where the iron door had been. The door itself was lying helplessly on the floor.

“Look at the screen over there. It’s not a real window, but sometimes you can see parrots.”

The Returnee frowned.

“On the screen?”

“I’ve spent a few days in the isolation room, so I know. If you have nothing else to say, I’ll be going now. Let me know if you need anything.”

Situation resolved. I started walking away from the isolation room.

“Dr. Kim. What about the door?”

A Special Forces member asked.

“Just leave it, it’s good for ventilation. If the target tries to leave the room, you’re authorized to shoot.”

It seems like containment was successful.

But the situation isn’t over yet. We need to check if there are any additional threats from this incident or if there’s anything we can gain.

If she’s a being that can open dimensional portals at will, she could be very dangerous to the Foundation’s activities.

They might go crazy and say we need to kill her before any problems arise. I headed to the research lab assigned to Isolation Room 5.

“Who’s the researcher in charge of this incident?”

“Ah, that would be me.”

I don’t remember very well, but it’s the young doctor I met at the Humanoid Containment Department last time. I bowed my head in greeting to the doctor.

“I’m Dr. Kim from the Director’s Office. Summarize the current situation and objectives in ten words or less.”

“No hazardous pathogens in subject. Unstable psychological state, no hostile actions. Returnee’s otherworldly origin, supernatural weapon, and the Returnee herself designated as research targets.”

“That’s 17 words. Anyway, thank you.”

***

Let’s summarize.

First, we need to confirm which otherworld the Returnee came from. The Foundation Headquarters loves that kind of thing, though I’m not sure why yet.

Second, we need to research the Returnee’s supernatural weapon. Just by looking at it, it’s a toy the research team will love.

Third, we need to conduct research on the Returnee herself. It’s the most important task, but also the most difficult and laborious.

I pondered. Even if we handle the other stuff on our own, we’ll need to contact Headquarters about the issue of the Returnee’s otherworld.

“Director!”

The sirens in the Director’s Office started blaring.

***

[Supernatural Weapon Analysis Report]

[Author: Safe Artifact Management Department]

[We conducted an analysis on the supernatural weapon recovered from the Returnee’s hand.]

[The supernatural weapon is a 1-meter-long European greatsword, engraved with unknown characters. No supernatural characteristics were confirmed.]

[Speculation suggests that the supernatural phenomenon only manifests when the weapon is in the patient’s hand. If cross-verification is permitted, we can confirm this fact.]

***

[Returnee Medical Examination Report]

[Author: Dr. Cheon Gyeong-chae]

[Initially, she was a bit hostile, but after the doctors treated her kindly and fulfilled a few of her requests, she quickly calmed down.]

[Also, we secretly dosed her food with a substance that increases suggestibility.]

[We can’t confirm where the patient’s abilities come from. There seems to be some kind of supernatural phenomenon like a mana circle in her heart, but to properly understand it, we’d need to dissect her.]

[Of course, we won’t do that.]

[We did everything from an ECG to an echocardiogram, transesophageal echocardiogram, MRI, CT, and angiography, but all we confirmed was that there’s a mana circle in her heart. We couldn’t confirm anything else.]

[The mana circle does show up on the ECG. At first, we thought it was an acute myocardial infarction ECG finding, but it turned out to be the mana circle.]

[We’ve seen many humanoid supernatural phenomena with abilities, but it’s rare to even roughly identify the source of their powers. This has research value.]