Chapter 61

Episode 61. We Don’t Know What They Are (1)

***

“Director Kwon. What is this?”

“It’s a resignation letter.”

I let out a sigh. A small envelope was placed on my desk, and behind it stood Director Kwon from the Precognition Department.

“And the reason?”

A resignation letter—honestly, it’s not like I don’t understand, but it’s not the time for you to resign yet.

“The failure to predict the Fog City incident and disagreements with the facility leadership.”

Nonsense.

I tore the resignation letter, still in the envelope, and tossed it aside. Director Kwon just stared at me.

“Director Kwon. If you’re really serious about resigning, print it again, laminate it, and bring it back.”

“Yes.”

“There are many new employees, right? Train the newcomers and work hard. There’s no one to immediately take over your position as Head of the Precognition Department, is there?”

Director Kwon bowed his head.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’ve already apologized enough. I hold no ill will, so just show me results from now on.”

“Thank you.”

“By the way, since you’re here, why don’t you give me a report? Anything unusual to report to the Precognition Department?”

Director Kwon thought for a moment.

“There might be an incident in the eastern sky around 4 PM. It’s not certain.”

“Alright. It’s not something that would damage the Veil of Ignorance or cause mass casualties, right?”

“Probably not.”

I pondered for a moment.

“Ah, and… I had something to say. The Future-Seeing Laptop and the Mirror of Parallels—you can take them back to the Precognition Department now.”

Director Kwon frowned.

In the past, I thought it would be better to keep those supernatural artifacts in the Director’s Office. I was powerless and wanted to hold onto anything I could.

“Ah, really?”

But now, there’s no need for that.

Now, I can order the Precognition Department to cooperate at any time. There’s no need to pick a fight with them over such things.

“Th-thank you.”

“Do you want to take them now? The mirror is a bit bulky, but you can take the laptop right away. Hmm, wait a moment.”

No need to drag it out. I took out the laptop and handed it to Director Kwon. He carefully accepted the Future-Seeing Laptop.

“Then, I’ll take my leave.”

“You’re not thinking of resigning anymore, right?”

“No. Thank you.”

With those final words, Director Kwon left my office, carefully carrying the laptop.

It’s kind of funny. Director Kwon fought with me for a long time when I first joined, but now he’s one of my people. A very useful piece on the board.

***

The assignments sent by the research interns were piling up in front of me. It was my mistake to tell them to study and send their work to me to show off.

It just added more work.

I’m not sure what the research interns think about the assignments they send me. Summaries of papers, observation reports, research logs…

They sent a variety. What am I supposed to do with these? Grade them? Or just read them and be done with it?

This is exhausting.

Knock knock. As expected, there was a knock on my office door. The research interns must have arrived.

“Come in.”

“Research Intern Leader Park Seon speaking.”

There are more of them than last time. Is this some kind of self-replicating supernatural phenomenon or something?

“When are you guys getting hired?”

“Ah, most of us will probably be hired right after this month ends. We’re currently studying and gaining work experience at our assigned workplaces.”

“Most of you?”

“Ah, there’s still a selection process, so…”

“I’ll double-check. It wouldn’t be fair if some of you who studied together pass while others fail.”

“Thank you, Director.”

***

The incident happened as Director Kwon predicted, around 4 PM. Urgent communications started pouring in from outside the Foundation…

“Director.”

It’s Administrator Lee.

“Yes?”

“The Busan Branch has requested assistance. Something’s happened on the East Coast, and the Busan Branch can’t handle it on their own.”

The Busan Branch. Along with the Seoul Branch, it’s one of the two major facilities in South Korea. Slightly smaller than the Seoul Branch, it manages the southern part of the country.

“I’ll go right away. Prepare the helicopter.”

I stood up from my seat.

“But what’s the issue that the Busan Branch can’t handle? Is it serious?”

Administrator Lee tilted her head.

“They shot down an unidentified flying object. I’m not sure what kind of nonsense that is.”

“Hmm. If it fell from the sky and we don’t know what it is, then it’s an unidentified flying object, right? We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

Facility 82 doesn’t have any ships, but the Busan Branch does. We’ll just have to go and see.

“The helicopter is ready. We’ll depart as soon as you’re ready, Director.”

“Is this a combat situation? Who’s being sent as the expert for this incident?”

“It’s probably not a combat situation. The experts have already been selected. Mostly Foundation engineers.”

Send only engineers.

It doesn’t seem too dangerous, huh? If they’re asking for engineers, it must be related to machinery.

“And I’ve printed out the cooperation request from the Busan Branch. It’s basically asking for research assistance. If you could take a look—”

Did they really find an alien spacecraft or something?

A moment later.

The phone on my desk started ringing.

Not many people have a direct line to me. In fact, there’s only one place. The Foundation Headquarters doesn’t usually contact me first.

The Ministry of Defense’s Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau.

I picked up the phone.

“Director Kim speaking. What’s the matter?”

[This is the Director of the Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau. It seems like a serious situation. An F-35 from the Air Force shot down an unidentified flying object over the East Coast.]

“Ah. Why did they do that?”

[The field team initially identified the unidentified flying object as a Chinese military drone. But upon investigation, it turned out to be something completely different.]

The Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau is like a subcontractor. The Foundation often hands over relatively simple cases to them.

They also coordinate activities between government agencies and the Foundation.

Of course, being a government agency, we can’t completely ignore them or label them as a hostile group to eliminate.

And this time, it’s a situation where we might have to fight.

“Do you usually shoot first and ask questions later? Is that your organization’s policy?”

[No. I apologize.]

“What if this incident leads to certain intelligent supernatural phenomena declaring war on South Korea? Does that sound reasonable to you?”

[I apologize. We’re doing our best to control the damage and respond quickly.]

I let out a sigh.

“First, explain the situation in more detail.”

[Yes. Around 3 PM today, an unidentified flying object was detected over the East Coast.]

[Assuming it might be a new Chinese military drone, the Air Force, in cooperation with our bureau, scrambled fighter jets.]

“Okay.”

I nodded to myself.

[The unidentified flying object did not respond to any of our communications, and after a brief engagement, a South Korean fighter jet shot it down.]

“Couldn’t you have contacted Japanese and Chinese authorities to confirm whose object it was? Did you check that?”

[We did. They all denied it.]

Of course, they shouldn’t have shot it down.

Common sense dictates that, and so do the protocols of both the Foundation and the government. Even if it’s an unidentified flying object, you don’t shoot it down without knowing what it is or if it’s showing hostile intent.

I probably would’ve given the order to shoot it down too, but still, the conclusion is what matters.

“Are you going to the scene?”

[Our bureau’s staff will go to the scene. I won’t be going to Busan myself.]

But since they shot it down, we have to investigate. The Foundation’s scientists must be excited.

“I see. I’m heading to the scene now.”

***

The helicopter, as Administrator Lee said, departed for Busan as soon as I boarded. I put on the headset as soon as I got on.

“By the way, where in Busan are we going?”

Let’s confirm again.

Most of the details should be in the documents on my desk and the information on my terminal.

[Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. The helicopter pilot here. Hello. We’ll arrive in Busan in about an hour.]

“Where are we landing?”

[Hmm, let me relay the information from the Busan Branch. We’ll be landing on the Foundation’s scientific vessel, the FRS-Feynman.]

“Ah, okay.”

[The Korean Navy has requested a joint investigation, so the destroyer ROKS-Gwanggaeto the Great and the rescue ship ROKS-Cheonghaejin are heading to the scene. That’s all the information from the Busan Branch.]

“Okay. Got it.”

I’ll figure out the rest when we get there.

The helicopter quietly flew south.

The scenery outside the helicopter looked peaceful, but even that was a lie. Today, they caused a commotion by shooting down some flying object.

On the other hand, I’m curious. What kind of bizarre supernatural phenomenon is waiting for me this time?