Chapter 99

Episode 99. Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau (1)

***

Research Department, emergency meeting and conference.

Today was also a complete mess. It was even worse than usual. The atmosphere was almost as tense as during the Yulje-myeon incident.

“Dr. Choi! Are you joking right now?”

“No, it’s already a resolved issue.”

“The King of Darkness is waging war on our dimension, our country, isn’t he? Isn’t this happening because of the failure to contain the Dimensional Exploration Machine? Take responsibility!”

“No, it’s not!”

“Why not?”

“Niguras-1 has been around for a long time, and their cult has existed for a while too, hasn’t it? Why is this my fault? Instead of blaming others, shouldn’t we be discussing strategies?”

Dr. Chae stood up.

“This is Dr. Chae. Everyone, please calm down first—”

“Dr. Chae! You failed the ritual and destroyed half of the Large-Scale Containment Wing, and now you’re acting all high and mighty? Do you even know where you are?”

“What—no, the containment was successful.”

“The Director came in with a flamethrower and personally took care of it, didn’t he? You didn’t do anything, yet you’re still bossing people around. What’s your reason?”

“Are we all just going to die together now?”

“No, does this even make sense? You’re slandering something that was handled well—”

I let out a sigh.

“Everyone. Shut up.”

The researchers immediately closed their mouths.

“I understand that everyone is very concerned about this issue. Good. Let’s start by presenting the research results on Niguras-1.”

The Research Department Head tilted his head.

“Well, Niguras-1 is dead. Didn’t Dr. Chae seal it in an egg-shaped thing?”

“Research Department Head. Do you have any evidence that the egg-shaped avatar can’t exert influence?”

“No.”

“Let’s gather opinions on Niguras-1.”

The meeting room buzzed a bit.

“Niguras-1 is believed to be an avatar of the King of Darkness. It reacts to specific sound frequencies. It’s difficult to harm it with physical means.”

“Right. So, can we confirm what it is, where it came from, how it was summoned, and if there are any past records of it?”

I looked around the meeting room, but the researchers all avoided my gaze. It seems no one really knows.

“There are media about the King of Darkness.”

“Yes.”

“There’s a rumor that you’ll die if you look at it.”

Ah.

“Sorry. To make an excuse that’s not really an excuse… There’s a rumor that you’ll die if you look at records of the King of Darkness, so research is difficult.”

“……”

“Is there no countermeasure?”

“Well, doesn’t it apply to all media? I thought the King of Darkness’s effect only applied to some creative works.”

“Hmm. It’s not certain.”

“Do we need to erase memories? Or—”

I pressed my temples.

“I’ll contact the Cognition Department. There might be a way to lift the curse. I’ll minimize the number of people working on this issue.”

“Yes.”

“And, I’ll try to minimize the number of people working on tasks related to the King of Darkness.”

Even though only relevant personnel are here now. Those who need to leave will leave. The discussion continued for a while. But there was still an issue left.

“The King of Darkness has declared war on us. We need to prepare a counterattack.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s hunt down all the supernatural phenomena related to the King of Darkness within the country. This time, we’ll request support from the Foundation Headquarters, so let’s not leave a single one alive.”

“Hmm. That’s extreme.”

I shook my head.

“I believe this is the solution the situation demands. Giant monsters, interdimensional mages, newly emerged flowers. All of it.”

“We need to kill or contain as many Followers of the King of Darkness as possible, as they are vectors of the plague.”

***

To wage war, we first need to know who our enemies and allies are. Let’s start by thinking about the allies we can ask for help.

The South Korean government’s supernatural phenomena response organization. The exact name was the Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau, I think. And we can also consider the Peacekeeping Force.

“Ah, ah. Can you hear me?”

I picked up one of the landline phones.

This is the hotline for the Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau under the Ministry of National Defense of the South Korean government. We don’t contact them often, but we sometimes hand over simple tasks to them.

[Yes, I can hear you.]

“Have you noticed anything strange lately? Like an increase in the number or frequency of supernatural phenomena?”

[It has increased a bit. Especially on Jeju Island, there was some major incident, but we still haven’t figured out what happened.]

“Ah……”

Something did happen on Jeju Island.

[Sorry, but could you explain what happened on Jeju Island? There was a sudden typhoon, gunfire, and traces of high-explosive grenades on the roads. We don’t even know who did it or why.]

I thought for a moment.

“Uh…… Some anti-Foundation hostile groups and a few humanoid supernatural phenomena fought. It’s been resolved now, so no need to worry.”

[I see.]

I pondered a bit.

In a way, the Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau is a subcontractor of the Foundation. It’s not easy for them to ask the Foundation something first.

“Do you have any other questions?”

[Yes. A few days ago, some Foundation ships were detected by naval radar sailing into a typhoon. Can you explain what that was about?]

The typhoon was caused by some means by the Foundation. To cover up some traces of the Foundation’s internal conflict on Jeju Island.

“Uh…… It was a typhoon caused by a specific supernatural phenomenon. The Foundation ships headed into the typhoon to manage it.”

Papers rustled on the other end of the phone.

[Understood.]

“You must be busy, so I’ll get to the point. Today’s matter is important. The King of Darkness, a pseudo-religion, has declared war on the Foundation and humanity, so we need personnel to respond.”

[Ah.]

“I’ll give you a list of hostile regions and individuals, so please investigate. If anything unresolved comes up on your end, contact us immediately.”

[Yes. We’ll refer to it for our activities.]

The hostile regions are as follows. Places where supernatural phenomena related to the King of Darkness have occurred in the past.

Some slums in major cities. Other locations where important supernatural phenomena have been sighted, and places where Foundation or hostile group facilities used to be.

The list of individuals is much more complicated.

We use location information, internet usage history, and algorithms to find people likely related to supernatural phenomena.

Otherwise, it’s just people who have been related to supernatural phenomena for a long time.

“I’ll send the document via fax. Ah, and if you’d like, we can dispatch a Foundation team to support your activities.”

[A Foundation team to the Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau?]

The Director of the Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau thought for a moment.

[Alright. Send them over.]

I nodded. I’ll have to think about who to send. Probably Administrator Lee and a couple of doctors.

“Yes. Please review the information we send, and thank you for your hard work. I’ll contact you again soon.”

***

The Director of the Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau let out a sigh of relief. Foundation employees would definitely be helpful, but if they find out any weaknesses… But do we even have any weaknesses they could find?

Is there anything under the sky that they don’t know? Unless it’s information hidden by magic, it’s not easy to genuinely hide something.

Last time we contacted the Foundation directly like this, they threw a fit about why we preemptively shot down an alien spacecraft. They were also shocked to see the Director personally diving into the deep sea.

The Anomalous Phenomena Response Bureau, above all, must clearly understand the Foundation. They spend more time investigating and understanding the Foundation than supernatural phenomena.

The Foundation is infinitely powerful.

Foundation carrier strike groups appear out of thin air, and massive natural disasters like earthquakes and typhoons seem to occur according to the Foundation’s needs.

On the other hand, the Foundation’s Seoul Branch has been a mess for the past few years. Although we can’t know the internal situation, the leadership of the Foundation Seoul Branch has been replaced almost daily.

We don’t know why. Whether it’s a coup, an inherently dangerous job, or just a position that changes frequently like local branch heads.

This time was different.

***

[This document is restricted to authorized personnel only by order of the Administrator. Unauthorized access may result in loss of life.]

[Author: 8th Administrator Yustitia]

[ ※ Cognitive Disaster ※ ]

[This is troubling.]

[Who should take over Jeju Island? It’s an important position, but the situation is such a mess. The previous head was shot and killed by the Seoul Branch Director, so who would want it?]

[It’s chaos all around the Foundation.]

[Is it true that the Seoul Branch Director personally executed the Jeju Island Branch Commander? This is quite something. We can’t lie about it.]

[The Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, and Vladivostok Branches have expressed concerns. They’re worried about getting caught up in internal coups or power struggles within the Foundation.]

[They’re saying the execution of the Jeju Island Commander might be a proxy war among the Foundation’s top executives. We’ve tried to reassure them, but they don’t seem convinced.]

[Veritas. Prepare a countermeasure.]