Chapter 158.1

 

Jin Nasol looked up.

Something peered around the corner of the alley, staring right at her.

A tail‑less mer-child.

It hurled something at her.

Whoosh.

The projectile glittered in the dim light.

Without hesitation, Jin Nasol reached out, grabbed the fleeing employee by the scruff and stopped the attack.

“Hicc!”

The moment glass shards struck the employee, bubble‑like shards erupted across his body, encasing head and hands in a crystalline cage.

Then, over it all, a geometric, traditional seal appeared, as if stamped in midair.

‘…The Bureau!’

 

[Warning. You are currently obstructing a rescue operation in a supernatural disaster.]

[Cease obstruction of official duty and surrender. Surrender. Surrender…]

 

The seal emitted a recorded warning.

It was mandatory whenever a civilian obstructs a Disaster Bureau operation. At the same time, it functioned as an item. Hearing that broadcast drains aggression and compels compliance.

Well, that is, for ordinary people.

‘Nuisance.’

A vein pulsed in Jin Nasol’s temple beneath the golden mask of the elite team.

Those weren’t merfolk fledglings but agent punks in disguise.

“How irritating.”

“Ugh…”

Jin Nasol kicked the bound employee aside, then, as if by magic, donned her monocle to identify the agents.

Two agents stood beyond the corner.

‘Should I pursue them?’

No, no. The priority was finishing the mission quickly and racking up points. Maximal effect for minimal effort. That meant ditching tedious item searches and boarding the escape vessel to clear the Darkness.

But…

“What a fucking drag.”

A severed nail soared like a projectile, embedding itself in the far wall.

“…!”

Her irritation boiled over into action. Nails screeched as they gouged the wall, catching on the corner.

Along with a few of Agent Choi’s cut bangs.

“Agent!”

“Uck, what a piece of work.”

But these were Black Tortoise Team 1 veterans, adept at one‑on‑one combat. Even in a child’s form, Agent Choi dodged with practiced ease.

“When you reel in the wire, pursue.”

He moved…

Then Assistant Manager Butterfly seized the wire and fired it back, aiming at the mer-child behind the agent.

The two Disaster Bureau agents rolled aside and returned fire.

Shattered glass shards flew.

“Argh!”

Jin Nasol pulled the bound employee toward her using the wire on her forefinger, blocking the shot.

The Daydream Inc. employee was hit by a Bureau restraint round and screamed,

“Ahh! A mer-child! Merfolk!!”

The fool cried as if a Bureau bullet would kill them, though they weren’t even scratched.

And they still saw only a mer-child—clearly his brain was completely gone…

……Hmm.

Jin Nasol peered through her monocle again.

Behind the two agents, there was one more.

A mer-child.

……!

At that moment, one of the unusual ‘agent’ entities—slightly larger—shifted its position to better hide the mer-child.

“Aha.”

A-squad’s Assistant Manager Butterfly narrowed her eyes. She tossed the bound employee at the agent, then sprang the wire nail again.

This time, toward the mer-child behind the agent.

“…!”

Ping.

The nail clicked off the wall and flew true.

The Bureau agent moved again.

“Ha.”

Jin Nasol seized the opening, sliding backward out of the standoff.

For a brief moment, her headache vanished in a rush of exhilaration. Because if the Bureau agents had truly committed to defending that point… there was only one possibility left.

‘Is a mer-child considered a civilian?’

This meant…

—Critical intel for a manual revision!

Huge points.

Jin Nasol’s eyes shone fiercely.

Anger aside, she had to board that escape vessel immediately. A clear priority had emerged.

‘If all else fails, take the mer-child hostage.’

Jin Nasol casually snapped off the part attached to her nail and hurled it forward.

A smoke screen billowed up.

Using the gap in the obscured view, she slipped back through the alley by a hair’s breadth.

Her mind had conceived the simplest, most violent solution, yet her relentless focus on points demanded a smarter plan, and the words tumbled out…

“Hey.”

Jin Nasol used her wire to eavesdrop, then yanked in the other rookie employee who’d been plotting an escape route in the meantime.

The woman wearing the pony mask.

“Yes, yes?”

“Draw their attention to you.”

“Me?”

Kang Yihak, the pony‑masked rookie, pointed at herself in surprise, eyes wide.

“You’ll at most be detained, thrown in a cell, then released. You’re still a rookie—no obstruction record, no grounds to lock you up.”

“Oh…”

Kang Yihak glanced back, then beamed.

“Brilliant plan, Assistant Manager! Then let’s have Mr. Goat do it. Look at him, he’s pretending to be a dead rat anyway…”

“One gold piece per day of detention.”

“I respectfully volunteer.”

The unrelenting gold‑worshipper grinned and gave an immediate thumbs‑up.

“Just one thing, Assistant Manager. If you’re lying, I’ll squeal your personal info to the Bureau, then take out a long‑term secured loan in your name on the way out.”

“Go right ahead.”

Leaving the rookie as a decoy, Jin Nasol stepped back and began to run for a quick escape…

Khiiiiiiing—

Blades rained down.

“…!!”

Bell‑tipped traditional swords poured out all around, blocking her path and embedding in Jin Nasol’s legs.

‘…!’

A wave of excruciating pain shot up her limbs, paralyzing them.

Most of the Bureau’s anti‑human gear is designed to kill marked villains when minimal deaths are required in a supernatural disaster.

They were tools for subduing and killing as needed.

“Oh, come on!”

One agent in the form of a tailless mer-child laughed, shoved Kang Yihak aside, and charged toward her.

‘That goddamn bastard.’

It was targeting the elite team.

Occasionally a veteran agent would behave like this.

Field records and testimonies from the elite team were prime intel.

And besides, anyone who rose to that level at Daydream Inc. was assumed villainous.

Locked up, you could squeeze them for anything.

‘Should I just kill this fucker?’

Whoever it was, he’s been obstructing her at every turn.

Crawling on her belly, Jin Nasol reached into her suit and drew out a lethal weapo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B O W   D O W N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A  t r e m e n d o u s  w i l l

slammed into the entire alley.

 

 

 

 

Contextless violence.

The fleeing employees of Daydream Inc., the goat mask with his head bowed, the mer-children, the agents from the Disaster Management Bureau, and even the pony mask mid-gesture.

All of them could only move their eyeballs, looking upward.

 

 

 

 

No. It was language.

 

■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■

 

A sinister string of words was being spoken aloud, and the very sound became a gaze directed at humankind. Words that couldn’t be described—language from beyond, fundamentally unknowable, conceptually ungraspable—came crashing down from another dimension.

Be grateful that you can’t understand it! The moment you do, it’s irreversible!

One of Daydream Inc. Corporation’s employees, collapsed on the ground, began frothing at the mouth, convulsed, and ended up strangling themselves.

 

 

 

 

The mer-children who had been laughing suddenly collapsed.

 

 

 

 

Kang Yihak gaped up at the sky, vacant, then slammed her forehead into the ground.

A muttering voice.

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t even saying that in the first place! But when filtered through human comprehension, that’s what it sounded like. Oh, the whispers of the abyss. Deep. So deepSoalluringWemustescapeButwecannotescape??????Soalluringandsoprofane?????Wemustworshipit????

“D-Death…”

One person said so. Muttered.

“That guy said we’re all gonna die. Told us to prepare for death, uh…”

“What are you talking about?”

Jin Nasol barely managed to grab someone by the collar—not just anyone, but the rookie in the goat mask.

“That guy told us to prepare for death! Death! The cat! That monster, Kim Sol…!”

 

 

 

 

A massive shadow of an open mouth, as if to swallow everything.

It began to speak.