Rising from her seat was Sion—no, the anomaly that was not Sion.
Seeing that anomaly, Sohun picked up the microphone in front of him and attempted communication.
“Can you hear me?”
[…….]
The anomaly said nothing.
Just as the section chief thought it had failed—
[I can hear you.]
“…!!”
The anomaly answered, clearly and distinctly.
When he flinched, the anomaly grinned and replied.
[Why so surprised? It’s not as if this is your first time seeing… a talking anomaly, is it?]
As it said that, it pointed to the Watcher behind them.
The Watcher merely smiled and waved.
“You’re one hell of a woman.”
[I’ll take that as a compliment.]
“It is a compliment, so you’d do well to take it that way.”
The Watcher giggled as she said so.
After telling her to keep it in moderation, the section chief resumed the conversation.
“I’ll ask you one question.”
Saying that, the section chief hesitated for a moment.
At that, the anomaly smiled.
Looking at the anomaly, the section chief slowly opened his mouth.
“How far does your adaptation ability apply?”
He was openly asking whether it could even adapt to a contract.
The anomaly grinned and answered.
[What do you think?]
An answer that essentially told him to figure it out himself.
Just as the section chief frowned slightly and was about to give up on the conversation—
[I don’t know either.]
The answer came back that even it did not know.
Then, sitting down, the anomaly smiled and answered.
[Wouldn’t it be enough to keep rewriting the contract?]
“Then does that mean we can stop you?”
[…Against a contract that keeps changing, I suppose.]
Saying that, the anomaly materialized the red chain hanging around its neck.
Since no one had ever accomplished such a thing before, the group was thrown into confusion.
Looking at them, the anomaly smiled and continued.
[I said I didn’t know, but… it seems I’m adapting to this, after all.]
The alien resonance in the anomaly’s voice had settled somewhat.
Since that threatening sensation had vanished, the section chief relaxed his expression slightly.
“…….”
[I do not know when I’ll be able to kill you all.]
The anomaly said it did not know when it would be able to kill the humans.
Since there was no way it could have attacked them at all if it had not adapted in the first place, the section chief swallowed.
“…I see.”
Watching the anomaly grin as if mocking him for being an idiot, Yeonu, who was standing beside him, let out a sigh.
“Section Chief.”
“What is it?”
“May I ask one question too?”
Saying that she had something to ask, Yeonu reached for the microphone after he gave his permission.
“Ah, ah… Hello, anomaly. Last time, you protected me, didn’t you?”
The battle with the Masked Owl.
When she asked while recalling that, the anomaly shrugged.
“…It’s fine even if you don’t answer. I want to believe you weren’t protecting me.”
[How forceful of you.]
“I’m like that.”
The two engaged in a strange battle of wills as they spoke.
But only for a moment. Yeonu immediately asked her question.
“Is the Sion inside you human?”
The question of whether Sion was human.
This was important to the Bureau as well.
If Sion was human, there would need to be some discussion regarding her identity and treatment.
They would have to shift direction from killing to treatment.
They would have to separate Sion, the anomaly, from the unidentified anomaly.
At that, the anomaly paused briefly, then tilted its head and asked.
[Is that… important?]
“…To us.”
[…Hah.]
Letting out a dry laugh, the anomaly nodded with a sullen expression.
[She is undoubtedly human. The same as all of you.]
“…I see. So that’s how it is.”
Having heard a satisfactory answer, Yeonu nodded.
Then, just as Yeonu was about to put down the microphone, the anomaly shouted.
[Wait.]
“…?”
[I have one request.]
A request.
Wondering what on earth it intended to ask, Yeonu listened closely.
At that, the anomaly grinned and made a request.
[It isn’t a one-sided request. Rather, I believe it will benefit both you and me.]
“What is it, this request?”
Yeonu looked at the anomaly with a displeased expression as she said so.
The anomaly smiled and answered.
[In any case, I want this girl to be miserable.]
“…What?”
[Since I’m being forced to protect this.]
Saying that, the anomaly pointed to its own body.
Feeling a chill, Yeonu tried to continue speaking, but—
[That’s the end. Then, farewell. It feels as though… she’s about to devour me.]
The anomaly coughed up blood as if in agony and collapsed to the floor.
And when that body rose again, the one there was—
“Kehuk…!!! I, I won……”
It was Sion, with a dumbfounded expression.
* * *
I kept fighting.
Like a madwoman.
I fought on a road that stretched endlessly, insanely.
Dying and coming back to life, dying and coming back to life, over and over again, I fought.
My body was torn to pieces and ripped apart again, but I slammed into it so fiercely that I could no longer feel the pain.
Into the anomaly before my eyes.
“I told you, it’s no use.”
“…Shut uuuup…!!!”
The anomaly spoke while bleeding, saying it was useless.
To be honest, I had no idea whether that blood was mine or the anomaly’s.
I simply threw myself forward.
And by the time the road had been stained with my blood.
At last, I—
—Kwajiiiik!!!!!
“Cough…!!”
“…!!!”
I succeeded in transforming my hand into a blade-like shape.
With it, I was able to stab the anomaly before me squarely in the chest.
The anomaly stared at me with widened eyes.
“I, I won…?”
“Se…ems so.”
Saying that, the anomaly collapsed helplessly to the side when I pulled out my arm.
Gasping for breath, I was able to return to reality along with the pain that came rushing in all at once.
* * *
“…….”
It was quiet.
Right after I defeated the anomaly.
Since all the tests were over, I thought I might finally get some rest, but with my ears and eyes covered, I was being dragged somewhere.
“I-I’m scared……”
“…Bear with it.”
Senior said that, linking her arm through mine as she led me somewhere.
Hiccuping, I followed Senior and the section chief.
“Where are we going…? I-I want to stop dying now and rest…!! Th-the tests are all over, aren’t they!!”
Even though I said that out of fear, no one listened.
Just as tears began to flow, Senior removed my earplugs and spoke quietly.
“Stop making such a fuss, Lee Sion. We’re not going anywhere that scary right now.”
“…Then why did you cover them?”
“Because it’s somewhere the anomaly can’t be allowed to learn about.”
Saying that, she patted me as if to reassure me that it was all right.
Senior seemed to have become a little kinder after the test.
At her strange gentleness, I shut my mouth.
‘I’m scared… save me.’
Of course, I had only shut my mouth. It wasn’t as if I had actually shaken off my fear.
Senior plugged my ears again.
At that, my fear doubled.
* * *
How much farther had we walked?
Just as my legs were beginning to ache—
“We’re here. Wait a moment, I’ll take these off for you.”
After removing one earplug and saying that, Senior took off the blindfold from my eyes, then removed the other earplug.
What entered my vision was an enormous space.
And in that vast, bizarre space, a woman was sitting quietly.
“The 0th pet anomaly. Sheep.”
Saying that, the section chief slowly approached the woman.
Just as the section chief had said, the woman before me had gray hair, and black sheep horns with human eyes embedded in them on her head.
Her face was beautiful enough to rival Senior Yeonu’s, but her pupils were rectangular like a goat’s.
“…Oh my, Section Chief So.”
The anomaly greeted him with a smile.
Seeing the anomaly, who was clearly overflowing with composure, I bowed my head.
“H-hello.”
“Oh my… and this one is?”
“Lee Sion. The new pet anomaly of Action Division One.”
The section chief introduced me to the anomaly called Sheep.
At that, Sheep stared blankly at me for a moment, then smiled as if she had remembered and took out a contract.
“This is it, correct?”
“Yes. We came to revise it today. I’m counting on you.”
“Ah… a renegotiation, then?”
“It seems we’ll need you to keep changing it every two weeks.”
Saying that, the section chief sat me in the chair in front of Sheep.
Extremely nervous, I said I was in her care and froze on the spot.
“Nice to meet you.”
“…Y-yes… me too.”
“I am the 0th, Sheep. I’m in charge of managing, maintaining, and producing the contracts and pens.”
“…!!!”
I had thought all the contracts and pens were independent entities.
To think all of them had been produced before this anomaly.
I was so shocked that the thought of asking why she was the 0th vanished completely.
“Please wait a moment.”
Saying that, Sheep took out a knife and cut her own hand.
There was no hesitation, nor any sign of pain.
Just as I was growing frightened, blood dripped onto the table.
Soon, Sheep plucked out a strand of her hair and dropped it into the blood that had fallen in a rectangular shape.
Then it trembled, and a red sheet of paper appeared.
“Section Chief, just a moment for the contents.”
“Very well.”
After that, when Sheep placed her hand on Sohun’s head, the details of the contract were automatically written onto the paper.
Then Sheep smiled in satisfaction and snapped off one of her horns. Only then did the horn, its pupil trembling, transform into the shape of a pen.
—Kkudeuk!!!
Afterward, the horn immediately grew back.
While I was watching in a daze—
“Now, hurry and sign.”
“…It won’t hurt again, will it?”
“In the case of a renegotiation, we remove the pain. That first time was merely a warning, after all.”
Sheep smiled and told me to sign the contract.
After hesitating for a moment, I picked up the unsettling pen and signed the contract once again.