Standing before the mirror, I slowly looked myself over, staring at the slightly shabby suit.
“I-it’s a little big……”
“Is it? Can’t be helped. That’s the only clothing we have right now. And you’ll be able to move much better in that.”
Saying that, the section chief went over to his seat and sat down.
The watcher beside me clapped and told me it suited me well.
“It looks good on you.”
“Ah… thank you.”
When I glanced over, the watcher was wearing a women’s suit that fit her perfectly.
‘A skirt…….’
A skirt with the same design as the one I was wearing.
To be honest, I couldn’t get used to it.
But at the Bureau, uniforms were divided by gender, so I had no choice but to wear this.
“If the skirt is uncomfortable, build up achievements. That’s the only way.”
“A-achievements?”
As if he had read my mind, the section chief tossed out the words indifferently.
Startled, I turned around, and the section chief nodded before speaking.
“If you build up achievements, even an anomaly is guaranteed a certain amount of freedom. That arrogant bastard over there is one such case.”
“You have a long way to go, rookie.”
With both her eyes closed, the watcher mocked me with the eye in her palm.
Looking at her, I felt chills run all over my body.
“Ugh……”
“If you’re done, go to the school.”
“A-alone?”
“The watcher will guide you.”
When the section chief jerked his chin at me, the watcher began spewing black smoke from her hand.
Soon, that smoke circled around my ear before slipping inside.
“Ghk!?”
“It hurts, doesn’t it? Bear with it. Everyone goes through this.”
The watcher giggled, clearly amused.
Looking at her, all I could do was shed tears.
* * *
“……”
Inside the dark school.
A place that looked like an ordinary school from the outside, but once you entered, was no longer a school at all.
Within it, Yeonwoo slowly glanced around.
“…What could have happened here?”
The guard and the musician.
Those two anomalies, and the mountain of countless corpses.
What could have happened for all of that to occur?
Usually, once the anomaly controlling an area was isolated or dealt with, the anomalous phenomena would disappear.
But this school was not like that. It still remained an anomaly.
The red lights that should never have existed in the first place.
And the unlockable lock, the endlessly extending corridor—they proved it.
“Except for the music room… is this the only place I can enter?”
[1-3]
The room where countless corpses had died in orderly rows.
The only place where every window had been firmly shut, and where the dead bodies had seemed at peace.
Along with the music room, Class 1-3 was the only space where entry was permitted.
The investigation of the music room was already complete.
The place to investigate this time was Class 1-3, where the investigation was not yet finished.
Yeonwoo slowly moved to the window seat.
The seat by the window where the outside could not be seen.
The only desk that remained.
“…Lee Sion.”
It was Lee Sion’s seat, marked even on the teacher’s desk.
How had he gotten caught up in an anomaly and died?
Just how had he died here and become an anomaly?
“What… are you?”
It gave her chills.
What exactly were the beings mixed in with that child?
Why was someone who should already be dead walking around perfectly fine?
“……”
Bad memories began to surface.
Memories of her parents.
‘Yeon… woo… you too—’
“Kh……”
Yeonwoo squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to recall the words that came next.
And there was something targeting that Yeonwoo.
“Found you.”
That being revealed itself.
* * *
After leaving the Bureau under the watcher’s guidance, I got into the car waiting outside.
[May I settle down and live here? From what I hear, it is immortal.]
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
[It was a joke. Laugh.]
The watcher said that, making a joke that was not funny at all.
Since it would look like I was talking to myself, I glanced nervously at the driver and begged her to please be quiet.
In the meantime, the scenery around me changed rapidly.
The unfamiliar neighborhood slowly became a familiar one.
We were gradually approaching the school I had always been afraid of.
“……”
I was scared. To be honest, I didn’t know if this was okay.
Was it really all right for me to go back to school looking like this?
Chills crawled up my entire body, but in the end, I returned to the school.
As if I had been bound tightly to something.
“We’re here.”
“…Th-thank you.”
“Rookie, if the watcher gets noisy, just tell her to shut up.”
“Yes…?”
“She’s just an anomaly anyway.”
The driver said that with a sigh.
Just as I wondered whether he hadn’t heard that I was an anomaly too—
“But what’s that X mark in your eye?”
“Ah……”
“……”
The driver’s face twisted when he noticed the X mark embedded in my eye.
He had realized that I was an anomaly.
Even under his contemptuous gaze, I lowered my head.
“Thank you… for driving me.”
“……”
The car left without even responding.
A corner of my chest throbbed dully, though I didn’t know why.
“…I-it’s definitely because of this school. It has to be.”
The school gave off a deeply ominous atmosphere.
Looking at it, I swallowed.
“…Sh-she’s over there.”
The moment I passed through the school gate, I felt as though I would never be able to come back out.
Even so, I felt a little relieved because Senior Yeonwoo was inside.
She was probably someone who hated me very much.
Wondering why that reassured me, I slowly crossed the school gate and entered the grounds.
—Saaah…
Then, a sound like passing through a thin membrane reached my ears.
At the same time, the watcher in my head popped out and waved at me.
[You must be the only fool who would get caught up in an anomaly again, rookie.]
“……”
The watcher cackled, and I found her utterly hateful.
* * *
“Why are you so late?”
“I-I’m sorry… please don’t hit me.”
“…I’m not going to hit you.”
Senior Yeonwoo sighed with a look as if she had bitten into something foul.
When I asked her not to hit me, she said she wouldn’t do something like that and started walking.
Even the faint trace of a smile she had shown earlier was now gone.
Feeling a quiet sort of fear, I hurried after Senior Yeonwoo and entered through the main entrance.
“The only doors that work are this one and Class 1-3.”
“I-is that so?”
“Yes. Your mission is to help me investigate this place and cross-check with the watcher what it was originally like.”
Senior Yeonwoo opened the main entrance wide and fixed it in place.
“If anything goes wrong, escape straight through here. Don’t go into the corridor. It stretches endlessly.”
“…Uh, I-I don’t think it was originally like that.”
“…?”
Senior Yeonwoo turned to look at me, doubt on her face.
As if what I said was different from what she had always known.
“This place was always like that. You must be remembering wrong.”
“Yes…?”
“Let’s go.”
“……”
“I said, let’s go.”
Something felt off.
‘Is my memory wrong?’
I was sure the corridor had turned a corner back then.
If so, saying it stretched endlessly made no sense.
Just as I was feeling confused—
—T-t-t-tick!!!
“…Eek?!”
The red lights began flickering madly.
It was so frightening that I quickly ran forward and matched pace with Senior Yeonwoo ahead of me.
“Why don’t you keep standing back there?”
“…I-I’m sorry. I’ll listen properly.”
“Good.”
Senior Yeonwoo nodded and smiled brightly.
Then she gently stroked my head with a hand that felt a little soft.
“What a good girl.”
“Ah……”
It was something my mother often used to say and do.
Feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, I slowly moved my feet.
“The first place we’re going is the music room.”
“Yes……”
“What, is something strange?”
Senior Yeonwoo frowned as she asked.
Since I hadn’t voiced any question at all, I was startled and answered.
“Ah…! No…!”
“Really? Then let’s go. The only stairs that work are the central ones.”
As if satisfied, Senior Yeonwoo nodded and slowly headed toward the central staircase.
‘This is weird…….’
Thinking that her personality was truly strange, I followed behind her.
* * *
The office of Action Division 1 of the Bureau of Anomaly Management.
Inside, Section Chief Sohun of Division 1 was slowly organizing investigation materials.
And the watcher, with all her eyes still closed, was supporting Yeonwoo and Sion.
Amid that—
“…!!”
“…?”
The watcher flinched and opened the two eyes on her head, not the one in her palm.
Puzzled, Sohun looked at the watcher.
“What is it?”
“……”
“Watcher, answer me.”
He gave an order, but the watcher merely stared blankly into empty space.
Just as Sohun was about to issue another command—
“Well, now……”
The watcher let out a sound of admiration and began to giggle.
“This is becoming interesting…!”
“What is it…? Report the situation.”
At Sohun’s words, the watcher twisted her neck and looked back at him.
“The blonde currently with the rookie… is not the human we know.”
“…What?”
“Kihihih…!”
Sohun was stunned.
Looking at him, the watcher smiled chillingly.
“Then where is the real Yeonwoo?”
“She isn’t there.”
“…What?”
“To be precise, she’s with the rookie.”
“What… does that mean?”
As Sohun spoke in a hollow voice, the watcher giggled, laughing with all four eyes.
“It seems you had better send support quickly…! An outing after so long!”
The watcher looked excited.
Looking at her, Sohun furrowed his brow deeply and reached for the radio, preparing to send backup.
* * *
We slowly walked down the corridor and arrived at the music room.
“……”
“……”
Senior Yeonwoo said nothing.
Looking at her, I broke out in a cold sweat.
“S-senior.”
“Mm……”
“Please let go of my hand… it hurts……”
“……”
Senior Yeonwoo kept her head hanging low and said nothing.
It was at that moment that I sensed something was wrong.