“I haven’t seen any outsiders at Manghyang though.”
“Please. It’s a man, height around mid-170s, pale skin with short-cut black hair…”
“Even saying that. Aren’t those too common features? A young man around mid-170s in height with pale skin and short hair—even if you threw a stone at anyone passing by, there’d be a high probability…”
The Director, who had been speaking as if troubled, fell quiet.
“Yohan-gun, you were also there at that time, weren’t you?”
Then suddenly turned around and asked Son Yowan.
“That time. Not long ago, near the casino. You saw it then too, didn’t you?”
Son Yowan immediately caught on to what the flustered Director wanted to ask him.
“The victim?”
He almost said ‘the first victim’ but managed it well. If he’d thoughtlessly said ‘the first victim’ thinking about the second victim appearing, he might have gotten his shin kicked (like he used to get from his older sister) by that scary person who resembles his older sister (in age).
“That person who had his face stolen by the Goeidam? Why is he now…”
Only then did the Teacher also catch on to what the Director was saying.
“Wait, you. Don’t tell me that person is the person in charge the Godfather sent us!”
The Magician also swallowed their breath with a “Huk.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I wish that weren’t the case too… Squad Leader, can you tell us when your superior disappeared?”
The Squad Leader readily answered, and people became even quieter. The date when contact with the missing commander and his colleagues was cut off matched exactly with the date the first body was discovered.
“This can’t be.”
The Teacher, who could no longer deny the situation, muttered gloomily. Then immediately changed and got irritated.
“What idiotic business is this! Goyo being taken by a Goeidam? How could such an incompetent person be the one in charge!”
“Teacher-nim! How can you insult someone who came to rescue us and met with misfortune like that?”
“Did I say anything wrong!”
“Quiet!”
Only after the watching General barked did both the Teacher and Director quiet down.
Though he didn’t get openly excited like the Teacher, the General also seemed somewhat shocked, as he approached the wall only after letting out several long sighs in installments.
“Squad Leader.”
“…Yes.”
Whether because he’d heard the news that his missing superior had died or for some other reason, very complex emotions could be felt in the Squad Leader’s voice.
“Even though things went wrong, should I think that you sought us out like this because you heard something from the Godfather in advance?”
“That’s correct, Your Excellency.”
“What did he say?”
“In case of an emergency, the Godfather told me to convey this to Your Excellency or others. I will recite it. …I’ve hidden a tree in the forest, so find it. Through it, you’ll be able to hear a detailed story I’ve recorded in advance.”
The Squad Member spoke hesitantly, then added a line later.
“That’s all.”
“That’s it?”
Again, the person who stepped forward as if flabbergasted was the Teacher.
“Forest? Tree? This isn’t some Zen riddle…!”
“Was there no other message?”
The General, who stopped him by raising a hand, asked the Squad Leader again.
“Th-that’s correct. Ah! He also said that when you find the ‘tree’, you’d be able to operate it in a way only you know. Other than that…”
“Squad Leader.”
“Y-yes? Please ask, Your Excellency.”
“I’ll ask then. Is the outside situation very bad?”
At the sudden question, the VIP guests were puzzled at first but soon had expressions of realization.
Son Yowan also grasped the situation after thinking briefly.
‘It seems the Godfather’s side is also in a very bad situation?’
Originally, the person sent got caught up in the Goeidam, and since other Goyo members knew about it, normally they should just send someone else. But instead, the Godfather’s side was giving strange codes. The reason was simple. Because they didn’t have the leeway to send someone again.
‘But what exactly is the situation?’
A situation where they can’t even send a few people again—what kind of thing could…
Just then, the Squad Leader beyond the wall spoke. His voice was somber.
“First… I’ll report the state we’ve currently grasped. Manghyang’s current state is closer to ‘quarantine’ than ‘separation’. This might be hard to understand if I say it this way. To explain, both separation and quarantine are derivative situations of ‘closure’.”
According to him, it was like this:
“To use an analogy, separation is a crime scene with police lines, and quarantine is a crime scene with locked entrances. A scene that the commander separated by issuing a Soyo alert can have entry and exit as needed, but a quarantined scene makes that impossible.”
“So, because Captain So is preventing us from getting out, you’re asking for help!”
“No, even if that person didn’t bother to stop you, you can’t get out.”
The Director who heard the assertion let out a groan.
“Come to think of it, we tried to go out through the exit among ourselves, but no matter what we did, no path appeared.”
“You did? You almost had a disaster!”
“Almost had a disaster?”
“No one can leave a scene judged to be quarantined. The same goes for people who know the geography from before the Goeidam occurred. You should actually think of it as a maze you can’t escape from by your own power.”
The faces of the people who until now had thought they could leave here anytime as long as the situation improved turned pale. They were faces that had received a great shock.
Son Yowan rolled his eyes then quickly covered his eyes with his hand and pretended to lament. It was because he thought others shouldn’t see him being the only one not surprised and find it strange.
‘I saw this in my memories too.’
That’s why Son Yowan hadn’t even been dreaming of escaping from here in the first place.
‘By the way, is this the last somewhat nutritious information?’
Having that thought, this time a heartfelt lament came out. He couldn’t help it. The meagerness of the information Son Yowan had ‘seen’ naturally granted authenticity to Son Yowan’s lament. In fact, Son Yowan assessed that he didn’t even know if what he knew could be called information.
‘No, to see the future, even if not the culprit, shouldn’t I at least see the main thread?’
From the moment the incident happened until now. Regardless of the density of events, it had been a short time, but during that short time Son Yowan realized that the future he’d seen was false advertising. Excluding the big framework of a murder play and the characters moving within it, there were almost no parts that matched the scenes Son Yowan had ‘seen’.
The Detective’s early appearance, the Goeidam that suddenly appeared where people were gathered, the bizarre broadcast ringing from all the radios, plus the second victim and this current happening.
‘At this point, the amount of information isn’t much different from other people.’
Son Yowan was dumbfounded. Could it be this lacking in nutrition? Anyway, setting aside determining the basic line to handle events that will happen from now on with improvisation…
‘…Don’t tell me the future got corrupted because I saw it while hungover.’
Son Yowan resolved that if he survived and got out of here safely, he should refrain from drinking until he blacked out.
‘No wait, if I quit entirely…’
Hmm, that seems hard…
“Then are we supposed to be helplessly murdered here?”
Because the Teacher shouted, Son Yowan stopped his idle thoughts. He went ‘Oh no.’ It was a fairly serious situation right now.
“Don’t worry too much.”
Perhaps Son Yowan’s expression acting was quite excellent, as the Director comforted him quietly.
“It’ll work out somehow.”
Son Yowan, still covering his eyes with his hand, just nodded in answer (‘Complete abstinence is too much after all.’) and listened to other people’s voices.
Let’s see, how will things turn out from now on?
“It’s not like that.”
“What do you mean it’s not! Your bastard dog here has no interest in our lives! He directly said with his own mouth that whether we live or die is up to us to handle!”
Did he talk that far?
“Or! Could it be you bastards’ masters think the same as that dog bastard!”
The expression was just slightly different, but ultimately, it seemed that way.
“Th-there’s no way!”
“If not, run to your masters right now and convey my words! Tell them to order So Yeowon, that dog bastard, to cancel the Soyo alert and let us go!”
But that Detective—because he has frozen fish eyeballs or something, it’s impossible to grasp what he’s thinking.
“I’m sorry. That’s difficult.”
“What! As I thought, So Yeowon and the Godfather’s intentions are the same!”
“No, that’s not it! If there’s anyone who wants to catch that traitor most, it would be the Godfather, so how could that be!”
Actually, he’s not interested in solving the case, and it’s not like there’s anything worth observing about me either, so I don’t even know why he let me into his room…
“Wait. Traitor?”
Son Yowan stopped thinking.
“What do you mean by that?”
Right, what does that mean!
“It’s a fact I also became certain of after hearing your words just now… We, we had a big problem on our side recently. But from the circumstances, it seems certain that So Yeowon, the former head of Goyo, is the culprit who caused that problem.”
“A big problem? The culprit who caused a problem? Can’t you grasp the situation right now? Don’t speak vaguely, speak clearly!”
“So, So Yeowon recently tried to harm the Godfather, failed, and fled.”
