Ch.154The Enemy of My Enemy is a Friend

“There seems to have been a momentary error. So, um… Team Leader, please continue.”

The male announcer passes the floor to the team leader while sweating profusely.

“That’s right. There was an error, and what that means is… what it means is…”

The video starts buffering.

The voices come through intermittently.

“means is.”

“what.”

“it means.”

The text in the chat window is completely broken.

– ■■■■■?????????

– ■■■■■?????

– ■■■■■■????

– ■■■■■■■?????????

CREEP-319. The Tent of Confirmation Bias.

The fake logic it created begins to collapse rapidly.

After being interrupted for quite some time, the video suddenly reconnects.

The two people in the video are silently staring at the camera.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“This concludes our emergency broadcast.”

Red lines appear across their necks.

Bright red, oxygen-rich arterial blood spurts out between the lines.

Whoosh—

They weren’t just lines.

Their severed heads were simply still attached.

Due to the pressure of the spurting blood, their heads gradually shift from the cross-section.

The heads slowly slide off their necks.

Even during this, they continue speaking.

“If only we had left the theater.”

“It would have been better.”

As if the two were one body.

Their speech flows naturally.

And finally.

Their heads fall to the floor.

Next to me, I hear Jung Haewon taking a shaky breath.

Serim is also holding my hand tightly while staring at the screen.

After a brief burst of static…

What appears on screen is a completely devastated broadcasting station.

The male announcer and Team Leader Choi are sitting in their chairs with their heads severed.

Static.

The camera pulls back, showing the entire broadcasting station.

People are sprawled on the floor like scattered laundry.

They’re all broadcasting station staff.

More static.

An employee ID badge hanging from one of their necks becomes visible.

Below the familiar name of the broadcasting station is the employee’s photo.

Static crackles.

Finally, a bit away from the carnage.

That black, terrible monster was covering various parts of the broadcasting station like a spider web.

Throb, throb.

Pulsating black veins.

The video on screen has been rewinding at some point.

The camera moves closer and closer,

The fallen heads reattach to their necks.

The spurted blood seeps back between them.

“Ahem. Ahem.”

Finally, the male host and the team leader clear their throats again.

The news starts again.

Only this time, it’s looking for a different target.

Click.

The video cuts off.

Haewon’s phone screen goes black, and the theater screen is showing the romantic comedy again.

The knocking on the theater door is no longer audible.

“Dabin, what just happened?”

“Noona?”

Choi Serim and Jung Haewon look at me as if on cue.

I know exactly what answer they’re hoping for.

“Yes. We’re safe now.”

“But…”

We’ve definitely escaped the crisis.

Not only that, we’ve gained useful information about the Foundation.

However, something feels off.

“There’s one strange thing.”

“What’s strange?”

“Yeah, it’s about the creature’s characteristics.”

“Dabin, explain in more detail.”

“Yes. That monster—the Tent of Confirmation Bias—normally only targets one subject. It hunts by surrounding a single person or group with doubt and anxiety. It pours almost all its energy into that, and if it fails, it often dies from exhaustion. Even if it survives, it needs to rest for quite a long time.”

“I see…”

“But at the end of the video just now, the news was starting again.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means it’s immediately looking for another target instead of dying from exhaustion.”

Serim falls into quiet contemplation.

“That is definitely strange.”

“Yes.”

“So there are two possibilities. Either this is a particularly strong specimen, or it hunted someone else before and stored up energy. But that’s strange too. The creature normally enters a rest period for at least a month after attempting a hunt.”

“Are you sure about this information?”

“Yes. It’s information I learned from the Library. It can’t be wrong.”

“Then what could be happening?”

“After attempting one hunt, it should rest regardless of success or failure… But this one is hunting consecutively.”

“Ah, could it be a mutation?”

This time Haewon speaks up.

“You know, like a monster that mutates and becomes stronger… Could it be something like that?”

“That’s right.”

Haewon’s answer is correct.

A mutation.

What we’re facing is a mutated “Tent of Confirmation Bias.”

“But why would this happen now of all times?”

“Huh?”

“It seems too efficiently evolved to just be bad luck, don’t you think?”

Suspicion spreads across Haewon’s face.

It’s the same with Serim.

“You both heard about the Foundation earlier, right? How they secure and contain anomalous monsters?”

“Yes, I heard.”

“Yes.”

“Then the Tent of Confirmation Bias—that monster from earlier—would have been contained by the Foundation.”

I slowly organize my thoughts.

“So I think this:”

“The Foundation has declared war on humanity.”

“The Foundation’s goal is to exterminate all of humanity.”

“To this end, the Foundation has released dangerous anomalous entities they had secured.”

“Not stopping there, the Foundation is enhancing these anomalous entities to increase their lethality…”

I swallowed with a bitter taste in my mouth.

“Many people have probably already lost their lives outside.”

It’s unfortunate, but beyond our ability to help.

We need to solve the problems facing us directly.

That’s also the way to save everyone.

“And one more thing. From now on, it will be difficult to deal with these threats using only the information I know.”

“Yeah…”

“So things are going to get even harder now.”

“Still, the world survives only if we survive. We must endure.”

A resolute atmosphere fills the theater.

“Until the very end.”

“When will that be?”

Serim raises her head slightly and speaks as if muttering to herself.

I wish I could answer her, but I can’t.

“I don’t know either.”

Simply surviving.

Beyond that, I truly couldn’t see the future.

I leaned back in the theater seat.

“Everyone should get some sleep. You must be tired.”

“Dabin, you rest first. You’re the most exhausted among us.”

“How did you know? I was going to take the first watch.”

Serim gives me a faint smile.

“I can tell even without using my ability now.”

We’ve defeated the Tent of Confirmation Bias, but the “strange waves” being broadcast by the Foundation remain.

Prolonged exposure would lead to irresistible suicidal urges.

Right now, we’re barely blocking the waves with the theater’s thick walls and the movie’s sound.

That means the movie can’t be turned off.

That’s why we need someone on watch, but Serim somehow figured this out.

“I’ll do it, Dabin.”

“You, noona?”

“Yes. I already got plenty of rest earlier.”

“You passed out, that’s not the same as resting. You must be exhausted from using your ability too.”

“Let me do this.”

While Serim and I were arguing, Haewon intervened.

“Um, I’m here too… I can take the first watch.”

“Haewon, you’ve been through a lot too, haven’t you?”

Serim is even looking after Haewon’s condition.

She must be extremely tired herself. That noona is too kind for her own good.

“Okay. Let Haewon do it then.”

“Yes, I’ll do it.”

“And wake me up next.”

“How many hours later should I wake you?”

“Hmm… when you’re too sleepy to stay awake?”

“Okay, noona.”

“Wait a minute. I should take the second shift! Dabin needs to rest properly!”

Serim rarely raises her voice.

Even then, it was still a gentle tone.

“Dabin needs to rest.”

After another round of arguing, I was at a loss for words.

“Even if you refuse, I’ll use my ability to put you to sleep.”

“…”

Using abilities is cheating.

In the end, I had to give in.

“Thank you, noona.”

“Yes. Don’t you dare get up—just rest well. Understood?”

“Yes.”

It’s hardly a hopeful situation, but I still find myself smiling.

We will definitely survive. Together with Serim.

And after that, instead of calling her Serim noona, maybe I could call her Serim unnie.

I’ll have to adapt to the changes ahead.

Thanks to the ice pack, the pain in my ankle has subsided considerably.

The tension has eased too.

As soon as I close my eyes, drowsiness overwhelms me.

“…”

I had a dream.

Corpses littered the streets.

Buildings were burning, plagues and swarms of insects spreading.

The calamities brought by the Fifth Apostle were beyond human capacity to handle.

The sky gradually turned dark blue.

Like a bruise. The area covered by the strange color expanded.

The end was near.

Under the bruised dark blue sky.

People were taking shelter in an old apartment building.

The corridors were already filled with people of various nationalities and ethnicities.

A man groaning while clutching his broken arm.

A crying child.

A middle-aged woman with hair soaked in blood.

Among them, someone was moving busily back and forth, trying to provide medical care.

Amid the chaos, the crowd parted and a woman stepped forward.

“I am Sim Ji-hee, representative of KOO, a Korean organization under the Coalition.”

This is definitely a memory I’ve seen before.

Yes, the scene I saw in that water tank…

“…bin.”

“Dabin.”

“You need to wake up. Quickly.”

My eyes snapped open.

“Are you awake?”

Serim was looking down at me.

“Is it morning already?”

“Yes. Everyone else is already up. We were having a meeting about what to do next.”

I looked around.

The others were gathered in the empty space in front of the screen, having a serious discussion.

“But your opinion is the most important, Dabin.”

“Ah…”

“Let’s go quickly. Get your thoughts together. Should unnie carry you?”

I flinched momentarily at the word “unnie.”

It’s still too awkward a term.

“Yes.”

With Serim’s support, I moved to where everyone was gathered.

In front of the screen, Heo Yoon and Seok Hyunmin were in the middle of a heated debate.

“The outside is on the verge of collapse. We should leave the theater before the situation gets worse.”

Heo Yoon was of the opinion that we should leave the theater immediately.

“And where would we go?”

Meanwhile, Seok Hyunmin advocated for a more cautious approach.

“We need to go somewhere safer, don’t we?”

“That’s what I’m asking—where?!”

“Somewhere like a basement. The subway tunnels have noise reduction facilities, so wouldn’t that be okay?”

Seok Hyunmin shook his head.

“That’s not enough. Plus, subway stations are difficult to defend.”

“But we need to move. If we stay trapped here, we’ll just die miserably.”

“When did I say we should stay put? I said we need to decide where to go.”

“That’s why we need to go outside first! We need to check if there’s anywhere decent to go—how are we supposed to figure that out from in here?!”

As their voices grew louder…

I interrupted.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, Dabin?”

“You’re up? What about your injured ankle?”

“Serim noona helped me.”

“You shouldn’t move around too much. Just sit down. No, wait. I’ll wrap a compression bandage around it first, so sit down.”

“No. I have something to say first.”

I tried to lean against the back of a chair to stand, but ended up just sitting down in a theater seat.

Whether standing or sitting, everyone’s attention was focused on me.

Even Robin, Dan, and Riko were looking at me.

Even though they couldn’t understand what I was saying.

I quietly cleared my throat and put an end to the lengthening argument.

“The place we need to go.”

There was no need to think about it or discover new information.

This was something I already knew.

The Tent of Confirmation Bias.

The “facts” obtained from its fake broadcast.

The Foundation didn’t simply declare war on all nations of the world.

More precisely, it was against all organizations.

In the footage, the Foundation said:

“From this moment on. To all nations, societies, groups of reality, and all organizations of the paraworld.

The UN Paranormal Security Committee, the Global Occult Coalition, the Librarians of the Wandering Library,

We declare war on these organizations.”

There’s a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

If they’re enemies of the Foundation, they could be strong allies for us.

But we can’t get help from all three in this situation.

We need to prioritize based on the possibility of receiving help and the possibility of meeting them.

First, the UN Paranormal Security Committee.

They have some knowledge, but lack capable personnel and expertise.

Above all, they’re too centralized, so they were likely wiped out all at once in the early stages of the disaster.

The Librarians of the Wandering Library.

They’ve long been trapped in the Library, slaves to knowledge.

Moreover, the Library was bound to this dimension and became an apartment building, and that apartment has long since vanished.

That leaves the Global Occult Coalition.

The very group that led the evacuation to the apartment in the future.

They’re the ones who can provide us with practical help.

With branches established in various worlds, they have a lower risk of total annihilation, and observations from the future point indicate a very high probability they’re still surviving.

But with the apartment gone now,

Where would they have gone?

“Heung!?”

When I suddenly tapped Serim’s shoulder, she made a strange sound in surprise.

…Here I’ll keep calling her Serim noona.