Chapter 24 : Best Gift
by fnovelpia
Bureau of Anomalies — Dangerous Anomaly Detection Room.
“This wave, danger level A or higher.”
An agent swallowed hard.
“If it’s this scale… no way, has the seal been completely broken?”
“Unclear. Not confirmed yet.”
Anomalies with high danger levels usually possess immense power.
And that power always leaves a resonance.
This room monitors anomaly waves from all over the country in real time.
Right now, the red graph on the screen surged wildly, dropped sharply, and trembled again.
The vibrations were rough and irregular.
Like the harbinger of an approaching storm.
The monitoring team leader, quietly watching the screen, finally spoke:
“Something has been released from its seal.”
He immediately gave an order:
“Contact Bongju-ga at once. They must have sensed this change too.”
An anomaly with a national disaster-level risk.
Right now, something was moving.
Quarantine Zone B-2.
Inside the Colossal Anomaly
Ripples spread through the once-quiet space.
Pale white skin, long flowing hair.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Deep inside the colossal anomaly’s body, another anomaly had been sleeping — Cheong-ui Dongja.
“…The Gigongguk being has awakened.”
His voice came out indifferently.
“To think the seal that was so solid has loosened. Humans are truly fascinating.”
Cheong-ui Dongja slowly gazed into the void.
Then he tilted his head slightly.
A familiar presence detected somewhere.
A human who had made a contract with him.
“Kim Min-woo.”
He muttered the name lowly.
“We’ll meet sooner than I thought.”
When he first saw Kim Min-woo’s eyes, he saw it —
The encounter between the Gigongguk being and Kim Min-woo.
And the fragment contained within it.
Cheong-ui Dongja knew.
That fragment would attract many anomalies, especially the Gigongguk being.
What that being desired most right now was exactly that fragment.
“Soon, it will be clear.”
He chuckled softly.
“What meaning that thing in your eyes… really holds.”
The moment the girl opened her eyes, the atmosphere changed.
Snap —
A breaking sound.
The surface of the capsule twisted.
“Seal it off!!”
Section Chief Lee Haneul shouted, watching the situation, but it was already too late.
The whole laboratory began to tremble around the capsule.
Gugugugugung —
The girl still sat in place.
Only her eyes opened; her body did not move.
But with just that gaze, the shackles binding her screamed.
“Anomaly resonance spike! Capsule internal temperature rising! The magic formation is beginning to collapse!”
“This… these figures make no sense! Quickly activate the emergency lockdown protocol—”
Crack —
Before the sentence could finish, the capsule’s top was torn from the inside out.
Reinforced glass and metal cracked and twisted like old paper.
The girl slowly stood up.
And at the center of her forehead, a third eye, bloodshot and red, opened.
“…Unpleasant.”
The girl muttered softly, but that sound echoed through the laboratory.
Soon, the space twisted and distorted.
Boom!!
The center of the lab exploded.
Walls warped, ceilings shook, and researchers were flung into the air by flying debris.
“Section chief! We have to escape!”
“What are you standing there for? Fall back! This is beyond what we can handle—”
Those words never finished.
BANG!!
The shockwave from the explosion crushed bodies.
Waists snapped, necks twisted, blood splattered against the walls, turning the lab into a red slaughterhouse.
The girl walked.
A slow step.
As if leisurely testing a new toy.
“…This is something humans should never touch…”
A barely conscious researcher collapsed and muttered.
The girl, no—the Gigongguk being—raised her head.
The eye on her forehead shone.
It was not anger or murderous intent, but mere searching.
“Not here, huh?”
The corners of the girl’s lips curled slowly.
“Then, I’ll have to clean up and go.”
CRASH!!!
A shock like something smashing into the wall.
The entire third floor collapsed.
Columns shattered, reinforced glass windows shattered, and the entire building shook.
“Damn it…!”
Lee Haneul fled wildly.
His face covered in blood, his breath ragged as if breaking.
Yet even so, a smile bloomed on his face.
“…Thanks to this, I secured data on the fusion of an A-grade anomaly and a human. With this… if I run the experiment again!”
Lee Haneul gripped the data in his hand, using other researchers as a shield, disappearing into the emergency exit.
Then, the final explosion happened.
[Warning. Structural damage at 89%. Full area collapse imminent.]
Only one presence remained in the central hall.
The Gigongguk being.
She slowly raised her hand and brushed her hair back as if tidying it.
Then stopped.
“…This body is too weak.”
Her body was gradually falling apart.
Time was running out.
“…I must go meet the fragment of that person.”
Her third eye glowed red.
And she vanished calmly into the collapsing building.
A vibration echoed like an earthquake.
And pain pierced sharply in the eyes, matching the vibration.
“Something is coming.”
There was no particular evidence, but certainty grew.
The cause of this vibration was rapidly approaching me.
Thunk!
The ceiling was pierced open.
A barefoot girl covered in blood lightly stepped down through the dust.
Pale skin.
In the center of her forehead, a bloodshot third eye.
All three eyes looked at me simultaneously.
Lilith, standing beside me, shouted,
“Ooooh… is that… an anomaly? To see an anomaly again!”
She trembled, clutching her head in awe.
Baek Seok-ho immediately took a combat stance, but—
BANG!
With a roaring sound like the air being torn, the two were caught in a shockwave and thrown.
They crashed into the wall and didn’t move.
‘…Could it be… they’re dead?’
Shallow breathing.
Apparently not killed, just incapacitated.
And it only looked at me.
Without a word.
The girl slowly approached.
An anomaly with three eyes.
Thanks to that, I was sure. It was the Gigonggukin.
The one Cheongui Dongja told me to meet.
It tilted its head, looking at me.
“…How can a human possess a shard of ‘That One’?”
I frowned.
“A shard? What is that?”
It slowly reached out and covered my eyes.
“…My eyes?”
It nodded.
“Actually, I was planning to take it. I only thought about taking that shard…”
Pausing, it stared at my face for a long moment.
“It’s strange. Why? I strangely like this human.”
It took a step closer,
Looking up at me and whispering like to itself,
“Not because of the shard, nor because it feels good. I just… like your existence. You must be that kind of being.”
All three eyes gleamed simultaneously.
“So I can’t just take it. Instead, I want to make a contract.”
“Wait. What is this all about?”
It put its hands together before its chest.
“The shard of That One. A fragment of the Great Being of the End. For us anomalies, it’s the ‘key to evolution.’”
It stepped closer, close enough to feel its breath.
“So you want that? The thing inside my eyes?”
“The eyes are merely a container holding the shard. I’m not taking your eyes but sharing the shard.”
Hearing that, it didn’t sound dangerous.
But… do I have any reason to give it?
It smiled.
“It’s remarkable that a human still survives while carrying That One’s shard.”
“Still survives? Does carrying it kill you?”
“It’s a power too strong for a human body to handle. Probably your body will break down in about ten years? Still, carrying the shard is a great honor.”
Wait, ten years?
My lifespan… shortened?
“Is there any benefit to me for having this?”
“…Not for humans. But it’s precious to anomalies. Just having it instills fear and awe in humans. Everyone would fear you.”
Memories flashed through my mind.
School friends who ran away scared when I spoke to them.
Elders screaming “thief” when I tried to help.
Most women turning pale and fleeing.
This shard ruined my life.
This was why I was still a virgin.
A sharp sting.
And the pain in my eyes worsened.
It felt like my eyeballs were about to tear.
I recently realized for sure—
The world’s dangers are not just anomalies.
Humans, too, can be equally threatening.
Whether human or anomaly, if they harm me, it’s the same.
If it benefits me, and if this pain can be gone,
I would hand over this shard immediately.
It reached out again.
“So, I want to make a contract. Can I pay the price and take the shard?”
No reason to hesitate.
“Fine. If you promise not to harm humans, you can take it.”
All three eyes shone brightly.
“You’re willing to give it for such a small price? You’re the first human without greed. Fine, all humans are tough for my survival, but I will never harm humans connected to you. Is that okay?”
I nodded slightly.
As long as the people around me are safe, that’s all that matters.
“Then, thank you.”
A red line was drawn in the air.
A red thread bloomed from Gigonggukin’s fingertip toward my eyes.
An alien sensation almost stopping my breath.
Something deep behind my eyes was being pulled out.
The red thread was sucked into her third eye.
Her body trembled lightly.
“Haa… good. Very good.”
Her skin flushed red, and the torn flesh healed.
Her crumbling body was rapidly restored.
“With this, my seal will soon break.”
I asked carefully,
“So now I can live longer?”
She smiled and shook her head.
“No, one alone isn’t enough. The shard’s power is too strong. If you keep meeting beings like me and share the shards, your lifespan might increase. Maybe about eight more years?”
So, to live longer,
I have to keep meeting anomalies and passing on this shard.
Plus all the slanders I’ll face.
No more people running scared of my eyes, and I might even meet women.
‘A human carrying a shard…’
When Gigonggukin first found Minwoo, her first feeling was murderous intent.
How dare a mere human carry That One’s shard.
No reason, no circumstances,
Only the thought to take it filled her mind.
But when facing the human—
‘I like you.’
She didn’t understand.
Just a feeling.
An affection without reason or condition.
She liked him.
“Fine. If you promise not to harm humans, you can take it.”
And more surprisingly,
The human was willing to give the shard without any greed.
Gigonggukin couldn’t believe it.
That One’s shard makes anomalies strong.
Plus, the awe it radiates causes fear in humans,
Making it ideal for harvesting anomalies.
But to give this precious shard unconditionally?
…No other greed.
The third eye on her forehead,
The eye that pierces truth and lies, told her—
This human only gives it up because the shard is unnecessary to him.
That’s why she liked him more.
Humans are always tools and prey for anomalies.
But contracts are different.
Equal conditions and price—
That is the true way of anomalies.
Gigonggukin decided to bring out the greatest gift she could offer.
To be continued.
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