episode_0174

He was a man who strangely made people angry.

I stepped on the cigarette pack that had fallen on the floor, thinking of his face.

PAJIK – A small, blue-colored lightning bolt burns away the cigarette.

I escaped the white smoke rising from the cigarettes and headed towards the museum after leaving the alley.

Despite the considerable commotion, there was no sign of movement in the museum.

I waved my hands and ran towards the truck the man had just approached.

Dismissal – A blue light spread out into the air, causing all the surrounding surveillance cameras to turn their direction.

“Um…”

Buzzing – A vibrating sound coming from your pocket.

I took out my phone again and checked, but it wasn’t Amy’s call.

Missed call list of Shine and Rain.

I felt a little creeped out because I received over 100 calls in such a short period of time.

I swallowed hard and answered the phone.

“Hey…”

[Jeff!!!!!!]

A high-pitched voice that shakes your eardrums.

I put the phone away, clutching my ringing ears.

“Shine…”

[Where are you? Where are you?]

“Where Amy ran to. She’s in front of the museum now.”

[Why didn’t you listen!]

Daeno.

Shine’s fiery anger was transmitted through the cell phone.

I shut my eyes tightly and broke out in a cold sweat.

“That… That. You guys don’t seem very interested in the mission…”

[Amy said! Be quiet! And Jeff, you were hoping that time would last a long time!]

I shut my mouth when I heard Shine’s voice over the phone.

I held my phone between my shoulder and cheek and started searching through the interior of the truck.

The interior was cluttered with papers with delivery items written on them.

Perhaps because he wasn’t the type to clean the interior thoroughly, there was trash strewn about in every corner.

[Jeff, are you listening?]

“Yeah… I’m listening.”

I answered with a small sigh.

Then Shine’s voice flew in.

[Did you just sigh?]

“Oh, no! That’s. It’s a little difficult…”

[If it’s hard, just wait! We can do it together. I’ll help you. Why are you trying to do it alone?]

I had nothing to say to Shine’s words.

I should say I feel a little bit let down.

With that thought in mind, I continued to examine the interior of the truck.

But I couldn’t find anything that looked particularly special.

At best, there were a few peanut brittles and an empty cigarette pack found in the glove box.

I packed the peanut butter cookies carefully in my pocket.

I didn’t know that it might be used as important evidence later.

After examining the driver’s seat, it was now time to check out the cargo area.

I jumped out of the driver’s seat and looked back toward the museum.

Even though the direction of the surveillance camera was changed, the person I loved inside did not crawl out.

There was definitely something wrong inside.

[Jeff. We’re almost there. You’re waiting, right?]

“Yeah. I’m waiting.”

I moved to the cargo hold while answering Shine’s words.

The door was wide open, so it was easy to look inside.

A vast, empty space.

It had the structure of an ordinary truck.

Just a plain space with no special features, just a few scuff marks on the floor.

I sighed and leaned against the truck.

As I was just blankly waiting for my turn, a taxi started to rush by in the distance.

The taxi that was running towards the main entrance of the museum suddenly changed direction and rushed towards where I was standing.

As I jumped back in surprise, the taxi slammed on its brakes with a loud noise.

Squeak-.

Long tire marks and the smell of burnt fuel waft up.

As black smoke began to slowly rise, Rain and Shine emerged from the taxi.

Bam! Shine flew out of the open door and ran straight towards me.

I couldn’t move.

Because I noticed a tear slightly welling up in her eye.

“Jeff!”

Shine’s voice, heard right in front of me, not over the phone.

Somehow, the voice that gave me a sense of relief made my heightened sense of vigilance ease.

Shine hugged me tightly.

A face digging into my arms and a hand tightly hugging my back.

I smiled awkwardly at her suffocating arms and patted her on the back.

“Jeff!”

Rain also hugged me like Shine.

Is it because I ran in a hurry?

One of Lane’s shoes was missing.

For a long time, I was held by the two people and couldn’t move.

As if calming down a little, Shine fell away from me first.

“Are you here?”

There was no need for much story.

They performed the same mission as me.

Although they seemed uninterested, both of them knew the information I had collected.

“I can’t reach Amy. She doesn’t answer my texts or calls.”

I said, looking at the museum.

“I know. I tried calling earlier, but he didn’t answer. Either the signal wasn’t working. Or he was too busy to answer. One of the two.”

Rain also muttered softly, as if he had called Amy when he came here.

I thought.

Is it right to come here all at once?

All together?

Isn’t it dangerous?

“Jeff.”

It was Rain’s actions that put an end to such thoughts.

She opened her mouth, holding my trembling hand tightly.

“Let’s go.”

Her mood changed at some point.

It was a feeling I had seen a few times before, while training.

I nodded and headed forward.

Even as I walked towards the door where the man had first appeared, I did not let my guard down.

The wide-spread electric field transmitted information about everything around me.

It doesn’t miss even the slightest movement of a bug.

However, until I approached the door, I couldn’t find anything special.

Right next to the door the man had come out of, there was a large iron door that could be used to transport large cargo, but it appeared that this door could not be opened from the outside.

“I’ll go in.”

We entered the building.

When I opened the door and entered, there was a space cluttered with all sorts of miscellaneous things.

As I looked around, I could see thick dust accumulating in the corners.

It’s not a space that’s used very often.

The faint smell of dust proved it.

But there was one thing that was unnatural.

“Over there…”

I led Shine and Rain towards there.

All sorts of miscellaneous items were strewn about without any particular pattern, but one of them seemed to be completely empty.

I bent down straight away and touched the floor.

Phagejik – The current that flows through the tip of the finger instantly sweeps through the interior of the building.

And I was able to realize one thing.

There was a large underground facility here.

The detailed internal structure could not be determined.

Because there was a strange current surrounding it that was interfering with my transmission.

“I think there’s something down here.”

I said so and tapped the floor.

Knock, knock – the cold floor made a faint sound as it hit my palm.

“Could this be a secret passage?”

I nodded to Shine’s words and got up from my seat.

And then I stamped my feet lightly.

Phagectic – A slight electric current leaves the body and skims the ground through the tips of the feet.

The flow connected to this passage twists and forces the machine to operate.

Rattling-!

There was a sound of something moving, and the previously tightly closed passage in the floor began to open.

What looked like an ordinary floor slowly began to descend.

It’s an elevator.

The three of us climbed right on it.

The initial anxiety quickly subsides.

The feeling that you are not alone.

That one fact gave me a sense of relief.

A calm heartbeat can be heard slowly.

I immediately took up my position.

Rain and Shine also took the same stance as me, so that they could jump out anytime and anywhere.

When a slight tension begins to envelop your entire body.

Finally, the elevator stopped working.

The front door, which had been tightly closed with a black iron door, begins to slowly open.

The door was wide open, and I opened my mouth at the sight beyond.

People were lying around.

“What the…”

A hand stretched out pitifully was touching the floor, as if it had been running towards this place.

A man wearing a white gown.

He had his eyes closed as if he had lost consciousness, but judging from the faint sound of his breathing, he seemed to be alive.

I looked around and walked forward cautiously.

Rain walked forward as if guarding my surroundings.

Dozens of small water droplets were floating around her, and if you looked closely, you could see that they were rotating at incredible speeds.

I turned the man’s body over and over.

He seemed to be wearing glasses, as there were broken glasses lying around him.

“Jeff. Don’t touch that.”

As I was rummaging through the fallen man’s pockets, Shine gently pulled me back.

She looked very upset.

“Why?”

“They’re bad people.”

“I know too.”

“Don’t touch.”

“We need to collect evidence.”

But Shine shook her head at my words.

“Jeff’s not touching anything bad. I’ll do it.”

What’s the difference between what she does and what I do?

But I couldn’t refuse Shine’s words and just nodded.

Shine rummaged through the man’s pockets as he lay there, then took out a small card.

“This is…”

Shine held up the card and held it up to the light.

The transparent light sparkles.

Employee card.

It was a familiar object.

Shine, who had been fiddling with the cards, turned around, looked at me, and hid the cards in her hand behind her back.

I don’t know why he’s hiding it, but I didn’t bother to ask why.

We passed the man and went a little further inside.

There were also people collapsed on the way inside.

As if being chased by something, or as if chasing something.

I ran my hand along the wall without saying a word.

Several blackened, charred marks and marks that appeared to be human fists were imprinted on the solid iron wall.

“I think Amy passed by here.”

We ran in the direction the trail continued.

The further inside you go, the more intense the signs of battle become.

It was clear that the entrance was blocked by a solid steel door, but the door was dented and rolled around in a corner, as if it had been hit by something.

It was clear that Amy had forced the door open by banging on it with her fist.

Lane looked at the dented door and stroked his hair.