Baek Saheon looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Yet at the same time, he kept his voice as low as possible, as if he just wanted to escape the strangling supernatural disaster without being noticed.
But Agent Bronze did not release him from his restraints.
He just glanced at the golden stick I was holding, which I’d taken from Baek Saheon’s pocket, and asked a question.
“What does drawing that mean?”
“What do you mean, what does it mean? It means I’m absolutely fucked! That’s why I have to get out before the last day of the festival. Right now, from here…”
“But earlier, I saw the person who drew that stick being congratulated. And I heard that at next year’s event, they’re given an important role…”
Baek Saheon’s lips parted but he couldn’t say anything.
Still, his eyes were filled with fear and anger.
I met Agent Bronze’s eyes.
He gave a slight nod, then asked in a calm tone,
“If that’s the case, then explain how you got HQ’s direct rescue number.”
“Ha! Isn’t that one of the numbers you people hid all around the village?”
“Everyone here knows about them. The whole village knows. They just leave them alone. But how do you think anyone calls that number?”
Baek Saheon spit out his words sarcastically.
“Wait a minute. You noticed the Bureau’s instructions, but you just leave them lying around?”
“That’s right! Whether outsiders drink shinsanju, reach enlightenment and hang themselves, drown themselves in the river, or rot at the bottom of the well, whether they all forget and go back to living their lives, nobody cares. It doesn’t matter if a few manage to escape. The only thing they care about is not getting contaminated by misfortune, so they just manage things for that!”
“‘Contaminated by misfortune’? What kind of misfortune?”
Baek Saheon clamped his mouth shut again.
Sweat dripped down his jaw.
Watching him suffer under supernatural fear and pressure left me with a strange feeling of gloom.
‘…Is it because it reminds me of myself?’
But that was just my perspective.
“Looks like you can’t answer.”
Agent Bronze clearly felt no sympathy for Baek Saheon.
At the end of the day, he was the one who, as part of his job, killed those who possessed the tapes at the mountain lodge.
And this other guy was selected as a villain by the Disaster Management Bureau.
Baek Saheon had the tape.
“If you know so much, walk out on your own.”
At Agent Bronze’s cold words, Baek Saheon seemed to assess the situation, glancing around.
But in the next moment, his voice turned calm.
“Look, you know that thing, right? I know it too. The pile of stones in front of the village pine tree. If you put a stone on top, pray, and the agents walk with their arms linked on either side, you can leave the village safely, right?”
He was exactly right.
If you walk ninety-nine steps east from the well, there’s a withered pine tree. You have to place a small stone on the stone pile in front of it.
Then you recite ‘Turn back and grant us your protection’ three times, and as long as everyone links arms, with the agents on the ends and the rescuee in the center, you can all return safely to the real world… That’s the current rule.
You always need at least three people for this, which is why two agents are dispatched.
So, don’t forget. Agents on the left and right, link arms with the rescuee in the center!
“E-Everything’s been discovered. They’ve been discovered for decades. That’s the rescue method, right? Please, do it for me! I’m the one who reported this! That’s how it’s supposed to work!”
Baek Saheon’s voice was desperate and resentful.
“That doesn’t work for villagers.”
“I mean, for someone who lives in this village, it won’t work.”
– I’ll say it again, this doesn’t work on villagers during the festival, so don’t try it recklessly. If you try without being prepared, you might get lost between the village and reality.
“Villagers can’t leave safely by that method.”
“…I don’t live here anymore. I live in Seoul.”
Agent Bronze didn’t answer.
Baek Saheon’s voice grew desperate, almost pleading.
“I-I only come here once a month, no, just every two or three months for a few days, that’s all. I don’t live here! I’m not one of these crazy shitheads!”
“The standard is whether you’re wearing a feather during the festival.”
Baek Saheon’s gaze dropped to his own chest, where he was still wearing a rooster feather.
He twitched, as if trying to tear it off, but then stopped, as if realizing it was impossible.
And then he muttered,
“No, that can’t be. I’m an adult and I don’t live here, so I’m an outsider. Then… then there must be another way. You’re supposed to save civilians, right? You’re supposed to help the person who reported it.”
Agent Bronze declared in a cold voice,
“At present, it is impossible.”
“Then you’ll all die too.”
Baek Saheon opened his mouth.
“OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountlesspeaks! OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountlesspeaks! OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountlesspeaks! OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountle—mmph!”
I hurriedly covered Baek Saheon’s mouth.
A sharp pain shot through my hand as the flesh was torn.
“These people are stealing the Chosen One! They’re stealing the Chosen One! They’re bringing misfortune!”
Agent Bronze quickly pulled my hand away, and the instant the pressure on Baek Saheon’s mouth loosened, his voice burst out again.
“OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountlesspeaks…”
Figures appeared behind the abandoned house.