Chapter 61: We Don’t Know What They Are (１)

****

“Section Chief Gwon. What is this?”

“My resignation.”

I let out a sigh. A small envelope sat on my desk. Behind it, Section Chief Gwon of the Precognition Division was waiting.

“And the reason?”

A resignation, huh. Honestly, it wasn’t that I couldn’t understand. But it wasn’t time for you to resign yet.

“The failure to foresee the Mist City incident, and a disagreement with the facility’s leadership.”

Nonsense.

I tore the resignation letter—envelope and all—in half and tossed it aside. The Precognition Division chief just stared at me blankly.

“Section Chief Gwon. If you’re resigning because you truly can’t do the job, then come back with it laminated.”

“Yes.”

“We’ve got a lot of newly hired staff, don’t we? Teach the new recruits and work hard. There’s no one to take your position right now anyway, is there?”

Section Chief Gwon lowered his head.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’ve already apologized plenty. There’s no hard feelings, so show me with results from now on.”

“Thank you.”

“That aside. Since you’re here, let’s have your report. Any notable findings to report to the Precognition Division?”

The Precognition Division chief thought for a moment.

“Around 4 PM, an incident may occur in the eastern sky. I’m not certain.”

“It’s not something that would damage the Veil of Ignorance or cause mass casualties, right?”

“Probably not.”

I thought for a moment.

“Ah, and… there was something I wanted to say. The Laptop That Sees the Future and the Parallel Mirror—you can take them back now.”

Section Chief Gwon furrowed his brow.

Previously, I’d thought it best for the Director’s Office to manage those anomalies. I had no power, and if there was an anomaly that could lend me strength, I wanted to hold onto even one.

“Oh, really?”

But now, there was no need.

Now I was in a position to order emergency cooperation whenever I wanted. There was no need to draw blades and fight a power struggle with the Precognition Division over something like that.

“Th-thank you.”

“Would you like to take them now? The mirror is a bit bulky, though. The laptop you can take right away. Um, one moment.”

No need to drag it out. I took out the laptop and handed it to the Precognition Division chief. He received The Laptop That Sees the Future carefully.

“Then, I’ll be going.”

“You’re done with the resignation idea, right?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

With those words, the Precognition Division chief left my office. Carrying the laptop carefully.

It was a bit funny. That chief had fought with me for a long time the moment I joined, but now he was my man. And a very useful piece, at that.

****

The assignments the research interns had sent my way were piling up. It was my own fault for putting on airs and telling them to study and send their work to me.

I’d only added to my own workload.

I had no idea what the research interns thought they were sending me. Paper summaries, observation reports, research logs…

They really sent a bit of everything. What was I supposed to do with all this? Grade them? Or just read them and be done with it?

I’m tired.

Knock, knock. As expected, a knock sounded at my office door. The research interns must have arrived.

“Come in.”

“Research intern, Park Seon.”

There were more of them than last time. Was this that self-replicating anomaly thing or whatever it was?

“When are you all getting hired?”

“Ah, most of us should be hired right after this month ends. We’re already going to our assigned posts to study and get work experience.”

“Most?”

“Ah, there’s still a selection process, you see.”

“I’ll look into it again. We studied together—it wouldn’t be right for some to pass and some to fail.”

“Thank you, Director.”

The students bowed to me.

****

The incident broke out around 4 PM, just as the Precognition Division chief had said. A flood of urgent communications from outside the Foundation began pouring in…

“Director.”

It’s Administrator Lee.

“Yes?”

“The Foundation’s Busan Branch has requested assistance. A problem has occurred off the east coast, and the Busan Branch says it can’t handle it with its own resources.”

The Busan Branch. Along with the Seoul Branch, one of the two major facilities in Korea. Slightly smaller than the Seoul Branch, it manages the southern part of the country.

“I’ll head there immediately. Please prepare a helicopter.”

I rose from my seat.

“But what kind of incident can’t the Busan Branch handle? Must be something serious?”

Administrator Lee tilted her head.

“They shot down an unidentified flying object. I have no idea what kind of nonsense that is either.”

“Hmm. Well, if it fell from the sky and they don’t know what it is, it *is* an unidentified flying object, right? I suppose I’ll just have to go see for myself.”

Facility 82 has no ships. The Busan Branch does, though. I’ll figure it out once I get there.

“The helicopter is ready. It will depart as soon as you, Director, are prepared.”

“Is this a combat situation? Which specialists are being sent to this incident?”

“It shouldn’t require combat. The specialists to deploy have already been selected. They were chosen mainly from the Foundation’s engineers.”

They’re asking for engineers only.

So it’s not particularly dangerous, then? If they’re requesting engineers, this incident must be related to machinery.

“Also, I pulled the cooperation request sent by the Busan Branch and brought it with me. It’s essentially asking for research assistance. If you’d like to take a look—”

Did they really find an alien craft or something?

A moment later.

The phone on my desk began to ring.

Not many people have a hotline connected to me. In fact, only one place does. The Foundation HQ never contacts me first.

The Anomalous Incident Response Agency, under the Ministry of National Defense.

I picked up the phone.

“This is Director Geum. What can I do for you?”

[This is the head of the Bureau of Special Phenomena. We have a rather serious situation. An Air Force F-35 shot down an unidentified flying object off the east coast.]

“Ah. Why would you do that?”

[At the scene, we judged the unidentified flying object to be a Chinese military drone. However, after searching, it turned out not to be a Chinese military drone but something entirely different.]

The Anomalous Incident Response Agency can be seen as a kind of subcontractor. In terms of work, the Foundation often passes along relatively simple cases to them.

They also coordinate between the government and the Foundation’s activities. Of course, as a government agency, they can’t be completely ignored or designated as a Group of Interest and eliminated.

And this—this is a situation where there’s going to be some fighting.

“Is it your organization’s policy to open fire without even confirming what the target is?”

[No, it isn’t. I apologize.]

“What will you do if this incident causes certain sentient anomalies to declare war on Korea? Do you think this makes any sense?”

[I’m sorry. We’re moving as quickly as possible to control the damage and respond.]

I let out a sigh.

“All right, explain the situation in more detail.”

[Yes. Around 15:00 today, one unidentified flying object was detected off the east coast.]

[Judging that this unidentified flying object might be a new Chinese military drone, the Air Force, in coordination with our agency, launched fighter jets.]

“Yes.”

I nodded to myself.

[The unidentified flying object did not respond to our communications at all, and after a brief engagement, the ROK fighter shot it down.]

The voice on the other end of the line hesitated for a moment.

“Couldn’t you have contacted the Japanese and Chinese authorities to confirm whose property it was? Did you check on that?”

[We did. Both denied it.]

Naturally, it shouldn’t have been shot down.

That’s true by common sense, and it’s also true under Foundation and government protocol. No matter how unidentified the flying object is. You don’t shoot something down when you don’t know what it is and it hasn’t shown hostile intent.

I probably would have given the order to shoot it down myself, to be fair. But speaking in terms of the conclusion, that’s how it is.

“Are you going to the scene?”

[Our agency’s personnel will be going to the scene. I won’t be going to Busan myself.]

But still, now that it’s been shot down, we have to study it. The Foundation’s scientists must be getting excited too.

“Yes. I’m heading to the scene now.”

****

The helicopter, just as Administrator Lee had said, departed for Busan the moment I boarded. I put on my headset as soon as I got in.

“So, where in Busan are we going?”

Let me confirm once more.

Most of the details would be in the data sent to my terminal and the documents that came across my desk, but still.

[LADIESANDGENTLEMEN THISISYOURCAPTAINSPEAKING. I’m your helicopter pilot. Hello. We’ll be arriving in Busan in about an hour.]

“Where are we landing?”

[Well, let me relay what the Busan Branch has passed on to us. We’ll be landing on the Foundation’s research vessel, the FRS-Feynman.]

“Ah, I see.”

[The Republic of Korea Navy has requested a joint investigation, so the destroyer ROKS-Gwanggaeto the Great and the salvage ship ROKS-Cheonghaejin are moving to the scene. That’s everything the Busan Branch relayed.]

“Yes. Understood.”

The rest I’ll find out when we get there.

The helicopter flew south with a loud roar.

The scenery outside the helicopter looked peaceful, but even that was a lie. After all, they’d made a fuss today about intercepting some flying object.

On the other hand, I want to see it soon. What kind of anomaly is waiting for me this time.