Chapter 104: There Is No Line １０ in Seoul (４)

****

“This is the Director. Currently standing by on basement level 4. If anyone is in a position to receive this transmission, please respond.”

I spoke into the radio, but no answer came back. What now? There was broadcasting equipment visible in the control room, but it didn’t look like it would work.

There were a few options.

First. Go back upstairs myself and radio the field support team. Could even step outside the underground bunker entirely.

Second. Search this floor myself. Check how many task force members survived, or find where they’re hiding.

Third. Go deeper. It’s not like the task force has to be present for the mission to be completed. I’ve already eliminated one threat anyway—if I’m just doing reconnaissance, there’s nothing I can’t do alone.

Basement level 5. Do I go down, or not?

[Director. Are you alive?]

“Identification.”

[This is Moon-6. Science officer.]

“Where are you?”

[I made my way back up to basement level 3. I’m not sure where the other task force members are. I can’t reach them.]

“…”

I thought for a moment. There were so many mimics that running into one was a concern, but this one seemed to talk like a person…

“Science Officer. Come back down here. We’re continuing the reconnaissance.”

[The task force might all be dead, you know.]

“Come see this. I just killed a human from the Orchestra’s leadership. And besides—don’t we still need to find the task force members?”

The task force science officer was silent. Another person might have lost their composure when told their comrades were all dead, but.

Moon-6, the task force science officer, was not that kind of person.

[Is that an order?]

“Yes.”

[Give me five minutes. I’ll comply.]

I heard a sniffle from the other end of the radio. I switched it off for a moment. Five minutes should be enough for them to find their way here…

I let out a sigh.

****

[This is Moon-6. I’ve arrived on site.]

I looked at the science officer.

“Did you see any task force members on the way here?”

[No. I didn’t find any bodies either. Just a bunch of soldiers I couldn’t place and mimics whose bodies were slowly melting.]

“See? We’ll have to go find them.”

[Understood.]

“Like I said before. If the other task force members were dragged off, or chasing something—that’s reason enough to head down to basement level 5.”

[That aside. Who is this person?]

“A rebel faction of the Foundation. I don’t know the specifics, but it looks like they were raising mimics inside this structure. If we keep looking, we might find mimic eggs nearby.”

[That does… make sense.]

“That’s what I think. The Orchestra was raising mimics in here. The connection to the Pitch-Black King seems honestly pretty thin.”

The control room was a relatively safe position. The science officer took off their gas mask. The communication gear attached to the mask and helmet came off too.

“Ah. Let’s sit for about five minutes and then head down.”

****

Basement level 5. The generator.

It wasn’t running, but the sight of the massive machinery evoked a great cathedral. A colossal power that dwarfed humanity.

“Not exactly cutting-edge technology, is it?”

[It’s from the military dictatorship era. And engineers like this kind of retro stuff. Things a person can fix with hand tools.]

I looked around.

Basement level 5 wasn’t spacious. There was hardly any room for a person to hide, unless they were crawling between the pipes.

[You change every time I see you, Director.]

“In what way?”

[It’s been about a year since we started working together, hasn’t it? We must have studied and trained together. And in that time, you became the Director of the Human Weapon Research Institute. And me…]

“Ah.”

[I’m sorry. I’ll focus on the mission.]

“Well… go ahead. See anything?”

[It clearly looks like a fossil-fuel thermal power turbine, but I have no idea what this place is for. Where the oil comes in, where the steam vents out…]

“Surprising. I was certain the power generation mechanism would be a nuclear fission plant. Do they think fossil fuel supply will still hold up after the nuclear war?”

[I feel like we’re missing something.]

It’s always like this underground. The answer is below.

****

Basement level 6. Laboratory.

Basement level 7. Control room.

Basement level 8. This is… what the hell is this, goddamn it.

We hung from the ladder and looked down. What was on basement level 8 was something completely beyond expectation.

Should I call it a quarry? Though parts of it were reinforced with concrete, steel frames, and railings here and there. Basement level 8 was a cave.

A cave with stalactites growing throughout.

At the center of basement level 8 was a pit about ten meters in diameter. Something like a submersible was suspended over the pit… no, it wasn’t. It was tossed aside next to the pit.

Basement level 8. We must be at least a hundred meters below sea level by now. What is this pit? A well? A bomb shelter beneath a bomb shelter?

“…”

[Wait, that breathing…]

A gagging sound came through the radio. I walked over to the science officer.

“Are you alright?”

[…]

The science officer fell straight into the pit. I squeezed my eyes shut, but… even after a long while, no sound of impact, no scream came up. What the hell happened?

I tied a rope to a suitable spot and connected it to my belt. Then I tossed a decent-sized pebble into the pit.

For some reason, there was no sound of it hitting the bottom.

In the end, I couldn’t contain my curiosity and aimed a laser rangefinder into the pit. The laser rangefinder beeped.

Wow, goddamn it. What the hell is this?

Approximately 8 kilometers to the bottom of the pit.

****

Let me summarize for a moment.

We were fighting the Pitch-Black King, then followed its traces to investigate an abandoned subway station.

The abandoned subway station was actually a Cold War-era underground bunker, and inside, mimics and resistance operatives were waiting for us.

The entire task force is missing.

At basement level 8 of the underground bunker, there’s a pit 8 kilometers deep. I can’t tell what it is, but it’s certainly not a normal phenomenon.

First… first, let’s stay calm. I took the Crystal Clock out of my pocket and held it in my hand.

“Dr. Lee.”

[What are you doing now?]

“The underground bunker. There were mimics, and I killed some Group of Interest members before reaching the bottom. But there’s a pit at the deepest part of the bunker.”

[Dr. Geum. Have you lost your mind? Get a grip. Did the underground gas scramble your head?]

“Huh?”

[The entire task force is missing. The science officer died right in front of your eyes—whether by suicide or a misstep. What are you doing sitting alone in a cave?]

“…”

[Get out of the bunker. Now.]

I nodded. Fair point. Following the Crystal Clock’s advice, I brushed off my clothes and used my gun as a cane to stand up.

****

[Underground Bunker Exploration]

[Filed by: Section Chief, Recovery Section 1.]

[I plan to submit my resignation after this is over. It’s truly, absurdly horrible. It still haunts my dreams. Dozens of mimics wearing my colleagues’ faces, and I had to kill them one by one.]

[Doesn’t that mean every anomaly, every oddity in that underground bunker is lurking just a few dozen meters away. Beneath the city?]

[I’ve reached the point where just looking at a manhole cover makes me nauseous. If this isn’t indescribable terror, what is?]

[All task force members returned safely, except for the science officer. They say the Orchestra bastards were gunning for the Director.]

[It’s a bit embarrassing, but the task force members encountered an anomaly that blocked their vision and just ran straight back. That’s protocol, though. Fighting in an environment where you can’t fight is just dying for nothing.]

****

[Re: Underground Bunker Exploration — Research Considerations]

[Filed by: Head of Research]

[This document is for the access of all soldiers and research personnel who participated in the operation.]

[My sincere condolences. If needed, we can adjust your memories or emotional state, so please contact the Human Resources Department if you wish.]

[Follow-up investigation did turn up something noteworthy. The underground bunker was using geothermal power as its primary power source. It was also borrowing Seoul’s power grid, though.]

[Shocking, isn’t it? Geothermal, in the middle of Seoul?]

[And that underground pit the Director discovered—same thing. What on earth could have made something like that? What’s down there at basement level 8—no, 8 kilometers beneath Seoul—that would have created a passage like that?]

[There’s a saying in ecology that sounds like an urban legend. The explanation is a bit complicated—the specific term was Subsurface Lithoautotrophic Microbial Ecosystem, or SLiME, to put it simply.]

[It posits that an autotrophic ecosystem independent of sunlight exists underground. Inside rock.]

[Opinions vary on how widespread this is… but my opinion is this.]

[Everything the public knows about fossil fuels is a lie. Oil reserves keep increasing every time, and it keeps being discovered in places with no connection to sedimentation whatsoever.]

[Oil is a byproduct of this massive subterranean autotrophic ecosystem. It’s not fossil fuel discovered hundreds of millions of years ago. How many oil fields with increasing reserves are there right now?]

[And this subterranean autotrophic ecosystem is hardly an isolated phenomenon. Rather, dozens of kilometers underground, an entire stratum is composed wholly of oil and these microorganisms.]

[Sorry. I got carried away with the technical talk. I’ll submit the follow-up in paper format.]

[Everything we know is a lie.]

[The truth of the world is something you have to see for yourself.]