Chapter 4: Your Three Predecessors Died

*****

“Dr. Geum. Can I come in now?”

“That’s a door that locks from the outside, you know.”

Click, click.

The iron door of the containment cell slowly opened.

Nanami walked into my containment cell. This time she wasn’t in combat gear, just an ordinary black suit.

Nanami didn’t come any further into my containment cell. She leaned against the iron door and began to speak.

“Dr. Lee was the first Chief Researcher of the Director’s Office at this facility, as I remember. While researching an artifact, his soul and body were separated.”

What’s her angle in telling me this? I nodded along for now. Nanami seemed satisfied with my response.

“His successor was Professor Kim. Professor Kim was also Chief Researcher of the Director’s Office here. A fine person who devoted himself to the protection of humanity and the pursuit of truth. Though he ended his own life by his own hand.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Dr. Ahn took over after him. Also an excellent scientist. Regrettably, that life, too, ended by its own hand.”

“You must have been deeply grieved.”

Nanami nodded with a somber expression.

“It truly is a tragedy. Anyway. You’ll be the next Chief Researcher.”

“Uh, what?”

Nanami didn’t seem to have noticed the irony in her own words yet. I stared at her with blank eyes.

“Is it that difficult a job?”

“It’s not an easy one.”

“Can’t I take a different post?”

Nanami shook her head.

“No.”

I let out a sigh. What am I supposed to do about this?

I’d rather not take a hellish post and work myself to suicide… but I don’t want to stay in this containment cell forever either.

Staying in the containment cell isn’t the real problem. What if the Foundation changes its mind and decides to dissect me? I made up my mind.

I’ll just go and do well.

All I have to do is do better than the people who killed themselves.

“Then. I’ll take it.”

“Good. My efforts weren’t wasted.”

“You can start coming in around next week. Prepare a black suit. If you need to go out to the field or on inspections, you’ll wear that.”

I’d been locked in this containment cell for the past several days — how am I supposed to prepare a suit? Maybe this means they’ll let me go outside soon.

Nanami stopped leaning against the door and stood up straight. I looked at her again.

“Follow me out of the containment cell. There’s something I need to give you.”

*****

The Director’s Office storage room.

Ah, not a storage room.

Apparently it’s the Director’s Office Anomaly Containment Wing. It only holds Safe-class immobile anomalies, so it’s practically no different from a storage room. Nanami rummaged through the room and handed me a box.

“What is this?”

“Dr. Lee.”

“Pardon?”

“This is the Dr. Lee I mentioned earlier. Dr. Lee’s consciousness is contained in this crystal clock, you see? If there’s anything you don’t know from now on, ask him.”

“This man works even after death.”

“He doesn’t seem particularly unhappy about it.”

Fair enough.

From the outside, it was just an ordinary crystal showing no signs of life activity whatsoever.

“It’s fine to touch it, right?”

Nanami nodded, and I carefully opened the box to check its contents. It was a thumb-sized, yellowish crystal.

“How do I use it?”

“There should be one somewhere in this room. A communication device built on a base of that crystal clock. Where it is… I think we’ll have to look around a bit.”

Nanami started searching the room. I pretended to help look, but since I didn’t know anything, there wasn’t much I could do.

“Nanami, are you someone high up in the Foundation?”

“Me? No. No one wants to listen to what I say. They merely respect my power and respect the authority of the Director’s Office.”

This might be an exploitable weakness. I glanced at Nanami for a moment.

“Why is that?”

Nanami faltered.

“Probably for the same reason you do.”

The moment she said that, the atmosphere around Nanami turned cold in an instant. What does she mean — the same reason I have for ignoring her?

Or maybe the reason people ignore me and the reason they ignore Nanami are the same?

“Found it.”

“Found what?”

“The Crystal Clock.”

*Click.*

Nanami inserted a crystal into the clock and handed it to me. Tick, tick, tick. The Crystal Clock began to tick with a strange sound.

“It’s on?”

“It’s on.”

“I have work to do, so I’ll be going. If you look around the Director’s Office floor, your office should be ready for you. Good luck.”

“Yes.”

Nanami vanished in an instant.

****

Still, I got the Crystal Clock. And I sat in an office with my name on the door.

My office wasn’t very spacious and had no windows, but still. I’d only been here a few days and they’d already set me up with an office and a nameplate.

Come to think of it, this was probably the office my suicidal predecessors had used. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth. They didn’t kill themselves *inside* the office, did they?

Anyway.

The Crystal Clock ticked in my hand.

If what Nanami said was true, then this clock was an anomaly, and it could communicate with me. What should I do? I stared straight at the Crystal Clock.

“Um. Dr. Lee, how do you do?”

There was no response.

“I start work next week, but I have no mentor and no one to help me. So I was hoping you could help me out, Dr. Lee.”

What nonsense was I spouting. A supposed scientist, talking to a clock. I set the clock down on the desk with a thud.

*Beep, beep, beep.*

[Oh? So you’re my successor?]

“I don’t think so. I heard two Chief Researchers of the Director’s Office before me committed suicide.”

I looked at the clock again.

I had more than a few questions.

This anomaly must have its own rules. If Dr. Lee’s consciousness remained inside the crystal, how was that information stored?

For instance, if I could analyze the crystal’s data with a computer. Could I copy Dr. Lee’s consciousness into a computer program?

If I broke the crystal partially, would its properties remain intact? Why did the Foundation keep the Crystal Clock hidden in storage instead of using it?

Unknown territory. I’d have to research it.

“By the way. What did Dr. Lee do wrong to get your mind sealed in a crystal? What exactly is Anomaly O-2370?”

[I don’t really know either. After I was sealed in here, all research on this crystal was forbidden. But at least communication through the Crystal Clock is possible, so that’s a relief… I suppose.]

“That’s not really an answer to my question.”

[We called O-2370 the Soul Stone. We judged it capable of storing high-density information. I never imagined that would end up being me.]

“Does it hurt, being inside the crystal?”

[It doesn’t hurt.]

The Crystal Clock began to tick steadily.

[As Chief Researcher of the Director’s Office, you’ll probably have quite a lot of work. People will come asking you to look at the anomalies they manage.]

“Yes.”

[You’ll have to explain science to the non-scientists in the Director’s Office, and you’ll be called out to the field fairly often.]

[Still, do your best. It’s certainly hard enough to drive someone to suicide, like your predecessors. But the power you’re given is considerable, and it’s a job on the front lines of saving humanity.]

“Understood.”

[For now, let’s start with studying. There should be a book called ‘Understanding Anomalies’ among your predecessor’s belongings — go search the office.]

“Is it okay to rummage through the deceased’s things?”

[Of course. Their death is their own problem.]

I searched the office. Just as the Crystal Clock had said, in one corner of the office there was a book called ‘Understanding Anomalies.’

It was a bigger book than I’d expected.

About the size of a general chemistry textbook.

[If you have no experience handling anomalies, there’s no helping it. You have to start here. Take workshops and classes whenever you can, and ask your colleagues for help too.]

“What made the Director’s Office take me in?”

[I don’t know either. The Foundation’s information team, Precognition Team, or remote viewing team might have seen some absurd potential in you. Or they might think you’ll die within a week.]

“Let’s go with the former, for now.”

I let out a sigh and opened the textbook.

****

[POLYGRAPH EXAMINATION RESULTS]

[Filed by: Min Ari]

[This is the HR Section Chief. The polygraph examination of Anomaly H-1124 has been completed successfully. It is the conclusion of the Human Resources Department that Anomaly H-1124 poses no danger in working for the Foundation.]

[H-1124 did not tell a single lie during the examination. The statement that she does not know the cause of the anomaly she experienced was also confirmed to be true.]

[The polygraph data and conversation recordings will be attached separately.]

[P.S. The medical department will need to complete their examination before detailed records can be made, but the physical examination has turned up more than one or two peculiarities.]

****

[Researcher Geumbari — Notable Findings from Examination]

[Filed by: Cheon Gyeongchae]

[Security Clearance: Access restricted to Human Resources Department]

[Since all the results are attached anyway, I’ll get straight to the point. At present, Anomaly H-1124, Geumbari, does not match the identity of any human being ever recorded in our files.]

[It is reasonable to regard her as a newly created person.]

[Furthermore, the physiological body age of Anomaly H-1124, as measured by diagnostic laboratory medicine, is estimated to be 17–20 years old. This differs from her claimed mental age by ten years.]

[At this point, I believe you’ll have a clue as to what kind of anomaly H-1124 experienced. If you have any other questions about the examination results, feel free to contact me.]

****

[Re: Researcher Geumbari — Notable Findings from Examination]

[Filed by: Min Ari]

[Dr. Cheon, you lack the talent for writing in a way that even a non-doctor can understand. Of course, I understood perfectly well, but it seems you might need to write a bit more clearly from now on.]