Chapter 41: Recommendation for Disposal of Humanoid Anomaly (１)

****

The Foundation had secured a safe zone around Yulje-myeon. The mood at the scene was somber.

It couldn’t be helped. The Foundation had ultimately failed to protect this city, and in the process, they had lost a considerable number of personnel.

But.

In stark contrast to the gloomy atmosphere at the scene, despite the tragedy of enormous scale, there was strangely one department that was all smiles.

“Mechanical Section Chief, anomaly O-112 maintenance complete! Ready for deployment at any time!”

The Mechanical Section Chief smiled quietly.

“Ah, good work, everyone!”

Anomaly O-112, aka Longinus’s Quadcopter. A machine recovered from the research lab of a certain Group of Interest. Whoever named it, I don’t know… They named it casually. It’s intuitive, though.

“This time, I’ll take the controls myself. Engineers, please stand by behind me in case of emergency.”

The Foundation engineers nodded from behind. The Mechanical Section Chief grabbed the control stick.

“Then… let’s begin.”

The heavy machine began to emit a small purring sound, like a cat waking from sleep. The sound grew exponentially. Moments later, the ground around the quadcopter began to rumble.

“Tesla turbine online. Warming up.”

“Macro crystal oscillator warming up.”

“Causality distortion device online.”

“Ion thruster online.”

“Quadcopter gyroscope operating normally.”

“Taking off.”

The Mechanical Section Chief bit her lip to hold back a laugh. She knew this was a serious situation. But honestly, this was way too fun.

It’s a horrible scene. Horrible, sure.

But what exactly did the Mechanical Section Chief come here to do today? What she had to do was pilot a giant robot and kill monsters.

“I have control.”

At Section Chief Kim’s command, the blasphemous machine built for god-slaying soared into the sky.

****

The next day. The Foundation resumed its offensive against the city swallowed by darkness. This time, not simply with five teams, but by mobilizing the main force.

The medical team at the scene ordered me to return to the facility, citing my health.

According to the doctors, I was mentally unstable and not in a condition to command. I couldn’t very well command in that state.

I had no choice but to return to the facility.

****

Returning to the office didn’t mean I could rest. There was no way to know the full story of the incident, but I could infer it.

Let’s think.

Multiple demigod entities were summoned in a small city in Korea, and tens of thousands of casualties resulted.

Fortunately, thanks to the cognitohazard fog cast over the city, information spread could be controlled. But there was still too much we didn’t know.

This is pure speculation, but the demigods probably didn’t want to be there either.

They were killing each other desperately from the moment they were summoned. Several demigods had also died at the hands of Foundation personnel.

Perhaps someone summoned those monsters to kill them.

I don’t know the purpose, though.

Then, what about the other beings found at the scene?

An artifact presumed to be a dimensional gate was discovered in the village library. Several Librarians were also sighted. If they are the same group that attempted to recover the Returnee…

Kairos had explained.

Kairos claimed to have tried to rescue the Returnee out of compassion for a fellow oddity. If that’s true, the colleagues might have been at the scene for the purpose of rescuing someone.

“What do you think, Doctor?”

The Crystal Clock ticked in my hand.

[Do you know how to catch a lobster?]

Out of nowhere. Of course I don’t.

“With a trap?”

[You put bait in the trap and wait for the lobster to go in. A lobster can get into the trap, but it can’t get out.]

Or maybe the Group of Interest Kairos belongs to was the mastermind behind all of this. At the scene, I’d thought so too.

Now I’m not so sure, though.

“So in your view, Doctor, someone summoned the demigods and then trapped them in that area? Like lobsters in a trap?”

[The amnestic fog limited the demigods’ power, and the control over reality they would normally possess was severed by the nuclear blast or restricted by the god-killing gas.]

Meaning it wasn’t simple terrorism. Someone did this with a specific purpose. Who and for what reason—for now, I can only speculate.

[That fog. No matter how I think about it, it wasn’t made by the monsters. It’s something created to trap and hide them. If I had to guess, it’s the work of some seriously skilled people.]

I nodded.

“And what about the Library connection?”

As far as I can tell, they’re the most likely suspects. The group Kairos belongs to—the one that tried to seize a Returnee from a Foundation facility and commanded that black aberrant monster at will.

The Followers of Truth. I thought I’d found a lead, but the Crystal Clock’s response was lukewarm.

[We’ll know once the recovery team gets back. You said they found the door? The archetype of the Akashic Records is a symbol borrowed by so many occult groups.]

It is a bit complicated.

The Followers of Truth and the Librarians were hiding inside some library in that city. The library itself wasn’t an anomalous space.

It was just an ordinary library—the kind you’d find in a community center—and it merely served as a medium for summoning something.

I suspect a passage to the Temple of Truth opened through the mahogany door, but that’s not something I can verify right now.

I tilted my head.

[Considering their objectives, I don’t think they’re likely to have caused the problem directly.]

While I was at the scene, I’d been fairly convinced the Followers of Truth were suspects too. I killed anyone who seemed connected to them on sight.

The thought that they might have actually come to help—frankly, that wasn’t a pleasant idea.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I mulled it over.

Soon the recovery team and the task force would return with their findings. The mahogany door from the library would likely be brought to this facility as well.

I’d know soon enough.

****

Despite the tragedy, the Foundation was bustling with activity today. Or perhaps it was precisely because of the tragedy and failure that it was moving even more frantically.

This incident was the worst terror attack of the century and the Foundation’s largest case to date. The Foundation was reacting with extreme sensitivity.

The Security Department and Recovery Department had all personnel switched to three shifts, and other departments were advised to have all employees report to work armed.

That part isn’t the hard part.

The most serious problem right now is the official document that came down from Foundation Headquarters. It’s not that I don’t understand why it was sent…

The moment I saw it, a sigh escaped me.

[This is Foundation Headquarters. We hereby raise combat readiness to the highest level for the time being.]

[We recommend the disposal of all humanoid anomalies currently in containment at Foundation facilities that are not friendly to Foundation activities.]

The Returnee. The Father. And the Daughter.

I don’t know how much longer I can keep them alive.

Time is of the essence.

If I can’t persuade the Returnee right now, I may have to order her disposal per the document’s contents. No—I *will* have to order her disposal.

I decided to trust the Returnee.

It’s true the circumstances are suspicious.

But.

The Medical Department determined An Yuri’s bone age to be 17, and her mental age, judged by intelligence and other indicators, to be 16. The other results were similar.

I can’t very well execute a child like An Yuri and dissect her corpse on the strength of suspicion alone.

I pounded on the containment cell door.

“An Yuri! An Yuri! This is urgent. Come out of the containment cell right now.”

“The door locks from the outside, you know.”

“Ah…”

I opened the containment cell door, and the Returnee glared at me from inside. She looked confused and thoroughly displeased.

“Ugh, you again?”

“An Yuri. We don’t have time to argue.”

“Why should I listen to—”

The Returnee fell silent. I pulled out my phone and started recording. She looked like she had no idea what was going on.

“Look at the camera and state your age and name.”

“What? What is—”

“Quiet. We don’t have time.”

“An Yuri, 17 years old.”

Finally.

“Now… Say, ‘I am a humanoid anomaly cooperative with the Foundation’s activities.’”

“…”

The Hero didn’t bother hiding the bewilderment on her face.

“Oh, fine. I am a humanoid anomaly cooperative with the Foundation’s activities?”

I stopped the recording.

Evidence secured, at least. With this, the Returnee should survive for a while.

“But, why are you suddenly doing this… Sir?”

I ignored the Returnee’s words, closed the containment cell door, and left. There’s no time to waste. The people I need to see number more than one.

The Humanoid Division had been raising hell from the start about wanting to dissect the Returnee.

They’ve probably seen the official memo from headquarters by now, so another request to dissect her will be coming up. I need to block that for now.