Chapter 173

“Honestly, the opening was a little, well, it made me wonder why you were doing this.”

“But from the middle, I thought, Oh, and then at the end, ah…….”

“It was my first time seeing a will with setup, development, turn, and conclusion.”

“This is the power of humanities!”

They had read it.

They were definitely saying that because they had read it.

I was extremely flustered, so bewildered that I wondered if this was a dream, but while hiding my agitation, I asked back.

“How did you…… see that?”

The time I had been trapped in 「Railway Station」 and the spaces connected to it was only 57 hours.

It was too early to confirm death.

There was no way they would suddenly open and read my will while waiting for our return alive.

If they did something like that, Deputy Manager Yoon U-jeong would shout that they were inviting bad luck.

Then how on earth?

Why?

At my question, the researcher answered.

“The Field Division requested that we analyze it.”

Analyze?

“Ah, Agent. Since it came up, you did not leave some kind of code in your will, did you?”

“They suddenly told us to analyze it, so we analyzed the paper and ink composition, but nothing special came out…… It was just a misunderstanding, right?”

“…….”

Team Leader Cha, what happened here?

Without a word, I looked back at Cha Si-eon.

At that, Cha Si-eon returned an expression that said he was hearing this for the first time.

Right, even if Team Leader Cha intermittently revealed psychopathic tendencies, he was not twisted enough to deliberately reveal to the whole world a will someone had asked him to dispose of.

Then what on earth was this situation?

The full story of the incident, as the researchers told it, was as follows.

---

Three days ago.

When the agents other than Cha Si-eon and me came out of 「Railway Station」.

“Seo Do-un got off the train?”

Manager Kwon Mu-seop asked back with a stiff face.

At that, Han Seung-yo, who had taken over Cha Si-eon’s duties as acting lead, answered.

“Yes. So Team Leader Cha also broke the train window and jumped outside. He said he would bring Seo Do-un back himself, so he told us to get out first.”

“So only those two remained in the Special Zone?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

At Han Seung-yo’s answer, Kwon Mu-seop sighed lowly.

Then, with an even stiffer face, he questioned them about the circumstances.

“Why did Seo Do-un suddenly get off the train?”

“That has not been determined.”

“Did Cha Si-eon not say anything before following him?”

“Team Leader Cha did not seem to have an exact grasp of the situation either.”

“……But he got off the train blindly? And you all just watched that happen?”

Anger mixed into Kwon Mu-seop’s voice.

Just as everyone tensed at the sign that a thunderbolt was about to fall.

One quick-witted agent cut in.

“Agent Seo Do-un said to check his will!”

At the new information, Manager Kwon Mu-seop swallowed back the anger he had been about to shout.

In that gap, the agent continued speaking quickly.

“I was near the entrance to the passenger car, so I heard Agent Do-un’s voice. Before Agent Do-un got off the train, he called Team Leader Cha and told him to check his will.”

If I had been there, I would have corrected him immediately.

I would have said precisely, “It was not check, it was dispose,” and “Are the pronunciation and meaning of check and dispose not far too different?”

But I was not there, and the misunderstanding was smoothly completed.

“So if we check Agent Do-un’s will, we should be able to find something out!”

……A person has two ears and one mouth.

They say the reason is that one should listen well and speak carefully.

Unfortunately, in the Bureau, there was a person who listened roughly and spoke with conviction.

His name was Jeong Jin-u.

---

In this way, my will became an object of analysis and circulated around the Bureau.

During the two days I was missing.

At this unexpected turn of events, I felt my mind grow distant.

“Then…… only Analysis Team 5 checked it……?”

Swallowing my agitation, I asked, and the researchers simply nodded brightly.

The disclosure scope of my will.

The Bureau command staff.

The participants in the 「Railway Station」 suppression operation.

And Analysis Team 5.

Was that roughly it?

To think my request to dispose of my will would become distorted and return like this.

At an irony that seemed as if it would appear in Greek and Roman mythology, I could not get ahold of myself.

Still, if there was one consolation right now…….

“Nothing came out of Agent Seo’s will, so we analyzed Team Leader Cha’s will too.”

“But nothing in particular came out of Team Leader Cha’s will either. It was a miscommunication after all, right?”

The fact that I was not alone.

The one who had advised me to write a shameful will.

His will too had been revealed to the whole world, and at the very least, I was not lonely…….

Forcing a smile toward the chattering researchers, I glanced sideways at Cha Si-eon.

Cha Si-eon looked calm on the outside too.

But the fist he had placed on his knee seemed strangely tense.

A little later, we rose from our seats.

As we returned to the main building, we did not say anything.

So on the way back, a more awkward silence flowed than when we had come to meet Lee Sol.

And amid a strange sense of helplessness, I chewed over the reality I was facing and the contents of the will I had written.

I felt dizzy.

More precisely, because of the sense of shame rising all the way to the crown of my head, I wanted to ram my head into a wall.

I felt like I might die, but because it was self-inflicted, I could not even get angry anywhere.

Why did I leave that kind of will?

Did I really have to harden my resolve that I would definitely come back alive in that way?

Is it too cowardly to resent Team Leader Cha here……?

As I silently writhed, Cha Si-eon suddenly opened his mouth.

“Everyone will have forgotten.”

“…….”

“Since the suppression of 「Railway Station」 succeeded, their attention will be focused on that side now. There is also a great deal of newly updated information, and many things that must be organized going forward. So there will be no one who pays attention to the will.”

Team Leader Cha spoke in a grave voice, as if he had reached some kind of enlightenment.

Are those words for me, or are they for himself?

In a gloomy mood, I looked at Cha Si-eon’s back.

“Furthermore, the Field Division will not mention the will lightly either. So if only Mr. Seo Do-un responds calmly, it will pass quietly.”

Was this responsibility for giving me the wrong recommendation?

Or solidarity toward a colleague suffering the same pain?

I did not know which it was, but after listening to Cha Si-eon’s advice, I nodded deeply.

Right, the will was not an essay submitted to a writing contest.

There would be no one who said to my face, “I saw the will you wrote.”

Somehow, it had become a situation where a post I had written carelessly on an anonymous board or a private blog was circulating with my name attached.

A text I had rambled out intending not to reveal that it was me, or not to show it to anyone, had been revealed to people who knew me.

……Just thinking about that situation made me break into a cold sweat and want to bite my tongue.

But this too would pass.

Just like all the waves I had already come through, this too would be the same.

Most of all, right now, I was not alone.

---

“Agent Do-un! I saw the will you wrote!”

“…….”

I had forgotten for a moment.

That the accuracy rate of Team Leader Cha’s words was below half.

That no matter how common-sense the statement, for some reason, when Team Leader Cha said it, an exceptional situation far beyond that would arrive.

Afternoon, Field Division conference room.

The members of the 「Railway Station」 suppression operation had gathered in one place.

There, Cha Si-eon and I were fervently welcomed by the agents who had come out first.

And the agents were riding on a strange misunderstanding.

“Leaving that kind of will and staying behind is cheating…… Seung-yo cried while reading it.”

“I did not cry.”

“Honestly, you got choked up, right? No?”

“…….”

“Hm? Agent Do-un, why are you sweating so much?”

At Jeong Jin-u’s question, I forcibly lifted the corners of my mouth.

For now, it seemed the Field Division had long since dismissed the inference that there was important information in my will.

Instead, truly absurdly, they believed that through the will, I had…… conveyed my conviction to them.

I did not even know where to begin correcting this, so I was only pouring out cold sweat when it happened.

“Hey, sit down. What is this, a middle school classroom?”

At that moment, Deputy Manager Yoon U-jeong’s voice was heard.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop and Deputy Manager Yoon U-jeong were entering the conference room.

At the appearance of their superiors, the agents hurriedly took their seats.

Soon, Manager Kwon Mu-seop, now seated, opened his mouth.

“Everyone worked hard. And you did well.”

Only two sentences settled heavily.

“Thanks to you all, I feel as if we have received all the compensation for the suffering until now in this one operation. You must have felt frustrated too. Perhaps you were the ones who felt the most frustrated. Thank you for enduring well all the way here, and I am truly grateful that all of you came back alive. They say Sol is recovering, so be relieved, and Sol’s father…… Agent Lee Seop will also be sent off properly again. And the Director was also very pleased. So he has decided to come personally and commend you.”

“Oh…….”

The agents exclaimed at the mention of the Director.

Director Go, you opposed it so fiercely, but now that results have come out, you are honestly happy.

People are like that, but well, this is better than needlessly putting up pride and acting difficult.

“Things will change quite a bit going forward. This is a merit you earned by risking your lives, so for now, you may take pride in it.”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s praise, the agents cheered.

Kwon Mu-seop watched that with a smile, then said to Yoon U-jeong,

“Deputy Manager, please say a word too.”

“Do not get too excited.”

At Yoon U-jeong’s one sentence, the cheering abruptly stopped.

At that, Yoon U-jeong shook their head and added,

“I know. You did well. You did well, yes. So maintain your original mindset. Do not rush ahead trying to do better, and do not fall into despair if you cannot do as much next time. You did especially well this time. This is not the default. Understood?”

“Yes!”

“Ah, and you all saw Seo Do-un’s will, right?”

All of a sudden?

The cold sweat that had briefly stopped at Yoon U-jeong’s surprise attack began flowing again.

“Since we are talking about your original mindset, put some sincerity into writing your wills. Hm? It is not as if you should advertise that you live with your lives laid down, and of course that sort of thing should not happen, but what would your families think if they received a will you had written carelessly? Write sincerely like Seo Do-un, hm? Read some books normally.”

No, Deputy Manager. Why at this timing…….

I felt cold sweat slide down my spine.

But, ugh, this too would pass.

So I would take comfort in not being alone…….

That was when it happened.

“You know why I am saying this, right? Team Leader Cha, where is there a bastard who writes only one line in his will, ‘No special notes’? And he is even the team lead.”

“……?”

I doubted my ears.

No special notes?

Only one line?

“Is that not too much? Do-un filled three full handwritten pages, you bastard.”

I turned my head, following Yoon U-jeong’s gaze.

“I will correct it.”

Cha Si-eon humbly accepted Yoon U-jeong’s criticism.

……There is a line of poetry that goes, Though life deceives you.

I was now understanding that line deep in my bones.

Ah, so this is what it feels like.

The feeling of having been swindled by the world.

Perhaps feeling my gaze, Cha Si-eon glanced at me.

I asked him with my eyes.

What are you……?

At that, Cha Si-eon also answered with his eyes.

That is what happened.