Chapter 146: Branch Point (4)

The detective who had been Han-su’s senior watched Han-su nod without shedding a single tear and let out a sigh.

He knew something.

About Captain Yoon’s absence, and about this incident that had suddenly thrown the entire country into chaos.

And yet he was keeping silent because that was something he had to do.

No matter how taciturn Han-su was, he was the kind of man who said what needed to be said.

And it had been Captain Yoon who had guided him and taught him to become that kind of person.

Watching his senior grind out curses under his breath at a situation they could do nothing about, Han-su quietly said,

“We have to make sure something like this never happens again.”

“...So that’s why you’re working somewhere that can actually do that now?”

The entire country was in chaos.

The senior detective speaking to Han-su turned on his phone and showed him the internet.

News articles about the incident were pouring out one after another.

[White House and Korean Government Issue Joint Statement... “This Incident Was an Outstanding Achievement by Korea in Ending the Worldwide Unnatural Disappearance Crisis”]

[“Alien Theory Is Baseless”... Secret Intelligence Agencies Worldwide Had Already Been Tracking the Reality of ‘Unnatural Phenomena’]

[The Truth Behind the ‘Vanishing Population’ That Global Secret Organizations Have Been Investigating for Years]

[South Korea Responds Immediately to Emergency SOS from White House... Rapidly Emerging as ‘Key Player’ in Defeating Global Abnormal Population Disappearances]

Han-su quietly tapped one of the noisy articles on the phone.

The media was doing everything it could to emphasize that what had happened was not the outbreak of a disaster, but its resolution.

That was probably the directive that had come down at the national level.

Han-su still hadn’t been able to return to work since leaving the ghost story, so perhaps the directive had even been issued based on Su-myeon’s opinion.

Even so, the reactions in the comments were mostly a mixture of fear over the incident itself, longing for family members or friends people had forgotten, and criticism over the country’s nearly paralyzed society and economy.

And yet, as absurd as it was, the fact remained that it had truly happened.

[Seen the reactions overseas? Everyone on social media is freaking the hell out wondering if maybe they’ve got someone they forgot too.]

[Yeah, it’s a disaster, but at least people can finally hold funerals, right?]

[A body showed up in front of my house too and everyone was scrambling to identify it, but judging by how the U.S. freaked out first, I guess Korea really was the first country in the world to solve it.]

In the end, while other countries couldn’t even clearly determine how many people had gone missing, Korea had at least given people their memories and the bodies of their loved ones back.

It meant the government had been working behind the scenes to minimize the damage from a disaster that could not be prevented.

At least that fact seemed to be receiving a fairly positive response.

Han-su felt a headache coming on and handed the phone back to his senior.

Was it really fortunate that they had at least managed to recover people’s memories and bodies like this?

Couldn’t they have found some way to save them?

Regret and frustration still left him dizzy.

“Is there no way for me to apply to work over there too?”

In the aftermath of this incident, the Governance was no longer a secret organization.

Its exact name and structure still hadn’t been made public, but the existence of such an organization was now known.

Han-su thought for a moment at the words of the senior detective who had once been his colleague, then shook his head.

He believed it was work someone had to do, but it wasn’t something he could recommend.

“......The methods are too dangerous.”

Besides, they weren’t currently in any position to take in inexperienced newcomers.

Entering the field was still close to impossible without Su-myeon’s direction.

“..........”

His senior detective, apparently frustrated by Han-su’s answer, smoked cigarette after cigarette before leaving first.

At Yoon Chang-sik’s funeral, the purpose that had driven Han-su to search for him and try to save him had vanished completely.

Then what was he supposed to throw himself into those fucking ghost stories for now?

Some ridiculous sense of duty, or the moral superiority of believing he was doing the right thing?

“.......”

“.......”

That wasn’t what Han-su wanted.

There was only one answer.

Wasn’t Su-myeon still searching for his parents?

Once Han-su’s thoughts reached that point, he brushed himself off and stood up.

Somehow, he wanted to help at least Su-myeon get the people precious to him back.

***

Su-myeon and Han-su rested for exactly two days.

With the entire country in an uproar, the psychological burden of being the ones who had caused the situation was considerable.

Maybe it was because of that stress, or maybe all the strain they had put themselves through until now had finally caught up with them.

Only after getting two full days of rest were the two finally able to return.

“You’re back?”

“Are you feeling better now?”

At Ju-hee and Hwi-yeon’s words, Su-myeon simply gave a small wave in greeting.

For those two days, it felt like he had done nothing but sleep except for the time he spent eating.

And yet he still felt as if he hadn’t fully woken up.

He naturally took the coffee the young goblin handed him and immediately sprawled across the office sofa, but no one in the office paid much attention to Su-myeon acting like that.

It was simply an everyday sight.

“Oh, look at this. Isn’t this about you, Chief Han?”

Two more days had passed since the chaos began.

Eventually, testimonies from survivors began pouring onto the internet.

‘The government agents were kind and dependable.’

‘They didn’t just bring out corpses! There are plenty of survivors like us too!’

At first, most of the posts came from admirable people who simply wanted to give that kind of testimony, but once they began attracting attention, they started posting things that went in a slightly different direction.

They were, in a way... reviews of being rescued from ghost stories?

“They’re talking about me?”

Still lying on the sofa and doing nothing but smelling the coffee beside his head, Su-myeon asked, and Mi-ae answered.

“There were so many survivors from Mujin High School in particular. Of course they’d want some attention.”

In truth, it might have been impressive that everyone had managed to keep the secret until now.

Most of the survivors were careful about talking because their experiences inside the ghost stories had traumatized them, but their siblings tended to be much more active about posting.

In the middle of that, Du-pal spoke with a slightly mischievous expression.

“No, I’m telling you, look at this. This one says some really handsome guy told her to get out, so she followed him right away.”

Judging by the way Su-myeon’s phone kept buzzing, Du-pal seemed to be constantly sending things into the group chat.

While Su-myeon ignored it out of sheer laziness, Mi-ae said,

“Couldn’t she be talking about Team Leader Kang? Or maybe not. Team Leader Kang might look too scary for kids to like him.”

“There’s Ha-min too. Maybe he’s more their type....”

Even Ju-hee joined in, but Su-myeon glanced toward Du-pal.

If they were talking about the most handsome person at Mujin High School, it had definitely been Du-pal....

And from the broadcast to leading the children out.

No matter how you looked at it, Du-pal had played the biggest role throughout the entire process.

“Yeah, I guess so. All three are definitely possible. Kids really are something else. Even in the middle of all that, they were still looking at faces.”

No one looking at him now, just an ordinary middle-aged man with a belly, would ever imagine what he had looked like back then.

Su-myeon simply chuckled and closed his eyes again.

In truth, now that the things they had done in secret had been revealed unintentionally, the people inside the Governance seemed to be pretending they were troubled while secretly enjoying it.

There weren’t many people who enjoyed making sacrifices no one else could ever know about or praise them for.

And after seeing post after post online about how amazing the Governance agents were no matter what.

They couldn’t help feeling good about it.

Geon-su’s condition had improved greatly recently, and now that the ghost-story crisis had become public knowledge, they were even pushing to have him reenrolled in school, saying the timing was right.

Perhaps because of that, Du-pal looked especially cheerful.

Of course, they weren’t the only ones enjoying themselves.

“But Chief, did you see this too?”

With that, Mi-ae played a video.

Unable to keep his eyes closed for even ten seconds, Su-myeon finally pushed himself upright.

While he sipped the coffee that had cooled to a comfortably drinkable temperature, the video began playing.

-The agents of the organization currently working to protect the public sincerely regard every missing person as if they were family, and they are working to help them return to their everyday lives.

It was an interview with Hyeon-seok.

Now that the existence of the Governance was an open secret, he was actively spreading his own story.

With his obviously abnormal scars added to the mix, he had even earned the title of ‘businessman who returned alive from a ghost story.’

Apparently, he was using the whole thing as noise marketing in every possible way.

And on top of that, he had even leaked the fact that he had secretly been making regular donations to the organization....

“He says you have to strike while the iron’s hot.”

Ju-hee watched the video of Hyeon-seok with a strange expression.

'I love my younger brother, but what he’s doing right now is seriously irritating.'

That was roughly what her face seemed to say.

Apparently, his company’s stock price had risen quite a bit.

On top of that, rumors were spreading that Korea was some kind of safe haven from ghost stories, so people were talking about the positive effects of the incident across society, politics, and the economy alike.

“Director Jang Bok-eum must have played this pretty well, right?”

At Hwi-yeon’s words, Su-myeon shrugged.

That was probably what had happened.

In any case, because the situation had grown so enormous, quite a few things had actually become easier.

The best part was that they no longer needed to come up with long, elaborate lies that sounded plausible.

The Governance no longer had to worry about complicated external affairs either.

“That’s not the problem anymore.”

Su-myeon checked the time and took another sip of coffee.

There was a reason Han-su and Su-myeon absolutely had to return today.

Today was the day the international joint investigation that the media had been making such a fuss about was finally beginning.

From what had been made public, active intervention and mediation of public opinion from the American side had played a major role, but Japan also seemed to be quietly proposing a joint investigation.

Perhaps because of their characteristic closed-off and cautious disposition.

Without informing the media, they had approached Korea by taking advantage of the fact that the cruise ship’s route was headed toward Japan.

“If we successfully conclude the ghost story again this time, there could suddenly be more bodies and survivors appearing aboard the cruise ship than it can possibly accommodate.”

If something like that happened in Japanese waters, they really would need help.

“They apparently said they’d prepare for that possibility, so in return they want us to share some information with them too.”

Su-myeon nodded at Hwi-yeon’s explanation.

In truth, Su-myeon was somewhat skeptical about the whole thing. Still, it was necessary to some extent if they wanted to investigate the cruise ship ghost story.

After all, it wasn’t completely impossible that his parents had gone on a trip by themselves and left him behind.

Just look at the name those two had given him.

His parents were fairly free-spirited people.

“I don’t know how this will turn out, but we should at least receive our guests properly.”

“I’ve organized all the relevant documents. Want to look?”

“I’ve finished organizing the information on the cruise ship ghost story for the meeting too.”

Su-myeon accepted the documents Mi-ae and Ju-hee handed him as though they had been waiting for the chance, then asked,

“But Han-su still isn’t here?”

“He’s in the infirmary.”

Is he sick?

Su-myeon’s expression immediately changed at those words, and Hwi-yeon added,

“I think he’s talking with Ryang?”

At that, Su-myeon nodded.

'I guess so.'

Without thinking much of it, Su-myeon began checking the documents in preparation for receiving the foreign agents who would be arriving that afternoon.

After all, explaining absolutely everything to them verbally from beginning to end would be far too much of a waste of time.

After first checking how much they already knew about ghost stories, he planned to simply hand them most of the documents and tell them to read through everything themselves.

“They said they’re sending agents who are fluent in Korean, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

Even if they didn’t know Korean, Su-myeon had been planning to throw the Korean-language documents at them anyway.

At Hwi-yeon’s words, Su-myeon merely nodded.