ALL NOVEL Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Clatter,
I opened the door and scanned the surroundings.
“Status clear. Let’s go.”
“…”
Yu Da On followed me with a tense expression behind my back.
I walked on, thoroughly keeping watch while recalling the conversation we had earlier.
“You can’t rely on your eyesight alone. What if you make a mistake at a crucial moment?”
“That’s where my ability comes in.”
“…You have superpowers?”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I don’t shoot red lasers from my eyes to burn enemies or anything.”
She quickly made a disappointed face.
“But at least I can definitely tell if the opponent is human or not. There’s no chance of error.”
“…With that kind of assurance, I guess I can believe you.”
She responded with a slightly relieved expression before hesitating again.
“…Um, I…”
“…?”
“I also have that, uh… super… power?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“…You know? How?”
“Because I said I have good eyesight?”
As I playfully pointed to my eyes, hers widened in surprise.
“Then… you know what it is, don’t you?”
Her voice sounded a bit needy, and her big eyes were looking up at me.
After having interacted with many people using this ability and enhancing my social skills through those conversations, one thing became clear.
She didn’t want her ability to be revealed.
But I understood why.
It must have been a source of distress to feel different from others.
Especially if it involved a physical issue.
“…No, I don’t know that much.”
I shook my head to convey a light negation.
“Oh, I see.”
Her expression eased slightly at that.
“I feel a bit sorry… I asked about your eyesight without sharing anything about myself…”
“It’s fine, really.”
I wasn’t unaware; I already knew.
[Special Trait: Immortality]
It means not dying, right?
I answered nonchalantly and decided to shift the mood by pulling out the manual.
“By the way, have you received any specific information regarding containment objects we need to secure?”
“…No.”
She was now reading her manual as well.
[Manual for Field Staff]
I wondered if the titles meant that the contents might differ.
For a moment, my thoughts drifted elsewhere, but I unfolded the manual again and began searching. Let’s see, containment procedures…
[Manual for Office Staff]
[G Containment Procedure]
1. The containment procedures are tasks that only skilled personnel from the Isolation Team can execute.
1-1. In emergencies, unskilled personnel or employees not part of the Isolation Team may also carry out containment procedures.
1-2. If an unskilled employee acts as a substitute for containment authority, that individual automatically gains the pass rights for the Isolation Team, allowing them to decide on secret passageways and necessary personnel annihilation.
“…Annihilation?”
Now that’s extremely drastic.
I continued reading the next part.
[Manual for Office Staff]
1-3. If all personnel from the branch are handled, a bulk memory erasure procedure is mandatory under Section 387 of the Management Agency’s regulations, with all associated costs borne by the Management Agency.
※If there are any individuals who have not undergone memory erasure, they are not regular humans, so please report them immediately to the Risk Management Department of the Management Agency.
I snapped the manual shut with a sound. They had the talent for inserting unpleasant content into unnecessary matters.
“Did you read the procedures?”
Yu Da On looked at me.
As I noticed her big eyes blinking at me, unconsciously, I took another look at her face.
Long, silky black hair spread down her back, those big eyes, and a delicate nose leading to her mouth. But she wasn’t that tall. She was the kind of person anyone would call beautiful.
Since I usually focus on information about people rather than the people themselves, I sometimes end up noticing their appearances later.
“Well, it’s an Office Staff manual, so it only mentions post-procedures and emergency response. How does it look for you, Yu Da On… Agent?”
“…Just call me Da On. I haven’t climbed up to agent level yet. For now, my section describes post-isolation measures for containment objects.”
“Annihilation, huh?”
“Yeah. It just says to shoot them all dead… or something like that?”
“…”
If that were easy, I’d have joined the Isolation Team myself. With the marksmanship awards I had received in the military, I would’ve been in the Isolation Team already.
“…Let’s go. We need to carry out the internal lockdown procedures first anyway.”
At my words, Yu Da On nodded.
After all, the Management Agency exists to secretly contain anomalous objects and phenomena from the general public. Therefore, the most vital thing in this situation is to prevent any objects or information from leaking to the outside.
“It should still be fine. For some reason, it seems like they were trying to completely take over our branch… If that weren’t the case, they wouldn’t have sent that many Security Team members…”
“…”
Seeing Yu Da On’s expression grow grim, I stood up with a grunt.
“Let’s go. It’s definitely a race against time.”
“…Yes.”
And then, back at the door.
While maintaining a boundary, Yu Da On strode forward confidently.
“…I’ll take the lead.”
“Wait? But you don’t know who the monster is!”
“I don’t. …But I’m confident I won’t get caught.”
“How?”
“Um… well…”
I wondered if she intended to rely on her immortality. What if she gets possessed? That would mean facing the worst situation of not dying against a foe according to my standards.
“…But I have it.”
Muttering, she took a step ahead of me.
“…Oh.”
Speaking of which, before entering, someone had exited the elevator.
When I informed Yu Da On of this fact, her round eyes sharpened as she pulled her gun out.
“…We need to be careful. Do you have any weapons?”
“None.”
What weapon would an Office Staff member have?
She nodded, keeping the gun pointed forward as she began walking.
“From now on, we’re heading toward the Isolation Room. According to the manual, that’s where we can conduct the internal containment procedures.”
“Sure, you lead the way.”
My manual did not contain detailed information about those procedures; it only had content related to authority.
We slowly walked down the empty corridor.
Both she and I were heightened senses as we scanned our surroundings.
Soon, footsteps started to grow louder from the opposite side.
Thud, thud.
Yu Da On and I fixed our gazes ahead, and soon someone appeared in our sight.
“Cease fire! Allies!”
A large man wearing sunglasses appeared, raising both hands above his head.
He acted as if he posed no threat whatsoever. But there was an easier way to verify that.
I quickly scrutinized above the man’s head.
[Name: ? ? ?]
[Age: ? ? ?]
[Ability: Mimicry]
[Talent: Acting]
[Background: This person is wearing the skin of a human.]
“Fake.”
-BANG!
Before I finished speaking, Yu Da On whipped out her gun and pointed it at the man, pulling the trigger before he could even react. The bullet pierced his forehead.
The heavy sound of him collapsing hit the floor. No, that thing.
Yu Da On took a deep breath and finally looked back at me with a worried expression.
“…That wasn’t a person, right?”
“Right.”
“…I’ll take your word for it.”
She asked again to confirm before slowly approaching that thing. I followed behind her to check it out.
“…Looks human from this angle.”
The man lay on the ground with a hole in the center of his head, blood seeping out like a puddle around him.
“Is there any way to tell for sure?”
Reflecting on Yu Da On’s muttering, I recalled the message I read earlier.
[Background: This individual is wearing human skin.]
Wearing human skin.
“Da On, have you ever worn a full-body suit?”
“Of course not!”
Yu Da On looked at me as if I were insane.
That would usually be the case.
One thought crossed my mind.
This is definitely not based on my experience.
While wandering the internet, you come across various… experiences, and among them was something called a full-body suit.
Typically, when wearing a full-body suit, you unzip from the head down to the back, allowing a person to get inside because it’s easier to put on legs first.
I quickly brought my index finger to the hole on the man’s head.
I felt a squishy sensation at my fingertips.
Ah, thank you to the internet wanderers for generously sharing their preferences with me.
I quickly began to strip the man of his clothes.
“What are you doing!?”
Ignoring Yu Da On’s protests, I continued to pull off the man’s shirt.
After a struggle to get it off, I finally revealed the huge man’s bare back.
There was a clear line stitched with something that looked like surgical thread from the crown of his head straight down to the tip of his spine.
“…Goodness.”
Yu Da On covered her mouth.
“So that’s how it’s done.”
Wearing the skin of a human.
At that moment,
-CRACK!
Something sharp shot out as the back split open, flying right towards me.
“Whoa—”
Is this what they mean when they say the world slows down?
I realized that what was approaching was a grotesque-looking tooth, but my body failed to move despite my understanding.
Then something pushed me hard on my shoulder,
-CRUNCH!
Yu Da On got torn apart.
It was faster than I could even see.
With a thud, her limbs sprawled out as her blood scent invaded my nostrils.
Did she just save me? Why?
And then, she collapsed. No, saying she collapsed would be an understatement; it was more accurate to say she shattered into pieces.
With blood spraying everywhere and Yu Da On scattered, the person who had just pushed me away became a corpse right in front of me.
Amidst this chaos, the word immortality flickered in my mind. But even so, could one really throw themselves in front of someone they barely just met?
And then, our eyes met—the creature that had torn her apart.
An egg-shaped face supported only by teeth.
At that moment, something new sprang up in front of my eyes.
[You have reached a new level.]
[Name: ? ? ?]
[Age: ? ? ?]
[Special Trait: Mimicry]
[Talent: Mimicry]
[Background: Having lost its skin, this creature is searching for a new host to survive.]
[Weakness: The moment it departs from the host, it becomes incredibly aggressive, but correspondingly weak.]
“Weakness.”
At that moment, as I groped around behind me, something cold and dull touched the tips of my fingers.
The gun Yu Da On had dropped.
I reflexively grabbed the gun and pointed it at the monster.
In that moment, the world turned black and white, and the creature’s movements appeared in slow motion.
Only then could I see its form clearly.
It resembled a human yet had nothing where its eyes and nose should be, and though its limbs and torso were intact, its arms were abnormally long and its fingers sharp.
It felt like a grotesque depiction of an alien from an old movie.
In that moment, new information floated in my vision.
In this black-and-white world, there was something shining brilliantly in a particular area.
Something in its side was glowing unreasonably, and instinctively, my aim shifted towards the creature’s side.
-CLICK!
“KYAAACK!”
Without a hint of hesitation, I pulled the trigger, and the bullet sank into the creature’s side as it fell with a horrifying scream.
After twitching a few times, the creature lay still.
“…”
What was that just now?
I pondered momentarily before new words appeared before my eyes.
[Name: Kim Jae Heon]
[Age: 27]
[Special Trait: Truth]
[Talent: Insight]
[Background: His halted time begins to move once more.]
[Currently available Critical: 1->0]
“…What the heck.”
After nearly 10 years of possessing this ability, I finally witnessed a change in my vision.