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“Keeeeek!”

“Gaaaaaah!”

Crash— Bang—

The two anomalies, tangled in the net, rolled down the mountain path at full speed. They slid across the ground, bounced off trees, and finally disappeared down the slope beyond the mist.

“…What the hell?”

It was completely unexpected. Yeonwoo, staring blankly beyond the mist, turned his head to look at the sky where the net had been launched from.

There, four large drones were silently hovering. Two drones headed down the mountain, while the other two swiftly followed the anomalies, gliding down the slope.

Simultaneously, a loud noise began to emanate from the sky where the drones had been.

Tutatatata—

In the misty twilight sky, a firefighting helicopter cast a dark shadow as it flew towards the fire.

Rumble—

Breaking through the mist, a group of people ran up the mountain path.

Six individuals fully armed with combat suits and augemented reality helmets. They didn’t even glance at Yeonwoo, heading straight down the path where the anomalies had fallen.

“The targets are caught in the net! Keep pursuing them!”

“Roger that!”

The combat squad quickly disappeared beyond the mist.

Yeonwoo blinked stupidly.

‘What is this...? Did the company really send support at this perfect timing? Am I hallucinating before I die?’

It wasn’t a hallucination.

A voice called out from the distance.

“Yeonwoo! Where are you? Are you alive?”

“Mister, say something! Where are you?”

“Oh, I... I’m here. Over here.”

His dazed voice called out, and soon Jae-min and Ji-yoo appeared, bringing several people with them, retracing the path they had taken down the mountain.

Especially welcoming was a medic with a red heart emblem on their armband. A smile of relief spread across Yeonwoo’s face. A similar smile appeared on Ji-yoo’s face when she found him.

“Ah! We found him! Quick, give him first aid!”

“Yes, step aside.”

The medic, kneeling beside Yeonwoo with a red medical kit and stretcher, began administering first aid with practiced hands.

They tore open his clothing around the wound, sprayed disinfectant to wash away dirt, and applied a clean bandage to compress the wound. The pain was excruciating.

In the face of overwhelming pain, Yeonwoo couldn’t even scream; only a strangled groan escaped his tightly clenched throat.

“Gah!”

“Oh, my. You’re badly hurt. You’ve lost a lot of blood. You might need a transfusion.”

“Ugh—”

Writhing in pain, Yeonwoo was eventually placed on a long stretcher.

“Alright! Let’s get him down!”

His body felt like it was floating and swaying, as the world rocked up and down. Leaves and sky alternated between close and distant, flowing in one direction.

Suddenly, Yeonwoo chuckled. Pain was something you felt because you were alive.

‘Haha. I survived. I really thought I was going to die.’

“What’s going on? Are you okay? Why is he laughing? Is this a bad sign? Shine a light in his eyes.”

“Our battery’s dead—”

“There’s a flashlight in my front pocket. Get it out—”

“Let’s get him down quickly—”

Receiving the fussing attention of the people around him, Yeonwoo lay on the stretcher, purely happy to be alive.

---

---

The parking lot was packed.

Several black vans, like those in spy movies, were lined up, and there were also two ambulances. People were bustling about, issuing orders and making reports.

“The wildfire has been contained!”

“Reporting on the captured anomalies. They have some burns, but they’re not severe.”

“First platoon of the Special Response Unit, all clear!”

“Wrapping up the emergency operation caused by the fire.”

In contrast, the ambulance where Yeonwoo, Jae-min, and Ji-yoo were resting was relatively quiet.

Jae-min, swinging his legs as he sat on the edge of the ambulance, asked,

“Mister, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I survived.”

Yeonwoo, receiving a blood transfusion, slowly nodded. His eyes, gazing up at the transfusion bag, looked like they could close in sleep at any moment.

Ji-yoo also leaned against the wall of the ambulance, her head nodding. Now that it was over, fatigue overwhelmed her.

But in the next moment, they opened their eyes wide and looked outside the ambulance.

Thud, thud—

Several tall figures were approaching. Leading them was a middle-aged man in a decorated combat uniform. Tall and imposing, he looked down at the investigators with a twisted smile.

“You f*cking lunatics. Setting a mountain on fire, destroying important anomalies. Only care about saving your own asses."

The harsh words took their tired minds a moment to process.

“So you’re saying we should have just died?”

Jae-min shouted as he stood up, glaring directly at the middle-aged man. After all, he had just narrowly escaped death, and these words felt like a deep insult.

But the man nodded.

“Yeah, you should have died. If the anomaly you killed could save ten, a hundred people, I might understand. But this one could save ten thousand, a hundred thousand people. And you set fire to its habitat, destroyed one of them?”

The middle-aged man strode forward, towering over Jae-min.

As Jae-min recoiled, the man grabbed his collar with both hands and yanked him forward.

"You little sh*t. Didn’t you say this thing had both a male and a female, and they were breeding? With them, we could produce enough memory erasers. Do you understand how many people we could save? Do you still think your pathetic life is still more important?"

In the dark night, his eyes glowed with anger under the car lights.

It was a tense moment, as if he might throw a punch at any second.

“Commander, we still have the parent entities and the fire has been contained. That should be enough. Also, he’s just a student.”

A soldier nearby intervened. The man called Commander glared at Jae-min for a moment longer, then let go of his collar with a shove.

"Anyway, I can\'t stand these f*cking investigators. They only care about their own lives."

Stumbling back, Jae-min’s face flushed red. He looked at the ground, opening his mouth to shout a string of profanities, but—

"Your mom\'s a bi-"

"Stay still, just stay still!"

Ji-yoo clamped her hand over his mouth and dragged him back into the ambulance. Jae-min shook his head, but Ji-yoo let out an exaggerated groan of pain, and he settled down in the ambulance.

The commander, turning to leave, stopped and looked back at them.

"What? If you have something to say, say it."

"Ha, no. You can go."

“Commander... treating a student like this is a bit much…”

“In this f*cked-up world, there’s no such thing as students and adults. Let’s go.”

He started walking away but turned back again. Ji-yoo, who had been sighing in relief, tensed up and clamped her hand over Jae-min’s mouth again.

The commander, looking at them with disdain, jerked his chin.

“You there.”

“Sir, this kid—”

“Not the kid. The one lying down.”

Yeonwoo struggled to sit up. His arm shook violently, causing the IV connected to it to sway. A soldier stepped forward with a worried expression.

“Commander, what’s going on today? Why are you even going after the patient?"

"Don’t bullsh*t. Yeah, you. If you want to change your unit, say it now."

"My unit?"

Yeonwoo asked in a confused voice. The commander nodded once.

“My men live together and die together. They don’t abandon each other to save their own hides like these bastards did.”

He seemed to be referring to when they left Yeonwoo behind.

Yeonwoo thought for a moment with his tired mind and quickly made a decision.

The investigation team was deployed for suspected anomalies, whereas the Special Response Unit was only dispatched for confirmed cases.

Investigators might encounter anomalies, but they always fought against them.

And having that commander as a superior? Insanity.

“No, thank you. I’m not fit enough, and besides—”

“Suit yourself.”

The commander didn’t ask twice and headed straight for the van. The assisting soldier bowed politely to the investigators before hurrying after the commander.

“….”

“….”

An awkward silence settled over them. Jae-min and Ji-yoo glanced at Yeonwoo, feeling guilty for leaving him behind.

Yeonwoo slowly lay back down. His voice was calm.

“It’s fine. I told you to go.”

It wasn’t like they intentionally caused trouble or tried to kill him. Everyone did their best, but the outcome was bad.

He didn’t particularly care.

Jae-min hesitated for a moment, then slapped Ji-yoo’s hand, which was still covering his mouth.

Slap, slap—

“Ah! I was still holding on.”

“Phew. I thought I’d suffocate. Why did you have to shut me up like that?”

“Because you were about to curse his parents.”

“Well, that’s true... but that guy was really annoying!”

Jae-min huffed, glaring at the spot where the commander had disappeared. Then, glancing at Ji-yoo again, he spoke in a low voice.

“I just wanted to ask something.”

“What?”

“Since both his parents are dead, I wanted to ask if they died trying to save someone else. How many did they save?”

Whack—!

Ji-yoo smacked the back of his head. Jae-min yelped.

“Stop hitting me!”

Whack—!

“You deserve more. You’ll be working with the investigation team after graduation anyway, so it’s fine if you get a bit dumber.”

"I won\'t do it! I won\'t work!"

"Don\'t then! Just get dragged off to the lab!"

“How can you say something so harsh—”

Their bickering sounded like a lullaby. Yeonwoo closed his eyes, letting the drowsiness take over. His vision darkened, and the sounds faded.

He felt at peace.

Thus ended Yeonwoo\'s tumultuous first assignment.