A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation

Chapter 859: Side Story - Island Survival (4)

Discord:

"By the way...what is this Anomalous Phenomena Management Bureau?"

At Kim Han-ro's question, Kim Runi speaks with a strange smile.

"As you also know...in this world, many strange things that are hard to explain happen. Among them, there are things humans can hardly handle. Like this island...or things like those. We are a national institution to resolve such things."

"...In this world, besides this island and the reagent, you mean there are other things like this too?"

"Yes. Anyway, we can talk about this and that later... Those anomalous phenomena each have their own rules."

At Kim Runi's explanation, Kim Hae-sol and Kim Han-ro nod.

"If you learn those rules well, not only can you survive...you can also use anomalous phenomena, like how I pulled you two in here through the phone. That is why...what is most urgent is that we have to find out the rule of that monster."

At Kim Runi's words, Kim Hae-sol and Kim Han-ro each begin to lay out the rules of the monster they found.

"Understood. Let's share the rules we found. First, inside the building, it chases us with its naked eyes. Outside, it chases us by the sound of our breathing. And besides that, if we bleed, it seems to chase the smell of that blood too, separate from the sound of breathing or being inside or outside."

"Hm."

Kim Runi takes out a notebook and begins to write down Kim Han-ro's words.

Kim Hae-sol suddenly thinks of something else and opens his mouth.

"It also sends invisible slashes. It swung a blade from four or five meters away, and something flew in and cut me and Mister Kim Han-ro. And..."

Kim Hae-sol thinks about that phenomenon he saw with his own eyes.

"That invisible slash also seems to have some kind of rule. How do I put it..."

After pondering the words for a while, Kim Hae-sol nods and sums it up.

"It seems to be affected by the surrounding environment."

"The surrounding environment...got it. I'll also keep that in mind. And the rule I found is...when it splits, it split regardless of time and space, regardless of location."

"Pardon? What does that mean?"

"I originally infiltrated the audience guide staff and watched the game. But after that thing came into being, it already reached the place with the helipad, next to the audio-visual room where the spectators stayed."

"..."

"And after I realized that, I checked the dock side too, but...it suddenly appeared there as well. It blocked off every way out of this island. By transcending space, I mean."

"Em."

At those words, Kim Han-ro strokes his chin with a strange expression.

"Somehow, that's interesting."

"Hm? What is interesting?"

"That... Actually, about this island, there is something like a ghost story passed down between our suppression team and the operation team. But that ghost story and that monster's instant-movement ability seems kind of similar."

"Please tell me. We need to know even one such ghost story to grasp the rules easier."

"Ah, yes, of course. First...to enter this ghost island, you must unconditionally receive a transmission through the communications tower inside the ghost island. If you don't receive a transmission and try to just find the sea chart and enter, for some reason you 'absolutely' cannot enter. As if it's an island that doesn't exist in this world... So, among the people who work here, a story goes around that 'this ghost island is alive and moving, and it is a ghost-like existence that suddenly moves around all over the sea'."

"Hm...it has something in common with that monster that appeared by suddenly moving through space."

"Ah, it's only a ghost story. By common sense, how can an island move?"

"Hm, and a drug that turns people into monsters is common sense?"

"..."

Kim Runi looks at the two and speaks.

"Both of you have to accept that there are things that our common sense cannot understand, anomalous phenomena. And that ghost story is probably, with a high chance, the truth. This island is really alive, and it really spatially moves and roams around here and there. Anyway, thank you for giving me a good clue."

After finishing his words, he seems to think of something, then opens his mouth to the two.

"First, there is a way to definitely get out of this island."

"Heok, wh-what is it?"

Kim Hae-sol brightens, and then at Kim Runi's continued words, he makes a strange expression.

"The Anomalous Phenomena Management Bureau. It is to receive help from the Director. If it's her, she can probably help us."

"Heok...! As expected, a person with immense ability..."

"She is not human, but the same kind as this island...no, an anomalous phenomenon of a much more dangerous grade. The strategy is to control an anomalous phenomenon with an anomalous phenomenon."

"...Pardon?"

At those incomprehensible words, Kim Hae-sol widens his eyes.

He recalls her, who is said to be Kim Yeon's friend.

"If it's an anomalous phenomenon...you mean she isn't human?"

"Yes. Not a human that exists in reality, but merely a phenomenon. She does not exist outside the Director's office. If you have ever seen her outside the Director's office, you must receive treatment immediately, so if you see her outside the Director's office, please be sure to contact me or the Bureau."

"..."

Kim Hae-sol opens his mouth, feeling like his mind goes blank.

Not human?

Then what is Kim Yeon, who is said to be her friend?

Is TA Kim Yeon also an anomalous phenomenon?

Kim Hae-sol is about to say that he saw her outside the Director's office, but he decides to keep his mouth shut for now.

Anyway, this is inside the island, so how is he supposed to get treatment?

It seems fine to get treated after escaping the island.

"Th-Then...anyway, if we contact the Director, will it get resolved?"

"Yes. If we can only make contact, it will definitely be resolved. But...right now, we can't get through. A signal jamming device is active across the entire island."

"Ah..."

Kim Hae-sol nods.

Near the end of the game, he remembers the host saying that because some kind of signal-jamming device is on, online access won't work.

"Therefore, what we have to do is avoid those monsters and go to the place where the signal jamming device is."

"Where is the signal jamming device?"

"I know that."

Kim Han-ro raises his hand.

"The suppression team is also in charge of the island's overall security and defense...so we sometimes manage the signal jamming device as well. The signal jamming device is in the center of the island. It's on the second floor of the communications tower between the spectators' audiovisual room and the game venue."

"Then we have to go to that building."

"Yes. If we arrive and just turn off the device...we will immediately be able to call the Director and arrange a way to be rescued."

"I see. But...are the three of us moving?"

At Kim Han-ro's question, Kim Runi shakes his head.

"There's no need. One of us can just go outside, pick up that phone, and move, and if you get out of breath or it becomes an emergency, you can take the call and come into this space."

"Oho..."

Thinking it is a very convenient phone, Kim Hae-sol looks at Kim Han-ro.

"Then, since Mister Kim Han-ro has the best physical ability..."

"No, not necessarily. Since I am optimized for handling and dealing with anomalous phenomena like this, there will be times when I will have to go out. Besides...you said your eyes are good, so during times when we need your eyes, you will have to go out."

"..."

Kim Hae-sol sighs inwardly.

"Alright, then. Now, how we go to the central communications tower...let's plan that operation first."

With Kim Runi at the lead, discussion begins on the operation to move to the communications tower.

***

Kim Hae-sol looks around this island, packed with sea fog so thick he can't properly see even a bit ahead.

The first order of the operation is rescuing the civilians Kim Hae-sol gathered, like Mister Park and Mister Lee.

Fortunately, Kim Han-ro succeeded in that role by going to them in time and sending them into the space bound to the phone.

And after that comes heading for the central communications tower of the island...

That is what Kim Hae-sol has to take on.

'Damn it...what kind of mess is this...?'

The reason is that Kim Hae-sol's eyes are the ones that make it easiest to grasp the rules between this island and the monsters.

Wearing Kim Runi's sunglasses, the special tinted glasses called 'Glasses That See Death,' Kim Hae-sol runs toward the center of the island, and when he is out of breath, he takes the call and moves into this space to breathe, repeating it.

"Heheok...heok..."

Kim Hae-sol bursts out the breath he has been holding back and takes the call.

In that moment, he moves in an instant to the place like an underground prison, and he sees Kim Runi and Kim Han-ro.

"Is, is it really helpful for me to be doing this...?"

"Yes. When you put on those sunglasses, don't you see better?"

"That's..."

It really is.

When Kim Hae-sol puts on Kim Runi's sunglasses, he can perceive far more information.

And he enters a state where even the intuition to process and digest that information is stronger.

Because of that, Kim Hae-sol is able to get various information while avoiding the monsters and getting closer to the center of the island.

"Yes. I definitely see something starting from the center of this island and covering the whole island."

Kim Hae-sol sees it.

A bizarre something that flows out from the center of this island and is being absorbed by the monsters.

That something seems to affect the monsters, and the monsters that use invisible slashes decrease the more he goes into the center of the island.

"I think there really is something in the center of the island. And...the more the monsters leave the zone of influence of that something in the center, the more often they seem to fire those invisible slashes. As if...the power of the island's center is interfering with the monsters' power."

"Hm...how interesting. Beneath the island's central communications tower, there is a laboratory and an extraction site. It's where they extract resources, research them, and refine them into reagents. It feels like it might be the influence of that resource, but...until now, there has never been a case where the resource's power interferes with a compatible subject's ability. Strange. If anything, there are times when the ability becomes stronger the closer you get to the center of the island, but there has never been a time when the ability is interfered with..."

At Kim Han-ro's words, Kim Runi puts forward a hypothesis.

"Perhaps...that slash is an ability that the female participant originally had. That woman, too, may have originally been a different kind of anomalous phenomenon, or she may have been a person influenced by an anomalous phenomenon. As different kinds of anomalous phenomena meet, they may cancel each other out."

"Em...is that possible...?"

Kim Runi feels puzzled, and only then does Kim Hae-sol feel like he can understand something about the relaxed attitude Yang Ji-hwang showed the entire time.

'So she was a noona who had a mysterious ability from the start...'

And then, he suddenly has a thought.

'Wait, if she originally had that kind of ability, and that ability is being interfered with by the island, and it manifests little by little the farther she gets from the center of the island...then if we bring noona outside the island, couldn't noona also become okay? Since that ability she originally had becomes stronger than the ability that is affected by the island.'

Suddenly, Kim Hae-sol recalls Yang Ji-hwang's words.

If a situation comes up where you have to save me, don't save me.

'Why did she say that...?'

Kim Hae-sol thinks for a moment, then shakes his head.

'Forget it. For now, let's focus on something else.'

"Alright, then, we're almost there now, right? First, the communications tower's second floor. Let's just go as far as the signal-jamming device. After that, either I or Mister Kim Han-ro will turn off the jamming device."

"Yes, understood."

Kim Hae-sol takes the phone that is inside the underground prison and goes out to the island.

Paat!

Holding his breath at the same time, he tucks the red phone that is dropped beside him into his arms and runs.

Far away, beyond the fog, he sees a small building called the communications tower.

'The second floor of that building. If I just get there...!'

Everything will be over.

Kim Hae-sol first goes into the first floor, then decides to go to the other side of the phone to breathe again.

Then, Kim Hae-sol carefully opens the door of the communications tower and goes inside.

'Is nobody here...?'

Reassuring himself like that, he quietly looks for the stairs going up to the second floor.

Just as he is about to go up the stairs.

"..."

Kim Hae-sol runs into a monster coming down from the second floor.

'Inside a building...they say it sees with its naked eyes...'

As Kim Hae-sol finishes that thought, he quickly tries to bring the phone to his ear.

Sssst—

Without a sound, yet so fast it is ridiculous.

The bandage-wrapped monster is already right in front of Kim Hae-sol's eyes.

If the monster swings its arm, Kim Hae-sol will die on the spot.

'N-No...there's no time to take the call...I'm gonna...'

It is then.

Jiiiiiing—

From Kim Hae-sol's arms, a powerful vibration suddenly bursts out.

"Uh, uh...?"

It is the small device Kim Yeon gave him.

It is something she said Kang Min-hee had commissioned from her lab.

When he entered the island, it was taken away, but at the end, when the host lined up the boxes holding personal items in front of them, he snatched it in that brief moment.

That device is vibrating like crazy.

And when that vibration crosses a certain point.

From within Kim Hae-sol's arms, a dazzling light bursts out and starts pushing the monster back.

Chijijijik!

With the sound of something burning, the monster flees the range of the light and goes up the stairs.

Chichichit—

After a while, the light goes out and the device also stops operating, but a gap opens for Kim Hae-sol.

He quickly puts the phone to his ear and crosses into this space.

***

"Heheok...heok..."

"What's going on, what happened?"

Kim Hae-sol takes off the sunglasses and opens his mouth.

"I reached the inside of the building. But maybe because the place the building is located is the center of the island...a lot of the strange energy is flowing, so the Glasses That See Death didn't work well. So, so...I ran into the monster for a moment in front of the stairs."

"What did you say!? Looks like you barely escaped. Hand it over for a moment."

Kim Runi takes the Glasses That See Death for a moment and puts them on himself.

According to Kim Runi, if you wear these glasses outside, you can see events or entities related to death, but if you look from within this space called the 'Underworld,' you can see things about life.

That is, he says you can see the outside of this space, the real world.

"This...it really is up on the stairs. It really was a close call, huh."

"Yes, really..."

'If it wasn't for Kim Yeon's device, I almost died.'

That is what Kim Hae-seol is about to say, but for some reason, he gets an intuition that he must not mention Kim Yeon.

'Why? Why do I feel like this...? Ah, I see.'

Kim Yeon is someone who said she meets Kang Min-hee in reality.

And Kim Runi said that someone who meets Kang Min-hee in reality can never exist, and must receive treatment.

In the sense of discomfort that opens up in the gap between the two people's claims, Kim Hae-sol feels that he must not bring it up.

'I don't know why...but for now, it's probably better to keep my mouth shut about this.'

"...It really was...a close call."

Kim Hae-sol wipes away cold sweat and hides the truth.