STG 13

Chapter 13

The 【Smiling Doll】 was clutched in the hand of the Level 4 agent. It had been successfully trapped inside the anomaly containment tool.

“What do you think you’re doing? Why are you confiscating that on your own authority? Hand the 【Smiling Doll】 over right now.” “I’m afraid I cannot do that.”

The agent replied. The vacant, empty smile that had been plastered across his lips had vanished without a trace long ago. In its place, only cold, chilling composure remained.

Could that Level 4 agent even make an expression like that? A rapid transformation so drastic that it wouldn’t be strange to mistake him for an entirely different person made Imari’s brow furrow instantly.

No, what did a Level 4 agent’s attitude even matter right now? She had to recover the anomaly from him immediately.

With that thought, Imari pulled something out from inside her coat. It was a switch. A classic square-shaped base with a red circular button protruding dead center—the kind of device frequently trotted out in works of fiction. Its official designation was MS0662. However, Foundation researchers simply referred to it as the Shackles.

There were occasions when a Level 4 agent became corrupted by an anomaly and committed erratic behavior. The switch Imari had drawn—the Shackles—was an item prepared precisely for such contingencies. The moment the red button at the center was depressed, high-voltage current would course through the agent’s body. It wasn’t enough to end a life, but it would instantly seize every muscle in the body, rendering the target completely paralyzed and helpless for roughly an hour.

Yet…

No reaction?

Imari’s brows furrowed once more. She had pulled out the switch right in front of his eyes as an overt threat, yet the Level 4 agent showed no discernible reaction whatsoever. Not a trace of fear. Not a shred of panic. Instead, the Level 4 agent merely stared back at her with unyielding confidence.

Only then did Imari realize something was terribly wrong.

“You’re not a Level 4 agent of the Foundation.”

She said, taking a step backward.

“You don’t say. Aren’t I a Level 4 agent belonging to the ‘Foundation’ by every conceivable metric?” “Absolute bullshit.” “My, to deny it with such absolute conviction is a bit heartbreaking.”

The solemnity vanished, and the vacant, foolish smile from their first meeting returned to his face.

Which of the two was the man’s true face? No, it didn’t matter. Even if both were real. Or even if both were fake. Either way—

“Do you really think you’ll make it out of here alive?”

The man grinned broadly. “Isn’t that a given? If I didn’t have the confidence for that, I wouldn’t have exposed my true colors like this, would I?” “Hah— You’re underestimating the Foundation far too much. Do you think there haven’t been bastards like you before?” “Perish the thought. Certainly not.”

The man replied with an even deeper smile.

Decades had passed since the Foundation’s inception. Comprehensive as Imari’s knowledge was, she could not claim to have entirely mastered its long, sprawling history. However, of one thing she was entirely certain:

Not a single soul had ever successfully stolen an anomaly from the Foundation.

Sometimes infiltrating the Foundation directly. Sometimes sabotaging the Foundation’s field operations. Sometimes ambushing researchers returning to base. Countless theft attempts had been made, yet not a single one had ever truly succeeded.

And yet, what on earth gave this man the confidence to be so brazen?

Glaring at the man with cold, sunken eyes, Imari let out a dry, incredulous laugh.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t particularly a matter worth pondering deeply. In any case, the man standing before her was not a Foundation operative. Furthermore, he had dared to attempt stealing a Foundation anomaly. If so, it was simply time to teach him the price of his own foolish actions.

Swoosh.Click.

Imari drew a handgun from inside her coat. It was the standard sidearm issued to field researchers. While it would be useless against an anomaly, it was more than enough to punch a windpipe through the body of an ordinary human like the man standing before her.

However—

“A gun. Firearms truly are the ultimate medium for negotiation. But surely… you didn’t think I wouldn’t take precautions against that much, did you?”

A brief note of mockery flickered across the man’s voice as he looked at her.

At the exact same moment, something rolled to a stop against the floor right by the man’s feet with a clatter.

Instinctively, Imari’s gaze snapped down toward the man’s feet—

“Damn it—!”

Letting out an involuntary curse, Imari squeezed the trigger of the handgun leveled at the man.

Or rather, she tried to.

Just as Imari’s finger was about to press down on the trigger—

Screeeeech—!

A piercing screech of sound erupted in all directions, accompanied by a blinding flash of light.

Blinded by the searing glare and battered by a noise that felt as though it might tear her eardrums apart, Imari let out a sharp shriek of agony.

Meanwhile, the man—who had detonated multiple flashbangs without a shred of hesitation—moved.

As if completely immune to both the blinding light and the deafening noise, he kicked off the floor and bolted.

Sprinting past Imari and Han Seong-jun, the man slipped right out of the restroom and vanished from sight in an instant.

The school was still trapped in a maze of spatial distortions under the anomaly’s influence. Yet, the fact that he fled out of the restroom without a single moment of hesitation meant he possessed a definitive method to navigate and escape the complexly tangled school.

Emerging belatedly from the shock of the flash and noise, Imari—

“You goddamn bastard—!”

—vented her fury toward the man who had stolen the anomaly and fled in the blink of an eye.

‘That wraps up the mission.’

Tap-tap-tap.

Sprinting down the gloomy, endlessly stretching corridor where oppressive darkness had settled, the man wore a satisfied smile.

When he had first received the assignment, he had thought it would be a remarkably simple task. So simple, in fact, that he had even wondered why someone of his caliber needed to be deployed for a mere errand like this.

However, once he had actually stepped inside the school to retrieve the anomaly, the man had cursed his superiors from the bottom of his heart. Sending only him alone to retrieve an anomaly of this extreme danger level? That was practically telling him to go out and get himself killed.

Still—

“Was it Han Seong-jun? Thanks to him, things got a lot easier.”

Glancing back over his shoulder, the man muttered to himself.

Han Seong-jun, who had tagged along as the assistant to Foundation field researcher Imari. While it was rare for field researchers to have assistants, the man—who had spent years infiltrating the Foundation—was privy to various internal circumstances. Considering that Imari had originally served as the Director of the 5th Research Institute, the logic that she might have brought along a former assistant from those days wasn’t entirely implausible.

Of course, it was strange that such an assistant was still lingering by the side of a researcher who had been demoted from institute director down to a lowly field researcher.

Aside from that—

“Still, what on earth kind of equipment does that Han Seong-jun guy use?”

Running down the corridor for a long stretch, the man shivered involuntarily.

Even at this very moment, the memory remained vivid in his mind. The sight of the dolls being torn to absolute shreds or compressed into tiny spheres with a single wave of the man’s hand.

That was fundamentally not a power an ordinary human could wield. It was undoubtedly a piece of Foundation equipment—and a high-grade one at that, minimum Level 3 or higher.

Lost in such thoughts as he ran for a while longer, the man caught sight of something in the distance: the end of what felt like an infinitely extending hallway.

Before he knew it, the oppressive darkness clinging to the corridor had vanished, and a glass double door had revealed itself. Beyond the glass doors, the athletic field he had passed when first entering the school’s main gates came into view.

“I have to hand it to the Foundation, they certainly know how to manufacture gear.”

The man assumed that the reason the complexly tangled and distorted interior of the school had reverted to its original appearance was because the anomaly had been successfully contained.

Therefore—

“Thanks for the meal—!”

Calling out toward Imari and Han Seong-jun—who should be somewhere inside the school that had regained its original form—the man burst through the glass doors without an ounce of hesitation.

Crash!

Accompanied by a shattering roar, shards of pulverized glass scattered in all directions.

Simultaneously—

Splash—Rumble, whoosh—

The sound of crashing waves echoed against his ears. The distinctive, briny scent of the sea brushed against the tip of his nose.

“Wh-What in the…?”

Stopping dead in his tracks, the man muttered in sheer bewilderment.

He had simply escaped a school that had supposedly returned to its normal state. So why…

“Why is there an ocean stretching out before me?”

Dividing a single space in half, an endless stretch of white sandy beach lay behind him, while ahead, a vast, azure ocean extended all the way to a distant horizon.

“Am I… dreaming?”

The man muttered, unconsciously attempting to deny reality.

Yet, the gritty texture of sand beneath his shoes. The oceanic scent lingering at the edge of his nostrils. The rhythmic roar of the waves crashing against the shore. All of these elements made it abundantly clear that this was no dream.

And because of that, the man’s expression twisted into an even deeper knot of incomprehension.

What on earth had just happened? How did things turn out like this? Could it be that he had somehow gotten caught up in the anomaly’s power?

But the anomaly was right here in his hand…

“Ah…?”

A dazed, hollow sound slipped past the man’s lips.

Inside the Foundation’s D-type anomaly containment tool—colloquially known as the ‘Noose’—

“My… my head?”

The man’s own head was sitting inside.

His own face, twisted into an expression of excruciating, agonizing torment, as if suffering through unimaginable pain. Staring right back at him with eyes overflowing with boundless resentment toward the entire world—

—Why the hell did you do that!—Why! Why did you do such a thing!—It’s because of you!—Because of you, damn it!

“Gyaaaah—!”

The mouth of the severed head opened wide, and the man’s own voice began pouring out a torrent of curses directed squarely at him.

His own head, speaking with his own voice, cursing at him. Unable to comprehend the impossible phenomenon unfolding before his eyes, the man shrieked in terror and flung the containment tool away.

Cutting through the air, the Noose tumbled and rolled across the white sandy beach. Even amidst that motion, the man’s severed head nestled inside the containment tool continued unabated to spew curses.

The voice of damnation, piercing his ears and tearing straight through his brain. Combined with the sudden, jarring shift in scenery and the curses hurled at him by his own severed head in his own voice—

“Aaaaaah—!”

A horrific, blood-curdling scream erupted from the man’s throat.

“By the way.”

On the way back to the Foundation alongside the contained anomaly, the 【Smiling Doll】. Imari spoke up, turning her gaze toward Han Seong-jun.

She had been genuinely surprised when she learned that the survivor who had lasted until the very end wasn’t actually a Foundation Level 4 agent at all. She had been equally stunned by how unhesitatingly he had deployed flashbangs and tactical gear.

However, the man’s actions had ultimately been meaningless. If the only person he had been pitted against was Imari alone, his plan might have gone off without a hitch, but unfortunately for him, Imari had Han Seong-jun by her side.

Not an ordinary human, but an entity known as the 【Story-Devouring Grimoire】—an anomaly whose true nature even the Foundation had yet to fully comprehend.

Of course, when the bastard who had triggered the flashbangs stole the anomaly and fled— Imari had initially intended to give chase and hunt down the anomaly thief. Stealing an anomaly was a grave, monumental offense. If Han Seong-jun hadn’t stopped her, She wouldn’t be returning to the Foundation right now; she would still be wandering the labyrinthine corridors of that school, hunting the man down.

“What happened to that man?”

The stolen anomaly was already back in Han Seong-jun’s hand. Which meant Han Seong-jun had also dealt with the man who dared to steal it.

As Imari cast a piercing look at Han Seong-jun alongside her question—

“Do you happen to remember my containment procedures?”

Han Seong-jun replied, staring back at her with his gloomy, ash-gray eyes.

Trembling slightly, Imari seemed to finally grasp the true meaning behind the words Han Seong-jun had just spoken.