### Chapter 396 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (12)
—
– Kim Sanghyun
While chatting with my comrades in the hotel, I often felt the differences in our backgrounds. All of them, including Elena, who was born in Russia, were now living in Korea. Because of that, there were many parts of my experiences in the U.S. that didn’t quite match theirs.
For instance, they viewed the idea of civilians dealing with monsters in a completely different light. Excluding the two agents who hardly participated in these kinds of conversations, surprisingly, the one with the most terrifying experiences among my comrades turned out to be Yu Songee.
However, even Yu Songee thought that monsters were naturally dealt with by the military soldiers of the Administration Bureau. Setting up security systems like laser turrets at individual homes was one thing, but actively capturing monsters was considered the Bureau’s responsibility. This is common sense in Korea, but not in the U.S.
What kind of place is America? Isn’t it a country where home defense is something people handle by themselves before the police arrive?
There’s no need to delve into boring topics like frontier spirit, Puritan thought, or the Founding Fathers to analyze these differences. In many regions, you can’t guarantee that the police or the Administration Bureau will arrive within an hour. With that much time, a monster could devour an entire family and boil their bones for soup.
As such, pesky monsters should definitely be dealt with by civilians as well. If someone can’t handle that, they’re already eaten.
*
On a dark night, the world was devoid of even the moon. Texas nights were so dark I couldn’t see my own hand. Yet, something faintly shining in front of me kept drawing my attention.
— Click!
I double-checked the shotgun. Though the surface was dirty because Mama Sherry doesn’t maintain it well, it was in working order.
“…”
As I paused to check the gun, whatever was in front of me also stopped. It was acting as if it were luring me somewhere.
Should I follow it? If only I could use a final flash, I wouldn’t have to think twice about it, but once again, I found myself unable to use my flash. It seemed that the maze in the hotel had used up my laser again. Of course, it must have been necessary, but it left me feeling perplexed.
After a good twenty minutes of chasing, the dimly glowing figure slipped into the forest outskirts of Austin.
“… This doesn’t look right.”
There was no such forest in Austin as I knew it. This terrain was completely unfamiliar; it might very well be a landscape created by some unidentified entity. In the end, my first night came to a close with no results.
*
The next day, early in the morning.
While I was having breakfast, Mama looked up from what I was saying and nodded thoughtfully.
“Johnny, if it’s the location you’re talking about, it must be near Aster Lake.”
Aster Lake again. The name of a school that had replaced my high school was also Aster Lake High.
“It’s a popular place for folks in Austin to take a stroll. You should check it out when it’s bright! It’s spacious, the water is clear, and the scenery is lovely.”
“Any chaotic beings there?”
“Chaotic beings? Demons? Well, if what you say is true, then something glowing seems to have headed toward the lake…”
Mama Sherry tilted her head, emphasizing that Aster Lake was a safe place where hundreds went walking every day. Hearing that, I started feeling confused myself.
“I’ll report it to the Administration Bureau one more time. Still, it probably won’t help much. They’re currently busy dealing with the Kraken in New Orleans.”
“…”
That was also making headlines since this morning. An enormous monstrous octopus over 300 meters in length had attacked the port city of New Orleans in Louisiana and killed over 120 people within an hour.
“Unbelievable.”
With a creature like that rampaging about, who had time to worry about glimmering fake fairies? The news anchor was discussing how the Seahawk attack choppers had shredded the Kraken’s legs with machine guns, only for it to regenerate fully in just a minute.
“How the hell do you catch something like that? Should we drop nuclear bombs?”
“Who knows… I heard they dealt with that thing spotted in Mexico using some kind of virus bomb.”
How on earth do people live in this hellish world? I sighed without realizing it, just then when a bunch of kids started pouring into Mama’s house.
“Toby, Josh, Peter, and Tyce too?”
“Hey Mama, good morning again!”
The kids were mostly Hispanic teens in their mid-to-late teens. Since Sherry provided food and allowances, they seemed to gather around quite regularly.
It reminded me of the scenes I recalled vividly. While I turned down allowances, I often ended up eating from her kitchen.
“How about school on a weekday?”
“We’re not going today!”
“What? It’s not even a Sunday?”
One boy snickered and suddenly knocked on the wall of the house with his fist.
“Can’t you hear that? This sound?”
“I can hear it.”
“This noise has been coming from the school walls! We finally pulled the wall apart a bit.”
And then a girl nearby suddenly raised her arms.
“Meow!”
“Meow?”
“There’s a gigantic cat roaming around, and today the teachers are going to catch it.”
So, a cat monster had suddenly appeared at school. What’s funnier was that it was the school staff trying to catch it, not the military.
Truly, a peaceful school scene, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
At that moment, one of the boys looked at me.
“Who are you, mister?”
I was briefly at a loss for words, but Mama casually replied.
“Just a bum.”
“….”
It wasn’t wrong.
“Wow! My dad has been unemployed for 20 years!”
“….”
I had nothing to say to that. Generally, if a kid is lacking money, it’s usually the parents’ issue.
Mama soon added a few ingredients to yesterday’s leftover gumbo and began simmering it again while the kids started playing among themselves.
I wondered if asking them would yield any results.
“Hey kids, I have a question.”
That mysterious glowing entity from the night before outside the window.
One kid seemed to understand.
“Didn’t it move toward the forest?”
“Aster Lake?”
“Yeah.”
“Yep, that’s where it went. Do you know something?”
“My mom said there are fairies living around Aster Lake! I’ve seen one too!”
“Fairies, huh.”
At that moment, Mama Sherry, holding a hot soup pot, firmly replied.
“Tyce, there’s no such thing as fairies. Maybe something that looks like a fairy but eats people.”
“But nobody has died, right?”
“It hasn’t even been that long since they showed up. I first saw one a month ago, and last night was my second time.”
“My mom saw it three months ago.”
It seemed the unidentified entities had only appeared recently. It’s hard to say we should be at ease just because there haven’t been any casualties yet.
I asked Tyce again.
“Why did your mom say it was a fairy?”
“She said when she saw it through binoculars, it looked a bit like a tiny human.”
“A tiny human? Any other info?”
The girl shook her head.
“Have people seen it during the day?”
“It seems to only come out at night.”
So, there was still time left.
*
After the kids left and while I was pacing in the living room, I think back to how I boldly dashed out last night. Reflecting on it now, it was quite a dangerous decision.
It may just be a risky habit that developed from breaking through a hotel where I could come back to life after death.
Was there anyone I could take with me?
“The Administration Bureau would hardly help.”
I agreed with Mama’s sentiment. After all, the news was still buzzing about that Kraken.
“How about the police?”
“… You know those guys are scared of monsters.”
At this point, I decided to tell a white lie.
“Maybe we could ask for cooperation, saying an agent from the Administration Bureau is coming along?”
“Sure, they’d come if you said so, but they’re not just any staff; they’re agents! I’ve heard the agents are really few and far between—”
— Snap!
I lightly flicked my fingers to produce sparks. Then, I slid my hand slightly into Mama’s ‘shoulder’ as it retracted back.
Mama stared at me with her mouth agape.
“Jo, Johnny, did you… come from working at the Bureau?”
“I retired. There were some issues.”
Let’s play the part of a retired agent.
After all, I’m only looking to return to the hotel in about five days, so I don’t need to worry about covering up this lie.
Proof of agent status? Nothing more reliable than supernatural powers.
“Do you know any police folks? James?”
“Of course!”
“Please contact him for me. Oh, and could you arrange some good equipment too?”
*
By evening, three young, brave police officers had gathered at Mama’s house.
One of them was the same officer I saw yesterday.
“Ahem, um, I apologize for what happened yesterday. I didn’t realize you were an agent…”
“It’s alright.”
This was the cop who had shot the mesmerized deer right in front of me, James.
Another man, Rupert, cautiously approached.
“I believe what Sherry says, but could you show us something?”
“Of course.”
When I displayed my powers that I had shown Mama, awe sparkled in their eyes.
Soon, armed with the clothes and guns they brought, we headed out toward Aster Lake.
“How many years have you been on the job?”
“…”
“I’ve seen regular staff and soldiers often, but never an agent.”
“…”
Ignoring all their questions, they soon ceased asking.
Truth is, I didn’t know the answers.
It struck me again how amazing Ahri and Kim Mooksung were in the eyes of an ordinary person.
Regular staff or strike teams could be seen commonly, but agents were extremely rare to find in a lifetime.
No one even knew how to become an agent.
Do you need superpowers?
That’s commonly understood, and that’s why when I showed them the power of blessings, they believed I was an agent.
Truth is, Kim Mooksung, the real agent, didn’t have any superpowers before entering the hotel.
“Phew… Still, it’s a relief. In fact, we had been discussing that we should check the lake ourselves.”
“…”
“It gives us assurance having you with us, agent.”
“…”
I felt a pang of guilt towards the police firmly relying on my ‘superpowers,’ which wasn’t quite normal anymore.
While the power of diligence hadn’t completely vanished, its output significantly decreased.
The ability to light a cigarette or merely penetrate skin feels utterly negligible.
That sort of ambiguous ability is no match for the AR-15 I’m holding.
As dusk fell, the foggy glow I saw yesterday reappeared.
“Whoa!”
“Let’s follow it.”
*
This time, we didn’t stop by the forest and followed it all the way through.
And….
“Hey, kid? What are you doing out here?”
Wasn’t there a comment by Tyce’s mother about seeing something shining?
It really was.
The luminous entity turned out to be a strangely shaped boy.
However, he was not in a normal state.
His skin was thin as paper, revealing the veins and movements of his insides beneath.
His eyes didn’t have pupils but instead had something swirling, emitting a glow.
Plus, he was emanating a faint light from all over his body; at this point, I couldn’t tell if he was human or a ‘fairy.’
Just then, James muttered in shock.
“Timothy?”
“Do you know him?”
“He’s a kid from the church near Rivervill. He went missing earlier this year; the whole neighborhood was in an uproar.”
A boy who went missing earlier this year?
“Shouldn’t we treat him?”
That much was agreeable.
The boy in front of me clearly didn’t look normal.
… I couldn’t even be sure if he was human.
At that moment, James looked at me worryingly.
“Before you report this to the Administration Bureau, shouldn’t we check it out first?”
“…”
I understood the situation seeing the fearful eyes of the police.
They were afraid I would report the child’s discovery to the Bureau.
Because…
If it were the Administration Bureau I knew, they’d have no qualms about killing this child at all.
“Timothy’s disappearance made the pastor really distressed. If you could just understand that a little—”
“Sherry must have mentioned it, but I’ve retired. There’s no need to report it now.”
The police’s expressions brightened slightly.
“Phew!”
The boy let out a soft laugh.
That smile was quite charming, yet I couldn’t shake the unease it left in me.
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