“So… her name is Revi.”
[O]
“Since she’s been in the depths of that facility for a long time, she doesn’t really know what’s been going on there.”
[O]
“So you ended up here by being dragged by someone, is that it?”
A few minutes had passed since the floating head had started to draw in a trance.
Just as Arthur finally mustered enough courage, he somehow managed to coax it out from the corner.
After realizing it was possible to communicate in quite a complex manner, he began to fire off all sorts of questions while reorganizing the information he had gathered so far.
“――――”
Tock, tock, the floating writing instrument brushed against the paper several times.
Unlike before when it only managed simple circles, this time it seemed to be taking quite a while for a response.
Eventually, when it showed him the paper, Arthur could barely make out some crooked letters.
[사 람 이 아 니 라 나 인 언 니]
“…”
Arthur, looking at the letters, closed his mouth in confusion.
The reason was, of course, that an unknown name suddenly popped up.
But above all, it was because the word ‘언니’ (older sister) was inscribed on the paper, completely mismatched with its appearance.
‘…What? Is it referring to the Special Phenomena Response Unit?’
Naturally, he knew nothing about the name written on the paper.
Normally, he should have gotten some preliminary information about this entity first, but for some reason, the files available to him were far too simple.
Unaccustomed to interviewing new entities, he wasn’t even aware that his current situation was anything out of the ordinary, and he was somehow trying to continue the interview.
“Well, thanks to this person named Nine―”
[언 니]
“…Are you saying I came here thanks to ‘older sister’?”
There seemed to be an odd obsession with the word ‘언니’.
Arthur had no intention of sparring over a simple word, so he quickly revised what he was saying and asked it another question.
After a brief moment, it moved the writing utensil again and showed him another paper with a circle drawn, not quite perfect yet.
[O]
“…Understood. Thank you for your cooperation.”
After finishing the last question he had prepared, he picked up the tablet that was next to him to record all the information they had talked about so far.
He was curious about what truly happens when the screen is scratched, but fortunately, it seemed to have a surprisingly calm nature despite its horrific outer appearance.
Feeling like his lifespan had been cut in half, he let out a sigh of relief, thinking that he had somehow completed this interview.
―Tock, tock
As Arthur skillfully manipulated the tablet, lines of text began to grace the screen.
His fingers moved rapidly, seemingly without a care, and before long, a long scroll of text had already appeared.
With one last tap on the screen, he turned the tablet upside down on the desk.
As he stretched his neck to look at the being on the other side of the desk,
“Well then, shall we speak again later――?”
The moment he looked up, the head that had been floating in midair was nowhere to be found.
It had vanished from the spot, not showing itself anywhere.
“――?!”
In shock, his eyes widened.
Whether it was seconds or dozens of seconds, it couldn’t have been more than a minute.
The fact that it had disappeared in such a brief span was enough to bewilder him.
No matter how much he looked around the desk, not even a shadow of it was in sight, and as he tried to hastily stand up,
“――――”
He noticed a dark aura slowly oozing from behind him and held his breath, freezing in place.
――Sssss
Darkness closed in.
Even though light was pouring down from directly above, the pitch-black shadow began to swallow everything around him.
Despite not being able to turn his head, he could somehow feel that it was inching closer.
Finally, as it entered his line of sight,
The floating face slithered towards him from behind like a snake――
―Clunk
It lifted the tablet that had been lying on the desk and, as if it had no further business there, passed through the barrier again.
“…?”
As the darkness receded once more, Arthur’s tense body relaxed naturally.
With a thud, he plopped back into his chair.
In front of him was the head, curiously examining his tablet, looking around with fascination.
“…?!”
Out of nowhere, a loud sound erupted from the tablet.
The being shrank back in surprise.
But only for a moment; it then leaned in closer to the screen, eyeing the video that was playing inside with a renewed interest.
“…! …!”
With soundless shouts, the tablet swung back and forth in midair.
It seemed to be enjoying the video quite a lot.
Arthur felt a momentary glimpse of innocence, almost like that of a child, but soon dispelled that feeling upon facing the chilling sight of it approaching him again.
“―――――”
Paper and writing instruments began to float back into the air.
Thump, pat it began to scribble something on the paper.
Its clumsy handwriting seemed to take quite a while as it wrote a lengthy sentence before finally showing him the paper when done.
[이 거 가 져 도 돼 ?]
“…”
Arthur stared blankly at the unexpected question.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible to give up the tablet.
If he could bind a being that passed through the barrier without any resistance with just a tablet, it’d be considered rather cheap.
Besides, the work-related tablet designed for use at the Management Office had extremely limited functions anyway.
“Uh, you really have to give that back—”
However, since taking away the work materials inside was purely his loss,
In an effort to retrieve the item floating in the air, he mustered up some courage and tried to talk.
[가 져 도 돼 ?]
“Yeah, I mean, maybe something else—”
[가 져 도 돼 ?]
“…”
Regrettably, feeling an indescribable sense of pressure emanating from it, he was left with no choice but to surrender his tablet.
“…Just take it.”
He felt as if he were dealing with a child throwing a tantrum.
“So you just gave up the tablet just like that?”
Sofia’s voice sounded incredulous as she heard what had happened during the interview.
After the interview, Arthur had returned to his seat, and now he was chatting with his senior about various topics, just like any other day.
“How could I not give it? It felt like I’d die otherwise!”
“Well, everyone thinks differently, but I won’t bother your judgment, Arthur… Still, the deadline for research submissions is the day after tomorrow. Did you back up the files that were in there?”
“Truthfully, I’m feeling pretty troubled about that right now…”
As Sofia poked at his painful spot, Arthur twitched his facial muscles and raked his hair.
Of course, he could rewrite the research findings from last month, but to be honest, the volume of that research was dauntingly large, and
Originally, humans despised repetitive tasks, so he was no exception.
“Guess I should start with what I can do. Including the investigation results on that entity as well.”
“Did you find out anything?”
“Quite a bit. It seems she can exert enough physical power to scratch the barrier, and she can pass through it without any resistance. Also, there’s the fact that she’s been secured by someone named Nine…”
However, he couldn’t just sit back and despair over having his research stolen.
As a responsible member of society, he couldn’t shirk his duties.
Following the wisdom of ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,’ he began to hammer away on the keyboard to recreate what he had lost.
“‘Nine’…? What’s that? Is that the new name for the 19th entity?”
At his senior’s casual remark, Arthur halted his feverish typing with one eyebrow raised and turned his head slowly towards them.
“…?”
