An affair? What affair? If he said “Captain,” he couldn’t possibly mean Je-ha… could he?
Before I could ask Geum Na-ro what the hell he meant, the screen abruptly shut off.
After a reboot, Alice, the AI, reappeared on the screen, as if nothing had happened. So did the database she managed, like it had been quietly observing all along.
— Welcome, Administrator’s guest.
I stared at Alice, who greeted me as if the last few moments hadn’t existed.
He left with a disturbing comment, but… it seems Geum Na-ro cleaned up after himself properly.
Relieved, I half-heartedly pretended to browse the database, then stopped. I wasn’t a Bureau agent. Tracking down and arresting a criminal myself was a stretch—something I even muttered aloud to myself.
This way, the Director who sees the CCTV footage will probably assume I’ve finally given up.
She’d just remember me as some stubborn weirdo who’d pushed my luck and taken a field trip through the Bureau’s most classified areas.
Once I gave Alice the command to shut down the entire system and waited alone inside the archive room, the Director soon appeared.
“Guide Yeon Yu-jin. Did you get to see everything you wanted?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, the database that stores ability users’ personal records is just too massive… I don’t think I’ll be able to pursue the culprit any further.”
I put on my best dejected face, and I could see the corner of the Director’s lips twitch.
She looked pleased—happy that she wouldn’t be dragged around with me any longer.
“Still, it was a great experience to get even a glimpse of the Bureau’s inner workings.”
“Well, that’s wonderful. If you ever apply for a position here at the Bureau, make sure to write about this experience in your application. The interviewers will be stunned.”
With empty pleasantries, both the Director and I let out a few fake laughs and walked out of the archive room together.
After winding back through the maze-like corridors and stepping into the elevator, I decided to ask her something I’d been wondering about.
“Um, may I ask you something?”
“…What exactly is it you want to ask?”
The Director’s face, which had just brightened up at the thought of finally getting rid of me, instantly twisted with a frown. It only lasted a split second, but I caught it.
Ignoring her expression, I told her about the incident I’d experienced earlier with another Bureau staff member.
“There was someone who didn’t know I was scheduled to visit today. He seemed like a Bureau employee who’d arrived earlier than me, and he pulled a stun gun on me, saying I looked suspicious.”
I kept my tone light, even chuckling a little, but Director Shin Yoon-hee’s face suddenly hardened to an icy chill.
“…You’re saying another Bureau staff member was in the archive room? Before we arrived?”
“Oh, yes. That’s what he told me. Said he didn’t know I was coming. It got tense for a bit, but once I showed him my card key and said I was escorted in by staff, he seemed to believe me and lowered his guard.”
Maybe it was the stifling atmosphere of the elevator, with nothing but black walls around us, but the Director’s complexion looked ghostly pale in the dim lighting.
She spoke in a hard, grave tone.
“That’s not possible.”
“Sorry? What do you mean…?”
“You and I are the only two people who were granted access to the archive room today. Not a single other Bureau employee submitted a request. I confirmed this myself in advance—it’s absolute.”
“…What?”
Then who the hell did I see?
“But he… when I showed him the temporary card key, he immediately recognized that I’d been officially cleared to enter. He even said he was on patrol duty in the underground levels of the Bureau.”
Hearing that, the Director let out a pained groan.
“The Bureau doesn’t run patrols in the underground sectors at this hour. In fact, today isn’t even a scheduled patrol day.”
“Then who on earth—?”
“Someone must have infiltrated the Bureau disguised as a staff member… specifically one with clearance to access the restricted underground levels.”
Her words sparked a realization in me—something like this had already happened before.
“…On ability reassessment day, the culprit also approached us pretending to be a staff member.”
It was him.
The bastard I was chasing. X.
This time, he had business inside the Bureau’s deepest levels.
The Director seemed to arrive at the same conclusion. Her face lost all color.
“Shit. We need to put the Bureau on high alert. Immediately.”
She snatched up her phone and started making calls left and right. With spit flying from her lips, she ordered that every passage in the underground sector be sealed off at once, citing a critical breach.
I was just as furious.
That fucker. He’s playing with me again.
Looking back, I realized I couldn’t recall the face of the guy who claimed to be “on patrol.”
It wasn’t because he had a generic face. This time, he used a disguise—probably even used a power that altered his appearance completely.
It had to be another ability he’d stolen from someone.
And the fact that he’d come all the way to the archive room under the pretense of a patrol…
Hyun Je-ha.
There was no one else.
He had come here to retrieve the data gathered on Je-ha and the rest of the Baekho Unit.
I could feel the blood draining from my body, the chill of it creeping through my veins. It was getting harder to maintain my expression.
When the elevator reached the ground floor lobby, things looked very different from when we first went down. Bureau agents were visibly tense. The entrance shutters had already been lowered, sealing the building off.
The Director spoke.
“Until we catch the bold little rat that dared to sneak into the Bureau, no one leaves.”
No one dared to disobey her orders.
She turned to me.
“Sorry, Guide Yeon Yu-jin. I’m going to have to ask you to stay here until this situation is resolved.”
…Well.
X never brings anything good to my life.
“In that case, would it be okay if I called my manager? He’ll be worried sick if I don’t.”
I had promised I’d be back soon.
Now I was just asking to be bombarded with nagging.
The Director gave me a brief look of sympathy, then nodded.
“That much is fine. Go ahead and make your call.”
“Thank you.”
***
Over the next few hours, the Bureau practically turned itself inside out in a massive search operation…
But it yielded nothing.
Both the Director and I had assumed this kind of incident would mean there was a mole inside the Bureau.
But the investigation confirmed that there were no internal traitors.
As for the card key—X had most likely used a stolen ability to fabricate it.
“When I saw him, I was absolutely sure he was Bureau personnel… but now I can’t recall a single detail about his face.”
“I don’t know why I didn’t suspect anything.”
Everyone who had come into contact with the culprit seemed to be confused and disoriented, possibly victims of a psychological manipulation-type ability—something like mind control.
By sheer circumstance, I became the primary witness to the incident, so I told them everything I saw without holding back.
Even after hearing everything, the Director still looked uncertain.
“Something’s off… It doesn’t feel like he came here to carry out a terrorist attack. And since nothing’s gone missing, did he just copy the data? Or was it all just to mess with us?”
I’m the one who copied the data, though.
Oof. That pricked my conscience a little.
At the same time, I was worried this incident might be mistaken as Je-ha and the Baekho Unit’s doing.
Fortunately, the Director muttered to herself:
“No… it wouldn’t be them. Those bastards weren’t the type to pull twisted stunts like this. If they moved, it was always with a clear purpose.”
She probably meant Je-ha and the Baekho Unit by “those bastards.”
Good. At least they’re not being blamed.
After pacing around muttering to herself, the Director finally gave me the go-ahead to leave.
“Everything that happened today is classified.”
“In that case…”
“There will be no further access granted.”
Her firm tone left no room for negotiation. I could only sigh inwardly.
“…Understood.”
I called my manager, and the car arrived shortly after.
He was in a state, all worked up.
“God, what now? Everything’s chaos these days—why does it feel like we’re cursed?”
“Yeah… I know what you mean.”
On the drive back, I kept quiet, lost in thought.
Maybe X had tried to access the database earlier… and failed.
What Je-ha and I were looking for was any record that could lead us to X.
To find that, we’d have to identify ability users who were likely murdered by X and erased from the system.
X might’ve wanted to destroy those records himself.
With Je-ha hot on his trail, X had probably been feeling the pressure.
If he sensed real danger, he might’ve decided to eliminate not just the evidence of his crimes, but the entire trail that could lead anyone to him.
But once the Director and I descended into the underground sector, he must have realized it was too late—and bolted.
I fiddled with the USB drive in my pocket.
I’ve gotta get this to Je-ha as soon as possible.
