Chapter 14: Anomaly Catching Anomaly

Adaptation to Site 17 (4)

If you were to ask Arthur, the Junior Researcher, about Sophia, the Senior Researcher,

He would probably defend his Seonbae, saying that she was mischievous but still a good person.

In a way, that wasn't entirely wrong.

Because she didn't show her emotions well, she was often misunderstood as a cold person,

But the Seonbae he knew was, at least fundamentally, a good person.

She had a peculiar personality, sometimes teasing people or being unable to resist cute things,

But weren't most of the people in the Anomaly Research Department a little off their rockers anyway?

Compared to those things, her occasional eccentricities were minor and easily overlooked.

It had already been several years since he joined this Site.

Arthur was already quite used to his Seonbae.

--Tap tap tap!

...Yes.

Until yesterday, he certainly thought so.

--Tap, tap tap tap!

The loud typing sound filled the office.

Whoever it was, they seemed to be using the keyboard with very violent movements.

No, could you even call it 'using' it?

Just based on the sound alone, it sounded like a spoiled brat was randomly mashing the keyboard.

"... ."

Arthur glanced to his side and saw Sophia frantically pounding on the keyboard.

Her typing speed was so fast that he wondered if she even knew how to use it properly, or if she even realized that what she was typing was being displayed on the monitor.

He thought he had gotten used to most of the eccentricities she caused while working with her,

But it seemed that working at this company meant that you gained a unique personality trait for each year you accumulated.

"Um, Seonbae?"

"Yes, Arthur. What's wrong?"

"I'm not going to tell you to stop typing, but could you at least look at me when you talk?"

"I'm sorry. I have something very urgent to take care of right now. I can still hear you, so can't we just talk like this?"

Sophia answered him.

But her eyes were still fixed on the monitor in front of her, and the speed of her fingers remained as fast as ever.

Arthur found it a little eerie,

But considering her recent behavior, he could roughly guess why she was acting like this.

It was probably because of that Anomalous Entity.

Well, that was fine.

It wasn't like he was seeing her eccentricities for the first time,

And it wasn't like he didn't know her well enough to be surprised by a new strange behavior.

However, one thing bothered him.

The piles of documents on her desk looked very suspicious.

The documents themselves were ordinary. They were the standard-sized stacks of paper used in most Sites.

Sometimes they contained content that would get you killed just for looking at unauthorized personnel,

But anyway, the appearance itself was just ordinary paper.

However, the content within those papers was not ordinary.

The contents of a specific record were spread out on the documents.

The numerous records in the documents, spread out so blatantly that he couldn't ignore them,

Allowed him to guess what she was trying to do just by glancing at them.

"Seonbae, is that perhaps..."

Arthur was about to ask her to confirm his suspicion,

But before he could finish his sentence, she answered the question first.

"Yes, that's right. I'm going to request an outside visit for Number 19."

As he suspected.

As the thing he had half-expected became a certainty due to her reaction, he sighed softly, so that she wouldn't hear him.

The reason for this was, of course,

That he also knew very well what she was doing.

"I don't think that's possible."

"I don't know. The higher-ups are the ones who stamp the approval."

"No, even before the approval stamp, isn't it strange to try to release an Anomalous Entity outside?"

Arthur asked, slightly arguing with Sophia's statement.

An outside visit for an Anomalous Entity? How could that even be possible?

Of course, as written in the documents spread out on her desk, it wasn't entirely impossible.

But those were very rare cases, and most of them were for things that had been proven safe for a very long time.

Even then, there were Anomalies that caused a lot of damage, so to think about letting an Anomalous Entity that had been isolated for less than a month out,

In a way, it seemed like a very irresponsible act just to attempt the request.

Especially, even if it was deactivated,

Considering the fact that it was an Anomalous Entity that came from a dimensional gate that had caused massive damage, it would be even more so.

"Arthur. If you keep doing that, even if Number 19 can come outside, I won't show it to you, okay?"

"It's not like an Anomalous Entity is a pet, what do you mean 'show' it to me--"

"Won't show it to you?"

"... ."

"Won't show it to you?"

Sophia finally turned her head towards him.

She glared at her Junior Researcher with half-closed eyes.

Although he couldn't feel any pressure from her face, and it even felt a bit sulky,

In the end, it was Arthur who gave in first.

"...Okay, okay. I want to see it, so I'll stop."

"Hmph, of course you should."

Sophia made an exaggeratedly nasal sound on purpose, and then turned her gaze back to her monitor.

Of course, her typing speed didn't decrease at all during that time.

Arthur had a lot to say, but he decided to put it aside for now.

It was too difficult to persuade her in that state,

And he could roughly guess why she was acting like that now.

An incident that she had experienced in the past, which he had heard from other researchers.

Perhaps she was pouring so much affection into the Anomalous Entity she was currently in charge of because of the trauma caused by that incident.

Trauma was common among people in this job,

But he wasn't so clueless as to mention it at this point, not long after the breakout.

Besides, no matter how much she requested to take out that Anomalous Entity, the higher-ups would obviously reject it anyway,

He thought that there was no need for him to argue with her now, so he started to change the subject.

"Okay, how about we talk about something else?"

"I'm sorry, but if it's not important, can we do it later? As I said before, I'm a bit busy right now."

Arthur tried to extend the conversation, but Sophia cut it off in advance as if she wasn't interested.

She was able to continue the conversation with him without difficulty while focusing on the screen and the keyboard she was pressing,

But anyway, doing those things at the same time consumed quite a bit of concentration.

Unless it was important, she didn't usually like to chat while working,

So she asked her Junior Researcher for understanding and wanted to focus on what she was doing for now.

"No, listen. It's a really important story."

"Is it really important? If it's not, you'll pay for my lunch every day for a week?"

"Lunch? Well, I don't mind paying for that."

Arthur shrugged.

He was really going to tell an important story,

But even if he didn't, he could afford to pay for seven lunches.

"Expensive ones."

That was only under the premise that it was a normal amount of money.

"...How much?"

"At least three digits."

"No, what are you trying to spend that much on lunch?!"

"That's so Arthur won't try to tell me useless stories."

She deliberately set an absurd condition because she didn't want to be disturbed as much as possible while finishing her work.

But if he didn't stop talking to her even with this, then that meant it was a story that he really had to tell her now.

"So, is it an important enough story to take that risk?"

"...The story's over, can't I just insist on getting lunch?"

"Of course. Why would I take advantage of a Junior Researcher who's telling me an important story?"

"If only you could keep your mouth shut..."

Arthur grumbled in a small voice towards his Seonbae, who was speaking shamelessly.

Soon, he began to utter the story he had been trying to tell her since earlier.

"Anyway, Seonbae. Do you know someone named Henry?"

"Agent Henry? Well, I've seen him a few times while passing by."

A person's name popped out of Arthur's mouth.

She knew who he was. It wasn't like they were close, but at least she knew his name and face.

Arthur, having confirmed that Sophia knew the person he was talking about, immediately skipped the part where he was going to introduce him.

"Okay. About that Henry guy. I heard he went missing a few days ago."

As the word "missing" came out of his mouth, one of Sophia's eyebrows furrowed.

In this line of work, the word "missing" was far more ominous than "dead" or "deceased."

"Missing? Could it be the work of rival organizations again?"

"No, I don't think it's them. I heard he went missing from this Site."

Sophia's hands, which had been moving with bizarre speed, slowed down.

A missing person case at the very Site she was currently in.

It was more than enough to pique her interest and cause her unease.

"Well, maybe he accidentally wandered into a containment chamber?"

"Come on, even if he's directionally challenged, would he really wander into a containment chamber? In the first place, you can't enter without authorization."

"That's true," Sophia said, nodding.

She already knew very well that all containment chambers could not be opened without specific authorization.

Especially if it was a containment chamber with something dangerous enough to make a person disappear in an instant.

"So… he disappeared without a trace? Here at Site 17?"

"No, there's a record. He was last seen on camera entering the security room."

Captured on camera, that was fortunate.

At least they wouldn't have to tremble in fear without knowing the reason for a fellow agent's disappearance.

As she let out a small sigh of relief,

the words that came out of his mouth next betrayed her expectations.

"But the problem is, the security room camera didn't record him entering at all."

The sound of keyboard tapping stopped completely with a final "tap."

A sudden silence.

Breaking the silence, she finally looked at her junior and spoke as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"...How is that possible?"

"I don't know. I didn't see the video myself, I just heard it from a security guard."

Arthur scratched his head, looking troubled.

His job was to research Anomalies, not to find missing people.

If he hadn't overheard the security guard, he wouldn't have known about it himself.

"But I heard some other strange things along with that."

"Strange things?"

"Well, it's just that the place where the guy who was caught on camera entering looked different from the original security room."

Sophia frowned.

A missing person, and a camera that captured the moment of disappearance.

A camera that captured the person entering the security room, and a camera inside the security room that captured nothing.

It was a mysterious event that couldn't happen unless the camera was broken.

"And, this is the more important fact."

Arthur slowly opened his mouth.

In fact, if he hadn't heard this, he wouldn't have thought of telling her this story.

But after hearing something from someone, he guessed that this incident was going in an unusual direction.

In his estimation, this was a detail that could not be easily overlooked,

so he decided to tell her this for her sake, as they were quite close.

"They said that at the time the person went missing, Anomaly 1983 was closed."

As he spoke, a rather familiar Anomaly number came up.

Most researchers working at Site 17 knew about the Anomaly,

and this was certainly true for Sophia as well.

"Anomaly 1983, that's…"

Sophia's face was filled with shock.

As far as she knew, that Anomaly was the kind that should never be closed, and if Agent Henry had been affected by that Anomaly…

He would surely meet a terrible, terrible end.

The name of that Anomaly was, without a doubt―――

<br><br>

Anomaly Report
Anomaly 1983

Also known as, "The Door to the Multidimensional Maze"

Risk Level Classification: Ⅲ (Very Dangerous)

Anomaly 1983 is a hinged door made of an unidentified metal material.

It was recovered from an abandoned factory where ██ disappearances had occurred, but people who had been employees of the abandoned factory stated that there was no door on the wall where 1983 was installed until the factory closed.

When opened, Anomaly 1983 leads to a completely different space, regardless of the facility or space in which the Anomaly is installed.

In addition, it repeatedly leads to different places each time it is opened and closed.

Most of the places that appear have properties that violate the existing laws of physics, and have appearances such as endless corridors, amusement parks, swimming pools, fields, gardens, the top of high-rise buildings where the ground cannot be observed, and [REDACTED].

Experiments have revealed that the places do not exist on Earth.

While Anomaly 1983 remains closed, the properties of the Anomaly move to another door within █████km, and this phenomenon automatically ends when the Anomaly door is reopened.

The conditions for selecting the door that is granted the properties of Anomaly 1983 are completely random, and it has been found that the only way to prevent this phenomenon is to keep the Anomaly open at all times.

Exploration Log

[Exploration Ⅰ]
Exploration Subject: 1 Small Exploration Robot
Exploration Location: A road lined with 19██s American-style houses
Exploration Content: The interior of the houses was decorated similarly to typical houses, but items necessary for survival such as food and drinks could not be found.
The scenery was only of the road and the houses built on both sides, and nothing else was observed.
An attempt was made to explore to the communication limit area of the exploration robot, but only the same scenery continued endlessly.
The exploration robot lost communication while returning after completing the exploration.

[Exploration Ⅱ]
Exploration Subject: 1 Medium Exploration Robot, 2 Small Exploration Robots
Exploration Location: Inside an abandoned hotel
Exploration Content: The area consisted of very old and worn carpets, wallpaper, and furniture, and consisted of corridors and doors leading to guest rooms.
No exits or windows could be found, and no stairs leading to the lower or upper floors could be found either.
The structure of the area was very complex, and the navigator system malfunctioned frequently during the exploration, so the exploration was terminated early.

[Exploration Ⅲ]
Exploration Subject: 1 Medium Amphibious Exploration Robot, 2 Small Amphibious Exploration Robots
Exploration Location: Indoor swimming pool
Exploration Content: During the exploration, a life form was found inside the space.
The life form appeared to be a Hispanic male, and explained that he had suddenly come to this place while entering a room in his house a short time ago.
An attempt was made to use the exploration robot to guide the male to the location of Anomaly 1983, but suddenly the clocks of all three exploration robots went dark at the same time, and after about 2 seconds, the male's scream was heard before all communication was cut off.
As a result of checking the recorded video, a part of the body of an unknown creature was observed in the corner of the screen for a short time.

[Exploration Ⅳ]
Exploration Personnel: Special Task Force, Eight Uniform-█ Members
Exploration Location: A very large sewer with complicated pipes
Exploration Content: [REDACTED]
After Exploration Ⅳ, the risk level of Anomaly 1983 was raised, and internal exploration of the Anomaly was also prohibited.

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