Anomaly Catching Anomaly

In a dark hallway…

A small girl was walking silently along the corridor.

Despite her seemingly carefree demeanor, as if she was unaware of the dangers of this place, the total darkness surrounding her seemed to enhance the sense of alienation.

Thud! The girl’s footsteps came to an abrupt stop. Consequently, the sound of her steps echoed into silence.

She turned her head to look behind her.

Then, she spoke to the pitch-black void as if she were certain that someone was there.

…Why are you following me?

In the lightless space, there was nothing visible, but she stood still, awaiting a response.

Just when the uncomfortable silence lingered on, a man’s voice emerged from the other end of the hallway.

I’m not following; this was the path we were on first.

From the dark shadows, the figure of a man emerged—it was the same man the girl had encountered earlier.

Was she satisfied with the response she just heard? The girl turned away, her expression still unreadable, and resumed walking down the corridor.

…How did he know?

As soon as the girl resumed her walking, he began to follow them again, albeit feeling rather flustered that his presence had been noticed.

In a space so dark he could barely see an inch ahead without turning on the light, he did his utmost to make no sound with his footsteps, yet that effort seemed futile as the girl nonchalantly perceived his presence.

Uh, Cooper…

At that moment, a voice quietly whispered his name from beside him. It was Eleanor, the companion who had been following him.

He lowered his voice so that it wouldn’t reach the people ahead and began a hushed conversation with her.

What is it?

I know it’s a bit late to say, but is it really right to follow those people?

We have no choice. The exit on the first floor is blocked, and the only option left for us now is to head to the Launch Control Room.

Still, isn’t that… a bit too strange? I can understand one person being weird, but I’ve never heard of the Abnormal Phenomena Management Office using a little girl.

Well, that’s true…

It was a valid question.

They might appear indifferent to them, but that didn’t prove that they were truly human.

Most importantly, the sight of the girl in front of them was unmatched for this place, and she shouldn’t have been there at all.

Thinking it over, the fact that she looks like that makes it even more real for me.

…What do you mean?

Those usually come into view while looking as trustworthy as possible. She doesn’t look suspicious at all, at first glance.

But it was also true that it instilled some trust about the girl.

Those mimicking humans would usually approach with a trustworthy appearance to prove themselves.

Coming forward in a plainly suspicious manner would certainly instill nothing but distrust.

Especially presenting such an uncanny sight as hers from the get-go would be pretty far from a good shape for deceiving someone here.

You two over there.

While Eleanor and Cooper were quietly conversing, a man who had been beside the girl spoke up.

Were you on your way to the Launch Control Room?

The man asked, and though the two didn’t answer him, he continued questioning without worrying about it.

After all, there was no other reason to walk into this dangerous place.

It’s been six days since the countdown for the nuclear weapon’s launch began, so why are you only moving now?

I—

Eleanor intended to answer, but Cooper immediately covered her mouth.

It was clear that saying something like she suddenly lost consciousness and woke up several days later would just complicate things.

He brought her along thinking whatever happens, happens, but for the man standing in front of them, it was clearly an unwelcome fact that she had been a missing person.

…We’ve been in the shelter all this time. No matter how long we waited, there wasn’t any chance of rescue, nor even a contact from the receiver, so we crawled out of there when we were about to die.

He provided a reasonable lie to the man on her behalf.

Though it sounded suspicious, fortunately, the man didn’t seem to have any doubts about it.

Any other survivors?

I don’t know. The others all went out after saying they would try something on the fourth or fifth day.

After all the questions were finished, the man seemed to have nothing more to ask, returning to silence as he walked ahead quietly.

Thank goodness, Cooper thought.

It was a relief because if they had drawn unwanted suspicion thanks to covering her mouth, things would have gotten quite complicated from that point on.

He particularly didn’t want to relive the experience of having a blade held to his neck.

Um, um…

However, whether she knew how he felt or not, Eleanor suddenly spoke up toward the man walking in front.

Cooper shot her a startled look, but there was nothing to be done about the words that had already come out.

Earlier, you mentioned that all the personnel who entered this facility went missing, right?

That’s right.

Is there really not even one person who has managed to escape this facility? Not a single person?

She asked, wondering if perhaps among the remaining members, someone had managed to flee this place.

After all, from her perspective, she had closed her eyes and upon opening them, all her colleagues had vanished.

Even after hearing that her comrades had all died during that time, she couldn’t fully grasp it.

Fully honest with herself, she thought maybe one or two of them had somehow managed to escape from this location.

As far as I know, yes. Out of the five teams dispatched here, I haven’t heard any reports of anyone returning alive.

However, the man’s words were as cold as his voice.

…I see…

Facing the harsh reality she’d been denying for so long, she couldn’t even conclude her sentence and merely lowered her head with a despondent expression.

…

The atmosphere became uncomfortable all at once.

Of course, it was Cooper who felt that suffocating air.

The two in front, not even glancing this way, didn’t seem to feel uncomfortable at all.

He scratched his head as he glanced at her bowed figure and after a moment, he frowned in annoyance before speaking to those ahead, much like she did earlier.

By the way, what the heck are you two?

At his words, the man walking ahead turned around once more.

Originally, he had intended to keep their conversation to a minimum, but since he had already broken the ice, he intended to seize this opportunity to ask the question that had been bothering him from the start.

What do you mean?

What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’? It’s straightforward. At a glance, you don’t seem like an ordinary special operations team, and I’ve never heard of the Management Office employing a child.

What he wanted to know was, of course, about the girl’s identity.

The Abnormal Phenomena Management Office was an organization that could carelessly sacrifice individuals for the sake of humanity, but that was only under unavoidable circumstances.

If they didn’t uphold a minimum of morality and ethics, the very purpose of their objective to protect humanity would shift into something else entirely.

Pushing a little girl into danger, however, certainly appeared to violate even his baseline of moral and ethical standpoints.

Unless she’s some sort of anomaly or reality distortion specialist… No, I’ve never heard of such a little kid among them.

The only possibility that came to mind would be regarding those famous specialists, but even considering that, he couldn’t piece it together.

Among those wrapped in veils even within the Management Office, he’d never heard of any little girl.

…

The man quietly listened to him and then spoke up.

I can’t tell you.

That was a really simple response, followed by him turning his head back to the front.

…Yeah, well, I expected as much.

Cooper mumbled.

It sounded like he had anticipated that answer.

Continuing down the hallway…

Suddenly, the girl ahead stopped in her tracks.

19th entity. What’s wrong?

The man asked the stopped girl.

Then, she raised a hand and pointed in a direction, indicating that they had finally reached their destination.

I think I found it.

The girl said, but the two behind her could only furrow their brows.

That was because the place her finger was pointing at was just filled with utter darkness.

I can’t see anything.

It’s right up ahead. You’ll see it in just a moment.

Despite seeing nothing, the girl confidently continued to speak.

After walking a little while along the corridor and shining the flashlight towards the place she had mentioned, they were greeted by the sight of a damaged sign displaying some letters.

Launch Control Room.

That was their destination, which they never expected to reach.

…

However, despite arriving at their destination, the expressions of the two didn’t brighten.

It was because the surrounding scenery resembled exactly what they had seen on the first floor.

It’s identical to that place… Eleanor murmured.

Various tools scattered on the floor and remnants of explosives strewn about.

And despite all those countless traces of efforts, the walls and door showed only faint soot, proving that no one had entered here.

…So this is why no one could stop the launch until now.

Cooper said with a bitter expression.

Well, to be fair, it was unsurprising.

If no one had been able to stop the launch until now, there must have been a corresponding reason.

But what could they do? They had no choice left but to come here.

Even if they had stayed in the shelter, the anguish lingering in their hearts would have tortured them until death.

You speak like you know something.

The exit on the first floor was similar to this scene. I don’t know what kind of anomaly it is, but the doors were blocked by some unknown force.

It seemed the man didn’t realize yet what events had transpired.

Of course, that made sense. They hadn’t attempted to leave outside yet.

It was still unknown to them that the exit on the first floor had been blocked by any means necessary, and that this room was displaying the same sight.

Because of that, we couldn’t get out, and as a last resort, we come over here… Damn, this is totally messed up.

After hearing Cooper’s words, the man approached the door, trying the doorknob.

The door didn’t budge, not an inch.

He tried turning the knob and pushed against it with his body, banging it along the way, and after a short while, he realized his actions were futile and stepped back from the door.

…It’s blocked.

I told you, it’s not opening. There are clear signs of explosives having been detonated here, yet there’s not even a scratch on the wall. It looks like it won’t open through any physical means.

He spoke as if this was likely a type of anomaly.

A kind of reality manipulation situation that couldn’t be overcome by ordinary actions.

The man, hearing him, turned back with a sense of resignation and asked the little girl behind him.

Can you open it?

To be honest, it was a rather odd sight.

The man who had been trying with all his might to open the door moments ago was now asking the little girl who seemed several times smaller than him for help.

However, as he said, it was undeniable that this was a door that could not be opened physically.

It was clear that only someone with certain special abilities could navigate through this situation.

And that person possessing that special ability clearly pointed to this little girl.

The girl nodded slightly at his request and stood in front of the door, shaking the doorknob a few times.

Then, she suddenly stopped holding onto the doorknob, stared at the door calmly, and—

—KABOOM!

She launched her small foot at the door with an impressive kick, a surprisingly powerful gesture for her petite body.

—THUMP!

The door flew open, crashing to the other side of the room.

CRASH!

The loud and blunt noise echoed, likely the sound of the door smashing into the wall.

It’s open.

With an indifferent expression as if nothing had happened, the girl declared while standing before the now brightly revealed inside.

Truthfully, they had anticipated that this door would not be opened physically.

Yet, what the girl had just done was, in every sense, very physical.

…

Even after she entered the room, the two remained quietly standing in the corridor for quite some time.

They only stepped inside the room a little while later.