By Zephyria 
“Are you talking about the mister? But he’s a person…”
“No. Until verification is complete, the principle is to assume they are an Aberration.”
A sudden surge of anxiety made Yoo Jiha fidget with his fingers. Could it be that Jeil Heon had been treated as an Aberration by the Management Bureau all this time? To be honest, Jiha himself had been half-doubting whether the man was human, but knowing he was actually being regarded as an Aberration made him feel strangely upset.
“As it happens, the person capable of providing definitive verification has returned, but the Aberration is being stubborn, insisting he cannot do it unless the teacher is present.”
“Me?”
“He said he’d be very nervous during verification and needs someone to hold his hand.”
“…”
Was he some kind of security blanket?
Still, knowing he could meet Jeil Heon in person calmed his heart and gave him the composure to look around.
“You said the Management Bureau is very secretive; is it okay to just walk in?”
He hadn’t seen a thing on the way in because he had fallen asleep in the car again, but he was wide awake now. Assistant Manager Jang ruthlessly cut through the slight excitement Jiha felt, wondering if they would wear blindfolds like in the movies.
“Even if you look out the window, outsiders can’t remember it anyway. This isn’t an ordinary car.”
“Right…”
“Would you like to read the visitor guidelines on your way?”
Assistant Manager Jang pulled a file from the passenger seat and handed it back.
[Notice to Visitors of the Water Abnormality Worship Management Bureau.]
If guidelines are not followed, all responsibility lies with you.
Always accompany a staff member of this headquarters.
Do not lose your issued visitor pass. If your biometric response does not match the coordinates of the pass, we will determine that you are an Aberration.
The only area permitted by the pass is the restroom. Any impulse to go to other locations is not your own; do not be deceived. If you attempt to enter a restricted area three or more times, we will determine that you are an Aberration.
A young boy who appears to be in early elementary school is not a staff member of this headquarters. If you encounter the child, respond politely.
If you witness the child wearing a hanbok or royal robes, immediately notify the accompanying staff member. He has worn Western clothing since before you were born.
Very occasionally, there are Aberrations that escape from the research wing or Containment Sectors. If you visited the headquarters through normal channels, you do not need to—and must not—determine whether the thing before you is human or an Aberration. However, we provide the following explanation for scenarios where you are in a private space, such as a restroom stall, or have distanced yourself more than one meter from your accompanying staff member due to your own recklessness.
5-1. Check if the entity is wearing a black choker around the area presumed to be the neck. An entity wearing a black choker is an Aberration cooperating with the headquarters; apologize politely for the interference and withdraw. The fact that they cooperate with the headquarters does not mean they are friendly toward humans.
5-2. If there is no black choker, double-check if they are certainly human. It cannot mimic a human perfectly. At the very least, a finger or toe will be attached backward, or the angle of the neck’s movement will be different. If you feel a sense of dissonance, withdraw as calmly as possible and notify a staff member immediately.
5-3. If the entity is of a danger grade where it cannot be identified as non-human at a glance, you have already been contaminated by it. The Aberration will attempt to escape using you, but there is no need to worry about what happens afterward. Your death will be disguised as an accident, and your body will be replaced by a dummy kept in stock at the headquarters. We will make an effort to avenge you.
└ Team leader. Shouldn’t we provide more detailed information about Aberrations? Not all of them are humanoid.
└└ They just need to stay with a staff member. Those idiots who act out despite the warnings can die for all we care.
“It’s written long, but as long as you stay with me, you don’t need to worry much. Oh, but I printed the wrong version.”
Assistant Manager Jang apologized, noting that private comments remained even though he had printed the file labeled ‘Final_Final_ReallyLast_Real.hwp’. To Yoo Jiha, the casual remarks regarding human life and death were more chilling than the rules themselves. These people seemed to possess a definite sense of mission to save people, yet they were ruthless toward those who did not follow the rules. He wondered if he would think this way too, once he joined the Management Bureau…
* * *
It was a morning like any other.
His father had been absent since last night, having gone to visit some woman; his mother had woken up early to read the newspaper, and his siblings were fast asleep—a normal morning, just like yesterday.
He woke up, washed up, and went downstairs as usual, seeing his mother sitting on the living room sofa with her back to him.
〈Are you going jogging?〉
〈I’ll go for a lap.〉
〈Don’t overdo it before school. I told them to boil the marsh clam soup you like for breakfast, so come back quickly.〉
The boy, wearing Walkman earphones, gave his mother a polite bow. His mother waved him off without turning around.
〈I’ll be ba…〉
Suddenly, his vision flickered, and ominous letters began to float over his mother’s body.
[Hungry■Hung■■■ry■Hung■HungryHung■■Hung■■HungryHung■■■■■ryHungHung■■…]
〈Heon, what’s wrong?〉
Something that was not his mother, wearing her skin, smiled at the boy just like she would.
Jeil Heon snapped his eyes open, gasping for air. Blinking blankly, he suppressed a scream against a sudden, horrific hunger and pressed his palms hard against his eyelids. Only after his eyeballs had burst and regenerated repeatedly under the pressure did he finally pull his hands away, panting. The hunger shredded his nerves so violently that he couldn’t even feel the pain of his eyes bursting.
Just endure a little longer. That child will be here soon. Just a little. Just a little more.
His fingertips fumbled across the nightstand and gripped the mug he had filled with water yesterday. Even after draining the cup of lukewarm water, he couldn’t calm down and spent a long time heaving for breath.
To think that the dream he had for the first time in 22 years would be about that day. 22 years. A single word that pierced his brain without warning made Jeil Heon’s breathing tremble further.
Yes, 22 years. The time he had lost.
“Haa…”
Jeil Heon let out a heavy groan and clutched his forehead. He had braced himself after seeing how much that child had grown, but the actual gap of 22 years delivered a shock beyond his expectations.
Kang Suk-young had reached an age close to that of a parent, and most of those close to him had either died or retired. During the 22 years he didn’t know. The siblings he had yet to meet must be over 40 or 50 now, and children he had never seen in his life would call him ‘Uncle’. No, after being missing for over 20 years and reappearing as a monster who hadn’t aged, would they even recognize him as family?
He lost his family. He lost time. He lost his life.
Time had flowed far ahead, leaving only him behind, and no matter how hard he ran, he could never reach the time that had already passed. But who could he blame? He was the one who chose this, knowing the possibility.
Due to the lineage of his maternal family—shamans who had gained a spiritual reputation even greater than the Jinryeong-gun (shamans of the late Joseon Dynasty)—his true eye opened at the age of seven. And in the year he turned fourteen, he lost his mother to an Aberration. A fox demon, driven mad by hunger, sought to kill not only his mother but his entire family, leaving only hatred and revenge etched in red blood upon the boy’s heart.
Many people join the Water Abnormality Worship Management Bureau for the purpose of revenge against Aberrations. Among them, Jeil Heon was the most extreme.
Since joining at seventeen, the reality he stepped into was not the world where humans live, but the Otherworld. Jeil Heon had no interest in dramas that claimed over 50 percent viewership or songs that caused social syndromes. His social life was limited to Management Bureau staff to facilitate Aberration hunting, and he didn’t have a single common hobby. Had it not been for his siblings, the thin thread connecting him to the world of people would have been completely severed.
Jeil Heon had never once sincerely practiced the Management Bureau’s noble ideal of saving and protecting people. To him, rescuing humans was merely a secondary byproduct that came with the result of hunting Aberrations. It was enough to kill, kill, and kill Aberrations. If the result was his own death, he would actually welcome it. His path of revenge, which disregarded his own life, earned him the honor of being the youngest Head of Department in the Annihilation Execution Department, but he felt no glory in that fact.
…That was how it was. Until he met that child, Nam Jiha.