By Zephyria 
“It would be a disaster if I went in the wrong way.””
“Yes. So be careful not to stray elsewhere.”
Director Shin Yun-hui paused for a moment before whispering to me.
“I haven’t been inside myself, but… the Management Bureau’s interrogation room is notoriously nasty. There’s a rumor circulating within the Bureau that you won’t even be able to recover your bones if you get caught.”
Interrogation room, huh….
I had already heard of its notoriety in my past life. Rumors circulated that it was a place where Ability Users who had deserted were dragged to receive mind-reprogramming education.
Whether the rumors were true or not, Ability Users who had been dragged to the Management Bureau’s interrogation room were madly focused on monster suppression and Gate raids for a while.
Then, when their bodies and minds became unbearably weakened, they simply died. Or they ended up in a hospital bed.
‘It must have been a kind of example.’
Ability Users who were suddenly conscripted for battle always missed their homes and families and dreamed of returning.
It was to scare them so they could never run away from the assigned zone.
Jae-ha and I knew the horror of these interrogation rooms, so we did our best to prevent anyone from deserting within the unit and to help them adapt to military life quickly.
The reason we desperately tried to survive together was because we were in a reality where we couldn’t forcibly escape.
‘Now even that has become a memory.’
Perhaps that’s why it didn’t sound scary at all.
“Haha. I’m not an idiot, so would I really make such a mistake? At this important time when my comeback is approaching. Our President even told me to please not cause any trouble.”
When I joked at the Director’s warning, she smiled, relieved.
“Right? I just said it in case, so I hope you won’t take it to heart.”
“Of course.”
Smiling outwardly, I thought.
‘Too bad.’
It would have been nice if I could have wandered around places other than the information office, using the excuse of getting lost.
‘This might be the first and last chance to come to the deep center of the Management Bureau.’
Since the Director took the lead with precautions, I couldn’t play any tricks.
As it is, I have no choice but to extract the Database from the information office as the Director guides me.
When I swiped the temporarily issued Card Key at the entrance, the doors of the tightly closed elevator opened.
“Please come in.”
“Ah, yes.”
As soon as I boarded the elevator with the Director, the doors closed.
There was nothing drawn on the buttons where the floors should have been written.
As if she was used to my curious gaze, the Director added an explanation in a plain tone.
“Actually, those buttons are marked with floors.”
“Yes? I can’t see anything.”
“It’s specially treated for security. Only a small number of authorized employees can see the numbers on this elevator’s buttons.”
“I see.”
“If an unauthorized intruder comes in, they won’t know which button to press and will be caught in a panic. Even if they press anything at random, they’ll just be trapped in the elevator.”
It must mean it’s that important of a place.
While I was understanding the Director’s explanation, she gritted her teeth.
“It’s all because there are subversive forces trying to break into the Management Bureau without permission.”
“Ah… yes.”
I think I know very well who that subversive force is referring to.
I didn’t say anything.
‘Jae-ha and his colleagues had a big part in the Management Bureau’s security being so heavily reinforced.’
I decided once again that I should stay quiet and leave without doing anything unnecessary.
The secret elevator descended as if sucked into a vacuum cleaner and stopped at a certain floor.
“Let’s get off.”
Following the Director’s guidance, I moved my steps and came to a winding passage.
Following the dark passage, an information office filled with bright lights appeared at the end. It was a facility that was not much different from the Management Bureau on the ground.
The Director led me into a huge system inside the information office.
“This is the Database that stores all the information of Ability Users in the country.”
When she swiped her Card Key over the system, the power turned on and lights rose on the wide transparent screen.
Soon, the voice of AI was heard.
-Welcome, Administrator.
“Wow.”
As I admired, the Director shrugged her shoulders.
“This is Alice, the AI that manages the Database. You can ask this child to show you the information of Ability Users.”
The Director turned her head from me and spoke to the AI, Alice.
“Alice, this is Yeon Yu-jin Guide, a guest who is only here for today. He has been temporarily granted search privileges, so please take good care of him this one time.”
-Don’t worry. I will take measures to ensure that searches are only possible within the requested parameters.
“Okay.”
The Director then tried to head elsewhere.
‘Hmm? Wasn’t the Director supposed to be watching me to make sure I don’t do anything else?’
Puzzled, I grabbed the Director’s sleeve.
“Where are you going, ma’am?”
She brushed off my hand and replied.
“Ah, I have separate business to attend to. Yeon Yu-jin Guide, when you’re done, tell Alice that you want to go back. Then she will guide you to the elevator from earlier.”
“I understand.”
The Director disappeared back into the dark passage.
Left alone, I made a request to Alice.
“Alice. Show me all the information of all the Ability Users in the country at once.”
-Understood, Guest.
The sound of flipping pages was heard, and soon the requested information filled the transparent screen densely.
-I have compiled the information of all existing Espers and Guides.
“Hmm…. If possible, show me from the first Ability User? Oh, and including deceased Ability Users.”
There was a reason why I specifically asked to see even the deceased Ability Users.
I judged that having information on Ability Users presumed to have been killed by X would make it easier to prepare when facing him. Wouldn’t it be advantageous to know in advance what abilities that bastard had snatched?
Alice readily agreed to my request.
-The request is being processed to recompile the information.
Perhaps because it was AI and its calculations were fast, a vast Database quickly came into view.
I slowly looked through the Database and requested Alice again.
“Alice, can you print out this Database in a printed format?”
Alice showed a negative reaction to this request.
-I’m sorry, but that is not possible.
-This document cannot be taken out by ‘Guest’ with your current permissions.
-If you wish to print or save the file, we recommend bringing a superior with greater authority.
“I knew it would come to this….”
I wasn’t surprised because I expected it.
‘So that’s why the Director promised to show me the Database, pretending she couldn’t win against me.’
In a situation where even personal information handled by public offices is restricted from being taken out arbitrarily by the general public. It was only natural that the information of Ability Users would be no different.
But I had to take this information back with me, so I decided to use a trick.
“Oh, well. I guess there’s no choice.”
Pretending to back down, I stepped back and approached the system that the Director had turned on.
Even in a huge supercomputer, the hole for inserting a USB was easily visible. I quickly plugged in the USB that I had prepared in advance. I had asked Jae-ha to bring it.
Alice was flustered.
-An unknown USB is attempting to access the system.
-Preparing to repel… re…
Alice, who had been stuttering, soon became as quiet as a mouse.
Instead, the voice of an adult male, sounding tired, flowed out.
-Ah, ah. Mic test. Can you hear me well there? Mr. Yeon Yu-jin?
“Yes. I can hear you well.”
The owner of the voice was none other than Geum Na-ro, a colleague of Jae-ha and a member of the White Tiger Unit.
A few days before coming to the Management Bureau, I had sent a text message to Jae-ha.
[Me: I want to extract the Database, but judging by the Management Bureau’s personality, they won’t allow me to bring it. I’m trying to bring the entire Database, do you have a colleague who specializes in this?]
To be honest, I didn’t expect much. Jae-ha immediately arranged a connection with Geum Na-ro.
[JH: There’s a friend named Geum Na-ro. He said he’ll send a package to your accommodation address. He said you can use that to access the Management Bureau’s system.]
Not long after, the package arrived. That was the USB I plugged into the system. It looked like a lighter on the outside, so it was hard to see it as a USB.
A simple memo was also enclosed in the package.
A short memo saying that if you plug this into the system, he will take care of extracting the Database on his own.
I shouldn’t doubt the skills of the colleague Jae-ha has.
I took the lighter-shaped USB and came to this point.
‘Fortunately, perhaps because the precautions were so harsh, they didn’t even do a body search.’
Thanks to that, I was able to bring the USB without any problems.
The sound of Geum Na-ro yawning echoed from beyond the speaker.
-Deceiving the Management Bureau’s eyes won’t last long. We need to copy the Database quickly.
A system window popped up on the transparent screen.
[Copying the Database.]
With the Director gone, I thought I could just sit back and wait leisurely, so I pulled up any chair and sat down.
Then, I heard someone’s voice from somewhere.