I’ll Retire After Saving the World - Chapter 19
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Chapter 19 – Basement Level 5 (2)
[Please enter the code.]
The light inside the elevator flickered.
Hong Seokyoung and Kim Chaemin quickly stepped into the elevator.
“Is this the secret entrance?”
“Code? What code are you talking about?”
“That’s why I said you needed me.”
I found it bothersome how close they were getting. I pushed the two away and pressed the elevator buttons to enter the code.
After a moment, the elevator spoke.
[Code confirmed.]
[Please press the floor number you wish to go to.]
“How many floors are there?”
I pressed 5 and answered.
“Basement level 5.”
Clunk.
Screech…
The elevator slowly descended. Each time it clunked, the light flickered.
Kim Chaemin glanced anxiously at the flickering light.
“Is it safe to ride this? It’s not going to fall, right?”
“Even if it falls, we won’t get hurt.”
“What about my psychological damage?”
“From now on, take the stairs instead of the elevator.”
Kim Chaemin shot me a look of disbelief.
But I didn’t have time to care about her.
It’s good that the elevator is working. It’s good that the code I entered worked too.
But why is the elevator clunking like this?
It’s almost like…
As if the power is about to be cut off.
From the outside, it looks like an abandoned building where ghosts might pop out, but the underground lab is different. From basement level 2 to 5.
Ark was suspiciously rich, so they spared no expense on research. Even to my young eyes, the equipment looked extremely expensive.
The pale light of the cold lamps, the cold gleam of the machines. The researchers walking around in white lab coats…
Ark continued to operate this place until right before Hong Seokyoung attacked. I’ve been to many of Ark’s other labs, but I spent the longest time here. Was it about two years?
At this time, Ark should be deeply engrossed in research. They wouldn’t leave the elevator lights flickering like this.
The head of the lab was particularly strict about such matters.
“But, Mr. Woo, this doesn’t look like a backdoor. Are we really sneaking in?”
When the floor number changed to 4, Hong Seokyoung asked.
I looked at him as if wondering why he would ask such a thing.
“Of course not.”
“…Then is it okay to enter this way?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Hong Seokyoung shut his mouth after a moment of mumbling.
Shaking his head, he approached the elevator door. This slow elevator still hadn’t reached basement level 5.
“Right, right. No need to worry since I’m here.”
“Exactly. Hunter Hong will handle everything.”
“In that case, we didn’t need to gather people, did we? I could just walk around and take them out one by one.”
“That’s right.”
I casually agreed.
“Why did we gather so many people then?”
[We have reached basement level 5.]
Only after hearing the monotonous voice of the elevator did Hong Seokyoung realize what he had just asked about.
He was concerned that Ark’s people might be on guard.
However, seeing as the lobby elevator wasn’t working, perhaps here…
[The doors are opening.]
“Huh?”
“What?”
Hong Seokyoung and Kim Chaemin looked bewildered. I too, with a sour expression, pushed past them and got out of the elevator.
I had expected this since the elevator started clunking. It was just surprising how much it matched my expectations.
An empty hallway.
It looked as if they had fled in the middle of the night, hurriedly clearing things out. Unmoved equipment was piled up like a mountain on one side of the hallway.
The only light came from the flickering elevator.
* * *
Click.
Click click.
“Ah.”
“It’s on.”
The flashlight lit up.
“…What are you doing without the great magician? I’ll just light it up with magic.”
“No, you can’t.”
“Then why did you bring me here? I can’t even use magic!”
“Did I bring you? You came on your own.”
“I told you to call me teacher. Why are you still like this?”
“I’m an employee, not a student.”
“Don’t you know that teachers call each other teachers?”
“… Let’s go.”
“Ha. You say ‘let’s go’ because you have nothing to say? Fine, fine. Let’s go.”
The three of them stood up.
The young man holding the flashlight seemed to be the guide, leading the way.
With a sullen face, the man spoke to the woman following him.
“They’ve initiated the emergency protocol. The magic could be unstable.”
“I’m a Grand Magician, you know? If the magic is unstable, I can tell right away.”
“Yes, I’m sure you can.”
The man replied indifferently.
“I don’t know if it’s the official name, but everyone calls it the Pompeii Project.”
“Pompeii Project?”
“If they left the house, wouldn’t they have set up some security measures? They must have drawn runes that react to magic in hidden places. If they sense magic….”
The man briefly clasped his hands together and then opened them. The gesture’s meaning was obvious.
Explosion.
The woman swallowed hard.
“… Can runes do that?”
“Runes aren’t that versatile. They just made a switch with the runes, and placed a bomb.”
“A switch? A switch, huh…. Do you know that rune too?”
“… I’ll tell you later.”
“Wow!”
The woman beamed.
The middle-aged man following behind shook his head.
“It’s good to be eager to learn, but… let’s focus now. Even if it’s an empty house, there might still be something useful.”
The man looked around the corridor.
“Mr. Woo. Is this the right lab?”
“… It is.”
Woo Hwijae shone his flashlight on a door. It seemed the occupants left in a hurry, as many places inside were unlocked.
Checking for possible traps, Woo Hwijae shone his flashlight inside the door.
It was as messy as the corridor. Overturned desks and bookshelves. A bucket filled with partially burned papers, as if someone had set fire to documents.
There were no visible traces, but there were still facts to uncover.
“There’s no dust. It probably hasn’t been long. They didn’t destroy everything, so they left room to return.”
“But we don’t know why they left? Did they know you were coming?”
Woo Hwijae shook his head.
“No. I don’t think so…. If they did, they wouldn’t have left so cleanly.”
Woo Hwijae led the two deeper inside.
“Normally, they wouldn’t relocate easily because of the children….”
“Because of the children?”
“The experiment… Honestly, I don’t really know what the experiment is about. But it’s very restrictive about the environment. Kind of like….”
The other rooms looked similar to the first. There were cages with animal carcasses, possibly used in experiments. The dry environment prevented any rotting smell.
Woo Hwijae spoke while checking another room.
“… A sterile room? It’s not a real sterile room, but something similar, to severely limit the children’s contact with the outside.”
“They didn’t hurt the children?”
“No, it wasn’t that kind of experiment…. They just drew some blood at most.”
But Woo Hwijae’s voice lacked conviction as he said this.
It couldn’t be helped.
In the past Woo Hwijae knew, the Ark’s sudden evacuation never happened!
‘This definitely didn’t happen before.’
I glanced at Kim Chaemin.
Kim Chaemin joining as a teacher at Hunter Training Pilot High School wasn’t supposed to happen either.
Neither was the existence of someone like Woo Hwijae who returned from the future.
So what had changed?
If this wasn’t a different world, there must be a reason.
If there was a reason, it could be found.
Before long, they reached the innermost part. From the second basement to the fourth basement, most rooms were either staff quarters or storage. They could be checked later.
“This door is locked?”
“Just look at it! It’s a double door, and it looks impressive.”
Kim Chaemin was right.
It was a large iron door that seemed to scream there was something significant inside. Hong Seokyoung knocked on the door to check.
“It looks quite thick. Should we try to force it open?”
“What if it has the rune Mr. Woo mentioned? I don’t want to die!”
“Hmm.”
… Why do they act like I’m not here?
I let out an obvious sigh and pushed Kim Chaemin and Hong Seokyoung aside.
What was the code here again?
Next to the door was a keypad for entering a security code. Even though the power to the entire facility had been cut, the security system would still be operational, just like the elevators.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
“……”
Hong Seokyoung’s gaze was intense.
He was probably fiercely contemplating what my position within the Ark had been.
Originally, I hadn’t planned on revealing this much.
If the lab had been functioning properly, Seokyoung would have handled all the searching and fighting on his own.
But now, I also needed to gather information. If I was going to be suspected no matter what I did, it was better to make it clear that I was a big shot.
I told you, if you’re going to show off, do it decisively.
No, this might make me seem too scheming.
I’m a victim, really.
Beep.
Clunk.
The door opened.
As Seokyoung mentioned, it was a thick iron door. It was thick enough to remain intact even if the lab exploded due to the Pompeii Project.
Whirr…
Click.
The lights came on as we entered. I turned off my flashlight.
This place was just as empty. They wouldn’t have left this area untouched after clearing out the rest of the facility.
The computers were gone, likely taken out entirely. The desks were clean and empty.
But there were some things they couldn’t take.
“This is….”
I could hear Kim Chaemin gulp. Seokyoung ground his teeth.
Past the empty desks, further inside. To the deepest part of the lab. To the place where the most important things were kept.
The children.
An entire wall was made of glass. More precisely, it was a one-way mirror allowing us to see in, but preventing those inside from seeing out.
I lightly ran my fingers over the glass. Thanks to the lights being on inside, we could see everything clearly.
Soft mats on the floor. Disheveled blankets. Toy dolls. Storybooks. Bunk beds in one corner of the room.
A mural of the Ark on the wall, depicting an upside-down ship with a rusted sword as its mast.
“… I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
Chaemin murmured, looking pale.
Seokyoung’s hand was clenched so tightly that the veins stood out. I decided to share a new piece of information.
“This room is not part of the Pompeii Project.”
This was the most important facility, so it couldn’t be destroyed.
“Really?”
Seokyoung responded nonchalantly and then swung his fist.
Crash!
The glass shattered.
From the center to the ends, thin cracks spread like a spiderweb before the whole thing collapsed. It was a spectacle.
I had seen this from the inside before. Worried the children might get hurt, the man had used his incredible control over mana to blunt the sharp edges of the broken glass.
Since there were no children now, he didn’t display such finesse.
But….
The sharp shards of broken glass felt, for some reason, a little bit…
Crack.
I stepped into the room, crushing the glass underfoot.
For some reason, stepping on the broken shards felt slightly, oddly, enjoyable.
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