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“Run away, Saheon. Forget about me and save yourself.”
Those were the last words that his sister had spoken to him, before she was taken to the shrine, before she came back…mute, deaf, blind. A warped face. No longer his sister, not really.
It’s not like he even had a choice to truly run! It was useless to leave the village, just to be dragged back, kicking and screaming. It was useless also to stay and await his own slow death.
He was helpless for a whole year, desperately searching for a miracle to save his dear sister and himself from their awful fate. But he’d failed and failed and failed, and now the eve of the next Jisan Festival was upon them.
Shakily, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. This was his last resort. Still, he doubted. Everyone in the village knew it down to their bones that there was no salvation for those who called this place home. Even with the help of those people who proudly swore to save all the civilians that they could.
But still…he had a flame of hope licking in his chest, close to his heart.
He called the number stamped on the paper. He exchanged words with the voice on the other side of the line, relaying all he knew and how to find him. He hung up and sat down heavily. Now to pack his bags and wait.
He stood by the village well, a single backpack at his feet. The first day of festivities had concluded a while ago, and now the moon was high in the sky. In one hand, he still clutched the piece of paper with the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau’s rescue number. In his other hand, he held the hand of his sister firmly. Not that she’d wander off or anything. Since last year, she was in a perpetual zombie-like state and barely responded to any outside stimuli, but she easily stood up and walked with him when led.
From the darkness, he heard a pair of footsteps crunching along the ground.
Two agents appeared in front of him—the shorter man with a neat appearance and confident stride, and a taller man with short black hair, backing him up.
The first of the two spoke up, “Are you the one who called?”
He saw the man’s eyes slide off to the side, to his sister, before returning to his face, then down to his hand holding the paper.
“Yes.”
The second man stepped forward. “And are you an outsider who’s come to Jisan Village for the festival?”
“...No…”
The man’s face fell into a frown and he shot a look at the other agent.
He stood there awkwardly as the two agents stared silently at each other for an uncomfortably long time. It was obvious they were talking to each other so he couldn’t overhear them, somehow.
Eventually, the shorter man let out a sigh as the taller man smiled slightly in triumph. “Alright well, it’s worth a try! Let’s do this then.”
He turned and addressed the siblings. “My name is Agent Č̴̢̧̨͇̫̤͔̖̠̜̜̱̦̤͘̕h̷͔̠̗̭̦̲̻̻̭̲̼̥̮͎̅͗̑̅̎͜ö̷̲̱͖́̏̑̂̊̇̍͋̏́̈́̈͂͆́i̶̻̎̂̈́̌̋̉̊͒̾̄̈́̿̈ and this is my junior, Agent Ḇ̸̲̻͔̰̺͉̦̦̫̬́̽͂̋̆̕͠ͅͅŗ̷̛̹̤̩͙̙̙̐̓̀͊̂̽̇͋̐̋̕͝ǫ̵̧̮̗͓͎̔͒̈́̉͆̇̂̎̔̌͐̊̿ń̷̢̨͈̮̹̪͉͍̰͍̋̓͐̊̔̿͗̎͘͝z̶̦̭̳͂͂͆̈́́̓͋̕͝e̴̢̡̯͓̰̳̣͒̓͗̄̎͋̆͂̇̑̔̽͝. We’ll help get you out of here.” Again, his eyes slid sideways. “And she is your…sister?”
He nodded quickly and ignored the staticky censored words. Like it has been every Jisan Festival, names and faces of outsiders were impossible to perceive, so he didn’t bother to try. He assigned them “Agent A” and “Agent B” in his head.
“Yes! Please, I can’t leave her behind, we’ll definitely die if we remain here.”
Agent A smiled brightly, then held out his right hand, gesturing in a gimme motion towards the note he had crumpled in his grip. He loosened his fist and extended his arm out—
Yank!
In a flash, Agent A seized his arm with a bruising grip and pulled him harshly in one direction while Agent B lunged forward on his long legs and shoved his sister in the opposite direction with all his strength. His eyes widened in shock and his blood ran cold, but before the situation could even register, Agent A had whipped his other arm around.
Something flashed through the air and shot towards his sister’s sprawled form. What looked like a glass marble missed her by mere centimeters, burrowing into the ground by her limp head. There was a single heartbeat of nothing, and then.
LET THE ROPE OF
JUSTICE FALL UPON
THE SINNER
More ghostly hands than he could count emerged from the glass marble, resembling a grotesque flower that tilted its face towards his sister’s body and swallowed it whole. And then she was gone, leaving just the glass behind.
“Ahhh!” He let out a scream and flew at Agent A, who was still facing away from him. What could he do? Could he win by fistfighting the older man? Maybe if he got his hands around his neck and choked him—
Whack!
His eyes involuntarily rolled back and he fell forward from the impact to the back of his head. As his consciousness flickered and faded, he could hear the agents talking.
“Ḇ̸̲̻͔̰̺͉̦̦̫̬́̽͂̋̆̕͠ͅͅŗ̷̛̹̤̩͙̙̙̐̓̀͊̂̽̇͋̐̋̕͝ǫ̵̧̮̗͓͎̔͒̈́̉͆̇̂̎̔̌͐̊̿ń̷̢̨͈̮̹̪͉͍̰͍̋̓͐̊̔̿͗̎͘͝z̶̦̭̳͂͂͆̈́́̓͋̕͝e̴̢̡̯͓̰̳̣͒̓͗̄̎͋̆͂̇̑̔̽͝-ah, a one-hit KO? Such a strong junior I’ve got.”
“We’ll have to be fast, there’s no…for joking right now…”
“Good thing…mountains...set it……ok…”
The world went black.
When he woke up again, it was to a white hospital room. He groaned, reaching a hand up to gingerly feel around the painful bump on his head.
“I’m glad you’re awake.”
Startled, he turned his head and saw…Agent B? He could now clearly make out the man’s face, and he was pretty sure this was the taller agent who had shown up in Jisan Village. Without the other agent around for comparison, though, maybe this was a complete stranger.
He sat up in the hospital bed with a groan and turned to face the man.
“Where…am I?”
It was clear he was no longer in Jisan Village and he swallowed painfully around the lump in his throat.
“Where…is my sister?”
Agent B leaned over with a glass of water that he gratefully took.
“Your sister was clearly contaminated, so we couldn’t rescue her in the usual way and she’s still not going to be back normal. Right now…consider it like she’s in a kind of stasis until we can help her recover safely.” Agent B smiled reassuringly, but he did not feel much reassured.
“And… You were also contaminated.”
He almost choked on the water he was drinking. Agent B hurriedly removed the glass from his hands and watched him hack and cough for a while before continuing.
“But we figured out a loophole to get you out using the normal outsider’s rescue condition.” Agent B’s face turned a little awkward. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
At that moment, the door slid open with a crack as Agent A strolled in and cut off Agent B, “I can take it from here! After all, the consequences will be my responsibility, hm?”
On his way to the bed, Agent A nabbed the extra chair and placed it nearby to sit down next to Agent B.
“..How did the meeting go?” Agent B asked.
Agent A waved him off without responding. Then, he folded his arms across his chest, grinned down at the poor patient in bed, and said, “How would you like to work with us to save your sister?”
“What?!”
He could only stare, incredulous, at this man sitting in front of him.
“Well, even if saving your sister wasn’t your priority, you are now ‘bound’ to help us in return for extracting you out of that disaster.”
“W-what do you mean?” He paused, frantic thoughts running through his head. Agent A’s smile turned sharp.
“Well, in order for the disaster to let you go, we needed to make it consider you as an ‘outsider,’ right? So!” He clapped his hands together once, twice. “Welcome to the Disaster Management Bureau’s Black Tortoise Team 1!”
Agent B was already holding his head in his hands, embarrassed at the theatrics.
“Welcome to your new ‘home!’”