How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 82

I waited for Cha Yeri to calm down, then spoke in a low voice.

“Judging from the circumstantial evidence, we have to assume that Instructor Yun Jeongseop is connected to this experiment.”

“T-That cannot be…”

Lee Eunho cut in.

“Do not tell me you knew! You knew, and you still brought the instructor here?”

“The answer to that question is ‘I did not know.’ But since the instructor stepped into this place of his own accord, what difference does that make now? What, are you going to go back and pity him?”

“……”

“In the first place, I came looking for this facility to solve the case. I have no obligation to report every detail to you.”

I took the documents back from Cha Yeri and continued, pretending to read them.

“Cadet Cha Yeri asked why it was never disclosed, but this was already mentioned at the Bureau level five years ago. Every researcher involved committed suicide, and all of the victims used in the experiment… died. It is just that the case records were concealed far more than necessary.”

“Concealed… You mean someone deliberately covered it up?”

“Yes. Otherwise, with the victims’ families watching with their eyes wide open, there is no way the case would have ended in such a vague manner.”

“……Then who on earth ordered the cover-up?”

“I do not know. Not yet. That is why I came here in the first place.”

I looked at Lee Eunho as I continued.

“The Special Affairs Division suspects that the mafia in the recently leaked footage used a forced awakening potion. That is why we started chasing the case from five years ago again.”

“Then if the log is accurate, Camellia definitely led the research. But it is hard to believe that the Psychic Mafia has enough power to bury an incident like this.”

“Right. We have to assume that someone capable of exerting influence over the Bureau turned a blind eye to Camellia’s research.”

At the word Bureau, Lee Eunho and Cha Yeri both reacted with shock.

The idea that someone working within the highest institution of superpowers was cooperating with the Psychic Mafia…

It was an extremely sensitive claim to make without clear evidence.

Even more so for a probationary investigator of the Special Affairs Division, an organization directly under the Director-General.

However, at this point and in this place, it was necessary to plant the suspicion that the Bureau might not be wholly righteous.

Doubting the Bureau would become the most crucial clue for what came next.

Lee Eunho pressed his lower lip between his teeth, then his eyes suddenly sharpened.

“Wait. What if the one backing Camellia is the Suwon administration? It is not as powerful as the Bureau, but I think it has enough authority and justification.”

As Lee Eunho said, the administration had sufficient justification.

It held sovereign authority over the Republic of Korea, yet in practice it had been stripped of real power by the Bureau.

Well, in the first place, what national institution could truly stand against a city called Seoul?

Lee Eunho’s opinion carried a plausible logic, but my response was to shake my head.

“If the administration had done something like that, the incident from five years ago would not have been forgotten like this. The Bureau would never have ignored a provocation from the administration.”

“Then it really was someone within the Bureau…”

Had that been enough to plant a seed of doubt in their minds?

In the original story, Lee Eunho should have known more truth than this, but if I fed them any more, it would cross a line I could not dismiss with the excuse of Special Affairs Division classification.

“Just one more thing.”

Just as I was considering leaving, Cha Yeri’s question followed.

“According to the log, monster mana, meaning genetic traits, was forcibly injected into non-awakened people. The victims were kidnapped by Camellia. I can understand up to that point. But where did they obtain the monsters?”

A sharp question I had not anticipated.

“This record says they used several times more monsters than victims. Physically, it would have been harder for Camellia to secure living monsters than to kidnap victims.”

I froze with my eyes on Cha Yeri.

For a moment, I genuinely forgot what to say.

Whether she noticed my reaction or not, Cha Yeri continued calmly.

“Of course, it is not as though there is no method. If someone within the Bureau colluded with a Demonic Being, they could certainly make use of monsters. What do you think, Investigator? Are Demonic Beings not under the jurisdiction of the Special Affairs Division?”

The moment she said Demonic Being, I wanted to gauge Lee Eunho’s reaction, but Cha Yeri was staring at me with such intensity that I had no room to move my gaze.

If I so much as looked away, it would leave the impression that I was hiding something.

I maintained the calmest expression I could and spoke.

“I do not think that is something you should be involved with as a Hero Prep cadet.”

“Hah. I knew you would say that. Because it is classified information of the Special Affairs Division.”

“……”

“In any case, if the Special Affairs Division has started pursuing this case, we can assume it will be resolved soon, right?”

Resolved…

That role belonged to Lee Eunho. Could he really do it?

In the first place, was Lee Eunho not the one already in contact with a Demonic Being…?

I nodded deliberately and stole a glance at him.

He wore the face of someone sunk deep in thought.

And it was an expression I had never described before.

But only for a moment. Lee Eunho quickly lifted his head and asked,

“Then why did you bring us here? If this was Special Affairs Division business, you should have moved more secretly.”

A fair question.

I answered without changing my expression.

“If I moved alone when everyone already knows I am affiliated with the Special Affairs Division, it would be obvious and suspicious. And…”

“And?”

“I was afraid. Afraid that no one would know why I ended up dead. …You know it, too. It would not be strange if I were attacked anytime, anywhere.”

It was the answer I had prepared, but Lee Eunho looked thoroughly dissatisfied.

Still, it was better than saying I brought them because of the episode.

“…….”

Lee Eunho clicked his tongue to himself, then turned his back in silence, as if to leave the laboratory.

But at that moment, a heavy tremor suddenly rose from the ground.

KWOOOOM!

“W-What is that?!”

“Is it an earthquake…?!”

While the two of them panicked, I casually checked the watch on my wrist.

Fortunately, it had started on time.

The development that would form the climax of this episode.

I tucked the documents into my clothes and urged them on.

“First, get outside the facility! Hurry! Unless you want to be crushed to death!”

***

The rain that had been pounding on the lodge roof was gradually easing.

In a small room as dark as a blackout curtain, Yun Jeongseop had been waiting for the cadets. When the sound of rain diminished, he cautiously opened the window.

“…What a cursed sort of weather.”

The rain was easing, but the wind was steadily growing fiercer.

The downpour had passed, and a storm was approaching.

The heavy clouds that had blotted out the sun glided rapidly across the sky, and a sunset darker than Seoul’s illuminated Yun Jeongseop beyond the window.

The time was a little past five in the afternoon.

Considering the lodge sat halfway up the mountain, that sunset would soon vanish.

“Please… let this pass without incident.”

Yun Jeongseop turned his back on the sunset with eyes full of lingering regret.

The tarp came down over the window again, and the small room was once more swallowed by darkness.

And then…

DOOOOONG—!

The lodge grounds shook as if an earthquake had struck, and amid the storm, someone’s shout rang out.

“M-Monsters! Damn it! At the lodge! A rift opened at the lodge!”

***

By the time we reached the lodge grounds, monsters had already poured out of the rift.

“Damn it! Everyone, stay sharp! If you let your guard down, your flesh will be torn away!”

“Do not break formation! Gather around the mages!”

“Damn it! Do not get close to the rift! You could be sucked through to the other side!”

Chaos, screams, and the expedition’s grim resolve to face the monsters…

The members of the expedition were fighting with everything they had.

Fortunately, most of the monsters were animal-type monsters that were relatively easy to handle.

The only problem was that, like something out of a fantasy novel, the full moon floating above the lodge was driving the monsters into a frenzy.

“So the tremor was the rift! Let us join them first!”

“Yes!”

The moment Lee Eunho and Cha Yeri realized a battle was unfolding around the lodge, they dashed in.

I, too, drew my sword and charged toward the feral beasts.

But rather than engage directly, I activated Stealth mid-run and slipped into the forest.

“Yun Jeongseop…”

As I scanned the area, I saw that several lodges had been half-destroyed by the monsters.

Including the lodge where Yun Jeongseop had been staying, just like in the original story.

On the opposite side of the lodge grounds, a circular gate emitting an uncanny light was slowly fading away.

In the dictionary’s terminology, it was a one-off anomaly—meaning, a rift.

Rifts had been occurring worldwide since the Great Rift, and in this world they were classified as disasters akin to natural phenomena.

The difference from an earthquake or a typhoon was simply that monsters emerged to slaughter humans.

“A Hero Prep cadet! We are saved! We are saved!”

“Damn it! We thought you ran away! Your instructor is missing, too!”

With the downpour stopped, the communication signal would have recovered, which meant a rescue request had likely already reached the Hunters hired by the local authorities.

The strong wind still raged, but that would not deter Hunters whose eyes always turned greedy at the prospect of monster spoils.

If anything, I was the one with fire at my feet.

Because I had to find the vanished Yun Jeongseop before the Hunters arrived.

“There is no time.”

I left the lodge grounds without delay.

Finding Yun Jeongseop based on the original story’s position would be difficult.

The Yun Jeongseop of now was not a mana-insensitive person, but a beast ruled by hunger.

With my Demonic Eye active, I cut through the forest.

After about ten minutes of wandering through the darkness, an unexpected direction carried the sound of a beast’s howl.

AWOOOOOO—!

A stereotypical wolf’s howl.

I sprinted toward the sound without stopping, and at the edge of a steep cliff, I finally saw Yun Jeongseop.

“……”

More precisely, I saw a werewolf tearing into and devouring a monster’s corpse with the full moon behind him.

Yun Jeongseop did not seem to have noticed me yet.

Well, a beast ruled by hunger would not take its eyes off prey placed before it.

Still, the mana visible through my Demonic Eye was larger and denser than I had expected.

And his frame looked bigger than what the original story had described.

Not merely a little—nearly twice as large…

Even if animal-type monsters grew stronger under a full moon, that appearance was plainly beyond expectation.

“…Do not tell me he is not an ordinary werewolf.”

Five years ago, Yun Jeongseop had been forcibly injected with a monster’s genetic traits by Camellia.

In my setting, what was injected into him was merely an animal-type monster resembling a wolf.

But judging by his extraordinary silver mane and fur, it was obvious that a devoted reader had played games with the intervention rate.

“I do not know what kind of wolf you are, but…”

There was no turning back now.

As in the original story, I had to restore Yun Jeongseop to his original state before anyone else laid eyes on him.

By beating him until he was half-dead, or by forcing him to expend mana until he fell into complete depletion.

If I lost him here, I would have made meaningless the effort he had taken to flee the lodge at all costs before he transformed into a monster.

I stepped out of the shadows.

There was no need to worry about him discovering my hidden abilities.

Because in the werewolf state, he would remember nothing.

“Grrr…!”

The moment I revealed myself, Yun Jeongseop bristled, poised to tear into my shoulder.

There was nothing about it that could be mistaken for a mentor receiving his disciple.

With a bitter smile, I swept my sword through the air.

“I am sorry to interrupt your meal, but eating is prohibited in the mountains.”