IBP Prologue Part 2

Another headache.

The sounds of conversation in the office pierced my ears.

“Is that Seed Lux case still unresolved? I told you to bring in anyone, even a distributor! Eradication? Do you even know what that word means? How can a single investigation team catch them all? What if there’s something bigger behind it? If you want to play righteous, get out of District 13 headquarters!”

“Hey, why is the team leader flipping out again?”

“Winchester Corp. must have said something again. Their stock graph these days, because of that drug…”

“The field agents are going to die again.”

“Wow, is that kid new? He’s got guts.”

“Why?”

“He cursed at the team leader, just with his mouth. ‘I wish the drug addicts and the team leader would all drop dead.’”

“You dozed off during lip-reading training. You’re just making things up, right?”

“Even a regular person who can’t lip-read could tell.”

“…..”

My head felt like it was going to explode.

My hearing has been sensitive since I was young. I could hear the sound of a small fruit knife dropping in the kitchen from my room far away.

I didn’t show my sensitivity. I thought it wasn’t anything special, but a kind of illness. I went to the hospital. Afraid of being treated like a crazy person, I just said I heard things like tinnitus, but every doctor I met tilted their head and said every part of my ear was normal.

So I suffered alone, and at some point, I adapted. My parents never knew the secret of my ears until they died.

‘If anything’s going to be good, it should be my eyes.’

Habitually grumbling, I pushed up my thick, heavy glasses. With the feeling of a squirrel gnawing at my brain like a walnut, I finally opened the drawer.

I took out a handful of strong painkillers from the white bottle and swallowed them without counting. I gulped down lukewarm milk tea instead of water.

I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. I recalled the beach in District 7 that I visited six months ago.

‘Hmm.’

Recalling the resort where the waves crashed beautifully made me feel a little better. At that moment, the team leader, who had been ranting, left the office.

However, as the news of the team leader’s departure circulated through the small office, the investigators, as if they had never shrunk back, began to gather and chatter.

Fuck, I’m going crazy. But this is just background noise, so… As if testing that thought, a shout erupted from the corner.

“No, damn it, everyone’s curious. I’m not the only one! Why are you treating people like trash?!”

Someone must have brought up the topic of the island again. I’m going to lose it. Groaning, I swallowed a sigh.

It had already been four days since the man claiming to be a victim of the island appeared in front of the District 2 headquarters.

I happened to be visiting the cafe on the first floor at the time, so I witnessed the scene firsthand. At first, I thought he was crazy.

The victim was thrown naked at the main gate of the headquarters. The SUV that vomited him out like vomit had heavily tinted windows, making it impossible to see inside. The license plate I looked up was fake.

Moreover, the vehicle disappeared like a ghost, avoiding the CCTV cameras that were denser than the trees lining the street.

So what happened? Let’s just say everyone in the headquarters, regardless of rank, got chewed out.

Anyway, the victim was a pretty, young-looking man, and as soon as he recovered from the pain of being thrown, he shouted loudly,

“Help me! I came from the island! That very island where people are raised as slaves!”

The testimony that poured out after that was less a testimony and more like incredibly explicit dirty talk, making my heart pound just listening to it.

The young man was immediately subdued and dragged inside the headquarters.

Some investigators said he was an “anti-establishment college student” pretending to be crazy, and the Team 4 leader turned red in the face, claiming it was a “new kind of terrorist attempt.”

However, the young man’s words were true. He submitted an old SD card as evidence.

Headquarters was turned upside down after checking its contents. The media, having caught the scent, also went into a frenzy. Reporters camped around headquarters from the very next morning. Headquarters’ specialty was media control, but both the situation and the issue were unfavorable.

In the end, the embargo failed, and the head of Investigation Team 3, who had returned after being chewed out by his superiors, kicked a trash can.

The island was famous among investigators, but it wasn’t just famous among investigators.

An island of pleasure with no fixed name, no real form, only existing as a rumor among people.

“Ah, stop teasing me!!”

I hunched over at the ear-scratching yell. Frowning, I clenched my jaw and threw whatever I could grab. It was a portable ashtray I had recently bought.

Smack!

The investigator, struck on the side of the head with a cheerful sound, glared.

“Ouch! Which bastard?!”

Our eyes met. He stormed over, fuming, and slammed his hand against the partition.

“You crazy bastard, are you insane? Hey!”

“What? Why?”

He stared at my impassive face in disbelief, then raised his hand as if to hit me. Probably aiming for my cheek. Before his raised hand could move, I calmly stabbed him with words.

“Does your lover in Central know about the person you had a one-night stand with at the club a week ago?”

“…..!”

It’s getting boring seeing people freeze with that ghostly expression. I didn’t bother engaging further and returned to my monitor to do my work.

“H-How did you know that?!”

How did I know? You said it yourself. To be precise, it was a very quiet mutter, but…

“Are you in the middle of an important conversation?”

“Gasp!”

The man, pale and about to say something, flinched. I was also a little surprised and looked at the person who had suddenly appeared with a disgruntled expression.

“Superintendent, what brings you here?”

I wanted to add “busy as you are” to the front, but I held back. No matter how gently I spoke, it would sound sarcastic. Which was my intention.

Fighting my headache, fighting the incoming reports, fighting with my fellow investigators… In the midst of all this struggle, my boss’ boss came to visit.

I feel like my already lacking social skills will dry up even more.

I think I need to take more pills. My head throbbed. But I couldn’t rub my forehead in front of the Superintendent. Instead, I lightly bit my tongue and awkwardly stood up.

“What is it?”

As if waiting for that question, the handsome face displayed a languid, gentle smile.

“Would you come with me for a moment? I need your help, Investigator Han Yunseo.”

***