"Five A's?"
After Han Su came out, he turned back to look at the numbers on the display. He was a little surprised, then nodded. "This evaluation system is pretty fair..."
As everyone stared at him in astonishment, he remained completely calm. He walked back to his seat and sat down, letting the staff collect the rulebook in front of him. Then he suddenly turned to the others and said, "It'll be a while before all the evaluations are finished."
"Anyone want to go have a smoke?"
"When we came in, I saw a smoking area over there!"
"..."
At his words, the man with the gold-rimmed glasses, the man in camouflage, and a skinny young man with greasy hair all froze. They exchanged glances, then nodded.
Han Su led them out of the training room and into the emergency exit across from the elevator. There, he took out the workplace weapon Zhang Chiguo had slipped him.
A pack of cigarettes.
There were only half a pack left, along with a plastic lighter. Han Su handed each of them a cigarette and lit them.
"How'd you get those in?"
The man in camouflage—or rather, the man codenamed Black Tiger—took a deep drag. "I thought we wouldn't be able to smoke until we got out. I had a pack on me when I came in, but the staff took it away."
"I know someone here," Han Su said. "He gave them to me."
"So..."
The man with the gold-rimmed glasses suddenly looked at Han Su. "You must know this place pretty well, then. What exactly does the Disaster Management Bureau usually deal with?"
Han Su smiled faintly. "I just have a few connections. It's not much of an advantage."
Then he looked at the others with a smile. "Why don't you tell me what brought you here?"
"To find out about things I couldn't get near on the outside."
The man with the gold-rimmed glasses, codenamed Doctor, said, "I realized a long time ago that something was wrong with this world. There were the debunking experts the media went out of their way to promote, all kinds of bizarre stories in certain tabloids, and leaflets quietly handed out by religious groups."
"Even research into certain parts of history had become taboo. You needed the right credentials and had to pass a background check just to take part."
"But no matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find any clues out there. I could feel that some colossal force was cutting off and erasing every lead I found, deliberately creating an atmosphere of rationality and normalcy."
"So I kept digging. I went from investigating strange phenomena to investigating that colossal force."
"Then I found the Disaster Management Bureau, so I applied!"
"..."
As they listened, the others couldn't help looking at him in surprise.
He'd uncovered the existence of the Disaster Management Bureau himself, then applied to join?
At that point, the man codenamed Black Tiger spoke slowly. "I don't know what we're going to face, but my unit fought an extremely strange battle."
"When my brothers ran into a group of fanatics in the wilderness who were capturing people alive to sacrifice them, the other side was completely unarmed, yet they killed every one of my men. I got shot in the head, too. That was the worst defeat I ever suffered."
"After I got back, my commanding officer asked if I wanted revenge. I said yes, so he recommended me for this place."
"..."
"I'm not like you guys. You're all incredibly capable."
Then the most unremarkable-looking skinny young man spoke up. His codename was Mouse. In the additional evaluations, he'd gotten one A; everything else was C, with hardly any B's.
He wasn't very familiar with the others. He'd only followed them because he heard they were going for a smoke.
Now he hunched his shoulders and said quietly, "All I know is that this place has something to do with mysterious things and lost civilizations."
"I found that out by hacking into some big shot's email."
"The reason I came here is simple. I have a disease, and with the medical care available now, I won't live more than two years. But some kind of technological artifact unearthed from the Radiation Era could save my life."
"The problem is that everything from the Radiation Era has been sealed away. Joining the Disaster Management Bureau and risking my life was my only way to get access to it. As long as I don't die on a mission, I can use that artifact to keep myself alive."
"..."
The others were startled as they listened, and for a moment they didn't know what to say to comfort him.
Han Su pulled another cigarette from the pack and offered it to him. "Then smoke a little more while you still can."
The skinny young man took it, his expression complicated.
"So we really did come to the right place."
Han Su leisurely finished his cigarette with them, then looked at Black Tiger. "You want revenge, so mastering those mysterious powers matters most to you. If I get the chance, I'll recommend you for it."
Black Tiger froze. A little flustered, he pulled off his hat and rubbed his hair. A distinct scar marked the left side of his forehead. "Th-thank you."
"As for Doctor..."
Han Su said, "Someone as smart as you is bound to be curious, too. If there's anything that takes a bit of brainpower, don't hesitate to recommend him."
"He can help us out and satisfy his curiosity as much as possible."
The man with the gold-rimmed glasses looked surprised. He sighed. "That's true. I usually hate trouble, but if something really interesting comes up, I'd even pay to get involved."
"And you, just do your job."
Han Su patted the last skinny young man on the shoulder. "As long as you prove your worth, why would the Disaster Management Bureau be willing to let you lose your life so easily?"
"Of all of us, you're the one who made the right move!"
The skinny young man had looked uneasy, but after hearing those words, his expression softened.
"When you arrive somewhere new, you're bound to come across a lot of new opportunities. One person can only encounter so many, and even fewer will be right for them. But if we look out for each other, that means every one of us will have a lot more opportunities."
Han Su smiled. "Of course, we've only just met. There's no need to tie each other down. Once we're past the rookie period, we'll still have to see whose path opens up the most."
His words gave everyone something to think about. Nobody turned down the idea of sticking together, but nobody wanted to be trapped in some inexplicable group, either.
Still, Han Su's words made them feel more at ease.
Han Su himself didn't think much of what he'd done. It was just the natural thing to do.
Back at the Ancient Castle, he'd worked hard to persuade the other children to escape with him. Compared to that, all he could say was:
Adults were much easier to persuade than kids!
"The rookie period isn't that easy to get through."
Just then, a voice spoke up. It came from the woman in the black hood. She had taken off her hood, revealing a neat short haircut.
She stood not far away, looking as though she wanted to come over but felt a little embarrassed.
Everyone looked up at her, feeling somewhat awkward. The others' evaluations varied, but not by much. This woman, on the other hand, had two S's and four A's. She was a real marvel. Just looking at her made her seem untouchable.
To these people who had already stepped halfway into the Mysterious Side, she had an extraordinarily mysterious air about her.
Only Han Su glanced at her and gestured toward the pack of cigarettes in his hand. "Want one?"
The Black Hood looked embarrassed. "I don't smoke."
"Learn, then."
She hesitated, then came over and reached out to take one. Han Su pulled the pack away again. "Forget it. Smoking kills you sooner."
The other trainees with cigarettes in their hands looked awkward at that.
As he put the cigarettes away, Han Su turned to the Black Hood—or rather, Miss Crow—and smiled. "We're all rookies, and we really don't know much about the Disaster Management Bureau. You seem pretty familiar with it, though?"
Crow shook her short hair. "I don't know the Disaster Management Bureau well, either, but I know a little about the mysterious world... Not much, just a little."
"I just remember my mentor telling me that passing the Disaster Management Bureau's evaluation only gives you the legal right to come into contact with supernatural phenomena. What comes next is actually the most dangerous part."
"Field operatives are the first line of defense against mysterious infiltration...and expendable bricks."
"To the things trying to infiltrate reality, ordinary people aren't the most dangerous. Nor are those who understand them. The most dangerous are precisely those who've only stepped halfway in—in other words, us."
"..."
They didn't quite understand what she meant by a line of defense and bricks, but as they listened to her utterly emotionless voice, they couldn't help feeling a tightness in their chests.
In the silence, Han Su found the girl more and more interesting. He suddenly smiled and cut in. "In that case, it seems all the more important for us to talk things over with each other..."
As if remembering something, he turned to the man with the gold-rimmed glasses. "Are field operatives allowed to talk privately about these things? Does the rulebook say?"
The man with the gold-rimmed glasses nodded. "As long as Miss Ai doesn't catch us, there's no problem!"
"Good."
Han Su smiled and nodded. "Then once they've assigned us to our teams and we get our phones back, shall we start a group chat?"
Given his performance in this evaluation, it would have been hard to bring everyone together. His abilities hadn't been impressive enough to put the others under pressure.
But with the arrival of the Black Hood—or rather, Miss Crow—the whole thing suddenly seemed to fall into place.
Before you continue