104 - Piece

TL/Editor: raei Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: None.

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The eraser traced an arc through the air. The world remained untouched. In the dark night, not even a single weed was affected where the eraser had passed.

Instead, it erased the attack approaching Lee Yeonwoo. He'd erased the effect of the anomaly that would kill instantly once conditions were met.

Just as the eraser cultist sensed existence and annihilation, as the future Yeonwoo calculated probabilities, the current Yeonwoo detected danger with survival instincts pushed to the extreme and erased it.

"It worked! You damn anomaly! Trying to kill me? Not a chance!"

Yeonwoo, who had been sprawled face-down with his arm outstretched gripping the eraser, sprang to his feet and immediately turned towards the barbed wire.

The statue wore a bewildered expression. It was just a simple statue. It had no idea what had happened.

"The house can't just sit still, can it?"

"Get out quickly! I'm going to erase everything here!"

He shouted excitedly while aiming the eraser. He would erase everything from the site to the shelter. If they tried to kill a person, they should die too.

The eraser swung back and forth. The barbed wire, the site beyond it, the house above ground - all vanished with a few hand gestures, without sound or impact.

Rapid-fire deletion without delay.

The statue, barely grazed by the eraser's trajectory, leapt up and cried out hastily:

"Erasing just the sentences should solve it! The sentences seem to be the key. If you erase just a few characters from the sentences-"

Seeing the statue trying to preserve as much as possible of what it considered art, Yeonwoo kicked the dirt ground.

"No. After tormenting me like this, I can't let it slide."

Annoyance and anger welled up in Yeonwoo's eyes. How much stress had he endured in that short time? He really thought he was going to die.

'Feel how dangerous the eraser is yourself!'

With a few hand gestures, the world was blown wide open. The site where the shelter had been turned into a deep pit, revealing the underground shelter's structure.

A concrete building filling the vast pit. Erasing that would finish it.

Yeonwoo smiled.

"This feels so good."

The eraser that had been so terrifying when facing it as an enemy now felt incredibly reassuring in his hand.

No need to think, no need to fear failure, just a flick of the finger and it was done. Easier than deleting a program on a computer.

That's when it happened.

The whole world turned red, and a terrible danger was felt.

The house's counterattack had begun. Yeonwoo instantly suppressed his emotions and focused on his senses. Ignoring even the pounding of his heart, he grasped the invisible danger.

Flick-

His finger moved. He erased the unseen. It wasn't just once. Flick, flick, flick, Yeonwoo kept drawing the eraser.

'It keeps changing the conditions. Trying to kill me no matter what? Not happening.'

A house that kills if you possess an anomaly, a house that kills if you breathe, a house that kills if your heart beats, a house that kills if you attack it...

The house desperately flailed, pouring out conditions, binding the eraser. Now the eraser could only be used for defense.

If this situation continued, Yeonwoo would likely be the one to die. The house didn't need to eat or drink, but Yeonwoo was human and had to sustain life activities.

A recreation of the battle between the cultist and Yeonwoo.

But Yeonwoo's lips curled up.

'Dice. Anomaly destruction- No! I can't! If I critically fail and the eraser doesn't work, I'm screwed.'

As always, he called for the dice, then jumped with a start. The result of a critical failure was right before his eyes.

Using the eraser for defense and the dice for attack would be perfect... But Yeonwoo, who had experienced the taste of critical failure to a chilling degree, carefully chose his judgment.

Of course, he also asked the statue.

"Can you destroy the shelter?"

"No... I may be stronger than humans, but something like that..."

The statue lowered its head, looking down at its white hands.

"I see. Dice."

Yeonwoo cautiously called for the dice. He chose a judgment that would be okay even with a critical failure.

"Sensory loss, anomaly control, activity termination."

At worst, its senses would change to satellite range, or it would go berserk out of control, or it would become an entity that never stops.

Yeonwoo judged that level of danger was not a problem, and the dice rolled.

Rumble- Crash!

Rumble- Failure!

Rumble- Success!

The house stopped. It was uncertain how long it would stay stopped, but the rapid-fire conditions stopped, and the red-tinted world sank into darkness.

Then, Yeonwoo swung the eraser. Without hesitation, resolutely.

The company's 50-person shelter vanished from the world. The anomaly that the shelter had transformed into was also removed without a trace.

"Hah..."

A deep sigh.

Yeonwoo collapsed onto the ground. His whole body felt drained as if he'd used up a month's worth of energy. His joints ached, he had a fever, and his head was spinning.

His heightened senses faded, and his racing mind slowed to a crawl.

Though the ground was damp, he felt he could sleep if he just closed his eyes. Yeonwoo covered his face with the bag he had slung over his shoulder.

'It's over... Ah. I barely survived.'

He'd been through all sorts of incidents, but this was the first time he'd been pushed to the brink like this.

'Dice. I guess I used you too thoughtlessly. I should never make this mistake again.'

As jumbled thoughts ran through his clouded mind, a timid voice was heard.

"Um, well. Is it okay if I go back now?"

Yeonwoo pushed aside the bag to see the statue. It stood meekly with its hands clasped in front, eyes downcast.

"In any case, since you suffered harm because of us, we'll prepare compensation-"

"No, just go. Just go and let's never get involved again."

Yeonwoo waved his hand dismissively. He meant it sincerely.

He really never wanted to get involved with artists again. Then Yeonwoo suddenly looked at the eraser.

The two things Yeonwoo hated. Deranged artists and cultists with erasers. Could this terrible accident have happened because both the artist and the eraser gathered here?

"Nah. The timing doesn't match up."

"Pardon?"

"Just go. Your owner? The sculptor? Warn him too. If he creates trouble for me one more time, I won't hold back. This whole mess started because of you guys in the first place, didn't it?"

The statue ran away as if fleeing, towards the road beyond. As Yeonwoo watched, it threw itself at what looked like a door drawn on the ground, and the door melted away like paint.

Yeonwoo got up with a groan. His whole body really hurt. But he had one last thing to wrap up.

"I liked that house- I mean shelter. I have to return the eraser to the company for now. I should talk to Mark Jung about keeping the eraser somehow."

Yeonwoo contacted the company with trembling hands.

---

---

The statue returned to the gallery through the disposable door. The artist at the desk asked something, but the statue immediately passed through Spatial Art Room 1 to return to the sculptor.

A spacious studio.

Sunlight poured in through the glass ceiling, and beneath it, an old man covered in stone dust was chipping away at a marble block bit by bit.

Hammering with a mallet, chiseling away. The shape he was carving without a sketch, just following his hands, was a Tyrannosaurus.

The sculpture the sculptor intended to make into a mountain range.

The statue knelt down.

"Master. I failed to obtain the eraser."

"Hmm. I see. The company isn't a pushover. It's alright. We'll attack again."

The old man seemed to half-listen as he hammered the marble. A large chunk fell off, rolled, and stopped in front of the statue's knees.

The statue couldn't bring itself to look up.

"Master. I think it might be better to give up-"

"No!"

The sculptor stood up abruptly. His shadow fell over the statue.

His two hands stretched out as if to embrace the world.

"Think about it. A Tyrannosaurus carved from a massive mountain range! How can we give that up? A dinosaur whose every step shakes the earth, whose roar scatters the clouds, whose shadow covers cities! An ancient dinosaur destroying modern cities! We can't give up!"

"But Master. The opponent is not to be trifled with."

The statue bit its lip and stiffly raised its head.

In the statue's opinion, the eraser was untouchable. That investigator who specialized in dealing with the eraser was dangerous.

But the sculptor didn't seem to think much of it. He returned to the marble and picked up his hammer.

"Life is art. Those who have long performed their duties at the company are masterpieces. We should see them not as people, but as works of art."

Artists called anomalies "works". Works that move the world and receive the world's love.

But can only art move the world? Does art only include works created by artists?

Artists believed that if all things in the world, including the people living in it, moved the world and received the world's love, they could exert special powers.

"I never thought it would be easy from the start." Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"The opponent is executive-level."

The hammer that had been raised high stopped. The sculptor slowly lowered the hammer.

"Are you sure?"

The statue quickly nodded and spilled everything that had happened in that terrible house.

The sculptor marveled.

"Excellent! He erased the house's attack with the eraser! He instantly understood the work that is the eraser!"

"I don't think that's the case."

"What do you know? You talk about moving the world with performance art, but you haven't put on a single decent show yet."

The statue looked up at the sculptor with an aggrieved expression.

Getting scolded for failing the mission was one thing, but why suddenly bring up his art?

"Master. How long has it been since I was created? And I haven't had time to focus on art, running around in your place-"

"Tut-tut, if you only make excuses, you can never create art. Anyway, we're not giving up on the eraser."

The sculptor hammered away, saying it would be difficult to touch a human who skillfully uses any work they grab.

The Tyrannosaurus that had been taking shape shattered with a crash. Then a broom and dustpan with legs sprang out, buzzing about to clean up the debris.

---

---

At that time.

A video conference was in full swing at the Korean branch. Even after hearing the report that Yeonwoo had recovered the eraser, the meeting didn't end.

The First Deputy Director of Intelligence, the Operations Chief of Staff of the Special Forces, and the Planning Director of the Korean Branch Planning Department were looking at reports.

Not just the statue that had forcibly taken the eraser, but the sporadic attacks that had been occurring. The frequency of attacks had risen sharply recently.

The Chief of Staff slammed down the report.

"These troublemakers. They've crossed the line. Are we going to let this slide?"

"We need to make a move. The anomalous weather has disappeared, and the movements of the groups don't look good."

The First Deputy Director tapped the desk with his pen. He continued:

"It seems they're planning to inflict major damage now, as we're finishing the preservation plan and starting recovery. We'd better move first."

"That's an excellent idea! But what does the Planning Department think?"

"I'm against it."

The Planning Director rubbed his head.

"We're still in recovery, aren't we? The resources invested in the preservation plan haven't been replenished. And..."

Hesitating whether to speak, he finally said:

"Something happened recently that put headquarters on high alert. Something about an uninvited guest, I think. All recovery work stopped then, delaying the recovery."

"Then we should attack more!"

The Chief of Staff pounded the desk.

"Other groups are also recovering the resources they had prepared for the anomalous weather, but we're the only ones delayed! We need to bring them down to the same level!"

"There's no need to go that far... And that's something headquarters would have to do."

The Planning Director, wearing a sour expression, let out a small sigh.

Personally, he wanted to bide time and recover resources first, but it was true the signs weren't good.

"Alright. Then let's just attack the Pygmalion faction of the Artists' Association as a warning and threat."

"That's impossible."

The Chief of Staff and Planning Director's gazes turned to the First Deputy Director. He was shaking his head.

"Pygmalion doesn't have a separate faction. He just has a few friends and keeps a few statues."

The First Deputy Director sent over a few reports.

"Let's just strike a few hideouts instead."

The locations of galleries they had identified so far.

They had only kept track of the artists who would scatter like grains of sand and not cause major incidents if left alone, but given the situation, they needed to use this information.

The three were silent for a moment, then agreed.

"Let's do that."