153 - Straw

TL/Editor: raeiStatus: 5/week mon-fri

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The old man and the Club members moved quickly. They sent the injured person to the emergency room after some first aid, while the ordinary members returned to their regular jobs.

The old man and the member who had received all the good luck headed together to a certain building.

Since the luck bestowed by the dice was temporary, they planned to start the exploration right away.

"We have high hopes for you. This is no small task. The Club Chairman himself will be watching," the old man said.

"Leave it to me. I've got the luck of three people, right? Even if we don't find gold, I'll discover something valuable. Something that'll turn a profit," the member replied confidently.

Their conversation continued inside the smoothly running car.

The member chosen for exploration sat up straight, brimming with confidence. Not only was he surrounded by good luck, but the survivor's luck he had absorbed as insurance boosted his confidence even more.

He was certain he'd complete the exploration safely. In other words, he felt he had nothing to lose.

'As long as I come back in one piece, it's all good.'

The old man looked at the member with satisfaction. Sometimes opportunities lay within dangers, and a courageous attitude was important. S~eaʀᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Still, out of concern, the old man started offering various pieces of advice, like a nurse telling a patient their shot might sting.

"I've done dimensional exploration a few times myself. The first few seconds after you land in another dimension are the most crucial. If it seems dangerous, come back immediately. But if the environment looks okay-"

They had a serious conversation in the warm car. The old man spoke, and the member listened attentively, while the driver focused silently on driving.

The cheerful sound of the navigation system's alerts occasionally chimed in.

"Turn right in 300 meters."

Some time passed as the driver glanced sideways while driving.

The old man, whose throat had gone dry from talking, took out some water to drink. He suddenly looked out the window.

Perhaps because of his age, every road seemed familiar no matter where they went. Similar-looking buildings, roads, and traffic lights. Busy cars and people on the sidewalks.

Things might have changed, but the old man couldn't tell the difference.

Maybe he'd seen so many strange things that ordinary scenery no longer moved him.

"Life is..."

The old man, suddenly feeling sentimental, carefully put down his water bottle.

That's when it happened. The old man sensed something was off. He quickly lifted his head to look ahead.

"..."

The driver spoke with a trembling voice.

"Branch Manager, sir."

Sweat glistened on the back of the driver's neck and the side of his face, visible at a glance.

"There's a problem with the navigation system."

"What kind of problem?"

The old man frowned. The member who had received all the good luck hugged the dashboard and leaned forward, looking at the strangely broken navigation screen.

The map itself was fine. Only the map was fine.

"Looks like an error. The data's weird."

The current time was off. It was past lunchtime, but the screen showed 35:68. The current location was also garbled, showing as "Xy#92*" or something similar.

That wasn't all. A strange warning popped up.

Ding dong-

"This is an anomaly outbreak caution zone."

"..."

"..."

Silence fell inside the car. The situation was clear.

An accident had caught up with them. They were facing an anomalous phenomenon. And this was before they'd even started their dimensional exploration.

The old man glanced at the member for a moment. He wondered if he might have brought the person who had received all the bad luck by mistake. But it was clearly the member who had received all the good luck, and the old man tried to think as rationally as possible.

"Is this good luck? Could this be helpful to you?"

Luck.

It was hard to understand, but maybe this had happened because of good luck? Who knows, this might be an opportunity.

Not just the member, but even the driver seemed to think so. The member stared at the navigation system with a troubled expression, while the driver regained his composure and focused on driving again.

"I'll keep driving for now."

"Hmm, alright."

Well, they did have good luck on their side, after all.

So they didn't take it too seriously at first.

But as time passed, their expressions darkened.

The navigation system wasn't guiding them to their destination. They were going in circles. Right turn, right turn, right turn, right turn. They were driving in a square, going nowhere.

The old man looked outside and said, "I've lost count of how many times we've passed that building. Ignore the navigation and just drive."

"I'll use the navigation app on my phone," the member said.

The member tapped on his phone to open the navigation app. There were many ways to find directions.

"Turn right in 300 meters."

The driver ignored the navigation system's instructions and went straight ahead. The car accelerated down the road just as the member opened the app, and both navigation systems gave instructions at the same time.

"You have deviated from the route."

"You have deviated from the route."

"..."

The member's hand trembled as he looked at his phone, then turned to the old man.

"My phone's broken just like that navigation system."

"At times like these, analog is best. There should be a map in the glove compartment in front of you. Let's use that to find our way."

The old man spoke casually, as if reminiscing about the good old days, which helped keep the mood from getting too tense.

The member contorted his body to reach into the glove compartment and pulled out a crisp new map.

Luckily, or perhaps due to their good fortune, the map was intact.



'Right. What could go wrong?'

The member relaxed. Maybe they had faced a life-threatening situation, but thanks to their luck, it had ended with just this minor inconvenience-

That's when it happened.

The navigation system belatedly spoke up.

"Recalculating route."

"You have entered a human enforcement zone."

Beep, beep, it sounded a warning alarm, the screen flashing red.

Because they were human, they were driving on a road where humans shouldn't be. Such rules applied to them, and it was hard to guess what the consequences of breaking these rules might be.

The old man gripped his cane tightly.

"This seems like a dangerous anomaly."

To encounter an anomalous phenomenon that couldn't even be sold as a product. Was this really what good luck looked like?

'Did Yeonwoo cheat us? No, we saw the luck and bad luck with our own eyes.'

The old man, wearing a sour expression, made a decision before the situation could worsen further. An anomalous entity that only brought losses? They just needed to abandon it and run.

"Stop the car. Whether we take a taxi, use public transport, rent a car, or borrow someone else's, we should be fine if we just ditch this machine. Leave your phone in the car too."

Even if they couldn't turn it off, wouldn't it be okay if they physically distanced themselves from it?

The driver and the member acted immediately.

The car smoothly pulled over to the shoulder with its hazard lights on, and the member turned off his phone completely.

The car with flashing hazard lights gradually slowed down.

Then, the navigation system spoke up.

"No stopping allowed in this zone. Please increase your speed."

The foot on the brake pedal loosened, and the car crept forward like a turtle. The driver licked his dry lips.

"Branch Manager, sir. What should we do?"

"..."

The old man closed his eyes tightly. He needed to make a quick decision. It seemed that strange rules were piling up one after another.

An unknown danger.

"We'll have to risk it. Keep the speed as low as possible, and we'll jump out of the moving car."

"I'll be fine, but what about you, sir..."

Concerned that the old man might get hurt due to his age, the driver's words trailed off, but the old man shook his head.

"It's better than being at the mercy of that possessed navigation system."

Better to break a few bones than face an unknown anomalous phenomenon. With that resolve, the Club members prepared themselves, and a few seconds later, they flung the doors open and threw themselves onto the road.

Bang!

The old man and the driver rolled towards the road. The member was lucky enough to land on a pile of soft garbage bags and stood up unscathed.

"Move quickly!" the old man shouted.

He leaned on his cane without showing any sign of pain. Whether his designer suit was scratched or his joints ached, now was not the time to stop moving.

"Where do we go? How?" the member asked.

"Just get away from that anomalous entity for now! Let's get off this road!"

After all, wasn't this supposed to be a human enforcement zone?

And then, the member's good luck helped them. They managed to leave the road without any problems.

The old man, the member, and the driver sat side by side on a park bench, catching their breath. As they caught their breath, they were gripped by doubt.

Was this really good luck?

"This won't do. Maybe it's a sign that you shouldn't go on the exploration," the old man said.

Fate, whether good or bad luck, was hard to interpret, and they interpreted it subjectively within their own understanding.

What was the meaning of encountering an anomalous entity they couldn't even profit from? Wasn't it trying to prevent the exploration?

But the old man's misinterpreted words gave the member an idea.

'Wait a minute, could this be...'

A memory surfaced. The things that had happened when he absorbed Yeonwoo's luck. Dropping the straw, coughing, feeling short of breath. As if warning him not to do it, that it shouldn't be done.

The member's face turned pale as he finally grasped the truth. Trembling, he asked, "Old man, about the company's investigators. What does the company look for first when recruiting investigators? Isn't it survival ability or luck for staying alive?"

"Survival? That's something you develop over time."

The old man, having caught his breath, gave the member a puzzled look, wondering why he was asking such a thing.

"What's an investigator's job? Isn't it to seek out anomalous entities? If anything, they're people who experience a lot of accidents."

They used people who were good at encountering anomalous entities for thorough investigations. For example, they might scout ordinary people who had faced anomalous phenomena.

That was also why investigators were seen as masters of survival. It meant they were humans who had survived encountering so many anomalies. Those with poor survival skills would die after just a few investigations.

'Then, then. What I absorbed was-!'

It was a disaster. He had absorbed something he shouldn't have. At this rate, good luck wasn't the issue. Surely there must be a limit to good luck.

Maybe the good luck had already run out. Because he had absorbed something like bad luck.

"Old man! Actually-"

In the end, the member confessed honestly. He wanted to receive even a temporary seal.

The old man, who had taken back the straw, wore an expressionless face. This fool had ruined no ordinary project on his own whim.

"Unfortunately, the stamp is single-use. So you'll have to endure it. Even if you absorbed it, it's not permanent."

"But there must be some way-"

That's when it happened.

A person wearing a helmet staggered into the park where they were resting. They walked with zombie-like, clumsy steps, flailing their arms.

A gurgling, phlegm-filled sound came from behind the helmet. The blood-stained helmet created an ominous atmosphere.

"Looks like an anomalous entity. It's come for you. You handle it. I need to go back and revise the project," the old man said.



"No, wait!"

The old man and the driver left without hesitation.

The member tried to chase after them, but he was caught by the helmeted stranger who lunged at him with a "Waaagh!" The member kicked and struggled, tears streaming down his face.

It wasn't like he had some kind of anomaly-attracting air freshener, but accidents kept chasing after him.

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