Surviving Among the Entities

I drove along the road, observing the scenery.
The date was already June – the time that had passed within the Center of the World was nullified, so it had returned to the original timeline, and more time had quickly passed, ushering in the sweltering summer.

[“I will turn on the air conditioning. Please close the windows.”]
“No, it’s alright. I can bear it. Just turn on the radio instead.”
[“Understood.”]

The blazing sun pouring down and the scorching heat.
The mirage rising from the asphalt felt like an egg cracked onto a frying pan, and the radio host was broadcasting on this very topic.

-This summer is particularly hot, with the average temperature expected to exceed 28°C. While 2024, just last year, was the hottest since 2018, the summer of 2025 is predicted to break records and become the hottest summer in just one year.

“The hottest summer in just one year… When I was young, they said extreme heat waves or cold snaps would only come once every hundred years at most, or at least every ten to twenty years, but now it’s down to a single year.”
[“A phenomenon caused by global warming.”]
“It’s quite a controversial topic globally. Or was it just in the United States?”

It’s a temperature rise caused by greenhouse gases emitted by humans.
It’s a natural temperature rise following the end of the last ice age.
It’s an artificial phenomenon caused by human industrialization.
The impact humans have on nature is negligible, and it’s all part of the ecosystem changes occurring within the Earth itself.

[“Numerous scholars point to changes in the Earth’s atmosphere composition caused by humans as the main culprit. Yet, finding the cause elsewhere is strange. Could it be the influence of entities?”]
“I asked the Foundation. They said it’s purely human behavior, the result of human greed without any involvement from entities. They probably deny it due to the severe political and economic consequences.”
[“So the Foundation has no intention of intervening?”]
“They plan to wait until humanity directly develops the technology and puts it into practice, and only release some new technology gradually once the critical point is fully crossed and a calamity is imminent.”

Even in its collapsed state, the Foundation still possessed technology to resolve global warming.
The reason they didn’t intervene was because they wanted humanity to learn a lesson and achieve progress – to catch two rabbits, so to speak.

“Humans grow through crises.”
[“In my opinion, if the problem is resolved, they will likely claim climate change was a lie based on that evidence.”]
“The conflicts arising from that process will also be a step forward for human progress.”

Before I knew it, as I conversed with Sarang-a without realizing the passage of time, we had arrived at our destination.

“It was the 9th floor, right?”
[“Yes, room 930.”]

Instead of a mansion, Mystery Detective Shin Se-hoon had summoned me to his own office in a newly constructed commercial building.
Taking the elevator to the 9th floor, I faced the words “Shin Se-hoon Detective Office” written on the semi-transparent glass door.

“Excuse me.”

The door was unlocked. A large TV meant for offices played the news alone without any viewers, and a computer also quietly hummed with its cooler while running by itself.

‘From the size of the office and furnishings, it seems he operates alone without any other staff.’

Steam rose from the coffee mug on the desk.

‘Since the coffee hasn’t cooled, he must have been here just recently.’

Based on the empty cigarette pack next to the mug, it seemed he had gone out to buy cigarettes.

“Mr. Shin Se-hoon? It’s Seung-hoon Lee. I came after receiving your email.”

I called out to him just in case, but there was no answer.
Straining my enhanced hearing, I picked up many sounds.

The breathing of people chatting at other stores.
The footsteps of customers transmitted through the building’s frame.
The creaking sound of tightly pulled ropes swaying.
The sounds of customers eating food.
A freelancer who had come late to file their annual income tax return, complaining.

‘There are no breathing sounds in this room.’

The office was definitely empty.
With nothing to do, I surveyed the surroundings, and a whiteboard covered in various documents and photos caught my eye.

‘He said he was handling a missing persons case? Could those be related materials?’

Among the data with numerous complex connections, I read the one at the very top.

[The Missing Four]
[95% of humans involved with entities die within 24 hours. The remaining 3% return to ordinary lives, and 2% live lives intertwined with entities.]
[Entities are so dangerous that the disappearance of those connected to them is not particularly surprising. Those who are arrogant enough to claim they know about entities, can skillfully handle them, deceive them, cooperate with them, and trade with them inevitably pay with their lives, and sometimes their very existence vanishes.]
[However, one day, out of curiosity, I investigated the disappearances of those connected to entities and found that, suspiciously, a fixed number of people would disappear at regular intervals without fail.]
[Four people every four years, always.]
[My detective’s instinct whispered to me.]
[This is not a coincidence, but someone’s crime.]

“The Missing Four.”

All the documents attached to the board were handwritten.
The attached photos were those instantly developed using a Polaroid camera, with no trace of digital – a thoroughly analog aesthetic.

‘It’s only natural that Sarang-a doesn’t know about this. If such information isn’t stored on a computer, Sarang-a has no way to obtain it.’

Following the arrow drawn below the first document I read, I shifted my gaze.

[Victims of the Missing Four]
[4 years ago – Andre Belmont, Emilia Gaspar, Ryu Su-jin, Park Hyun-jung.]
[8 years ago – Ling Xinru, Li Xiaolang, Joseph Hendrickson, Lee Seo-jun.]
[12 years ago – Roy Sandman, Kimura Shintaro, Baek Seok-ho, Yamamoto Gunji.]
[16 years ago…..]
[Omitted]
[Finally confirmed up to 800 years ago, but any further was impossible]
[Estimated at least a thousand years, minimum.]
[Investigation period – 4 years, self-investigation result: It was a coincidence.]

It seems Shin Se-hoon possessed an entity suitable for detective work.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to uncover all the missing persons cases from 800 years ago.

[Evidence of the Missing Four victims]
[1. The Chinese character ‘sacrifice’ (祭) left behind at the last place they were seen.]
[2. Common traits of all missing persons: Outstanding mental fortitude, encountered entities and survived alone through their own strength, possessed exceptional luck and skills, famous figures of their time (at least among those aware of entities).]
[3. The last location the missing persons were seen was ordinary places like their living room, a friend’s house, or office.]
[4. The past of the last location the missing persons were seen could not be viewed from 4 hours before their disappearance until 4 hours after.]

Did he possess an entity that could view the past?
In the email he sent me, he had mentioned discovering 15 minutes ago through an entity that I could help solve the missing persons case, so he must possess multiple entities.

[Did the missing persons contact someone?]
[Testimony 1: Multiple missing persons boasted to those around them about eating unique cuisine.]
[Testimony 2: Multiple missing persons mentioned having an appointment to meet someone.]
[Testimony 3: Multiple missing persons spoke of forming a connection with an expert in a particular field.]
[After much effort, I succeeded in finding some of the individuals they had sought to meet.]
[Through a thorough investigation of them, I found one clue.]

Below was a photo of the crest with snakes biting each other’s tails forming a circle, enclosing the Chinese character for fortune (福).

[Most of the experts were unknowingly related by blood to a clan called the Lee clan of Dangjin.]
[I investigated their direct and collateral bloodlines.]
[Peculiarity: All of the Lee clan of Dangjin’s blood relatives possess above-average talent, not geniuses but prodigies.]
[Scattered all over the world. During the investigation, they shunned me.]
[Potentially dangerous.]
[Current percentage 77%. 3% until 80%.]
[Directly visited the Lee clan of Dangjin.]
[Served bizarre cuisine, taste was present but abandoned after the third dish due to physiological discomfort.]
[In the process, confirmed the garden, the overall layout of the residence, and the arrangement containing occult meanings.]
[Interpretation result: Presumed to be a seal, the detailed explanations for the served dishes were also suspicious.]

I shifted my gaze to the final document.

[Percentage achieved 80%, entity activated]
[Result: Potential for problem resolution by accompanying Resolver Seung-hoon Lee?]
[A famous figure in light and shadow, email address publicly listed on Sarang Corporation’s website.]
[Email sent. Will the Missing Four end tomorrow?]

The office remained quiet.
In the deathly silent office, amidst the sounds of the TV and the cooler, the creaking noise of tightly pulled ropes twisting resounded once more.

‘Thirty minutes have already passed. But he still hasn’t returned.’

I checked the business card on the desk.
After attempting to call the number written below Shin Se-hoon’s brightly smiling face, a ringtone sounded from beyond a door in the corner of the office.

“Hmm.”

I opened the door.
A hanged corpse swayed back and forth.
Each time, the tightly pulled rope shrieked.

‘He’s already been struck.’

As I tried to touch his body, it crumbled into sand even faster.
His flesh formed a small mound of sand dust on the floor, and the rope that had hanged him, as well as the clothes he had been wearing, also piled onto the mound in the same manner.

‘The sand is gradually disappearing. Is it being absorbed into the concrete floor?’

So that’s why they were called missing persons.
No matter where they died, eventually they would turn to sand before the coffee could even cool, then be absorbed and vanish into their surroundings.

‘The work of an entity.’

It must be the entity possessed by the Lee clan of Dangjin.
But before that, as I stared intently at the piled sand, a strange sensation arose within me.

‘A strange feeling in my left eye.’

Despite having my left eye open, I felt the need to open it again.

‘This is like the same phenomenon with my right eye……’

I focused my consciousness on my left eye.
Attempting to open that non-existent eye once more, it opened and showed me something.

‘Just now, that was……’

For an instant, I saw Shin Se-hoon’s appearance.
A scene from the not-too-distant past, where he was pouring instant coffee into a mug.

‘Unlike my right eye, does my left eye show the past?’

It didn’t activate when I saw a living person.
Then does that mean it only activates when looking at someone who has died?

‘An eye that shows the past of the deceased, not the future.’

There is no meaningless result in this world. Of course, in a world with entities, that statement loses a bit of its luster, but there must still be a reason for obtaining such an ability.

‘What I can currently predict is… right, there is a Lord of Karma-to-be.’

To see the past of the deceased is to witness their conduct in life.
This evoked the concept of the Eastern hell where the pasts of sinners are viewed through mirror records.
I also recalled them calling me the Lord of Karma-to-be, which was related in this regard.

‘I should ask about it later. For now, it’s time to confirm what happened here.’

Opening my left eye, I checked the events that had occurred here before the sand vanished.
Fortunately, unlike my right eye which showed events in real-time, the information entered and was understood all at once, so it didn’t take long.

“……You seem to have suffered a terrible ordeal.”

And will likely continue to suffer even now.

‘Just what kind of entity is the Lee clan of Dangjin allied with?’

I vaguely knew they were utilizing the power of an entity, but…

‘I didn’t expect it to be such a powerful entity.’