[Lobotomy Corporation] I'm an Abnormality...

Three birds.. EP. 35

[ Though the birds had no names, the creatures of the forest referred to them as the Big Bird, the Long Bird, and the Small Bird, respectively. ]

...

...

After the 'Punishing Bird' stopped moving.

All the lights in the hallway, no, the entire company, vanished for an unknown reason.

"...What, what's happening?"

Hoon, the black-haired employee who had just handed a chocolate bar to the 'little girl,' was bewildered by the sudden anomaly.

If it were just a power outage, it could be dismissed as a minor incident.

However, it wasn't merely a power outage; it was so dark that one couldn't see an inch ahead,

and the fact that the 'Punishing Bird's' punishing sounds and the sounds of the girl eating beside him had disappeared in an instant was quite strange.

It would be good to have some light to assess the situation, but in this predicament, was there anything that could serve as a light source...

Ah, there was one. The Shepherd's E.G.O weapon.

The Shepherd's E.G.O weapon, which had been getting thrashed by the 'Punishing Bird' until moments ago, was the Lantern.

An E.G.O made in the likeness of a glowing meat lantern's flower, its radiant luminescence seemed ideal for illuminating the darkness.

"...Shepherd, wasn't your E.G.O weapon that thing? The glowing one."
"Oh, right. You're pretty smart."

In the pitch-black darkness, the Shepherd, upon hearing Hoon's words, seemed to realize and drew his weapon.

And when the soft glow of the lantern cast its light upon the hallway.

Hoon, the Shepherd, and an unnamed employee who was anxiously sticking behind Hoon

could see a girl and the 'Punishing Bird' standing still, gazing at each other.

The distance between the two gradually closed, and just as the seemingly flustered girl was about to open her mouth to say something.

"..."

The 'Punishing Bird' turned its head and moved alone to the end of the hallway.

The moment the girl took a step to follow, she clutched her head as if in pain.

"..."

And the girl stared blankly at the floor.

"...I think we should go find the team leader for now."

The three employees were bewildered by this situation, which was clearly different from typical escape scenarios.

First, they needed to return to the department lobby, report this to the team leader, and discuss countermeasures.

"Uh, um... kid, it's dangerous here, so let's..."

Before that, they should bring this little girl to the department.

With this thought, Hoon reached out to the girl in front of him.

- Flash.

Suddenly, the hallway lit up.

It seemed the power had been restored.

"The lights are back on, anyway, this place is dange..."

Relieved that he didn't have to rely on the faint lantern light to return to the lobby, Hoon reached out to the girl again, but,

"Huh?"

While Hoon briefly looked away,

- Tap, tap, tap.

The girl was already running towards the end of the hallway.

"She must be shy."
"Looks like it."
"Let's head to the department, the rookies must be startled by the sudden blackout..."

- Thud.

At that moment, a heavy sound interrupted the employees' conversation.

"...What was that sound?"
"Sounded like it came from the Extraction Team lobby?"
"Wait, doesn't it seem like it's getting brighter?"

Something was off.

The hallway lights shouldn't have been this bright.

- Thud.

- Thud.

By the time the employees noticed something was wrong, it was too late to escape.

As the heavy sound drew closer, the light enveloping the hallway grew increasingly brighter.

And a bird with a burning red lamp, a bird without feathers and with numerous eyes. The 'Big Bird' revealed itself.

...

...

Inside the management room.

"The 'Punishing Bird' escaped again..."

The escape of the 'Punishing Bird' had become a daily occurrence.

Another abnormality that escaped all day long was the 'little girl,'

but unlike that vexing abnormality, the 'Punishing Bird' was a harmless entity that could be ignored even if it escaped.

...As long as it didn't attack.

The employees knew this and left it alone,

but there was a time when a rookie employee attacked it unknowingly, and a large red pattern opened on its belly, 'punishing' the employee.

That was when they first realized that the pattern on its belly was its real 'beak.'

[Manager. We will commence the instinct work on the 'Big Bird'.]

"Ah, sorry about that. Go ahead."

The manager, who had been lost in memories, snapped back to reality at the call from Joy, the employee in the 'Big Bird's' containment unit.

Currently, the company's situation was quite stable.

...If only the 'little girl' would stop causing trouble.

Now that he thought about it, where was she?

Since there was no news, she must not have caused any problems yet.

To think that she blew up the company after just one suppression work. What an utter nuisance.

"Sigh..."

The manager let out a soft sigh and shifted his gaze to the 'Big Bird's' management information document.

The 'Big Bird,' a newly acquired Abnormality, didn't escape or kill employees even if the work was done incorrectly, making it easy to gather information.

And this time, it was the work to extract the E.G.O weapon. A considerably important task.

- Crunch.

"...Wait, what was that sou... huh?"

However, while he was momentarily distracted, an ominous sound came from the surveillance camera.

Sure enough, Joy was literally torn apart on the screen.

[I hear Joy's life come to an end.]

And the confirmation kill from Binah, the Sephirah of the Extraction Team.

"What, what on ear..."

The manager was bewildered.

This was a situation that shouldn't have happened.

Joy was a Grade 4 employee, a veteran by all accounts. There was no way she would die from work-related damage.

Moreover, since almost all management methods were open, he could confidently say that they hadn't done anything to upset the 'Big Bird.'

But to kill an employee during work all of a sudden?

- Screech...

And immediately, the 'Big Bird' opened the containment unit door and escaped.

[The Big Bird Abnormality has left its containment unit and is wandering around. You might see an interesting spectacle.]

[Though it may be troublesome, you shouldn't ignore the escape of the Judgment Bird so easily... Please subdue it quickly.]

And when even the 'Judgment Bird,' which rarely escaped, did so, the manager sensed that something was going terribly wrong.

...

...

As the 'Big Bird' moved, the light vanished.

To be precise, the light in the entire department disappeared.

This was written in the 'Big Bird's' management information, so it wasn't surprising, but there was another problem.

[Manager! The attacks aren't working on the 'Judgment Bird'!]

[Manager, it seems the 'Punishing Bird's' movements are strange!]

'Attacks aren't working,' literally, regardless of what weapons the employees used, the three birds didn't suffer a single scratch.

The fortunate thing was that they were moving while ignoring the employees.

Of course, not attacking employees was good news, but something was suspicious.

"...What's going on?"

The manager, monitoring the cameras, soon realized that the birds were all moving towards the same place.

The very center of the Information Team.

There, barely maintaining its form as a withered tree, stood a single door.





[ But should I say that the uneasy feeling was never wrong, pitch-black darkness was densely settled at the entrance where brilliant sunlight used to shine, and the warm, lush tree-lined door was withered, leaving no trace to be found. ]

[ The three birds that were at the entrance when she first came to the forest were nowhere to be seen. ]