Chapter 4: The Director

Well, shit.

The room I was now in had a red carpet, a desk with the director sitting opposite to it, and that's it. No bookshelves. No sofa. No random coffee table. The lighting was dull, and made it seem like an interrogation room.

"Sit down.", I heard a rough voice say.

I went towards the desk and sat down. The person sitting opposite to me seemed to be the director.

He was a gruff looking man, with grayish hair, wrinkles all over his face, and a scar on his left cheek, extending to his throat. He wore circular glasses, and was writing down something. Furthermore, he looked like a war veteran. Although he had just said two words, it felt as if he was threatening me. He just felt… extremely intimidating.

"What's your name, young lady?", he said, sounding like a part of the mafia.

"M-my name is Cecilia.", I said, caught slightly off-guard.

"Where are you from? How did you end up on the plane that got turned to ash?"

"I am from [REDACTED]. I was going on a vacation with my family on that plane.", I said, answering as concisely as I could. I felt like the longer I stayed there, the more years would be shaved off my life span.

"Did I hear that right?", he said, pausing to finally take a look at my face.

Some part of my heart legitimately just dropped. His eyes looked dead as if he had been through hell and back. It felt like he was staring at my soul. I had goosebumps just looking at his eyes.

"Y-yes.", I somehow managed.

"I see.", he said, going back to writing. "What did Daphne tell you?"

"She told me about gods and their existences."

"Do you believe what she said?"

"… I do not. However, I think there is some truth to what she said.", I said, in an attempt to make it seem like I somewhat believed this bullshit. "More importantly, when can I go home?", I asked, feeling slightly bolder.

"You aren't going home."

"Excuse me?", I said, without thinking again.

"First and foremost, let me introduce myself.", he said as he put his glasses down, and looked at me again. "I am the director of the 17th branch of the government-affiliated Deus Project.", he said, as straight-faced as possible.

This man has to be bullshitting me. Deus project? Government affiliated? I don't give a shit. Just let me go home already, you cult obsessed senile old fart.

He got up and got a folder, then set the folder down on the table.

"The what…?", I said by mistake.

"Second, you will not be going home any time soon."

"Why not?", I asked.

"You are currently being detained for being the only survivor of what seems like an R-1 attack. We need to interrogate you before anything.", he said coldly.

"I'm being detained for what now?", I asked, more surprised than anything. I didn't do anything wrong, did I? And what the hell was this R-1 thing he was talking about? Was this part of his cult or something??

"You also happen to have seen a remnant, which means you cannot go back to normal life without precautions. You will be listed as missing on official documents, while you learn how to deal with your new life. Till then, the Deus Project will be taking care of you.", he said.

"New life? What exactly changed? What the hell is the Deus Project??", I burst out with questions.

I calmed myself down for a moment. Let's see what I know. This place claims to be government-affiliated. I don't know which government is affiliated with it, nor does it really matter. Seeing as he said '17th branch', it means that this thing has a minimum of 17 branches.

If such a massive organization went around parading that it was government-affiliated, it probably had to be. But what if this 17th branch thing was a joke?

Then again, this bunker seemed quite hard to get, unless you were… government-affiliated. Huh. A steel-plated bunker in the middle of a forest that definitely wasn't private property would be virtually impossible to get... After all, what kind of a fool would buy land to turn it into a virtually useless eerie-looking forest?

Then were these remnants and gods' business real? I wanted to desperately believe this wasn't, but seeing as there was a large ass bird that crashed my vacation, and a creepy mosaic scorpion that I couldn't even touch, some part started believing this shitshow was real.

"After you see remnants for the first time, remnants will also begin to see you. Once remnants start seeing you, self-defense becomes mandatory. Last time we let a person out of here with no training, he was found dead in his apartment, with his guts all over the sofa, and his head placed neatly on the dining table.", he said, with a stoic expression on his face, while opening a drawer and getting a document.

"…". Dead in his apartment? What if it was just a serial killer? Why assume it was a remnant? What even are these remnants you are going on about…? I wanted to ask him that last question in particular. In all honesty, some part of me knew the two monsters I saw earlier were probably remnants. I just wanted to hear it from him.

"And to add to that, there is no one waiting for you back home. For the most part, you don't even have a home.", he said, in the bluntest way possible.

Was this bastard really the director of a government-affiliated project? This man seemed to be less empathetic than a robot. I felt like punching his face right then and there.

"What about the other members of my family? Like my aunt or my uncle?", I asked, slightly pissed, but not showing it in my voice.

"As of now, if you go to live with them, you will be putting them in extreme danger. It will be safer for you to stay at a government facility for now, until you are able to handle remnants. We also need your written consent", he said taking out a document, and putting it in front of me.

"Sign it", he said while handing me a pen and sitting down.

Was this man really just telling me to sign a document that forbade me from going home?

But as much as I wanted to protest and argue, I had to admit he was right. If anything even close to that scorpion came into the house, I wouldn't be able to do anything, and I would die a pathetic death.

Not just that, I might also be endangering the lives of the people around me, leeching off them as they basically die for no reason. That particular thought left a bad taste in my mouth.

Now onto the document in front of me. It was a simple consent form, that stated that I would be staying here for 2 months, after which I could choose to stay or leave this place as I wish.

There was also some legal mumbo jumbo about people who have seen remnants, and the right to stay in this bunker for as long as they want, but other than that, there didn't seem to be a caveat.

In all honesty, I skimmed through most of the document. This place seemed pretty legitimate so far, so what's the worst that could happen…? I didn't want to really think about it. Just leave it to the authorities, I thought to myself. Just depend on them, I don't want to take responsibility.

I caught one particular sentence that caught my eye. It said, 'Those who have the ability to use nihilism or those who can look at gods are considered to have the same rank as that of a lieutenant.'

What did they mean by 'use nihilism' again? How exactly do you use nihilism? Isn't nihilism just the belief in nothingness? How do you use something that abstract? What do you use it for?

More importantly, does that mean that I have the same ranking as that of a lieutenant?

Many questions ran across my head, but none of them indicated any emotion, other than pure curiosity.

I signed the document. This might turn out to be more interesting than I thought.

Looking back at this moment, I was unusually naïve.

He took the signed document and put it in his drawer.

Then he asked me, "About the bird that attacked you, could you explain it in a bit more detail?"

It didn't take a genius to figure out he was about to interrogate me.