Item #: SCP-006-VN
Object Class: Neutralized
Special Containment Procedures: As SCP-006-VN’s manifestations are no longer observed, no direct containment procedures are necessary. In case civilians discover any inconsistencies concerning a construction engineer named Nguyễn Đình Phương in documents pertaining to the construction of tenement houses built between 1970 and 1973 in Hanoi, these inconsistencies are to be explained as mistakes in documentation, and are to be augmented if necessary.
Description: SCP-006-VN is a humanoid entity with appearance similar to that of an ordinary Vietnamese male human between 20 and 30 years of age, without any noticeable traits. The entity often manifests randomly at construction sites of tenement houses in Hanoi, Vietnam, claiming to be a construction engineer named Nguyễn Đình Phương, and working there in such a way that a normal construction engineer would until the completion of the building. SCP-006-VN is recorded to possess a high level of knowledge in its profession, and has proposed many effective solutions to address problems encountered during its work. This is considered the reason for the 10 – 15% increase in rate of progress at all construction sites that it participates in, compared to original predictions.
At any given moment, SCP-006-VN only manifests at a maximum of one (1) construction site. Its whereabouts have not been detected at any point between its manifestations. Information about SCP-006-VN is not recorded in any documentation related to buildings that it has once worked on, although Foundation personnel have discovered many inspection reports signed by it. However, all civilians, including its former coworkers, have not paid any attention to these inconsistencies, and have regarded SCP-006-VN as a normal construction engineer and comrade.
When asked about its past, SCP-006-VN always answers that it came from the ███ ████ District of ████ ███ Province; it used to be a student of the National University of Civil Engineering in Hanoi, and has once volunteered to join the Northern Vietnamese army in 1968 as a junior student. After having been heavily injured and thus could not remain on the battlefield, it was honorably discharged and allowed to return to Hanoi in order to treat its injuries. It has completed its university programme afterwards. The entity often avoids questions that require it to disclose further personal information.
Discovery: In May 1973, the entity was brought to Foundation attention as rumors about it spread widely throughout the city of Hanoi. According to these rumors, a worker at the construction site of Tenement House ██ Trung Tự in Đống Đa Quarter, Hanoi1 had witnessed in person as a construction engineer suddenly vanished in the middle of a normal work day. Agent Trần Thanh Bình, under the guise of a civil servant from the Đống Đa Quarter’s Party Committee,2 has interviewed Mai Quốc Thành, the construction site manager of the ██ Trung Tự Tenement House, in order to clarify on these events. The interview can be accessed below:
Time: 8:30 AM, 18/05/1973
Location: Office of the Đống Đa Quarter’s Party Committee.
Content:
[UNNECESSARY CONTENTS HAVE BEEN REDACTED FOR BREVITY]
Agent Bình: Thank you, comrade. Can you please give me some comments on Comrade Nguyễn Đình Phương’s works during his time at your construction site?
Thành: Personally, I really appreciate Comrade Phương’s level of profession. Among the young engineers I have met, very few are as creative and devoted to their job as him. He never hesitates when making decisions to take on tasks, regardless of them being challenging for someone his age. And he always comes up with helpful suggestions, given that he has enough time for it. Not only does he possess the relentless perseverance of former youths on the battlefield, but he also regularly updates his knowledge, so that he won’t fall behind others who have finished university without being interrupted. Getting to work with such a person is not something you’d see everyday, let me tell you. If he keeps going like this, I believe that he will become a reliable supervision consultant in a few years.
Agent Bình: And what about his relationships with other comrades in your team? Does Comrade Phương get on well with others at the construction site, may I ask?
Thành: Comrade Phương has a matured personality, even though he’s pretty quiet and does not like to talk much during the work day. Maybe it’s because he was once a soldier, so he is constantly reminded of his old days on the battlefield. He thinks about them a lot, but rarely tells others his stories – and when he does, he only refers to positive things. I was once a soldier too, so I know clearly that what he told us was only half of the truth, but I myself consider that normal. You know, comrade, talking too much about your hardships only disrupts people and makes them worry for you. And even when we let people know our stories exactly as they are, they can still hardly imagine what we’ve been through.
Other than that, everything is fine. Aside from Comrade Phương, there are two other young engineers at the construction site; to them, Comrade Phương ranks among their seniors. They talk with each other a lot, and the other two are always eager to learn from Comrade Phương’s experiences. After Comrade Phương’s sudden transfer, everyone misses him, especially those two. The comrades on my team aren’t that affectionate of each other, but his leave was so surprising that everyone feels somewhat empty afterwards.
Agent Bình: It seems like no one on your team has any information regarding Comrade Phương’s new occupation, right? If there was any news, maybe such rumors wouldn’t persist.
Thành: You’re right. Everyone on my team has tried to contact Comrade Phương, but it has been days without any reply from him. I hope that we’ll have another chance to work together again. And about the rumors, I think they’re already too far over the top. It was in the middle of a working day, right at noon; such a thing absolutely cannot happen! On the other side, I have thoroughly asked Comrade Mạnh about it,3 but he still insisted that he had seen it with his own eyes.
Agent Bình: What has Comrade Mạnh told you about the event, may I ask?
Thành: Comrade, I think we should not pay attention to such trivial matters. In my opinion, it’s more important to get over this and to not let these rumors impact our construction progress.
Agent Bình: I totally agree with you. But comrade, please think more closely about it. These rumors have spread throughout the entire city, and each person I meet has a different version of this story in their mind. We have to find its origin, so that we can fully acknowledge the seriousness of the situation. I hope you understand.
Thành: If that’s the case, I should have nothing to be against it. However, as soon as you have finished your investigation, you should definitely have measures to ensure that no one will ever talk of this again. To be exact, perhaps I should clarify some background information first. It was May 3rd if I recall correctly, and the weather was scorching hot and sunny that day, so everyone on my team had to take a break at noon, including Comrade Phương. Liên was there that day too. That young lady, Liên, is a newly graduated teacher who has just come to work at the secondary school nearby. Perhaps she already knew that the tenement house will be inhabited by teachers from her school, so once in a couple days, she would bring us freshly brewed green tea that she has made herself. To cool ourselves down at noon – isn’t she nice? By chatting with her, we found out that she comes from the same hometown as Comrade Phương. The two other engineers often tease that Liên and Comrade Phương should be a couple, since many others on my team have noticed that they regularly give each other looks in quite a discreet way. I chose to just let them be; it’s normal for the youths to behave like that, right? If it is indeed a lucky situation where they truly fall in love with each other, then it will be a beautiful story anyways. But I started to sense something strange when I looked more closely into them.
Agent Bình: Can you please elaborate, comrade?
Thành: Of course, I have nothing to hide. It is true that Comrade Phương and Liên have each other in their minds, but I sensed that their looks for each other are… What do you call it, quite unlike normal youths falling in love? It is more like this: when one notices something strange but it’s inconvenient to observe that closely, or looking at that for longer than one should; however, one still desires to get a hold of that thing entirely. Yes, exactly like that. I also noticed that it looks like they have something to say with each other, but they are afraid of all the other people. Is that enough for you to imagine?
Agent Bình: It is, thank you, comrade. So there was something else afterwards between Comrade Phương and Liên, am I right?
Thành: It was a normal noon break that day, and the two of them still frequently gave each other looks, but then their gaze accidentally met. They were both embarrassed because of it. Things escalated quickly as the two other young engineers teased them more joyfully than ever; they even pushed Comrade Phương to Liên’s direction. That was all I observed; the rest are things I’ve heard from Comrade Mạnh.
Agent Bình: But comrade, what happened afterwards?
Thành: It took a moment, but then Comrade Phương invited Liên to the back of the construction site for some private talk. There is an old banyan tree behind the building; it is truly refreshing to sit under its shade in the summer. I continued to talk with my other comrades as usual for quite a while, and then Comrade Mạnh said he had some private matters, so he needed to go to the back of the building. He came back a moment later, frantically telling us what he thought he observed. Back then, he saw Comrade Phương and Liên hugging each other tightly under the banyan tree, and Liên’s face was full of tears. Comrade Mạnh couldn’t make it clearly what the two of them were saying to each other, but it looked like Comrade Phương was also close to tears. And then Comrade Phương faded. That’s exactly how Comrade Mạnh phrased it to us. He also thought that it was a mistake in the beginning, but the more it transpired, the more Comrade Mạnh became sure of his observation, to the point that he totally believed it. Comrade Phương’s feet vanished first, and then his body, and before he totally disappeared in front of Comrade Mạnh’s eyes, he clenched his arms even more around Liên. But that was still not what Comrade Mạnh found to be most confusing. We don’t know why, but at that exact moment, there was a smile on Comrade Phương’s face.
Agent Bình: Is that everything, comrade? Was there anything related to Comrade Phương in the afternoon? And what about Liên?
Thành: I didn’t believe it, so I just thought that Comrade Mạnh had caught a fever and advised him to immediately take a rest. Comrade Phương had a task that afternoon, which required him to leave the construction site and survey all materials needed for the building’s completion stage, so I guessed that he started working right after the break. He didn’t go to work in the next few days, so I also thought that something bad had happened. But then we received the news from the Ministry of Construction that he was transferred to another project. Liên was very sad when she got the news. I asked her about that conversation with Comrade Phương the other day, but she was shy and didn’t tell me anything. That was pretty much all of it.
[END LOG]
Foundation agents embedded in governmental institutions in Hanoi have made a movement to disregard these so-called rumors, with the cover-up reason being hindering the spread of harmful superstitions. All civilians working at the ██ Trung Tự Tenement House construction site have been given Class-A amnestics.
After this event, SCP-006-VN’s manifestations are no longer recorded.