Chapter 102

A single question and answer, awarded for beating the elevator mirror ghost at rock-paper-scissors.

Naturally, the truth a ghost story told you wouldn't always be good news. It might not be what I wanted to hear. Or it might be utterly useless. Either was possible.

For instance, if you wrote down a question asking when humanity would go extinct, it might answer, "Long after you're dead."

'That is technically the truth.'

In other words, if I asked, "How can I return to the place I originally lived?" it might give me nothing but a few extreme, fragmentary words.

Rather than that, I was better off finding out whether the method I was currently pursuing would definitely take me back to my original world.

'Daydream Inc.'s Wish Coupon potion.'

My heart pounded.

The answer, which supposedly told the truth about anything, appeared on the window so slowly it was agonizing.

It read...

You can return. Without fail.

An utterly unequivocal affirmation.

"...!"

With a deep sigh of relief, I slid to the floor.

'Wow.'

I could feel the tension draining out of me.

... To be honest, I'd been worried... that the answer would be terribly vague, or negative.

I'd tried not to think about it, but sometimes... doubts crept in.

—What if even the Wish Coupon potion can't actually get me home?

—What if I set the conditions wrong and it grants my wish in some bizarre way?

But I'd tried my best to suppress them. Doubting it wouldn't change the fact that the Wish Coupon was my best chance.

'Being anxious doesn't change what I have to do...'

And I had to believe the Wish Coupon would get me home, no matter what, if I was going to endure these horrific terrors and keep working...

"..."

But now I could work with greater conviction.

'Let's do this.'

I could do it. I'd do my best to collect the remaining points quickly and safely!

I pulled myself together and stood up.

'I'm actually feeling motivated to work...'

A very rare occurrence indeed.

Still, I hadn't escaped the ghost story yet.

'I still have to finish the ritual.'

Once you have safely received your answer, it is time to conclude the ritual and return.

What you must do to return safely differs depending on the numbered step at which you won at rock-paper-scissors and reached the top floor.

If you came from Step 1: Go to Step 10.

If you came from Step 6: Go to Step 11.

Step 1 was for those who won at rock-paper-scissors right away and reached the top floor without incident.

So Step 10 simply ended with instructions along the lines of, "Go downstairs and return home. For three days, do not use elevators with mirrors on opposing walls." But...

'... I failed the first time.'

In that case, what you had to do became creepier and more painful.

"... Whew."

I was starting to get confused, so I'd better read the manual the company had given me.

Step 11.

11. If you reached the top floor by winning a game of rock-paper-scissors led by the 'someone in the mirror,' the procedure differs depending on how many questions you answered.

First, you must board the elevator.

Swallowing hard, I turned around and stood before the elevator doors again.

The elevator was still stopped on the twelfth floor, so the doors opened as soon as I pressed the button.

DING.

With that brief chime, the old elevator's interior came into view, its right-hand mirror shattered...

At this stage, you must hold down the door-open button the entire time you are inside the elevator.

Do not take your hand off the button under any circumstances.

Face the mirror opposite the one you used to play rock-paper-scissors on your way to the top floor.

I turned my gaze to the left-hand mirror.

With the opposite mirror smashed, the seemingly infinite repetitions of space were gone.

There, reflecting the dark elevator interior lit only by scattered flashes from the broken mirror...

You will see something strange.

There I was.

Head bowed unnaturally low.

Dressed in a thoroughly worn-out suit.

Eerily motionless.

The ghost that had played rock-paper-scissors with me.

...

The figure in the mirror slowly raises its head.

Its expressionless face looks at me, drawing closer and closer.

Closer.

As though pressing against the mirror.

You must endure until the elevator makes a sound. Do not move or run away. You must keep staring until it is over.

The more questions you answered, the longer this will take.

I endured.

But there was a limit. Even with the glass clearly separating us, it kept coming closer, little by little, endlessly, endlessly...

My hand trembled on the door-open button.

I-I had to think about something else...

'Was that thing... what answered the question I wrote on the window?'

Yes. It must have—

THUD!

I nearly let go of the button.

The ghost was glaring at me with its head against the mirror.

And its lips were moving.

IwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantoutIwantout

I hurriedly lowered my gaze a little to avoid meeting its eyes. Cold sweat gathered at my chin and dripped off.

But through the terror, the silver ring's effect shone.

It wanted out?

'... Because it's trapped in the mirror?'

My mind raced.

'Come to think of it, that ghost... couldn't make scissors with its hand, could it?'

Why?

A reason it couldn't throw scissors.

I pictured the scissors gesture in rock-paper-scissors. Whether you raised your thumb alongside your index finger or your middle finger, the image that generally came to mind always centered on an extended index finger.

And when you thought of an extended index finger inside an elevator, one action immediately came to mind.

Pressing a button.

'... Can that ghost not press the buttons?'

Of course, physically, it could probably press them with its fist or head, but this was a matter of concepts and mental imagery.

A ghost trapped in the endlessly repeating world of an elevator's mirrors.

A completely enclosed space created by two mirrors facing each other.

And the warning in the manual for those who lost at rock-paper-scissors and failed the ritual.

You had better be careful whenever you use an elevator from now on. The thing in the mirror will try to find you and meet you.

Could that be...

'... Because it wants out?'

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!

F*ck, seriously...!

Trying my hardest not to look at the ghost still slamming its head against the mirror, I kept thinking.

... Maybe.

'Is that ghost trapped in the elevator?'

That was when it happened.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

A warning sounded.

The sound an elevator makes when you hold its doors open too long.

When you hear the sound, immediately leave the elevator and head for the stairs.

Never use that elevator again. If possible, we recommend putting up an <Under Repair> sign so that no one else can use it until sunrise the next day.

And from now on, when using elevators with mirrors on opposing walls, do not look into a mirror for more than five seconds.

It will come looking for you.

In that case...

I hesitated, then released the door-open button as I stepped out of the elevator.

At the same time, I tapped another button.

[1F]

Naturally, since it was a mirror, the first-floor button lit up in the elevator inside it too.

Without looking at the expression on the ghost wearing my face, I hurried out through the open doors.

The doors slid shut, no longer forced open by the button, and the elevator began moving.

["Going down..."]

I took the stairs down from the twelfth floor to the first.

As I ran down the old staircase, I thought I heard the cheerful sound of the elevator opening as it announced, "First floor..."

* * *

"Whew."

By the time I emerged from the all-but-abandoned rental apartment building, the sun had long since set.

'They said time flowed strangely in there. They weren't kidding.'

It was already seven.

I immediately called someone.

["Ah, Soleum...!"]

Jang Heoun, whom I'd arranged to meet at five.

But my apology flowed smoothly for someone who'd left him waiting for two hours.

Because...

"I'm sorry. I did warn you beforehand that something might come up, but you've been waiting an awfully long time."

["N-no, it's all right. This is a nice café! If something urgent came up, it couldn't be helped. I'm fine!"]

Exactly.

I'd deliberately told Jang Heoun to meet me at five.

'If the research team gets a report that I went in alone, I can't let them whisk Jang Heoun off to some other gruesome ghost story in the meantime.'

That insane psychopath of a researcher was more than capable of doing just that, saying something like, "Ah, since things have turned out this way, I'd like you to go somewhere else."

'Corporate life really is shit...'

Anyway, I went on to apologize to Jang Heoun, who was sitting in the café.

Then I explained what had happened. Not in a way that would shock him too badly; I framed it as my having refused on my own initiative because the research team wanted to make us both do something dangerous with little value to it.

But Jang Heoun focused on something else.

["Wait. Won't that get you in trouble, Soleum? You disobeyed company orders without permission...!"]

"Oh, it's fine."

I spoke reassuringly.

"As long as you keep it a secret, Heoun, I have a use for all of this."

["...??"]

A little while later, as soon as I arrived to return the Dream Essence Collector, Kwak Jegang urgently summoned me.

And I shamelessly explained the situation.

"... So you simply left the Cleanup Team member behind... Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

Kwak Jegang stared at me for a moment as though at a loss for words, then finally sighed and let out a hearty laugh.

Not in a good way, of course.

He found it absurd.

"Come on, Mr. Roe Deer! This is grounds for disciplinary action... This is a company, not a school. Did you think you could do whatever you pleased? Did Section Chief Lee Jaheon tell you that was okay?"

"No. Team Leader Lee Jaheon always advises us to follow company regulations and the field exploration manual."

"Good grief. If you knew that, why did you do it? Honestly, hmm..."

Then he asked in a subtly coaxing tone,

"Are you strongly opposed to a fellow recruit being sacrificed on an exploration? You do know him personally, after all."

I knew you'd go there.

I answered immediately.

"...? It's frustrating, isn't it?"

"...??"

"Why should I bring, um, excuse me, but yes—useless dead weight somewhere I can clear quickly on my own?"

"...!"

Kwak Jegang stared at me blankly before hastily speaking.

"No, all you had to do was leave him alone in the elevator after you cleared—"

"I'm asking why I should have to worry about that while exploring a Darkness."

Frowning slightly, I argued as though I couldn't bear it.

"Worrying about whether the employee waiting downstairs for the elevator might run away, or whether I can send him in at the right time, does nothing to shorten the exploration or increase the solution's concentration."

"..."

"Isn't the whole reason field explorers exist to extract highly concentrated solution as quickly as possible to supply ingredients for Daydream Potions? Why should I have to do something unrelated to my job?"

"No, this is part of your job too—"

"Isn't that your job, Section Chief?"

Kwak Jegang closed his mouth.

My insane display of millennial-and-Gen-Z attitude seemed to have left him speechless.

Of course, just as real young employees were actually newcomers getting ground down at work, mine was all an act too!

"So I decided I'd rather face disciplinary action."

"... Because that would be more efficient?"

"Yes."

I answered as though it were obvious.

"At least you'll discipline me when I'm not out exploring a Darkness."

"..."

Kwak Jegang was looking at me as though I were some newly discovered substance.

Even you think this is ridiculous, don't you?

That's right.

'This is the weakness you wanted so badly...!'

An obsessive efficiency freak who sticks to his own principles!

It could make me look moral, but in truth, whenever something violated the arbitrary principles I'd set for myself, I'd practically throw a fit and behave with no social graces.

'An extreme disposition like this is a weakness, after all.'

If it could keep Kwak Jegang from continually probing me for no good reason, disciplinary action was much more manageable...!

"Then I'll stand by until my disciplinary action is decided."

Maintaining my crazy-bastard persona to the very end, I left the laboratory.

'Time to go get Braun.'

I was immensely pleased with myself.

* * *

Research Team 1's office was quiet after Kim Soleum's departure.

With all the other employees gone home, Kwak Jegang sat silently at his desk, organizing the events of yesterday and today. Then...

"Hahahaha!"

He burst out laughing.

"He left him behind because it was frustrating? Hahaha!"

How could anything be this entertaining!

Anyone else would probably have fallen for it completely.

Swept along by those extreme statements, already won over by his overwhelming achievements, anyone would find it all plausible.

But...

"I've observed an awful lot of people!"

Actions mattered more than words.

And predicting patterns of further behavior from those actions was one of the joys of this job...!

"Ah, this is fun."

Beaming, Kwak Jegang finished his notes, rose from his desk, and set off home with a spring in his step.

BANG.

His humming briefly echoed through the office, then vanished with the sound of the door closing.

Only a few pages of documents remained on the desk he'd left behind.

[Supervisor Kim Soleum / Field Exploration Team]

It was Kim Soleum's profile.

Beneath it were notes Kwak Jegang had scrawled...

Traits (predicted with a significant degree of probability)

1. Kindhearted.

2. Easily frightened.

mark