Chapter 103

"Friend, your superior is an unimaginative, boring swordsman..."

'R-right.'

I thanked Lee Jaheon and picked up Braun.

I felt a little bad for both of them. It had gotten so late that Team Leader Lizard had taken the stuffed doll all the way home with him after work.

I had expected Braun to find it quite interesting to visit my superior's home, somewhere I had never seen myself (and had no particular desire to see in the future).

"Ah, I would sooner sit alone on the cold tile floor backstage at the studio."

'... Yeah.'

Apparently, he had been very bored...

I broke into a cold sweat as Braun aired complaints like, "That man's home has nothing in it. Time passed in utter silence, without so much as a mutter or a hum."

"But that place was so filthy. As your friend, I didn't think I should leave you in that abandoned building."

"Friend...!"

I was starting to get the picture. Good Friend reacted most mildly when I treated him as a friend, too...

'Well, it's true, anyway.'

In any case, I recalled the conversation I had just had with Team Leader Lee Jaheon while picking Braun up.

["Thank you."]

With that, I bowed my head deeply.

["And I'm sorry. I've done something that warrants disciplinary action, and caused you trouble as well."]

Honestly, at an ordinary company, this would have earned me a beating with a binder from my immediate superior.

But Section Chief Lizard remained calm even after hearing the full story.

["Yes."]

["... I couldn't push a fellow recruit into a situation where he was clearly going to die, for no reason at all..."]

["I see."]

Then he stared at me and said,

["Take responsibility for your choice."]

["... Yes!"]

It was a little frightening, but he seemed to have let it go, at least.

'What a relief.'

I apologized and thanked Team Leader Lee Jaheon a few more times, handed over the gift box of sweets I had brought, and was now heading down the stairs of the company apartment building.

"Ah, will we be returning to your modest, cozy room to rest now, Mr. Roe Deer?"

"No, not yet."

I walked out of the building.

"There's one more thing I have to do."

Today was the day to draw a tarot card from One or the Other, the F-grade Darkness under my management.

It felt like it had been two months since my last visit to the Annex for the tarot cards.

Someone else had covered the duty once while I was on sick leave, and now my turn had come around again.

"Hello."

I greeted the shadowy black Security employee at the desk, took the key, and headed down the corridor.

'Last time, I drew the Moon reversed.'

"Ah, will you use that trick again this time? Picking up the card upside down!"

Hmm. About that.

"I will if I have no choice... but I'd rather not."

"Oh?"

Something about it had occurred to me that was... bothering me.

'You said drawing the Moon reversed meant uncertainty would be resolved.'

"Indeed. Is there a problem with that?"

That in itself wasn't a problem.

In the month after I drew that card, there had been several instances of uncertainty being resolved or matters becoming clear.

My team assignment, for instance.

'It was confirmed I'd be staying on Team D.'

... With the disappearance of two teammates.

"..."

But all of this had a prerequisite.

'For uncertainty to be resolved, I have to experience an uncertain situation in the first place.'

In other words, drawing a bad card upside down...

'Comes with the prerequisite that I'll experience that bad state one way or another.'

To recover or escape from it, I would have to be in that state at least once to begin with.

"Aha, an interesting approach. Quite persuasive!"

Right.

Besides, however certain my recovery might be, falling into a "bad state" at all was an enormous risk in a ghost-story universe...

I mustn't forget the contamination incident.

'Drawing a good card upright seems safer, if possible.'

So please, let me not end up with two bad cards and no choice in the matter.

'Whew.'

I entered the containment area and released One or the Other from containment. Then I took out the two black tarot cards, keeping them face down, and placed them on the table.

Taking a deep breath, I turned both cards over.

The first card.

The Devil.

Damn it.

'That damned Devil card keeps showing up.'

The surprising thing was that this time, it was reversed from the start.

"Ah, the Devil reversed!"

"'Breaking free of the Devil.' A card of liberation. It signifies a future resolve to overcome addiction, obsession, or fear."

"Quite fitting for you, Mr. Roe Deer, with your outstanding willpower and creativity."

I appreciated the explanation.

But my gaze immediately locked onto the second card.

... The Sun!

The upright red-and-yellow sun blazed, bathing the illustration in brilliant colors.

This was...

'Isn't this good, no matter what?!'

"Oh, the Sun!"

"The joy and blessings enjoyed beneath the Sun's clear light! Career success, improved relationships—a sign of absolute positivity. It guarantees happiness in the near future."

"Some therefore consider it the best card in the tarot, but I wonder... Isn't unconditional success and happiness rather boring?"

Sorry, Host, but that boredom is exactly what I need right now...!

'There's nothing to think about here.'

I reached out and picked up the Sun card.

And with that upright card, I secured a reliably good future.

"A rather uninteresting choice! But I shall respect it, Mr. Roe Deer!"

'Thanks.'

Then I wrapped up the ritual.

'Success and joy, huh.'

It certainly couldn't hurt to have those.

For now, I would at least take some comfort in the prediction that they would come within the month...

'Shall we head home now?'

"Excellent, friend!"

And so I returned home late that night, bringing a long, eventful day to an end. For the record, I couldn't take the elevator, so I had to walk up.

'Climbing stairs in the dead of night is scarier than you'd think, even outside a ghost story...'

I felt a little sorry for myself.

But that really was the last incident of this eventful year.

Amazingly, what little remained of the year passed peacefully.

The remaining month of December.

After that incident, Kwak Jegang stopped summoning me unnecessarily. I was hardly even assigned any bizarre research team projects.

'My defiant young-employee act must have worked...'

I had worried the research team might summon Jang Heoun again, but that didn't happen either.

[Jang Heoun: Soleum! No change in my assignment either. I'm still on Team F.]

It seemed Jang Heoun had officially settled into Team F without incident during the year-end personnel reshuffle.

'That's worth celebrating.'

Even if his teammate was Baek Saheon... Well, from what I'd seen at Segwang Technical High School, he didn't seem to use Jang Heoun indiscriminately as bait.

Everything else was ordinary, too.

'I just kept diligently entering ghost stories.'

I never entered any high-grade ghost stories rated C or above.

Thanks to that, it all ended at more internal screaming and terror, and a longer viewing history of the children's cartoons that kept my insomnia at bay...

When I ran into Section Chief Lee Byeongjin, who handled evaluations, in the hallway, he casually tipped me off that it was "because the company is fucking swamped with year-end accounting and audits and whatnot."

He still occasionally went on about Director Ho, which made me uncomfortable, but I appreciated information like this...

"Well now, Supervisor Kim, you breeze through high-grade Darkness whenever you enter and rack up points, so you've got nothing to worry about, right? You must be terribly disappointed there aren't any high-grade assignments. Ha ha!"

"..."

Not disappointed in the slightest...

Anyway, the points kept accumulating even as I steadily cleared low-grade assignments, and I was able to catch my breath and collect myself.

But strangely, throughout all this time, one thing remained undecided.

"Um, Team Leader. Is my disciplinary action still under discussion?"

"Yes."

My punishment, that is.

"Oh. How intriguing... Didn't you expect an immediate decision, Mr. Roe Deer?"

I had.

Honestly, I hadn't expected them to sweep it under the rug, but I hadn't thought it would take this long.

I'd expected an immediate punishment severe enough to knock an arrogant, capable rookie down a peg and make him behave.

'... Why are the higher-ups making this so complicated?'

There even seemed to be rumors circulating within the Field Exploration Team itself, and they were a little strange.

[Kang Ihak: Supervisor! I heard the news, haha. You decided you wouldn't do inefficient work that isn't covered by your salary! Wow! Respect!]

"..."

That... was how the story was going around?

'I was trying to build a persona with clear moral boundaries. Did even that go wrong...?'

Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. Apparently, the Development Department was simply struggling to decide what to do with me—whether to make an exception or handle things by the book.

Then, in late December.

"The dates for your disciplinary action have been finalized."

"..."

Whew.

The official notice had finally arrived.

* * *

Notice of Disciplinary Action

Details: Perform nighttime cleaning duties for the security team.

Duration: 3 days.

This disciplinary measure is intended to improve the employee's work attitude. Please take care to prevent similar incidents in the future.

* * *

It really was the sort of punishment you'd expect from a ghost-story company.

'What happened to ordinary private-sector disciplinary measures like training, pay cuts, suspension, or removal from one's position?'

So wasn't three days perfectly manageable? Hadn't I gotten off lightly?

That was true. Except...

"You are scheduled for December 29 through 31."

"..."

Who was it?

'These dates positively reek of a desire to screw me over as much as possible...!'

I could feel the malice in making me stay up through the year's final nights and greet the new year at work. I really wanted to know who was responsible.

But having already defied orders once, this time I would have to do as I was told.

'Whew...'

And so, at midnight on December 29, I went down to Security's area on the company's first basement level.

There, I encountered a familiar face.

"Hello, Jay."

"Wow... Long time no see..."

It was security chief J3.

The slender employee raised a hand in a fairly welcoming greeting. We'd met a few times, from the Lord of the Mountain ghost story to the containment incident after my escape from Hungry Hangman.

Of course, looking inconvenienced was still his predominant expression, so I quickly produced the bribe I'd prepared.

"I'm sorry for the trouble. I look forward to working with you over the next three days."

"You don't have to be sorry..."

Jay's face brightened as he accepted two large dozen-count boxes of sugar and cream doughnuts.

"Volunteering was worth it... Thank you... I'll enjoy these for my snacks..."

"..."

'I brought two boxes so you could share them with the security team...'

But he already seemed firmly convinced that all twenty-four doughnuts were for him alone, so I kept my mouth shut. I think that was a wise decision.

"Um, come this way first..."

The security chief began leading me farther in, beyond the CCTV room.

'This area is restricted to the security team.'

Here I was again.

Swallowing hard, I followed him down the corridor.

So I would be cleaning somewhere in here.

"May I ask... where I'll be cleaning for the next three days?"

"Sure... You've been there before, at least... so that should help? Probably... Hmm."

Somewhere I'd been before?

"Today's cleaning area is the Containment B corridor... You know... where you took out that contaminated employee..."

"...!"

Damn it.

He meant the containment area adjoining the Security Team Loan Warehouse.

The corridor lined with sealed rooms where I had briefly been locked up after being rescued from Hungry Hangman...!

'That place... was anything but normal.'

I swallowed, recalling all the muttering and strange phenomena I'd encountered on my way out of that corridor.

'... Cleaning Security's area.'

The premonition—almost a certainty—that I would encounter anomalous phenomena made my heart race.

"This way... Changing room."

Swallowing hard, I followed the security chief toward the changing room.

On the way, I also happened to glimpse the security team's living quarters through an open door.

[Bedroom]

I could see through the gap.

The enclosed rooms showed signs of habitation, furnished mainly with gray issue curtains and bedding, metal desks, and cabinets.

... Somehow, they reminded me of staff dormitories at a prison.

'These seem... worse than the company apartments.'

For a start, living underground seemed unhealthy.

"Does everyone in Security live here?"

"No. Just the security team... Hmm."

The security chief narrowed his eyes slightly, as if gauging how much he was allowed to say.

But soon, looking as though everything was too much trouble, he gave a casual answer.

"Security is... actually divided into branches under a higher department, the Security Management Department... This is mainly where the security team stays..."

"I see."

Anyway, we soon reached the changing room, and I quickly changed into the clothes provided.

They weren't the security team clothes I'd worn last time, but a striking, vivid orange outfit. It looked oddly like an engineer's workwear.

"The cleaning uniform... isn't bad... Nice color, too..."

"..."

Was he... serious?

In any case, I was dressed and it was time to head to the cleaning area.

'Whew.'

Feeling as though I was being led to the slaughter, I looked at the security chief. But he had stopped inside the changing room, as if waiting for someone.

"Cleaning... is usually done in pairs."

Hmm?

Surely the security chief wouldn't be joining me... Another employee?

Just then, the head of the security team looked out of the changing room and beckoned to me.

"Here he comes... Your partner for today."

I looked outside, too.

Someone was approaching from the corridor where I'd seen the bedrooms.

... A familiar face.

"Roe Deer."

"...!!"

In the corridor, Supervisor Park Minseong raised a hand to me with an awkward smile.

"Good to see you. Have you been well?"