Chapter 109

For a moment, I wondered if I was still caught in the Nameless Radiance Church's ghost story.

But my fully awake mind assessed the situation accurately.

'This is different.'

The Deputy Eun Haje before me was no longer the neatly suited office superior I remembered. She looked more like a detective who had spent three days on a stakeout... or, yes, a reporter.

That brought reality rushing back.

'What's going on?'

I immediately sat all the way up in bed.

"Deputy."

"Yeah."

Eun Haje nodded.

"First, sorry for barging into your place. I can't afford to be seen right now, but there's something I absolutely have to tell you."

Having vanished for two months only to suddenly appear in someone else's room like a burglar, she continued speaking while casting wary glances out the window.

As though someone were pursuing her.

"... What do you mean, you can't afford to be seen?"

"There are reasons. Just hear me out first."

She brushed the question aside, then took a deep breath.

"The day after tomorrow. January 2, I mean. When you go to work, you'll be assigned a Darkness. ... It'll sound routine. C-grade, with a complete manual, and other people going in with you. But..."

But.

"Don't go in there."

"..."

"Avoid it by any means necessary. No, just quit or apply for leave. Because..."

She clenched her teeth, then relaxed her jaw.

"If you go in there, you'll die."

"...!"

"Don't ask how I know. Just do as I—"

"Is it Kwak Jegang?"

"...!"

Judging by her expression, I seemed to be right.

'Seriously? A death notice as soon as I wake up...?'

I got out of bed and pressed my forehead.

"Why on earth is that section chief so determined to..."

"We all knew the bastard was a psychopath."

Couldn't argue with that.

Eun Haje practically spat the words out.

"But you're so competent, and you keep pulling off such ingenious things, that he probably wants to throw you into a death trap this time. To see how you get out."

In other words, showing off my millennial-and-Gen-Z spirit seemed to have backfired.

'Damn it.'

Right. That man was exactly the sort to get excited over an unusual specimen and shove me into a strange ghost story under strange conditions.

But...

"Deputy, there's still a chance I could... come out alive, isn't there?"

"..."

"Besides, if he wants to see 'how I get out,' I think he'd send me into a Darkness with some way to survive, rather than conditions that guarantee my death."

Not to brag, but I was an elite employee racing up the ranks.

I'd also made the right connections higher up: Director Cheong and, for reasons unknown to me, Director Ho both thought well of me.

'No matter how I look at it, I can't see a research team section chief getting approval for a project that just throws me into certain death for his own amusement.'

Sure, I could be sent somewhere dangerous, but ghost stories were inherently dangerous.

'Even Eun Haje herself said it was a C-grade ghost story with a complete manual.'

The logic didn't add up.

"Then how can you be so certain? That I'll die."

I looked at her for an explanation. She pressed between her brows as though holding back a sigh.

"There's exactly one thing I know."

Her hand pointed at me.

"You'll be declared dead on January 2."

"..."

"I confirmed it... in a Darkness that sees the future."

"...!"

Good God.

A ghost story that glimpsed the future? Several wiki entries even came to mind.

But setting aside the fact that I had absolutely no idea how Eun Haje, who was supposedly on leave, had gained access to such a Darkness...

'That's strange.'

"So I just went and checked which Darkness you're being sent into on the second. You saved my life, so this much—"

"Wait. Deputy, that still doesn't make sense."

"What?"

"I've seen the future too. You remember the ghost story I was managing? The tarot cards."

"... Yeah."

"I drew a very good card there recently. And it hasn't come true yet."

I recalled The Sun card I had drawn.

Upright. A card that guaranteed happiness.

"I can't be happy after I'm dead, can I?"

"You could be happy, then die."

"..."

It still didn't make sense, however I looked at it.

But she looked so anxious, and had no reason to lie to me, so I nodded for now.

"All right. I'll come up with a plan."

"Damn it. Good."

As though the tension had left her, Eun Haje briefly looked skyward, then muttered something that sounded like an excuse.

"Roe Deer, I wasn't originally planning to show up by breaking into your home, but I was in a hurry, so I overstepped. Sorry. Seeing someone who's left the team just upsets people for no reason."

"Not at all. I was a little startled... but it's good to see you looking healthy."

"... Whew. Roe Deer, how are you going to survive in this company with a personality like that...?"

"Haha."

My personality was average. It was the personalities of this company's employees that belonged in a ghost story...

'Honestly, wouldn't I be a complete asshole if I were any ruder to a former superior who came here to save her junior's life...?'

And let's not breathe a word about my bigger problem than my personality (being a coward).

Anyway, with relief showing through her tired expression, she jerked her chin at me.

"I'm off, then. Get some rest."

"Wait a moment."

"What?"

"Well... about your hand."

I carefully glanced at her empty left sleeve.

Eun Haje gave her arm a casual wave.

"What? You're still worrying about this? Roe Deer, I told you I wouldn't take a Regeneration Potion. Use it yourself."

"That's not what I meant."

I'd recently thought of a way.

"You passed your communication equipment down to me, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. But that was just because I didn't need—"

"So I'd like to introduce you to a piece of equipment too."

Then I flipped my Exclusive Equipment, the coin.

The ability you could use by giving 500 won to the glove that appeared in midair...

The Third Hand.

In other words, equipment that gave you an extra hand.

"What if you used this as parent equipment and customized one for yourself?"

"...!"

* * *

And that evening, December 31.

I met Eun Haje, her hat pulled low, outside the Annex and approached the storage facility for the Twilight Grade Darkness used to create Custom equipment.

[Friendly Seed Kit / Qterw-E-99]

A huge, rusted machine towered among fake weeds.

It was the Twilight Darkness used almost exclusively by the Field Exploration Team to make Custom equipment.

It had been a while.

Eun Haje, however, looked distinctly unhappy about this.

"I feel like I've needlessly interrupted your time off..."

"No. I was about ready to make some new Custom equipment myself."

"Really?"

"Yes. Using this. The team leader gave me something..."

I took out what I'd brought along. Namely...

-Return after use. Limited to one use.

The equipment Section Chief Lee Jaheon had lent me as parent equipment, which increased physical strength!

But before I could explain, Eun Haje reacted with astonishment.

"He gave you that?!"

"Oh, you know what this is?"

"Yeah. It belongs to someone who left the company... Honestly, our team leader's something else. They weren't even particularly close. I have no idea how he managed to borrow it."

I looked down at the equipment.

The peculiar bracelet looked as though it had been made from braided human hair. More than half of it had already snapped, leaving it bristling like woven straw.

"It lets you use superhuman strength temporarily, but apparently the hairs snap as you use it."

I see.

"It's good equipment, even allowing for it being consumable. Look at our team leader. He's the perfect example of how a strong body saves the brain some trouble."

"..."

An undeniably sound argument...

Anyway, I tried to let Eun Haje use the machine first, but...

"It's fine. You go first."

"... All right."

I approached the old LCD screen attached to the machine.

[Please Give Me Plants 0/2]

I put the bracelet Team Leader Lee Jaheon had given me into the rusted machine.

[Plant Information Saved]

[Please Give Me Plants 1/2]

As for the next item...

'I've got quite a few useful items now.'

Hmm.

Considering the properties of the equipment Lee Jaheon had lent me, I had about three good options.

1. Improve its durability as a consumable.

2. Preserve its strength-enhancing effect.

3. Combine different functions.

'That about covers it.'

Well, plant gene inheritance was random, so there was a good chance I'd get the wrong attributes and ruin the attempt...

'All right.'

After some deliberation, I inserted one of my items, authenticated my genetic information, and started the machine.

[Combining Genetic Information]

[Generating Kit...]

[Sowing Complete]

CLICK.

The machine's frontmost drawer opened, revealing an item.

A simple bracelet that looked like thin wire.

'Hmm.'

I carefully took out the metal bracelet and put it away. I'd test its power as soon as I got back.

"Think it worked?"

"So far."

I retrieved the items I'd inserted and stepped aside. Now Eun Haje stood before the machine and began customizing her equipment.

First, she inserted her own item.

Her Exclusive Equipment.

It was a communicator shaped like a power bank. Plugging it into a smartphone temporarily allowed communication with the outside world, even inside a ghost story.

As it turned out, the button-shaped equipment she'd given me had been produced by putting this through the machine.

"It was an unexpected upgrade. You could call it the luckiest moment of my life."

She grumbled that she'd apparently used up all her luck on something pointless, but handled the power-bank-shaped Custom equipment quite carefully.

And...

"Here you go."

I inserted my Exclusive Equipment, the coin, as the next item.

CLINK.

The coin bearing a picture of a glove vanished into the drawer.

[Combining Genetic Information]

"... Roe Deer. Usually, the odds of getting exactly what you need on the first try are low."

Her voice was quiet, almost coaxing.

"So don't be disappointed if it doesn't work. I'm grateful just that you tried. All right?"

"... Yes."

I watched the machine's screen.

[Generating Kit...]

[Sowing Complete]

It was finished.

The machine's frontmost drawer opened, revealing the item. It was...

"A glove??"

It was literally a translucent glove.

Its limp material gave it an uncanny feel.

"Hmm."

But when Eun Haje reached out with her right hand to pick it up, sparks flew toward it.

"...!"

"Oh? Look at you. ... Saying that spot's already taken?"

Grinning, she brought the empty space where her left hand should have been toward it instead.

"Then I'll give you an empty spot."

The glove clung to the empty space like skin.

Like a hand made of electricity.

"...!!"

And... it took on the complete shape of a hand.

"..."

A hint of emotion crossed Eun Haje's face, only to vanish almost unbelievably quickly.

Instead, she slowly raised the hand and moved its fingers.

CRACKLE.

Thin arcs of current sparked.

"Hmm. Oddly, I can feel things with it too... Because it's electrical signals? Very nice. As for how it looks, I can just wear a glove."

She turned to me with a grin.

"Thanks, Roe Deer."

"..."

"Turns out everything I said earlier was nonsense. Got it in one shot, didn't we? Thanks to you... it seems I'm lucky when it counts, too."

I looked at Eun Haje with both her hands... then simply nodded.

"You're welcome."

Thinking it was a pretty good sight to end the year on.

But just as things were about to end on that slightly touching note...

"And... sorry, but are you planning to spend any points at the Welfare Mall? I could buy you up to about 1,500 points' worth of stuff. I was wondering if we could record this as you using the machine twice."

Hmm?

-Oh, an attempt to cover her tracks... Rather like destroying evidence! Wouldn't you agree, my friend? Shall we gently coax her into revealing what she's hiding?

...

'I don't think we need to.'

-Hmm?

I already had a rough idea.

"... Deputy, are you working in another department, by any chance?"

"...!"

Just as I'd thought.

"This Darkness is used almost exclusively by the Field Exploration Team. I thought you might be reluctant to leave a usage record here... because you've changed departments."

"..."

After a thoughtful silence...

"... Well, now. Can't fool you, can I? You're still sharp, Roe Deer."

Eun Haje smiled bitterly.

"That's right. Deputy Peregrine Falcon of the Field Exploration Team is officially on leave, while I'm doing other work for the company..."

"... May I ask what kind of work? Or at least which department, if you can't tell me that."

"..."

She seemed to deliberate briefly once more, but finally spoke.

"All right. Since it's come to this anyway... Hmm. Roe Deer."

With an unexpected name.

"Director Ho's project team. You know it, right?"

"...!"