Chapter 16

Job reassignment.

It generally means a change in your duties or department at work. Something that starts happening once you’ve put in a few years.

In other words, absolutely not something you say to someone on their third day!

“... By reassignment, do you mean I have to move to another department?”

I asked politely, desperately suppressing the urge to say, “I just got back from a perfectly good lunch. What the hell are you talking about?”

“No, well... Right. Have you seen the notice? It just went up.”

“...?!”

Filled with foreboding, I immediately checked the intranet.

[Qterw-D-43 Compensation Notice for Employees Resolving Special Incident]

... Qterw-D-43 was The Tuesday Quiz Show.

And to summarize the contents...

-Wow! A team resolved a special incident in a D-grade ghost story and extracted A-grade liquid? Now that’s performance! We’re giving this team a total of 100,000 points!

-Hey, see that? You can do it too! So screw work-life balance, work like an ox, and earn those points! Follow Team D’s example!

... And there, under the Major Contributor receiving 40,000 points, was my name, Kim Soleum, spelled out with perfect clarity.

“...”

I wished this were a dream.

And here was the even more horrifying part.

If this notice had led to our reassignment, then what on earth...

The sight of the deputy’s hollow eyes sent a chill through me.

“Read it?”

“Yes.”

“Right. Since Team D turned in such... unusual results this time.”

Don’t tell me.

“Has the whole team been transferred?”

“Not transferred, exactly. Our workload’s changing.”

The deputy downed the coffee in one go.

“Up to now, the higher-ups have mostly assigned us ghost stories with completed manuals to manage.”

Wait.

“Now they want us mainly entering Darknesses that don’t have finished manuals!”

“...!!”

In plain English, they were going to chuck us into ghost stories with no data!

“Seriously, you do one thing right and they shove you into something harder... Ha.”

The supervisor must have already heard. He was slumped over his desk with his head planted on it. Apparently even caffeine couldn’t help.

“Good afternoon.”

Right on cue, our lizard-headed team leader walked into the office. The deputy erupted.

“Team Leader! Sending us into Darknesses without manuals? Are they trying to kill us all?”

“...? No.”

“What?”

A faint hope began to appear on the deputy’s face, as if there might be a way out—

“A completed manual is no guarantee of safety.”

“...”

Oh. That was what he meant...

‘What a personality this lizard has...’

I barely managed to speak.

“But surely it’s more dangerous without a manual? Since there’s no data.”

The lizard tilted his head.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t noticed much difference.”

“...”

Oh, right. He was the employee who performed exorcisms through brute force...

‘Have you just been forcing your way out whenever things went wrong...?’

I decided to get straight to the point.

“Is there any upside to our current situation?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Additional points are awarded.”

“...!”

Supervisor Park Minseong’s head shot up.

Exactly what you’d expect from these point addicts.

“I-Is it a lot, Team Leader?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“On average, three or four times the points awarded for a Darkness of the same grade.”

“...!”

“W-What’s the highest multiplier you’ve ever seen...?”

“Fifteen.”

Suddenly, the look in both the deputy’s and the supervisor’s eyes changed.

‘Those are stock-trader eyes.’

The very expression of someone about to buy a junk biotech stock on rumors of a new drug.

Apparently, those 30,000 points had been irresistibly sweet...

Normally, this was when the sensible person stepped in to stop them... But, well... In my case, actually...

‘A stock that’s guaranteed to win...’

Having a manual or not made little difference to me.

I already knew the exploration logs in greater detail than any manual!

Which meant...

‘Isn’t this just a 3x point event...?’

And so, a short while later...

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Team D accepted its new duties without a single objection and set off.

‘Let’s earn some points.’

Our destination was the 17th floor.

“Floors twenty through seventeen are mostly used by the Development Division.”

The deputy frowned and tapped at the buttons.

“And the seventeenth... That’s where the researchers who scout out new Darknesses are.”

DING.

The elevator doors opened onto a white, artificial interior—a typical office-laboratory hybrid.

Someone already waiting outside offered a hand.

“Well, well! So this is the guy? Amazing. Just amazing!”

Definitely someone above me.

I reflexively shook the offered hand.

“I’m Kim Soleum. It’s a pleasure to work with you.”

“Oh, good manners too.”

The man in glasses and a white lab coat looked fairly young, but this universe was far too bizarre to trust appearances. I decided not to jump to conclusions.

In any case, after greeting the rest of Team D, this superior from another department turned back to me.

“I’m Kwak Jegang from Research Team 1. Nice to meet you. Looking forward to working with you!”

“...! Likewise.”

Our deputy whispered to me.

“Don’t be intimidated. He’s just some measly section chief.”

Aren’t you a deputy yourself...?

Besides, his rank wasn’t why I was surprised.

I knew who he was.

* * *

Researcher Kwak Jegang

: An employee of Research Team 1 in Daydream Inc.’s Raw Material Development Department, appearing in <Records of Dark Exploration>.

One of the researchers frequently mentioned in early logs exploring Darknesses newly registered with the company.

* * *

Another named character had appeared.

‘His personality... Hmm.’

* * *

One of the rare employees explicitly described as “cheerful and sociable.”

However...

* * *

Hmm.

Giving nothing away, I quietly followed my teammates.

“Well, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on. Right, Section Chief Lee Jaheon?”

“Yes.”

...

Oh, right.

“Could you explain why?”

“Yes.”

At last, the lizard explained.

“Research Team 1 researches and standardizes methods of entering new Darknesses. Therefore, they will frequently meet with Team D, which will be exploring new Darknesses that have yet to be documented in manuals.”

In short, this was the team that gave us work.

‘So they find new Darknesses here, then hand them off to the Field Exploration Team’s advance party...’

“Good grief, Section Chief Lee, you always make things sound so complicated. And you’re not even a researcher!”

The research team’s section chief clapped Section Chief Lizard on the back. The lizard’s pupils, unshielded by eyelids, flicked toward him in apparent puzzlement.

For some reason, I felt like I was watching a thriller unfold live...

“All right, all right. Anyway, today’s Darkness is ready for entry! Get your Dream Essence Collectors, that’s it!”

An expression flashed across the deputy’s face that said, “Who the hell is this asshole from another department to tell us the obvious?” But the supervisor’s frantic gestures kept it from being voiced.

“Check the accounts from civilians who went in and got out, and the log from the team that entered before you.”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon accepted the paperwork offered by the research team.

Meanwhile, someone tapped me.

“...?”

I turned to find a research team employee grinning at me.

“Hey, want to bet on whether it’s D-grade or F-grade?”

“Pardon?”

“We’re just putting a little money on it among ourselves. You should join in. It’ll be fun.”

“No, thank you.”

I answered immediately.

‘Is this employee out of their mind?’

What if there was an audit... Actually, come to think of it, they were openly talking about gambling right in front of their immediate superior.

I instinctively looked at the research team’s section chief.

He shrugged.

“What’s the harm? A little betting won’t kill anyone who would’ve survived otherwise.”

“...”

“Haha. Oh, look at that poker face. Got some guts, Soleum?”

My facial muscles had forgotten how to work because this was so absurd.

‘Isn’t this way out of line for a workplace?’

Perhaps this was exactly what I should expect of a researcher in an internet ghost-story universe.

“Anyway, I’m kidding. This Darkness isn’t anything to start talking life and death over. Plenty of civilians have escaped it... Ugh, the planning team apparently had a hell of a time smoothing things over when the Disaster Management Bureau started bitching again.”

“...”

When Team D failed to join in, Research Team 1’s section chief simply smiled and sorted the remaining papers.

“Hah.”

The research employee who’d brought up betting also gave us a resentful look, then folded their arms as though settling in to watch.

‘Can you really act like that at work...?’

It didn’t feel great, but then, feeling great at work was difficult to begin with.

What mattered was the Darkness we’d just been assigned.

What ghost story could it be?

“Oh, Roe Deer should read this too.”

“Yes.”

I accepted the paperwork my superior offered.

‘It’ll probably be something I know.’

Besides, the large number of civilian escapees sounded reassuring. Surely it would be D-grade at worst?

I should be able to handle most things.

So there was no need to get nervous...

“Read it, Roe Deer? Some clown portraits... Oh, watching a Pierrot ad gets you dragged in?”

A Pierrot ad...?!

Don’t tell me it was that...

* * *

Records of Dark Exploration / Ghost Stories

[Pierrot Hates You]

: A ghost story appearing in <Records of Dark Exploration>. Daydream Inc. identification code: Qterw-D-210.

A ghost story in which you wander forever through endless corridors hung with portraits of all kinds of clowns.

On closer inspection, they aren’t actually wearing clown makeup. They are people grotesquely twisted to resemble clowns, their faces forced into smiles.

* * *

“...”

No.

* * *

The longer you stay, the more twisted and strange the portraits that appear.

People who go missing in this ghost story become new clown portraits.

Honestly, exploration logs that go this hard on horror-movie stuff are rare.

* * *

Wow.

With trembling eyes, I scanned the preliminary exploration log I’d been given.

...

It really was.

‘I-It’s here.’

Full-on horror, even scarier than the convenience-store ghost.

“Haha, in you go, then!”

Excuse me!

Please just cancel the 3x point event! I don’t want to go!

* * *

But of course, that kind of talk never worked in the real world...

“...”

I opened my eyes. Before me lay a corridor as pitch-black as my future... No, a dark corridor.

With every inch of its old walls plastered in clown portraits wearing all manner of grotesque expressions.

‘F-Fuck.’

Even the entry procedure had been terrifying.

1. Watch a Wetube ad in which a red-nosed clown laughs maniacally while staring at the person on the other side of the screen.

2. In any enclosed indoor corridor, a clown’s hand appears, sticking out from around a corner.

3. Approach it, and it seizes your wrist and drags you into this “corridor.”

I’d thought I would faint before we even got in.

‘This is driving me insane.’

My eyes darted around. Exploration logs in which approaching any wall led to something fucking terrifying replayed vividly in my mind.

I broke into a cold sweat.

‘Honestly, I think anyone would be scared here, not just—’

“Hmm. It’s not that dark. We won’t need flashlights.”

“Section Chief! Shall we let our eyes adjust before moving?”

“Yes. Close your eyes for sixty seconds.”

I heard the supervisor’s cheerful “Yes, sir!”

“...”

No, seriously?

How could they so casually suggest we all close our eyes for a full minute in a dark corridor filled with portraits staring eerily at us?

“Close your eyes too, Roe Deer.”

Apparently, they could.

“Yes.”

Pretending to close my eyes, I stared at the floor and sweated.

I’d just realized something.

These people.

They basically didn’t get scared.

Unless they were actually about to die, their fear threshold was insanely high!

The type who always said things like, “People are what’s really scary,” and didn’t watch horror movies because they found them boring!

‘Which is probably why they work here!’

Still, surely it would be hard to keep reacting like that once those grotesque portraits came alive and started moving—

“Hmm... Apparently, if you approach or poke the portraits, sometimes these things jump out and crawl after you.”

“Oh, right. That leaves the frame empty, and apparently a few people used that as a passage back to reality.”

“I see.”

The section chief’s voice was calm.

“Poke every portrait you see.”

I almost screamed.

“Yes, sir! If any of them actually come to life and jump out, I’ll signal and start running!”

“Yes. We will repeat the attempt at hourly intervals.”

“Oh, they crawl, right? Good. That limits their mobility.”

“Exactly. Oh, right, Roe Deer! I noticed one over on the left with weird eyes. Doesn’t it look just like a movie poster?”

“...”

“The description matches a missing civilian. This must be what happens when people disappear here.”

I looked up before I could stop myself.

In a portrait amid the eerie darkness, someone with a button in place of their left eye wore thick smears of colorful clown makeup and a forced, tooth-baring grin.

‘... It moved.’

The pupil in the remaining eye had definitely moved.

“...”

“Want to touch that one first, Roe Deer?”

Ah, aaah!! No, seriously! Please, just stop!

“... Um, yes.”

Yes, my ass. I couldn’t even go near it.

A powerful premonition struck the back of my skull.

I-I... couldn’t survive here if I tried to keep pace with these maniacs.

“Then Roe Deer can take all the portraits on the upper left—”

“Wait a moment.”

“Hmm?”

I had to go for it!

“I think I’ve figured out how to escape.”

“W-What?”

It hadn’t even been a minute since we entered, but I’d figured it out anyway! Please believe me!

“I deduced it from the previous civilian escape accounts.”

Had my brain ever worked this fast?

‘I can’t give these people who think tests of courage are pointless a turn!’

“First, we mustn’t touch any of the other portraits.”

“Huh? Why?”

Because I was scared.

Of course, my mouth said something else.

“... There should be a specific right answer.”

Was this the survival instinct at work?

I immediately pulled out the toy coin I’d obtained as equipment and summoned the translucent glove into the air.

Then I practically dumped twenty five-hundred-won coins into it.

The glove froze briefly like a Wetuber receiving a huge donation, then spun excitedly through the air and merged with my hand.

“Wait, is that your equipment, Roe Deer?”

“Yes. It lets me touch objects remotely.”

“Oh.”

At least this meant I wouldn’t have to approach the portraits and touch the clowns myself.

But I nodded gravely, pretending I had some other purpose in mind.

“From here... I’d like to run and look at as many portraits as possible. We need to find the right answer.”

I turned to Section Chief Lee Jaheon.

“The portrait I’m about to describe is the right answer.”

“...”

“Would you mind telling me as soon as you spot it?”

And if this worked, I wouldn’t have to closely examine every clown portrait myself!

‘Of course, if he comes back with “Who does this uppity recruit think he is?” I’m done for...’

But Section Chief Lee Jaheon hadn’t seemed like the type to be steeped in authoritarian pride!

Even if his head was a lizard’s! Even if he thought exactly like a lizard too!

“Yes.”

It worked!

Relief ran down my spine and nearly made my legs give out, but I fought to nod as though perfectly composed.

“Then let’s run.”

I was acting as if I wanted to test some brilliant, ingenious hypothesis that required running...

‘But it actually doesn’t...’

Escaping this place was surprisingly easy.

‘You can touch all the other portraits you want. It won’t stop you finding the right one...’

Someone with guts could do it alone while taking a leisurely stroll...

But I’d already learned my lesson.

A lesson earned playing tag with a ghost in a convenience store.

How does a coward survive?

‘Speedrun!’

Let’s go—straight for the haunted house’s emergency exit!