Chapter 18

Let me be honest.

One month into the job.

Working at a ghost-story conglomerate is surprisingly... manageable!

“Holy shit, another clear in thirty minutes!”

“Aren’t they actually outperforming Team C at this point?”

To think the day would come when I heard those contrived lines, the kind you’d expect from extras in a Wetube web drama, in real life.

“Hey, enjoy it. You earned all that praise.”

Lunchtime.

The deputy spoke breezily, having boldly helped herself to both cafeteria options, A and B.

For the record, we’d already handled another case this morning.

“Thanks to Roe Deer, I’ve actually pulled off something as insane as clearing twelve new Darknesses in a month.”

“Not at all. It’s thanks to your excellent guidance.”

“What guidance? We’re getting carried here.”

“Exactly. Beef’s on me tonight, Senior Soleum.”

“Minseong... That’s a bit much, even so.”

“Oh, come on! Anyone doing better than me is my senior.”

When your boss cracks jokes like that, it’s surprisingly hard to respond without offending them...

But perhaps he meant it rather than joking, because instead of waiting for my reaction, the supervisor excitedly showed me a screenshot of his monthly points statement.

“Over 5,000p already!”

Yes.

[Supervisor Park Minseong / Points Earned: 5200p]

That was also how many points I’d earned over the past month.

‘The speedruns did work...’

So this was what my survival tactics had led to.

It was only possible because most of the cases were either F- or D-grade.

‘I guess the higher grades don’t turn up that often.’

Well, if they did, the setting would have closed up shop already with “And so the world ended.”

At any rate, my superiors looked more excited than I did. Apparently it was more fun when it was someone else’s business.

“You’ve probably set the fastest pace of any new recruit in company history.”

“Oooh!”

Oh, come to think of it, I’d barely seen the other recruits from my intake.

Probably because going in and out of the research team’s office on the 17th floor every day actually gave me fewer chances to see the other Field Exploration teams.

‘As for Baek Saheon, we both pretend the other doesn’t exist.’

Actually, to maintain the psycho persona I’d established, I occasionally tossed out wildly inappropriate jokes about work.

[“You’re exploring a Darkness today too, right? Want to bet on how many civilians died?”]

[“...”]

The gambling researcher had inspired me. Thanks for that.

Anyway, judging by how Baek Saheon gritted his teeth and ignored me without so much as answering, it was certainly effective.

‘Smooth sailing.’

I drank the last of my short rib soup and set the bowl down.

I got to leave on time, and they paid bonuses.

‘The cafeteria’s pretty good too.’

In terms of benefits, this company would probably score at least 3.5 on a site like Job Korea.

Apart from the crushing stress equivalent to spending every night in a haunted house full of ghosts...

‘Even the part where I do things I’d once have refused to do over my dead body just to make a living... Hmm. Ordinary office life.’

Right down to the sense of accomplishment from getting results somehow tricking me into thinking this was manageable.

“Roe Deer.”

Deputy Eun Haje spoke in a low, quiet voice.

“At this point, the higher-ups will have been talking.”

“... Pardon?”

“About your performance.”

“...”

“Once could be a trick or good luck. Ten times is another story.”

She grinned, narrowing her eyes.

“Someone upstairs is bound to single you out and want to meet you. When that happens, make sure you tell us. The team leader too.”

Hmm.

At an ordinary company, I might have wondered whether they were trying to steal credit and looked for a way to quietly avoid telling them.

But this was a ghost-story setting, and the advice came from a superior whose life I’d saved before.

I obediently nodded.

“Yes.”

“Good. Despite appearances... No, even at first glance, our team leader’s pretty extraordinary.”

Our gazes turned toward Section Chief Lee Jaheon, who had already wolfed down his meal and was leaving the cafeteria.

“If anyone makes you some absurd offer, he’ll cover for you at least once if you ask.”

That lizard?

“... Yes.”

“Okay. See, Roe Deer really does catch on fast.”

I’d better keep it a secret that I’d only nodded without being particularly convinced.

Anyway... the higher-ups might be talking about me, huh.

I gathered up my tray and stood, thinking.

‘At this point, standing out is unavoidable.’

I’d more or less accepted that.

After all, if I’d let myself see a clown crawl out of a portrait on nothing but its upper body, I’d already have fainted...

But I did have something to count on.

‘They can’t give a rookie anything harder than this, right?’

Anything beyond this level wouldn’t be dumping unwanted work on me. It would be assigning me core responsibilities.

Putting a rookie hired a month ago, with no prior experience, in charge of the department’s core work?

This wasn’t some insane shithole of a small business you saw on Wetube. That was simply out of the question under a conglomerate’s unwritten social rules.

All I had to do was consider myself lucky that my assignments had evolved toward “ghost stories without manuals.”

If it became routine, people were more likely to get used to it and move on, thinking, Oh, that’s his specialty.

“Shall we head back?”

“Yes.”

Having reached my conclusion, I returned my dishes.

At that moment, however, I’d become so accustomed to this setting and absorbed in office life that I’d forgotten something.

An immutable truth of working life.

Namely...

The stone that sticks out gets chiseled down!

* * *

Meanwhile, in Research Team 1’s office.

‘Another escape in under two hours...’

A researcher wasting company time looking at Team D’s records ground his teeth.

‘Have they earned about 5,000p so far?’

If they were moving this fast after just one month, they might really claim their Wish Coupons within a few years, breaking the record for the shortest time...

“...”

“Wow, must be nice.”

The researcher grumbled.

“Some of us work in a lab seeing every kind of horror, and they don’t even pay us hazard pay. It’s hard enough to save 500p a month.”

“...”

“Then some rookie gets fifty thousand points in a month...”

“Now, that’s enough.”

The researcher clamped his mouth shut.

Being unable even to complain in this situation made him start to seethe.

Something was wrong here.

‘Some guy gets lucky, rolls a good weapon, and strolls around raking in points.’

While other people lacked both the points and the access privileges even to dream of it.

‘Researchers are more elite than field explorers who just run around doing physical labor. We deserve better treatment. How is this right?’

It really was unfair.

The researcher sincerely believed that.

Conveniently forgetting that he himself had sneered at the Field Exploration employees, calling them lab rats.

“Well, sometimes the timing works out and Darkness exploration goes this smoothly.”

Section Chief Kwak Jegang casually addressed the researcher with a smile.

“Though even so, this is impressive.”

“...”

Pretending not to see the researcher lift his head with a look like he’d bitten into shit, Kwak Jegang rustled through the papers again.

“Oh, this next Darkness requires at least ten people, doesn’t it?”

“...”

“Supervisor Lee?”

“Oh, yes. Apparently so. They say ten people have to gather to enter the Darkness.”

“Hmm.”

Smiling, Kwak Jegang picked up a pen.

“Then it’ll be a group project this time.”

-Deploy Teams A, D, and Y.

“...”

The researcher watched Kwak Jegang take out the Field Exploration Team’s organizational chart and mark the relevant teams.

That was when he spoke.

“Supervisor Lee.”

“Yes?”

“Do you happen to know what the Field Exploration Team’s alphabetical order means?”

He didn’t.

Someone who only faked his way through his own work to keep his seat was hardly going to know much about another department’s organizational structure.

Kwak Jegang smiled and tapped the papers. There was something peculiar about that smile.

“In short, they’re ranked by performance.”

“...!”

“You know how schools have those classes? Honors, regular, remedial, that sort of thing.”

Something suddenly occurred to the researcher.

“Then... is Team D an honors class?”

“No.”

The denial was firm.

“A through C. Those are the elite.”

Kwak Jegang tapped those teams with his pen.

“The rest are all expendable.”

“... Ah.”

For some reason, he was just starting to feel a little better.

“But, well. Just between us... Team D’s been doing so well, there are rumors things could work out for them at the next personnel reshuffle if they keep this up. Haha.”

“...!”

As with most office gossip, wildly unprecedented claims like that usually weren’t reliable.

Even so, the researcher felt strangely anxious.

‘Isn’t there any bad news?’

As if to fulfill that hope, Section Chief Kwak Jegang’s murmur reached him.

His tone affected sympathy.

“But what unfortunate timing. Going in with Team A... Hmm.”

“...! Is, is going in with an Elite Team a bad thing?”

“I suppose it is. You know how it goes, Supervisor Lee.”

Kwak Jegang stroked his chin.

“Some Darknesses only open an escape route once there’s been a sacrifice.”

Especially...

When the Darkness required a large number of people.

Kwak Jegang shrugged.

“This exploration log should give us plenty to talk about.”

* * *

A few days later.

Team D received a call and headed up to the 17th floor as routinely as they had for the past month, only to encounter an unexpected sight.

“Hello.”

“...?!”

Someone had arrived at Research Team 1’s office ahead of us.

People wearing all sorts of masks.

‘Other Field Exploration teams?’

I quickly counted heads.

About seven.

Among them was someone I recognized.

[“Can it bring the dead back to life?”]

It was the recruit who’d asked that about the Wish Coupon at the welcome event.

The recruit in the cow mask stood quietly with his head lowered, leaning against a desk.

He had a slightly gloomy air.

His hair was long for a man—long enough that I wondered whether the company might give him grief about his appearance.

Of course, nobody here seemed to care about that.

“Ah.”

“This is... Hmm.”

As Team D’s senior members gave brief reactions that might have been admiration or dismay at the people filling the office, Section Chief Kwak Jegang appeared.

“Oh, Team D’s finally here too. Welcome, welcome! All right, let’s get today’s briefing started.”

He began leading everyone into an adjoining conference room.

As we walked, I heard the deputy ask a question.

“Are we entering with other teams?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“...”

The deputy glanced around, then returned to my side and spoke softly enough that no one else could hear.

“See those employees with gold marks on their masks?”

“Yes.”

“That’s Team A.”

I knew.

‘They’re an Elite Team.’

Daydream Inc.’s business model required someone to clear ghost stories to obtain raw materials and keep the company running.

‘To avoid the plot hole of a company that should have gone bankrupt, you need some Field Exploration teams with inhumanly good performance and skills...’

That was also why they had an unusually high concentration of Named Employees in <Records of Dark Exploration>. I nodded slightly.

Team A consisted of three people wearing strange butterfly, mantis, and mallard masks.

Then the person in Team A’s mallard mask addressed me.

It was the energetic voice of a middle-aged woman.

“Oh, are you that Employee Kim Soleum?”

“Yes. Pleased to meet you.”

I bowed reflexively, breaking into a cold sweat.

“That” Kim Soleum? What on earth were people saying about me?

“Good, good. Let’s talk sometime if we get a chance. You’ve got a bright future ahead of you, young man.”

Then she passed me and took her seat.

... That must be Team A’s leader.

The deputy continued her explanation.

“And... the ones without gold marks on their masks are Team Y.”

“...”

Three people with masks bearing no gold marks, plus the familiar recruit in the cow mask.

There was something gloomy about that team.

“Team Y’s leader is an ordinary employee, not a section chief. Just accept that and keep quiet for now.”

“Yes.”

That... I knew too.

The supervisor whispered to me.

“Um... Roe Deer. With the people from the other teams you met today, especially Team Y, just keep things casual if you can. All right? I’ll explain why later.”

“Yes.”

I nodded without protest.

I could roughly guess what he’d tell me later.

But suddenly, as he sat down beside me, the supervisor looked touched.

“Man. I really... I love how you’re like a version of the section chief who can actually read the room.”

“Me too.”

“...”

That was... a compliment, right?

“All right, if everyone’s seated, let’s get straight into the briefing.”

Kwak Jegang stood in front of the conference room’s board without even switching on the prompter.

“I was going to tell you about the Darkness you’ll be entering today... but!”

Section Chief Kwak Jegang chuckled.

“We don’t actually know anything either.”

“...??”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Section Chief Kwak?”

“It means we only have one civilian escape account!”

“... Hah.”

Documents were distributed in silence.

I, too, examined the page, which barely amounted to more than a note.

-All university students (12 persons) playing a board game during a club retreat at Ahanmaeum Gadeuk Pension, Gangwon Province, disappeared.

The board game is branded “Gaiety Theme Park! ~A Fun Trip to Fantasy Land~” and is presumed to have been developed by Gaiety Laboratory*.

Survivors state that the board game “was already inside the pension.”

The pension owner denies this.

Outcome: Some participants returned after 17 hours.

They testified that they “spent time in a theme park inside the board game.” They exhibit a variety of symptoms, including mental confusion, PTSD responses, and mild neurosis.

-4 survivors, 1 missing, 7 dead

The next page briefly listed each survivor’s account of the “theme park inside the board game.” Their descriptions were extremely fragmented, perhaps because of severe psychological trauma.

But even that was familiar enough.

I swallowed.

‘It was about time this one showed up.’

It was finally here.

A Darkness that required a large group of participants!

“I take it the board game allows more than ten players? So that’s why you assembled such a large group.”

“Yes, yes. We tried to recreate the conditions as closely as possible.”

Kwak Jegang winked.

“Still! Despite these adverse conditions, our team has established a reliable entry method.”

“Didn’t you just bring the board game?”

“Haha! That hurts, Deputy Jin. We learned all the rules too.”

The Team A employee in the butterfly mask didn’t respond. Unperturbed, Kwak Jegang placed the board game on the table.

“Here it is.”

[Gaiety Theme Park!]

~A Fun Trip to Fantasy Land~

:Be the first to ride three fantasy attractions with your teammates and win a prize!

The front of the nearly brand-new box featured a colorful illustration of Fantasy Land.

Opening the box revealed an illustrated map of a theme park divided into zones, along with colorful coins.

“Now, all you need to do is split into teams and start the board game.”

What a cheerful way to tell us to hurry into a ghost story that had killed more than half its participants.

“Then can we just stay in our existing teams?”

“Oh, well... You draw a game piece from this capsule, and the color determines your team!”

Section Chief Kwak Jegang took a small capsule-like object from one side of the box and showed it to us.

“Apparently, when you shake it, a piece drops out of this hole.”

“So it’s random.”

In the end, people sighed and shook the capsule, taking out one piece each.

‘Blue, yellow, and red... I guess.’

Naturally, these things tended to go in order of seniority, so I was almost last.

The piece I drew was...

“Employee Kim’s red.”

Of all things, a red piece.

It wasn’t a comforting color in a ghost-story setting, so I wasn’t too pleased.

‘Well, the colors don’t actually matter much in this one.’

Different things could happen even if you drew the same color.

I swallowed, tense.

Anyway, were we going in now?

“Now, unfolding the board will take you inside!”

But nothing happened when Section Chief Lee Jaheon unfolded the board on everyone’s behalf.

“...”

Hmm?

A thought flashed through my mind, and I checked the numbers.

Four yellow, four blue.

And the others who’d drawn red like me were...

Team A’s butterfly mask, who’d been called “Deputy Jin,” and the familiar recruit from Team Y.

Including me, three in total.

“...”

Oh.

‘Only the red team is short.’

“We’re one person short.”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon turned his vertically slit pupils toward Kwak Jegang.

“It appears eleven people cannot enter. We need to fill all twelve slots and try again.”

“Oh, that?”

Kwak Jegang answered nonchalantly, then tossed the capsule containing the pieces.

“Supervisor Lee. Catch!”

Straight to the gambling-addicted researcher standing beside him.

“H-huh...?!”

As the researcher caught the capsule on reflex, the remaining red piece rolled out of it.

“...?!”

“H-he drew it!”

Wait a minute.

“Off we go to Fantasy Land~”

The board fluttered up into the air and swallowed my field of vision.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Hahahahaha!”

The researcher’s scream rang in my ears.

Along with Section Chief Kwak Jegang’s laughter.

“...”

I recalled the back page of that man’s <Records of Dark Exploration> wiki entry.

* * *

A psycho enthralled by ghost stories.

A mad scientist.

When exploring ghost stories with insufficient information, his insane habit of encouraging combinations or actions that are obviously going to get people killed in pursuit of unusual data makes him a leading contributor to the wealth of exploration logs.

Kwak Jegang’s disciplinary record can be found on the #Exploration Logs (Extras) page.

* * *

... I’d been on guard, knowing a day like this would come eventually.

“What is this? What the hell is this?!”

I’d suspected it from the moment I saw the large group, with Teams A and Y together, but...

‘He deliberately fucked our survival odds.’

This wasn’t an attempt to clear the ghost story with the maximum number of survivors.

It was a setup for everyone but Team A to die.