Chapter 49

The pale-green magic potion flows into Go Youngeun’s mouth.

GULP. GULP.

When the liquid is gone and the glass bottle is empty...

“...!”

Go Youngeun put down the bottle. Her eyes wide, she brought both hands to her ears...

And beneath her trembling hands, rounded lumps of flesh grow where her ears were torn off, like new skin growing over a wound.

They take shape in an instant. The rims, tragi, and earlobes take on distinct forms around a framework of cartilage, and then...

They are complete.

“...”

“W-wow...!!”

Good God.

“Ms. Go Youngeun?”

“Yes!! Oh! I can hear! This... This actually works...”

She exclaimed in disbelief as she touched her newly grown ears, then turned on her smartphone and began examining them with the camera app.

Apparently, they looked exactly like her original ears, as though that were only natural.

“Does it hurt at all?”

“Not at all! They were just a little itchy, and then they were fine... Wow, wait, I think I can hear even better than before?!”

That was wonderful news.

It was truly, truly astonishing—even miraculous—and a tremendous relief, but...

‘... This could lead to even more reckless choices.’

When a manual establishes that clearing a particular high-grade Darkness inevitably requires catastrophic loss of body parts, this company sometimes provides low-grade Regeneration Potions as standard supplies.

And once employees get used to doing that?

They gradually stop thinking anything of losing parts of their bodies.

The first time is the hardest. After that, it gets easy.

‘Is that really a good thing?’

Feeling strange, I glanced to the side.

Baek Saheon was staring into the ornate box containing his Regeneration Potion with a somewhat gloomy expression...

With his one eye.

“... Um. Mr. Baek Saheon.”

“...”

After some hesitation, Go Youngeun spoke cautiously.

“Having trouble with one eye affects you more than you’d think. It affects your depth perception, your field of vision, even your balance. I know it feels like a waste, but it might be better to use it and regenerate your eye.”

“Mind your own business.”

Go Youngeun nearly gave him a look that said, What the fuck is this guy’s problem? But perhaps because she was relieved to have her ears back, she chose to ignore him.

After considering it, I added something.

“Our work is dangerous, so we could lose other body parts in the future. Saving it for an emergency doesn’t seem like a bad decision.”

“Oh... That’s true, too.”

“...!”

Baek Saheon’s pupil suddenly quivered, and he stared gravely into the box.

‘Hey.’

Why did he look like he was thinking, Should I just use it now? the moment I took his side?

Anyway, I ignored him too and carefully gathered up my box.

My heart was beating a little faster.

This was my first time seeing such a famous, powerful, iconic item in person—one that wasn’t frightening, either.

The symbol of Daydream Inc.

A magic potion.

‘Let’s keep it somewhere safe.’

That was when she spoke.

“Um, Soleum.”

“Yes?”

“I was already planning to tell you this... But I really wanted to thank you properly now.”

Go Youngeun looked at me and bowed.

“Thank you... So, so much.”

Huh?

“Back then, you faced that machine alone so we could get away.”

“... You weren’t in danger to begin with, Ms. Go.”

Her ears had already been collected, so she hadn’t needed to pay any more fees. Hadn’t Baek Saheon effectively been the only person I’d saved?

‘And that rude bastard hasn’t thanked me once...’

His personality really was garbage.

But Go Youngeun shook her head firmly.

“No. You came back afterward to save us again. You even lied and said the candle was ours.”

“...”

“No matter how I look at it, you had absolutely no reason to do that. You could have just left with Team D.”

“Hmm.”

Actually, I did...

‘Hand the candle over to those daredevils?’

Huh? This thing keeps us safe? Okay. Then let’s try this, and that too. We can put it in the manual review and squeeze out some points.

All I could imagine was them saying things like that as they tried every crazy thing under the sun, while I trailed behind them and collapsed from a heart attack.

I hadn’t braved the terror of wandering that insane exhibition alone to find those two for no reason.

I’d done it because an even greater terror lay behind me...!

‘And... if you can save someone, saving them is the right thing to do.’

I’d only done what I could.

So I simply shook my head.

“Anyone would have done that.”

“Are you serious? I don’t think they would...”

“If anything, considering your contributions, you both deserve promotions too. I feel a little bad that I’m the only one who got promoted.”

Go Youngeun’s expression turned serious.

“Oh, no. I... don’t want to get promoted already.”

“...”

“Oh, of course, I’m sure you’ll do a great job, Soleum!”

Suddenly, I felt like crying...

“Um, but why do you think we deserve promotions? You remember that every item and everything else we used in the exhibition came out of your pockets... right?”

For some reason, Go Youngeun looked at me with pity.

“Hmm. People at work look down on you if you seem too nice, so... you don’t have to be quite so generous when you talk about other people.”

Huh?

It certainly seemed she was seeing me in far too favorable a light because I’d saved her life... But remembering the Silver Heart Badge, I simply bowed my head.

Let’s be nice!

“... Thank you for the advice.”

Baek Saheon looked back and forth between Go Youngeun and me, utterly dumbfounded, but kept his mouth shut.

Then he stood and left without so much as a goodbye.

Hmm. Let him be.

I exchanged another polite farewell with Go Youngeun and turned away.

Then I thought,

‘When should I start wearing the Silver Heart Badge?’

Maybe only during missions?

I rolled the badge between my fingers inside my pocket, making various plans.

Just then, a now-familiar figure approached from the far end of the corridor...

A white lizard’s head.

“Team Leader.”

“Mr. Kim Soleum.”

He seemed to have gone to speak with the team manager while I received my prize.

Even those vertical pupils felt a little familiar now.

‘Is this the lifesaver effect, too?’

I fell silent for a moment, remembering the lizard’s brutal punch that had snapped the attendant machine’s needle in two.

Then his vertical pupils turned toward the empty Regeneration Potion bottle and its box.

“Did you use it?”

“Pardon? Oh. It isn’t mine. My fellow recruit here... Employee Go Youngeun used hers.”

“Hello, Section Chief! My name is Go Youngeun!”

Go Youngeun bowed repeatedly to the unfamiliar lizard... no, the section chief from another team.

The lizard looked at her with his lidless eyes.

“I have a question.”

“Y-yes.”

“Are you the owner of the escape item?”

“... Pardon?”

“Three days ago, in the exhibition-type B-grade Darkness, were you in possession of a candle-shaped perception-disruption item?”

Ah.

“Oh... Um. Something like that...”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

When Go Youngeun met my eyes, she grasped the situation and trailed off, but had the sense not to deny it.

Still, she must have decided she ought to leave quickly.

“Yes, well, I’ll be going now.”

With that polite farewell, she quietly vanished down the corridor in the opposite direction.

‘Excellent judgment...’

Relieved, I took a bottle of water out of my bag and drank a sip...

“Mr. Kim Soleum.”

“Yes?”

“Refrain from repeating your lies.”

I nearly sprayed water out of my nose.

“The more often you mention them, the less effective they become.”

“...”

When had he figured it out?

Still, I bowed my head first.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes.”

“I thought it would be difficult to persuade you to spend valuable escape time unless I claimed something substantial, such as a fellow recruit having an escape item.”

“Yes.”

It was hard to say he was giving short answers because he was pissed as hell...

‘His voice is calm.’

That was just the kind of person—no, lizard—he was.

I cautiously raised my head, gauging his mood.

To my surprise, the lizard was... smiling a little!

“All humans lie.”

“...”

“What matters is the purpose of the act and its outcome.”

His statement felt almost philosophical.

‘... Does he mean it doesn’t really matter because I lied with good intentions, and the outcome was good too?’

“...”

Oh, whatever.

“Still, I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Yes.”

That ended the conversation.

Team Leader Lizard reverted to being an impassive reptile with vertical pupils.

‘I’d thought his personality was somewhat removed from that of an ordinary person, too...’

Now I felt that a little more keenly. In a good way, too.

I picked up the box containing my prize Regeneration Potion from the chair.

-My friend, are you finished with your business?

Just then, Braun spoke from inside my pocket.

We’d agreed to avoid chatting while I was working in the office so no one would discover I had a Good Friend... But since the timing was right, perhaps I could ask him something.

I eased the stuffed doll partway out, leaving it draped over the edge of my pocket.

‘Braun. About the employee standing beside me.’

-Ah, your tall, handsome superior, Mr. Roe Deer?

‘Yes. What does he look like to you?’

-Oho.

After a brief silence, as though he were scrutinizing him...

-His eyes, nose, mouth, even his hearing organs all look perfectly intact!

‘... For a lizard?’

-A lizard? Haha, Mr. Roe Deer, I didn’t know you had such a talent for unkind comparisons. Who are you trying to tease? A lizard, of all things!

“...”

Even Braun couldn’t see him as a lizard?

Could it be... that I really was the only one who saw him that way?

“Mr. Kim Soleum.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

I renewed my resolve. I wouldn’t breathe so much as the first syllable of “lizard.”

“We will be moving on.”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon headed toward the elevator.

Pretending to be composed, I followed the lizard and asked,

“Are we returning to the office?”

“No.”

Hmm?

“... Then where are we going?”

“A restricted area accessible only to supervisors and above.”

“...!”

“I will explain how to use it.”

Here it was.

* * *

At this company, employees gained various privileges as they rose through the ranks.

Those could take the form of benefits, abilities, or access to places.

“Your promotion to supervisor has granted you access to three additional facilities, Mr. Kim Soleum.”

Standing in front of the annex, I accepted a folder from Section Chief Lee Jaheon.

1. Security Team Loan Warehouse

2. Annex (two free equipment-crafting sessions per year)

3. Fox Counseling Office

“From now on, you may check out arms and armor from the Security Team Loan Warehouse.”

“...”

“You may also customize Exclusive Equipment using Twilight Grade Darkness in the annex without a superior accompanying you, and register with the Fox Counseling Office as needed.”

Benefits I already knew about.

And several places I hadn’t known I would gain access to, though I had information about them from <Records of Dark Exploration>, were now open to me.

A little sense of accomplishment. A thrill.

And anticipation.

‘I’ve got even more ways to survive in this insane universe...!’

But everything has two sides.

Better treatment meant the company wanted something in return from its employees.

In this company’s case...

‘Danger.’

As befitted a company dealing in ghost stories, most things restricted to higher-ranking employees carried the potential to become too dangerous for civilians to handle.

Like this.

“In addition, each supervisor in the Field Exploration Team is assigned one Darkness to oversee.”

“...”

That was right.

Separate from the team, I would now have a ghost story under my direct management!

“Usually, even when an individual is assigned responsibility, the team manages it collectively. However, primary responsibility lies with the employee in charge.”

Spreading responsibility onto field staff.

How very corporate. A familiar taste of twenty-first-century working life, right here...

According to Team Leader Lee Jaheon, as employees accumulated years of service and rose in rank, they were assigned more Darkness, of greater danger.

Fortunately, I was still a new recruit.

“As a supervisor with less than one year of service, you will be assigned an F-grade Darkness, Mr. Kim Soleum.”

Whew.

“Perform maintenance according to schedule, then submit a checklist indicating whether there are any irregularities.”

“Yes.”

Anyway, orders were orders. Rather than wasting energy whining pointlessly, I decided to offer a meaningful prayer.

‘Please! Please! Let me get an ordinary low-grade Darkness!’

If it was going to end up like The Tuesday Quiz Show, I’d be better off quitting and preparing for the Disaster Management Bureau exam!

Then I heard something astonishing.

“You’re saying I can choose?”

“Yes.”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon said he would show me a few candidates and let me choose from among them!

“Is that the normal procedure?”

“No.”

The lizard stared at me.

“It is within my authority.”

...?!

So he was exercising his authority to bend the rules a little and give me... options?

That lizard?

“Thank you so much for your consideration. But... may I ask why you’re doing this for me?”

“As thanks.”

“Pardon?”

“For finding the correct escape route in a B-grade ghost story and guiding all of Team D back without injury.”

“... But you saved my life from an attendant machine, too, Team Leader.”

“That is a matter of responsibility.”

The lizard spoke impassively.

“A team leader has a duty to take responsibility for the members of their team to the extent of their abilities.”

“...”

Hey, he really was... a good boss.

‘I almost felt touched.’

If I really had been just starting my career, I would have put off my decision to quit for at least a month.

Was this why Deputy Eun Haje and Supervisor Park Minseong always chuckled and tried to see the best in their team leader?

Even I felt inspired to do better.

“... Thank you, all the same.”

“Yes.”

After bowing, I followed the lizard toward the F-grade Darkness containment room.

I hadn’t expected this, but it was an excellent turn of events.

‘If I play this right, I might actually come out ahead.’

<Records of Dark Exploration> was a wiki.

That meant many creators had contributed freely within its rules, and each could have slightly different standards for its grades.

‘Even an F-grade Darkness could have a tremendous range of uses.’

Provided you knew how to handle it properly.

And through <Records of Dark Exploration>, I already knew how.

If it was a Darkness recorded there.

“These are the three F-grade Darkness candidates.”

I raised my head.

Three objects stood before me...

An old teddy bear.

Two black cards.

A model airplane.

“...!”

‘I know all three.’

Jackpot.

-Ah, what an old, ugly doll.

Meanwhile, Braun sounded rather displeased. Was the Good Friend’s influence making him wary of another doll?

-In any case, the time to choose has arrived, Mr. Roe Deer!

I considered my options.

Then I reached out.

“I’ll take charge of this Darkness.”