Chapter 63

Faster. Faster.

“Supervisor, your previous visit was expedition thirty-five, then?”

“R-right. The only time they tried sending in new recruits.”

After a brief, urgent exchange with Supervisor Park Minseong, Kim Soleum swiftly organized the key points in his head.

'Details from Supervisor Park Minseong's firsthand experience...'

“Is that everything? Is this really the information you need?”

“I'm putting it together.”

-New recruits were assigned to explore this Darkness for the first time. Terror caused utter pandemonium.

-Some people received penalties for swearing. Two fought over a calming pill and both received penalties. The person who took it received one too.

-Seven people received two or more penalties, bringing them to the brink of contamination.

-The recruit selected as hangman lost consciousness from panic midway through, but everyone was too terrified and panicked to notice.

-A recruit fainted after the corpse fell from the gallows onto their head. Later resigned.

“...”

Huh?

“After that, they never sent in new recruits again, until...”

“Wait a moment.”

“Hm?”

“The bodies remain?”

Kim Soleum looked urgently at the supervisor.

“The people who die as the hangman here, I mean.”

“Y-yes? Of course, I don't know about decomposition or anything. ... I think the head was missing too. I didn't go to the funeral and watch every step of the process, but...”

“...!!”

A shiver raced up Kim Soleum's spine.

This was, this was...

“What, what is it??”

Supervisor Park Minseong urgently grabbed my shoulders.

“Was there a clue in that? Can you do it?!”

“Yes.”

Kim Soleum nodded hastily. But cold sweat ran down his neck.

'Truth is, I can't guarantee anything this time either.'

It seemed insane. But, but...

What an exhilarating hope it was, to have a possibility.

'I have to try.'

Kim Soleum roughly pieced together what he would need. ... It seemed like it might just barely work.

'With this, we might slip through a gap without breaking the rules...!'

There was just one problem...

One indispensable ability wasn't ready for use.

'... Braun.'

He needed him again.

'How much longer would we have to wait before you could use your disguise ability again?'

-Hmm.

-Surely even I need half a day's rest?

Kim Soleum immediately revised his question.

'What if we changed the conditions?'

-The conditions?

Kim Soleum explained the “changed conditions.”

And the answer changed.

-In that case, an hour's rest should suffice!

-A somewhat grueling schedule, but... Hmm, I shall endure it. I am a professional, after all!

'Thank you. Really.'

-Don't mention it!

An hour, then.

The conditions had been redefined.

'I need to buy time.'

Amid this chaos, he had to keep Deputy Eun Haje from being fully transferred to the gallows for an hour.

And that was impossible alone.

“Sir.”

“Yes?”

“If you can, please play along and help sell this.”

“...?”

Kim Soleum immediately fastened the Silver Heart Badge inside his pocket.

Then he called out to the nine employees who had gathered in the room and were engrossed in Hangman.

“Everyone.”

“...!”

Nine pairs of eyes turned toward Kim Soleum.

He inwardly swallowed.

What he needed now was...

'... To grab their attention!!'

“If you could double your clear points, would you?”

* * *

Team D's deputy, Eun Haje, lifted her head.

For someone suspended in midair with black ropes around her neck and limbs, sentenced to death, she felt surprisingly calm.

'As deaths go, this is a good one.'

Apart from dying just before she finished saving up her points, it honestly wasn't bad at all compared with the bloody ends other employees had met.

“Deputy Eun!! What was the transportation?!”

“I don't know. I told you I don't remember.”

Especially since she got to drive these awful trolls up the wall on her way out.

Her only regret was that, uncooperative as she was, they would eventually get the answers right anyway.

That was how Hangman worked.

“Shit... The last transportation she took as a reporter? How am I supposed to know that? Hell if I know, damn it... A?”

[Correct!]

“I-I got it!!”

Even if they couldn't work out the initial from the clue, throwing out letters would eventually produce the right answer.

_ _ _ _ A _ _ R

'Ugh.'

Looking at where both her feet had vanished, Deputy Eun Haje felt the cold fear of death at the back of her neck, but didn't let it show.

She had no intention of entertaining the trolls.

[Here is your clue for the letter in the third blank!]

[Why can't Teacher Eun Haje take a plane again?]

Meanwhile, her two juniors in Team D were busily exchanging questions and answers in the corner.

'What are those two doing?'

They seemed to grit their teeth at the sight of her missing feet, then talked even more desperately.

Apparently they had some vain notion of rescuing her...

'Maybe that's better.'

She hoped they would just talk, realize there was no answer, and give up.

At least knowing they'd tried to think of something would comfort them.

'...'

Meanwhile, someone answered the comparatively easy new question correctly.

“Trauma? T!”

_ _ T _ A _ _ R

[Correct!]

Her entire left leg vanished.

'Fck...!' *

“Waaah! Got it!”

“Ah!! I should've gone first!”

The trolls were cheering the disappearance of someone's leg as though this were a sporting event.

Eun Haje's irritation was beginning to turn into anger.

'Maybe I should start actively trolling them too.'

But suddenly—

“Everyone.”

Someone raised a hand beyond the trolls.

“If you could double your clear points, would you?”

'... Roe Deer!?'

Indeed.

Team D's new recruit—no, their youngest member, Kim Soleum, who had shed his rookie status in record time—stood with his hand raised and a composed expression.

“What?”

“Isn't that bas—that guy? The one who just got promoted.”

By then, everyone recognized him.

The top recruit wearing a mask with deerlike antlers. His promotion to supervisor in just sixty days was already common knowledge.

Was it because of those rumors?

Somehow, the recruit drew their attention. He had a strangely... natural presence.

Besides, just now...

'Didn't he say points...?'

“...”

In the strange atmosphere of the playroom, with everyone's attention on him, Kim Soleum spoke.

“Would you care to make a bet?”

...??

“If you win, I'll give you all my clear points.”

“...!!”

“Huh?”

An insane attention grab.

“Has he lost it? What's wrong with him?”

But any Field Exploration employee hooked by the word “points” couldn't help asking:

“You'll really give us all two thousand points?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, Supervisor Roe Deer. You've only been here a few months, so maybe you don't know... You can't transfer points.”

“I know.”

“You know? Then what are you...”

“But there's nothing stopping me from buying two thousand points' worth of goods from the employee mall and handing them over.”

“...!”

“Beat me, and you can choose what you want. If you want to use them to craft Exclusive Equipment, I'll pay for that instead.”

The mood changed.

They had already avoided becoming the “sacrifice.” How useful would some extra points be?

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

He was serious.

If they could win, of course.

“What kind of bet?”

Kim Soleum folded his arms.

“Who can guess the most letters in the Hangman word.”

“Oh!”

“The person who guesses the most, and more than I do, gets the points.”

Had the bastard lost his mind?

“For reference, I've only guessed one, so just two correct guesses would fulfill half the conditions.”

“W-wait!”

Supervisor Park Minseong of Team D, who had been listening beside him, rose in alarm.

“Roe Deer, do you really need to make a bet in this situation...”

“B-grade ghost stories where you're safe as long as you follow the manual are rare. I'd like to use this opportunity to see whether getting a lot of answers right shows any signs of triggering a special phenomenon.”

Kim Soleum looked earnestly around at the employees.

“If anything starts feeling strange, please stop. I don't want anyone in danger.”

“Ha.”

Several employees exchanged looks and snorted. Finally, one spoke with a grin.

“Oh, how noble. You're making a bet to add detail to the manual and make it safer?”

“Yes, that's right.”

Kim Soleum answered immediately.

“I want to help the people who come in after us clear this a little more safely.”

“... Why?”

“No particular reason. Hmm... It seems like something someone should do, and I can, so I'm going to.”

“...”

The employee who had asked fell silent.

Somehow... it felt strange.

'Come to think of it, didn't they say this recruit rescued a missing person too?'

Something else came back to mind.

'They said he got promoted for saving all the other employees in some B-grade Darkness last time.'

Retrieving an unlikable office worker nobody was looking for, without compensation. Taking risks in high-grade Darkness to save employees whose faces he didn't even know.

'He's out of his mind.'

Normally, they would have laughed at him for being a sucker, but strangely, this time they couldn't.

TING

A clear metallic sound spread through their minds.

Their thoughts grew strangely clear.

It was an odd sensation, as though they were looking at things honestly, freed of their familiar, tainted, comfortable habits and inertia.

... And then, very strangely,

Those foolish choices looked rather impressive.

“...”

“...”

The words came out on their own.

“... Well, sure. I'll take that bet.”

“Oh, thank you!”

Kim Soleum bowed several times in thanks to the oddly subdued employees, then moved away.

“I'll see you on the way out, then.”

He approached Deputy Eun Haje, who had watched the entire scene with her mouth hanging open, his expression somber.

“Deputy.”

Deputy Eun Haje felt a fierce headache coming on.

'This kid's problem is that he's too kind!'

Their youngest was clever, but this was his flaw.

'He cares too much.'

Exactly the type to burn out or break.

He'd earnestly spouted that nonsense about an item belonging to a fellow recruit to save his cohort, and now he was actually doing something this foolish...

“Y-you really...”

Kim Soleum lowered his voice and spoke quickly.

“I was bluffing.”

“...”

Oh.

“Just grabbed their attention to buy some time.”

For a moment, Deputy Eun Haje nearly forgot she was about to die. She barely managed to ask:

“... You were buying time?”

“Yes.”

Well, damn.

“Wait. If you're stalling so you can try something, don't. That's a perfect way to get yourself killed...”

“What if we do it anyway?”

“...!”

“We're doing it, no matter what. ... And if you cooperate, our chances of success will be higher.”

This... disobedient little bastard!

Eun Haje clenched her teeth.

“Hey. I told you I'd handle it myself.”

“I don't believe you. ... You've already resigned yourself to dying.”

“...”

Perceptive, too.

'Good grief.'

“... It's not as if I had absolutely nothing in mind.”

In the end, Deputy Eun Haje confessed what she'd kept to herself to avoid giving the two supervisors false hope.

“You know how this ghost story captures people as 'new teachers' and throws all sorts of rules at them? Do you know who's the only one exempt?”

“... That's...”

“The hangman.”

Deputy Eun Haje grinned.

“Me.”

The hangman received no penalty for swearing viciously or even smashing a hole in the wall with their head.

“The problem is, that doesn't make moving my body any easier.”

Eun Haje gestured with her eyes at the ropes holding her.

“But... looked at another way, I can do anything I like from the neck up.”

“...!”

Of course, the chances of anything working were abysmal.

Deputy Eun Haje kept that to herself and spoke casually.

“Got that? I'm the only one who can keep trying that loophole. I won't get penalized. So you two, who can get penalized, should sit...”

Kim Soleum's eyes flashed.

“We'll use that loophole to maximize your chances of survival.”

“What?”

“Please remember exactly what I'm about to tell you.”

Kim Soleum explained what Deputy Eun Haje needed to do, clearly, distinctly, and simply.

In other words...

“...!”

“... That's everything.”

Deputy Eun Haje felt as though she'd been doused in ice water.

He was really going to do that?

“We'll get to work right away. See you shortly.”

“Hey!”

Wait a minute.

“Roe Deer!! Badger!! You bastards!”

But the two were already walking out of the playroom.

“Hey! Get back here!”

* * *

'Phew.'

Looks like buying time worked, at least.

I'm walking with Supervisor Park Minseong down a kindergarten hallway so clean, colorful, and quiet that it's all the more chilling.

'Let's hurry.'

With the supervisor's and deputy's accounts, the plan was taking clearer shape. Anxiety and hope took turns at the helm.

And even amid all that, this damned ghost story's setting was still terrifying.

But the utterly fearless Supervisor Park Minseong kept looking back at me with worry written all over his face, until he finally asked:

“R-Roe Deer. Are you sure about that? Two thousand points isn't pocket change... What if someone gets two answers right?!”

Oh.

As for that...

“They'll never beat me.”

“...!”

I grinned.

“It's impossible when they're selfish and keeping each other in check.”

“Huh?”

“They'll interfere every time someone tries to answer.”

“...!!”

According to the records, the time limit for each question ranged from seven to ten minutes, at the ghost story's whim.

At the most conservative estimate, we'd have to run out the full time limit nine times.

So what was the best way?

“They'll probably keep fighting and blocking each other until the very last moment. Then, since they won't want everyone accumulating penalties, someone will set conditions and try an answer.”

And the odds of that answer being right were fairly slim.

'In the end, they'll each take a hit of contamination, and the clock will keep ticking.'

Besides, once they'd accumulated contamination, they'd hesitate to throw out random letters, dragging things out even longer.

Which meant...

“It'll take a good hour.”

I was certain.

“And since the prize isn't two thousand points themselves, but goods bought with them, it'll be hard for them to agree to split it.”

Teaming up to divide the spoils would be awkward, and trusting each other to share fairly based on a verbal promise would be difficult.

'They only trusted my verbal promise... because of the Silver Heart Badge.'

I couldn't let them find out. Trying not to even think about my pocket, I continued.

“So don't worry. First, let's focus on saving the deputy.”

“...”

A surge of emotion showed beneath the supervisor's mask, but he quickly suppressed it, perhaps remembering that time was short.

“Right. Let's hurry! Oh, we're here.”

“Yes.”

It was time to start preparing immediately.

'Whew.'

I found a suitable spot on the floor and sat down with the supervisor.

This was the largest space in the kindergarten.

[Activity Room]

I tried my best not to look at the scene directly ahead.

Before us... stood a colorful ball pit and a platform decorated with flowers and butterflies.

Yet, incongruously, two chunks of flesh stood motionless atop that cheerful platform.

A left leg. A right foot.

Parts of Deputy Eun Haje's body.

'Ha.'

Something—revulsion, fear, or a sense of danger—made my hair stand on end.

'The gallows.'

There would be just one opening.

We had to seize it here.