Chapter 82

The morning after clearing a high school ghost story inside a horrific horror game.

I was busily getting ready for work, because the fact that I still had to go to the office was an even worse horror story.

Still, the commute wasn't quite so grueling this time. I had something to count on.

A Dream Essence Collector filled with A-grade solution.

'Now that's reassuring.'

I carefully packed the Dream Essence Collector, full of golden solution, in my briefcase. The fruits of last night's labor.

Besides, the moment I had fully sat up in bed, I'd discovered some rather unusual “extra spoils.”

CLATTER.

Something that had been covering my body spilled onto the floor.

Dozens of... marbles?

They were transparent spheres that looked as though they could be loaded into the Glass Hand Cannon.

I picked one up to examine it and read the single character written inside.

護

Was that the character pronounced “ho,” meaning... help?

-Aha, a character frequently used to mean guarding or protecting someone. Quite obvious and straightforward.

Oh.

I immediately realized what they were.

'These are the rewards for clearing the game's final chapter!'

Graduation ceremony successfully held (2 dead, 1 survivor)

Confirmed that field exploration employees who died as students woke safely in the morning.

A large quantity of reward items discovered in the bed of the sole survivor. (Analyzed as a type of protective charm with some efficacy in exorcism and protection.)

In other words, I'd brought items from the dream game into reality.

Just like Baek Saheon, who had snatched the fountain pen item from the faculty office and run.

“... Hmm.”

That reminded me.

When I went out to the entryway, Baek Saheon's shoes were already gone.

'Made an early escape to work, did you?'

I'll deal with you later.

Anyway, these dozens of glass marbles served as “protective charms” to some degree.

'I think I can find a use for these.'

I stored all those “protective charms” in my tattoo, keeping just one or two in my pocket, then continued getting ready for work.

Except...

-...

-...

It seemed unusually quiet.

'... Braun.'

-Oh, you called, my friend?

Just wondering.

'Was last night... really uncomfortable?'

The host of The Tuesday Quiz Show, whose stuffing had almost been flattened because I'd slept on him...

-Haha, it certainly wasn't the best I've ever felt!

-My friend seems to have had a very entertaining experience all alone last night. No one would feel particularly pleased to be the only one not invited...

Gulp.

-Ah, but what a relief. While I, Braun, had the unique experience of finding out how a waffle feels, at least my friend seems to have felt something special too!

“...”

Well...

'I did feel something special.'

-Indeed!

'I held one hell of a graduation ceremony.'

-A graduation ceremony? Did you give a congratulatory address?

No.

'A teacher didn't like how I was running it and attacked me. I held out until it ended safely, with my arms and legs bursting off one by one.'

-Good heavens!

Braun, who had seemed somewhat offended, quickly grew excited when I explained the events in the dream in detail.

Tonight, I should at least give him one of those... aromatherapy acupressure massages the tattooist had given me.

-An excellent attitude, Mr. Roe Deer! I'd love to hear all about it.

Sure, sure.

On the way to work, I finished explaining what had happened to me. Everything from being chased by students to becoming one myself.

-Oho!

And finally, I arrived at the building and was on my way up to my office.

“Soleum!”

I ran into a familiar face.

“Oh, Section Chief Lee Byeongjin.”

Section Chief Lee Byeongjin, the manual reviewer I'd rescued after he went missing in the tiger-ghost story, brightened at the sight of me.

“I hear the entire Field Exploration Team tried entering that ghost story with the decent yield!”

Oh, he already knew I'd been sent into the high school ghost story.

Then again, an official notice had ordered everyone in the Field Exploration Team to attempt entry.

“How did your team do, Soleum?”

“Oh, I did go in and come back... but I don't know about the others.”

I suspected Section Chief Lizard hadn't managed to get in.

'For starters, if he'd gone in, it definitely would've been recorded in <Records of Dark Exploration>...'

No, they wouldn't even have written him into the records in the first place. Lee Jaheon was the perfect counter to this ghost story.

'A chase like that would be pointless against someone who can beat everything to death with physical attacks...'

Why ruin the ghost story?

Even if my interference in the exploration had caused a butterfly effect, I would at least have noticed Section Chief Lizard's presence if he'd been there this time.

'He probably wasn't there.'

... And.

The other member of Team D...

Was dead.

'Whew.'

I was about to open my mouth to say so.

“Oh, Team D still only has you and the team leader, right? I suppose you didn't run into each other.”

“... Pardon?”

“Still, it's an individual event, eh? At least he wouldn't have gotten in the way of our company's future! Our talented Supervisor Soleum! Haha!”

...

What?

“Wait a moment. What do you mean, Team D only has two...?”

“Hm? Wasn't that personnel appointment put on hold?”

The section chief looked puzzled as he spoke.

“Because, well, that contaminated member of Team D might recover, you were told to let this season pass and focus on support assignments for now... weren't you?”

“...!”

Oh.

The next moment, I understood.

Supervisor Yoon Johun.

The newly assigned employee had been eliminated as an error by the “teacher” in the dream...

And was eliminated from reality too.

Literally deleted.

As though they had never existed in reality at all.

“...”

Right.

'That's why people mistakenly believed this ghost story had no fatalities.'

They thought the worst that could happen was being dragged back to that school on the last night of the lunar month.

Everyone did!

Because...

The people who gathered lots of name tags and stubbornly held out on the upper floors without dropping out had all been “deleted.”

They had become people who never existed.

... It was a terrifying ability to alter reality.

'... So the solution didn't come out A-grade for nothing.'

I could feel that some deeper Darkness was involved...

A chill ran all the way up my back.

Objectively, perhaps this wasn't a bad situation for me.

Someone anyone would find difficult to work with had simply vanished on their own.

But...

'That's practically a sentence of erasure from history.'

My stomach churned. And the feeling that I was the only one who remembered was truly strange.

No, wait.

'Why am I the only one who remembers in the first place?'

Shouldn't I have forgotten along with everyone else?

Was it because I'd witnessed the death myself?

Oh!

Or had the effect missed me because I'd been eating Nostalgia Candy at the time?

Come to think of it, when I'd eaten the Nostalgia Candy, I...

...

...

“S-Soleum?”

“... Oh. I must have been mistaken about something.”

Anyway, it wasn't important, so I should focus on the conversation for now.

He might be on another team, but a superior was still a superior.

Just then, Section Chief Lee Byeongjin was asking me something with a slightly expectant look.

“Ah, come to think of it, Soleum, how did you do? What grade did you clear it at? If you show me your collector, I can give you a rough idea of the grade from the concentration...”

“Oh.”

I readily took the collector out of my briefcase and showed him.

Golden liquid sloshed inside.

“Here it is.”

“...”

After a moment of silence...

“...?!”

Section Chief Lee Byeongjin briskly polished his glasses.

“Haha, I'm getting old. My eyesight must be going. The light seems to be reflecting too much—?!”

“Oh.”

I spoke with delight.

“Does it look like A-grade to you too, sir?”

“...”

Lee Byeongjin put his glasses back on.

“... Right now.”

“...?”

“You need to report this right now! What are you standing around for? Hurry!”

* * *

I was summoned and hauled in before I knew it.

Meaning, the staff in charge confiscated my collector before I even made it to the Team D Office.

“Good heavens!”

The looks they gave me said, “You again?” Well, I supposed I should take it as a good thing.

And the measured grade was...

“Mr. Kim Soleum.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“The solution you collected from the Darkness last night has been confirmed as A-grade.”

That afternoon, Section Chief Lizard calmly informed me as I sat in the office writing my exploration report.

I'd expected that much.

What he said next was the problem.

“And a request has come in for a one-on-one interview with you regarding this exploration.”

“...”

Well, there was no avoiding it this time...

My second A.

And once again, it had popped out of a ghost story with no precedent for it.

'A-grade was practically a theoretical possibility in that ghost story, wasn't it?'

Most results were D or F.

Someone who had held out a long time, sweeping up items and name tags, had extracted C-grade solution once or twice, but that was probably it.

Apparently, word was making the rounds upstairs again about a jackpot coming from a ghost story used merely for item farming.

But here's the thing.

'This is actually the last time.'

It only counts the first clear...

Subsequent attempts to clear it using a similar method yielded solution one or two grades below the same ending grade (B).

'That's how game formats work.'

If it isn't the first time, it's a repeat, so it doesn't count as an achievement...

Of course, I wasn't planning to tell them all of that. But I'd have to drop a few clues to avoid some ludicrous attempt to shift the blame: “We invested because we trusted you, and you didn't get another A!”

'I'll be slaving away all afternoon...'

I was gloomily anticipating that prospect when he spoke.

“Mr. Kim Soleum.”

“Yes?”

“Do you not want to do the interview?”

W-Would you get me out of it??

But after a moment's thought, I shook my head.

“No. It's all right. I should do it.”

If I wanted to avoid being saddled with some utterly bullshit accusation like, “We couldn't get an A-grade clear because you tried to wrap this up with a situation report!”... Sob.

“Understood.”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon didn't offer twice. Very lizard-like of him.

A little later, at the appointed time, I left the Team D Office for the interview.

'They've even called me to a high floor.'

I got off on the designated thirty-first floor and headed for the conference room.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

“Come in.”

At the permission from inside, I opened the door very carefully.

A stately conference room, sunlight streaming through the blinds over the windows.

And a huge, black, round desk.

Except...

“Hmm.”

The research team staff who were supposed to interview me weren't there.

Instead, one person sat alone in the seat of honor at that enormous desk.

A woman with blue-black hair, wearing an impeccably tailored three-button suit, regarded me benevolently.

She didn't look elderly, but something about her made her age difficult to judge.

And on the desk sat an eye-catching black mother-of-pearl nameplate.

Managing Director Cheong Dallae

“...?!”

A d-director??

Wait, a director was sitting alone in the conference room I'd been summoned to?

And she wasn't even Director Ho, who was connected to Section Chief Lee Byeongjin and Team A.

But that surname...

'I've heard it before...'

When Section Chief Lee Byeongjin, who belonged to Director Ho's faction, had gone missing.

In the office staff's idle chatter as they speculated about who would replace him.

[“Honestly, there's no telling what the new person will be like... but they're unlikely to install someone from the same faction. It'll probably be one of Director Cheong's people.”]

Director Cheong.

A superior so far above me that I'd never had anything to do with her, one of the executives of this company's Development Department, had summoned me...!

'Holy shit...'

Of course, even as I reeled, I was bowing my damn head as low as it would go.

Being shocked was no excuse to forget workplace etiquette!

“...! It's an honor to meet you, Managing Director.”

“Yes. A pleasure.”

After accepting my handshake, Director Cheong waved toward the chairs arranged around the round desk.

“Let's sit down first.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Where on earth was I supposed to sit?

After some deliberation, I chose a seat that wasn't too distinguished but still close enough to converse with the director comfortably.

Then someone who appeared to be from the secretarial office entered, placed some documents in front of the director, and left.

I felt like I was about to break into a cold sweat.

'What's going on here?'

I didn't even understand the context. I'd have to start there.

“So... Supervisor Soleum? Are you still in your twenties?”

“I was born in XX.”

“You're young. I'll dispense with the formalities, so make yourself comfortable too. I've called you here for a good reason.”

“A good reason...?”

“I mean that I've heard a great deal about you.”

Director Cheong smiled.

“It's been very impressive. If all our new recruits were like you, we'd have no trouble sourcing raw materials.”

“Thank you.”

When someone this high up spoke like that, I should simply sit politely and look attentive.

Trying too hard to strike up a conversation and anticipate her exact needs might just make me look like an overeager show-off...

'Did she come all the way to this conference room to congratulate me and make a show of encouraging me to write a good A-grade manual?'

To make sure I knew who she was, in other words.

“So, Supervisor Soleum.”

But that was where the real subject began.

Without warning.

“Would you be interested in the Elite Teams?”

I nearly choked on my own spit.

“Well...”

“Oh, I know Section Chief Seok of Team A made you an offer before and you turned it down.”

“...!”

“‘I want to build my foundations first’... A good excuse. You handled that well.”

Oh, good heavens.

“That team... Hmm. Respecting hierarchy is all well and good, but sometimes they get their priorities backward and place it above exploration.”

“...”

“Not a pretty sight, but well, knowing whose coattails to ride is a skill too, isn't it? Haha!”

She was being very blatant about Team A belonging to another faction.

'I won't respond to a single word of that, Director...'

I'd just give an awkward smile and nod.

One wrong move, and I'd end up having bad-mouthed Team A with a director.

The director would be fine, of course!

But a lowly new recruit like me, with no faction behind him, would be f***ed...

I made myself look flustered but determined to stay calm, then spoke as though struggling to get the words out.

“Um, as someone who only recently joined the company, I certainly did need the basics... In fact, I'm working hard to learn right n—”

“Hahaha! It's all right, it's all right. Yes, this is a situation that would make you nervous, Supervisor Soleum.”

Director Cheong let out a hearty laugh, then her expression turned serious.

“You needn't agree with everything I say. I don't like sycophants.”

“...”

“Yes. I suppose I should choose my words more clearly. Shouldn't I?”

She paused as though briefly considering something, then closed the documents and spoke.

“I'm not saying I'll put you in one of the Elite Teams.”

“...?”

“I meant, are you interested in receiving the treatment an Elite Team gets? Yes... I could put it this way.”

Director Cheong smiled.

“How would you feel if Team D became an Elite Team?”

“...!!”

“The entire team, with one new member of your choosing added to it.”

Good heavens.