Chapter 86

I had already heard about Director Ho indirectly several times.

Mostly through office politics.

He was the director behind the elite Team A, as well as Lee Byeongjin, who reviewed manuals.

["That section chief was close with Team A to begin with. You know how it is. They're in the same... ‘camp,’ so to speak."]

["Director Ho has his eye on you, Supervisor Kim."]

["He's the best higher-up in this company. This is your chance. Don't let it slip away."]

Those members of Director Ho's camp had encouraged me to join them several times...

But I hadn't expected the man himself to show up at the Team D Office without warning, as casually as someone from the office next door!

"...!"

I reflexively stood and bowed.

"Good morning, Director Ho."

"Oh. You figured it out right away..."

Why was he pretending to be sheepish after addressing Director Cheong without the slightest deference?!

'You opened by announcing that you knew all about the interesting offer Director Cheong made me...'

... Wait.

'Didn't Director Ho just say... that he had an offer too?'

An offer?

I looked at the young man, who still wore that affable expression.

He spoke in an equally affable tone.

"I'm sorry. Did I make you nervous, suddenly bringing up someone so frightening?"

"Not at all. I'm the one who should apologize. I haven't properly greeted you..."

"Oh, no! Those formalities make me uncomfortable, and I don't particularly care for them. Please, speak freely."

As if that were possible.

'Does he have no conscience?'

Or... perhaps he was deliberately trying to put me on edge.

Either way, I nodded and took a deep breath, as though relaxing a little.

'This is probably the sort of reaction he wants.'

Sure enough, Director Ho continued with a gentle expression.

Though what he said sounded anything but gentle.

"May I take a guess? I imagine Director Cheong made you an offer involving the Elite Teams. Hmm, something along the lines of putting together a new Elite Team for you."

"..."

Wow. Seriously.

Was it safe to tell him everything outright?

But it felt as though not telling him would cause problems too, which was driving me insane.

I thought fast.

"That's true, but... Oh! My apologies. I'm a little flustered... Let me show you somewhere comfortable first."

As though it had only just occurred to me, I led Director Ho to the office's guest sofa, breaking the flow of the conversation.

-You're buying time to handle a difficult guest. Excellent, Mr. Roe Deer! That was quite natural!

Approval from the ghost-story quiz show Host who incinerated people for being unnatural. Terrifying, but reassuring.

I hurried to the kitchenette, prepared snacks, green tea, and coffee, and hurried back out.

"Would you prefer tea or coffee?"

"Oh, just have whichever you like, Soleum, and give me the other..."

Didn't he realize it was even crueler for an executive to act like this?!

Reading his reaction carefully, I offered him the green tea, then took the coffee as though that had been my preference all along and bowed.

"Thank you for your consideration."

"Not at all."

Director Ho took a sip of the green tea left for him and made some predictable comment about how nice and warm it was.

"Listen, Soleum, I'm certainly not here to pressure you... I'd really like you to feel at ease. I came by because I thought it would be nice to get acquainted and have a chat."

I trusted that no working adult was unaware of how screwed they'd be if they actually treated an executive casually.

But I hadn't expected what he said next.

"We often don't get to see members of the Field Exploration Team for very long... So whenever I see someone who looks likely to stay with us, I make a point of dropping by to say hello."

"..."

"The Field Exploration Team contributes so much to this company, but even within the Development Department, there are people who sit at their desks pushing pens, going on about efficiency, efficiency, and treating field explorers as temporary labor."

Director Ho's eyes twitched briefly.

"You might think I'm an idealist, but I'm not happy with that situation. Wouldn't you agree?"

"..."

What a heartwarming sentiment, right?

It actually sent a chill through me.

'... A director at this company shouldn't be saying that.'

An executive could fix that problem himself. Why was he asking a new recruit to agree that it was a problem?

'What is this, an ideological screening for subversives?'

Still, he might have meant it, so I did my best to calibrate my response.

Something that wouldn't cause trouble either way, but would leave him feeling I hadn't opposed him.

"... Still, no one is being forced to work here. At the very least, we're free to resign, and I'm told Wish Coupons are reliably paid out."

"Yes. As you say, Soleum, that's something to be thankful for, at least."

Director Ho smiled affably.

"Compared to an organization that arbitrarily brands ordinary citizens as criminals without a trial and sacrifices them to the Darkness, this place at least offers freedom of choice."

"..."

This man really fucking hated the Disaster Management Bureau...

'Let's not let him find out I was involved with them.'

I still had the metal agent identification badge in my possession. Cold sweat ran down my back.

I pretended to sip my coffee, hiding the expression around my mouth.

"I imagine people who want to live like human beings, even for a single day, would refuse that."

"Exactly! You and I really understand each other, Soleum."

You're mistaken.

But please, keep that mistaken impression for a long, long time...

Before another conversational time bomb could emerge, I struggled to change the subject.

"Thank you. Um, Director, about the offer you mentioned..."

"Oh, yes! We should discuss that."

Director Ho smiled brightly.

"I'm actually putting together a project team, and I'm recruiting employees to join it."

"...!"

"I'd like to have you on that project team too, Soleum."

What?

Something Section Chief Lee Byeongjin had once said flashed through my mind.

["There's also a rumor that the director runs a project team whose work is kept secret outside the company... You might get transferred there."]

'I can't believe that actually came true.'

But what came next was even more unbelievable.

"More precisely, as a candidate for team manager."

"..."

Had this director lost his mind?

"I'm considering about three people. Honestly, if you'd had just two years of service, you'd have been my first choice... Hmm, for now, please just think of yourself as one of the candidates."

I felt like I was losing my mind.

-Oho, this one seems likely to promise greater authority than the last. Let's hear more about the terms, my friend!

No, hearing out the terms was something you did when you had at least some standing to negotiate. Right now...!

'... I think I'm screwed.'

Wasn't this exactly like Paris receiving the golden apple?

In the sense that choosing one would make it extremely likely that the other higher-up would destroy me.

This was worse than simply joining a faction.

'It burns away any chance of switching sides.'

What should I do?

At this point, I wanted to congratulate myself just for managing to appear composed.

'It would be better to refuse them both...'

"Oh, I've gotten ahead of myself. I should have explained the compensation first."

"... By compensation, you mean..."

"The project performance bonus."

Director Ho smiled.

"If this project succeeds, the team members will receive Wish Coupons."

"...!!"

"One each, for every member. Without exception."

My God.

"And there's an additional perk for the team manager... But I'd rather discuss that in more detail after you've joined the team, Soleum."

"..."

"Oh, thank you for the green tea."

Director Ho rose from the sofa, even put his mug in the sink, and headed toward the office door.

"Take a few days to think it over, then get in touch. Oh, though I'd suggest not taking more than a week."

He murmured to me as though offering friendly advice.

"Director Cheong isn't very patient."

"..."

"If you ever need someone to talk to while you're at work, feel free to drop by my office. I'll be off, then!"

* * *

That night.

Despite having recovered substantially from contamination and regained a clear head, I returned home feeling utterly unsettled...

'This feels like déjà vu.'

"Whew."

I flopped onto the bed.

'I really do seem to have gotten caught up in the Development Department executives' internal power struggle, don't I?'

It was true that I probably looked unusually useful, but things seemed to have become this heated because the two directors were conscious of each other.

Their offers were outrageous.

... In that case.

'I should go with whoever will treat me better.'

That way, at least I wouldn't end up a kite with its string cut.

'The problem is, I don't know anything about the directors personally.'

<Records of Dark Exploration> focused on the employees who actually produced the Exploration Records.

In other words, it included employees' names and profiles, but didn't bother documenting personal details about each of the executives making decisions and issuing orders from above.

'And they're clearly both far from ordinary, which makes this even more maddening.'

For one thing, Team Leader Lizard had already called Director Cheong an "entity," which was suspicious. As for Director Ho, his appearance and manner of speaking were strange in themselves.

He was far too young for an executive, and spoke with the kindness of a volunteer worker.

'... Their surnames and appearances do give me some idea of what they might be...'

But at this stage, it was all speculation.

'This is hard.'

Entering ghost stories was already hard enough to kill me. It felt unreal that I had to worry about this too...

In any case, after agonizing over it, I put that problem on hold for the moment.

... There was another, more pressing issue.

...

"Braun."

-You called, my friend!

Whew.

"About bathing in the Bathtub of Youth. Could we replace that with something else?"

A brief silence passed.

-... You've changed your mind in a single day, Mr. Roe Deer! Breaking promises isn't a good habit.

"..."

-But it's all right, because I'm your Good Friend, my friend!

"I'm sorry," I said immediately.

"You're right. I shouldn't go back on my word. I think I made a mistake because I wasn't in my right mind when I promised."

-How strange, Mr. Roe Deer. It was only last night! This Host clearly remembers that you displayed no extreme fatigue, panic, dizziness, or any other unusual symptoms that would make an interview difficult.

Good Friend's cheerful tone was frighteningly normal.

-Oh, now I'm curious about what standard you're using when you say you ‘weren't in your right mind’...

"..."

There had been so many reasons to break into a cold sweat today.

How had I not noticed how terrifying this was? Seriously...

I calmly continued, trying not to look at the stuffed doll.

"... But you knew my mind was being contaminated by the teaching manual then, didn't you? I mean the document I brought out of that kindergarten, which was still inside my tattoo."

However I looked at it, there was no way he hadn't known.

Braun had even pointed it out himself in the Blood Bathtub last time.

["Mr. Roe Deer. Your bath additive is a blend."]

That I was being consumed by a ghost story.

"You just didn't call it ‘contamination’... You thought of it as a change."

-Correct, Mr. Roe Deer!

Ha...

'Just as I thought...'

Suppressing the goosebumps that rose at the mere word "correct," I barely managed to answer.

"But I consider it contamination, and I don't want to be contaminated."

I raised my hand into the air.

The tattoo on my wrist came into view, its interior now presumably empty and clean.

"I feel more comfortable as I am now. I like it better."

-...

"And I don't like my standards of judgment suddenly changing like a sheet of paper being flipped over."

But I finished by adding something he might sympathize with too.

"At the very least, I absolutely don't want to become some kindergarten teacher playing that outdated Hangman game."

-That is... Hmm. An argument I truly cannot dispute.

Braun seemed a little shocked.

-Quite right. My goodness, Mr. Roe Deer, belonging to that stuffy kindergarten? Absolutely not. What a waste that would be!

-I admit it. Once again, I haven't been acting like a Good Friend...

-Very well. Let's grow closer through a different sort of change!

"..."

So, in other words.

"You're saying you'll let me become contaminated because it makes me more comfortable around you?"

-Haha, there's no need to repeat it as though it's so alien. You've proved the theory yourself over the past few weeks, Mr. Roe Deer!

My actions over the past few weeks flashed through my mind reflexively.

Consumed by contamination, I had chatted freely with a ghost-story inhabitant and relied on him without a single reservation or concern.

-It's only natural, really. Isn't it people who resemble one another who become friends?

My God.

No, I'd expected this much.

I steadied my breathing.

Say what needs to be said.

"No."

-No?

"Right. A friend isn't someone with exactly the same values as me."

I chose my words carefully.

"And I don't think simply feeling comfortable with each other is all there is to friendship."

This was... something I genuinely meant, too.

"Aren't friends people who try to understand each other's differences, and look out for one another even when that's hard? ... By talking things through."

-...

"And to say it again, I don't want to be contaminated."

Without turning my head, I gently rested a hand on the desk where the stuffed doll would be sitting.

"If you can't understand that, at least tell me before you do something I don't want. You have to give me a chance to talk to you."

-Hmm.

From the desk where I'd placed the doll came the sound of fingers tapping on plastic, as though in contemplation...

Then,

-Very well, Mr. Roe Deer.

-It's logical, reasonable, and even touches my heart. Then there's no reason not to agree! You are my friend, after all.

Whew.

"Thank you."

... It seemed to have ended well.

With a sigh of relief, I finally turned my head to look at him.

The Good Friend I had summoned.

The stuffed doll who was a little frightening, and a little dependable.

I carefully picked him up.

"Let's keep making this work."

I meant that too.

Afterward, I went ahead with one thing I'd decided on while contaminated.

The aromatherapy meridian massage.

"I'll be working by looking at your shadow, so tell me if anything feels off."

-Of course, my friend!

Honestly, I wasn't an expert, and I was working from a silhouette alone, so I doubted it had felt particularly good. But Braun was fairly satisfied.

-Not everyone needs to be a massage expert! This is plenty.

Even as he very tactfully and kindly handed down what amounted to a three-star rating.

He also said this.

-Still, I do miss bathing... I'll need to rejuvenate a little more if I'm to stay with my friend at all times, no matter the circumstances!

"Let's... take our time and talk about that some more."

... This was difficult.

It really was difficult.

My relationship with Good Friend, a ghost-story inhabitant, that is.

It wasn't all fear and tension, but neither was it something wholly good and worthy of blind trust.

'Keeping a balance between those extremes is the normal way to think, isn't it?'

Let's be careful not to lose that.

I quietly listened to Braun chatter, his mood lifted by the aromatherapy massage.

-That reminds me, I'm curious again. Which of those two offers of the century you received at work will you accept, Mr. Roe Deer?

-Are you still deliberating? Advice from a skilled industry professional like myself is worth its weight in gold... But for a friend, I'll offer my services at a bargain!

Hmm. About that.

"I've actually pretty much decided."

-Oho!

"Tomorrow, I'll ask just one question, then go straight to see them."

-And what if you were to tell this legendary Host a little about that decisive question?!

I rested my head on the pillow and smiled.

"Find out tomorrow."

-...!!

-I'm somewhat moved, Mr. Roe Deer...

And so that eventful day came to an end.

The next day,

I really did ask that "decisive question," then went to the office of one of the two directors.