The Annex hallway, with the lights out.
No, the Security Team that appeared, 'assigned' after my summons from within the hospital ghost story.
[Oh… Look at that outfit, my friend!]
The thing standing in the hallway was covered from head to toe in a pitch-black coat, restraints, combat boots, gloves, and a hood.
And that style was familiar to my eyes.
[It's the very same style my friend was wearing until just a few days ago.]
The Special Division employee slowly approached.
The result of summoning a Ghost Story Entity to the company and binding it through the bizarre method of a work contract to serve on the Security Team.
-(Static)Happy(zzzt)Happy birthday to(zzzzzt)Reborn Sanatorium Inpatients TodayHappy birthday to you
I am still following the Patient from the hospital ghost story, who is holding a birthday cake.
My steps toward the emergency exit do not stop.
Whoosh.
And the emergency exit door swings wide open.
In that place, where no one should be, Patients are standing with their heads poking out, smiling.
The Patients from each floor.
They appear and disappear every time the camera recorder screen in my trembling hand flashes before my eyes. The dark green, black, and yellow Contaminations call forth a dizziness, as if they are swirling like a vortex.
But at that moment.
The Special Division employee from the Security Team overtook us.
"...!"
The Security Team member silently moved forward, striding past the Patient holding the cake and entering the Emergency Exit. On the camera recorder screen, I could see the Patients reaching out and clinging all over the Security Team member's body.
However, the Security Team member, whose face was completely covered by the hood, did not stir.
Finally, the Patient holding the cake, with a wide smile on their face, crosses the threshold of the Emergency Exit….
The Security Team member takes something out from inside their black coat.
What appeared from their coat was a bizarre, long shape with bone and flesh stuck to it, a massive something that even looked like a spine.
'…An axe?'
The gruesome weapon was raised above the Security Team member's arm.
"...!!"
At that moment.
Thud.
The Emergency Exit door slammed shut.
And.
-(Static)Happy birth-AAAAAAGH!day to(zzzt)Happy birth-AAAAAAGH!day to you(zzzzzt)Dear Reborn Sanatorium Inpatients To-AAAAAAGH-dayHappy birthday to you
A heavy impact sound.
A short, mercilessly striking sound.
From inside the Emergency Exit, a cruel rupturing sound that made me instinctively flinch rang out.
Through the gap under the Emergency Exit door, a black, swamp-like shadow splattered like blood, and a green light flashed. My and Baek Saheon's steps were blocked by the Emergency Exit, but we kept moving as if trying to press on, rubbing our faces against the steel door.
Blood and filth smeared on our faces. I could faintly hear Baek Saheon suppressing a curse and a groan.
Because the screams and sounds of agitation were ringing too loudly in my ears.
-(Static)Happy birth-AAAAAAGH!day to(hahaha)Happy birth-AAAAAAGH!day to youhahahaha!Dear-AAAAAAAAAGH!!(zzzzzt)Reborn Sanator-hahahahaha!Uwaaaagh!Inpatients To-AAAAAAGH-dayHappy birth-uwaaaagh!!
The Patients' crazed laughter and screams, as if they were wailing from hell, swirled inside the door and burst violently through the gap. I clenched my teeth and endured the rough vibrations of the Emergency Exit door rattling beneath my cheek. I got goosebumps.
And.
-(Static)Happy…
The moment the merciless noise and light stopped.
The faces and bodies pushing against the Emergency Exit also stopped.
"…!"
I grabbed the nape of Baek Saheon's neck and stepped back.
Creeak.
The Emergency Exit opens in the silence.
Inside, a Security Team employee, drenched in Contamination as if doused in blood, stood alone and still.
Bathed in the light of the emergency exit sign in the darkness.
"...."
I lifted the camera recorder to look.
The stair landing was drenched in a pool of blood.
Below it, a long, gruesome trail of bloodstains stretched out, as if numerous things had rolled down in a single clump....
I drew in a sharp breath as I saw the remains of the birthday cake stuck to the corner of the stairs.
Inside the smashed cake, countless syringes filled with drugs had burst and shattered, staining the bread and cream with a bizarre color….
'…Ha.'
Goosebumps rose on my skin, but a sense of relief washed over me at the same time.
I succeeded.
'It worked.'
I swallowed hard as I looked at the Security Team that had come at my summons.
The one who had crushed all the Patients from the 5th floor and sent them 'somewhere' put the gruesome weapon they were holding back inside their coat.
Blood and bits of flesh dripped from beneath their combat boots.
I realized that the axe-like shape wasn't made of blood and flesh from the start, but that they were just caked onto some kind of base.
It was incredibly gruesome, but what was important was….
"Thank you."
The response.
I immediately bowed my head.
And I pushed Baek Saheon's head down. The way he quickly bowed his head with me instead of grumbling showed his survival instinct.
…At the same time, I realized that cold sweat was beading on the back of both our necks.
'Can't mess this up.'
The Security Team's Special Division isn't human in the first place.
It's a ghost story.
130666 might have been able to handle it, but I couldn't let my mind and body collapse again after I'd just barely regained my human form.
And if the company found out, things would get incredibly complicated.
So I hurriedly said the prescribed words.
"We'll be on our way now."
Silence fell.
"We discovered the situation and called the Security Team, but it wasn't a request for rescue. …Just in case we get charged a fee, we'll wait on our own for now."
Silence.
'Damn it.'
If they couldn't be reasoned with, I had to run immediately.
I slightly raised my head, trying to gauge the Security Team member's demeanor.
Then I suddenly realized. The Security Team member looked familiar somehow.
'What is it?'
At that moment.
The hand that had gone inside the blood-soaked coat, slid out.
"…!!"
I thought they were about to pull out the weapon.
But on the hand that appeared, there was a small pink post-it note stuck to it.
-You will not be charged.
The moment I read the neatly written phrase.
"...!"
A scene flashes in my mind like a bolt of lightning.
-Have a good night.
The Security Team employee I met at the front desk when I first joined the company.
That contaminated employee, from whom a horse-hoof-like shape had appeared and disappeared.
'…They were in the Special Division?'
I don't think they were wearing this outfit back then… No, in the first place, they make the Special Division work the front desk?
'Wait. I did it too.'
I recalled the memory of dealing with people while sitting in a Transport Cage and nodded to myself.
In any case, the fact that they worked at the front desk meant they could communicate and weren't very aggressive in daily life.
'Should I? Or not? …Let's try just a little.'
I chose a reasonable line and started a conversation to gather information.
"Thank you for letting me know. Um, by the way, are the other areas okay? All the other new researchers were on the 10th floor, so I'm worried."
There was no response.
I changed my direction slightly.
"The supervisors were there too. The Team leader who came from the branch office was also…."
Whoosh.
Suddenly, the Security Team member took out a post-it note from their coat again.
Then, holding it so it was completely covered by their huge, gloved hand, they held it out to me.
"...."
'Isn't this, by any chance, an act that will get me entangled in some rule-based ghost story…?'
But refusing it might also press some kind of button. In the end, I suppressed an internal scream and received it with both hands.
The crumpled post-it note, smeared with blood dripping from the glove, fell into my hand.
'Uwaaaagh.'
I carefully unfolded it and checked the contents.
Do not go to the branch office.
"...!"
Be careful.
I quickly tore my gaze from the post-it note and raised my head.
But beyond the Emergency Exit….
There was no one there.
I suppressed my trembling steps, moved closer to the door, and looked at the gruesome scene of the emergency stairs.
…I heard a presence receding down the stairs.
And a hoof-like shape, flickering as a black shadow.
'Downstairs….'
Are they going back… to the Annex Basement?
"Excuse me."
"…!"
"Are you going to keep that?"
I quickly came to my senses, then replied to Baek Saheon as I put the post-it in my pocket.
"I'm going to hold onto it for now."
In any case, since the Patient holding the birthday cake went out the Emergency Exit, there wasn't much time left until this ghost story disappeared.
"I'm going back to get our things."
"…Do whatever."
With Baek Saheon following me, I crossed the 5th-floor hallway of the abandoned hospital, which was even more eerie in its silence, and headed for my destination.
Toward the door of a pristine pharmaceutical company visible in the camera recorder.
[1184]
"In companies or institutions that value security, especially in research wings, they sometimes use numbers for door plates to make it difficult for outsiders to recognize them at a glance."
A Researcher's key card won't work.
After confirming that the CCTV was broken, I broke down the door and entered, as if 'I was desperately trying to find any place to hide.'
And the moment I stepped inside.
Baek Saheon's eyes, who was also looking into his camera recorder, widened.
"This place is…."
It was a storage room.
But not an ordinary storage room, but a space where old, worn-out items and facility equipment were haphazardly piled up, covered in dust.
[Surplus Goods Storage]
This is the place where the company stores items that have reached the end of their service life.
And what's more.
"Do you see it?"
I pointed forward with my hand.
"It's here too. A 'Potion Maker.'"
"...!"
This was Daydream Inc.
In other words, this room is where they store all sorts of equipment used by Daydream Researchers in the Annex that have reached the end of their service life.
For example, a broken Dream Collector, cracked Darkness Isolation Equipment, a label maker with faded ink.
And….
Things like a decommissioned Potion Maker.
I recalled the contents of Kwak Jegang's letter, where he answered my question.
-Discarded items? If they haven't been thrown out completely, you could probably fix them to be used a few more times. They're usually turned in because their service life is over.
Something that faithfully has the identity and function of a 'Daydream Device' that I want, but that the company would be slow to notice is missing and care less about.
[A clever choice, Mr. Roe Deer!]
Today, that's what I infiltrated this place for.
"…It's trash."
"But it's trash that I need."
"No…."
Baek Saheon looked like he had a lot to say, but then asked with a look that said he was putting up with something.
"How are you going to take it."
"There's a way. …Could you turn your head for a moment?"
If I shove it into my wrist, wouldn't that be a performance confirming 'Identity: Kim Soleum'?
"...."
Surprisingly, instead of arguing, Baek Saheon turned his head without a word, and I successfully tucked the old Potion Maker into my tattoo.
Then, after looking around, I grabbed a few other things that caught my eye… and did a little tidying up.
'Done.'
A short while later.
I hid in the 'safe space' on the 6th floor until the moment the ghost story was resolved, and was naturally rescued along with Baek Saheon.
And the moment the Annex lockdown was lifted, I quickly left the scene.
With that, the necessary preparations were complete.
* * *
Two days later.
Baek Saheon was on his way to work, recalling the events he had experienced.
'What the hell happened in the Annex?'
This damn company only gave him extra pay and one day off, not a single extra point.
Thanks to that, Baek Saheon had spent his entire day off just gathering information.
First of all….
'It was cleaned up with strange neatness.'
-I heard a few of the new researchers quit because of this incident.
But that was it.
Strangely, the disappearance of the Potion Maker from the 10th floor wasn't blown up and was buried, and the number of deaths wasn't very noticeable either.
'The interrogation wasn't very persistent either.'
Almost everyone caught up in this Darkness was sent home as soon as their quarantine ended after a few interviews.
Including him.
Above all, it was strange that such a ghost story had suddenly erupted on the upper floors of the Annex.
'Don't containment failures usually happen in the basement?'
The Potion Maker disappearing and a ghost story breaking out clearly showed intent.
Someone was trying to cause chaos.
But….
Baek Saheon's mind, sharp with survival instincts, flashed.
'Feels like an inside job, not an outside one.'
A trap.
What if, conversely, someone anticipated that the Potion Maker would be stolen and orchestrated the whole thing on purpose?
Moreover, the last rumor bothered him the most.
-Oh, the Potion Maker? I heard they found it again right away. Something about a system error.
-A director came and took care of everything. Was it Director Cheong?
A director.
'A trap set by a director?'
…Were they perhaps targeting an Agent?
Baek Saheon was momentarily suspicious, but soon snorted.
'What do I care?'
Besides, he didn't actually steal the 10th-floor Potion Maker.
Just as the Agent had planned, the few broken and missing discarded items were simply classified as 'facility destruction' and didn't attract much attention before being buried.
But he had no idea what the Agent planned to do with the junk he stole.
Baek Saheon recalled his last conversation with the Agent.
-Thank you for accompanying me today, Civilian.
-So you do know.
-And you pressing the pager at the right time was also a great help.
-If it was a help, then pay me back.
-That was an action for the sake of us both, so is it right that I should be the one to pay you back?
Damn bastard.
-You just grabbed a bunch of trash, so there's nothing to gain!
-Hmm… Still, should we split what we gained in half?
He's so frustrating!
'Why should I take something useless!'
Didn't he just get caught up in this for nothing and put himself in danger? His stomach churned because he hadn't gained anything….
"Excuse me."
"…!"
He turned his head.
Just as he was about to enter the company lobby.
The person who had lightly tapped Baek Saheon on the back flinched slightly when their eyes met.
'…The camera recorder.'
It was the person from whom he had snatched the camera recorder and shoved into the door.
And….
"Ah, that's right. That person."
The one the Agent had rescued.
They were fine, as if they had taken a Regeneration Potion.
They looked a bit confused and scared, but seemed to have rationalized it to themselves and greeted him first.
"Uh, um, thank you. I survived thanks to you."
And that person from another department bowed once, saying 'let me know if you need anything,' and then disappeared.
"...."
A gain… is it?
Baek Saheon quietly looked at his clenched fist, then looked away again.
Being with that Agent led to unfamiliar and strange things, which was uncomfortable.
But… the feeling wasn't entirely bad.
'…Anyway, it's true I went back for nothing!'
Baek Saheon tried to think as he usually did, shaking off the unfamiliar feeling.
Right, I suffered because of him, so it's only right I say something. I should press him for compensation, and also… right.
'It might not be a bad idea to drag him into Director Ho's Project.'
There's an Agent there too!
If he wants to save people, that strange special city is a decent fit. A lot of benefits fall from the Project, so it would be easy to repay his debt to him.
'Was it Researcher Park Kyung-hwan?'
If I run into him at the company today, I'll talk to him right away. It was the moment Baek Saheon made that decision.
'Huh?'
There was a familiar head in front of the company lobby.
It was that very Researcher, Park Kyung-hwan.
"…!"
Without realizing it, Baek Saheon called out to the researcher in a cheerful voice.
"Excuse me!"
"...."
"You there, Researcher!"
"Yes, yes?"
Why was he pretending to be clueless and naive? Baek Saheon chuckled and generously decided to play along.
But the person who turned around was….
"Um, were you calling me?"
"...."
That expression.
From that one vile and dopey expression, Baek Saheon realized.
It wasn't the 'Agent.'
"...."
"Why were you calling me… uh, uhhhhh?"
Baek Saheon turned around and strode away. He went into the bathroom and opened the Paper Boat.
~Hey!
Are you completely done with your infiltration?
But a reply doesn't come for a long time.
At the same time.
The 'Agent' he was trying to contact was alone, having infiltrated Segwang Metropolitan City.
"Hoo."
Kim Soleum opened his eyes on the platform of Morning Station in Segwang Metropolitan City.
His heart was burning with impatience and anticipation, but he was trying his best to suppress it, to judge and act calmly.
Stealing the discarded Potion Maker this time was cautious and clean.
'I'll hand this maker over to the researchers as is.'
And as soon as the repairs are done, let's prepare for installation.
Kim Soleum set his priorities and got up.
'Come to think of it, the Balance Tribunal disappeared from Morning Station.'
Then I could also check out the Cheerful Research Institute on the platform across from this station. I should check if it's easier to install it there.
'I wonder if another waiting room has appeared.'
He reflexively turned his head.
Above the Morning Station platform, where the Balance Tribunal used to be, an empty waiting room space was visible.
'As expected….'
But someone was standing inside the waiting room.
"…!"
Kim Soleum reflexively backed away to secure his safety and tried to see who it was.
In the Darkness, the figure who had been standing in the old waiting room slowly walked out to where the light from the platform reached, and revealed himself….
"..."
"..."
Juror Number 1.
The one wearing an Agent uniform with Ho Yuwon's face stood there, silently looking at Kim Soleum.