Agent Bronze, Ryu Jaekwan, stood on one side of the indoor space, showing no signs of his inner agitation.
The room where the final successful candidates gathered.
The calling of those who had passed the personality and aptitude tests had already finished several times, and the prepared chairs were almost all filled.
And yet….
‘Why isn’t he coming?’
While the successful candidates were being called one by one and making their appearances, the person he had felt compelled to pass had still not arrived.
‘Kim Soleum!’
His number had already been called three times!
—Group C, Number 4.
—You have passed. Please move to the designated location.
If that announcement was repeated more than four times, the screening would be changed to 'on hold'!
Because they would judge that he had given up on the interview.
‘Just why….’
After going through the trouble of passing the personality and aptitude tests, he was giving up like this?
It was at that moment when Ryu Jaekwan was burning with an anxiety he himself couldn't understand.
Thump!
“I-I’m sorry.”
In the room where almost all the successful candidates had gathered, the door hurriedly opened, and a man with a bright red face entered.
He was catching his breath as if he had run in a hurry, and water was dripping from his suit sleeves and neck….
[C-4]
The number that would have been disqualified if called just one more time.
It was Kim Soleum.
No matter how one looked at it, it seemed he had gone to wash his face or something because of his nerves.
…If he were a spy, he probably wouldn't do something so conspicuous…….
‘Damn it!’
Let’s not be lenient! Ryu Jaekwan kept his mouth shut and maintained a dissatisfied expression.
—Please take your seat.
“Ye-yes….”
Kim Soleum, adjusting his glasses, quietly sat in a corner at the very back.
He could hear another successful candidate sitting next to him cautiously speaking.
“Are you okay? Here, at least have this….”
“Ah, I-I’m fine! Thank you….”
To Ryu Jaekwan, who knew the circumstances, the sight of him being startled by the kindness of the person next to him offering water was seen in a more specific light.
It was as if, after being among cult-like employees whose ethics had been worn away at a crazy pharmaceutical company, he was now deeply moved by such a small act of kindness….
“…….”
The agent quietly continued to observe the situation.
—The appointment ceremony will now begin.
The agent appointment ceremony at the Disaster Management Bureau was relatively brief and simple.
They register their desired funeral method in case of death in the line of duty, are issued temporary passes, and are informed of the short training schedule and the missions they will be assigned to.
There is no standardized administrative procedure comparable to general civil servants, but neither is there a heavy emphasis on training like special forces.
Supernatural Disasters.
The ability to respond to terrible and chilling anomalous phenomena was ultimately built through experience.
And more than half of the agent applicants were people who had lost family or friends through frightening, unknown incidents.
Even if that weren't the case, a sense of mission peculiar to people who had realized the secrets of the bizarre Otherworld was a prerequisite atmosphere in the room of successful candidates.
—Group C, Number 4. Kim Soleum.
“T-thank you.”
Kim Soleum, who received his pass amidst them, was the same.
Because he looked timid and gloomy, there was a certain assumption that if a person of that personality were to apply, their determination must be extraordinary.
Of course, there were also lukewarm gazes mixed in, as if looking at an incompetent person who failed to meet the qualifications.
—Over the next three weeks of training and trial deployment, it will be determined which unit you will ultimately be assigned to.
—Until then, please strictly follow the instructions of your senior agents.
It was at this point that the interviewers appeared.
The interviewers become the seniors of the rookie agents they selected, directly guiding and taking responsibility for the recruits they passed.
This was the basic policy of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau.
Of course, in cases where the pairs didn't match, agents who weren't interviewers were also mobilized, but at the very least, interviewers were directly attached as pair agents to 'impressive candidates.'
And in Kim Soleum's case, by the subtle support and recommendation of the assistant interviewers….
—The agent standing in front of you is your direct senior, and will be in charge of one-on-one training for three months.
Ryu Jaekwan stood in front of Kim Soleum.
“…!”
Watching as the face behind the glasses turned deathly pale upon recognizing him.
“Follow me.”
“…….”
Ryu Jaekwan heard the sound of his assigned rookie, Kim Soleum, quietly following him.
And the moment they were left alone after entering an unmaintained room in a corner of the bleak building used for personality and aptitude tests.
Rustle.
“…!”
He heard the sound of the other person pulling something out.
‘A weapon?’
Just as Ryu Jaekwan was about to move his hand to subdue him immediately….
“Um, Agent.”
“…….”
“I wanted to… return these.”
Those were….
The temporary agent badge and the pistol.
Items he had given to the temporary agent Grapes at ‘Sekwang Technical High School.’
Because the situation had turned so urgent, they were things Ryu Jaekwan had forgotten about as well.
“I should have returned them sooner, but I didn't have the chance, so I'm giving them to you now. I’m sorry….”
“…….”
Ryu Jaekwan looked at Kim Soleum.
Despite having voluntarily reported something no one would have known if he had just kept his mouth shut, the other person looked as if he had already given up on everything.
It was as if he thought the agent in front of him would report him as a pharmaceutical company mole at any moment.
…Ryu Jaekwan's heart settled.
“Does that pharmaceutical company know you’re here?”
He slowly shook his head.
“No.”
How on earth can I believe th—
“To the company, I’m already a dead person….”
“…!”
What?
“What does that….”
“I was caught in the Darkness… I mean, a supernatural disaster for over a month and couldn't get out.”
Kim Soleum’s face turned slightly pale.
“Once it’s been over a month, they treat you as dead, so, um, the company will think of me as an already deceased employee, no, a former employee….”
“…….”
They just finish the identity processing like that without any rescue?
While he was momentarily speechless at the unethical processing method beyond imagination, Ryu Jaekwan realized the story predicated on Kim Soleum's answer.
“Then were you trapped in a ghost story for over a month?!”
Kim Soleum nodded his head slightly, which was hanging low.
Ryu Jaekwan felt as if he had been struck in the back of the head with a hammer.
‘No way!’
And he examined the other person again.
The reason the person who used to be neat and tidy had suddenly become so cautious and clumsy in reacting to his surroundings.
It seemed that because he had been trapped in a terrible ghost story for a long time, he had become like this… due to the influence of it.
“Don't tell me, on purpose….”
“No.”
Right.
What madman would make the choice to voluntarily be trapped in a ghost story for a month?
Let alone someone who has experienced it while working there….
“But not reporting to the company after getting out… was on purpose.”
“……!”
Ryu Jaekwan said reflexively.
“Was it because… that was the only way you could resign quietly, ‘without any trouble’?”
“…….”
After taking a deep breath, Kim Soleum eventually nodded.
“Yes.”
That was a lie.
Daydream Inc. is a place that would let you go without a word even if you waved goodbye saying things like ‘Dobby is free.’
It’s just that no one in the field exploration team does that because it’s an act of throwing away hard-earned points into the trash!
“I don’t regret it.”
But in the mind of the virtuous Disaster Management Bureau agent who didn't know that fact, a typical grand escape from a pseudo-multilevel scheme came to mind.
The face of a victim who, after suffering from mental shock, PTSD, and gaslighting, finally escaped the company only after pretending to be dead….
“Um, so… the fact that I was from that company, of course, I can't stop you but… I beg of you, please do not let it be known publicly….”
“…….”
He is afraid of being tracked by Daydream Inc.
Ryu Jaekwan sensed this, but without showing it on the outside, he asked as if interrogating him instead.
“What about the wish? Didn't you work there because of the wish they said they'd grant?”
A hollow, bitter smile spread across the lips of Kim Soleum, who was hanging his head.
“That… that became meaningless.”
“……!”
“Um, a problem occurred while I was working, and the performance I had built up for the wish was reset.”
“…….”
“It was only then that I realized it was strange.”
The wish tickets from Daydream Inc. certainly grant wishes.
However, the company can decide at any time not to give a wish ticket to an individual employee.
Irrationally and unfairly.
“I thought, ‘I’m working here indefinitely in this terrible place based on a ridiculous judgment,’ and….”
The words ‘Didn't I tell you not to believe in such absurd talk about granting wishes’ rose to the tip of Ryu Jaekwan's throat, but he held them
back.
“Ah! Don't worry. Since I've been processed as dead anyway… I can no longer build up or receive performance points.”
The bitter smile also gradually vanished from Kim Soleum's face.
It was emptiness.
“After that, I realized I had nothing left to do.”
“…….”
“So… I remembered the business card you gave me and applied to the Disaster Management Bureau.”
And then he shrank back again.
“…If I made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry.”
Suddenly, Ryu Jaekwan felt like he was interrogating the other person over something absurd.
It was psychological guilt.
It was the same feeling as if he were grabbing a civilian who had just been rescued from an anomalous phenomenon by the collar and yelling at them to explain exactly what had happened.
The guilt of having psychologically pressured a victim who had barely escaped after struggling to live morally while being plagued by unethical company work and guidelines!
And yet, hadn't he himself put unfairly excessive pressure only on this person during the interview, and wasn't he also calling him aside now to scare him?
Moreover, the other person was in a state where he had lost both his membership and his desperate goal of a wish ticket.
Ryu Jaekwan thought.
…Even so, the reason Kim Soleum tried to enter here must have been due to an unconscious expectation.
The work done at the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau.
Protecting the safety of citizens from supernatural disasters, ghosts, unidentified life forms, unknown phenomena, and threats.
It could be said to be the exact opposite purpose of Daydream Inc., where he had worked.
If, through the last two encounters, Kim Soleum had entered this institution with a sliver of hope and a sense of purpose.
‘Then….’
Ryu Jaekwan clenched his fist.
‘He’s not going to hit me, is he?’
I looked at Agent Bronze's clenched fist with a feeling like I was about to break into a cold sweat.
I’ve spilled everything.
‘I thought it worked.’
I didn't know why he was clenching his fist, so I broke out in a cold sweat.
However, for a few seconds while he stood still with a head bowed and an unchanging expression, after that….
Beep beep beep beep beep.
“…!”
The watch on Agent Bronze's wrist began to sound a loud alarm.
“…Please wait for a moment.”
“Yes.”
Phew.
‘Was he clenching his fist because of that?’
Click.
Almost at the same time Agent Bronze opened the door and left, I sat on the floor, shaking my head.
Ha.
‘The only time I’ve ever scammed a good person like this in my life was in a Mafia game….’
Now I’m deceiving a national civil servant to do spy work. I’m literally at the point where I could bathe in my cold sweat.
Still, the important thing is….
‘He seems to believe it, right?’
The point is that it seems to have worked.
Earlier, I checked that Agent Bronze had clearly become rapidly speechless and started looking at me with sympathetic eyes.
Unless that sympathy is the kind directed at a criminal who will be permanently incarcerated in a special Disaster Management Bureau glass prison, it means ‘Applicant Kim Soleum’ has moved out of the line of suspicion.
‘It’s done.’
I wiped the cold sweat from my temples.
They say a great scam is 90% truth and 10% lies, and it seems I unintentionally kept that ratio well.
…For the record, my colleagues who infiltrated the Disaster Management Bureau as spies with me didn't go through this.
-Director Ho, then what about the other colleagues….
-Ah, they’ve already entered.
-…….
-Up until last month, there was a prepared route for irregular hiring at the Disaster Management Bureau, so immediate deployment was possible.
…In short, I was the only one who caught the last spy train and had to go through all this trouble by taking the formal Disaster Management Bureau exam instead of the irregular hiring. Haha….
Ms. Go Yeongeun, Mr. Heowoon… I haven't heard where in the Disaster Management Bureau you are, but please, I hope you’re slacking off in a comfortable place and can help me if something happens… please.
‘I’m counting on you.’
I wonder if it’s okay to wish for my colleagues' peace for such self-centered reasons, but anyway, a good thing is a good thing.
Of course, what’s immediately important now is….
‘The department I’ll be working in at the Disaster Management Bureau.’
The reasoning isn't difficult. I crossed my arms.
Let’s see, thinking based on the <Dark Exploration Record>.
The affiliation an agent who passed the formal exam at the Disaster Management Bureau gets assigned to after having their aptitude judged through three weeks of temporary service….
‘Can be largely divided into three types.’
One could say they are the three basic stages of dealing with a supernatural disaster.
First of all, the first one.
1. New Investigation Unit
: An exploration team that identifies the phenomena of newly occurred ghost stories and measures and reports their developmental patterns and danger levels.
Their role is to find, explore, and classify urban legends that have recently been rumored, regardless of whether they are online or offline.
Of course, they don't just grind field exploration teams to make manuals like Daydream Inc. does; they collect information and conduct explorations as safely as possible.
‘It makes me realize all over again what a crazy workplace I used to go to….’
But come to think of it, I’m not only still going there, I’m even acting as a spy.
…It’s sad, so let’s stop thinking about it.
Anyway, next, the second one.
2. Emergency Rescue Squad
: A mobile unit that responds to calls for rescue from civilians caught in already occurring supernatural disasters or ghost stories.
Exactly as it sounds, a rescue squad.
It’s a crazy job where you have to go into a scene where a ghost story is in full swing and save people when it’s at its scariest.
It was the most dangerous, but at the same time, the essence of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau, and a department respected within the company.
‘And the exploration records are the most fun, too.’
But it’s not what I’m aiming for.
‘I’ve had enough fun.’
Indirect experience was plenty enough for fun….
‘The one I’m aiming for is the last affiliation.’
Exactly….
3. Field Cleanup Unit
: A team that tidies up the situation after a ghost story has occurred and restores the site so that general citizens do not notice.
The so-called cleanup team!
Like crime scene cleaners, they were the team that finally organized the sites of terminated or sealed ghost stories and wrote related documents.
That means I can work on creating registration documents!
Since it’s the easiest place to access documents, it’s the unit where it’s easy to access data on ‘a certain supernatural ghost story’ that Director Ho mentioned.
‘Even for someone who has already read the Dark Exploration Record, there’s no better slacker job than this.’
Since it’s no different from me organizing a Wiki, it was truly a comfortable and fun occupation.
And above all….
‘You go in after all the scary stuff is over!’
It means it’s the least scary.
With this, I can finally lead a normal work life without breaking into cold sweats…!
Can you hear it? The sound of my quality of life skyrocketing!
The method to get assigned is also simple.
‘For the next three weeks, I just need to show a passive and smart appearance.’
I’ll appeal with a personality that is overall analytical and has a researcher’s side in classification and organization.
Did you notice? It was an occupation that perfectly matched the character I’ve built up now…!
Since my senior is someone who knows I’ve had experience with ghost stories, it’ll be even easier to appeal.
Besides, doesn't he know about my suspicious background?
‘I talked my way through it, but if even a shred of doubt remains, he’ll stick me in document organization.’
Agent Bronze seemed like a capable person.
But why would he expect a former employee of a crazy pharmaceutical company to save people!
“Whew.”
I stood up, wearing a smile of inner relief.
Just in time, the agent also returned.
Thud.
“Mr. Kim Soleum.”
Ah, now he’s probably going to tell me to go home….
“Take this.”
Toss.
I reflexively caught what the other person held out as if throwing it.
‘A pass?’
It looked like an ID card for facility access. But didn't I already get this during the agent appointment ceremony earlier…?
“Originally, a rookie agent is assigned a workplace through three weeks of two-person duty.”
I knew that….
But I didn't know the next words.
“However, for you, I have arbitrarily assigned an affiliation.”
“…….”
Pardon?
“From now on, you are in the same unit as me.”
“…….”
Wait a minute.
‘If it’s Agent Bronze’s unit….’
With an ominous feeling, I flipped over the pass I was holding…….
Agent (β)
Name: Kim Soleum
Assignment: Emergency Rescue Squad, Hyunmoo Team 1
“As of this hour today, you are a member of Hyunmoo Team 1.”
“…….”
No….
No!!
“A rescue call just came in for me, so we will immediately enter a supernatural disaster to rescue citizens. Follow me.”
“…….”
The persuasion jackpot went off in a very strange direction!
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