Around the time Field Exploration D-Squad entered the ghost story.
“Section Chief, what rank do you expect for this one? Is D the standard bet?”
“Hey, Supervisor Lee. Let’s read the room a bit, okay?”
“…….”
“It’s fun and all, but let’s keep it quiet within the development department. Don’t bring it up when other teams are around. Got it?”
“……Ah, yes.”
The research team supervisor, who had been smirking while bringing up the bet to Kim Soleum earlier, finally shut his mouth.
He felt disgruntled that Section Chief Kwak Jekang, whom he had looked down on for being easy-going and young, was scolding him over something like this.
And that annoyance made him think of an even easier and more irritating target.
The Field Exploration team rookie!
Look at how he glared at a superior.
The new employee had immediately rejected the offer to join the bet as if it were absurd, even though he was trying to include him.
That expressionless, dismissive vibe kept sticking in his mind. Was his name Kim Soleum?
You guys are just like human lab rats, so why are you putting on airs?
If you’re a rookie in the Field Exploration team, you’re halfway to being a corpse. Yet, seeing him act so stiff just because he’d achieved one result made the researcher let out a hollow laugh.
He had heard that every year there was a rookie who couldn't grasp the situation, and it seemed he was finally seeing one for himself.
Is he going to die? It’d be funny if he did.
His morally numb brain, anticipating a hit of dopamine, made him salivate slightly.
He quickly sent a message.
It was a group chat for the internal anonymous Toto.
-I’m putting 10 on D.
-OK.
It was also a wish. It had to be a D-rank for the probability of death to be higher!
Right then, his superior spoiled the mood.
“Supervisor Lee, have the preliminary report organized before you leave today.”
“…Yes, yes.”
The lab rats won’t even be able to come out of the Darkness before I leave work anyway.
The section chief was specifically pointing him out to do a task that he could have naturally passed on to a hubae during the shift change.
What’s with my luck with bosses?
The research team supervisor grumbled internally as he continued writing the preliminary experiment report.
-3.2 Experimental Subjects
Adults over the age of 18 who have witnessed a 5-second video titled ‘Pierrot Hates You’ played as an advertisement promotion on a specific video site (4).
After watching this, if you approached the hand of the clown that popped out, you’d be dragged away, right?
Wasn’t it foolish to approach it?
If something is suspicious, you should run away; he believed that from that point on, even if they died, it was a death from natural causes.
But then again, some lucky civilians manage to survive and come out.
According to the testimony records of previously reported civilian survivors, they returned to reality by entering the empty portrait the clown had come out of.
The lab rats knew that before they went in, too.
However, nothing specific had been revealed about which portrait was the correct answer.
The types of hallways, portrait sizes, frames, and times were all different.
It seemed that most people just mindlessly jumped into an empty portrait that a clown had come out of, and only a few lucky ones returned.
Finding the answer to this is going to be a total grind.
It was a Darkness that required a tremendous amount of physical strength, as one had to wake the clown, evade it, and sometimes even defeat it.
At the same time, not knowing which portrait was the correct one would surely make their blood boil!
In this case, wasn't the death of at least one or two people almost certain? He expected they would sacrifice each other while being forced to enter as a test.
For someone to escape, it would take at least half a day, or at most a few days….
“Waaaagh!”
“Clear!”
“…….”
“…….”
Huh?
The researcher turned his head.
In one corner of the lab, he saw people suddenly pouring out from the corner.
…Every single member of Field Exploration D-Squad!
“……?!”
“Is the Dream Collector full?”
“Yes! Oh, it’s a D-rank!”
He reflexively looked at the clock.
2:41 PM.
They entered at 2:15 PM earlier, so….
26 minutes since entry.
Wait a minute.
…26 minutes?!
A heavy silence filled the Research Team 1 office as they watched the four members of D-Squad, who had emerged from a ghost story in the time it would take to visit a cafe.
Is… Is this a dream?
No.
Have we been possessed by a ghost story, too?
No.
“…My God! No, how on earth did you get out so early?! Huh? Section Chief Lee, did your smashing things up work again?”
Answers immediately poured out in response to Kwak Jekang’s exclamation.
“No.”
“That’s right.”
“He did it.”
Kwak Jekang’s eyes widened at the simultaneous words from the D-Squad superiors.
“…We meet again.”
The rookie employee, who had been standing quietly in the back, bowed his head.
It was Kim Soleum.
“…That friend did it?”
A blunt answer returned to the omitted words, ‘But he’s a rookie?’
“What’s the big deal?”
“Roe Deer was like that on his first day, too.”
“…??”
The assistant manager and supervisor of D-Squad didn’t answer further and began organizing their masks.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon nodded.
“So it seems.”
“…….”
“This ghost story is D-rank.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
Section Chief Lee Jaheon abruptly began his report. Accustomed to this stream-of-consciousness style of communication that prioritized only his own efficiency, Kwak Jekang, the research team section chief, responded immediately.
“Then what is the Clear Mechanism?”
“? I don’t know.”
“…….”
“Ah. Would it be alright if I explained?”
The rookie employee raised his hand from behind.
“Uh, sure… go ahead.”
“First… the name of the clown advertisement that one must witness beforehand to enter this Darkness is ‘Pierrot Hates You,’ right?”
“That’s right.”
“But a Pierrot is not a clown.”
“……??”
“Clowns wear colorful makeup, laugh playfully, and perform tricks and jokes. They are a type of traditional entertainer.”
So?
“However, a Pierrot wears achromatic makeup and has a crying expression.”
“…!”
“There is a distinct difference.”
A faint smile appeared and vanished on Kim Soleum’s pale face.
“And since it says ‘Pierrot Hates You,’ I figured he wouldn't chase us.”
Because an entertainer wouldn’t chase someone they hate.
“To prove this, we looked for a portrait with achromatic makeup and only a red mouth, and we didn’t approach any other portraits at all.”
“…….”
“And considering the possibility of danger, we secured a safety distance of 3 meters and approached the painting remotely to touch it.”
He considered all that while clearing an unfamiliar Darkness in just 30 minutes?
Furthermore, judging by the results….
“The Pierrot did not come out of the portrait.”
“…!”
“Instead, he quietly vanished from the painting.”
This rookie employee had found the exact correct answer.
The civilians until now hadn't known because they were too busy being chased by clowns falling from all sorts of portraits, but D-Squad, who had interacted with only one portrait from a distance, had grasped the situation perfectly.
It was chilling.
What’s more, he had even considered other variables.
“There were records that if you shine a light, clowns pop out of all the portraits, so we didn’t use any light sources.”
“Eh? Then how on earth did you identify the state of the portraits from 3 meters away in a pitch-black place?”
“Ah.”
Kim Soleum blinked.
“Because the Leader could tell even without it….”
“…….”
Ah.
Kwak Jekang tried his best not to whip his head around toward the D-Squad leader, who seemed like the embodiment of the phrase ‘human strength alone is enough.’
“From the next entry onward, I don’t think there will be any problems if they bring night-vision goggles.”
“Ah, I, I see.”
“That is all.”
Once again, a thick silence fell.
Kwak Jekang muttered quietly as if to himself.
“So you… deduced this just by looking at the preliminary information.”
“Yes.”
The rookie employee added as if he had realized something.
“Perhaps none of the people who entered before were familiar with American everyday culture.”
“…….”
Was that really a matter that could be explained so simply…?
“Uh, Soleum… did you study abroad or something?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Kim Soleum answered immediately.
“I just have a lot of random trivia.”
“…….”
The researchers witnessed the rare sight of the usually eloquent Kwak Jekang being at a loss for words!
“Ah, I also tried writing a temporary manual based on this theory. Supervisor Park Minseong happened to lend me his notebook….”
“Oh, I had zero contribution to this~ Roe Deer, you did it all~”
While the words of the supervisor wearing the Badger Mask echoed in the background, the researcher witnessed Kwak Jekang taking the notebook from him.
He craned his neck to steal a look.
Truly, within it, the hypothesis Kim Soleum had just spoken of was organized clearly and concisely.
…!
Section Chief Kwak Jekang scanned through it, then closed it with a smile.
“…Hmm, let’s test it out.”
“Yes.”
And so, the manual prototype was completed.
By a single person, and a rookie employee at that.
“…….”
The researcher who had participated in the bet momentarily doubted if he was dreaming.
Even if he happened to know about Pierrots by chance… was it possible to build a theory so easily in an extreme situation and escape with a 30-minute clear?
No. Does this make sense?
Is he some kind of monster pretending to be human?
But there was no way such a thing could get a job in the Field Exploration team.
The Dream Collector was said to respond only to humans, after all.
“Leader, the research team wants that scrap of cloth you brought out of the Darkness.”
“Yes.”
In the meantime, Section Chief Lee Jaheon handed over the piece of fabric he had been clutching in his hand.
“That is….”
“Ah, because the Leader rushed forward and grabbed the Pierrot by the collar just as he was trying to run away from the portrait….”
It was likely the fabric torn while reflexively closing a 3-meter gap to seize the Pierrot's throat so he couldn't escape.
“…….”
Are they two of a kind?
Were they cousins or something? Now that he looked at them, their appearances seemed somewhat similar. Both of them had that slick, polished look.
The researcher almost entertained a ridiculous delusion for a moment.
And the rookie employee who had delivered such shock and awe to him was….
I-I survived.
Because he had acted without thinking of the consequences, his heart was still pounding!
Why did that clown have teeth! Why was he skinning human skin! Why was he sucking people into the sewer like balloons!
Witnessing all sorts of moving ghost portraits in real-time, a fear of clowns he never had before was born today!
Adding another reason for insomnia….
In the midst of that, he was just amazed at himself for somehow talking his way through and getting past the situation convincingly.
Wait, I did get past it well, right?
I wasn't too suspicious, was I?
I’m not being dragged to a laboratory for intelligent beings in the basement of Daydream Inc. because they found out I have an answer sheet, am I?!
Just before Kim Soleum could hand over the controller to the anxiety in his heart, Section Chief Kwak Jekang, who had been silently flipping through the notebook, spoke up.
“…Rookie employee Kim Soleum, did you by any chance receive a business card?”
Kim Soleum, having regained his senses, answered diligently.
“No. Business cards aren’t issued to rookies yet….”
“Oh, stop playing dumb. You know that’s not what I mean.”
“…….”
The anxiety in Kim Soleum's mind also stopped for a moment.
Something came to mind.
The business card the Host had handed him at the welcoming party.
───
When necessary
010-0153-24865
───
The Section Chief of Research Team 1 grinned.
“If you want to earn points faster, contact that number.”
“…….”
“From what I can see, I think you’ll be calling soon, Soleum.”
It was an offer that sounded quite tempting.
However.
“I’m fine.”
Kim Soleum answered without a flicker of movement.
“…Hmm. If you say so.”
Section Chief Kwak Jekang shrugged and let it go lightly.
“Is there a reason not to contact them? Haha.”
“…….”
It was simple.
More scary events… yeah, I’d like to decline.
The heart of a coward, which had been severely shaken once again.
Kim Soleum had decided to settle for this sweet, triple-point event!
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