A familiar name.
Someone I already knew.
For a moment, it felt like something inside me was surging up again….
But I did not react.
“Mr. Employee?”
Because I knew that revealing anything here would be an unwise thing to do.
…….
‘Why is that?’
Suddenly, a bizarre sensation began to stir in my mind.
The feeling of forcibly retrieving an anchor cast into the deep sea.
With my previous senses lost, my mangled brain and consciousness struggled to think as they once did.
‘Jang Heowoon….’
He died.
The sight of his corpse lying on the floor of the resort room.
But…, right…… As a resort staff member, I reconstructed him in a contaminated state, and Jang Heowoon was brought back.
And I….
‘I handed over the Wish Ticket.’
If the Wish Ticket was successfully delivered to Jang Heowoon, and he came back to life because of it.
If I was now seeing him live like a human being again.
‘…….’
My broken mind reached a conclusion.
I realized, very slowly, that was I was feeling was relief.
The direct emotion, felt for the first time in far too long, was almost like a dull ache.
“How did you feel when you heard those names? Lee Jeongin, Park Yonghae……, Jang Heowoon.”
And I judged that letting the notorious Researcher in front of me know this was by no means a wise choice.
The connections were painstakingly made in my head.
“How was it?”
I stared at him in silence.
Kwak Jekang, who had been full of anticipation, eventually smacked his lips as the silence stretched on.
“Is it ‘No Response’ this time too? As expected, I guess the memories of the sacrificial medium we used as an intermediary are meaningless— Haha, my apologies. But then again, as a man of science, I can’t help but ask these things, you know? Hahaha!”
Kwak Jekang gave an awkward little laugh, then muttered to himself as if carelessly.
“Still, I got to see something good today, Mr. Employee. You’ve been acting just like a machine with not a single reaction for half a year now….”
…….
Half a year?
“They say that you need to have fun events like this every six months, so you don't feel the urge to resign. Don't you agree?”
I realized.
That it had only been half a year since I was stuck here on Annex Basement Floor 13.
No. Had it really already been half a year?
“Man~ you must have had fun. That three-person teams of obviously new employees… Exploring the Annex Basement Floors, with your help!”
Kwak Jekang pressed on, subtly and persistently.
“Did you feel any sense of déjà vu? Looking at that scene, did any similar knowledge or experiences about that kind of work come to mind….”
Silence.
“Did you feel any sympathy?”
Silence.
“Goodness me, you certainly are the silent type. But…… then why on earth did you help them?”
…….
“Your assigned work area is clearly designated as Annex Basement Floor 13, after all. Well, I know you used a loophole by not leaving the elevator, but still….”
Kwak Jekang’s eyes gleamed with excitement.
“What was your reason for going so far to help?”
…….
“Was it because you ‘felt like it’? Or out of a sense of duty to save people?”
…….
“Haha, silence is a meaningful response too. Or is it due to confusion? I wonder if similar results would appear in a situation where the variables were adjusted just a tiny, tiny bit…… Hmm?”
I raised my hand and pointed to Room 666.
To be precise, the old-fashioned TV in the corner of the ceiling.
Where the employee training video had played.
“…Oh.”
And I formed a sentence with the smoke.
>Work Rule #17: Cooperate with your fellow employees.
A line from the training video.
Because I even recreated the font, Kwak Jekang recognized it immediately.
“Aha, I see!”
The sound of the Researcher frantically scribbling something on his tablet PC filled the air.
“So it’s because of the training video, that’s very… Haha, this is quite. Should I call it gentle, or generous, or is discipline and order an important keyword! I see. A Special Department employee’s… Haha, I understand perfectly.”
Then his pen stopped, and a subtle voice spoke.
“But you exerted yourself for nothing. Those participants you helped….”
He raised both hands and waved them like a surprise.
“They weren't fellow employees. Haha!”
…….
I know.
“They’re not new recruits; they’re just test subjects!”
From the beginning, this wasn't even a Field Exploration team orientation.
It was a research experiment project of the same name, inspired by that format.
Experiment Name: New Recruit Orientation
They weren't real new recruits.
To be precise, they were people who had applied for the recruitment exam to become new recruits but had failed for various reasons.
However, they were deceived by sending emails as if they had passed for the department they applied for.
The reason was….
“Should I call them part-timers recruited for experimental sample collection!”
Supplementing civilian Exploration Records.
Planned to collect meaningful additional information from Darkness, where civilian exploration cases without prior knowledge are lacking.
Selecting those with matching aptitudes from the failed applicants and conducting a simulation in the form of a New Recruit Orientation similar to the one received by those who passed.
It is difficult to take the Darkness held by the company out into the civilian world recklessly.
Therefore, the company’s Exploration Records are accumulated by the Field Exploration team, who are experts in Dark Exploration.
There were orientations where new recruits, who were at least close to civilians, were put into Darkness, but the Darknesses used there were selected ones to verify their skills.
So, a researcher came up with a brilliant idea.
—Let’s recycle the applicants!
There was no need to recruit subjects separately while avoiding the eyes of public power, so it was even a good time to supply experiment participants.
Of course, this wasn't all just a scam.
There is a reward that feels like a deception.
Failed applicants who successfully perform their missions in the experiment can be specially hired by the Field Exploration team and join the company officially.
Thus, the company’s official pretext is this:
‘Let’s create additional successful applicants and give them the opportunity to join.’
So….
“Well, you might meet them as fellow employees later….”
Since those who complete the ‘mission’ and survive this experiment are given a chance to join, in a sense, it did become no different from an orientation.
And I know.
‘Jang Heowoon’ got in.
…….
Is it really Jang Heowoon?
“Hmm. Do you want to meet them again?”
I tried to recall the faces of the three new recruits I met earlier.
I can’t remember. They were melting mosaics.
“Do you have a preference for colleagues in terms of age or gender?”
I can’t remember their voices either. They sounded like low-quality radio static.
“Do you have a preferred corpse?”
I looked back at Kwak Jekang.
“No preference? Not even one? Really?”
…….
I raised my hand.
Kwak Jekang brightened as the smoke moved.
“That’s it! Communicating through language like that….”
>Warning 1
>Reason: Requesting work outside of working hours
>Accumulated Warnings: 1 / strikes left until disciplinary action: 2
“……Ah.”
From Room 666, and from within my head, an announcement broadcast began to flow.
The sound announcing the end of my shift.
[Your working hours have ended. Please return immediately. Your working hours have ended. Please return immediately….]
“No, this interview is more of a light conversation than work….”
Warning 2
Reason: Requesting work outside of working hours
“…….”
Accumulated Warnings: 2 / 1 until disciplinary action
Smoke rose from beneath my feet.
Kwak Jekang shut his mouth. I could see the tensed shoulder muscles of the Guard Team members standing around.
Though I couldn't see it, I felt the isolation barrier set up between Kwak Jekang and me to ensure safety….
However, on Annex Basement B13, my security responsibility zone, I knew I could ignore that and give that Researcher a disciplinary action.
I know.
“……Haha! Right. You mean that contractually guaranteed rest time must be strictly observed! I Agree. Indeed.”
It felt like I saw Kwak Jekang smiling beyond the melting mosaic.
It was the quality of an experienced Darkness researcher.
Knowing the timing.
“I hope you have a good rest. …Since there’s plenty of time!”
However, his voice didn't sound very disappointed.
From the middle of the Guard Team, Kwak Jekang, holding his handwritten interview notes and giving a cheerful hand wave, laughed.
“Because I am your designated researcher.”
…….
“I will help you with all my heart from now on. For a long, long time… I look forward to working with you. Hahaha……. Even at your new assignment.”
A little later.
I opened my eyes somewhere other than Annex Basement B13.
At a new workplace.
***
Kwak Jekang tapped on his keyboard amidst a surge of ecstasy.
Recording experiment results was so enjoyable.
Especially when an unprecedented result had come out through various interactions with so many test subjects!
“Hahaha, to think this is possible, just how on earth did they contract with such a thing….”
Kwak Jekang peered into the PC with his eyes still crinkling in a smile.
There, he found a simplified experiment record, a clean transcription of his own handwritten notes.
New Recruit Orientation 21st Attempt
Cases of interactions between orientation participants, security personnel on each floor of the Annex Basement, and ‘Special Department employees’ are listed.
And surely, the longest entry.
2.2.1 Annex Basement B13 Security Personnel (hereafter referred to as 130666)
“To think I’d meet you like this.”
Ever since Director Cheong first told him he would be assigned a ‘Special task,’ he had been hoping, just in case.
But for it to really appear!
Kwak Jekang recalled the employee with the bizarre horns, gas lamp, and thick smoke who had interrogated him.
That bizarre entity that had used the Field Exploration team's fastest-promoted member as a vessel.
Of course, compared to back then, the entity he met again now seemed somewhat mechanical and shackled….
But isn't it also very curious how it ended up that way!
‘Did some side effect appear?’
It truly was interesting!
Especially as he analyzed the Trend shown in this experiment.
Unable to control his mouth, he looked at the annotation he had added.
The subject in question strictly observed the Work Rules during its 179 days of service as the security personnel for Annex Basement B13, with a total absence of uncooperative or aggressive special cases typically observed in Special Department subjects.
However, in this experiment, it found an Anomaly in the rules and boarded the elevator stopped in its security zone, showing a trend of accompanying and helping the survival of multiple test subjects who had entered its zone.**
This is the thing.
**This trend is similar to the Dream Collection tendency before death of the employee corpse used in 130666’s labor contract process.
Suspected as an indirect influence of the self; an additional experiment will be requested in the future.
“This is 100% going to be censored.”
It felt like a comment about it being the researcher's personal opinion would be added, or the content itself would be deleted entirely.
Well, it wasn't surprising that an entire employee was used as a Living Sacrifice for the contract of a Security Team Special Division employee, but the problem was its identity.
“Would they want to reveal it was an elite employee who had the fastest promotion?”
They probably wouldn't want to specify it.
Especially if some crazy Research Team employee inferred it when they hadn't even told him….
Kwak Jekang shrugged his shoulders, thinking of that interesting employee… Kim Soleum, and moved his hands even faster over the keyboard.
Because the content after this was even more fun!
Anomaly Aggression of 130666
: When covered by the subject's smoke (hereafter referred to as 130666-1), Humanoid Darkness mutates into a corpse.
No life response. Analysis of blood and cell samples confirms it as a human corpse where decomposition has just begun.
CCTV analysis of the elevator boarded by 130666 while using said ability intermittently confirmed the entire elevator being covered by 130666. An aspect similar to a kind of psychic phenomenon.
He hummed a tune, recalling the security personnel of the Annex Basement who had turned into corpses.
They were slowly being restored into Darkness, but they were undergoing a confused and bizarre mutation state as if suffering from aftereffects.
And sometimes, the Guard Team employees would show special reactions as if the Contamination was flaring up just by going near them.
Kwak Jekang smirked.
“They really are interesting friends.”
……So.
He couldn't help but have a fun idea.
There are no other dangerous peculiarities, and 130666 recovers its employee form before exiting the elevator.
Therefore!
Thus, it is certified that the subject is in a state suitable for full-scale Special Department duties.
“Hahaha!”
However.
Dedicated personnel will be assigned to prevent unexpected situations and fatal safety accidents.
Kwak Jekang was excited.
This had already been passed by the higher-ups.
Meaning… with the personnel he had specially selected.
Safety Responsibility: Security Management Guard Team 3 Leader (J3, real name ■■■)
Control Assistance: Security Management Special Management Team member (Badger, real name Park Minseong)
Just like that.
“……Ah.”
130666, at his new assigned workplace, meets two Security Team employees.
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