It fell.
I knew it.
After I opened my eyes at the Daydream new employee orientation, I had been forgetting who I originally was, as if being wiped away.
About my life as Kim Soleum.
I could barely remember my family or friends.
I was certain they had existed. I remembered the emotions and how precious they were, but the specific, detailed things were becoming increasingly difficult to remember.
So perhaps I had thought it wouldn't be strange if nothing appeared on the Scales of Evil, in the place where something I loved should have appeared...
Because now there was nothing left.
Only the feeling of home remained.
A place that wasn't scary, an ordinary place, a place where I had originally existed simply as myself.
Only my desire to return there remained, and that intense obsession had ultimately converged into one thing.
Pop-socket.
A way to return home, something I felt I could accomplish, a visible method before my eyes.
The candidate's heart has been determined through the Scales of Evil to contain psychological values that take precedence over ethical and moral judgment.
The right scale containing the pop-socket fell to the floor.
The left scale containing the silver heart extracted from my chest shot rapidly upward.
This indicates an irredeemable evil person under current circumstances, permanently terminating re-examination and...
The heart bounced out of the giant scale.
…sentencing to humanitarian execution...
"Wait!!"
Someone broke from the line and came running into the Courthouse.
And caught the knife handle embedded in the organ as it bounced off the scale.
"...!"
The person who placed the heart back on the scale shouted.
"I'm also an agent!"
It's Agent Bronze.
Selection Candidate No. 370616, Management 202■,...
The speaker fell silent.
Ryu Jaekwan's dead face was revealed before the Courthouse.
Deceased.
Deficiency in candidate qualification requirements confirmed.
A person who is already dead is not qualified to be a candidate.
Revoking Ryu Jaekwan's qualification as Selection Candidate No. 370616, Management 202■. Leave the Courthouse immediately...
"Please wait a moment."
Agent Bronze looked at the scale with sunken eyes, then turned his head toward the speaker.
"As I mentioned, I'm also an agent. I have the qualifications to be involved in this selection process."
What was he doing right now?
No matter what he caught from watching the trial, this was too much.
No, wait, did he come in intending this?
Thinking he'd be safe because he wasn't a subject of examination?
'He wouldn't do that.'
It only seemed to increase the probability of being subordinated to the ghost story!
Rather, if he just left now, both Assistant Manager Eun Haje and Agent Bronze could...
"My agent name is Bron..."
"This person is not affiliated with Sekwang Metropolitan City. He's an agent from Seoul Headquarters."
I interrupted.
"He has no qualification to be involved in the selection process. Different jurisdiction..."
"No, I do."
"...!"
Agent Bronze looked at the speaker.
His eyes had already finished thinking.
"Didn't the Sekwang Metropolitan City branch request support from Seoul Headquarters?"
"...!!"
Damn it.
"Since I came in response to that request, I have the qualification to be involved in this trial."
"Agent,"
I urgently grabbed Agent Bronze.
"If you do that, you might become subordinated to this Supernatural Disaster. Please stop..."
"Ah, right. I'm the same."
Agent Choi!
"We're agents from Seoul Team Hyunmoo 1."
And he put his arms around both me and Agent Bronze.
"What are you doing?"
"Be quiet."
Agent Choi looked over my heart placed on the scale as if he wanted to retrieve it, but soon looked away, as if gauging the danger, and said.
"...Hey, selection officer speaking through the speaker, come out and talk with us! It seems like the Scales of Evil is being misused. I never thought it was a particularly good Item to begin with."
Agent Choi smirked.
"Do you think proper judgment is possible when you drive people to extremes and interrogate them during such an emergency? No, don't you know that information obtained through torture isn't reliable?"
The speaker didn't respond, frighteningly so.
But Agent Choi shouted even louder.
"A Silver Heart appeared, but it still deemed him unsuitable! When we deal with Supernatural Disasters, we consider situations like this exceptional!"
"Yes."
Instead of cold sweat, the color of dead skin showed on Agent Bronze's neck as he agreed.
"So as a related party, I suggest... judging citizens' rescue qualifications this way is not acceptable."
Why were they doing this?
Anyway, even if I died by humanitarian execution, there was a high probability I'd get out of Sekwang Metropolitan City. I could prepare again and re-enter. Shouldn't they have been more concerned about their own situation?
Were they worried that I might die 'permanently' in this ghost story? Like that pile of corpses under the glass.
'I didn’t think so.'
They seemed to be trying methods to break the ghost story, but it would have been safer to do so after my trial.
I spoke very quietly, low enough for only the agents to hear.
"Look, it's really okay."
"Shut your mouth."
"Really. I was originally just planning to break the scale."
"...!"
It's the same method as just setting fire to the residential area near Midday Station.
'If there's no way to judge, it has no choice but to end.'
And since it wouldn't break easily, I was planning to cause chaos while bringing out all sorts of Contamination.
I figured there was a high probability of dying in the process.
"I expected to die anyway. So it's okay..."
"No. You're not okay."
Agent Bronze interrupted.
"You're the one most likely to become subordinated to this Supernatural Disaster."
What?
"There's no condition easier for a Supernatural Disaster to devour than someone who's mentally cornered and panicking. So..."
"I'm not panicking."
"...Agent Grapes."
Agent Bronze looked at the pop-socket on the scale.
"Why is that precious?"
Why?
Is it okay to say?
I felt wary for a moment, but realized it was meaningless since Agent Choi, who had already heard my whole story, was next to me.
He'd share everything anyway.
So...
"...It's a way to return home."
"..."
"No, it's more like a symbol of that method."
The more I spoke, the more I seemed to ramble, so I tried to organize my thoughts.
"Since I only recently discovered it, and because I didn't know there was a way back..."
"..."
"Actually, I don't remember much about home from before, but I can't help it. If you see it as evidence that I'm excessively obsessed with home right now, I have nothing to say, that aspect might look strange..."
"No."
"...!"
"As I said before, I understand wanting to return home. That's not it..."
Agent Bronze asked.
"Then why did a pop-socket appear up there instead of the home you want to return to?"
...!
That's,
"Even if your memory is dim, there surely would have been symbols that feel like home. Didn't you see it earlier? What appeared on Agent Choi's scale."
The scene of Team Hyunmoo 1's waiting room.
Though it was just an image, anyone who knew Agent Choi could guess what meaning it implied.
"But Agent Grapes, right now, it's not home but only the method to get home that appeared up there."
...
Pop-socket.
"Isn't that backwards?"
It was like cold water had been poured onto my head.
'Wait.'
I looked at the pop-socket in the scale again.
Right. Valuing the 'means to return home' more than 'home' itself was logically strange...
Was the scale wrong?
That doubt surged in my head, but this time, instead of comfortably following that doubt, I forcibly suppressed it and brought up a difficult question to think about.
'Then does it imply a different meaning?'
For instance... the Dark Exploration Record itself?
'No.'
If that were the case, the scale wouldn't have tipped over.
I thought of the researchers.
The reason I felt strange that their perspective on Darkness was similar to mine was because I couldn't simply find it interesting when terrible things happened in reality...
'That wasn't inverted.'
Then...
There was only one answer.
I was just obsessed with the situation itself of being able to go home.
Because it was too sweet.
Because I couldn't bear it when I saw a way to go home right before my eyes.
Because it seemed like I could do anything if I could just draw the real Wish Ticket originally from that dream incubator.
That moment had captured me.
'Ah.'
The shock when the potion button was assembled in the dream incubator.
Calculation and catharsis.
Tremendous longing.
...
Could it be that the current me was...
'Excessively captivated by that intense impression?'
"..."
"Agent Grapes."
I looked around.
...For the first time, things came into view.
My companions' expressions.
Their complex thoughts.
Worry about this Supernatural Disaster and my condition, concern for the long-term missing persons lined up behind us, tension...
Tension.
I looked down at my hands.
They were wet with sweat and trembling slightly.
...I was putting excessive force into them.
But I didn't really know how to release the tension.
[Hmm. Shall we try taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling? Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. It's a simple calming method. Now...]
I did so.
[Good, friend!]
Deep breathing.
...
Following my breath, the pulsing in my shoulders, chest, and limbs subsided.
I lowered my hands.
My head spun briefly, then settled clearly.
'Right.'
...Was my condition a bit strange?
Since learning the identity of that dream incubator's button, I seemed to have completely lost my mind and came here without considering anything else.
'I thought I was doing it.'
I wasn't.
I needed to pull myself together.
'I might not be making normal judgments right now...'
I tried not to give in to the impulse to somehow break the scale and get out.
'From now on... I need to keep checking and judging.'
"Thank you."
"...!"
"I've come to my senses a bit."
I looked at Agent Bronze and nodded. Relief seemed to briefly settle in his expression.
At that moment.
The small pop-socket on the giant gray balance scale wavered and flickered.
"...!"
Dream Incubator, Wish Ticket, abstract landscape presumed to be a pop-up store, smartphone screen, the images on the scale shook and...
Didn't stabilize and kept changing.
"Look, it's changing in real time! If you want to claim this is the Disaster Management Bureau, please listen to the field agents!"
I heard Agent Choi shouting at the top of his lungs. He was even waving his Executioner's Sword and iron badge.
"Here! I have an agent ID too!"
But the speaker remained silent.
"Please check..."
At that moment.
Unable to confirm
"...!"
Unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm unable to confirm
The speaker's voice distorted. It warped. Strange sounds filled the Courthouse.
"...Similar to when we got pending."
"It seems unable to recognize that we're agents."
"Right."
The two stood on either side of me, looking up at the speaker with tense eyes.
Submit evidence submit evidence submission window confirm absence of confirmer agent death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation death confirmation
Stop.
Currently, there are no personnel at the Sekwang Metropolitan City ■■■■ Bureau branch to verify the identities of related parties.
The agents' shoulders stiffened.
Denying related party approval request...
"But isn't this something you can say even if you're not a related party?"
The sound of dress shoes approached from behind.
"Ah, I'm not an agent, just someone who wants to say something."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje's voice.
"This is a trial anyway, isn't it? I mean, since it's being conducted in the form of a trial in court."
...
Right.
-[Hmm. Then let's advance. This is a step toward receiving judgment, no, trial!]
I recalled Braun's words.
My head became clearer.
"Then appeals should also be possible, shouldn't they? And you should be able to appoint lawyers and call witnesses."
Correct.
"Roe Deer usually breaks things this way... Well, this is a field I know better than you, so I thought I'd mention it."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje, smiling at me, looked at the speaker.
"Isn't that procedurally correct?"
Selection Candidate No. 370617, Management 202■,...
"Yes yes. I'm dead, that's right. Want to introduce me a bit more? I was a journalist. You know Haengseon Daily? I'm from there."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje grabbed my shoulder and stepped forward.
"And let's just say this person is a witness."
Assistant Manager...
"This candidate is a special case, so don't handle it this casually. I'm requesting a proper public trial. Let's have a proper formal trial."
Her voice echoed through the Courthouse.
"Since you're being stubborn about not recognizing related parties, well, then just treat the people here as this person's defense counsel and witnesses."
...
The voice from the speaker fell silent.
The long-term missing persons who must have been standing behind us were also strangely quiet as mice.
And in the courtroom stopped in silence, a verdict finally rang out.
Confirmed.
"...!"
Taking into account the scale's fluctuation and testimony, canceling the selection process for Selection Candidate No. 370614, Management 202■, Kim Soleum and referring the case for formal trial...
I clenched my fists tightly.
The courtroom twisted dizzily, the background wavered, and only the gray scale remained clearly visible...
The moment I blinked.
Darkness fell all around.
"...!"
I stood alone in the darkness.
And.
Thud thud thud thud thud.
Spotlights fell one by one from far away.
A new space became visible.
Similar to the previous courtroom, but with seating areas for people on both sides.
Lights shone meaninglessly on dozens of empty seats, but my companions sat on both sides near me.
I saw the agents and Assistant Manager exchanging glances with stiff expressions.
And finally.
Thud.
A light fell on me.
And across from me, the giant scale was still positioned, with the heart extracted from me placed on it.
The voice that had been heard from the speaker echoed through the air.
Opening the formal trial of Selection Candidate No. 370614, Management 202■, Kim Soleum.
"Good."
But here, an unexpected situation that even Assistant Manager Eun Haje hadn't anticipated occurred.
All jury members, please take your seats.
"...!!"
Dark figures revealed themselves in dozens of empty seats.
Those wearing agent uniforms.
However, their distorted forms no longer looked human at all, with some missing their upper bodies entirely, some burned beyond recognition, and others in indescribable states.
"These bastards... they're using a jury system."
Candidate, please step forward.
The dead agents of Sekwang Metropolitan City looked at me.
TL Notes: -
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