Daydream.
To think I’d be discarded by this piece-of-shit company twice.
‘Help me.’
It wasn’t even the headquarters where I originally worked.
Namhae Branch…?
What the hell is that?
There wasn't even an entry for it on the Wiki!
Clearly, after returning home, I had succeeded in recalling the things I couldn’t remember from the Wiki.
Even though I had stayed away from the <Dark Exploration Records>, that much was certain.
The entries on the Wiki that I suddenly couldn’t recall at some point, like Sekwang Metropolitan City or the departments of the Disaster Management Bureau.
‘I speculated that perhaps I had gradually forgotten them as I became assimilated and buried within the world with ghost stories.’
...Or maybe it was because of the situation I was in regarding the ‘Good Friend.’
Whichever it was, it left a strange, lingering discomfort, but in any case, it meant I now remembered the Wiki I had read without any sense of dissonance.
But the Namhae Branch?
‘What is that? I don’t know….’
Of course, I knew Daydream had branches.
…In that, ‘Ah, so that’s the setting’ kind of way.
Daydream Inc. consisted of a headquarters in Seoul, branches located throughout the provinces, and several special overseas divisions…
It would be stranger for such a large pharmaceutical company to only have a headquarters and no branches.
It would be even stranger for ghost stories to only occur near Seoul.
So, this kind of setting had more natural plausibility.
But the thing was.
‘…Specific details weren’t set for each branch.’
If it had been that detailed, it’d no longer be part of the ghost story Wiki’s universe, but rather a report exposing corporate wrongdoing…
This was, first and foremost, a Wiki for writing about ghost stories, and for Daydream, collecting Dream Essence was what mattered.
It was fascinating to see a branch in person like this, but….
{Daydream Inc.
Namhae Branch
Cleanup Team}
The Cleanup Team?
The Cleanup Team I knew?
-They’re just meat shields. It’s like an extra life given to employees with a brain, so don’t worry about it.
Why was the name of a team used for slaves and suicide squads appearing here….
When things don’t go as planned, a distinct chilling unease arises.
And besides that.
‘…Isn’t the environment way too different from headquarters?’
For the record, I was still collapsed in front of the old ritual table.
These were the thoughts I had for about six seconds after seeing the ‘Daydream Inc. – Namhae Branch’ doorplate.
Drenched in water, with absolutely no strength in my body.
This is driving me crazy.
“H-hugh,”
Just what kind of state is my body in?
I barely managed to push myself up, letting out something close to a wail (though it probably sounded more like the feeble buzzing of a mosquito).
Then, the pig’s head, rice cakes, and fruit on the ritual table came properly into view.
…They drew my gaze in a strange way.
“…….”
‘Am I… incredibly hungry right now?’
For a moment, the thought that I lacked strength because of starvation flashed through my mind….
‘Touching a ritual table… in a ghost story company within a ghost story universe would be a suicidal act.’
It was a practical judgment that went beyond mere foreboding.
On trembling legs, I stumbled past the ritual table with its withered food and stepped out the door.
‘I’m going to die, seriously….’
Beyond the door was a worn-down hallway.
It was completely enclosed, with an atmosphere strangely like an underground tunnel.
‘It feels like an abandoned mine from the 80s….’
[Religious activity time will end shortly. Workers, please check your assigned workload for this week.]
[When in a hurry, Dream Money, Dream Life!]
Furthermore, what was with this announcement broadcast?
‘Workers? Workload?’
It felt similar to what I heard when I was in the Guard team, but it felt strangely like an advertising slogan and lacked any sincerity. What should I call it….
‘It’s like a moneylending business.’
Like a loan shark.
‘Ugh….’
Then, I witnessed a line of people trudging along the far end of the long hallway. Perhaps the person who poured water over my head was among them.
‘That way… I guess.’
I reflexively followed them while keeping a slight distance. Fortunately, the few people who glanced back at me seemed uninterested and returned to their conversations.
Everyone’s attire was the same.
‘Short-sleeved T-shirts and elastic-waist pants….’
The ochre color made them look like prison uniforms or indoor wear for some collective training camp.
And there was something that particularly stood out.
‘…Stickers?’
Every single one of them had a red sticker attached somewhere on their body.
‘What does it say?’
I squinted, barely managing to read it.
“…….”
Don't tell me they classify employees like that here?
I looked down at my own body. Feeling around the same ochre clothes, I finally felt the texture of a sticker attached to my neck.
I had one too.
‘…Can I peel it off?’
The moment I gripped the corner to check….
[Hey, you there, worker!]
“…!”
[Worker Z999, what you were about to do is a violation of the work rules. Stop it.]
…It was a human voice.
It was coming from a speaker in the corner of the hallway, the same one that had been playing the announcement broadcast just now.
I carefully let go of the sticker and forced myself to speak.
“I didn’t… peel it. I was just touching it.”
[Yeah, yeah. If you’re caught again, there’ll be a points penalty. Move to your designated breakroom.]
The business-like voice, thick with annoyance, cut off just like that.
‘Are they monitoring me?’
But the voice just now was far too ordinary; there was no hint of contamination.
It didn't feel like the Guard team.
‘…Hmm.’
At least I had a destination.
‘They told me to go to the designated breakroom.’
I started walking again, and as I continued to follow the people, the indoor space soon changed slightly.
It was a passage that brought to mind the view of a dilapidated corridor-style apartment.
[The rest area is now closed. Good luck this week too! Get rich!]
Thud.
The moment I entered that hallway section, the fire door behind me slammed shut.
The sound of an electronic door lock engaging echoed.
‘Confinement…?’
“Fuck….”
“I really fucking hate working.”
However, as if they were used to it, the people each scanned their stickers in front of the doors in the hallway and entered their rooms one by one.
I looked at the doors the people had already entered.
There were doorplates on the iron doors, which had small barred windows like a prison.
{Y 210 ~ 215}
I thought I had seen similar numbers on the red stickers on people's bodies earlier.
‘And the number they called me earlier was….’
-Worker Z999.
…Okay.
Dragging my feet in my still fragile state, I moved forward.
After walking down the hallway for a while, I found the doorplate at the very last room.
{Z 990 ~ 999}
With a short beep, the door opened.
And the terrible environment inside took my breath away.
‘Wow.’
A small space not even the size of a single room.
A floor with exposed concrete, cobwebs, mold, and even an exposed dirt wall on one side. A foul-smelling pit that likely served as a toilet.
And a few thin mats with cheap cotton bursting out were strewn about the room.
…That was it.
Forget a refrigerator, there wasn't even a chair.
‘What is this?’
A prison cell from the 80s wouldn't be this bad.
Moreover, if the 990-999 on the doorplate meant it housed workers with those numbers….
‘This place houses ten people?’
It wasn’t even like an old prisoner-of-war camp.
How is this a breakroom in any way?
It’s an abandoned prison….
With a look of disbelief, I scanned the messy, dilapidated interior once more. And the moment my gaze landed on a mattress in a dark corner of the room….
I noticed another silhouette.
‘Eh?’
Someone was lying on the mattress.
It was a corpse.
“…!!”
I almost ran out of the room, but only ended up stumbling due to my lack of energy.
‘Crazy.’
What is this now?
I wanted to scream and cry, but there was no other way to grasp the situation. Screaming internally, I examined the corpse….
‘Hah.’
The person lying there, staring blankly into space with eyes wide open, was a male who looked about my age, wearing the same ochre clothes as the other workers.
Something like a chocolate wrapper was sticking out of his pocket. Up to that point, it could be seen as somewhat normal, but,
‘His, his condition….’
Black ashy liquid had flowed out of every orifice of his facial features and dried, and he was clutching the area near his heart with his left hand.
It looked like he had died of a heart attack.
“Wow, please….”
This was not ordinary. Anyone could see it was a death caused by a ghost story.
I groaned as I read ‘Classification: Worker, Z993’ written on the sticker attached to the man's exposed wrist.
It seemed he had been one of my nine roommates in this body’s current situation….
“Ah….”
This is really driving me crazy.
And what’s even crazier is that my body is reaching its limit.
‘…I’m dizzy.’
Now I know for sure.
I felt like I was going to lose my mind from hunger.
…And my eyes began to flicker toward the corpse.
“……Hah.”
A scream naturally wanted to escape, but I had no other choice.
I rummaged through the corpse’s pockets.
‘Ugh.’
Foil-wrapped chocolate, candy, and… a notebook.
Unable to wait any longer, I immediately tore off the chocolate wrapper and shoved it into my mouth.
“Phew.”
Incredible.
The sugar rushed from my stomach to my head.
Everything became chillingly clear and clean. My body, having momentarily regained its vitality, moved quickly as I took large bites of the chocolate.
‘Information.’
I opened the notebook the corpse had.
5/5 (Probably)
I think I contacted them after seeing a poster about Daydream giving out money? Or something? I don’t really know, anyway, I woke up here.
They said I could make 50 million won just by holding out for a month, so I started working right away.
Because of security issues, no outside contact is allowed while working, but instead, they said if I hold out for a total of 100 days, it’s 500 million won. Are they serious? Who could resist this lol.
It seems like they divide the worker grades into X, Y, and Z.. I went to X. Looking at the rooms, it seems the smaller the alphabet, the better.
The Z rooms are no place for humans to live lol. I guess because it’s a big company, their level of motivation is different.
‘The place I’m in right now….’
The following pages were filled with complaints about the internal facilities and general life here at the Daydream Namhae Branch.
He grumbled about being disconnected from the outside world, asking if this was some kind of deep-sea fishing vessel.
‘Hmm.’
I turned to the next page.
5/7
Been scouting for a few days.
Aside from me, it seems everyone gathered here is a debtor or a gambling addict junkie. Their eyes are weird.
It feels like they’re gathering desperate people to do dangerous work, but let’s earn some money quickly and get out.
For now, they’ve been making me light wooden dolls on fire with a lighter every day. It’s nothing much; they burn well. I don’t even know why they pay millions for this kind of work.
Are they looking into some psychic phenomenon? Lol. I wonder if they offended some ghosts while making medicine. I don’t believe in ghosts, so it’s fine.
“…….”
I can see the future….
Sure enough, from a certain point, the handwriting in the diary began to look hurried and strange phrases appeared.
5/10
The wooden dolls aren't burning properly.
I forced them to burn by pouring oil on them, but then something weird appeared in my dream today.
Something like a faceless ghost was laughing loudly while it grabbed my ankles, held me upside down, and dipped me in and out of the water.. I don’t know. I had sleep paralysis and I feel like shit.
I asked if I could quit, but they said if I don’t finish 30 days, they’ll pay me the minimum wage, so I stayed for now.
It’s probably just my imagination. I bought a bottle of beer at the commissary today. It was damn expensive.
5/12
Can't sleep.
5/14
Couldn't sleep today either.
5/16
I couldn’t take it anymore so I said I’d quit, but the manager keeps avoiding the subject. He keeps telling me later, later, and making me work.
His words keep changing. He said I have to finish 30 days first. I can’t quit before that? What is this?
5/16??
Please don’t make me do the wooden doll thing. Please let something else come out.
“…….”
5/35472
They told me to burn the wooden dolls again.
I said I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t do it, so my number changed. I ended up in the last Z room. Still, I can’t do the wooden doll job. I won’t go out.
“…….”
And the last page.
I’msorrypleasesavemeI’msorrypleasesavemeI’msorrypleasesavemeI’msorrypleasesavemeI’msorrypleasesavemeI’msorrypleasesavemeI’msorrypleasesavemeI’msorrypleasesa vemeI’msorrypleasesaveme
Thud.
I closed the notebook.
Cold sweat pooled between my fingers.
“…Hah.”
This is, by all accounts, the record of a civilian who died after being repeatedly thrown into ghost stories without knowing anything.
‘They do this kind of work… at the Daydream branch?’
Are they luring people who ‘won’t be missed if they disappear’ with high pay and throwing them haphazardly into ghost stories?
And they don't even let them quit?
‘Was there… such a setting?’
Even when I tried to recall if there was any mention of the branches, there wasn't anything specific, but I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
As for what kind of déjà vu….
‘Come to think of it, the Daydream in the early <Dark Exploration Records> felt like this.’
You know, the Daydream from back when Sergeant J3 was the B-Squad Leader.
It had the flavor of a time when people were ruthlessly ground up by ghost stories with their bare bodies, without proper items or equipment.
In the past, that was the standard…….
…….
‘Wait a minute.’
“The timeline… doesn't match.”
Right, it’s strange.
Just because it was written in the early days of the <Dark Exploration Records> Wiki didn’t necessarily mean it’s chronologically a story from the past.
In the case of the Disaster Management Bureau, that aspect is somewhat there due to the history of the agents, but Daydream is different.
‘In the first place, many of the early Daydream ghost stories were from the perspective of the 2020s.’
That couldn't have been a story from the time of Wolf Leader of B-Squad, whom I met.
If so, those nameless, numbered Daydream employees who died off like disposable parts without any countermeasures in those ghost stories….
‘They were from the branches.’
Unlike headquarters, the branches had preserved the flavor of early Daydream as it was…!
‘While headquarters was hiring regular employees, making manuals, and collecting Dream Essence, were they running this place like a factory, grinding people up because it was cheap...?’
I was speechless at the perfect plausibility.
It’s driving me crazy.
To think of such a capitalist ghost story-like idea…….
[Personnel check completed.]
“…!!”
The announcement broadcast on the speaker changed.
[Lights out.]
[In times of need, Dream Money, Dream Life!]
Then, the hallway lights went out.
“…….”
Personnel check completed?
This room was currently in a state of ‘1 corpse, 1 human.’
‘Then the other eight people are….’
Don’t tell me they’re all already dead?
You’re saying I’m the sole survivor of this room?
‘You crazy Daydream bastards.’
What the hell is this insane survival rate?
Is this why it’s the Cleanup team?
‘To think the day would come when I’d cry out that life was better when I was a regular employee at the headquarters.’
Even the fatal flaw of not being able to let my guard down because of a roommate was heaven compared to this.
At least the roommate there was alive.
And the place to sleep was a state-of-the-art officetel in a prime location near a station…!
“Hah…”
I stood up, staggering.
Using the pitch-black hallway outside as a mirror, I reflected my image in the glass between the bars.
It seemed to be me, with a hollow-eyed expression… but it was too dark to be sure.
‘Wait….’
In the first place, I grabbed the Church of the Luminous Unknown ID in my dream, so why did I wake up at a Daydream branch?
‘Of course, I’d rather die than wake up in the Church of the Luminous Unknown….’
Curses rose to my throat, but since the intense blood sugar spike from the chocolate was ending, I just let out a sigh.
And this time, I checked the sticker on my neck.
‘I can’t leave before completing a month of service… I see.’
And if I reverse-calculate the remaining period based on the ‘500 million won for 100 days of work’ mentioned in the notebook….
There are 14 days left.
“Exactly two weeks.”
I have to endure that to make it 30 days before I can leave this crazy place.
Once I do, I’ll have freedom of movement and even a large sum of money.
I took a deep breath.
‘…I know how to go home now.’
And there was a sense of composure that came from the fact that a place to return to actually existed.
I also knew why I had fallen here and what state I was in.
Right.
‘…I know myself well.’
Even now, as all the hardships I’d experienced in this ghost story world passed through my mind, sighs and anxiety naturally arose.
But I also knew what kind of help I had received and what things I had accomplished at the end of all those experiences….
“…….”
The faces of several people came to mind.
That was why I could state with such confidence now.
‘That I’m actually in a better state than before.’
Because it meant that after 14 days, I could do anything without being restrained.
And….
‘…I can also look for other people.’
The faces of the acquaintances I had known here came to mind.
‘I wonder how everyone is doing.’
An inkling of expectation, ill-suited for the situation of having barely returned home only to be dragged back into a ghost story, almost rose up, but it evaporated as soon as I made eye contact with the corpse.
Please!
‘First, I’ll endure and escape…!’
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