Chapter 206
Chapter 206
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 206
Chapter Title: Wish Grant
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Wish Grant.
The most reliable way for me to get home in this ghost story world, where bizarre bad endings pop up everywhere.
This was the only thing I endured at Daydream Corporation for. I even endured becoming a spy.
And now, having finally met the conditions to claim a Wish Grant, Director Ho in front of me was lightly clapping his palms.
As if applauding me.
Clap, clap, clap...
"I'm so glad you've really earned a Wish Grant."
"......"
"But haven't you ever thought about it?"
The clapping stopped.
"What if Director Ho never intended to give you the Wish Grant in the first place?"
"......"
"He changes his word once you fulfill your promise. He dangles more if you achieve that, using it craftily as bait over and over."
Director Ho smiled faintly.
"Have you really never thought that?"
"I have."
Only a fool wouldn't have.
In society, how often do people delay or refuse payment after the work is done?
And conversely, there are plenty who take advance payment and don't deliver properly.
In this situation, the Wish Grant was Director Ho's one-sided promise.
And the promises of the strong can be broken anytime. There's no penalty for it.
But...
"I know you value promises highly, Director."
"......"
The bindings.
Director Ho was the type of monster who bound others with the form of 'promises'.
Yes, it would be foolish to think of Director Ho as human at this point.
'And rules are an important element for monsters.'
In ghost story grammar, it's to build a grotesque horror atmosphere and give victims a glimmer of hope to torment them with...
Anyway, that's why rules are more trustworthy than if Director Ho were just a wicked human.
The probability he has no choice but to keep them is higher.
Especially recalling how unnaturally emphatic Director Ho was about the trustworthiness of the counselor from the Fox Counseling Room.
He might use or trap you while hiding other motives, but he doesn't make false promises.
I faced the expressionless Director Ho.
"So, I judged that you would definitely keep what you promised with your own mouth."
"......"
Clap.
"Of course!"
Director Ho clapped his hands and laughed.
"I always keep my promises. I don't make ones I can't keep... ever."
"......"
"Well then."
Director Ho lifted the briefcase from under the table and reached inside.
"Now you should receive the Wish Grant."
And something glowing emerged.
A small glass vial.
"...!!"
The waiting area of the Fox Counseling Room. In that comfortable space, an ecstatic, unreal aurora-like glow began to ripple.
An overwhelming sense of mystery from this one tiny bottle, unbelievable.
Wish Grant.
"It's yours, Sol-eum."
"......"
Thud.
"Go ahead."
I reached out my hand.
Just before my arm touched the Wish Grant on the table...
"Oh, wait a moment."
Director Ho smiled brightly.
"It's not just one, right?"
"...!!"
Thud. Thud.
With the same smiling face, Director Ho pulled two more vials of ecstatic-colored glass from the briefcase and placed them down.
A total of three Wish Grants.
'My God.'
Pearl-like orient light rippled on the table like waves of a galaxy-made sea.
"...This is,"
"Yes. The Wish Grants for the other two employees you worked with. You said they contributed plenty to this, didn't you?"
Right.
But... handing them over just like that?
And Director Ho's words weren't finished.
"But since you came as the team's representative to report, it seems right for you to receive them on behalf of the team!"
"......!"
Hold on.
"You're saying I receive all three... and give one each to the other two?"
"Who knows."
...!
"You reported as a team. Isn't distribution up to the representative?"
"......"
"I don't mind."
A dark flame flickered in Director Ho's eyes.
But the next moment, his face smiled brightly as if it never happened.
"I hope this Wish Grant fulfills the deep wish in your heart, Sol-eum."
I opened my mouth.
"Won't you use one yourself, Director?"
"......"
Director Ho looked into me for a moment.
"That's an item only full-time employees can use."
"......"
"Unfortunately, executives are on contract. That's the agreement."
Director Ho's hand reached slightly toward the Wish Grants on the table as if wanting to touch them... but soon withdrew.
"So."
"......"
"Will you take them? Or you can take them later; I'm fine either way."
Receive all three.
Or hold off on all.
Truthfully, I only had one choice.
"Yes. I'll take them."
I nodded.
And...
"Excellent!"
Director Ho, beaming broadly, pulled out a box from the briefcase and began packaging the Wish Grant vials one by one on the table.
"The usage instructions are enclosed in the box! I'll put one in each."
Like a tidy salesman, Director Ho neatly arranged the boxes, tied ribbons, put them in a bag, and pushed it toward me.
"Here."
"...Thank you."
I took the bag.
The fleeting sense of déjà vu passed.
'...I did it.'
Finally having it in hand started to feel real.
It's in this black paper bag.
I had obtained the Wish Grant.
"Take care. Sol-eum. I'll contact you again."
My head went blank.
I stood from my seat.
After bowing politely to the waving Director Ho, I left the Fox Counseling Room waiting area.
Creeak.
Behind me, I heard the door to the Fox Counseling Room open and close... as if someone entered.
And when I turned at the exit, the waiting area table was already empty.
All that remained were the three Wish Grants in my hand.
"......"
-Oh, congrats, friend! So now you just make a wish and blow out the candle?
It would be nice if it were that simple, but the problem is...
'I have two extra in my hand.'
A short while later.
Nearby café.
'How do I pass these on.'
Sitting, gripping the bag, I racked my brain furiously.
It felt like going out with a bag full of checks worth hundreds of millions, defenseless.
Every time I became aware of the Wish Grants inside, the urge to pull one out and drink it surged, but I had to finish business first.
First...
'I should contact Go Yeongeun.'
If I can just figure out a way to deliver them indirectly.
Then she can make her desired wish and safely resign. No more entering ghost stories.
And...
'I can save Jang Heo-un too.'
Someone just needs to wish on a Wish Grant to revive Jang Heo-un.
Everything perfect.
Then..., once distribution is done...
'I'm going home.'
My heart pounded with anxiety and anticipation.
I reached into the bag, touched the boxes, and recalled what to handle first.
For now, a safe place...
Bzzzzt!
My smartphone buzzed with a message.
[Today]
[Where should I go?]
"......"
Security Captain.
We'd agreed to meet at sunset this evening.
'To hear information.'
But now, information wasn't needed.
Whether Jolly Lab or Daydream's source, once I leave here, it doesn't matter.
But leaving this ghost story world means...
Never meeting anyone I encountered here again.
"......"
I hesitated, then texted.
[Let's meet here.]
And evening.
"Hm..."
I met the Security Captain in the corner seat of a famous donut shop with late closing hours.
I'd prepaid for donuts usually gone by evening and picked them up now.
Seeing the donuts, the Captain's weary face brightened a bit.
"Thanks..."
"No problem. I've received so much help from you. Truthfully, this hardly repays it..."
"No... this is plenty."
The Security Captain stuffed donuts into his mouth with a slightly pleased face.
And casually dropped a bombshell.
"So, about the info... Jolly Lab... it's still in our company basement..."
"...!!"
Wait.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly that... Hm."
The Security Captain looked at me.
"Hey, I've seen you there before..."
Me?
"Hm... when we first met... that, when we got sucked into the scroll... you went to the B2 restroom..."
"...!"
"Don't... you remember?"
I do.
Chasing missing Section Chief Lee Byung-jin's whereabouts, I went to the basement...
Oddly, there was a corridor lined with ordinary offices.
-Shouldn't there be safety gear or facilities here...?
I definitely thought that.
And...
-Deer?
Right.
'The good boy suddenly started talking...!'
That bizarre Daydream basement full of offices... was a ghost story.
And that ghost story was actually... Jolly Lab?
"How... aren't you scared?"
"Hm... we just call it by codename... didn't know... found unprocessed documents."
The shrugging Security Captain continued.
"Anyway, even deeper underground... the same office corridors... keep repeating..."
"...Exactly the same corridors?"
"Yes. Same offices... structure, scratches identical, so same place, but... the time of day... seems slightly different?"
Sounds of people chatting, shadows busily in meetings, employees packing something, fighting, dusty ruined offices...
Every elevator descent changed the scene like a hidden object game.
Endlessly.
"...How deep does the basement go?"
"That's why we don't know... Hm. Farthest I went... B23? Below that... blocked off..."
"......"
"Security team... said they went to B40...? But they died... Hm."
"......"
Chilling descriptions.
'Those offices...'
A chill ran down my spine.
Why is Jolly Lab there, why is it a ghost story, what is Daydream doing building over it. Questions flashed by.
But soon I realized it all meaningless.
I'm leaving.
"......"
"Ah."
And he sensed it too.
"This info... not needed anymore, huh."
"......"
The Security Captain pulled down his cap.
"Hm, if so..."
And, as a Daydream employee, easily guessed the most fitting reason for losing interest in everything.
"Did you... win a Wish Grant?"
"......"
I hesitated briefly, then nodded.
A slight smile rose on the Security Captain's lips.
Pure congratulations.
"Good for you..."
"......"
"Hey, you know... how to use it, right...?"
"...Yes."
At my affirmation, he nodded too, pondered a bit, then asked.
"Then... this time... you're really resigning...?"
A question he could ask, knowing I wasn't truly resigning but working undercover for Director Ho.
I nodded.
"I see..."
"......"
The Security Captain bowed his head.
"Hey, later... even after resigning... maybe chat sometimes...?"
"...I'd like that if possible."
No.
I averted my gaze.
"Depending on my wish's nature, I don't know."
"......Ah."
The Security Captain stopped.
"A world-changing... wish?"
"......Yes."
"Then... can't be helped."
"......"
He knew after all.
Yes, as Elite Team leader, it's natural he'd know more than Field Exploration Team obsessed with Wish Grants.
The essence of Wish Grant.
Any tips for drinking Wish Grant?
None. Just drink and wish.
It all comes true.
...At least from your perspective.
-From Elite Team C Squad Deputy Manager's advice
That's how it is.
If the user wishes to become younger, they will.
Even wishing for clean 10 billion in the bank without tax issues, it happens.
The Wish Grant potion acts like a magic lamp, changing only the user's state.
But.
'What if the wish is very macroscopic?'
Wishes beyond personal change.
Say, in the past.
'I want to go back to my happy childhood with my parents', 'Go back to the moment my husband had his accident and stop him'.
Or large-scale.
'Make the world end', 'Make everyone good', 'Invent superconductors'...
Wishes altering the world around them.
Of course, the potion works.
Your wish comes true. But...
Only from your perspective.
In other words...
It sends you to that world.
Wish Grant is deeply personal, its omnipotence for one person only.
The one whose wish is granted disappears from the world.
Sometimes they remain, if the wish was botched or not macroscopic enough for loopholes.
Anyway, the world never changes drastically from Wish Grants.
People just move.
'That's why the Captain knows.'
A world-altering big wish means I might leave this place entirely.
Disappear.
"......"
I faced the Security Captain, who finished his donuts.
Time was up.
"Thank you so much."
"Yeah..."
We stood.
I handed him the takeout-packed donuts I'd requested at the counter.
Even the extra paper bag with just a bread knife.
"What wish brought you into this company, Jay?"
"......"
Peering into the empty bag, the Security Captain said.
"...Can't remember well."
"......"
"Don't worry... not important."
I couldn't ask more.
I nodded, then parted with the Security Captain in front of the donut shop.
He waved.
"...Get home safe."
And it ended.
Through shadows, I knew he stood blankly on the street for quite a while...
"......"
On the way back, I thought.
...I need to say more goodbyes.