Chapter 212
Chapter 212
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 212
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work
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Familiar name.
Known.
Something surged up from within again, like bubbling up...
But I didn't react.
"Employee?"
Because I knew it wasn't good to show it.
...
'Why?'
Suddenly, a strange sensation began to stir in my head.
Like forcibly hauling up an anchor thrown into the deep sea.
In the state where previous sensations had vanished, my mashed-up brain and mind strained to think as before.
'Jang Heo-un...'
Dead.
The corpse collapsed on the resort room floor.
But... so... as a resort employee in a contaminated state, it was reconstructed and Jang Heo-un was extracted.
And I...
'Handed over the Wish Grant.'
If the Wish Grant I handed to Jang Heo-un really had been successfully delivered, and he had come back to life because of it.
And if what I saw was him living like a person again.
'...'
My shattered head reached a conclusion.
I very slowly recognized it as relief.
The direct emotion I felt after far too long was almost a dull ache.
"Did hearing the name stir anything? Lee Jung-in, Park Yong-hae..., Jang Heo-un."
And the judgment that informing this infamous researcher in front of me about it was never a wise choice.
It connected arduously in my head.
"How about it?"
I silently stared at him.
Kwak Je-gang, whose face was full of anticipation, smacked his lips as the silence dragged on.
"'No response' again this time. As expected, the memories of the sacrifice used as a medium don't mean... haha, sorry. But as a scientist, I can't help but ask. Haha!"
Kwak Je-gang laughed awkwardly alone, then muttered to himself as if letting it slip.
"Still, it was a good show today, employee. After being completely machine-like with no reactions for the past six months..."
...
Six months?
"They say that after six months of service, you get fun events like this once in a while to keep you from wanting to quit. Right?"
I realized.
That only half a year had passed since I was thrown into this basement level 13.
No, had half a year already passed?
"Wow~ That was fun. A trio of employees who screamed 'new hires' helped explore the annex basement levels!"
Kwak Je-gang asked slyly and persistently.
"No sense of déjà vu? Seeing that, did any similar knowledge or experience come to mind about what kind of work it was...?"
Silence.
"No sympathy?"
Silence.
"You're really stoic. But... then why did you help them?"
...
"Your assigned work area is clearly basement level 13. Well, I get that you used the loophole of not leaving the elevator..."
Kwak Je-gang's eyes glittered with ecstasy.
"What could be the reason you went that far to help!"
...
"Maybe you just 'felt like it'? A sense of duty to save people?"
...
"Haha, silence is a meaningful response too. Confusion? I'm curious if similar results come out even if I adjust the variables just a tiny bit... Hm?"
I raised my hand and pointed to room 666.
Precisely, the old TV in the ceiling corner.
The exact spot where the employee training video had played.
"...Oh."
And with smoke, I formed one sentence.
A line from the training video.
Because I reproduced the font too, Kwak Je-gang recognized it immediately.
"Aha, indeed!"
The sound of the researcher frantically scribbling something on his tablet PC echoed.
"Because of the training video, very... haha, this is something. Mild? Tolerant? Discipline and order as key words! Right. For a special department employee's... haha, got it."
And the pen stopped, a sly voice emerging.
"But you wasted effort. The participants you helped..."
He raised both hands and shook them like a surprise.
"Weren't fellow employees. Haha!"
...
I know.
"Not new hires, just test subjects!"
It wasn't even the Field Exploration Team's orientation to begin with.
A research experiment project inspired by that format, with the same name.
They weren't real new hires.
To be precise, they were applicants who applied for the entry exam to become new hires but failed for various reasons.
But they were tricked into thinking they'd passed for the department they applied to, via email.
The reason...
"Like part-timers recruited as experimental samples!"
Civilian exploration record supplement.
Planned to gather meaningful additional info from Darkness lacking general civilian exploration cases without prior knowledge.
Selected apt failed applicants and ran a simulation in the form of a new employee orientation similar to what passers receive.
The company couldn't carelessly export its held Darkness to civilians.
So the company's exploration records were accumulated by the Field Exploration Team, experts in Darkness Exploration.
There was a new hire orientation throwing somewhat civilian-like new employees into Darkness, but those used were screened ones to verify skills.
So one researcher had a brilliant idea.
-Recycle the applicants!
No need to recruit subjects separately while avoiding public eyes; perfect timing for easy supply of experiment participants.
Of course, it wasn't pure scam.
There was deception-like compensation.
Failed applicants who successfully complete missions in this experiment can be specially hired into the Field Exploration Team as official employees.
Thus, the company's official pretext was this.
'Create additional passers and give them a chance to join.'
So...
"Well, you might meet them as fellow employees later..."
Those who complete the 'mission' and survive this experiment get a chance to join, so in a way, it was no different from orientation.
And I know.
'Jang Heo-un' passed.
...
Was it really Jang Heo-un?
"Hm. Want to meet again?"
I tried to recall the faces of the three new hires I met earlier.
I couldn't remember. They were melting mosaics.
"Any preferred age group or gender for colleagues?"
I couldn't remember voices either. Like low-quality radio static.
"Preferred corpses?"
I turned to Kwak Je-gang.
"No preferences? Not even one? Really?"
...
I raised my hand.
Kwak Je-gang beamed at the moving smoke.
"Yes! Communicate with language like that..."
"...Ah."
From room 666, from inside my head, the announcement started flowing.
The sound signaling my end of shift.
Your shift has ended. Return immediately. Your shift has ended. Return immediately...
"No, this interview is more like light..."
"..."
Smoke rose from beneath my feet.
Kwak Je-gang shut his mouth. I could see the tense shoulder muscles of the security team members standing around.
Invisible, but I felt the isolation barrier set up between me and Kwak Je-gang for safety...
However, in basement level 13, my security zone, I knew I could ignore it and discipline that researcher.
"...Haha! Right. Contract-guaranteed rest time must be strictly observed! I agree completely."
I could see Kwak Je-gang smiling through the dripping mosaic.
The poise of an experienced Darkness researcher.
Knowing the timing.
"Have a good rest. ...You have plenty of time!"
But not a particularly regretful tone.
From the center of the security team, Kwak Je-gang laughed, waving cheerfully with handwritten interview notes in hand.
"I'm your dedicated researcher."
...
"I'll help with all sincerity from now on. For a long, long time... looking forward to working with you. Haha... even in your new assignment."
A while later.
I opened my eyes not in the annex basement level 13, but somewhere else.
In my new workplace.
Kwak Je-gang tapped the keyboard amid ecstasy rising to the top of his head.
Recording experiment results was pure joy.
Especially when irregular results emerged from numerous test subjects' various interactions like this!
"Hahaha, to think this could happen—what kind of contract did they make with something like this..."
Kwak Je-gang peered into the PC with his grinning eyes.
There was a simple experiment log cleanly transcribed from his handwritten notes.
"To actually meet like this."
When Executive Director Cheong first assigned him the 'special task,' he'd hoped just in case.
But to think it really appeared!
Kwak Je-gang recalled the employee who interrogated him, with bizarre horns, gas lamps, and thick smoke.
That bizarre entity summoned using the shortest-promoted Field Exploration Team member as bait.
Of course, compared to then, the entity he met again now seemed somewhat mechanical and restrained...
But wasn't he dying to know why!
'Some side effect?'
Truly fascinating!
Especially analyzing the tendencies shown in this experiment.
He couldn't contain himself as he looked at the annotation he'd added.
This was it.
"This'll get 100% censored."
Words like 'researcher's personal opinion' would get included, or the whole thing deleted.
Well, no surprise since a whole employee went into the special department employee's contract as a mountain sacrifice, but the identity was the issue.
"They won't want to reveal it was the elite employee with the shortest promotion record."
Especially if some crazy researcher figured it out without being told...
Kwak Je-gang shrugged, recalling that fascinating employee... Kim Sol-eum, and moved his hands faster over the keyboard.
The next part was even more fun!
He hummed, recalling the annex basement security personnel turned into corpses.
They were slowly being repaired by Darkness, but as if suffering aftereffects, they went through confused, bizarre mutation states.
Security team members showed special reactions occasionally just from proximity, as if getting contaminated.
Kwak Je-gang grinned.
"What fun guys."
...So, inevitably.
A fun idea came to mind.
And thus!
And thus, certifying the entity suitable for full special department duties.
"Hahaha!"
However.
Kwak Je-gang was thrilled.
This was already approved upstairs.
With personnel he specially selected.
Thus.
"...Ah."
130666 would meet two security team employees in its reassigned new workplace.