Chapter 230
Chapter 230
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 230
Chapter Title: Director Ho
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Jolly Lab office.
Director Ho.
Black roulette.
Dangerous thing.
"Sol-eum...."
I reflexively covered Director Ho's face with smoke.
The man wearing the Jolly Lab employee ID is buried in black smoke, his silhouette vanishing. I try to read its background and settings. And thus erase him...
"Ah, I came out to inspect the security team... and happened to see the button for underground level 29 on the elevator. So I pressed it."
......
"Yes?"
I raised my hand and flicked the employee ID hanging from him.
"Ah."
Director Ho glances down at the employee ID and twists his lips into a smile.
"You're as sharp-eyed as ever. Even in that state?"
Director Ho mockingly scans my appearance, identical to the prototype security team uniform he once handed me, then continues.
"That's right. I have a Darkness I'm looking for too, so I come out for a stroll now and then. With this employee ID, I can navigate this hell relatively safely."
...Hell?
An odd word choice.
And more importantly...
"Sorry, but I don't see any reason to tell you... Ah, if you need it, shall I lend it to you? Want to try it on?"
Director Ho whispers kindly.
"When you wear this, you can see the Jolly Lab employees. I'll show you especially, Sol-eum."
......
I turned my body and resumed the search.
"Sol-eum?"
'No need to get involved anymore.'
I found one advantage to being something whose life was pawned to Director Cheong, not a human body.
I no longer had to fret and respond to that guy's words.
"Sol-eum?"
I pocketed the roulette in the uniform and continued scanning the office.
"Why take that? Is it a Darkness...? Ah, seems like it. I suspected as much, but you found it right away."
Director Ho continues languidly.
"Darknesses made by Jolly Lab recognize each other, I suppose?"
I stopped in my tracks.
Just now.
"I know you were born from Jolly Lab's final dream incubator."
"Of course, from our first meeting."
...!
"But you must have wished your wish wrong. Considering you contracted with Director Cheong."
I turned to look at Director Ho.
The bastard was smiling like a picture.
"Still, it's much better to be here like that. Daydream Corporation accepts you no matter what you look like. As long as you have utility value... like you, Sol-eum."
Casuitry.
And that form of address.
Don't call me by my real name.
"But Sol-eum, you are still Sol-eum, aren't you?"
Intentional?
My nerves stand on end at calling someone's real name in the heart of Darkness.
Especially if it's Jolly Lab.
And if the speaker is Director Ho, even more so.
"If it bothers you that much, I can change the nickname. Deer, perhaps?"
I stared at him.
"Silence means yes. Deer!"
"I know you're a very special existence, Deer. The last researchers at Jolly Lab staked their lives to call you and try to smuggle you out, and..."
Emotion vanishes from Director Ho's voice.
"The Disaster Management Bureau didn't do any intelligence activities, yet you could provide the information on Se-gwang Special City that I requested, as if you already knew it."
......
'So he did suspect.'
When I handed over the info and took the Wish Grant, I didn't care if he saw me as suspicious.
I didn't expect to meet again like this.
And I realized one thing.
'He doesn't know who I am.'
That I came from a world with only the [Darkness Exploration Records] wiki, no ghost stories.
While rummaging through Jolly Lab in this main building basement, whether they saw the experiment logs I did is unknown, but they don't know the details.
Which means...
He has the information I want to know.
And I have no intention or need to answer.
I resumed the search.
"Hey, how about we exchange? Tell each other our identities."
"Can I come along? It's scary wandering alone..."
"...It's fine. That only applies to full-time employees."
Director Ho smiles innocently again, like a bumbling employee.
"I'm a contractor, so it's okay. ...You're the same."
......If you can call a life eternally pawned a contract position.
"Deer?"
I left the office and moved on.
Footsteps chasing me from behind.
And a calling voice.
"Deer?"
......
"Come with me, Deer."
Reason: Interference with Duties
Cumulative Warnings: 1 / 2 Until Disciplinary Action
"......Are you going to discipline me?"
Reason: Interference with Duties
Cumulative Warnings: 2 / 1 Until Disciplinary Action
"Did someone tell you it's okay to do that to Deer? Director Cheong Dalrae? Researcher Kwak Je-gang? Security Chief J3? Park Minseong...."
Reason: Interference with Duties
I turned around and grabbed his throat.
"...!"
Execution
The smoke around Director Ho's neck covers his face again. Director Ho reaches out with his hand...
'No.'
I grabbed that hand with my other hand and crushed it.
......
......
"Ah, it touched."
Director Ho's hand joints twist grotesquely. It grabs the zipper on the wrist of my security suit and,
Ziiiiip.
pulls it down.
"You shouldn't say such things while wearing the shroud I made. You shouldn't say such things when our covenant still stands."
The long fingers' joints reach for the irregular flesh on the exposed forearm where the zipper is undone.
Blisters rise from the flesh.
"Man. You, hands..."
An attempt to invoke restraint.
However, the blisters rise more slowly than before, and the hand twists bizarrely.
Perilously.
'How dare you.'
I completely enveloped him in smoke. And before invoking restraint, I first read him.
Director Ho's records, affiliated with Daydream Corporation.