Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: The Elite Team Offer
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Elite Team.
In Daydream Corporation, a company that valued Field Exploration Team members' lives less than B-grade Dream Essence solutions, this was the rank where they finally began appraising you as a "long-term valuable employee."
You were given a private office and placed on a separate pay scale. On top of that, new categories opened up in the welfare mall.
Above all else...
They assigned you an employee from the cleanup crew to use like an extra life in an emergency.
While it was a policy that soured one's mood, no one could deny that it certainly raised survival rates...
And right now.
The Development Division Director before me was making me an offer.
"A proposal to expand the number of Elite Teams just happens to be steadily coming up... Wouldn't the picture look nice if D Squad took that spot?"
She was saying she would turn D Squad itself into an Elite Team.
She would keep my current work environment intact while overwhelmingly upgrading my treatment.
"The alphabet fits perfectly in sequence too, and it would make administrative procedures far more convenient in many ways."
"...".
"Pick one employee you would like to work with. Or you could draw up a shortlist of two or three candidates and hand it over."
Hold on.
I couldn't follow this flow at all...
"Thank you, but... why are you extending such a major offer to me?"
To put it bluntly, if she had said she wanted to send Squad Leader Lee Jaheon to an Elite Team, I would have understood.
From what I remembered, he was originally slated to lead an Elite Team briefly before being promoted along a different track.
But why... was she framing it around me?
'Leaving the squad leader aside and calling in a newbie to say this is just weird.'
I knew I had achieved outlier results like creating manuals and extracting A-grade solutions twice, but there were other named explorers who cleared ghost stories in even more absurd ways.
Those exploration records had to accumulate to form manuals in the first place.
Yet not a single one of them ever heard anything like "I'll turn your whole team into an Elite Team for you~."
'This is strange.'
Anyone could see this situation was unnatural.
"I'm just a mere newbie. I receive plenty of points and allowances from the company for the work I do, and rapid promotions alone are already..."
"Junior Manager Sol-eum. Have you ever heard the name Yoon Joohun?"
My back nearly froze over.
I barely managed not to show it on my face, only replying in a tone fitting someone tense over the situation.
"...Is he an employee?"
"That is correct."
Director Cheong replied readily, smiling faintly as she looked at me.
"In fact, he was a junior manager newly appointed to D Squad in this recent regular personnel shuffle."
"...".
"However, even if you run a search through the company database now, nothing will come up. He probably isn't in your memories either."
I didn't react.
"High-grade darkness sometimes contains such properties—where anyone who 'fails' has their very existence erased. However..."
Director Cheong set down her documents, then lifted something from beneath the desk.
A Dream Essence Collector.
"The Dream Essence Collectors of deceased employees are repatriated back to the company."
"...!!"
"Though a pity, it is a self-powered model that runs on the Dream Essence collected right up until the moment of death. And..."
Director Cheong flicked the tip of the recorder.
"It includes a lightweight audio recording function as well."
"...".
"Therefore, even for employees erased from reality, their exploration logs can still be reviewed and referenced within this company."
Good heavens.
"I imagine someone like you might have wondered at some point: 'Just how are the records of dead employees referenced in the manuals?'"
Hold on.
Right. Naturally, the exploration results of dead employees were recorded in the <Darkness Exploration Records> as well.
It was only natural. To build the atmosphere of a ghost story, logs where the explorers were completely wiped out were a necessity. That was the most effective way to inspire horror!
Records regarding employees and objects whose very existence had been erased were completely intact.
However...
'A wiki is written from an omniscient point of view anyway.'
And the reason why that was possible had been conceptually handwaved in a rough manner.
Just like that.
They deliberately avoided detailing what specific items or methods were used in order to prevent lore conflicts...
So even when I fell into this world, I glossed over that blank spot naturally.
After all, this place was originally a creative universe based on a wiki!
'To think there was such a concrete, solid piece of lore behind it...'
In that instant, all the questions I had previously brushed aside as "just how the world is set up" rushed back into my mind all at once.
Could it be that all of them had plausible, additional background lore attached?
In this exact manner?
Right when my mind was growing tangled with thoughts.
'...!'
Right.
Right now was the time to focus on the conversation.
Fortunately, my agitation remained at the level expected of an "employee discovering the company's secret trade secrets," and the director continued speaking.
"Based on this audio log, Junior Manager Kim Sol-eum appears to explore and conquer darkness in quite a unique fashion."
"...".
Junior Manager Yoon Joohun must have realized that I had turned into a student.
"Becoming a part of the urban legend yourself. 'Assimilation'—a method that the ordinary, being cowardly and lacking wisdom, could never dare to choose..."
What terrifying words are you saying...?
"At any rate, even such exploration logs are being gathered without a single gap... That was what I wished to share with you."
Director Cheong looked at me.
"How about it? Is it more systematic than you thought?"
"...".
"I've heard that there are employees who claim this company is run haphazardly."
Th-this... made cold sweat break out on my working-man's back.
"I've met and spoken with some of them before. Most of them were clever folk."
Her voice sounded benevolent somehow.
"Yet as you stay longer, you will come to realize that there is no corporation in this world with rewards and punishments as clear and rational as ours."
"...".
"As long as your abilities are outstanding, making a mistake or two won't stop you from smoothly climbing to the top."
I never once affirmed her words.
Yet Director Cheong smiled as if I had replied, 'I will think positively about it, Director!' and dismissed me.
"You may go. Do give Section Chief Lee Jaheon my regards as well."
I feel like "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down" fits much better...
I returned to the D Squad office feeling thoroughly soul-drained.
It felt as though I had read a plausible pseudoscience book, only to realize that it was actually real life...
Unable to hold back any longer, I spoke to Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
"Section Chief."
"Yes."
"What I just went through wasn't an interview."
"I see."
"...".
"...".
"Do you require assistance?"
"Yes."
"Explain."
I poured out everything that had happened as if spitting rap lyrics.
Director Cheong's remarks, the Dream Essence Collector, the vanished D Squad employee.
And even the offer I had received!
'Section chiefs probably already know about the Dream Essence Collector anyway.'
Besides, I knew Section Chief Lee Jaheon wasn't the kind of person who would get furious at a newbie receiving an unprecedented offer over his head, nor would he gaslight me so he could become an Elite Team leader himself.
After all... he was a lizard.
"I see."
True to form, the lizard simply nodded his head.
"Do you require my advice?"
"Yes."
"Decline."
"...!!"
He arrived at a conclusion in one shot just like that?
"I would appreciate it if you could tell me the reason."
"Yes. Managing Director Cheong Dalrae is an entity with a powerful sense of ownership over the company."
"...".
Meaning she thinks of this company as her own?
No, wait a minute.
"Did you just say 'entity'?"
"Yes."
That was a remarkably suspicious designation.
"...Could it be that Director Cheong isn't human?"
"I cannot answer that."
"...".
You might as well have just told me she isn't...!
At the very least, I knew for certain that there was something shady about Director Cheong.
Well, she is a ghost story company director after all!
"A-Anyway, please continue."
"Yes. Therefore, if Managing Director Cheong Dalrae sees an opportunity to bind a capable entity to the company she considers her own, she will not hesitate."
"...!"
"During this process, there is a high probability that an act triggering severe ethical repulsion within Junior Manager Kim Sol-eum's moral standards will occur."
Good grief.
"Do not take the risk. There is also a high probability that you will be placed into an Elite Team within six months regardless."
"...Even if that means leaving D Squad for another?"
"Yes."
"...".
"Do you wish to remain in D Squad?"
"If possible, yes."
"I see."
Newbie or not, you really don't seem disappointed in the slightest, Section Chief...
What a remarkably consistent human... no, lizard.
'Well, I wasn't expecting much anyway.'
In any case, he wasn't a lizard who would deliberately try to deceive me, so I could just take his words at face value.
"Thank you for your kind advice, Squad Leader."
"Yes."
Hm.
After a moment of hesitation, I asked.
"Um, by any chance, do you have any desire to become the leader of an Elite Team, Squad Leader?"
"I have no preference."
Meaning he didn't care one way or the other.
Which also meant it was of zero help to my decision...
'This is driving me crazy.'
I exchanged a few more words with Squad Leader Lee Jaheon after that, but there were no distinct gains.
My worries had only deepened.
'An Elite Team, huh...'
Section Chief Lee Jaheon advised me to decline in the name of logic and reason, but corporate life was often governed by irrationality and emotions.
Why else would Section Chief Lee Jaheon have so many enemies in the company, with A Squad's leader glaring at him with murderous intent every single time they crossed paths!
'I appreciate the advice, but it's hard to approach it that way...'
To begin with, the executives of a ghost story company didn't seem like the type where 'no' was an option.
Dodging it like I did with A Squad's leader wasn't likely to work. The fact that Director Cheong explicitly brought it up meant trying that would get me screwed.
"Haah..."
No, why did I have to agonize like this even when promised a promotion and unprecedented benefits...!
'I want to resign from this ghost story company so badly...!!'
Ultimately, that evening.
I ended up clocking out in a state of complete mental exhaustion...
"...".
It had been a long time since I felt so thoroughly drained, even though I hadn't gone on an exploration into darkness and had simply holed up in the office writing reports.
'...Yeah.'
Meeting with a high-ranking official, learning worldbuilding lore, receiving a wild offer...
'Exhausting...'
I crashed on the living room sofa as soon as I washed up.
Hot chocolate... wasn't in this house, but having a cup of honey water didn't sound bad...
After placing Brown on the dining table, I boiled water in the kettle and produced honey water.
I planned to sip it mechanically and carry on a light conversation with my back slightly turned toward Brown...
A secret?
After taking a deep breath, Brown spoke dramatically.
"...".
A secret... is it?
At any rate, his intention to comfort me seemed unmistakable, so I responded with sincerity.
"What was... so shocking?"
The shadow of the rabbit doll caught in my peripheral vision seemed somehow slumped.
D-Did it really warrant that much?
It was in a dream anyway.
My guess was that since Brown wasn't just a piece of luggage but an entity of equal standing, he might have required a separate ritual to enter.
'Regardless, you don't need to worry about it. Things like that won't happen often in the future.'
.......
That... might be true.
In the first place, perhaps I wouldn't have been spotted by Junior Manager Yoon Joohun at all.
If Brown had turned off the lights for me.
From behind my head came a sound—as if someone were pacing nervously across the floor in leather shoes, lost in thought...
And then, it came to an abrupt halt.
Brown spoke in a polite and friendly voice.
Ah.
'That.'
.......
.......
"Shall we do that?"
I agreed readily!
Seeing my good friend so happy lifted my mood a bit.