Friday Night, Behind the Mask
Friday already, six o'clock in the evening.
The week was winding down to its final hours, and the office corridors thrummed with that restless, buzzing energy only a Friday could bring — but our department stood apart from all of it, shoulders squared and minds elsewhere.
"Everyone ready?"
The moment Team Leader Jung asked, a chorus of answers erupted across the office.
"Yes, Team Leader!"
Where laptop bags usually sat on our desks, carry-on suitcases and backpacks had taken their place.
Everyone was packed and ready to go.
Today was the company's autumn team-building retreat — the annual fall retreat.
A one-night, two-day getaway departing straight after work. It felt like the college membership trainings of years past, except this time the attendees were adults carrying business cards instead of student ID badges.
Planning and running the whole event fell to our team. Four teams under the Marketing Division — Marketing Promotion, Field Support, General Affairs, and Credit Management — were all heading down together, but ours sat at the center of it all. Not a single detail of the schedule could be left to chance.
"The team dinner rosters are all confirmed, right?"
"Yes, Manager Kim! KTX seat assignments are done too."
Assistant Manager Park, one of our juniors, hurried over with a document folder in hand.
"Good. Then it's official — we're departing."
The destination: Mokpo, in South Jeolla Province.
On paper it was all about "strengthening teamwork," but the official theme was really a "famous restaurant tour." The city had been blowing up on TV shows and YouTube as a hot spot lately, and everyone was giddy about it.
Seoul Station's concierge was packed with the after-work crowd, and the scrape of suitcase wheels against the floor rolled on like a passing cloud. We did one final headcount and boarded the KTX.
Barely had we settled into our seats when someone piped up.
"This is literally giving school field trip vibes, right?"
"Then I should've packed gimbap and tangerines."
"Ugh... such a dad joke. But still, I'm excited. Hehe."
"Right there with you. A legit overnight stay for once — can't beat that."
As the train pushed south, the scenery outside the window shifted from gray Seoul sprawl to open blue fields.
About two hours in, the announcement came: This stop is Mokpo Station.
In an instant, a murmur rippled through the car.
"We're finally here!"
"Whoa, you can smell the ocean!"
Stepping onto the platform, the first thing that caught my eye was a great black crag of a mountain.
Yudalsan.
Above it, the marine cable car stretched across the water, suspended over the sea itself. Up close it was far more imposing than it had ever looked on a screen, and the wind carried a briny tang. Gull cries drifted in from somewhere far off, and the whole city seemed to breathe an unhurried, easygoing air.
A business trip that wasn't quite a business trip — but for once, my heart was light.
Dinner was crab meat bibimbap.
One of Mokpo's famed ten delicacies, the dish was all about carefully picking fresh crab meat and tossing it with sesame oil and a special house sauce. The moment the plates hit the table, every gaze at the table locked onto the bowl at its center.
"Damn, that looks insane."
"Hold up, photos first. Everyone wait."
Camera shutters clicked busily before a single spoon was lifted.
Team Leader Jung took one bite, and her eyes went wide as saucers.
"One more bowl over here, please!"
"Here too!"
"Me too!"
Like a spark catching dry tinder, extra orders erupted from every corner of the table.
It was, truly, a rice thief of a dish.
With the food tour behind us, we headed to our lodgings as evening settled in. The moment we filed into the hotel rooms, everyone dumped their suitcases and flung themselves onto the beds.
"Twenty minutes of rest, then we go down. The event starts right away."
The entire room groaned in unison.
Before long, the teams gathered again in the grand hall. A beam projector was already running on stage, and a professional MC hired for the evening had taken the mic with a cheerful grin.
"Did everyone enjoy dinner? Mokpo's finest delicacies — how were they?"
"Wuz d'licious, ya hear! Crazy good, ah tell ya!"
Applause and laughter burst out across the hall. Everyone was tired, but the smiles were genuine.
Then came tomorrow's schedule and the rundown for the team competition games.
"Tomorrow morning we're riding the Yudalsan cable car, so make sure you rest up! And go easy on the drinks tonight!!"
Laughter rippled through the seats at the joking admonition. This was the moment we'd all stepped outside the grind of daily work and laughed together.
"And now — the highlight of tonight's event! The Daehan Bank Masked Singer King!"
Every light in the hall swung toward the stage at once.
Murmurs, applause, cheers — and underneath it all, a faint current of tension.
That was when Assistant Manager Park came up to me.
"Manager, we have a problem."
"What is it?"
"Our team's contestant... Assistant Manager Lee Hyunsoo — he got rushed to the ER with severe stomach cramps."
"What?"
"There's no one to take his place. Every other team is ready to go, and if we're the only ones who bow out, Team Leader Jung will..."
"She'll go absolutely ballistic."
I clutched my head for a moment, thoughts chasing each other in circles. And then it surfaced — the ability I'd unlocked on the KTX ride down.
Effect: Steals the hearts of all who hear a single song.
Grade: ★☆☆☆☆
Warning: One-time use only.
I'd written it off as a useless ability.
Had it manifested all along just to be used like this? Or had the system engineered this exact situation on purpose?
No way. Me? Singing on a stage like that?
Absurd.
But... if I wore a mask, no one would ever know it was me.
And letting a one-time ability go to waste felt like a crime. One chance. One stage.
"Assistant Manager Park."
She looked up at me, eyes wide with confusion.
"The masks. Where are they?"
"I'm sorry?"
"I said, where are the masks?"
"Why do you— wait..."
"Somebody has to go on, so it might as well be me. And no one — no one — finds out I went up there!"
"Uh... understood! Manager, you are genuinely awesome!"
The stage lights blazed even brighter.
The tips of my fingers trembled faintly around the microphone. My heart was pounding like a war drum.
"Hoooooh."
And then, steadying my breath, I took one step forward.