Suddenly, I spotted dozens of Daydream Researchers at Segwang Special City Subway station.
And this insane reality where our eyes met.
'Damn.'
I reflexively brought my hand to my face.
What was hanging there was a mask with horns protruding like tree branches, just like always.
What that means is, I was wearing the exact same outfit as when I worked as Roe Deer.
'Shit...!'
There would definitely be researchers who'd recognize me.
'I didn't enter Segwang Special City in my alien lizard body in case it might cause problems.'
Even though that strength might have been helpful, I gave it up for safety.
It might affect my sleeping mind.
But instead, I ended up facing this mentally unhealthy emergency situation.
"What?"
"Field Investigation Team?"
The moment researchers started poking their heads out from beyond the fence, following the voice of the person pointing at me.
'...Wait a minute.'
I turned around and changed masks.
From a roe deer to a feline.
To the mask of my newly received identity.
"...Huh?"
The researcher who had been pointing at me made a dumbfounded expression and then shouted.
"Huh? W-wait. That field worker... the mask changed!"
"What?"
"No, just now, definitely, like this... horn-like things. Hey! You just changed your mask, didn't you!?"
"I don't know what you're talking about..."
"No, no, I definitely saw it!"
"Could it be a hallucination?"
"Hallucination?"
"It really is Darkness after all, damn it!"
The researchers' attention immediately returned to their own situation rather than the Field Investigation Team with only testimony.
The researcher who had been pointing at me was still looking at me with an unconvinced expression, but I ignored him for now.
"Excuse me, what kind of Darkness is this exactly? And who are you?"
Phew.
"Actually, I don't know either."
"...!"
"To be precise, I've been trapped here so long that I can't tell you who I am."
Still, if I want to try to save them, this would be right.
I said seriously.
"But I remember one thing for certain. This place is dangerous, so please go down that way."
"What?"
And I pointed with my finger to the bottom of the stairs I had climbed up.
"...The subway?"
"Yes. Please go down here and board the train. Then you can secure at least minimal safety..."
"Ah, yes yes."
Suddenly, one of the researchers looked me up and down and interrupted.
"No, even if we listen to your story..."
"Tsk. Don't believe what a Contaminated One who's been missing long-term in a place like this says."
"Ah~"
"Let's keep our distance. Don't provoke them either. That's the best manual."
Telling them not to even talk to me, they pull people away from me and have conversations among themselves.
But soon the tone of those who grasped the seriousness from behind becomes increasingly urgent.
"Security Team call isn't working!"
"W-wait. It's not working?"
"That can't be right, the caller should work in any Darkness in principle..."
"That expensive thing can't possibly not work."
Eventually, one researcher who had been anxiously moving around in the group started pursuing responsibility.
I looked at the glossy coated employee ID card on his chest.
Research Team 2
Team Leader Choi Myungjin
Even a team leader was present at this scene.
It was also a name I'd seen several times in Darkness Exploration Records.
True to being an executive of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, he was a character who faithfully recreated the cliché of causing incidents and accidents through cost-cutting.
But today he didn't seem to be that role.
"Section Head Gwak. This isn't your doing, is it?"
"What?"
"There should'nt be someone else besides you capable of pulling off this kind of crazy stunt!"
"Hahaha, what are you talking about, Team Leader Choi."
Kwak Jegang chuckles.
"These researchers have nothing in common except that they were all in the research building of the Annex, so why are you coming at me like this... Really, you're more like a politician than a researcher."
"What, what?"
"Come to think of it, I'm curious. Isn't there anyone who recognizes this Darkness? There must have been a problem with the Darkness our company possesses... If we just deduce the identity, wouldn't that be enough?"
"Ah!"
And all sorts of ghost stories with residential areas as backgrounds began pouring out of the researchers' mouths.
The woman at the corner, marble alley, the playground coming from over there, streetlight shadow play...
And gradually... they began to escape panic and even lose their sense of tension.
[Oh, friend, they're truly letting their guard down.]
Right.
'Once we figure out what kind of ghost story it is, we can just follow the manual, right? Then it's easy.'
That seems to be the kind of thinking.
It's arrogance.
'They've only ever pushed Field Investigation Teams or civilians into Darkness.'
It's an unconscious white-collar supremacist mindset that since those outsiders could do it, if they who know ghost stories well go in, they can naturally follow the manual and come out.
'...Phew.'
Let me try talking just one more time.
"Everyone, it would be better to have conversations at least on the platform..."
"Yes yes. Got it. Let's just work together. We heard you. Well... we won't stop you from watching what we do and following us to escape."
And they smirk.
"Seeing that no one here knows you, you seem to be from a branch office... don't think about giving advice to researchers as a field worker."
"..."
[Friend, do you wish to teach these people a lesson?]
No... never mind.
I just followed those researchers as they moved among themselves.
It was also because I had found something discordant in that group.
'Those two people.'
Among the people actively chattering, two figures slightly separated from the others.
Strangely, they were somewhat passive and had pale expressions.
'...That.'
And I recognized their appearance.
'Project dinner party.'
It was the appearance I had seen at Director Ho's Project achievement commemoration group dinner.
Most of the personnel were wearing masks, but there was also a table where those wearing masks without cognitive interference effects –like the Field Investigation Team's masks – were seated.
'Was that the research team table...'
Right. Come to think of it, it was natural.
Ho Yuwon, who didn't hesitate to even drag in Disaster Management Bureau agents to make this project successful, wouldn't have organized the project with only the Field Investigation Team.
'Naturally, he would have recruited a research team too, to study methods of entering the sealed Extinction-class Disaster.'
And now those people have revealed themselves in the heart of Segwang Metropolitan City.
'Phew.'
With a bad feeling, I finally made eye contact with the two people.
"...!"
As expected, they recognize me. They saw me wearing this mask at the dinner party.
So I slowly spoke with lip movements.
Like this.
'Director Ho's Project.'
"...!!"
'Report.'
"..."
The pale people, whatever they misunderstood me to be, looked at each other's faces, then one person urgently moved their lips.
I read the words from that movement...
Entry...method development accident....
'Accident during entry method development.'
'...!'
Wait a minute.
I looked at that with the feeling of being hit in the head. So...
'...Director Ho was continuously developing other methods to enter Segwang Special City!'
Right.
In a way, it's natural.
The Daydream Director, presumed to be Ho Yuwon, desperately tried to enter Segwang Special City through various methods even in the wiki.
Although he succeeded in entering through the well now, there are limitations to bringing out what's inside with that method, so it wouldn't be strange if he was still trying other methods.
Then is that... a success?
'No.'
If it were success, those researchers wouldn't be so pale. So this current situation is the result of failure.
They came together with all the nearby researchers, and judging by their expressions...
'They're missing.'
They were transported one-way to Segwang Special City.
Without an exit.
'...'
Meanwhile, another researcher also urgently looked around and moved their lips.
Please tell us how to get out please
...It was readable without needing interpretation.
Those who had already noticed that this was inside an Extinction-class supernatural disaster had been continuously pale.
My hair stood on end from the eeriness.
'Wait, so...'
All those research teams…
Did they get caught up in it and end up here in their real bodies?
Dozens of Daydream research teams are trapped... in the underground of Segwang Special City?
And at this station?
"Phew, we've narrowed down the possibilities for now."
Meanwhile, the researchers who finished their discussion were looking at the list of Darkness they had created.
"So thinking it's one of these three..."
Myungjin!
Team Leader Choi Myungjin of Research Team 2, who had quickly raised his head, almost looked toward where the sound came from, but stopped due to restraint from those around him.
"Team Leader?"
"Did you hear that sound?"
"Yes! It seems like this is Darkness where entities that mimic relatives inhabit."
"That's right! It seems like they're trying to lure us here."
"Ah... ah."
Team Leader Choi nodded.
"Right, we can actually use this as a hint to figure out what kind of Darkness this is. Narrow it down. Well, we might be able to get good data values from this opportunity too. Everyone think of it as experience..."
But.
"Myungjin, get out quickly!"
Creak.
One door in the residential area opened.
And from inside, a middle-aged woman with an urgent expression revealed herself, stamping her feet.
"Go to work quickly! Why are you at home, go somewhere else right now!"
As if desperately refusing rather than luring.
"..."
"...Everyone ignore it and quietly move to another place."
"Yes? Yes."
But several people among the research team, unable to contain their curiosity, observe the 'entity' that appeared from the residential area. That person with a very ordinary appearance is stamping their feet, not knowing what to do, waving their arms.
"Hurry, hurry!! You'll be late like this! Don't rest! Don't stop!"
It had begun.
"Please go back to the stairs now and go down to the platform..."
"That's noisy, really!"
I held back a sigh and moved my steps in tension. The two people from the project who had been looking at me earnestly try to walk close to me discreetly.
Clatter, clatter.
"Yeonhwa!"
The researchers walk through the residential area.
Another house door opens and an ordinary person's figure comes out and shouts.
Their eyes and nose are red as if they burst into tears.
"Dad... go to work quickly..."
"Unni, you can't be here, the sun's up, get out quickly! Run!"
"Darling, don't come home! You have to work!"
Doors open here and there around the moving researchers. And they cry out calling the researchers' names and titles, telling them not to come home.
Bewilderment, fear, and interest simultaneously appear on the researchers' faces.
For some people, the latter is greater.
"There seems to be some anomaly. Interesting! Could this ghost story be hiding something valuable in the house? So they're trying to drive us away..."
"Jegang."
"..."
"Don't walk, you should run. Hurry."
"Hyung! Go to the company quickly!"
"Eunha! You have work left, don't you? You do!"
Kwak Jegang smiled broadly.
"Hmm, how about someone try going into a house in reverse? We have to test it! I don't remember this kind of Darkness being registered with the company at least..."
"Please! Be quiet!" Team Leader Choi turned around furiously, spitting saliva, and shouted at Kwak Jegang.
"Then you go in! I have no intention of doing Field Investigation Team work like that grglglglglglglglglglglglglglglglglgl"
"..."
"..."
"Glglglglglglglglglglglglglglgl"
"Team Leader?"
The leader of Research Team 2 grabbed his own neck.
And began to twist it.
Crack, crack, crackle, with sounds his neck turns, and blood gushes from the mouth opening above the broken and twisted neck bones that have turned around.
Splash.
The researcher standing behind him suddenly got covered in blood pouring from the team leader's face that had turned the opposite way.
"Huh?"
...
"Glglglglglglglglgl"
The team leader also grabbed that researcher's head and turned it.
"Glglglglglglglgl."
The researcher struggles, screams, trembles all over. And also grabs and turns their own neck.
"Aaaahhh!!"
"What is it. What is it?!" The researchers fall down, scream, and scatter.
Looking up, you can still see the warm and clear residential area of midday, but in front of their eyes, bloodstains and screams fill up as pandemonium begins to unfold.
'Damn!'
The team leader and researcher with turned necks continue to move, chasing the still-living researchers.
"Ahhh!"
I reflexively rushed in to pull out one researcher and threw them back, but soon realized…
It was hopeless.
"Aaaahhh!!"
"There's one here too!"
The figures of relatives who had been shouting at them not to rest had disappeared at some point.
Instead, Neck-Twisted
Entities were walking out from every alley, twisting their bodies.
Stretching out both hands.
Their faces, peacefully closing both eyes, turned to where the back of their heads should originally be visible.
"What, what... hiiiiik!"
This situation like a crazy nightmare during a midday nap was exactly the ghost story of Midday Station.
Survivors who visited this station thinking of shelters upon seeing the nickname 'Nap Shelter' soon realized that napping at Midday Station meant eternal rest.
They ran through alleys looking for food and daily necessities, avoiding the drowsiness chasing them, but the bottomless obsession with rest and home did not let them go easily.
Mercifully until the very last person fell asleep.
Until peace found them all.
Do you know where that 'drowsiness' was hyperlinked to?
'Zombies'.
I finally vividly
understand the meaning of that expression.
'I thought since I was alone, I could kill myself and end it if necessary.'
Seeing this pandemonium makes me completely breathless.
[Oh, my goodness. Look at those filthy things! Friend, they'll ruin your appearance. Don't associate with them and let's go somewhere else!]
...Maybe I should do as he says.
While these people draw 'aggro', I might be able to look around for things worth finding at this station.
Most of the researchers are sociopaths anyway, so they might be able to comfort themselves...
"Ahhhhh!"
'Damn.'
Let's do it.
I pressed the tattoo near my heart, reflexively calling up the only way to avoid this situation.
'Just getting stronger isn't efficient'
If the description of 'Nap Shelter' is correct, they'll keep coming endlessly.
So, rather, it should be good for avoiding danger, good for hiding, and have a wide field of vision.
The only contamination among my tattoos that has a small form.
And...
something good for making others follow me.
Thud.
My body contorting, I transformed into a black cat and jumped onto the fence with short footsteps.
"Uhhhhhh?!"
"C-cat...!"
I eventually stood in front of the two project personnel who had been continuously chasing me and began to guide the way.
[This way]
"Ah...!!"
Let me try to save at least two of them.
'I need to get information.'
I drove them to places where
Neck-Twisted Entities appeared less frequently.
The two researchers looked at me, transformed into a cat, as if they couldn't believe it, but eventually began to follow.
"Save us, save... ughhhhhhh"
"Ahhhhh!"
"Huuuk, huk, I don't want to die..."
I continued
jumping onto fences, checking the safest route possible. Around corners, places without traffic lights, paths leading to shabby two-story buildings beside main roads.
'We have to get back to the platform!'
[This way]
The two people chase me frantically. But lacking athletic ability or stamina, they pant heavily, and one person staggers and bumps into someone at a corner.
"Ahh!"
"Lee Kyung!"
I tried to immediately push the fallen researcher up with my body, but it was too late.
"Uhhhglglglglgl."
Right before my eyes, their drowsy neck turns by itself and blood pours out.
'Fuck!'
I held back a scream and found the path again. The one remaining researcher, pale as a sheet, was chasing after me, and the moment I turned down another path, two other researchers, stained with blood, burst out of a small side alley, their eyes widening when they saw me.
"Section Head Gwak! Move!"
The researcher who had been following me shouted. But instead of listening, Kwak Jegang's eyes lit up as soon as he spotted me, and he started tailing me.
"Eek!"
And the researcher who had been with Kwak Jegang seemed to grit her teeth, but in the end, she also started following me in my black cat form.
"Heok."
[This way.]
As I ran, I tried to point out the safest direction to any other researchers I spotted, but it rarely worked.
And the path was getting harder and harder to traverse.
I get it.
The closer we got to the platform stairs and that direction, the more 'Neck-Twisted Entities' there were.
I couldn't breathe.
'Should I
duck into a house for a moment?'
But wouldn't that just get us isolated?
I narrowly slipped between two of the neck-twisted ones, climbed back onto a wall, and checked the path...
And on the other side of the wall, I found something.
A bright, silver, rectangular box.
A Fire Hydrant.
'...!'
That, maybe…
[This way.]
I guided the people I was leading toward the Fire Hydrant.
Then I hit the Fire Hydrant with my front paw.
"H-Here?"
[This way.]
"No, that's..."
"Don't get in the way, move!"
Kwak Jegang boisterously opened the Fire Hydrant and threw himself in first.
Once the rest of the people were inside, I too slipped through the gap in the Fire Hydrant.
Thump! The door closed.
Strangely, the inside of the Fire Hydrant was wider than it looked from the outside.
'Just as I thought.'
...Just as
Yeongeun had told me, the Fire Hydrants in the Segwang Special City Subway were indeed special spaces.
"Heok."
The researchers caught their breath.
[Quiet.]
The researchers clamped their hands over their mouths.
Thump, thump...
Outside the Fire Hydrant, we could hear the sound of something walking barefoot.
Until the sound passed, the three researchers, excluding Kwak Jegang, were desperately covering their own mouths...
[Clear.]
"Phew."
Only after my signal did the researchers let out sighs of relief, gasping for air.
And only then did I recognize the face of the researcher who had been with Kwak Jegang.
A woman with glasses and deep Dark Circles.
'...Assistant manager Lee Yeonhwa.'
She was pretty much the only researcher in this company who ever had ethical concerns.
In this ruined state of affairs, a hint of gladness and relief was about to rear its head when—
"...A black cat."
Assistant manager Lee Yeonhwa suddenly stared at me and muttered.
'...??'
"Manager Gwak, that, that entity, identification code qterw-a-1845, it's the black cat!"
Huh?
"An A-rank Darkness!"
Me?
"The one that saved people at the Mermaid Tomb, the entity that caused the Pony Temple's[1] Worship-type Contamination...!"
Ah.
[1] I have no clue what she’s talking about