To be honest.
One month after joining the company.
Unexpectedly, this major ghost-story corporation was… actually not a bad place to work…!
"Wow, this is insane, another clear in thirty minutes!"
"Don't they seriously have better results than Team C?"
Who would have thought the day would come when I'd hear those contrived lines that sounded like something a background extra in some WTube web drama would say in real life.
"Hey, enjoy it. This is all your achievement."
Lunchtime.
The Assistant Manager, who had boldly gone and gotten both the cafeteria's A and B menu options, spoke breezily.
For reference, we had already handled one case this morning too.
"Thanks to Roe Deer, even I've managed to pull off crazy shit like clearing twelve new Darknesses in a month."
"No, sir. It's all thanks to your guidance."
"What guidance? I'm just riding the bus just fine."
"That's right. I'm buying beef for you today, Senior Soleum."
"Minseong… no matter what, that's a bit much."
"Aw, come on, why not! If you're doing that well, you're basically all my senior anyway."
When a superior throws out jokes like that, it's surprisingly hard to react in a way that doesn't come off as offended….
But maybe it wasn't a joke and he meant it, because instead of waiting for my reaction, the Chief just excitedly showed me a screenshot of his monthly point accumulation record.
"I'm already at 5,000p!"
That's right.
[Chief Park Minseong / Accumulated Points: 5200p]
Which was also the number of points I had earned in one month.
"That speedrun strategy really did work…."
To think my survival movement would turn into this.
Most of the Darknesses had been either F-rank or D-rank, which was why this had been possible in the first place.
"It looks like higher-rank ones don't come up that often."
Then again, if they did come up often, the worldview probably would have already closed the book with, "And that was how the world ended."
Anyway, my superiors looked even more thrilled than I did. Maybe it was more fun because it was somebody else's business.
"This is probably the shortest time for a new employee result in company history, isn't it?"
"Oooooh!"
Ah, come to think of it, I had barely seen any of the other new hires from my batch.
I supposed it was because I was going in and out of the Research Team office on the seventeenth floor every day, so I actually saw the other Field Operations Teams less often.
"As for Baek Saheon, we're treating each other like the other doesn't exist."
To be honest, I had occasionally kept up the crazy-bastard persona I'd established once by throwing out the occasional work-related joke that crossed the line.
-You're going into Darkness exploration today too, right? Want to bet on how many civilians died?
-....
The researcher who gambled had inspired me. Thank you.
Anyway, seeing how Baek Saheon gritted his teeth and completely ignored me without responding at all, it seemed to be working quite well.
"Things are going smoothly."
I set down the bowl after drinking the last of the galbitang broth.
Leaving work on time, getting bonuses too.
"The cafeteria's decent as well."
In a lot of ways, it felt like the sort of company that would get above a 3.5 rating on some site like Getting Hired Korea.
Except for the crushing stress that came from feeling like I was spending every night in a haunted house with ghosts appearing every single day….
"If this had been the old me, I'd never have done something like this even if I died, and yet here I am doing it to make a living… hm. This is just ordinary working life."
Even the part where the sense of fulfillment from producing results somehow made you mistake it for something manageable was exactly the same.
"Roe Deer."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje spoke in a low voice.
"At this point, people upstairs have probably started talking."
"…Pardon?"
"About your performance."
"...."
"Once might be skill or luck. But when it happens about ten times, it stops being that."
The Assistant Manager narrowed her eyes and grinned.
"There's definitely going to be someone higher up who'll want to single you out and take a look, so if that happens, make sure you tell us. Tell the Team Lead too."
Hmm.
If this were a normal company, I might have worried it meant someone was going to steal my results, and maybe tried to quietly let it pass without saying anything.
But this was a ghost-story worldview, and this was coming from a superior whose life I had once saved.
So I obediently nodded.
"Yes."
"Good. Though honestly… no, even just looking at him, our Team Lead is a bit extraordinary, isn't he."
Our gazes drifted toward Manager Lee Jaheon, who had already wolfed down his meal and was leaving the cafeteria.
"If you get some ridiculous offer or something, he'll probably cover for you at least once if you ask."
That lizard?
"…Yes."
"Okay. Anyway, Roe Deer really does catch on fast."
The fact that I hadn't really been convinced and had only nodded along should probably stay a secret going forward.
That aside… people upstairs might start talking, huh.
As I got up after putting my tray away, I thought,
"At this point, it can't be helped if I stand out."
I had already half given up on that.
Not that I would have had much choice after seeing a clown leap out of a portrait and crawl around with only its upper body—I'd probably already have fainted otherwise….
Still, I had something I was counting on.
"They can't really give a rookie work harder than this, can they?"
If it went beyond this level, it would stop being dumping grunt work on me and start becoming actual core duties.
Assigning a new hire, not even an experienced transfer, to handle a department's core work after just one month at the company?
This wasn't some insane bullshit from WTube. By the unwritten social rules of a major corporation, that was simply impossible.
I just needed to think of myself as being unusually lucky that my workload had developed in the direction of "Ghost Stories without manuals."
And if it kept going like this, the higher chance was that people would simply get used to it and start thinking, Ah, that kid's specialized in that side of things.
"Then shall we head back?"
"Yes."
Having come to a conclusion, I returned my tray.
But at that moment, having gotten used to the worldview and office-worker life and been buried in it, I had forgotten one thing.
An unchanging truth of social life.
Namely….
The nail that sticks out gets hammered down!
At the same time, in the office of Research Team 1.
"They escaped in the one-hour range again…."
A certain researcher, idly wasting company salary while looking over Group D's records, ground his teeth.
"Have they made about 5,000p by now?"
At that pace, in just one month, it really seemed possible they might break the shortest record within a few years and end up receiving a Wish Ticket….
"...."
"Must be nice, huh?"
The researcher grumbled.
"Some people work in the lab looking at all kinds of horrible shit and don't even get hazard pay, so it's hard for them to earn even 500p in a month."
"...."
"And some rookie makes 50,000 points in one month…."
"Ahem, let's stop there."
The researcher clamped his mouth shut.
The reality of not even being able to voice his dissatisfaction in a situation like this made his insides start boiling with resentment.
Something was wrong.
"There are guys who luck into pulling good weapons and go around earning points easily."
And some people couldn't even dream of it because they had neither points nor access rights.
"Researchers should be more elite and treated better than Field Operations people who roll around risking their bodies—is this really right?"
It was deeply unfair.
The researcher sincerely thought so.
Conveniently forgetting, of course, that he himself had mocked Field Operations employees by calling them lab rats.
"Well, when the timing lines up, cases happen where Darkness exploration goes this well."
Kwak Jegang, smiling, casually tossed the remark at the researcher.
"Though even so, this is still impressive."
"...."
Pretending not to see the researcher lift his head with an expression like he'd bitten into shit, Kwak Jegang flipped through the papers again.
"Ah, I heard this next Darkness requires at least ten people?"
"...."
"Chief Lee?"
"Ah, yes. Apparently so. They say ten people have to gather before you can enter the Darkness."
"Hm."
Still smiling, Kwak Jegang picked up a pen.
"Then this time it'll be team play."
-Team A, Team D, Team Y assigned.
"...."
The researcher watched Kwak Jegang pull out the organizational chart of the Field Operations Teams and mark the relevant groups.
That was when—
"Chief Lee."
"Yes?"
"Do you happen to know what the alphabetical order of the Field Operations Teams means?"
He didn't.
A person who was just slacking through his own job to keep his seat wasn't exactly going to be well-informed about another department's organizational structure.
Smiling, Kwak Jegang tapped the papers with the pen. It was somehow a strange smile.
"In short, it's rank order."
"…!"
"You know how even in schools kids have those things. Honors class, regular class, remedial class, that sort of thing."
The researcher suddenly realized.
"Then… does that mean Team D is an honors class?"
"No."
The denial came sharply.
"A through C. Those are the elites."
Kwak Jegang tapped those teams with his pen.
"The rest are all expendables."
"…Ah."
Just as he was starting to feel a little better for some reason—
"But, well. This is just between us, but… Team D's performance has been so good lately. I heard some rumors that if things keep going like this, something good might happen for them at the next round of appointments? Haha."
"…!"
As with all internal company gossip, wildly extreme stories usually weren't the most reliable rumors.
And yet the researcher suddenly felt uneasy.
"Isn't there any bad news?"
As though answering that hope, Kwak Jegang's mutter reached him.
His tone was deliberately regretful.
"But of all times, they get caught like this. Going in together with Team A… hm."
"…! I-is it bad to go in together with an elite team?"
"Well, obviously? Why, you know it too, Chief Lee."
Kwak Jegang rubbed his chin.
"There are Darknesses where an escape route only opens when there's sacrifice."
Especially….
If it was a Darkness that required a large number of people, all the more so.
Kwak Jegang shrugged.
"This exploration record is going to have plenty to talk about in all sorts of ways."
A few days later.
Having received the call as naturally as they had throughout the last month and gone up to the seventeenth floor, Group D was met with an unexpected sight.
"Good afternoon."
"…?!"
There were visitors in the Research Team 1 office already.
People wearing all sorts of masks.
"Other Field Operations Teams?"
I quickly counted heads.
Roughly seven people.
Among them was someone I recognized.
-Can the dead be brought back to life?
The new employee who had asked that question about the Wish Ticket at the welcome party.
That very new employee, wearing a cow mask, stood quietly leaning against a desk with his head lowered.
There was a somewhat gloomy air about him.
For a man, his hair was long enough that in an ordinary workplace he probably would have drawn stares over dress code issues.
Of course, no one here seemed to care about that sort of thing.
"Ah."
"This is… hm."
Just as Group D's seniors were giving short reactions that were hard to tell apart from sighs or admiration as they looked over the people filling the office—
"Oho, our Group D has finally arrived too. Welcome, welcome~ Now then, let's get right into today's briefing."
Kwak Jegang appeared and started leading everyone into an attached meeting room.
As we moved, I heard the Assistant Manager asking,
"We're entering together with other teams?"
"That's right, that's right."
"...."
The Assistant Manager glanced around, then came back near me and spoke in a voice too low for the others to hear.
"You see those employees wearing masks marked with gold?"
"Yes."
"That lot is Team A."
I know.
"That's the elite team."
Baekilmong Co., Ltd. was structured so that someone had to clear Ghost Stories for raw materials to come out and for the company to function.
"If the setting was going to avoid collapsing under the plot hole of 'the company should have gone bankrupt ages ago,' then it also needed Field Operations Teams that were inhumanly good and got inhumanly strong results…."
Which was why, in Darkness Exploration Record, it was one of the places with an unusually large number of named characters. I gave a slight nod.
Team A consisted of three people wearing strange butterfly, mantis, and mallard masks respectively.
At that moment, the person in the mallard mask from Team A acknowledged me.
It was the vigorous voice of a middle-aged woman.
"Ah, so you're that employee Kim Soleum?"
"Yes. Good afternoon."
I bowed reflexively, but cold sweat broke out on me.
That Kim Soleum? Just what kind of rumors were going around?
"Yes, yes. If we get the chance, let's take a look. You're a young man with a bright future ahead of you."
Then she passed by and took her seat.
…That woman was probably Team A's leader.
The Assistant Manager continued explaining.
"And… the ones in masks without the gold marks are Team Y."
"...."
Three people in masks without gold marks, along with the cow-mask rookie I recognized.
There was a vaguely gloomy air hanging over the team.
"Team Y's leader isn't a manager, just a regular employee, but just let it go and stay quiet for now."
"Yes."
That too… I already knew.
The Chief whispered to me.
"Mm… Roe Deer. The people from the other teams you're seeing today, especially Team Y, just deal with them moderately if you can. Got it? I'll tell you why later."
"Yes."
I nodded without protest.
Because I could already roughly guess what he would tell me later.
But then the Chief, who had been sitting down beside me, suddenly looked moved.
"Ha. I really… love that you're like a quick-on-the-uptake version of our manager."
"Me too."
"...."
That was… a compliment, right?
"Now then, if everyone's seated, I'll start the briefing right away."
Without even turning on a prompter, Kwak Jegang stood before the meeting-room board.
"I was going to explain the Darkness we'll be entering today… but!"
Manager Kwak Jegang gave a genial laugh.
"To be honest, we don't know anything either."
"…??"
"What do you mean by that, Manager Kwak."
"It means we only have exactly one piece of civilian escape information!"
"...Hah."
In the silence, papers were distributed.
I looked down at the page I received, which was barely more than a memo.
-All college students (12 individuals) who were playing a board game during their club MT at Hanmaeumgadeuk Pension in Gangwon Province disappeared.
The board game in question bears the trademark title "A Fun Theme Park! ~A Delightful Fantasyland Trip~" and is presumed to have been developed by Cheerful Lab*.
The survivor stated that the board game "had already been placed inside the pension."
The pension owner denied this.
Result: Partial return of some individuals after 17 hours.
Testified that they "had stayed in the theme park inside the board game." Showed various symptoms including mental confusion, PTSD responses, mild neurosis, and more.
-Survived 4, Missing 1, Dead 7
On the next page were short statements from each survivor about the "theme park inside the board game." Perhaps due to the severity of the trauma, the descriptions were extremely fragmented.
But even that was enough to feel painfully familiar.
I swallowed.
"It was about time this one showed up."
It had finally come.
A Darkness that absolutely required large-scale participation!
"So the board game's player capacity must be over ten? Is that why you put together such a large group?"
"Yes, yes, we tried to reproduce the environment as closely as possible."
Kwak Jegang winked.
"Even so! Doesn't it say a lot that our team has managed to determine a reliable entry method under such terrible conditions?"
"You just brought the board game, didn't you?"
"Haha! That's cold, Assistant Manager Jin. We even figured out the game rules."
The employee from Team A in the butterfly mask did not answer, and Kwak Jegang, unbothered, placed the board game on the table.
"Here it is."
[A Fun Theme Park!]
~A Delightful Fantasyland Trip~
:Board the three fantasy attractions with your teammates as quickly as possible and receive a prize!
On the front of the box, which looked almost brand-new, was an image of a colorful Fantasy Land.
When it was opened, I could see an illustrated map of the theme park divided by zones, along with colorful coins.
"Now then, all that remains is to divide into teams and begin the board game."
He really did say let's hurry up and enter that Ghost Story where more than half the people died in an awfully cheerful tone.
"Then should we just form teams by group?"
"Ah, well… when you draw a game piece from this capsule machine here, the teams are divided according to the color!"
Manager Kwak Jegang took out and displayed the little capsule-like object from one side of the box.
"It says that if you shake it, a piece will drop out through this hole."
"So it's random."
In the end, everyone sighed and shook the capsule one by one, drawing out a piece.
"Blue, yellow, red… is it."
Naturally, things like this tended to go by seniority, so my turn came almost last.
What I drew was….
"Employee Kim got red."
Of all things, it was the red piece.
It didn't feel especially good, as red was an ominous color in a ghost-story worldview.
"Well, in this Ghost Story, color itself doesn't actually matter that much."
Because even if you drew the same color, different things could still happen depending on the situation.
I swallowed and tensed up.
Anyway, were we entering now?
"Now then, once the board is unfolded, entry will begin!"
But even when Manager Lee Jaheon unfolded the game board as the representative, nothing happened.
"...."
Hm?
A thought flashed through me like lightning, and I counted the number of people.
Four yellow, four blue.
And the people who had drawn red, like me, were….
The butterfly mask addressed as "Assistant Manager Jin" from Team A, and the rookie employee from Team Y whom I recognized.
Including me, that made three.
"...."
Ah.
"The red team's numbers don't match."
"One person is missing."
Manager Lee Jaheon turned his vertical pupils toward Kwak Jegang.
"It seems entry is impossible with eleven. We will need to fill all twelve and try again."
"Ah, that?"
Kwak Jegang answered as if it were nothing and then tossed the capsule holding the game pieces.
"Chief Lee. Catch this!"
At the gambling-addicted researcher standing right next to him.
"Uh, uh…?!"
The researcher caught the capsule on reflex.
Rattle.
From inside it, the remaining red piece came out.
"…!?"
"I-I drew it!"
Wait a second.
-We're departing for Fantasy Land~
The board game board flew up into the air and swallowed my vision.
"Aaaagh!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
I could hear the researcher screaming by my ear.
And Manager Kwak Jegang laughing too.
"...."
I recalled the back-page entry from the wiki for that man's Darkness Exploration Record profile.
---------------------=
A psychopath fascinated by Ghost Stories.
A mad scientist.
When exploring Ghost Stories that still lack sufficient information, he is a first-class contributor to richer exploration records thanks to his insane habit of encouraging combinations and actions that are obviously going to get people killed, in order to produce unusual data.
Kwak Jegang's disciplinary record can be found on the
#Exploration Record (Extra) page.
---------------------=
…I had been wary that a day like this would come eventually.
"What the hell is this?!"
I'd had my suspicions the moment it was a large group and Teams A and Y were both here….
"He deliberately sabotaged the survival rate."
This wasn't a setup aimed at clearing the Ghost Story with the most survivors.
It was a setup where everyone except Team A was supposed to die.