Chapter 230: Ch 230: Into the depths..
The Cheerful Research Institute office.
Director Ho.
A black roulette.
Something dangerous.
"Soleum—"
Instinctively, I shrouded Director Ho’s face in smoke.
The man wearing a Cheerful Research Institute employee badge vanished
into the black fog, his silhouette swallowed. I tried to read its nature and
parameters, to erase him...
"Did you know? Killing me would violate company regulations."
...
"Maybe, if you had proof I was a threat to the company... but do you?"
...
I dispelled the smoke.
Emerging from it, Director Ho still wore that unchanging smile.
Leaving a trace of smoke around his neck as a precaution, I conveyed my
words.
Request for explanation of situation
"Ah, I was making rounds to check Security Team operations... and I just
happened to see the button for Basement Floor 29. So I pressed it."
...
Liar
"Yes?"
I raised my hand and flicked the ID card hanging from his neck.
Prepared in advance.
"Ah."
Glancing down at the badge, Director Ho’s lips curled in a crooked smile.
"Still sharp as ever. Even after ending up like this?"
He swept his gaze over me, as if mocking the security uniform prototype he
himself had given me, before continuing.
"That’s right. I come down sometimes too, looking for a certain Darkness.
With this badge, I can wander this hell in relative safety."
...Hell?
A strange choice of words.
But what was more important...
Origin of employee ID
"Sorry, but I don’t see any reason to tell you... Ah, unless you’d like to
borrow it? Want to try wearing it?"
Director Ho whispered kindly.
"If you put this on, you’ll be able to see the employees of the Cheerful
Research Institute. Just for you, Soleum-nim, I’ll let you see them."
...
I turned away and resumed my search.
"Soleum-nim?"
’No need to get dragged in anymore.’
I’d found at least one upside to being bound to Director Cheong while no
longer in a human body.
I didn’t have to flinch or answer to this guy’s words anymore.
"Soleum-nim?"
I slipped the roulette into the pocket of my uniform and kept inspecting the
office.
"Why are you taking that? Is it a Darkness... Ah, I thought so. I suspected it
too, but I guess you spotted it right away."
Director Ho’s tone was almost casual as he went on.
"Maybe Darknesses created in the Cheerful Research Institute can
recognize each other?"
I froze.
Just now.
"I know you were born from the Cheerful Research Institute’s last Dream
Incubator, Soleum-nim."
...
Question : Time of discovery
"Of course, from our very first meeting."
...!
"But I suppose you made a bad wish, seeing how you ended up contracted
to Director Cheong."
I turned to look at Director Ho.
He grinned at me with a smile that’s like a painting.
"Still, this is better for you. Daydream Inc. will take things in no matter
what form they’re in. As long as there’s value to exploit... Like you,
Soleum-nim."
Twisted logic.
And that name.
Request : Change of address
Do not call me by my real name.
"But Soleum-nim is still Soleum-nim, right?"
Was it deliberate?
Hearing my real name spoken in the middle of a Darkness made every
nerve stand on end.
Especially here, in the Cheerful Research Institute.
And even more so because it was coming from Director Ho.
"If it bothers you so much, I can change how I address you. How about Roe
Deer-nim?"
I stared at him.
"Silence means yes, then, Roe Deer-nim!"
Question : Things you know about me
"I know you’re someone very special. Special enough that the last
remaining researchers of the Cheerful Research Institute risked everything
to summon you and smuggle you out, and..."
Director Ho’s voice flattened, stripped of all expression.
"Special enough that, despite never running any intelligence operations, you
could tell me information about Sekwang Special Metropolitan City as if
you already knew it when I asked."
...
’So he was suspecting me.’
When I handed over intel and claimed my Wish Ticket, I hadn’t cared if he
found me suspicious.
I never imagined I’d run into him again like this.
But I realized something.
’He doesn’t know who I really am.’
That I’d come from a world without ghost stories, where this world existed
only as the <Dark Exploration Records> wiki.
Even if he’d seen the experiment logs I had read while rummaging through
this underground Cheerful Research Institute, he didn’t have the full
picture.
Which meant...
He wanted information from me.
And I had no reason—nor intention—to give him any answers.
I resumed my search.
"How about a trade? We exchange what we know. About who we really
are."
Not necessary.
"Could I come with you? I get scared walking alone..."
Statement of fear
► Grounds for disqualification as a Daydream employee
"...It’s fine. That only applies to regular employees."
Director Ho once again smiled kindly, like a simple-minded staffer.
"I’m a contract worker, so it’s fine. ...Just like you."
...If being permanently bound and having your life mortgaged could be
called ’contract work’.
"Roe Deer-nim?"
I stepped out of the office.
Footsteps followed behind me.
So did his voice.
"Roe Deer-nim?"
...
"Please, let me come with you, Roe Deer-nim."
Warning 1
Reason : Obstruction of duties
Cumulative warnings : 1 / Strikes left until disciplinary action : 2
"...Are you saying you’re going to discipline me?"
Warning 2
Reason : Obstruction of duties
Cumulative warnings : 2 / Strikes left until disciplinary action : 1
"Did someone tell you you could treat me this way? Director Cheong
Dallae? Researcher Kwak Jekang? Guard Sergeant J3? Supervisor Park Min
—"
Warning 3
Reason : Obstruction of duties
I turned around and grabbed him by the neck.
"...!"
Cumulative warnings : 3 / Strikes left until disciplinary action : 0
Execution
The smoke coiled around Director Ho’s neck surged upward, covering his
face once more. Director Ho reached out his hand, but...
’Nope.’
I seized that hand with my other hand, crushing it as if crumpling paper.
...
...
"Ah, I touched it."
[Goodness. Careful there, Friend!]
Director Ho’s fingers bent at unnatural angles. His hand gripped the zipper
at the wrist of my security suit—
Ziiiiiip.
—and pulled it down.
"You shouldn’t say such things while wearing the shroud I crafted for you.
While the covenant you made with me is still in place, you shouldn’t say
such things."
His long fingers, joints twisting, reached for the amorphous flesh exposed
as the zipper came undone.
Blisters rose on that flesh.
"Man. You dare lay your hand..."
An attempt to invoke a binding.
But the blisters swelled slower than before, his hand twisting unnaturally.
Barely restrained.
’How dare you.’
I engulfed him entirely in smoke. And before he could recite the binding’s
incantation, I read him first.
The record of Director Ho, employee of Daydream Inc.
Too much had been redacted.
What the hell is this? I should keep reading. And as soon as I read it, I erase
those absurdly grand paragraphs...
...
Wait.
Since when... could I recall the wiki page of someone who wasn’t on the
wiki?
What is this?
What kind of abilityisthiswhy can I editthis whatthehellwhat■
’No.’
It’s crushing me. This incomprehensible, bizarre ability that breaks the mind
of a human. My barely regained sense of self, my reason, is crumbling. I
have to let go...
[Oh, good heavens.]
Director Ho Yoowon and I pulled our hands away at the same time.
"Cough!"
I heard him pushing himself up from the floor. I hastily zipped up the open
zipper at my wrist, regained my form, and immediately struck him. A short
thwack echoed, and Director Ho Yoowon fell back to the floor, gasping for
breath...
...
"Ah, we’ve been discovered."
From the other end of the hallway.
Something began rushing toward us from the Darkness, accompanied by
screams.
[The office staff have noticed the commotion.]
I immediately turned and ran for the elevator. Director Ho followed close
beside me.
His face was swelling from the hit, blood dripping down one side.
"Wow, now we have no choice but to take the same way out, huh!"
This crazy bastard.
I tried to make it to the nearest elevator, but...
’Too far.’
The numbers on it flickered strangely. No telling when it would arrive.
Then...
Ding-dong.
I pressed the left-hand elevator call button again.
The one that went even deeper underground.
—-!!
A strange sound came from behind me.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, I stepped in and pressed the close
button.
Through the open elevator doors, I saw the lights in the hallway flick on
one by one from the far end...
Clack, clack, clack...
Darknesses vanished violently, step by step, as it approached.
Right before the lights reached the elevator.
Thunk.
The doors closed.
...Successfully sealed off from Basement Floor 29.
’Huu.’
"Congratulations. You escaped!"
Director Ho smiled faintly, then began tidying his bloodied face and
disheveled clothes.
His movements had a compulsive edge to them.
Jingle.
The chime from the bell tied to one of my horns rang, calming me slightly.
’...What was that?’
That ability, like editing a wiki page... No, why did it feel so natural to use
it? How on earth?
’Since when have I been able to do that?’
I don’t know. Maybe ever since I became like this... No. I can’t be sure.
Even now, I feel like I could do it again if I tried. But if I did, it feels like
I’d cross a line I shouldn’t cross and fall apart...
My mental framework would.
[Think of circus performers, Friend. They can push their joints beyond their
limits to put on an amazing show, but one wrong move and the bones
shatter.]
[Mr. Roe Deer. Your astounding performance also seems to require practice
and understanding!]
Right.
It’s not something I can properly use while I’m still myself.
’I’ll use it carefully.’
And why I can even do such a thing... I’ll calmlyquietlydeeplyuntildeath...
No.
’I’m going crazy.’
For now, I should avoid thinking about it. Even that seems to be affecting
my brain.
’Stay calm.’
Focus on what I need right here and now.
For example, the facts I just learned from that wiki-like document I pulled
up with my ability.
I took a deep mental breath and turned to Director Ho.
This director named Ho Yoowon.
And probably... the counselor from the Fox Counseling Room.
"Roe Deer-nim?"
So he really was the same person.
A faint shock rippled through my mind but I quickly pushed it down.
I had certainly received counseling from the Fox Counseling Room before.
Back then, the counselor had seemed like a good one... but ghost stories
often carry dual natures.
’What matters is this.’
The current situation.
I couldn’t easily erase Director Ho Yoowon.
Director Ho Yoowon couldn’t easily put a binding on me either.
We were at a stalemate.
And I wasn’t the only one who noticed this strange balance of power.
"It seems it would be difficult for one side to completely overpower the
other, Roe Deer-nim."
...
"Doesn’t that make us a good pair to travel together? It’s a situation where
it’d be hard to use the other as bait and run away, isn’t it?"
Do whatever you want.
Because...
[Oh dear, I’m afraid that’s the wrong answer! Mr. Roe Deer has a Good
Friend by his side who will always come to his aid.]
Even in a critical moment, he would serve as lethal defense. As long as the
host didn’t take an interest in the other side instead.
And so I allowed Director Ho Yoowon to accompany me.
Thus began a strange exploration of the Cheerful Research Institute with
two people who couldn’t even collect a single drop of Dream Essence.
"I’ll be in your care, Roe Deer-nim."
I felt a pang in my stomach. Now that I actually knew where my stomach
was located, the sensation felt all the more real... Huu.
Folding my arms, I turned my gaze toward the floor panel of the elevator,
wanting to sigh.
’And since I took the left-hand elevator of all things...’
From here on, we would be going to the deeper levels.
Inside the still unmoving elevator, I checked the buttons.
Even further down, beyond Basement Level 30
Basement Floor 30~39 – The Office in Celebration
On these levels, the Cheerful Research Institute is in a
celebratory state, typically characterized by noise and
audible laughter.
Hallways frequently feature celebratory decorations such
as balloons, confetti, and canopies.
All attempts to read congratulatory messages written on
the canopies have ended in failure, with a 60% probability
of inducing mental confusion.
Entity activity is highly active, and so caution is advised.
However, they are confirmed to be relatively less hostile.
Risk Level : Moderate
"Will you go lower, Roe Deer-nim?"
Maybe.
If I was going to take the risk, I might as well go further down...
Basement Floor 40~49 – The Office at Debate
On these levels, loud arguments can be heard from
several offices. Explorers have often described these
sounds as resembling high-stakes corporate decision-
making.
While the content of the conversations seems faintly
audible, focusing on them prevents comprehension and
causes loss of orientation, making it impossible to locate
the elevator.
However, entities rarely leave the office rooms where
discussions are ongoing, resulting in low external
activity.
Risk Level : Moderately High
Going that deep might not be a bad choice either.
’I’ll get off at Basement Floor 39 first.’
But as my gaze slid down the panel...
"Oh. Please look this way."
Director Ho Yoowon pointed.
At the very bottom of the panel.
A solitary, alien-looking number.
[ 96 ]
’...!!’
Way down there.
A floor number that shouldn’t exist in reality.
The depths of this ghost story.
Basement Floor 90~99 – [REDACTED]
Do not press the elevator buttons. If pressed by mistake,
close your eyes, press the elevator’s close-door button,
and escape to another floor.
Access is prohibited to all regular employees, including
but not limited to those from the Field Exploration Team,
Research Team, and Security Team.
Risk Level : [REDACTED]
There it was, the button leading to that place.
"..."
A dangerous option.
A situation where no one in their right mind would press it.
But.
"Roe Deer-nim, aren’t you at least curious—"
I pressed the button.
"...!!"
The elevator began to move.
Downward, into the depths.