Chapter 297: Ch 297: Survivors of Sekwang Special City
I remember.
The basement of Daydream Inc.’s Main Building, where the past of the
Cheerful Research Institute was stacked layer by layer.
The shadows and corpses of the researchers who died in the burning
institute I saw there.
The moment Ho Yuwon and I escaped from the institute’s office, engulfed
in flames dozens of floors underground, as I shuddered wondering what on
earth had happened to cause the fire.
’...So it was true that the Cheerful Research Institute was underground.’
Though I never imagined that basement would be part of the subway
facilities.
I looked again at the Cheerful Research Institute office, spread out inside
the machine room on the outer line platform of Midnight Station.
...Could this also be a projected ghost story?
"Agent, do you happen to feel any sort of Corrupt energy?"
"...As of now, no."
I looked back at Baek Saheon, but he, who had been furtively lifting his
blindfold to look inside, also shook his head in a hurry.
’...It’s not a ghost story, but a real place?’
And it seemed no one else in the group recognized where this was.
But I realized.
’No one here has been to the Daydream basement.’
Since it was a place mainly entered by the Security Team.
"Noruya. Do you want to go in and look around?"
I slowly nodded my head.
"...I think I know this place."
"...!"
"But this place was completely burned down in a fire, so it would be
dangerous for too many people to enter at once. Me and...."
"Can I go?"
Deputy Lee Seong-hae shot her hand up.
"...I would be grateful."
And so, Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae and I entered the burnt-out
hallway.
Splash.
The black water pooled below clung to the soles of my dress shoes before
dripping off.
"Mr. Roe Deer. How do you happen to know this place?"
I hesitated slightly, but in the end, I told her the truth.
Since I was now a member of Ho Yuwon’s Project, not sharing seemed like
a deception.
"...It was in the Daydream basement."
And I explained as concisely and quickly as possible.
That the Cheerful Research Institute seemed to be the origin of Daydream’s
Dream Essence technology.
And that the past, from some kind of accident that caused the institute to
burn down and disappear, had been made into a Darkness and bound in the
Daydream basement.
"Oh."
Deputy Lee Seong-hae, who seemed to be lost in thought, had this as her
first reaction.
"So, you’re saying the Wish Ticket was originally developed at the Cheerful
Research Institute?"
Huh?
"That... I’m not sure."
I recalled the prototype device in the Dream Incubation Room I had
discovered.
??????
◎
The potion manufacturing buttons marked with emoticons.
And the empty spot where the bottom-most button was missing.
"I confirmed the original versions of the other potions, but I couldn’t find
one for the Wish Ticket."
"Aha."
After walking down the burnt-out corridor in silence for a moment, Deputy
Lee Seong-hae spoke again.
"To be honest, there are times when the Wish Ticket feels a bit strange."
"In what way?"
"If something like that exists, why don’t the company executives take it?"
"...From what I’ve heard, in the case of employees, only full-time staff can
take it."
I recalled Ho Yuwon, his eyes gleaming.
If he could have entered Sekwang Special City with a Wish Ticket, he
would have done so long ago.
If he could have secretly drunk it and seen its effects, he would have
already.
Deputy Lee Seong-hae shook her head.
"That’s strange too. It doesn’t seem to be for sale, either. Then there’s no
reason to produce it, is there?"
"...!"
’She’s right...’
...Something doesn’t add up.
The Wish Ticket clearly requires an incredibly high concentration of Dream
Essence, and to anyone, it’s the quintessence of the Daydream Potion series.
The core of Daydream.
It’s emphasized when you join the company and internally as well. It’s
structured to feel like a sort of final goal for any company affiliate.
’Of course.’
This is the world of the <Darkness Exploration Record> wiki. And in that
world, the employees’ ghost story explorations are the most important thing,
so the Wish Ticket was made the driving force for that exploration.
A potion that grants any wish.
Isn’t it perfect for appearing in a ghost story? But....
If you think about it realistically.
’Why does the company produce Wish Tickets?’
Why produce something that requires so much Dream Essence, something
that even the executives and high-ranking officials can’t take themselves,
and sell it in the employee welfare mall?
To say it’s produced only as bait and for employee productivity, it seems too
much like a core item....
’Who’s buying it?’
Come to think of it, regarding sales routes for the Wish Ticket outside of the
employee point-based welfare mall....
Nothing is known.
....
Perhaps.
"Could it be that someone, a suitable person, using the Wish Ticket is... the
goal of this company itself?"
For example.
What if they’re screening for ’people suitable to use the Wish Ticket’
through the hiring exam?
"Oh."
Deputy Lee Seong-hae clapped her hands together.
"I hadn’t thought that far, but that seems plausible."
Hoo.
"Could it be for a bad reason?"
"Pardon?"
"Like, if this kind of person uses a Wish Ticket, it actually accelerates
environmental pollution... something like that!"
"...I don’t think it would be environmental pollution, but I also don’t think
our company would pursue such an ethically righteous goal."
I realize as I speak.
"It would probably be... in a direction that benefits the higher-ups who run
this company."
Someone using a Wish Ticket.
That ’someone’ has a wish they desperately want to grant, is friendly enough
with ghost stories to survive numerous Darkness explorations, and,
"Aha."
With those words, Deputy Lee Seong-hae concluded the conversation.
Her green pupils glint briefly in the flashlight beam before being buried in
the darkness.
[A new idea, Mr. Roe Deer! Let’s make a good note of it. It might come in
handy someday!]
’...Right.’
With a complicated feeling, I took another step down the corridor. I looked
around, checking the doors.
Creeak.
Some opened, and some didn’t.
But for the ones that didn’t open, I could peer inside through the windows
shattered by the heat.
The flashlight beam once again illuminated a place with no light source,
and I suppressed a groan.
It was all completely charred black.
’...Where was the place with the dream incubators?’
Recalling the Cheerful Research Institute corridor in the basement I had
come to with Ho Yuwon in the past, I headed for that office.
But the moment I opened the door.
"...."
There were no dream incubators there.
The only shapes left in the completely burnt-out office were, strangely, a
single desk and a single chair placed in the center. And one computer.
...It’s a completely different layout.
"...!"
And so I realize.
[What is it that you realize, my friend?]
’This is a different place.’
The Cheerful Research Institute I saw in the basement of the Daydream
Main Building was arranged in stacks according to the time period.
Basement floors 10-19 - The office during lunchtime
Basement floors 20-29 - The office at midnight
I was seeing different time periods of ’a certain floor’ of the Cheerful
Research Institute.
The further down I went, the more dynamic the time period became....
Until finally, dozens of floors below, I faced the Cheerful Research Institute
on a certain day when it was engulfed in flames.
’But the office itself here is different from the one in the Main Building’s
basement.’
This isn’t a difference in time.
...But, the structure of the corridor and the offices is exactly the same.
[Oh, in that case... do you have a good deduction as to what kind of place
this might be, Mr. Roe Deer?]
"...I’m going to step out for a moment."
I stepped out of the office door and headed for the end of the corridor. And I
faced it.
’It’s there.’
The door of a burnt-out elevator.
"It doesn’t seem to work."
Of course, the charred black elevator didn’t work, but.
’...I can check other things.’
The markings around the elevator.
For example....
’Things like the safety guide on the blueprint.’ Even just a trace would be
good.
I wiped the soot off a spot near the elevator door, at the top, where my eyes
could just about reach.
Then, something revealed itself....
(image)
It was an engraved plate made of the same material as the wall next to the
elevator.
It seemed it hadn’t burned because it wasn’t paper. The red paint that had
been applied over it seemed to have burned away, with only a few specks
remaining at the edges....
And I had seen a similar form of ’guide’ before.
The format was a bit different, but it was right here, inside the subway train.
The Segwang Special City Subway map.
"...!"
’A subway map in front of an elevator?’
Of course, this place is also inside the subway, so it’s not entirely out of
place, but usually, these things are inside the train cars.
It’s to show you where you currently are while on the subway, moving
between stations.
But for this to be in front of an elevator means....
’They used the elevator like a train...!’
Everything connected as if a bolt of lightning had struck my head.
"It seems that, with this elevator, they were able to go to similar facilities in
other stations."
"Huh?"
Each floor of the Cheerful Research Institute is hidden in each station of the
subway.
Right.
The facility here, at Midnight Station, couldn’t possibly be the one I visited
in the basement of the Daydream Main Building.
’Because it’s a different station...!’
What I saw is probably hidden in another station.
And no matter how supernaturally they used the elevator to move,
fundamentally, as it’s an ’elevator,’ the structure here would all be the
same....
’An elevator moves between floors.’
In the end, each different floor of the building called the Cheerful Research
Institute is located at each subway station of Sekwang Special City, and
they were originally accessible via the elevator.
It was a structure befitting a research institute that was a supernatural ghost
story in itself.
’Then the Cheerful Research Institute was hidden under Sekwang Special
City?’
...Wait.
Then could the fire I saw back then also be related to the disaster in
Sekwang Special City?
’And....’
Ho Yuwon.
-What I’m looking for is in a facility connected to one of the Segwang
Special City Subway stations.
The place Director Ho was looking for was, could it be.
’A Cheerful Research Institute at a different station...?’
"Mr. Roe."
"...!"
I came to my senses with a start.
I had been so lost in thought that for a moment, I’d forgotten I was inside a
burnt-out underground facility.
"That looks like an emergency exit over there, but it’s all collapsed."
"...Yes." It seemed impossible to move in that direction.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon could come in and try to clear it, but if the
structure itself collapsed in the process, it would be meaningless.
’Hoo.’
"Agent Grapes, are you alright?"
"Yes, I’m fine!"
They started to check on our status from the entrance, but we couldn’t leave
just yet.
"We’ll look around a little more before we go."
I began to search the corridor more thoroughly.
’If it’s a different floor, there might be something else here.’ I started
checking under the furniture and objects in the burnt-out offices.
"What are you doing?"
"These spots that are seamlessly flush with the floor might not have been
touched by the fire at all."
"Aha."
Indeed, when we moved the furniture, a clean patch of floor would
sometimes be revealed.
Because there was no oxygen, the inferno couldn’t spread, and the heat
hadn’t reached it directly.
And seeing that, Deputy Lee Seong-hae also started to move.
"Then would you like to take a look at this?"
"...!"
The first room we had checked.
"No matter how I look at it, this place feels a bit suspicious."
In the room where there was only a desk, a chair, and a single computer
monitor in the center, Deputy Lee Seong-hae lifted the monitor with a
heave. Then, a piece of paper fell out from underneath it.
’...A document?’
The folded paper looked like it was meant to be remembered and taken out
from time to time, or like it had been hastily jotted down and pushed aside.
The reverse side of the double- sided paper was some document that had
been completely blacked out and was about to be shredded, and on the other
side, there were letters someone had briefly printed out.
For this invitation research
Use Children’s Paradise Syrup
-> My opinion!
The name ’Children’s Syrup’....
’It’s the original version of the Daydream Potion, the name of the potion
from the Cheerful Research Institute.’
But I’ve never heard of Paradise Syrup.
Even recalling the emoticon buttons, nothing particularly gives off a
paradise-like feeling....
But one similar Daydream Potion comes to mind.
’...The Wish Ticket.’
It might be a wild guess, but a tingling sensation runs down my spine.
And.
And....
’Invitation research.’
[Lord Name Invitation Research]
I froze.
Research Purpose: Confirmation of the targeted advent of a hostile
being into the present world and the progression of a contract. The
subtitle for this research was taken from the name of a god worshipped
by a certain cult group that has recently become popular, derived from
preceding research. This will be the final research of the Cheerful
Research Institute.
Those unforgettable words.
The research that had summoned me, here.
’The names overlap.’
Then, could it be....
[derived from preceding research]
There are traces of that preceding research left in this Cheerful Research
Institute?
’Wait a minute.’
Could it be that the disaster in Sekwang Special City itself was caused by
that research?
While they were researching a way to summon me here...?
’Why?’
My heart feels like it’s boiling. I had to find out. What kind of being I am.
Why I came here. Am I, perhaps....
Perhaps, able to go back?
"Mr. Roe Deer."
"...!!"
"Respiratory problems may occur. Please come out."
"...Yes."
I hurriedly pocketed the note.
Then, with Deputy Lee Seong-hae, I slowly walked down the corridor and
out of the Cheerful Research Institute.
For now, for now....
’This seems to be all I can find at this Midnight Station facility.’
The other offices were burned beyond recognition, so this clue was also
found quickly thanks to Deputy Lee Seong-hae.
But in the facilities at other stations, there might be more important clues....
’And at some other station.’
I might be able to see for myself that floor which is trapped as a ghost story
in the Daydream basement.
Sparks fly in my head.
’What if, as soon as I arrive at any station, I cross the tracks to the opposite
platform and explore?’
Is it possible? It’s a method I’ve never tried before. If it works, it would be
the best. But if it doesn’t....
’Then, I have to end the station’s ghost story to be able to explore.’
Didn’t the station only return to its proper form because Hanbit Library was
closed?
Then similarly, the Noose Forest, the Body Casino....
’Good heavens.’
...Can I do it?
Can I, pull it off?
In that moment, as my mind spun complicatedly and fiercely.
The train is now approaching.
"Ah, looks like a train is coming in on the other side."
I reflexively lifted my head and looked across the tracks.
On the information screen on the opposite side of the tracks, an image of an
approaching train was displayed....
Along with the train number.
[g1572]
"...!!"
-That’s the train. Train g1572.
"Wait, that number...."
"Yes."
The number Yeongeun mentioned.
We ask all passengers to please board safely and mind your etiquette.
"What are you waiting for, go!"
We ran like mad toward the other side.
It sounded like Baek Saheon was swallowing a curse behind us, but not a
single person fell behind.
And just as we set foot on the stairs of the opposite platform.
The platform screen doors are opening.
Wait, wait....
"Ms. Goral!"
I shouted.
Just in case we missed each other.
"Are you there??"
In an instant, I ran down the stairs and dashed toward the open door.
And....
"...Mr. Roe Deer??"
In front of train car door 1-3.
There, beyond the open platform screen door. Is Ms. Go Young-eun,
panting for breath, looking at me and the people behind me with trembling
eyes.
"...!!"
’Thank god.’
We meet again.
In that moment, as a crazy sense of relief surged through me.
...I noticed the figures behind Yeongeun, one after another.
[Oh, new extras!]
"...!!"
A padded jacket, a dress, a school uniform, a cardigan.
People in everyday clothes.
And.
"Who are you?"
"A suit?"
They speak normally.
...The survivors of Sekwang Special City were standing on the train,
looking at us.