The night Kim Soleum agreed to infiltrate the Disaster Management Bureau as a spy…
At that same moment, in his unit at the company housing, Baek Saheon was thoroughly enjoying the greatest luxury of his recent life.
Namely—the fact that his psycho roommate had disappeared!
That bastard, always sticking his nose where it didn’t belong… Baek Saheon figured that guy would end up dead one of these days.
He grinned with deep satisfaction.
Sure, that lunatic’s near-identical counterpart—D-Squad’s crazy squad leader—had relentlessly hounded him for interviews about the Tamra Express.
And yes, as a result, he had suffered through some truly horrifying… deepened contamination. But things had settled down now. He could even think about such ‘great’ talk—fuck, whatever it was—without throwing up or going out of his mind.
Which meant he could finally access the Fox Counseling Room.
For free!
‘Normally, you’ve got to be at least a supervisor to qualify for this perk… but the trade-off wasn’t bad at all.’Thanks to the intervention of D-squad’s section chief, Baek Saheon had been able to secure a Fox Counseling Room nameplate just for himself. That alone was a huge win.
And the best part? That creepypasta therapist always handed out extra nameplates after a session.
Thanks to the ‘treatment’ he received at the company, he had permission to use the service ‘until he had sufficiently recovered’.
Which meant…
‘I could always hand one off to someone else if I play my cards right.’
At this rate, he could milk this for at least three more months—right up until he could get promoted.
But before that—tonight, he would use it himself.
Humming to himself, Baek Saheon strode over to the room of his dearly departed roommate and placed the nameplate on the door.
But as he pushed it open…
“…Ah. They’re closed today.”
“…??!!”
A sharp-eyed office worker with dark hair stood just beyond the threshold, speaking to him casually.
And then, he stepped out of the room.
A face Baek Saheon would never, ever be able to forget.
It… It was…
“…K-Kim Soleum.”
His former roommate—officially missing and presumed dead—looked at him…
And smirked.
What?
…Whaaaat??
“……??!”
Baek Saheon’s mind whirled into overdrive.
‘I-Is this a dream?’
Had he unknowingly stumbled into a hypnosis-based Darkness?
Because if not, then why the hell was a presumed-dead, missing lunatic casually walking out of the Fox Counseling Room?!
Smack!
Baek Saheon slapped himself.
His cheek burned.
Okay. Not a dream.
‘Fucking hell.’
He could feel the pitying stare of a certain someone, watching him like he was an idiot who had just punched himself in the face.
“…Hm. I get why you were trying to book a session.”
“…?!”
“But I’m telling you, they’re closed today. Take your nameplate off and try again later.”
Thud.
Kim Soleum fully stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.
Then, with undeniable physical and not spiritual force, he ripped the nameplate off the door and tossed it back at Baek Saheon.
“…!”
On reflex, he caught it.
“But, huh… of all times, you just had to open the door now?”
“……”
“Didn’t think I’d be running into you like this.”
Baek Saheon swallowed hard.
His mind was spinning, scrambling to process the sheer absurdity of the situation.
But amidst the shock and confusion, one realization hit him with absolute certainty.
It was a persistent glow shone in his vision, right behind his eyepatch.
Internal warning alarms blared.
—I just saw something I wasn’t supposed to see.
If a company-declared deceased employee was standing in front of him, alive and well…
That meant there was some kind of cover-up at play—either at the corporate level, or something even bigger.
‘And they used me as a witness for his disappearance…!’
Baek Saheon forced himself not to think about the horrifying, mind-warping pressure he had experienced when they interrogated him about Kim Soleum’s last known whereabouts.
His head throbbed with a cocktail of anger, unease, and pure survival instinct.
But above all else—a warning blared inside his skull.
‘……Wait. But if this psycho bastard is standing here, alive…’
Should I…
Should I even be seeing this?!
“……”
“……”
The most efficient way for a psychopath to eliminate a loose end would be…
—Eradication.
‘N-No!’
Baek Saheon immediately corrected his own insane train of thought.
It was the modern era—who the hell resorted to something so primitive?!
‘And this bastard still has my mind-control fountain pen.’
The very item he had traded this eye for.
Right. This guy would surely brainwash Baek Saheon right here and now. They could just both live their lives while pretending that this never happened. Such a simple solution was available for them here, so there’s no need for—
“You want me to erase your memory with the pen, don’t you?”
“…!!”
Baek Saheon’s thoughts ground to a screeching halt.
“M’not gonna do that though.”
Baek Saheon’s mind raced through possible courses of action—punching, using his special equipment, calling for help, begging for his life…
And the moment he considered them, he dismissed them all.
‘N-No way.’
If he made a wrong move, there was no telling what this lunatic might do.
As much as he hated to admit it, Kim Soleum was as ruthless and efficient as a true psychopath should be.
If he wanted to avoid getting dragged into some deeper hell—or worse, getting outright killed—he had to stay calm.
What the hell does this psycho bastard want?
Was he actually here to kill me…
‘…No!’
A flash of realization struck Baek Saheon as he rearranged the pieces in his mind.
—This guy wants something.
That bastard was standing in front of him because there was something he wanted.
Baek Saheon forced himself to steady his breathing.
He crossed his arms, barely managing to look like he was composed.
“…So, I take it you’re here because you want something, Supervisor?”
“Mm.”
Knew it!
“…Ah. Do you need my eyewitness account or something? Like last time? You want me to report to the company that I think I might have seen you at the company housing?”
“No.”
Damn it.
Baek Saheon swallowed the curses threatening to spill out and forced himself to keep a straight face.
Kim Soleum, on the other hand, was watching him in quiet amusement.
Now that Baek Saheon looked closer, this guy was still wearing formal attire, but his hair was slightly shorter, and he had a splint on one arm.
He wasn’t in perfect condition, then.
Where the hell did he get injured?
And even his suit—it was slightly different.
It looked… oddly high-end. Not the kind of thing a regular office worker would wear. It was tailored, stylish—almost like something meant to be seen…
‘Like something a person would wear on TV…’
…Huh.
Something about that thought almost connected—
And then Soleum spoke.
“You seem pretty greedy when it comes to items.”
“…!”
“You don’t care for scraps—you want the good stuff. Hypnosis, suppression, healing… Wouldn’t you like to have more useful items like that?”
Desire flared, shoving every other thought aside.
Baek Saheon’s head shot up.
Kim Soleum was grinning.
“Then keep me updated on what’s happening inside Daydream Inc. Give me regular reports.”
“……”
He was proposing a deal.
An intel deal.