A familiar name.
What I knew.
It seemed like something was rising up again… .
I didn’t react.
“Staff?”
Because I know it’s not good to express this.
….
‘Why?’
Suddenly, a strange sensation began to arise in my head.
It feels like you’re forcibly pulling up an anchor that was thrown into the deep sea.
With the previous senses lost, the crushed brain and mind try to force themselves to think as before.
‘Jang Heo-un… .’
Dead.
A corpse was found lying on the floor of a resort room.
But… , so… … as a resort employee, I took out Jang Heo-un by reconstructing it in a contaminated state.
And I… .
‘I gave up my right to make a wish.’
If the wish I gave to Jang Heo-woon was truly successful, and he came back to life.
So, if you see me living like a human again.
‘….’
A broken head draws a conclusion.
I realized, very slowly, that it was a relief.
The direct emotion I felt after such a long time was almost like a dull ache.
“How did you feel when you heard the names? Lee Jeong-in, Park Yong-hae…, Jang Heo-un.”
And I decided that it would never be wise to tell this to the infamous researcher in front of me.
It was a difficult connection to make in my head.
“How is it?”
I stared at him silently.
Kwak Je-gang, who had been looking full of anticipation, finally licked his lips as the silence grew longer.
“No response this time too? As expected, the memory of the sacrifice used as a medium has no meaning… Haha, I’m sorry. But then again, as a scientist, I can’t help but ask. Hahaha!”
Kwak Je-gang smiled alone as if he was embarrassed, and then muttered to himself as if he was crying.
“Still, I had a good time today, staff. For the past six months, you’ve been so mechanical and unresponsive….”
….
half a year?
“They say that if you work for six months and have fun events like this once a year, you won’t feel like quitting. Isn’t that right?”
I realized.
That it’s only been half a year since I was stuck on this 13th floor underground.
No, has it been half a year?
“Wow~ That must have been fun. The three-person team of employees, who were obviously new to the job, helped us explore the basements of the annex!”
Kwak Je-gang asks quietly and persistently.
“Didn’t you feel any sense of foreboding? When you saw that, did you think of something similar to that job or experience…?”
silence.
“Didn’t you feel pity?”
silence.
“Oh, you’re really quiet. But… Then why did you help me?”
….
“The employee’s work area is clearly designated as the 13th basement floor. Well, I understand that you used a trick by not leaving the elevator….”
Kwak Je-gang’s eyes sparkle with joy.
“Why on earth did you go to such lengths to help me!”
….
“Do you feel like you want to do that? Because you feel a sense of duty to save people?”
….
“Haha, silence is also a meaningful response. Confusion? I wonder if similar results would come out even if the variables were adjusted just a little bit… Hmm?”
I raised my hand and pointed to number 666.
To be exact, an old-fashioned TV in the corner of the ceiling.
This is where the temple training videos were shown.
“…oh.”
And I made a sentence with smoke.
Work Rule 17: Cooperate with your coworkers.
A sentence that appeared in an educational video.
Because even the font was reproduced, Kwak Je-gang recognized it right away.
“Aha, indeed!”
The sound of a researcher hastily writing something on a tablet PC rang out.
“Because of the educational videos, it’s really… Haha, this is it. You could say it’s gentle, you could say it’s generous, you could say that discipline and order are important keywords! I see. The special department staff… Haha, I understand.”
And then the pen stops, and a soft voice comes out.
“But you wasted your energy. The participants you helped….”
Raise both hands and wave them as if to surprise.
“They weren’t my coworkers. Haha!”
….
embrace.
“They’re not new employees, they’re just test subjects!”
In the first place, this wasn’t even an orientation for the field investigation team.
A research experiment project of the same name, inspired by that format.
Experiment name: New employee orientation
They weren’t really new recruits.
To be exact, they are those who applied for the entrance exam to become new employees but failed for various reasons.
But they deceived me by sending me an email as if I had been accepted to the department I applied to.
The reason is….
“I guess you could say they’re like part-time workers recruited to collect experimental samples!”
Supplement to civilian exploration records.
Planned to gather additional meaningful information in the dark where there is a lack of cases of exploration by laypersons without prior knowledge.
Among the failed applicants, those with a good aptitude are selected and a simulation is conducted in the form of new employee orientation similar to that received by the successful applicants.
It is difficult for a company to arbitrarily export the darkness it possesses to the private sector.
So the company’s exploration records are accumulated by the field exploration team, which are experts in dark exploration.
There was an orientation where new recruits who were relatively close to civilians were sent to the dark side, but the darks used there were selected to prove their skills.
So one researcher came up with an ingenious idea.
-Let’s recycle applicants!
Since there was no need to recruit subjects separately while avoiding the eyes of public authorities, it was an easy time to secure experimental participants.
Of course, not all of this is just a scam.
There are rewards like deception.
Those who fail to successfully complete the mission in the experiment can be specially recruited to the field investigation team and become regular employees.
So the official name of the company is:
‘Let’s generate additional successful candidates and give them a chance to join the company.’
therefore….
“Well, maybe we can meet as co-workers later….”
In this experiment, those who completed the ‘mission’ and survived were given a chance to join the company, so in a way, it was like an orientation.
And I know.
‘Jang Heo-un’ was added.
….
Is it really Jang Heo-un?
“Um. Would you like to meet again?”
I tried to recall the faces of the three new employees I had met earlier.
I don’t remember. It was a melting mosaic.
“Do you have a preferred colleague in your age group or gender?”
I don’t even remember the voice. It sounded like a low-quality radio sound.
“Do you have a preferred body?”
I looked back at Kwak Je-gang.
“No preferences? Not a single one? Really?”
….
Raised his hand.
Kwak Je-gang is delighted by the moving smoke. “That’s right! Communicating with language like that….”
Warning 1
Reason: Request for work outside of working hours
Cumulative warnings: 1 / Up to disciplinary action 2
“…ah.”
In room 666, an announcement began to play in my head.
The sound that announces my departure from work.
-Your shift is over. Please return immediately. Your shift is over. Please return immediately… .
“No, this interview is more of a light-hearted….”
Warning 2
Reason: Request for work outside of working hours
“….”
Cumulative warnings: 2 / 1 until disciplinary action
Smoke rises beneath my feet.
Kwak Je-gang shut his mouth. The tense shoulder muscles of the security team members standing around him were visible.
Although I can’t see it, I can feel the isolation that has been put in place to ensure safety between me and Kwak Je-gang… .
But, if it were on the 13th floor underground, in my security area, I could ignore that and discipline that researcher.
embrace.
“…Haha! That’s right. You’re saying that the break time guaranteed by the contract must be
kept! I agree. That’s right.”
It seemed as if Kwak Je-gang was smiling brightly through the flowing mosaic.
It was the quality of an experienced dark researcher.
Knowing your timing.
“I hope you have a good rest. … You have lots of time!” But it’s not a very regrettable sound.
Kwak Je-gang smiled as he held a handwritten interview sheet and waved cheerfully in the middle of the security team.
“I am your researcher in charge.”
….
“I will continue to help you wholeheartedly. For a long time… I will be counting on you. Hahaha… Even in your new posting.”
After a while.
I wake up somewhere other than the 13th basement floor of the annex.
At a new workplace.
* * *
Kwak Je-gang typed on the keyboard with excitement rising to the top of his head.
It’s so much fun to document the results of your experiments.
Especially if you put in so many subjects and get such unusual results from various interactions!
“Hahaha, how could this be possible? How on earth did I come up with a contract with something like this….”
Kwak Je-gang looked at the PC with his eyes wide open.
There is a simple experimental record in there, neatly copied from his own notes.
21st attempt at new employee orientation
It lists examples of interactions between orientation participants, security officers on each basement floor of the annex building, and ‘special department personnel.’
And arguably the longest entry.
2.2.1 Security Officer, 13th Basement Floor (hereinafter referred to as 130666)
“I can’t believe we can meet like this.”
From the moment Director Cheong first told him that he would be entrusted with a ‘special task’, he had been expecting something.
But I never thought it would actually come out!
Kwak Je-gang recalled the strange horned, gas-lighted, and smoky staff who had been interrogating him.
That strange being who summoned the shortest-term promotion member of the field investigation team.
Of course, compared to that time, the being I met again now seemed somewhat mechanical and bound… .
Aren’t you really curious as to why it happened like that!
‘Did any side effects appear?’
It was really interesting!
Even more so if we are analyzing the trends shown in this experiment.
He couldn’t control his mouth and looked at the comment he had made.
During the 179 days that the subject worked as a security officer on the 13th basement floor, he strictly followed the work regulations, and showed no signs of uncooperativeness or aggressiveness, which are usually observed in special department subjects.
However, in this experiment, he found an irregular loophole in the rules and boarded the elevator that stopped in his security zone, and showed a tendency to accompany the test subjects who entered the zone and help many of them survive.**
This is it.
**This tendency is similar to the tendency to collect dreams before death of an employee’s corpse used in the labor contract process of 130666.
We suspect this is due to the indirect influence of the ego and plan to request additional experiments in the future.
“This is going to be 100% censored.”
It seemed like the words “researcher’s personal opinion” were included, or that the content itself would be deleted.
Well, it’s not surprising that one of the Security Team’s special forces employees was sacrificed as a whole, but the identity of the employee is the problem.
“Do you want to reveal that you are an elite employee who was promoted in the shortest time?”
I don’t think you want to be specific.
Especially if some crazy research team member guessed it without even telling us… .
Kwak Je-gang shrugged his shoulders and moved his hands faster on the keyboard as he recalled that interesting employee… Kim Sol-eum.
Because the following content was more interesting!
Anomalous Aggression of 130666
1 When covered in the smoke of the said entity (hereinafter referred to as 130666-1), the humanoid darkness mutates into a corpse.
No signs of life. Blood and cell samples confirmed this to be a human corpse in the early stages of decomposition.
According to CCTV footage of the elevator that 130666 was riding while using the ability, the entire elevator was intermittently covered in 130666. This is similar to some sort of psychic phenomenon.
He hummed as he recalled the security guards in the annex basement who had been reduced to corpses.
They were slowly being restored to darkness, but were experiencing a confused and strange state of mutation, as if suffering from the aftereffects.
Security team members sometimes show special reactions when they go near the area, as if they are contaminated.
Kwak Je-gang chuckled.
“What fun friends they are.”
… … That’s why.
A funny thought couldn’t help but come to mind.
There are no other specific hazards, and 130666 recovers the employee’s form before getting off the elevator.
So!
Thus, it is certified that the subject is fit for full-fledged special department work.
“ha ha ha!”
but.
Dedicated personnel will be assigned to prevent emergencies and fatal safety accidents.
Kwak Je-gang was excited.
This was something that had already been passed by the higher-ups.
So… with the personnel that he specially selected.
Safety Responsibility: Security Management Guard Team 3 Leader (J3, real name ■■■)
Control Assistant: Security Management Special Management Team Member (Osori, real name Park Min-seong)
like that.
“…ah.”
130666 meets two security team members at their new reassigned location.