Lee Seonghae was in a very good mood.
I just helped some good people.
She didn’t care in the least that through the iron door, she could now see the strange underground bunker interior.
Because she had found the person she needed to meet in there.
She reached out her hand and pointed toward that figure.
“Employee-nim, you’re over there.”
A Security Team Special Division employee, shrouded in black smoke.
The Golden Mascot.
Even in that situation, seeing “Employee-nim” holding an old woman in his arms—whether out of consideration for the elderly or not—only made her all the more pleased.
As expected, Employee-nim is kind!
If that was the case, then introducing him to other equally kind people couldn’t be a bad thing.
...Whether the agents she was about to “introduce” him to would be smiling or not, or what they would feel when they saw him, was another matter entirely.
She was, by nature, insensitive to other people’s emotions, and her self-centered approach to doing the “right thing” often made the execution of her ethics and morals a little extreme.
Just like what had led to this situation now.
Perfect.
Lee Seonghae recalled what had happened a few days earlier, after she’d captured the “Man in the Screen” ghost story on a USB drive.
***
“Mmm~ mmm~”
On her way home from work.
She was happily making her way back. Today’s exploration had ended without incident, and she was planning to stop by the Annex in the early hours to visit “Employee-nim.”
That was why she was walking with such a light step when—
Bzzzt.
Her smartphone vibrated.
[K.LEE: Hello, Assistant Managerㅋㅋㅋ]
A profile photo and name that felt almost unfamiliar.
But her sharp memory recalled it.
The person who introduced me to Salmon Market.
It was the season for new hires, so her associative memory worked faster than usual.
A mysterious KakaoTalk message introducing himself as Assistant Manager Lee Gangheon from Team C, contacting a “promising new hire.”
[K.LEE: It’s been a while~ I heard you got promoted?]
Lee Seonghae replied.
[Yep]
[K.LEE: Oooh, congrats!ㅋㅋ We should meet sometime and grab a meal!]
[I don’t think you can afford to]
[K.LEE: Hey, I can at least afford to treat a fellow employeeㅋㅋ]
Really?
But here’s the thing—
[You’re not a fellow employee, though?]
Because that was a lie.
And Lee Seonghae disliked liars.
[A person named Lee Gangheon has never worked at this company. Who are you?]
That was the truth, reached after cross-checking the intranet and all the rumors.
A brief silence.
[K.LEE: It’s not like you just figured that out, right?]
As she stared down at the smartphone screen—
[K.LEE: And that’s not the important part, is it?]
[K.LEE: What matters is... maybe I could tell you where the recently disappeared Assistant Manager Kang Ihak ended upㅎㅎ]
“Huh.”
At the mention of an employee whose disappearance she herself had allowed to go uninvestigated, Lee Seonghae blinked.
In truth, Kang Ihak had already slipped from her mind. Once judgment was passed on a “bad person,” there was no need to worry further.
But the mention carried weight.
Because Kang Ihak hadn’t simply gone missing.
[Are you by any chance from the Disaster Management Bureau?]
After all, the Paranormal Disaster Management Bureau had taken him away.
[K.LEE: Let’s go with that?]
“Oooh.”
The other’s reaction was surprisingly nonchalant, but by the circumstances, this was most likely a bluff to avoid admitting the lie.
That was fine—if a liar told a lie for a good reason, it was still acceptable.
[So, in exchange for telling me where Kang Ihak is, what do you want?]
[K.LEE: How about we meet and talk?]
[Sure!]
And if he wasn’t actually an agent, then meeting him would just make it easier to deal with him.
So, an hour later, Lee Seonghae was sitting in the corner of a franchise café, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} waiting to meet “Lee Gangheon.”
As someone who embodied the proverb “strike while the iron is hot,” she was perfectly at ease.
And she was in an even better mood—because she’d just had a great idea.
And then—
“Nice to see you, Agents!”
The ones who sat down were—
The agents she had met back when she dealt with the “Man in the Screen.”
Oooh.
The man with the scar on his neck, and the tired-looking one who had taken Kang Ihak away.
And among them, Lee Gangheon would be—
“Well, hello there, Assistant Manager.”
Most likely the man with the neck scar, who smiled as he sat down across from her.
From that smile, she picked up several cues that it was just a habit, and that he was actually in a very tense state.
Must be something important.
“So, you must have something you’d like me to do?”
“Oh? If I ask, you’ll just do it?”
“Yep. I’ll help you!”
“...Wow, seriously?”
His smile didn’t crack, but his voice softened.
“Really! As long as later you’ll do me a favor too. It’s nothing bad—it’s a good thing!”
“And your standard for good or bad is...?”
“Obviously me.”
Lee Seonghae beamed.
“But I never do bad things to good people!”
After a brief silence—
“Alright!”
“Lee Gangheon” answered briskly.
“As long as it doesn’t harm the Disaster Management Bureau.”
“Of course!”
While the two of them exchanged cheerful smiles, the tired-looking, broad-shouldered agent fixed his gaze on her.
“Ms. Lee Seonghae.”
“Yes?”
“If you really want to help good people, wouldn’t it be better to reconsider working for a company that harms society?”
Hmm.
Lee Seonghae noticed that Lee Gangheon had quickly stepped on that agent’s foot under the table, but she kindly pretended not to see it—
Just as she herself had asked a similar question last time.
Whether he was defending her or probing her, Lee Gangheon tossed out another line.
“Come on~ you must have some wish you really want to come true, right?”
“Of course!”
“Knew it. But here’s the thing.”
His voice dropped slightly.
“Do you know any employees who’ve kept in touch after using a Wish Ticket? I mean retirees you can still contact regularly.”
Hmm.
Even excluding the Team A leader, who was still employed—
The retired Team C leader, and three members of the Field Exploration Team who had retired last year using Wish Tickets... two of them, whose wishes weren’t too “grand,” were still in regular contact.
“Sure! They’re all doing well.”
“...Is that so? And the ones who disappeared?”
“Oh, of course there are missing ones too. When they make that kind of wish.”
“......”
“......”
A heavy, weighty silence fell—until her bright voice cut through it.
“Anyway, what do you need me to do?”
“...It’s nothing difficult, something you already know.”
Lee Gangheon spoke casually.
“Remember last time we met, that black pet carrier?”
“Oh, you mean Employee-nim?”
Strangely, the agents went silent.
As if she were about to say something shocking.
“He’s a really good person. Kind, and always trying to help people!”
“...Oh, really?”
His voice was restrained.
“But doesn’t it bother you that such a good person was stuffed into a dog carrier?”
“Agent-nim.”
Another agent tried to stop him. But Lee Seonghae only took the question at face value.
“Hmm. But I think Employee-nim uses that carrier because it’s comfortable....”
“......”
“Maybe so people don’t get scared if he comes out. It’s consideration!”
“They get scared, huh.”
“Some people judge by appearances, you know?”
“......”
The agent’s mouth opened, then closed again.
When it opened once more, his voice was purely businesslike.
“Alright. Our only request is for you to let us get close to that carrier.”
Hmm.
“Nothing big—just let us know when it’s headed to another site.”
A rather convincing guess popped into her head.
Could this be a scout job?
Come to think of it, the Disaster Management Bureau had said they worked with kind supernatural beings to get rid of evil darkness.
Employee-nim would be a perfect fit.
Sounds good to me!
Better than him slaving away under a bad boss like Director Cheong, not getting paid.
Still, best to confirm.
“You’re going to help Employee-nim change jobs?”
“...And if I said yes?”
“Then I’ll help.”
“...!”
“He doesn’t seem to be getting paid right now. He’s in the Annex even now, and really, the conditions seem—”
“Right now,”
The agent stood up.
“He’s in the Annex?”
“Yes.”
“The Baekilmong Corporation Annex.”
“Yes. But...”
Were they about to storm the place right away?
Lee Seonghae smiled.
“You won’t get in there as humans.”
One of Baekilmong Corporation’s security features—
Infiltration by darkness or escapes of contained darkness happened all the time, but security against intruders coming in from outside to “steal” darkness was airtight.
A typical evil megacorporation, valuing raw material supply lines over human life.
Which meant that any spur-of-the-moment break-in done the “normal” way was very difficult.
Without an insider’s cooperation.
“Just wait a bit.”
And Lee Seonghae was confident she could provide that cooperation just fine.
After all, she’d been planning to go to the Annex tonight anyway!
For several more days, she’d kept bringing snacks—(she’d been planning to give them as gifts anyway!)—while gathering information and establishing a line of contact with the Security Team members who worked alongside “Employee-nim.”
Through this route, she intended that the moment she naturally learned the pet carrier was going out, she would immediately pass that information on to the Disaster Management Bureau agents.
The only hitch was, she hadn’t expected Employee-nim to be assigned to a task that would take him deep into the company’s inner sanctum.
And even less had she imagined that, due to some unknown incident, he would be relocated by an executive and then disappear entirely.
Inside the company, it was officially recorded as “seconded for separate duties under Director Ho Yuwon,” but that fact was not disclosed externally.
Even his Security Team colleagues stayed tight-lipped. It seemed they were doing something among themselves, but...
“Mmm...”
In this situation, the one fortunate thing was that Lee Seonghae had at least noticed Employee-nim was no longer inside the carrier.
I can feel he’s not there.
Sensing the presence—or absence—of the Mascot.
A lingering skill from her time working as staff at the Flower Golden Resort. The same phenomenon as with unlocked agents.
In any case, Lee Seonghae had conveyed this deflating news to the agents, and the agents had...
[K.LEE: He’s gone]
...asked her to bring something when they met again.
If possible, that is.
Namely, a trace of the Employee.
[K.LEE: A part of his body, or a piece of clothing he wore regularly would be fine]
[K.LEE: Not just any personal item. Not something like a doll]
Hair, fingernails, or a bit of horn, for example.
Of course, Lee Seonghae didn’t have any hair from Employee-nim. It seemed the agents were simply asking in the spirit of grabbing at any possible lead.
But—
[I think I have something similar!]
An item she could almost consider a part of him.
“The Mascot-nim’s flower decoration!”
A “souvenir” from the Pleasant Theme Park that staff could choose as part of their pay.
Lee Seonghae had confidently picked a single flower from the horn on the Mascot’s head.
Of course, Kim Soleum had been deeply displeased by this—but she herself had no idea...
Are you
sure
about this?
Remembering only that question from the Mascot-nim, she gladly brought the flower and showed it to the agents.
The agent’s face sank as he looked at the tiny golden wildflower.
“This is... ‘part of the Employee’?”
“Yep!”
The atmosphere grew stranger somehow, but Lee Seonghae didn’t care.
And the agents, using a method akin to dowsing—something esoteric and supernatural—managed to glean a single piece of information from that possession.
A direction.
“He’s to the southeast?”
The agents seemed ready to start tracking immediately. They rose from their seats, looking as if they were about to thank her for her cooperation, when—
“Mm... but that flower’s precious to me too.”
Lee Seonghae beamed as she declared:
“I’m coming with you. I’ll take a day off!”
And so, after several changes of transport, Lee Seonghae finally arrived in Jisan Village and was able to arrange a meeting between Employee-nim and the agents!
And the very first reaction from Employee-nim upon recognizing the agents was—
[Request: Do not move]
...Huh?
***
I hadn’t expected we’d meet like this.
I stared blankly at those faces.
Agent Choi.
Agent Cheongdong.
From the goblin lantern in Agent Choi’s hand, the light of the Elder shone faintly, and coiled neatly on Agent Cheongdong’s shoulder was a rope.
The look they always had when dispatched.
And as our eyes met, I slowly widened my field of vision... and saw again the black box held in both hands.
Right beside the entrance.
...!
The sense of danger made the hair on the back of my neck prickle.
[Request: Do not move]
[Reason: Box three steps away (extremely dangerous)]
No.
Too close...!
If it locks on to someone’s movement, the one it follows could change.
The Box-Seated Seeker’s characteristic—
It “prefers” to accept into its garden the side that offers more interesting stories.
Which meant it could very well decide to go after two of them instead of me.
I have to get them out safely.
Somehow.
Should I try to scare them? I’d like to get Deputy Eunhaje out too—how can I manage that?
...If I deliberately lure the box—
“Podo.”
...
...!
“Let’s calm down.”
At the entrance, Agent Choi slowly set down the goblin lantern.
Then he raised both hands.
“See? We’re not going to do anything. That’s fine, right?”
...
“How about we just communicate by nodding? If it’s hard to speak, just move your head.”
I slowly nodded.
A smile began to spread on Agent Choi’s face—
“What an... interesting way to phrase it.”
Ho Yuwon.
“It’s not that it’s hard for him to speak—it’s that, structurally, he doesn’t have vocal cords. Isn’t that right?”
For some reason, my heart felt like it was shriveling.
[Such a rude fellow! My friend’s vocal cords exist somewhere in his body, but at present he simply prefers a more comfortable means of communication!]
And—
Ho Yuwon and Agent Choi knew each other.
What’s more, that director harbored intense hostility toward the Disaster Management Bureau...
“You went running to that wheezing old recluse on the mountaintop to get my prohibition lifted. That’s just the kind of politicking your organization is known for.”
“Agent Podo.”
Agent Cheongdong spoke up.
“If a sapient being within a paranormal disaster is continuing to cause supernatural harm to a government agent, we can immediately transfer them to the Bureau.”
His eyes darkened as he looked at Ho Yuwon.
“That means as long as we have the victim’s testimony, we can do it right now.”
Ho Yuwon’s smile deepened.
[Oh, it seems there’s no one here who’s friendly toward this man. Well, who likes a plague? And he is insufferable, after all.]
[Looks like we have our candidates.]
...Candidates?
[Two candidates to fill the Garden’s quota. How about we put him in the box?]
And I realized that Brown was proposing a very simple way to get out of this situation.
[A termination notice is sad, but essential for running a show. Let’s inform the two least valuable ones.]
[‘Regrettably, you will no longer be joining us.’]
Six sentient beings present.
Quota: two.
[Let’s choose them.]