Now.
What just happened?
“......”
In the silence, I look at the someone who appeared behind me.
A black suit, an animal mask.
The moment I see that distinctive outfit, I recognize the affiliation instantly — because I’m wearing the same uniform myself.
A field investigation team employee of Baekilmong Corporation.
But the moment °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I glance down at my own appearance,
I notice something subtly off.
The way his hair is styled.
The cut of his suit.
A faint impression that — somehow, he doesn’t quite belong to this time.
A more old-fashioned style than mine.
[Oh, my — it seems we’re from different eras.]
That’s right.
The employee before me was clearly not from the 2020s.
Someone from decades ago.
That... distinctive wolf mask.
“......”
I know exactly which named figure from the Darkness Exploration Records wore that outfit.
‘...Leader of Elite Team B.’
J3.
The Guard Captain’s past self.
A fleeting moment I had glimpsed when I took the Nostalgia Candy now stood before me as a vivid, continuous entity.
Frozen in place, I faced it.
And then—
“You’re not answering. Should I just call you Agent Yong?”
“...!”
That voice jolted me back into reality.
Wait a second.
‘Where are the others?’
I reflexively looked down the opposite aisle of the library where the others had been — but there was no one there.
Only the rows of silent shelves stretching on unnaturally.
‘...!’
I lost them.
An eerie premonition crept up my spine.
And in this entire space, the only trace of human presence came from the man in the wolf mask standing before me.
“......”
I could tell immediately.
A paranormal phenomenon.
That man in the wolf mask — he too was a strange existence born from the history of Hanbit Library and Se-gwang Special City, conjured from the memory of J3.
‘Don’t provoke him.’
For now—
—it’s safer not to raise my voice in this place.
As a Baekilmong employee trapped inside a ghost story, I followed procedure.
‘Don’t mention J3.’
Taking a deep breath, I pulled out a sheet of paper and began to scribble quickly with my pen.
The man in the wolf mask glanced down at it.
- Since this is a library, I’d prefer we communicate in writing.
I held the pen out to him.
“......”
“......”
The man in the wolf mask didn’t take my pen.
Instead, he smoothly pulled one out of his own chest pocket and wrote on my paper.
- A library, huh.
Perhaps...
- You didn’t know this was a library?
Only the curve of his mouth showed beneath the mask, faintly smiling.
- Where were you right before this?
- Let’s see. I’d just entered the subway tunnels to explore the Vending Machine of Darkness, and before I knew it, I was rounding corners inside this maze of books.
“......”
- You seem comfortable in this place, Agent Yong. Were you already exploring this labyrinth of shelves?
- Yes.
I wrote calmly.
‘No need to correct him and insist on Roe Deer.’
As long as the Guard Captain is like this, I have to maintain a soft, cooperative front — somehow, stay safe....
- Then which team are you assigned to, Agent Yong?
- Team D.
Yes, let’s say I’m a newly transferred recruit.
But then—
- Team D.
The gaze from behind the wolf mask changed.
‘...What?’
And the next line made my head spin.
- There’s no such team.
“...!!”
A shiver ran through me as realization hit.
‘A difference in configuration settings...!’
Think back to the Darkness Exploration Records from the era that J3 belonged to.
‘That was when Baekilmong’s system was only just being conceptualized.’
Back when the company’s details weren’t fully fleshed out yet — when a search for “Baekilmong Corporation” would only yield a single document page.
Do you know how the employees were categorized back then?
Baekilmong Corporation
A cruel company that stuffs countless employees into ghost stories as raw material to extract pharmaceutical reagents.
Those who thought they’d joined a major conglomerate found themselves dying horrific deaths inside the tales.
Among the raw-material suppliers, only the ones exceptionally gifted in high-level exploration could join the elite teams marked A, B, and C — and ascend as corporate executives.
Exactly.
The Elite Teams.
And everyone else.
In other words, all Baekilmong employees who weren’t classified as A, B, or C were nothing more than expendable units thrown into ghost stories.
There were no ranks, no promotions. Everyone was “employee,” just a code number on experimental records.
The very essence of the tale — “you thought you joined a big company, but it was actually a lab full of human test subjects.”
That’s what Baekilmong employees were back then.
‘And there were already ghost stories written based on that setting.’
To maintain internal consistency among them...
5.1 Baekilmong Corporation (Early Period)
A cruel company that stuffs countless employees into ghost stories as raw material to extract pharmaceutical reagents.
Everything had been relegated to the past tense.
‘Baekilmong before it became a joint-stock company.’
Back then, Baekilmong existed merely as a collective ghost story — later, it grew into a detailed world-building power, a massive pharmaceutical conglomerate.
“......”
I felt his gaze.
The stare of the past’s Elite Team Leader — boring into me, as if assessing whether I was truly human.
...and I knew.
The specific classification system used by the early Elite Teams.
5.1.4 Team B (Early Period)
Baekilmong’s Elite Team.
Employees with a sharp sense for True/False judgments, who consistently showed exceptional accuracy in binary-choice situations, were assigned to this team.
And this man was the leader of Team B.
No clumsy lie would fool him.
Therefore—
- There is.
It’s better to go straight.
- In my time, the teams extended up to Z. Because I’m a Baekilmong employee stationed in the year 202■.
“...!”
I told the truth.
- And I’ve heard stories. ...That decades ago, there was an Elite Team Leader who wore a wolf mask.
I looked straight at him.
- From the phrasing and the clues, I guessed... could you be that Team B Leader?
He silently studied me.
When cold sweat began to gather at the back of my neck, he lifted his pen again.
- That’s right.
Phew.
- Libraries are spaces where the knowledge of the past connects to the future.
- So perhaps, in this strange library ghost story, the timelines of past and future have overlapped.
He leisurely moved his pen.
- Quite an interesting hypothesis.
- Or perhaps you’re just calling it a “hypothesis” so you can indulge a fantasy you don’t even believe yourself.
I nearly swallowed hard.
...The Wolf Leader’s hand patted my back.
- I don’t really know either. Guess we’ll have to find out.
- Nice to meet you, Agent Yong.
And so, a bizarre companionship began.
We walked in silence through the great tunnels of shelves — Hanbit Library.
The Wolf Leader, having memorized the “Library Usage Regulations” printed on the floor that I’d pointed out earlier, moved quietly beside me.
From time to time, I felt his gaze on me.
- Hmm. Shall I just call you “Leader,” then?
- Yes, Leader.
Of course, I couldn’t ask his real name. Asking for someone’s true name inside a ghost story — that’s the kind of suspicious act that could turn an ally hostile.
Still, walking beside the pre-contamination version of the Guard Captain — a named character from Darkness Exploration Records — felt stranger than any ghost tale.
Tension.
...Stay focused.
‘I have to find the others.’
I looked down at the yarn in my hand.
...The Wolf Leader recognized its purpose the moment he saw it.
- You tied that at the entrance, didn’t you? Like Ariadne’s thread from Greek myth.
- Correct.
- Then let’s keep using it.
So, at the fork where my group had vanished and I’d met the Wolf Leader, I looped the thread around a gap in the bookshelf and began walking toward the passage opposite where they disappeared.
‘If any of them see this thread, they can follow it back.’
Keeping my composure, I reminded myself: even if the path twists, I’ll recognize it.
But a moment later—
I witnessed something shocking.
“......”
“......”
A familiar corridor reappeared.
[Good grief!]
<Masterpieces of 2000s Horror Anthologies>
We’d returned to the exact starting point, where that school-uniformed figure had dropped the book I’d seen earlier.
The same spot — the book still lying on the floor.
Only the yarn stretched wildly down both hallways now, forming two separate strands.
‘Damn.’
- Seems this labyrinth of books doesn’t follow physical space.
I slowly nodded.
- And the ignition point is that book, isn’t it?
“...!”
- You keep looking at it. You wanted that book, didn’t you?
Damn it.
- It seems so.
- I see. Then don’t touch it yet. Let’s keep walking — same direction as before.
“......”
I stopped walking.
- Why did you stop?
- Walking in the same direction exactly as before — is that to provoke the library?
The eyes behind the wolf mask met mine.
A flicker of interest.
- That’s right.
Phew.
- There are two kinds of ghost stories.
- The kind that’s scary simply because it exists. And the kind that’s scary because it’s looking back at you.
- This library seems to be the latter.
“......”
- It reacts to its visitors. The more you interact with it, the more blatantly it manifests.
Then I heard him murmur:
“And you’re an arrogant one.”
“...!”
“Which makes you clever, too. But whatever you’re thinking — I can think it, too. So from now on, you don’t need to ask twice, smart Agent Yong.”
“......”
“Now let’s walk.”
The wolf mask turned forward.
I swallowed hard, adjusted my grip on the thread, and began walking again in the same direction as before.
My legs trembled.
‘Think.’
Even amid the tension, my mind raced urgently with speculation.
One of the library’s usage rules—
Leave once you’ve obtained one thing.
Maybe touching that book is the key to leaving this library.
Or maybe... touching it will force us out — and that might be even worse.
‘What about the others?’
They’ve all vanished, and the Guard Captain’s form has shifted into something else.
And...
Is it really safe to leave him like this?
As those tangled thoughts swirled, I kept walking.
“Hm.”
Then—
Tap, tap.
The Guard Captain patted my back again, directing my gaze past the fork ahead.
The space we’d stepped into before was now...
“...!”
Red streaks were smeared chaotically across the floor.
The thread I’d left behind had somehow unraveled, twisting into strange, broken letters on the ground...
- It appeared. A reaction.
‘Ha.’
It fit together so perfectly it was almost absurd—but the creeping horror of it made my skin crawl.
Holding my breath, I bent down to read the letters.
Fragrant Background of the Passage
“......”
- What could it mean?
This...
- It looks like an anagram.
I began breaking down each letter one by one, rearranging them to form a single sentence...
Mouthing it soundlessly under my breath, I read:
“...The one who walks the path of worship?”
“Well done.”
Click.
I turned my head.
The Wolf Leader was standing by a shelf’s corner, pulling out a book.
On the spine, the title read: The One Who Walks the Path of Worship.
“......!”
The bookshelf moved.
With a dull scraping sound, the section from which the book was pulled slid aside — revealing a new passage.
But...
It was red.
Dark.
Instead of the warm, amber light of the reading lamps, a dim crimson glow filled the narrow tunnel of shelves, heavy and suffocating.
And—
‘...It slopes downward.’
Subtly, my line of sight tilted lower.
“......”
The Hanbit Library Wiki updated itself.
The next entry appeared...
A loyal one whose curiosity remains unsatisfied may step deeper within.
Pass through what is open, and come to what is closed — to the shining place — to the door.
There, meet the master of Hanbit Library,
Bow down,
■■■■■■■■■■ (content censored).
Something’s wrong.
‘No.’
I hastily scribbled a note for the Wolf Leader — We’ve taken the wrong path...
But what came out was—
- Wrgnpathvtdktkn...
Nonsense.
‘Shit.’
I swallowed a scream and reached to snatch the paper back, but—
“Hold on.”
The Wolf Leader took it first.
“Hmm. So you can speak.”
“......”
“From now on, communicate by voice. Quietly. Never raise it.”
“...Understood.”
I nodded immediately.
“Don’t step on the thread. We’ll turn back slowly. Got it?”
And so, keeping our footsteps silent, we walked out of the passage marked with the red usage rules.
Yet even after we left, the dark corridor born from the shifting shelves did not vanish.
It remained there — open like a hollow void, as though ready to swallow us at any moment.
‘Phew.’
What a waste.
“......”
Shuddering, I closed the wiki window.
And this time, we followed the thread back — all the way to the starting point.
Masterpieces of 2000s Horror Anthologies.
“You understand now, don’t you?”
......
“That not touching the book wasn’t the correct answer.”
Damn it.
There’s no turning back now.
‘Better to confirm it myself.’
That had to be the trigger.
In a mystical library that grants knowledge and information, refusing to check the “knowledge given in response to curiosity”...
That’s basically begging for an irregularity.
‘If we keep ignoring it, the structure of this place could twist beyond control.’
Who knows what effect it might have on the others...
Let’s check it.
“...I’ll inspect the book.”
Finally, I carefully approached the book and reached out my hand—
—and picked it up.
“......”
“Let’s read it together.”
My heart almost leapt out of my chest.
But the Wolf Leader’s arm, still holding one side of the book, didn’t move a muscle — so I gave in to the situation.
‘Maybe this is better. If we leave, we’ll leave together.’
“...Then I’ll turn to the page with the ‘desired information.’”
Flip, flip.
Pages turned lightly in my hand.
Trivial yet eerie short horror stories formed themselves into legible words before me. I skimmed past them as quickly as possible, avoiding eye contact with the text—
Until I stopped at a familiar line.
In the Black Shadow
The ghost story of Segwang Industrial High School.
“Phew.”
Taking a deep breath, I began to read that page — the one I’d once seen as a text file.
It all happened on the day of our graduation.
And in the next moment—
The letters melted and swirled before my eyes.
“......”
When I opened them again, I was standing in a schoolyard shrouded in darkness.
Late at night.
Inside the main gate of Segwang Industrial High School.
And the one who’d read it with me was still—
“Hm.”
—wearing that same wolf mask.
‘Ha.’
My mind reeled, but before I could process it, I noticed what was still in my hand.
A book.
‘Wait.’
Wouldn’t this count as taking something out of the library?
Panicking, I hurried to check the book—
Flutter.
“......?”
Something slipped out.
A faded, yellowed paper envelope — like the kind used for holding cash.
I caught it reflexively.
‘An envelope?’
It was light — probably empty.
‘What is this?’
I hadn’t planned to open it. But—
The envelope opened on its own.
“......!”
From inside, a warm blue light flared.
Something I knew well.
Will-o’-the-wisp.
The ethereal glow emitted by the spirits of the Disaster Management Agency.
The gentle blue flame circled the envelope, and burned letters emerged across its back, scorched into the paper—
If you’re reading this, it means the will-o’-the-wisp recognizes you as an agent.
And that means the rescue operation in Se-gwang Special City has resumed.
May at least the students be saved.
Do not look for us.
We failed.
— Emergency Rescue Unit, Azure Dragon Team
“...!”
[Oh, those would be the bureaucrats who couldn’t afford proper offices for their own agents, wouldn’t they? Could this be a memo left by them?]
...Yes.
The Emergency Rescue Unit was definitely part of the Supernatural Disaster Response Agency’s subordinate divisions. This was a trace left by one of their operatives.
‘But...’
My eyes caught on the unfamiliar team name.
‘Azure Dragon Team?’
Then—
“Disaster Management Agency?”
“......!”
The voice came from beside me — the wolf mask.
“Agent Yong... are you one of them?”
Damn it.