Even looking again didn’t change anything.
A human body—no, a body that looked exactly like the one I’d had back when I was human—
with a lizard’s head attached.
“.......”
I creaked my head to the side and looked at the lizard.
“?”
Aaaagh.
Question: Reason for similarity between the mood-light-cultivated body and Section Chief Lee’s body?
“I do not know.”
I felt like my insides were going to burst.
Request: Hypothesis.
“Yes. Based on the product’s manual, there is a possibility that a ‘special effect’ has manifested.”
...!
Use the observed creature’s nerves and muscles directly! And enjoy the wonderful special effects!
Special effects.
“When considering the uniqueness of a gift-item, one may hypothesize that the giver’s traits were partially incorporated, reinforcing its function as a gift.”
So.
“The biological traits of the gift-giver—those extraterrestrial reptiles—were ‘included’ in the gift?”
Since gifts arise through social exchange.
Like in sci-fi, where aliens exchange living organisms as cultural symbols.
Or, more trivially, like nations exchanging regional specialties.
This is extremely ghost-story-like.
Especially the part where you get something you didn’t want!
“Wait, wait! Did the genetic information mix? Does the employee’s perception identify significant morphological similarity between this body and Section Chief Lee’s—?”
Leave.
I expelled Kwak Jaegang.
He tried clinging—“a short interview, just a brief questionnaire”—but once he realized I wasn’t budging, he left.
Memorizing the packaging and manual of the egg mood light with unhinged intensity as he went.
I’m exhausted...
I hadn’t even done anything besides use the mood light, and it had drained me.
I looked at the body wrapped in the towel with a troubled gaze.
“Do you require hypotheses from another field?”
Deferred.
First, organize the situation.
Yes. If I thought about it calmly...
There was nothing technically wrong.
What I wanted was a body that could communicate, function socially, and live as a person.
Even if it had a lizard’s head, others would see it as human. Like Section Chief Lee.
Exhale.
Good.
I stepped closer to examine the body again.
※Caution: Do not wake the resulting lifeform.
It was definitely asleep.
Breathing, undeniably alive.
...Ah.
I realized something.
It was actually better that it had a lizard head.
If a body that looked exactly like my old human self had been lying here like this—I didn’t know what I would have felt.
Exhale.
...Instructions.
To use the result’s nerves and muscles independently, open the adhesive interface on the bottom {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} of the mood light.
I carefully closed the mood light’s compartment again.
My blood, hair, and saline had melted into a strange viscous substance inside, but I was not to clean it.
Instead, I peeled the seal off the bottom, exposing a sticky adhesive surface.
Attach the opened mood light near the user’s spinal cord, where the brain is connected.
...Where is that, exactly?
The brain—judging from that melting sensation from before—was somewhere near the ribs. So placing it in that region should work.
Even if my organs are scrambled, the parts that need to connect will connect.
The spinal cord would reach the brain somehow.
Lying down, I unzipped the security uniform in that region and pressed the mood light adhesive there.
Then I zipped everything back up as tightly as possible.
Once attached, activate the mood light.
Please enjoy your experience!
I activated it.
...!
The world lurched.
My senses churned, like something soft being sucked through a tube, my consciousness and sense of self flowing—
moving somewhere else.
.......
“—hh.”
I gasped, sitting up.
The towel nearly slipped from my body, but I caught it on reflex.
“Hands.”
Human hands.
My hands.
...I had awakened inside the mood-light body.
“...!”
I turned.
130666’s body lay on its side like a specimen.
With each breath, black smoke rose and receded from it—unnervingly eerie, yet somehow peaceful.
And on its rib area, a rounded, egg-shaped mood-light object pulsed faintly.
Reflecting my consciousness.
Ha.
A body swap.
A textbook horror trope—experienced firsthand.
I thought my vision would swim with panic when I raised a hand to my forehead, but—
...I was more stable than expected.
My head felt cold.
Fear and dread still existed. But the burning, racing heartbeat didn’t.
As if unnecessary emotional spikes were being filtered out.
And that reminded me of someone who had once been in the same exploration unit—someone who was right here with me now....
“...Section Chief.”
“Yes.”
“The body I am using now—does it count as ‘us’?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
...!
Oh no.
I really was now an extraterrestrial reptile.
A member—however isolated—of the species that ran the cosmic shopping mall.
“But it is not yet connected.”
Connected—
“...You mean becoming part of you?”
“Yes.”
“When would we become connected?”
Section Chief Lee’s pupils focused on me.
“Individuals born within the same colony become ‘us’ at the moment of hatching.”
Colony.
Typically a word for settlement or group—but here, it clearly meant something biological.
Like fungus or bacteria growing as a single organismal network.
The individual mattered less than the colony itself.
To primate norms, a bizarre ecology.
“Then this mood light—was it created by ‘us’?”
“No.”
“Correction. It simulates an environment similar to ‘ours’?”
“Yes.”
The lizard eyes shifted to the lamp.
“The cultivation process used in this product is identical to how ‘we’ produce bodies within a colony. It was likely inspired by an ecological group with similar traits.”
And Section Chief Lee smiled.
“We decided to repay you by providing an item whose method has already been validated by us.”
So it was confirmed.
...These aliens had given me a body capable of becoming one of them, as their “repayment.”
If that was intentional, it was an unsettling kindness.
A new individual body...
So Section Chief Lee’s body must have been created in a similar manner to blend into humans.
I clenched and unclenched my fist.
In truth, it did meet my request.
Only I see it as a lizard.
So I would be able to move among people normally—
—Oh my goodness.
Ah.
—Show business heaven help us. My friend! To become kin to that dull, humorless swordsman! What a catastrophic choice!
Elegant. If words had blades, Section Chief Lee would be a shredded rug.
—Roe Deer, we have sufficiently enjoyed the spectacle. Now that you have seen the outcome, shall we proceed to return?
......
Wait.
—Friend?
I reached into 130666’s pocket, retrieved some coins, and bent one.
It bent cleanly.
“...!”
Terrifying strength.
It’s Section Chief Lee’s physical power...!
Well—maybe not quite the same, since he could bend rebar like rice cakes—but still, this was formidable.
“Roe Deer. Put on clothing.”
“Ah. Yes.”
And strangely—I could read the lizard’s expressions more clearly now.
Like earlier, when I interpreted his expression as kindly.
I could now read a faint warmth, even pride. Hm.
“...Then—does that mean I could connect to ‘us’ in this state?”
“Yes. Do you require it?”
“No! I’m good. ...But—how, exactly? Please explain verbally only.”
“Yes.”
And I listened carefully to the method of connecting to the colony.
Because even by accident, I could not allow that.
I did not intend to start a new life as an alien reptile. However—
“Thank you.”
“Yes.”
I put on the clothes the Section Chief had lent me, exhaling slowly.
Yes. I could breathe. I could speak.
I could do this.
I could eat. I could talk to people.
So then.
...Brown.
— Roe Deer is calling for me.
‘I want to see what I can do in this form.’
The sound of the host tapping his fingers on the desk came through with a sigh.
— Very well. Oh, let us see whether my friend can still make a witty judgment even as a fragment of that sword-wielding creature...
I don’t know why it ended up like I was getting permission, but... fine.
Let’s make use of this body.
I carefully read the recommended usage section on the back of the manual.
Recommended Usage of Result:
Recommended duration of use: The lifespan of the organism.
And then—
“Do you require advice?”
“If you would give it, I’ll accept it gratefully.”
“Yes. Rest. Living organisms must secure rest time to maintain survival and production efficiency.”
“.......”
“There are several days before the next exploration. You must use that time for rest.”
I nodded.
Though I can’t just rest aimlessly.
But if I can take even a little rest while enjoying things I couldn’t feel as 130666, without involving Se-gwang Special City...
.......
“I want to meet people.”
“Yes.”
***
That evening. Baegilmong HQ building.
“You’ve reviewed the manual thoroughly, right?”
“Of course.”
Would I have shown up if I hadn’t?
Baek Saheon smiled politely instead of glaring at the researcher who said the obvious and sat down calmly.
It wasn’t just because of workplace politeness.
It was because of the deputy sitting across from him with eyes so clear and bright it was unsettling.
Lee Seonghae.
The dolphin-masked elite team member had, just as promised from Fox Counseling Office, shadowed him relentlessly for the past several days!
Not like some amateur tailing behind.
— Goat junior, Team B is calling again.
They had straight-up assigned him to accompany them...!
Because of that, even though rumors about “Director Ho’s Project” producing an extremely high-grade dream had spread all across departments, Baek Saheon hadn’t been able to leak or leverage any of it.
Instead...
By accompanying the elite team, he had been collecting higher-grade dreams more easily and accumulating points.
Not because of goodwill.
He knew that.
So what?
In the end, what mattered was gaining dream fragments.
And today was the same.
“Well then, I’ll leave it in your care.”
“Yes!”
The research team finished explaining the entry details for today’s darkness and left, leaving only Lee Seonghae and Baek Saheon at the table.
“.......”
“.......”
“...Deputy. Do you... need something from me?”
“Nope.”
Fuck. Fucking hell.
Baek Saheon forced a smile to withstand the bizarre pressure in those clear eyes.
He was sweating a little.
Then—
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
Maybe Team A, who was supposed to enter with them, had come here instead of the darkness entry point—so Baek Saheon turned toward the door in relief.
“Yes, come innn~!”
At the dolphin deputy’s permission, the door opened, and—
“Hello.”
A man wearing a black cat mask stepped in.
“.......”
There were many employees in the field exploration teams wearing many sorts of masks, so it wasn’t strange that someone he didn’t recognize existed.
But—
Huh?
Something felt familiar.
Automatically, he lifted his eyepatch just slightly, checking the silhouette through the halo—
......!!
W-wait.
A chill shot up his spine.
Next to him, the dolphin deputy spoke.
“Masquerade?”
The man turned toward the dolphin and smiled.
“Hello, Dolphin-nim.”
And then he looked at Baek Saheon.
“Hey.”
......?!
“Life seems to be treating you well, Goat junior.”
Fuck. Fuck.
It was Kim Soreum.
What is this.
Where did he even put his usual mask. And also—
Wasn’t he in Security Team literally a few days ago??
How was he showing up looking completely fine and in human form?!
While Baek Saheon was frozen in sheer horror, the dolphin deputy brightened like a puppy wagging its tail.
“Now you can eat, right!!”
“Mmm. Yes.”
That’s what you focus on??
“Then shall we go eat together? I know a really good place. Abalone bibimbap!”
“...That sounds good.”
Why are you looking at me??
“And it’s fine if we invite others too!”
“Oooh! Sounds good!”
Then the dolphin deputy smiled sweetly.
“As long as they’re nice people.”
.......
“...Deputy, we are supposed to depart for darkness entry right now.”
“Oh!”
At Baek Saheon’s reminder, the dolphin deputy clapped.
“Then you wanna come with us?”
WHAT??
“This darkness is super safe if Masquerade is with us! And afterward we go straight to lunch!”
“...Shall we?”
NO DO NOT COME!!
“Wow! Okay!”
Baek Saheon screamed internally.
From serial killers to cats—was there anything this woman couldn’t mentally steamroll?!
...And as for the cause of that mental meltdown—
Kim Soreum himself was simply thinking:
I can talk to people! Amazing.
He was satisfied!
He had come to visit acquaintances who were available today, wearing an item that Ho Director had arranged for him—a mask similar to the field exploration team’s.
Necessary if you want to walk around the company.
He couldn’t risk wandering as his own face.
Also, he needed a natural identity to gather information within Baegilmong.
And since 130666’s body couldn’t enter here, he was enjoying the environment, gathering intel, feeling a bit proud.
On top of that, the dolphin deputy’s suggestion gave him an efficient test plan:
Darkness exploration.
I need to see whether dream fragments can be extracted in this body.
If so, he could convert them into bonuses via Ho Yuwon.
And even if not—he could probably clear darkness much more easily now.
Because he could exert extraordinary physical power in this body.
So he had no reason not to accept.
“Shall we go then?”
“Yes.”
Thus, he joined the darkness exploration team.
A safe darkness experience with Dolphin Deputy!
‘...Hm?’
A faint déjà vu brushed past him, but he let it go.
And then—
He would pay for that.
“We’re here~! This is the place!”
“.......”
A mountain road after sunset.
And a pitch-black tunnel cutting through the mountain.
“People kept saying they saw ghosts and folks went missing, so they closed it off. It’s super famous even among civilians because of all the ghost sightings~”
“.......”
“But it’s fine! All we have to do is walk inside all night and tell scary stories. That’s the darkness!”
What flashed through his mind was the first time he ever met Dolphin Deputy.
That nightmare of a ghost-clap tale told with the backs of her hands.
“No matter what shows up, just ignore it. Here!”
Ah.
Ah.
AH!!!