I nearly tripped.
I reflexively stiffened and looked back up the stairs of Morning Station, but nothing changed.
Ho Yuwon.
An agent of Se-gwang Special City with the face of that Daydream director really was standing in this worn-out underground subway space.
Juror No. 1 I had seen at the Scales Court.
-The author is an empty shell. The real one is inside that.
-He separated and isolated his own twisted desires, twisted thoughts, extreme emotions, and every abnormal judgment, and handed them off to other personas within himself.
The juror who had pressed me.
So....
-I have confirmed the validity of the shortlisted candidate’s testimony.
-I acknowledge the author as one complete state that can be weighed on the Scale of Malice.
In the end, someone wearing Ho Yuwon’s face who had guided me back into being human.
Even as I thought it was probably not an appropriate form of address, I still opened my mouth in the end....
"......Agent?"
Juror No. 1 looked at me, smiled gently, then vanished into the shadow deeper inside the concourse.
"......!"
I reflexively followed him up into the concourse.
But the old concourse was dark and empty.
[It’s a poltergeist all on its own!]
I swallowed.
[Two paths lie before your eyes, Mr. Noru. ‘To chase or not to chase, that is the question!’]
...I have to go.
[Oh!]
I set my foot on the stairs.
To put an end to this city’s ghost story, I have to find out what kind of ghost story it is in the first place.
Outside this subway station right now—what, exactly, is the ghost story that has seized Se-gwang Special City?
Are there rules? A way to respond?
If it’s a Disaster Management Bureau agent in this special city—and if it’s Ho Yuwon—there’s a high chance he knows.
It was the same as having a passage to find out right in front of me.
In the end, I stepped into the concourse at the top of the Morning Station stairs.
"......."
Overall, it was no different from the concourses of the other stations the ghost story had “erased,” but it was more miserable.
Meaning there were more traces of people scattered everywhere.
It seems like more people ran away to here....
A dry ruin where even filth had crusted over, it had the bleak feel of an eerie, abandoned city....
And.
[Look over there, friend!]
The sign for Exit 2, marked “Se-gwang District Court.”
Juror No. 1, in the shape of Ho Yuwon, was standing in front of it.
He was staring at the sign, so I only saw his back.
Whew.
"...The Scales Court is gone, but you’re still here."
Juror No. 1 turned to me.
"Are the other jurors still here, too?"
He made an ambiguous smile, then furrowed his brow as if thinking, and pointed somewhere with a finger.
At Exit 2, shut behind a lowered shutter.
...Outside?
"You mean they’re outside this subway station?"
Juror No. 1 slowly nodded.
I sank into an even more incomprehensible feeling.
"...I know an Extermination-Class disaster situation happened here years ago. Outside, exactly... what is happening right now?"
There was no answer.
Do I need to probe from a different angle?
I opened my mouth bluntly.
"I met your avatar."
Juror No. 1’s smile faltered in an instant.
"He desperately wants to reclaim himself, trapped in here. That’s why he sent me into this Se-gwang Special City. ...Do you feel the same way, too?"
I pushed once more.
"Don’t you, too, want to get out of here—like the avatar did?"
.......
Juror No. 1 opened his mouth.
A hazy voice, as if wrapped in fog, drifted out....
-I am not an agent.
Not an agent?
Without thinking, I swept my eyes over Juror No. 1 again. All I’d really been looking at was that face identical to Ho Yuwon’s—down to the “agent uniform,” too....
And then I realized.
Ah.
What I’d been thinking of as an agent uniform had details that were subtly different from a real agent uniform.
What was different was....
There’s no affiliation.
In the spot where an insignia showing affiliation should have been, there was a small felt badge, crooked like something a child had made.
...A fox drawing.
Something about how it didn’t fit the format naturally made me think of a will-o’-the-wisp....
A gentle supernatural being.
"You aren’t an agent... you’re a cooperating spirit working with the Disaster Management Bureau."
Juror No. 1 silently looked at me, then opened his mouth.
-I am only a projection that remained here.
-Not the real one.
And then he began to crumble from his extremities like sand.
"......!"
It looked like he no longer had the capacity to endure.
Juror No. 1 looked at his own hand, his index finger already gone, then formed a bitter smile and spoke again.
Each time he did, his body collapsed faster.
-There is still a chance, so just go back from here.
-You do not need to go out of your way to answer anyone’s demands.
Then he looked at me with eyes holding a bit of interest and warmth.
-Still, keep up with counseling.
-I stayed for a moment to tell you that.
"Wait—"
-Do not go to the opposite platform.
"......!"
With those words, the shape of Ho Yuwon in front of me vanished completely.
All that remained was white ash and... a single worn “outer garment in the shape of an agent uniform,” tossed carelessly on the floor.
"......."
I picked it up.
Just in case, I also emptied out a bottled water and gathered as much of the white ash into it as I could.
...The opposite platform.
As far as I knew, there was only one meaningful facility over there.
YuKwae Research Laboratory.
[Hmph, final advice in life. Emotional, but we cannot assume it is necessarily true.... I want to hear your decision, Mr. Noru.]
I said flatly.
"Let’s go."
[As expected!]
If he truly wanted me not to go, he wouldn’t have given me a hint like “the opposite platform” in the first place.
This was a kind of... I mean, it was more right to see it as telling me to brace myself for something painfully grueling ahead.
Still, be ready to run if it comes down to it.
Brown, though, seemed a little excited.
[You know the flow of the episode, friend! You really do prove with your actions what show you came from....]
...It’s a little scary when he plays along this much, though.
Whew.
After I tucked Juror No. 1’s “agent uniform” and the ash into the inside of my wrist, I moved.
And on the opposite platform, just like the other stations, I opened the door to YuKwae Research Laboratory disguised as a “machine room”....
And froze.
The YuKwae Research Laboratory facility at Morning Station had barely burned.
"...!"
There was soot, but an office corridor that was almost intact came into view.
Had the sprinklers done their job in time? Or maybe this floor was fairly far from where the fire started....
Still, one thing mattered.
Clues!
[Oh, a space that looks like there may have been survivors until the very end!]
I hurriedly opened office doors and rummaged through everything.
And then I realized.
"...Brown."
[My friend is calling this Brown.]
"This isn’t an office."
Beyond each door, it was almost empty.
No burn marks, but there were no desks, no PCs, no chairs.
[And what does that mean?]
I moved.
In a corner of a room, a round object had fallen....
A lump of pale-green yarn.
A gold-foil logo picture of the ghost story “YuKwae Research Laboratory’s Toy Maker” gleamed on the band wrapped around it.
"This floor is probably... a place YuKwae Research Laboratory used as a warehouse."
[Hooh.]
Boxes could be moved, which was why there were no traces.
When the fire broke out, it was obvious they’d used items or something to move everything that had been here, all at once.
And as those things got released into the world... all kinds of ghost stories happened....
If I thought of it that way, it lined up.
I looked around a few more places.
Everything was empty.
[What a shame. It would’ve been nice if we could enjoy it like a treasure hunt.]
But Brown’s disappointment was premature.
Because I found a trace in the room right in front of the emergency door.
[Hmm. A plain desk.]
It was the only desk, too.
For a warehouse management worker?
But what mattered was next.
On the shelf above the desk, there was a USB.
A comical red rabbit shape, stamped with YuKwae Research Laboratory’s logo.
That’s it.
I picked it up immediately.
Because I could check it right here.
I brought a laptop, after all.
[Oh!]
It was exploration gear prepared based on the last few experiences.
I’d meant to give it to the researchers, but it should be fine to use it here.
I quickly pulled the laptop out of my inventory tattoo, powered it on, and plugged in the USB.
Of course, there was no Wi-Fi, but the USB read successfully and the removable disk popped up....
Password: ___________
Ah.
[Well, the path is blocked. With what method are we supposed to figure out the password in a lab that left not even a trace?]
"......."
[Friend?]
I read the text that appeared as a “password hint” in the input window.
Hint: Our first beginning
Password: ___________
[Don’t tell me... they did something so stupid as using an obvious number like the founding year as the password?]
Honestly, if it were normal circumstances, I would’ve reflexively thought something similar and probably choked on it—but my eyes were on something else now.
The digit count in the password field.
Password: ___________
...11 slots.
It would be letters or numbers, at most special characters, but then it was hard to convert into a date.
YuKwae Research Laboratory’s first beginning....
Could it be their first invention?
Even trying to recall the lab’s first product by dredging up the dark exploration record, it was hard to bring to mind. It couldn’t be the ghost-story registration order, could it?
Do I have to think through all of YuKwae Research Laboratory’s products?
Most had long, flashy names. It’d be hard to convert into 11 alphabet characters....
.......
...!
[Oh, my friend has started writing something.]
There was one.
Eleven slots.
As if possessed, I lifted my hand over the keyboard and moved.
Something they had used to summon me here, too.
One of their inventions that I’d still kept close by, even now.
Password: ckrgksclsrn
Good friend.
I pressed Enter.
The lock released, and the disk opened.
I cracked it.
For a moment, shock surged through my whole body, then I hurriedly checked the files.
[Final message.txt]
It was a notepad file. When I double-clicked it open, I saw sentences—barely even sentences—scribbled down as if in a panic, not even written as proper to-the-point notes.
Fire broke out
Evacuating to the subway station
Valuables -> hydrant
Hydrant.
I reflexively snapped my head up, ran out into the corridor, and opened the hydrant cabinet there.
When I tore around inside, I found a safe tucked into a hidden space.
"...!"
[You found the treasure. Congratulations!]
I shoved the whole thing into my wrist inventory. ...It felt like I had to cram it in, like I was starting to run out of capacity.
Still, this is huge.
Valuables from YuKwae Research Laboratory’s warehouse.
Wiping sweat away, with my heart a little lifted, I started reading the rest of the notepad.
Confi;rma req:govt countermeasure(urgent)
And that was.......
.......
.......
.......
.......
.......
Ah.
***
"Haegum, then I’m heading out~"
"Yeah, yeah."
Agent Haegum yawned and let out a small laugh as she watched her teammate leave the container.
A teammate who had just returned this time. ...Someone she’d recruited to fill Gomyeong’s vacancy.
No matter how many times, it never became something she truly got used to.
Whew.
At least there was hope Gomyeong might come back, which made her feel a little better.
Agent Haegum wiped down her sword and started to get ready to clock out....
"Agent."
Thud.
The container door flew open, and someone stood there blankly, staring at Haegum.
A pale-faced person.
Agent Podo—Kim Soleum—stood there.
"You...!"
Haegum started to rise with a face that flashed with gladness, then her expression hardened as several things about Kim Soleum came back to her.
Including why there was no reason for him to appear like this.
"...Are you sure you’re okay?"
"Yes."
The answer was crisp, but his complexion wasn’t.
"There isn’t another abnormality happening to you agents."
"Got it. Sit down first."
Agent Podo followed her guidance—half an insistence—and the moment he sank into the chair, he opened his mouth.
"I came because there’s something I need to tell you about the special city."
"Yeah?"
Even as she answered in that bold way, Haegum was a bit puzzled.
Why did he come to me?
Wasn’t he closer to those two who’d been in Team Hyeonmu 1 with him?
To be honest, Haegum herself had ended up entangled with this Kim Soleum often enough that she’d grown attached in her own way, but since they were from different teams, he would obviously feel distance as a junior.
And if he used to be a spy, then even more so.
But if he came all the way here, there had to be a reason.
Agent Haegum waited.
After a long silence, Agent Podo opened his mouth.
"About the sealed special city."
"Yeah. Did you find out something new?"
"...The method used to seal that city."
The method used to seal it?
"Didn’t the Bureau do it by erasing the city’s very existence?"
"That’s what it looks like, circumstantially."
Cognitive erasure.
A way of sealing it by making people no longer recognize or remember the existence of that special city.
"Do you know what kind of ritual they use to perform that seal?"
"...I know the rough outline."
Haegum’s eyes darkened, then lit again, deepening.
"But it’s hard for me to say. I wasn’t even the one in charge of that kind of ritual work in the first place."
Agent Choi would know that better.
But if they had any judgment at all, they wouldn’t go running their mouth about it in detail.
"Usually, things like that are dangerous rites with a huge price. People don’t bring them up lightly."
"I know."
Agent Podo’s face was still pale.
"Then... have you ever thought about how they could’ve paid that price while sealing the special city?"
Agent Haegum held back a sigh.
"They would’ve done their best not to harm innocent citizens. Well, it might be a method that isn’t exactly honorable—like the Scale of Malice."
"......."
"...Agent Podo?"
"Agent."
Kim Soleum lifted his head.
Recalling the final contents of the USB he had read.
A citywide ritualistic anomaly
Government?
A massive human-sacrifice rite??
At this rate we die. We have to get out no matter wha
"It looks like the Bureau... sacrificed every last citizen {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} of Se-gwang Special City as human offerings in order to seal it...."
"......!!"