GSGW c213
Chapter 213
note: I just realized this but I should start putting apostrophe's around ghost story names
Before I opened my eyes,
I heard a voice echoing in my head.
Instructions.
—You have been assigned to a new post. Follow the researcher’s instructions. You have been assigned to a new post. Follow the researcher’s instructions…
“Hello.”
I opened my eyes.
“Nice to meet you. I’m your assigned… assistant staff member.”
The first thing I saw was a mask.
Not the melting mosaic face. A coated paper mask covering it.
It wasn’t the mask used by the Field Exploration Team that I was familiar with. It looked more like a crayon drawing by a child, clumsily imitating it.
But I knew that animal.
“I’ll do my best not to get on your nerves… I’m Badger.”
Badger.
The person wearing a Security Team field uniform. I knew him…
Supervisor Park Minseong, Team D.
My senior.
“Um… I look forward to working with you.”
And he didn’t recognize me.
“Today we’ll just do a simple introduction—”
That was only natural.
My current state shared nothing in common with the former Kim Soleum except physical specifications. And he had never seen this appearance before.
But immediately afterward, something happened that was not natural.
“…Why.”
Another person’s voice.
From the slow, flat tone of the accent, I knew exactly who it was.
I saw a thin human figure in a security guard uniform, standing by the door with his cap pulled low.
“…Why are you here?”
J3.
“Team Leader?”
“You shouldn’t… be here…”
……
I tried to speak. But then I realized my vocal cords were no longer where they should be. I didn’t even know where they were inside this melted body.
And so, the black smoke formed a phrase.
Employment contract
“…You said you were quitting.”
New employment contract
: Permanent employment
“……”
I let the smoke fade.
“Team Leader, what do you mean quitting—”
The man wearing the Badger mask stood stiffly, his tone filled with confusion.
Then came his quick breathing. Anxiety. Confusion. Hesitation as he tried to piece together what was happening. And finally—
The sharp inhale of someone who had just realized something terrible.
He remembered.
Someone both of them knew. Someone who had successfully left the company recently.
Someone who had since lost contact.
“…Roe Deer?”
I did not answer.
“……”
The man in the Badger mask stared at me, frozen.
Then he turned to the man in the security uniform.
The guard team leader did not deny it.
Instead, he opened the door and left the room.
Click.
The iron door locked.
“N-no… no, wait… I… I mean…”
Breathing sounds.
From the badger mask.
His agitation tried to break through as contamination symptoms, but the mask concealed it.
Only after more than forty seconds had passed did the Badger mask fully shake off the identity of the ■■ Affiliated Kindergarten teacher and take a deep breath.
Then he spoke.
“It… it’ll be okay.”
Footsteps approached.
“You’re in the Security Team now, right? That means you can communicate… There must be a way. I recovered too, remember? Right?”
I moved the smoke.
Impossible
“…!”
Contamination means a being that was once human mutates due to supernatural phenomena.
Contamination means a being that was once human mutates due to supernatural phenomena. Recovery from contamination means restoring the original human body and mind.
And—
“Roe Deer.”
Impossible
I have neither.
“…Soleum.”
……
I started to form words again. But instead I scattered the smoke and gathered it back into the gas mask.
For some reason, I felt resistance toward performing the act.
His voice grew desperate.
“Hey… right, hearing your real name probably feels strange, doesn’t it?”
It didn’t.
“Isn’t there some kind of rejection reaction? Confusion or something… That would be normal. So…”
Strange reactions to one’s original name are a typical symptom of contamination.
It had nothing to do with me.
“Soleum…”
Tap.
Supervisor Park Minseong suddenly flinched while trying to say the name again, grabbing his wrist tightly.
The Security Team control watch.
Tick. Tick.
The sound of the watch moving.
And now, something I couldn’t hear before faintly echoed in my mind as well—because we now shared a similar contractual relationship.
—A risk of violating safety regulations has been detected. Seven seconds have been deducted from the remaining time until confinement for retraining. 71 seconds, 70 seconds, 69 seconds…
It was similar to the announcements in my own head.
Restrictions that controlled the speech and behavior of contaminated Security Team members.
He had probably realized that saying a real name during work violated safety regulations.
Thus, I witnessed one concrete mechanism not specifically described in the <Darkness Exploration Records>.
But that wasn’t important.
What mattered was—
—You have been assigned to a new post. Follow the researcher’s instructions.
Work.
“……”
“……”
What should I do?
Only then, in the silence, did I begin to look around the place where I stood.
A rusted iron door. A sealed room. Similar to Room 666 of Annex Basement Level 13, but not the same place.
Still, I could recognize where it was.
—Daydream Inc. Main Building Underground Isolation Chamber.
A place I had once visited for disciplinary cleaning back when I was still human.
Also the place where I had been transported with Supervisor Park Minseong after losing consciousness during the 'Hungry Hangman' incident.
The isolation corridor accessible only through the Security Team storage room. The containment cells within it.
But I could tell.
This place was much deeper than the isolation room where I had been held after being rescued from the 'Hungry Hangman' Darkness.
Far deeper than the place I visited during disciplinary cleaning. Deep inside the inner core of the containment zone. My instincts as a worker knew it.
And the appearance of this sealed room…
I ran a finger across the lamp sitting on the desk.
Lamp, wooden desk, bed, towels.
I knew this arrangement.
'A dormitory.'
It was identical to the room where Employee Kim Soleum used to stay in the company housing.
Every prop was obsessively reproduced.
It almost felt ritualistic.
As if trying not to anger the Darkness bound by an employment contract. As if trying to placate it.
At the same time, I could sense they were waiting for my reaction.
'Kwak Jaekwang’s doing?'
Something that researcher would absolutely do.
I ran my gloved finger across the desk.
Should I be angry?
My crushed, melting brain tried to think the way it used to. But it was difficult.
'If that’s the case… Does that mean I’m no longer responsible for Annex Basement Level 13… but instead the security of this Main Building underground containment chamber?'
That wasn’t difficult.
But if that was the case…
That person wasn’t necessary.
“…!”
I stared at the badger mask.
I could feel his agitation.
To the stiff figure standing there, I asked:
Request introduction of assigned duties
“…Working with Roe Deer is my job.”
Improper form of address
Reason: Informal designation
“…Ah.”
The man wearing the Badger mask turned his head, then noticed the CCTV in the corner.
The camera likely had no audio due to contamination risks. But I could feel the gaze from beyond it.
Someone was watching.
And there was no reason to give the assigned researcher certainty about our current state.
Noticing the meaning of the warning made of smoke, Badger changed what he said.
“Then… what should I call you? Haha, let’s think of it as coming up with another nickname. Roe Deer already has Assistant Manager—”
His bright voice faltered slightly before returning.
“Hmm… do you have another animal you like?”
An animal I like.
I waited until something came to mind.
But I felt nothing.
Unknown
“……”
……
“That’s okay. Then I’ll think of something.”
I heard him steady his voice.
Request introduction of assigned duties
: Include specific examples
“Ah, um… well… when you receive assignments, I’ll go with you. I’ll accompany you and help so you won’t be uncomfortable.”
The man wearing the Badger mask spoke kindly.
But…
“If there’s anything uncomfortable, you can tell me first. Or the guard tea—!”
What is he holding?
“…!”
Realizing I was looking at it, the Badger-masked man hurriedly tried to shove it into his pocket. Then, as if realizing something, he carefully pulled it back out and showed it to me.
A syringe-shaped device.
It resembled a dream essence collector, but seemed to serve the opposite purpose.
An injector.
For subduing Special Department employees
The person nodded slowly after reading the letters I formed.
“Don’t worry. I won’t press it. Really. Really…”
Why?
Recommended for use in appropriate situations
".... For example?"
▶ Collapse of bipedal form
▶ Loss of smoke control
▶ Extreme anxiety detected
“…When you seem anxious?”
▶ Extreme anxiety detected
Standard: Emotional state of the control-tool user
“…Haha…”
A strange sound escaped from the badger mask.
It was impossible to tell whether he was laughing, crying, or simply relieved.
“You’re still the same. Aren’t you?”
……
“Right… yeah. It’ll be okay.”
For some reason, he seemed reassured. The trembling and restless movements gradually subsided.
He extended an arm as if to pat my shoulder… but lowered it again.
……
Click.
“Team Leader, we—”
The door opened and the guard team leader entered.
Judging from his physical reaction, he didn’t seem like someone who had left because he couldn’t accept the situation.
Instead, he walked in without hesitation, making the badger-masked man flinch.
Then he stretched his left arm out toward me.
“Team Leader?”
“Here.”
In the palm of his outstretched hand, small round objects appeared.
Nostalgia candies.
“Want one…?”
……
I cannot eat.
I have no mouth. I do not even know if there is any organ that could be called a mouth.
Perhaps I never created one in the first place because I did not need it.
I only believed it existed.
More importantly… I cannot remove the gas mask.
“……”
Quietly, with a gloved finger, I pushed his hand away.
Impossible
“Is that so…”
The guard team leader withdrew his hand and stood there quietly, as if lost in thought.
Then he asked:
“What Darkness did you enter…?”
Wish voucher
“……”
Before the badger mask could see, I scattered the word.
J3 asked nothing more.
Instead, he quietly lifted his head. And through the collapsing mosaic of his features…
I saw his face.
'…!'
“Roe Deer, calm—!”
What?
Why can I see it?
“Are you… in pain right now?”
Even his voice was clear. I could distinguish it. I could recognize it. Why? What is this? Maybe there was another truth I had failed to notice—
……
Oh.
I understood.
“Why is the smoke—!”
Because the person before me was closer to a creepypasta-like existence than a human being.
The contamination of the guard team leader was so deep and powerful that no matter how much the Security Team curriculum attempted to purge it, it still left him standing on the boundary of existence.
This meant nothing. And yet…
“It doesn’t seem like you’re in pain…”
Even so…
“Then that’s good…”
Slowly, I felt the same strange ache I had experienced in the elevator return.
The guard team leader stepped into the smoke without hesitation. Then, with a somewhat awkward motion, he raised his hand… and patted my back.
As if it had been a very long time since he last did it.
“…It’ll be okay.”
……
I inhaled the smoke. The black strands swirling across the floor were drawn back in.
The guard team leader glanced briefly at the Nostalgia candy.
“Then… I’ll bring something else…”
I shook my head.
The Nostalgia series is not necessary for work.
Now I needed to hear what mattered.
—It is your working hours. Wake up. It is your working hours. Wake up…
Because it was time.
Request work briefing
“Ah, that would be—”
[Ah, such enthusiasm!]
“…!”
Both figures turned their heads sharply toward the sound.
[Haha, perfect timing for the call, right? Good morning. Not that it’s literally morning—just a little small talk to start the workday]
The CCTV in the corner was speaking.
The guard team leader stepped forward and stood in front of me.
[Oh, the speaker and recording functions only activate during active dialogue like this. Such ethical and considerate working conditions—how refreshing! Hahaha!]
“…Are you out of your mind…?”
[Anyway, getting to the point. As the researcher in charge, I’ll explain your duties very clearly.]
I shook my head at the guard team leader. But he remained standing silently.
Only Kwak Jaekwang’s voice from the CCTV echoed loudly through the sealed room.
[This is an extremely important task directly related to the company’s goals. In short… producing large quantities of high-quality potions efficiently.]
[And for that, we need a prerequisite, don’t we?]
Then came the obvious explanation.
[A steady supply of Darknesses suitable for extracting dream essence, the raw ingredient for potions!]
[Creepypasta-type entities that can periodically receive humans so dream essence can be harvested—and that the company can manage.]
But it sounded like something absurd was about to follow.
[And someone powerful must continuously bring those creepypastas back to the company…]
The excited breathing of the Darkness researcher could be heard.
[One of those people… is you.]
……
[Please subdue useful creepypastas for the company. So that dream essence can be produced efficiently.]
A new job had begun.
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