GSGW c232

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Chapter 232

Ho Yuwon.

A director who likely knows more about Jang Heoun than anyone else in this company.

“You probably have a lot you’re curious about.”

But the untrustworthy figure is smiling at me.

In a corridor inside a ghost story where fire and smoke have turned everything into a skeletal ruin, where corpses lie piled up.

He asks me if I have anything I want to ask.

'...In that case.'

There is a way to approach this.

I let the smoke rise.

Proposal: One-on-One Question and Answer Ritual

“Hmm?”

Conditions: Two participants

▶ Questions and answers are exchanged alternately in order.

▶ The respondent must answer every question truthfully.

▶ If a question cannot be answered, the respondent must verbally state “Unable to answer” and then receive the next question.

▶ An answer cannot be withheld for more than 96 seconds.

[Ah, interesting. You’ve set strangely specific conditions for no reason. The structure even feels a little ritualistic… ]

I do that on purpose. After all, this is something done with a being that isn’t human.

And…

'He clearly has questions for me too.'

If it takes the formal shape of a ritual where questions are exchanged, he cannot help but be tempted.

And.

▶ If someone intentionally conceals the truth during the ritual, they will receive punishment.

“…Haha! Are you copying me?”

Yes. Try experiencing the other side for once.

Ho Yuwon laughs several times, then answers easily.

“But I like it.”

Yet a strange glimmer passes through his eyes.

“It’s fair, after all. I could place a prohibition that actually punishes you… but I won’t. I want to trust you, Roe Deer.”

A lie.

He says that because he probably cannot place one easily anyway.

'He tried to impose a prohibition earlier and got hit by me.'

But it does not matter.

Agreement

: One-on-One Question and Answer Ritual

From this moment.

The ritual begins.

Clap.

“Good. Then… since you proposed it, Roe Deer, I’ll let you ask the first question.”

And so, on Basement Floor 96, at the bizarre fire scene of the Cheerful Research Institute, the two ghost stories begin exchanging questions and answers.

[Friend, which truth would you like to know first?]

The most essential one.

Question:

Everything Ho Yuwon knows about Jang Heoun.

“You’re asking quite a broad question, Roe Deer.”

Ho Yuwon answers.

“This is what I know. Male, in his 20s, no family. Raised in a religious social welfare facility in the countryside. Three years before he joined the company, a fire destroyed that facility completely. He was the only survivor.”

……

Information that matches the testimony I once heard from the contaminated Mr. Jang Heoun.

“So his wish is probably related to that fire… perhaps reviving the dead, or asking for the fire to be undone.”

Accurate.

'Did he investigate more closely while selecting him as a spy?'

“Then it’s my turn to ask a question, Roe Deer.”

Ho Yuwon looks at me.

“If you already knew the story you just heard from me… who did you hear it from?”

…!

“More precisely, what kind of being told you?”

……

Answer:

An employee of Flower Golden Resort — Bison.

“Ah, I thought so.”

The rekindling sparks cast shadows across Ho Yuwon’s face in the backlight.

“I read in the field exploration team’s report that he died in the theme park and revived as a resort employee… but to think you actually heard that directly from him.”

……

“So you didn’t just help Roe Deer revive him… he must be subordinate to you, then?”

Hoo.

“Ah, that wasn’t a question. It was a certainty. …As expected, Roe Deer, you’re quite human. You make choices you’ll regret.”

An ominous statement, though the tone carries something almost like regret.

Instead of getting angry, I simply look at Ho Yuwon.

“Anyway, you’re curious about the three "Heoun's" with different surnames, right? I’m curious too, so maybe we can deduce it together through this exchange. …Shall we continue?”

Without wavering, I move on.

Question:

What you know about the new employee Kim Heoun.

“…Now it starts getting a little interesting.”

Interesting?

“He has the exact same background as Mr. Jang Heoun.”

“…..!!"

Male, in his 20s, no family. Raised in a religious social welfare facility in the countryside. Fire trauma.

“If you say they simply grew up in similar environments, the keywords match too perfectly. It’s almost like they were assigned the same role in a game.”

……

Pieces of a puzzle begin to assemble in my mind.

“Then it’s my question. …Did Roe Deer distribute the Wish Tickets you received to the employees of Daydream Inc. who infiltrated the Disaster Management Bureau with you? Exactly who received how many bottles?”

Answer: Two bottles to employee Goral

— Asked her to later deliver them to Employee Bison

“Ah… just as I thought.”

Wait. Just as he thought?

That sounds as if he already knew… could it be—

Question: Whether the usage of the three Wish Tickets has been tracked.

“Ah. Rather than tracking them, I simply know.”

…!

“The Wish Tickets I gave you were part of my personal collection. So I applied a little treatment to the bottles… enough to know whether they’ve been used.”

Ho Yuwon smiles.

“And the three Wish Tickets I gave you, Roe Deer, have all been used. …One of them was used by you, right?”

Which means…

The two that went to Go Yeongeun have already been used as well.

A chill runs sharply down my spine.

'Go Yeongeun used both bottles?'

Unless someone stole them… no, that seems unlikely.

Go Yeongeun is the type who manages risks carefully.

And she is not the kind of person who would recklessly use Jang Heoun’s Wish Ticket.

Then the most likely possibility is that she used them for Jang Heoun.

'But…'

The Jang Heoun I saw has not changed.

“Well, that leads to an interesting guess. …Maybe someone made the wrong wish?”

Ho Yuwon speaks with a tone of pity.

“Half a year passes, and poor Bison shows no sign of recovering from contamination and returning to human form… so in his anxiety, he used it arbitrarily.”

……

“But due to some kind of error, instead of ‘Jang Heoun,’ ‘Kim Heoun’ appeared in this world, and the wish was fulfilled that way.”

A guess that makes my spine turn cold.

[Hmm. Is that so? Then let’s speculate a bit more specifically.]

In other words… it means this.

If Go Yeongeun made a wish like “Please let Mr. Heoun live in this world as a human.”

'Then instead of the contaminated Jang Heoun returning to humanity, someone whom Go Yeongeun could accept as ‘Mr. Heoun’ might appear in the world instead…!'

Wish Tickets are personally omnipotent. So such a ghost-story-like situation is certainly possible. However…

Skeptical: Judgment reserved

“Ah?”

There is a puzzle piece that does not fit.

'The person on this Cheerful Research Institute employee ID.'

Cheerful Researcher

Lee Heoun

Only this researcher named Lee Heoun remains left over.

This person seems to have existed in the past Cheerful Research Institute, unrelated to the Wish Tickets used now.

'…There’s definitely something else.'

Heoun, Heoun, Heoun…

A strange feeling rises.

'Even the keyword “fire” overlaps.'

Someone whose surroundings all died in a fire at the facility where he lived.

Looking at the situation on Basement Floor 96, isn’t this Cheerful Research Institute employee the same? Why does he have such a background similar to Jang Heoun… wait.

'No. It’s the opposite.'

If I think in chronological order…

'Jang Heoun and Kim Heoun resemble the background of this Cheerful Research Institute employee…'

Rustle.

……

Rustle.

“Roe Deer.”

……

“Did you see that?”

I did.

Just now.

The pile of corpses moved.

No—more precisely, the piles of bodies in front of the elevator only looked like they moved.

Because something buried underneath them moved.

Who’s there?

“…Looks like there was still a surviving specimen. Haha….”

An employee of the Cheerful Research Institute has noticed us.

Something unseen, something unheard, pushes through the corpses and rises to its feet, staring at the intruders who do not belong in this time and space.

…The corridor twists.

Blinking—beyond the office, another space comes into view in a dizzying blur….

Through the flickering sight, the twisted lower half of a figure in a lab coat—one that could not be seen before—seems to appear.

Who is there,

who who who who who who who who who who who who who who who are you who who who who are you me

me too help help help me who is there? you’re there right? you’re here right? here here here here here

the one who is here

You

are

here

My senses are pulled inward.

A force drags toward some time-space projected onto Basement Floor 96.

I realize it.

'If it catches me, I disappear.'

[What a rough invitation. It doesn’t even seem necessary to refuse politely, my friend.]

I put Lee Heoun’s employee ID into my pocket.

Then, watching the movement of the unseen figure approaching from the far end of the corridor—confirmed by the way the pile of corpses shifts—

…I shoot toward the elevator using the smoke.

And I grab Ho Yuwon by the back of the neck and throw him upward.

“...!”

Ho Yuwon’s body arcs through the air in a parabola and lands on the pile of corpses in front of the right elevator, crushing them beneath him.

At the same time, I reach the elevator.

Securing space between the doors

Ho Yuwon and I shove the corpses stuck between the elevator doors outward. As much as possible—just enough so the doors can close.

'Quick.'

Fortunately, the elevator has already been sounding a warning alarm from being forced open for so long, so the doors begin closing the moment a gap appears—even without pressing the close button.

Ding-dong.

Through the narrowing doors, I see the surviving entity collapse….

Having exhausted its final strength, it becomes just another corpse.

'......'

Inside the elevator, only Ho Yuwon and I remain.

…Along with more than a dozen researcher corpses.

“Honestly, you didn’t really have to help me like that… but I’ll gratefully accept the gesture. Thank you, Roe Deer.”

Scenario if assistance had not been given

: Can be reenactred immediately

"......"

Before I reopen the elevator and throw him back out, he should really stop talking.

'Hoo.'

Now it’s finally quiet.

I look at the elevator panel.

This is the reason the Cheerful Research Institute could be explored by so many security teams.

If you board the right elevator, you can return to the Basement Level 1 main building from any floor.

I press B1.

Ding-dong.

With a cheerful, old-fashioned chime, the elevator begins to rise.

Toward reality.

And the corpses that filled the elevator start to crumble and disappear, as if time itself is passing over them.

“…Looks like we can’t take the bodies with us. Ah, maybe it’s because this isn’t darkness.”

Ho Yuwon casually checks whether his shoes are dirty, still stepping on the shoulder bone of a dead researcher.

…My head feels like it’s starting to throb.

Still, I should check what needs checking.

Question: Whether he will report that he explored today with the researcher.

“You mean whether we should disclose to the company that we explored together? How about we just say we accompanied each other briefly? Excluding the part about reaching the 96th floor.”

I agree.

Ho Yuwon smiles brightly.

“Then it’s my turn to ask a question.”

What?

“That was a question just now, wasn’t it? Right?”

……

From his tone, I feel it.

'It doesn’t seem like he’s trying to provoke me.'

A strange feeling rises.

A premonition that he willingly participated in this entire exchange just to ask the next question.

'…I could refuse and say he’s forcing it.'

But I nod.

“Yes. Go ahead and ask.”

Ho Yuwon smiles like a painting, but he opens his mouth quickly—as if he wants the answer before I can say anything else.

And the question is…

“What kind of place is Segwang Special City?”

……!

“Please tell me what you know.”

The ghost story he asked me to smuggle out of the Disaster Management Bureau.

I meet Ho Yuwon’s eyes. Inside them, I read a strangely sunken emotion.

……

I send out smoke.

Answer:

Segwang Special City is a deleted region of Korea.

“ ….! "

A collective existence that has been censored.

Its location is a land area of approximately 552 km² near where Chungcheong Province and Gyeonggi Province border each other. At present, no one can perceive this region through natural means.

In a way… within the theme of a wiki that manages ghost stories, this place could be called a cliché.

The so-called “last resort.”

Some ghost stories spread their harmful effects uncontrollably. Countless people die, and eventually it is judged that the phenomenon cannot be controlled or concluded through moderate methods.

And so the government approves a shocking and extreme measure….

When a catastrophic supernatural disaster causes massive casualties, the entire region is sealed to prevent further damage.

Afterward, to completely block rescue attempts and outside access, nationwide memory erasure is authorized. Permission is granted to manipulate the population into a state of inability to perceive the area.

However, even so—

Conclusion: Segwang Special City still exists in Korea.

"......"

Ho Yuwon’s mouth opens.

“How do you know—”

Unable to answer

“...!"

Question order: Mine.

“Ask anything.”

Then.

Question: Why are you interested in Segwang Special City.

"....."

The silence stretches long.

It reaches the point where I expect him to respond “Unable to answer.”

But an unexpected answer comes back.

“There’s something I left there.”

Left there?

'That means… he was in Segwang Special City.'

Is this director originally from Segwang Special City?

That might explain why Daydream Inc. was so persistently trying to send personnel there as part of a project.

'So that’s it.'

Hearing someone’s personal circumstances—something not written in the wiki—feels oddly strange.

Ding-dong.

[Ah, we’ve arrived!]

At that moment, the elevator reaches its destination: Basement Level 1.

Beyond the elevator doors—no longer part of the ghost story but a real space—I can hear various noises from the Daydream Inc. main building.

……But then.

“Roe Deer. If you heard that, now it’s my turn—”

Recommendation: Suspend the conversation temporarily.

"......"

I look at the door.

Someone standing in front of the elevator doors.

The doors open.

What appears before my eyes is—

“Hello, employee.”

New employee Kim Heoun.

“I’ve come back again.”

 

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