GSGW c270
Chapter 270
Our plan was simple.
“We recruit the Security Team, infiltrate the Annex, and then….”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje gave a thumbs-up.
“Produce equipment!”
For reference, the agents’ reactions looked like this:
“…Couldn’t you explain how to put an elephant into a refrigerator just as simply?”
“Bronze, shh. Isn’t this fun?”
“Ha...”
Seeing that, Assistant Manager Eun Haje grinned.
“For now, Disaster Management Bureau agents, step aside. We’ll handle this among employees of our delightfully corrupt capitalist company.”
“Oh dear, what a shame.”
And with that, we moved into detailed planning.
The most important point was this:
Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae’s entry.
“Hmm, is the issue how I get in?”
“First time using a wheelchair—there’ll probably be some trial and error.”
But surprisingly, after watching Lee Seonghae skillfully maneuver the wheelchair, everyone nodded.
“At that level, there shouldn’t be any problem with escape speed on flat ground. And if needed, our Section Chief can just carry the whole wheelchair and run. Right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then let’s build around that….”
At that moment, Baek Saheon saw his chance.
“I think I might be able to help as well—”
“We all know you’re fishing for scraps. What, planning to chop off a perfectly good arm and swap it out?”
And just like that, he sank.
As expected, Assistant Manager Eun Haje—former reporter who used to casually break into second-floor company housing—had frightening instincts.
But—
Suggestion: Bring Supervisor Goat along
“...!”
“Oh.”
'You’ve got to toss him some scraps if you want to keep using him.'
Baek Saheon’s eye had proven useful in Segwang Special City, so it was better to keep him cooperative.
'Since he values his life, he’s unlikely to sabotage a stealth mission.'
And as long as Ho Yuwon’s project remained intact, there was little need to worry about sudden betrayal.
Of course, if we indulged him too much, he’d get out of hand—
Reason: Surveillance
“Okay.”
“…?”
Baek Saheon looked at me like he’d been deeply wronged, but I ignored him.
Fortunately, approval came easily.
“And….”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje grinned at me.
“Since Roe Deer’s currently part of the Security Team’s special division, you’ve got all kinds of roles you can play.”
Affirmative
“Then are all personnel confirmed?”
“Yep.”
The equipment heist crew—composed entirely of Daydream Inc. employees—finished all mental preparations.
And so…
“…R-Roe Deer. What exactly am I hearing here?”
We arrived at the point of meeting Supervisor Park Minseong—who looked utterly bewildered.
'Supervisor….'
For him to ignore a perfectly normal Section Chief Lee Jaheon and instead ask the explanation from a horned, smoke-communicating non-human employee (130666)… just how shaken was he?
Well—to be fair, the Section Chief was a reptilian alien.
I carefully controlled the smoke and conveyed the message.
Objective: Produce specialized equipment to replace lost body parts
“Replace… body parts?”
At that moment—
“Mm.”
The door to the Security Team lounge opened, and a familiar figure walked in.
A thin guard, shoulders slumped as if everything in life was a hassle.
J3.
He must have already noticed people inside from outside the door—he showed no reaction to the intrusion.
But when he saw me, he lifted his head slightly.
“…Ah.”
It’s been a while, Captain….
“Hey… so you’ve… come back completely…?”
Negative
“I see….”
Question: How have you been?
“I’ve been… the same….”
But his faded eyes sharpened for a moment as they dropped to my legs.
“Your legs… what happened?”
Injury during mission
"......"
It’s fine. That’s exactly why we’re here.
Through smoke—and with Assistant Manager Eun Haje adding verbal explanation—we explained the situation again to the guard captain.
We were planning to steal some equipment from the Annex. Would he cooperate?
And of course—he didn’t disappoint.
“Sure… why not….”
“…That’s it?”
“Yes…….”
“Ah, this isn’t illegal. It’s a confidential operation led by Director Ho.”
“Doesn’t matter… hmm.”
"......"
Assistant Manager Eun Haje looked at me like, Was this guy always like this?
Even if you look at me like that, I’m wearing a gas mask—I can’t respond with expressions.
Anyway, with the guard captain’s bold cooperation, the foundation was set.
'Good.'
Though… he quietly approached me and added one more thing.
“By the way… that thing I asked you… I did it… can I tell you later…?”
Ah.
Affirmative
That’s right!
“Yes….”
Thank you, Captain….
And so, we each took seats on the sofa or the floor, and finally began discussing the Annex in detail.
“Please describe the current situation of the Annex. If it’s personal judgment, state it as such.”
“Y-Yes, so….”
What followed was a rather chilling explanation.
“Containment failed.”
“...!"
A darkness had escaped from the Annex.
It wasn’t an incredibly rare occurrence.
“That’s why the Security Team exists—to suppress things like that. It’s practically an annual event. But the problem is….”
Supervisor Park Minseong let out a quiet sigh.
“That particular one is difficult to fully recontain, so they’ve sealed off the entire B2 storage zone and locked it down.”
And—
“The Twilight-grade darknesses we need for equipment production are concentrated on B2.”
“Yes….”
Park Minseong forced back another sigh and gave us a bitter smile.
“No idea when this’ll end. Better ask… the captain.”
The guard captain blinked slowly.
“More than two months… probably. Is that… okay…?”
“Two months?”
“Yeah… from that floor… some employees have gone missing too….”
Low murmurs spread.
It was a difficult situation—serious enough that Security Team personnel were being rotated in nightly.
“Hoo… Still, with this many people, we should be able to get in and grab equipment.”
The guard captain didn’t deny Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s assessment.
But—
“More than moving around inside… have you decided how you’re getting into the Annex…?”
Right.
Getting in was the real problem.
We couldn’t leave records of our entry. And Assistant Manager Eun Haje was officially listed as having left the company.
So in the end—
“We’ll enter under different identities.”
“Different identities?”
“Yes.”
An identity that wouldn’t seem strange requesting access to the first or third floors of the Annex.
And—
A combination that no one would dare challenge, out of fear alone.
“Minseong.”
“Yes.”
“We’re going in as Elite Team A.”
“...!!"
***
Daydream Inc. Annex.
Late at night, slipping into the early hours before dawn.
“Haa…”
The Field Exploration Team’s rookie of the year had just finished managing the darkness assigned to him that day.
An F-grade dream essence rested in his hand, but exhaustion weighed heavily on him.
'I need to get back and sleep.'
The fear had only just settled, the tension barely released—making him even more drowsy.
But the moment he stepped toward the entrance to leave—he froze. Three figures were walking in through the door.
The one in front was far too iconic.
Black ponytail. Tall, slender frame. Sharp, extravagant nails. And… two dangerously gleaming eyes.
Assistant Manager Jin Nasol.
'Elite Team…!'
The rookie swallowed hard.
Among those like him—who had barely passed as “supplementary hires”—stories were already spreading about what had happened to the two who had followed Team A into an exploration.
One of them was still in a coma at a company-affiliated hospital.
“This way, Team Leader.”
Behind her followed Team A’s leader—known for the mandarin duck mask—and a Supervisor who looked tense but composed.
That Supervisor had recently been reassigned to Team A, if he recalled correctly.
'…I’m jealous.'
People close to the Wish Tickets.
Especially the Team A leader—someone who had already used one. The rookie swallowed again.
He wanted to say something. Anything.
'Wouldn’t it help to make a connection?'
A naïve thought—born from someone who hadn’t yet experienced the brutally meritocratic nature of the elite Field Exploration Teams.
So, clearing his throat, he cautiously approached—
But the moment he saw what the three of them were moving behind them, he stopped.
It was something wrapped in black smoke.
Bound to something like a wheelchair. A gas mask. Yellow eyes flickering in every direction.
'That’s…!'
He had seen it during orientation.
The monster from Annex Basement Level 13.
An overwhelming, incomprehensible existence. He knew now it was a Security Team special employee—but instinctively, his body froze.
Drgrrrrk….
The special unit employee was being dragged along, restrained to the wheelchair.
"......"
The rookie hesitated—should he run? But in the end, desire won and so he stepped forward and spoke.
'This is a great conversation starter!'
Of course—aiming for the highest-ranking one.
“H-Hello, Section Chief…!”
"……"
“I—I’m Lee Seungjo, a rookie from Team Q.”
"......."
“Section Chief?”
No response.
But it wasn’t being ignored, either.
The Team A leader was simply… staring at him.
'W-what…?'
“Move.”
“...!"
Assistant Manager Jin Nasol shoved him aside and walked straight in.
“Section Chief, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Only then did the Section Chief break his gaze and move forward.
The Supervisor passed by without even looking at him.
'......??'
Wait…
This wasn’t just being ignored. Something about the reaction felt… off.
“Please present your pass for Basement Level 3.”
“Yes. Which darkness are you accessing?”
“Code 1575. The Cuckoo Ghost Story.”
“One moment.”
Once the brown-haired Security Team staff at the counter finished processing them, the rookie gathered his courage again.
“Um… are you sending that to Basement Level 13?”
“……What?”
“I actually met that employee during orientation. Almost died, but I made it out.”
He was about to embellish it into a heroic tale with casual boasting like "We rode the elevator together, and I had to think on my feet."
“I see.”
The Team A leader replied.
"......"
"......"
...??
And then—
“So what?”
“…Excuse me?”
“So what do you want?”
A voice, barely suppressing irritation, cut in.
“Move. It’s always the incompetent ones who just get in the way— Ha”
Assistant Manager Jin Nasol snatched the access card from the counter and strode off into the Annex corridor.
The rest of Team A followed.
“......"
The rookie stood there, frozen.
Unaware that behind him, Supervisor Park Minseong—sitting at the Security Team counter—was silently screaming in relief.
'AAAAAH!'
And after “Team A” entered the Basement Level 3 corridor—
“Hoh.”
The three of them released the illusion.
The figures revealed underneath were familiar to Kim Soleum.
The Segwang Special City exploration team.
—If you use it, you’ll be recognized as Team A.
Using the disguise potion given by Ho Yuwon, they had successfully passed through the entrance.
Assistant Manager Eun Haje—who had been playing the role of Jin Nasol—rolled her wrist.
“Seriously, Section Chief, why did you answer him?! We agreed not to respond if outsiders talked to us—I almost had a heart attack!”
“I see. I was following former Assistant Manager Falcon’s suggestion: ‘If it seems like useful information, casually respond and draw more out.’”
“…That excludes you, Section Chief.”
“…? Understood.”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje let out a deep sigh.
'I miss you, Minseong….'
Moments like this were better with a junior who could play along naturally. Instead, the youngest could only communicate through writing, and the one they brought along was a suspicious Goat.
Still, the youngest—sitting in the wheelchair—was carefully monitoring the progress of the operation.
CCTV check complete: Disabled
The Basement Level 3 CCTV had been “conveniently malfunctioning,” thanks to Director Ho’s interference. And Supervisor Park Minseong would testify that he “hadn’t heard anything.”
As for Team A—
“They’re supposed to be inside a darkness today.”
That’s right.
Under Ho Yuwon’s orders, Team A had been secretly deployed into a project-type ghost story—unannounced to the rest of the company.
Which meant no one would question why they were here, even though they had arrived at the annex in the disguise of Team A.
“Being on Director Ho’s line made them perfect. Otherwise, that Team Leader would never do anything that benefits our Section Chief.”
Shrugging, Eun Haje remarked how they had ended up impersonating someone as terrifying as Jin Nasol.
Then she turned to the one who would now become their most reliable leader.
“Let’s confirm personnel and move up.”
“Yes. Then… Roe Deer?”
At that moment—
The smoke around Kim Soleum—disguised as 130666 in the wheelchair—wavered unnaturally.
“You okay?”
……
Affirmative
“…Good.”
Eun Haje didn’t know the full details—that her junior had once been trapped for half a year in an identical corridor on Basement Level 13 of this Annex.
But trauma was common among Field Exploration Teams. She noted it—and moved on.
“Good. That J3 guy is the manager on B3 today, so we’ll see him once we go in.”
Affirmative
Everything was ready.
All that remained was execution.
Suggestion: Coordinate with Assistant Manager Dolphin
“Yes. Proceed.”
At that—
The figure of 130666, which had been bound to the wheelchair, casually melted behind it.
And then—
“Just a moment.”
Creak.
From inside the bulky wheelchair—where 130666 had only pretended to sit—Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae popped her head out.
Hidden perfectly by the dark uniform and black smoke.
“Hoo… thank you.”
“No problem.”
And then—
“Alright. Let’s choose.”
Cheerful Research Institute’s Toy Maker / Qterw-E-07
Kind Seed Kit / Qterw-E-99
We Offer Our Ritual / Qterw-E-404
“From here on, we’ll have to explore while avoiding the escaped darkness on B2. Some areas might be completely inaccessible. So…”
They needed to decide priority.
Question: Which equipment-producing darkness to check first
“Hmm…”
Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae pointed without hesitation.
“Let’s go here.”
Cheerful Research Institute’s Toy Maker / Qterw-E-07
“…!”
Also known as—the abandoned toy store.
The most frequently used equipment-producing darkness by the research teams.
Comments
Post a Comment