Chapter 192: Ch 192: The blades descend
The underground laboratory.
Kwak Jaekang’s eyes tremble as he looks around the Dream Incubation
Chamber of the Cheerful Research Institute, his gaze landing on the
massive incubator in the center.
But the countdown had already begun.
The low-quality recorded melody and the cheerful voice rang out.
[10! 9! 8!]
"What do I know? Are you telling me to spill everything I know about that
potion-manufacturing device?"
I looked at him in silence.
[7! 6!]
"No, haha. Potion manufacturing? Did I see it once when I joined the
company? Even if you ask this of a raw material procurement researcher,
you know... The unreasonable is the charm of the Darkness, but this..."
Kwak Jaekang’s movements stopped.
"...Wait."
His voice trembled.
"Is that, by any chance, that thing?"
Not fear, but excitement.
[5! 4!]
A mad gleam burst in the eyes of someone who realized what it was.
"It’s a prototype potion maker!"
The countdown stopped.
But Kwak Jaekang’s mouth did not.
"The version with no production quality restrictions! Ah, I’m not especially
passionate about Daydream Inc.’s potions, but potion-manufacturing
devices are a different story, haha..."
A smile spread across Kwak Jaekang’s face.
"It originated from a Darkness, didn’t it? And that’s the original device that
was taken out of the Darkness!"
...!!
"To think it’s right in front of my eyes! If you’d just shown it to me instead
of all this, I would’ve testified to anything!"
He murmured, practically licking the Dream Incubator with his gaze.
"Where on earth did you get this? If it gives out Wish Tickets, it must be an
Abyss-grade Darkness, right? What ghost story did it come from? I don’t
know which superior is running this operation, but don’t you need a
researcher? I’m tight-lipped and full of passion for research!"
A beaming smile spread across Kwak Jaekang’s face.
"This is way better than the useless work I was doing in the annex! Hey, can
I take a look? That one—"
Whoosh.
I set a heavy layer of black smoke before Kwak Jaekang as he tried to get
up.
He stopped in his tracks.
But the eyes raised toward me shone not with fear, but with curiosity.
"You’re quite something, aren’t you? Haha... Where are you from? Which
Darkness answered Daydream Inc.’s call? Fire? Water? The conception of
madness? A fairytale? The Throne of Pure Silver?"
I didn’t answer.
But in my mind, the various special exploration records Kwak Jaekang had
been involved with flashed by.
What would it be best to let him misunderstand?
’Something as powerful as possible, but that Kwak Jaekang doesn’t know
much about.’
But also something that would let his imagination run wild.
I reached out and pointed.
At...
The yellow lantern at my waist, wrapped in horn-like ribs.
"...A star?"
Kwak Jaekang muttered.
So that’s how he interpreted it.
"A Darkness related to a star. Gold, restraints... Haha, interesting... Are
you interested in humans?"
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I pressed the carrot.
[Next round starting.]
[Now, the question!]
Kwak Jaekang was now looking at me more with intrigue than tension.
He seemed excited at the thought that the question might be related to
information about the Dream Incubator.
But this.
This question wasn’t about the incubator.
It’s about smashing your skull in.
[Are you still observing Darkness Qterw-B-553, which you secretly
swapped in to deploy the J-squad without your superior’s knowledge?]
Kwak Jaekang’s face stiffened.
[10, 9, 8...]
"I’m still observing it."
The countdown stopped.
"...How did you know? Does the company already know about this?"
Of course not.
It’s just that, through the ’#Exploration Records (Extras)’ page of Dark
Exploration Records, I knew all the crazy things Kwak Jaekang had done.
Of those, I picked a certain unexpected incident that was particularly large-
scale, caused a stir in the Development Department when discovered, but
went undetected until the very end.
Endless Life of the J-squad
This notorious irregular record was famous for making people feel
unpleasant just by reading it, to the point you’d be unsettled imagining it
really happened.
But in this situation, it was definitely useful.
’There’s no way he’ll ever think I’m just a former employee who quit.’
No matter how good Kwak Jaekang is at reading people, it’s simply
impossible.
He can’t help but think this way instead.
’Ah, someone higher up in the company must have caught on to what I did.’
From here on, things get easier.
"...Haha, if you called me in like this through the Security Team instead of
handing out official disciplinary action... what exactly did I touch in there?
Just what secret was I getting close to?"
By letting the other person misunderstand, you can guide the situation
however you want.
"What does this place have to do with it?"
I didn’t answer Kwak Jaekang, who was muttering to himself. Instead...
[Next...]
I turned off the carrot.
Then I approached Kwak Jaekang and reached out my hand.
"...!"
Still tied to the chair, I pushed him forward toward the incubator.
"Ha... haha!"
Kwak Jaekang laughed nervously, cold sweat running down his face. Even
in his fear, I could sense his anticipation for what was to come, which was a
little unsettling, but either way, he stopped in front of the gleaming Dream
Incubator.
The light of the Dream Essence was reflected in his glasses.
Then, I turned the carrot recorder back on.
A cheerful child’s voice came out.
[What function do you think the machine in front of you has?]
"...A more powerful, fundamental potion-manufacturing function! Since it
originates from the Darkness, I’m sure it has even more extreme,
incomprehensible rules! Can I touch it? Or at least observe it?"
I allowed Kwak Jaekang to stand up, but closely monitored everything he
did as he touched the incubator.
Even as he broke out in a cold sweat, he couldn’t hide his excitement and
busily examined and tapped all over the incubator.
"It’s crude... but more complicated than the completed company
manufacturing machine. Well, I guess that’s obvious. There are fewer
buttons... But, emojis? What’s this? It’s..."
Then he pressed the side of the incubator.
...A pipe similar to the one where I’d poured in the essence appeared.
There was something like that too.
’Does that mean you can draw out the essence from there?’
I should remember this. If necessary, I could extract all the Dream Essence
from there in an emergency.
Even as I thought this, Kwak Jaekang, as if possessed, examined
everything, even peering into the glass container where the Dream Essence
was stored.
Specifically, at the faint silhouette visible inside the Dream Essence.
A lump about five times the size of an egg, glowing a reddish-orange.
"That thing in the center! What is that? That wasn’t in the company’s
manufacturing machine!"
I didn’t say anything.
Because I didn’t know, either...
But thanks to the scenario I’d set up, it seemed Kwak Jaekang took it as a
hint that ’this isn’t something I’ll tell you’.
He licked his lips and withdrew his hand, but his gaze still greedily swept
over the incubator.
Then his eyes stopped at the very bottom.
Where a button had been removed.
◎
"Ahh, here... this looks like the spot for the Wish Ticket."
...!
"Is that right? I think so. Ah, did you remove it so I wouldn’t press it by
accident?"
Wait a second.
That spot... is where a Wish Ticket button is supposed to go?
Even a prototype had a Wish Ticket output function?
’Then, originally... the Wish Tickets were even more powerful than they
are now.’
Just what had the Cheerful Research Institute been trying to make?
And...
’If I find and restore that button, I might even be able to get the Cheerful
Research Institute version of a Wish Ticket?’
Thump, thump.
My head spun with the sound of my pounding heart.
No, no... calm down.
This is only Kwak Jaekang’s speculation.
And even if that speculation is correct, all the Wish Tickets I know about
are based on what Daydream Inc. refined.
As for the ’original’ produced by the Cheerful Research Institute... who
knows what kind of insane effect it might have. No one could say for sure.
Don’t get swept up by the temptation of a gamble when I have clear
answers in front of me!
’Huu.’
"If you gave me a little more time, I feel like I could learn even more. I
don’t know who you are, but if you let me join this project..."
Kwak Jaekang spoke suggestively, looking at me.
I stared back at him in silence.
Black smoke stretched toward him like a line.
Kwak Jaekang flinched.
The black smoke circled him, as if warning him not to do anything foolish,
or perhaps as if appraising him, then, as I inhaled, it was sucked back into
my body.
"Ha."
I reached out and activated ’All the Things the Carrot Can Do’ again.
Time to wrap this up.
’If I get greedy, he might catch on.’
And the final touch... is for a perfect setup.
[What did you want to hide during today’s Truth or Dare?]
"...!"
It’s the question that the Security Team always asks at the very end of an
interrogation.
A direct hit that leaves those who’ve been skirting the truth in despair,
thinking, ’As long as I don’t lie, I’ll be fine.’
But Kwak Jaekang just smiled.
"Nothing in particular. Haha!"
He really seemed off his rocker.
"Anyway, it feels like you already know and are ignoring all the
disciplinary issues I was trying to hide, so what’s there to keep secret?"
He smacked his lips.
"It’s just disappointing. I guess I’m not the type of talent that this team is
looking for? Hm, then who would be on that team... Confidential team,
missing persons, hm."
And then.
"Supervisor Kim Soleum?"
I almost jumped off the floor.
"Seeing it this way, your build seems pretty similar... Now that I think
about it, right, Supervisor Kim Soleum’s mask also had horns, didn’t it? Did
you perhaps abduct that employee from the train to use as your vessel?"
What the actual hell.
"No wonder it felt strange! That train Darkness wasn’t the type to just
disappear like that, but now the puzzle pieces fit. Hahaha."
Wait.
He said the train Darkness wasn’t the type to just disappear like that?
That makes it sound as if.
’He already knew about the Tamra Express ghost story!’
At that moment, it hit me.
’This bastard set it up!’
The sudden business trip, and getting caught up in the train ghost story
along the way.
It wasn’t just bad luck, this guy orchestrated it.
’He’d already gathered information about Tamra Express.’
Right, Kwak Jaekang can mess around in ways not recorded in
.
Because of the variable called ’me’!
"A morally upright and cowardly newcomer. Wow, even just listing it out,
that sounds like the perfect candidate for a human sacrifice..."
And from the way he spoke, it seemed he’d looked into me, ’Kim Soleum’,
much more than I expected.
...He knew?
My personality?
"Anyway. Now I really want to confirm if my hypothesis is right! Is that
Security Team uniform made from the leather of that unfortunate
employee? Was it a match?"
Stay calm.
I deliberately gave no reaction.
Whether he spouted nonsense or deduced the truth, I wouldn’t give him any
information.
As if I had no meaning or interest outside the task I was assigned.
Then, as if suddenly thinking of it, I picked up the carrot recorder and gave
it a small shake.
"...Tsk. So silent..."
Just then.
The sergeant who’d been hiding behind the desk leaped out and struck
Kwak Jaekang in the back of the neck, knocking him out.
"Mmf."
With a short thud, the guy’s body collapsed to the floor.
’Huu.’
For some reason, I felt relieved.
"I just leave him outside... right?"
I quickly nodded.
As I watched the sergeant move Kwak Jaekang, I hurried to take off the
Security Team uniform.
’...Done.’
So what happens now?
The sergeant will dump Kwak Jaekang near the company, and he’ll be
’found’ and taken in by Supervisor Park Minseong.
This way, Supervisor Park Minseong can report that he ’found Section
Chief Kwak Jaekang passed out near the company and returned him to
work’.
That’s the last eyewitness account!
’Any sighting of me or the sergeant will have nothing to do with official
duties.’
This way, Supervisor Park Minseong didn’t have to lie, and could omit my
sighting from his report.
– Mr. Roe Deer! Ah, what a delightful performance. Wit, deception, secrets.
You used all three elements very well.
After changing back, I picked up Braun, who had been sitting off to the side
of the office, and put him in my front pocket. He burst into applause.
’Really? It didn’t look awkward?’
– Ah, it was perfect. That composure, not even batting an eye when your
own name came up! It was a wonderful performance.
– But aren’t you worried that man will go back and expose everything that
happened here, Friend?
Ah. That.
I smiled confidently.
’That won’t happen.’
– Oho?
Because Kwak Jaekang is the type whose mind is always working.
Security Team interrogations are a strict non-disclosure matter.
Usually, unless someone directly involved asks, everyone keeps their mouth
shut.
Especially in Kwak Jaekang’s case.
All the more so if the interrogation was about some outrageous abuse of
authority on his part!
’Why would anyone go around blabbing that they did something to get
disciplined?’
Especially when they haven’t even gotten to experience the catharsis of
’observing’ what result comes of it.
– I see!
This was better than any binding.
I recalled Supervisor Park Minseong’s anxious voice.
We could have bought those, but I opted not to use one.
Those are potions made by Daydream Inc.
Someone in Kwak Jaekang’s position could just buy an antidote from the
points mall, and he’d be suspicious of a binding that could be undone so
easily.
What’s important is to handle this in the most natural way possible.
Make it seem like there’s no real point in talking about it, even if you do.
And even in the unlikely event that Kwak Jaekang does talk, the higher-ups
who hear it will just assume it’s another secret project of some powerful
faction and find nothing strange about it.
– So Mr. Roe Deer, you went to great lengths to perfectly recreate a
’Security Team interrogation’.
– To make even the insiders get the wrong idea, if word gets out.
’That’s right.’
The only thing that nags at me is... the way Kwak Jaekang associated
Supervisor Kim Soleum with my Security Team disguise.
But even if he goes around later telling people in great detail, by the time
that news reaches Director Ho, I won’t be here anymore.
"All done."
In this way, I managed to extract all the information from Kwak Jaekang
while also cleaning up the situation.
My whole body aches...
’Maybe I should rest a bit before the sergeant gets here.’
After dealing with that insane researcher, my stomach’s starting to hurt.
I put away the Security Team uniform into my inventory tattoo and sat
down in front of the Dream Incubator.
I gazed at it for a moment.
– Friend, sorry to disturb your break, but... now I feel like giving you a
small hint and a preview.
’...A preview?’
– Indeed! Let’s raise the tension just a bit.
– A very interesting incident will occur soon.
"...Braun?"
Just then.
Bzzz.
My phone buzzed.
"...!"
A call at this hour.
Could it be something that happened at the Disaster Management Bureau?
Maybe there were so many rescue requests that they overlapped beyond
what could be handled.
I immediately opened my smartphone. But...
[K.LEE: Oh it’s been a while since I’ve contacted
you Employeeᄏᄏᄏ]
[K.LEE: Have you been doing well?]
Huh?
A person whose profile picture is a Hawaiian beach.
Someone who introduced himself as Assistant Manager Lee Kangheon from
the C-squad, the one who connected me to the Salmon Market.
But...
A message from him?
’But that’s impossible.’
Because, because...
I’m already a dead person to Daydream Inc.
I changed my number a long time ago.
’...’
Something’s wrong.
And yet, my phone kept buzzing.
[K.LEE: RightᄏᄏYou’re a supervisor now aren’t
you]
[K.LEE: Or rather...]
[K.LEE: A spy, right?]
"So that’s how it is."
I turned my head.
"If you really want to be a spy..."
From behind the office chair in the Dream Incubation Chamber, someone
took off the goblin hat they’d been wearing.
Agent Choi.
In his hand was the crumpled note I’d given him.
"You should have found some way to slip out a hint like this in the middle.
...Mr. Roe Deer."
And then, the blades descended.
T/N: The ’blades’ in this context refer to a shaman’s weapon (jakdu), which
are also tools to show off their divine power. To prove that a spirit has
descended, shamans would ’ride’ a pair of these blades.
For more info on this, read: https://namu.wiki/w/작두#s-3
Other notes:
Hi? What? What the fuck? Hello??? Agent Choi??????
AAAAAAHHHHHH