Chapter 232: Ch 232: The new hire
Ho Yoowon.
The director of this company who’d know more about Jang Heowoon than
anyone else.
"You must have a lot you’re curious about."
But he was an untrustworthy man, and he was smiling at me.
Here, in a corridor turned skeletal ruin of corpses by fire and smoke.
He asks me if I have anything to ask.
’...In that case.’
I can approach it this way.
I let the smoke rise.
Proposition : One-on-one Q&A Ritual
"Mm?"
Conditions : 2 participants
► Questions and answers must alternate in strict order.
► One must always answer the other’s question truthfully.
► If unable to answer, one must state aloud, "Unable to respond," then
receive the next question.
► An answer cannot be delayed for more than 96 seconds.
[Ah, fascinating. Setting such specific conditions for no reason. It has a
slightly ritualistic, incantatory feel to it...]
I did it deliberately. Because this is with something not human.
And...
’This one definitely has questions for me too.’
In this formal, ritualized form of exchanging questions, he can’t help but
take the bait.
And.
► If one deliberately conceals the truth during the ritual, punishment is
inflicted.
"...Haha! Are you imitating me?"
Yes. Have a taste of what it’s like to be on the other side.
Ho Yoowon laughed a few times, then answered brightly.
"But I like it."
Yet, a faint gloom rippled in his eyes.
"Fair, isn’t it? I could impose a binding to enforce punishment... but I
won’t. I want to trust you, Roe Deer-nim."
Lie.
That’s just something he says because he can’t easily bind me anyway.
’He tried to bind me and got punched for it.’
But it doesn’t matter.
Agreement
: One-on-one Q&A Ritual
From now on.
Ritual Start
Clap!
"Alright. Since you proposed it, I’ll let you ask the first question, Roe Deer-
nim."
And thus, on Basement Floor 96, in the strange fire of the Cheerful
Research Institute, two ghost stories began their exchange of questions and
answers.
[Friend, what fact do you wish to know first?]
Start with the most important thing.
Question : Everything Ho Yoowon knows about Jang Heowoon.
"You’re asking a very broad question, Roe Deer-nim."
Ho Yoowon answered.
"What I know is this. Male, in his twenties, no family, raised in a rural
religious welfare facility. Three years before his year of joining the
company, that facility was burned down in a fire, and he was the only
survivor."
...
What I once heard from the contaminated Jang Heowoon matched this
exactly.
"So his wish is probably... tied to that fire. Perhaps to revive the people
who died, or to make the fire as though it had never happened."
Accurate.
’Did he look into it more deeply while selecting him as a spy?’
"Then it’s my turn to ask a question, Roe Deer-nim."
Ho Yoowon looked at me.
"If you already knew what I just said, then from whom did you hear it?"
...!
"Precisely, from what kind of being?"
...
Response :
Staff Member of Flower Golden Resort – Bison
"Ah, I thought so."
The rekindling flames cast his face in backlit shadow.
"I read in the Field Exploration Team reports that one died in the theme
park and came back as a resort employee... but you actually heard it
directly."
...
"So Bison wasn’t just someone who you helped revive... He’s your
subordinate, isn’t he, Roe Deer-nim?"
Huu.
"Ah, that wasn’t a question. That was certainty. ...You really are human,
Roe Deer-nim. You make choices you’ll regret."
Ominous words, though they carried a shade of regret as well.
Instead of lashing out, I simply looked at Ho Yoowon.
"Anyway, what you’re curious about are the three ’Heowoons’ with
different surnames, right? I’m curious too, so maybe we can try deducing
together through this Q&A. ...Shall we continue?"
Unshaken, I moved on to the next question.
Question :
Everything you know about new recruit Kim Heowoon.
"...Now this is where it gets interesting."
Interesting?
"He has the exact same background as Jang Heowoon."
"...!!"
Male, twenties, no family, raised in a rural religious welfare facility. Fire
trauma.
"For it to be just someone who grew up in similar circumstances, the
keywords are far too identical, aren’t they? As if they were cast in the same
role of a game."
...
The puzzle pieces in my head begin slotting together.
"Then it’s my turn. ...Roe Deer-nim, did you distribute the Wish Tickets
you received to the Daydream employees who infiltrated the Disaster
Management Bureau with you? To be exact, to whom did you give how
many bottles?"
Response : 2 bottles to Employee Goral.
– Requested that they later be delivered to Employee Bison.
"Ah... As expected."
Wait. ’As expected’?
That sounded as though he already knew. ...Surely not.
Question : Tracing the usage records of the 3 Wish Tickets
"Ah. Rather than tracing them, I just already know."
...!
"The Wish Tickets I gave out were part of my personal collection. So I
treated the bottles a bit... I can tell whether one has been used or not."
Ho Yoowon smiled.
"And the three bottles I gave you are all used now. ...You used one, didn’t
you?"
The implication was...
The two that went to Go Yeongeun-ssi have already been used too.
A chill prickled up my spine.
’Go Yeongeun-ssi used both bottles?’
If they weren’t stolen... no, theft seems unlikely.
Go Yeongeun-ssi is the type to manage danger cautiously.
And she’s the sort of person who wouldn’t have used Jang Heowoon-ssi’s
Wish Ticket recklessly.
So it’s likely she used it for Jang Heowoon-ssi.
’But...’
Why is the Jang Heowoon I saw unchanged?
"Then here’s an interesting hypothesis we can try. ...Maybe someone
wished the wish poorly?"
Ho Yoowon smiled with mock sympathy.
"Six months on, poor Bison hasn’t shown signs of recovering from
contamination, so in desperation... she might have used the Wish Ticket on
her own initiative."
...
"But perhaps due to some error, it wasn’t ’Jang Heowoon’ who appeared in
this world, but ’Kim Heowoon’ instead, and thus the wish was granted?"
A hypothesis that made my spine go cold.
[Hmm. Is that so? Let’s speculate more concretely.]
So... like this.
If Go Yeongeun-ssi had wished, ’Please let Heowoon live as a human in this
world,’ then...
’Instead of the contaminated Jang Heowoon returning to being human, a
person might appear in the world whom Go Yeongeun would accept as
’Heowoon’!’
Wish Tickets are personally omnipotent. So such a ghost-story outcome is
plausible...
Skeptical : judgment withheld
"Ah?"
There’s a mismatched puzzle in that case.
’The person on this Cheerful Research Institute employee badge.’
Cheerful Researcher
Lee Heowoon
This researcher named Lee Heowoon is the only one left now.
A person who existed in the Cheerful Research Institute of the past and was
likely unrelated to the Wish Tickets that were used recently.
’...There’s clearly something else going on.’
Heowoon, Heowoon, Heowoon...
Something’s amiss.
’The keyword ’fire’ overlaps too.’
Someone who lost everyone in a fire at the facility where they grew up.
Judging by the state on Basement Floor 96, this Cheerful Research Institute
employee shares a similar background. Why would they have such a
background similar to Jang Heowoon... wait.
’Isn’t it the other way around?’
If you think in chronological order...
’Jang Heowoon and Kim Heowoon resemble this Cheerful Research
Institute employee in background...’
Rustle.
...
Rustle.
"Roe Deer-nim."
...
"Did you see that?"
I did.
Just now.
The pile of corpses was moved.
No. More precisely, it looked as if the piles of corpses in front of the
elevator had moved.
Something buried beneath them had shifted.
"There was still one living entity left. Haha..."
A Cheerful Research Institute employee had noticed us.
That unseen, unheard thing tore through the corpses, rose to its feet, and
looked at the intruders that did not belong in this time-space.
...The corridor distorts.
Flickering, the space beyond the offices spasms into my vision...
In the flickering sight, it seems the unseen one’s twisted lower body, garbed
in a gown, is appearing.
Over there,
whoisitwhoisitwhoisitwhoisitwhowho
whowhoisitthoughwhoisitwhoisitwho
whoisitwhoisitwhoisitwhoisitwhoisit
pleasemetoopleasesavemepleaseover
thereyouretherearentyou?righthere?
righthererighthereyourerighthere
YOU’RE
RIGHT
HERE
A sensation sucks me in.
A pull into some time-space projected onto Basement Floor 96.
I realize.
’If you get caught, you disappear.’
[The invitation is rough. You don’t even need to refuse politely, Friend.]
I pocketed Lee Heowoon’s employee card.
And confirming the approach of the unseen one by the way the corpse pile
reacted as it tore through, I shot smoke and strode toward the elevator.
Then I grabbed the scruff of Ho Yoowon’s neck and flung him upward.
"...!"
Ho Yoowon’s body arced and landed, trampling the corpses in front of the
right-side elevator.
At the same moment I reached the elevator.
Create space between the doors
Ho Yoowon and I shoved the corpses pinched between the elevator doors
outward, just enough for the doors to be able to close.
’Faster.’
Fortunately, the elevator’s door, which had long been open and warning,
will close the moment a gap appears even without pressing the close button.
Ding-dong.
Through the closing doors I saw the surviving entity collapse...
Having used the last of its strength, it became a corpse.
’...’
Inside the elevator, it was just Ho Yoowon and me again.
...along with a dozen or so researcher corpses.
"Honestly, you didn’t really need to help me like that... but I’ll accept the
sentiment gratefully. Thank you, Roe Deer-nim."
Without your assistance
: Situation reproducible immediately
"..."
Please, just shut your mouth before I open the elevator again and throw you
out...
’Huu.’
Finally, silence.
I looked at the elevator’s panel.
This is the reason the Cheerful Research Institute could be explored by so
many Security Team units.
When riding the right-hand elevator, you can return to Basement 1, the
main building, from any floor.
I pressed the button for Basement Floor 1.
Ding-dong.
With the cheerful, old-fashioned chime, the elevator rose.
To reality.
And the corpses filling the elevator began to crumble and vanish, as though
time itself were passing.
"...Looks like we can’t bring the corpses out? Ah, must be because they’re
not Darknesses."
Ho Yoowon checked whether his shoes had been dirtied, even as he
casually stood on a dead researcher’s shoulder blade.
...My head throbbed.
Still, I had to check what needed checking.
Question : Report to researcher on whether today’s exploration companion
will be disclosed
"You mean whether or not we should reveal that we explored together?
Why don’t we just say we traveled together casually, excluding the part
about going down to Basement Floor 96?"
I agreed.
Ho Yoowon smiled brightly.
"Then it’s my turn to ask a question."
What?
"That last one was a question from you, wasn’t it? Right?"
...
I felt it from his tone.
’Doesn’t seem like he’s trying to provoke me.’
A strange feeling went over me.
As though all the answers so far were only leading up to the question he
really wanted to ask now.
’...I could refuse, but that would mean forcing it.’
I nodded.
"Yes. Then I’ll ask."
Ho Yoowon smiled like a picture, but before I could say anything else, he
spoke quickly, as though impatient for the answer.
It was...
"What kind of place is Sekwang Special Metropolitan City?"
...!
"Please, tell me what you know."
The ghost story he requested we smuggle out of the Disaster Management
Bureau.
I met Ho Yoowon’s eyes. In them, I read an unnervingly deep stillness.
...
I sent out my smoke.
Answer :
Sekwang Special Metropolitan City is a deleted region of Korea.
"...!"
A redacted existence.
With an area of about 552km2, it is located adjacent to the border of
Chungcheong-do and Gyeonggi-do, and at present, no one has the natural
ability to perceive the city.
This can, in a sense, be regarded as a cliché within the theme of a wiki that
manages ghost stories.
In other words, a ’last resort’.
Some ghost stories are so lethally harmful, spreading uncontrollably and
killing countless people, that the only conclusion is that they cannot be
contained or ended through moderate means.
Thus, the government approves a shocking, extreme measure...
Due to a certain annihilation-sanctioned supernatural disaster that resulted
in numerous casualties, the region itself was sealed off to prevent further
damage.
Subsequently, nationwide memory erasure was authorized in order to
completely block rescue attempts and accessors. Authorization was granted
to manipulate cognition into a state of non-recognition.
Even so.
Conclusion : Sekwang Special Metropolitan City exists in Korea.
"..."
Ho Yoowon’s lips parted.
"How did you kn—"
Unable to respond
"...!"
Question order : me
"Ask me anything."
Then.
Question : Reason for interest in Sekwang Special Metropolitan City
"..."
The silence dragged on.
I expected to hear ’unable to respond’.
But an unexpected response came.
"There’s something I left behind in Sekwang Special Metropolitan City."
Left behind?
’That means... he had once been in Sekwang City.’
This director might actually be from there.
Which could explain why Daydream, as a project, so obsessively tried to
insert people into Sekwang Special Metropolitan City.
’So that’s it.’
It felt strange, hearing about personal circumstances that weren’t written in
the wiki...
Ding-dong.
[Ah, we’ve arrived!]
At that moment, the elevator reached its destination, Basement Floor 1.
Beyond the doors—outside the ghost story, back in reality—I heard the
various noises of Daydream’s main building.
...But then.
"Roe Deer-nim. If you’ve finished listening, it’s my turn n—"
Recommendation : Suspend conversation
"..."
I looked at the doors.
Person standing in front of elevator doors
The doors opened.
And what I saw was.
"Hello, Mr. Employee."
The new hire, Kim Heowoon.
"I’ve come to see you again."