Chapter 212: Ch 212: Guard Team Unit 3
A familiar name.
Someone I already knew.
For a moment, it felt as if something inside me was surging up again...
But I did not react.
"Mr. Employee?"
Because I knew it would be unwise to reveal anything here.
...
’Why is that?’
Suddenly, a strange sensation began to form in my mind.
It felt like dragging up an anchor from the depths of the ocean by force.
With my previous sensations lost, my scrambled brain and consciousness
struggled to think as before.
’Jang Heowoon...’
Dead.
The image of the corpse collapsed on the floor of a room in a resort.
But... Right... As a resort staff member, he was reconstructed in a
contaminated state, and Jang Heowoon was brought back.
And I...
’I handed over the Wish Ticket.’
If the Wish Ticket really did successfully reach Jang Heowoon, and that’s
why he survived.
If I was now seeing him live as a human being again.
’...’
My broken mind reached a conclusion.
I very slowly realized that what I was feeling was relief.
A direct emotion felt for the first time in far too long, it was almost like a
dull ache.
"How did you feel hearing those names? Lee Jungin, Park Yonghae...
Jang Heowoon."
And the judgment, painfully pieced together, that letting the notorious
researcher in front of me know about this would never be a wise decision.
"How is it?"
I stared at him in silence.
Kwak Jekang’s expression, so full of expectation, finally soured as my
silence dragged on.
"Once again, ’no response’, huh. I guess the memories of the sacrificial
medium we used as an intermediary are meaningless... Haha, sorry about
that. But as a scientist, I just have to ask these things, you know? Hahaha!"
Kwak Jekang gave an awkward little laugh, then muttered to himself as if
carelessly.
"Still, I got to see something interesting today, Mr. Employee. You’ve acted
just like a machine with no reactions for half a year now..."
...
Half a year?
"I hear if you have a fun event like this every six months, it keeps you from
wanting to quit. Isn’t that right?"
I realized it.
It had been no less than half a year since I’d been shut away here on
Basement Floor 13.
No. Had it really already been half a year?
"Eeyah~ It must have been fun. Three-person teams of obvious new hires...
exploring the annex basements, with your help...!"
Kwak Jekang pressed on, subtle and persistent.
"Didn’t you feel any déjà vu? Seeing that scene, did any similar work or
experience come to mind..."
Silence.
"Did you feel any sympathy?"
Silence.
"Goodness me, you really are the silent type. But then... Why exactly did
you help them?"
...
"Your assigned work area is clearly Basement Floor 13, after all. Well, I
understand you used a loophole by not leaving the elevator, but still..."
Kwak Jekang’s eyes glittered with excitement.
"What was your reason for going so far to help?"
...
"Was it just because you ’felt like it’? Or out of a sense of duty to save
people?"
...
"Haha, silence is a meaningful answer too. Or is it due to confusion? I
wonder if similar results would appear even with just a slight change in
variables... hmm?"
I raised my hand and pointed to Room 666.
More precisely, to the old-fashioned TV in the ceiling corner.
Where the employee training video played.
"...Oh."
And I formed a sentence with smoke.
Work Rule #17 : Cooperate with your fellow employees.
A line from the training video.
Kwak Jekang recognized it immediately, even the font.
"Aha, I see!"
The sound of the researcher hurriedly scribbling on a tablet PC filled the air.
"So it’s because of the training video. That’s... Haha, goodness. Well, shall
I say gentle, or generous, or perhaps that rules and order are important
keywords! I understand, Special Division Employee... Haha, yes, I get it."
Then his pen stopped, and his voice became subtle.
"But you know, it was a bit pointless, wasn’t it? The participants you
helped..."
He raised both hands in a mock surprise gesture.
"Weren’t actually fellow employees. Haha!"
...
I know.
"They weren’t new hires. They were just test subjects!"
From the start, this wasn’t even a real orientation for the Field Exploration
Team.
It was a research experiment project inspired by the format, with the same
name.
Experiment Name : New Employee Orientation
They were not real new employees.
Strictly speaking, they were people who had applied for entry-level
positions but, for various reasons, failed the hiring process.
But the company sent them emails as if they’d passed, deceiving them.
The reason being...
"They were basically just temps recruited as samples for the experiment!"
Supplementing the civilian exploration records.
Planned in order to collect significant additional data
from Darknesses in cases lacking precedent of
exploration by ordinary people with no prior knowledge.
From among the unsuccessful applicants, those whose
aptitudes matched were selected and put through a
simulation in a form similar to the orientation given to
successful new hires.
It’s difficult for the company to arbitrarily release the Darknesses under its
jurisdiction to the civilian sector.
Therefore, the company’s records of exploration are built up by the Field
Exploration Team, experts in Darkness exploration.
There was, at least, the orientation program where new employees, those
closest to being civilians, were exposed to Darkness. But even then, only
those Darknesses that could be used to test the employees’ skills were
selected.
That’s why one researcher came up with a brilliant idea.
– Let’s recycle the applicants!
There was no need to separately recruit subjects while avoiding the
attention of public authorities, making it a particularly convenient time to
secure experimental participants.
Of course, it’s not all just a scam.
There is a compensation that is somewhat deceptive.
Any unsuccessful applicant who successfully completes
the mission in this experiment can be specially recruited
into the Field Exploration Team as a regular employee.
Thus, the company’s official justification is as follows.
’Let’s generate additional successful candidates and give them a chance to
join the company.’
So, in other words...
"Well, you may end up meeting them again later as colleagues, but..."
Anyone who survives by completing the ’mission’ in this experiment is
given an opportunity to join the company, so in a sense, it essentially
becomes an orientation after all.
And I know.
’Jang Heowoon’ passed.
...
But was it really Jang Heowoon?
"Hmm. Would you like to meet again?"
I tried to recall the faces of the three new employees I met earlier.
I can’t remember. They were melting mosaics.
"Do you prefer a certain age or gender in a coworker?"
I don’t remember their voices, either. They sounded like a low-quality
radio.
"Do you have a preference for a corpse?"
I turned to Kwak Jekang.
"No preference? Not even one? Really?"
...
I raised my hand.
As the smoke moved, Kwak Jekang’s face brightened.
"That’s right! Using words to communicate like this—"
Warning 1
Reason : Request for work outside of working hours
Cumulative warnings : 1 / Strikes left until disciplinary action : 2
"...Ah."
From Room 666, an announcement began to play in my head.
The signal for the end of my shift.
– Your work shift has ended. Please return immediately. Your work shift
has ended. Please return immediately...
"No, but this interview is more like a casual—"
Warning 2
Reason : Request for work outside of working hours
...
Cumulative warnings : 2 / Strikes left until disciplinary action : 1
Smoke began to rise at my feet.
Kwak Jekang fell silent. I could see the tense shoulder muscles of the
nearby Guard Team members.
Though I couldn’t see it, I could sense the barrier set up between me and
Kwak Jekang for safety...
However, on Basement Floor 13, my assigned security area, I know I could
ignore that and discipline this researcher if I so choose.
I know.
"...Haha! Right. Of course, contractually guaranteed break time must be
observed! I agree, wholeheartedly."
Through the melting mosaic, I seemed to see Kwak Jekang’s sly smile.
It was the poise of an experienced researcher of Darknesses.
Knowing the right timing.
"I wish you a pleasant rest. ...We’ve got plenty of time!"
But there’s no real sense of regret in his voice.
From the center of the Guard Team, with a cheerful wave and picking up
his handwritten interview notes, Kwak Jekang smiled.
"I am your assigned researcher, after all."
...
"I’ll do my best to help you from now on. For a long, long time... I look
forward to working with you. Hahaha... Even at your new post."
Some time later.
I opened my eyes in a different place, not in Basement Floor 13 of the
annex.
A new work site.
* * *
Filled with excitement all the way to the top of his head, Kwak Jekang
typed away.
Recording the results of the experiment was a true delight.
Especially in a case like this, where so many test subjects produced
unprecedented outcomes through complex interactions!
"Hahaha, to think this was possible. Just how in the world did anyone
manage to make a contract with something like this..."
Kwak Jekang stared into his PC, his eyes still spinning with laughter.
On the screen was a neatly transcribed version of the field notes he’d
written, a summary of the experimental record.
New Employee Orientation – 21st Attempt
There are documented cases of interactions between orientation participants
and the Guard Team officers in charge, or the ’Special Division Employees’
on each basement floor of the annex.
And, without question, the longest entry of all was this.
2.2.1 Security Officer of Basement Floor 13 (hereafter referred to as
130666)
"To think we could actually meet..."
Ever since Director Cheong first said he would be assigning him ’special
tasks’, he’d been quietly hopeful.
But for it to actually appear!
Kwak Jekang recalled the employee who had interrogated him, that bizarre
figure with horns, a gas lamp, and swirling smoke.
That strange being, summoned into the vessel of the Field Exploration
Team’s fastest-promoted member.
Of course, compared to that time, the being he met again now seemed
somewhat mechanical and bound...
But isn’t it only natural to be curious as to why it turned out that way!
’Did side effects manifest or something?’
It was truly fascinating!
All the more so as he analyzed the tendencies observed in this experiment.
He couldn’t help but read over the notes he had written for himself.
This entity, while serving as the security officer for Basement Floor
13 for a period of 179 days, strictly complied with all labor
regulations. No noncooperative or aggressive anomalous cases,
which are commonly observed in Special Division entities, were
recorded during this period.
However, in the recent experiment, the entity identified an irregular
loophole in the regulations and boarded an elevator that had stopped
within its designated security zone, accompanying experimental
subjects who had entered the area. The entity displayed a tendency
to facilitate the survival of multiple experimental subjects.**
Here’s the thing, though.
**This behavioral tendency is similar to the Dream Essence
collection trait exhibited by the employee’s body prior to death, which
was used in the employment contract process for 130666.
Indirect influence of the self is suspected, and further experiments
are requested.
"This is 100% going to be censored."
He figured that either it would be marked as a researcher’s personal opinion
or that the content itself would be deleted outright.
Well, the fact that an entire employee was used as a living sacrifice in the
Special Division security contract isn’t really that surprising, but the
identity is a problem.
"Would they really want to reveal that it was that elite employee with the
fastest promotion record?"
They’d rather not be specific.
Especially if, without ever being told, some crazy Research Team member
managed to figure it out on his own...
Shrugging as he typed even faster, Kwak Jekang thought back to that
interesting employee... Kim Soleum.
Because the next part was even more interesting!
Anomalous Aggression of 130666
: When exposed to the entity’s smoke (hereafter referred to as
130666-1), humanoid ’Darkness’ entities are transformed into
corpses.
No signs of life are detected. Analysis of blood and cell samples
confirms these are human corpses at the initial stage of
decomposition.
CCTV footage of the elevator during activation of this ability by
130666 intermittently shows the entire elevator covered by 130666,
exhibiting a phenomenon similar to a supernatural phenomenon.
He hummed as he recalled the Guard Team staff in the annex basement who
were turned into corpses.
They were slowly being restored to Darknesses, but as if suffering from
aftereffects, they were going through a confusing and bizarre state of
transformation.
Guard Team members sometimes showed unusual reactions just by being
near them, as if contamination was flaring up.
Kwak Jekang grinned.
"They really are interesting fellows."
...So.
Of course, an interesting idea occurred to him.
No additional significant risk factors have been identified. 130666
consistently resumes the form of an employee before exiting the
elevator.
Therefore!
Thus, the entity is certified as being in a state suitable for official duty
within the Special Division.
"Hahaha!"
However.
Dedicated personnel will be assigned to prevent unexpected
incidents and fatal safety accidents.
Kwak Jekang was beyond thrilled.
This had already been approved by higher-ups.
And... with personnel especially chosen by himself.
Safety Supervisor : Security Management Department, Guard Team
Unit 3 Leader (alias J3, real name ■■■)
Control Support : Security Management Department, Special
Management Team Member (alias Badger, real name Park
Minseong)
And so.
"...Ah."
130666 will meet two Security Team staff members at its newly assigned
worksite.