……
……
Flash.
I blinked.
“Excuse me.”
“……”
“Excuse me…”
I opened my eyes again.
Everything was still.
“Are you all right?”“I’m fine.”
I instinctively knew.
“You knocked me out, didn’t you?”
“Yes…”
I looked at the empty capsule shell that had fallen to the floor from my ear.
‘A drug?’
It seemed I’d been given something that briefly knocked me out.
Something similar to the Snow White Mountain Apple I carried, but perhaps a less potent version.
Stay calm.
It appeared I’d been freed from the contamination’s effects.
I steadied my breathing and looked down at my arm. The area where I’d been injured was now wrapped in bandages.
As for the yarn that had been wrapped around me earlier…
“……”
I lifted my head and saw it tightly wound around Supervisor Park Minseong’s limbs in the corner.
Right. He no longer looked like a ‘teacher’.
It was Supervisor Park Minseong again!
‘…It worked.’
Dressed in a black suit and mask, Park Minseong looked just as he had before entering the ghost story.
Even if this was only a temporary effect of the suppression equipment.
“…Hah.”
Feeling utterly drained, I leaned against the wall.
‘…Successful handover.’
I heard the sergeant mutter beside me.
“That guy’s lucky… getting out that quickly… envy him…”
Wait.
“Since he came out quickly, does that mean he can fully recover from the contamination?”
“Um…”
The sergeant, looking too tired to think, hesitated before finally speaking under the weight of my persistent gaze.
“That’s a Gloom-level contamination…”
“Huh? Yes, it’s B-class.”
“Then it’s fine…”
B-grade?
“The company’s got protocols… and well, if things go decently, maybe… a department transfer?”
“……”
Sure. Working in the Security Team would be better than dying.
‘I hope he recovers well enough to either return or leave on his own terms…’
“……”
I turned back to look at Supervisor Park Minseong.
Now that the tension was easing, I felt strange.
Until just yesterday, we’d been coworkers, chatting and joking in the office.
Now, starting tomorrow, he’d suddenly disappear from my daily life.
“…Please take good care of him.”
“……”
The sergeant nodded slightly, his expression unreadable.
As my thoughts wandered, my mind finally returned to the last scene I had witnessed.
…Assistant Manager Eun Haje!
“What happened to the… body… lying next to me? The one missing a left hand…”
“I don’t know…”
Please, tell me she wasn’t incinerated or something. No, that couldn’t have happened.
‘Since she was a missing hand and not a head, they would’ve thought it strange.’
Still, my growing anxiety prompted me to hasten the process and leave the isolation room.
“Let’s head out together…”
“Ah, yes.”
With a few members of the Security Team accompanying me, I found myself walking out of the isolation room, escorted somewhere between surveillance and protection. ＲΆ𐌽оβĚŝ
And as soon as I stepped outside, I realized something.
This was the isolation area adjacent to the Security Team’s equipment storage facility.
[Isolation B]
‘There were separate pages about this place in the Darkness Exploration Records…’
Every single one of them was chilling.
Two summoned employees walked just half a step behind me, moving at a calm pace through the corridor. Meanwhile, I followed, trying to suppress the unease creeping over me…
Kekekekekeke—
AaaaahhhhhhhAlmightyLuminousOneshineYourlightuponme
Savemesavemepleasesaveme…!
From the isolation rooms lined along both sides came bone-chilling sounds.
‘Don’t look.’
I resolutely avoided glancing anywhere but the light spilling from the door ahead.
……
Who’s in the hallway?
Aaaaaahhh!!
Who’s in the hallway? Who’s in the hallway? Who’s
Please, just walk faster! Hurry up!!
Yet the blasted Security Team staff maintained their steady pace until we finally emerged through the door.
By that point, I was utterly drained, left to complete the exit procedure for the equipment storage facility as a ragged husk of myself.
“……”
The front of the storage facility looked like a bleak corridor in the maintenance department.
At the counter, a silent Security Team employee retrieved my belongings, which had been stored for isolation.
“Thank you.”
I accepted the briefcase. A sticker labeled [Approved / Risk Level D] was affixed to its surface.
‘Looks like they didn’t inspect the items individually.’
Nor had they conducted any additional checks on what I’d retrieved from my tattoo.
Surprisingly, Sergeant J seemed to have kept his promise entirely.
‘Though he might report it someday.’
That much was manageable. I’d even mentioned the one-time-use nature of the items on purpose.
What mattered now was handling the situation properly.
‘Let’s do this right.’
I took a deep breath.
‘Time to quickly check on Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s situation…’
– Friend!
– Friend!
Huh?
– Friend!!
“……”
Braun!!!
“Excuse me, is this all of my belongings?”
The staff member silently pointed toward a container in the corner of the front desk.
[Waste Disposal Box]
There lay my soaked and mangled suit jacket, crumpled into a mess—and stuffed inside it, a small, disheveled stuffed doll…
Gaaaaaaasp!
– How dare they throw me into such a place as if I were trash!! This is outrageous! Even when I was a rookie, I never experienced such disrespect!
T-These people are insane!
I felt like I could bathe in my own cold sweat.
Hastily, I retrieved the jacket, cleaned up the doll, and tucked it into my shirt pocket.
‘Y-You’ve been through so much… I’m sorry.’
– Huu… It’s not your fault, Mr. Roe Deer. It’s those ruffians who acted so recklessly!
Braun seemed somewhat mollified. Without wasting time, I turned and began walking away.
But from behind, an ominous voice trailed after me…
– But a good friend never forgets…
“……”
Let’s make sure to never let Braun near the Security Team again.
As I stepped out the door, a voice called out to me.
“Kim Soleum-ssi.”
“……!!”
Waiting at the front of the Security Team facility was someone familiar.
“…Squad Leader.”
Chief Lizard gazed at me with his slit pupils.
“Did you come to fetch me, sir?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you taking me? And, while you’re at it, could you explain why I’m being taken there?”
“To the infirmary. Assistant Manager Eun Haje is lying there.”
“……!!”
I,
I paused several times before I managed to speak.
“…Is she alive?”
Squad Leader Lee turned to look at me.
And his response was firm and clear.
“Yes.”
“……”
Gulp.
A surge of emotion suddenly rose to my throat.
“…Squad Leader. Supervisor Park Minseong has also been retrieved.”
“Yes.”
Squad Leader Lee Jaheon seemed to ponder for a moment, but he soon asked,
“Is he alive?”
“…Yes.”
“Then everyone has survived.”
“……Yes.”
That alone made it all worth it.
Undeniably.
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