I looked back into the drawer with trembling eyes.
But the thing inside had not changed.
The employment contract.
What lay there was unmistakably the very contract I had signed.
After drinking the Wish Ticket, in the instant when I realized the truth and my identity collapsed and crumbled, Director Cheong had appeared and held it out to me—a rope for survival.
Or a fatal noose.
In the end, I signed it.
I signed it to survive, and worked in the Facility Security Team as 130666….
But why was that thing inside this abandoned resort management office in my own mental world?
…Wait.
‘Could this be the binding force of the contract itself, the very thing that binds me?’
Was it embodied and settled here, deep inside me, inside this drawer? Inside this drawer that carried the symbolism of storing “resort employment contracts”!
If that were true.
If that were true…!
With a trembling hand, I seized the employment contract.
It felt tangible, as though it truly existed.
And then.
Riiiiiip.
I tore it apart.
Its middle split open cleanly, and the sheet of employment contract paper that had bound me was torn into two pieces.
I lifted my eyes at the deep thrill and sense of release rising through me, then lowered them again….
I saw the employment contract.
A whole, untorn sheet of paper was in my hands.
“…….”
I tore it again.
Riiiiiip.
I blinked.
I saw the employment contract.
I tore it again.
Riiiiiip.
I blinked.
I saw the employment contract.
I tore it again.
Riiiiiip.
I blinked.
I saw the employment contr—
‘Stop!’
Gasping for breath, I halted my hand.
It seemed that simply tearing it was not enough to damage this employment contract.
Right. There was no way it would be that easy….
Good Friend
where oh where are you hiding?
My body went rigid.
…From beyond the corridor,…