Before I opened my eyes,
I heard a voice ringing inside my head.
Instructions.
-You have been assigned to a new post. Follow the researcher’s instructions. You have been assigned to a new post. Follow the researcher’s instructions….
“Hello.”
I opened my eyes.
“Nice to meet you. I’m your assigned… assistant employee.”
The first thing I saw was a mask.
Not a face turned into a melting mosaic, but a coated paper mask covering it.
It was not the familiar Field Operations Team mask I knew. It looked more like a child’s crayon drawing imitating one.
But I knew that animal.
“I’ll do my best not to get on your nerves. …I’m Badger.”
Badger.
I knew this person wearing the Facility Security Team active-duty uniform….
Senior Staff Park Minseong of Group D.
My senior.
“From here on, um, I look forward to working with you.”
And he did not recognize me.
“Uh, today will just be a simple introduction….”
Of course he wouldn’t.
My current state and Kim Soleum’s former appearance had nothing in common aside from body size, and he had never seen this exterior before.
But right after that, something happened that was not natural.
“…Why.”
Another person’s voice.
From the intonation, from that characteristic slow, flat way of speaking, I knew who it was.
I saw a thin human figure in a guard’s uniform standing at the door with his hat pulled low….
“Why… are you here.”
J3.