Chapter 048
The conference room was in chaos.
“They’re saying seventeen people have made it back alive!”
“Seventeen…?! No, wait, is that number right? It’s not a counting error?”
“Yes. Ah! It’s apparently up to twenty now.”
The Field Operations Team that had been sent into that promising Darkness in the morning had suddenly come back in large numbers.
Faced with a situation that was the complete opposite of what had been predicted, everyone’s response froze for a moment.
“No, weren’t they saying they’d already finished the case study, that they’d be escaping sequentially in small groups? What on earth is this?”
Was it really the employees they had sent in, shouldn’t they all be tested in the lab, and so on—every kind of remark flew around in response to this unforeseen situation.
But once the bewilderment began to settle, a thought quietly crept into people’s minds… the thrilling premonition of a successful outcome.
Wasn’t this an encouraging result?
A few of the people who had pushed this whole matter through had a similar thought rise in their minds.
‘If this really is the survival rate…!’
Their bold and wise investment had succeeded!
They had never expected the success rate of the intake to be this high, so it was almost dizzying.
‘Shouldn’t we hurry and shape public opinion first?’
‘Wait, I need to start mentioning my contribution to this from now.’
But all of that confusion, excitement, and worry was wiped away at once.
After exactly one more piece of news arrived.
“It’s B-grade.”
“Huh.”
The dream-fluid collector from the employee who had escaped first had been appraised, and the solution had been judged B-grade.
In other words, the “high-survival-rate A-grade” they had been dreaming of… did not exist.
The atmosphere in the conference room instantly sank in disappointment.
“Ha… figures.”
“Didn’t we jinx it by getting all excited and calling it A-grade?”
“Still, huh? Isn’t this kind of survival rate rare for a B-grade? Don’t you think so, Assistant Manager Kwak?”
The researcher, Kwak Jegang, who had been urgently called in, smiled faintly.
“Of course~ It’s an amazing accomplishment.”
No, rather than merely amazing… it was something astonishing!
Did these people not even know what the initial employee survival rates were by grade?
That was why they had no sense at all of just how extraordinary this was! That was why they weren’t foaming at the mouth to find out the details of the exploration right away!
‘Wow~ that’s impressive.’
‘Our luck was bad, but our judgment was right.’ Seeing them exchange compliments and consolation with each other in that sort of tone was funny even to Kwak Jegang himself.
Did this really look like a situation that called for consolation?
‘Do those people not have any sense of reality at all?!’
The average civilian survival rate for a B-grade was in the 2% range.
The very act of sending in a large number of employees without even a proper manual had been a sloppy gamble to begin with, and they were responding to this unbelievable result with disappointment and self-congratulation?
And on top of that, for their “expert consultation,” they had only hastily adopted the opinion of a single research team manager who told them what they wanted to hear, just to make it look complete.
The reason was obvious.
‘Because they wanted to do it!’
Thanks to that, as far as he was concerned, he had gotten an immensely interesting result and was pleased at the thought of analyzing it, but it was simply amazing that this company functioned at all with people like that in Development.
Kwak Jegang felt inwardly regretful. The company needed to last a long time if he was going to keep researching these fascinating anomalous phenomena in all their variety!
But wasn’t the fact that the people in the grandly named “Innovation Development Strategy Office” looked like that itself a risk to the company?
Of course, family-run companies usually looked like chaotic messes with no real system once you saw the inside.
‘I’d heard the rumors, but… are all the higher-ups aligned with the owner’s side really like this?’
Of course, not everyone present was like that.
Kwak Jegang glanced at one person sitting somewhat apart from the rest.
Someone who had not been present at the previous meeting.
‘One of Director Ho’s people.’
He was sitting there because someone had said, “This agenda is of interest to him, so would it be possible for you to attend briefly?”
No matter how much the Development Department higher-ups interfered with the Field Operations Team here and there, this was unusual.
Moreover, he was openly receiving a separate remote report about the situation through one of his own people.
Like this.
“They say one employee greatly assisted with this large-scale escape.”
“Excuse me??”
The atmosphere was more one of tension and wariness than of trying to make a good impression.
But everyone was appalled by what came next.
“It was a new hire.”
“……!”
“They say he actually ‘broadcast’ the method of escape to all the employees…. We’ll need to find out in detail what method he used.”
“…….”
“There are also people who are curious about it.”
Director Ho, then.
The Strategy Office people exchanged looks and began rambling as though making excuses.
“Ah, of course, we’ll send over the details as soon as the exploration report comes out.”
“Right. Usually when people come straight out of a field exploration, they’re not in their right minds and say all kinds of nonsense.”
“Even so, they wouldn’t just invent something that never happened, would they?”
“That’s….”
“So then.”
Director Ho’s representative cut in.
“They’re also curious what kind of decision the ‘Innovation Development Strategy Office’ will make.”
“…….”
“In regard to employee rewards.”
“Congratulations, Senior Staff Kim.”
“……Pardon?”
I almost sprayed out my iced Americano while drinking it on the bed in the medical office.
I’d been lying there for hours after a simple physical exam, deeply grateful for the tearfully kind words, “The youngest had a hard time, so just rest.”
I had thought I’d only hear the story about this exploration tomorrow after coming in to work, once things had been sorted out after I got off….
Senior Staff?
“No, you didn’t mishear. Senior Staff Kim.”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje grinned.
“They’re promoting you. Fastest record since this company’s Field Operations Team was established!”
“…!!”
“Honestly, I knew this would happen. The days of our Roe Deer speaking politely to me are over now.”
“Hey, wait another half year and won’t you be talking casually to me too?”
This wasn’t some neighborhood mom-and-pop shop—what kind of company promoted an ordinary employee to senior staff in two months?
‘Isn’t this just the usual office rumor?’
I asked that in a more polite way, but the answer was firm.
“No, it made sense. Do you know how many employees you saved this time?”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje folded her arms.
“Twenty-six in total, counting you.”
“……!”
“Roe Deer, seventeen of those escaped after hearing your guidance broadcast!”
“And if you include the ones who only came out late after seeing other people escape, then you could basically say you saved them all.”
She added that there had even been a few civilian escapees.
“Wouldn’t a record like this be the kind of thing that happens maybe once in several years? Honestly, promotion alone isn’t enough—they ought to give you something more too.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Tomorrow, after Group Leader gets back from his meeting, let’s feel things out a little. It really does seem like they’ll give you something.”
I was grateful that my supervisors were this excited as if it were their own business, but I still felt dazed.
A promotion.
…A promotion after sixty days at a major corporation!
A modern person’s heart was bound to flutter!
“Get yourself mentally ready. These special personnel announcements go up fast.”
And just as she said, that was exactly what happened.
The very next day, I saw the official promotion notice posted on the intranet.
[Special Personnel Announcement]
And, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, the three characters “Kim Soleum” were written there.
“…….”
Bzzzzzz.
My smartphone was vibrating. Congratulations were probably coming in from all over…….
W-wait a second.
‘This looks like they’re processing it fast to minimize internal resistance.’
The Field Operations Team was still a place where human beings worked. Naturally, when someone helped save your life, that meant you felt emotionally moved or grateful.
In that sense, well, since twenty-seven people were feeling at least something like gratitude toward me, the resistance would be low….
The timing of the announcement made me feel the intent not to miss that window and push through the promotion.
But why……? Why were they promoting me this much?
‘H-how much more are they planning to work me to death?’
Wasn’t it enough that I was already going into newly registered Ghost Stories without manuals?
The more I imagined it, the more horrifying predictions came to mind, so I even contacted an elite supervisor from another group….
[Are you stupid? It’d be weirder if you didn’t get promoted.]
“…??”
[Didn’t even the manual review staff come looking for you when you went missing? If you’re piling up achievements people will spread by word of mouth, of course someone upstairs is going to take notice.]
Assistant Manager Jin Nasol of Group A clicked her tongue.
[We should’ve just brought you into our group when there was an opening. Tch. Why did you reject it for no reason?]
“…….”
[Anyway, congratulations. Though it was a promotion you were going to get eventually.]
“…Yes, um, thank you.”
In the end, I had to hang up feeling empty.
Then I leaned back against my office chair and thought.
Right.
I had denied reality, but it looked like I had finally reached this stage….
‘Me… an elite employee?’
A special character worthy of being listed by name in the Darkness Exploration Record?
The kind of character some hardline creators would try to kill off plausibly somehow, just to preserve the atmosphere of the setting and remove from the wiki….
But then videos of him would go up on WeTube, he’d gain popularity and recognition, and in the end they’d just leave him alone… that kind of character?
I think they called this a Mary Sue….
‘How did it end up like this.’
No, maybe it couldn’t be helped.
Honestly, the fact that I had read all of the Darkness Exploration Record was a cheat!
‘If I hadn’t used it, I might have died on the spot, so for this much I kept it as subtle as I possibly could.’
The problem was….
‘What the hell am I supposed to do once they find out I’m actually a coward?’
Thinking it would all just end with me getting assigned to a cleanup team had become a happy fantasy too.
There was no way to know how far the repercussions would spread.
‘Why is someone this cowardly getting such good results?’
If that question arose….
‘It feels like interrogation and experiments are waiting for me…?’
The future where I got dragged off by the research team the moment they found out I had come from a parallel dimension felt vividly real.
Cold sweat seemed to be pouring down my forehead.
N-no way.
I got up, took my coffee, and made a lap through the break room.
Once the caffeine hit, my head cleared a little.
Right.
‘If I can’t avoid it, then I need to increase my survival rate from here.’
If I had already been firmly marked out, then continuing to display the kind of performance that justified it could, conversely, help me avoid unnecessary scrutiny.
‘All I need is to make them think, “This guy is originally just this competent and unusual.”’
It wasn’t as though there weren’t employees like that. Like the Lizard Group Leader, or Assistant Manager Jin with the butterfly mask.
I just had to end up classified as one of the named figures.
Even if that also meant the odds of getting sent into more dangerous Ghost Stories had increased, increased…… ngh, no. It might actually be a good thing.
If they treated me as high-level manpower, then maybe they’d be less likely to send me somewhere that was guaranteed death, right?
‘And I’d probably be able to earn points faster too.’
The more I thought about it, the more it didn’t seem like a bad thing for escaping this world quickly……
But to do that, there was one absolutely necessary step.
‘A character. I need to build a character….’
I had to come across naturally enough as a “competent and special unit” that no one would suspect anything.
Just like how I had acted like a lunatic in front of Baek Saheon, while still keeping it within reasonable limits.
To do that……
‘…I’ll need more cards I can use as character traits.’
“…….”
I raised my head.
Something that had been glowing above me ever since I escaped the exhibition was still there.
[Darkness Exploration Record Real Goods Box]
-New merchandise usage rights unlocked! (!)
I had been putting off checking it until my stamina recovered and my judgment returned, because if I opened that thing, I would have to start making plans again.
One of the goods I had bought at the pop-up store.
‘It’s time to claim it.’
But I had no idea what kind of “usage rights” I had achieved in the exhibition.
Number of uses for an item?
I casually touched the black memo pad glowing near my pillow as if stretching.
Click.
With a slightly clear, bright sound, a small, light object wrapped in plastic fell into my hand.
“…….”
Shining silver, with the word “CHARGE” embossed in calligraphy on a small shield-shaped badge, it was….
A badge.
‘Ah.’
I knew.
The condition I had fulfilled was “doing good.”
———————=
Darkness Exploration Record / Supernatural Disaster Management Agency
/ Item
Silver Heart
The wearer gains the awe of others according to their accumulated altruistic acts.
It strongly reflects the creator’s values: “It is socially most efficient for altruistic people to gain power.”
Item usage condition: A person who has rendered meritorious service by saving twelve or more people from a supernatural disaster.
———————=
Also known as the “good-character certification badge.”
It was an item produced and distributed by the Supernatural Disaster Management Agency. It had exploded in recognition after playing a major role in the exploration record of a certain train-explosion Ghost Story that was under seal there.
That unique attribute was part of the reason.
As you could see, it was an item exclusively for good people.
An object that let a good person exert influence over a group.
‘To think the day would come when I fulfilled this condition….’
It was enough to feel a little burdensome.
It was an item that had mostly been used in heartwarming ways, unusually enough, but one time there had also been a catastrophe on an absolutely insane scale.
‘That’s the Ghost Story setting for you.’
Once enough records piled up, there was always one terrifying incident mixed in to keep the tension high.
So in the past there had even been records of it being distributed to perfectly kind civilians, but later it was changed so that it was only lent out to agency civil servants under strict regulations.
I had watched the wiki update in real time.
And what did that mean?
It meant that at the present point in time, it was almost impossible to predict that an employee of Baekilmong Co., Ltd. would suddenly be using this “Silver Heart”!
‘Which means I can use it after all.’
I had my own problems to worry about, so I didn’t know how much good I would be able to do from now on, but at least I should be able to get the basic effect, right?
At the very least, if it gave the people working with me the impression of “this person seems kind of amazing,” then it would become much easier to look like a competent employee.
‘Good. I should take good care of it.’
So there really was no law saying I had to die.
I carefully put the Silver Heart into my pocket and left the break room feeling much lighter.
Then the reward for this exhibition exploration was also waiting for me.
“Roe Deer! It’s not on the official notice yet, but they say they’re giving you an award too!”
“…!”
“Ngh, our Roe Deer obviously ought to be getting one, but it’s just so tragic that this reality still manages to surprise us….”
“Exactly. What, do they think B-grade is some little kid’s name? The kind of bastards who’d die the moment they stepped inside… do they think urban legends are a joke?”
Th-thank you very much….
“Still, at least the award item is pretty decent.”
“Decent”?
By Assistant Manager Eun’s standards, that was high praise.
Judging by her expression, there was even a trace of admiration there. This was no small thing.
“…What item is it?”
“A regeneration potion.”
“……!!”
“You can’t quite tell just from the name alone, right?”
I could tell far too well.
It was too famous for me not to know it!
This wasn’t just some stamina-restoring potion they handed out in the medical office.
-One of the official product lines proudly presented by Baekilmong Co., Ltd. One of its magic medicines.
A miraculous treatment.
———————=
Darkness Exploration Record / Baekilmong Co., Ltd.
/ Potion
Regeneration Potion
A magic medicine that regenerates all external bodily losses.
The higher the grade, the stronger it becomes, and the deeper green it appears.
———————=
“To put it simply, it’s a potion that regenerates body parts… and this one is C-grade. Even if you lose all four limbs, they’ll just grow back.”
“…!”
“Even equipment reserved for manager level and above doesn’t have this kind of ability. It’s this company’s specialty medicine. In points, it retails for ten thousand.”
She grinned and thumped me on the back.
“It’ll come in handy later. It’s a dangerous line of work, after all. Isn’t it great to know that even if your arms and legs get blown off, or you lose your eyes, nose, and mouth, they’ll grow back?”
I feel like you really didn’t have to say that last part…….
“And… this may be slightly disappointing or slightly good news. Want to hear it?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s that you’re not the only one receiving it.”
“Mr. Soleum!”
“Hello.”
I greeted Go Youngeun, who was waving at me. I could see Baek Saheon sitting beside her too.
The company had gathered the three of us in one place as part of the performance of handing out the award items and taking photos.
It was the first time I’d seen their faces in several days since escaping the exhibition.
Wasn’t Baek Saheon my roommate, you ask? Lately he barely even came out of his room. Thanks to that, I got to watch TV in the living room with Brown in comfort.
“Did you rest well? Is your body okay?”
“I’m fine. As for you, Ms. Go Youngeun…….”
I stopped mid-sentence and realized.
Go Youngeun had been watching my lips, trying to read my pronunciation as well as she could.
“My hearing still hasn’t come back.”
“…….”
Of course.
Fortunately, the borrowed device that had been in her ear seemed to have been automatically returned the moment she left the exhibition, so it didn’t look like any “exhibition staff” would come after her.
And in Go Youngeun’s hand was the award item the company had just given her.
When you opened the box decorated in an elegant style of luxurious gold leaf and mural-like patterns, inside was a beautiful glass bottle sealed with wax.
A tender green, like rippling new sprouts, shimmered inside the glass.
: Baekilmong Potion :
Regeneration
C (excellent)
A C-grade regeneration potion.
Go Youngeun lifted the glass bottle.
Her eyes were full of hope, anxiety, and anticipation.
“Um, then I’ll try drinking mine right away first.”
“Yes.”
Go Youngeun opened the Regeneration Potion.
Then she tilted it back and drank it all in one go.
