Even if I fall into a ghost story, I still have to go to work
Chapter 67
Everything was handled quite quickly after that.
It seemed I had gained some sort of significant recognition from the company again.
Apparently, it wasn’t unheard of for an employee to rescue a contaminated colleague on their own, but most cases involved months or even years of preparation and a desperate, life-risking resolve.
Instances where people went missing together while attempting a rescue were far more common.
Pulling someone out immediately after contamination, especially for a recruit, was supposedly unprecedented.
“Look, that deer-antler mask…”
“Oh, is that him?”
“Wow… how many times does this make?”
As I walked through the company corridors, I occasionally heard whispers behind my back.
I recalled having similar experiences while eating with Team D in the cafeteria several times before, but…
Maybe it was because I was walking alone, but the voices felt particularly loud.
That didn’t last long, however.
“Kim Sol-eum-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Do not come into work for ten days starting tomorrow.”
“…??”
“It’s paid leave.”
Team D’s operations had already been tentatively suspended since half the team was gone, but the vacation had been issued specifically for me.
‘I’ve been coming in every day to write the incident reports, though.’
It was because they were intensely curious about exactly how Deputy Manager Eun Haje had survived and twisted the rules of a B-rank Darkness—one that required the Hangman’s death to clear.
‘Someone must have reported that Assistant Manager Park Min-seong and I were trying to do something.’
There was even talk of an interview schedule with the research team to bolster the credibility of the exploration records…
—Ah, Assistant Manager Kim. Why bother with that! Just rest, rest. You did a great job!
—……Um. Thank you.
It seemed Lee Byung-jin, the manager in charge of manual reviews, and our own Section Chief Lee Ja-heon had cut those requests off.
It was a bit funny, but apparently, the employees who had entered with us testified during their reporting that ‘Kim Sol-eum acted solely to save his teammate without any other ulterior motive.’
They had made excuses for me, claiming the situation just happened to work out due to my quick reflexes and luck.
‘They all ran for it as soon as the clear door opened, but at least they’re speaking up now.’
The former was expected and the latter was something to be grateful for, so I decided to accept it as is.
Regardless, thanks to that, my name was being tossed around on the internal phone lines again, and the manual for the <Apartment of the Hangman> was slapped with a ‘Potential for Revision’ tag.
In the new recruits’ group chat, everyone was trying to dig for information from me…
[Go Young-eun-ssi: You worked so hard.]
“…….”
Some sent messages of comfort.
‘Thanks. Truly.’
For the record, Baek Sa-heon didn’t even ask how I was doing from home.
‘That’s just the kind of person he is…’
I hadn’t expected anything anyway.
In any case, the situation itself wasn’t bad for my survival.
‘Actually, is it a good thing?’
I was steadily building an impressive career.
Specifically, I was establishing myself as a named employee with keywords like ‘clearing quickly in fresh ways without following existing manuals’ and ‘good-natured.’
And ten days of vacation on top of that.
I wasn’t sure if I should be happy to be away from ghost stories for ten days or disappointed that the speed of my point gathering would slow down.
I didn’t really feel either way.
So, I just did nothing…
—Roe Deer-ssi, would you like to hear this Brown’s opinion on why that pathetic comedy failed to capture the public’s eye? It will be quite fascinating!
“Shall I?”
I spent a few days just sitting in the living room watching TV.
It was about three days into it.
…A text came.
[Deputy Manager Eun Haje: Come to the hospital.]
“…!”
“The Roe Deer is here.”
“……Deputy Manager.”
I placed the get-well gift I brought under the nightstand and stood by the bed.
Eun Haje let out a short laugh.
“Soy milk? Good choice.”
“…Thank you.”
This was our first meeting since we briefly communicated when she regained consciousness in the infirmary…
The Deputy Manager was a bit pale, but her face looked fine.
It seemed the Snow Mountain Apple had done its job to some extent.
“I look okay for someone who almost died, right? …That item was good. Thanks.”
Thanks to that item, Eun Haje had appeared as a corpse, but due to the specific situation where she was missing a hand rather than her head, she was luckily kept in isolated storage.
‘I heard Section Chief Lee Ja-heon confirmed her survival at sunrise the next day, reported it, and moved her to the infirmary…’
And now, she had been transferred to a hospital that supposedly had some sort of partnership with the company, and her urgent treatment had just concluded.
“Ah, I told them I just had that apple on me. People usually prefer not to reveal their sources.”
“…Thank you.”
“Thank you for what? That’s what I should be saying to you and Min-seong.”
Eun Haje started to wave her left hand but then flinched.
Because it wasn’t there.
“…….”
The left wrist wrapped in bandages was blunt.
Limbs lost like that could not be regenerated with the standard-issue potions provided by the company.
“…Um, Deputy Manager.”
I voiced what I had been thinking.
“The C-rank Regeneration Potion I have…”
“Are you seriously offering it to me?”
“I was planning to sell it to you for money.”
“Heh.”
Eun Haje clicked her tongue.
“Listen well, Roe Deer. Items traded only with points can’t be bought with any amount of regular money outside.”
“…….”
“And using that potion just because a hand is cut off is a waste. That thing can regenerate you even if half your limbs are gone.”
“Still,”
“Forget it. I’ll take care of my hand myself, so you keep it for emergencies.”
Eun Haje’s eyes glinted somewhat gloomily.
“If you keep going into the Darkness, there will definitely be times when you lose more than just a hand.”
A chill ran down my spine…
“Actually, I have something to give you.”
Eun Haje handled her remaining hand as skillfully as if she had been using it that way for years, reaching into the bedside drawer.
Then, she pulled out a gold-foiled box with a sophisticated oil painting on it.
“…?!”
[Baekil-mong Potion]
‘Wait, hold on.’
That’s the box they use for Baekilmong Corporation’s special potions!
It was even more ornate than the C-rank Regeneration Potion I had received.
“Deputy Manager, what are you…”
“See? There’s one left.”
Eun Haje opened the box with a flourish.
The inside was lined with silk, with two hollows designed to hold round glass bottles.
One was already empty.
Eun Haje took out the remaining one and tossed it lightly toward me.
“Take it.”
“…!”
My god.
I hurriedly reached out and caught the glass bottle before it could fall, then checked it.
Inside the bottle, a liquid that looked like a blend of purple and silver was swimming smoothly like elegant ribbons…
<Item Info>
: Baekil-mong Potion :
Poison
Desert Rattlesnake Poison (Outstanding)
Poison?!
“Is this what you bought with your points…”
“That’s right.”
Eun Haje grinned, baring her teeth.
“Handle it carefully. That’s a 170,000-point Death Note.”
“…!!”
“You can kill someone remotely and secretly.”
W-wait a minute.
With trembling hands, I read the description on the glass bottle.
[Desert Rattlesnake Poison helps with quiet and cruel revenge.
If you whisper the target’s name into the bottle along with a simple ritual…
That night, a terrible death will find the target.]
“In short, if there’s a bastard you want to kill, it’s perfect for getting rid of them without a sound.”
“…….”
“They say before they die, they suffer from incredible burning pain and horrific mental torture that makes them want to curse the world, then fall into a coma and suffer for what feels like four years in the span of four hours before they go.”
You’re giving such a murder weapon to me…?
Eun Haje grumbled about how ‘they always sell it in a set of two because poison lines come in pairs’ and ‘that damn concept doubled my working period.’
But in the end, she looked at me and smirked.
“Use it if someone you want to kill shows up.”
“…!”
“Because I had one.”
I let out a low groan as I looked at the empty spot in the box.
…So she had already used it!
“Curious? Who I used it on.”
I couldn’t help but think of it reflexively.
—The word that best describes Eun Haje-seonsaengnim is ‘traitor’!
The revelation from <The Room of Truth>.
“If it’s a personal matter that’s uncomfortable to speak about, you don’t have to tell me…”
“Uncomfortable? Hey, I’m dying to talk about it.”
W-well, if you say so.
Eun Haje crossed her arms and leaned back against the bed.
“The bottom line is… it’s true I changed jobs because I caused trouble back when I was a reporter.”
“…….”
“I was trying to dig up a scoop on the second-generation son of a politician involved in drugs, human trafficking, and all sorts of crazy shit, and I ruined my life over it.”
Eun Haje’s tone was as dry as usual, but the content was anything but.
It was the refined clarity of a story that had been chewed over and thought about for a very long time.
The article wouldn’t pass the desk, and from the next day, her team faced immense pressure, she was stalked, her family received threatening calls…
“Actually, the team decided to scrap everything and let it fizzle out, but I couldn’t stand it and tried to take it to an overseas news agency. So yeah, I was a traitor. But…”
A small sigh.
“On the day I was supposed to leave the country, I got a phone call. Four informants had died, as if by clockwork.”
“…….”
“On the surface, it was suicide due to despair over their circumstances… but of course, it wasn’t, right? They either killed them or tormented them until they died.”
“…….”
“I was the idiot for thinking everything would be solved as long as it was reported.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“I was an idiot, plain and simple. Anyway…”
Eun Haje quit being a reporter.
She said she simply couldn’t do it anymore.
“But I had to find a job. I had people at home to feed.”
That was when she luckily found a suitable company.
A pharmaceutical company where the age range for new hires was diverse, where they favored people with sales experience in various fields, and where she wasn’t blacklisted because it was a different industry.
“Baekilmong Corporation.”
And there, at the company she joined, she encountered…
The Wishright.
“Well… at first, I wondered if I could bring the dead back to life, but that felt like an insult to the deceased.”
Eun Haje adjusted her arms.
“Playing around with bringing them back just because I feel guilty is just self-satisfaction. It’s right to respect the dead as they are. Although there are plenty of bastards in our company who would disagree. Anyway…”
She finished with a faint smile.
“So I got my revenge last night, and that’s the end of it.”
“…….”
“If you see news about a politician’s son dying a gruesome death, just know I was the one who killed him.”
Then Eun Haje stretched her arm out wide.
“Ha… Fuck, finally I can quit this damn Darkness exploration!!”
“Are you resigning?”
“You never know how life goes.”
Contrary to her refreshing words, Eun Haje’s face was somewhat stiff.
She had mentioned it lightly to avoid burdening me, but it was clear that Assistant Manager Park Min-seong was weighing on her mind…
“But I’ll be resting for a while… so I won’t be able to work in Team D like before.”
“…….”
Eun Haje smiled somewhat bitterly.
“The Roe Deer made such a fuss about how I had to stay in our team, and it turned out just like you said.”
“…Yes.”
I realized reflexively.
From now on… I wouldn’t be able to see Deputy Manager Eun Haje, who used to sit in the office seat next to mine.
“…….”
“Roe Deer.”
“…….”
“Are you having a hard time?”
“…!”
“Yeah. You’d be a psychopath if you weren’t. It’s only coming late because you’ve been so competent, but it’s a process everyone goes through at least once.”
Eun Haje laughed and tapped her chest.
“Not seeing a teammate who was sitting next to you the next day.”
“…….”
“But tell yourself and praise yourself that this is the best-case scenario. It’s because you’re so good that you won’t be seeing your teammate for a good reason.”
“…Assistant Manager Park Min-seong is,”
“That’s something I have to carry as a debt,”
Eun Haje cut me off firmly.
“You rescued him too, didn’t you? You should be proud of yourself. He’s a strong guy in his own way. He’ll recover on his own… so you just worry about yourself.”
Then she glanced at me and laughed.
“The Section Chief was worried about you quite a bit, by the way.”
“…?”
The Lizard… worried?
“Roe Deer, hasn’t the Section Chief barely come into the office lately?”
He hadn’t.
“Normally, when half the team is wiped out like this, you don’t rest; you usually go in to support other teams.”
Ah.
“But he got you out of it.”
“…!”
“Whether he used his personal connections or went in himself instead.”
My god.
“Makes you trust him a bit, doesn’t it? That man has been like that since I joined. He’s strangely inflexible, but he’s reliable.”
Eun Haje grabbed my shoulder with her intact hand.
“It’s hard to work with reliable people in this company, so that’s your luck too. …Keep working well with the Section Chief.”
Then she grinned and held it out.
“No matter who comes to my seat, with Section Chief Lee Ja-heon and Kim Sol-eum… it’ll be fine.”
Her fully remaining right hand.
“I hope you earn a lot of points safely. Roe Deer.”
I gripped it tight.
“I hope your wish definitely comes true.”
“…Yes.”
I shook hands with Team D’s Deputy Manager Eun Haje.
That was the last time.
On the day I returned to work after my vacation, I saw that the belongings on Deputy Manager Eun Haje’s desk in the Team D office had vanished.
Assistant Manager Park Min-seong’s desk was still there, but there was no telling when it might be cleared.
“…….”
I quietly went over and sat at my desk.
And so.
I was the only team member left in Team D.
