Even if I fall into a ghost story, I still have to go to work
Chapter 83
Elite Team.
In Baegilmong Corporation, where the lives of Field Exploration Team members are valued less than B-grade Dream Essence, this is the rank where they finally start evaluating you as a “valuable long-term employee.”
You are given a private office and placed on a separate salary scale. Furthermore, new categories are unlocked in the employee welfare mall.
And above all…
To be used like extra lives in an emergency, members of the Cleanup Team are assigned to you.
It was a policy that made one feel like dirt, but there was no denying that it increased survival rates…
And now.
The Executive Director of Development standing before me was making a proposal.
“An agenda to increase the number of elite teams has been coming up steadily… Wouldn’t it look good if Team D became one of them?”
He was offering to turn Team D itself into an elite team.
He was saying he would keep my environment exactly as it was while overwhelmingly improving my treatment.
“The alphabet fits the sequence perfectly, and it makes the administrative procedures convenient in many ways.”
“……”
“Pick one employee you’d like to work with. You can even draw up a list of two or three candidates for me.”
Wait a minute.
I couldn’t follow the flow of this at all.
“I’m grateful, but… why are you making such a significant offer to me?”
To put it bluntly, I could understand if he wanted to send Section Chief Lee Ja-heon to an elite team.
According to my memory, he was originally someone slated to serve as an elite team leader briefly before being promoted through another route.
But why… is he talking with me as the focal point?
‘It’s strange to call in a rookie and say things like this while bypassing the team leader.’
I knew I’d achieved outlier results by creating manuals and bringing back A-grade essence twice, but there were other “named” individuals who cleared ghost stories in absurd ways.
Exploration records like those had to accumulate to become manuals in the first place.
But no one had ever heard something like, “I’ll turn your whole team into an elite team just for you~.”
‘Something’s wrong.’
It was a situation that looked unnatural to anyone.
“I am a mere rookie. I receive sufficient points and allowances from the company for the work I do, and even just the fact that my promotion was so fast…”
“Assistant Manager Kim Sol-eum. Have you ever heard the name Yun Jo-hun?”
My back almost froze solid.
I barely managed not to show it. I simply succeeded in replying with a tone that suited the tension of the situation.
“…Is he perhaps an employee?”
“He is,” Executive Director Cheong replied readily, giving me a thin smile.
“Actually, he was the assistant manager newly appointed to Team D in this recent personnel reshuffle.”
“……”
“But you won’t find him even if you search the company database now. He won’t be in your memory either.”
I didn’t react.
“In the higher grades, there is sometimes a darkness like that. People who ‘fail’ have their existence erased. However…”
Executive Director Cheong set down his documents and lifted something from under the desk.
A Dream Collector.
“The Dream Collector of a deceased employee is always repatriated to the company.”
“…!!”
“It’s a shame, but it’s a self-powered model that uses the Dream Essence collected right up until death as fuel. And…”
Executive Director Cheong flicked the end of the recorder.
“It includes a simple recording function.”
“……”
“Which means the exploration records of employees erased from reality can still be checked and referenced by this company.”
My god.
“I imagine someone like you might have wondered at some point. ‘How are the records of dead employees referenced in the manuals?’”
Wait.
Right. Of course, the exploration results of dead employees were written in the Wiki.
It was only natural. To create the atmosphere of a ghost story, records of explorers being wiped out had to be written. It was effective for inducing fear!
There were perfectly intact records of employees and items whose very existence had been erased.
But…
‘The Wiki is naturally recorded from an omniscient perspective.’
And the conceptual justification for how that was possible was roughly rationalized.
Field exploration employees’ records are transmitted to the company upon death.
Like that.
To avoid setting conflicts, the specific items or methods used weren’t explicitly described…
So when I fell into this place, I just naturally glossed over that gap.
Because this was originally a Wiki-based creative universe!
‘But there was such a specific and concrete setting value…’
In an instant, all the questions I had dismissed as “just how the world is” came flooding back into my mind.
Could it be that every single one of them has a “plausible additional background setting”?
In this manner?
It was the moment my mind was becoming a mess.
-Mr. Roe Deer! Your opponent is still looking at you. It seems he wants to continue the interview.
‘…!’
-He seems to be the type who wants a star to remain humble, so let’s focus…
Right.
Now was the time to focus on the conversation at hand.
Fortunately, my agitation didn’t exceed the level of an “employee who just learned a secret company know-how,” and the director continued.
“Based on these recordings, it seems Assistant Manager Kim Sol-eum explored and seized the darkness in a very unique way.”
“……”
It seemed Assistant Manager Yun Jo-hun had recognized me becoming a student.
“Becoming a part of the urban legend yourself. ‘Assimilation’… that is a method an ordinary person would never choose, for lack of courage and wisdom…”
What kind of terrifying things are you saying…?
“At any rate, I wanted to tell you that even those exploration records are being collected without any gaps.”
Executive Director Cheong looked at me.
“Well? Is it more systematic than you thought?”
“……”
“I’ve heard there are employees who say this company is run haphazardly.”
Th-this… I broke into a cold sweat.
“I’ve met and talked with them myself. Most of them are bright fellows.”
His voice sounded somewhat benevolent.
“But as you stay, you’ll realize there is no corporation in this world as rational and clear with its rewards and punishments as this one.”
“……”
“As long as your abilities are outstanding, you can climb smoothly to the top even if you make a mistake or two.”
I never agreed.
However, Executive Director Cheong smiled and dismissed me as if I had replied, “I’ll think about it positively, Director!”
“You may go. Give my regards to Section Chief Lee Ja-heon.”
-Friend. Do you happen to know this proverb? ‘Cream always rises to the top.’
-It means that excellence eventually stands out anywhere. It is the perfect proverb to describe my friend right now!
I think it’s closer to “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down”…
I returned to the Team D office feeling as though my soul had been drained.
It felt like I’d read a plausible pseudo-science book, only to realize it was actually reality…
Unable to hold it in, I spoke to Section Chief Lee Ja-heon.
“Section Chief.”
“Yes.”
“What I just had wasn’t an interview.”
“I see.”
“……”
“……”
“Do you need help?”
“Yes.”
“Explain.”
I poured out everything that had happened as if I were rapping.
The statements made by Executive Director Cheong, the Dream Collector, the vanished Team D employee.
And even the proposal I received!
‘Information about the Dream Collector is probably something someone at the section chief level already knows.’
Furthermore, I knew Section Chief Lee Ja-heon wasn’t the type to get angry that a rookie received an extraordinary offer over him, nor would he gaslight me to become an elite team member himself.
Because… he’s a lizard.
“I see.”
Sure enough, the lizard simply nodded.
“Do you need my advice?”
“Yes.”
“Refuse.”
“…!!”
To reach a conclusion so instantly?
“I’d like to know the reason.”
“Yes. Executive Director Cheong Dal-rae is an entity with a powerful sense of ownership over the company.”
“……”
Does that mean he thinks of this company as his own?
No, wait.
“Did you just say ‘entity’?”
“Yes.”
That’s a very suspicious way to refer to someone.
“…Is Executive Director Cheong perhaps not human?”
“I cannot answer that.”
“……”
That’s basically the same as saying yes…!
At the very least, I knew for certain there was something fishy about Director Cheong.
Well, he is the director of a ghost story company!
“A-anyway, please continue.”
“Yes. Therefore, if an opportunity arises to subordinate a capable individual to this company he believes he owns, Executive Director Cheong Dal-rae will not hesitate.”
“…!”
“In this process, there is a high probability that actions will occur that would cause Assistant Manager Kim Sol-eum extreme revulsion based on his moral standards.”
My god.
“Do not take the risk. There is also a high probability that you will be assigned to an elite team within half a year anyway.”
“…Meaning I’ll leave Team D and join another team?”
“Yes.”
“……”
“Do you wish to stay in Team D?”
“If possible, yes.”
“I see.”
You really don’t seem like you’d miss me at all, rookie or not, Section Chief…
He was a truly consistent human… no, lizard.
‘Well, I didn’t expect much.’
Anyway, he wasn’t a lizard who would intentionally deceive me, so I could just take his words literally.
“Thank you for the kind explanation, Team Leader.”
“Yes.”
Hmm.
I hesitated before asking.
“Um, by any chance, don’t you want to become the leader of an elite team, Team Leader?”
“I have no preference.”
It meant it didn’t matter either way to him.
It also meant he was of no help whatsoever to my decision…
‘This is driving me crazy.’
I had a few more conversations with Section Chief Lee Ja-heon after that, but there were no clear gains.
My worries only deepened.
‘An elite team…’
Section Chief Lee Ja-heon advised me to refuse in the name of logic and rationality, but company life often runs on irrationality and emotion.
There’s a reason why Section Chief Lee Ja-heon has so many enemies in the company and why the A Team Leader looks like he wants to kill him every time they meet!
‘The advice is appreciated, but it’s hard to approach it that way…’
To begin with, the executives of a ghost story company didn’t seem like the type who would take no for an answer.
Slipping away like I did with the A Team Leader wouldn’t work. The fact that Director Cheong explicitly mentioned it meant that if I refused, I’d be screwed.
“Sigh…”
No, why do I have to worry like this even after being promised a promotion and extraordinary treatment…!
‘I want to quit this ghost story company so bad…!!’
Ultimately, that evening.
I ended up heading home feeling like a wilted piece of kimchi…
“……”
It had been a long time since I felt this drained, despite not having gone on a darkness exploration and just being stuck in the office writing reports.
-Oh dear, my friend’s mind and body seem quite exhausted.
-Let’s get inside the house quickly. Rest is also important for a good performance!
‘…Right.’
Meeting a high-ranking person, hearing world-building information, receiving an extraordinary proposal…
‘It’s exhausting…’
As soon as I got home, I collapsed onto the living room sofa.
-Friend, how about we have a conversation this evening over a cup of hot chocolate? Let’s wash away the day’s fatigue like that!
Hot chocolate… isn’t in this house, but a cup of honey water wouldn’t be bad…
I placed Brown on the dining table and boiled water in the kettle to produce some honey water.
As I drank it mechanically, I planned to have a light conversation with my back slightly turned to Brown…
-Friend. This Brown will tell you a secret.
A secret?
-That’s right. With my professional cheerfulness, I hid it well, so it was likely hard for Mr. Roe Deer to notice, but actually…
Brown took a breath and spoke dramatically.
-I was quite shocked by last night’s events!
“……”
A secret… was it?
At any rate, his intention to comfort me seemed genuine, so I responded sincerely.
“What… was so shocking?”
-’Good Friend’ accompanies a friend wherever they wish… However, this Brown could not do so.
The shadow of the rabbit doll I glimpsed somehow seemed slumped.
-It is truly shameful and embarrassing.
I-it’s not that big a deal.
It was just in a dream, anyway.
My guess was that since Brown isn’t just my possession but an equivalent sentient entity, perhaps a separate ritual was needed.
‘Anyway, you don’t have to worry about it. Things like that won’t happen much in the future.’
-Oh my, my friend is so considerate. In that case, let’s think about it this way…
-If I, your best friend, had been with you during last night’s intense dream graduation, wouldn’t today’s awkwardness have been much better?
……
That… might be true.
To begin with, there might not have been a chance for Assistant Manager Yun Jo-hun to spot me.
If Brown had turned off the lights.
-That’s it! My role!
-…It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this anxious. For our friendship, and for this Brown to fulfill his role, hmm…
From behind my head came a sound, like someone pacing the floor in leather shoes, lost in anxious thought…
Then, he stopped abruptly.
-I have it! I would have loved to do it myself… but with this cotton-filled body, I need Mr. Roe Deer’s help.
-A very simple action and we’ll be much better, friend. May I ask a favor?
Brown spoke in a polite and friendly voice.
-If you could help me bathe in the bath of youth just one more time, it would be an unparalleled joy!
Ah.
‘That.’
……
……
“Shall we do that?”
-Ah! Thank you so much, friend…!
I readily agreed!
Seeing Good Friend so happy made me feel a bit better.
-You will never regret this choice.
