"Excuse me…"
"..."
"Excuse me."
I snapped my eyes open.
A familiar face came into view.
"…Sergeant?"
"Yes…"
Dressed in a security uniform, with a slender build, light-colored hair, and a name tag reading 'J3'.
The very same security officer who had been involved with me in the Changgwi Darkness!
I tried to get up in a hurry, but a massive headache struck me—wait, what? Jingle.
I froze.
The red yarn tied tightly around my hands, dangling little silver bells, caught my eye.
'Yarn?'
The look and purpose felt oddly familiar… Oh.
'This is one of the Security Team's equipment…'
Dark Exploration Records / Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau / Items
Nostalgia Kitty - A red yarn with silver bells attached, classified as an equipment-type item.
Temporarily reverts the subject to their physically and mentally healthiest state within the past ten years.
The more severe the subject's mutation, the faster the yarn breaks.
※ Health criteria determined based on usage records.
A device that allowed anyone to temporarily 'return' to a better state from their past.
Knowing this calmed me down a little.
I relaxed, and…
"..."
"..."
No, wait.
Why am I restrained??
I quickly raised my head.
The sergeant, looking mildly annoyed but also slightly amused, met my gaze. He gave a small wave.
"We meet again…"
"Yes. But…"
I raised my bound arms as high as I could.
"What is this about?"
"You said… you rescued a contaminated employee…"
"Yes, but why am I…"
The sergeant pointed at me.
Ah.
"…Are you saying the Security Team thinks I'm the one contaminated?"
"Looks like it… yeah… There's no one else."
He raised his hands slightly, his expression an odd mix of anticipation and embarrassment.
"Uh… welcome to the Security Team…?"
N-No.
Is this some kind of initiation for me as a new recruit…!
"It's not me."
"…Huh?"
"It's not me."
I emphasized this twice, then finally managed to steady myself and take in my surroundings.
'…Is this a isolation room?'
The interior was an empty space surrounded by gray walls, with even the lighting recessed seamlessly into the ceiling.
'It seems like the Security Team responded properly.'
I must've made the call correctly.
[Security Team Equipment Rental Warehouse]
This was a facility I'd been authorized to use after my promotion to supervisor—a storage space where equipment from the Security Team could be borrowed via phone or in person.
However, if the Security Team deemed a situation required 'containment', they could intervene directly, as they had here.
'Lucky me.'
Seeing as I was now detained in a Security Team facility, that must've been the case.
I slowly nodded.
"This must be the company building, given that you're here, Sergeant."
"Yes… sharp observation…"
"..."
I swallowed nervously.
If I wasn't mistaken, my tattoo still held the contaminated Supervisor Park Minseong.
'I need to hand him over so the contamination can be contained.' But wouldn't officially registering the existence of my tattoo with the Security Team be an incredibly stupid move long-term?
Testing the waters, I cautiously asked, "Is there a CCTV system installed here by any chance?"
"I don't think so…"
Right.
It was likely that no recording devices had been set up, considering this was the first time someone contaminated by the ghost story had escaped into reality.
Even CCTV footage could become contaminated.
'Especially since Hungry Hangman was a ghost story with exceptionally strong psychological contamination…'
In any case, it seemed no one knew that the fully contaminated Supervisor Park Minseong was currently inside my tattooed wrist.
I swallowed nervously.
"…Sergeant."
"Just call me Jay. I'm the only 'J' left in the Security Team…"
"All right, Jay-ssi."
I spoke with a serious expression.
"Can you promise to keep what happens next a secret?"
Naturally, I expected him to refuse. Or, perhaps he'd act conflicted, agree to keep it a secret, and then promptly report everything.
Either way, I was prepared to offer some form of persuasion—
"Sure, why not…"
"..."
"As long as it's not about blowing up the company… No, even that might be okay… Just keep it a secret that I even heard anything…"
"..."
Was this the confidence of someone in a lifelong position?
'What kind of company is this…'
I shook off the dizziness creeping into my head and firmly stated, "It's not about blowing up the company."
"Then…?"
"Actually, I've rescued a contaminated employee, and I'm currently containing them on my own."
"..."
"..."
"...??"
The sergeant looked at me like I was speaking nonsense. "Are you delusional…?"
"I'm perfectly sane. I'm even wearing contamination-suppression equipment, am I not?"
I raised my arm.
"These yarns with bells—this is contamination-suppression equipment, isn't it?"
"Um… yes, it is."
"Then you can see that I'm speaking with a clear mind."
The sergeant stared at me.
I swallowed again.
"When you're ready, I'll bring out the contaminated employee."
"Oh."
He blinked, clearly unconvinced but willing to humor me, and slowly replied, "Fine… go ahead…"
"Do you need any special preparations? I only have one chance, as I'm using a disposable item."
"Well…"
He tapped his chest lightly.
"I'm enough."
Though his words might have sounded arrogant, his tone was straightforward and wearied, giving no impression of boasting.
'And he's a sergeant.'
I'd seen his capabilities in the changgwi ghost story. He was a professional in 'Darkness suppression'.
Good.
"All right."
I took a deep breath.
Then, I reached directly into my tattoo.
"...!"
I didn't have to search. My hand immediately grasped the target.
Keeping fellow teachers locked away is against the rules!!
'Pull!'
As my hand emerged from the tattoo, it dragged something along with it.
Riiiip.
With grotesque sounds, the 'teacher' began to emerge from the tattoo. And then—
Thunk.
The yarn snapped from the strain.
Blood spurted from my forearm like a fountain—the wound inflicted by the blood-sucking knife earlier had reopened.
"—!"
Fuck!
I wanted to scream from the pain, but I held back. The contamination was creeping back as well.
But more pressing than that was—
"Teacher Soleum! Such mischievous behavior is a punishable offense at ■■ Kindergarten…"
Flinch.
Supervisor Park Minseong—or rather, 'the teacher'—paused mid-sentence, smiling softly.
Then, he stopped entirely, glancing around blankly at his surroundings.
"..."
"..."
"This is not the kindergarten!!"
Damn it.
"This is not the kindergarten! This is not the kindergarten! I left without permission, unauthorized—I am not a perfect teacher. I… I broke the rules…!"
There was no way to respond. I could only feel the guilt crashing over me.
I'm so sorry, teacher. I made the wrong decision. I shouldn't have done this. I'll take your punishment and read the handbook aloud instead. I'll grab the handbook of ■■ Kindergarten and—
"Up you go."
Grab.
Someone seized my face.
Then something was inserted into my ear.
"Some kind of… sleep sedative."
...
...
Flash.
I blinked.
"Excuse me."
"..."
"Excuse me…"
I opened my eyes again.
Everything was still.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
I instinctively knew.
"You knocked me out, didn't you?"
"Yes…"
I looked at the empty capsule shell that had fallen to the floor from my ear.
'A drug?'
It seemed I'd been given something that briefly knocked me out. Something similar to the Snow White Mountain Apple I carried, but perhaps a less potent version.
Stay calm.
It appeared I'd been freed from the contamination's effects. I steadied my breathing and looked down at my arm. The area where I'd been injured was now wrapped in bandages.
As for the yarn that had been wrapped around me earlier…
"..."
I lifted my head and saw it tightly wound around Supervisor Park Minseong's limbs in the corner.
Right. He no longer looked like a 'teacher'.
It was Supervisor Park Minseong again!
'…It worked.'
Dressed in a black suit and mask, Park Minseong looked just as he had before entering the ghost story.
Even if this was only a temporary effect of the suppression equipment.
"…Hah."
Feeling utterly drained, I leaned against the wall.
'…Successful handover.'
I heard the sergeant mutter beside me.
"That guy's lucky… getting out that quickly… envy him…"
Wait.
"Since he came out quickly, does that mean he can fully recover from the contamination?"
"Um…"
The sergeant, looking too tired to think, hesitated before finally speaking under the weight of my persistent gaze.
"That's a Gloom-level contamination…"
"Huh? Yes, it's B-class."
"Then it's fine…"
B-grade?
"The company's got protocols… and well, if things go decently, maybe… a department transfer?"
"..."
Sure. Working in the Security Team would be better than dying.
'I hope he recovers well enough to either return or leave on his own terms…'
"..."
I turned back to look at Supervisor Park Minseong.
Now that the tension was easing, I felt strange.
Until just yesterday, we'd been coworkers, chatting and joking in the office. Now, starting tomorrow, he'd suddenly disappear from my daily life.
"…Please take good care of him."
"..."
The sergeant nodded slightly, his expression unreadable.
As my thoughts wandered, my mind finally returned to the last scene I had witnessed.
…Assistant Manager Eun Haje!
"What happened to the… body… lying next to me? The one missing a left hand…"
"I don't know…"
Please, tell me she wasn't incinerated or something. No, that couldn't have happened.
'Since she was a missing hand and not a head, they would've thought it strange.'
Still, my growing anxiety prompted me to hasten the process and leave the isolation room.
"Let's head out together…"
"Ah, yes."
With a few members of the Security Team accompanying me, I found myself walking out of the isolation room, escorted somewhere between surveillance and protection.
And as soon as I stepped outside, I realized something.
This was the isolation area adjacent to the Security Team's equipment storage facility.
[Isolation B]
'There were separate pages about this place in the Darkness Exploration Records…'
Every single one of them was chilling.
Two summoned employees walked just half a step behind me, moving at a calm pace through the corridor. Meanwhile, I followed, trying to suppress the unease creeping over me…
Kekekekekeke—
AaaaahhhhhhhAlmightyLuminousOneshineYourlightuponme Savemesavemepleasesaveme…!
From the isolation rooms lined along both sides came bone-chilling sounds.
'Don't look.'
I resolutely avoided glancing anywhere but the light spilling from the door ahead.
...
Who's in the hallway?
Aaaaaahhh!!
Who's in the hallway? Who's in the hallway? Who's
Please, just walk faster! Hurry up!!
Yet the blasted Security Team staff maintained their steady pace until we finally emerged through the door.
By that point, I was utterly drained, left to complete the exit procedure for the equipment storage facility as a ragged husk of myself.
"..."
The front of the storage facility looked like a bleak corridor in the maintenance department.
At the counter, a silent Security Team employee retrieved my belongings, which had been stored for isolation.
"Thank you."
I accepted the briefcase. A sticker labeled [Approved / Risk Level D] was affixed to its surface.
'Looks like they didn't inspect the items individually.'
Nor had they conducted any additional checks on what I'd retrieved from my tattoo.
Surprisingly, Sergeant J seemed to have kept his promise entirely.
'Though he might report it someday.'
That much was manageable. I'd even mentioned the one-time-use nature of the items on purpose.
What mattered now was handling the situation properly.
'Let's do this right.'
I took a deep breath.
'Time to quickly check on Assistant Manager Eun Haje's situation…'
– Friend!
– Friend!
Huh?
– Friend!!
"..."
Braun!!!
"Excuse me, is this all of my belongings?"
The staff member silently pointed toward a container in the corner of the front desk.
[Waste Disposal Box]
There lay my soaked and mangled suit jacket, crumpled into a mess—and stuffed inside it, a small, disheveled stuffed doll…
Gaaaaaaasp!
– How dare they throw me into such a place as if I were trash!! This is outrageous! Even when I was a rookie, I never experienced such disrespect! T-These people are insane!
I felt like I could bathe in my own cold sweat.
Hastily, I retrieved the jacket, cleaned up the doll, and tucked it into my shirt pocket.
'Y-You've been through so much… I'm sorry.'
– Huu… It's not your fault, Mr. Roe Deer. It's those ruffians who acted so recklessly!
Braun seemed somewhat mollified. Without wasting time, I turned and began walking away.
But from behind, an ominous voice trailed after me…
– But a good friend never forgets…
"..."
Let's make sure to never let Braun near the Security Team again.
As I stepped out the door, a voice called out to me.
"Kim Soleum-ssi."
"...!!"
Waiting at the front of the Security Team facility was someone familiar.
"…Squad Leader."
Chief Lizard gazed at me with his slit pupils.
"Did you come to fetch me, sir?"
"Yes."
"Where are you taking me? And, while you're at it, could you explain why I'm being taken there?"
"To the infirmary. Assistant Manager Eun Haje is lying there."
"...!!"
I,
I paused several times before I managed to speak.
"…Is she alive?"
Squad Leader Lee turned to look at me.
And his response was firm and clear.
"Yes."
"..."
Gulp.
A surge of emotion suddenly rose to my throat.
"…Squad Leader. Supervisor Park Minseong has also been retrieved."
"Yes."
Squad Leader Lee Jaheon seemed to ponder for a moment, but he soon asked, "Is he alive?"
"…Yes."
"Then everyone has survived."
"...Yes."
That alone made it all worth it.
Undeniably.