“Honestly, I knew this would happen. Guess our Roe won’t need to speak formally to me anymore.”
“Hey, if we wait until you’re employed for six months here, you and I’ll be able to talk on equal terms too, huh?”
What is this? This isn’t some mom-and-pop store—how is someone getting promoted to Assistant Manager after just a couple of months?
‘This has to be an internal rumor, right?’
I tried asking politely, but the answer was firm.
“No, you absolutely deserve it. Do you know how many employees you saved this time?”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje crossed her arms.
“Twenty-six people, including yourself.”
“……!”
“Roe, of those, seventeen escaped directly after hearing your broadcast!”
“When you count the ones who came out late after confirming others were escaping, it’s safe to say you saved them all.”
She added that even some civilian participants had made it out.
“Do you realize how rare a record like this is? It’s something that might happen once every few years. Honestly, a promotion doesn’t feel enough.”
“Exactly. Let’s dig into this after the squad leader comes back from the meeting tomorrow. They’re bound to give you something extra.”
Their excitement on my behalf was heartwarming, but I was still in shock.
A promotion?
…A promotion at a major corporation after just 60 days of work?
My modern heart raced with unease.
“Brace yourself. Special promotions are announced quickly.”
And indeed, it was true.
The very next day, I saw the promotion notice on the company intranet.
[Special Promotion Announcement]
Sure enough, the name ‘Kim Soleum’ was listed there.
“……”
Buuuuuzzzzz.
My phone vibrated incessantly. Apparently, congratulatory messages were pouring in.
Wait a second.
‘This feels like they’re handling this quickly to minimize internal resistance.’
The Field Exploration Team is still made up of humans. Naturally, if you save someone’s life, they feel a sense of gratitude or emotional impact.
In that sense, the 35 people I’d helped would likely feel at least some level of appreciation toward me, which would reduce opposition to the promotion.
It was clear from the timing of the announcement that they wanted to capitalize on that goodwill.
No, but why…? Why were they pushing my promotion so aggressively?
‘H-How much more do they plan to wring out of me?’
Wasn’t it enough that I was already dealing with newly registered ghost stories without manuals?
As the thought of increasingly harrowing assignments loomed over me, I reached out to an elite senior from another squad.
[Are you stupid? Not getting promoted would’ve been stranger.]
“……??”
[Even the manual revision officer came looking for you after hearing about your performance. With results like that, of course you’d attract attention from higher-ups.]
Jin Nasol, A-squad’s assistant manager, clicked her tongue.
[If only we’d grabbed you when we had an opening in our squad. Ugh, what a waste.]
“……”
[Anyway, congratulations. It was bound to happen.]
“…Thank you, I guess.”
I hung up, feeling strangely hollow, and leaned back in my office chair, trying to process everything.
Right.
No point in denying it—I had reached this stage.
‘Am I… an elite employee?’
A notable figure destined to be listed in the <Dark Exploration Records>?
The kind of character that certain hardcore creators of the lore might want to kill off just to maintain the gritty atmosphere of the universe… but who ends up sticking around because of growing popularity on video platforms like WeTube?
Maybe.
Is this what people call a ‘Mary Sue’ character…
‘How did it come to this?’
Then again, maybe it was inevitable.
To be honest, having read through the entire <Dark Exploration Records> was basically a cheat!
‘I did my best to keep it subtle, given the life-or-death circumstances.’
But here’s the real kicker…
‘What happens if they figure out I’m actually a coward?’
Hoping this would just end with a reassignment to the Round-Off Team was overly optimistic. There was no telling how far the repercussions might spread.
If someone started asking, ‘How did someone so cowardly get such good results?’ then what’s next for me were…
‘Interrogations and experiments…?’
I could already picture a future where I’d be dragged off to the Research Team the moment they discovered I was from a parallel dimension.
Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.
N-No. That can never happen.
I stood up, grabbed some coffee, and took a lap around the break room.
The caffeine cleared my head a little.
Right.
‘If I can’t avoid it, I just need to maximize my survival rate in this place.’
If I was already under scrutiny, the best way to avoid unnecessary attention might be to keep delivering performances that justified it.
‘I need to make them believe I’m naturally this competent and exceptional.’
It’s not like there aren’t employees like that. Take Squad Leader Lizard or Assistant Manager Butterfly Mask, for example. They’re categorized as standouts, and that’s it.
Even if it meant a higher probability of being assigned to more dangerous ghost stories… Well, maybe it wasn’t all bad.
If I was treated as high-value personnel, I might be sent to fewer outright lethal missions.
‘And I could rack up points faster too.’
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a reasonable strategy to escape this world quickly.
But to achieve that, there was a critical first step.
‘I need to do some serious work on my character build…’
I had to come across as a ‘competent and exceptional unit’ naturally enough to avoid suspicion.
Like when I’d acted like a lunatic in front of Baek Saheon—walking the line carefully.
And for that…
‘…I need more cards to play into this character.’
“……”
I looked up.
Hovering above me was something that had been there ever since escaping the exhibition hall.
[Dark Exploration Records Real Merch Box]
– New merch unlocked! (!)
It was one of the merch I’d purchased at the pop-up store. I’d been putting off opening it, waiting until I felt rested and my judgment was clear.
It was time.