“To be honest, the hints you’re offering probably aren’t worth much. But hey, as your roommate and coworker, I figured I’d share this intel as a goodwill gesture,” Baek Saheon said.
Wow. He’s really trying to undersell me while posturing as helpful.
I purposely put on a serious face as I nodded.
“You’re right. My hints probably aren’t worth much.”
“So you don’t need them, right? Let’s just forget about it. I’ve learned a lot from what you shared.”
“……!! Hey, this fu—”
I looked at Baek Saheon calmly. He swallowed his curse, then quickly plastered on a strained smile.
“…Mr. Supervisor, if an employee living in the same dorm is caught extorting a poor junior staffer’s salary and personal information, wouldn’t a complaint to HR be in order?”
Good grief.
I gave him a look of pity.
“You really think this company cares about that?”
“Well, belief is a personal choice.”
Baek Saheon seemed trapped between frustration and despair.
I suppose this was a good place to draw the line.
“Fine. I’ll give you something.”
His eyes lit up as I finally spoke up.
“Put a photo of yourself from high school under your pillow.”
“On the back, write your grade and class, and maybe add a short profile. Like a yearbook entry.”
I kindly grabbed a post-it from his desk and even wrote out an example.
Name:
Message to your friends:
“Then, see what happens.”
Baek Saheon looked skeptical and asked if I’d put a photo of my high school self under my pillow.
Without hesitation, I went back to my room and returned with the photo from under my pillow.
It was one of my high school pictures, printed from a saved image on my smartphone.
Baek Saheon stared at it, his disbelief turning into silence.
“You thought I was lying, didn’t you?”
“I mean, usually! You speak so smoothly all the time, so you give off that impression, Supervisor.”
“Really? I’ve never lied in my whole entire life.”
“Think about it.”
Baek Saheon looked stunned, so I took the opportunity to usher him out.
“Anyway, I need to finish preparing with Braun, so you can go now.”
– Best of luck with your entry, Mr. Normal Coworker!
Baek Saheon retreated, looking either exasperated or unsettled, and quickly returned to his own room.
Bang—
‘Done.’
Having to keep him in check every time was exhausting, but it couldn’t be helped.
Consider the new addition to the D-squad. Workplace survival is all about these little battles.
“Huu.”
I returned to my bed and approached the pillow.
First of all, the tip I gave Baek Saheon was true.
Exploration Record #15
Utilizing the explorer’s high school graduation photo, all three members of K-squad successfully entered Sekwang Technical High School. Validity confirmed.
Once entry was guaranteed, the next priority was obvious: what to bring.
Only items placed under the pillow before falling asleep could be carried into the dream world of Sekwang Technical High School.
Given the limited size of what could fit under a pillow, careful selection was necessary.
‘If I store it in my wrist tattoo and it doesn’t activate in the dream, I’m doomed.’
Considering that ghost stories often altered appearances, I couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.
Ultimately, I carefully calculated the space and placed essential items under the pillow, like a game of Tetris.
Lastly, I positioned Braun in the coziest corner under the pillow.
Of course, Braun ended up in a rather… awkward position.
– ……
‘Sorry. Is it too cramped for you?’
– Hmm, tolerable! Were this a studio, I might have called some of the staff. Haha!
‘R-Right. Thanks.’
In other words, he was definitely uncomfortable.
I shouldn’t push my luck with Braun, who once incinerated entities with a mere snap of his fingers…!
Carefully, I laid my head on the pillow, making sure not to squish Braun, and willed myself to sleep.
‘This pillow is kind of lumpy…’
And yet, my eyes grew heavy.
For someone who had been suffering from insomnia, it was astonishing how quickly drowsiness overcame me despite the discomfort.
As slumber quickly took over…
Mist.
Shadows.
And then…
[Ding- dong- daeng- dong-]
…A school.
[Ding- dong- daeng- dong-]
I opened my eyes.
What greeted me was a dimly lit classroom with not a single light turned on.
Looking down at my clothes, I realized I was wearing a school uniform.
[■■ High School]
The uniform resembled the one from my old school, but the school’s name had been scratched off, as if with a needle.
While I couldn’t check directly, I already knew.
My appearance had reverted to how I looked in high school.
And then—
“W-What is this??”
Remember the characteristic of this ghost story I mentioned earlier?
‘You don’t know if you’ve entered until you fall asleep…’
In other words, this meant it wasn’t just company employees who could enter.
“Huh? Huuh? Why am I in a school uniform…?”
“Oh my gosh!”
“Excuse me, do you know where we are?”
In the dim, shadowy classroom, people began to stir one by one from their desks. They looked around in confusion, some screaming as they saw each other.
They were civilians who had been dragged into this place by chance.
“Is this some kind of event? Huh.”
“Wait, why am I wearing a uniform…? Oh, no—why do I look like a high schooler?!”
“This has to be a dream.”
“Hey, did you look outside? This looks like the second floor…”
‘Feels like being back in that subway ghost story.’
Watching them waver between panic, fear, curiosity, and amusement, I felt a tightness in my chest.
And… an overwhelming sense of tension.
“Huh?”
One of the wandering individuals noticed something in the corner of the room.
It was a student, sitting completely still.
“Why isn’t this person moving?”
The sight was eerie.
In the dim classroom, where people in various uniforms were noisily moving about, one figure sat frozen as if carved from stone.
He didn’t even blink.
The boy, who resembled an intricately crafted wax figure, wore a name tag that was perfectly intact.
[Sekwang Technical High School]
“Is this a mannequin? Eh, let’s see.”
Poke, poke.
“Ack!”
The person who poked him flinched and withdrew their hand.
“He’s warm??”
“Holy crap, seriously?”
I got up from my seat.
Without taking my eyes off him, I slowly approached the classroom door.
‘I need to open the door in advance.’
Thud, thud.
As I moved nervously, something nearly fell out of the front pocket of my uniform—a small plush keychain. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Startled, I caught it just in time.
Whew.
‘That was a close call, Braun.’
Silence.
“…Braun?”
I held up the plush doll.
It hung limply.
Panicked, I pressed its belly.
The Silver Serpent Coin, the item I used for summoning my ‘Good Friend’, was…
Gone.
This was just a plush doll.
My good friend hadn’t followed me into my dream.
“Out the window… u, uuuhh, AAAAHHHHH!!!”
I’m fucking screwed.