Fortunately, Go Yeongeun didn’t cut me off right then and there…
She simply asked me multiple questions about work, accounting, and other real-world details, calmly and sternly verifying whether I was in my right mind.
Once she was convinced that I wasn’t completely contaminated or some science-lab student with a morbid fascination for anatomy, she became kind again.
Alright! I’ll answer as best I can haha
Thank you… hiiic.
And so, I spent the remaining time engaging in an intense Q&A session with Go Yeongeun.
Thanks to her, I was able to finish my ‘clear preparations’ in a safer and more certain way than I had expected.
I’ll do my best. Thank you!
…Hmm.
I added one last comment, just in case.
If you plan to stay in this dream for a while longer, it might be best to stick to the first floor.
Because soon, the true ‘Within the Shadow of Darkness’ will begin.
And with that,
After seeing off Go Yeongeun a few minutes later—
[Ding- dong- daeng- dong-]
[The graduation ceremony has begun.]
A new broadcast echoed.
…Just as I had written in my thirteenth exploration record.
Exploration Record #13
Elapsed time wearing Sekwang Technical High School’s uniform : 2 hours and 13 minutes.
A new school broadcast emerged, one not described in prior logs.
Its content matches the plot summary on the back of the game case of ‘Within the Shadow of Darkness’.
I went up to the fourth floor.
The countless third-year students who had filled the hallway there…
Had all disappeared.
The empty fourth-floor hallway resonated with the broadcast.
[To penalize students who did not attend, the teacher is now leaving the auditorium.]
Just as I had written in my exploration record.
The main storyline of the horror game began to unfold.
It was becoming real.
I swallowed hard.
The atmosphere in the school changed completely.
The previously comforting sense of belonging as a student had been replaced with an oppressive, unsettling tension.
No—
I could actually hear the BGM right now…!
The haunting 8-bit game music descended upon my ears in sharp, eerie minor tones.
And then, a pop-up appeared.
Something feels off.
Before it’s too late, let’s look for the other students.
‘No.’
I wouldn’t do that.
I knew a faster route and steeled my resolve.
First, I would…
‘Hide.’
I ran toward the third-year faculty office.
Hiding inside a locker there was the standard move…
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Again.
‘A monster!’
Rejecting the deafening, ear-splitting noise, I quickly slipped inside the faculty office locker.
The problem was that one of the monsters had been in a classroom next to the office on the fourth floor.
The monster hesitated as it opened the door and stepped out, then looked directly at me.
At my shadowed face behind the locker’s door.
‘…It looks like it’s wearing a mask.’
I couldn’t move my face to get a better look, but the limited view through the locker door made it hard to discern what kind of mask it was.
‘At any rate, they’re definitely one of our company employees.’
The sheer number of nametags they had collected made it almost impossible to recognize them as a glitch, thanks to the light emanating from them.
‘…Wait a second.’
Light?
If it’s that conspicuous…
Step.
Over there.
I could hear faint and heavy noises from upstairs.
Specifically, the sound of something large walking with small, deliberate footsteps.
StepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStep
It’s coming down, right now— right now!!
…’The teacher’ is!!
‘Damn it.’
The fear was overwhelming. I held my breath.
But the glitch, possibly attracted to my nametag, quickly moved toward me, despite my stillness…
‘Can’t they hear it??’
No, of course they can’t. They’re not players in the game!
‘The glitch doesn’t even recognize the teacher! They won’t be attacked by the teacher at all…!’
That’s part of the game’s rules—it doesn’t acknowledge the start of the game.
However…
Important Note.
In this game,
One way the ‘entity’—the teacher—recognizes players is through their nametags.
But since explorers are essentially glitches themselves, having just one or two nametags doesn’t typically register them as players.
In other words, unless an explorer gets overly greedy, they don’t usually get caught.
…For example.
By collecting a ridiculous number of nametags, a symbol of players.
Step.
I remained frozen, holding my breath.
The glitch approached my locker and grabbed the door.
Then it pulled—
S L A S H
A massive, sharp metal plate slammed down on the masked glitch.
Its mangled form split apart.
Thunk.
Blood splattered across my face.
Right in front of me, separated by the locker door, the vertically bisected form of a bespectacled employee fell to the ground.
The glitch, now reduced to a corpse, lost its pixelated distortion, returning to a human body.
When an explorer—a glitch—remains in the school until the game starts and gets discovered by the teacher, they are eliminated.
I knew that face.
It was one of the supervisors newly assigned to the D-squad.
He would be eliminated in reality, too.
He just died.
StepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStep
The ‘teacher’ left the faculty office.
While dragging the supervisor’s lifeless body across the floor.
I covered my mouth with my hands.
It was the first time I had seen someone from my team dismembered right before my eyes.
‘Stay calm.’
Nothing you do now will change what’s happened.
What you must do next also won’t change…
Kim Soleum.
Do you remember?
How explorers, before the exploration record you wrote, used to collect high-value items like nametags to make their presence stronger in the game or survive longer.
‘It’s an exploit.’
So, what does a proper player need to do to truly ‘clear’ the game?
‘……They have to see the ending.’
And in most games, the ending…
Happens after the final boss battle.
The time had come.
…The time to stop being a coward.
‘Let’s go.’
I pulled out a tattoo sticker with a tomato tree design.
With trembling hands, I slapped it on my neck.