The security sergeant murmured softly as he looked toward the doorway where Park Minseong had just left.
“That person… He was completely contaminated in the ‘Hungry Hangman’ case. He shouldn’t be coming into contact with any form of work regulation sheets… He’s already been contaminated by a similar type of Darkness after all…”
“……!!”
Wait, right!
‘Supervisor Park Minseong was already contaminated through that kindergarten training manual, so any similar written material could be dangerous.’
Even if the severity differed, the fact that he had experienced a similar form of contamination made me feel queasy.
Restricting access to anything that could trigger the contamination made perfect sense.
But the security sergeant wasn’t done.
He was about to reveal something even more chilling.
“……”
What did you just say?
“If he realizes it, the contamination could accelerate due to over-consciousness. But so far, he probably doesn’t even know.”
So, then…
“Are you saying someone intentionally gave the forbidden tip sheet to him? To make him read a tip sheet that he would contaminate?”
The sergeant nodded slowly.
– Aha, a classic trap! How traditional.
My response was equally traditional: sticking to the basics.
“Can we review the security footage?”
“There’s no CCTV in the Security Team dorm area… Too much risk of something dangerous getting recorded.”
“Whoever did this must’ve known about that.”
“Probably…”
Who could it be?
This was a perfectly targeted strike against Supervisor Badger’s assignment. It wasn’t just a coincidence or bad luck that led to the escape of the Mimicry Sect cultist.
‘Was this a collaborative effort by another faction of the Church of the Luminous Unknown within the company?’
But with this method, it didn’t seem like they could have helped the cultist escape the isolation room properly—it would’ve just caused chaos.
‘Then maybe the goal wasn’t for someone to escape…’
If the real target was the cleaning staff on duty that night…
‘What if the goal was to mess with me?’
“Jay-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“Is it possible that some Research Team members know a lot about the underground Security Team areas?”
“Hmm… Depending on the team…”
The sergeant’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Is there someone in the Research Team you’re suspicious of?”
“…A little bit.”
“Who?”
“……”
I hesitated briefly.
But since the security sergeant was in charge of this area’s security tonight, he had the right to know.
‘And he could be a witness to the whole situation.’
Fine. I decided to speak openly.
“Section Chief Kwak Jekang.”
“……”
“He’s the one who got me assigned to this disciplinary duty in the first place because I didn’t follow his orders. He wanted me to leave a Round-Off Team member behind in a dangerous spot, and I ignored him.”
“……”
“I’m not accusing him directly—just considering the circumstantial evidence…”
“I understand.”
“……??”
“Wait here for a moment.”
Bee-bee-beep.
The security sergeant walked over to the landline phone in the break room, picked up the receiver, and seemed to be thinking for a moment before pressing a few buttons deliberately.
The short dial tone rang, and then—click.
[Yes-yes, Kwak Jekang speaking!]
“……!!”
I gawked in disbelief as the security sergeant directly called the section chief of another department in the middle of the night.
But the sergeant’s expression didn’t change at all.
“Um… this is J3, Sergeant of Security Team Unit 3.”
[…J3? …Wait—who is this again?? Squad Leader of B-squad, right? …Ah, oops, never mind! You’re no longer part of the elite team, correct? Haha, you’re not even part of the Field Exploration Team anymore, my bad!]
“……”
[Still, how long has it been? I did hear that you’re now a sergeant in the Security Team. Wowie~ Talented employees like you really stand out! Shame you can’t enter Darknesses anymore.]
‘Is this guy picking a fight or what?’
Actually, there’s no need to wonder. It’s obvious that he is, isn’t it…?
[So, what’s this call about? Were you on duty today? That’s a phone line from the Security Team’s area, right?]
[Is there an incident? Oh, don’t tell me you’re calling because you want to enter Darknesses again. If that’s the case, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. Haha!]
I glanced nervously at the sergeant.
“Um.”
[Yeah?]
“Just to let you know… I may not be able to enter Darknesses, but… I can still kill people.”
[……!]
“Just saying.”
And then he hung up.
“……”
Whoa.
“Are you sure that’s… okay?”
“Yes… well.”
The sergeant shrugged.
“But it probably won’t have much effect. Those with higher ranks in the Research Team are… hmm.”
He carefully chose his words.
“They’re crazy.”
“……”
Well, no, it didn’t seem like he put much effort into choosing his words after all.
I barely managed a response.
“Anyway, judging from his reaction, um. It seems like my suspicions are valid…”
After all, he indirectly asked, ‘Did something happen during your shift in the Security Team’s area today?’
No matter how I look at it, Kwak Jekang must be involved.
‘I thought he got tired of my so-called MZ antics and gave up on me.’
But it doesn’t seem like it’ll end that easily.
‘This is exhausting…’
I’ll have to rethink my approach.
Regardless, I nodded toward the sergeant.
“Thank you, Jay-ssi.”
“Well, then… next time…”
Aha.
“I’ll bring some snacks when I visit again. Like donuts.”
“Okay.”
Turns out bribing him is easier than I thought.
“Anyway… be careful… You never know what that guy might do…”
“……”
I hesitated briefly before asking,
“Would it be alright for me to ask, Jay-ssi? If you’ve had any bad experiences dealing with the Research Team, or conflicts of any sort?”
“……”
The sergeant averted his eyes.
“It’s not… a very interesting story.”
A short silence.
“I got trapped in a strange fairy tale… and I only came out much… much later.”
The sergeant said no more after that.
“……”
‘A fairy-tale creepypasta caused by the Research Team.’
I didn’t need more context to figure out which one it was.
I could easily guess what kind of Darkness had contaminated the sergeant.
And naturally, a certain well-known name from the elite team came to mind.