I picked it up with a trembling hand.
A bright purple liquid, shimmering with an eerie radiance, swirled inside the bottle.
Even the label was printed on graph paper.
Detective Syrup for Kids
(Cherry Flavor)
★★★
A familiar color.
And just from the emoji and name, I could guess, Daydream Inc.’s detection potion…!
Detection Potion
Judging from the color, it looked to be at least C-grade.
The name was different, but I was sure the effect would be similar.
But what made it even more interesting was this…
‘This potion was discontinued.’
Right.
It was a potion no longer produced by Daydream Inc. Naturally, that meant it was also unavailable for purchase through the employee welfare mall.
At this point, it might very well be an item that can only be obtained through this prototype device…!
‘I definitely charged over 150,000 points into it.’
Since this potion had consumed 10,000 points, I could try pressing all the remaining emoji buttons.
‘Alright, then next I’ll—’
At that moment.
The panel’s display changed.
06 / 23:59:54
And the entire lighting of the ‘Dream Incubator’ dimmed, as if entering a power-saving mode.
‘…A cooldown countdown?’
Usable once per week.
A limitation befitting a prototype.
“Huu.”
Honestly, it was a relief. If I’d gotten too excited and started pressing buttons at random, I might have wasted all that precious Dream Essence I’d just charged.
‘Let’s think it through a bit more.’
I decided to examine the powered-down machine more closely.
Outwardly, it was a dull, ordinary hunk of metal, so I focused on the user interface instead.
Especially the buttons.
‘Each of these must correspond to a potion.’
I looked through the emojis. A mask, a demon, a thermometer, money, and other various icons. I could guess how these would match specific Daydream Inc. potions.
Except for one thing.
‘…I don’t see one that looks like a Wish Ticket.’
Of course.
The emoji resembling the quintessential potion—the one considered the very core of Daydream Inc.—was nowhere to be found.
‘…Maybe this?’
I noticed a strange trace at the very bottom.
◎
It looked like the space where a button used to be had been forcibly gouged out.
“…Can’t say for sure.”
The ghost-story setting wasn’t forgiving enough to go poking around based on hopeful speculation.
‘…Maybe another employee could figure something out?’
If I brought someone who’d been at the company longer than me, I might be able to safely uncover more hints here.
Of course, sharing unnecessary secrets might put both of us in danger…
‘Still, there might be someone who wouldn’t care about that.’
I thought about a few candidates, then stopped myself.
Now that I’d taken on the role of a corporate spy, that kind of move was out of the question. And in any case, by the time this whole spy job was over, I’d already have the Wish Ticket in hand.
‘Put it on hold.’
For now, I could be satisfied with the fact that I’d secured a personal use for the Dream Essence.
I packed the ‘Detective Syrup for Kids’ and stepped outside.
“Huu.”
The yield was big, so I didn’t feel too bad.
But as I looked back at the manhole cover, I started to feel a bit uneasy.
Agent Choi had taken the note.
‘Could he deduce the location like I did and show up?’
Or maybe he was already tracking my movements?
But there was no way to trace which manhole I’d exited from, and even if he had the note, it would be hard to break the code while stuck in the mindset of ‘this is obviously ghost-story related’.
Even in the <Dark Exploration Records>, it took a former Daydream Inc. employee three months to crack the cipher after obtaining it.
And that was purely by chance.
‘If your thought process is stuck in this must be ghost-related, then… yeah, it’s inevitable.’
Still, just in case, I decided to take a temporary precaution.
“I think this’ll do.”
After taking a 3,000-point potion I’d purchased from the welfare mall, I closed the manhole cover.
Gatekeeper Potion
: The first door you close after taking this potion can only be opened by someone to whom you personally disclose the door’s location.
I think it was also called the Secret Potion.
It vaguely reminded me of something Director Ho had done, which annoyed me a little. But the relief outweighed the discomfort.
“Alright.”
There weren’t any ridiculous worldbuilding elements like ‘Daydream Inc. tracks all potion usage locations,’ so this was enough to feel moderately safe.
Now all that was left… was to return to the bureau and enter another ghost story, huh?
I dragged my feet on the way back to the hospital room, grumbling to myself.
‘My life, seriously…’
Still, from now on there’d be a bonus income from going into ghost stories.
Since I could collect Dream Essence.
Not to hand over to the company, but for my own use!
“Let’s hang in there.”
I gave the elite-team Dream Essence collector, soon to be in use again, a quick pat, and successfully returned to my hospital room.
A few days later.
“…You’ve done well.”
“N-No, not at all.”
I was finally discharged and returned to temporary agent duties.
“As mentioned before, you’ve been assigned to a general operations role, not to the Dispatch & Rescue Unit.”
Thank you…!
I almost cried while listening to Agent Bronze’s briefing.
“…This time, the work won’t be as dangerous. Civilian rescues are already completed, and you’ll just be wrapping things up on site.”
Everything was beautiful.
Yeah, people need to do some low-stress jobs from time to time…
“For this assignment, all you need to do is drive at 2 a.m. with a ghost in the passenger seat.”
“……”
Excuse me, what?