‘It’s actually him! Squad Leader!’
Since when did that white reptilian head and those vertical pupils start making me feel so relieved I could cry?
I almost jumped to my feet when I saw the lizard wearing the lizard mask.
‘Of course, it’s not exactly the right situation to be feeling that happy right now…’
Still, the memories of being super-saved by the physically strongest in those insane ghost stories were just too vivid.
Anyway, Chief Lizard, who seemed to have just returned from the Darkness, was now starting his report to the Research Team.
“It took three hours and twenty-four minutes to clear.”
“Ah, um. Section Chief. Now might not be the best time for details…”
“?”
The Research Team gestured towards the office, now thrown into chaos.
Nearly thirty injured children, a handful of government agents, and even the groaning Daydream Inc. staff lay scattered around the space.
“I see.”
Even though Section Chief Lee Jaheon would have just seen, as usual, a room full of civilians instead of employees after clearing the Darkness, there wasn’t a trace of disturbance on his face. Typical of the lizard that was him, really.
What bothered me, though, was that no one else had followed in after him.
‘The researcher definitely said the D-squad had returned.’
But Section Chief Lee Jaheon was alone.
……Don’t tell me the new hires all died in an instant?
Whatever my doubts, the interactions among Daydream Inc. employees continued.
“Um, Section Chief. The Dream Essence Collector, if you could bring it over this way…”
“Yes.”
“Thank you…! Um, if you could just wait for a moment.”
With the Mermaid Grave cleared, it was the first thing that needed to be handled.
After handing back the Dream Essence solution to the researcher, Chief Lizard looked around the unusually crowded Research Team area.
As his gaze swept the room… those blood-red eyes locked onto me.
“……”
No way.
‘Ah, did he recognize me?’
But soon, the gaze moved on, and Chief Lizard silently walked into the center of the office and sat down on a meeting sofa.
…That meant he’d just walked in and sat right among the blood-soaked, contaminated children without batting an eye.
“Th-that spot…”
Even the Research Team was stammering.
His presence was so extraordinary and forceful, you could hear agents whispering to each other.
“…Agent. Do you know him, by any chance?”
“The lizard mask? No. But if I’d seen him even once before, I’d never forget him.”
Agent Choi also seemed to be seeing him for the first time.
Um, that made sense.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon, or rather Employee D, was a character who would first appear when the Dark Exploration Records got bigger and anomalous gag (joke) clears became acceptable amongst the community.
‘You could say his exploration records don’t really overlap with Agent Choi’s, who was active mostly in the early days.’
Even the kids who’d just received first aid and regained their energy were sneaking glances at the man in the lizard mask.
It would’ve been nice if things had just ended there.
But as time passed, the number of ‘kids who’d regained their energy’ kept increasing, so…
“Excuse me. Are we going to see my mom now?”
“I, I wanna go to the bathroom…”
“Subin is hungry!”
The relatively uninjured kids started looking around and then began raising their hands to speak.
Even though they’d had horrific experiences in the Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace, because it was all inside that fairytale-like hallucination, they hadn’t lost their innocence.
On top of that, being left injured on the uncomfortable office floor, it was impressive the kids had held out this long without a word.
“I need to pee…”
But with this, the researchers now had the perfect excuse to lure kids away one by one. Damn it.
Any minute now, the researchers would probably start saying things like, ‘Let’s take you to the bathroom, let’s take you to the cafeteria,’ and try to separate the kids into groups.
The agents would certainly stick with them like glue, but the problem was, there would always be some kids left behind, which meant they’d get split up.
‘If the agents are separated one by one, it’ll only get harder to deal with the Daydream Inc. employees.’
As it was, the agents were already at their physical limits, covered in bruises from head to toe.
This obvious setup wasn’t lost on the agents either. Their expressions had grown subtly colder.
If that’s the case… there’s no other way.
‘We’ll have to make the first move.’
And the safest employee here is…
‘Only I know that.’
Holding back a sigh, I whispered to one of the kids who said they wanted to go to the bathroom.
“Really? Do you know where it is?”
“Yeah.”
With that, the kid shot up and shyly grabbed the pants leg of someone nearby and asked,
“Excuse me, Ahjussi. Where’s the bathroom…?”
“…!”
Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
The lizard-faced man sitting on the sofa blinked and looked back at the child.
“Kids, just a moment…”
Before Agent Choi could say anything, I egged the other kids on.
“Do you wanna go too?”
“Yeah!”
“Me too!”
Kwak Jaekang was gone, and all the familiar employees had disappeared for treatment and interviews.
On top of that, half my face was still covered in ulcer scars and necrosis, so the odds of anyone recognizing me were extremely low.
‘As long as I act properly, it’ll be fine.’
Blending in among the kids, I went up to Section Chief Lee Jaheon and asked as much like the other kids as I could,
“Ahjussi, can you take us to the bathroom?”
“Yes.”
The kids who had gathered around me looked up at him with shining eyes.
“Are you going to show us the way?”
“Yes.”
And as soon as Section Chief Lee Jaheon stood up, the children finally burst into giggles and clung to his thighs and back.
“Wow!”
Only then did I give the two agents a small nod.
It was a signal that if anything went wrong along the way, I’d shout and alert them to danger.
Agent Bronze seemed to realize that I’d picked the ‘safest’ employee, and though his expression was complicated, he stayed silent and did not intervene.
“Let’s go!”
In any case, thanks to this, Section Chief Lee Jaheon started walking down the hallway with about six or seven children in tow, just like a pied piper lizard.
.
.
And fortunately, there were no other incidents until we safely finished using the nearby restroom.
‘Phew.’
After helping the children who were too young to use the bathroom alone, I washed my hand with cold water at the sink to try to collect myself.
‘It really is inconvenient having only one hand.’
And now that I was using this familiar company restroom again, it felt like my mind might float away.
‘I just want to collapse into a bed…’
Suppressing my fatigue, I finished washing my hand.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon quietly came up next to me.
No way, was he going to look after me just because I was a child…
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
I almost struck the lizard head with my remaining hand.
“Anti-eavesdropping equipment is currently active. This conversation will not leak outside.”
Phew.
With a trembling hand, I turned off the faucet and lowered my voice.
“How did you recognize me? I mean, I don’t even have an arm anymore, and my age has changed…”
“? Yes. You have been determined as the same person through the change in age and loss of limb.”
“……”
Let’s just move on.
He’s a reptilian alien who fires holy bomb barrages, so maybe he has other methods of analysis…