“Excuse me, but who’s the last one?”
“Supervisor Park, you know you’ve got to disclose this properly if you want a successful run, right?”
“Ah, well…”
Even if the researcher was still junior, the fact that he was so flustered made people even more uneasy.
‘What is this.’
‘Who the hell is it…?’
Then—
Knock, knock.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the conference room door.
“……”
Silence fell over the room.
Everyone looked toward the door.
After just two knocks, the black door didn’t move at all, as if one had to be granted permission to enter.
“……”
“…Come in!”
Bam.
The door opened.
Black smoke drifted in.
“…?!”
The smoke pooled thickly on the floor, then seemed to get sucked back out, repeating over and over. And then, in the midst of it all…
A pair of black combat boots stepped across the floor, cutting through the smoke.
With every step, the smoke seemed to inhale and exhale, flowing around the figure’s feet.
And within the black smoke, the silhouette of a large person appeared.
Light.
Oooooong—
Yellow lantern-like lights shone from the figure’s waist and eyes.
The bizarre sight left everyone frozen.
But at least they recognized the affiliation.
“S-Security Team…!”
However, a mask completely hid the man’s face.
And atop that, countless horns branched out over the head like the limbs of a tree.
“…!”
Dressed head to toe in black special equipment, the figure looked as if armored in custom gear—or perhaps, confined by it.
“……”
“……”
Gulp. Someone swallowed hard.
Security Team… why here?
—Security never enters the Darkness.
That rule usually held. If security staff did enter the Darkness, Dream Essence could not be extracted.
They only ever appeared to suppress incidents…
Yet, sometimes, according to their unique abilities, there were individuals with terrifying, transcendent powers.
“T-This is… the staff member who will be entering with us today.”
“…!!”
The employees stared in shock at the strange figure standing silently at the door.
The ‘employee’ from the Security Team wore a particularly unique outfit full of belts and a mask marked with a special logo on the head.
A strange, twisted rectangle shape.
The staff recognized it at once, as if struck by lightning.
‘Special unit…!’
Security Team’s special unit.
Within the Security Team, there were many units whose true composition wasn’t even known—just names on the intranet organization chart, operating behind the scenes.
So all anyone knew were the rumors that circulated after running into them during unfortunate work situations.
And the special unit’s rumors were the most chilling.
There were whispers saying that you’d witness employees so monstrous, it was hard to believe they were ever from the Field Exploration Team who, in the first place, were people whose origins were impossible to guess.
And the researcher, now sweating coldly, had heard even more specific rumors…
– Supervisor Park, if you see someone from the Security Team’s special unit, be polite. …They’re not human. No, I’m not talking about contamination…
– ……They really weren’t human to begin with.
‘A department that hires anomalies from the Darkness itself, in human form…!’
A rumor as chilling as a ghost story itself—that, thanks to Daydream Inc.’s ‘know-how,’ the company had signed contracts with the Darknesses as if they were employees.
For the researcher, it was the first time meeting one of these creatures in person.
Despite analyzing Darknesses and sending in Field Exploration Team squads, he’d never actually come face to face with a monster himself until now.
“……”
He swallowed hard, staring at the bizarre employee in front of him.
Somehow, the conference room seemed a little darker…
The yellow lantern-like eyes and the glimmer at the waist of the employee flickered even more strangely in the black smoke.
Looking closer, the ‘lantern’ on the waist was actually a cluster of horns, like ribs.
‘Uuugh.’
The researcher managed to squeeze out some courage and spoke.
“Um… hello.”
Silence.
“Ah, you can have a seat.”
No response.
Swallowed by the silence of the conference room, the researcher continued, nearly in tears.
“Um, w-we’ll… begin the briefing now.”
Only then did the strange horned mask walk forward.
And sat in the seat closest to the door.
…Right next to Jang Heowoon.
‘Haah.’
Thank goodness it’s not me.
Everyone tried their best not to look that way, swallowing hard.
‘Please, don’t let me be in the same group.’
‘Please…!’
As long as they weren’t in the same group, it was fine!
Every time you entered the theme park, the names and areas changed, but only the rules stayed the same.
– Follow the mascot’s rules.
– If you cannot follow the rules, move to another mascot’s area.
And,
– The four group members who drew the same color piece must always stick together.
In other words, if you weren’t in the same group as that monster, you wouldn’t even have to encounter them to clear the run.
If you were lucky with your area, you could just ride three attractions and walk away with a high-grade Dream Essence and a bunch of points.
The problem was… this was a special entry.
A research entry with additional objectives.
And no matter how you looked at it, this time the ‘variable’ was… that employee.
‘Please.’
The staff stared at the researcher giving the briefing.
Hopefully, they wouldn’t be told to find and follow that employee around, right?
“And for this entry, there are… no special instructions.”
Phew!
“It’s just that, um, whatever the Security Team employee does inside… you are not to interfere.”
“……”
“Everyone… understands, right?”
Yes.
The Field Exploration Team members assembled in the conference room nodded desperately.
And the very source of this fear, the ‘Security Team Special Employee’, was—
‘Wow, this disguise is really doing its job…’
—letting out a sigh of relief.
That’s right. It’s Kim Soleum!