MTL
A wish token.
In this urban legend world where strange bad endings occur everywhere,
this is the most certain method for me to return home.
For this alone, I endured working at Daydream Corporation, and even endured becoming a spy.
And now, Director Ho, who sits before me, is lightly clapping his hands as I've finally achieved the conditions to earn a wish token. As if applauding me.
Clap, clap, clap...
"I'm so pleased that you'll actually receive the wish token."
"..."
"But haven't you ever thought about it?"
The clapping stops.
"What if Director Ho never intended to give you the wish token?"
"..."
"What if he changes his words after you complete what Soleum promised to
do? Saying he'll give it to you after you accomplish something else. Using it
as bait to manipulate you."
Director Ho smiled gently.
"Haven't you ever thought about that?"
"I have thought about it."
I'd be a fool not to.
In society, how many cases are there where people delay payment or refuse to pay after work is completed?
Conversely, there are countless cases of people taking advance payment and not properly doing the work.
And in this situation, the wish token was Director Ho's unilateral promise.
And the promises of the powerful can be broken anytime. There's no
penalty for breaking them.
But...
"Still, I know that you value promises very seriously, Director."
"..."
Taboos.
Director Ho was the type of supernatural being who binds others in the form of "promises."
Yes, it would be foolish to think of Director Ho as human at this point.
'And rules are an important element for supernatural beings.' Speaking in terms of urban legend logic, it's probably to create an eerie atmosphere of horror and to give victims a false hope of escape...
In any case, this makes the rules more reliable than if Director Ho were just an evil human.
Because there's a high probability he has to keep his promises.
Even more so when I recall Director Ho's attitude when mentioning the trustworthiness of the counselor in the "Fox Counseling Room" - asserting
it to an unnatural degree.
He might use you with hidden purposes or set traps, but he doesn't make false promises.
I faced the expressionless Director Ho.
"So, I judged that you would definitely keep what you promised with your
own mouth."
"..."
Clap.
"Of course!"
Director Ho clapped his hands and smiled.
"I always keep my promises. I don't make promises I can't keep...
absolutely not."
"..."
"Well then."
Director Ho picked up the briefcase he had placed under the table and put his hand inside.
"Now you should receive your wish token."
And something shining emerges.
A small glass bottle.
"...!"
In the waiting area of the Fox Counseling Room, that comfortable place began to shimmer with a mesmerizing, surreal aurora-like radiance. This small bottle emits an overwhelming sense of mystery that's hard to believe.
The wish ticket.
"This is for you, Soleum."
"..."
Tap.
"Go ahead."
I reached out my hand.
Just before my arm could reach the wish token placed on the table...
"Oh, wait a moment."
Director Ho smiles gently.
"It's not just one bottle, is it?"
"...!!"
Tap. Tap.
With the same smiling face, Director Ho takes out two more glass bottles with mesmerizing colors from his briefcase and places them on the table. A total of three bottles of wish tokens. 'Good heavens.'
A light like a wave of the Milky Way or the orient of pearls rippled across
the table.
"...This is,"
"Yes. These are the wish tokens for the other two employees who worked
with you. You said it yourself, didn't you? That the other two also
contributed sufficiently to this work."
That's right.
But... he's just handing them over like this?
Moreover, Director Ho wasn't finished speaking.
"But since you came as the team representative to report, I think it's appropriate that you collect them on behalf of the team!" "...!"
Wait a minute.
"Are you saying I should receive all three bottles... and give one bottle each
to the other two?"
"Well."
...!
"You reported as a team. So wouldn't the distribution be up to the
representative?"
"..."
"I don't concern myself with that."
A dark flame flickered in Director Ho's eyes.
But the next moment, his face returns to a gentle smile as if nothing happened.
"I hope this wish token fulfills the wish deep in your heart, Soleum."
I opened my mouth.
"Don't you use them yourself, Director?"
"..."
Director Ho looked at me for a moment.
"That's something only regular employees can use."
"..."
"Unfortunately, executives are contract workers. That's the agreement." Director Ho's hand reached out slightly over the table as if wanting to touch the wish tokens... but was soon withdrawn. "So."
"..."
"Will you take them? Or I'm fine if you take them later."
To receive all three bottles.
Or to postpone all of them.
In reality, I had only one choice.
"Yes. I'll take them."
1 nodded. And then...
"Great!"
With a bright smile, Director Ho took out a box from his briefcase and began to package each of the wish token bottles that were placed on the table.
"The instructions for using the wish token are included in the box! I'll put them in one by one."
Like a salesperson, Director Ho neatly and quickly organized the boxes, tied them with ribbons, put them in a bag, and pushed it toward me. "Here you go."
"...Thank you."
2 picked up that bag.
For a moment, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
'...I did it.'
I finally began to realize that I had obtained it.
It's in this black paper bag.
I have the wish token in my hand.
"Take care, Soleum. I'll contact you again."
My head feels dizzy.
I got up from my seat.
And after politely bowing my head to Director Ho, who was waving his hand, I left the waiting area of the Fox Counseling Room. Creak.
Behind me, I thought I heard the door to the Fox Counseling Room opening and closing...
As if someone had entered.
And when I turned my head at the exit, there was no one at the waiting area table.
All that remained were the three bottles of wish tokens in my hand.
"..."
-Oh, congratulations, friend! Now you just make a wish and blow out the candles, right?
It would be nice if it proceeded that easily, but the problem is...
'I have two more bottles in my hand.'
A little later.
At a nearby cafe.
'How do I handle this?'
I sat down, clutching my bag, my mind racing wildly.
It feels like I've put a check worth millions in my bag and gone out defenseless.
Every time I was conscious of the wish token in my bag, I felt the urge to
take it out and drink it immediately, but I needed to finish what I had to do
first.
First...
'I should contact Ms. Ko Young-eun.'
I just need to figure out some roundabout way to deliver the item.
Then that colleague can also fulfill their desired wish and safely resign.
They won't need to enter urban legends anymore.
And...
'I can save Mr. Jang Heo-un too.'
Someone just needs to use a wish token to wish for Mr. Jang Heo-un to be saved.
Everything was perfect.
So, once the distribution is finished...
'I'm going home.'
My heart pounds with anxiety and anticipation.
I put my hand in my bag, touching the box while thinking about what I should handle first.
For now, I needed a safe space...
Ding!
My smartphone rang and a message appeared.
[Today]
[Where should I go?]
"..."
The security team leader.
We had agreed to meet this evening after sunset.
'It was to hear information.'
But now I didn't need the information anymore.
Whether it was about the Pleasure Laboratory or the source of Daydream, it wouldn't matter once I leave this place.
But leaving this urban legend world meant...
It also meant never meeting anyone I've met here again.
"..."
After deliberating, I sent a message.
[I'd like to meet you here.]
And that evening.
"Hmm..."
I met the security team leader in a corner seat of a famous donut shop that closed late.
I had pre-paid for donuts that usually sell out during the day and were now available.
The security team leader's weary face brightened a bit when he saw the
donuts.
"Thanks..."
"Not at all. I'm the one who received a lot of help. To be honest, this is
hardly enough to repay you..."
"No... It's plenty."
The security team leader eagerly stuffed donuts into his mouth with a slightly happy face.
And then casually dropped a bombshell statement.
"About that information... The Pleasure Laboratory... it's still in the
basement of our company..."
"...!!"
Wait.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said... hmm."
The security team leader looked at me.
"By the way, you've seen it too..."
Me?
"When we first met... when you were sucked into that scroll... you went to the bathroom on the second basement floor..." "...!"
"Don't you... remember?"
I do.
When I went down to the basement searching for the whereabouts of the missing Manager Lee Byung-jin...
-Here, should there be safety equipment or facilities...?
I clearly remember thinking that.
And then...
-Mr. Deer?
That's right.
'Suddenly my good friend became able to talk...!'
The strange Daydream basement with rows of offices... was inside an urban legend.
And that urban legend was actually... Joy Laboratory?
"How... did you find out?"
"Well... we only referred to it by code name... didn't know... until I found some documents that hadn't been reviewed."
The security team leader shrugged and continued.
"Anyway, even if you go further down... the same office corridors... keep repeating..."
"...You mean exactly the same corridors?"
"Yes. The same offices... The structure and even the scratches are identical, so it is the same place, but... it seems like... the time periods are... slightly different?"
Sounds of people chatting, shadows of people in intense meetings, employees gathering things, people fighting, even offices that look like dusty ruins...
He says that every time you take the elevator down, the scenery changes as if you're playing a hidden picture game. Endlessly.
"...How many basement floors are there?"
"That's what we don't know... I personally went down to... was it the 23rd floor? Below that... it's blocked off..." "..."
"I think there was... a security team that... went down to the 40th floor? But
they died so... hmm."
"..."
These were chilling descriptions.
'Those offices...'
It sent shivers down my spine.
Why would Joy Laboratory be there, why is it an urban legend, what is Daydream doing by building a company building on top of it? Various questions crossed my mind.
But soon I realized none of it mattered.
Because I... was leaving.
"..."
"Ah."
And it seems the security team leader sensed this. "This information, you don't need it anymore..." "..."
The security team leader pulled his cap down.
"Well, if that's the case..."
And he easily guessed the most reasonable explanation for why a Daydream employee would lose interest in everything. "Did you... earn a wish token?"
"..."
I hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded.
A slight smile appeared on the security team leader's face.
Pure congratulations.
"That's good..."
"..."
"Do you... know how to use it?"
"...Yes."
After I nodded, the security team leader seemed to ponder for a moment before asking.
"Then... this time... are you really resigning...?"
This was a question he could ask, knowing that my resignation wasn't real, but that I was working under Director Ho as a cover.
1 nodded. "I see..." "..."
The security team leader lowered his head.
"Hey, later... even after you resign... maybe we could occasionally talk...?"
"...I'd like that if it were possible."
But it's not.
I avoided his gaze.
"Given the nature of my wish, I'm not sure what will happen."
"...Ah."
The security team leader stopped speaking.
"A wish that... changes the world?"
"...Yes."
"Then... it can't be helped."
"..."
So he knew after all.
Yes, as a leader of an elite team, it would be more natural for someone obsessed with wish tokens in the field exploration team to know about this. The essence of wish tokens.
You're asking if there are tips for drinking the wish token?
There aren't any. Just drink it and make a wish.
Everything comes true.
...At least from your perspective.
-From the advice of Team C's deputy manager So... it's like this.
If the user wishes to become younger, they will become younger.
If they wish for 10 billion won to be deposited in their account with no tax issues, it will happen.
The wish token potion showed effects no different from a magic lamp in
changing the user's state.
But here's the thing.
'What if the wish is something very macroscopic?' Wishes that go beyond changing one's personal state. For instance, let's say it's about time.
Wishes like 'I want to go back to when I was young and lived happily with my parents,' or 'I want to go to the moment my husband had a traffic accident and stop him.'
Or cases involving larger scales.
Wishes like 'Make the world end,' 'I wish everyone would be kind,' 'I wish for superconductors to be invented'... things like that.
These are wishes that desire the transformation of the world surrounding me.
Of course, the potion is effective in these cases too.
Your wish is granted. However...
It's only from your perspective.
That is...
It sends you to such a world.
The wish token is an extremely personal potion, and its effectiveness is omnipotence for one person only.
People who fulfill their wishes disappear from the world. Sometimes they remain, but that's when they fail to make their wish properly. Or when there's an unexpected loophole that makes the wish not macroscopic enough for the wish token to handle.
In any case, under no circumstances does the wish token cause this world to
undergo tremendous changes.
Only people move.
'That's why the security team leader knows too.'
That if my wish is big enough to change the world, I might leave this place entirely.
That I might disappear.
"..."
I faced the security team leader who had finished eating his donuts.
Time was running out.
"Thank you very much."
"Yeah..."
We got up from our seats.
I handed the security team leader the donuts I had asked the counter to prepare for takeout.
Along with an extra paper bag containing only a bread knife. "By the way, what wish did you join this company for, Mr. J?"
"..."
The security team leader looked into the empty bag and said, "I... can't
remember well."
"..."
"Don't worry about it... It's not that important."
Next
I couldn't bring myself to ask anymore.
I eventually nodded and parted ways with the security team leader in front of the donut shop.
The security team leader waved his hand.
"...Get home safely."
And that was the end.
Through the shadows, I realized that the security team leader stood still on
the street for quite a long time...
"..."
On my way back, I thought.
I needed to say more goodbyes.