Job Reassignment.
It meant that the duties or department assigned to you at your usual workplace had been changed.
It was the kind of thing that started happening once your years of service reached, well, actual years.
Which meant it was absolutely not something you were supposed to say to someone on their third day at the company!
"…If it's a job reassignment, does that mean I might have to move departments?"
That was when I barely managed to suppress the urge to ask, What on earth are you talking about right after I just had lunch, and instead asked politely.
"No, well… not exactly. Have you seen the notice? It just went up."
"…?!"
With a bad feeling crawling up my spine, I checked the intranet at once.
[Notice on Rewards for Employees Who Resolved the Unusual Incident in Qterw-D-43]
…Qterw-D-43 was Tuesday Quiz Show.
And to summarize the contents….
-Wow! Some team resolved a special incident that occurred in a D-rank Ghost Story and even extracted an A-rank solution? Now that's performance! We'll be awarding this team a total of 100,000 points!
-Hey, see that? You can do it too! So throw work-life balance to the dogs, work like oxen, and earn points! Learn from Group D!
...And among the names of the major contributors receiving 40,000 points, my full name, Kim Soleum, was stamped there with crystal clarity.
"..."
I wished it were a dream.
And the even more horrifying part was this.
If my reassignment had happened because this notice had affected something, then what on earth….
Seeing the hollow-eyed Assistant Manager made a chill run through me.
"You saw it?"
"Yes."
"Right. Group D apparently put up a pretty… unusual result this time."
No way.
"Has the whole group been given a new appointment?"
"Not exactly an appointment. The kind of work is just changing."
The Assistant Manager downed his coffee in one shot.
"Up till now, they mostly gave us Ghost Stories with completed manuals from upstairs and told us to manage those, right?"
Wait.
"Now they want us going mainly into Darknesses whose manuals haven't been completed yet!"
"…!!"
To put it simply, they were going to throw us into Ghost Stories with no data!
"No, seriously, so if you do one thing well, they shove you somewhere even harder… ha."
As if he'd already heard the news, the Chief was slumped at his desk with his head buried down on it. Even caffeine seemed useless now.
"Good afternoon."
Right then, the lizard-headed Team Lead walked into the office. The Assistant Manager practically breathed fire.
"Team Lead! They want us going into Darknesses with no manual? Isn't this basically them trying to get all of us killed?"
"…? No."
"Huh?"
For a moment, hope seemed to flicker faintly across the Assistant Manager's face, as if maybe there was some loophole after all….
"Even if the manual is complete, there is no guarantee that it is safe."
"...."
Ah, in that sense....
"That lizard really does have one hell of a personality…."
I somehow managed to open my mouth.
"Even so, if there's no manual, that does make it more dangerous, doesn't it? Since there's no data."
The lizard tilted his head.
"I'm not sure. I have not felt a large difference."
"...."
Ah, right. He was the kind of employee who performed physical exorcisms….
"So up to now, whenever things went wrong, did he just push through by force…?"
I decided to just ask directly.
"Is there any advantage to the current situation?"
"Yes."
"What advantage?"
"Additional points are assigned."
"…!"
Chief Park Minseong jerked his head right up.
They really were people crazy about points.
"I-is it a big increase, Team Lead?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Compared to Darknesses of the same grade, it is assigned at an average of three to four times more."
"…!"
"T-then perhaps the highest point multiplier you've ever seen is…?"
"Fifteen times."
The Assistant Manager's and Chief's eyes changed on the spot.
Those were the eyes of stock traders.
The exact expression of people just before buying some shady biotech penny stock because they'd heard rumors about a new miracle drug.
Apparently, those 30,000 points had been irresistibly sweet….
Normally, in a case like this, the rational one would be the one to stop everyone, but… well, actually… for me….
"A guaranteed stock…."
Manual or no manual, it didn't make much difference to me.
I already knew the exploration records in greater detail than the manuals did!
So then.
"Isn't this just a triple-points event…?"
And so, a little later—
"Let's go."
"Yes."
Group D accepted the new assignment without a single objection and headed out.
"Let's earn points."
Our destination was the seventeenth floor.
"From the twentieth floor down to the seventeenth, the Development Division mostly uses those floors."
The Assistant Manager frowned as he tapped the button.
"And the seventeenth floor is… especially where the researchers who look for new Darknesses are."
Ding.
When the elevator doors opened, I saw the white, artificial interior of a hybrid office, the kind that combined a typical laboratory with office space.
And then someone who had already been waiting out front held out his hand.
"Well, well~ so this guy is that guy? Amazing, amazing~"
He was definitely senior to me no matter what.
I reflexively shook the hand he offered.
"I'm Kim Soleum. Please take care of me."
"Oh, polite too."
The man in the white coat and glasses looked fairly young, but this world was far too bizarre a setting to trust appearances, so I decided not to jump to conclusions.
In any case, after greeting the rest of Group D as well, the senior from the other department turned back to me.
"I'm Kwak Jegang from Research Team 1. Nice to meet you. Looking forward to working with you~"
"…! Likewise, sir."
Our team's Assistant Manager whispered to me.
"Don't be nervous. He's just some measly Section Chief."
Aren't you an Assistant Manager yourself…?
And the reason I was surprised wasn't because he was a section chief.
It was because I knew who he was.
---------------------=
Researcher Kwak Jegang
: An employee of Research Team 1 in the Raw Materials Development Department at Baekilmong Co., Ltd., appearing in Darkness Exploration Record.
One of the researchers frequently mentioned in the early records involving the exploration of newly registered Darknesses within the company.
---------------------=
Another named character had appeared.
"His personality is… hm."
---------------------=
A rare case directly described as "cheerful and sociable" among the employees.
However....
---------------------=
Hmm.
Without showing anything on my face, I quietly walked along after my teammates.
"We'll be seeing each other often from now on. Right, Manager Lee Jaheon?"
"Yes."
....
Ah, right.
"May I ask why?"
"Yes."
At last, the lizard explained.
"Research Team 1 studies and standardizes methods of entering newly discovered Darknesses. Therefore, you will frequently meet Group D, which will be exploring new Darknesses that have not yet been manualized."
In short, this was the team that would be handing work over to us.
"So this is where they find new Darknesses and pass them on to the advance parties of the Field Operations Team…."
"Oh dear, Manager Lee always makes things sound so complicated. And he's not even a researcher!"
The research section chief gave the lizard manager a light smack on the back. The lizard's lidless pupils snapped toward him as if puzzled.
For some reason, it felt like I was watching a thriller movie in a theater….
"Anyway, the Darkness you'll be entering today is ready~ Don't forget your Dream Trace Collectors, right!"
A look flashed across the Assistant Manager's face that clearly said, Why is this bastard from another department telling us the obvious? but Chief Park Minseong frantically gestured at him before he could say it out loud.
"Take a look at the records from civilians who went in and came back out, and the record from the team that entered before you."
Manager Lee Jaheon accepted the documents the research team handed over.
While that was happening, someone tapped me on the shoulder.
"…?"
When I turned, some research team employee was grinning and talking to me.
"Hey, want to bet whether it'll be D-rank or F-rank?"
"Huh?"
"No, see, we put a little money down among ourselves and make bets. You should try it too. It'll be fun."
"I'm fine, thanks."
I answered immediately.
"Is this employee out of his mind?"
What if an audit hit them…? No, come to think of it, he was talking openly about gambling with his direct superior standing right in front of him.
I reflexively turned to look at the research section chief.
The chief shrugged.
"So what? It's not like someone's going to die just because we place a little bet."
"...."
"Haha. Oh, look at that, your expression doesn't even change. Soleum-ssi, you've got guts?"
It was just that I was so dumbfounded my facial muscles forgot to do their job.
"Isn't that way over the line for a workplace?"
I supposed this really was what you'd expect from researchers in an internet-ghost-story worldview.
"Well, joking aside, this Darkness isn't the kind where people start talking about life and death. A lot of civilians got in and escaped, after all… geez, I heard the Planning Team had a hell of a time smoothing things over because the Supernatural Disaster Management Agency was throwing another fit~"
"...."
When Group D didn't particularly respond, the Research Team 1 section chief merely smiled and organized the rest of the papers.
"Hah."
And then even the researcher who'd been talking about betting looked at us with a displeased expression and crossed his arms like he was just there to watch the show.
"Can people really behave like that at work…?"
It didn't feel great, but then again, feeling great at work was hard in the first place.
The important thing was this Darkness we'd just been assigned.
What kind of Ghost Story was it?
"Ah, Roe Deer should take a look too."
"Yes."
I accepted the documents my superior handed over.
"It'll probably be something I know, if we're lucky."
And since plenty of civilians had escaped, it sounded even more manageable. Even in the worst case, wouldn't it be around D-rank?
If it wasn't too outrageous, I should be able to handle it.
So don't be nervous….
"Roe Deer, did you read it? Something about clown portraits… ah, if you see a pierrot advertisement, you get drawn in?"
A pierrot advertisement…?!
Don't tell me it's that....
---------------------=
Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story
[Pierrot Hates You]
: A Ghost Story appearing in Darkness Exploration Record, identified by Baekilmong Co., Ltd. under the code Qterw-D-210.
A Ghost Story where one wanders forever in a place where corridors hung with all kinds of clown portraits continue endlessly.
If you look closely, they are not actually wearing clown makeup; they are people grotesquely twisted so that they look like clowns, their faces forced into smiles.
---------------------=
"...."
No.
---------------------=
The longer one remains, the more distorted and bizarre portraits appear.
Those who go missing in this Ghost Story become new clown portraits. Honestly, even among exploration records, one this full-on horror-movie in style is rare.
---------------------=
Wow.
With trembling eyes, I scanned the preliminary exploration record I'd been given.
....
It was right.
"Wow, it's here."
A true horror theme, even scarier than the convenience store ghost.
"Haha, then go on in!"
Excuse me!
Please just cancel the triple-points event! I'm not going! I'm not going!
But of course, words like that would never work in society….
"..."
I opened my eyes. A corridor dark as my future—no, just dark—stretched before me.
A corridor where every kind of grotesque clown portrait was plastered thickly and densely all over the old walls.
"F-fuck."
Even the entry method for this place was terrifying.
Watch a WTube advertisement in which a red-nosed clown looks through the screen at the viewer and laughs like a maniac.
In any enclosed indoor corridor, a clown's hand suddenly appears from around the corner.
If you go near it, your wrist is seized, and you are dragged into this "corridor."
I thought I was going to faint from the moment that started.
"This is driving me insane."
I moved my eyes around. The exploration records, full of the horrible fates that befell anyone who approached any wall here, replayed vividly in my head.
Cold sweat ran down me.
"To be honest, I think anybody would find this place terrifying, even if it weren't me…."
"Hm. It's not that dark, though. Looks like we won't need to turn on the flashlights."
"Manager! Should we let our eyes adjust first before moving?"
"Yes. Close your eyes for sixty seconds."
"Yes, sir!" Chief Park Minseong answered brightly.
"...."
No, seriously?
In a dark corridor filled with portraits staring at people like something out of a nightmare, they could casually suggest that we all just close our eyes for a full minute?
"Roe Deer, close your eyes too."
Apparently so.
"Yes."
Pretending to close my eyes, I looked down at the floor and sweated coldly.
I had just realized something.
These people.
At baseline, they just weren't scared of things.
Unless it was a situation where they were actually going to die, their threshold for fear was insanely high!
The kind of people who said things like, "Hey, what's really scary is people," and didn't watch horror movies because they found them boring!
"That's why they can work as employees here, I guess!"
Still, no matter what, once those grotesque portraits started moving on their own, it would be hard to stay that calm, wouldn't it….
"Mm… apparently if you approach the portraits or stab them, sometimes these guys pop out of them and crawl after you."
"That's right. Then the painting goes empty, and supposedly a few people used that as a passage back to reality."
"I see."
The manager's calm voice sounded out.
"Stab every portrait you see."
I almost screamed.
"Yes, sir! If anything really pops out alive, we'll signal and run immediately!"
"Yes. We will repeat the attempt in hourly intervals."
"Ah, they said they crawl, right? Good thing their mobility's low."
"Exactly. Oh right, Roe Deer! I spotted it earlier—over there on the left there's this clown with weird eyes? That one seriously looks like some movie poster."
"...."
"It resembles the description of the missing civilian. So if you disappear in here, I guess that's what happens to you."
I looked up before I could stop myself.
In the desolate darkness, a portrait showed someone with a button in place of their left eye, caked in garish multicolored clown makeup, baring their teeth in a huge forced grin.
"…It moved."
I was sure of it. The pupil in the one remaining eye had moved.
"...."
"Roe Deer, want to touch that one first?"
Ah, ah!! No, seriously! Please, just—!
"...Y-yes."
What do you mean yes? I can't even get close to it.
A powerful premonition slammed into the back of my skull.
At this rate—if I keep moving at the pace of these lunatics—I won't survive this place.
"Then Roe Deer can start with the portrait on the upper left and just—"
"Wait a moment."
"Hm?"
I had to do this!
"I think I've figured out the method of escape."
"W-what?"
It hadn't even been a full minute since we got here, but I'd figured it out anyway! Please believe me!
"I inferred it by looking at the previous civilian escape records."
Had my brain ever spun this fast before?
"I can't give these anti-haunted-house-test people a turn!"
"First, we must not touch the other portraits."
"Huh? Why?"
Because I'm scared of them.
Of course, what came out of my mouth was different.
"…There should be a separate correct answer."
Was this survival instinct at work?
I immediately pulled out the toy coin I'd gotten from my equipment and summoned a translucent glove into the air.
Then I handed twenty five-hundred-won coins to the glove as if tossing them over to it.
The glove froze for a second like a streamer who'd just gotten a huge donation, then promptly spun around in midair in delight and fused with my hand.
"Wait, that's your equipment, Roe Deer?"
"Yes. I can touch objects remotely."
"Oh."
At the very least, this meant I wouldn't have to approach the portraits myself and touch the clowns with my own hand.
But I nodded seriously, as though I had some entirely different intention.
"From here on… I want to run and see as many portraits as possible. Since we have to find the correct answer."
I turned to Manager Lee Jaheon.
"And the portraits I describe from now on are the correct answer."
"...."
"So when you see one matching that description, I'd like you to tell me. Would that be alright?"
And if this worked, I wouldn't have to stare closely at every clown portrait myself anymore!
"Of course, if they answer with something like, 'Who do you think you are, newbie?' then I'm finished…."
But Manager Lee Jaheon didn't seem like the type to be obsessed with authority!
Even if his head was a lizard! Even if the way he thought was completely lizard-like!
"Yes."
It worked!
The relief rushing down my spine almost made my legs give out, but I forced myself to act calm and nodded.
"Then I'll run."
I was acting like I needed to run because I was trying out some brilliant, stylish hypothesis and running was necessary to test it….
"In truth, I don't really need to...."
The escape method here was surprisingly simple.
"Even if we touch the other portraits all we want, it won't interfere with finding the correct answer...."
If you were the bold type, you could just stroll through alone and do it leisurely….
But I had already learned my lesson.
I'd gained a hard-won truth while playing tag with a ghost in the convenience store.
How does a coward survive?
"Speedrun!"
Let's go—mid-haunted-house escape!