A new employee on their third day at Baekilmong Co., Ltd.
"Hoo."
Around the time lunch break was ending, Go Youngeun carefully sat down at her desk.
This quack medical practitioner who had never taken the national exam thought, in her own way, that she was adapting to the situation fairly well....
The superiors assigned to Group R, where she had been placed, weren't exactly the warm and friendly type, but neither were they overly territorial, and they hadn't shoved her into places where she would die by force.
Most importantly, she had already successfully cleared two F-grade Ghost Stories so far...!
'Didn't they say that the average performance for a new recruit is about one or two a week?'
Two in three days meant that even if they were the lowest-grade Darknesses, it was still pretty decent for a rookie!
She was really doing her utmost to adapt to this insane company....
Even if she had nearly fainted when she saw the Wish Ticket points.
'After clearing two, I only got 66 points, so how many years is it going to take to reach five hundred thousand....'
"...."
But she couldn't give up.
'I'm doing this.'
Go Youngeun steeled herself.
'...I wonder if the others who joined with me feel the same way?'
Without thinking, she looked at her phone.
At the top of her messenger app, one group chat was pinned.
[Baekilmong Co., Ltd. New Hire Group Chat]
It was the group chat of the new employees.
However, there was exactly one person who hadn't been invited.
Not because they were trying to exclude him, but because no one had his contact information.
That person was the top hire, Kim Soleum.
'I should invite him too.'
Even "that" Baek Saheon was already in this group chat, and yet, strangely enough, she had never once run into Kim Soleum anywhere in the company, so she'd never had a chance to tell him.
From the perspective of someone who had no idea what kind of brutally intense first two days Kim Soleum had gone through after joining, it was naturally baffling!
'Should I try contacting him through the company messenger, at least?'
She logged into the intranet, searched for his name, and was about to try contacting Kim Soleum....
That was when it happened.
Ka-talk, ka-talk, ka-ka-ka-ka-talk,
All at once, the group chat started exploding with notifications.
-Did you see the official notice that just went up?
-Does anyone happen to know Kim Soleum emplo....
-He's the top hire, right?
-What does it mean that he was a major contributor to clearing an A-grade....
-Kim Soleum is the one wearing that weird horned mask, ri....
"...?!"
"Wow, Roe Deer, apparently someone upstairs is saying you ought to be promoted to senior staffer immediately, no joke."
"Khk."
I almost choked on my medicine.
"But since it's unprecedented, people from other departments started foaming at the mouth and opposing it, so it got shut down immediately."
"...Ah, yes."
Should I have said I was disappointed? But the truth was I wasn't disappointed at all, so that was the best I could do.
I set down the empty medicine bottle and rubbed my stomach.
We had barely managed to escape from Tuesday Quiz Show, which had mutated into an A-grade Ghost Story, and were immediately transported to the infirmary, where we were now taking emergency medicine.
Because all three of us had been bleeding from every facial feature.
"Feeling much better in your stomach now, right?"
"Yes."
Though the medicine seemed to work well.
The medicines at Baekilmong Co., Ltd. were suspicious in general, but ordinary emergency drugs like these were usually just high-performance.
-Darkness... I mean, you know those bizarre lifeforms from urban legends and stuff? This is recovery medicine you use when you suffer supernatural damage from things like that.
In other words, it was a kind of health potion for Ghost Stories.
'I'm pretty sure this was sold in cherry-ade flavor at the collaboration café near the pop-up store....'
In reality, it just tasted like cold syrup.
'Still, it feels unreal that I'm alive and drinking potions.'
Once I escaped, everything simply felt wonderful.
Living under broad daylight really is a beautiful thing....
However, my superiors seemed to be even more concerned about something else than this overwhelming relief.
How exactly had this incident been reported and handled by upper management?
They looked utterly absorbed in trying to figure out the situation, mobilizing every personal connection they had.
"Honestly, this was an unprecedented special situation. I wish the group leader would push harder on our behalf, but he's not the kind of person who does that...."
"Then Assistant Manager, please get promoted later and do it yourself."
"Uh, I'm quitting before that."
"Actually, so am I."
I really want that too.
In that peculiar sense of solidarity, each of us sprawled out on a bed in the infirmary.
Senior Staffer Park Minseong stretched and then let out a sigh.
It was a long sigh of relief.
"...I seriously thought I was going to die, but living is definitely better! Roe Deer, thank you."
"No. I only did my best."
Honestly, the Darkness Exploration Record wiki had done all the work.
If I tried to make any more excuses here, the conversation would just drift into burdensome territory like, "We were all about to die, but you were smart and did great," so I simply stayed quiet.
"It's not like we're such incompetent seniors, but because it was a D-grade, we let our guard down."
"Assistant Manager, I think that excuse sounds kind of pathetic."
"Then I'll prove it in the next Darkness."
'I wish there simply wouldn't be a next Darkness....'
That peaceful paid break only lasted a little while.
"Manager finished his meeting."
"...!"
"He says he's coming to the infirmary."
The assistant manager sprang to his feet, phone in hand. The senior staffer got up right after him, and I found myself getting up too without thinking.
'So I'm finally seeing him in person.'
Manager Lee Jaheon.
Employee D, nickname Lizard!
One of the most famous Baekilmong Co., Ltd. employees in the Darkness Exploration Record. The very same employee whose popularity had apparently gotten him a corporate collaboration deal, with rumors that a character design release was coming soon.
Honestly, I was a little curious.
What kind of person was he?
'Judging by our conversation when I pressed the call button, he didn't seem like he had an ordinary personality....'
Still, when I thought of that super play with the AAA battery shot, it was enough to make me gloss over everything else.
Knock knock.
"The door's open. Please come in, Group Leader!"
The infirmary door opened.
Standing there beyond it was a tall figure.
Wearing a perfectly fitted black suit, even with an employee ID clipped on, he looked remarkably much like the ideal, classic office worker.
At last, Lee Jaheon appeared in person, the named employee D from the Darkness Exploration Record....
"Hello."
"...!? ...!!"
A-a lizard.
No, I mean, not a mask, but actually....
'He really... has a lizard head attached.'
"...."
Wait a second.
No... that couldn't be right.
The afterimage of the TV-headed host must still have been lingering in my mind, and because of excessive stress I was definitely having some sort of hallucinatory symptoms.
Right? My brain had to be mistaking a mask he was wearing for a real lizard head or something....
'Now that I look again, there's a mask hanging from his waist.'
"...."
This is driving me insane.
"It really brings tears to my eyes to see you, sir."
"Please come in, Group Leader!"
Why is everyone so calm about this?
If a lizard is going to walk in wearing a suit, shouldn't somebody at least warn the new guy with something like, "Please try not to be startled"?
Why are you all naturally setting the mood for introductions?
"Ah, this here is Roe Deer. And this is Manager Lee Jaheon. Greet him."
"Wow, looks like Roe Deer's so surprised because Manager is too handsome? Hahaha! He really doesn't look like the same species as us!"
Could you please tell me more specifically whether that's office small talk or some kind of hint....
The white lizard head turned toward me expressionlessly.
The blood-red vertical reptilian pupils gleamed.
"Mr. Roe Deer."
"...."
"Can you see it?"
F-fuck.
"What do you mean... ah, my eyes weren't injured. My vision is fine as well."
I was impressed by my own quick thinking.
"...."
Excuse me?
"I see."
The pale reptile head turned away with a hiss.
I nearly fainted.
'Please, seriously, stop.'
A world where I had to suffer like this even after coming out of a Ghost Story felt too unreasonable....
'What on earth is going on here?'
But I wasn't going to say a word.
From the atmosphere, it was obvious this was one of those situations where I definitely was not supposed to be seeing the lizard head!
'Everyone else was clearly looking at an entirely normal human face.'
Don't stand out.
I was absolutely not going to show any suspicious reaction to that walking human... no, lizard excavator.
I managed to keep my expression under control, and fortunately, thanks to the other group members, the conversation flowed smoothly.
And then, to the main point.
"Manager, did they explain upstairs just why things turned out like this?"
"Yes."
The white reptile— no, Manager Lee Jaheon— nodded.
First, the reason this incident had happened.
The employees who barged in midway....
"They say it was human error, and Tuesday Talk Show was assigned to both Group D and Group L in duplicate."
"Seriously?"
"Good grief...."
So that was why the task had been assigned in such a rush. Apparently there had been a mistake.
The manager continued his briefing.
-The starting time for writing the medium (postcard) used by Group L to enter "Tuesday Quiz Show" was similar to Group D's, but they briefly went outside the company building during the writing process, which caused a time gap of about 50 minutes before completion.
"...Did they buy coffee for the new recruit or something?"
"That was a group known for taking especially good care of their teammates."
Thinking of Group L, who had all died, the two members of my group briefly looked somewhat bitter, then hid it.
"Anyway, so that's why it seems like it got transmitted at that strange time. Our group just happened to get processed first."
"Yes."
Lee Jaheon answered simply and continued the briefing.
The problem was that what came next was a bombshell.
"And the reclassification of 'Tuesday Quiz Show' to A-grade was not recognized."
"...?!"
"Y-yes, what?"
-Due to the absence of another group to mutually verify the situation, the comparatively high initial survival rate (43%), and other factors.
It has not been proven whether this Darkness is in fact suitable for a dark-grade (A) classification.
"No, what kind of bullshit is that? Group L got wiped out entirely!"
"The collector! The liquid in the Dream Collector was golden! It's not like we've only heard once or twice that that's the color for A-grade...."
-The liquid in the Dream Collector is indeed of a concentration comparable to A-grade, but the possibility of a special case in which high-grade liquid is extracted from a low-grade Darkness also cannot be excluded.
"Therefore, since in the company's official classification Tuesday Quiz Show was originally D-grade, they say an exception will not be approved."
"...."
So the company's position was....
'A mistake caused a disaster, so why make it into anything bigger? Let's just handle it quietly.'
Mm. Very typical of management.
In the sense that it drove employees insane.
"This won't do. I should at least go and talk to them directly...."
"Hold on a second, Assistant Manager, hold on."
In an incredulous voice, the senior staffer asked,
"They confiscated all the A-grade liquid upstairs, didn't they? And even so, does this really still end as D-grade performance?"
"No."
"...!"
"Compensation has been determined separately."
Honestly, I wasn't surprised.
'They're just going to stick something in our mouths and tell us to keep quiet, that's all....'
Unless the company was truly idiotic, preparing some kind of appeasement measure was only natural.
The real question was how substantial that appeasement would be.
Trying not to meet the lizard's eyes, I watched Manager Lee Jaheon's snout... no, mouth.
"They say that while the special circumstances and the color of the Dream Collector's liquid have been confirmed, and thus they acknowledge it was an exploration comparable to A-grade...."
"Then...?"
"Additional points will be 지급됩니다."
-For this clear of "Tuesday Quiz Show" only, a one-time allocation of additional points equivalent to A-grade.
The amount was....
"30,000 points per person."
"...!!"
The senior staffer and the assistant manager froze as though struck by lightning.
"30,000??"
"Yes."
"Waaaah!"
The base points for A-grade were 100,000.
If you assumed they were split among the number of people who went in to clear it, then even if only two teams had survived, the estimate would have been no more than 17,000 points per person.
'But we just got almost double that.'
And it didn't end there.
"And an additional incentive has been paid separately to the employee who played the decisive role in the clear."
The lizard head turned toward me.
"Mr. Kim Soleum."
-An additional 10000p awarded to the highest contributor
"You are scheduled to receive 40,000 points."
"...."
In one go, I had filled 8 percent of a Wish Ticket.
'Wow.'
It was enough to leave me dazed.
What, was it disappointing that the A-grade clear wouldn't remain officially on record?
No, this was actually better!
'There's nothing good about standing out and getting promoted at top speed in this world.'
If expectations rose beyond standard, what would happen?
I would obviously be forced into even harder Ghost Stories, and the more I stood out, the harder it would become to use my "merch."
Of course, there were special spaces and items you could access through promotion, but I couldn't afford to get my priorities mixed up.
This was a world where you could die if you slipped up even slightly!
'And thinking about how I really was right at death's door... I never want to go near A-grade again.'
Still, looking at the points, it didn't seem like my suffering had been for nothing.
And apparently the other two felt the same way.
"...I just heard the sound of my resignation moving three years closer."
"Same here."
But they quickly came to their senses and said this to me.
"Points can't be transferred... so this feels a little awkward."
"Seriously. Roe Deer's basically the one who earned all of this."
"No. It's fine."
Honestly, even if transfers had been possible, I suspected they would have come up with some excuse not to give me any.
This wasn't a matter of character.
'These are people who got jobs in places where they might die so they could save up points and buy a Wish Ticket.'
For most employees in the Field Operations Team, their own points were surely something they could never give up.
Mm. I should definitely keep that in mind.
"Waaaah!"
"It really came in."
We returned straight to the office and registered the points.
[Employee Kim Soleum / Accumulated Points: 40100p]
'Wow.'
I looked at the monitor.
A five-digit number.
Honestly, it moved me.
"Alright then, we survived, and we pulled in a huge amount of points...."
The assistant manager grinned.
"Shouldn't we go out and have a team dinner on the company card!"
"Ooooh!"
"Let's go, Roe Deer!"
The answer came without any pretense, readily and sincerely.
"Yes!"
And now.
I am watching the rare spectacle of a lizard eating Korean beef....
Sssizzle.
I was trying, as naturally as possible, to let my gaze slide past the sight of perfectly grilled beef disappearing into the lizard's mouth.
"Manager's personality is a little unique, but his skills are the real deal."
"Yeah. You really landed in the right group."
"...Yes."
So it was nearly certain that I alone was seeing the lizard face.
If I thought about the scenes where Manager Lee Jaheon beat Ghost Stories into submission with physical force, I could understand why the group members were being so warm toward him.
At any rate, the beef was delicious regardless of Ghost Stories or anything else, and I enjoyed the company dinner more than I had expected.
'They're not acting in a way that makes it uncomfortable.'
And I could definitely feel that having a bit of alcohol in me was helping drive away the fear.
'At this rate, I'll go home, watch ten episodes of a children's cartoon, and sleep with every light on.'
That was what I was planning when Manager Lee Jaheon, who had been eating shredded green onion, abruptly asked,
"Are you going to save the 40,000 points?"
"Huh?"
It was an obvious question.
"Ah, yes. I have to buy a Wish Ticket."
"I see."
"...."
Wait a second. This conversation pattern felt oddly familiar.
I retraced the earlier conversation in my head.
So then....
"Is there some other useful way to spend the points?"
"Yes."
"...."
Right. So this was how I had to approach it....
Only now did I feel like I finally understood how to use Lizard Group Leader. It was kind of refreshing. In a much more relaxed voice, I asked,
"What kind of use?"
"Custom equipment."
"...!"
I didn't expect that to come up here and now....
'It's finally here.'
One of the defining traits of Baekilmong Co., Ltd. employees.
'Personal equipment!'