It Seems I Must Go to Work Even After Falling into a Horror Story 049

Ko Yeong-eun swallowed a light green magical potion.

Gulps. Gulps.

When the water was gone, and the glass bottle was completely empty…

“…!”

Ko Yeong-eun set the bottle down.

With wide eyes, she cupped her hands around her ears…

And from her trembling hands.

Like new flesh growing from a wound, a round piece of flesh began to sprout where Ko Yeong-eun’s ear had been torn off.

And in an instant, it took shape.

The helix, the ear lobe, and the earlobe revealed distinct forms based on cartilage, and then…

It was complete.

“……”

“W-wow…!!”

Oh my gosh.

“Ko Yeong-eun?”

“Yes!! Ah! I can hear! I can’t believe this is happening…”

Ko Yeong-eun touched her newly formed ear, exclaiming in disbelief, before turning on her smartphone and inspecting her ear with the camera app.

It looked just like her original ear, naturally.

“Does it hurt or anything?”

“Not at all! It was just a bit itchy, and then it got better… W-wait, I think I can hear even better than before?!”

It was truly a wonderful thing.

Really, it felt amazing and miraculous, and I was so relieved, but…

‘…I might make a more reckless choice.’

In this company, there are high-grade darkness clears that without exception come with fatal bodily losses as a prerequisite; if such cases are revealed in the manual, low-grade healing potions are provided as supplies.

And once you get used to that?

Employees gradually begin to lose their bodies without much concern.

Once isn’t hard, but from the second time onwards, it becomes easier.

‘Is that a good thing?’

With a peculiar feeling, I looked to the side.

Baek Sa-heon was peering into his decorative box containing his healing potion with a somewhat dark expression…

With one eye.

“…Hey, Baek Sa-heon.”

“……”

Ko Yeong-eun, after contemplating, cautiously spoke up.

“If one eye is uncomfortable, the impact will be greater than you think. It affects distance, field of view, and even balance; even if it’s precious, it might be better to use it for regeneration.”

“Mind your own business.”

Ko Yeong-eun almost made a face like ‘what kind of jerk is this,’ but perhaps feeling relieved her ear had grown back, she chose to ignore him.

I hesitated and added my thoughts.

“Since the job is dangerous, there could be another bodily loss. It doesn’t seem like a bad judgment to save it for emergencies.”

“Ah… That makes sense.”

“……!”

Baek Sa-heon suddenly trembled, then looked seriously into the box.

‘Hey.’

Why did he suddenly look like he was going to just use it because I was supportive?

Anyway, I ignored him and took good care of the box.

My heart was racing a bit.

This was my first time seeing such a famous, powerful, and not terrifying symbolic item in person.

The emblem of Daydream Corporation.

The magical potion.

‘Let’s keep it safe.’

Then…

“Um, Sol-eum.”

“Yes?”

“I was going to mention this, but… I really want to formally thank you now.”

Ko Yeong-eun looked at me and nodded.

“Really, thank you so much.”

Huh?

“Back then, you helped us escape while dealing with the machines by yourself.”

“…But you were never in a dangerous situation, Ko Yeong-eun.”

She had already lost her ear, so she didn’t have to pay the fee. I only saved Baek Sa-heon, right?

‘And that jerk didn’t even say thank you…’

Definitely a character with a bad personality.

However, Ko Yeong-eun firmly shook her head.

“No. You came back to save us again afterward, even lying that the candle was ours.”

“……”

“No matter how I think about it, there was absolutely no need for that. You could have just gone with Group D.”

“Um.”

I had those strong hearts on my mind…

‘You really think giving them the candle would work?’

Oh? So we’re safe now? Okay, then let’s do this and that. I’ll make a point out of it in the manual.

I could only imagine myself dropping dead from a heart attack while trying to keep my mouth shut after all that chaos.

I didn’t willingly face the horrifying exhibition alone to find the two.

There was a bigger fear behind that…!

‘And… If I can save someone, then it’s right to do so.’

I just did what I could.

So, I simply shook my head.

“That was something anyone could do.”

“Are you serious? That doesn’t seem true…”

“I actually feel both of you should be promoted considering your contributions, and I feel a bit sorry that I’m the only one getting promoted.”

Ko Yeong-eun’s expression turned serious.

“Oh, no. I… don’t want to get promoted just yet.”

“……”

“Ah, but of course, Sol-eum will do great!”

Suddenly, I felt tears welling up…

“B-but, why do you think we should be promoted? All the items from the exhibition came from Kim Sol-eum’s bag… you remember, right?”

Ko Yeong-eun looked at me with eyes that seemed to pity me for some reason.

“Um. People seem to look down on those who are too nice at work, so maybe you don’t have to be too generous with your compliments…”

Huh?

No matter how I looked at it, it felt like she was overly kind because of the life-saving effect… thinking of my noble heart, I just lowered my head.

Let’s be nice!

“…Thank you for the advice.”

Baek Sa-heon looked at me and Ko Yeong-eun, alternating between us with a look of incredulity but kept his mouth shut.

Then he stood up and left without saying goodbye.

Hmm. Let him be.

I exchanged polite goodbyes with Ko Yeong-eun and turned around.

And thought.

‘When should I wear the silver heart?’

Should I just put it on when I go on a mission?

I rolled the badge in my pocket with my finger, planning here and there.

Just then, from the other end of the hallway, a familiar figure walked towards me…

A white lizard head.

“Team Leader.”

“Kim Sol-eum.”

It seemed like the team leader had just returned from speaking with the department head while I was being honored.

Now that slit pupil even felt somewhat friendly.

‘Is this the life-saving effect too?’

I briefly recalled the lizard’s intimidating knuckle strike that could have split the guiding device in half.

At that moment, the lizard’s slit pupil shifted towards the empty healing potion bottle and box.

“Did you use it?”

“Uh? Ah. It’s not mine. It was used by my colleague… Ko Yeong-eun.”

“Good day, Manager! I’m Ko Yeong-eun!”

Ko Yeong-eun bowed her head towards the unfamiliar lizard…no, the other team’s manager.

The lizard looked at Ko Yeong-eun with eyelids lacking.

“I have a question.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Are you the owner of the escape item?”

“…Yes?”

“Three days ago, did you possess a candle-shaped cognition disruption item in the B-grade darkness at the exhibition?”

Ah.

“Ah… um, sort of.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

As Ko Yeong-eun made eye contact with me, she seemed to get the situation and trailed off, but she didn’t flatly deny it.

But I guessed she must have felt like she wanted to leave quickly.

“Yes. I’ll take my leave then.”

With that polite farewell, she stealthily disappeared in the opposite direction down the hallway.

‘Good judgement…’

I breathed a sigh of relief and took a sip from the water bottle in my bag…

“Kim Sol-eum.”

“Yes?”

“Please refrain from repetitive falsehoods.”

I almost spat it out through my nose.

“The more you mention it, the less effective it becomes.”

“……”

When did he figure it out?

But for now, I just bowed my head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes.”

“If it’s not just about your colleague possessing the escape item, I thought it would be hard to convince you to waste valuable escape time.”

“Yes.”

I ended up answering with one-word replies out of frustration…

‘His voice is calm though.’

This is how people, no, lizards are…

I looked up cautiously.

Surprisingly, the lizard… was slightly smiling!

“Humans lie.”

“……”

“The important thing is the purpose and result of the action.”

That statement felt almost philosophical.

‘…I lied with good intentions, and the outcome was good too, so it doesn’t really matter?’

“……”

I couldn’t really know.

“Well, I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Yes.”

That ended the conversation.

The lizard team leader returned to its usual unemotional reptilian demeanor.

‘I thought its personality deviated somewhat from that of a regular person…’

It felt like I understood that even more deeply, in a good way.

I gathered the healing potion box I received as a reward from the chair.

–Good Friend, is the work finished?

Just then, the familiar Brown in my pocket spoke up.

When I was at the company, we agreed to avoid discussing having ‘Good Friend’ to prevent it from being discovered… but since the timing was right, should I ask once?

I slightly pulled out the stuffed toy from my pocket.

‘Brown. I mean the employee standing next to me right now.’

-Oh, you mean that tall boss of Doe?

‘Yeah. How does he look?’

-Hoo.

After a brief silence as if he was examining it…

-He’s got perfect eyes, nose, mouth, and auditory organs all intact!

‘…As a lizard?’

-Lizard? Haha, Doe, you really can make playful comparisons. Who do you want to tease? Even so, saying ‘lizard’ is too much!

“……”

Brown doesn’t even see him as a lizard?

Could it be… Am I the only one who sees him as a lizard?

“Kim Sol-eum.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

I made up my mind again. I won’t let a single ‘d’ of ‘lizard’ slip from my lips in the future.

“I will proceed.”

Manager Lee Ja-heon stepped towards the elevator.

I walked calmly following the lizard and asked.

“Should I return to the office?”

“No.”

Huh?

“…Then where are we going?”

“To a restricted area that only has access permissions opening from the chief onward.”

“…!”

“I will explain how to use it.”

Here we go.

In this company, as an employee’s rank increases, various privileges are granted.

It’s both a welfare system and a competency assessment, as well as a location.

“As you have been promoted to Chief, three additional facility accesses have been granted to you.”

In front of the annex, I took the document folder from Manager Lee Ja-heon.

1. Security Team Rental Warehouse

2. Annex (Free equipment production twice a year)

3. Fox Consultation Room

“From now on, you can extract unarmed gear from the Security Team Rental Warehouse.”

“……”

“You can customize special equipment using twilight-grade darkness in the annex without an upper management companion, and if necessary, you can register in the Fox Consultation Room.”

I was already aware of these benefits.

And although I didn’t know, some spaces were opened through [Dark Exploration Records] that I had information on.

A slight sense of achievement and thrill.

And anticipation.

‘There are now more ways to survive in this insane world…!’

But everything has its duality.

Better treatment means they want something from the employees.

In this company’s context…

‘Danger.’

As a company dealing with horror stories, this means that the darkness accessed only by high ranks has the potential to become so dangerous it can’t be handled by civilians.

Just like that.

“Moreover, the chief of the Field Exploration Team will have a designated darkness assigned.”

“……”

That’s right.

A horror story I now have an immediate responsibility for, separate from the team!

“Usually, even if an individual is in charge, it’s managed cooperatively within the group, but the primary responsibility lies with the employee themselves.”

Distributing the responsibility to field workers.

How very corporate this is. I’m experiencing the flavor of a familiar 21st-century social life…

According to Manager Lee Ja-heon, as you accumulate years of service and rise in rank, the darkness assigned increases and becomes more dangerous.

Still, the silver lining is that I’m a newbie.

“Since you’ve joined as a chief with less than a year of service, you’ll be assigned an F-grade darkness.”

Phew.

“Manage it according to the schedule, and please register any peculiarities with a checklist.”

“Yes.”

In situations where I’m essentially forced to do something, instead of whining aimlessly and exhausting my energy, I decided to offer a meaningful prayer.

‘Please! Please! Let it be a typical low-grade darkness assigned!’

If it looks like a Tuesday quiz show, I might as well just quit and prepare for the Disaster Management Bureau exam instead!

Then I heard something surprising.

“Are you saying I get to choose?”

“Yes.”

Manager Lee Ja-heon said he would show me a few candidates, allowing me to choose from among them.

“Is that normal?”

“No.”

The lizard looked at me intently.

“That’s my authority.”

…?!

So, are you telling me that the lizard is using its authority to create options for me?

That lizard?

“Thank you very much for your consideration. But… may I ask why you are doing this?”

“It’s a reward.”

“Excuse me?”

“For guiding everyone in Group D back safely without injuries by finding the correct escape route in a B-grade horror story.”

“…Manager, you saved my life from the guiding device too, you know.”

“That’s a matter of responsibility.”

The lizard said distantly.

“The manager has an obligation to be responsible for the members within their capabilities.”

“……”

Yup, what a great boss… right?

‘I was almost moved.’

If I were a fresh employee, I would have postponed my resignation for a month at least.

So that’s why Eun Ha-je and Chief Park Min-seong made an effort to view the manager positively, laughing about their jobs.

Even I started to think I should do well too.

“…But thank you.”

“Yes.”

I nodded my head slightly, then followed the lizard to the isolation room for the F-grade darkness.

While I hadn’t anticipated it, it was a really good situation.

‘If I play my cards right, I might even make a profit.’

[Dark Exploration Records] is a wiki.

What that means is that because numerous creators independently craft rules while adhering to guidelines, the standards regarding grades can vary slightly.

‘Even with the same F-grade, it could have a very good range of application.’

Provided I know exactly how to handle it.

And through [Dark Exploration Records], I already know that method.

For the darkness recorded there.

“This is the three-point F-grade darkness.”

I lifted my head.

In front of me were three items…

An old teddy bear.

Two black cards.

An airplane model.

“…!”

‘I know all of them.’

Jackpot.

-Oh, what a shabby and ugly doll.

In the meantime, Brown let out a displeased voice. Is it the influence of ‘Good Friend’ that’s causing him to be wary of the doll?

-Anyway, the time to choose is approaching, Doe!

I pondered for a moment.

And reached out.

“I will take charge of this darkness.”