Chapter 48.2
“Honestly, I knew this would happen. Guess our Roe wonāt need to speak formally to me anymore.”
“Hey, if we wait until youāre employed for six months here, you and Iāll be able to talk on equal terms too, huh?”
What is this? This isnāt some mom-and-pop storeāhow is someone getting promoted to Assistant Manager after just a couple of months?
āThis has to be an internal rumor, right?ā
I tried asking politely, but the answer was firm.
“No, you absolutely deserve it. Do you know how many employees you saved this time?”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje crossed her arms.
“Twenty-six people, including yourself.”
“ā¦ā¦!”
“Roe, of those, seventeen escaped directly after hearing your broadcast!”
“When you count the ones who came out late after confirming others were escaping, itās safe to say you saved them all.”
She added that even some civilian participants had made it out.
“Do you realize how rare a record like this is? Itās something that might happen once every few years. Honestly, a promotion doesnāt feel enough.”
“Exactly. Letās dig into this after the squad leader comes back from the meeting tomorrow. Theyāre bound to give you something extra.”
Their excitement on my behalf was heartwarming, but I was still in shock.
A promotion?
ā¦A promotion at a major corporation after just 60 days of work?
My modern heart raced with unease.
“Brace yourself. Special promotions are announced quickly.”
And indeed, it was true.
The very next day, I saw the promotion notice on the company intranet.
[Special Promotion Announcement]
Sure enough, the name āKim Soleumā was listed there.
“ā¦ā¦”
Buuuuuzzzzz.
My phone vibrated incessantly. Apparently, congratulatory messages were pouring in.
Wait a second.
āThis feels like theyāre handling this quickly to minimize internal resistance.ā
The Field Exploration Team is still made up of humans. Naturally, if you save someoneās life, they feel a sense of gratitude or emotional impact.
In that sense, the 35 people Iād helped would likely feel at least some level of appreciation toward me, which would reduce opposition to the promotion.
It was clear from the timing of the announcement that they wanted to capitalize on that goodwill.
No, but whyā¦? Why were they pushing my promotion so aggressively?
āH-How much more do they plan to wring out of me?ā
Wasnāt it enough that I was already dealing with newly registered ghost stories without manuals?
As the thought of increasingly harrowing assignments loomed over me, I reached out to an elite senior from another squad.
[Are you stupid? Not getting promoted wouldāve been stranger.]
“ā¦ā¦??”
[Even the manual revision officer came looking for you after hearing about your performance. With results like that, of course youād attract attention from higher-ups.]
Jin Nasol, A-squadās assistant manager, clicked her tongue.
[If only weād grabbed you when we had an opening in our squad. Ugh, what a waste.]
“ā¦ā¦”
[Anyway, congratulations. It was bound to happen.]
“ā¦Thank you, I guess.”
I hung up, feeling strangely hollow, and leaned back in my office chair, trying to process everything.
Right.
No point in denying itāI had reached this stage.
āAm Iā¦ an elite employee?ā
A notable figure destined to be listed in the <Dark Exploration Records>?
The kind of character that certain hardcore creators of the lore might want to kill off just to maintain the gritty atmosphere of the universeā¦ but who ends up sticking around because of growing popularity on video platforms like WeTube?
Maybe.
Is this what people call a āMary Sueā characterā¦
āHow did it come to this?ā
Then again, maybe it was inevitable.
To be honest, having read through the entire <Dark Exploration Records> was basically a cheat!
āI did my best to keep it subtle, given the life-or-death circumstances.ā
But hereās the real kickerā¦
āWhat happens if they figure out Iām actually a coward?ā
Hoping this would just end with a reassignment to the Round-Off Team was overly optimistic. There was no telling how far the repercussions might spread.
If someone started asking, āHow did someone so cowardly get such good results?ā then whatās next for me wereā¦
āInterrogations and experimentsā¦?ā
I could already picture a future where Iād be dragged off to the Research Team the moment they discovered I was from a parallel dimension.
Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.
N-No. That can never happen.
I stood up, grabbed some coffee, and took a lap around the break room.
The caffeine cleared my head a little.
Right.
āIf I canāt avoid it, I just need to maximize my survival rate in this place.ā
If I was already under scrutiny, the best way to avoid unnecessary attention might be to keep delivering performances that justified it.
āI need to make them believe Iām naturally this competent and exceptional.ā
Itās not like there arenāt employees like that. Take Squad Leader Lizard or Assistant Manager Butterfly Mask, for example. Theyāre categorized as standouts, and thatās it.
Even if it meant a higher probability of being assigned to more dangerous ghost storiesā¦ Well, maybe it wasnāt all bad.
If I was treated as high-value personnel, I might be sent to fewer outright lethal missions.
āAnd I could rack up points faster too.ā
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a reasonable strategy to escape this world quickly.
But to achieve that, there was a critical first step.
āI need to do some serious work on my character buildā¦ā
I had to come across as a ācompetent and exceptional unitā naturally enough to avoid suspicion.
Like when Iād acted like a lunatic in front of Baek Saheonāwalking the line carefully.
And for thatā¦
āā¦I need more cards to play into this character.ā
“ā¦ā¦”
I looked up.
Hovering above me was something that had been there ever since escaping the exhibition hall.
[Dark Exploration Records Real Merch Box]
– New merch unlocked! (!)
It was one of the merch Iād purchased at the pop-up store. Iād been putting off opening it, waiting until I felt rested and my judgment was clear.
It was time.
