Chapter 99.2
Gurgling, dark clots spilled down my chin. I hurriedly wiped them away with my sleeve, feigning a panicked expression as I looked at the goblin.
“I-Iâm sorry⊔
It wasnât just to stir alarm.
Blood.
[Kim-seobangâŠ!!]
Traditionally, a goblinâs most sensitive trigger.
Rattle-rattle-rattle.
The large tiled house trembled.
Scary! Scary! Scary!
Why scary? Why scary? Why scary?
[Aigoo! Quit making such a fuss! Itâs nothing!]
Scary! Whoâs it? Scary! Whoâs it?
Even as the agent yelled, the house continued shaking. I paled, clapping a hand over my mouth as I retched.
“Iâm s-sorry.”
[Get out of here! Who the hell sends a sick rookie to the goblinâs turf? Iâll deal with that bastard myselfâ!]
“N-No! Elder, I⊠I came here on my own, I didnât know any better.”
[Elder, my foot! You still donât get it?]
Time to pretend Iâd caught on.
“âŠâŠ!”
I widened my eyes, clumsily scrambling to my feet.
“No way⊔
The goblin-agent crossed his arms.
[Consider yourself lucky, rookie, that this sunbae is stationed here.]
“Y-Yes⊠sorry, sir.”
I wore the most clueless, dazed expression possible, as if I barely understood what was happening, and slowly got back up.
Thud. Thud.
Now, loud knocksâlike broomsticks or wooden clubsâechoed from the tiled houseâs door.
The agent clicked his tongue and barked at me.
[If youâre sick, just rest! Why crawl into a place like this? Did HQ send you?]
Oh?
Wait, if I play this rightâŠ
“âŠNo, sir.”
Quickly, I rifled through my mental database of Disaster Management Bureau anecdotes.
ââŠThere was that betting culture during training!â
Like some test of courage where they competed to show off their competence and bravery.
Good. Iâll go with that!
“âŠThe other trainees told me to get the Memorial Popsocket repaired myself⊔
The agent flinched.
[âŠDo they still do that these days?]
I just smiled sheepishly.
The agent, still wearing the guise of a goblin, seemed to suppress a laugh, then rubbed his face before waving me off.
[âŠIâll let it slide without reporting it to HQ. Just get out of here.]
It worked.
“Th-thank you.”
[Whatâs your codename?]
“It hasnât been assigned yet⊠Iâm still thinking about what would suit me.”
[âŠFine. Youâll know when the time comes.]
The agent pretending to be a goblin gestured.
Fwickâ
With a flick of his hand, I felt myself being gently pushedâŠ
[Go and rest.]
BAM!
I fell flat on my rear.
“Hah⊔
When I raised my head, I found myself back on the bustling streets of Hongdae.
The streets were as lively as ever, the sun was blazing, and the cafĂ© with the blue roof was busy as usualâŠ
âI made it out alive!â
Without being exposed.
– That was an excellent adlib, Friend!
I let out a long sigh, covering my face.
I nearly sprawled out in the middle of the street.
The next two days were spent in genuine recovery.
Not being able to use the popsocket made me anxious, so I tried jotting down what I remembered from the wiki. But I stopped when I realized I might be unintentionally distorting or creating details that were never true.
Instead, I obsessively replayed the information in my mind, which made time pass more quickly.
And thenâ
“Kim Soleum-ssi.”
“Section Chief.”
Three days later, back at work, I met Section Chief Lee Jaheon again.
“How are you feeling?”
“Iâm fine. You should schedule an additional consultation within the month, Kim Soleum-ssi.”
“âŠâŠYes.”
Fortunately, he seemed fine, too.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon didnât ask me anything further.
Neither about Braunâs âLights Outâ ability nor about the black water mascot that had chased me.
Even when I shared my side of the story as much as I could, he only responded with a calm, “I see.”
âConsistent as always.â
Because of that, I also found it hard to ask him any questions.
Besides, after three days of sick leave, I had too much work piled up to waste time prying.
âWow, how am I supposed to finish all this?â
After yet another irregular escape, the entire D-squad, except for two temporary employees, took immediate leave.
The pressure from all sides was relentless.
I spent the day writing reports with the section chief, doing interviews, and even calling Director Cheong to express my gratitude.
In the midst of it all, I had to include in my report how Iâd used the taxi Darkness to escape Death Lane, which left me racking my brain over how to explain how I knew to summon it.
âShould I just say I saw some flyer advertisement in Death Lane?â
But wouldnât that count as contaminating the manual?
My head was spinning whenâ
“The taxi you summoned is categorized as a pending Darkness under manual review.”
“âŠâŠ!”
As I turned to look at Section Chief Lee Jaheon with a chill creeping over meâŠ
The lizard calmly added,
“That means itâs information that canât be obtained through the companyâs official systems.”
Whoa.
“So, I changed the recorded caller.”
“âŠWho is it now?”
“Me.”
Wait.
“You changed the report to say you were the one who called the taxi, Squad Leader?”
“Yes.”
I was starting to grasp his modus operandi.
“âŠWas this both a reward for my significant role in escaping Death Lane and you taking responsibility as the squadâs leader?”
“Yes.”
And that wasnât the end of it.
“Oh, by the way, do you recall, Squad Leader? You once promised me some equipment during the pantry ghost story⊔
“Yes. Itâll be ready by next week.”
Wow.
I decided to wholeheartedly respect Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
So what if heâs a bit slow? Heâs the dream boss!
âJust deal with the slowness yourself!â
Got it, Kim Soleum!
I shouted at myself internally and dove into the mountain of paperwork.
New equipment in the works, new team roles ahead.
A new chapter in my corporate life was on the horizon.
But first, another darkness awaited me.
âŠAlong with a most unwelcome face.
“Well, long time no see, Mr. Roe Deer!”
Research Teamâs Kwak Jaekang waved cheerfully at me.
“Would you be interested in, say, an abandoned elevator?”
No way! Absolutely not!!
