Bailonz Street 13-Chapter 213.1
Before opening my eyes.
I heard a voice echoing in my mind.
Instructions.
– You have been assigned to a new post. Follow the researcher’s instructions. You have been assigned to a new post. Follow the researcher’s instructions…
“Hello.”
I opened my eyes.
“Nice to meet you. I was assigned to be in charge of… No, I’m your assistant.”
The first thing I saw was a mask.
Not a melting mosaic of a face, but a coated paper mask covering it.
It wasn’t the familiar Field Exploration Team mask I knew. It looked more like a child’s crayon drawing imitating it.
But I knew that animal.
“I’ll try not to get in your way as much as possible. …You can call me Badger.”
Badger.
I recognized this person in the Security Team uniform…
Supervisor Park Minseong of the D-squad.
My sunbae.
“Let’s, um, work well together.”
And he couldn’t recognize me.
“Now then, I’ll just give a brief introduction…”
Of course.
There is nothing in my current state that matches my former self, Kim Soleum, except physical size, and he’s never seen this appearance before.
But then, something unexpected happened.
“…Why.”
Another person’s voice.
From the tone, the slow, flat intonation, I knew who it was.
I saw a slender human figure in a security guard’s uniform, pressing down the brim of his hat while standing at the door…
“Why… are you here.”
J3.
“Sergeant?”
“You… shouldn’t be here…”
……
I tried to speak, but realized my vocal cords weren’t where they should be, and I didn’t know where in my melted body they even were…
The smoke spelled out words.
Employment contract
“…You said you were quitting.”
New employment contract
: Permanent employment
“……”
I lowered the smoke.
“Sergeant, what do you mean, quitting…”
The person in the badger mask stiffened, his voice tense with confusion.
Uncertainty and confusion showed in his short, quick breaths, and hesitation as he tried to figure out the situation…
And then, as if suddenly realizing something shocking, he inhaled sharply.
He’d remembered.
A mutual acquaintance, someone who recently left the company safely.
And the one who lost contact.
“…Roe?”
There was no answer.
The one in the badger mask stared at me, frozen.
Then looked back at the sergeant.
The sergeant did not deny it.
Instead, he opened the door and left the room.
Click.
The iron door locked.
“N-No… No. This, I, I’m… It’s just…”
He tried to calm his breathing.
It came from the badger mask.
The signs of contamination, flaring up from agitation, were hidden by the mask.
Only after more than forty seconds had passed did the badger mask, having completely shaken off the identity of a teacher from the kindergarten affiliated with ■■, finally take a deep breath.
And then I heard,
“It’ll, it’ll be alright.”
The sound of footsteps approaching.
“Being on the Security Team, that means, at least, you can communicate, right? There’s got to be a way. I recovered too… Right?”
I moved the smoke.
Impossible
“…!”
Contamination is when a being that was once human is transformed by supernatural phenomena.
Recovery from contamination means regaining one’s original human body and mind.
And.
“Roe.”
Impossible
I don’t have the former.
“…Soleum-ah.”
……
I started to form another word, but instead, I scattered the smoke and contained it inside my gas mask.
For some reason, I felt resistance to continuing.
A desperate voice came.
“Um… So, doesn’t it feel strange to hear your real name?”
It doesn’t matter at all.
“Don’t you have any reaction? Confusion, or anything…? It’d be normal if you did. So…”
Showing a strange reaction to one’s original name is a typical sign of contamination.
It has nothing to do with me.
“Soleum……”
Tap.
Park Minseong, about to say my name again, suddenly flinched and gripped his wrist tightly.
The Security Team’s control wristwatch.
Tick, tick.
The ticking of the watch.
And now, a warning chime, which I hadn’t heard before, faintly sounded for me as well, since I shared a similar contractual relationship.
– Risk of safety rule violation detected. Time remaining until confinement for retraining has been reduced by 7 seconds. 71 seconds, 70 seconds, 69 seconds…
A restriction to control the actions of contaminated Security Team members, like the guidance I hear in my head.
He must have realized he’d violated the safety rule against using real names on the job.
Thus, I witnessed one of the specific mechanisms not described in detail in the <Dark Exploration Records>.
But it does not matter.
What matters is…
– You have been assigned to a new post. Follow the researcher’s instructions.
Work.
“……”
“……”
What should I do?
Only in the silence did I finally begin to look around at where I was.
A rusted iron door. An enclosed space. It resembles Basement Floor 13, Room 666 of the annex, but it is not the same place.
But I can tell where this is.
– Daydream Inc. Main Building, Underground Isolation Cell.
Back when I was still human, this was the very place I’d been assigned to clean as a disciplinary action.
This was also the place where I had been transported together with Supervisor Park Minseong, after losing consciousness upon clearing the ‘Hungry Hangman’.
This was the isolation corridor accessible only through the Security Team’s equipment storage, and the isolation cells within…
But I can feel it.
This place is much deeper inside than the isolation cell where I was quarantined after being rescued from the ‘Hungry Hangman’ Darkness.
Far, far deeper than the place I visited for disciplinary cleaning, in the innermost core…… located in the central isolation sector. My instincts as a staff member tell me so.
And then, there was the shape of this sealed room.
I ran my gloved fingers across the lamp on the desk.
A lamp, a wooden desk, a bed, a towel.
I recognize this setup.
‘Company housing.’
It’s the exact same room as when Employee Kim Soleum stayed in the company dormitory.
Every item, down to the smallest prop, has been obsessively replicated.
It feels almost ritualistic, ceremonial in its arrangement.
It’s as if they’re trying not to offend the mood of the Darkness bound by the employment contract, or trying to placate it.
At the same time, I sense that they’re waiting for my reaction…
‘Is this Kwak Jekang’s doing?’
It’s the kind of thing that researcher would do.
I swept my gloved fingers across the desk.
Should I be angry?
My shattered, melted brain tries to think as it used to, but it’s difficult…
‘So then, does this mean that I… From now on, I’m not responsible for the annex basement, but for security in the main building’s underground isolation cells?’
That’s not difficult.
But if that’s the case…
That person isn’t needed.
“…!”
I stared at the badger mask.
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Chapter 213.1
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