Chapter 18.3

Chapter 18.3

A-squad consisted of three people wearing a butterfly, praying mantis, and teal duck mask.

Then, the person wearing the teal duck mask from A-squad spoke up.

It was the voice of an energetic, older woman.

“Oh, so you’re that famous Employee Kim Soleum?”

“Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I instinctively bowed my head, but cold sweat started to form.

‘That’ Kim Soleum? What kind of rumors are circulating about me?

“Right, right. If we get the chance, let’s meet sometime. You’ve got a bright future ahead, kid.”

The woman passed by me and took her seat.

...That must be the leader of A-squad.

Assistant Manager Eun continued explaining.

“And... the ones without the gold marks on their masks are the Y-squad.”

“......”

Three people wearing masks without gold marks, plus the new employee with the cow mask that I recognized. There was a somewhat gloomy atmosphere surrounding them.

“The leader of Y-squad isn’t a manager, just a regular employee, but don’t worry about it. Just stay quiet.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I already knew that, too.

Supervisor Park whispered to me.

“Um... Roe. The people you met today from the other squads, especially the Y-squad, just keep things light with them, okay? I’ll tell you why later.”

“Yes, sir.”

I nodded without question. I already had a rough idea of what that ‘later explanation’ might be.

But suddenly, Supervisor Park sitting next to me seemed touched.

“Huh. Honestly... I love that you’re like a more tactful version of the section chief.”

“I think so too.”

“......”

Was that... a compliment?

“Alright, if everyone could take their seats, let’s get started with the briefing.”

Kwak Jaekang stood in front of the board without even turning on the prompter.

“I was going to explain the ghost story you’ll be entering today, but...!”

Kwak Jaekang let out a chuckle.

“The truth is, we don’t know much.”

“......??”

“What do you mean by that, Section Chief Kwak?”

“There’s only one piece of information from a civilian escape!”

“...Hoh.”

In the silence, a few documents were handed out. I looked over the brief page, which was more like a memo.

While playing a board game during a club retreat at Hanmaeum-gadeuk Pension in Gangwon-do, all 12 university students went missing.

The board game in question is presumed to be a creation of Cheerful Research Institute* under the trademark ‘Cheerful Theme Park! ~Joyful Fantasyland Adventure~’.

The survivors stated that the board game was ‘already placed inside the pension’.

The pension owner denies this.

Result : After 17 hours, some members returned.

They testified to ‘living inside a theme park within the board game’. Various symptoms such as delusions, PTSD, and mild to severe neuroses were reported.

Um?

A sudden thought crossed my mind, and I counted the number of people.

Four with yellow, four with blue.

And those who drew red, like me...

Assistant Manager Jin from A-squad, the new employee from Y-squad that I recognized... and me.

Three people in total.

“......”

Ah.

‘The red team doesn’t have enough players.’

“We’re missing one person,” Lee Jaheon said, turning his vertical pupils toward Kwak Jaekang.

“It seems we can’t enter with just 11 people. We need all 12 to try again.”

“Oh, that?”

Kwak Jaekang casually responded and tossed the capsule containing the game pieces.

“Supervisor Lee, catch!”

He threw it to the gambling-addicted researcher standing nearby.

“Wh, what?!”

The researcher caught the capsule reflexively.

Thud.

Inside, the remaining red piece fell out.

“......?!”

“I...I drew it?!”

Wait a second.

– Departing for Fantasyland~!

The game board shot up into the air, swirling before swallowing our surroundings.

“Uwaaahhh!”

“Hahahahaha!”

I heard the researcher’s scream echoing in my ears, followed by Kwak Jaekang’s laughter.

“......”

I recalled the back pages of Kwak Jaekang’s <Dark Exploration Records> entry on the wiki.

========================

Ghost story-obsessed psycho.

Mad scientist.

When exploring ghost stories with little information, he often manipulates the situation by suggesting dangerous combinations or actions, leading to obvious deaths in order to gather peculiar data. He is a major contributor to expanding exploration records.

For details on

Kwak Jaekang’s disciplinary records, see the

#ExplorationRecords(Supplementary) page.

========================

...I had always been wary that a day like this might come.

“What the— What is this?!”

I had a suspicion when we were grouped with a large number of people, including both A-squad and Y-squad...

‘He intentionally messed up our survival chances.’

This wasn’t about trying to clear the ghost story with the highest survival rate.

The setup was for everyone except A-squad to die.