The question and answer with the mirror ghost, a single exchange granted as a reward for winning rock-paper-scissors.

Of course, the truth revealed by urban legends isn't always pleasant.

It might not be to my liking.

Or it could be completely useless.

It could be either of those.

For example, if you asked when humanity would go extinct, it might answer "Long after you're dead."

'Well, that's still the truth.'

So if I were to ask "How can I return to where I originally came from?", it might only give an extremely brief and vague word as an answer.

Rather than that, it was better to find out if the method I was currently aiming for could definitely send me back to my original world.

'Daydream Inc.'s Wish Token potion.'

My heart raced.

The glass pane appeared excruciatingly slowly, ready to answer any truth.

It said...

You can return. Without fail.

A very definite affirmative statement.

"...!"

I slumped down with a deep sigh of relief.

'Wow.'

It feels like all the tension is draining away.

...To be honest, I was... worried that I might get a very ambiguous or negative answer.

I tried not to think about it, but sometimes... I had doubts.

- What if even the Wish Token potion can't send me back?

- What if I set the conditions wrong and it gets fulfilled in some weird way?

But I tried to suppress those thoughts as much as possible.

Because even if I doubted, it didn't change the fact that the Wish Token was still the method with the highest probability.

'Even if I'm anxious, what needs to be done doesn't change...'

And I had to believe unconditionally that the Wish Token could send me back, in order to endure these terrifying horrors and keep working...

"..."

But with this, I can work with even more confidence.

'Let's do it.'

I can do this.

For the remaining Wish Tokens, let's do our best to gather them quickly and safely!

I pulled myself together and stood up.

'I feel my motivation to work surging...'

Quite rare, indeed.

However, I hadn't escaped the urban legend just yet.

'There's still the final step of the ritual left.'

Now that I've safely received the answer, it's time to finish the ritual and return.

Depending on which floor I won rock-paper-scissors on to reach the top floor, what I need to do to safely return differs.

If I came from the 1st floor: Go to the 10th floor.

If I came from the 6th floor: Go to the 11th floor.

The 1st floor was when I smoothly won rock-paper-scissors right away and reached the top floor.

So if I went to the 10th floor, it would end with instructions like 'Go down the stairs to return home, and don't ride elevators with mirrors on both sides for three days.' But...

'...I failed earlier.'

In this case, what needs to be done becomes more eerie and painful.

"...Sigh."

I'm starting to get confused, so I should read the manual provided by the company.

11th floor.

11. If you reached the top floor by winning rock-paper-scissors led by 'someone in the mirror', the countermeasures differ based on how many questions you answered.

First, you must ride the elevator.

I swallowed hard and turned around to stand in front of the elevator doors again.

The elevator was still stopped on the 12th floor, so the doors opened as soon as I pressed the button.

Ding.

With a short sound, the interior of the old elevator with its right mirror shattered was revealed...

At this stage, you must keep pressing the open button while inside the elevator.

Never take your hand off the button.

And face the mirror opposite to the one you played rock-paper-scissors with on your way up to the top floor.

I turned my gaze to the left mirror.

Due to the opposite mirror being shattered, there was no seemingly infinite repeating space inside.

In that dark elevator interior reflected by the broken mirror's scattered reflections...

You'll see something strange.

There I am.

With my head bowed abnormally low.

Wearing a completely worn-out suit.

Eerily motionless.

The ghost I played rock-paper-scissors with.

...

The figure in the mirror slowly raises its head.

The expressionless face gets closer and closer as it looks at me.

Closer and closer.

As if about to stick to the mirror.

You must endure until you hear a sound from the elevator. Don't move or run away. You must keep staring until it's over without fail.

The more questions you answered, the longer this time will be.

I endured.

But there's a limit to everything. Even though there's clearly glass blocking it, it keeps getting closer and closer, endlessly, endlessly...

My hand pressing the open button trembled.

I-I need to think of something else...

'Is that... the one who answered the message I wrote on the glass?'

Yeah. That must be it...

Thud!

I nearly let go of the button.

The ghost has its head against the mirror, glaring at me.

And its mouth moves.

Iwanttogetoutwanttogetoutwanttogetoutwanttogetoutwanttogetoutwanttogetoutwanttogetoutwanttogetoutwanttogetoutwanttogetout

I hastily lowered my gaze slightly to avoid direct eye contact. Cold sweat dripped from my chin.

But piercing through the fear, the effect of the silver ring shines.

Want to get out?

'...Because it's trapped in the mirror?'

My mind was spinning.

'Come to think of it, that ghost... couldn't make the scissors hand shape, right?'

I wonder why?

The reason it can't make scissors.

I tried to recall the hand gesture for scissors in rock-paper-scissors.

Whether you raise your thumb together or your middle finger together.

Usually, no matter which, the image that comes to mind is definitely raising the index finger as the focal point.

And when you recall the hand shapes with the index finger raised in the elevator, there's one action that immediately comes to mind.

When pressing a button.

'...Is that ghost unable to press buttons?'

Of course, physically it could probably press them by punching or headbutting, but this was a matter of concept and imagery.

A ghost trapped in the infinitely repeating mirror world of the elevator.

A completely closed space created by two facing mirrors.

And the warning in the manual for when you fail the ritual by losing at rock-paper-scissors.

From now on, be careful every time you ride an elevator. The thing in the mirror will try to find and meet you.

Could that possibly be...

'...because it wants to get out?'

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthud

Fuck, really...!

I kept thinking while trying my best not to look at the ghost still banging its head against the mirror.

...Maybe.

'Is that ghost trapped in the elevator?'

That's when it happened.

Beep- Beep- Beep-

A signal sounded.

The sound that plays when you've been holding the elevator for too long.

When you hear the sound, immediately exit the elevator and move to the stairs.

Never use that elevator again. It's recommended to put up an "Under Repair" sign until sunrise the next day if possible, to prevent others from riding it as well.

And from now on, when riding elevators with mirrors on both sides, don't look into the mirrors for more than 5 seconds.

It will come looking for you.

If that's the case.

I hesitated, then took my hand off the open button as I left the elevator.

And at the same time, I touched one button.

[1F]

Of course, since it was a mirror, the 1st floor button lit up in the elevator inside it as well.

I quickly ran out through the open doors without looking at the expression of the ghost with my face.

Swoosh.

The doors closed without the force of the open button, and the elevator moved.

[Going down...]

I took the stairs down from the 12th floor to the 1st floor.

As I ran down the old stairs, I think I heard the cheerful sound of the elevator saying "1st floor" and opening...

* * *

"Phew."

By the time I came out of the rental apartment building that was nearly abandoned, it was long after sunset.

'They said time flows strangely inside, and it really was true.'

It was already 7 PM.

I immediately called someone.

[Ah, Sol-eum...!]

It was Jang Heo-un, whom I was supposed to meet at 5 PM.

But despite leaving him hanging for two hours, my apology flowed smoothly.

Because...

"I'm sorry. I told you beforehand that there might be a problem, but you waited too long, didn't you?"

[Ah, no. It's fine. It's a nice cafe! Since you had an urgent matter, it couldn't be helped. I'm really okay!]

That's right.

I had deliberately asked to meet Jang Heo-un at 5 PM.

'If the research team that received reports of me going in alone tried to divert Heo-un to another bizarre urban legend in the meantime, that wouldn't be good.'

That crazy psychopath researcher was certainly capable of doing something like that. Saying things like "Oh, since it's come to this, it would be nice if you could go somewhere else" and such.

'Company life really sucks...'

Anyway, I apologized to Jang Heo-un sitting in the cafe.

And explained the whole situation.

In a way that wasn't too shocking, giving the impression that the research team tried to make both of us do something dangerous and worthless, so I arbitrarily refused.

But Jang Heo-un focused on a different point.

[Wait a minute. Won't this cause trouble for you, Sol-eum? You disobeyed company orders without permission...!]

"Ah, it's fine."

I said warmly.

"As long as you keep it a secret, I have ways to use this."

[...??]

And a while later.

As soon as I came to return the Dream Essence Collector, I was urgently summoned by Gwak Je-gang.

And I shamelessly explained the situation.

"...So, you just left the person from the residual team behind... Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

Gwak Je-gang looked at me for a moment as if he had lost his words, but eventually sighed and burst into laughter.

Of course, not with good intentions.

It meant he found it ridiculous.

"No, Roe! This is grounds for disciplinary action... Did you think you could just do whatever you want in a company? Did Manager Lee Ja-heon say it was okay?"

"No. Manager Lee Ja-heon always recommends adhering to company regulations and field exploration manuals."

"Oh my, if you knew that, why did you do it? Geez, hmm..."

And then he asked in a subtle tone.

"Do you have a strong aversion to your colleague being sacrificed for exploration? I guess it's because you're familiar with him."

I knew you'd say that.

I answered immediately.

"...? Isn't it frustrating?"

"...??"

"Why should I carry useless baggage to a place where I can clear quickly by myself? Well, excuse me, but yes."

"...!"

Gwak Je-gang looked at me with a dumbfounded expression, then hastily opened his mouth.

"No, you could just clear it and then leave them him in the elevator..."

"That's exactly why I'm asking why I should care about such things while exploring the darkness."

I frowned slightly and argued as if I couldn't stand it.

"Whether the employee waiting at the bottom of the elevator might run away, whether they can send it at the right timing, none of that helps with reducing exploration time or increasing solution concentration."

"..."

"Isn't the purpose of field exploration to extract high-concentration solutions as quickly as possible to supply raw materials for the Daydream potion? Why should I do work unrelated to my duties?"

"No, this is also part of the job..."

"Isn't that your job, Manager?"

Gwak Je-gang closed his mouth.

He seemed at a loss for words at my crazy MZ energy.

Even though real MZs are just social rookies entering the workforce, this is all just an act for me!

"So I decided it would be better to receive disciplinary action instead."

"...You think that's more efficient?"

"Yes."

I answered as if it were obvious.

"At least you'll give me disciplinary action during a period when I'm not exploring the darkness."

"..."

Gwak Je-gang is looking at me like he's seeing some new kind of substance.

It's ridiculous even to you, right?

That's right.

'This is the weakness you've been wanting from me...!'

An obsessive efficiency freak who sticks to their own principles!

Thanks to this, I might appear moral, but in reality, I'm just someone who acts antisocially when things don't align with the arbitrary principles I've set for myself.

'Such an extreme personality is usually a weakness.'

If I could consistently prevent Gwak Je-gang's unnecessary probing, taking disciplinary action would be more manageable...!

"Then I'll wait until the disciplinary action is decided."

I left the research lab, maintaining my crazy persona until the end.

'I should go find Braun.'

I felt very satisfied.

* * *

In the quiet office of Research Team 1 after Kim Sol-eum left.

At that desk where all the other employees had gone home, silently organizing yesterday and today's events, Gwak Je-gang...

"Hahaha!"

Burst into laughter.

"Left him behind because it was frustrating? Hahaha!"

How can it be this fun!

If it had been another employee, they might have fallen for it completely.

When overwhelmed by those extreme statements and swayed by the impressive results, everything can sound plausible.

But...

"I've observed people a lot, you know!"

Actions are more important than words when it comes to people.

And predicting patterns of other actions based on those actions is one of the joys of this job...!

"Ah, this is delightful."

Gwak Je-gang finished his notes with a grin, got up from his desk, and headed home with a light step.

Bang.

His humming briefly echoed in the office before disappearing with the sound of the door closing.

Only a few pages of documented materials remained on the desk he left behind.

[Kim Sol-eum / Supervisor / Field Exploration Team]

It was Kim Sol-eum's profile file.

Below it, a memo scribbled by Gwak Je-gang could be seen...

Characteristics (Predicted with significant probability)

1. Kindness.

2. Cowardice.