…The phrase ‘I’m glad you’re alive’ carries two underlying premises.
That the speaker knows the other person.
That the speaker had assumed they were dead.
All of this pointed to one conclusion.
The Security Captain had recognized that the taxi driver—me—was actually Kim Sol-eum, a field exploration supervisor who had been declared dead.
‘…Since when?’
I checked the Security Captain sitting in the backseat through the rearview mirror.
He wore a worn-out security uniform like casual clothes, with his cap pulled low over his face.
His face wasn’t clearly visible.
But somehow, he seemed relieved.
Suddenly, I recalled something Supervisor Park Minseong had said.
“ – Captain Jay from the security team sometimes asks about you. I never told him you disappeared into the darkness… but a few days ago, it seemed like he already knew.”
A Security Captain of his tenure must have already seen countless rookie field exploration team members from Daydream Corporation disappear.
Still, since we were at least acquaintances, it seems he was worried about me….
‘I’m grateful… and sorry.’
Moreover, he recognized me but chose not to acknowledge it, quietly waiting instead, considering the situation. That was surprising.
Of course, given that I was currently acting as a corporate spy, I couldn’t afford an emotional reunion.
Besides, Director Ho seemed to have already figured out that Team D knew about my survival. I couldn’t risk raising the stakes any further.
‘The Security Captain isn’t the type to go around talking about seeing me.’
A subtle hint when he gets off should be enough to keep him quiet.
After sorting things out in my head, I spoke in the most polite taxi driver voice I could muster.
"Whew, what a night… I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Sir, you said you were headed to Seoul Station, right? Should be about a 40-minute ride…."
"Ah, about that… I don’t need to go anymore…."
"…Excuse me?"
Without thinking, I looked at the Security Captain through the mirror.
He met my gaze in the mirror and gave a faint smile.
"Because there’s no longer a reason to go…?"
“…….”
Wait a second.
“ – Uh, am I saying this right…? Please take me to Seoul Station, high-speed rail.”
Seoul Station, high-speed rail.
…This place was known publicly as where I had gone missing. It was also the departure point for the Tamna-bound high-speed train into the darkness.
‘No way.’
No, that couldn’t be. I fixed my eyes on the road ahead.
But still… I couldn’t help but ask.
"Ah, did you decide to meet the person somewhere else?"
"Not exactly… I already met them."
“…….”
"It’s fine…."
Ah, damn it.
So he really came looking for me?
‘Even though he can only go out at night.’
I had been missing for over a month, declared dead long ago. And yet, this man, just because we had some acquaintance, had come at dawn, chasing my traces, planning to take the high-speed train… What a thought.
Perhaps it’s because I knew his story from before he joined the security team, back when he was a well-known team leader of Team B. Somehow, that made me even more grateful… and emotional.
And it made me hesitate.
“…….”
At this point… maybe I could trust him.
‘…The Security Captain was never particularly loyal or passionate about the company to begin with.’
Then.
I checked once more.
"Ah, sir. Are you on an official trip? Does the company reimburse taxi fares for you, or maybe track your location…?"
"Hmm… No. They don’t know."
The Security Captain stated it firmly.
"They don’t care about me that much anymore… These days, they let me go out more freely."
“…….”
Good.
"Then, how about taking a little drive with me before sunrise?"
“……!”
I turned off the car’s navigation system and set the route on my personal phone.
The destination… A location accessible through the keywords ‘empathy, attention, toys.’
The laboratory housing the prototype devices of Daydream Corporation.
***
I parked the taxi at our destination, and as soon as I got out with the Security Captain, I called out to him.
"Jay."
The Security Captain wasn’t surprised and simply lifted his head.
But he did look somewhat relieved.
"Ah, so the taxi wasn’t tainted by the darkness after all…."
"…What?"
"If you took the high-speed train… you could’ve been corrupted and then reassigned as a driver for another supernatural vehicle…?"
“…….”
Wait. Did he seriously think I had been so contaminated by the ghost story that I’d become a cursed taxi driver, and was just going along with it?!
‘If things had escalated, he might have actually dragged me out of the taxi.’
Cold sweat trickled down my back. I was glad we got out before the misunderstanding went any further.
"That’s not the case. But… thanks for worrying about me."
"Yeah… That’s a relief…."
‘I nearly had the rare experience of getting swallowed whole by an urban legend….’
I sighed inwardly in relief and locked the taxi door after the Security Captain got out.
Then suddenly, a question crossed my mind.
"By the way, why did you suddenly catch a taxi in the middle of the mountains?"
Don’t tell me… he was planning to walk all the way to Seoul Station and got lost….
"The mountains?"
A confused voice.
"I… was in front of the company."
“…?!”
The explanation that followed went like this.
As expected, the Security Captain had absentmindedly started walking toward Seoul Station from in front of the company.
Since it was so early in the morning, public transportation had stopped running, and he had forgotten how to call a taxi.
And then he found it.
A strangely eye-catching taxi.
"And then I heard the radio…."
“…!!”
"When I heard the radio, it reminded me of the time I took a taxi…."
So, acting on impulse, he followed and flagged down the taxi.
…There was only one possible explanation for this.
‘…Brown!’
A manipulated space-time and a spotlight effect.
If it was the work of the horror show host, it was chillingly impressive.
And the way the Security Captain recognized me was just as impressive….
"By smell."
“……!”
"I have a good sense of smell…."
That was a very convincing statement… for someone who had clearly been contaminated by an animal-themed ghost story.
Anyway, I had a rough grasp of the situation. I shook my head once and moved toward the nearby area.
A place I intended to show the Security Captain.
"This way."
A door disguised as a manhole cover, leaning against the wall in a narrow alleyway.
"It’d be better to go inside and talk in detail."
Then, I opened the door and descended inside.
"Oh…."
With a lifeless sigh of admiration, the Security Captain trudged down behind me. The moment he saw the nameplate on the laboratory door, he froze for a second.
Dream Incubation Room.
“…….”
"This place… is part of the company…."
"I don’t think so."
I opened the laboratory door to show the Security Captain inside.
"But it does seem to be connected somehow."
“……!”
Among the people I knew, he was the one who had worked at the company the longest, was most deeply involved, yet had no personal stakes in it.
The former leader of the elite Team B looked at the foundational research lab of Daydream Corporation’s pharmaceutical technology, his gaze darkening.
"Do you see anything that stands out, Jay?"
The Security Captain, who usually moved sluggishly as if he had no motivation, was now scanning the laboratory with sharp, precise movements.
Even his eyes seemed like those of a different person.
"Uh, there are a lot of unusual objects here, so please don’t push yourself too hard."
No response came.
He even skimmed through the research logs that I couldn’t bring myself to read—until a strange black shadow began to rise above him, making me snatch the documents away in alarm.
“…….”
“…….”
After that chaotic round of exploration, the Security Captain finally spoke.
"Uh… who told you about this place? Was it someone from the company?"
"No, I stumbled upon a hint from another ghost story. When I found it, I realized that, strangely, it didn’t seem like something belonging to Daydream Corporation."
“…….”
"It definitely looks like a prototype of the same technology, though."
The Security Captain affirmed with silence.
"Do you have any guesses about this place? Even if it’s just partial speculation, that’s fine."
"…Hmm."
The Security Captain scanned the lifeless, decrepit lab, then spoke with a strange expression.
"Hey. Do you know… that our company disposes of darkness?"
…!!
"No."
I actually knew.
Because I had witnessed that setting being updated multiple times to make it more plausible.
But it would be too strange for a new employee to know such things, so it was better to hear it directly from the Security Captain.
"What does it mean to dispose of darkness?"
"Well… even if people clear it, if no more solution can be extracted… it gets discarded."
I actually knew.
Because I had witnessed that setting being updated multiple times to make it more plausible.
But it would be too strange for a new employee to know such things, so it was better to hear it directly from the Security Captain.
"What does it mean to dispose of darkness?"
"Well… even if people clear it, if no more essence can be extracted… it gets discarded."
“…….”
"Because it’s no longer useful…."
That’s right.
A ghost story that is no longer productive from Daydream Corporation’s perspective.
When darkness loses its supernatural presence, no more Dream Essence can be extracted from it.
In such cases, it is erased from the registry and disposed of, though some darkness is recycled through research, recharging, and other processes.
Losing its ‘supernatural presence’ usually means that so many exploration records have been compiled that the manual is overly complete.
‘They’ve completely figured out the ghost story.’
The sense of mystery and the unknown disappears, and employees simply handle it as part of their daily routine, without tension.
Once all the mechanisms are revealed and there’s no room left for fear or imagination, the ghost story becomes just another reality.
A slightly dangerous reality.
No different from a high-risk industrial site.
Of course, since it was originally a ghost story, some eerie, unrealistic triggers would still remain.
Like the bloodstained and filth-covered research log that the Security Captain was tapping on now.
"Things like this… it just feels like discarded darkness."
Hmm.
So, there’s a high probability that this space itself was originally a ghost story.
If I piece it together….
‘Daydream Corporation extracted pharmaceutical technology from this ghost story… and in the process, it was so thoroughly mined that the story itself disappeared…?’
In any case, it meant that this place was now relatively safe, which was useful information.
"And this…."
The Security Captain picked up a key card lying in front of the Dream Incubator.
A badge I had found on the body of a dead researcher.
Researcher Yu Kwae ■■■■
"Does this say ‘Yu Kwe’…?"
"I saw it the same way."
"Ah, I thought so."
The Security Captain fiddled with the key card, lowering his gaze as he spoke slowly.
"Then… do you know about ‘Yu Kwe Research Institute’?"
“…!”
The moment I heard the specific name…
I realized.
Why I had felt an eerie sense of familiarity with ‘Yu Kwe’.
‘…Cheerful Research Institute!’
*TLN: Previously, due to the blurred text on the employee ID card, the protagonist mistakenly thought that the phrase [유쾌(Cheerful) 유쾌 연구원: Yu Kwe Researcher] was the name of the deceased researcher. However, during the conversation with Captain Jay, the full phrase became clear as "Cheerful Research Institute."
From the mysterious candle kit I had to the theme park ghost story I previously investigated…
I had come across it repeatedly but dismissed it as background information—the origin of those ghost stories.
A group that had been mentioned multiple times in the <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration>.
A ghost story maker.
---------------------=
Chronicles of Darkness Exploration / Factions
Cheerful Research Institute
A mysterious group that creates ghost stories with a toy-themed concept. Its scale, members, and objectives remain unknown.
Products from the Cheerful Research Institute have been discovered in various locations, ranging from horror shopping platforms such as Delusion Home Shopping, Alien Shop, and Today’s Catalog, to old attics in rural areas.
It is frequently registered as a source of darkness in Daydream Corporation. The most famous case is that theme park.
---------------------=
"Well… there are ghost stories that create ghost stories… and the company seems to favor them…."
The Security Captain explained.
That the Cheerful Research Institute is a name frequently encountered within Daydream Corporation.
And then, there was something I hadn’t heard before.
"Apparently, even the very first registered darkness in the company had the Cheerful Research Institute’s tag on it…."
"Huh?"
"…Do you happen to know what kind of darkness that was?"
"I don’t know. I just overheard the directors talking about how it had already been disposed of…."
My God.
"You… remember all of that?"
The Security Captain stared at me blankly.
"I remember everything about the company… all of it."
“…….”
"Other things… I’ve forgotten a lot…."
"…Do you want to remember them?"
The Security Captain pulled down his cap.
"Not really… It’s not like they were all good memories."
“…….”
Maybe he only thought that way because he had already forgotten them.
"I see. But maybe if the opportunity arises, you could try to recall the good memories? Like a favorite dish or a fun place you used to go."
"Hmm."
His voice brightened slightly.
"That… might not be so bad."
"Right?"
I smiled and nodded.
"Thank you for explaining all of this, especially in such a strange place. Not many employees would know that the very first ghost story registered at Daydream Corporation had a Cheerful Research Institute tag on it…."
"They probably weren’t supposed to know in the first place…."
“…….”
Wait.
The Security Captain pressed his index finger to his lips.
"So don’t go spreading it around… unless you want a visit from the security team…."
A chill ran down my spine.
"Of course… since you faked your death and escaped… it might take the security team a while to find you."
“…?!”
Faked my death…? Oh, right.
"Uh, I didn’t actually escape the company…."
“…?!”
"I’m currently part of Director Ho’s project team."
Only then did I quickly explain my current situation.
I conveniently omitted the fact that I had been missing in a ghost story for a month and instead focused on explaining that I was now working under the director’s direct task force.
"I applied because it seemed like the fastest way to obtain a Wish Token."
“…….”
"This is something I shouldn’t even be telling you, so please keep it a secret."
"I have no one to tell anyway…."
Huh.
The Security Captain casually made a sad statement and then stared into space, lost in thought.
"Director Ho… None of the directors in this company are sane, really…."
Yeah. I think I understand that pretty well by now…
"Do you happen to know Director Ho well?"
"No… Director Ho joined after I became part of the security team…."
Ah.
"I’ve seen Director Cheong a few times… but that was a long time ago…."
The Security Captain looked around the area.
"Anyway… don’t tell the directors about this…."
"Of course."
Given that the employee who originally found this facility and reported it to the company is now dead, I have absolutely no intention of doing the same.
But now that it’s come to this….
‘…Maybe I should share more information.’
Since I’ve already shared this location with the Security Captain, and he continues to trust me despite how suspicious my situation is, giving me information in return…
‘Wouldn’t it be better to solidify this trust further?’
I should share what I know as well.
After all, he seems to be a decent person. From the detailed records in the <Chronicles of Darkness Explorations> to the real person standing in front of me now, everything checks out.
‘Alright.’
"…Jay, could you take a look at this?"
I reactivated the dormant Dream Incubator using the key card.
Bzzz, with a soft hum, the panel and glass chamber lit up….
“…!”
"Pressing this seems to produce a syrup similar to Daydream’s potion."
I explained while pointing to the pipes, showing how the Dream Essence was charged.
"In the future, we could also charge Dream Essence separately…."
"That."
A spark appeared in the Security Captain’s eyes.
"The elite team’s collector."
Ah.
"Yes. By chance, I managed to obtain one that was never registered in the company’s system."
“…….”
The Security Captain carefully reached out, barely touching the collector in my hand before withdrawing his hand again.
"They said… they weren’t making these anymore…."
“…….”
Did the Security Captain use this type of collector back when he was in Team B?
"It can’t be tracked… right?"
"Yes. It was never registered in the company’s system at all."
"I see…."
The Security Captain didn’t even ask where I got it from.
He simply stared at the collector, lost in nostalgia, before shifting his gaze to the buttons on the Dream Incubator.
"...Do you recognize any of these icons?"
"No… But this machine itself… looks similar to the ones I saw at the company…."
“…!”
As expected.
"So, the company also uses similar machines to produce the potion?"
"Probably… hmm."
The Security Captain looked at me and gave a faint smile.
"If you’re curious… should I look into it? About the Cheerful Research Institute… and some other things…?"
…!
"Wouldn’t that be dangerous for you?"
“…….”
The Security Captain’s face returned to its usual lack of enthusiasm, and he shook his head lazily.
"It’s not dangerous…."
"Well… if you say so."
"Thank you."
"Yeah…."
And just like that, I gained an internal collaborator within the company.
A little while later.
"Get home safely."
"Yeah."
Before sunrise, the Security Captain made it home safely.
At the end of my conversation with the Security Captain, I pressed a new icon and obtained a potion.
For reference, the one I pressed was… this one.
…I admit that if I had been alone, I would have never pressed this button.
‘Phew.’
Originally, I intended to give it to the Security Captain as a token of gratitude, but he rejected it with a blank stare….
“ – I… don’t need something like that.”
“ – …Alright.”
I’ll just give him something else next time.
I fiddled with the glass bottle in my pocket as I saw the Security Captain off.
…For reference, (though it wasn’t all that surprising) the Security Captain didn’t even have a phone, let alone a smartphone.
I bought a prepaid SIM card from a convenience store, backed up my old smartphone, reset it, inserted the new SIM, and handed it to him.
Then, as soon as the stores opened, I bought a new phone for myself.
"You can contact me through this number."
"Yeah…."
How should I put it? Aside from donuts, he really seems devoid of worldly desires….
‘Is this what happens when someone reaches an advanced stage of contamination?’
I dropped the Security Captain off about a 12-minute walk from the company while heading to return the taxi.
"Ugh."
And just like that, my long night shift was finally over.
‘The Disaster Management Bureau task was also wrapped up nicely!’
I returned the taxi on time and received positive feedback for successfully fulfilling my assigned role!
"Good work."
"Not at all…!"
I had gone through hell, but it was best to deny it here. I ignored my right hand giving me a thumbs-up and bowed slightly toward Agent Bronze
After getting proper rest during my break and learning how to handle the necessary paperwork for a few days…
"Today, you’ll be working here."
Returning to the headquarters of the Disaster Management Bureau, I saw a familiar face once again.
Jang Heo-un.
"Ah…!"
My colleague’s eyes lit up when he saw me, but he quickly bowed, pretending to be formal.
The superior standing in front of him chuckled and extended a hand toward Agent Bronze beside me.
"It’s been a while, Agent Bronze. Ah, so this is the new recruit?"
"Yes, yes…! I look forward to working with you."
That’s right.
Today, I finally get to work in the Field Restoration Unit…!
‘I’ll make sure to prove my skills!’
***
"……."
I failed to prove anything….
