The civil servant and I leaned against the wall and looked toward the end of the hallway.

The end of the hallway where we escaped from, the 1st-year Class 5.

Finally, the moment I had been waiting for.

Blink.

From the other end of the hallway, figures like mannequins appeared.

‘...Three of them?’

One more appeared.

Two male students and one female student.

Two of them, covered in blood, were looking toward us and smiling, while the other one was still standing silently, wearing a clean school uniform.

When the light is on, they just look like grotesque, lifelike wax figures, or people preserved in photographs.

But every time the lights go off.

Blink.

They appear closer.

Continue.

Even if we move further back.

Flicker.

Only as far as the emergency flashlight’s light reaches.

They get closer again, and their stopped figures are revealed under the light.

They do not move away.

Flicker.

“……”

Once the flashlight’s battery runs out.

I can imagine that this standoff will end…

‘Ha.’

Carefully, slowly moving my feet, but my imagination was grabbing the back of my neck.

Eventually, we reached the end of the hallway, a dead-end, and stopped.

And then, at that moment.

[Ding- Dong- Dang- Dong]

“……”

[A fatal accident has occurred in Class 2 of the 3rd year.]

Damn.

[The deceased student is Park Chae-ah from the 3rd year.]

[Let’s have a moment of silence for 5 seconds.]

“Get ready.”

I tightly gripped the flashlight and pressed myself against the wall behind me.

[5]

I quickly shook the flashlight and illuminated all three of them.

Each time the light flickered and returned, they got closer.

[4]

The civil servant and I shone the flashlight on the two entities at the same time.

…Where’s the other one?

[3]

The other one,

Where did it go?

No matter how much I turned the flashlight from side to side, even shining it in the corners, it wasn’t there.

[2]

Time accelerated with my growing anxiety.

Where, where exactly, where…

Ah.

Whoosh.

I lowered the flashlight.

[1]

The light brightly illuminated my feet and…

It illuminated a bloody white hand, just before it could grab my ankle.

A hand wearing a school uniform.

“……”

A student from Sekwang Technical High School, lying on the floor, was looking up at me with a grin.

[The moment of silence is over. We pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased.]

“……”

Slowly, I pulled my foot back.

‘Hah.’

Crazy, crazy!!

If my reflexes had been just a bit slower, I would’ve died.

‘I’ve never played a VR horror game in my life…!’

I never thought I would experience something like this for real.

I slowly alternated blinking to avoid blinking both eyes at once, stepping back.

My limbs were shaking.

Staring at the remaining two student entities, the civil servant said.

“When you leave the floor, usually the students from that grade don’t actively chase you.”

I know.

If there’s still prey left on that floor, it’s likely they’ll head that way…

“Let’s go up the stairs.”

“…We’re not going to the first floor, but up?”

“Yes. This mission is to reach the 5th floor and enter the auditorium if possible.”

What immediately came to mind was the first school broadcast I heard.

“– Sekwang Technical High School students! The graduation ceremony will begin soon. Please gather in the auditorium.”

“…What’s in the auditorium?”

“We still have no information. That’s why we need to investigate.”

Of course.

‘The exploration records collected up to this point are still in the early to mid stages by the standards of the <Chronicles of Darkness Explorations>.’

How many people do you think would have blindly followed the broadcast that said ‘Please gather here’ in the nightmare school?

A few who tried to go up must have been caught by the students and died.

The higher we go, the more daring, unpredictable, and intelligent the students will become in hunting us…

And the bigger problem is,

Never go up to the 5th floor!! Better die below than go up!

– Last recording of the 12th exploration record

…It happens when you avoid all that and reach the 5th floor.

‘Ugh, I really don’t want to go….’

But the saddest part is, I had to go anyway.

Still, maybe I should take comfort in having someone accompany me.

But I can’t just go like this, so let’s make a slight detour for thorough preparation.

“If it’s alright with you, could we stop briefly on the 3rd and 4th floors to check them out?”

“Is there a reason?”

“This seems to have a structure like a horror game.”

“…!”

“In games, obtaining important items for progression is essential.”

I said, slowly climbing the stairs backwards.

“I’m not sure, but if it were me, I’d first search special classrooms… like the music room, science lab, or teacher’s office. I’d also check the graduation album and student records.”

“…….”

“I think there might be clues or keys in props and items.”

I continued to climb the stairs.

As we moved further away from the ‘students’ who had been surrounding us, the range of the flashlight’s beam expanded enough to catch sight of them.

And then, the civil servant spoke.

“Our analysis team also came up with a similar answer. …They said it feels like a game-based ghost story.”

Oh.

“They said the structure, where you run away from monsters in a fictional high school, is quite similar.”

“Ah, I thought the same.”

"But this is the first time I've received such an offer. It's not an investigation into monsters or people, but into objects..."

It seems like the civil servant's eyes brightened up.

Since it was from high school, there were no dark circles under the eyes, so it didn’t look strange.

"Alright. Let's inspect the areas if possible. We'll inform them as soon as more agents join..."

More agents... I'd prefer to decline.

But the civil servant, seeming excited, added one more thing.

"Come to think of it, since you've become a temporary agent, it would be better to refer to each other by code names. Do you have a code name in mind?"

Oh my god.

"Ah, we mostly use historical materials. We need to use uncommon terms to make it easier to distinguish."

'They’re even letting me use a code name?'

It seems like they’re letting me live out every fantasy I could possibly have.

...Ah. If I were to create a named agent from the Disaster Management Bureau in <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration>, was there a code name I’d want to use?

Yes.

But I’m embarrassed enough to know not to bring it up right now…

"...I’ll go with Grape."

"It's a fruit. Simple and good."

I briefly imagined what Braun might have commented.

‘Kind of miss it.’

I continued the conversation, shaking off the absence of the 'good friend'.

"How should I address you, Agent?"

"My code name is Bronze."

"Yes. Agent Bronze."

Agent Bronze, with a faint smile, nodded contentedly.

It was as if they were looking at an intern.

‘I feel like I've been receiving a lot of new recruit welcomes lately... Is it just my imagination?’

Anyway, we persistently bent down the stairs to check if any students were following us until we were completely away from the stairs.

Of course, during this time, one person was still keeping an eye on the upper floor.

And finally, we arrived.

[3F]

3rd Floor.

The floor where the second-year students live.

"...It's quiet."

The students on the lower floor naturally moved out of our sight, but they didn’t appear on the stairs. It seemed like they had spotted someone else and went in that direction…

Still, I kept glancing at the stairs just in case and entered the corridor on the 3rd floor.

Under the bright lights, it was surprisingly clean.

There was no blood, no filth, no corpses, and no one desperately staring at the student, tears streaming down their face.

“…….”

There was no sight of any student either.

And I think I understood why.

‘They've locked all the doors.’

Someone has already locked all the classroom doors.

A chain lock has even been placed in front.

‘...! These must be DayDream employee.’

It was in our manual.

Students wearing the uniform of Sekwang Technical High School show a certain resistance to damaging school property.

When the door is quietly closed and locked without provoking them, it's observed that the student returns to an inactive state, sitting at their desk.

Moreover, if the door is set up like that, there will inevitably be noise when it's opened.

You can perceive it by sound and immediately turn around.

‘It’s a primary safety measure.’

When there are still a lot of people, and the entitie’s movements are restricted, if you move stealthily, there’s quite a lot you can do.

“......”

However, since the corridor was so quiet, we had to be quiet as well.

Those students are drawn to sound.

‘The second-year staff room is around the corner.’

‘Should we crawl there?’

Nod.

We finished the conversation with a very soft whisper and a nod, then quietly crawled along the wall to move unnoticed.

Even so, I didn’t stop watching corners like the end of the corridor or the stairs, where an unidentified object could appear silently.

Cold sweat drenched my back.

‘Just a little more, just a little more.’

Slowly.

As long as I don’t rush, I just need to pass through.

When I had passed more than half of the way,

Aaaah!

……

From beyond the corridor, someone screamed.

‘No.’

If there’s a sound….

Click.

Click click click click click click click.

I couldn’t bring myself to look up.

The sound of door handles being pulled echoed from every locked door.

…The students had heard it too.

Click click click click click click click.

The civil servant and I crawled madly out of the corridor, staying flat to the ground.

And I looked back.

Click……

“……”

“……”

Phew.

Fortunately, the scream was a one-time occurrence, and the sound of door handles being pulled vanished.

However, I could see several shadows staring out the door……

“……”

It’s insanely scary.

It’s a stroke of luck that they’re not looking this way.

I swallowed my saliva.

Still, the comforting part is that I’ve reached the first destination.

[Second-Year Staff Room]

As soon as I turned the corner, it appeared right there.

However, in this staff room, every door was locked with a padlock, and the windows were covered from the inside with something like newspaper, making it impossible to see inside.

It was strangely eerie, but I couldn’t help but feel this relief.

“Please be on alert for a moment.”

The civil servant fitted a thimble-like item onto their finger, then began to insert it into the keyhole of the staff room's padlock.

Despite the hole not fitting, the thimble slipped into place and the padlock smoothly unlocked.

‘Wow.’

The disaster management agency's issued items really do have a certain charm.

“Be careful as we enter, there may still be students inside the staff room.”

And when the door opened.

“…!”

“…?!”

An entirely unexpected scene unfolded.

“Please close the door quietly.”

“….”

“Hurry up.”

I closed the door behind me.

There were no students inside.

Instead, about seven people were staring at each other in a standoff.

Suspicious high school students wearing animal masks and suspicious high school students holding transparent pistols.

They were Disaster Management Bureau agents and employees of DayDream Inc.

‘They’re fighting!’

And in the middle of the standoff, on the table, was a fountain pen.

‘...It’s an item.’

I knew that as well.

The fountain pen of second-year ■■■

It seemed like they were trying to push each other back to claim it.

‘They’re not doing the monster investigation but wasting manpower on this…!’

It seemed like they had only just noticed we came in.

“Agent Bronze.”

A few people who seemed to be agents smiled and looked at Agent Bronze beside me.

However, people with reason, like the agent beside me, probably wouldn’t be able to relate to this situation…

“Let’s join in.”

“…??”

Hold on a moment.

However, the agent had already approached and stood in front of the group of agents.

And I....

“…….”

I’m receiving intense gazes from the people in my company wearing animal masks.

Especially from the two colleagues who recognized my face.

“??”

“??!”

The day I saw Baek Saheon and Jang Heo-eun making the same expression has come.

Their eyes, alternately glancing at the Disaster Management Bureau agency's iron badge and the translucent pistol I held, seemed to be saying this.

‘Why are you here…?’

Meanwhile, the agent calls me again.

“Agent Grape.”

“G-Grape?”

The agent replied coldly.

“Even mocking the codename, it’s so like that company.”

“……??”

This is crazy.

“Please come this way. It’s better to stay away from the door.”

“…….”

‘What should I do.’

I weighed the situation seriously.

And I made my decision.

‘I can’t betray them.’

I eventually walked out and stood next to my acquaintance.

“Yes. Agent.”

Right next to Agent Bronze.

“What is this, what…!”

“…….”

Right. I can’t betray them.

‘I can’t betray my own safety…!’

So it’s done, my classmates.