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They were merely meant to be transporting the item.
Part of the Darkness story required the transportation of an item from one place to another, much like Little Red Riding Hood taking lunch to her grandmother.
A simple task, but also a new and unknown method assigned to D-Squad by the Research Team. Kim Soleum thought that it was another ploy by Head Researcher Kwak Jegang to make trouble, as it was suspiciously easy for a team of D-Squad’s calibre. But he was familiar with this D-class Darkness, and while it was frightening, it wasn’t quite so bad with the rest of D-squad with him.
What Kim Soleum hadn’t known was what Darkness object they were transporting in the thin cardboard box they had been instructed not to open.
The dangerous part so far was of them being chased by small, rodent sized shadows with sharp teeth and claws through a moonlight forest of dense trees. It meant Kim Soleum tripped over a section of tree roots that he swore hadn’t been there a moment ago, and the box within his arms went flying up in the air.
What tumbled out in mid-air was a shining tablet which looked like it was made from fragile glass, and could be easily shattered the moment it hit the forest floor.
“Roe Deer!”
Kim Soleum went down hard, the breath knocked out of his lungs entirely even as his eyes remained on the falling object, and despite the pain and bruised ribs and knees, he reached his arms up to grab for the object before it could hit the floor.
Another pair of hands appeared in his vision as well, and both he and Falcon managed to grab the delicate object before it impacted, as she also went tumbling down to catch it with him.
“Falcon!”
Hands grabbed at Soleum’s shoulder, dragging him up almost violently as Manager Lizard moved to put himself between his team and danger, and Badger pulled Falcon up on the other side, nearly dragging her along entirely.
A moment later, gloved hands used a thick handkerchief to grab onto the glass tablet, wrapping the item up before slipping it into a cloth drawstring bag.
“Run.” Manager Lizard said flatly, and Kim Soleum stumbled a step before he caught himself and ran, just as the shadowy rodent figures nipped right at his heels.
His ribs felt bruised, his hip definitely so, and he was sure that there were bloody scrapes across his knees, but he felt strangely energised despite gasping for air.
“Wait,” Falcon wheezed, although Badger did not respond to her squirming, instead swinging her right up onto his shoulder as she shouted in pain. “Wait just a moment, I-I—”
“No time!” Badger called out as the group continued running, although Kim Soleum soon broke free from the Team Leader’s protective grasp to hurry forward himself, feeling agile despite his injuries.
He might have had his breath knocked from him, yet somehow he felt lighter as if it were easier to breathe in general—
“This way!” He called out as he spied a narrow passageway through the lumbering, twisting woods.
The others quickly followed his direction and swerved, managing to slide between the shadows of trees as the swarm of dark rodents continued to scurry forward like a flood, covering the forest floor and the trunks of trees, sometimes even stripping bushes and grass bare until there was nothing more than naked earth and clawed roots scratched pale.
The group hid in the cramped shelter of dirt and roots, and Soleum peeked his head over the roots slightly to keep an eye on the situation. As the danger quickly passed, he finally pulled his gaze back to his team.
Falcon had both hands over her mouth, breathing heavily with her eyes suspiciously shiny even in the dark. In contrast, Badger looked quite worried at her unusual behaviour.
“We should go,” Soleum said, only to be pulled down by a steel grip on his arm.
“Wait,” Manager Lizard said, his hair and the white mask on his face so pale it nearly glowed in the limited moonlight that filtered through the trees. “There may be stragglers.”
That made sense.
Yet…
“We should go while we have the chance,” Kim Soleum objected. “While there’s an opening.”
Falcon breathed out a shuddering breath. “Let’s… let’s just stay for a minute. Let me catch my breath. I-I don’t know why, but it feels like… gods, I can barely move.”
“Was it that thing you touched?” Badger asked with worry, hands hovering near her but almost afraid to touch from the way she was visibly trembling. His gaze turned to Soleum. “Roe Deer? Do you feel any different? Shortness of breath? A hard time moving?”
Soleum pressed a hand against his chest, hard enough to feel his own heartbeat.
“No,” he said simply. “Not at all.”
It was the truth. He barely noticed the blood along his palms from where he had scrapped the skin against rough tree roots. Instead, he wiped the blood and dirt off on the side of his trousers. He thought it was best to get the mission over with, but didn’t mind waiting if it meant Falcon needed a minute to catch her breath.
The current danger had passed, after all.
“I-I don’t know what it is,” Falcon said, pressing a palm against her forehead. She had her shoulders hunched, barely visible in the darkness, her hair falling forward to cover most of her face. “Gods, I haven’t felt this way since… I can’t catch my breath.”
Manager Lizard tilted his head, questioning, “An illness?”
Falcon shook her head, and then held out her hands, trembling even in the darkness. “Nervousness? Fear? Worse, somehow. My limbs don’t want to work, I can hardly breathe, and it’s like my body is locked stiff. My heart, my brain— everything’s horrible.”
“Is it a pathogen?” Badger asked worriedly, and then asked Lizard, “Did that object contain some kind of curse?”
Lizard looked over at Kim Soleum.
“Roe Deer. How do you feel?”
Soleum took account of his body.
“Bruised.” He said easily. “A little hungry. Tired. Maybe impatient. I would like to finish this mission and tend to my wounds when we get back.”
In fact, his heartbeat was rather calm and stable.
Lizard gave him a long look, and Kim Soleum stared back.
“Actually…” Badger interjected. “You…. sound a little strange as well, Roe. Maybe you’re also affected, even if it’s not as bad as Falcon.”
Soleum shrugged. Maybe?
Instead, he asked Falcon, “Can you continue?”
“No,” Badger continued thoughtfully, “actually, you don’t sound like yourself at all, Roe Deer.”
Falcon shook her head, and then paused and forced herself to slowly nod.
“Oh god, oh god, if I have to,” she mumbled, and then shook her head again, “I don’t know if I can actually run. I can try but I don’t think it would work—”
“And you really don’t sound like yourself, Assistant Manager,” Badger observed, his tone pitched with worry. “Team leader, I think we need to examine that object.”
Lizard pulled open the drawstring bag, and then carefully reached in with a gloved hand to touch the handkerchief wrapped around the fragile tablet.
“I don’t think we should do this out in the open,” Falcon whispered, her voice now trembling. “I’m not sure that… oh gods, I’m not sure of anything. What are we even doing here?”
“The best way to resolve everything is to complete our mission,” Kim Soleum interjected. “Rather than wasting time here. I don’t think it affected me. I can go on my own to finish the mission and then we can leave.”
He reached for the tablet, only to have the object pulled out of his reach by Lizard.
“Roe Deer,” Manager Lizard said, expression blank behind the mask. “Do you intend to leave the team behind?”
Kim Soleum frowned. No, of course not. But wouldn’t it be better to finish the mission first and then they could take their time with whatever was bothering Falcon? He knew this Darkness, he understood the danger level, and he knew his own capabilities. He could do this. It made sense. He wasn’t going to leave the team behind, but he could manage this.
“What the fuck,” Falcon said quietly and covered her face with both hands, rubbing hard at her skin. “I feel like a rookie. No, I feel worse than I did in my first Darkness. D-do you think— what is that tablet, anyway? That damned scientist, I’m going to— I don’t know, but I’m sure I can do something to make him feel bad about doing this to us— shove him in a Darkness, maybe. See how he likes it.”
Although he would like to finish this mission quickly, even Soleum was growing concerned over Falcon’s strange behaviour.
“Manager,” he said calmly, “I won’t take the tablet and run. May I study it?”
Badger startled. “Wait, is that a good idea—?"
Lizard handed the item over to him easily.
Soleum took the glass tablet solemnly, frowning. It was certainly suspicious, especially with the way Kwak Jegang was grinning from ear to ear as he ordered another scientist to hand them the package. Was it a curse? It didn’t look familiar, and the glass was smooth with a slight iridescent sheen as if alit from within.
There was no inscription, no jagged edges, nothing but a heavy glass-looking object about two centimetres in depth and perhaps a handspan in length and width. Smaller than he expected.
He raised it up for a little more light, bringing it closer to his face to examine as he frowned.
“Hey, hey, careful now,” Badger whispered, “Don’t touch it needlessly, Roe!”
-Oh, how interesting!
The voice made Soleum hum quietly in agreement.
‘Do you know what this thing is, Braun?’
The pink rabbit plush in his blazer pocket, which had originally been quietly observing in amusement previously, made an interested noise now.
-I do believe I’ve seen something like that before! Mr. Roe Deer, you always find such entertaining items. This Braun would love to receive a fun artefact like that. Do you think I could have it?
‘That might depend on what it is.’
-Oh, it’s nothing dangerous! With all of your knowledge, I’m quite surprised you haven’t come across this before!
The other three waited as Soleum turned the glass tablet around, pretending to be engrossed in his examination.
‘What does it do, then?’
-Are you not already feeling the effects?
…He was.
It was jarring to be confronted with the fact that despite the familiar rush of adrenaline through his veins, something was drastically different. He was behaving drastically different from his usual.
A glass tablet, a glass tablet…
A glass tablet that… made him calmer? Shook Assistant Manager Falcon in such a way that Soleum had never seen from her? Something Braun claimed was not dangerous, and would want because it was entertaining…
Oh. It was hard to see in the night, but there were slight discolourations on the surface… a sheen reminiscent of oil on water, in the shape of handprints. Where he and Falcon accidentally touched the object, perhaps?
He wanted so badly to pull out his phone to do a search.
Glass tablet. Not dangerous. Handprints. Causes… personality changes?
Oh.
Without the Memorial Popsocket to aid his memory, Soleum could not remember the exact code of the item, but thinking about it, there really was a minor Darkness item within the <Dark Exploration Records> that fit the description.
He hadn’t recognised it because the wiki had described it as an irregularly sized glass key.
While this Darkness referenced a glass key, he hadn’t made the connection to another glass key from a separate entry which had a very interesting side effect.
Meant to play different roles in a Darkness in the shape of a fairy tale, the key was not dangerous and had the potential of altering a person’s state of mind and personality for a short period of time if touched.
If more than one person touched the key, then their mental state and portions of their personality may be switched for a duration.
Then he…
Kim Soleum could feel it. A vague trace of irritation made more prominent by exhaustion and slight pain, and a wariness that urged him to hurry and complete the mission to get the team out. Impatience at having to wait, but a lenience because that impatience was irrational and his team was important to him— so if someone needed to rest, then by god Soleum was going to let them rest and guard the place while at it.
But the usual terror he felt about being in a Darkness… was gone.
His hands were not trembling while he carefully held up the key.
Across from him, Falcon was hugging her own arms, body language clearly conveying her frustration. While Soleum gained her composure and mental fortitude, Falcon was nearly petrified by her new levels of anxiety and fear.
Yet despite that, she remained calm in an all-too-familiar way, and was in fact stilling her tremors second by second.
By the time Soleum lowered the key, Falcon was steady.
“Alright,” she said with a tinge of resignation. “I’m ready to go.”
It was incredibly impressive to witness.
-It certainly is, Friend!
‘...Doesn’t it feel strange to talk to me now? When I’m not myself?’
-On the contrary, you are indeed still yourself. Perhaps you are just seeing how you look from the perspective of another role. It’s good to get an outside opinion and see what the audience may see!
“Are you sure?” Badger asked carefully, hovering a little fretfully. “If we’re not being chased anymore, then it might be best to take this time to gather our bearings. I haven’t seen or heard any running water in this forest at all. And with the limited light… we could set up camp and continue our search in the morning. With the rats gone—”
“I’d rather not stay in this Darkness any longer than I have to!” Falcon quickly protested. She brought her hands together as if in prayer, pressing her fingers together hard for a long moment before she relaxed, breathing out quietly before looking up. She then ran both hands through her hair to push it back, and by the time her hands dropped again, Falcon’s expression was calm.
“We have to lead those rats to a large body of water to drown them, right? That item will mean something when we do that, and then we can leave. Team Leader—”
“Yes.” Manager Lizard confirmed. “That is what the manual says.”
“We don’t know what happened to you,” Badger interrupted, directing his words toward Falcon. He then caught Soleum’s eye. “You or Roe Deer. It would be dangerous—”
“Badger,” Falcon interrupted flatly. “I am not staying overnight in this Darkness. I will die of a heart attack long before I die of any monster rats.”
She had a hand splayed over her chest, her fingers slowly gripping into her shirt.
“I want to finish this and get out. I’ll worry about the side effects of this later, when it’s actually safer to worry about one thing at a time.”
Perhaps it was the influence of Falcon’s personality bias (did emotions transfer as well?), but he thought Falcon was doing very well.
Then again, Falcon before today shouldn’t know that the Roe Deer rookie of D-squad had such a hard time controlling his fear. In a distant and analytical part of his brain, he acknowledged that her knowledge now may bring trouble in the future, but the priority of studying what to do about that was shoved underneath the necessity of successfully completing this Darkness first.
Similarly, any unexplained knowledge he had was deemed as a secondary priority by comparison.
Thinking about the story that involved the glass key, Soleum looked up at his teammates, feeling the weight of his mask on his face.
“I know where we’re supposed to go.” He says.
—
The Darkness this time had to do with fairy tale elements, and was deemed relatively safe as it was easy to pass— it was almost a courier mission, first requiring a team to find a specific item within the Darkness, before slotting the mission piece of the story where it was supposed to go.
Dark Exploration Records / Ghost Story
/ Pin the Tail
[Pin the Tail]
: A ghost story featured in < Dark Exploration Records >
: Daydream Inc. identification code — Qterw-D-664
An early stage D-Class Darkness molded to various popular children stories such as fairy tales and cartoons. A straightforward ghost story with a key item with special properties which change depending on the story.
2.8 Exploration Records (up to 14 entries)
1 instance of Sleeping Beauty
: 4-man team transported a glass key in the shape of a spindle to a dilapidated castle in the middle of the forest.
2 instance of Snow White
: 4-man team sent to hunt down forest animals until they find a glass deer heart in attempts of fooling a queen with ■■■■ (2 recorded deaths)
3 instance of The Magic Gem
: 4-man team sent to find a magic gem lost in the river while avoiding wolves.
[Read more]
It was meant to be an easy Darkness, usually meant for teams to train rookies on, or for those recently recovered from serious injuries. A rare instance of Daydream providing some sort of relief for their employees and a chance to get back into the groove of working without worrying too hard about dying to the Darkness.
While not entirely without dangers, it was only those who failed to adhere to the story they stepped in that incurred the wrath of the forest around them. This time, D-Squad had gotten the story of the Pied Piper, leading away a dark sworn of monstrous rats from a gathering of huts into the forest.
Yet thanks to the Research Team’s interference this time around, they had been given a mysterious package they were told not to open, and no flute to lure the rats with.
A test, to see if an item from a similar Darkness could be used in lieu of an item from this Darkness.
So was this now the key item? Was it meant to be the flute they never found? Yet it didn’t look anything like a flute, but rather something closer to a plate. If the Darkness was actually as easy and straightforward as the records proclaimed, there shouldn’t have been any deaths in this low-rated Darkness.
Why send 4-men teams just to collect an item? Why did some teams experience casualties?
Because it wasn’t always setting up the beginning of the fairy tale, and they weren’t always playing the characters they thought they were!
Following on the trail of dirty and gnawed roots left behind by the ravenous rats, D-squad soon came across a rocky terrain at an upward incline where a small hut was built, with even the trees leaning away from the stained and darkened wood.
Badger swept a weak flashlight over the clearing, the beam just bright enough to illuminate without being seen from too far away.
Unlike usual when Manager Lizard would lead the way, this time Kim Soleum went ahead of the others, a hand rising to tentatively touch the near rotten wood, feeling for the doorway before he pushed lightly.
What was a door opened easily to reveal a yawning darkness beyond.
It wasn’t merely a small hut, but a facade built to hide a cavern entrance.
The creak of the wooden door echoed down the cavern, the sound a call accompanied by a chorus of dripping water down various length stalactites a long distance down.
“Is this… where we’re meant to lead the rats?” Badger asked quietly as the team examined the darkness of the cavern. The weak flashlight could see nothing at all beyond the doorway.
Falcon huddled close to Manager Lizard, her breath somewhat stuttering and uneven, but her spine straight and stiff. Had it not been for the pale clamminess of her skin and her previous breakdown, even Soleum might have been convinced that she was as unaffected as usual.
The moment he glanced over at her, he saw her steady eyes staring directly back at him with an unwavering focus.
She knows.
Soleum turned his gaze away, giving Badger a moment to exclaim about the wet smell of the cave.
He had deliberately turned conversation away from the effect of the glass tablet, hoping to later come up with a believable explanation as to what both he and Falcon experienced without inferring that the surge of fear that washed over Falcon was what he normally felt.
If he could just say something like… the tablet turning their sense of fear topsy turvy, then he could even prove it if someone were to ‘accidentally’ touch the tablet on their own. All he would have to do was ensure a typical Daydream employee ‘bump’ into the tablet, and with the amount of people in Daydream with personalities that were both self-serving and lacking in a proper fear response, then it wouldn’t be difficult for Soleum to build a lie—
No, no, that wasn’t like him at all!
-Ahh, is it starting to wear off already?
Yes, his heart was beating a little harder now, a twinge of unease expressing itself at the idea of such a lie. He’d never be able to maintain it!
‘How long is this supposed to last?’
-Perhaps an hour by your standards, although it would depend on the person, of course! Good for an episode of fun, without extended consequences. It is quite the interesting artefact, and a harmless one!
-Unless, of course, the artefact breaks before the effects fade entirely.
Wait.
Did the effects… stay, if the tablet was broken in the interim?
He slowly curled his fingers into a fist and then relaxed them, repeating the process several times as he thought.
He could… stay unafraid like this.
Yet he would never subject Falcon to his usual fear if given the option.
“We’re not meant to lead the rats here,” Falcon spoke up, voice only trembling the slightest bit. “Can’t you see? They were the ones who led us here. What kind of pied piper are we if it’s the rats that lead us?”
Soleum turned toward the team leader.
“Do you hear…?”
Red eyes stared unblinkingly back at him. “Yes.”
From the depths of the darkness, there were more sounds. Movements. Flesh against stone, against moss, sometimes slipping and sliding. Careful footsteps.
“Oh.” Soleum breathed out as Badger’s flashlight beam found the vague shapes at the edge of the light, the reflective flashing of eyes watching them from the dark.
Dirty and bruised, but they were unmistakable.
Children.
Human children.
Dozens and dozens of them of various ages, crowded together in this cavern until there was barely any space between them all.
“We’re past the part of the story with the rats,” Falcon observed softly.
The story of the pied piper was a simple one: a man with a pipe-flute arrives at the little town of Hamelin besieged by rats and claims that he can solve the rat problem for the town. The major is so grateful he promises a handsome reward, and the piper dressed in colourful pied clothing plays a song so beguiling that all the rats of the town come out from their homes and hiding spots to listen, and follow the man as he slowly leads them away into the forest where he eventually drowns them.
The act is so magical that when it is done, Hamelin’s mayor would refuse to dispense the reward when the piper returns, claiming that it was trickery— the rats must have been the piper’s, evidenced by how he trained them to follow him.
When it was evident that hewould not get what was promised, the pied piper next played a song during the night which beguiled all the children of the town to follow him, leaving only those who could not hear him, could not see where he was going, and could not keep up with the other children.
And those children… were never found again.
D-squad’s part in this Darkness wasn’t to lure the rats away.
In fact, the children had already been lured away as well.
They were already at the end of the story…
And all that was left was for the pied piper to drown the children.
—
The thought must have occurred to each of them simultaneously, as it was Falcon who stuttered out, “Wait! Wait, this can’t be what we have to do, can it?”
At the outburst, several of the children in the cave flinched back, although there wasn’t much room for them to retreat.
Manager Lizard took the flashlight from Badger, and aimed the beam up toward the cavern ceiling where numerous thin stalactites were dripping water steadily. The beam of light then swept down to the ground, where the steep slope downward could be seen leading deeper and deeper into the cavern.
The children stayed at the edge of the light, which must be at least ten metres away and also more than three meters lower than the cavern entrance.
They were more than knee-deep in water.
The last group who thought they didn’t have to play along to the fairy tales did not make it out alive.
“It’s a Darkness,” Badger said. “They’re not real.”
Yes, Soleum thought, and took a step forward to see better, only to be held back by Falcon’s iron grip on his arm.
He looked back to see her staring at him with intense eyes, the falcon-faced mask doing nothing to hide her pale and clammy skin nor the tension around her mouth that matched the tension of her grip on him.
“This is the water.” Lizard observed.
“Yes, there does seem to be a lot of it—” Badger said, only to stop for a moment as he realised something. “Wait, is this— the water?”
D-squad had been looking for a river or lake in the forest since they arrived, and found nothing that would make storybook descriptions. They wandered nearly a full hour before they were found by the swarm of rats, and then chased like the small monsters were out for revenge.
They most likely were, if D-squad was meant to play the role of the pied piper.
-Oh, now this is a dramatic ending to a good story! The revenge of the piper— deciding whether it is the children who die, or whether the creatures he harmed will win instead!
“What if we get them out?” Kim Soleum spoke up, still running on this strange new false bravado. Falcon’s hand tightened around his arm, likely to leave a bruise later. “What if we can send them home?”
The sound of dripping water was like a speedy metronome, a chorus of staccato beats now signifying a deadly countdown.
There were multiple choices. They could do as the Darkness requests and push the children back into the caverns far enough that they all drown, or they could even just wait out the steady drip of water. With the amount of stalactites, it was like a running faucet already, and all they would have to do was guard the door through the night to ensure no one ran away.
They could even leave—
Although that option felt less feasible, especially with the promise of shadowy rats patrolling the area around the cavern. Would they disappear once the children died?
No, he was missing something.
“We can’t deviate from the script,” Badger reminded him. “You know the consequences for that.”
That’s right, there were other teams who had casualties in this D-class Darkness because they thought they could change things as they wished.
“How do we…” Kim Soleum stopped before he could infer pushing the children into the water. It didn’t feel right to say, not with dozens of eyes watching him from the dark. It was eerie and yet it didn’t seem right to either step forward or back. As the others looked at him, Soleum shrugged helplessly.
-Hmm, will you do it yourself or let the passing of time do the deed for you? Indeed, what is the most— what would you call it? —humane way of ending this story?
“Don’t,” Falcon said quietly.
The beam of light spun around, and for a moment the cavern was scarily dark, especially with the knowledge that they were being watched by so many silent children, as Badger checked outside the door out into the nighttime forest. He breathed out an aggrieved breath and then pointed the flashlight back into the darkness.
“We can’t leave.” He said. “We seem to have been surrounded.”
Could another option have prevented this situation? Kim Soleum thought, but didn’t worry too much about it. After all, it felt more like the narrative was pushing them toward the finale of the Darkness, so that one way or another, they’d have to complete the mission or fail to do so.
“The rats?” Manager Lizard asked to confirm, and Badger made a noise of affirmation.
“We could just—”
“Don’t.”
Falcon interrupted yet again, this time with more force. As the others grew quiet and looked at her, she shuddered now hearing the unmistakable sounds of rats outside, and water inside. Kim Soleum could feel her shaking from the hand on his arm.
It was a shaking he was all too familiar with, and one that it seemed Falcon hadn’t yet the experience to hide entirely. A pang of sympathy hit his heart.
“...You can’t last here all night,” he told her quietly, because of all people, he knew it. The fear was better, far more manageable when he was with D-squad, but fear was also something he was used to. He understood how it worked, and knew that fear would exhaust her as time wore on, and that she wouldn’t be able to untense, wouldn’t be able to relax and definitely not rest, so long as they were in the Darkness. Sleep was out of the question.
They couldn’t wait for the dripping water to drop the children. Falcon wouldn’t make it that long, or the effect would wear off and Soleum wouldn’t make it that long.
He could feel her gaze even in the dark.
“Yes,” Badger’s tone was worried. “We need to get the two of you back quickly to figure out what’s wrong. That’s the important thing right now.”
More important than whatever moral quandary might come from the idea of drowning children in a ghost story.
“Roe Deer,” Falcon said, voice barely above a whisper so that it was hard to hear her despite standing right next to her. “I keep thinking about it. What you would do. You always think of the strangest things, and take risks that pay off in the end. How do you do this? Why do you do this?”
Kim Soleum gulped.
“Manager,” Falcon addressed Lizard. “I need the key item.”
Manager Lizard tilted his head slightly and said, “You have another idea?”
At the same time, he handed the drawstring bag to her, unfazed by her shaking hands as she let go of Soleum’s arm and took the important item.
“Follow the story, run from the rats, drown the kids,” Falcon said, each word stronger than the last. “That’s all just— distractions, isn’t it? In each and every case, there’s been something more important.”
She pulled out the glass tablet, the shine of it more visible in the darker environment. Badger drew in a sharp breath as she held onto it with her bare hands, but Falcon did not collapse, and did not react at all to the touch of the glass tablet.
Soleum could almost feel Braun chuckle at the edge of his mind.
Comprehension dawned.
“The item is the replacement key,” Soleum said numbly.
Of course it was. He knew that from the start, yet let himself be distracted by his surroundings and the situation happening in front of him. The moment they found the children, it felt like all their attention was focused on them, and on what they had to do.
Was it a form of hypnotism? A mental lure to keep them facing one direction?
He was so determined to do what needed to be done— so sure about seeing things through, that he hadn’t thought about other matters.
“There’s more than one version of this story,” Falcon said, lifting the glass tablet, which took on a slightly smaller shape. “So we’re not bound by only one version of the ending.”
Soleum was nearly stunned to stillness.
“...We’re not the pied piper.”
This was a replacement key, given to them by the Research Team. They never found the true key in this story.
There was a flash of white teeth as Falcon grinned maniacally.
“The rats wouldn’t chase the pied piper. We all assumed it was revenge for their deaths, but what if it was because we were in the piper’s territory?”
With a shuddering breath, Falcon turned and pushed out the door with her shoulder and then lifted the glass tablet above her head as the others followed her, their attention now away from the eerie children.
“Pied piper!” Falcon called out, her voice strong even as her arms trembled from fear. In the dark forest, numerous shadowed rats raced in the underbrush, their claws a cacophony of skitters and scratches. This somehow felt worse than the gaze of the children, as hundreds of rats gazed upon them with eyes that shone in the dark. Falcon ignored them, and said, “We have payment for your services rendered! And extra, for the ransom of these children!”
The story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin was one of morals— but it wasn’t about the morality of drowning children. The piper only ever took the children because the town reneged on their word to him.
It was about keeping promises. Paying dues.
This was in theme with the story.
In her hands, the glass tablet, the key to the story, transformed into the shape of a bullion.
And everything in the forest went silent.
—
The research team was very interested in them when they reappeared, although thankfully the head researcher, Kwak Jegang, seemed to have been called away at that moment.
The glass tablet disappeared in the Darkness, and Soleum subconsciously flexed his hands as he felt his familiar exhaustion and anxiety gnaw at his mind. His expression fell into his usual blankness, even as he saw Falcon— no, Eun Haje, breathe a sigh of relief.
“No, we don’t need any check-ups,” she lied when the researchers swarmed them after Park Minseong said that they might need a doctor for the strange incident that happened during the Darkness. “Whatever that was, I’m fine now that I’ve left the Darkness. What about you, Mr. Roe Deer?”
Kim Soleum nodded, still feeling a little disembodied from the experience. He reached a hand up to touch the pink bunny plush in his blazer pocket. “Yes. I’m fine as well. Just some scrapes that I’d like to patch up myself.”
“Same here,” Eun Haje agreed, her tone now a mixture between nonchalance and irritation. “Can we go now, Manager?”
Lee Jaheon gazed at his team and nodded, belying whatever protests the research team might have.
It was only after they left and could not be overheard that Park Minseong quietly asked, “Are you sure that’s a good idea? They might not be the best choice, but the research team will find out what happened—”
“It’s already over,” Eun Haje interrupted. “And I’d like to go home rather than be poked and prodded for the next few hours. You know how they are! They never have any answers, but they’ll need to take your blood at least three different times ‘just to check’. Didn’t we do a good job today? I deserve a break from that!”
“You did a really good job today,” Park Minseong said, and then fell into a contemplative silence as looked at Eun Haje, and then Kim Soleum. Then his gaze turned toward Lee Jaheon, who was as impassive as ever, and he nodded to himself. “Guess working together so far has paid off! I heard that households start thinking like each other if they live together long enough, do you reckon it’s the same for teams? I wouldn’t mind figuring out a Darkness the same way our rookie does as well!”
“Maybe the next one,” Eun Haje joked, and then said to Lee Jaheon, “Hey manager, I need a smoke break and I’d like to talk with our rookie for a bit. Mind if we meet you back in the office after a few minutes?”
Soleum wasn’t given a chance to refuse as Lee Jaheon nodded, and told them, “Be careful.”
She gestured in acknowledgement, and then gave Soleum a glance as the team parted ways, and she pushed past a set of emergency exit doors that led outside the building.
Wordlessly, Soleum followed her.
Outside, the sky was shades of pale orange and pinks approaching sunset, the space outside the doors nothing more than barren concrete with some railings to prevent a person from slipping over the edge and falling by accident.
They were only a few stories up in a small space architecturally meant for an emergency exit and fire escape, and Eun Haje reached into her pocket with a grimace and put a cigarette to her lips, and then wiped her scraped palms against each other as if brushing away the accumulated dirt. She then reached into another pocket and pulled out a lighter, lighting the cigarette before inhaling deeply.
Kim Soleum watched all of this and waited anxiously.
Eun Haje exhaled, shoulders relaxing with the hit of nicotine. She slipped her lighter back into her pocket and gestured toward him with the hand holding the cigarette, and said, “You should look into meditation. Yoga, maybe.”
Yes. Eun Haje had definitely figured out exactly what the glass tablet did.
“I’m not sure I have time for that,” Soleum said simply.
“Make time. Or, I’ll help you make time. You can’t—” she cut herself off with a sigh, and took a moment to smoke and gather her thoughts. “A person can’t live like that for long, Roe Deer. You’ll suffer a heart attack before a monster gets to you. Does it have to do with blood pressure? Should you look after your blood pressure as well?”
He didn’t think his anxiety had anything to do with blood pressure, but Soleum wasn’t a medical expert and never thought to look that up before.
“How was it?” Assistant Manager Eun Haje commented instead after another breath of smoke. She had a strained smile on her face, and bags under her eyes. “Being in my head? I hope you got a break, at least.”
“...You’re a very level-headed person.” Soleum agreed. Goal-oriented. During the last Darkness, he felt calm and focused, at times frustrated but not scared. Even when his heart was pounding, he felt like he had a reign on himself and could figure out how to get out of a situation. He was surprised by how protective he felt toward the team, even. “You’d make a very good leader, Assistant Manager. You’re very brave.”
She scoffed, and then moved to lean against the railing, the sunset against her back. Like this, her features were shadowed, although her eyes gleamed under the light of her cigarette as she gazed at him.
“I don’t think I can stand to be called brave by you.”
Soleum shifted, and felt as if exhaustion from the Darkness, from running in the forest, from trying to figure out what to do and coming up with nothing, from the dulled panic he felt around the researchers and the persistent pounding of his heart so loud that there was a buzzing in his ears, finally hit him all at once.
He leaned against the side of the building, legs suddenly trembling.
…Well. Better now, than in the middle of danger.
“No,” Kim Soleum muttered, staring down at the dirt on his shoes. “You know how I feel now.”
It must have been such an unfair trade. Soleum got her observation and her cold calculation, but she had only gotten his fear and his weaknesses in that Darkness.
“Yeah,” Eun Haje agreed, and then took one last long draw from her cigarette, which had already burned down to the filter, and then threw it down and crushed it under her foot. She exhaled smoke and said, “You have the most amazing focus I’ve never even dreamt of, Soleum.”
His breath hitched.
What?
“Absolutely tunnel-visioned,” she continued fondly. “Or is it the opposite? Your ability to ignore anything and everything for the end goal is amazing, and terrifying. I’ve only ever been able to think like that on my most creative days. I think I miss it already.”
Eun Haje crossed her arms, gaze turning up toward the sky.
“I would have thought that someone that— scared— wouldn’t be able to focus on his surroundings, yet for you it’s the opposite. You can’t help but notice everything. It all becomes a race. Ahhh…” She made a sound of frustration, and reached to muss up her own hair in deep thought.
“Now I’m worried for you, you know? Some of these Darknesses… it’s not a race, but a marathon. And I don’t know how long you can last like this. If you were trapped in anything for more than a few days, the mental exhaustion would be unbearable. You’d start making mistakes that might be irreparable.”
Soleum was quiet.
She was right.
“I won’t tell you to quit this job, even though I’m thinking it,” she tapped at her temple. “If you’re working this hard, then there must be a good reason.”
No, she wouldn’t say it, but Soleum now knew that Eun Haje would be mentally calculating whether Kim Soleum was going to be a burden to D-squad in the future. She would be composing scenarios to figure out how much she could take before he was considered useless in her eyes.
He didn’t feel insulted or disappointed by it.
Eun Haje’s mind was very organised, everything carefully catalogued and weighed.
“I don’t know what it’s like for you outside of a Darkness, so I hope that it’s much better, but… Soleum. If you don’t take time to relax, then I’ll be forced to ask our esteemed team leader to knock you out regularly.”
Soleum startled.
What? No, that didn’t make sense— She should be asking for a replacement—
“Yoga classes, for sure,” she said, “I’m sure Minseong wouldn’t mind joining. If we make it a team activity, we can get compensation for it.”
She shook out her arm, grimacing. “I could use the stretch.”
“But I—”
“I only know about the yoga studios around here. Pilates, maybe? It’d be best to find a meditation class, but I can’t say I’ve seen that around. Should I look it up? What do you think? Would Lee Jaheon join us if his team all took the same meditation or yoga class?”
Kim Soleum imagined the lizard attempting a yoga pose, and his thoughts stuttered. When he finally looked up, Eun Haje was smiling at him with her arms crossed, silhouetted against the fading sun.
Her lips quirked into a smirk, an eyebrow raising as if asking ‘did you think I would abandon you?’
For a moment, Kim Soleum felt a thick lump in his throat. His face felt flushed and his eyes heavy, and he resisted the urge to rub at his face.
Instead, he said, “I’m not flexible at all.”
“All the more reason for the classes!” Eun Haje moved back toward the exit door, patting him on the shoulder as she got close. “It’ll be good for all of us. C’mon. I’ve talked at you enough, I think. Let’s go back and make the other two write the reports for us.”
Kim Soleum choked back a laugh, and followed D-squad’s Assistant Manager back into the building, letting the door click shut behind him.
“...Yes, let’s.”