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When the squad leader of Squad R died in the “Manor of the Blind” Darkness and a new squad leader was appointed, Go Yeongeun felt a complicated mix of emotions.
'Even if he was a terrible person…'
Thinking that the person who had begged her to save him was now dead made her feel strange. She believed it wasn’t something she had done wrong, but she still couldn’t shake the unease.
Go Yeongeun made a resolution. She would try to build a good relationship with her new superior.
That resolution didn’t even last a day.
“Bumblebee, what’s wrong with this report format?”
After nitpicking every little aspect of their work process, now he was complaining about the report format. Go Yeongeun let out a silent sigh. She could hear Assistant Manager Bumblebee respond from beside her.
“I followed the format we’ve been using—what seems to be the issue?”
“The content doesn’t stand out at all. Make it, what, easier on the eyes. You’ve got ‘assistant manager’ in your title and this is the best you can do?”
So it wasn’t even a specific critique. Just listening to it was stressful.
“Whatever. Redo it and bring it back before five.”
Assistant Manager Bumblebee was silent for a moment before replying.
“Sir, I’m sorry, but we also have to prepare for the darkness we’re entering tomorrow, so I don’t think we have enough time.”
“What? Are you saying you’re going to ignore me?”
“I’m asking you to reconsider priorities. To put it bluntly—if we fail to prepare for tomorrow and all die, will you take responsibility?”
'Go, Assistant Manager!'
Go Yeongeun watched anxiously.
Normally, Assistant Manager Bumblebee’s impulsive and self-centered personality made her hard to get close to, but with such an unreasonable superior, Go Yeongeun couldn’t help but root for her.
When Bumblebee pushed back strongly, the squad leader seemed flustered.
“That’s not what I meant. Why are you talking like that? You have to do everything—this and that. Just because you have work tomorrow doesn’t mean you can slack off on today’s report.”
“Our work isn’t exactly normal, is it? Honestly, we don’t even know what will happen to us tomorrow. Does it make sense to just sit here focusing on reports? Shouldn’t you be handing over the materials from the research team first? What if we all die at this rate?”
Go Yeongeun listened nervously as the two argued.
Fortunately, the leader eventually stopped insisting and backed down.
“Ah… fine, fine! Then finish the report tomorrow and prepare for tomorrow today. I’ll send the materials.”
“…Yes, understood.”
“Tch, can’t even assign work properly…”
Grumbling about the MZ generation, the leader left, and Go Yeongeun quietly let out a sigh of relief before sending Bumblebee a thank-you message.
And the next day.
After reviewing the report given by the squad leader, Go Yeongeun entered the darkness with Assistant Manager Bumblebee and the squad leader.
'A fire station…'
At a glance, the space looked like the inside of an ordinary office building. Nothing about it suggested it was a fire station.
But as explorers moved from room to room, clues would appear.
Emergency supplies scattered around, a wall in the meeting room covered with a densely hand-drawn map marked with fires…
Of course, Go Yeongeun had studied the manual. From the moment of entry, she already knew this building was an abnormally elongated fire station, the types of ghosts and creatures that would block explorers’ paths, how to deal with most of them, and even how to ultimately escape.
If you explored the irregularly connected spaces long enough, you would eventually reach the garage. From there, walking out would yield a D-grade dream essence, while leaving in a fire truck would yield a C-grade one.
However, if the siren sounded while in the truck, you would be overwhelmed by a powerful urge to head toward a “fire scene,” and no one who had followed that urge had ever returned.
'…Still, for the points, we have to take the truck.'
Steeling herself, Go Yeongeun kept walking.
That was when it happened.
“Mom? Are you my mom?”
Ah.
'Here it comes…!'
It was one of the entities listed in the manual: “the child looking for its mother.”
Fortunately, thanks to recent successful explorations, the manual included a method for dealing with it.
Though many entities existed in this building, a “firefighter” had never once been seen. If you told the child that their mother had gone out on duty and wasn’t here, the child would become dejected and quietly disappear. Sometimes it even left behind an item.
'So, Assistant Manager Bumblebee will probably handle this…'
And indeed, the child seemed to have fixated on Bumblebee.
“You’re not my mom?”
The child approached instantly.
“Have you seen my mom?”
“Your mom? R-right. Maybe she’s at home? Why don’t you check there?”
Bumblebee responded, clearly flustered.
Go Yeongeun was taken aback.
'Assistant Manager Bumblebee, not memorize the manual? That's not like her.'
In any case, they needed to fix the situation. Stepping forward, Go Yeongeun said,
“Hold on, that’s not—”
But the child had already reacted.
“Why would my mom be at home? Why are you lying? You’re not a firefighter, are you? Then why are you here? You came to yell at my mom!”
With the last words, the child entity transformed into a massive shadow and slammed Assistant Manager Bumblebee into the wall.
The Assistant Manager's neck struck the ceiling and snapped. Go Yeongeun gasped.
The shadow vanished as if it had never been there.
All that remained was Assistant Manager Bumblebee's lifeless body and Go Yeongeun.
From cadaver labs in medical school onward, Go Yeongeun had seen many corpses, and thought she was used to it. But it was different when it was someone she had worked with for months. Just yesterday, they had been chatting over coffee. Now she lay pale and lifeless in front of her.
“Oi, what happened to Assistant Manager Bumblebee?”
The squad leader approached from a distance.
“She dead?”
The casual tone made Go Yeongeun grind her teeth. She forced herself to answer calmly.
“Yes, she has died.”
The leader clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, she should’ve done better…”
Emotion surged up. Go Yeongeun couldn't help speaking her mind.
“The time constraints probably made it hard for her to fully study the manual.”
“Oh, that's not it. I gave her last year’s version.”
For a moment, Go Yeongeun thought she had misheard.
“…What?”
“I gave her last year’s. The year’s clearly written on the cover, but she didn’t ask for the latest one. So, she didn’t check properly.”
“…Are you saying you deliberately gave her the outdated manual? Why would you—”
“That Bumblebee, she kept missing the importance of little details and didn’t take it seriously. She needed a harsh lesson.”
Go Yeongeun realized he was referring to the report format incident. An indescribable emotion rose up in her throat.
“…How is she supposed to learn anything? She’s dead.”
“Well, she should’ve done it right earlier. You, though - you do better from now on, okay?”
After patting her shoulder as if encouraging her, the squad leader turned and walked into the next room.
Go Yeongeun stared at the ceiling, screaming silently.
After many twists and turns, they finally reached what appeared to be the garage. Thankfully, there was a fire truck.
'Finally…!'
This horrible day was ending. Go Yeongeun hurried after the leader.
But then -
'A groan?'
It was clearly a woman’s voice. Go Yeongeun circled the truck and approached the fire pole.
A person was impaled on it.
The surreal sight shocked her. But at the same time, part of her mind was already calculating.
'Lower left abdomen. Diameter under 10 cm. No signs of severe blood loss. Then—'
The person could be saved.
Go Yeongeun ran to the pole.
She heard the squad leader's voice coming from behind her.
“What? Goral, what are you doing?"
“She’s still alive!”
Go Yeongeun shouted, quickly looking over the person.
It was a woman with white curly hair dressed in a suit. She vaguely recognized seeing her at the cafeteria a few times.
“I think she’s one of us! If we cut the pole - Squad leader, can I borrow the cutter yarn item -”
“Goral, Goral. Do you have points to spare?”
"What?"
Only after answering did Go Yeongeun understood what the squad leader meant.
'So… because if we return with her, we'd have to share points with her, let's leave her behind?'
The anger she had been suppressing surged up again. Go Yeongeun spoke coldly.
“Squad leader, you go ahead.”
“What?”
“I said, go ahead.”
“Goral, are you insane? Talking to your superior like that?”
Go Yeongeun thought - this person backs down when you go strong. Later he'll try to mess with me, but I'll worry about that when the time comes.
“If you won’t lend me your item, then just go! Can’t you hear me?”
“You… we’ll talk later.”
'Whatever!'
Ignoring the squad leader, Go Yeongeun pulled out what she needed from her bag. Soon after, she heard the vehicle leave.
Squad R leader had a yarn item that could cut through most metals like butter. With it, rescue would have been instant.
Instead, Go Yeongeun took out a glue-stick item. She applied it around two points on the pole.
After a moment, the ponts on the pole turned purple. Go Yeongen took off her jacket, wrapped it around her hand, and then struck between the points with her fist.
It took several tries, but the pole broke, leaving the middle empty.
'Phew.'
Now came the hard part. Go Yeongeun crouched down and slid her arms under the woman.
She realized that at some point, the woman had stopped groaning. Fear struck her heart.
“Don’t die! Hold on!”
There was no response.
Gritting her teeth, Go Yeongeun lifted the woman. She pulled her body free from the pole and quickly blocked the hole in her backside with her leg.
"Keep hanging on!"
Go Yeongeun carefully put down the body so that the blood and organs didn't spill. She quickly began emergency treatment. Luckily, she had a stapler item that was several degrees stronger than a normal stapler. Although it wasn't made for medical use…
'If I just keep her alive long enough to reach the infirmary, they'll take care of things with potions.'
After the pole was pulled from the woman's abdomen, where it had supernaturally cleanly pierced her, the woman's suit quickly began to be soaked with blood.
It was a race against time now. Go Yeongeun undressed the woman and began sealing the wounds with the stapler.
“Don't you dare die! If someone has to die, it should be people like him! People who treat lives like nothing - people like that deserve to be executed. Torn to five pieces, like they did in Joseon!”
Having sealed the wounds, Go Yeoungeun finally took out the little bit of extra healing potion she had from her last visit to the infirmary and fed it to the woman. Although it wasn't as effective as a regeneration potion, it would do its part to alleviate inner organ damage.
She had done everything she could on the spot. Go Yeongeun lifted the woman with some difficulty. Thankfully, the woman was smaller than her, and so it was possible to carry her.
"We just have to get to the infirmary now. Just a little longer!"
Go Yeongeun staggered out of the garage, carrying the woman.
The woman was quickly taken to the infirmary. Go Yeongeun was ordered to go home for the day.
On the way to the dorms, Go Yeongeun reflected on her day.
A colleague with whom she had worked with for months had died - and for barely any reason at all.
Now all that remained in the R squad were her and the squad leader.
'He won't let this go…'
She had already made a weakness for herself by leaving the Darkness on foot, earning a D-grade dream essence instead of a C-grade one.
'It'll start with him nitpicking everything. Then he might move on to withholding the manual from me, too…'
Just thinking about it made her feel hopeless. How was she supposed to handle this?
But today hadn't been a day that was only filled with death.
'I saved someone.'
Go Yeongeun looked down at her hands.
'With these hands, I saved someone's life.'
She had long abandoned the dream of saving people's lives with her own hands. But then, suddenly, this had happened.
Go Yeongeun felt tears well up.
She quietly walked home, sniffling all the way.
The next day.
Go Yeongeun went to work worried.
'I wonder if she's okay…'
Of course, since the woman was immediately moved into the infirmary, she'd probably be fine. But there was always a chance that things might have gone wrong. Go Yeongeun planned to visit the infirmary during lunch and check.
'If I even get the chance during lunch, anyway…'
She sighed internally.
Just thinking about how much the team leader would harass her for a while was already exhausting. How many reports-for-the-sake-of-reporting, how many formats-for-the-sake-of-formatting would she have to produce… how much he’d nitpick and make her life miserable…
'Honestly, I can put up with all that…'
The real problem was that he might just leave her to die in the darkness.
At that point, she actually sighed out loud.
'How am I supposed to secure the latest manual…'
Having arrived at the office, Go Yeongeun opened the door.
Squad R's office was still dark. She must have been the first one to arrive.
Reaching out to turn on the light switch, Go Yeongeun suddenly blinked.
'…Do I smell blood?'
For a second, she thought - did the squad leader pour blood on my desk to torment me?
It was a ridiculous idea but that was what first popped into her head. Only after that did she have the more rational thought - maybe she had stepped into a Darkness.
Deciding to be careful, Go Yeongeun looked around inside the dark office.
Something was rolling near her feet. Go Yeongeun opened the door wide, letting in the light from the hallways.
It was a human head.
It was the squad leader’s head.
Go Yeongeun was so shocked that her legs nearly gave out. Forcing herself to stay composed, she backed out of the office.
Through the wide-open door, the hallway light spilled in, revealing the inside.
The floor was drenched in blood. Near a chair, something that was unmistakably a human arm lay discarded. And by the copier, that - that was clearly a leg. Between them, clumps of organs were strewn about…
Realizing the situation in an instant, Go Yeongeun sucked in a sharp breath.
The squad leader had been torn into five pieces.
The white haired woman’s name was Lee Seonghae.
She had been the top of her batch, just like Go Yeongeun's batchmate, Kim Soleum. She was now a supervisor at the elite Squad C.
She was such an elite that she had left the infirmary within a few hours.
“Your fortunes have turned,” the infirmary staff had said to her, smiling.
"Everyone says that Supervisor Dolphin from Squad C always pays back her debts."
After conducting their own investigation, the research team ultimately concluded that it was a “safety accident.” They claimed the squad leader had violated the usage guidelines of the cutter yarn item and ended up cutting his own body apart.
Having seen the body herself, and having also witnessed many times just how cleanly the cutter-string item could slice through things, Go Yeongeun found this conclusion hard to accept.
Go Yeongeun was given a day off while the office was being cleared out.
The next day, she received notice of a department transfer.
Squad R was being temporarily dissolved due to a lack of personnel, and she would be reassigned to Squad C. It was said that a member of Squad C had strongly recommended her.
“Nice to meet you! You’re Goral-nim, right? It’s our first time actually talking like this!”
The person Go Yeongeun had saved with her own hands was offering her a handshake. With a trembling heart, she took it.
“Hello, Supervisor Dolphin. My name is Go Yeongeun. I look forward to working with you.”
“Oh, you don’t have to be so formal! Just call me Dolphin-nim!”
“…Yes, Dolphin-nim.”
Lee Seonghae was smiling brightly at her. Go Yeongeun steadied her nerves.
'I have to say it.'
If she didn’t say it now, she felt like she would hate herself forever.
“Dolphin-nim, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Oh! Yes! What is it?”
“Um… about what you did for me earlier.”
Without realizing it, Go Yeongeun clenched her fist.
“If you did that to repay me… I didn't need that.”
Even though the squad leader had been a horrible person, the thought that he had been torn to pieces because of something she said made her feel sick.
“That’s… that’s not repaying a favor…”
“Huh? Oh! That?”
Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae tilted her head, then seemed to realize what she meant and continued.
“Everyone misunderstands that. I wasn’t trying to repay you, so you don’t have to feel burdened!”
“…What?”
Lee Seonghae continued in a bright, lively tone. Her green eyes shone vividly.
“I believe bad people should all be punished. He treated a good person like you badly, didn’t he? To the point where you were sick of it. Then he deserves punishment.”
“…good, person?”
“You’re a really good person, Goral-nim. You saw someone hurt in the darkness and saved them!”
There was something oddly off about the way she phrased it.
“I recommended you because I wanted to work with a good person!”
Gradually, Go Yeongeun understood.
It wasn’t because she had saved her. It was because she was someone who had saved a person that Lee Seonghae liked her.
And it wasn’t to repay a favor to Go Yeongeun. Lee Seonghae had killed the squad leader simply because, from what she heard from Go Yeongeun, he seemed like a bad person.
So, there was nothing personal in it at all.
As that realization settled in, a sudden sense of dread crept over her.
“Um… could it be that the opening in Squad C…”
“Oh, Assistant Manager Leopard?”
Lee Seonghae let out a small sigh.
“Well, it was about time he got due punishment, too.”
“…!”
Go Yeongeun realized.
This person perceived the world in a way that was fundamentally different from her own.
She'd saved this one person’s life - and because of that, countless others would lose their lives at her hands.
Then what was it that she had done…?
“I’m sooo happy to finally be working with a good person!”
Lee Seonghae said with a bright smile.
“Welcome to Squad C! Please take care of me!”
