Chapter 18- Business Performance
It’s over.
Really… Everything is over.
I managed to stand up with Choi Kang-in’s support.
The civilians were still looking at the agency personnel with uncertain gazes, wondering if the situation was truly over.
“…Department Head.”
“…Is it really over?”
However, the agency employees were also just as eager to know if the current situation was truly over.
Their moist gazes focused on one person, hoping he would give them the answer they wanted.
Choi Kang-in also gave them the answer they wanted.
Perhaps, after a brief silence, he gave the answer that even he himself wanted.
He opened his mouth.
“…Situation cleared.”
“Does that mean…”
“I’ll treat everyone when we get back.”
“…”
Everyone fell silent at those last words. But at Choi Kang-in’s faint smile.
Sniff
The employees held back their tears.
The joy of survival.
In a desperate situation where they thought they would die without any chance, they gained the opportunity to meet tomorrow’s version of themselves.
The agency employees didn’t cheer loudly.
Perhaps they were suppressing their emotions due to the civilians’ presence.
Some who appeared to be new employees could be seen clutching their colleagues and sobbing.
…Sniff.
Someone’s sniffling.
This time it was Park Yeon-jeong.
But it wasn’t tears. He sniffed up the blood that had dripped from his nose due to the thousand eyes just now.
Strangely, tears didn’t fall.
‘Perhaps it’s because of these glasses.’
A coldness beyond necessity, as if his MBTI had suddenly gained a ‘T’.[1]
But only the external emotional changes were dulled.
Just thinking about the situation from moments ago still makes his heart feel like it might burst.
His legs felt weak.
Park Yeon-jeong, instead of tears, repeatedly took deep breaths in and out countless times.
“Thank you… thank you…”
“We’re alive. We’re alive…”
Many sighs of relief and sobs could be heard around them. He felt it was urgent to get the civilians gathered here out of the ghost story quickly.
Just in case.
If the conductor regained strength and went wild again, that would truly be the end.
He approached Choi Kang-in, the only one who would believe his words here, and suggested a quick escape route.
“However, since it seems the routes and emergency exit locations we knew have changed, I’m not sure how long it will take to escape.”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Could it be that you know the escape route?!”
Choi Kang-in looked at me with genuine surprise.
“No. I don’t know the exact location either.”
Of course he wouldn’t know.
If he had known, he wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of using thousand eyes to try to escape this place in one go.
“But there’s someone we can ask who would know.”
“…Someone who would know about the emergency exit?”
At his curious gaze, unlike that of a middle-aged man, I unconsciously gave a faint smile.
I immediately called out to someone in the empty air.
“You heard everything, right? Please tell us the emergency exit location.”
…No response.
Well, I didn’t expect them to appear willingly from the start.
“We’re saying we’ll leave this place quietly. There’s nothing more you can do anyway with the conductor in that state, right?”
[…Alright.]
A woman’s voice through the speaker.
[I will guide you to the emergency exit.]
“Good.”
Flash!
As soon as she finished saying she would guide us, a bright beam of light appeared from the floor and stretched out somewhere.
Presumably, following this path would lead to an emergency exit to get out of here.
“Shall we go?”
“…Yes.”
Choi Kang-in didn’t ask me anything more. Perhaps he was avoiding being rude since he was receiving help.
They began moving in large groups following the bright beam of light. Of course, Choi Kang-in was the leader, and with his efficient guidance, they were able to reach their destination quickly.
When everyone reached the endpoint of the light beam on the ground.
At the end of the light beam.
A prop shaped like a door that seemed to be made of large cardboard caught our attention.
It would be a lie to say we didn’t have doubts.
But showing what it means to be a responsible superior.
Choi Kang-in strode towards the cardboard door and.
Bang!
Without any hesitation, he grabbed the cardboard doorknob and flung it open.
Some civilians and agency employees were wary.
Wondering if there might be Red Orchestra members beyond the door. If they might appear again wielding strangely shaped instruments.
For this moment, only quiet stillness flowed, and when Choi Kang-in was the first to confirm the sight beyond the door.
The first thing that caught his eye was.
Crunch.
The sight of the cardboard doorknob crumbling in an instant.
Slightly trembling lips.
Eyes fixed on one spot.
While everyone was watching Choi Kang-in like this.
Even he was clumsy at hiding his emotions.
The words that flowed from Choi Kang-in’s mouth were.
“…Team R.”
“…”
“You remember the protocols well, right?”
At these words from Choi Kang-in, all of Team R clenched their fists.
What their Department Head just said meant.
Team R, who had worked with him for a long time, knew.
They all dropped their guard and answered loudly.
“Yes! Understood!”
All of Team R quickly began passing through the narrow cardboard door with the civilians.
The employees systematically and safely evacuated many people through that single narrow door according to well-practiced protocols.
After all personnel had evacuated, the only ones left in the current ghost story space were Park Yeon-jeong herself, Choi Kang-in, and just two employees.
“…Department Head. We just received word over the radio that all personnel have safely returned to the real world.”
“Let’s get out of this wretched place too.”
The two remaining employees also showed signs of wanting to leave this wretched concert hall as soon as possible, and Choi Kang-in would have agreed with that.
But the reason Choi Kang-in had stayed here until now and held this position until the end probably had several reasons, but.
The biggest reason was.
‘Probably because of me.’
Since realizing the cardboard door was safe, Choi Kang-in had been openly displaying an intense gaze directed at me.
One man’s burning gaze.
That gaze was so intense that I worried if Choi Kang-in might have other intentions.
“…Well then. I’ll be going too.”
Park Yeon-jeong tried to move first, afraid of what he might hear if he stayed any longer.
“…What was your real purpose?”
“Department Head!”
At Choi Kang-in’s sudden outburst, one employee urgently held him back.
“You know better than anyone that nothing good comes from getting involved with ghost stories! And that an intelligent entity capable of communication is more to be avoided than any ghost story!”
Along with the employee’s warning to Department Head Choi Kang-in to be cautious.
I swallowed my tears at my situation of suddenly becoming someone to be avoided. But Choi Kang-in’s gaze remained quite serious.
Somehow, his eyes suggested that if I didn’t answer his question just now, he might pursue me until he got that answer.
Thinking there was no need to leave a bad impression here, I said,
“My objective isn’t you people, but the ‘ghost stories’.”
“……”
“And now let’s really leave. It seems your employees don’t trust me very much anyway.”
This kind tone and appearance should be enough.
If I stayed here talking with Choi Kang-in any longer, seeing how one of those two employees looked like they might pull out an item at any moment.
Whether I liked it or not.
I thought the best choice for my safety was to get Choi Kang-in out of this space quickly.
Step.
So I left first.
After all, we weren’t close enough friends to hold back someone who wanted to go their own way.
The agency would have already received news of R team’s survival.
Now Choi Kang-in had no reason to follow me.
So I moved with an air suggesting I hoped he would go his own way now.
“Department Head. We really need to leave now.”
“…Yes. Let’s go back.”
Yes, please go back!
Choi Kang-in’s voice saying ‘let’s go back’ echoed gently across that large, quiet hallway.
After waiting a bit and taking a few more steps, when I looked back again.
There was no one.
No one’s shadow was visible beyond the cardboard door anymore.
“…Haa. They’re gone.”
Finally, the intruders had disappeared.
Now there truly were no beings that could be called human remaining in this place except myself.
…Steadily.
A man’s gaze stared wistfully through the still-open cardboard door.
…I want to leave too.
Honestly, I’d have loved nothing more than to pass through that door and escape this insufferable concert hall, but.
I clutched the ‘quill pen’ that the announcement gentleman had given me, which I’d tucked into my inner pocket.
…Sigh.
A deep sigh.
I still had things to do here.
Following the bright beam of light at my feet, I retraced my steps.
After wandering the quiet corridor for a while.
When I returned to the stage where all that commotion had occurred.
I found the conductor, who still looked like he might be rolling around with just his torso after losing both arms and legs.
Fortunately, the cross-sections of the conductor’s body, whose arms and legs had been torn off by thousand eyes, were not made of blood and flesh like ours.
Only a deep, empty darkness filled those cross-sections.
It’s a great relief that this conductor doesn’t have organs or similar structures.
If he did, I would have dry heaved dozens more times here.
Step.
In just a few steps, I reached where the conductor’s pitifully sprawled body lay.
Grip.
I held the quill pen in my right hand.
…?
But.
How do I use this thing?
Unlike what the announcement gentleman had explained—that it would automatically write when I subdued the ghost story.
Quiet silence.
I stared endlessly at my awkward right hand.
Just saying ‘automatic use’ but when the situation presented itself. The frustration grew as I stared at the quill pen that showed no change.
Swish.
A strange sound of liquid swirling from somewhere.
And soon, along with the black ink flowing from the tip of the quill pen.
A phrase appeared before my eyes.
『Ink is insufficient.』
The phrase written in black ink said that the ink was insufficient.
Moreover, once written, the phrase began to change its form, and another phrase appeared before my eyes.
『The quill pen specifies the material to be used as ink.』
As soon as I heard the words about specifying the material, my gaze automatically turned to the conductor’s body sprawled on the floor.
『Valid material specification complete.』
『Replenishing ink.』
With the black phrase saying it had found the material. Soon as a drop of black ink falling from the tip of the quill pen hit the floor.
Swoosh!
The black ink instantly swallowed the conductor’s body that had been sprawled on the floor.
Swish.
In an instant, that large body disappeared without a trace, and a highly compressed drop of black ink cut through the air and approached Park Yeon-jeong.
It landed on the feather at the tip of the quill.
『Ink has been replenished.』
The drop of ink that fell on the feather was soon absorbed completely. It began to take the shape of a musical note.
♪.
The man’s pupils dilated as he witnessed this strange sight, and he stared endlessly at the quill pen with eyes full of anticipation for what would happen next.
…………….
…Is, is it over?
Is this the end?
Perhaps because it happened so suddenly. Just as I was expressing disappointment, wondering if it was really over.
【……Conductor?】
The sudden female announcement began searching for the conductor.
【Conductor? Conductor! Where are you, Conductor!……Conductor!!!】
The desperate voice of the announcement searching anxiously for the conductor.
【Without you, we are…….】
Thud! Crash!
Following the desperate voice searching for the conductor, the chandelier fell right beside me.
And then the floor began to shake, followed by the outer walls of the building shaking continuously.
Park Yeon-jeong knows about this phenomenon.
The ghost story that had created this space—the master of this haunting tale—was gone.
It means that the power to maintain this phenomenon has vanished.
Crash!!
This place is about to collapse.
【No! I don’t want to die! Conductor! Conductor! Please don’t abandon us!】
What a commotion until the very end!
In this situation, I might get crushed under the numerous chandeliers on the ceiling.
I need to escape.
…But where to?
[Where else?]
But at that moment.
A familiar and unbearably unpleasant male voice echoes too calmly by my ear.
Clap!
And with the sound of familiar lights turning on.
[Congratulations on achieving your first work performance! Employee Park Yeon-jeong!!]
I returned to the library again.
Footnotes:
1] MBTI refers to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality assessment, where “T” in MBTI stands for “Thinking” (as opposed to “F” for “Feeling”)
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