Rainy Monday afternoon.
The Field Exploration Team D Squad employees scribbled out the situation report at an unprecedented speed, even using the squad leader's ID to approve it on his behalf.
There was one reason.
The newbie who ignored the time-limited urban legend and cleared it anyway!
"It was definitely... three days, right?"
"Yes, it was."
Snacks pilfered from the break room were laid out in front of the newbie lounging on the sofa, while the deputy manager and foreman sat across from him.
They exchanged glances and nodded.
It was finally time to ask the real questions.
"So how the hell did you get out that fast?"
"Ah."
The newbie seemed to ponder for a moment, then answered with an expression that said he'd figured it out.
"I sped up time."
'He's saying it so casually, like he just had lunch...!'
Before they could even voice that thought, the newbie calmly explained his method.
"Since there was a time limit, I figured there had to be some event that judged 'time had passed.' So I focused on that..."
He even detailed how he'd used the expiration dates to trigger the 'time alarm' early.
The bosses listened in silence and thought:
'Genius.'
'No resignations allowed.'
An intuition and logic that pierced straight to the heart of the urban legend?
This was talent born for the Field Exploration Team. He absolutely couldn't escape this team... no, they had to help him settle in properly!
"I'm not the one who should be welcoming you or anything. Deer."
"You'll be overtaking me and snagging deputy manager in no time."
"...!?"
No way to find another newbie like this...!
"When you make it big, don't forget us... and if you score a Wish Grant, come brag about it..."
The newbie looked a bit flustered.
"No, that's not... Actually,"
"Hm?"
The newbie added it like a major confession.
"I did it because I was scared and wanted out fast."
"..."
Was escaping urban legends faster something you did just because they were scary...?
It felt like his perception would get polluted if he thought of it as some escape room game.
'Too humble...!'
But the newbie held firm.
"Next time, give some warning at least. I nearly passed out from fear."
"That's what the guy who cleared it in an hour says...?"
The newbie wore a subtle expression.
"I thought I was gonna die."
'Liar!'
How could someone who thought they were dying pull off a speedrun record-breaker? Even veteran employees rarely attempted that pure insanity.
But separately, he got the sense of betrayal.
'Honestly, it was pretty rough.'
No matter how safe it was supposed to be, getting dropped into a supernatural phenomenon alone wasn't normal.
And he knew just how to soothe that disappointment.
The office worker's cure-all!
The deputy manager sipped her coffee and asked:
"Deer, how much did you get?"
"Pardon?"
"The cash you get for clearing it."
"Ah, yes. Ten million won."
That's right. This F-Grade Darkness rewarded prize money upon clearing.
And the manual explicitly stated:
- Upon clearing a Shade (F) Grade Darkness with a complete company manual, 50% of the incidental profits generated are awarded to the employee as a bonus.
Put conversely, the company took 50% of the money earned from the Darkness using the completed manual.
Plus, the first Darkness assigned to a newbie didn't qualify under this clause!
Since they assigned urban legends proven safe through dozens or hundreds of attempts, the company claimed no hazard pay was needed.
The newbie had already read this manual.
But still.
"Normally the company takes it all, but just pocket it yourself."
"...Pardon?"
Once you had tenure and know-how, there were always ways to handle it as take-home!
Like the splendid company rule exception: 'Clearing with a new escape method doesn't fall under the manual.' Yeah, they could process it all. Definitely.
Getting a fat stack on your first day made everything look rosy!
The deputy manager and foreman warmly passed on the technique they'd both used themselves to the newbie.
"Heh heh. Hold onto it, hold onto it. There's ways to handle it all."
"..."
'It was actually twenty million.'
Kim Sol-eum, who had planned to skim half for himself, broke into a cold sweat.
The joy of inexplicably gaining another ten million and the prick of conscience were fleeting; he ended up following his bosses to their feet.
"You successfully explored the Darkness, so now for the most important part: accruing points."
"Accruing... points?"
"Yeah."
The foreman grinned.
"Employee Welfare Mall points!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Phew."
Being in the bright midday bustle of a crowded city felt this blissful.
No more worries about sleepless nights despite leaving all the lights on.
'Having twenty million in cash in my pocket even brings peace of mind...'
No matter how much he fell into urban legends, this was still 21st-century Korea, capitalist society.
He finally sat at his assigned desk, booted up the computer, and logged into the intranet.
Sitting in the harshly lit fluorescent office on an ergonomic chair, the madness of facing a ghost just moments ago felt like a lie.
His desk even had cute stationery and a big-eyed lizard doll.
'...No wonder it felt used.'
Well, he could only hope the previous owner had quit abruptly after a lottery win and hadn't cleaned up.
Anyway, the Welfare Mall was already bookmarked on the PC, so he accessed it easily.
🛒 WELFARE MALL 🛒Daydream Corporation Employee Welfare Mall
He entered his employee number for quick registration, then hit the 'Point Registration' tab as his bosses had instructed.
Select the grade of Darkness you cleared, enter the name, attach the PDF, and submit.
He did exactly that.
And five minutes later:
⚔ STATUS UPDATE ⚔[Employee Kim Sol-eum / Accrued Points: 100p]
"...!"
The review and accrual happened at an astonishing speed.
'Solo-clearing an F-Grade gives 100 points, huh.'
Whatever his ordeal, it was just F-Grade, so not big money... Better ditch expectations.
Still, points were points, so he checked what 100p could buy.
And he was stunned from the first page.
"...Robot vacuum?"
The items were better than expected.
Special deals were mostly 100p, high-end appliances like wedding registry stuff around 500p.
Even Daydream Corporation's unreleased reagents sold for around 1000p, including over-the-top tech like corneal regeneration potions.
Oh, and hair loss meds that cost 500k out-of-pocket normally? 100p here.
'This is seriously good.'
With rising expectations, he moved the mouse.
Time to check the most important thing.
In the 'Company Products' tab, sorted 'Highest Price First': that glorious name.
'Wish Grant.'
The legendary potion touted as top welfare right after Death Survival ended... its price was:
💎 PREMIUM ITEM 💎Wish Grant: 500,000p
"..."
You've gotta be kidding.
'Five hundred thousand?'
He'd just gotten 100 points for clearing an urban legend...
500,000 points?
'Theoretically... assuming daily solo F-Grades, it'd take 15 years.'
But that wouldn't be easy.
'Things never go to plan in this company.'
Not only couldn't he pick only F-Grades daily, there'd be endless variables.
'Definitely forced into high-grades with teammates.'
Wait, did they split those too?
He dug into the Welfare Mall's point registration for base payouts per grade:
F-Grade: 100p D-Grade: 1,000p C-Grade: 2,500p B-Grade: 10,000p A-Grade: 100,000p S-Grade: Special Review
Additional hazard pay based on in-house special traits.
For urgency, lack of info, extra risks, etc.
'Teams of three, so base three-man clears...'
...150 B-Grade clears?
'Are they sane?'
B-Grade survival for civilians dropped to 2%.
From there, any choice led to death or worse!
150 runs? Regular employees were dead meat.
They'd beg not to go even if ordered. Insane.
High-grade speedruns impossible.
'To boost survival even a bit, gotta invest 10+ years.'
This wasn't some scholar's revenge...
Yet if Field Exploration was the fastest department, others had even slimmer chances during tenure.
With diverse mall items, many in other depts settled for less...
But not him.
His goal was hyper-specific and unreal: return to the original world.
Live here 15 years? He'd shock himself to death first!
'No way!'
Plans, he needed plans.
'Figure out which urban legends to hit and which to dodge.'
Maintain golden safety-efficiency balance, accumulate 500k points fastest.
Deep in grim contemplation, the foreman patted his back.
"Deer, registered? Computer working okay?"
"Yes. Oh, these personal items here..."
"Ah, that's the squad leader's desk."
"..."
No wonder it felt used!
"Don't smash the monitor. Use it easy today, easy."
Was this company really okay?
Letting a newbie temp-use the boss's desk?
'Thinking about it, of course it's not.'
Company that fed people to urban legends for potions. Applying normal 21st-century Korean office sense would just lead to constant shock.
...Time for some loopholes maybe.
"Oh, Deer smoke too?"
"I'm good."
He skipped the bosses' smoke break.
Instead, he glanced at his desk, took a deep breath, and flipped the keyboard.
Sure enough, a Post-it:
[Squad Leader Lee Jaheon / 105105301] ID: yongj1111 PW: dydajflgodks!111
Too common in the company to gripe about security.
'Squad leader... section chief level.'
And actually, from section chief up, there was a certain site accessible...
Handy for high-grade clears.
"..."
After seeing that insane 500k goal, it felt too wasteful to pass up.
Alright.
'Let's do it.'
He steeled himself and reloaded the Welfare Mall.
But not with his ID this time.
ID: yongj1111
Password: dydajflgodks!111
Logged into D Squad leader's Welfare Mall.
Password does not match.
"Hm..."
Fine. Expected hurdles like this.
Hit registration; password requirements show.
'Needs uppercase.'
So tweak the first letter on the keyboard Post-it to uppercase: 'Dydajflgodks!111' and try...
Ding.
✅ LOGIN SUCCESS ✅Welcome, Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
'Got it!'
He clenched fists under the desk. Most discreet office celebration. Though he was alone anyway.
Now, what he needed from this page... a phishing link of sorts.
The infamous 'Alien Shop.'
[Darkness Exploration Records] had plenty of alien urban legends, some selling goods to Earthlings via clunky communication.
'No malice, but creepy or dangerous from our view.'
Mostly comedic, one of the rare wholesome ones.
Commercial mindset too. Targeted users with demand for their wares...
Even seeded ransomware on Daydream's intranet.
'Visible only to section chief and up as mall ad phishing.'
He remembered how to access perfectly.
'Spam-click random stuff in Welfare Mall, then hit back button five times in a row...'
Click, click, click...
Beep.
Suddenly, a small green hand appeared in the corner of the Welfare Mall screen.
A pixelated left hand waving like a greeting to draw eyes.
A speech bubble popped up above it.
👽 ALIEN AD 👽1st Anniversary Thank-You Sale! ~80% Off Is your job boring? >>Click Wanna get stronger? >>Click Want cool stuff? >>Click
'Cheesy.'
Like ancient internet banner ads.
But click that crude thing and...
The intranet magically opens an external site, hijacked to the alien shop.
So tempting, but!
'Hold back.'
Right-click copy link instead, paste into Excel, snap with phone.
'Company PCs log everything.'
No good leaving 'clicked alien ransomware' traces. Especially on someone else's account.
Moments later, as bosses returned from smoke break, he nodded casually in greeting.
"Deer~ When squad leader's back from field work, let's do a welcome dinner. On the company card."
"Yes. Thank you."
And he waited till quitting time.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Historic first day at work ended that evening.
But his work wasn't done.
"Let's do it."
After depositing the twenty million, he headed home.
Now, in his bedroom, using phone gallery's alien shop phishing link photo, image analysis to copy text.
Fixed garbled bits, opened browser, pasted into address bar.
"Whew."
Deep breath... Enter.
Click.
Complex link loads, page shifts.
Similar to Daydream Welfare Mall at first... then glitches out.
New page loads.
Like early 2000s web: raw underlines, fonts.
👽 UNIVERSE SHOP 👽※Cool Stuff from Outer Space※~!! >>View Items
Pew pew pew. Green UFO spun in the corner.
'Really cheesy.'
But don't let the tackiness fool you.
Click 'Items' for bizarre supernatural goods.
...Bizarre prices too, starting at millions.
...Inflation from creators' egos: 'Gotta be pricier!'
Yesterday's him couldn't afford any, but...
'Got twenty million now.'
Heart raced. Buying fiction-world items? Pure dopamine.
"Whew."
He finally clicked 'Items'.
Screen loads.
🛒 ITEMS 🛒Vampiric Cutlery - ₩14,999,999 Wider Walkie-Talkie - ₩4,999,999 Alice Picnic Set - ₩11,999,999 We Help You! - ₩66,666,666 ※Discount!※ Silver Coin Serpent - ₩4,999,999 (Orig. ₩19,999,999)
"...!"
Over half familiar.
Luck finally turning!
'Yes!'
In glee, he recalled details.
Vampiric Cutlery.
Fork and knife set that sucked victim blood to grow bigger, sharper. Growth weapon.
Wider Walkie-Talkie.
Toy radio for remote comms even in urban legends. Great with teammates.
Alice Picnic Set.
As name implied, Alice in Wonderland themed food.
Drink doubled item effects temporarily; cookie halved them. Set.
That's what he knew.
Last two unknown, but 'We Help You!' intriguing title aside, way over budget. Skip.
'Silver Coin Serpent on discount.'
Buying discounted felt like a win.
"...Hm."
He crossed arms.
Weapon, comms, buff potion, discount item...?
Budget: twenty million.
What max profit here.
"Alright."
He decided and clicked.