After the conversation between Dongrang and Dante came to an end, we followed their guidance and headed for Dongrang's laboratory.
On the way, Dante's gait looked rather dissatisfied... but I'm sure nothing happened, right?
After all, there was no way someone who worked for a Wing couldn't keep up appearances.
"This is the laboratory corridor. Normally, ordinary people wouldn't be allowed in this far... but since this is Dongrang-nim's special invitation... I'll escort you inside."
The corridor of the laboratory was surprisingly crowded.
People in white coats fiddling with complicated-looking machines, or talking among themselves.
The fact that there were so many researchers, when they were usually few in number, probably meant K Corp cared about its ampoules that much.
No, since this was work managing a Singularity, maybe it wasn't all that different from the other Wings.
"Wow... I... wanted to work at a big company like this too."
"Then why not apply to a place like this instead of Limbus~?"
"You're joking, Ms. Rodion? Not just anyone can get into a place like this. Only the absolute elite among elites can come here. Like Ms. Faust or Mr. Yi Sang..."
Mm. Ms. Ishmael's words that this was a place only the absolute elite among elites could reach... weren't wrong. Especially for a high-ranking researcher at K Corp.
It stirred up a strange nostalgia for my old workplace. I didn't want to go back, though.
"So, why did the two of you join Limbus among all those companies? You must've had plenty of options."
"I am Faust."
"..."
...Why does she say it so matter-of-factly?
"And Mr. Yi Sang?"
"I shall ask in return. Manager, why did you join this place?"
"Well, I didn't have a choice."
"...You have answered your own question."
Oh... was that what they called a perfect answer to a foolish question? Sure enough, looking at the prisoners we'd met so far, there were plenty who had had no choice but Limbus Company.
I was no different.
"..."
By the time that string of conversation ended, our steps came to a halt.
We had arrived at the K Corp laboratory, a space thick with silence.
Of course, it wasn't the silence of an empty room.
The particular hush that comes when everyone is focused on their own work. That heavy atmosphere filled the inside of the laboratory.
"Dante, Dante, Dante, look... did you see it? There are tons of snacks in the fridge! Enough that taking one... no, ten, wouldn't even be noticeable!"
...Why is Ms. Rodion so obsessed with snacks when she eats so well all the time?
No, if the snacks in a K Corp lab were meant to replenish sugar, they'd probably be of a very high grade... if I thought of it that way, I might get a little envious.
"Take as many as you like. Mr. Samjo, later pack the pantry snacks into smaller portions and hand them out to these people."
"Understood."
"Amazing, Is, should we start preparing to transfer jobs right now?"
"I can hear everything, Ms. Rodion..."
...Maybe I should use my own money to stock up on snacks sometime.
Charon wouldn't mind if snacks were added to the bus, so I should be able to sweet-talk Vergilius into it too.
I'll have to get off sometime and check whether I actually have any money on me.
"Ms. Rodion, the labor contract..."
"Joking. Ms. Faust. Just joking. Okay?"
"..."
Ms. Rodion's eyes toward the snacks were not joking at all... no, maybe this was some high-level complaint asking for a pantry to be prepared inside Mephistopheles?
"Then, about the request..."
Just as Dongrang was about to get to the point, a brown-haired female researcher cut him off and barged in.
"Now you're even bringing in outsiders... are you giving them a company tour too, Dongrang?"
"Ah. Excuse me for a moment. This is Shurenne. She's the team leader of the neighboring department and my entry-classmate, though her main job is coming over to say things that hurt me."
"I figured someone had to say something about the welfare budget the company allocates to your team being wasted like this."
"Ah, if you're curious about the welfare budget... you'll understand once you receive this year's Best Department trophy. Right, Mr. Samjo?"
"If I were to list every benefit the Best Department receives, I'd be up all night."
"Ah, you're both equally annoying."
...Best Department? They were a much bigger deal than I'd expected.
"Hm, rivals, perhaps? Wherever you go, the more outstanding someone is, the more people envy them."
"Envy is the engine of progress, so the outstanding side should endure it. The pie we bought with the team dinner budget from that pie shop yesterday—should we send some over to Shurenne's department too, Mr. Samjo?"
"I was planning to do that anyway. Pepper chili lettuce curry flavor."
Wow, Gregor was the one who gave him the opening, but really... really, he had a talent for making people feel filthy.
"Gasp... that sounds... delicious too?"
...You really do only have food on the brain. Should I call that pure and leave it at that...
Maybe if you sweet-talk someone with food, even a strange person might follow along.
"Haha... then, let's continue with the story."
At last, the main point. I'd been waiting for it.
"I heard the rumors. That there's a new company collecting an organic material called the 'Golden Bough.' And that this 'Golden Bough' is only found in a sealed-off Lobotomy Corporation branch."
"How did you learn of the Golden Bough's existence?"
"It wasn't long ago. Until a few months back, we were using the Lobotomy Corporation branch facility near the lab as our laboratory."
"You set up a research institute in that horrible place...?"
Mr. Heathcliff shuddered slightly, probably thinking of the many Abnormalities he'd seen so far.
"B-but I heard it was completely buried..."
"Given K Corp's capital, making use of a buried branch isn't all that difficult."
"Well... there must have been all kinds of rare resources and data left behind..."
Gregor's guess cleared up the question of why K Corp had used the Lobotomy Corporation branch, and around then Faust raised a new topic.
"...Did the research subjects include Abnormalities as well?"
"You noticed. They're beings a researcher simply can't ignore."
"Then all researchers are madmen, then..."
Mr. Heathcliff's words... weren't exactly wrong. If you kept researching something like that, you'd probably need a little madness in your head.
"...Wait. You, don't tell me that back then, when you were spouting nonsense and threw a rock at the chicken head...?"
"Ahem..."
"Mr. Heathcliff sometimes shows unexpected insight. Creating a situation where you all had to suppress the Distortion under the guise of coincidence was to obtain information that could support Abnormality research."
"Our Mr. Samjo isn't very good at acting. Maybe because he's lived his whole life so straight-laced."
Straight-laced? Straight-laced?
"Please understand. For us, there was no way to clearly tell the difference between Distortion and Abnormality. 'When the mind collapses into pieces...' was it called Distortion? That was a cool metaphor. Then did you restore those shattered minds to their original state?"
"There's no way to rebuild a collapsed mind in place of the old one. We showed you the path. Whether you keep staying there or walk toward it was the choice of the owner of Eunbong's Pub."
"Wow, you really know a lot. If I were a little younger, I'd have jumped up and tried to high-five you."
"I'll decline anytime."
"Dongrang-nim, the story is drifting again."
Ah, right, this wasn't the main point.
"Ah, ah. Right. Well... one day, while we were happily researching in the Lobotomy Corporation branch facility, an armed terrorist attack took place there. Very suddenly. Have you ever seen a bomb explode right in front of you? Spectacular, isn't it? Everything began and ended in an instant. Rather cosmic, don't you think?"
...An armed attack on K Corp's headquarters' best research team? Were they a new breed of suicide seekers?
"Which group carried out the terror attack?"
"The identities of the individuals were too varied to identify, and their purpose is also unknown. They only began showing themselves recently. In the end, the laboratory where Dongrang-nim's team had been staying was seized by those terrorists."
"Hm. So the lab was moved at that point, I take it."
Ms. Otis took the lead and carried the conversation forward.
As expected, she usually seemed like a madwoman, but at times like this she was reassuring.
"...How much damage was there?"
At Yi Sang's words, Dongrang quietly turned his head toward the empty seats in the laboratory.
"Those empty seats, you see... will remain vacant for the time being. They died. In that terror attack."
Looking more closely, snacks and flowers had been scattered around the empty seats, as if in mourning.
"Ah, this one barely salvaged a finger, but there was nowhere suitable to keep it, so it's being stored separately. It should be in the display case on the second floor over there."
"..."
A solemn silence drifted through the office, but Dongrang continued speaking as he casually brushed a hand over the empty desk.
"We had to leave behind so much."
"...Dongrang..."
Gregor, who shared the common ground of being an important figure from the same Wing, quietly spoke Dongrang's name.
For him, who had lost so many comrades, Dongrang's situation probably didn't feel like someone else's problem.
"Especially that award plaque I made into a face character. It was a souvenir I really liked."
"...Pardon?"
"Hiss... ah~ this is reaally... I can't tell where the joke ends and the truth begins with that guy."
Gregor, who had just been feeling a sense of kinship, scratched his head awkwardly instead of saying what he'd been about to say.
Hiss... he was a far more insane person than I'd expected. Right.
Should I say that's fitting for a top employee of a Wing...?