“What a hassle. This mission is in a far province.”
“Yes, but thepany is providing generous travel expenses.”
That’s right.
This C-grade creepypasta required us to travel all the way to Mokpo to deal with it.
<i>(T/N: Mokpo is all the way down south of Korea in Jeonam-do, a couple cities away from Gwangju. It’s about 3 hours via KTX and one train transfer.)</i>
‘Finally, an out-of-town mission.’
Creepypastas tended to emerge in densely popted areas, so the fact that most of our missions had been confined to Seoul and its surrounding areas wasn’t entirely illogical within thepany’s worldview.
‘Still, it’s strange that we’ve almost never been sent beyond the metropolitan area before.’
Regardless, I obediently followed the two elite sunbaes out of the office and onto the road, keeping a close eye on their mood. Supervisor Dolphin, fortunately, was quite friendly.
“You haven’t moved upstairs yet? You’ll get your own private office soon, right? It’s great for privacy and focus!”
“Yes, I’m looking forward to it, ma’am.”
“Oh, you can speak informally with me! We’re the same rank, after all.”
“Well, you’re my sunbae, and there’s a lot I don’t know yet. I wouldn’t want to be disrespectful. I’ll continue speaking formally, if you don’t mind.”
“Wow. You’re really polite!”
Supervisor Dolphin gave me a thumbs-up, and I felt a bit of tension melt away.
Yeah, she seemed like a genuinely nice person.
‘Let’s try some small talk.’
I smiled warmly and brought up a topic that I thought was safe—someone I had seen sitting next to Dolphin during a previous encounter, during that terrifying creepypasta involving the backhand pping incident.
“How’s Assistant Manager Leopard doing?”
“Oh, he’s dead.”
“……”
“He mistreated a Round-Off Team member and got what wasing to him. Serves him right, but it’s a bit of a waste of points!”
“I see. My condolences to the deceased.”
This person clearly did not have a normal sense of empathy.
‘Someone, save me.’
Thankfully, we arrived at the high-speed train station.
Trying to remainposed, I sat next to Dolphin on the train, maintaining perfect decorum.
From this point forward, I intended to give my utmost respect to the elite team sunbae seated next to me.
‘I must not act overly familiar or casual, even if we share the same rank.’
Avoiding any possibility of being seen as rude was my top priority.
Meanwhile, seated in front of us was Assistant Manager Jin Nasol…
“I’m going to sleep, so don’t talk to me.”
“…Understood.”
Honestly, I was grateful for that.
– Oh, what a group of strikingpanions you have!
Yeah, no kidding.
And the significance of this situation?
‘The two mostpetent non-executive employees in the entirepany have been assigned to apany me.’
In other words, the two most efficient and capable employees were here to witness <i>everything</i> I did.
‘Assistant Manager Eun, how am I supposed to avoid entering the Darkness and sneak away with these two around?!’
I broke into a cold sweat as I realized how full of holes my n had be.
‘I didn’t expect them to assign two elite team members.’
I had been more prepared for the possibility of getting paired with useless coworkers.
Desperately maintaining myposure, I scrambled toe up with a n B.
‘In the worst-case scenario…’
I could excuse myself to the restroom and make my escape.
It would be humiliating, sure, but survival mattered more.
Later, I could return and im that I had identally gotten caught up in another Darkness, which dyed me.
‘If I can find a suitable creepypasta from the wiki, one with an appropriate difficulty level, and clear it while collecting the necessary dream essence, it’ll be believable.’
Being on an out-of-town business trip made this n feasible.
‘A-Alright.’
I think I cane up with something.
I quietly sighed in relief, satisfied with the usibility of my revised n, and finally nced at the destination disyed on the train’s electronic board.
Bound for Mokpo
Come to think of it, I’d rarely been to Mokpo befo…
Bound for Mokpo
……
Huh?
The destination disyed on the flickering screen changed.
Bound for Tamra
“……!!”
I jumped to my feet.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Supervisor? Oh, the board?”
“Yes. We need to get off immediately—”
……
No.
No, I already knew.
‘It’s toote.’
This was the kind of situation where, once you boarded the train and the destination changed, it was over.
From that point on, there was no getting off.
“……”
Memories surfaced.
<i>– This was recorded as the longest entry under the Human Error incidents in the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau’s records. It even became the basis for a short story in the wiki.</i>
I knew exactly what this was.
<i>– The train disaster caused by Silver Heart. Just once.</i>
I knew this creepypasta all too well.
<b>========================</b>
<b>[Tamra Express Disaster]</b>
<b>This document is a recorded case of anomaly ID ‘8008PSYA.2002.</b> <b>?88’, involving numerous fatalities.</b>@@novelbin@@
<b>Due to the shocking nature of the event, we advise readers to evaluate their psychological readiness before proceeding.</b>
<b>Reading this material may induce severe mental distress or trauma, so it is rmended to read it only when in a stable condition.</b>
<i>– Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau</i><i></i>
<i>Notice from the Records Office</i>
<b>========================</b>
The infamous high-speed train incident from which only one survivor returned, the one who’s from Daydream Inc.
‘…Ah.’
That’s when I realized.
Today, January 2nd, the day marked for my death.
‘The C-grade Darkness wasn’t the real problem.’
The threat prepared for me wasn’t thepany-assigned, fully documented rural mission Darkness.
‘It was <i>this train.’</i>
The train, which was supposed to be nothing more than a means of transportation, was the threat itself.
“……”
I looked out the window.
Instead of the outside view, the reflection of the destination disy flickered back at me.
Bound for Tamra
Departing
With a deafening roar, the train began to move.