Eh… maaf buat kesalahannya, aku ngerjain dua tim di Security Department jadi ‘Security Team’ terus. Aku bakal mleret mau tape…
gila sekali! (Banyak shoutout ke kirinki di server, makasih udah ngarahin ini…)
Selama ini yang udah disebut:
Security Management Department (보안관리부)
*Berdasarkan itu, pekerjaan penuh Jay adalah “Guard Sergeant” (경비반장), tapi dibendung jadi “sergeant” biar gampang dimengertui.
Bila aku dapet waktu, akan kubistik semua chapter sebelumnya haluskan dan koreksi istilah-istiltang yang lain. Untuk sekarang, tolong ingat ini ya.
Aku buka pintu motel tak automatis itu, dan Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang udah diasisten, dengan serjannya duduk di atasnya?
Tapi kenapa Supervisor Park Minseong ada di sini?
Iyo, enaknya aku lihat dia sejak lama, tapi jenis kombinasi apa itu…
Di saat itu, Kwak Jaekang yang tertindas di lantai mulai berkelin. Tunggu sebentar!
Kalau dia mengangkat kepalanya dan nempel wajahku, nanti semuanya akan melayang jauh. Aku cepat bersihkan diri dan coba tutup pintunya buat keluar.
Tapi ternyata, serjannya sudah melihat sesuatu sebelum aku bisa gerak.
Serjannya menyerang kepala pria yang ia pegang.
Seindah itu, Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang sudah tak sadar.
– Aduh hebat! Bener-bener kekacauan! Berapa aku bisa kekacauan!
Tapi ada daya tarik khas kekacauan.
“Apa yang benar-benar lagi terjadi di sini?”
“Ah… aku sekadarnya mengikutinya…”
Penjelasan mendesak yang berikutnya dapat disinggung seperti ini:
Serjannya bilang ia sudah menelusuri seluruh perusahaan mengumpulkan berbagai informasi yang mungkin berguna untuk ‘Cheerful Research Institute’ yang aku minta.
Dan dalam prosesnya, ia eksplorasi berbagai tempat, dan tempat yang ia kunjungi hari ini adalah…
“Aku… ke area khusus Research Team di annex…”
“…Tunggu. Bukan itu area yang ditunggu hanya untuk staf berwenang?”
“Ah… Security Team… bisa masuk kalo ada keperluan kerja. Seperti untuk patroli dan sebagainya…”
“Jadi kamu nunggu tugas patroli?”
“Tidak… aku cuma nmaapin g Guard lain…”
“Kamu bilangbutuh informasi……”
Serjannya mengangkat suka pada apa yang ia capai itu, berat badanku kaget.
Nah, dengan melihatugakan kita yang bertentangan, terlihat jelas bahwa anggota Guard Team yang disebut Baek Saheon memang serjannya.
Tunggu, sekarang aku sadar…
“Aku dengar kamu pernah nyangkut dengan Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang… apakah itu berkaitan dengan yang lagi terjadi?”
“Aku nggak fight dengan dia… dia terus nyari masalah dengan aku……”
“Jadi, kamu cuma tertangkap urusannya.}
Menyentuh rambutnya, serjannya kembali ke topik utama.
Ia bilang saat mematrol area khusus Research Team hari ini, ia menyadari sesuatu yang aneh pada peralatan atau dokumen.
“Terasa seperti ada yang memantau aku…”
Pada suatu titik, ia merasa tatapan yang menelantur. Ia bahkan mendeteksi kejahatan yang aneh.
“Jadi aku cuma keluar… tapi orang itu terus mengikutiku secara rahasia…”
Dan lalu kamu mengatasikannya…!
“Baik… dan tidak ada yang menyaksikan…”
Aku mengangguk, merasa seperti mau menekan tulang rahangku.
“Jadi kamu tidak tahu itu Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang?”
“Well… tidak terlalu penting… aku cuma tidak mengharapkan dia bakal nyelepas nomor ke Security Team…”
Pandangan aku mengarah ke Supervisor Park Minseong.
“Iya. Aku yang dapat panggilan itu…”
“Kapan aku sampai, dia udah… ya.”
Nah, pertemuan aneh ini terjadi…
– Ahaha! Benar-benar kayak sitkom!
Hidup memang menjadi komedi kalau dilihat dari jauh. Yang masalah adalah karena aku terjebak di tengah tepi-tepinya!
Aku benar-benar mau melamun: “Aku bakal kepala belakang.”
Aku hampir menekan tulang rahangku pada saat berkata.
“Kalau kita cuma kirim Assistant Manager Kwak balik, ada kemungkinan dia bakal melapor ke Jay-ssi, atau memperbesar situasinya dan bikin masalah?”
Supervisor Park Minseong dan aku tukar pandangan cape, lalu mengarah ke serjannya.
Serjannya cuma mengangguk dengan sikap kecewa pada seluruh ini.
“Apa pun yang terjadi, terjadi,’ tampilannya seperti itu.
Tidak, aku maksud, ini tentang keselamatanmu…!
“Jadi lho, Supervisor, artinya kamu harus tangkap serjannya ke penjagaan?”
“Secara teknis, ya, tapi… Ayo. Kalau kita kirim dia balik, aku cobain penyelesaian di sisi ku… Aku bakal testimoni bahwa Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang ada sendiri di sana.”
Supervisor Park Minseong tertawa kaku dan menyentuh belakang kepala.
“Dia selalu nyari masalah aneh-aneh. Aku pikir… kerja bakal keluar dua—”
Serjannya menatap lurus ke Supervisor Park Minseong.
“Kamu baru aja gabung ke Security Team… itu maka binding yang paling kuat…”
“Itu… bahkan belum 100 hari sejak kamu mulai dewa resmi, kan? Aku pasti gak bisa lying… buat perusahaan…”
“Clock. Stock antrian sekarang, ya?”
Wajah Supervisor Park Minseong mengerut.
Tapi seketika, senyum sempurna kembali muncul di facialnya.
Dan seolong-nolongnya, tangannya terangkat ke pergelangnya. Di bawah uniform Security Team, sesuatu yang menyerupai jaket bisa dilihat.
“… Binding yang jatuh pada Security Team.”
Di Daydream Inc., setelah seorang pegawai yang diberi sandaran cemis mati secara lengkap dan merasa kembali manusia, mereka mengembangkan cara yang bisa langsung dipakai.
Binding itu tidak dijelaskan secara lengkap dalam Dark Exploration Records. Mereka percaya akan lebih bermakna dan menakutkan untuk biarkan pembaca bayang-bayangkan.
Tapi ada petunjuk yang tersebar di seluruhnya.
Ya, iya. Anggota Security Team perusahaan memang benar-benar memakai jam tangan di pergelangan. Untpa apa mereka gunakan? Aku gak tau juga. Yang pasti adalah jika mereka pernah… melanggar peraturan,
Seperti, contohnya kalau mereka sampe cog dalam hari, buat keluar perusahaan, misalnya?
Nah, untuk sekarang, kamu bisa dengar itu. Suara detik jam…
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Suara itu.
Mengapa suara itu begitu aneh? Karena dimandikan jam tangannya harusnya digital, jadi kenapa ada suara tikting ana? Itu sendiri membuat cemik seperti cerita hantu…
Akan terus semakin cepat, dan akhirnya, akan ada alarm, kemungkinan?
Dan lalu, mereka akan tiba-tiba menghilang.
Bukan jam tangan. Anggota Security Team.
– Kutipan dari Interrogasi 26 Tahanan Glass Prison G56 (Asal: Daydream Inc.)
Supervisor Park Minseong cepat menyadari dan mengatur tangannya kembali dari pergelangnya.
Atmosfer di motel tak automatis itu sedikit lebih berat.
Tapi serjannya tetap bicara dengan santai.
“Ehm… jangan cemas… Itu kemungkinan besar cuma langgar prosedur… Aku nggak sampai bunuh siapa…”
“Hanya… bilang aja ya. Tapi… tunggu.”
Serjannya menatap Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang yang sudah menang telanjang itu dan berbisik dengan serius,
“Isn ini aga… wasting…”
“Teman ini… tuh ngerti banyak… Mm, karena udah sampai ke titik ini… mungkin aja kita harus dapatkan informasinya…”
“Tidak. Itu tidak perlu.”
Dan kenapa dia saran nyolong bahaya disciplin lebih lanjut sendiri?
“Aku harus cepat selesai."
Aku gak rela.
Walau Kwak Jaekang tidak melihat wajahku, ada yang lain yang melihatiku.
“Supervisor Park Minseong.”
“Kalau susah buat kamu ngisir perusahaan sekarang, pas kamu ngasih testimoni… Apakah kamu harus bilang kamu lihat aku?"
Wajah Supervisor Park Minseong kembali memutih akibat.
“Kalau perusahaan minta. Aku mungkin harus…”
Dari titik itu, masalah bukan cuma mereka bakal tahu aku hidup.
“…Sambil nunggu nutupin itu, Director Ho pasti bakal tahu laporannya.”
Kalau mereka ditanya kenapa aku nemuin serjannya, bahkan Dream Incubation Room bisa terbongkar…
“Aku cobain hindariin itu…”
Serjannya mengangkat tangan.
“Ehm… aku rasanya enggak pengin… Ini ribet…”
Lalu dia menunjuk ke Kwak Jaekang.
“Should I just… kill him?"
Yall I’m so sorry for the oversight, I’ve been translating two different teams within(?) the Security Department as just ‘Security Team’ im gonna cry
(Huge shoutout to kirinki at the server, thanks for pointing it out!)
So far, these were mentioned:
Security Management Department (보안관리부)
*In line with this, Jay’s full position title is ‘Guard Sergeant’ (경비반장), but shortened to sergeant for brevity.
Anyway, when I get the time, I’ll comb through the past chapters and try to correct all other instances that these terms were mentioned. For now, please keep this in mind. Sorry for the confusion!
I opened the unmanned motel door, and Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang was tied up, with the sergeant sitting on top of him?
And why is Supervisor Park Minseong here?
I mean, it’s nice to see him after so long, but what kind of combination is this…
At that moment, Kwak Jaekang, who was pinned to the floor, started struggling again. Wait a second!
If he turns his head and sees my face, things will spiral out of control. I quickly got a hold of myself and tried to close the door and leave.
But apparently, the sergeant noticed something before I could move.
The sergeant struck the head of the man he was restraining.
Just like that, Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang passed out.
– It’s a complete mess, my goodness! How chaotic can things get! But there is a certain unique charm that comes from chaos.
“What exactly is going on here?”
“Ah… I secretly followed…”
The urgent explanation that followed can be summarized as this:
The sergeant said he had gone all around the company collecting various bits of information that might be useful for the ‘Cheerful Research Institute’ I’d asked about.
And in the process, he explored different places, and the place he went today was…
“I went to the… Research Team’s special area in the annex…”
“…Wait. Isn’t that a restricted area where only authorized staff can enter?”
“Ah… the Security Team… can go in if it’s for work. Like, for patrols and stuff…”
“So you waited until you were assigned patrol duty?”
“No… I just filled in for another guard…”
“You said you needed information……”
The sergeant looked so proud of what he did that I was at a loss for words.
Anyway, given how much our actions overlapped, it seems pretty clear that the Guard Team member Baek Saheon mentioned really was the sergeant.
Wait, now that I think about it…
“I heard that you got into a fight with Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang… is that related to what’s happening now?”
“I didn’t fight with him… he kept picking a fight with me……”
“Ah, so you just got caught up in it.”
“He just ran into me by himself and fell over… um. Anyway.”
Scratching his head, the sergeant returned to the main point.
He said that while patrolling the Research Team’s special area today, he noticed something strange with the equipment or documents.
“It felt like someone was following me…”
At some point, he felt a persistent, watching gaze.
He even sensed a strange kind of malice.
“So I just went outside… but this person kept following me secretly…”
And then you subdued him…!
“Well… and there was nobody around to see…”
I nodded, feeling like I wanted to hold my head.
“So you didn’t know it was Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang?”
“Well… it didn’t matter much… I just didn’t expect he’d call someone from the Security Team…”
My gaze turned to Supervisor Park Minseong.
“Yeah. I was the one who got the call…”
“When I got here… he was already… yeah.”
And so, this bizarre meeting occurred…
– Ahaha! My goodness! This is just like a sitcom!
Life is a comedy when you look at it from a distance. The problem is that I’m stuck right in the middle of it all!
‘I’m actually going to lose my mind.’
I barely managed to restrain myself from pressing my temples as I spoke.
“If we just send Assistant Manager Kwak back , is it likely he’ll report Jay-ssi, or otherwise exaggerate the situation and cause problems?”
Supervisor Park Minseong and I exchanged nervous glances, then looked at the sergeant.
The sergeant just looked annoyed by the whole situation.
‘Whatever happens, happens’, his reaction seemed to say.
No, I mean, this is about your own safety…!
“So then… Supervisor, does that mean you have to take the sergeant into custody?”
“Technically, yes, but… Umm. If you just send him back, I’ll try to handle things on my end… I’ll testify that Assistant Manager Kwak Jaekang was there alone.”
Supervisor Park Minseong laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
“He gets up to so much weird stuff that I think it’ll work ou—”
The sergeant stared straight at Supervisor Park Minseong.
“You just joined the Security Team… that’s when the binding is strongest…”
“It… hasn’t even been a full 100 days since you started official duty, has it? It’ll be hard to lie… to the company…”
“The clock. It’s counting down right now, isn’t it…?”
Supervisor Park Minseong’s face stiffened.
But the very next moment, a picture-perfect smile appeared on his face.
And, as if unconsciously, his hand moved to his wrist. Under the Security Team’s uniform, something resembling a wristwatch could be seen.
‘…The binding that falls on the Security Team.’
At Daydream Inc., once a rescued employee has sufficiently recovered from contamination and regained their humanity, instead of investing further, they devised methods that could be put to immediate use.
That binding wasn’t described in full detail in the Dark Exploration Records. They believed it would be more meaningful and chilling to let the reader imagine it.
But there were hints scattered throughout.
Yes, yes. The company’s Security Team members really do wear wristwatches. What do they use them for, you ask? I don’t know either. The only thing I know for sure is that if they ever… act out of line,
Like, if they try to leave the company during the day, for instance?
Anyway, when that happens, you could hear it. The ticking sound from the watch…
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. That sound.
Why was that so strange? Because it was supposed to be a digital watch, so why was there the sound of a second hand moving? That in itself was creepy, like a ghost story…
It would keep getting faster, and eventually, there would be an alarm, I guess?
And then, they’d suddenly vanish.
Not the watch. The Security Team member.
—Excerpt from Interrogation 26 of Glass Prison Inmate G56 (Origin: Daydream Inc.)
Supervisor Park Minseong quickly snapped back to his senses and took his hand off his wrist.
The atmosphere in the unmanned motel grew a bit heavier.
But the sergeant spoke casually.
“Um, don’t worry… I mean… It’ll probably just be a disciplinary measure… It’s not like you killed anyone…”
“Just… go explain it…… But… wait.”
The sergeant looked down at the researcher he’d tied up and muttered seriously,
“Isn’t this a bit… wasteful…”
“This guy… knows a lot… Mm, since it’s come to this… might as well get some information out of him…”
“No. That’s not necessary.”
And why would he suggest taking on even more disciplinary risk himself!
‘Let’s wrap this up quickly.’
If he hasn’t seen my face, it’s fine… Wait a minute.
Even if Kwak Jaekang didn’t see me, someone else did.
“Supervisor Park Minseong.”
“If it’s difficult for you to lie to the company right now, when you’re giving your statement… Do you have to say you saw me?”
Supervisor Park Minseong’s face went pale again.
“If the company demands it. I might have to…”
From that point on, the problem isn’t just that they’ll find out I’m alive.
‘…While trying to cover that up, Director Ho would definitely find out about it.’
If they ask why I was meeting with the sergeant, even the Dream Incubation Room could be exposed…
“I’ll try my best to avoid that situation…”
The sergeant raised his hand.
“Um… actually, I don’t really want to… it’s a hassle…”
Then he pointed at Kwak Jaekang.
“Should I just… kill him?”
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