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92
“What is this data?”
The R&D department of Enc Technology.
Executive Director Han Yongwoo, who had stopped by for a project inspection, had come across some unusual material.
It was because something had caught his eye among the player data collected for the development of RP gear.
“Ah, that is apparently data brought in by an intern from Design Team 2.”
“An intern brought in data?”
“Yes. He was an experiential intern……. His name is listed as Kang Hanbit.”
Han Yongwoo, listening to the employee’s explanation, looked over the data once more.
The gear development project he had come to head as the person responsible.
A new conference related to the topic had just concluded today.
That was precisely why he could recognize just how anomalous the data shown in the material was.
“You said Team 2?”
“Ah, but I heard he was dismissed as of today.”
“Dismissed?”
“Yes. I don’t know the details, but apparently it was a matter of concurrent employment…….”
The employee’s account continued a little longer.
Han Yongwoo studied the data a little more and gave a nod.
“Understood. Please gather everyone in the conference room in thirty minutes.”
Having delivered that, he immediately left the office.
His destination was the floor where the design teams were based.
“Oh? Executive Director?”
A few employees who noticed Han Yongwoo called out to him.
But he returned a slight bow and made his way toward the innermost desk.
“Team 2 Leader.”
“Hm?”
At the brief address, the team leader looked up.
His expression contorted in an instant.
“If it isn’t the Executive Director. To honor us with a visit all the way here.”
“…….”
Words thrown in a sarcastically barbed tone.
Han Yongwoo, eyes turned toward a different desk, asked with an expressionless face:
“I understand an intern named Kang Hanbit worked here. The grounds for dismissal were concurrent employment?”
“Yes. Well, that’s how it went.”
“There should have been room for consideration given that he was an intern.”
“What’s there to accommodate for one experiential intern? The kid had no manners either. Ah, that wasn’t directed at you, Executive Director.”
“…Phew.”
The reason for the continued sarcasm was clear.
Han Yongwoo was the team leader’s junior and yet had risen through the ranks far faster.
Being regarded as a thorn in his side was something one could naturally sense with their own skin.
“Did you see the intern Kang Hanbit’s data?”
“What data?”
“The play data collection requested of each department in connection with the RP gear. It should have been distributed to each team leader.”
“I’m dying of work as it is — when would I get to that? I handed it off to someone with free time, so ask a kid named Lee Minho when he comes in.”
The team leader pointed vaguely in a direction with his chin.
But Han Yongwoo did not shift his gaze.
“The data the intern Kang Hanbit left behind was markedly different. It should have been of considerable help for gear development.”
“I hear he’s some kind of streamer or whatever. How does being good at games help development? Entertainers are all the same level.”
“A formula for calculating adaptability values has been derived. The result: intern Kang Hanbit was 1,500 times the average player.”
“…Adaptability? What kind of figure is 1,500 times?”
“The reason is unknown. If intern Kang Hanbit had still been here, we might have been able to ask him something. Ah — referring to him as ‘intern’ would be discourteous now.”
Han Yongwoo let out a brief sigh and turned away.
Regrettable as it was, the company had missed its opportunity.
Kang Hanbit would never return as an intern under that man.
“What happens regarding Kang Hanbit will be reported to the CEO. Due to Design Team 2 Leader’s misguided judgment, the company has lost an exceptional talent.”
“What? Are you saying that’s my fault?”
“Judgment will be made from an objective standpoint. Then we’ll speak again later.”
“Hey, wait — hey! Han Yongwoo!”
The team leader’s face reddened as he shouted.
Leaving that furious outcry behind him, Han Yongwoo walked out of the office.
He immediately contacted HR and confirmed the details of the dismissal procedure.
It was enough to draw sighs on its own.
“Phew.”
Not much process remained in reporting from a contract intern.
That was why it had been so easily handled with nothing more than the team leader’s influence.
“Could I please have Kang Hanbit’s number.”
Han Yongwoo received the contact information from HR.
After entering the number, he made the call after a brief moment of deliberation.
It connected after a few more rings.
(Hello?)
A young man’s voice coming through the speaker.
Han Yongwoo straightened his back and spoke politely.
“Hello. Am I speaking with Kang Hanbit?”
***
‘…Executive Director?’
Hanbit, having answered the call, was taken aback.
Executive Director of Enc Technology.
Why would someone like that be calling him?
The rank was far too high to be explaining separation procedures.
He didn’t know the reason, but it was probably best to have the conversation anyway.
“Yes, hello. But for the Executive Director to be calling…….”
(I’m reaching out to offer an apology.)
“An apology?”
An unexpectedly weighty word that caught him off guard.
Reading that reaction, the Executive Director provided an explanation.
(Excessive interference by Design Team 2’s team leader has been identified in this disciplinary and dismissal procedure. It is an improper matter that should never have occurred.)
He provided a brief account of the process from the disciplinary action through to the dismissal.
In summary, the team leader had used his connections with the HR team leader to cut through the entire procedure in one sweep.
Concurrent employment also had grounds for leniency when the employee was an intern — yet that had been wholly disregarded.
But at this point, none of it mattered to Hanbit.
“Thank you for letting me know. However, I had wanted to leave as well, so please don’t trouble yourself over it.”
(As a member of this company, I am thoroughly ashamed.)
The Executive Director’s voice sounded genuinely pained.
After one more apology, he moved on to a different topic.
(I understand you work as an RP streamer — is that going well?)
“Ah, yes. It suits me well, so I’m enjoying it.”
(I’m glad to hear it suits you. And this may or may not be of interest to you — a new element was discovered in the play data you provided in the past.)
“A new element?”
(A concept called adaptability — it is an indicator from which one can infer how well the body and mind are suited to RP. Ordinary players were in the range of approximately 200, and vanguards around 5,000. And you, Hanbit, were approximately 300,000.)
“…Pardon?”
A figure so staggering it exceeded the word ‘high.’
He didn’t know what adaptability was, but it seemed the experiences from his past had had some influence.
(Adaptability has a strong likelihood of being adopted as a standard metric. It will become more precise going forward, but I felt it was something you should be aware of.)
“Thank you. That was quite useful information.”
(Not at all. I can only apologize for not being of more help.)
A tone so polite one would forget the title of Executive Director.
Given how things were flowing, it would have been natural for him to make some kind of request.
But that expectation was cleanly overturned.
(It wouldn’t be right to keep you any longer. I offer my apologies once more for the poor experience caused by the company’s inadequate management. The details of the disciplinary action will be fully expunged and converted to a normal resignation procedure. I sincerely hope that whatever you undertake going forward meets with success.)
“…Yes, thank you.”
Click—
The call ended with a final apology and words of encouragement.
The attitude that was the polar opposite of the team leader’s was striking enough to leave him momentarily dazed.
What might it have been like if he had started his internship under this person?
Even if he had left the company, he probably would have tried to help in whatever way he could.
A pointless thought now.
“Phew.”
A short sigh that escaped on its own.
Hanbit shook the thoughts loose and made his way to the subway station.
***
‘Still outrageously big when I see it again.’
Arriving at the record shop, Hanbit was greeted by the towering building.
It was the same place where he had encountered the shock of the guidebook.
He stepped inside and began slowly browsing the many items on display.
‘How can there be so much stuff?’
The content packed into items of every conceivable kind was astonishingly vast.
Being player-made, each one carried its creator’s own affection.
“Wow, the level of detail here is insane.”
“That person’s famous for being obsessive to the point of derangement.”
Just then, voices from a group standing nearby reached him.
The items they were looking at were maps and illustrations.
Glancing sideways, they were rendered in a realistic style that felt different from the game itself.
“Has anyone actually been here?”
“Ah, the Lighthouse of Death? I heard the quest exists there but it hasn’t actually been implemented?”
The conversation quickly moved on to another topic.
The Lighthouse of Death — said to exist somewhere in the sea.
But not even among the factions who focused on seafaring had anyone discovered it.
‘I never managed to go there either.’
Hanbit too had made efforts to find that place.
Because he had heard that the world’s sole sage existed there.
He had never found it in the end — but all the time invested combined might amount to several decades.
“Ah, but maybe Black Dragon could find it?”
Just then, the topic of conversation shifted to Black Dragon.
Hanbit instinctively raised a book to slightly cover his face.
“Getting to the sea is still a long way off. More to the point, he’s doing the Ifrit episode this time, right? Wonder if it’ll be completely different, like with Edelen?”
“Completely different for sure. You think there’ll be another chance for a reset?”
“That’s one thing, but — I’m thinking he might help find the field boss.”
“What, Snow Drake? That’s genuinely legendary.”
The field boss that existed in Ifrit.
This one was also treated as legend, but it was a real creature.
Known as the master of the snowy mountains — a tremendously powerful and difficult monster.
In truth, most of what was being prepared was also part of the process toward subjugating the Snow Drake.
“…….”
Watching that exchange unfold,
Hanbit, with his face half-hidden, felt the gaze of one particular man.
It seemed to be someone who had been following him since he entered the building.
Flash—!
A light flashing from the smartphone he held.
He was taking a photograph — of none other than Hanbit.
‘Not a fan.’
It was nothing like the feeling from Avantgarde that time, or the department store clerk.
The emotion was something he could roughly read just from the eyes.
Pupils that kept darting about and a trembling hand were unsettling to watch even from a distance.
Probably not accustomed to this sort of thing.
The look of people willing to do anything for money was usually like that.
Shhk—
Hanbit set down the book and quietly shifted his feet.
Then he went down to the first floor and exited the building.
‘Following, as expected.’
The man tailing him from a distance couldn’t even properly conceal himself.
Hanbit kept walking forward, then turned into an alley.
As he headed deeper into the dimmer interior, the man also glanced about and turned into the lane.
Crunch—
Crunch—
Footsteps that matched Hanbit’s pace.
Listening carefully as he walked, he immediately kicked off the ground and began to run.
Thud, thud—!
Hanbit ducked into a side turn.
Startled by the sudden change, the pursuer followed in a frantic sprint.
Thud—!
Hanbit, who had gotten ahead, stepped up onto a box at the turning point.
And the moment the man behind him came into view—
Whirl—!
He dropped straight down and wrapped both arms around the man’s neck.
“Ack!”
Caught without time to react, the man panicked at the constricting airway.
He thrashed and tried to break free, but the arms around his neck did not budge a single inch.
“Who are you? Who sent you?”
“Cough, cough!”
Easing the pressure slightly, Hanbit created just enough of a gap for coughing to be possible.
At that, the man, who had been writhing, began to speak bit by bit.
“On my own, I just……ack!”
Getting an answer he didn’t want, Hanbit applied the pressure again.
He was being careful in his own way — a slight miscalculation and the man would easily go unconscious.
Creating a slight gap once more, he threw out a different question.
“What do you think happens if your neck vertebrae snap?”
“……!”
Click—
When he put force into the joint, an unsettling sound rang out.
No pain — but the sensation felt all too real, and it pushed the man’s anxiety to the extreme.
“Tell me straight. Why you were taking photos, and who put you up to it.”
“I, I don’t know!”
“Don’t know?”
Shhk—
Hanbit moved to tighten his arms again.
At that, the man flailed his limbs and cried out:
“For real! It’s the truth! I’m just what they call a trawler!”
“A trawler?”
“It’s like someone the detective agency puts out there! They said they’d give me 500,000 won if I found someone who looked like the streamer Black Dragon…….”
The man barely managed to open his fingers to point at his pocket.
Searching inside, a business card that reeked of cheapness came out.
On it, the name of the establishment was printed clearly.
⟨Deoksu Detective Agency⟩
From rats to corpses, we’ll find them all.
