EUIS 05

Chapter 5

What happens when new employees successfully complete their probation period?

Usually, there’s a light celebration and a gift presentation.

I never expected a large corporation in a horror story to do the same.

[Let’s see… wow! This time we have 22 graduates, everyone! Wow, I wonder what HR will think?]

I don’t wonder at all.

And probably the new employees sitting next to me feel the same.

[No, really, this is an amazing record. Unless this is a difficulty adjustment failure, you guys are an elite batch. Elite.]

Silence fell over the lecture hall.

The host paid no mind and cheerfully announced:

[Then shall we pick the best of the best among our elite employees?]

[The top scorer of this new Field Exploration Team intake! One of those who completed the evaluation and escaped in the shortest time, and recorded the highest score in the comprehensive evaluation.]

The host raised their hand.

[Congratulations. Kim Soleum-ssi!]

Me?

[Kim Soleum-ssi?]

[The event won’t end until the gift is delivered~ Please come receive it!]

Is this for real?

Why…

Either way, I stood up from my seat.

We were just trapped in a horror story where not listening to announcements meant death—it would be foolish to stay seated after hearing that instruction.

[Ah, it’s reassuring to see you come right up. Your quick situational awareness would serve you well in our department too—such a shame. Such a shame.]

Looks like this was a superior from another department. Somehow they seemed even more irritating and smug.

I went up to the podium and stood before the host.

[Here, take your gift!]

What the host handed me was a square paper bag.

Inside the silver shopping bag stamped with the <Daydream Corporation> logo, I could glimpse a plaque that looked like an appointment certificate and some other items before they disappeared.

[Don’t be too disappointed that we didn’t give you anything special just because you’re the top scorer.]

Not happy at all.

I took the shopping bag and, to avoid glaring at the host, tilted my neck and started to head down…

“Look inside carefully.”

What?

“What do you…”

[Now, I’ll call the next new employee!]

The host had already grabbed the microphone and was calling the next person.

As if they’d never said anything off-script.

“……”

Hmm.

I didn’t linger any longer and came down from the stage.

Afterward, Ko Young-eun and the others from the same car also went up to receive their gifts.

It didn’t mean much, but Baek Sa-heon was called up right after me.

“……”

He was still sitting next to me, but we didn’t exchange a single word.

To be precise, we didn’t even make eye contact. Judging by the way he was pressing his left eye, he’d apparently ‘returned’ the lost item.

He’ll go to the hospital on his own.

[Next to be called: Kim Ji-won-ssi!]

As the calls went on, people with increasingly odd appearances—strange clothes, strange gaits, strange eyes—came up to receive their gifts.

…They must have been trapped in the horror story for a long time.

At first glance, it seemed like everyone came to their senses in the lecture hall simultaneously, but there were clearly differences in escape times within the horror story.

Thinking about how long they might have been trapped sent a chill down my spine.

Still, the fact that they escaped at all put them ahead of the other 78 people.

[Everyone received their gifts, right?]

Eventually, the presentation ceremony ended.

There was no response, but a strange tension and anticipation subtly filled the lecture hall.

The hope that we might finally be released.

To be honest, I was hoping for that too. Thinking it might be over soon.

But.

[However… this company doesn’t hire all graduates.]

“…?!”

[There are always people who just got through by luck.]

No way.

[But Daydream Corporation is a company that never forgets the great social value of fairness.]

[Such probationary employees receive significant deductions in absolute evaluation.]

The host did nothing obvious.

No clichéd finger snaps, no piercing stares, no performances like the lights going out.

But…

[As I said, we catch all free-riders.]

People began to melt.

“……!”

Several people in various places began to dissolve, their figures blurring away.

No screams. No movement.

What the fck!*

The person in front of me clamped their hand over their mouth to suppress a scream.

I also quickly turned my head.

But my eyes had already seen.

Gone.

Half of the people from my car had disappeared.

Only me, Ko Young-eun, Baek Sa-heon, and the new employee who had been attacked by Baek Sa-heon remained.

“……”

[To the remaining 13 new employees. Congratulations! You have become regular employees with excellent results!]

Not a single person applauded with joy.

In the icy silence, one person stammered in panic.

“I quit, I’ll quit… I’ll resign.”

But the host remained relaxed.

[Huh? Turning down such a good job? Come on, at least hear about the benefits before you decide.]

Behind me, Ko Young-eun cried out as if vomiting.

“So if we hear about the benefits, can we process our resignation? Without any disadvantages?”

[Of course. You can all resign without a single hair on your head being harmed~]

The host’s words were smooth and full of confidence.

That’s when I realized it.

Here it comes.

The whips have all passed.

Now comes the carrot.

…The ‘benefits’ that I know about.

[Now, let me introduce our company’s representative benefit!]

The reason employees continue working in the Field Exploration Team despite going through this insane situation right after joining.

[Employee Benefits]
Wish Grant

Something appeared on the large screen in the lecture hall.

A beautifully streamlined crystal bottle.

Drip.

Inside the bottle, a strange liquid shimmering with five colors rippled.

It undulated.

All the colors and textures, even the ripples they created, were so beautiful and bizarre it felt unsettling.

Silence fell.

[Shall we take a closer look?]

As the host pressed a button, the projector screen rose. And the table hidden behind it was revealed.

On the black table sat the very same iridescent bottle we’d seen on the screen.

“…!”

The liquid inside swayed on its own, scattering light beautiful enough to illuminate the entire lecture hall.

That strange thing, which made you doubt whether it could really exist in reality…

[You all joined knowing that our company is famous as a highly profitable pharmaceutical company, right? With technology so good we even make hair loss medication.]

[But in reality, we have a different main product… and this is it.]

The host steadied their trembling hands and put on white gloves.

Then carefully picked up the crystal bottle from the table and held it out for the employees to see.

[The name of the medicine is ‘Wish Grant’.]

[The effect… is exactly what it sounds like. If you drink this, any wish will come true.]

“……!”

[Don’t believe me? But there are truckloads of your seniors and superiors who actually drank this and had their wishes fulfilled.]

[Let me give you a demonstration.]

The host tore open the packaging of the displayed medicine… and downed it in one go!

[Today was my Wish Grant distribution day, after all! Haha!]

And the people in the lecture hall immediately intuited what the host’s ‘wish’ had been.

The moment they drank the Wish Grant.

The host, who appeared to be in their mid-to-late 40s, rapidly became taut and flushed with healthy color.

Their body became firm, and their hair regained luster and volume.

Yes, it returned.

To the appearance of their youth—the time when they were most full of vitality and growth!

[Yahoo!]

The host, now looking like a high school student, raised a fist in excitement.

[How about that? Hmm, to put it simply—rejuvenation!]

Even their voice had become young and high.

Silence fell over the lecture hall—this time, a different kind of shock.

This was… a silence of agitation.

The host pointed at the new employees in the lecture hall.

[Your department, the Field Exploration Team, always gets good performance evaluations. On average, they’ve been receiving this Wish Grant in less than half the tenure of other teams…]

[The top 10 shortest-tenure Wish Grant recipients are all from the Field Exploration Team!]

Gulp.

Somewhere, the sound of someone swallowing could be heard.

Of course, it’s all wordplay.

In reality, it’s basically just hazard pay.

Before those top 10 shortest-tenure recipients, dozens or hundreds must have died in the line of duty.

So it’s bait—a shiny but hollow apricot.

But…

There are definitely people who got theirs.

It wasn’t a scam.

[Then I’ll take questions—oh, employee!]

One of the new employees quietly raised their hand and asked in a rough voice.

“Can it revive the dead?”

A tall, brown-haired man.

[Ah. You know that cliché you always hear in this kind of story? ‘The one wish that is fundamentally impossible’…]

[…But you thought I’d say that, right?!]

The host threw their hand up dramatically.

[The Wish Grant unconditionally grants the wish of the person who consumes it.]

“…!”

[Of course, as long as you use the correct method. For detailed usage instructions, please refer to the employee store.]

“……”

The questioner fell silent again. But the agitation spread more intensely among the new employees.

The host seized the moment.

[Then please check the other benefits displayed on the screen and in the information sheet included with your gift bag… Shall we decide now?]

Whoosh.

With a short sound, the back door of the lecture hall swung open.

[Those who wish to decline employment may leave and receive the necessary forms at the desk.]

[But for those who want to stay with the company they’ve joined…]

The host gestured.

[Put on the mask inside your gift bag.]

Mask? Ah.

So that’s what was distributed at this point.

[These days they call it ‘customization,’ right? It lets you express your individuality perfectly, you see.]

[Well… it has no special function for now. That’s all there is to it.]

I gripped my smartphone.

I couldn’t check with so many eyes on me, but if I could view the <Darkness Exploration Records> pages reconstructed by the ‘Memorial Grip-Tack,’ it would surely show this:

======================

Darkness Exploration Records / Daydream Corporation / Departments / Trivia

Employees of the Field Exploration Team wear masks during field work, and these masks are distributed after the orientation.
According to Employee D, the mask theme is determined by the year of hire.
For example, an agent wearing an ant mask and one wearing a mantis mask are likely from the same intake year.

======================

In other words, it’s a symbol of the <Daydream Corporation> Field Exploration Team.

I never thought I’d receive this.

For many reasons, I felt strange.

Of course, 90% of me wanted to bolt out the door right now, throw the mask down, and shout that I was declining.

Please, just let me live.

But… even if I quit, this world itself is a sewer.

These ‘Darkness paranormal phenomena’ are already scattered everywhere.

I could easily become an extra in a horror story and have the rare experience of ending my life.

Sigh…

So, working as an employee with supplies, salary, and the final reward of the Wish Grant while aiming for a department transfer… might actually have a higher survival rate.

Besides, to return to my original world, that ‘Wish Grant’ seems like the most promising method.

Anyway, a coward like me surviving in this world is hopeless. It’s better to find a way to escape the world entirely.

So rationally—as rationally as possible—if I choose the most viable option…

I have to join.

It’s insane, but there’s no other choice. Damn it.

In the end, I swallowed my tears and opened the bag.

I reached in to pull out the mask, but—

“……?”

Something came out with it.

───

In case of need

010-0153-24865

───

A business card?

It looked like someone had used white-out to erase where the name and position should be and scribbled that message.

…Did the host put this in?

I looked around, but no one else seemed to have a card attached to their mask.

I’ll deal with it later.

I removed the card and put it in the envelope, taking out only the mask.

It was a smooth-feeling, basic-shaped mask that would cover only the upper part of the nose.

What surprised me was that people around me were already trying on their masks.

Without a single exception.

…After going through all that, not a single person is running away.

There was only one variable.

The Wish Grant.

Did they only select people desperate enough for the Wish Grant to risk their lives?

I looked around the lecture hall, where everyone silently accepted their masks without a single word of resignation, and felt an indescribable emotion.

I was about to join them too.

No choice.

I brought my mask to my face.

And then, it really began to change shape.

I felt it stretching and becoming bumpy against my cheeks and forehead…

“……”

I touched it with my hand.

It was a distinctive mask with horns protruding, revealing bizarre tree-like patterns.

Wait, tree-shaped horns?

…Deer antlers? A stag?

It looked too strange to be a deer.

Wearing the mask with a dubious feeling, I looked around. Ko Young-eun, wearing a sheep-like mask, met my eyes and made an awkward expression.