How a Veteran of the Urban Legend Gallery Survives – Chapter 23

It’s been a month since the Dorimcheon Station incident.

Suddenly, I looked out the window and saw the Foundation building. It was an ordinary office building made of glass and steel, but now it didn’t feel so bad.

Honestly, life at the Foundation was better than I thought.

I was sitting by the window in the cafeteria when Assistant Manager Kang Hana approached me. Around her neck, the ‘Bound Sisyphus’s Chains’ necklace shimmered. The subtle silver chain and the meteorite core matched her white blouse perfectly.

It was combat gear bought from FamilyNet, but it looked like just a fancy accessory.

“Jeong Woo, there’s an F-grade horror story investigation today. Would you like to join me?”

Her voice had a calmness that wasn’t there before. The tension from a month ago was gone.

“Sure.”

I readily agreed. I needed to investigate as many horror stories as possible to collect Dalant and money. I checked my watch—it was 2 PM. There was still a lot of the day left.

’20 cases in a month…’

As I ate the curry rice on my tray, I thought back to the past month. It had been busy. At least when it came to horror stories.

Our Team 4’s performance was exceptional. To be precise, I was exceptional. Thanks to the Retrospective Thought Enhancement Serum, I could perfectly remember all information related to horror stories, which allowed me to cleanly handle all F-grade and E-grade horror stories.

It seemed that high-grade horror stories like the Tragedy of the Red Prince were rare exceptions. Most of the 20 cases were lower-grade horror stories that could be easily resolved.

While I was deep in thought, Moon Jinwook sat down next to me. He waved his luxury watch as if showing it off.

“Thanks to Jeong Woo, we made a lot of money this month, right? Assistant Manager?”

The watch was clearly a high-end item worth thousands. He probably bought it with the incentives from last month.

‘Did I make around 200 million?’

It was the sum of the manual writing incentives and the life allowance.

I stirred the curry with my spoon and muttered. Considering my annual salary at the Foundation was around 40 million, this was clearly a huge amount.

Across from me, Narae was still silently eating her beef soup.

Unlike Moon Jinwook, who flaunted his luxury, or Kang Hana, who bought items from FamilyNet, she seemed to be saving money to buy materials to become a Yoseon.

I was also saving money. To buy the Eyes of Nostradamus.

I thought that being able to see 10 seconds into the future would definitely help in future horror story investigations.

As lunchtime was ending, Cheon Seungsoo entered the cafeteria. He usually didn’t come to the cafeteria, so his presence meant something important was up.

“Alright, is everyone here?”

His voice lacked its usual slyness. Instead, there was a strange tension.

We silently looked at Cheon Seungsoo. Under the fluorescent light, he leaned forward, placing both hands on the table.

“It seems our entire team will be investigating a new horror story.”

His voice lacked its usual slyness. Instead, there was a strange tension.

“This time, we’ll be working with Team 3.”

“Team 3?”

Moon Jinwook’s spoon fell into his bowl. It was a natural reaction. Team 3 was one of the Foundation’s elite teams.

Within the Foundation, elite teams were special. They investigated new horror stories without manuals, assessed their characteristics and danger levels, and established response methods. That was the main task of elite teams.

While the mortality rate for regular teams was over 50%, the mortality rate for elite teams was less than 20%. They were selected for their intuition and ability to handle horror stories. They knew how to survive without manuals.

But that’s why missions with elite teams were mostly classified as high-risk. The situations they were deployed in were usually impossible for regular team members to handle.

“Why Team 3…”

Kang Hana muttered. Cheon Seungsoo nodded.

“Assistant Manager, you know it too. Team 3 usually operates alone, but this time they’ve requested our team’s cooperation.”

Moon Jinwook asked.

“What’s going on that even the elite team…”

“It’s an investigation of S Village in Gangwon-do.”

Cheon Seungsoo pulled up a chair and continued.

“Tourists have been going missing, so Team 3 went to investigate first, but…”

He paused, then continued.

“All three Team 3 members who were dispatched have gone missing.”

A heavy silence fell over the cafeteria. The only sound was the faint clinking of someone’s chopsticks hitting the table.

“Wait a minute.”

I spoke up.

“Team 3… went missing?”

Cheon Seungsoo nodded.

“If three elite team members went missing, this horror story…”

“Yes, that’s right. If it were a typical horror story, three elite team members wouldn’t have gone missing.”

The fluorescent light reflected in Cheon Seungsoo’s eyes.

“So this time, we’ll be conducting a large-scale joint investigation. The remaining members of Team 3, our team, and…”

He paused, looking at me.

“D-grade personnel will also be deployed.”

“D-grade personnel too?”

Moon Jinwook’s face turned pale. Cheon Seungsoo looked at him steadily.

“Are you worried?”

“Of course. Deploying D-grade personnel means it’s that dangerous…”

“Searching for the missing and investigating the horror story before escaping. Those will be the main tasks.”

Cheon Seungsoo cut off Moon Jinwook and added.

“We’re not looking for a solution to the horror story, so it won’t be as dangerous as you think.”

“So when…”

“In three days. Please prepare by then.”

Cheon Seungsoo got up. But Moon Jinwook grabbed him.

“Team Leader, by any chance…”

“Yes.”

“Do you know under what circumstances Team 3 went missing?”

“I don’t know that much. But…”

Cheon Seungsoo’s expression changed subtly.

“The Team 3 leader said they left one last message before they went missing.”

“What did they say?”

“The smiling god has come.”

I couldn’t make sense of it.

A smiling god? What does that even mean?

“I don’t know what it means either. You’ll probably find out naturally when we get to S Village.”

With that, Cheon Seungsoo left.

A strange silence lingered where he had been. After a while, Moon Jinwook leaned toward me.

“Hey, Jeong Woo.”

Moon Jinwook, who had been drinking iced Americano, spoke to me.

“Aren’t you worried?”

“About what?”

“This is the first horror story without a manual or prior investigation records since the Tragedy of the Red Prince. Until now, we’ve been lucky because we knew the horror stories, but…”

Moon Jinwook’s hand trembled. It was understandable—no manual or prior investigation records meant we essentially had no way to handle it.

“Even if you’re knowledgeable about horror stories, if it’s a new one…”

His voice trailed off. Rumors of over 200 employees dying during new horror story investigations last year came to mind.

But I had a different thought.

“Manager Moon.”

“Yeah?”

“What do you think Team Leader Cheon Seungsoo meant by ‘the smiling god has come’?”

Moon Jinwook scratched the back of his head and muttered.

“A smiling god… A smiling god… I don’t know.”

“I don’t think he would just say something meaningless.”

Thinking about it, it felt familiar. Cheon Seungsoo was from the elite team. He wouldn’t just throw out meaningless words.

“Maybe…”

Moon Jinwook studied my expression.

“Did something come to mind?”

“Not yet.”

But I was sure I’d seen this phrase somewhere before. As a veteran of the Horror Story Gallery, there was no way I wouldn’t know.

‘I have to figure it out.’

I thought as I cleared my tray.

There must be a clue about the horror story in the last words left by the Team 3 members.

* * *

Over the next three days, I asked around the Horror Story Gallery and searched everywhere, but I didn’t find anything useful.

Three days later.

Foundation underground parking lot.

I first encountered Team 3 in the parking lot. Their eyes, clad in black suits, were sharp. The sharpness I usually felt from Cheon Seungsoo emanated from all of them.

But what was more surprising were the D-grade personnel with them. Seven death row inmates in orange prison uniforms exuding a menacing aura.

D-grade personnel. The D stood for Disposable, meaning expendable. The Foundation offered opportunities to death row inmates. In exchange for participating in dangerous horror story experiments or missions, they would receive a reduced sentence.

Of course, most died during the experiments. That’s why employees called D-grade personnel ‘spare lives’ or ‘consumables.’

The D-grade personnel accompanying us this time were no different. Seven death row inmates convicted of murder, robbery, arson, and other serious crimes. The Foundation promised them a reduced sentence if they survived.

But we all knew. Most of them would die on this mission.

“Is everyone ready?”

Our destination was S Village.

It was said that tourists who visited kept disappearing. Even the Team 3 members who went to investigate had all vanished.

‘If three Team 3 members went missing…’

It meant the horror story was at least C-grade. That’s why the Foundation deployed a total of 14 people.

Team 4 members got into Manager Moon’s car. In the back were me, Assistant Manager Kang, and Narae. Team Leader Cheon Seungsoo sat in the passenger seat. The air conditioning was cold, but the tension made my back sweat.

“S Village…”

Moon Jinwook gripped the steering wheel and muttered. His luxury watch gleamed on his wrist, but his usual calmness was nowhere to be seen.

In the next lane, Team 3’s black car drove alongside us. The company vehicle carrying the D-grade personnel followed behind. The three cars in a row looked like a funeral procession.

“If three elite team members went missing… It’s really not going to be easy…”

Kang Hana checked the data on her tablet.

Outside the window, the scenery of Seoul quickly passed by. Skyscrapers gradually disappeared from view, replaced by dense mountains. The city noise also faded.

The GPS was still working. But as we went deeper into the mountains, the phone signal weakened. From four bars to three, then two… When the last bar disappeared, we were completely cut off.

“Wow, it’s really deep here.”

Moon Jinwook said as we climbed the mountain road. The road became narrower and bumpier. Every time the car jolted, it sounded like someone was scraping the bottom.

The sun began to set. The red light dyed the mountain ridges before darkness deepened. Turning on the headlights, the narrow mountain road was faintly illuminated.

“Is this it?”

In the darkness, a village sign appeared. The rusted letters faintly showed ‘S Village.’

The cars stopped at the village entrance. The security team got out first to survey the area.

When the headlights shone, a large rock stood in the middle of the road leading into the village.

An unidentified rock wrapped in a white Shinto-style rope.

The moment I saw the rock wrapped in the rope, my intuition told me.

There’s definitely something dangerous inside.

‘This… isn’t going to be easy.’

I unconsciously fiddled with the Green Emotion Spray in my pocket.

All 14 personnel got out of the cars and gathered at the village entrance. The headlights cast long shadows of the employees into the darkness.

In the silence where not even a bird chirped, a bearded man who seemed to be the Team 3 leader spoke.

“Let’s head in.”

At his words, Team 4 members and I grabbed our equipment and supplies and got out of the car.

As I got out of the car, I glanced into the dark village.

For some reason, it felt like the entire village was watching us from the darkness.