Chapter 5: Hwaae High School (1)

Could Team Leader Yong be trusted?

I still didn’t know.

After all, I had only just met him.

Besides, he belonged to his own team.

“When you hear your name, come to the front, collect your identification card and uniform, and then you may leave!”

But.

Did it really make sense for me to worry about that?

It wasn’t a choice.

It was an assignment.

The whiteboard on the stage disappeared, revealing an enormous circular stone slab.

Carved in relief on it was an animal with its mouth wide open.

“Park Minil!”

The man whose name had been called walked forward, inserted his hand into the stone mouth, and pulled out a uniform with a red stripe along with an identification card placed on top.

“You got the Exploration Team! Congratulations!”

“Wow! That’s the team that pays more, right? I’m jealous.”

The new employees began congratulating one another.

Team Leader Yong remained motionless, resting his chin on his hand and staring straight ahead without moving.

“What does the Exploration Team do?”

“I don’t know, but it’s not a team I’d recommend.”

Unlike before, his tone was much more serious now.

He wasn’t joking anymore.

Instead of continuing to press him with questions, I decided to watch how things unfolded.

Dismantling Team.

Exploration Team.

Exploration Team…

Most were assigned to the Exploration Team.

A few went to the Dismantling Team.

And, strangely, those who ended up on the Dismantling Team remained much calmer than the rest, despite the enthusiastic atmosphere.

The difference between the two groups was strangely obvious.

What did it mean?

“Kim Hanmu!”

Finally, Myeong Haebin called my name.

Just looking at that stone mouth, which seemed ready to snap shut at any moment, made me admire the courage of those who put their hands inside.

“So you really were here! Boss, I was planning to go look for you in your room when I finished.”

Hearing Haebin call me Boss sent a chill through my body.

But her large, bright eyes and cheerful voice showed no trace of the cold and inhuman person I had seen the day before.

“Team Leader Yong brought me here. I missed the orientation.”

“Ah, that old man? Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything to you separately later, Boss.”

“He’s a Team Leader too. Why do you call him old man and me Boss?”

“What do you want me to do? It’s already become a habit. Besides, he told us himself to call him old man.”

She pursed her lips as if she genuinely didn’t understand what the problem was.

She was exactly the Myeong Haebin I knew.

‘Maybe yesterday I was simply seeing things that weren’t there. After all, I was completely out of it…’

Thinking about it that way put me a little more at ease.

“Well, whatever you want. But what do they base the team assignments on?”

“I don’t know. I suppose they choose the most suitable team for each person. I’m only in charge of handing out the assignments.”

The most suitable team?

Would the Exploration Team, full of enthusiastic new employees, be better?

Or Team Leader Yong’s Dismantling Team?

Feeling somewhat tense, I inserted my hand into the cold stone mouth.

Beneath my fingers, I felt a soft uniform.

And on top of it, a plastic card.

But.

As soon as I pulled out the uniform, something seemed strange.

‘Why is my uniform completely black?’

Everyone else’s had a blue stripe.

Or a red one.

Why didn’t mine have any?

“Haebin, could this be some kind of defe…?”

The words died in my throat.

My eyes were fixed on the identification card.

[Daecheonmyeong]

Name: Kim Hanmu

Department: Cleaning Team

“Huh? You got the Cleaning Team?”

Those who still hadn’t left and were watching the assignments curiously glanced over my shoulder and began murmuring.

“Cleaning Team?”

“Weren’t there only supposed to be two teams? Did they explain that earlier?”

“I didn’t hear anything about it. Are you sure they didn’t hire a janitor instead of an employee?”

I was the most confused of all.

From the residence to the grand plaza.

I hadn’t seen anyone wearing a black uniform without any stripes.

Well.

Except for one person.

“Haebin… Could this be some kind of mistake…?”

“Impossible. You belong to the Cleaning Team, Boss.”

There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in Myeong Haebin’s expression.

And that only confused me even more.

“All right! Since the assignments are finished, you may leave. You wouldn’t want to be late on your first day of work!”

Some continued turning around to look at me several times.

But, in the end, it was none of their business.

One after another, they left the room.

“Come with me. You’re on the Exploration Team too, right?”

“What it says on my card is a little different, but yeah.”

When all the new employees had left, the conference room was completely empty.

Only three people remained.

Myeong Haebin.

Team Leader Yong.

And me.

“Huff, now that everyone’s gone, I can finally explain it to you.”

“You already knew?”

I looked at the only person wearing a black uniform without any colored stripes Myeong Haebin.

I had thought it was because she was giving the orientation.

Or maybe because she belonged to the human resources department.

“Yes! I was reassigned to work with you too, Boss.”

Haebin held up her identification card.

[Daecheonmyeong]

Name: Myeong Haebin

Department: Cleaning Team

It was true.

Her department was also listed as the Cleaning Team.

What team had she belonged to before?

Maybe because I hadn’t paid attention, I couldn’t remember.

Team Leader Yong, who hadn’t gotten up from his seat while everyone else was leaving, slowly approached.

“What’s all the fuss about? Let me see.”

When I showed him my card, he turned it over several times in his hands with a curious expression.

“This is the first time I’ve seen one of these. Is it a newly created department?”

“It’s because my Boss is very special! You know, old man? My Boss made a paranormal phenomenon disappear completely!”

“Me?”

I had made a paranormal phenomenon disappear?

I pointed at myself, completely bewildered.

Haebin smiled as naturally as ever.

“Yes! Normally, a place where a paranormal phenomenon appears will manifest again and again, no matter how many times the Dismantling Team intervenes. But you cleaned it so perfectly that it disappeared without a trace and will never appear again.”

I didn’t feel like I had done anything special.

I had only cleaned the way I always did.

Did I possess some kind of power I wasn’t even aware of?

If they were going to give me something special, they could have given me the intelligence to get into Seoul National University or a face worthy of a celebrity.

Cleaning paranormal phenomena?

What kind of ability was that?

“Well, I see.”

Team Leader Yong stroked his chin with interest.

Then he suddenly grabbed me by the wrist.

“Haebin. Does the Cleaning Team have any work right now?”

“Not yet. It was only just created. Besides, I still have to repeat the orientation for Boss…”

“There’s no better teacher than experience. When you experience something firsthand, you learn much faster.”

“Whaat?!”

Instead of letting Team Leader Yong drag me along obediently, I planted my feet and stopped him.

Noticing my resistance, he turned toward me.

“What is it?”

“Where are you planning to take me?”

“To a paranormal phenomenon, of course. Haven’t you heard the saying that seeing something once is better than hearing about it a hundred times?”

“And why me?”

For a moment, he seemed surprised by my response.

But then he burst out laughing.

“Are you afraid of dying? Haebin, tell him. Which group in the Dismantling Team has the highest survival rate?”

“Do I have to say it’s yours, old man?”

“See? You couldn’t be in better hands.”

‘How suspicious.’

Haebin remained thoughtful for a few seconds.

Then she stood on tiptoe and whispered in my ear.

“Maybe it’s not a bad idea. Right now, the Cleaning Team is just you and me. Wouldn’t it be safer to accompany a veteran?”

I was barely even a rookie.

I knew practically nothing about paranormal phenomena.

Besides, I hadn’t even attended the orientation.

Even if it was a little more dangerous.

Maybe this would be better for my future.

Bzzz—

At that moment, my phone vibrated.

A new notification had arrived.

[Completion Condition: Clean a paranormal phenomenon together with ‘Team Leader Yong’.]

It really was desperate to force me to keep cleaning paranormal phenomena.

It never let a single opportunity go to waste.

‘Fine. I’ll go.’

“Understood. If there’s no problem…”

“Then I’ll go get our equipment! You two go on ahead!”

As soon as Haebin ran out through the door, the conference room was left with only Team Leader Yong and me.

“Don’t be nervous. It’s just a school legend.”

With a teasing smile, Team Leader Yong took a wooden tablet out of his pocket and inserted it into the door Haebin had just gone through.

He turned the doorknob.

When he opened it.

A completely different place appeared on the other side.

It was a hallway bathed in sunlight.

The everyday commotion of students talking and running could be heard.

It was a completely normal school.

Well.

Except for all the blood.

Crouching there was a brown-haired man with glasses wearing a Daecheonmyeong uniform.

“You were already here. I told you to wait.”

“You said you were going to bring a rookie first.”

“Hahaha. Did I really say that?”

I didn’t pay attention to their conversation.

A corpse lay in the middle of the main hallway.

Its neck had been sewn shut.

The collar of the shirt.

The sleeves.

The wrists.

Everything was joined together with stitches.

Wasn’t this supposed to be just a school legend?

Hadn’t they said it wasn’t that serious?

“Ugh…”

“So this is the rookie. Are you all right?”

I wanted to answer no.

But I was too busy trying to hold back my nausea.

“Looks like you’re not. That’s understandable.”

“Hey. You reacted the same way your first time.”

I raised a trembling hand and pointed at the corpse.

“Did you… do that?”

“Of course not. It’s hard to see, but if you lift the uniform a little…”

The brown-haired man calmly removed his hand from my back and approached the corpse.

He lifted the school uniform.

Underneath was a uniform with a red stripe.

It belonged to the Exploration Team.

“And don’t call me ‘sir.’ I’m Jeong Dohyeon. Nice to meet you.”

Introducing himself that way, Jeong Dohyeon discreetly positioned himself in front of the corpse and held out his hand to me.

“…Kim Hanmu.”

Maybe because I could no longer see the corpse.

I felt much better.

Right.

Get a grip.

If I start thinking this is nothing more than a simple school legend.

I’ll end up just like him.

After discreetly wiping the corner of my mouth, proud that I hadn’t ended up vomiting, I straightened myself.

“Mr. Dohyeon, what exactly do the Exploration Team and the Dismantling Team mean?”

“The Exploration Team is the first to enter a paranormal phenomenon. Their job is to discover a way to escape so that the Dismantling Team can intervene afterward. In exchange, they receive the highest hazard-pay bonus.”

Now I understood why almost everyone had been assigned to the Exploration Team.

There’s that saying.

That the careers where it’s easiest to find employment are precisely the ones where people disappear the fastest.

So that was why they recruited so many.

“And the Dismantling Team?”

“It’s the company’s elite team. We work with the limited information the Exploration Team manages to obtain to dismantle the paranormal phenomenon. Unlike the other teams, we’re divided into Tigers, Dogs, and Mice.”

Tigers, Dogs, and Mice?

That was a rather strange classification.

Why divide people up as though they were animals?

“There’s also the Support Team, though they’re administrative staff, so you’ll almost never have any contact with them.”

“Then which one do you belong to?”

“Dogs. We’re quite a bit below the Tigers, but you shouldn’t underestimate us.”

Team Leader Yong, who was still examining the corpse, calmly approached and rested his elbow on Jeong Dohyeon’s shoulder while smiling.

The weight caused one of Dohyeon’s shoulders to sink.

Then he pointed at me.

“I’ve been curious for a while. Isn’t he on our team?”

“No. He’s from none other than the newly created Cleaning Team.”

“Ah… I see.”

After hearing a brief summary about me from Team Leader Yong, Jeong Dohyeon tilted his head slightly.

“I didn’t see how you work with my own eyes, so I don’t know exactly what you do, but it’ll be a pleasure working with you. Since this is your first time, don’t try to do too much. The most important thing is getting out alive.”

He immediately gave me another kind smile.

Between blocking my view of the corpse and his attitude.

He seemed like a good person.

“Well, well. Haebin still isn’t here, but let’s first figure out how to get in.”

“Can’t we just go in?”

Team Leader Yong dropped a rolled-up piece of paper into my hand.

I unrolled it.

It was stained with blood and a liquid I couldn’t identify.

Typed text appeared on it.

[Incorrect Uniform While Attending Class]

“What… is this?”

“The cause of his death.”

It didn’t exactly look like a cause of death.

It was only a few words.

“Rookie, paranormal phenomena have rules. Our job is to break them. Look at this.”

He tapped the bulletin board located in the central hallway.

Through the glass, which was covered in stains, I could barely make out the text.

Hwaae High School Regulations

All students must be diligent and responsible.
All students must wear their uniforms properly.
No student may remain at school after the official dismissal time.

“Things like these. Inside a paranormal phenomenon, you have to distrust everything and check everything.”

So.

Had that student ended up like that because he broke the second rule?

Click.

At that moment, the door behind us opened.

“I’m here! I’m not late, am I?”

Myeong Haebin entered with her cheeks slightly flushed, carrying a bag packed with cleaning supplies and a mop.

“You’re just in time. Haebin, pass me some glass cleaner.”

“Yes! I brought some.”

She set the bag on the floor, sat down beside the entrance, and began rummaging through it.

A short while later, she handed me a spray bottle of glass cleaner and a window squeegee.

“What do you need those for?”

“You said we have to distrust everything and check everything.”

I sprayed the glass with the cleaner.

Then I ran the sponge side of the squeegee from top to bottom.

To finish, I removed the excess liquid with the rubber blade on the other side.

When I wiped away the last drops of cleaner.

Someone let out a small exclamation.

“I don’t know much about exploration or dismantling, but I do know how to clean.”

The bulletin board didn’t show only what we had seen before.

Hwaae High School Regulations

All students must be diligent and responsible, and faithfully carry out their assigned activities.

All students must wear their uniforms properly and prioritize compliance with the regulations.

No student may remain at school after the official dismissal time.

3-1. However, third-year students are exempt. (Mandatory Night Study)