The one waiting for in front of the elevator.
The new hire, Kim Heowoon.
“Mr. Employee?”
I cannot distinguish human faces.
They look like lted mosaics, and their voices are as indistinct as an old radio recording.
Therefore, I cannot tell how much this ‘new hire Kim Heowoon’, standing before the elevator now, resembles the Jang Heowoon I once knew… but one thing I can be certain of.
‘…A strange situation.’
This is strange.
And the one who knows this better than I do is standing beside .
One of the directors of this company.
“Hello. You must be the new hire with the Field Exploration Team.”
“Ah. Yes, sir…! My na is Kim Heowoon.”
“I see. …But how did you co in here?”
“……Pardon?”
“You’re with the Field Exploration Team, aren’t you? Then you wouldn’t have been able to enter this Security Team sector on your own… so how are you here?”
Silence.
“And how did you find this elevator? And to that this Mr. Employee would be here,”
Ho Yoowon pointed at .
“How did you know that?”
“……”
The mouth opened.
“I imitated.”
…What?
“I imitated a Security Team mber to get in, and I imitated the Research Team to learn the employee’s location.”
‘Imitated…?’
The mont a sense of foreboding rose.
A smile spread across Kim Heowoon’s indistinguishable face.
“But with this, my purpose for joining has already been fulfilled, so I don’t mind being fired over it.”
And he looked at .
“Mr. Employee.”
The purpose of joining the company.
—It’s because there was sothing I had to find.
It was .
“You don’t need to worry. Nothing troubleso has happened. I only ca here to seize the opportunity to introduce myself properly… and to express my gratitude.”
Then Kim Heowoon bowed deeply before .
“Thank you for saving us. Thanks to you, all the people at the facility survived.”
……
Wait.
“Because of you, Mr. Employee, Jang Heowoon’s wish was fulfilled.”
That ans…
“Aha. How unfortunate. Looks like my guess was wrong, Roe Deer-nim.”
I realized.
The two Wish Tickets delivered to Go Yeongeun-ssi being used did not an…
‘They weren’t used to save Jang Heowoon himself…!’
From the start, the chance that such a smart and composed person would suddenly make a sloppy wish on a Wish Ticket was low. If anything…
‘She would have felt more unsettled to keep both Wish Tickets in her possession.’
Because soone might find out and steal them.
And she may also have heard that, while the Disaster Managent Bureau was doing its best to improve Jang Heowoon’s condition, there was no telling when he would recover fully.
In that case, before so mishap happened while holding onto the Wish Tickets indefinitely… it would have been far more reasonable for her to use one on Jang Heowoon’s behalf.
Recovery from contamination had precedents, like with Security Team mbers, so she could entrust that much to the Disaster Managent Bureau.
Instead, she would have made the true wish.
Like this.
Please grant Jang Heowoon-ssi’s wish.
And Jang Heowoon’s wish was…
– I wanted to save my precious family.
……
Before my eyes, I saw the result of Jang Heowoon’s wish being granted.
A family mber, bearing the na Kim Heowoon.
One of the people from a countryside religious welfare facility where the orphan Jang Heowoon had grown up. A place that had burned down in a fire.
[What an interesting situation, Friend.]
[But moreover. How exactly does this person know that it was you, Friend, who was the one who handed over the Wish Ticket?]
[And doesn’t the explanation of ‘I imitated’ strike you as rather vague?]
…That.
‘I have a… suspicion.’
The chill crawling up my spine told . A single hypothesis that struck like a shock in my mind.
…I’ll narrow it down through Q&A.
Question : Relationship with Jang Heowoon
“Ah. We are family who grew up in the sa facility. Out of eight, seven died in the fire.”
Question : Reason for sharing the sa na
“In the facility, those who lived together were given the sa na. The surnas differed, but we shared the given na. Because we’re family.”
Question : Rules shared by the family
“There weren’t really rules, but… we received the sa education, ate the sa food, and slept in the sa place in order to have a lifestyle fitting the na ‘Heowoon’. So that we could each have the sa experiences, fairly.”
Question : Example of a ‘lifestyle fitting the na Heowoon’
“Ah. It wasn’t difficult. For example… going to bed late and waking up late.”
……
“Reading poetry collections more than twice a week, becoming afraid of blood, starting middle school one year early, and dropping out of high school.”
And.
“When eting shamans or other religious figures, not introducing one’s own na.”
……
The final question.
Question : Na of the facility
“Ah, that place is…”
And I already knew the answer.
In this world, there are countless bizarre groups, but only one insane group that operates a childcare facility in this way…
“…It is a facility called Paradise of Love shelter.”
……
Paradise of Love
“Do you know it?”
I know it.
A fairly well-known cult within this setting’s Korea.
I had even seen its na once before at the Disaster Managent Bureau.
– Human life is filled with fear. The lover of paradise, who will protect and love you so that you no longer have to be afraid, is waiting for you. Co to the Paradise of Love.
Back when the White-Tiger Unit, at my suggestion, dealt with the ghost story of ‘Red Clothes at Exit 4’, the agents had pretended to be missionaries of this very cult while writing their recruitnt lines.
But to , there is sothing beyond even that.
This group was registered on the wiki as having its own page.
Paradise of Love
One of the erging religions that spread in Korea in the early 2000s within the setting.
Promoting slogans like ‘You can et your ideal partner’ or ‘We will make you into the ideal type you imagine’, they proselytized in ways appealing to the younger generation, becoming popular on the early internet.
But in truth, it was an unethical, ritualistic cult that forcibly reshaped the lives of its followers to beco suitable for a specific being called the ‘Lover of Paradise’, through bizarre ceremonies.
And.
This process gained interest for the hypothesis that it was influenced by the Mimicry Sect of the Church of the Luminous Unknown, and eventually it was established as one of the church’s affiliated organizations.
That facility belonged to the Church of the Luminous Unknown.
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