Chapter Text
Park Minseong- Badger lay awake in bed long after his roommates had fallen asleep, a few of them waking up screaming or writhing fitfully every once in a while. The security team barracks were never peaceful. Its inhabitants had witnessed horrors no human could imagine and thus they were doomed to work and live with those horrors on their bodies for the rest of their existence. For them, it was a permanent reminder of their failure and regret. After leaving Team D, Badger spent every day hoping the others would stay far away from the security team. He put a hand over his face to block a scream. Their rookie had appeared earlier that day, in an even worse shape than him. He’d become so inhuman that Badger couldn’t recognize him- couldn’t even tell he used to be human. Wild antlers and protrusions on his body and yellow lamp eyes peering through a gas mask emitting smoke. Roe Deer couldn’t even take the suit off. Couldn’t even think like a human. It made Badger want to cry.
Opening the door to the isolation room, he was nervous at first as he introduced himself. “Hello… I am your assistant. I’ll try not to be annoying… I’m Badger.”
The entity sat on the bed, watching him silently. He was starting to fidget when behind him, J3 took in a sharp breath. “No… you- you shouldn’t be here... You told me... you were resigning.”
At first, Badger had been shocked. He’d never seen J3 so emotional. His sunbae had a dry personality, as if all the life was sucked out of him. J3 took a step forward, eyes trembling. “What happened?”
For the first time, Roe Deer moved, turning his head. Smoke floated through the air to form words.
New employment contract: permanent employment.
J3 let out a dry laugh. “You weren’t supposed to end up like me. You were supposed to fulfill your wish. Did you even get to use it?”
Current form: a result of a wish ticket.
J3 let out another ragged chuckle. Something horrible was beginning to dawn on Badger. Someone J3 cared for. Who had left after earning a wish ticket. Someone they both knew. No. No. NO. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. “Roe Deer?” No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.No. No. No. No. No. It’s time for class to begi- A burning on his face forced his thoughts to a halt. The paper mask he wore prevented the kindergarten teacher from taking over his body, and he took a deep breath. “Okay. It’ll be okay. We can find a way. I recovered, so you can too, right?”
Impossible.
His heart sank. After that he desperately kept his tears in, speaking to Roe Deer with a choked up voice. After leaving their maknae in the isolation room, He sank to the floor in the hallway, not even caring that it wasn’t exactly safe to do so. J3 stood beside him. “What happened to him?”
“He told me... he was going to make a wish... One that would take him... to an alternate world.”
“...So something went wrong with his wish.”
***
J3 sat in the CCTV room eating donuts, remembering the field exploration employee who used to bring them to him. Who was now sitting quietly in his room, staring blankly into space. His eyes shifted from the computer screen to the walkie-talkie-like device on his belt as it beeped. The voice that came out of it was disgustingly familiar. Kwak Jekang. “Hello! How was it seeing your friend again? I’m sure it was nice to be reunited after six months.”
J3 ground his teeth. “What happened to him.”
“Hmm… I’m not sure! All I know is that Director Cheong brought him in already in his current condition. Of course, he’s become such a rule-follower now, it’s so boring.”
“Find out.”
The voice paused at the words, noting the slight growl in J3’s voice. “Hm?”
“Find out what happened to him. And how to fix him.”
“Wow, so touching. You really care about that employee, huh? I’ve never seen you so attached to someone before. Did he remind you of when you were human? You must be so upset he’s not human anymore! But don’t worry! I’m already trying. I put you on his team and set up his room to try to jumpstart his memory. But it seems like the problem isn’t his memory but rather the way he thinks.”
“...What do you mean?”
“That employee remembers everything about his life before. He just doesn’t care anymore. He only thinks about work. He’s been re-educated to be Director Cheong’s perfect subordinate. It’s interesting, isn’t it? She and Director Ho are so interested in him. Not that I can blame them. He is an interesting specimen.”