Chapter Text
"Hmmm..." Kim Soleum examined every last bit of remaining documents submitted by Daydream Inc.
The slower the pages turn, the faster the heartbeat of everyone else is.
The surroundings seemed to be dimmer as time went by, as if the sun set down and the moon is covered by thick clouds.
When he finally spoke, everyone's heart beat took a sudden break, almost leaping out of their throats—except for our ever calm team leader Lee Jaheon.
"Your inventory." Kim Soleum started. "Since only the raw materials are available, do not put the actual finished product's amount in the records," he explained. He continued analyzing the documents to see if there are other parts that needs to be corrected.
However, before he could think deeper, Eun Haje spoke cautiously. "Kim Soleum-ssi, do we assume that the previous agreement regarding the recording process of the wish ticket and other potions' inventory is null?"
Before Kim Soleum could even be confused about Eun Haje's question, an influx of memory surged on his mind—memories that the 'he' right now did not exactly experienced but the 'he' before his complete consciousness descended on this world did before.
Right.
The agreement.
Since some raw materials to create the Daydream Inc.'s potions such as the dream essence doesn't have an exact human monetary value, he agreed for Daydream Inc. to record the exact amount of potions available for production instead.
After the brief pause, Kim Soleum immediately composed himself and retracted his earlier proposition. "Right, apoligies for the confusion. Nevermind what I have said earlier and continue with the original recording process."
Everyone nodded and continued to listen, waiting for the final verdict.
"I see no more errors or discrepancies with your financial statements. Based on the auditing procedures, I will be issuing an unmodified opinion."
Baek Saheon—the most familiar with the term—was the first to heave a sigh of relief. The others followed soon after. The process is almost over without any casualties from the darkness!
Meanwhile, Kim Soleum looked at them with amused wonder. "That sense of relief after an unmodified opinion from the auditor is so accurate. This feels like I'm actually a normal auditor here." He mused in his mind.
After performing a few more final review and verification that all necessary disclosures have been made, they obtained the management's written representations.
The remaining procedures are fast-paced.
At last, the auditor's report is the only thing left.
"The audit report will be sent through e-mail within three days." Kim Soleum informed the team before dissolving into a black fog and vanishing completely.
Suddenly, the dim surroundings turned back to normal and the eerie silence was replaced by the normal office hubbub in Daydream Inc.
Park Minseong checked his wrist watch and said, "Time check, 9:45 am. 10-15 minutes faster than the previous records."
"Whew, that felt like weeks!" Eun Haje exclaimed with exhaustion. Normal audiiting process really does take weeks but the time together with this darkness is always distorted.
However, Eun Haje's tiredness seems to have completely vanish entirely after she saw Baek Saheon take out his dream essence collector.
Inside was a shimmeeing liquid that made everyone—except of course Lee Jaheon—almost drop their jaws to the floor from shock.
"That, that..." Park Minseong stammered, pointing a trembling finger at the dream essence collector.
Baek Saheon clenched his hands, carefully making sure that he would not be rid of his dream essence collector. After all, inside is...
"Is it an A-grade dream essence?" Eun Haje curiously asked.
"No." Lee Jaheon.
...
Everyone looked at him questioningly.
Baek Saheon almost wanted to start a fight from the clear and concise answer. He clasped his dream essence collector tighter and asked with gritted teeth, "Can you explain what you mean, section chief?"
"Yes." Lee Jaheon.
...silence.
Baek Saheon's carefully crafted polite smile that was still plastered on his face almost collapsed right then and there. Though, before that happened, Eun Haje immediately followed up with the most important question, already guessing how the conversation with Lee Jaheon will end up.
"Please explain why you said it isn't an A-grade dream essence, team leader."
At that, Lee Jahein nodded and spoke. "Although the color indeed looks almost identical to an A-grade dream essence, it still fall short from the quality based on what I can see. However, it is no doubt one of the highest B-grade dream essence available."
After the explanation, the team members finally heaved a sigh of relief. Despite falling short from being an A-grade, this is still a great achievement. Moreover, their whole encounter with the XYZ employee—Kim Soleum—gave a lot of new information.
Include the upcoming audit report that has a special section with the useful financial advice from the darkness, they will surely be receiving lots of points and bonuses.
Jackpot!
Qterw-?-1306—XYZ Company: Summarized Report and Observations
Compiled by: Lee Jaheon– Section Chief; Team Leader of D-squad
I. Introduction
As predicted based on qterw-?-1306's 'auditing' schedule, Researcher Team 1 assigned a team to represent Daydream Inc. for upcoming visit. The team consisting of the following employees: team leader Lee Jaheon, assistant manager Eun Haje, supervisor Park Minseong, and the rookie Baek Saheon from F-squad, was formed. [Refer to page XX for the background and qualifications of each member]
On July 14, 20XX, the team started the preparations. They collaborated with the Team 1 of the Finance Department who were assigned with the preparation of the financial statements for Daydream Inc.'s special operations. In July 18, 20XX, the confirmation for the auditing schedule was sent via e-mail, along with a renewed contract.
II. Summary of the Interaction
[11 pages summary of the interaction with Kim Soleum]
III. Observations
The following are the derived observation compiled based on the interactions of the team's members with the XYZ employee:
1. The XYZ employee introduced itself as "Kim Soleum." It is confirmed that he is the same as the previous representative sent by qterw-?-1306. The name can now be uttered and recorded, unlike the previous incidents.
1.1. Several employees who experienced handling the XYZ employee confirmed that it is indeed the name he introduced himself as, starting from the earliest interactions that can be confirmed from living employees.
1.2. No contamination is identified with the oral and written records of the XYZ employee's name who will now be reffered to as Kim Soleum.
2. Kim Soleum's facial features are clearly seen in this interaction, as opposed to the previous meetings. Further meetings are necessary to confirm whether this will be a new occurrence. No contamination is identified with the act of trying to remember Kim Soleum's facial features.
3. Kim Soleum acts and speaks in a more humane manner compared to before. This observation is from Lee Jaheon and Eun Haje who already had an initial interaction with Kim Soleum from the previous quarters.
3.1. This is an abstract observation based on what the two team members have 'felt' while interacting with Kim Soleum.
4. Kim Soleum, excretes a black fog from his body from time to time during this interaction. This was not an observable occurence from the previous meetings with Kim Soleum, except from the first encounter when he used it to 'punish' the previous □-squad members.
4.1. The black fog is observed to be oozing out of Kim Soleum whenever he is 'agitated' by reporting errors or other sudden occurences during the meeting.
4.2. There is no observable harm or contamination from the team members despite being exposed by the black fog for an extended amount of time.
4.3. Despite being harmless, the black fog exudes an 'imposing' and 'dangerous' feeling. It is assumed by the team members that the black fog could be used as a weapon by Kim Soleum anytime he needs to.
5. Kim Soleum seems to see through a lot of things, even behind the Daydream mask. An individual observation by Lee Jaheon.
5.1. Lee Jaheon overheard Kim Soleum muttering the rookie, Baek Saheon's name while observing the said employee's actions during the physical inventory count it requested.
6. Kim Soleum seems to have 'forgotten' a few details regarding Daydream Inc. such as the unresolved wish ticket theft incident and the revised recording process for potion inventories. This is merely an assumption and further observations should be made to confirm the actual circumstances.
....
— End of Report.
Meanwhile, XYZ company.
The black fog that vanished from Daydream Inc. directly materialized inside the CEO's office.
Kim Soleum's eyes reflected his main body sitting on a leather chair while petting the cat.
Despite experiencing this lots of times during the past months he stayed in this comoany, Kim Soleum's consciousness still can't get fully accustomed with his main body's appearance.
He still mostly retained his original looks. However, odd protrusions and additional parts sometimes comes out here and there.
For example, currently, the main body has large deer antlers on its head. Below his normal pair of eyes are smaller eyes on each side with dangerously red pupils. The hands he was using to pet the black cat has random scales appearing. His nails are slightly long and black like claws. His skin color is an uncanny shade of greyish white, like a corpse that was just about to start experiencing rigor mortis.
It was way worse and unrecognizable when he first learned some truths about himself after discovering a hidden compartment with unique collections by his initial consciousness inhabiting the body—and trying it out. But well, that is a story for another time.
He can now mostly control his main body and newly acquired abilities.
However, this abnormality still happens when he divides his consciousness to more than five clones. Unfortunately, he still lacks trained employees for now so he needs to work to the bones, even as a CEO.
Sigh...
Soleum's clone turned back to a black fog and merged with the main body.
The main body's complexion and appearance became a bit better but some anomalous parts still remained such as the antler and the scales.
The black cat looked up at Kim Soleum and excitedly asked, "CEO-nim, your other clones are about to come back too! Who will we be targeting tomorrow?"
Kim Soleum contemplated as he looked at the mini calendar on his desk.
...
The next day, D-squad's office.
January 21, 20XX, Tuesday.
"Badger! New mission! We lack one member though. The team leader is still out on his individual task." Eun Haje informed Park Minseong who was slacking in the office sofa, just about to wish that they receive no exploration task for the day. They really need to relax after a week of tension from that auditing company.
With dead fish eyes, he looked at Eun Haje in defeat and thought, "Can the auditor-ssi come back and just punish this company for whatever reason it can find?"
Meanwhile, a certain rookie from F-squad felt chills, instincts screaming for him to take a day off. Too late though...