Chapter Text
"Haah..."
Kim Soleum had just returned to the motel after the disaster with Director Ho and Agent Choi and flopped onto the bed.
‘There is way too much to do right now.’
‘I’m at my limit.’
Snuggling into the pillow, he decided to deal with it tomorrow after his shift at the Disaster Management Bureau.
He groggily opened his eyes, expecting to be back in the place where he fell asleep, but what awaited him was an unfamiliar scene.
Startled, Soleum shot up from the bed.
‘Where am I? Is this a Darkness? I don’t seem to remember one like this. Should I do something?’
I should probably check out the area first before panicking.
First, checking if anything happened to him, he patted himself down; the clothes he fell asleep in, was now a Bureau uniform. It didn’t seem anything was physically wrong, and while he was terrified and scared, that was to be expected in this situation.
After calming himself, he got up and nervously walked around, still startled from the obvious change in his surroundings. Eyeing the room, taking mental notes.
'What a weird darkness...'
It was a small room, about the size of Hyunmu’s team room, with dirty white walls and a prison bed with white sheets. There was a bright, light pink door with a black border right up ahead. There didn’t seem to be any windows, open areas, or objects lying around, and no other beings around.
After checking out the room to see if there was anything else, Kim Soleum decided there wasn’t anything else worth checking and approached the door.
He cautiously opened the door to find… a cinema on the other side of the door.
Inside he spotted six figures inside, all dressed in Daydream suits.
‘Is that... Chief Lizard!!’
A feeling of relief swelled up in him seeing another person he knew. When he examined if anyone else was here, he saw J3 and Park Minseong, probably together because of security; Eun Haje, who was standing near Lee Jaheon; and Lee Seonghae lecturing Baek Saheon.
He saw Baek Saheon tense as soon as he entered the room; they made eye contact for a brief moment before Baek Saheon looked away, terrified and scared.
Kim Soleum stepped towards Chief Lee Jaheon and Eun Haje.
“It seems you guys got here before me?”
“Yes.”
“Chief Lizard… are we in darkness?"
"Yes."
Thank you for elaborating, Section Chief.
He sighed and asked, “Do we have any information on this darkness?”
Eun Haje took a step towards him and said, “Chief Lizard over here tried smashing through the walls; it didn’t work. Currently, nothing has happened besides getting trapped here. Everyone here got summoned during their sleep, but not at the same time."
"Chief Lizard and I were here first, then the security team came, following up with the rookie Goat and Sergeant Dolphin, then those Disaster management dogs.”
Agents?
Kim Soleum glanced around before taking a look behind Chief Lee Jaheon, where he saw Agent Choi, Agent Bronze, and wearing a bureau uniform, Go Youngeun, who was still pretending to be an Agent.
‘It's a shame Agent Choi most likely already knows...’
Whatever this darkness was, he didn’t want to be stuck with Agent Choi right now, not after last night.
Eun Haje continued speaking. “They arrived earlier than you, just an hour ago. After a...peaceful... talk, we discussed how we got here, and it seemed like there wasn’t a pattern.”
'The Agents likely knew that they were outnumbered and thought cooperation would be better.’
"Where did you guys first find yourselves?" Kim Soleum asked. “We all were summoned in the cinema, and until that pink door showed up and you walked through it, there hadn't been much going on. How did you get here, Roe?”
No one else was in a white room.
‘Is this a targeted darkness?’
“I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was in that room.” Pointing over to the prison-like space, “It didn’t seem like there was much in there either, but for some reason I was separated between you guys." She nodded her head and began thinking about what he said. While she was doing that, Kim Soleum took this opportunity to go talk to the agents.
‘It would seem suspicious if I talked to them for too long; even if Agent Choi already knows that I’m a spy, Agent Bronze hasn’t found out yet.'
He jogged over to them, giving them a wave. Agent Choi faltered before plastering on a smile. "Grape-ssi, how did you get here? Are you okay? What happened?" he spoke in a cheerful but concerned tone, clutching his arms.
"I'm fine, Agent Choi. How did you and Agent Bronze end up here? I heard from those Daydream employees that it was during your sleep."
"Well," Agent Choi said in a playful tone, “Bronzie and I over here were working in the office when suddenly—bam!—we got trapped here."
So he lied…
“Agent Mint was at work with us as well.” Agent Bronze turned to her.
He waved to Go Youngeun and flashed her a smile. Waving back and she gave a small grin, relieved to see her colleague was uninjured.
“Ah yea, I was also working at the office at the time; I went up to go grab some paperwork when I ended up here.”
“I’m relieved to see none of you guys are injured.” He really was; even if things were dire between him and Agent Choi, he was glad nothing bad had happened to them.
“Us too, Agent Grape. You are no—" Agent Bronze started to speak when suddenly the cinema screen flashed a bright light.
"Agh!" They covered their eyes as light flashed off and on. After it stopped flashing, a string of text appeared.
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[Secrets will prevail!]
Welcome, welcome to my reading!!
Are you worried someone you’re close to is keeping secrets? Maybe even your enemy…? Well, today is your lucky day!! The person you know as {Kim Soleum} will show you a wonderful story! The life of {Kim Soleum} will be shown through a 1st-person novel, with unreliable narration, of course… Please relax, enjoy, and have no fear; for once this story is read, you will return safely to your home! Will you still see your good friend the same…
After the introduction chapter, you will get a resting period for 10 minutes and further introductions.
Please read the following: no violence and all attention towards the screen; if needed, a break will be provided. Should the rules be broken, appropriate punishment will be distrusted.
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Kim Soleum's eyes widened as he read the text.
‘I remember what darkness this is!’
A wiki page flashed through his head.
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[Secrets will prevail]
: A ghost story featured in <Dark Exploration Records>
: Identification number for ███ ███ is ███ ███
A darkness that kidnaps a person during their sleep, summoning them into a small white room that leads into a small cinema with the people they’re closest to. This darkness has no known patterns, and the victim is kidnapped by an entity that goes by the name "Viewer." In the cinema, the original person who was kidnapped has their deepest secrets exposed by adapting their life into a novel.
The novel is written in first-person, with (depending on the user projected on the screen) unreliable narration. Similar to a novel, it will sometimes use the perspective of other "characters” to show how other people perceive the “MC.” It can switch between arcs and view any arc as well as go back to the ones they previously skipped. While narrating, the novel has visualization throughout the reading.
While this darkness is (usually) nonviolent, depending on the person being exposed, this darkness can be quite long; you will lose your sense of time, and things may become distorted. The only way to escape this darkness is by reading the entire "novel."
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‘ This seems to be more of a physiological Darkness, the goal either being humiliation, or closeness huh…I can’t remember the exact identification number, or the exact exploration record… but I have a summary of how this Darkness works.’
‘Has my memory always been this hazy..?’
One thing was for certain to him, Kim Soleum was screwed over the minute he was chosen for this darkness.
[What an unpleasant host, friend.]
Braun??