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Ever since the red rabbit's disappearance in the B Grade Darkness Fun Theme Park of the Daydream Company, the handling of the darkness has become so much easier, and there are fewer deaths happening in the fun theme park. Being a B-grade darkness and all, a complete hazard and death-free environment is unavoidable. But the lowered death rate is an improvement and to be expected; a darkness is a darkness, and some people are plain stupid. From time to time some employees of Daydream Company couldn't help but lack reading comprehension skills and break some rules, and the mascots of the theme park would come to punish them.
A perfect example of that plain lack of reading comprehension of the guidelines of Daydream Company is this current scenario.
"Bad child."
Baek Saheon watched as one of the field operation agents from Group N grouped with him in this darkness ended up having their head explode by the Blue Dragon mascot of the blue zone. Bursting and splashing into red pulp with various things Baek Saheon doesn't want to describe. He felt sick and nauseated. Not because he cared for the employee that ended up dying for breaking the rules and wasn't used to disgusting sights; no, the reason is more self-serving. He is sick because he fears and doesn't want to end up in the same position.
"He deserved it, don't you agree, Goat-ssi?"
Baek Saheon turned his head. Glancing at the person who said those words with such conviction and a high-pitched voice filled with cheer. The person in question is a white-haired woman. Lee Seonghae from the C Group, who is currently munching some popcorn. Eating food she brought inside this darkness. Not looking bothered or disturbed that one of her coworkers working with her in this darkness ended up dead. The headless corpse is lying on the floor with the head turned into a pulp splattering everywhere around the body. Blood continues to leak out of the body like a stream till there is no blood left on it. It is a mess. The sound of the popcorn being munched grated on Baek Saheon's nerves and terrified him at the same time.
There was a glint of satisfaction and acceptance in Lee Seonghae's eyes. Baek Saheon feels cold. His body soaked in cold sweat, but he resisted the urge to shudder. A question arose in his mind. Does she know? Is that why she looks at him? Or is he overthinking?
This is the 4th time he ended up being grouped with Lee Seonghae. There are already a few times he has entered with her on large-scale, high-rank darkness, which required multiple groups to explore and collect. This is one of the few times he was being grouped again with her in the same team in the same darkness. Baek Saheon internally curses his bad luck. Lamenting and saying expletives inside his mind, he ended up being with her and their currently stupid, now dead, and useless teammate from Group N, who got himself killed.
Working with her a few times and circulating information from the company, Baek Saheon has a grasp on what kind of person Lee Seonghae is. She may look harmless, pleasing to the eye, and kind at the first glance, but she is a person with a twisted personality. A person with a warped sense of ethics. Baek Saheon isn't fond of people who view everything in black and white. Those people are a bunch of hypocrites who shouldn't even exist in reality. But, compared to those people, she is worse. She's even more extreme compared to those people with her distorted worldview.
There are rumors floating in the company that Lee Seonghae has killed some of the people that worked with her because they ended up lying and stealing from her. There were so many times that Lee Seonghae's name became one of the frequent content of the rumors of the company. She was the type of person who wouldn't care about the severity and impact of a person's sin and crime; the only thing that would matter is the person committing said crime, and you would already be a corpse in her eyes.
Baek Saheon was relieved the bastard Kim Soleum was declared dead by the company. (He doubted he was even dead. He had a suspicion he was involved in that project with the suspicious and untrustworthy director Ho.) But he later discovered the bastard is alive. And after an unfortunate encounter nearby the fox counseling room, Baek Saheon ended up providing the lunatic various information about the company from time to time. However, Kim Soleum hasn't contacted him for been for more than a month.
In a company like Daydream Company, which doesn't care about ethics and morality, there are a lot of insane employees existing. In Baek Saheon's eyes, Lee Seonghae is without a doubt a lunatic. Baek Saheon was afraid for his survival being grouped with her in this darkness. There's a chance he would end up getting killed, so he has been watching how he behaves and acts in front of Lee Seonghae. Hoping that she wasn't still aware of his true nature.
Currently, they were in the area of the blue dragon mascot. Intending to start taking the rides of the blue zone territory later to exit the darkness. First, they needed to investigate the recent sightings of a strange supernatural visitor that was hired in the Fun Theme Park before they could leave as requested by that crazy researcher Kwak Jekang.
Baek Saheon took out his notes and pen from the pocket of his pants. Flipping open the notes as he looks at the things he wrote. Information he gleaned from the things that were discovered by the recent employees who entered this darkness.
A humanoid supernatural being who called herself Don Quixote. A self-proclaimed fixer of justice. The meaning of "fixer" is unknown, but from the things that employees have gathered and its literal meaning, it's someone who fixes things. A helper? Appearance: a short adult woman with blond hair and hazel eyes. Dressed in a bloody uniform, the most prominent thing about this supernatural being is her huge bloody lance, according to the employees who entered the darkness.
While Baek Saheon feels familiarity upon hearing the name and thinking, where did he hear that name before? He was interrupted in his musings.
"Oh!"
That familiar unpleasant voice Baek Saheon doesn't want to hear from quite a distance.
"Sahe— Black Goat-ssi! It's been a while!"
Baek Saheon could feel his smile nearly faltering because the familiar person had nearly said his real name inside a darkness. The person in question was Kang Yihak, the money-obsessed woman he worked together with a few weeks ago on an unofficial mission.
"Greetings, Dolphin-nim. It's a pleasure to work with you!"
Kang Yihak greeted Lee Seonghae using her codename.
Lee Seonghae nodded her head and finished eating her popcorn before she started wiping her hands clean with her hanky. A minute passed. Nothing happened other than Lee Seonghae nodding her head towards the other woman. It was a very lukewarm response considering Lee Seonghae's normal behavior. Baek Saheon feels vindicated upon seeing what happened. Controlling himself to keep the pleased smile and not laugh at Kang Yihak being disrespected.
Kang Yihak stiffly smiled and composed herself. Intending to change the subject when Lee Seonghae didn't return the greeting. She glanced in his direction and asked.
"How are you, Black Goat-ssi? I didn't expect I would encounter you again!"
Her voice was casual and intimate. With a very amiable and friendly smile on her face. And the words she said are so, so fake. She stepped closer, intending to take a peek at his notes. Baek Saheon closed the little book, not allowing her to see it.
"I could say the same to you, Pony-ssi. I didn't expect to encounter you soon."
She pouted upon not seeing the notes. With a coquettish smile and briefly arranging some of the locks of her hair at the side, she asked him.
"That note seems important, Saheon-ssi... Is that related to a darkness? Could I take a look at the writings? ~"
Baek Saheon shuddered internally upon seeing her behavior. He was getting goosebumps, and he was close to gagging seeing this display.
"So, what are you doing here, Black Goat-ssi, with Dolphin-nim?"
Kang Yihak asked, continuing to wear a smile on her face. Baek Saheon nearly rolled his eyes. What kind of stupid and fake question is that? Isn't it obvious?
"Me?" Baek Saheon pointed to himself. "I was assigned here to explore the darkness," Baek Saheon says, stating the obvious. His uncovered green eye's eyelashes fluttered and peered at Kang Yihak with disappointment. "What about you, Kang Yihak-ssi? You didn't deliberately make yourself be assigned here, did you?"
Kang Yihak waved her hand duplicitously. "No, how can it be? I didn't ask to be put in here because this darkness is a very convenient darkness to earn points."
"Where is your group?"
"They died."
She replied casually and sounded a little irritated before continuing. "They ended up wasting a good life-saving item that saved their life first... but it's gone to waste when they break some rules once again. That item costs a lot. "
Baek Saheon resist the urge to bludgeon her with a hard object.
"I see. My condolences, Pony-ssi."
Peering at the corpse of his and Lee Seonghae's headless teammate, she replied.
"You too, Black Goat-ssi."
After a few seconds, it became an awkward silence with the accompanying noise of Lee Seonghae scarily polishing and cleaning her sword. The two shuddered and started initiating conversation like party social animals. They are being too friendly and even spoke praises towards each other as if the event a few weeks ago were forgotten. However, their minds are working differently.
'Bitch. I hope you make an error later and the Blue Dragon mascot kills you.' Baek Saheon still remembered the fact that Kang Yihak had scammed him a few weeks ago on their rewards after their investigation on D Team Manager Lee Jaheon and the discovery of him having a child. Kang Yihak took 75% of the reward, which was basically the equivalent of daylight robbery for him. Since that day, Baek Saheon ended up imagining a few times this gold-digging woman would unfortunately meet her death in one of the darknesses here at the Daydream company.
On the other hand, Kang Yihak was thinking Baek Saheon didn't deserve to have any ounce of points for their reward weeks ago. ' What a leech! I'm the one who spent points buying information about Manager Lee Jaheon! You're a useless bastard who didn't do anything but whine and blame people when matters don't go his way. You're cursing me in your mind, aren't you? '
While the two are thinking of each other in an not amiable and friendly manner, Lee Seong-hae interrupts their thoughts.
"Goat-ssi, our target is here."
Baek Saheon and Kang Yihak turn their heads and look at the direction Lee Seonghae's fingers are pointing. The supernatural visitor that was told by the researcher to observe was approaching the Blue Dragon mascot.
"Verily, such conduct was devoid of equity and righteousness, O Sir BLUE DRAGON!!" A voice bellowed loudly.
There she is, one of the supernatural visitors of the Fun Theme Park who, according to recent events, has been hired to work at the theme park as an employee. She is a point of interest. A new thing in this theme park that the researchers of the company wanted to learn about, including that crazy researcher who was affiliated with Kim Soleum, Kwak Jekang. The one responsible for assigning them here.
The subject in question is holding a large jousting lance made of unknown metal that towers over her; she has an ugly yellow and very dirty sneaker. One of them has a hole that makes one of her left big toe peek out from time to time. It is unknown how she could hold and lift such a very heavy weapon, but it gives her more credibility of being supernatural. Now with her close in sight, Baek Saheon could decipher the words etched on her lance that weren't previously decipherable due to the previous employees not encountering her closer and not being given the correct opportunity.
[ SUEÑO IMPOSIBLE ]
SUEÑO IMPOSIBLE... It isn't English. Baek Saheon could tell. Then there was a tilde over the word "N."
"Are those Spanish words?"
Baek Saheon heard Kang Yihak mumble to herself, and her not-covered dark green eyes widened upon realization. 'Imposible' is translated to Impossible. A few seconds of staring at the blond-haired supernatural being holding a gigantic lance and hearing the eccentric way she speaks, he realized why he was getting a sense of familiarity.
"Don Quixote."
Baek Saheon mumbled that he had written on the note. He has read a certain novel translated into his own language years ago. A tale about a delusional man fighting a windmill.
"Hm??"
Baek Saheon flinched when the woman turned her head to look in their direction. They were at a nice distance away from her and the Blue Dragon mascot. Is Baek Saheon overthinking? But as she started saying something to the blue dragon mascot and heading towards their direction, Baek Saheon dreadfully confirmed that she had very sharp hearing.
Seconds passed; she was in front of them. With an enthusiastic smile, the woman named Don Quixote blinked her strange hazel eyes and asked.
"Thou knowest my name! Dost thou require something? Are we familiar with one another?"
Don Quixote's hands are gesticulating with her every question and enthusiasm. Hazel eyes shining brightly. Baek Saheon was horrified to find out how so easy it was for her to move around with her weapon. She is very physically strong.
"Don Quixote? So your name is Don Quixote-ssi?" Baek Saheon showed his genuine surprise and changed his expression into fake awe. "Wow, so your name is Don Quixote, Don Quixote-ssi. It's a coincidence I happened to read a story, and your behavior reminded me of the protagonist who is a knight."
"Really?!"
Now she is looking more enthusiastic and looking proud. Perhaps this supernatural being is very friendly as long as they don't break a specific type of rule.
"Yes…" Baek Saheon nodded his head before continuing to speak. "Can I ask how long you have been visiting the theme park, Miss Don Quixote, and where are you from?" While she was still friendly, he could ask questions he hoped she would answer and help him to get more points and favor from the research department.
"Verily! I am joyed to answer thy inquiry. I have been visiting the theme park for almost a month, and the theme park piqued my interest, and I felt a strange feeling of familiarity upon seeing it for the first time. I do attest that 'tis my inaugural venture into this realm of merriment. Perchance, I know a similar park, whose name escapes remembrance."
She has a very fancy way of speaking.
"Remember?"
"Indeed. I can't recount things. But I can faintly recall you working for a company, and I completely parted with my dear companions, whose appearance I also don't remember."
"Don Quixote-nim, could you recall what the name of your company is?"
Kang Yihak interjected and asked a question. Baek Saheon stopped the urge to do something to her for interrupting his conversation with the supernatural. Don Quixote shook her head.
"Nay, I do not. Yet I dimly recollect our many wanderings, and our department uses a bus to explore around in different places."
"I see. Thank you for the information, Don Quixote-nim."
Considering Don Quixote is supernatural, the company she was talking to is possibly a ghost-story scenario. There is a chance that it was a very dangerous one. It would be best to not pry further about this company, or there would be a chance they would end up triggering it, and Baek Saheon doesn't want to die. It's better to steer the topic to why she got hired in the amusement park and some things about herself and not that company.
Don Quixote took a look at them and stopped raising her jousting lance and letting it land on the floor, which made a heavy thud. With one swipe from her lance, Baek Saheon would be at the throes of death if he ended up angering her. So far she is continuing to be benevolent enough to answer their questions and isn't prone to attacking or attempting to kill them like most of the supernatural in ghost stories.
"In these past weeks I encountered people like thee dressed in uniforms. Art thou perhaps working for a company?"
Don Quixote inquired, blinking her hazel eyes and staring at them intensely as if she were seeing through them behind their mask. Kang Yihak replied to her.
"That's right, Don Quixote-nim."
Don Quixote looked at them silently for a few seconds, making Baek Saheon nervous. She squinted her eyes at their faces, scrunching them, and asked an unexpected question.
"Is the name of your company you're working for perhaps Lobotomy Corporation?"
Lobotomy? Baek Saheon feels a shiver down his spine hearing that discredited medical procedure. Is that perhaps the name of her company? What kind of horrible company is named Lobotomy Corporation? Baek Saheon couldn't imagine a company that would be much worse than Daydream, but it probably existed in the form of this ghost story.
Seeing her having no reaction and being silent, Don Quixote made her conjecture.
"Oh! I apologize for my misconception. I have watched for the past weeks that employees of thine company enter here at the theme park to collect something, haven't they? It just feels too similar to how employees of Lobotomy Corporation collect enkephalin from abnormalities."
Enkephalin? Abnormalities? Baek Saheon saw Kang Yihak-ssi's eyes light up in excitement and greed upon hearing various terms that weren't familiar to her. Excited for any possible information that would lead to her gaining more profit and money.
Before Baek Saheon could stop her from triggering a dangerous ghost story scenario and before Kang Yihak could ask Don Quixote, the latter suddenly put a hand on her face, groaning in pain.
"Don Quixote-nim?"
"Ah, my head hurts... I just want to remember my companions so I can find them... Rocinante… not now... To quench my thirst... Weeks I haven't had anything for weeks."
Don Quixote muttered and opened her eyes. Lee Seonghae stepped forward to hold one of Kang Yihak's hands and drag her away before she got hit by Don Quixote's jousting lance, and Baek Saheon also made himself scarce from Don Quixote's hitting distance. Don Quixote's previous hazel eyes changed and became a gleaming crimson, staring blankly at them before she started moving towards in a certain direction, not fully conscious. They parted, and Baek Saheon was relieved when she didn't chase after them but continued walking, holding her jousting lance and muttering that she was hungry.
Finally, she stopped and crouched in front of Baek Saheon and Lee Seonghae's headless teammate, placing her jousting lance at the puddle of blood and holding the headless employee. The next moment, she started drinking and licking any of the remaining blood and the puddle of red surrounding the corpse.
Everyone froze. Baek Saheon internally swears his bladder isn't thinking on giving up on him. A few seconds later, Kang Yihak stopped Lee Seonghae from stepping forward and interrupting Don Quixote's feast. A moment later, Don Quixote's eyes turned back to hazel, and she picked up her jousting lance, looking at her surroundings, making a realization, and bowed towards their direction.
" I beseech thy forgiveness for mine unruly conduct! Verily, it was most unseemly of myself to act like a savage beast and partake of thy companion's life-blood, yet I had endured a famine of many weeks.
After a few moments, Kang Yihak stepped forward.
"We don't mind, Don Quixote-nim."
Kang Yihak lied, clenching her fist and drenched in cold sweat.
"I see. Then, let thyself make thyself known adequately. I am Don Quixote, a valiant fixer of justice! I am currently working at the Fun Theme Park as a bodyguard as of recently until I fully recover my memories. If thou would frequently visit the theme park, thou can talk and call for thyself if thee need help! Pleasure to meet thee!"
The vampire Don Quixote introduces herself. Smiling while her clothes became messier with red added to them.
After that event, the research department decided to send more employees to observe and test Don Quixote. Baek Saheon chooses to not come back to the Fun Theme Park for the time being as long as Don Quixote is working on it. He also heard a week later that the Research Department raised the rank of the Fun Theme Park to A-grade after the death rate of the Daydream employees spiked with a 100% zero survival rate after a certain event of Dom Quixote removing her shoes because she declared them a villain and scum.
Overall, Baek Saheon was glad that he wasn't assigned to the Fun Theme Park and could tune out the rumors of Lee Seonghae earning high-grade dream solutions because it turned out that Lee Seonghae has a very high affinity with the supernatural Don Quixote, managing to appease her anger by talking to the supernatural about her twisted view of ethics. Baek Saheon isn't envious of Lee Seonghae getting a very high-grade solution. It isn't his business what happened there anymore.
In a sudden turn of events, never would he expect that he would end up having a worse experience in the Mansion of the Blind after encountering someone who was capable of being more of a crazy lunatic than Kim Soleum, and it involved a Japanese woman holding an ōdachi with a penchant for acronyms.