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Kim Soleum was a liar. That was an established fact.
He lied about being a psychopath, he lied about being an agent, and he lied about keeping the paper boat—(“Uhh, did I ever promise anything about that?”)—but even so, if there was one thing Baek Saheon never doubted him for, it was his fearlessness.
After all, how many times has Baek Saheon heard tales about that prodigious batchmate of his? About how he speedruns every Darkness run, how he always somehow foolishly saves other people even at the risk of his own life, and how he still survives despite the odds against him?
Even as an Agent, that much was still true. He was no coward.
So, why the hell—
“To be honest… I can’t handle scary things very well.”
—was he saying a whole load of nonsense right now?
Baek Saheon eyed him up and down before scoffing. Looks-wise, the guy was still recovering from the beat-down he got from those lowlives several days ago, not to mention all the other horrors they went through right after. But Darkness aside, did those bastards mess with his head, too?
…No, nevermind, Kim Soleum was never of right mind, however non-psychopathic his true attitude actually was. Still, did he really think Baek Saheon would buy that?
“Yeah, right. Don’t start pulling that kind of stuff now,” Baek Saheon shook his head while crossing his arms. “Your psycho bullshit won’t scare me anymore. Do you think you’re being funny, acting like this?”
Kim Soleum furrowed his brows. Baek Saheon barely resisted the urge to flinch. Fuck, that still scares him sometimes, but as long as he doesn’t make it obvious, that should be fine…
“…I’m not acting, though.”
“Sure, sure. What’s next. Should I believe that you didn’t actually throw away the paper boat I painstakingly gave you?”
“Why are you so hung up on that? I told you, it just isn’t on me right now—” Baek Saheon turned away from him. Kim Soleum looked exasperated. “Oh, come on!”
Even if he asked him why he was so hung up about the damned paper boat, it’s not like Baek Saheon would just go ahead and tell him. He should figure that out himself. Stupid Agent.
…Right, he wasn’t actually an agent. But the point still stands!
After sighing and facepalming for a few minutes, Kim Soleum eventually pulled a determined face and continued speaking. Baek Saheon glanced at him from the periphery of his right eye.
“You won’t believe me? Fine, then! I’ll prove it to you!” he declared, placing a hand over his heart, like he was pledging to their flag or something. Were they ever that nationalistic? “I’ll choose a Darkness to go to!”
“Pfft, how exactly would you prove cowardice through that—”
“And you’ll be going with me!”
“…”
“…”
“…Huh.”
[Heartbeats Under Observation] : A ghost story appearing in the <Dark Exploration Records>, with Daydream Inc. Identification Code Qterw-F-0812. A ghost story where safety scales directly with how easily you panic. Explorers enter by signing their name on an innocent-looking research volunteer request form that claims to monitor resting heart rates. Upon signing, explorers are instantly transported to a decrepit, dimly lit hospital filled with sudden jumpscares, agonizing shrieks, and horrifying apparitions designed to maximize terror. The twist lies in its evasion metric: the moment an explorer's heart rate spikes 35 to 50 BPM above their baseline, they are instantly ejected back to reality unharmed. The ghost story is officially classified as F-grade because the entities make no actual attempt to touch or harm explorers, maintaining a strictly observational distance. Because seasoned Daydream employees realize there is zero real physical danger, they cannot be genuinely terrified and usually resort to running laps around the corridors just to force their cardiovascular output high enough to trigger ejection. This has led many to conclude that the entities involved merely possess a genuine, harmless interest in simple human physiological research.
That was the ghost story Kim Soleum had picked. Baek Saheon genuinely didn’t know what his thought process was in choosing this.
They were now currently standing in the middle of a derelict hospital corridor. Peeling wallpaper dangled like dead skin from the walls, and the overhead fluorescent lights flickered with an agonizing hum.
Quietly, Baek Saheon thought that this scenery reminded him of that other hospital-themed Darkness he and his…now-subordinate…had once gotten involved in. But when he turned to look at him, perhaps to gauge any hint of recognition or nostalgia on his expression, Kim Soleum just looked as stone-faced as ever.
Tsk. And he expects him to believe his crap about being a coward?
“Hey. Did you seriously drag me all the way for this child’s play?”
Kim Soleum didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he simply tapped the glowing, metallic bands that had locked around both their wrists upon entering. These were apparently monitoring devices displaying their real-time baseline heart rates.
“I told you, I’m terrible with scary things,” Kim Soleum said smoothly, pointing down at his own band. “If I’m lying, my BPM won’t budge and we’ll be stuck here forever. But if I’m telling the truth, I’ll be ejected the second I get scared.”
“And what am I supposed to do while you get kicked out?” Baek Saheon sneered, crossing his arms.
“Be my witness.”
“What audacity. Between you and I, the Section Chief here is m—”
Before Baek Saheon could finish speaking, a deafening BANG soon shattered the eerie silence of their surroundings. Then, at the far end of the long corridor, a grotesque, towering apparition with contorted limbs and a split jaw burst out from a rusted door frame. It began dragging its mangled body forward, its bones snapping with every slow deliberate step.
Baek Saheon didn’t even flinch, though. He just casually stepped back, eyeing the sluggish entity with mild irritation before looking over at Kim Soleum. He can’t possibly be scared of something like that after the last darkness they went through.
“Alright, look at it. It’s practically crawling—”
Instead of running or dodging, Kim Soleum hunched his back as much as he could, and immediately threw his arms around Baek Saheon’s waist, and buried his face into his chest. Or the closest place he could to his chest, anyway, considering how they were around the same fucking height as each other.
Baek Saheon’s brain short-circuited.
Treacherously, he felt his heart skip a beat.
gRAghhggGh
The monster shuffled another slow inch, letting out a groan. Upon hearing that, Kim Soleum squeezed Baek Saheon tighter, trembling slightly as he desperately tried to force his own heart rate to jump.
“Why isn’t it working?! I want to disappear already!”
“Get off me, you crazy bastard!” Baek Saheon hissed, trying to shove him back. “Why are you hugging me instead of retreating?!”
“I’m trying to get us out! Just give it a second!” Kim Soleum muffled into his chest, clutching his clothes tighter. But despite his genuine fear of the horrific, Kim Soleum had also become somewhat desensitized to something as predictably scary as this, given how he has been through so much worse. Fuck! Even 130666 was scarier than this!
But Kim Soleum really was still scared! Just not scared enough!
Meanwhile, Baek Saheon was getting increasingly freaked out. Having Kim Soleum clinging to him like a lifeline in the middle of a haunted hallway was infinitely more disturbing than any ghost.
Was this another one of Kim Soleum’s ploys? Was Kim Soleum doing this on purpose just to mess with him? To remind him of the psychopath roommate he used to pretend to be? Or to remind him of the agent that saved him at Jisan Village?!?!?!?!
That was so unfair!!!
Thankfully, though, Baek Saheon was somewhat already used to this facet of Kim Soleum (or so he thinks). After all, in Baek Saheon’s experience, whenever Kim Soleum started pulling strange stunts like this, the fastest way to make him stop—and the easiest way out—was simply to give in.
He just needed to lie and say he believed he was scared, right? He could do that! All Baek Saheon wanted right now was to get ejected back to the Namhae branch so he could yell at Kim Soleum in peace, so yeah, he could definitely do that!
And he did exactly just that!
“F-fine!” Baek Saheon then blurted out, face as red as a tomato, his voice cracking as he shoved at Kim Soleum’s shoulders in sheer embarrassment. “I believe you! You’re a coward! You’re the biggest coward in Daydream! Happy now?!”
“…!”
Kim Soleum stilled, lessening his grip on his companion ever so tightly.
A grateful smile traced itself across his face. He looked like an angel.
Is Baek Saheon going crazy?
“Really?” Kim Soleum let out a breath of pure relief. “Ah, thank goodness…”
Instantly relaxing his posture, Kim Soleum instinctively nuzzled his face against Baek Saheon’s shoulder.
Fuuuuck, Baek Saheon was going crazy.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!
Baek Saheon’s wristband shrieked violently as his pulse skyrocketed straight past the massive 35–50 BPM requirement.
Before he could even utter a curse, he vanished into thin air. Ejected.
Having been suddenly left behind by his companion, Kim Soleum also eventually gets scared shitless now that he was alone, and also soon got ejected.
“You two sure got out quick,” Assistant Manager Jin Nasol greeted them as soon as they came back out, eyebrow raised, unimpressed. “Don’t tell me you actually got scared?”
Kim Soleum laughed nervously at that. Seemed like he wasn’t too keen on revealing that weakness of his to Jin Nasol.
“W-we just cleared it by running around… Like it usually went in the manual, you know?”
“Right.” Jin Nasol glanced at the now-quiet Baek Saheon who had his back turned away from Kim Soleum. “But in those records, there could also be another factor to clearing the Darkness. Not just fear or physical exertion.”
“…? I know that. But why would that be relevant now?”
“I’m just saying.” Jin Nasol was now just giving an exhausted look at Baek Saheon who was slinking away with the Dream Essence he acquired from the Darkness. “Well, either way, it’s none of my business.”
As Baek Saheon made his escape to his own elite quarters, he recalled that ‘additional factor in the manual’ that Jin Nasol had brought up.
He remembered that part with gritted teeth.
[Addendum: Log Qterw-F-0812-A] Re-evaluation posits the steep 35–50 BPM threshold measures total emotional arousal, not just fear. Jumpscares are structured to force physical proximity and shared tension, and 41% of ejections were triggered by romantic panic—accidental touch or intimacy—rather than terror. But to the entities, a racing heart is a racing heart. Is there really any difference?
There is.
There is a difference. He knew that now.
“These fucking ghosts, I swear…”
Baek Saheon looked down at the glistening Dream Collector now in his hand, the Essence within seemingly too high-grade for a F-class Darkness. He sighed.
He still didn’t fully believe that Kim Soleum was a coward. But, boy, was he still terrified of how Kim Soleum made him feel.
“Damn it all…”
He would carry this secret to the grave.