“Oh my god! Congratulations!” “No way, you’re so lucky! I’m so jealous.” A chorus of gasps and envious shouts erupted from the crowd behind me. “Wow, on the second-to-last day of the popup, someone finally hit the grand prize!” The black box, embossed with a massive silver sigil, looked like a meticulously crafted artifact. I did my best to keep my hands from shaking as I accepted it. I had the sudden urge to get out of there and slap myself, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. But as I turned to leave the popup store, a staff member stopped me. “Oh, wait! The first prize comes with a piece of custom merchandise. I just need your name!” My name? My personal information had been public property for years, leaked and scattered across countless portal sites. All that mattered was getting this box home in one piece. “Got it! One moment, Mr. Lee Han-sol.” The staff member turned to a black machine humming quietly beside the roulette wheel. It looked something like a high-end 3D printer, and a small placard was perched on top of it. [Simyeon Tamheomrok Character Maker] Ah, right. This was the other part of the roulette event they’d mentioned. The “Create Your Own Simyeon Tamheomrok Character” promotion. How perfectly engineered to appeal to a teenager’s sensibilities. “Please input your name here.” Clutching the prize box tightly with one hand, I quickly typed my name onto the machine’s keypad with the other. The black box whirred to life, playing a loud, eerie music box tune as its gears turned with theatrical flair. A moment later, it spat out a small object. I picked up the familiar-looking item. It was an employee ID card. [Hwanmong San-eop – Hyeonjang Tamsadae] “Wow! Hwanmong San-eop! That’s one of the most famous factions in the entire universe!” the staffer gushed. To put it simply, they were the cliché mega-corporation that profited from paranormal phenomena. And the Hyeonjang Tamsadae… That was the department where everyone died, the redshirts of this particular universe. They were the poor souls sent to investigate every strange occurrence, only to be systematically picked off. It was also why so many of the game’s named characters came from their ranks. “An employee ID for the Hyeonjang Tamsadae! I can’t wait to see what kind of adventures Jigwon Kim Lee Han-sol has in the universe!” A hot flush of embarrassment crept up my neck, but I managed to swallow it down. At least it’s not an ID from some government agency or a shady religious cult, I thought. Thank god it was just a corporate ID. As mortifying as it was, the staff member had clearly recited this line so many times that they were completely immune, delivering it with polished, professional poise. With the ID card in my hand, the roulette event was officially over. I glanced down at the plastic card, my name printed in stark letters, and sighed internally. This… this is getting hidden in the deepest, darkest corner of my closet. My tolerance for this level of secondhand embarrassment was reaching its absolute limit. “Do you like it?” the staff member asked, their voice chipper. “You’ll treasure it, right?” I looked up, thinking I must have misheard. The staffer was suddenly smiling at me, but the expression had become grotesque. The corners of their mouth were stretching impossibly wide, pulling up toward their ears. A wave of intense dizziness washed over me. The clamor of the popup store faded into absolute silence. My vision blurred, the world smearing before me as if doused in black paint, Sagyeok through with strobing flashes of red and blue. By the time the vertigo subsided, the world I knew was gone. [Welcome to Hwanmong San-eop, everyone!] I was in a large auditorium, standing in a corner near the back, my eyes fixed on the central podium. A burst of digital fireworks exploded on the projector screen behind the stage, accompanied by a wave of polite applause. [New Jigwon Orientation] As the applause died down, a host in a sharp suit smiled brightly at the audience and clicked to the next slide. This was, without a doubt, a new employee orientation for a major corporation. The recruits, all dressed in immaculate suits, clapped with a mixture of excitement and nervous pride, their faces beaming with the thrill of having finally landed a job. [Our new hires, who bested a one-hundred-and-forty-five-to-one competition ratio, should be proud of themselves! Haha! Now, let’s officially begin the orientation!] I tried to take a step back, but my legs wouldn’t move. I looked down and realized I was sitting in a chair, not standing. I was also wearing a suit. I’d put it on for a client meeting later that evening, but by sheer coincidence, I blended in perfectly with the sea of new employees filling the hall. The prize box from the popup store was resting silently on my lap. “Excuse me,” the person next to me whispered. “Where did you get that? Is the company handing them out?” I couldn’t form a response. [You are the chosen candidates!] the host on stage boomed. [In fact, only a select few of those who applied through our last recruitment drive have been gathered here in Orientation Room A for this special session!] [Congratulations! You have passed the aptitude test and have been assigned to the special team, the Hyeonjang Tamsadae!] “They’ve already given us assignments?” “Hyeonjang Tamsadae? Hwanmong San-eop has a department like that?” “Field exploration… isn’t this a pharmaceutical company?” “Uh, this sounds like we’re being sent to the middle of nowhere. Not Bonbu, but some branch office? Are they just dressing it up with a fancy name?” I could hear the confused murmurs ripple through the crowd, but I couldn’t focus on them. I recognized the company name. I recognized the team name. Hyeonjang Tamsadae. The name hit me like a jolt of electricity. A page from the game’s Simyeon Baekkwa flashed, stark and clear, in my mind’s eye. [Hyeonjang Tamsadae] (Hwanmong San-eop) : One of five teams under the Development Department of the mega-corporation Hwanmong San-eop, featured in Simyeon Tamheomrok. Commonly referred to as the ‘death squad.’ A tragic team, but a popular source of inspiration for ghost story writers. This… this was the story from the popup store event I had just left. Which meant what happened next was… At their very first orientation, the new hires are thrown into a deadly survival game to determine who earns a full-time position. The scenario was a perennially popular topic on the Simyeon Baekkwa, a brutal showcase of what happens when ordinary people are forced to explore the dark. “Uh, wh-what are you doing…?” someone nearby asked. I had Sagyeok up from my chair. I didn’t have time to understand what was happening; my only thought was to run, to get outside. But it was already too late. [Before your official employment begins, there will be a brief probationary period,] the host announced cheerfully. [But don’t worry, it won’t be long! We will be assessing your practical abilities through an absolute evaluation.] [Of course, full participation is mandatory for a proper assessment! Freeloading will not be tolerated!]

Chapter 2: You Became A Character