–A spy. Ah, of course! A classic, ever-popular role that sets audiences’ hearts racing in every era.
–The catharsis of revelation—when a mysterious, extraordinary person’s secret identity is finally unveiled!
–A perfect fit for my talented friend, don’t you think?

Heh.

On the way to work, I listened to Brown’s spirited commentary as I walked into the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau.

‘Good thing the Bureau-issued jacket has a front pocket.’

The plush was tucked in under the flap, ears hidden, so no one would notice unless they looked closely.

I crossed the main lobby naturally, nodding to agents as I passed.

–A special entrance, hidden from view—ah, a cliché of elite agents! This organization seems to have a flair for the dramatic.
–Let’s see where Mr. Roe works, shall we? I’m looking forward to it!

So far, so good. Brown gave decent marks to the secret entrance and to the scenery inside once we arrived.

‘Glad he likes it.’

Making small talk with him, I got on the elevator, walked down the hall, and opened the door—

Revealing Hyunmu Team 1’s waiting room.

And then—

–………

‘…Brown?’

–Oh. A temporary room, cleverly arranged to look like a break area, I assume.
–Haha. Mr. Roe, it’s amusing to see you’ve learned how to play the game while I was away! You sneak in a little rest here before heading off to your real duties, yes?

‘…This is it.’

–Hm?

‘This is my actual post.’

Brown didn’t respond.

–Ah… is this one of those setups where you lure in people for unofficial intel-gathering? A secret break room turned clever interrogation space…?

No.

‘This is officially where I work.’

–Friend, what exactly do you do in here?

‘I sit on the couch.’

No response again. He might as well have died.

–Oh. You lied to me.

Aaah!!

‘Then when we’re called in, we head out. Rescue missions. Strange disaster sites, saving people in weird situations.’

–Aha.

‘It’s just a waiting room.’

–Hahaha! So the actual job hasn’t even started yet!
–Oh, what a trick, pretending! That was very amusing, friend!

‘Right? Hahaha…’

Cold sweat ran down my back. Yup. This is what being around Brown was always like… sigh.

Just then, my right hand, still in my jacket pocket, moved stealthily.

It gave a thumbs-down.

"……."

Yeah. I get it.

–Well then. I suppose this place isn’t the worst for a bit of rest, if you’re alone.

‘We share this waiting room. It’s a team space.’

–………

‘It’s fine. The others are good people, fun to be around.’

Brown seemed slightly shaken. Probably because he was comparing it to the private office he had back at that high-end pharmaceutical corporation.

–…Understood. And how many people work alongside Mr. Roe?

‘Right now there are three. But only two of them actually come into the waiting room.’

I glanced at the whiteboard.

Notes from those who’d worked with Hyunmu Team 1 over the years.

‘Originally, I think the team had around seven people.’

Just what I’d picked up along the way.

According to Darkness Exploration Logs, the Bureau’s Hyunmu dispatch-rescue squads used to have seven teams total.

But after some major incident, half of them died or went missing, leaving only three active teams.

‘That was a seriously terrifying ghost story.’

Anyway, there had been a recruitment push at one point—probably now was that time.

–That’s a relief. Seven people crammed into this old room? What are we, struggling stand-up comics?

"…Yeah."

I gave a dry laugh.

Then, on a whim, I picked up a marker and wrote something on the whiteboard.

Respected people.

Thinking of the early wiki days, when Hyunmu Team ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) 1 of the Bureau still felt legendary.

–Did you just leave a message? My! A spy leaving behind evidence… intriguing. Might I take a closer look?

It’s not anything impressive, really.

"Sure."

That wasn’t hard. I pulled the plush out of my pocket, cradled it in both hands, and raised it toward the board—

Click.

"Hey, Podo, you’re in early again today? Did you sleep well la—"

Agent Choi froze mid-sentence when his eyes met mine—then dropped to the plush in my hands.

And then to my hands gently pressing that plush to the whiteboard.

Ah, ahhhhhh…

"Uh, g-good morning, Agent Choi."

"Yeah. Good morning. So… are you donating that plush to the waiting room? I’m all for it."

"Ah—no, not exactly…"

–Oh?

I quickly pulled Brown back and stuffed him into my pocket again.

But Agent Choi waved me off.

He was reading the message I’d written on the board.

"Hm? No, no, it’s fine. Kids these days leave messages and take little selfies with them, right?"

Then he started rambling about how even Podo was using social media, and how we couldn’t upload internal photos, and to treat this place like it’s the NIS…

I played along in character as best I could.

"N-no, this one is just… uh, a friend I always keep with me."

–Pleasure to meet you! Oho, that scar on your neck has quite the flair. I do hope you'll tell the story behind it one day.

"…A friend?"

"Yes…"

At that moment, Agent Bronze walked into the waiting room.

"Good morni—"

"Jaegwan, come here. The rookie brought a plush!"

"A plush?"

Agent Choi practically dragged Bronze over.

This is too much.

–My word, isn’t this the serial killer we met at the mountain lodge? …Ah! Are you infiltrating under the pretense of falling for his persistent persuasion?

No. He just thought I was suspicious and flagged me.

–Still, not bad. A classic trio—two loyal sidekicks supporting the protagonist!

Nope. They’re my superiors.

My bosses.

And right now, both of them were looking at Brown with curious eyes.

"Huh. He says he always carries it around, but how come we’ve never seen it? Jaegwan, have you?"

Agent Bronze’s face turned complicated.

He was clearly remembering all the times he’d glimpsed Brown sticking out of my pocket or hanging off my clothes…

‘But if he says anything, it’ll sound like we’ve known each other for a while!’

I jumped in to spare him the awkwardness.

"Ah—my original one got torn up by accident. So I just made a new one recently."

"……"

Agent Bronze’s face twisted even more.

He muttered something to himself a few times—something about "friend"—then asked:

"Don’t tell me… you made that ‘friend’ during your leave?"

Surprisingly, that was true.

"Yes! Well, I didn’t make it myself—just bought it from a store, but…"

"……"

"Podo used to call his plush a friend too. Until it got haunted."

"Go get the paperwork."

"AAAGH!"

Agent Bronze kicked Choi out of the room and followed him out.

Before he left, he turned to me and kindly added:

"The New Investigations Unit is calling in Agent Podo. You’ll get the mission signal over here, so don’t worry—just head over when you're ready."

"Huh? Okay, got it."

And just like that, the two were gone.

Thud.

‘Phew.’

I’d thought they were going to press me harder. Thank god they didn’t.

If I’d looked even slightly more suspicious, Agent Choi might’ve brought out some ghost-story detection equipment and… well, that could’ve gone real bad.

Even though Brown bragged that “No device in existence can expose who I really am”, there’s no harm in staying cautious.

‘I figured it’d be better to show him from the beginning rather than risk getting caught hiding it…’

I just didn’t expect it to go like that.

Is this a good… thing?

–Friend? What kind of place is the New Investigations Unit?

‘Ah, let’s go check it out.’

Anyway, they’d called me over. Might as well stop by.

I headed out, Brown in tow, walking past the real work zones of the Bureau—the admin corridors and such. And then—

–My goodness. I'd almost prefer it were a comedy skit. My friend’s been conned into a job scam.

"……."

To the eyes of a host from a glitzy, capitalist-era mass media ghost story, a public office facility from the 21st century must’ve looked like a budget failure on every level.

Luckily, something else soon caught Brown’s interest.

Standing in front of the New Investigations office—my fellow spy.

Ms. Go Yeongeun.

“Agent Podo!”

She smiled warmly and waved when she saw me, but her expression shifted when she spotted the plush on my chest.

“You’re… carrying that again?”

“……Yes.”

Now that I think about it, Yeongeun had seen this plush version of Brown quite a few times.

Even during that ghost story exhibition, The House of the Blind, she might’ve glimpsed me using Brown to set the mood with Baek Saheon.

Apparently, Brown had left more of an impression than I thought.

‘Damn. I figured it wouldn’t stand out much because it’s small…’

People in this ghost story world carry all kinds of weird crap—rabbit feet, mummy bandages, you name it.

Not to mention, everyone walks around wearing bizarre animal masks. I figured a little plush keychain wouldn’t even register.

…Apparently, I was wrong.

Still, Ms. Go was just as kind as ever.

“It’s still cute! I think you picked a good one.”

–Ah, someone with taste. An audience with discernment is always a joy to a performer.

Anyway, if everyone’s happy, that’s good enough for me. I smiled and opened my mouth to speak.

“Thank you. By any chance, does Agent Bakha have a similar—”

“Oh, no thank you.”

“…….”

No, I just meant—does he own a plush too…?

Cold sweat dripped down my back.

It’s becoming increasingly clear this rabbit is way more noticeable than I thought.

‘This won’t do.’

I apologized to Brown and pulled the jacket flap further down to hide him as much as I could.

“Agent Podo! Over here, please—oh? That’s adorable. Your younger sibling give it to you?”

“Oh, what’s that? A plushie?”

Even with the effort to hide it, it still got brought up multiple times… just from the way it moved and peeked out.

The grand finale came when I finished my quick statement and returned to the Hyunmu Team 1 waiting room.

Click.

“Podo!”

Both agents inside jumped up the moment I came in.

Agent Choi was grinning a little too widely.

…?

“Sorry about earlier. I think I said something a little harsh to Podo’s friend, huh? Ghosts, really? That’s not fair.”

–Hmph. Now he wants to act civil. …Very well, I shall allow it.

“It’s… okay.”

What the hell is this?

Either way, it’s clear now that Brown stands out more than I’d thought. I probably need to smooth things over a bit.

I sat down quietly on the sofa and muttered,

“I’ll make sure to keep it out of the way, so… even if it’s a bit bothersome, I hope you can—”

“Haha, what are you saying? Of course our Podo’s friend is welcome in our waiting room.”

Suddenly, Agent Choi slung an arm over my shoulder and showed me something.

“Here—this is your friend’s spot.”

On the padded armrest near the window, he’d laid out a neatly folded standard-issue navy handkerchief.

‘…….’

…What even is this atmosphere?

–Haha, I appreciate the thought, but I’ll have to decline! I brought my own handkerchief—wait, where did it go? Strange, it seems to have disappeared!

I’ll get you a new one later, just wait!

“Th-thank you…”

In the end, I couldn’t fight the mood and placed Brown gently onto the handkerchief.

Agent Choi, still smiling, asked kindly,

“So, what’s our friend’s name?”

“B-Brown.”

“…But he’s pink?”

“…Huh?”

“Hahaha, it’s fine! It happens. People are free to name things however they like~”

“Right… Thank you.”

What the hell is going on here.

I glanced at Agent Bronze for help. When our eyes met, he gave me a weak smile.

He was clearly trying to look warm and understanding…

‘……??’

I was more confused than ever.

“Here, take this too. It’s a diary cord, but it’d look cute tied to his ear.”

And just like that, Brown received a cushion near the window and was successfully integrated into the Hyunmu Team 1 waiting room… without raising suspicion.

‘…??’

The cause of this bizarre acceptance was revealed later in the team group chat:

[Let’s not give the new recruit crap for carrying a plush keychain. It’s his dear friend, okay?]
[?]
[Isn’t that a supernatural phenomenon though?]
[Nope. Apparently, according to one of our own, he’s been carrying it around for a while to help calm himself. Don’t pry into personal stuff.]
[Ah…]
[Got it.]
[We all get that feeling, honestly.]
[I’m the one who asked if his sibling gave it to him. If you’re reading this, sorry, Agent. ㅠㅠ]

"……."

Agent Bronze…!!

***

–With all that in mind… hmm. I give this place… 39 points.

On my way back home.

Brown generously gave the Bureau a passing score, and I rushed my steps toward the motel.

Other than a brief dispatch in the afternoon for a low-grade supernatural incident, it had been a pretty uneventful day.

So my condition should have been fine, but—

‘I’m exhausted…’

So much mental chaos.

And to top it off, I somehow gained new character traits I didn’t plan for…

‘Tch.’

I just want to rest.

‘…Maybe I should stay somewhere nicer tonight.’

As I walked down the darkened street, I pulled out my phone to look up new accommodations—

Bzzzzz.

A popup with a vibration.

Text message.

[J: I got the info]
[J: it's…]

"…!"

It was the Security Chief.

First message since I handed him the phone.

And he said he found something?

[J: it's a probl]

[What do you mean?]

I fired back immediately.

But minutes passed with no response.

"……."

Then finally—

[J: I’m coming out]

A chill ran down my spine.

I immediately tried to call. But he didn’t pick up.

‘What the hell?’

The line rang—he just wasn’t answering.

[Where are you?]
[Are you alright?]

The read receipts disappeared. Message seen.

‘Wait. He said… he’s coming out. Didn’t he?’

I quickly narrowed my accommodation search to motels near the Daydream Corporation headquarters and picked a decent unmanned room.

Then I sent the address, room number, and password.

[If you’re out, come here. (link)]

Then I rushed into the subway.

Heading straight for the designated motel.

A little while later.

“…?!”

When I opened the door to the motel room, I saw a scene I could not have predicted.

“Mmph!”

Gwak Jegang was hogtied and lying face-down on the floor.

Straddling him, having clearly subdued him, was the Security Chief.

And—

“N-Noru.”

Park Minseong was looking up at me, drenched in cold sweat.

Wearing a security team uniform.

"……."

What the actual hell is this.