Chapter Text
There's an odd new addition to the D-squad in Daydream.
The Entity who named herself ‘Bunny’, now dubbed by the Researchers as Shadow Bunny (official approval pending), has been appearing near D-squad within an unknown interval.
At first, they thought that Bunny would appear near the new recruits within the [Hungry Hangman], but after a week of no additional sighting, even near Park Minseong, they decided that perhaps it was simply a one-time thing.
Park Minseong, for his part, was relieved for the short while Bunny had left him alone. He had been present in both sightings—and almost got contaminated in the second meeting simply by staring too long and too close, something that Supervisor Eun Haje told him not to do from now on—and the Researchers had hounded him endlessly about it.
They left pouting like children denied candies when Park Minseong told them that no, he hadn't seen her again, yes, he really was not hiding her presence…! Supervisor Eun Haje, bless her soul, stood by his side and helped him get himself out of further interrogation from the ecstatic Researchers who thought there was a fun Anomaly they could poke and prod endlessly.
The D-squad also thought that would be the end of it. A week had passed. No sightings, just more work, more on-field learning for Park Minseong on how to handle Darknesses, some squad dinners…
Until one day, Park Minseong arrives at the D-squad office…
And sees her. The Entity. Bunny.
She's standing near the Team Leader’s desk, dressed in the same outfit as before, as if she is part of Daydream’s Field Exploration Team. The shadow under her seems to be darker than any normal shadow is supposed to, and Park Minseong snaps his gaze up after that realization.
Don't… stare too long. Last time around, it is the darkness in and around her that catches him off guard.
He steps inside the room hesitantly, having not been noticed by the Entity yet. It is then he hears quiet murmurs, and he realizes with a jolt that the Team Leader is already there.
And they are conversing with each other.
Approaching them cautiously, Park Minseong catches the end of the Team Leader’s words.
“...only wear the mask inside Darknesses.”
“Oh!” Bunny exclaims, sounding pleasantly surprised. “I didn't even notice I'm wearing any. Thank you, Chief Lizard.” She bounces on her heels, her hand reaching upward to her black bunny mask. The mask is taken off and promptly dissolves into smoke, exposing her face to the Team Leader. If Park Minseong can see her face, he will see how her eyes glint with mirth, and remember the inky, dark shadows he almost fell into the last time around.
“Anyway, I'm curioussss…” She trails off, leaning closer to the sitting Team Leader, who seems nonplussed by her existence. Park Minseong tries to peek from a considerable distance behind her to send the Team Leader some signal. Section Chief, please, why are you entertaining the Entity…! Park Minseong cries in his heart.
In the first place, why is she here? Isn't she supposed to only appear in Darknesses? She can materialize outside of Darknesses? Or are they already in a Darkness without them knowing? That's enough to make Park Minseong sweat.
However.
What comes out from her mouth next is what surprises him.
“Your tongue… Chief Lizard, is it long?”
Park Minseong: “....?”
“? Yes.”
Park Minseong: “...???”
“Then, can you try to lick your eyeball? Like, Lizards usually can…”
“Yes.”
“Oooooh. Oh. Oh, my.”
…Team Leader, are you actually sticking your tongue out…
Park Minseong steps to the side in morbid curiosity, his expression turning perplexed as he sees the Chief with his tongue out, sticking upward.
It's obvious that a human tongue can't possibly reach their eyeball… But the sight of the handsome Team Leader sticking his tongue out obediently, while still having that deadpan expression…!!
Park Minseong cannot help but to snort.
“Pffft— Uh–” Park Minseong blushes slightly in embarrassment when both the Team Leader and the Entity turns towards him, having been caught eavesdropping. “... I'm sorry.”
The Entity doesn't seem to mind. In fact, her smile brightens, though she still looks as pale as ever. “Park Minseong!” She says, cheerfully.
Park Minseong’s shoulders jump. No, why does she know his name… He looks at the Team Leader, for a second wondering if the Team Leader had shared his name, but then again, Lee Jaheon is not the type to do anything that can endanger the squad member; Supervisor Eun Haje is clear about that and even Park Minseong can agree that the Team Leader is cool and dependable.
Then…
“I'm sorry, but how do you know my name…?”
“Why wouldn't I know?”
Then she must've already known.
Cold sweat trickles down his back. The smile on her face is guileless, and she doesn't look like she's going to attack them anytime soon. The Team Leader is still calm as well, and thankfully his tongue is no longer sticking out of his mouth.
“That's what I would like to know, haha,” Park Minseong tries to be friendly, smiling towards the Entity. “I mean… I've never introduced myself, and I only know of you as… Miss Bunny.”
“Oh,” The Entity blinks, before smiling, “my name is ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■.”
Static. Distorted sound that he can't comprehend. More cold sweat trickles down his back. Even the Team Leader’s eyes flick towards her as if in interest.
“... I'm sorry, can you please repeat that?”
“Hmm? It's ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■.” More distorted noise. “...Hmmm? Ahh. I can't say it?”
“Yes.” Team Leader Jaheon answers.
“You can't hear it?”
“Yes.”
“Huh,” that's all she says, before falling into silence. Is she offended? Or intrigued? Or she's just … not thinking at all?
It is after that she falls silent, tilting her head and looking genuinely confused. In random intervals, the shadows seem to darken and flit across her face, and Park Minseong tries his best not to react, lest she gets triggered and something ends up happening.
At that moment, the door opens.
“Morningggg! Aaah, Team Leader, did you see the email, the next Dark…” Supervisor Eun Haje trails off, the door closing behind her softly as she stares at the three of them with wide eyes. “...Ness…”
She lifts her hand. She points a shaking finger at the Entity. “...What is the Bunny doing here?”
The Bunny positively beams. If a shadowy being can even beam. Park Minseong doesn't know how, but she looks happy at least…? The shadows around and under her are jumping and swaying together with her emotions, and for a moment, he wonders how they'll act if she's upset.
…Probably nothing good.
“Hi, unnie!” The Entity skips towards Eun Haje, seemingly unbothered when the Supervisor steps back in surprise. Anyone would, if a Darkness Entity approaches you out of the blue like that.
“...Hi,” Supervisor Eun Haje replies, staring at the Entity before flicking a glance at the two of them, as if to ask ‘is this situation for real?’
Park Minseong smiles and shrugs helplessly. It is, unfortunately.
Supervisor Eun Haje looks incredulous for a split second, before she rubs the bridge of her nose, nodding decisively. As expected of his senior, she adapts pretty quickly. The decision is probably helped by how the Team Leader is still as calm as ever.
“Alright. Let's talk about this,” she mutters. She walks towards her desk, putting down her bag and leans against the cubicle, staring at the Entity with a tilted head. “What have you talked about so far?”
It is the Entity who answers.
“Hmm, well, about names?”
Supervisor Eun Haje blinks. “Names? What about it?”
“That…” Park Minseong rubs the back of his head, looking awkwardly to the side. “Somehow, Miss Bunny seems to know my name already.”
Supervisor Eun Haje stiffens. “...Really?”
“Yeah?” The Entity shrugs. “I know all of your names,” she says as if that's not a huge, terrifying info bomb. “I can't say my name though. You won't be able to hear it somehow? Ah, wait.” She looks down, taking hold of the fake Employee ID hung around her neck, blinking at it. “Ah, there's really no name. Sucks.”
“...Right,” Supervisor Eun Haje sounds a little bit faint, blinking numerous times as if she's unable to believe that this is reality. Park Minseong can relate, really. At least the Entity seems friendly…? “If I may ask, how do you know our names?”
“Hm?” The Entity blinks, before answering easily. “Because I’ve ■■■■ of… Hmmm?” Another set of static and distorted noises that covers up her words.
The Entity seems to realize that she's been censored once more, for whatever reason, and her eyebrows furrow in what Eun Haje thinks might be confusion.
That creepy underwater-like noise and static must be accidental, then. Or perhaps, whatever she said is not for normal humans like them to hear… Regardless, it seems there are things that they just can't hear.
It is at that moment.
“Chief Lizard, outside of Darknesses, you use your name right?” The Entity turns around to face their Team Leader, who simply nods.
“Yes.”
“Right. But you can't hear my name as well, right, Chief Lee Jaheon?”
The confirmation that she knows all of their names sends chills down Eun Haje’s and Park Minseong’s spines, but their Team Leader is as chill as a mountain.
“Yes.”
“I'm not good at deciding real names, though,” the Entity says, mumbling about dreams which details still get covered by static and that underwater-like muted sound. Then, she claps her hands once. “Then, you can give me a name!”
“...”
“...?”
The D-Squad looks at each other, confirming that they heard the same thing before looking at the Entity again.
She is still smiling at them.
“Unnie, oppa, I'll leave it to you!”
“Wait, wait!” Supervisor Eun Haje raises her hand in a ‘pause’ motion, incredulity obvious on her face. “You want us to— name you? Give you a name?!”
“Yes!”
“You are sure about this? You want us to give you a name?”
“Yes!”
Supervisor Eun Haje's eyes narrow, and she asks, “And what will it entail?” What will happen if we give you a name?
The Entity blinks, tilts her head, before answering with the same cheerful tone. “Then we'll be friends! You can call my name!”
“...!!” A glint appears in Supervisor Eun Haje’s eyes, her tense lips curving up into a small, hesitant smile.
This… Isn't this like the start of a contract with an Entity?!
.
.
.
.
.
The Researchers are going crazy.
No, it's more that they are way too excited by what this new incident brings to the table, that they are foaming at the mouth while they try to speak towards the D-squad.
Anyhow, Park Minseong thinks he's gotten a bit used to being interrogated by the Research team about the Bunny. Though he has to say he doesn't have all of the answers either.
As it turns out, the Entity had risen from the shadows on the floor when Chief Lee Jaheon just sat down. As she didn't attack him, nor was she ever hostile, the Section Chief simply let her be, though he did question her arrival.
After all, a Darkness Entity coming in and out as they please, especially into Daydream’s Headquarters can simply mean a potential security breach. Who says another Darkness can’t simply just appear however they please, if that’s the case?
But then the Entity did not give any particular information other than that she just woke up and appeared there.
That information is not reassuring, according to Supervisor Eun Haje. Park Minseong can think of a few reasons why, and one of them is that the visit seemed to be involuntary even on the Entity’s side of things. But then it was treated like a welcome surprise by her, and she simply rolled with it, because apparently Entities never worried about the repercussions of sleepwalking.
Is it bad that Park Minseong hopes that she’ll sleepwalk somewhere else than his office? How about you visit the Researchers, Miss Bunny… He's sure they'll be delighted… ㅠㅠ…
.
.
.
.
.
The Researchers are even more hyped when it's mentioned that the Entity wants them to name her.
They start throwing in names.
Some are decent, some are too literal.
Some, given by a widely smiling Researcher with white hair, are obviously meant to piss the Entity off, thrown in as suggestions to verify the perceived friendly nature of the Entity and her linguistic abilities.
Supervisor Eun Haje vehemently warns him against using any of them, and Park Minseong agrees.
“What if she asks her name the next time she appears?”
Supervisor Eun Haje grimaces. “I'll think about it. We'll look up the baby name dictionary if we have to, but let's be careful especially with the meaning.”
Park Minseong nods.
.
.
.
.
.
The Researchers put them in close watch for another 2 weeks. Some of them even peeking into their office as if their department is anywhere close to theirs.
It pisses the Supervisor hard enough that she threatens to throw her coffee at the next Researcher who opens their office door without knocking.
Thankfully, no more Researcher turns up on that day.
.
.
.
.
.
They wait some more.
When it seems like the Entity isn't going to appear, they are given missions once more.
“Finally,” Supervisor Eun Haje grumbles on the couch, opening the manual more aggressively than usual. “Some real shitty work.”
Park Minseong laughs.
.
.
.
.
.
Time passes by once more. He goes to work. He survives the horrors and gains a little bit more points each day. He thinks he's getting used to it. He's received his first equipment after gathering enough points, and his seniors accompany him to get the item from a controlled Darkness within the company grounds.
The Entity doesn't visit.
He knows to read the manuals carefully, and prepare for danger regardless. He takes careful notes of the things he picks up from the manuals and what his seniors tell him, and Supervisor Eun Haje tells him he might get a promotion soon.
Park Minseong hopes that means better benefits and more points.
The Entity still has not appeared once more.
He clocks out of work and visits his younger sibling in the hospital, a habitual thing for him to do every time he finishes with work. A visit to check on his younger sibling, to remotivate himself, so that he won't give up working in this company that throws him into ghost stories on the daily.
The Entity is almost sitting at the back of his mind, forgotten amidst his busy work schedule and his other chores as the older brother.
It's a daily routine.
He waves at his younger sibling as he exits the door of their hospital room. Clicks the door shut behind him, the smile still plastered on his face as he thinks of bills and their current condition and the lingering hope of a Wish Ticket.
The Entity is smiling at him, standing just a few inches away from his face.
“...!”
Park Minseong pales, immediately averting his gaze to the side, avoiding her nearly black eyes.
His breath hitches as he sees people walking around, still, and he realizes, ah. He's not being brought into a Darkness— the Darkness Entity is, once again, showing herself up in the real world.
If anything, that makes him sweat and pale much more.
Then, the Entity’s gaze hones in on the door behind him, and Park Minseong's heart nearly stops for another reason altogether.
Perhaps it's his adrenaline. Or simply his instincts as an older brother. But Park Minseong, the only human here who knows the girl—dressed in that same suit again and the fake Daydream, Inc. employee ID lanyard—is not a real human, grabs onto her wrist and drags her to the nearest empty spot at the corner of the hallway.
Park Minseong immediately releases her when they arrive there, wiping his sweaty palm on his trousers.
“...Sorry,” Park Minseong says, an uneasy smile on his face. “I didn't mean to be rude.”
The Entity, who looks shocked but thankfully not angry that Park Minseong had just grabbed her, blinks.
“It's okay.” She says, before looking around. “This is not a Darkness.”
Park Minseong calms down. It is as the Team Leader had said; the Entity does not control her appearances, and is confused to find herself outside of Darknesses.
“No,” Park Minseong answers her. “It's a hospital.”
“Not a haunted one,” she quips, looking around curiously, like a lost child.
Park Minseong huffs out a small laugh. If he ignores how the Entity isn't human, her actions are quite adorable. “No? I sure hope not. But we never know.”
The Entity pauses her looking around, turning her gaze back to him. Park Minseong tries really, really hard not to tense. With a tilt of her head, one so fast it seems as if her neck would snap, her dark eyes—a pool of shadows, wriggling and writhing inside her sockets—she says point blank.
“Are you visiting your younger sibling?”
Park Minseong's breath catches.
No, it seems as if it has stopped.
The Entity knows—
She—
K
n
o
w
s
?
A wide smile. Teeth. Shadow wriggling and writhing inside of her eyes. Her mouth. Her—
v o i c e
i s
c a l l i n g ….
Her smile
has it always been
that wide?
“Can I see them?”
Reality crashes into him just as he panickedly exclaims. “No!”
He pants in short bursts, his hands curled into fists, the pain from his fingernails digging into his palm making him focus and not fall into the shadows.
“No, my sibling… My sibling is resting. You can't go without a family member's permission. And— And it's almost curfew.”
The Entity is silent, as Park Minseong is sweating. He can't — He can't let her go— Not to his sibling, not to THAT ROOM—
“Okay.”
Park Minseong inhales a breath that he doesn't know he's forgotten to take.
“O… Okay…?”
The Entity smiles at him, shrugging slightly. Normal. Sweet. Friendly.
“Yeah? I won't go there if you don't want me to! I can't visit a patient without permission from a family member anyway, right?”
Park Minseong exhales, his shoulders relaxing. “...Yeah.”
“Are you leaving now?” The Entity asks then, in which Park Minseong nods almost absentmindedly, still relieved that his younger sibling won't have to meet her. The risk is far too great.
“Mm. Then, I guess I can explore,” the Entity turns around as if to walk away, and Park Minseong’s eyes widen.
“Wait. Are you going to… walk?” Park Minseong stops her, his eyes darting towards her wriggling shadows underneath her shoes and thinks, he can't let an Entity like that walk around this place unsupervised.
“Yes?” The Entity looks confused. “I can find the lobby. I think.” She pauses, holding her chin with her fingers. “Or I can teleport?”
Park Minseong swallows. “I don't think it's wise to let other people see you. Since you're not… from around here.” He gives her an awkward smile, one that she stares at for a long, long moment, before she says.
“Oh. That makes sense!”
Sometimes Park Minseong wonders what is wrong with this Entity, but he is so, so glad that they can be reasoned with—tricked? —this way.
“Chief Lizard said I came out of the shadows last time around,” the Entity says, looking down pointedly at Park Minseong’s shadow. “Do you think I can do the opposite?”
“Wha—” Before Park Minseong can even react to that question, the Entity’s form seems to distort and melt before his eyes. Park Minseong watches, frozen in place out of sheer terror, as shadows like ink spilling out of her melting orifices and pooling to the floor. It connects itself to the shadows of Park Minseong’s frozen form, melting into his shadows, turning it darker, and his body feeling heavier, until only Park Minseong stands there, breathing heavily, his shadows wriggling even when he's not moving.
“H ow about it?”
Her voice is distorted and yet loud against his ears, even though no one is there around him, and Park Minseong knows, he knows—
She is speaking to him as his shadow.
Because she is now a part of him, through his shadow.
She's here. She's in his shadow. Under him. Everywhere. Everywhere the shadow touches him, it's her it's her it's her it's her it's her it's her it's her—
“...Haaa… Haaaa…” Park Minseong takes a deep, calming breath. His lips and the tips of his fingertips are trembling, and he is sweating, badly.
Her voice echoes and repeats inside of his skull.
“Minseong?”
He has to get out of here.
Park Minseong bolts out of the hospital building, his phone immediately calling his Team Leader.
.
.
.
.
.
“Minseong oppa?
…
Why are you running?”
.
.
.
.
.
It's embarrassing to run back to the company building after he's clocked out of it, but he doesn't know where else to go.
His Supervisor and Team Leader are already there, waiting for him after his phone call, ever reliable—
“Get out of there,” Supervisor Eun Haje says harshly, glaring at his wriggling shadows. Park Minseong has just arrived, his face pale as a sheet. “Do you think this is funny?”
“Unnie? Why are you angry?”
The voice echoes inside of his skull, and Park Minseong winces, an action that doesn't go unnoticed by his two seniors.
“What did she do? Is she hurting you? Minseong-ah, you have to tell your seniors now.”
“Ugh, she– she's speaking, can't you hear…?”
“No,” Lee Jaheon confirms, and Park Minseong shudders. He's the only one who can hear her?
“They can't hear me…?”
The shadows wriggle as if in confusion, before it seems to pause.
Park Minseong can almost hear the Entity think.
“Maybe…”
The tendrils rise from the pool of his shadow, only to latch onto his legs and climb all over his body, making him flinch. Supervisor Eun Haje immediately steps closer. “Minseong!”
His mouth opens.
“Unnieeeeeeeeee.”
Park Minseong's eyes widen at the same time Eun Haje's does. The sound is from his own mouth, his voice, his throat, and yet—
“Unnie. Minseong oppa’s scared. Why? Why? How do I leave? I want to talk. Want to walk. Unnie. Help? Help?”
Silence. Park Minseong’s mouth hangs open, bits of shadows wriggling from inside of his throat, connecting from under him, inside him, beneath him, all over him, to— to—
It's going to come out. It's going to come out! It's going to come out!
“Badger,” Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s voice cuts through Park Minseong’s panic. “Do you need my advice?”
Park Minseong jerkily nods.
“Close your mouth. Don't let her leave through that way, you will die.”
He gasps, but it isn't him.
“Don't die.” Her voice reverberates inside of his skull once more, no longer using his mouth to speak. “I like you. You can't die. It's not even■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ yet.”
…Well.
It's reassuring, to know that the Entity likes(...?) him. Enough to not want him to die. And it helps him to follow the Team Leader's words.
He closes his mouth, slowly, jerkily.
“Bunny,” the Team Leader says after Park Minseong does so. “The last time around, you came out of the shadows. Not from an object or a living being.”
A pause.
“Oh.”
The shadows recede from his body, returning back to the dark pool on the floor, his inky black shadow, wiggling and stretching on its own.
Park Minseong gasps and almost falls, if not for Supervisor Eun Haje’s supporting arm, helping him to rebalance himself.
A small sigh can be heard inside of his head still.
“So weirdly complicated.”
Then, the ink black shadow detaches itself from Park Minseong’s shadow, before reforming upward. The gooey mess forming the shape of a woman, familiar for all three of them.
Except, she's still a bit… melty.
“Sorry,” she says, her melting eye sockets looking like tears dripping down her cheeks. “I was just curious… Sorry… I didn't know…”
Park Minseong exchanges glances with his Supervisor, who is now standing slightly in front of him like a shield, even though he's taller than her.
(He really, really appreciates his seniors. So much, really.)
“Don't…” Park Minseong coughs, looking uncomfortable. “Just don't do it again.”
“Uuuu… Yes…”
“...”
Now it just seems like he's scolding a child…
Supervisor Eun Haje sighs. “At least you're okay. Are you in any pain?” At Park Minseong’s confirmation that he's now okay, Supervisor Eun Haje nods. “Report later,” she says, turning back to the Entity who is now kneeling remorsefully on the floor. Wow. He's actually a bit flabbergasted.
“Team Leader, what should we do now?” Supervisor Eun Haje asks, running her fingers through her hair in visible frustration, understandably wary of the newly revealed threat of the Entity accidentally almost killing Park Minseong.
The Team Leader blinks.
“The name you've prepared,” he says then, “it would help.”
“...!”
“...!”
The name they've been planning to give to the Entity.
To give her an identity, and to help shape the basis of her being, before any talk of contracts or cooperations with a friendly Entity can be done.
A name describes you.
A name given and accepted by the Entity— will then describe the Entity itself.
A small smile tugs on Eun Haje’s lips.
That's right. They've prepared a name already.
One not too similar with her, as it will do nothing else but describe her inky, shadowy characteristics.
None too violent or horror-esque, as it may cause uncertain results. No insults either. What if the Entity gets offended?
But it is one name that… hopefully can be the baseline of her future visits, if there are any.
“That's right,” Eun Haje says, “Hey, Bunny. We've prepared a name for you.”
That evening, the Entity becomes one known as Yoona.