hi, world! how are you today?

Why didn't BSH check KSE's halo in 318 (at the elevator)?

Link to twt

To summarize :

Baek Saheon must have correctly understood KSE's intentions (=recognize me as KSE!). However, what KSE missed is that there was another person who could have said the things he did - the Jisan agent.

So now BSH has 3 choices.

1) it's KSE

2) it's the agent

3) it's both & they're the same person

BSH chooses to deal with this by deliberately ignoring the possibility of this being KSE, by not confirming with the purple eye that this is KSE. (Revealed in 369)

This only leaves the possibility that this is the agent.

“Who… unnie?”

“Hey, guys.”

Agent Haegum bursts through the door, panting heavily as she enters the facility.

“Brought one more.”

The lump registers the person coming through the door. Someone unexpected.

“What the hell.”

Baek Saheon. The BaekIlmong employee wearing an eye patch looks displeased, but there’s also a faint trace of nervousness.

“They said there’s solution here.”

“Look, I have no intention of giving any to you people.”

Baek Saheon’s irritated voice rings out.

“I only came to make the trade because that agent is in critical condition. That person. The one who came to Jisan Village—the agent with glasses.”

“…Right.”

“Where is he?”

Everyone’s eyes turn toward him. Baek Saheon steps stiffly into the resort research facility. And then he sees it—the thing everyone is watching. The mass of flesh.

“……This… is supposed to be an agent?”

....

"This...".

But Baek Saheon swallows his words. The face that slides past denial straight into immediate resignation and acceptance turns ashen—then quickly sinks into rage. And a sneer rises to the surface.

“I knew it would end up like this!”

His eyes blaze.

“You kept sticking your neck out trying to save other people for no damn reason, and the ending was obvious, wasn’t it? Why the hell did you do that? This is exactly what you get…”

Agent Choi grits his teeth, forcing a laugh as he tries to intervene, but the stream of abuse falters and dies before he can.

Baek Saheon’s voice trembles and stops.

“Hey. You hearing this?”

The mass doesn’t respond.

“Hey.”

Baek Saheon steps closer to the tank.

And then he says it.

The suspicion he hadn’t been able to voice until now. The reason he couldn’t take off the blindfold and confirm this being’s halo. The true identity of ‘the agent who came to Jisan Village.’

“Actually… you…”

When someone goes missing, they naturally become an agent who can no longer be reached. An agent who strangely seems to know far too much about him.

That means…

“Fine. Whatever.”

Baek Saheon pulls his hand away from the tank.

There’s no way he can get an answer right now anyway.

No.

Perhaps he simply isn’t ready yet…

That’s why he says this instead.

“Pay me back later.”

Baek Saheon turns to look at the others.

“If I give you this, you can definitely save him, right? You’re not going to siphon it off somewhere else, are you?”

“No, we won’t.”

In the end, Baek Saheon takes the Dream Collector out from inside his coat.

The project had already started spiraling the moment Kim Soleum went missing, and that was when he deserted it. But since the administrative processing for the collector he’d been issued was delayed and no one ever formally demanded its return, he just kept dragging his feet and never handed it in.

He figured he’d have to return it the moment the project blew up anyway—but he’d calculated that handing it over to the company side might net him a slightly bigger payoff.

And now it had come to this moment.

“…Here.”

He takes out the Dream Collector and plugs it into the dream incubator.

DE 04974100

And so,

DE 05002160

The points had accumulated.

The exact amount Kim Soleum needed to go home.

This whole episode reminded me of Undyne's lore (from the game, "Undertale"), a character with strong determination and a heart of gold. She retained her body once more after the critical attack that could disintegrate herself instantly by pure determination to save people from the city.

Please, type "Ireum-nim" to pay respects to Soleum.

(And also, I made a speculation about "when and how the part 2 would end", so it would be nice to hear your opinions too!)

1. Director Cheong's contract has effect on the basis of Hwangryong's core. 2. I revised the wiki, and changed my contract to Hwangryong's contract that proves the authority of the contract itself...

And ripped it apart.

3. Hence, all contracts that director Cheong holds, hereby are nullified.

Soleum, with the power of Ireum-nim, revised his contract as Hwangryong's contract, the upper version of the contract.

The "ultimate contract" that has the power to bind with other beings and have full control of them, including Soleum.

And he just rips apart and now, the ultimate bind has gone. All of the contractors are free.

Pupils inside the transparent lens run amok and bounce inside the eye like a lumpy infection. Dragons' cores that lost the basis of the authority.

Come back! You beings of no ■ay to av■id me! c■me back and remain to your pl■ce!

A sound that mere human cannot bear is resounding. Decomposed blue dragon tries to cover their people in the rooftop from danger.

AWWWW. YongYong, despite their deteriorating and falling state, still protects people in need of help. What a benevolent entity they are.

And our deal-making queen has lost all the powers at once.

The power she had accumulated for decades, centuries, who knows how long, all again comes to nothing. Like the day she failed to become a dragon.

When she was, again, so close to be "the one and only being of most power.'

Goodbye, Cheong. You will NOT be missed.

Blue dragon descends. From the body lightly siting on the rooftop, agent Choi and I slide down. Something divine glimmers. That streamlined figure shining with gold, indigo, and blue, wraps themselves with all their strength as if they are coiling up, and that giant face comes close to the people in the rooftop. They drop something in front of me.

Plat.

...A golden bead with a crack on it.

Hwangryong's core Cheong Dallae'ss 33th pupil. It represents the authority of the contract. Cheong Dallae could store the collected core and power in a file form by the said pupil. However, recently by some reason, it has bounced out from the lens and got out, and now it is led to the flesh of the real owner.

It momentarily flickered and burrowed into my squashed body. Now it has disappeared without a trace into somewhere unknown.

Blue Dragon finally regains their source of strength, their core and is in full power and shape again. What once were theirs, have returned to the rightful owner.

Same goes for Soleum, made out of considerable amount of Hwangryong's body parts, the core of Hwangryong returns to Soleum's chimeric body, or something that used to be one.

However, Hwangryong is not in full piece and was probably recycled and tattered, so it does not restore Soleum, just barely saving his vitals.

And for that price...

I am now gone.

"We did it." "......" "We did it, Kim Soleum? You...." "Stay back." I have no shape now. I am vanishing. My intellect remains but it is slowly refined into an inhuman form. Tendrils of individuality and sensibility smoothly melt away, only leaving a trace. I no longer feel fear of the end of my self, the thing I wanted to protect to the fullest and tried my very best to maintain it til the final of the final moments. What has left is perception of patterns, analysis in circumstances, and a vague consciousness. I can't be harmed anymore even though I perceive something ineffable or majestic or terrifying with my bare eyes.

Everything to be hurt is now all gone. Or.

I became one of them.

He is disintegrating. Who once was a person of a scintillating and brilliant mind and a good will and heart, is now diminishing and reducing to something, not even a being.

His intellect, his emotions, his perception, his basic senses, all of them are gone. He is like that sluggard creature (after people paid too much organs to stay in the mansion) from the Mansion of the blind. But at least that creature had a structured body and reflexive movements.

But Soleum isn't a being anymore. He is, as he declare himself, nothing.

"Mr. Roe deer." Chief Lee Jaheon, 'We' look at me. I look back to them. I read their intention to make a deal with Hwangryong's core from that alien plural being. However, due to this existence of the core, I can have vital activity in this collapsed figure without dying. I cannot make a deal with my life. But an individual of the 'we', residing in chief Lee Jaheon stayed around.

The Alien Union themselves are very cold-hearted and practical entities. They don't see the dying person or the circumstances, but only the purpose, something that holds of a value. Hwangryong's core.

However, the individual "named" Lee Jaheon stays. The individual influenced by the namegiver Soleum, who interacted with him, sharing memories and personal bond as a singular being, still remains.

"You want to go home." ...... "Right? You remember?"

Home.

......Oh. I perceive a single sand grain full of emotional crumb, my last remaining determination. With that as a strength, I take out, with a recoil, something from the pocket of the suit jacket. A cylinder, a dream essence collector. What used to be my last hope bounced out from the pocket and rolled out to the rooftop ground. (...) It was empty.

I terminated of the Sekwang Special City's supernatural disaster, got rid of the executive director Cheong Dallae. Everything was a success.

A possibility that high quality dream essence that could instantly create a Child's syrup of paradise, may be collected. That possibility... end as a mere possibility.

Dream essence could be collected only by human.

"...Soleum-ah."

Choi reminds Soleum his ultimate goal, his biggest motivation and the sole reason for Soleum pulling multiple herculean stunts, HIS HOME.

Soleum, like the person experiencing "surge", make his last attempt to check for his last hope. The dream essence, the ticket to wish him back home.

His hope dissipated like a mirage. It was empty. The moment he knew the truth, talking to his demented self, his original and unfiltered self, he realized he wasn't a real human.

My body is completely disintegrated.

A lump flops down to the rooftop ground. I have no shape. The humanity, built and regained by multitudes of attempts and myriads of realizations, now shows its bottom and exhibits what this flesh really is. A recycled Hwangryong's corpse. An consciousness of the person who read <Dark Exploration Record> dwelling within. A citizen from the 'world without ghost stories'.

I am no longer human.

I do not feel fear, anger or sorrows at all. I don't feel relieved or happy about the fact that the people in the rooftop are safe. I feel nothing. I cannot move.

I remain as an amorphous lump.

Ergo, Kim Soleum does not exist.

All hope is lost and Soleum himself is now lost. His self no longer exist, what remains where Soleum was is just a lingering and invisible consciousness, and parts of Hwangryong's corpse.

I personally think this complete decomposition happened much quicker and in certainty because Soleum narrated and declared it. As Ireum-nim, whose power has a formative and crucial effect on character's narrative.

If Soleum had found hope in his situation, I don't think his decomposing process would have happened quickly. He would have just shouted in his mind like: I can do this! I'm almost there. Hold it a bit more..

something like these.

As Ireum-nim announced himself gone, Soleum, an individual, is no longer with us.

Now let's see how the characters, whose narrative got influenced by Ireum-nim, would react to his extinction.

Splat.

Chief Lee Jaheon seperated the tank from the broken potion-making machine and scooped up Kim Soleum's smushed flesh in. Agent Haegeum, who was about to open her mouth to stop him, shut her mouth with a look of mixed feelings. ...She knows how it feels to be the person of the same team.

(...)

Chief Lee Jaheon, successfully put the entire lump into the tank, asked quietly to the tank. As if he believes it can communicate. "Do you need help? State with your smoke." The lump would just pulsate. Yet chief Lee Jaheon moves. He searched Kim Soleum's jacket, and found out a piece of nostalgia candy.

Then inside the tank, he searched the lump and found the digestive organ, and shoved the nostalgia candy in.

Candy melted instantly. Nothing happened.

(...) "...Agent Grapes." These veterans, who explored ghost stories so many times, realize.... He cannot be restored.

Lee Jaheon, a man who used to show little to no emotions or any actions that could be deemed as emotive, desperately scoops up Soleum's remains and finds way to bring him back to his living state. Jaheon even feeds him nostalgia candy, but there is no best state to a mere thing, so the candy just melts away.

Jaheon's seemingly-composed countenance yet his desperate actions, really shows the severity of the situation and his agitation. The jarring discrepancy between his appearance and action makes it so tragic.

"Soleum-ah, I have thought about it for a while." The agent, bleeding all over his face and didn't wipe it at all, stares at the empty cylinder. "You told me. That... 'This whole situation itself, this place is a ghost story and supernatural disaster to me'." Rain drop falls to the black smoke inside the tank. "Why did you say such a thing."

Lighting struck.

In the rain, the agent speaks to the lump. "Do you know that? When you get a rescue call from the supernatural disaster. There are a lot of cases that ghost story did some trick on it?"

"......" "No, in fact, that is more likely to happen. It is rare for a citizen to call for help in a sane mind." Rain drop falls on the Agent's head. "Whether it's a trap, or it is too late."

"But... sometimes, there is a case that you can actually save them." A word from a person, head down. "That they really are a citizen and I should trust their words." ..... "You need to distinguish these people, no, even if it's indistinguishable, you have to try to return them back, if you have the chance." ...... "Yeah, that seems right." The agent looks at Kim Soleum.

A person in a blue jacket puts their hand on their pocket. And takes out something. A similar item that Kim Soleum possessed. A dream essence collector. "Here." Inside is shimmering with gold.

Collected by a person who underwent Flower Golden Resort, Catastrophic supernatual disaster of Sekwang Special City, and the ritual for expeling Kkwangcheori. "Let's go home. ...Soleum-ah."

Now, Agent Choi. The underlying theme of Soleum and Choi's relationship is trust. Soleum started as a spy from Daydream, the position that inherently compromises trust of the team and Choi tricked Soleum multiple times, the spy reveal arc and glass prison arc.

Both knows that the other would actively use the asymmetry of information, hiding info, to pre-emptively do something before the other can take measures.

Of course, all of their sneaky methods are ironically for good and righteous purposes, but still the way they execute was to compromise other's trust.

With all their memories of betrayals and disbelief, however, Choi, a believer of watertight logic and solid experiences, a very grounded person, tries to take a leap of faith.

Choi finally puts his trust on Soleum and his methods, without any calculations. And present his product of trust to all of the readers, the collector full of high-quality dream essence.

Also, I have a feeling that part 2 is going to end this week. Hear me out.

Part 2's entire arc is about:

1) finding Soleum's true self, 2) finding another way back home, and 3) terminating Sekwang Special City disaster.

The first one, Soleum did figure out who he was, by talking to the Kim Soleum in a cocoon. It was discovered that he was a "good friend version of the deranged Kim Soleum, his filtered & sane consciousness dwelling in a Frankensteinian body composed of Hwangryong's parts."

And he had taken care of his uncensored & insane self by putting him in supernatual therapy sessions, so he will heal eventually.

Problem solved.

The second one, it was discovered that the previous wish ticket was a bastardized version, that grants incomplete wishes. However, the original wish ticket from the Cheerful Research Institute grants a wish as the person who wished intended to.

Moreover, by the researcher Heoun from Cheerful Research Institute and the Kim Soleum in a cocoon, it is confirmed that the 'world without ghost stories', where our protagonist used to live, where his home is, definitely exists. So, only thing to do is to wish for home.

Problem solved.

The third one, Sekwang Special City disaster is finally terminated thanks to Soleum and our local fox counselor, Ho Yuwon. A mutual salvation arc, beautifully executed.

Problem solved.

Additionally, Soleum made contracts with multiple beings, the most binding and violent one was from Cheong. And today, Soleum finally overruled and broke Cheong's contract. Completely defeating her in return of his 'self.'

Contract with Ho? The deed, help to terminating the Sekwang Special City, is already done.

Contract with Choi? It was more of a binding force to get help, and since Sekwang Special City got terminated, it is no longer use.

Now all major problems and adversities in part 2 are solved. Even if Soleum's state is just a thing with vital signals, Choi has the solution and he would grant it for Soleum.

My personal expectation for part 2 ending is this.

Soleum wakes up in his bed, happily and peacefully. He is now home. He vaguely remembers the journey at the DER world and how he could return to his home, in the 'world without ghost stories', or just the real world.

Thanks to Haegeum, Choi and Jaheon, and the dream essence Choi had was just enough to make a wish ticket, which make Soleum to return back to his home.

Soleum was still happily reminiscing about his memories and suddenly, he hears a familiar, gentleman's sonorous voice he can never forget.

[Congratulations, friend! You finally made it back home.]

It turns out due to the summoning of the being in the 'world without ghost stories' to the DER world, the connection, the bridge is made between two worlds, influencing the Soleum's OG world.

Moreover, Soleum's influence as Ireum-nim still haunts him as a cult. Part 3 would be mainly focused on dealing with the residues of Soleum's impact, especially, the cult, who tries to crawl to the Ireum-nim's world.

Again, this is a very absurd theory, and BDSM (BDS-NIM) always writes something much unexpected and interesting, so I hope my prediction would fail.

This post is to speculate about what Director Cheong's ulterior motive is. It is a two-part post, where the first part is gonna be Cheong's past (possible) lore, and the second part is gonna be about her ulterior motive related to her lore.

Continuation from the 1st part:

Director Cheong's "inferiority & god complex" for failing to be a dragon had a profound effect on her motive.

Her twisted mind, green with envy and resentment, thought of two things to grasp what once she could have: 1) put all those "good-for-nothing" dragons beneath her, & 2) become the one & only dragon as SOON as possible.

The only dragon, the only god.

Her obsession with dragons is clearly shown in recent episodes.

'Oddly... there are too many darknesses related to the dragon.' Yongmeori (dragon head) coast darkness. Dragon-hunting game darkness. Hwangnyongsa (dragon king) stone pagoda darkness. Han river dragon darkness... Any darkness related to dragon, was developed and studied under Director Cheong's management. (From Chapter 351)

To put all dragons under her, she first needs to capture and study them. Not only does researching & experimenting on dragons serve a purpose for humiliation and torture ('...like mocking them?'/'Does she want to suppress dragons?'),

Low-resolution video cassette figure, mascots crazily spinning over and over in front of the turned-off ride, flesh blob injected into the empty mascot suit, collapsing figure of a gigantic creature, screaming, a shaky theme song of the Joyful theme park, someone's hearty laughter... The way to create a mascot. (...) The laughter was familiar. ...It was the sound recorded on the cardboard cutout at the top of the Sekwang City Hall. 'Director Cheong.' (From Chapter 352)

but it also helps Cheong to find a way to get through their powers and to manipulate them.

Putting every dragon in this nation under HER control, so that she could see and observe how much pain they are in.

How much pain is to be demoted from god into some worthless creature. See them feeling the pain, the pain that she has been wallowing in for the past centuries.

She is NOT going to be knocked down by some supernatural powers or fate anymore; she is going to have FULL CONTROL and find an independent way.

Whether it would be:

by encaging them in another darkness and stripping away their original form and powers, until their essence is dissolved, completely unrecognizable. (Mascots from the Joyful Theme Park, including The Blue Mascot🔵🐉)

by using their parts as materials for the experiment, "The invitation ritual" to summon an otherworldly being,

Experiment #316 Solution inserted: 1200L Materials: Qterw-A-4...of ...dragon, ......-...326, human blood, ......, and other 13 synthesized elements. (From Chapter 208)

and subjugate the being to HER company as an employee, who is bound to an eternal servitude, completely detaching from any factors that could identify themselves, just using them as a cog in the machine. (Kim Soleum's vessel)

And only should be her, who becomes the being of power, the deity. Cheong's slogan change exhibits her ambition clearly.

'A safe world without supernatural phenomena, except me!' Elimination of competitors is the most preferred monopolistic market for the company. (From chapter 345)

The "competitors" here could be interpreted as "other companies" at face value. However, considering Cheong's lore as a whole, the "competitors" mean "dragons."

Moreover, this research can help her expedite the process of becoming a dragon.

As Imugi, Cheong probably underwent 1000 years (or a long period of time) of training to become one, right? But that effort amounted to nothing. She CANNOT wait for another 1000 years.

She needs a better, faster, brighter, and more proficient way to be one.

How to make this happen? A company of maximum capitalism. Cheong equates herself with the company and acts as if she is the "embodiment of capitalism".

"Yes. Director Cheong is a being who asserts a powerful ownership of the company." (Chapter 84)

Also, Cheong's vocabulary clearly shows this proclivity a lot.

"However, the longer thou stays here, the more thou would realize that there is no company like Daydream as reasonable and clear-cut with reward and punishment for one's outcome." (From Chapter 83)

"Thou hastn't stalled time for too long and fallen to the wiles. A child of wise choice always earns longevity." (From Chapter 87)

It is too slow. It is too vague. Neither is the directivity preferred by director Cheong. (From Chapter 345)

'Thou shalt be thankful. As one granted thou's slogan.' 'Yet, Daydream Corp is a company in pursuit of profit, ergo, it would be right for the slogan to have the company's share.' And it shall be. One would efficiently add one phrase to the catchphrase 'A safe world without supernatural phenomena' (...) (From Chapter 345)

Cheong's words and lines can be reduced to a single word: "efficiency." What does efficiency or "being efficient" mean?

It means to "make a visible & good result in a short period of time." This perfectly aligns with Cheong's goal: becoming a dragon (a result) as soon as possible (a short period of time).

To sum up; (or tl:dr)

Director Cheong is Kkwangcheori (꽝철이), a being who failed to become a dragon, and has an inferiority & god complex about it.

She wants to avenge the other dragons by putting them under her, in the guise of "researching & experimenting with darknesses" and erasing their identity as a dragon, thus, her to be the ONLY DRAGON.