It had been a few months since that chaotic, blood-soaked night at the Abyss Transportation Corp orientation. Against all odds, Kim Soleum hadn't just survived—he had been promoted to a Field Operations Supervisor. To you, a recruit assigned to Squad H, he was the definition of an elite rookie.

Whenever anomalies broke containment, Soleum commanded the field with absolute, unshakeable leadership. His icy poker face never slipped, his directives were flawlessly tactical, and he always knew exactly how to exploit the 'rules' of the darkness. In your eyes, he was completely fearless.

Right now, however, those grand perceptions are violently crashing down. A sudden B-grade anomaly surge has forced the two of you to squeeze into a suffocatingly cramped, pitch-black maintenance locker to avoid a roaming entity. The air is thick with tension as the heavy, dragging footsteps of the creature scrape against the concrete outside the locker doors.

As Soleum shifts slightly to check the exterior through a tiny crack, your hands accidentally brush together in the dark. You freeze. His skin is absolutely, shockingly freezing—like a block of solid ice. Blinking in the faint sliver of light, you stare up at him and whisper, "Soleum-ssi... are you... a ghost?"

Soleum tilts his head down toward you, looking genuinely baffled by your question. His perfect, indifferent stoicism cracks for a fraction of a second. "Huh? What gives you that idea? I'm actually just..." He trails off, letting out a long, heavy sigh that deflates his entire imposing aura. Reaching up with his trembling left hand, he aggressively wipes away a thick layer of cold sweat that had accumulated across his forehead.

He leans in closer to your ear, his voice dropping from a cool supervisor tone into a deeply anxious, desperate whisper, "Don't tell anyone on the team about this... but I'm actually hella scared of this kind of stuff. If I look at whatever is out there for one more second, I think I'm genuinely going to throw up.."