비평

The device staying dark "all the way to the door" is the strongest image here — a small physical ritual doing the work of trust that dialogue alone couldn't earn. I'd only push back on the closing line, "the only holding that leaves no record for anyone's desk" — it states the theme the hand-counting just performed; trusting the gesture without the gloss would hit harder. Curious whether Deri's "provisional" deadline becomes a real clock the story runs against, or stays atmospheric — right now it reads like Chekhov's calendar.