When, on your very first day at work, your team says something like, "Our new guy might drop dead soon? Haha, just kidding~," what is the proper response for a new employee?
There isn't one.
No, there's just no answer.
Fortunately, maybe they hadn't expected any reaction from me, because my superiors changed the subject.
"Well, first… congratulations on making it through the death survival."
Can they openly call it that inside the company?
"But are you really the top recruit? That's insane."
"Let's hear you brag a little."
I'd like to know why too.
"I just worked hard."
"Oh, come on. If hard work was all it took, everyone would go to Seoul National University."
"Anyway, it's impressive. Welcome to our group."
There was one advantage to having good hiring results. Maybe because this was the kind of department that suffered from brutal workloads, they didn't seem interested in hazing the new hire.
"The Group Leader will be here soon too. He's out on a field assignment, so just relax for now!"
"Ah. Thank you."
Following my superior's guidance, I went over to a partitioned space.
Four desks placed back to back.
And beside them, on the guest sofa and table, sat a radio in a style straight out of the 1980s.
As my superiors sat down at their own desks, they gestured to me.
"Sit on that sofa."
"Yes."
And the moment I sat down, as if by magic, the radio on the table switched on and let out an old-fashioned crackle.
"…?"
A cheerful background tune and the bright voice of a broadcaster.
-Hello! This is the live traffic forecast. At the moment, Seoul's commuting roads are as quiet as today's clear and sunny weather, but from this afternoon onward….
I turned my head and looked out the window.
Rain was falling in a steady drizzle.
A reality out of sync.
'Ah.'
This radio was a Ghost Story.
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Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story
[Hello Traffic Info]
: A Ghost Story that appears in
A strange radio that tells you your fortune for the day through traffic conditions. Sometimes it offers warnings or advice, but becoming too conscious of that advice can instead lead to chilling results.
---------------------=
"You noticed?"
"…!"
"Wow, this new hire's like a ghost…. He catches the sense of wrongness fast."
The male superior who looked like a former PE major walked over, turned off the radio, and spoke.
"This is like your daily fortune. It's a relatively safe urban legend. A verified Twilight-grade Darkness."
"..."
"Wait a sec, you're thinking, 'What do you mean urban legend and Darkness, you nerd?' right now, aren't you?"
I'm not.
"For new hires like you, we prepared something. Ta-da."
A tablet PC was placed on the table.
My superior tapped the screen a few times and played a video.
"Watch it all the way through."
Somewhere-retro, low-quality but cheerful orchestral BGM started playing.
Then two animated characters that looked like they'd come from the same era as the 1988 Olympics mascot appeared and bowed.
-New employee full of dreams and passion! Welcome to the Field Operations Team of Baekilmong Co., Ltd.!
-Today, we'll explain in detail what kind of wonderful work the Field Operations Team does!
'A fox and a dragon?'
The red fox and yellow dragon characters were wearing hanbok and smiling brightly.
-Before that!
Above the two subtly cute characters, an openly old-fashioned Gulim-style font appeared.
[What kind of company is Baekilmong Co., Ltd.?]
I already knew.
On the surface, this company was a beauty-focused pharmaceutical firm that sold absurdly effective hair-loss medication and skin disease treatments.
But in reality?
-You think we only make hair-loss medication? Oh my god! Actually, at Baekilmong Co., Ltd., we can make every medicine you could ever need!
-Literally a magic company that makes magical medicine!
From medicine that completely cures drug addiction to elixirs of immortality, they produced all kinds of fantastical potions and quietly traded them with political circles and the upper class.
That was the true nature of Baekilmong Co., Ltd.
A secret organization that made transcendent potions.
'And that isn't possible through any scientific or realistic method that already exists….'
The fox character winked and raised an index finger.
-But! Magical medicine needs magical ingredients.
-That ingredient is… "Dreamdew"!
The word "Dreamdew" enlarged in shining gold letters across the screen, while a sparkling liquid flowed ecstatically in the background.
With hearts and stars popping out everywhere, it looked exactly like a magic potion from a children's cartoon, but….
The true identity of that stuff was Ghost Stories.
-"Dreamdew" is harvested from supernatural phenomena!
When the dragon held out one hand, the screen changed.
It showed a city alley in cute illustration style.
But then red eyes appeared in the shadows cast by a streetlamp, transformed into the shape of a monster, and threatened a passerby.
After that came an exaggerated animation of an electric fan licking its lips while peering at a sleeping person.
-Did you know that supernatural phenomena also occur in modern society?
-If you sleep in an enclosed space with a fan on, you die; if people curse at you, you live long… these are all superstitious urban legends!
-But sometimes, these urban legends become reality!
'So they call them urban legends….'
Sure enough, "urban legends" did sound a little less frightening than "Ghost Stories."
And then the most important point appeared.
-Baekilmong Co., Ltd. manages these urban legends, harvests "Dreamdew," and makes wonderful magical medicine that grants people's wishes!
-Mr. Yongyong, Dreamdew is the company's most important resource, isn't it?
-Of course! We always need it… but who could possibly gather Dreamdew for us?
The dragon character called Yongyong tilted his head.
Who else?
-It's the wonderful Field Operations Team!
An SD animation showed office workers in suits giving thumbs-up while working heroically in spaces where all kinds of unreal disasters were taking place.
-Thanks to the brave and wise Field Operations Team, our Dreamdew Collectors are full again today!
A sharp-browed office worker character on the screen held out an item in one hand with a flourish.
A portable cylinder marked with measurement lines.
'Dreamdew Collector.'
---------------------=
[Dreamdew Collector]
: An item that appears in
A portable liquid storage container made by Baekilmong Co., Ltd. whose gauge fills up when exploring "Darkness (Ghost Stories)."
Within the company, that liquid is referred to as "Dreamdew."
Producing insane reagents bordering on reality manipulation with the collected "Dreamdew" is Baekilmong Co., Ltd.'s main source of income.
---------------------=
Looking at this indispensable tool of the Field Operations Team, the two characters clapped their hands.
-Then pick up your Dreamdew Collector and bravely and wisely enter the Darkness!
-Our company's future rests on your shoulders! Fighting!
The video, which shouted the sort of textbook new-hire gaslighting one would expect, ended by showing the logo of
"..."
"You watched it all?"
"Yes…."
I chose my words carefully.
"It was impressive."
"Uh... yeah, our department's work really is kind of like that."
The superior with the easy smile held out his hand once more and asked for a handshake.
"Ah, I should introduce myself first. You're Employee Kim Soleum, right?"
"Yes. Please take care of me."
"Right. Ah! Over there is Assistant Manager Eun Haje."
The short-haired woman introduced as Assistant Manager Eun Haje waved a hand lazily from her desk, then lowered it.
The PE-major-looking man grinned and pointed at himself with a thumb.
"I'm Park Minseong. Senior Associate."
"Nice to meet you, Senior Associate."
"Haha, you don't have to be that formal."
"Yes?"
"In this department, pretty much everyone gets the Senior Associate title once they've lasted about a year. You'll be one soon enough."
It was considerate of him not to mention that there was also a pretty decent chance I'd die before then….
"Though you could die before that too."
Guess not.
"Sunbae!"
"What. He should know. Like you saw in that introductory video, it really is dangerous work."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje jerked her chin.
I see. So to make it as far as assistant manager at this company, you had to have that kind of mental fortitude.
"Quitting isn't a bad choice either. There are plenty of jobs in the world."
And in this world setting, no matter what job you picked, there was still a chance you'd get sucked into a Ghost Story….
"Thank you, but I'll work hard for now."
"Hmm. All right."
"Ooh, passion."
The two of them nodded as if they liked my attitude, and the assistant manager added a few words of encouragement.
"Ghost Stories, urban legends, whatever you call them, there are response manuals for all of them, so don't worry too much."
"…Yes."
The senior associate lowered his voice and whispered.
"Ah, in this company, we call them 'Darkness,' okay? If you don't want people outside to look at you like, 'What is that guy, some kind of Ghost Story nerd?,' just call them that."
"..."
Then wouldn't they just think I'm a regular nerd?
But I kept my mouth shut and just nodded. I didn't want to do something pointless like nitpick my superior's words on my first day.
"Right. You understood the manual?"
"Yes."
After thoroughly reading the "Work Manual" the senior associate handed me, I nodded.
"Mm. Good, good."
The two superiors looked at each other, grinned, and then turned back to me.
"Then shall we go work?"
Excuse me?
14th floor.
This was the floor my two superiors had brought me to.
"Now that you've finished the basics, it's time for hands-on experience."
After getting off the elevator, we stopped in front of a small storage room beside an emergency stairwell.
"So. What you'll be doing this afternoon is… a light Darkness exploration."
Excuse me?
"You don't have to worry too much."
"You won't die, you won't die. Uh, if this were a game, it's basically like a slime that appears in the beginner village!"
"...Yes."
Well, it was about time I started actually working.
I'd braced myself for that, but even so, my head was spinning.
'Surely they're not sending me somewhere easy to die on my very first shift.'
Even they would have a hard time taking care of a panicking new hire, wouldn't they?
I tried my best to calm myself and think.
If I had to guess why we were standing here… ah, was the storage room a place connected to a Ghost Story?
'Which Ghost Stories started from a storage room again?'
While I was rummaging through the
The first thing they did was hand me an object.
"You saw it in the video earlier, right? Dreamdew Collector."
I took something that looked almost like a die: a sturdy plastic sealed cylinder with visible signs of use.
'They sold this as merch too….'
Still, holding the real thing made me feel strangely emotional.
"Be careful not to lose it, by the way. Every single one has a serial number engraved on it, so it becomes a massive headache if it goes missing."
"Yes, Assistant Manager."
I understood it as being similar to losing a shell casing.
"And before entering Darkness, it's good to get into the habit of wearing a mask. Don't ask why. Your mask too, let's see… hmm."
"..."
"..."
The superiors blinked as they looked at my bark-like mask with two horns.
"…Deer?"
"Roe deer?"
I don't know either.
"Cool horns. It's a roe deer, right?"
"I'm not sure."
"Let's go with roe deer. It's stronger than a deer."
A roe deer is?
"Anyway, put that on, and look at this."
Senior Associate Park Minseong held out the tablet PC.
Ah, he was going to brief me with another manual video or something….
[Do This and Get 20 Million Won vs. Just Living]
"…??"
It was an internet post.
-Spend three days playing tag with a ghost inside a convenience store with no one else within a 10 km radius and get 20 million won.
VS just living.
For reference, the ghost looks like this ↓
'Ugh!'
I violently scrolled past the photo to get away from it, suppressing a shiver, but the afterimage remained.
It had a blue ghost face with eyes bulging so much they looked ready to pop, its forehead and scalp swollen in lumpy masses.
"What does it say?"
"It asks whether I'd be willing to play tag with a ghost in a convenience store for three days in exchange for money…."
Even as I said it, I didn't understand.
'Why are they showing me this?'
It couldn't be workplace bullying.
'They said we were going to do a Darkness exploration, so why are they showing me some random internet post... ah.'
"..."
"..."
Without looking at the screen this time, I scrolled back up.
[Do This and Get 20 Million Won vs. Just Living]
This… don't tell me.
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Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story
[Choose for Me]
: A Ghost Story that appears in
A Darkness derived from internet balance-game prompts of the "experience horror and get money VS just live" variety that once became popular online.
It occurs irregularly when you access a URL containing a certain number.
The victim is usually chased either by a murderer or by a ghost, and if caught, the experience restarts from the beginning.
---------------------=
You insane world.
As the surroundings distorted, I could still hear the senior associate's voice.
"Take it easy in there, nice and easy!"
Like hell I can.
Was I seriously getting the Ghost Story version of being sent out alone on an external job to land a contract on my first day after being assigned?
But I didn't even have time to scream.
With that, I fell into the Darkness alone.
"..."
I staggered to my feet.
'It's dark.'
The air was cool and musty. My vision was extremely dim.
The only thing visible was the flickering cold, murky light coming from a drink refrigerator far away.
"..."
Holding even my breath, I carefully walked toward the light source.
The outline of the silent convenience store emerged dimly in the dark, then disappeared again….
Silence. Stillness.
Every time my footsteps touched the floor and I heard the sound, cold sweat ran down the back of my neck.
It looked like there was nothing around me. At least for now.
'Hoo.'
Even my sigh was swallowed inside me.
My steps stopped in the one place where the refrigerator light was fairly close but still didn't shine directly on me.
Leaning on that blurry, cold light, I surveyed my surroundings.
The convenience store was fairly large, about the size of a franchise café.
Daily necessities and food were laid out in an unnaturally tidy arrangement, without a speck of dust.
'So there's… no threat to basic survival?'
Right. This Ghost Story—or rather, this Darkness itself—wasn't the kind that cornered a person by attacking physical survival.
It specialized in pulling out psychological shock and screams.
The safest answer came to me quickly.
'Let's just grab water and energy bars, hide, and endure.'
Yeah. I knew my limits. There was no way I could play tag with a ghost.
If necessary, I didn't even need the energy bars. One or two things I could eat quietly would be enough.
A person doesn't die from going hungry for a day or two. Better starvation than meeting a ghost.
'But I do need water.'
That much couldn't be helped.
I found water quickly. It was inside the drink refrigerator.
At least there was light there, so it stood out right away, and fortunately it was in the very last section, which meant I'd probably be able to keep enough watch on the surroundings….
"..."
Carefully stepping forward, avoiding the light as much as possible, I headed for the end of the refrigerator.
'Hoo.'
The very last section, seen head-on.
Just as it had looked from a distance, the top shelf was packed full of water bottles from various brands with their labels blurred out.
But when I stood close enough to face it directly, I saw something besides water.
"...?!"
That internet page from earlier. I'd frantically scrolled past it, but the grotesque outline had burned itself into my memory.
A bluish, bumpy face with bulging eyeballs.
A ghost.
'What the hell…!'
The moment our eyes met, its face twisted into a grin and its eyes bulged grotesquely.
'Why the fuck is a ghost face in the refrigerator…!'
I jerked backward immediately. Then, the moment I turned to run—
I realized it.
The ghost wasn't inside the refrigerator.
It was reflected in the glass refrigerator door.
"Hhk…."
Thud.
Something touched my back.
At the nape of my neck, I felt a cold, thick, hard grip made of stiff strands.
The hand of a drowned corpse.
And then….
-Caught you.
Blackout.
Game of tag over.
"Hup!"
I opened my eyes.
Cool air. My vision was extremely dim.
The only thing visible was the flickering cold, murky light coming from a drink refrigerator far away.
"...!"
I'd returned to the starting point.
The victim is usually chased either by a murderer or by a ghost, and if caught, the experience restarts from the beginning.
'This is fucking insane.'
I'm supposed to keep doing this for three days?
Fuck, just kill me instead!
'No, no.'
I immediately guessed something even more horrifying.
'If I get reset to the beginning every time I fail to endure it… there's no telling how long this could actually take.'
It was literally an endless retry.
A coward like me might lose my mind before it ended.
'No.'
Isn't there another way? Another way?
This time, I headed for the counter instead of the drink refrigerator.
There were a lot of big fixtures and objects around the register counter that could hide my body, so I planned to crouch there first and buy myself time to think.
'If I crouch all the way down and tuck myself inside the chair area….
And in the process, I saw it.
Between the counter and the chair legs.
The silhouette of the ghost's lower half.
"..."
Tap. Tap-tap. Tap-taptaptaptap.
Pale bare feet moved in strange intervals and rhythms. The eerie sense of wrongness unique to something nonhuman set off unpleasant goosebumps like an alarm.
Holding my breath, I flattened myself beneath the counter.
Keep still.
Even after the ghost passed by with that grotesque gait, keep still until I reached the absolute limit of how long I could bear it without making a sound.
'There are way too many clichés where the moment you relax, it suddenly shoves its face right in front of yours.'
And only after a long time had passed did I slowly let out my breath. Even then, I struggled not to make a sound.
"..."
'This is driving me insane.'
Cold sweat dripped from my chin.
I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even turn on my smartphone, because the light from the screen would obviously draw attention.
All I could trust was my memory!
'I definitely looked over this Ghost Story too, over and over, like I was memorizing it….'
There were plenty of exploration records where F-grade Ghost Stories had new hires thrown in together, so I'd studied them the way people studied past exam questions.
Of course, I'd never dreamed I'd get dropped into one alone on the first round!
'Damn it.'
Sweating cold sweat, I tried to remember the exploration record.
'Mountain lodge, basement, crosswalk, fast-food restaurant, abandoned school….'
No. None of those.
But there definitely, definitely had been an unusual case….
---------------------=
Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story /
Choose for Me
Exploration Record #23 (Irregular)
Chased by a mad doctor for one night (12 hours) in an abandoned hospital late at night.
※Special note: Exploration ended after 16 hours and 11 minutes.
---------------------=
"…!"
This was it.
I began squeezing my memory dry, reconstructing that record.