Clack, clack.
The clicking was done.
The alien shop displayed the items I'd put in my cart in a neat list.
What I was buying was….
Alice Picnic Set - ₩11,999,999
※Sale!※ Silver Snake - ₩4,999,999
= ₩16,999,998
That's right.
I bought the effect-amplifying potion set and the sale item.
The reason was simple.
'I can't use the others….'
A bloodsucking weapon? It sounded cool enough. But there was a premise attached to it.
I'd have to charge at a ghost holding a knife....
'If a coward does something that stupid, he dies….'
There was a reason it was such a common horror movie cliché for someone to die like Extra #1 while their hands shook all over the place.
Besides, it would only be useful if the thing I was attacking actually had blood, so it wasn't versatile.
'If it were armor, that'd be different, but in my current state, weapons are out of the question, right?'
Overestimating yourself was the fastest route to shortening your lifespan. Enough said.
Next, the Farther-Reaching Walkie-Talkie.
This one....
'...Who exactly do you think can persuade their superior to carry around a toy walkie-talkie?'
Someone like that… probably wouldn't be the type to work under anybody, would they?
And it would be a problem even if I told them it wasn't just some toy, but an amazing item. The moment they started asking, 'Where did you get that?,' I'd have no answer.
This was really the kind of item you could only use if you had a teammate you truly trusted.
'So that's out.'
In the end, the only items left were the two: the Alice Picnic Set and the thing called Silver Snake. Since I could buy both within my budget, I was going to.
They both looked useful.
First of all, the Alice Picnic Set's double effect and half effect could be used in all sorts of ways.
'If things go wrong, I feel like it could even be used defensively.'
It would also be easy to use without drawing attention from the employees. So that was a buy.
Lastly, the sale item called Silver Snake.
'Its original price was twenty million?'
The moment I saw that, I had a strong feeling.
This was an investment item.
'Judging by the fact that they specifically called it silver coin, it has to be some kind of currency.'
In the world of
'Buying something originally worth twenty million for five million is definitely a profit.'
There was usually a reason the alien shop offered massive discounts, but even so, it was worth taking the risk.
…This is absolutely not the psychology of investing in crypto! Really! This is rational judgment!
So now… I had to pay seventeen million won.
"Hoo."
The only payment method available was bank transfer.
The account number of some easy-to-open electronic bank account was displayed on the website under the name 'Alien.'
'I guess I can't expect a tax deduction….'
It had been the first time since finding my one-room apartment that I'd transferred such a huge sum in a lump payment.
Through my banking app, where I had already raised my limit, I transferred '₩16,999,998' with trembling hands.
The very next moment—
Purchase successful!
Your items boarded a rocket!
Arrival in 00:00:08
Huh.
00:00:07
00:00:06
Wait a second.
00:00:03
00:00:02
00:00:01
Ding.
A cheerful sound rang out.
Arrived!Pop.
"Gah!"
The air in midair 'opened,' and an object spilled out in a puff of smoke.
It was a Korea Post delivery box.
"Wow."
It was literally rocket delivery.
'You insane world setting, so you were capable of being amazing instead of terrifying too!'
I was almost moved.
After admiring it for a moment, I pulled myself together and opened the package.
First, the
When I opened the case, I saw a canned drink and paper-wrapped cookies inside. Each was labeled 'Drink me' and 'Eat me.'
"Nice."
Like the Smile Sticker, this seemed like the sort of thing I could just carry one or two of with me. I nodded.
Then, when I took the tin case out of the package box, I saw a round silver object lying underneath it.
I picked it up.
A gleaming silver coin.
'So it really was currency.'
A small thrill went through me.
I held up the silver coin, about the size of a 500-won coin, stamped with the image of a snake swallowing its own tail, and flicked it lightly. It had a satisfying weight to it, like real metal.
A few candidate places where I might be able to use this currency flashed through my mind.
'Let's make the most of it somewhere.'
Even if seventeen million won had melted away like snow.
It was money that would disappear the moment I went back to my original world anyway, so I should restrain my material desires… restrain them.
Hmm. I calmed down.
'Then… all things considered, am I actually pretty well prepared now?'
I organized the items I currently had.
-Memorial GripTok
-Smile Sticker :)
-Alice Picnic Set
-Silver Snake
From here on, I needed to use these to clear higher-grade Darkness as quickly as possible.
'Let's use them aggressively.'
If I avoided things because I was scared, I might end up seeing something even scarier instead. Don't forget that, coward.
Resolving not to forget to use everything I could possibly take advantage of, I went to sleep.
Instead of sheep, the convenience store ghost ran wild through my mind and utterly destroyed my quality of life.
Haha.
And then the very next day.
"There are a few Ghost Stories we manage on a regular basis, and today we're going to go into one of them."
"…Yes."
I'd slept exactly three hours. At this rate, I really felt like I was going to die.
But maybe the assistant manager took my expression as worry, because she patted my shoulder.
"Don't worry too much. It's only D-grade."
"Yeah! Roe Deer, it's about that level, about the same as what you dealt with during the hiring orientation!"
You say that to a new employee who probably has death-survival PTSD…?
But the Field Operations Team employees, whose sense of ordinary human sensitivity had long since been shattered, just laughed and spoke to me as if offering friendly encouragement.
"You already cleared one by charging in headfirst, so there's no way you can't handle it now that we even have a manual."
"As long as you don't do anything sudden, there won't be a problem, got it?"
"…Yes."
Well… all right then.
Anything had to be better than playing tag with the convenience store ghost all by myself.
'Please let me sleep at night this time.'
Please, let this be one of those art-film-style Ghost Stories that feel creepy because of the weirdness and lack of information, but aren't actually all that horrifying in practice!
I prayed desperately.
"All right, here's the material."
The senior associate held out a tablet PC.
The Ghost Story I'd be entering today was....
[Tuesday Quiz Show / Twilight (D)-Grade]
"...."
Huh?
"You saw it, right, Roe Deer? You'll be going in as a contestant in a quiz game."
"Yes."
"If you get the quiz questions wrong, you get punished, and the punishments are horrible… that kind of Ghost Story."
"But we already have the full answer sheet, so we're fine, right? Don't be too tense!"
The senior associate grinned and gave a thumbs-up.
Right, good.
'I have a feeling this is way less terrifying than seeing a ghost directly….'
But there was a problem too.
'That's not a name I know.'
Tuesday Quiz Show?
There wasn't any D-grade Ghost Story page with that title in
I couldn't search through my memories with the Memorial GripTok right now because my superiors were here, but… I was sure even without checking.
At the very least, it wasn't among the Ghost Stories I had read.
Then again, even if I had read every Ghost Story in
To begin with, it had been an internet playground where new Ghost Stories were added in real time.
Even so, I'd thought the number of things I didn't know would be relatively small, but already I was about to get thrown into a Ghost Story I didn't know.
'…Is the company's list of "Darkness" way more extensive than I thought?'
Cold sweat trickled down my neck.
But my superiors remained carefree.
"Our jurisdiction happens to get assigned a lot of broadcast-related Darkness."
"Ah, right, every group has that sort of thing."
And then the assistant manager sent me a PDF file, calling it the answer sheet for Tuesday Quiz Show.
"For now, just read that answer sheet and… maybe review the Field Operations manual again or something. We'll go once the Group Leader gets back this afternoon."
"Yes."
I obediently nodded for now.
The senior associate kindly added,
"Ah, just in case, want me to grab you a paper copy of the manual too? You'll need to take notes."
"Ah, no, it's all right. I memorized it all."
With the Memorial GripTok, it would just be extra luggage for me.
"You… memorized it all?"
"Yes."
"…So that's why you don't take notes!"
"Pardon?"
"Ah, no."
The senior associate made an expression like he'd just realized something, then nodded.
"I think the Group Leader's going to find you really convenient."
"…??"
Well, it sounded like he meant it in a positive way, so I let it slide.
For the record, Group D's Group Leader was still out on a field assignment, but we'd already been told he would be returning this afternoon.
'I'll see him soon.'
But then, an hour later—
"Wait a second. Our Group Leader, I mean the manager, is still out on a field assignment… pardon? No, that's difficult."
The assistant manager, who had been on the phone, hung up with a dark look on her face.
"Have these people lost their minds? Saying crazy things like, 'You've got a new hire now, so doesn't that make three people and one team?'"
"Pardon? Really?"
"Yeah. Looks like…."
The assistant manager glanced at me.
Ah.
'Because of the convenience store ghost.'
Because I had cleared an F-grade Darkness alone, using a bizarre method, way too fast, it had given upper management an excuse to say something like, 'Oh really? Then I guess he can pull his weight.'
To think the side effect of taking twenty million won all by myself would hit me here.
Of course, the reason wasn't that they were annoyed I'd taken the money.
"It's the end of the month."
"Ahhh."
Watching the two superiors mutter among themselves, I more or less grasped the situation.
'The department must have run into a performance quota issue.'
If I had to guess, they were in a situation where they had to meet some kind of "quota" before lunch.
And since the new hire apparently looked capable of doing one person's share, that led to this.
After a brief moment of thought, the assistant manager made a decision.
"Roe Deer, did you memorize all that?"
Ah, the quiz show answer sheet… wait.
'If I say I memorized all of it, am I going in?'
In that case, maybe I should strategically play it up a little and....
"Come on, he probably memorized it already, right? He said he memorized even the Field Operations manual, and that thing is thick!"
"Oh."
The assistant manager nodded.
"Good. Then today, we're going in with just us."
"...."
My tiny and desperate wish of, 'Please, I just want one more person around. It'll be less scary!' vanished just like that….
This was followed by a long explanation about how 'the rule is normally three people per team, but sometimes if someone takes leave, two people go in together anyway, and yes, support personnel can be requested, but it's hard to line up schedules, and so on and so forth.'
Yes. Thank you, I understand very well that this company is indeed very company-like.
'…Anyway, I'm ready.'
I was fully armed with items now, and I'd also confirmed that this wasn't the sort of Ghost Story with a form that would be especially terrifying.
Come to think of it, going now might actually be better than going in the afternoon!
Wasn't there a saying that it was better to get hit first if you were going to get hit anyway?
The more time passed, the more my imagination would create horror. The courage I had gathered up right now was probably my peak.
It might be better to go in before it shrank any more…!
"Let's go in."
In the middle of my endless mental self-victories, the assistant manager came over after receiving something from an employee of another department.
'That must be… the medium that lets us enter the Ghost Story.'
It was a postcard.
But in the 'Recipient' field of the postcard, which had an old stamp attached, bizarre writing had already been scrawled all over it.
And across the top, in tiny repeated print, the word 'Application Form' was written over and over.
Like some kind of curse.
-One day, I found a strange postcard in an old magazine.
It had a promotional insert recruiting participants for some quiz show, but when I searched it up, no such broadcast existed. It was probably just written as a theme for a vintage postcard.
Feeling intrigued, I wrote my own name in the 'Sender' field for fun...
And I got dragged into a truly bizarre quiz show.
Was that the kind of Ghost Story this was?
At a glance, it wasn't obvious, but the moment you looked more closely it became grotesque enough to send a proper chill down your spine….
"You just have to sign here."
"...."
"If it feels unpleasant, don't use your real name. Just write some random animal-mask name."
"…Yes."
I had to earn points.
Watching the other two write 'Badger' and 'Peregrine Falcon' respectively, I wrote in the 'Sender' field as well.
-Roe Deer
The moment I lifted my pen,
my consciousness was yanked out and sucked into the postcard as if being pulled by force.
"…!"
[Ah, you're finally here. Our applicants!]
The lighting was blinding.
Through the hazy blur of my vision, a bright and cheerful voice struck my ears.
A hand in a suit reached out for a handshake.
[Welcome, welcome… all right now. The cameras will be rolling any second. Let's show them a bright smile and a splendid appearance, shall we?]
I shook the hand reflexively and raised my head.
Where a human head should have been, there was instead an old-fashioned TV set.
...An emoticon floated on it.
[]
That TV person let go of my hand, then turned around merrily and spread both arms wide.
[Audience!]
Waaaaaah!
A roar of cheers rose up, but the bright filming lights blurred the silhouettes in the audience seats so badly that I couldn't make them out properly.
Only then did I realize I was standing on some brightly colored platform.
'A quiz show contestant's spot.'
It wasn't frightening enough to make me faint.
No, honestly, if I just thought of it as participating in a quiz show hosted by a man wearing a TV on his head, a sense of calm actually came over me.
'After going through an eye-plucking subway and a convenience store ghost, this feels almost angelic.'
Mm. Good. I felt like I could think calmly.
After adjusting my mask once, I checked the situation.
[Is this your first time in a talk-show audience? Oooh, then don't forget to cheer. Your cheers are everything to the show!]
The TV person seemed to be hyping up the audience and raising the mood.
He was probably the host of the talk show.
'So then, this Tuesday Quiz Show is some kind of segment within a talk show?'
Judging from the atmosphere of the set, the band that provided the background sound, the makeup of the audience, and the way the host carried the whole mood alone… it felt like a classic American talk show.
'It feels kind of old-fashioned too.'
....
What?
'Again.'
Old American talk show.
Quiz segment.
A situation where the contestant already knows the answers.
This is….
....
....
I know these keywords.
---------------------=
※Caution Before Reading!※
Notice: Baekilmong Co., Ltd. bears no liability whatsoever for any fear, auditory hallucinations, ■■, ■■■■, or related issues arising from reading this document.
Proceed only after signing.
---------------------=
This wasn't D-grade.
This, this Ghost Story....
---------------------=
Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story
[Chorus of Living Sacrifices]
: A Ghost Story appearing in
Darkness of the Dark (A) grade.
The starting point of the grade-reclassification incident that produced countless casualties.
At present, there are no official records of survivors.
---------------------=
"...."
[3, 2, 1…. And now the show begins!]
No.