Even if I fall into a ghost story, I still have to go to work
Chapter 50
“Ayy, Roe Deer’s here!”
“Hey. Did you get the Regeneration Potion all right?”
“Yes.”
As I returned to the office, I greeted my superiors, who were lounging around after finishing their lunch.
However, when they saw the translucent reinforced plastic box in my hand, their expressions hardened, and they sat up straight.
“…!”
“Wait, is that the darkness you’re in charge of, Roe Deer?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
I lifted the transport box to show them the inside.
Inside, two black cards were rattling around.
The F-grade darkness I had chosen.
======================
Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story
[Quantum Dilemma]
: A ghost story appearing in
Baekilmong Corporation
The identification code is Qterw-F-2073.
Two plain black cards measuring 60mm wide and 110mm long.
However, when the owner flips the cards at midnight, a drawing is revealed on the front. The theme is randomly selected from the
Tarot
Major Arcana.
The divination actually
manifests in the future
.
======================
It was a low-grade darkness, small and portable enough to be managed by a single employee, but…
In truth, it was the most dangerous and uncertain ghost story among the three candidates I had been given.
Because it was related to the future.
The superiors seemed to recognize it as well, as their expressions turned serious.
“This is a bit intense for a rookie.”
“Right! Don’t they usually give out easier ones? I got a radio when I was a rookie. You saw that on your first day, didn’t you, Roe Deer? It was even reclassified as Twilight Grade.”
Ah, that radio.
‘So Assistant Manager was the one managing it.’
No wonder it was sitting right there in the office.
The Assistant Manager spoke with a hint of worry.
“Is it because expectations are so high since you’re doing so well… Ah, Team Leader!”
Section Chief Lizard, who was entering the office, turned his head at the sound of his name.
“You mentioned that you’d let Roe Deer choose the darkness himself. When exactly… is that still a ways off?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“…?”
“…??”
“He chose it twenty minutes ago.”
My superiors turned to look at me.
“Roe Deer.”
“Yes.”
“Did you pick that one out of the options the Team Leader gave you?”
“Yes.”
I nodded with an expressionless face.
“It gives overtime pay.”
“…….”
“…….”
“Because this darkness needs to be managed regularly at night.”
The faces of the two superiors grew distant.
“Ah….”
“Well, that’s so like Roe Deer.”
Then they regained their composure.
“…….”
Where exactly is my image headed…?
‘Should I be happy that I’m successfully establishing a character?’
Ugh.
I swallowed my tears and turned on my PC.
“Are you registering it now?”
“Yes. I’m entering my employee ID now.”
I found the corresponding darkness code in the ‘Unassigned Darkness List’ on the intranet and registered my account…
Done.
Qterw-F-2073: Kim Sol-eum (Assistant Manager)
With this, I finally had a darkness under my charge.
“Even if it’s F-grade, it’s still a supernatural phenomenon. Be careful when you’re managing it.”
“Yes.”
I read the management protocol for the darkness.
The method of using this ghost story, which I already knew.
[Flip cards at midnight / Once a month]
And a few days later, at midnight.
I went to the company annex for my overtime shift.
“Good work.”
The employee sitting at the desk, dressed from head to toe in pitch-black clothing, gave a slight nod and opened the hallway for me.
Following that path and opening the correct door…
“Still there.”
I saw the two black cards I had to ‘manage’ today.
I carefully entered the steel room and closed the door.
Then, I opened the card storage case, took out the darkness ‘Quantum Dilemma,’ and placed them face down on the round table provided in the room.
—Are you going to tell a fortune? Occult verification used to be a staple on talk shows! Now, Mr. Roe Deer. Let’s check the future!
It’s a bit different.
“I’m not looking at the future.”
—Hm?
“I’m choosing it.”
======================
Interpretation
A mysterious Tarot card that allows the user to see two cards in advance and,
upon choosing one
, ensures an event corresponding to that symbol occurs in the near future.
However, the event must be something that could realistically happen in the person’s daily life. (Winning the lottery is not possible.)
======================
That’s right.
This was a card that allowed me to choose what would happen in the near future in the form of a binary choice.
Of course, it wasn’t always a good thing.
I reached out and flipped the two cards on the table.
As if by magic, intricate illustrations revealed themselves.
The Devil. The Moon.
‘Damn it.’
Like this.
—Oh dear. Traditionally, neither of those are particularly good symbols!
Well, depending on the question, they weren’t necessarily bad, but… overall, that was the case.
In other words, if both options were terrible, I was essentially just adding a bad event for no reason.
And considering that more than half of Tarot cards could be interpreted as ambiguous or negative, the probability of this happening was at least one in four.
But…
—Have you decided which of the two to choose?
“Yeah.”
Because I’m going to do it a bit differently.
I moved to the opposite side of the table where the cards were placed.
‘This way, naturally…’
From the other side of the table, the cards appeared upside down.
If I pick up the card in this state…
—Ho, it’s reversed.
I looked at the card I held upside down.
‘I heard you’re never supposed to do this when actually reading fortunes.’
Since it was an F-grade ghost story, its power wasn’t great and it had many loopholes, so these kinds of tricks seemed to work.
‘Even if the trick fails, it just ends with the cards returning to plain black.’
So I took a gamble, and it seemed like a good choice.
And the card I chose was…
—The Moon. Ah, the symbol of confusion!
I stared at the Moon card, where the yellowish full moon hung upside down.
—Originally, the Moon is a symbol of mystery and uncertainty. Where the sun disappears and the moon rises, vague shapes and doubts grow, eventually… leading to the revelation of madness.
—But if it’s reversed, it would be the opposite, wouldn’t it?
Hmm.
‘Does it mean something will be clearly revealed?’
—That’s quite good. The resolution of uncertainty! Wouldn’t that help you clear your mind?
I thought so too.
‘In this crazy world of ghost stories where it’s hard to see even an inch ahead, it would be nice if something certain came out of it.’
—Is that all?
“Yeah.”
I put the cards back in order.
The cycle of this divination was once a month.
In other words, it meant an everyday event that would occur within this month.
Although there was a clear limit that the event had to be on an ‘everyday’ level, my everyday life involved working at a ghost story company…
If that was the case, I thought it might actually be quite helpful for survival.
‘Even if not, it’s good to fix at least one somewhat positive future.’
It was a win that the ghost story I managed was a benefit rather than a burden.
I decided not to be too greedy…
Thump.
“…….”
I heard a sound from outside.
This was the annex.
A place where relatively safe darknesses were stored. Mostly Twilight Grade, and occasionally F-grade…
But in the end, they were all ghost stories.
Thump.
Occasionally.
On very rare occasions, if a sudden situation occurred due to a management failure… a person or two could be killed easily.
I stood before the steel door.
‘……How far away is that sound?’
Should I wait here, or…
CRASH!!
“…!”
I immediately threw open the steel door and ran.
Because it sounded like something had definitely exploded!
‘It’s better to run and get out of here than to be trapped inside.’
I ran toward the lobby, intending to dash out the entrance, but…
The floor was already half-destroyed.
“…….”
—Oh my! This is quite a mess.
Various crazy possibilities flashed through my mind.
But immediately after, I saw a figure in the middle of the broken lobby floor, firmly pressing down on something smashed with his foot.
“…!”
It was the black-clad employee who had been sitting at the front desk.
And seeing him ‘suppressing’ the darkness like that…
‘He was a security team member!’
The situation seemed to be over already.
The sound I heard was likely the noise generated while the security team was suppressing it.
‘I guess they don’t just put anyone at the annex desk.’
After a moment of hesitation, I asked from about four meters away.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
The black-clad employee shook his head.
Thank you so much….
Let’s get out of here quickly.
“Then I’ll be on my way.”
The employee looked at me for a moment, then reached out to the desk and picked something up.
It was a sticky note.
[Have a good night.]
He had surprisingly good social skills.
“Thank you.”
I gave a polite bow. The employee, clad entirely in black, gave a slight nod in return and went back to sit at the desk.
On the lobby floor, I could see shards of glass—likely the medium for the ghost story—shimmering in pieces.
In that reflected light, the employee’s leg shadow strangely distorted, looking like a cloven hoof… before returning to human form.
‘Phew….’
Don’t look.
I walked out of the annex without staring at anything.
“Good grief.”
All sorts of incidents happen as part of daily life here.
‘As I thought, fixing one good daily event was a wise choice.’
Life was tough and exhausting, but I felt a bit better knowing I was somehow navigating it well.
Hmm. Come to think of it, I remembered a time when I had communicated through writing, just like that employee.
[Have a great day! ^^]
I was referring to the one-on-one on-site transaction on the second-hand market where I sold ghost story food for a whopping forty million won.
I had used written notes to hide my voice back then too.
That was when I sold the churros given to me by the blue dragon mascot at the theme park.
‘I still have one more bag of those churros.’
I still had no intention of selling them just in case, but… hmm.
I realized that I possessed quite a few items related to food.
The quantities of various things were decent.
‘Maybe it’s better to sell one or two and turn them into cash.’
If they were still looking for them, that is.
Since it came to mind, I logged into Salmon Market to check.
Surprisingly, another post had been uploaded.
[Buying food derived from supernatural phenomena.]
For research purposes.
Preference for powerful supernatural phenomena (Disaster Management Bureau waveform anomaly).
40.0
—This guy never gets tired of this, does he?
—LOL, at this point, if you get hooked, you’re just an idiot, right?
Hmm.
‘If they already used the churros for research…’
I sent a message.
[BlueFriend: Hello, sir ^^ I’ve obtained more food. Would you happen to be interested?]
And two days later, on the weekend.
Just like last time, I ended up waiting for my second-hand trade partner at Exit 5 of Gwanghwamun Station.
‘I guess trust really is important.’
Since I had sold an item that met the criteria once before, they didn’t waste words this time and just set a time.
This time, the partner was even waiting at the exit first.
Just like before, they were dressed in dark clothing, from a hat down to a mask.
I recognized them by the box of drinks in their hand. Well, I was dressed similarly, so I couldn’t really say anything.
[Hello ^^]
I opened my notebook to show the greeting this time as well. The partner didn’t seem flustered, as if they had expected it.
[Here is the item.]
Inside the box I held out were two cookies from the Alice Picnic Set.
Why did I choose these? It’s simple.
‘The expiration date is almost up.’
Being snacks, they had a set consumption period!
Since they were items that halved or doubled effects, there weren’t many occasions to use them, so quite a few were left.
Still, since using the drink during the Tuesday Quiz Show had been such a super save, I couldn’t bring myself to take out the drinks and brought the cookies instead.
‘The cookie form is harder to use, anyway.’
It would be a waste to just let them sit there until the expiration date passed.
But using an item past its expiration date? I didn’t particularly want to see what would happen.
Anyway, I presented the items and waited for the buyer’s appraisal.
The buyer ran a gloved hand over the box once, just like before, and then…
Gently shook their head.
“This isn’t what I was looking for.”
Hmm. As expected.
‘I didn’t think they reached the waveform grade.’
Being manufactured items meant their danger level was relatively low and they felt passive, so there was a difference in quality compared to bizarre items obtained directly from high-grade ghost stories….
‘It’s a shame, but there’s nothing I can do.’
Still, it was worth trying to negotiate…
“So, I will purchase them at half price each.”
Thank you for the quick trade.
‘I wonder if this person would try to kill me out of regret if they knew about the Alien Store….’
Just in case, I decided to lay some groundwork.
I hurriedly scribbled on my notebook.
[Thank you. I really needed the money.]
“…….”
[I didn’t think they were dangerous foods this time, but the expiration date is soon, so it would be best to research them within that time. I’ll give you a few more.]
With that, I tucked a small bag containing one or two extra cookies on top.
‘Consider it a bonus.’
It was a trust-building move to keep the business relationship going. I had brought them for negotiation, but I ended up using them like this.
At this rate, wasn’t I a truly kind second-hand trader? Especially in a ghost story world.
It was just as I received the box of drinks filled with cash from the buyer and was about to leave.
I heard the buyer’s voice.
“Excuse me.”
Hmm?
“How do you come to possess such things?”
Hmm.
[I’m afraid I can’t say. My apologies.]
This should be enough.
It was a platform for trading supernatural items, so everyone was bound to have their own story. I’d let them imagine whatever they wanted.
‘The Alien Store page shows up as a non-existent page even if you access it, unless you’ve seen the ad yourself.’
I was prepared to bolt if they pried further.
“…….”
The buyer pulled a pen from their pocket and wrote something on the notebook I was holding.
“If a dangerous situation arises, contact this number.”
Huh?
“Well then, excuse me.”
The buyer left, and I checked the notebook.
1717 8282 42
“…!”
‘This is a government number.’
It was the emergency relief request call that went directly to the Disaster Management Bureau.
In short, 119 for ghost stories.
‘Were they an official from that side?’
No wonder they used their grading system.
I shrugged and tucked away the money and the notebook.
Baekilmong Corporation, being the predatory conglomerate it was, had a bad relationship with the government. There was no way I, an employee there, would ever need to get involved by calling this number…
‘That would never happen, right?’
Yes. It did!
That very evening, when I returned to the company dormitory.
