Even if I fall into a ghost story, I still have to go to work
Chapter 93
The inside of the shop smelled faintly of dust, but it was warm.
It had that cozy feeling unique to old spaces.
True to its name, Sweet Stationery Store also carried a sweet scent that felt almost comforting.
The tension and strength that had been bunched up in my shoulders began to loosen… No, I can’t let my guard down!
‘Don’t get complacent.’
I bit the inside of my cheek once and moved forward.
Steel shelves filled the walls, surrounding the narrow space like a maze, and various snacks were stacked in every compartment.
On the front of a fairly large display stand right in the center, the names of popular products were written.
Oblivion Cotton Candy
Soft Cookies
Taste of the Sun Chips-Chips
Carrot-Easy-Coke
Upside-Down Bubble-Ttuk Gum
Nostalgia Candy
Sold Out!
I scanned the snacks quickly with my eyes as I walked quietly.
The ‘Good Child Chocolate Bar’ wasn’t visible, but I saw several familiar names and appearances.
Among them were things that were relatively safe and useful.
‘Good. Since I’m already here, I’ll use my change.’
They were decent as items and could be turned into side income.
The atmosphere wasn’t too bad when I parted with Agent Bronze last time, so I might be able to restore the ‘Ghost Story-Derived Food’ sales route through him…
Since I had been cleaned out even of my gold bars, I needed a way to make money.
-You are choosing quite a lot, friend! You must be careful not to let your teeth rot.
I quickly picked out a few snacks.
Then I looked back at the Lizard, who was following me with minimal steps, standing there blankly.
“…Section Chief, is there any snack you need or would like to buy? I’d like to give it to you as a token of my gratitude.”
“Yes.”
Surprisingly, Section Chief Lee Ja-heon didn’t refuse. He glanced around and grabbed a snack.
Upside-Down Bubble-Ttuk Gum
If you blow a bubble inside your mouth, your body will become as large as a building!
Pleasure Lab Genuine Product Certification Complete
(Beware of defective imitations sold at street stalls!)
“……Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Yes.”
Does he want to become a giant lizard or something?
I suppressed my useless imagination.
‘Let’s just pay.’
Holding the snacks I had chosen in both hands, I headed toward the counter at the back of the store.
I scanned every corner of the interior on my way, but the ‘Good Child Chocolate Bar’ was still nowhere to be seen…
‘Hmm.’
Eventually, I arrived at the counter first.
“Hello.”
The figure sitting at the steel counter nodded slowly.
The thing that must be the owner of this shop was wearing shabby casual clothes with a hat pulled down low.
At a glance, he looked like an ordinary neighborhood stationery store owner, but six arms were tapping on the counter…
‘Whew.’
I made sure not to try and see his face and politely placed only the snacks I intended to buy on the counter.
Then I quickly held out the coins.
“Here it is.”
I didn’t want to be mistaken for wanting a ‘barter trade.’
I recalled the Dark Exploration Record from the first time I successfully made a purchase here.
Purchased Item: 1 Carrot-Easy-Coke
Cost: Memory of the second day of the 1997 family trip
Right.
This stationery store was a shop where memories were paid as the price.
From happy memories that brought a smile just by thinking of them, to terrible traumas one would want to forget.
The type of memory lost depended on which snack was purchased.
‘That’s why the exploration boundary was quite wide, ranging from heartwarming records to chilling ones.’
I didn’t want to gamble on which side I’d land on. Especially in this ghost story world where the information in my head was vital.
‘Let’s just find the Good Child Chocolate Bar.’
I even wanted to ask the owner for its location. But since something presumed to be me was drawn on the wrapper, I didn’t want to make him associate it with me for no reason…
“Please tell me the display location of the chocolate bars.”
Team Leader!
I almost grabbed my direct superior by the collar.
However, the shop owner simply pointed to a shelf without a word, still leaning deep into his chair…
‘Phew.’
Apparently, the drawing on that wrapper wasn’t similar enough to me to be recognized instantly.
‘I wish I had even half the liver of a lizard…’
I should have bought a liver from the Flesh Butcher Shop. Mumbling such nonsense to myself, I leaned over the counter to retrieve the paid snacks and my remaining coins…
Then I saw it.
‘Huh?’
There was something behind the counter.
Standees and decorative papers that looked like they had been cleared away in a hurry.
Placards… and a blue box containing chocolate bars.
New Theme Park Collaboration Product Release!
Good Child Chocolate Bar (Cinnamon Churros Flavor)
My god.
‘Found it!’
I observed the chocolate bar wrapper as quickly as possible.
The hairstyle, mask, and suit were implemented much better on the wrapper than I had thought.
Did they clear it away because the display promotion ended? It looked like it had been cleared away strangely quickly for that to be the case…
“…….”
Wait a minute.
I looked at the chocolate bar wrapper again.
And I realized.
That product didn’t have me as an advertisement model, nor was the wrapper decorated with a character that looked like me.
It was…
Please find this good child.
Waiting for eyewitness accounts.
It was a missing child advertisement.
“…….”
I broke out in a cold sweat and took a step back.
If so…
Ring-ring-ring-ring.
…….
I jerked my head to look over the counter.
The shop owner was holding a telephone.
A dial tone was ringing somewhere, and then…
Click.
The moment it connected.
He’s here!
I turned around, grabbed Section Chief Lee Ja-heon, and bolted out.
He’s here! He’s here! He’s here!
I didn’t even have the leeway to curse. Unable to even breathe properly, I crossed the shop and got as far away from the counter as possible.
Then I grabbed the door I had entered through and pulled…
Huh?
Why is it there?
Click.
The door was locked.
“…….”
I turned my head and looked back at the shop owner standing at the counter.
“We intend to leave now. Please open up.”
After a short silence.
It’s okay.
The shop owner’s voice echoed in my ears…
From the telephone he was holding, a stream of black water was suddenly leaking out and dripping onto the floor.
It grew thicker.
Glub, glub.
The thin stream of water soon became a lump, and its form twisted and piled up in the air as if clay were being molded.
They’ve come to pick you up.
…In the form of an animal wearing a mascot costume, which I had seen somewhere before…
“…!!”
I desperately turned my body and pulled at the shop door. But it didn’t budge, for fuck’s sake…
“Take your hands off.”
Ah.
The moment I let go of the door, Lee Ja-heon struck the door handle with his left fist.
Crack, thud!
As if by magic, the handle fell to the floor.
The door, which he kicked in succession, swung wide open, revealing the alley outside.
Lee Ja-heon and I didn’t hesitate and immediately dashed outside.
My door!!
The sound of rushing water echoed from behind. Splash, splash, splash!
Mixed with the voice of the enraged shop owner, the sound of water was following us into the alley. A chill rose to the top of my head.
‘Brown!’
-It seems you need my help, friend!
Yes!
‘Turn off the lights! For Section Chief Lee Ja-heon too!’
-Even him? Very well. I shall make this my gift!
Snap!
The cheerful sound of the stuffed doll snapping its fingers was heard, and once again, a heavy shadow covered me.
That feeling of my existence blurring.
“!”
Lee Ja-heon’s vertical pupils snapped toward me.
“Roe Deer-ssi.”
“I’ll explain later. For now, run!”
Splash, splash, splash…
Behind us, the sound of water crashing violently into every gap in the alley walls was getting closer.
‘Damn it, damn it!’
…What happens if I get caught?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t know. The fact that it was an unknown outcome made me even more frantic.
I clenched my teeth.
‘Avoiding it was the right answer.’
The problem started when I came here trying to find something out!
This was a ghost story. It meant this was a world where confirming the truth could be a shortcut to death rather than the correct answer.
‘I should have just said I didn’t know and moved on…!’
No, save the self-reproach for later!
Do not give up on your body!
Remaining steps: 3441
I had to endure 400 steps.
‘Whatever the next alley is, I have to escape through there…!’
Now, I could hear the voices of the alley residents whose ankles were caught in the torrent right behind me.
“Wow, how fun~ What is this?”
“A mascot came on a parade riding the water! Fun! Fun!”
“They say you can ride the flume ride in Water Land! Let’s eat chocolate and win to go to Water Land! Let’s find the good child!”
“Wow, a good child…”
“…….”
“…….”
“Is it him?”
Fuck.
“Who?”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t see him…”
I pushed through the crowd of ghosts and moved through the alley, drenched in cold sweat.
-Oh, yes. Even if all the lights that shone on you disappear, a star is still a star. And enduring the pursuit of obsessive fans is a situation you must fatefully bear!
-If they know the star’s physical characteristics particularly well, wouldn’t they try to find those even more tenaciously?
Physical characteristics.
I recalled the drawing on the wrapper.
‘…The mask!’
I tore off the mask I was wearing and stuffed it into my tattoo.
Then I pulled out a face mask and a hat and pressed them onto my face.
Naturally, my pace slowed down, and the current grew closer. In my gaze directed at the floor, I saw the wave that had come right behind me…
No. The difference in speed is too great.
‘In that case…’
I checked another direction.
Above my head!
“…Team Leader, the utility pole!”
“Yes.”
I clung to the utility pole right next to me and quickly climbed up. I had never climbed anything so desperately fast in my life. Whether my palms were scraped or not, somehow, somehow…
‘…Done!’
Water surged into the spot where I had been.
But I successfully climbed up to just below the wires of the utility pole.
“Ha…”
I gripped my hands, which had almost loosened from relief.
‘It’s okay for now.’
Just as I was about to twist my body and rest my legs against the alley wall to stabilize my posture.
Plop.
From my suit pocket,
The smartphone with its screen on slid out.
Splash.
It fell into the water that had filled the ground.
Water entered the smartphone screen, which had developed fine cracks from hitting the stone floor, and the app’s screen flickered with static.
Do n ot gi ve up o n yo ur bo dy!
Remai ning ste ps :
321
0
And…
The screen turned off.
“…….”
“Roe Deer-ssi.”
Only the black surface remained on the broken smartphone.
Black masses of water in the shape of grotesquely moving mascots filled the dark and narrow alley, peering into the shop windows here and there.
My smartphone was swept away by that current.
It moved to a corner of the alley, then another… and disappeared among the crowd following the mascot-shaped masses.
The torrent passed by the utility pole I was clinging to, heading toward the other side of the alley…
Along with the escape method that had been provided to me.
“…….”
I’m screwed…
“Roe Deer-ssi.”
I turned my head, frozen.
The Lizard, who was hanging by one hand from the utility pole section right below me, was reaching out to me.
He was showing me something.
It was the screen of his own perfectly fine smartphone.
Way out of Death End Alley →
Please move along the arrow!
Section Chief Lee Ja-heon had safely completed his ten thousand steps at this moment.
I stared blankly at the app page on Section Chief Lee Ja-heon’s smartphone, where the route guidance was already active…
However.
“Take it.”
“…Excuse me?”
The Lizard held out his smartphone to me.
“Follow the app’s route guidance and escape.”
“…!”
A lifeline had been lowered.
“The smartphone does not recognize if the possessor changes. As long as you do not deviate from the guided path, you can escape.”
“…….”
I reached out toward Lee Ja-heon’s smartphone. And…
I clenched my teeth and refused.
“I can’t do that.”
“?”
“Section Chief. That strange black water just now… was definitely trying to find me. It’s still searching this alley even now.”
I barely avoided it by taking off my mask and hiding my presence.
But.
“If I move according to the app’s route guidance, I won’t be able to avoid it even if I encounter the black water. …Because I can’t deviate from the path.”
While moving according to the app’s route guidance, never take your eyes off the screen for more than 3 seconds or
deviate from the guided path.
Failure to follow this will result in being
missing.
This rule applied exactly the same on the way back.
“So… the probability of me leaving here safely without going missing is extremely low.”
For me to be safe, the route guidance should have been activated at least after seeking refuge in another alley.
‘Ha…’
“…I think my chances of escape are higher if I look for another way instead.”
Lee Ja-heon looked at me intently with his vertical pupils.
“I see.”
“Yes. So, Team Leader, you should escape with that…”
Then he turned off his smartphone.
“…!!”
Is this lizard crazy?
“What are you doing?”
“I am following the recommended manual for two-person teams.”
He’s talking nonsense that doesn’t add up.
“Then why did you try to hand over the escape route to me earlier?? You would have been left alone instead of being in a two-person team!”
“I followed the manual’s priorities. If you want a more detailed explanation, request it after we escape.”
Lee Ja-heon said plainly.
“From now on, the priority for all conversations and questions will be survival and return from this darkness.”
“…….”
“Roe Deer-ssi, devise a new escape method that you can deduce, even if it is not currently listed in the manual.”
My god.
“…Yes.”
I barely managed to answer.
A moment later.
We climbed down from the utility pole.
And we began to walk again on the floor of the alley where the torrent had swept through.
Without route guidance, without an escape method.
