Even if I fall into a ghost story, I still have to go to work
Chapter 94
Those who have lost their smartphones in Death End Alley and struggled desperately to return to reality somehow.
I can say with certainty that I am not the first.
The <Manual> recorded the miserable and eerie ends of such people in quite a variety of ways.
For detailed records regarding employees and civilians missing in Death End Alley, check the document ‘■■■ 16th Street Escape Attempt Log.’
First… let’s check the common premises.
- Any attempt to blindly follow someone else who is receiving route guidance on their smartphone will unconditionally fail.
The app’s route guidance could not be shared. In the end, every attempt concluded with the statement: ‘At some point, the person being followed disappeared.’
As these records of failure accumulated, people gave up on this attempt and tried to obtain escape hints directly within Death End Alley.
‘There were all sorts of methods.’
A shop that offered to open a back door out of the alley if you gave up one of your limbs, a pedestrian who said you just had to go into a manhole, a shoe store that claimed you’d see the way out if you wore these shoes….
The only silver lining was that I didn’t have to try all of them to reach a conclusion.
Every single attempt mentioned above failed.
…Right.
It was a cruel fact deduced through induction.
- The residents of Death End Alley have no idea how to get to reality.
It was all a trick.
It was no different from grabbing an office worker walking the streets of Seoul and asking them how to get to a ghost story.
The residents here simply don’t have that knowledge to begin with.
‘I have to abandon any expectation or plan to escape by getting help from someone here.’
Which meant I had to come up with an escape method under the assumption that there would be no new hints at all…….
Whew.
“Section Chief.”
“Yes.”
I forced my mouth open.
“…I will brief you on what I’ve organized so far.”
Next, premise number 3.
“From now on, we cannot enter a new alley normally.”
Originally, for an app user, a new alley would appear every thousand steps, and they could choose whether or not to enter.
But now that the pedometer app was finished, that rational method was over too.
‘We’re trapped in this alley.’
While it was possible for the scenery to change as we walked, we couldn’t choose it.
Fundamentally, as non-residents of this ghost story, we couldn’t find the way….
“Therefore, we must find a way out within this alley.”
“Yes.”
And number 4.
“…Also, we must leave before daybreak.”
The time limit.
Naturally, most of the Field Exploration Team members in this company have nerves of steel.
This meant there were madmen among them who, if they ended up in an alley with no major danger as long as they followed the manual, would try various things to see if they could increase the essence grade.
‘There were even times when the research team requested it on a company level.’
For example… staying in Death End Alley as long as possible by not walking, as long as the smartphone battery held out.
The result?
Everyone lost contact.
…This ‘lost contact’ wasn’t a disappearance where there were sightings of the person having transformed grotesquely, like the laborers in the back alleys of the boutique.
Complete evaporation.
There was even a vivid record of an employee who had communicated with specialized equipment, saying they would stay a night at an inn in the alley, before losing contact.
Exploration Staff: Yes, yes. I’ve entered an inn called Goldfish Eyes. Just in case, I plan to sleep while taking turns standing watch with Assistant Manager ■.
Exploration Staff: What did I pay for the room? Oh, well, I found someone who was going to die anyway and put them to good use. Just know it was like that.
Exploration Staff: Anyway, I’m going to try staying up all night like this. If the Dream Essence grade goes up because of this, you’ll give me proper points, right?
(Omitted)
Exploration Staff: The sun is rising.
Exploration Staff: The sun is burning the alley! It’s on fire! Everything is burning and everyone is running away, but I can’t— (Communication cut off)
“…….”
I absolutely did not want to experience a situation like that.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Walking through Death End Alley while remembering all of this without a smartphone, the sense of reality was starting to hit me hard.
The fact that I could become one of those records.
“Constraints on time, constraints on space, constraints on method.”
I managed to report to Lee Ja-heon with a stoic face.
“…To summarize, I believe any plan I come up with will be a gamble-like risk.”
“Yes.”
Lee Ja-heon was still calm.
“…Section Chief, are you not worried about the current situation?”
“No. Because worry has no utility in resolving the phenomenon.”
“…….”
Wow.
‘Still, it seems like he’ll go along with whatever crazy method I come up with without a word, as long as it’s persuasive.’
Just like the colleagues I was with earlier.
“…….”
Wait.
‘Where did my colleagues go?’
Section Chief Lee Ja-heon had clearly told the colleagues entering the shop next door to ‘come out within 10 minutes.’
If they really came out after exactly 10 minutes.
‘Does that mean… they were there when the torrent swept through the alley?’
Could they have been swept away by the current….
“Assistant Manager!”
Ah.
When I turned my head, Kang Yi-hak and Jang Heo-un were running toward us, waving their hands.
Seeing the paper bags with yarn illustrations in their hands, it seemed they had successfully completed their purchase.
“Wow~ here you are!”
Kang Yi-hak had a broad smile on his face.
Phew.
“I see your shopping went well.”
“Ah, yes, yes. The shop owner seemed desperate for money. He set the price as if he was ready to sell his own hat. It was a really good, yes, a good shopping trip!”
Then, after glancing at Section Chief Lee Ja-heon’s face, he pretended to check his smartphone hurriedly and spoke quickly.
“Uh? No, I can’t believe time has passed like this already… I’m sorry. You told us to look for only 10 minutes, but I must have lost my mind because I found something that would help with the exploration. I’m truly sorry, Team Leader!”
“Yes.”
It seemed quite intentional, but it was a relief nonetheless.
They must have been so focused on bargaining that they didn’t even notice the flood outside.
However, Jang Heo-un, standing next to him, glanced at his paper bag with a slightly pale face.
“Mr. Bison, is there a problem with the item you purchased?”
“A-ah, no. It’s not that…. Among the things they were selling, the raw yarn wasn’t wool… it was mixed with something like strange blood vessels.”
“…….”
Good grief.
“Ah, of course I didn’t buy that. Thank you so much for the coins, Roe Deer. I’ll be sure to pay you back in gold when we get out…!”
“Come to think of it, I think it’s about time you guys heading out! Oh, have you been filling up your step count in this alley? Is it possible to share the ‘remaining steps’ via the app?”
Lee Ja-heon replied immediately without any expression.
“No.”
“…Pardon?”
Aaaack!
‘This lizard!’
I kicked Section Chief Lee Ja-heon’s shin at an exquisite angle that the people in front of us couldn’t see.
“?”
And I said nonchalantly.
“I’m walking a bit slowly because there’s something I need to check. Have you two filled your step counts?”
“Ah, it should be almost done. We were moving back and forth so much inside the shop while looking at items.”
“…….”
“It is a bit of a shame~ we could have seen two more alley options!”
Kang Yi-hak smacked his lips.
On the smartphone screen that colleague held out, the remaining step count caught my eye….
Don’t give up on your body!
Remaining steps: 1052
“Since we’ve spent all the money you lent us, I guess we should check what the next alley is and then head back. Haha!”
“…Yes.”
Did you know?
There was exactly one way for a person who lost their smartphone to successfully escape from here.
It was a method that had been recorded several times and sufficiently verified as fact.
And a similar opportunity almost came to me just now.
That is….
To steal someone else’s smartphone.
Assistant Manager Park Do-jung got into a physical altercation with a merchant during a transaction. In the process, three left ribs were fractured, and the smartphone was destroyed.
Successfully returned after seizing a civilian’s smartphone.
“…….”
I looked at Kang Yi-hak’s smartphone swinging defenselessly in the air….
“Yes. Then please return first. Section Chief, it would be alright if the two of them went back, right?”
“Yes.”
I let the two colleagues go.
“Then we’ll be going. Thank you…!”
“Haha, see you at the company tomorrow. Let’s talk more about the spoils then~!”
The two of them walked down the alley and suddenly disappeared.
…They must have gone to the next alley.
Let’s not do things I can’t handle.
‘This is an undeniable evil act.’
If I did it, I might not be able to use the Silver Heart.
Even if that weren’t the case, my mental state wouldn’t be able to handle it if I later thought of a way I could have survived without stealing the smartphone….
‘Let’s not go that far unless it’s a truly dire situation.’
Because the moment I lose the line, the contamination might accelerate.
I calmed myself down by lightly touching the silver ring I was already wearing.
-Oh. Mr. Roe Deer, you chose dignity. That is truly wonderful restraint!
-Among the guests, there are those who don’t hesitate to do all sorts of low-class things just to gain attention. That is also a noble professional spirit, but isn’t it participants like you who win the hearts of the public?
Y-yeah.
‘Thanks.’
Though… I didn’t exactly want to be compared to that side….
I calmed down, trying not to think about the situation that had occurred at the Tuesday Quiz Show.
In my current situation of being trapped in a ghost story, I didn’t want to recall a direct experience of almost dying in one.
I just diligently searched the records in my head, comparing to see if there was anything that could be a clue in this alley….
“Roe Deer.”
Whoosh.
Lee Ja-heon grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, opened the door to a commercial building, and threw me inside.
Then he came in himself and crouched down.
“There is water.”
“…!”
I raised my head.
The place we entered was a self-service laundry.
Through the glass door with cheap lettering printed on it, I could see the alley filling up with water….
Swoooooosh.
Between the houses, from a narrow gap that wasn’t an alley, black water seeped out and clumped together, forming a shape like the aforementioned mascot animal.
A limp dragon character.
‘…I don’t think it’s a real mascot.’
I didn’t feel the clear intelligence I had sensed back then.
But that made it even more eerie and threatening.
‘It seems like conversation will be impossible.’
-Indeed. It is a foolish judgment to attempt a conversation with a parade balloon doll, friend!
The lump of water began to move its limbs in a bizarre gait and started roaming the alley again.
Fortunately, it didn’t look into the laundry.
‘Phew.’
Chocolate bars rained down on the damp floor where the water lump had passed.
They seemed to be products that had washed out of the stationery store door after being swept away by the torrent earlier.
And the residents of Death End Alley, who had been following the parade in a trance, rushed toward them.
It’s mine! It’s mine!
Please send me to Joyful Theme Park!! Please let me win!!
Let’s find a good child! Let’s find a good child!
All sorts of pedestrians and merchants from the alley gathered, crudely tearing open the chocolate bars to see if a ‘Theme Park Winning Ticket’ was inside.
Apparently, an admission ticket or membership card was inside.
…Like my tattoo.
: Socius :
‘……I feel like my skin would be ripped off the moment they found out.’
While such a typical ghost story development flickered through my head and gave me goosebumps.
The moment the water lump disappeared from sight down the alley again, I slightly opened the glass door.
Clink.
…Fortunately, the residents of Death End Alley, who were frantically rummaging through the chocolates, didn’t look this way.
I swallowed hard and flicked a coin, summoning the Third Hand into the air.
The translucent hand moved carefully through the narrow gap in the glass door and grabbed a chocolate bar that had bounced from the alley toward the laundry….
As soon as the Third Hand came back into the laundry, I immediately snatched the chocolate bar and stuffed it into another tattoo.
‘Phew.’
Since I’ve already stirred up trouble, I might as well take some information with me.
Fortunately, whether the silver ring was doing its job well or not, I didn’t feel any strange hallucinations, noise, or a burning desire for the theme park.
‘Let’s examine it in more detail after returning to reality.’
It was just as I was withdrawing my hand from my tattoo inventory and deactivating the Third Hand.
I thought of an item that I had been carrying around this whole time but hadn’t even tried to use once.
The most expensive item in the alien shop.
We Help! - ₩66,666,666
“…!”
I took out the item.
A small red button.
…Brown had definitely said so.
-Hmm. Right. For Mr. Roe Deer, you can understand it as meaning ‘emergency escape’!
Emergency escape.
‘Should I press it?’
Considering the price, I felt like I should save it and use it in a higher-grade darkness, but with disappearance looming, it might be better to use it now rather than risk something big while trying to profit.
‘Alright.’
Let’s see what happens.
Before using it, I showed the button to Section Chief Lee Ja-heon.
“Section Chief, this is….”
“Do you need advice?”
“…….”
Huh?
“Do you need advice?”
“…Yes.”
“Do not use it.”
“…….”
An eerie premonition ran down my spine.
“This button, is it an item you know, Section Chief?”
“Yes.”
“…Will something bad happen?”
“It depends on the criteria.”
“…I’d like you to explain in more detail.”
“It is impossible.”
“…….”
“However, I do not recommend using it in the current situation.”
“…….”
‘Hoo.’
I eventually put the button back into storage.
Even if Section Chief Lee Ja-heon notified me that he couldn’t speak, he didn’t tell lies.
Moreover, the fact that the Section Chief was in a position to purchase items from the alien shop made me even more concerned.
‘After all, I obtained the link to the alien shop through that account.’
Overall, pushing ahead with using this item in the current situation felt like a foreshadowing that I’d disappear, leaving behind a single line of a terrible exploration record.
-Oh, are you not pressing it? I was curious to see what would happen, what a shame.
Is that so?
I felt a strong sense of exhaustion.
It felt like realizing that a rope that suddenly appeared wasn’t real, but a painting.
“…….”
I leaned my back against the laundry wall and suppressed a sigh.
“Then all the remaining moves are gambles.”
Section Chief Lee Ja-heon looked at me. I tapped my arm with my finger anxiously.
“I was thinking of ideas like whether destroying a house itself would create a crack in the concept of an alley and allow us to leave… wait. Don’t destroy it!”
“Yes.”
This is driving me crazy.
After stopping the lizard who was about to strike the wall with his bare hands, I sat down on the floor.
‘Is there really only this kind of way?’
Either get screwed or escape.
Is there really nothing more certain than betting on such an extreme game of probability?
Certainly, a way to leave a ghost story…….
…….
Ah.
“…!”
I jumped up from my seat.
“Roe Deer.”
“Section Chief!”
This, this… I think it might be possible.
“There’s a method I can try. First, let’s get out of here and move….”
Lee Ja-heon grabbed my shoulder and pulled.
“Step back.”
“…….”
I turned my head.
A black figure was visible outside the glass door of the laundry.
Staring in at us.
A lump of black water.
It found us.
