Have you ever gotten completely hooked on something?
I mean more than just, "Oh, this is fun." I mean being so deeply impressed by something that you ended up spending extra time and money on it.
You know the kind of thing.
For a movie, it's watching the director's cut; for a game, buying the art book; for a webtoon, paying for previews; for a singer, going to a concert....
Take it a little further, and buying spin-off merchandise would count too.
Right. The things people call goods.
Figures, slogans, badges, dolls....
I can say this with certainty: I had never spent money on that kind of thing in my life.
Until now.
This was a department store.
The pop-up store, which had opened to great success, had already finished handing out waiting tickets the moment the department store opened at ten in the morning.
And I was one of the people who got one.
"2:30 p.m. entry group, we'll begin letting you in now!"
"Ah, finally!"
"Hey, hurry up."
The bright-faced teenagers beside me ran toward the staff member, all excitement.
'2:30... right.'
I pulled my cap down as far as I could and got in line.
But then I heard whispering behind me.
"Huh...."
"A reseller?"
"Isn't he a scalper?"
"..."
It was genuinely unfair, but I could see why they'd think that.
I was the only adult man in this line who looked like an office worker!
'Haa....'
Looking at the entrance to the pop-up store, I let out a quiet groan.
[Explorer who has come into the Darkness, welcome.]
'This is driving me insane.'
A theme built on black and red, crossed with caricatures of all kinds of monsters, occult imagery, and symbols of corporations, religion, and government.
It was exactly the kind of setting that would hit teenagers right in the heart.
Even the title was a work of art.
[Doomsday Prophecy: Darkness Exploration Record]
Hah....
I barely resisted the urge to cover my eyes with one hand.
'Why did I have to discover this at work....'
Darkness Exploration Record.
It was an internet ghost-story setting that had been incredibly hot lately.
You know the type—an open-source shared universe where people can jump in and make stories however they want, a collective-intelligence kind of setting.
Apparently it had started as a small spinoff from some famous ghost story and spread by word of mouth among students, but once it hit the WTube algorithm, it exploded like crazy.
Ghost stories built around the concept of "records of investigating all kinds of paranormal phenomena called Darkness."
In the end, it became an independent wiki containing hundreds, thousands of stories—and that was how it caught my eye too.
'...It was text, so it was ridiculously easy to read at work.'
And wasn't it said that at work, anything is fun as long as it isn't actual work?
I ended up falling so deep into the setting that I eventually reached the point of creating and posting a ghost story of my own....
How had it turned out like this? Was the problem my work life, which had absolutely no dopamine in it?
And Darkness Exploration Record itself was the same way.
'Who would've thought it would get this big.'
They said it was basically ruling WTube as the IP every middle schooler was obsessed with.
So of course companies had latched onto it right away to start making money.
This pop-up store was part of that.
'I mean, come on—even the wiki had a 15+ recommendation label on it.'
So why were there so many kids here?
Listening to the whispers behind me, the reality check was hitting pretty hard, but....
"I really think he's a scalper...."
"Hey, hey, maybe he's buying something for a niece or cousin or whatever... let's not be like that."
No. I'm keeping it.
...Actually, I'd come last week too, but something I wanted sold out right in front of me, so I came back again....
I even used a vacation day.
'At least there'd been women around my age then.'
Of all times, I'd ended up with a weekday afternoon slot where the only grown adults here were parents accompanying their kids, so I was so embarrassed I felt like running away, but I endured it.
'No, I don't even know why I'm trying to endure this....'
Anyway, I went into the store following the staff member's guidance.
The only comfort I had was that the staff member didn't react at all.
"Whoa!"
"Hey, it really looks just like it."
Along with the middle schoolers' impressed voices, I took in the inside of the pop-up store, elaborately decorated enough to make it feel like a theme park.
It even had neatly organized exhibit sections.
[Baekilmong Co., Ltd.]
[Supernatural Disaster Management Agency]
[Nameless Religion]
In this ghost-story setting, there are three major forces—a corporation, the government, and a religion—and each of them tries to observe and secure paranormal phenomena... or so the setting goes.
'At first it was just ghost stories about the government-side disaster management agency, but then more and more people piled on and got excited, and somehow it turned into this, didn't it?'
Anyway, this pop-up store seemed to have gathered only the ones that had become hot topics online.
Tossing together only the popular characters and ghost-story items made it feel blatantly like a cash-grab pop-up, but the quality was still decent.
'Yeah. When else am I ever going to come someplace like this....'
Ignoring the stares, I quickly gathered the things I'd come to buy.
Luckily, among the things I'd stuffed into my basket—mostly the things I'd wanted last week—there weren't many high-demand items. The looks mistaking me for a reseller disappeared.
"Would you like to buy an L-size eco bag to carry your items? It's 5,000 won."
"Yes. Thank you."
I finished paying without incident, but I couldn't quite leave the pop-up store right away and lingered instead.
I turned my head toward the space beside the register where people were lining up.
[Roulette Event]
: Create Your Own Darkness Exploration Record Character.
That.
I'd seen it last week too, but I just couldn't bring myself to line up for that as well, so I'd gone home without doing it....
'They said the pop-up ends tomorrow.'
I was in the middle of a fierce internal debate over whether it was worth trading away my social dignity for it.
Just then, a staff member who had apparently just switched shifts at the register smiled at me and spoke.
"The roulette event is only until today! Would you like to give it a try?"
"...Yes."
Thank you.
Truly, thank you, ma'am....
"Great! Then if you'll come this way! Ah, stand right here...."
The staff member briskly guided me to the line in front of the huge black roulette wheel, and thanks to that I was able to take my place at the end naturally.
The line moved faster than I expected.
Before long I was standing at the very front, handed a button that looked like a walkie-talkie.
"Then we'll start with the Lucky Roulette! Press the button whenever you want to stop it."
Piri-rik.
With an artificial sound effect, the roulette wheel began to spin.
Each section showed a rank and a prize.
There was merchandise I'd already bought, merchandise that wasn't even being sold because it was on display only, and even some completely random Bluetooth earbuds....
Of course, the largest section—the 7th prize—was just something like a small memo pad. I'd probably land there.
Even so, that was fine. I had almost left without even getting to participate.
'Let's not get my hopes up.'
That was what I told myself even as I carefully pressed the button the staff member had given me.
Drrrrr... rk.
But my black roulette wheel slowed to a stop... and, unbelievably, it stopped there.
A single narrow golden slot.
[1st Prize]
: Darkness Exploration Record Real Goods Box
"...!"
"Oh! Congratulations!"
Is this... for real?
"Holy shit!"
"Seriously, that's awesome, fuck I'm so jealous."
Cries, gasps, and jealous voices rose from behind me, and the place grew noisy.
"Wow, we finally have a 1st-prize winner on the day before the pop-up ends!"
The staff member looked even more excited than I was, running behind the roulette wheel and returning with a large plastic-wrapped box.
The black box, stamped with a giant silver symbol, looked like a carefully made product in its own right.
I somehow managed not to let my hands shake as I accepted the box.
"...Thank you."
Quick... I needed to get out of here and slap my own face or something. Was this real?
I was about to leave the pop-up store on the spot, but the staff member stopped me.
"Ah! We'd like to give you one of our on-site custom-made goods—if you could just tell us your name!"
My name? My personal info had become public property ages ago after all those portal-site leaks. The important thing was getting this home safely...!
"Kim Soleum."
"Yes! Mr. Soleum, just a moment."
The staff member busied herself operating the black vending-machine-looking thing next to the roulette wheel, something that looked like a 3D printer.
Maybe it had been made for the pop-up store, because there was even an explanatory sign on it.
[Darkness Exploration Record Character Maker]
Ah. So that was the thing from the roulette event subtitle?
...The "Create Your Own Darkness Exploration Record Character" part.
It really couldn't have been more blatantly aimed at teenagers....
"Please enter your name here."
"...Okay."
Clutching the goods box tightly in one hand, I quickly entered my name on the machine's pad.
The black machine let out a rather loud, eerie music-box sound, then put on an elaborate performance of spinning gears.
Then it spat out a small object.
Clack.
I picked up the familiar-looking thing.
It was... an employee ID card.
[Baekilmong Co., Ltd.]Kim Soleum, EmployeeField Operations Team
"Wow! It's Baekilmong Co., Ltd.—one of the three most famous factions in our Darkness Exploration Record!"
"..."
Yes. I know.
Broadly speaking, it's the cliché of a giant corporation that does business with paranormal phenomena.
And among its divisions, the Field Operations Team was...
'Basically the death squad department.'
The kind of affiliation that's like the redshirts in some sci-fi drama. The second anything happens, they go in claiming they're there to investigate paranormal phenomena and get ground down to pieces.
Of course, that was probably why so many named characters belonged to the Field Operations Team too.
"Wow! It's a Field Operations Team employee ID. I can't wait to imagine what kind of exploits Employee Kim Soleum must've had in the world of Darkness Exploration Record!"
"Yes, thank you...."
My whole body wanted to curl up in embarrassment, but I endured it.
'At least it isn't an employee ID for a government agency or some cult.'
If anything, I was lucky it was a company ID.
It was a little embarrassing, but maybe the staff member had said this sort of thing so many times she was immune to it by now; like a true employee of capitalist society, she remained perfectly composed.
Anyway, it seemed the roulette event ended with me receiving this employee ID.
"Thank you."
Looking at the employee ID printed with my name, I groaned.
'This... this needs to be shoved somewhere nobody will ever see it.'
No matter what, I didn't think my cringe tolerance could hold out this far.
Even so, the staff member asked cheerfully,
"Do you like it? You'll treasure it, right?"
"Yes."
"Liar."
...?
Thinking I'd misheard, I lifted my head.
Grin.
The staff member was suddenly grinning at me, the corners of her lips split wide.
Stretched unnaturally upward, as if they might reach her ears....
"...?"
In that instant.
A sudden wave of dizziness crashed over my head.
"...!"
The bustle of the pop-up store vanished.
My vision swayed as though black paint had flooded over it, flickering red and blue.
And when the dizziness finally subsided—
I never, not even in my dreams, imagined the whole world would have changed.
[Welcome to Baekilmong Co., Ltd.!]
"...!?"
Before I knew it, I was sitting in a corner of some huge lecture hall, staring at the central podium.
And then—
Waaaah!!
Along with a cheer, a fireworks effect exploded on the giant beam-projector PowerPoint at the podium.
[New Employee Orientation]
As fresh-faced young professionals in suits sent polite applause and cheers, a person who seemed to be the host beamed and clicked to the next slide.
Anyone could tell it was a new-hire orientation event at a major corporation.
Faces lit with the joy of finally breaking through the door to employment were buzzing with pride and nerves.
[Our new employees, who made it through 145-to-1 competition to join us, have every right to be proud! Haha! Now then, let's begin the new employee orientation!]
"..."
What is this.
I flinched and tried to back away.
But then I realized I was already sitting in a chair.
I was wearing a suit. I'd come out dressed like this because I had client entertainment that evening, but by coincidence it made me look much the same as the "new employees" filling this lecture hall.
On top of that, the goods box I'd received from the roulette event was sitting quietly on my lap.
"Um, excuse me, where did you get that? Is the company handing those out?"
"..."
I couldn't even respond to the new hire sitting beside me.
[You are chosen successful applicants!]
[In fact, among those recruited through this new employee posting, only a very special few have been invited to Lecture Hall A for this orientation!]
[Congratulations! You have passed the aptitude test and have been assigned to the special team, the Field Operations Team.]
"They've already assigned us?"
"Field Operations Team? Baekilmong Co., Ltd. has a department like that?"
"Field operations... at a pharmaceutical company?"
"Uh, doesn't that kind of sound like the place they exile people to? What, not headquarters but some branch office? Are they just sweet-talking us to fool us...."
Whispers, carefully kept from the host, rose from all around me, but I had no time to focus on them.
Because I'd recognized the company name and the team name.
Baekilmong Co., Ltd.
Field Operations Team.
...Like I had been struck by lightning, a page from the wiki flashed through my mind.
[Field Operations Team] (Baekilmong Co., Ltd.)
: One of the five teams under the Development Department of Baekilmong Co., Ltd., one of the major forces appearing in Darkness Exploration Record.
An ill-fated team often referred to as the so-called death squad. Which, of course, makes it fun for the people writing ghost stories.
'Wait.'
...This was the original ghost-story setting behind the pop-up store I'd just visited.
If so, then what was going to happen next was...
A deranged department that makes people do death survival starting right from the new-hire orientation to weed out who gets to become full-time employees.
It's also a consistently popular subject for wiki contributors because it reminds everyone what happens when ordinary people try investigating Darkness.
"...!"
"Uh, what, what are you doing...?"
I kicked away my chair and sprang to my feet.
To hell with figuring out the situation—I was going to run outside first.
But I was already too late.
[However, before formal hiring, there will be a short probationary period. It won't be long! We will evaluate only your practical aptitude and conduct it on an absolute scale.]
[Of course, for each individual to be properly evaluated, active participation is essential! We will catch every free rider!]
Bang, bang-bang-bang.
The doors of the lecture hall slammed shut one after another.
'Shit!'
Even then, the naïve new hires, who still thought Baekilmong Co., Ltd. was just some big pharmaceutical company, hadn't grasped the situation yet.
And so, while the hundred-odd new hires listened attentively to the host, the host called out brightly and energetically.
[Now then, let's begin!]
Along with that cheerful voice,
the lights in the lecture hall went out.
"...?"
"Huh?"
Maybe they thought a video was about to start; even now, the new hires were only mildly puzzled.
Fair enough.
'No one would've expected this kind of insane shit to happen just because they got a job.'
For example—
the scenery around you suddenly changing into the inside of a desolate subway train.
[Dear passengers, thank you for using Abyss Transit Corporation again today.... Our train does not stop.]
[For a pleasant ride to the final destination, please pay close attention to the announcements.]
—or an announcement with a name you'd never heard in your life playing overhead.
"...!?"
"W-what is this!?"
The new hires who had been sitting in subway seats in their suits, as if the lecture hall had been transplanted intact, jumped to their feet.
Of course they panicked.
"Excuse me?"
"Is this like VR or something? Did we really move?"
Still, it looked like many of the people who'd been in the lecture hall were here unchanged. Maybe that was why they felt a little reassured, because the dominant reaction was still oddly complacent.
People peered around the subway car looking for traces of the company, or for someone who looked like the event host or company staff.
And before long they arrived at their own rough understanding of the situation.
"There are people in the next car! The door... uh, the door won't open, though?"
"Is this some kind of new technology?"
Feeling like I might break out in cold sweat, I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again.
Because I'd already figured out which ghost story this was.
[Welcome to Abyss Transit Corporation]
: A Ghost Story that appears in Darkness Exploration Record.
A deranged Ghost Story that alone boasted overwhelmingly high escape difficulty among the early D-rank Darknesses. And the Field Operations Team suffers for it forever.
Investigations were recorded up to a total of ■■ times.
Welcome to Abyss Transit Corporation.
As you can tell at a glance, it was a ghost story built around the Korean subway.
-You fall asleep and wake up inside a subway car. It feels like your commute home from work, but then strange station names start coming over the speakers....
That kind of opening.
The ghost story targeted anyone who had ever commuted by subway—a very broad criterion—so it applied to most office workers and made it that much creepier for the people reading it.
"..."
'And this Ghost Story... is a Darkness under Baekilmong Co., Ltd.'s jurisdiction.'
It looked like Baekilmong Co., Ltd. intended to "filter out" its new employees with this Ghost Story. ...Damn it!
"Is it like an escape room?"
"Why would a pharmaceutical company that makes hair-loss medication make its new sales hires do an escape room...."
That was when.
[This stop is Sorrow, Sorrow Station.]
"...!"
"S... sorrow?"
The first station announcement came on.
I stopped breathing and turned my head.
[The doors will open on the right....]
Clunk.
The train stopped.
[The platform screen doors are opening.]
The doors opened.
Just like an ordinary day.
[The train doors will close in 30 seconds. You will never be able to turn back.]
[Passengers whose final destination is Sorrow Station must disembark according to the announcement.]
In that familiar voice, the announcement politely mixed in bizarre words and phrases.
But people will rationalize anything if it gives them something to feel safe about.
"Look outside! It's just a normal subway station!"
Literally.
Beyond the train doors, the platform was clearly visible. It looked a bit dark and damp, but it still looked like an ordinary subway station.
Brightening at that, two or three people headed for the doors.
Ah, shit.
"I think it would be better not to get out."
"Excuse me?"
This was insane. Swallowing a sigh, I spoke quickly.
"You heard it just say Sorrow Station. What station like that exists in Korea? Anyone can tell it's strange."
"Ah...."
"Um, I think he's right. We should wait and watch a little more...."
One quick-witted person backed me up. It was the new hire who'd been sitting beside me.
Maybe because of that, the people about to get out hesitated even more.
"Still...."
"Hey, the door's closing!"
But at the sound of the doors closing, a few panicked people impulsively bolted outside....
We're fucked.
[The train doors are closing.]
"Ah!"
"I didn't make it out. Ah, fuck."
Watching the people who had gotten off waving from the platform, those who hadn't managed to get out sighed in disappointment.
One of them even glanced at me and muttered a curse under his breath.
I got it. In a bizarre, unfamiliar situation like this, the first thing you'd want to do was flee without thinking.
But.
"Uh...?"
"That...."
A grotesque scene unfolded.
As the people who'd gone onto the platform turned around to move,
countless silvery droplets suddenly welled up from the platform ceiling and columns and poured down over their heads.
Tututututuk.
They looked like giant tears.
But those countless silver droplets fell onto human bodies like molten metal, producing a horrific bursting sound.
Screams. Screams. Convulsions.
Silence.
Blood mixed with silver liquid splattered across the window.
[The train is departing Sorrow Station.]
Through the window, the last thing I saw—
"..."
In front of the platform screen doors, slick with filth and blood, only the pulped traces of the new hires remained.
Twitching.
"Aaaagh!"
"Aaah!"
That was the fate of those who chose wrong.
[For a pleasant ride to the destination, please pay close attention to the announcements.]
Among the people shriveled by fear, screams and shouts finally began to erupt.
'It started.'
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I was inside a ghost story?
I had no idea how the hell this had happened to me, but one thing was certain: I'd become a new employee on the company team inside a ghost story.
And not just any team—a team with an extremely high death rate.
'Is this for real?'
Yeah. To be honest, compared to the other new hires, I did have an advantage.
I'd read the entire ghost-story wiki, hadn't I?
3.2 Investigation Records (Recorded up to ■■)
That meant I remembered it in fairly detailed terms, down to sections like that.
Up to this point, it sounded like I was your typical overpowered protagonist.
Maybe it sounded like I could picture myself getting reincarnated into a world I loved, leveraging my overwhelming informational advantage to escape this situation in style.
Maybe it sounded like I had every right to feel a little confident, thinking I'd monopolize all the lucky encounters and items from here on out.
Sure, maybe.
But there was one problem.
One absolutely fatal problem.
'...I can't handle scary things, for fuck's sake!'
That's right.
The problem was... I'm a coward.
Text is fine. I can read it with interest.
But the second it turns into actual images, I absolutely cannot endure it.
And not just a normal coward—the kind who gets mocked to hell and back by his friends for it!
-Kim Soleum, is it true you turned down the girl you were seeing because you couldn't watch a horror movie with her?
-LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO
-Fuck, Soleum, your name practically means chills and you still can't watch horror movies? LMAO
-Man, even the girl who came onto you would run away lol
lol—
Wanna die?—
-We're sorry.
-We're sorry.
I was such a coward that even when reading ghost stories at the office in broad daylight, if a scary background image or BGM started playing, I'd turn off the data and make it load text only!
I couldn't even include a single image in the ghost story I submitted myself—a long-term resident of the coward's shelter!
"..."
I covered my eyes with both hands.
I was already screwed....