There was one thing all the Ghost Stories in
The more popular they were, the higher the chance that irregularities would appear in their exploration records.
'Because there are multiple creators.'
When a Ghost Story first appears, people write it while strictly following the rules.
But what happens once it becomes popular and everyone starts writing exploration records for that Ghost Story?
As the entry number gets longer, in order to break away from repetition and boredom, exception cases start appearing little by little—as long as they still "make sense."
The example I desperately remembered just now was one of those cases.
An exploration record by Group J of
But then….
※Special note: Exploration ended after 16 hours and 11 minutes.
The exploration ended after an awkward 16 hours and 11 minutes had passed.
It was definitely the "temporal irregularity" I'd been looking for. But….
'It actually took longer to escape.'
For some reason during the exploration, they had ended up trapped in the Ghost Story longer than the original twelve-hour survival period.
'So… I'm pretty sure they messed something up.'
I remembered!
'They missed the time alarm!'
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(03:12) Employee Lee Jaejin accidentally severs the desk phone line.
---------------------=
Because of this, the phone call that was originally supposed to come to the ward desk never came.
The shift-change call.
So a completely insane situation occurred where the doctor, who was supposed to get off work and leave after the twelve-hour night shift ended, just kept working.
---------------------=
(12:12) 7:12 a.m. has passed, but the sun does not rise.
---------------------=
No matter how much time passed, the night didn't end.
It was said that the employee who had set their wristwatch to 7 p.m. the moment they entered the Ghost Story panicked the instant they realized that fact.
'I think they even argued over whether they should just get caught and restart, and one of them ended up getting tied up.'
Fortunately, a few hours later another team member reconnected the phone line, the process resumed normally, and they barely managed to escape.
---------------------=
(16:09) Phone line restoration successful. The phone rings immediately afterward. Wait at least 3m away from the desk.
(16:11) The doctor answers the phone and disappears. Escape attempt successful.
---------------------=
A Ghost Story that didn't end even after the promised time had passed. It was definitely a chilling irregular.
'But there's a hint.'
Even though that was a case where the time increased, there was a mechanism to pull from it.
Namely, there had been a trigger that announced the end of the time period.
'In that case, it was the shift-change phone call.'
And if that trigger didn't activate, the Ghost Story didn't end.
If I thought about it in reverse….
'If the trigger that marks the passing of time activates, could it end earlier too?'
"..."
What was there in a convenience store that could show the flow of time?
Tap.
"...!"
Wait.
'…That sound.'
It was coming from above my head.
Without thinking, I looked up at the space blocked off over my head.
This was underneath the convenience store counter.
Which meant the thing above me was….
The register.
Beep.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
The ghost was pressing the register buttons at the checkout counter.
In rhythm with that strange pattern, a recorded voice echoed through the convenience store.
Calling for an employee… calling for an emp-callingforanemployeecallemployeecallemployeecalling for an employee
"…!!"
I got it.
This thing knew I was underneath here.
It was deliberately not catching me. It was toying with me.
…Even though I understood that, rage didn't come first—cold sweat ran down my back instead.
Wow, this is seriously insane. It really drives people insane.
'Get out.'
I had to get out and run.
But my legs didn't move lightly or easily the way my mind wanted them to. I was no different from those extras in horror movies who see a ghost, collapse, and die.
'No.'
Even if getting caught would be the same either way, I couldn't let myself learn helplessness.
In the end, I somehow forced myself out from under the counter.
That instant.
Calling for an employee.
rightinfrontofmyfaceallofasuddenthatbluishswollenface
was smiling so wide its mouth looked ready to split.
-Caught you.
Restart.
'....'
I took a very slow deep breath.
My heart was pounding so hard that my head hurt for a moment, but I endured it.
'It's passed.'
My whole body was tingling.
'Bear with it.'
Instead, I stared out at the dark convenience store.
This time, instead of heading for the counter, I ran in the opposite direction from the lit drink refrigerator.
Straight toward the convenience store entrance.
"..."
Beyond the glass door was pitch-black darkness.
Even so, when I strained to look outside as much as I could, I spotted something attached next to the outer glass door.
"…!"
An electronic clock.
[12:00ㅣ04ㅣ04]
April 4, 12:00.
Was that the current set date of this Ghost Story?
My eyes, now adapted to the darkness, also picked out the chime bell attached to the glass door. The moment I grabbed that door, the ghost would probably hear the bell and come rushing over with those bizarre footsteps.
'And it probably wouldn't open in the first place….'
Because the place I had to endure in had been set as the convenience store. There had to be a restriction on it.
I tore my gaze away from the glass door and half-hid my body beside a nearby shelf.
Then, with my back against the wall, I kept watch over the convenience store as I continued thinking.
The cold sweat running down my temple felt icy.
'The period I have to endure is three days.'
Then what kind of trigger would let me know the time around when I'm supposed to finish…?
What would happen in this convenience store three days later....
'Delivery?'
I glanced at the boxes piled up near the glass door.
The time when new stock would come in.
'Somehow check the goods that are supposed to come in on the date three days from now. Then somehow disguise myself as that merchandise and slip myself in beforehand as a way to imply the passage of time….'
No. That was too unintuitive.
There was no way something that only worked through that many complicated and fiddly processing steps would be valid.
'And internet Ghost Stories are intuitive.'
The more you pile on petty conditions and forced combinations, the more the impact drops, so they can't become popular.
'It needs to feel simpler and like it clicks into place exactly.'
If so….
What item in a convenience store lets you feel the passage of time most easily?
"…!"
Right.
I looked at the display shelf closest to the entrance. It was different from the drink refrigerator, but cold air was still spilling out of it.
But strangely enough, there weren't many things displayed there.
A few dairy drinks and coffees, and… lunchboxes and triangle kimbap.
Foods that spoiled quickly.
'…Expiration dates!'
I headed to the display shelf at once and started picking up lunchboxes and triangle kimbap to check them.
'Most triangle kimbap have expiration dates of thirty-six to forty-eight hours.'
Lunchboxes were probably similar.
But strangely, quite a lot of the lunchboxes and triangle kimbap had expiration dates that stretched for more than three days, or else the markings were so badly erased they were unreadable.
Patiently, and as quietly as possible, I carefully checked the backs and fronts of the items.
And eventually….
'Found it.'
The current time in this Ghost Story was April 4, 12:00.
A product whose expiration date ended at April 7, 12:00.
[Hamburg Steak Lunchbox with Broth]
I picked up that lunchbox.
Then I crossed the convenience store and approached the register.
'Ugh.'
A lingering afterimage rose in my mind of the ghost standing at the counter and frantically pressing the call button.
But that was just my imagination. It still hadn't appeared over here yet….
'Stay calm.'
I tapped device settings on the register, then selected 'Change Date and Time'… there, found it! Holding back a sigh of relief, I stared at the screen.
'The set time is….'
Exactly two days, twenty-three hours, and fifty-nine minutes after the starting point, April 4 at midnight.
[April 7, 11:59 p.m.]
'Please!'
I prayed in agitation.
If I pressed change, and confirm...
[Change complete]
"…!!"
It worked!
'Sometimes you can't change the settings on these at all, so this is a blessing in misfortune—no, just a blessing, period.'
My hands trembled with joy and anxiety, but I steadied them.
I was almost there.
Now I just had to pick up the food I'd brought over and register it as nearing disposal….
Breeeeep!
"...."
[Disposal Alert]
[There is a product nearing its expiration date!]
The register announced it in a cheerful tone.
That recorded 안내 voice rang out alone in the dark convenience store.
Breeeeep! Breeeeep!
"...."
Frozen stiff, I turned my head.
Far away,
our eyes met.
It was charging toward me.
"Y-!"
Don't look at it, look at the screen. Just the screen!
Please, please! Hurry!
Beep.
On the third useless attempt, my hand finally scanned the barcode.
[Would you like to register this?]
Hammer yes….
The footsteps were getting close way too fast.
That strange tik-tik-tik-tik-tik sound kept getting closer and closer, but I endured it and kept moving my hand….
[Disposal has been registered.]
The instant the ghost, racing over with those insane footsteps, reached right in front of the counter and I could feel the vibration—
[Complete]
It vanished.
"...."
Click.
The lights came on.
Inside the convenience store, now so bright it hurt my eyes, the register screen—no longer especially noticeable—displayed a short, simple message.
[Registration complete]
Zzzzt, the closing receipt printed out.
In that white noise, it hit me.
'It worked.'
That I had succeeded.
"Hoo."
I leaned against the counter and bowed my head. My legs were trembling.
'It's hard to breathe….'
Humans really do depend on light!
Still, just the fact that it had become bright brought peace to both my mind and body.
'Now I just have to go out through the door….'
Clack!
The cash drawer beneath the register opened automatically.
'Huh?'
Inside was a single thick brown envelope.
"This is…."
I picked up the envelope and opened it.
Inside were four bundles of thick, stiff, golden-colored banknotes.
"…!?"
Bundles of fifty-thousand-won notes!
'F-four bundles of a hundred bills each?'
That made twenty million won in total.
It was the first time I had ever handled that much cash in my life. But why was this in the convenience store's cash drawer….
Ah.
'Prize money!'
---------------------=
Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story
/ Choose for Me
Trivia
If you clear it, it really does give you money. Then isn't it just a Good Friend that likes scaring people?
---------------------=
Oh.
"How long do you think it'll take?"
"If he makes it through the full three days, he'll probably come out right away."
"One-shot success? Wow, that's a generous evaluation. Very generous."
Group D of
The two employees had stepped up to the rooftop for a smoke break through the stairs beside the storage room.
They had just seen off the new hire after putting him into the Darkness.
No matter how many times they did it, it was never something they really got used to—shoving a new hire into a paranormal phenomenon.
Still, this Darkness called
'It's probably about the level of a two-night, three-day courage test.'
Of course it was cruel. It wasn't that it wasn't cruel.
But the two employees shared one basic premise in their heads.
-If they can't even endure this, they'll die soon anyway.
Then it was better for them to quit.
In fact, quite a few new hires had left because of this initiation, so Group D often got chewed out by HR executives. Even so, they somehow kept muddling through it with shameless persistence.
Because watching a coworker—especially a new hire in the same group—die right next to you was really terrible for your mental health….
Still, this time felt a little different.
A strange sense of anticipation.
"You know this new hire."
"Yeees."
"He wasn't ordinary."
"He definitely wasn't ordinary."
Kim Soleum, the top-ranked new employee newly assigned to Group D.
"I've never seen one act like that on their first day."
Normally, the moment new hires realized that getting repeatedly thrown into the very paranormal phenomenon that had nearly killed them was part of the "job," they were horrified or lost their minds. That was only natural.
But in Kim Soleum's case… he'd been bizarrely calm.
"He didn't even seem that nervous."
"Yeah. He didn't freak out. Even drank his coffee just fine."
Not once had he lost his composure, locked himself in the bathroom to cry, or tried to run away.
Of course, Kim Soleum had merely been thoroughly spoiled on everything already, spent three days mentally giving up on all worldly affairs, and finished preparing himself.
But to someone who didn't know that, he just looked like a new hire with an insane mentality!
"Looks like Assistant Manager likes him."
"Yeah. He's really not bad."
People with guts were always welcome.
This was a department that had to face all kinds of horrible, bizarre, and chilling urban legends. Cowards were a problem.
'Well, it's not like a coward would have passed that death survival in the first place….'
There was one!
But since the superiors had no way of knowing that, they merely nodded and kept repeating that the new hire seemed promising.
There was just one slightly disappointing point.
"But he doesn't seem like the type to cut corners, so why doesn't he take notes?"
"It might just be because it's his first job and he doesn't know any better. We can teach him that."
The two nodded to each other, saying that in a job where life and death hung in the balance like this, information and manuals were essential.
"If we tell him, he needs to write things down. Then he can reread them and actually learn them properly."
"Exactly. It's not like he could have known any of this beforehand."
He had known it beforehand!
Completely unable to guess that, the two continued chatting like a team that had just received a new hire, then wrapped things up by saying they should head back soon.
"We need to write the incident report."
"Ha, those damned reports no one even looks at, every single time…."
The new hire wouldn't be out until at least three days later anyway.
Still, since this was a Ghost Story that had food and a place to sleep inside it, even if it turned into a long battle, it should be fine.
The two nodded and picked up the tablet displaying the internet post that had swallowed the new hire.
"Then now we go handle paperwork…?!"
Tick.
At that instant, the tablet spat out a person.
The new hire who was supposed to come out three days later.
"…!?"
The new employee, Kim Soleum, stood up from the floor and dusted off his clean suit, which looked no different from an hour and a half ago.
Then he lifted something in one hand.
A 'Dreamdew Collector' filled all the way to the top.
"I filled it."
"…?!?!"
Time required to clear: 1 hour 24 minutes.
The new hire who had committed this impossible feat merely looked at his superiors with an indifferent expression.
'Thought I was going to die of a heart attack.'
Of course, it was only that a desperate coward who'd forced his way out by smashing through the wall of a no-dropout haunted house had run out of energy!