Click, click.
The clicking stopped.
The alien shop displayed a neat list of the items in my cart.
What I was going to purchase was…
- Alice’s Picnic Set – ₩11,999,999
- ※ Discount! ※ Silver Snake Coin – ₩4,999,999
= ₩16,999,998
That’s right.
I bought the effectiveness-boosting potion and the discounted item.
The reason was simple.
‘I can’t use the rest anyway…’
A bloodsucking weapon? Sure, it sounds cool. But there’s a condition.
You’d have to charge at a ghost with the weapon…
‘If a coward like me tried something that stupid, I’d die...’
Trembling hands, dropping the weapon, dying as Extra #1—those things are clichés in horror movies for a reason.
Besides, it’s useless unless the target actually has blood. It’s not versatile at all.
‘Maybe if it were an armor, I’d have considered, but weapons are out of the question.’
Overestimating myself is the shortcut to an early grave. No further comment is needed.
Next was the Long-range walkie-talkie.
This one...
‘…Who could possibly convince their boss to carry around a toy walkie-talkie?’
Whoever that person is... they probably shouldn’t be under anyone’s command.
Even if I explained it wasn’t just a toy but a transcendent item, there’d still be issues. Once they start asking questions like “Where did you get it?” I’d be done for.
This item is only useful if you have someone you truly trust.
‘So, dismissed.’
In the end, the only items left were the Alice’s Picnic Set and the Silver Snake Coin, and since both fit within the budget, I decided to buy them.
And they both seemed useful.
First, the Alice’s Picnic Set’s effect could be used for both doubling and halving, which made it multi-purpose.
‘If push comes to shove, I could just use it for defense.’
It’ll also be easy to use without drawing attention from coworkers. So, I bought it.
Finally, the discounted Silver Snake Coin.
‘Original price is 20 million won?’
My instinct kicked in.
This was a good investment.
‘Judging by the word “silver,” it seems like a currency.’
In the world of <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration>, there were various currencies from ghost stories, and some could even be exchanged for cash through specific organizations.
‘Buying a 20 million won item for just 5 million is definitely a win.’
Alien shops usually have a motive for their massive discounts, but this risk seemed worth it.
…And no, this isn’t like investing in crypto coins! Seriously! It’s rational judgment!
So now, I just had to transfer 17 million won.
“Whew.”
The only available payment method was bank transfer.
The electronic account displayed on the website was under the name “Astronaut.”
‘Hopefully, there’s no tax deduction…’
It had been a while since I transferred such a large amount in one go—probably not since I rented my apartment.
With trembling hands, I increased the transfer limit in the banking account and sent exactly ₩16,999,998.
The moment the transfer was successful—
Purchase successful!
The items are on their way via rocket!
Time to arrival: 00:00:08
Huh?
00:00:07
00:00:06
Wait a second.
00:00:03
00:00:02
00:00:01
Ding.
A cheerful sound played.
Arrived!
Bang!
“Gah!”
The air “opened” in the empty space in front of me, and with a puff of smoke, the items spilled out.
They were packed in a postal delivery box.
“Wow.”
It was literally rocket delivery.
‘This insane world, who would’ve expected it to be fascinating instead of scary, huh?!’
I even felt a little emotional.
Snapping out of it, I unpacked the delivery.
The first item, the Alice’s Picnic Set, was a rusty tin case decorated with fairy-tale illustrations.
Opening the case revealed flat canned drinks and cookies wrapped in paper. Each was labeled with “Drink me” and “Eat me” respectively.
“Nice.”
I could just carry a couple of these, like the “Smiley Stickers,” I nodded in satisfaction.
When I took the tin case out of the box, I noticed a round silver object underneath.
I picked it up.
A shiny silver coin.
‘It really was a currency.’
I felt a thrill.
It was a silver coin, about the size of a 500-won coin, engraved with an image of a snake biting its own tail. It felt heavy, just like real metal.
Several potential uses for this currency crossed my mind.
‘I’ll make the most of it when I need to.’
Though 17 million won had melted away like snow in the sun…
It was money that would disappear once I returned to the original world anyway. Let’s suppress the greed… calm down.
Okay, I’ve calmed down.
‘Well… I guess I’m decently prepared now.’
I listed the items I had:
Memorial Griptok
Smiley Sticker :)
Alice’s Picnic Set
Silver Snake Coin
From now on, I must use these items to clear higher-grade darkness as quickly as possible.
‘I must use everything, no crumbs left behind.’
Avoiding things out of fear only leads to worse situations. Don’t forget that, coward.
While determining to make use of everything at my disposal, I drifted off to sleep.
Counting sheep? No, only convenience store ghosts roamed around in my mind, shattering my quality of life.
Haha.
* * *
And just like that, the next day arrived.
"There are a few recurring stories we regularly manage. Today, we’ll be entering one of those."
“…Understood, ma’am.”
I had only slept three hours. At this rate, I might just die.
But perhaps misinterpreting my expression as worry, the deputy patted me on the shoulder.
“Don’t stress too much. It’s just a D-rank.”
“Yeah! It’s around the same level as the one you went through during the onboarding orientation!”
How can you say that to a newbie suffering PTSD from the death survival…?
Yet the field investigation team members, whose ordinary reasoning has already been distorted, laughed heartily as if they were offering words of encouragement.
“You managed to clear the test blindly. With the manual now, there’s no way we can’t handle it.”
“As long as you don’t act recklessly, it’ll be fine. Got it?”
“…Yes.”
Alright, fine… I understand.
At the very least, it’d be better than playing hide and seek with a convenience store ghost all by myself.
‘Please, let me get some sleep at night.’
This time, I truly hoped for an artistic film-style ghost story, one that was creepy due to the atmosphere and lack of information, not because it was horrifying.
I prayed fervently.
“Here, the materials.”
The senior handed me a tablet.
The ghost story we’re entering…
[Tuesday Quiz Show / Dusk (D) Grade]
“…”
Huh?
“You see it, right, Roe? You’re going to be a contestant in a quiz game.”
“Yes.”
“If you fail to answer a question, there’s a penalty. And apparently, the penalties are gruesome... you know, one of those ghost stories.”
“But, don’t worry! We’ve already got the answer key, so it’s all good. Don’t feel too stressed!”
The senior grinned broadly and gave me a thumbs-up.
Fine, great.
‘My instinct tells me this is much less terrifying than directly facing a ghost…’
But there was a problem.
‘I’ve never heard of this one.’
Tuesday Quiz Show?
That D Grade ghost story wasn’t listed in <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration>.
For now, I couldn’t use the Memorial Griptok to search my memories since my superiors were there, but even without it, I was certain.
This tale wasn’t among the ones I’d read.
Of course, even if I had read every tale in <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration>, there could always be other stories in this world’s chronicles.
After all, the original forum was an ever-expanding playground where users constantly added new stories in real time.
Though I did prepare to enter unfamiliar ghost stories, I didn’t expect to face one so soon.
‘…The company’s repository of “darkness” must be much larger than I imagined.’
Cold sweat trickled down my neck.
But my superiors seemed unbothered.
“For some reason, we seem to get assigned a lot of broadcast-themed darkness.”
“Oh, yeah, every team has its quirks.”
Deputy Eun sent me a PDF file, saying it was the “Tuesday Quiz Show” answer key.
“Just memorize that for now… and maybe skim through the exploration manual again. We’ll head out when the team leader arrives this afternoon.”
“Yes.”
I nodded obediently.
The supervisor kindly added a suggestion.
“Oh, should I get you a hard copy of the manual too? You might need to take notes.”
“Oh, no need. I’ve memorized it all.”
The Memorial Griptok made carrying extra baggage unnecessary.
“You… memorized it all?”
“Yes.”
“…Including notes?”
“Yes?”
“Oh, nothing.”
The supervisor seemed to realize something and nodded approvingly.
“I think the team leader will like you a lot”
“…??”
Well, it sounded positive, so I let it go.
The team leader of Team D was still on a field assignment and was expected to return this afternoon.
‘I’ll meet them soon.’
But an hour later...
“Wait a moment. Our team leader, I mean, the manager hasn’t returned from the field assignment yet… What? No, that’s absurd.”
The deputy, who had been on a call, scowled deeply as they ended the call.
“Are they out of their minds? Saying three people can form a team now that we have the new employee…”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yeah, it looks like…”
The deputy glanced at me.
Oh.
‘Is this because of the convenience store ghost incident?’
Since I cleared the F-Grade darkness way too quickly, and alone, management probably thought, “Oh? So this guy can handle some weight, huh?”
This was the backlash of pocketing that 20 million won.
Not that they were annoyed I kept the money—this wasn’t about that.
“It’s the end of the month.”
“Ahhh.”
Watching the two superiors whisper to each other gave me a rough idea.
‘The department must be facing performance pressure.’
Apparently, there was some sort of deadline before lunchtime, and I must’ve looked like a viable option to fill the quota.
After a brief moment of thought, the deputy made a decision.
“Roe, did you memorize everything?”
Oh, the quiz show answer key… wait.
‘If I say yes, does that mean I’m going in?’
Perhaps I should play dumb and stall...
“Come on, he must’ve memorized it already, right? He even said he memorized that entire exploration manual!”
“Oho.”
The deputy nodded in agreement.
“Alright then, it’s just us going in today.”
“…”
‘My small, desperate wish of having just one more person on the team disappeared just like that.
Explanations followed along the lines of, “Even though trio teams are the norm, sometimes when someone takes leave, two people go in. Support workers are sent in, but syncing up schedules is a hassle, blah blah blah.”
Yes. Thank you for confirming that this company is, in fact, very much a company.
‘…Anyway, I’m ready.’
I armed myself with all the necessary items, and we just confirmed that it wasn’t an overwhelmingly frightening type of ghost story.
Now that I think about it, going now instead of later in the afternoon might actually be better!
As they say, it’s better to take the hit early.
Leaving my imagination to swirl up different horrors any longer than this might actually be worse.
The courage I could scrape together was at its peak.
Before the courage vanishes, I must enter now…!
“Let’s head in.”
While I was engaged in my endless mental pep talk, the deputy approached, having received something from another department’s employee.
‘That’s probably the medium for entering the ghost story… right?’
It was a postcard.
But the worn postcard had bizarre letters scrawled all over the “Recipient” field.
Tiny letters repeatedly spelling out “Application Form” were written on the top, like some kind of incantation.
- One day, I found a strange postcard in an old magazine.
- Inside was a promotional flyer for a quiz show recruiting participants. But when I looked it up, no such program existed. It must’ve just been a vintage postcard theme.
- Out of curiosity, I wrote my name in the “Sender” field…
…and found myself dragged into an actual, bizarre quiz show.
That’s the premise of this ghost story, I guessed.
The postcard was creepy—at first glance, nothing seemed odd, but a closer look gave me the chills.
“You just need to sign here.”
“…”
“If it bothers you, don’t use your real name. Just write something random, like an animal nickname.”
“…Okay.”
Might as well earn points.
I watched the two others write down “Badger” and “Falcon,” and then I wrote mine in the “Sender” field.
[Note: Direct translation is “Peregrine Falcon,” but we’ll be using Falcon.]
- Roe Deer
As soon as I lifted the pen,
I felt my consciousness being yanked, sucked into the postcard.
“…!”
[Ah, you’ve finally arrived, our quiz show participants!]
Blinding lights struck my eyes.
A cheerful, booming voice echoed in my ears.
A hand reached out for a handshake, dressed in a sleek suit.
[Welcome, welcome… Now, the cameras will start rolling soon. Put on your best smiles and show us your charm!]
Reflexively, I shook the hand and looked up.
Where there should have been a human head, there was an old-fashioned CRT television.
…Its screen displayed an emoji.
[
The TV-headed figure released my hand and spun around jovially, opening their arms wide.
[Dear Audience!]
Cheers erupted.
I could hear the applause, but the bright lights blurred my vision, obscuring the figures in the audience.
I soon realized I was standing on a colorful podium.
‘A quiz show contestant’s spot, huh.’
It wasn’t horrifying to the point of fainting.
No, honestly, after dealing with things like the subway eye-gouging ghost or the convenience store ghost, this almost feels pleasant.
‘This is like a fairy tale compared to those.’
Alright. Good. I felt calm enough to think rationally.
Adjusting my mask, I took a moment to assess the situation.
[Is this your first time in a talk show, dear audience? Oh, then don’t forget to cheer! Your enthusiasm means everything to this show!]
The TV-headed host seemed to be riling up the audience, hyping up the atmosphere.
Looks like the figure is the host of this quiz show.
‘So, is this quiz show a segment of some talk show?’
The set design, the house band’s background music, the layout of the audience, and the way the host carried the show all felt… like a traditional American talk show.
‘Kind of old-school, though.’
…
Wait.
‘Let me think again.’
An old American talk show.
Quiz segment.
Contestants who already know the answers.
This…
…
…I finally realized what it meant by…
-------------------------------
※ WARNING! ※
Note: By reading this document, you assume full responsibility for any fear, hallucinations, ■■, or ■■■■ that may occur.
Proceed only after signing.
-------------------------------
This wasn’t a D-Grade story.
Th-This ghost story was…
-------------------------------
Chronicles of Darkness Exploration / Ghost Stories
[Chorus of the Sacrificed]:
A ghost story in the <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration>.
Daydream Inc. ID code: Qterw-A-104.
A-Grade Darkness.
The origin of the reclassification incident that resulted in numerous fatalities.
Escape Status: No official survivors recorded.
-------------------------------
“…”
[3, 2, 1… Let the show begin!]
NO WAY.
