‘It was a fruitful day.’
An extra profit of 40 million, an excellent decision even.
‘Looks like I’ve found a steady side hustle that won’t draw attention.’
For now, my mind swirled with options on how to spend the 40 million won.
That, along with the new company facilities that opened up after my recent promotion.
And then there was a certain plushie that had already caught on to my profits and was subtly hinting at what it wanted.
“– Phew, I’ve been going out so much lately that my body feels sore. I’d love a bath…”
Just endure it. I can’t exactly sneak into a hospital and grab a blood pack, can I?
“– Oh, of course. I can hold out. I’m a good friend, after all…”
Hmm, while a blood bath might be out of the question, maybe I could at least hand-wash the plushie.
I was thinking about spending the evening with idle chatter with Braun when—
“YOU!!”
“…!”
Baek Saheon burst into my room, flinging the door open.
No knock, no warning—why is this guy, who barely leaves his own room, suddenly barging into mine?
But before I could even call out his rudeness, I realized his state.
He was practically in a panic.
“What the hell does this mean…! What did you drag me into?!”
He was holding his smartphone, and displayed on the screen was—
[Kim Sol-eum: Watch out for the serial killer.]
It was a message I had sent.
I had texted it earlier on my way back.
But here’s the thing.
“I didn’t drag you into anything.”
“……”
“You must have made a bad choice yourself.”
– Ah Roe Deer, it seems your ‘coworker’ has picked up an item, and will face a gruesome death!
Baek Saheon’s face turned pale.
‘Looks like something blew up right in sync with my message.’
He hasn’t died yet, so couldn’t he just contact the company and handle it himself?
But just as I was about to step outside to avoid unnecessary hassle—
“– Oh dear, can you hear that?”
“– It seems your ‘coworker’ has run out of time.”
“……”
What?
A low humming sound began to fill the air.
Hmm, hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm~
The source was unmistakable—Baek Saheon, right in front of me.
But his lips weren’t even moving.
…If that’s the case.
“You’re holding onto something you really shouldn’t have, aren’t you?”
“……”
With trembling hands, Baek Saheon reached into his pocket and pulled something out.
It was a cassette tape.
The body was aged and yellowed, and over it was a sticker where the title had been violently scratched out with a pen.
Hmm, hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm~
The humming from the tape was growing louder.
A very clear… signal.
“– It’s time.”
To run.
I jumped to my feet and bolted out of the residence.
The problem was that Baek Saheon, in a frantic panic, ran after me!
“Throw the tape away!”
“I already did! Out the window!”
Then stop following me!
“– Too late.”
“– Oh dear, Roe Deer, you’ve seen the object as well. You’ve become part of the story, one of the chosen sacrifices.”
“– It can’t be helped! Talented, entertaining guests like you always end up getting invited!”
Hah.
‘Why does Baek Saheon always drag other people into his messes…?!’
I even warned him, he should’ve taken care of this himself! Isn’t he supposed to be a named employee at this ghost-story company?
I wanted to scream at him, but there was no time for that. I just ran faster.
‘I’ll just put some distance between us for now.’
As long as we weren’t fully immersed in the ghost story yet, physical distance should help, at least somewhat.
I sprinted away from the residence, heading toward a bus stop.
When the bus arrived, I got on immediately.
Beep.
I tapped my card, and right behind me, I heard Baek Saheon tapping his.
‘Why the hell is this lunatic still following me?!’
Doesn’t he have a shred of decency to leave the person who warned him out of this?
On second thought, no, he wouldn’t. That bastard’s a total sociopath.
In any case, the bus doors closed, and it departed without issue.
“Ha.”
“Ha…”
The humming was no longer audible.
I headed straight for the back and sat next to the emergency escape hammer by the window. Just in case.
Baek Saheon hesitated but ended up sitting near me.
“……”
“……”
It was a weekend, not a rush hour or lunch break, so the bus was nearly empty, with only a few passengers scattered in the front.
After glancing around, Baek Saheon spoke in a low, nervous tone.
“Hey you, how did you… How did you know to send those messag—?”
“‘Hey you?’”
“...Didn’t we agree to drop forma—I mean, uh, Supervisor. How did you know about this?”
“How I knew isn’t important.”
I bit back my frustration and answered.
“What’s important is how you ended up with that thing in the first place.”
“……”
If he clamped his mouth shut, I was going to get off the next stop, grab a taxi, and ditch him. No way I’m letting him follow me.
Sensing my intentions, Baek Saheon reluctantly opened his mouth.
“…It was something I had at home.”
At home?
“It’s an heirloom from a relative. They said it could help me turn around a crisis, so I kept it with me…”
“– Oh, such a cliché! An heirloom thought to be a symbol of protection turns out to be cursed—classic horror movie material!”
No shit.
I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic, but I couldn’t help but ask, genuinely.
“You work at a company that classifes ghost stories, and it never occurred to you to have it checked?”
“…I figured if the company thought it was useful, they might not give it back! I thought it through, sir!”
“Doesn’t seem like that though?”
“……”
“You better think it through next time.”
“…Ah, yes.”
His face flushed, and he forced an awkward smile, his lips twitching from the effort.
This guy always acted like a smug sociopath but turned oddly polite when scared—he’s like an open book that it was almost funny.
For now, I sighed and tried to assess the situation.
This was a textbook example of getting caught in a ghost story.
“We should just ride this bus to the terminal, get off, and contact the company’s security team—”
“……”
“……”
“W-Why did you stop mid-sentence, Supervisor?”
Something felt off.
Bus stops in the city were usually about three minutes apart.
But this bus—
Why was it still on move?
“– Oh dear, we’re caught.”
I looked out the window.
…Fog was rolling in.
The scenery outside the city bus, once a clear four-lane road in Seoul, was now shifting into a winding dirt path.
“…!”
I stood up.
The passengers who had been seated in the front were gone.
All that remained was the driver.
“……”
At some point, the driver had donned an old-fashioned hat.
The kind you’d see in the days when buses followed formal operating rules.
With gloved hands, he hummed a tune and reached for the radio.
Click.
And what flowed out was...
Hmm, hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm~
That humming from the cassette tape.
“……!”
Hmm, hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm~
The bus was filled with humming.
The modern low-floor bus that had been running through Seoul had somehow transformed into an old, worn-out bus with seats lined up in a single row.
Hmm, hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm~
“Don’t look back.”
It was already too late.
Baek Saheon, with a stiff face, grabbed the handrail and stared straight ahead. I tried not to stare too closely at the dissipating fog outside and kept my gaze fixed forward.
The dirt path turned into an old paved road.
The creaking old bus, rattling along the rough countryside road, gradually slowed down…
[The next stop is ‘Horizon Mountain Lodge.’]
“……”
The destination came into view.
Hmm, hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm~
The humming, now unmistakably a melody, was playing over the radio.
Listening to the cheerful, minor-key melody of a 1980s or ’90s pop song, I looked at the scene outside the opening doors…
[Horizon Mountain Lodge]
A luxurious, mountain villa-style mansion stood amidst the forest, with a sign in elegant calligraphy.
“……”
Haa.
“…Are you getting off?”
Yeah.
As much as I hated it.
I got up from my seat and stepped toward the open door. From behind, I heard Baek Saheon muttering something like a curse as he hurriedly followed me off.
The bus doors closed behind us and drove away.
Along with the humming melody.
“……”
“……”
Baek Saheon muttered, slightly relieved.
“Well, at least there’s no singing or tapes this time, so it’s better than bef—”
“Check your pocket.”
“What?”
“Put your hand in your pocket and check.”
“……”
Baek Saheon looked at me blankly, then hastily put his hand into his coat pocket.
And out came…
The old cassette tape he had supposedly thrown away earlier.
“…!!”
When he tried to throw the cassette tape away again, I grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“It’s already too late, so just get ready to go in.”
“Go in wh—”
“There.”
I pointed to ‘Horizon Mountain Lodge.’
Since we’d come this far, running away was pointless.
It would only waste energy and lead to all kinds of trouble, only to end up right back at this ‘story’s setting’ again…
‘Might as well go in early and try to figure out the situation.’
“– Roe Deer, you act like you know what’s going to happen! Is this another story you were familiar with?”
Braun, who had noticed that I knew quite a bit about paranormal phenomena, chattered away.
And… he was right.
‘…That’s right.’
The keywords had clicked.
A serial killer.
A trap set using a mode of transportation.
A cursed object that keeps returning to the owner.
And…
I looked up at the destination.
‘…Horizon Mountain Lodge.’
-------------------------------
Chronicles of Darkness Exploration/ Ghost Story
[And There Was Someone]:
A ghost story listed in <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration>.
Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau ID Code: 1489PSYA.1991.LA84.
A story about people being killed one at a time by a serial killer in an isolated, suspicious location. A variation of the classic closed-circle mystery novel and B-grade slasher movie.
It’s classified as a Fury Form disaster, which requires nine humans to seal it.
Every four years, the Disaster Management Bureau recruits or drafts people for this purpose.
-------------------------------
[Note: It’s probably referring to the novel “And then there were none” by Agatha Christie the Goat. But we will stick to the literal TL, sorry gang.
Also, the code is actually 1489PSYA.1991.라84, where 라 directly translates to LA/RA, we’ll change it if needed. A small note toward the end regarding the SDMB (Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau) classification system.]
This ghost story was something I identified not so differently from the countless other deductions I’d made in recent times at work.
But there was something slightly different this time.
‘The affiliation…!’
This wasn’t a Darkness part of Daydream Inc.
This was a government-isolated—or soon-to-be-isolated—ghost story.
Also known as a “disaster.”
What’s the difference, you ask?
The basic operating principles are completely different from a corporation trying to harvest resources from darkness for business.
The government established the Disaster Management Bureau to prevent loss of life or massive property damage.
At least, that’s the stated purpose.
Thus, the Disaster Management Bureau prioritized isolating phenomena that should never exist in the civilian world.
In other words…
Someone inevitably dies.
Whether you clear it, get trapped, fail, or succeed.
In every possible scenario.
‘The moment you get caught up in this, someone’s death is guaranteed.’
Cold sweat dripped down my spine.
The government had decided this was a situation where clearing it would necessarily involve at least one person’s death…
And I was on the brink of stepping right into the middle of it.
I can’t even farm any points with this ghost story!
‘Damn it, Baek Saheon, you bastard!’
I wanted to scream profanities at Baek Saheon and give him a black eye in the other socket, but…
‘That’s a waste of time…’
“Excuse me, Supervisor!”
Ignoring Baek Saheon, I sighed deeply and walked toward the lodge’s main entrance.
And just as I took a deep breath and was about to knock on the door…
Ding.
The sound of a bike bell rang behind me.
When I turned, I saw a bike stopping in front of the secluded house in the woods, and a person sitting on it.
“– Oh, another one has arrived. Someone who picked up the object!”
Exactly.
Another unlucky soul had been dragged into this cursed ghost story.
Suppressing a groan, I turned to look at them… and froze.
“…!”
A familiar figure got off the bike.
Not their face, but their outfit. I’d seen it before.
A person dressed in dark clothing, wearing a mask and a cap pulled low.
‘…The Salmon Market!’
It was the person I had met earlier this morning at Gwanghwamun Station to sell supernatural food!
[Note: Ok, so quick look at the SDMB classification.
And 1991 in the code 1489PSYA.1991.LA84 seems to be the estimated year.
The one from the salmon market was looking for food from 파형(破刑) Rupture-sanctioned phenomena (C-grade in Daydream Inc.) or higher.
This present one is 뇌형(櫴形)급 재난, a Fury Form disaster for which the comparison with Daydream’s classification wasn’t mentioned.
If you notice 파형, 뇌형 have the same last character, but different hanja 刑, 形. This is really confusing, so I’ll stay true to the raw and use different ‘second’ titles namely ‘sanctioned’ and ‘form.’
Hanja has different interpretations, so any suggestions and welcome!
And for anyone interested/confused, here is the Daydream Inc. classification
Abyss (S), Gloom (A), Shadow (B), Spider (C), Dusk (D), Twilight (E), nothing mentioned for F.]
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