Chapter 1

Have you ever gotten really hooked on something?

I mean, has something ever made such a deep impression on you that you went beyond “This is fun” and spent extra time and money on it?

You know the sort of thing. Watching the director’s cut of a movie, buying an art book for a game, paying for advance episodes of a webtoon, going to a singer’s concert...

Take it a little further, and buying spin-off products would count too.

Yes, I’m talking about merch.

Figurines, slogan banners, pins, plushies...

I can say with absolute certainty that I had never spent money on anything like that in my life.

Until now.

Here I was, in a department store.

The pop-up store was such a hit that all the entry tickets had already been handed out the moment the department store opened at ten that morning.

And I had gotten one of those tickets.

“We’ll now begin admitting the 2:30 p.m. group!”

“Oh, finally!”

“Hey, let’s hurry.”

The bright-eyed teenagers standing beside me ran excitedly toward the staff member.

'Two thirty... That’s me.'

I pulled my cap down as far as it would go and got in line.

But I could hear whispers behind me.

“Huh...?”

“Is he a scalper?”

“Isn’t he a reseller?”

“...”

It was deeply unfair, but I could see why they thought so.

I was the only adult man in line who looked like an office worker!

'Haa... '

I groaned inwardly as I looked at the pop-up’s entrance.

[Welcome, explorer who has ventured into the Darkness.]

'This is killing me.'

A black-and-red backdrop, caricatures of assorted monsters, occult elements, and interwoven symbols of corporations, religions, and the government.

It was a fictional universe precision-engineered to capture teenage hearts.

Even the title was a real work of art.

[Doomsday Prophecy: Records of Dark Exploration]

Ha...

I barely resisted the urge to cover my eyes with one hand.

'Why did I have to start reading this at work...?'

<Records of Dark Exploration>.

An internet ghost-story universe that had recently become wildly popular.

You know those collective intelligence open-source universes, where anyone can join in and create stories?

Apparently, it had started as a spin-off of a certain famous ghost story, quietly spreading by word of mouth among students. Then the Wetube algorithm picked it up, and it grew like crazy.

“Records of explorations into various bizarre phenomena known as <Darkness>.” That was the premise behind the ghost stories.

Eventually, it became an independent wiki with hundreds upon thousands of stories, which was how it caught my eye.

'... Being all text made it way too easy to read at work.'

And what was that saying about how anything you do at work is fun as long as it isn’t work?

I fell so deeply into this universe that I eventually went so far as to create and post a ghost story of my own...

How had it come to this? Was my utterly dopamine-free office life to blame after all?

And then there was <Records of Dark Exploration> itself.

'Who knew it would get this big?'

It was now apparently a major franchise reigning over Wetube as practically the supreme ruler of middle schoolers.

Naturally, a company had swooped in to monetize it.

This pop-up store was part of that effort.

'Come on, didn’t the wiki have a fifteen-and-up recommendation on it?'

Why were there so many kids here?

Hearing the whispers behind me on top of everything else was giving me one hell of a reality check...

“I think he really is a reseller...”

“Hey, hey, he could be buying something for a niece or nephew. Or a cousin... Let’s not be like that.”

No. These were for me.

... Actually, I had come last week too, but some merch sold out right before my turn, so I was back again...

I had even taken a day off.

'At least there was a woman around my age last time.'

Of all the time slots, I had landed a weekday afternoon when the only other working adults were parents accompanying their children. I was so embarrassed I could practically bolt, but I had to endure it.

'Actually, I don’t even know why I’m trying to endure this...'

Anyway, I followed the staff member’s directions into the store.

My only consolation was that the staff member hadn’t batted an eye.

“Wow!”

“Hey, it looks just like the real thing.”

Amid the middle schoolers’ exclamations, the interior of the pop-up came into view. It was elaborately decorated, almost like a theme park.

They had even helpfully divided the displays by theme.

[Daydream Inc.]

[Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau]

[Nameless Radiance Church]

The premise of this ghost-story universe was that three major factions—a corporation, the government, and a religion—each sought to observe and secure bizarre phenomena.

'At first, there were only stories about the government’s Disaster Management Bureau. Then more people joined in, got carried away, and this happened, right?'

Anyway, the pop-up seemed to have collected only the things that had gone viral online.

Lumping everything together and selling only popular characters and ghost-story items made it feel like a blatant cash grab, but the quality was still decent.

'Right. When else would I ever come to a place like this...?'

Ignoring the stares, I quickly gathered the things I had come to buy.

Luckily, since I had bought almost everything I wanted last week, there weren’t many popular items in my haul. At least people stopped looking at me like I was a scalper.

“Would you like to purchase a large tote bag for your items as well? It’s 5,000 won.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

I finished paying without incident, but instead of leaving the pop-up right away, I lingered.

I turned my head toward the area beside the register where people were lined up.

[Prize Wheel Event]

: Create Your Own Records of Dark Exploration Character.

That.

I had seen it last week too, but I hadn’t been able to bring myself to line up for that on top of everything else, so I had gone home...

'They said this pop-up closes tomorrow.'

I was fiercely debating whether it was worth trading away my social dignity when the staff member who had just taken over at the register smiled and spoke to me.

“Today’s the last day for the prize wheel! Would you like to give it a try?”

“... Yes.”

Thank you.

Seriously. Thank you, kind staff member...

“Great! Then come right this way! Oh, just stand here...”

The staff member deftly guided me to the line in front of a giant black prize wheel, allowing me to slip naturally into place at the end.

The line moved faster than I expected.

Soon, I was at the front, receiving a button on something shaped like a walkie-talkie.

“We’ll spin the lucky wheel first! Press the button whenever you’d like to stop it.”

BEEP-BEEP.

The wheel began spinning to an artificial sound effect.

Each section showed a prize level and its reward.

There was merch I had already bought, display-only merch that wasn’t for sale, and even a random pair of Bluetooth earbuds...

Of course, the seventh prize, which occupied the largest section, was just something like a little notepad. I would probably land there.

Still, that was fine. Hadn’t I nearly gone home without even participating?

'Let’s not get our hopes up.'

That was what I told myself even as I carefully pressed the button the staff member had given me.

RATTLE-RATTLE... CLICK.

But my black prize wheel slowed to a stop... and, astonishingly, landed here.

A single narrow gold section.

[First Prize]

: Records of Dark Exploration Real Goods Box

“...!”

“Oh! Congratulations!”

Was this... actually happening?

“Holy shit!”

“That’s so awesome. God, I’m so fucking jealous.”

Behind me, a commotion erupted in shrieks, gasps, and envious voices.

“Wow, we finally have a first-prize winner, one day before the pop-up closes!”

The staff member seemed even more excited than I was, running behind the wheel and returning with a large, plastic-wrapped box.

The black box, stamped with a huge silver-foil symbol, looked like a carefully crafted product in its own right.

I accepted it with both hands, barely keeping them from shaking.

“... Thank you.”

Quick... I needed to get out of here and slap myself in the face or something. Was this real?

I tried to leave the pop-up immediately, but the staff member stopped me.

“Oh! We’d like to give you some custom merch made right here. We just need your name!”

My name? My personal information had become public property ages ago when a web portal got hacked. All that mattered was getting this home safely...!

“Kim Soleum.”

“Great! Just a moment, Soleum.”

The staff member busily operated a black vending machine beside the wheel that looked like a 3D printer.

It even had an explanatory label on top, as though it had been built for the pop-up.

[Records of Dark Exploration Character Maker]

Oh. Was that what the subtitle on the prize wheel event had meant?

...“ Create Your Own Records of Dark Exploration Character.”

They really did know their teenage audience...

“Please enter your name here.”

“... All right.”

Gripping the merch box tightly in one hand, I quickly entered my name on the machine’s pad.

The black vending machine made a rather loud, eerie music-box sound, then put on an elaborate show of turning gears.

And spat out a small object.

CLACK.

I picked up the familiar-looking object.

It was... an employee ID.

[Daydream Inc.]

Kim Soleum, Employee

Field Exploration Team

“Wow! You got Daydream Inc. It’s one of the three best-known factions in our <Records of Dark Exploration>!”

“...”

Yes. I knew that.

Basically, it was the classic giant corporation doing business with bizarre phenomena.

And its Field Exploration Team was...

'The department that’s basically a Suicide Squad.'

Like the redshirts from a certain sci-fi show. At the slightest excuse, they would go in to investigate some bizarre phenomenon and get chewed up.

Of course, thanks to that, quite a few of the named characters seemed to belong to the Field Exploration Team too.

“Wow! A Field Exploration Team ID! I can’t wait to imagine what you’ve accomplished in the world of <Records of Dark Exploration>, Employee Kim Soleum!”

“Yes, thank you...”

I felt myself cringing from head to toe, but I endured it.

'At least it isn’t an ID for a government agency or some religious cult.'

A company ID was a relief by comparison.

I was a little embarrassed, but the staff member remained perfectly composed, like a true employee under capitalism. Perhaps saying it so many times had built up an immunity.

Anyway, receiving this ID seemed to mark the end of the prize wheel event.

“Thank you.”

I groaned inwardly at the employee ID printed with my name.

'This... I need to shove this somewhere out of sight.'

Even my tolerance for cringe apparently had its limits.

Meanwhile, the staff member asked excitedly,

“Do you like it? You’ll treasure it, won’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Liar.”

...?

I looked up, wondering if I had misheard.

A grin.

The staff member suddenly smiled at me, the corners of their mouth stretching impossibly wide.

They extended unnaturally upward, almost reaching their ears...

“...?”

At that moment, a sudden wave of dizziness washed over me.

“...!”

The noise of the pop-up vanished.

My vision swam as though coated in black paint, flashing red and blue.

And when the dizziness finally subsided, I never could have dreamed... that the entire world would have changed.

[Welcome to Daydream Inc., everyone!]

“...!?”

Somehow, I was in a corner of a large lecture hall, looking at the central podium.

And then.

WOOOO!!

Amid the cheers, a fireworks effect burst across the PowerPoint presentation on the podium’s giant projection screen.

[New Recruit Orientation]

As suited young professionals politely applauded and cheered, someone who appeared to be the emcee beamed and advanced the slides.

By any measure, this was a major corporation’s new recruit orientation.

Their faces glowed with the happiness of finally having landed a job, flushed with pride and nervous excitement.

[Our new recruits beat odds of 145 to one to join us. You have every right to be proud! Haha! Now, let’s begin our new recruit orientation!]

“...”

What the hell was this?

I faltered, trying to back away.

Then I realized I was sitting in a chair.

I was wearing a suit. I had put it on because I was entertaining a client that evening, but by sheer coincidence, it looked much like what the “new recruits” filling this lecture hall were wearing.

Meanwhile, the merch box I had won at the prize wheel rested neatly on my lap.

“Excuse me, where did you get that? Is the company handing those out?”

“...”

I couldn’t even answer the new recruit sitting next to me.

[You are the chosen successful applicants!]

[In fact, only a very special selection of the people hired through this recruitment drive have been invited to Lecture Hall A for this orientation!]

[Congratulations! You have passed the aptitude test and been assigned to a special team, the <Field Exploration Team>.]

“We’ve already been assigned?”

“Field Exploration Team? Daydream Inc. has a department like that?”

“Field exploration... at a pharmaceutical company?”

“Uh, it kind of sounds like somewhere they exile people. Isn’t that a branch office, not headquarters? They’re just trying to sweet-talk us...”

Whispers concealed from the emcee came from every direction, but I had no attention to spare.

Because I had recognized the familiar company and team names.

Daydream Inc.

Field Exploration Team.

... Like a bolt of lightning, a page from the wiki flashed through my mind.

* * *

[Field Exploration Team] (Daydream Inc.)

: One of five teams under the Development Department of Daydream Inc., a major faction featured in <Records of Dark Exploration>.

An ill-fated team also known as the so-called Suicide Squad.

But that makes things fun for the people writing the ghost stories.

* * *

'Wait a minute.'

... This was the ghost-story universe that the pop-up I had just visited was based on.

Which meant what happened next would be...

* * *

An insane department that makes recruits undergo a deadly survival trial right at orientation to screen candidates for full-time positions.

It is also an enduringly popular subject for wiki entries, reminding readers what happens when ordinary people explore Darkness.

* * *

“...!”

“Uh, wh-what are you...”

I immediately shot out of my chair.

Figuring out the situation could go to hell. I was going to run outside.

But it was already too late.

[Before your employment becomes official, however, there will be a brief probation period. It won’t take long! You’ll be assessed against fixed criteria based solely on your practical aptitude.]

[Of course, active participation is essential if we’re to evaluate each of you properly. We’ll catch every instance of freeloading!]

BANG. BANG, BANG, BANG.

The lecture hall’s doors slammed shut one after another.

'Damn it!'

Even now, the innocent recruits who thought <Daydream Inc.> was merely a major pharmaceutical company still hadn’t grasped what was happening.

And so, with a hundred-odd new recruits listening attentively, the emcee called out brightly and energetically.

[Now, let’s begin!]

With that cheerful voice, the lights in the lecture hall went out.

“...?”

“Huh?”

Perhaps they thought a video was about to play. The recruits still looked only mildly puzzled.

Understandably so.

'No one could have expected this kind of insane shit to happen right after getting a job.'

For example, the surroundings suddenly transforming into the interior of an eerie subway train.

[Dear passengers, thank you for using the Abyss Transit Authority today... Our train does not stop.]

[For a pleasant journey to your final destination, please listen carefully to the announcements.]

Or an announcement playing that mentioned an unfamiliar name they had never heard in their lives.

“...!?”

“Wh-what the hell is this!?”

The new recruits, seated in rows along the subway benches in their suits as though transplanted straight from the lecture hall, leaped to their feet.

They had every reason to be alarmed.

“Hello?”

“Is this like VR? Did we actually move?”

Still, it seemed that many of the people from the lecture hall were here with them. Perhaps that reassured them, because most reacted with complacency.

They peered around the subway car for signs of the company, looking for the emcee or anyone who seemed to be a company representative.

Before long, they had a rough idea of their surroundings.

“There are other people in the next car! The door... Uh, this door won’t open?”

“Is this some new technology?”

Feeling as though I might break into a cold sweat, I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them.

I had already realized which ghost story this was.

* * *

[Welcome to the Abyss Transit Authority]

: A ghost story featured in <Records of Dark Exploration>.

An insane ghost story whose escape difficulty towers above all the other early D-grade Darkness entries.

And the Field Exploration Team suffers eternally.

A total of ■■ explorations have been recorded.

* * *

<Welcome to the Abyss Transit Authority>.

As you can probably tell at a glance, it was a ghost story based on the Korean subway.

-You fall asleep and wake up on a subway train. It feels like your commute home, but you begin hearing station names that seem strangely wrong...

That sort of opening.

Its victims were selected by the broad criterion of “anyone who has commuted by subway.” That covered most office workers, making it all the more chilling for readers.

“...”

'And this ghost story... is Darkness under Daydream Inc.’s jurisdiction.'

Apparently, Daydream Inc. intended to use this ghost story to “weed out” the new recruits. ... Damn it!

“Could this be some kind of escape room?”

“Why would a pharmaceutical company that makes hair-loss medication make its new sales recruits do an escape room...”

That was when it happened.

[This stop is Sorrow, Sorrow Station.]

“...!”

“Sor...row?”

The first station announcement played.

I held my breath and turned my head.

[The doors are on your right...]

CLUNK.

The train stopped.

[The platform screen doors are opening.]

The doors opened.

It all seemed like an ordinary part of daily life, but...

[The doors will close in thirty seconds. There will be no turning back.]

[Passengers whose final destination is Sorrow Station must disembark in accordance with the announcement.]

The familiar voice spoke kindly, mixing strange words and phrases into its announcement.

But people will always rationalize things, searching for anything that reassures them.

“Look outside! It’s just a subway station!”

It was exactly that.

A platform was clearly visible beyond the train doors. It looked a little dark and damp, but otherwise it seemed like an ordinary subway station.

Two or three people brightened and headed for the doors.

Oh, damn it.

“I think you’d be better off not getting out.”

“Sorry?”

This was driving me crazy. Suppressing a sigh, I spoke quickly.

“You heard them call it Sorrow Station just now. Where in Korea is there a station by that name? Anyone can tell something’s wrong.”

“Oh...”

“Um, I think he’s right. We should wait and see what’s going on...”

One quick-witted person backed me up. It was the recruit who had been sitting beside me.

Perhaps because of that, the people about to leave wavered even more.

“But still...”

“Hey, the doors are closing!”

But at the sound of the closing doors, a few impatient people abruptly dashed outside...

We were screwed.

[The doors are closing.]

“Oh!”

“We missed our chance. Ah, f*ck.”

Looking at the “people who got off” waving from the station, those who hadn’t made it groaned in disappointment.

One person even glanced at me and muttered a quiet curse.

I understood. In a strange, bizarre situation, they probably just wanted to stop thinking and run.

But here was the thing.

“Huh?”

“That...”

A grotesque sight unfolded.

As the people on the platform turned to walk away, countless silvery droplets suddenly welled out of the station’s ceiling and pillars and poured down over their heads.

PAT-PAT-PAT-PAT.

They looked like enormous tears.

But the countless silver droplets rained onto human bodies like molten metal, producing horrific bursting sounds.

Screams. Screams. Convulsions.

Silence.

Blood mixed with silver liquid splattered against the windows.

[The train is departing Sorrow Station.]

One last glimpse through the window.

“...”

In front of the platform screen doors, awash in filth and blood, only the mangled remains of the new recruits lay abandoned.

Twitching.

“Aaaah!”

“Aaagh!”

That was the fate of those who answered wrong.

[For a pleasant journey to your destination, please listen carefully to the announcements.]

At last, screams and shouts began erupting among the people shrinking back in terror.

'It’s started.'

I squeezed my eyes shut.

I was inside a ghost story?

I had no idea how I had ended up like this, but it certainly seemed I had become a new recruit on a company team in a ghost story.

A team with an exceptionally high mortality rate, at that.

'Is this for real?'

Yes. Honestly, I probably did have an advantage over the other new recruits.

After all, I had read this entire ghost-story wiki.

* * *

3.2 Exploration Records (Recorded Through No. ■■)

* * *

I mean, I remembered it in considerable detail, right down to things like that.

And viewed only up to this point, I sounded like your typical overpowered protagonist.

Could you picture me, transported into a world I loved, making a spectacular escape from this situation while savoring the absolute advantage of my knowledge?

Did you think I could afford to be a little cocky, looking forward to monopolizing all the lucky opportunities and items?

Maybe.

But there was one problem.

A truly critical problem.

'...I can’t fcking handle scary stuff!' *

That’s right.

I was... a coward.

Text was fine. I could enjoy reading it.

But the moment it became visual, I was too much of a chicken to bear it.

And not just any chicken. I was such a chicken that my friends gave me absolute hell for it!

-Is it true Kim Soleum turned down a horror movie date with the girl he was flirting with because he couldn’t handle it?

-LMAOOOOOOOOOO

-Fuck, Soleum, your name sounds like “goosebumps” and you can’t watch horror movies? LMAOOOO

-Dude, even a girl who likes you would run away lol

lol-

Wanna die?-

-I’m sorry.

-I’m sorry.

I was such a chicken that even when I read ghost stories at work in broad daylight, if there was a scary background image or music, I turned off my data so I could read only the text!

A longtime resident of the cowards’ refuge, who couldn’t even add a single image to the ghost story I had submitted!

“...”

I covered my eyes with both hands.

I was, already, fucked...