Chapter 50

“Oh, Roe Deer’s back!”

“Right. Did you get your Regeneration Potion?”

“Yes.”

Returning to the office, I greeted my superiors, who had already finished lunch and were lounging around. But at the sight of the translucent reinforced-plastic box in my hand, they sat up, their expressions turning grave.

“...!”

“Hold on. Roe Deer, is that your assigned Darkness?”

“Yes, it is.”

I raised the transport case to show them what was inside. Two black cards rattled around within it.

The F-grade Darkness I had chosen.

* * *

Records of Dark Exploration / Ghost Stories

[One or the Other]

: A ghost story appearing in <Records of Dark Exploration>. Daydream Inc. identification code: Qterw-F-2073.

Two plain black cards, each 60 mm wide and 110 mm long.

However, if the owner turns the cards over at midnight, pictures appear on their faces. Their subjects are randomly selected from the Major Arcana of the Tarot.

The resulting fortune comes true in the future.

* * *

It was a low-grade Darkness, small and portable enough to entrust to a single employee...

But it was actually the most dangerous and unpredictable of my three options. Because it concerned the future.

My superiors apparently recognized it too, because their faces grew serious.

“That’s pretty rough for a rookie.”

“Right? Don’t they normally give you something easier? All I got as a rookie was a radio. You saw it on your first day too, right, Roe Deer? That one was even reclassified as Twilight Grade.”

Oh, that radio.

‘So the supervisor was in charge of it.’

No wonder it had been sitting right out in the open in the office.

The supervisor sounded a little worried.

“Maybe the higher-ups have their hopes set too high because Roe Deer’s doing so well... Oh, Team Leader!”

Team Leader Lizard, who was entering the office, turned at the sound of someone calling him.

“You mentioned letting Roe Deer choose his own Darkness, didn’t you? When would that... Hasn’t that happened yet?”

“Twenty minutes ago.”

“...?”

“...??”

“He chose twenty minutes ago.”

My superiors turned to look at me.

“Roe Deer.”

“Yes?”

“You picked that out of the options the team leader gave you?”

“Yes.”

I nodded, expressionless.

“It comes with overtime pay.”

“...”

“...”

“Because this Darkness requires regular maintenance at night.”

A wistful look crossed both their faces.

“Ah...”

“Hmm. That’s our Roe Deer.”

Then they relaxed.

“...”

What on earth was happening to my reputation...?

‘Should I be happy I’m successfully establishing a persona?’

Sob.

Holding back tears, I turned on my PC.

“Registering it now?”

“Yes. I’m entering my employee number.”

I found the Darkness’s code in the intranet’s ‘List of Unassigned Darkness’ and registered my account...

Done.

Qterw-F-2073 : Kim Soleum (Supervisor)

Now I had a Darkness of my own to manage.

“F-grade or not, it’s still a supernatural phenomenon. Be careful when you handle it.”

“Yes.”

I read its maintenance instructions—the method for using this ghost story that I already knew.

[Turn cards over at midnight / Once a month]

* * *

Several days later, at midnight, I went to the company Annex for overtime.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The employee at the desk, dressed head to toe in pitch-black clothing, gave a small nod and opened the corridor to me.

I followed it and opened the appropriate door...

“There you are.”

There were the two black cards I was supposed to ‘maintain’ tonight.

I cautiously stepped through the iron door and closed it behind me. Then I opened the cards’ storage case, took out the Darkness, ‘One or the Other,’ and set it facedown on the round table provided in the room.

-Are you telling fortunes? Testing the occult was a staple of talk shows too! Now, Mr. Roe Deer. Let’s take a look at your future!

Not quite.

“I’m not looking at the future.”

-Hmm?

“I’m choosing it.”

* * *

Interpretation

Mysterious Tarot cards that allow the user to look at both cards and choose one, causing an event matching its symbolism to occur in the near future.

However, the event must be something that could occur in the user’s everyday life. (Winning the lottery and the like are not possible.)

* * *

That was right. These cards let you choose between two events that would happen in the near future.

Of course, that wasn’t always a good thing.

I reached out and flipped over the two cards on the table. As if by magic, ornate illustrations appeared.

The Devil. The Moon.

‘Damn it.’

Case in point.

-Oh dear. Neither symbol traditionally carries a particularly pleasant meaning!

Well, they weren’t necessarily bad symbols depending on the question being asked... but on the whole, that was true.

In other words, if both choices were lousy, you were just adding an unnecessary bad event to your life. And considering that more than half the Tarot cards could be interpreted as ambiguous or negative, the odds of that happening were at least one in four.

But...

-Have you decided which one to choose?

“Yes.”

I was going to do this a little differently.

I moved around to the other side of the table holding the cards.

‘This naturally makes them...’

From the opposite side, the cards looked upside down. And if I picked one up like this...

-Oho, it’s reversed now.

I looked at the card I was holding upside down.

‘Apparently you’re never supposed to do this in a real reading.’

True to its F-grade classification, this ghost story wasn’t very powerful and had plenty of loopholes, so tricks like this seemed to work.

‘And even if the trick fails, all that happens is they turn back into black cards.’

So I’d gone for it, and it seemed to have been a decent choice.

As for the card I’d picked...

-The Moon. Ah, a symbol of confusion!

I studied the Moon card, its yellowish full moon hanging upside down.

-The Moon is ordinarily a symbol of mystery and uncertainty. Where the sun has vanished and the moon has risen, vague shapes and suspicions grow, until at last... madness reveals itself.

-But reversed, it would mean the opposite, wouldn’t it?

Hmm.

‘So something will become clear?’

-Quite nice. The resolution of uncertainty! Perhaps you’ll be able to sort out your thoughts.

I agreed.

‘In this insane world of ghost stories where I can barely see a step ahead, having anything certain would be nice.’

-Is that all?

“That’s right.”

I put the cards away again.

This divination could be performed once a month. In other words, the everyday event would occur sometime this month.

Granted, there was a clear limitation: the event had to fall within the scope of everyday life. But my everyday life involved working at a ghost-story company...

So I’d thought it might actually help quite a bit with survival.

‘And even if it doesn’t, securing even one slightly positive future can’t hurt.’

At least the ghost story I managed was a benefit rather than a burden.

I decided not to get too greedy—

THUD.

“...”

A sound came from outside.

This was the Annex. A place for storing comparatively safe Darkness. Mostly Twilight Grade, with the occasional F-grade thrown in...

But ultimately, they were all ghost stories.

THUD.

Sometimes—very rarely—a failure to maintain them led to an unforeseen incident... and killing a person or two was child’s play for them.

I stood before the iron door.

‘... How far away is that sound?’

Should I wait here, or...

KABOOOOM!!

“...!”

I immediately flung open the iron door and ran. Because it really sounded like something had exploded!

‘Running out of here gives me better odds than getting trapped inside.’

I raced toward the entrance, intending to dash out... but the floor was already half destroyed.

“...”

-Oh dear! What a considerable mess.

All sorts of insane possibilities flashed through my mind. But a moment later, I spotted a figure in the middle of the shattered entrance floor, pinning something broken firmly beneath one foot.

“...!”

It was the employee in black who’d been sitting at the front desk. And judging by the way they seemed to have ‘subdued’ the Darkness...

‘They’re from Security!’

The situation appeared to be over already. The noises I’d heard seemed to have come from Security subduing it.

‘So they don’t just put anyone at the Annex desk.’

After some hesitation, I asked from about four meters away,

“Is there anything I can help with?”

The employee in black shook their head.

Thank you so much...

Let’s get out of here quickly.

“Then I’ll be heading home.”

The employee looked at me for a moment, then reached to the side and held up something from the desk.

A sticky note.

Have a good night.

Surprisingly sociable.

“Thank you.”

I bowed. The entirely black-clad desk employee returned a slight nod, then lifted their foot and went back to sit at the desk.

On the entrance floor, broken glass that had probably served as the ghost story’s medium glittered. In its reflected light, the shadow of the employee’s leg twisted oddly, looking like a bent hoof... before returning to human form.

‘Whew...’

Let’s not look.

I left the Annex without staring at anything.

“Good grief.”

All kinds of things happened here on a daily basis.

‘Securing one good everyday event really does seem like a decent choice.’

Life was tough and exhausting, but I felt a little better, knowing I seemed to be muddling through it somehow.

Hmm. Come to think of it, that employee reminded me of a time I’d communicated in writing too.

[“Have a nice day^^”]

The face-to-face marketplace transaction where I’d sold ghost-story food for a whopping forty million won.

I’d used writing to hide my voice as well. That was when I’d sold the Churros the theme park’s blue dragon mascot had given me.

‘I do still have another bag of those Churros.’

I still had no intention of selling them, just in case... but hmm.

I realized I owned more food-related items than I’d thought. I had a fair amount of this and that.

‘Maybe I should sell one or two for cash after all.’

If they were still looking, that is.

Since it was on my mind, I logged into Salmon Market to check. To my surprise, another post was up.

* * *

[Buying food originating from anomalous phenomena.]

For research.

Preference for powerful anomalies (Disaster Management Bureau Destruction Grade or higher).

40.0

* * *

-Guess this bastard never gets tired of it

-lmao at this point you’re a fucking idiot if you fall for it, right?

Hmm.

‘If they’ve already used the Churros for research...’

I sent a private message.

[BlueFriend : Hello again^^ I’ve acquired some more food. Would you be interested?]

* * *

Two days later, on the weekend, I found myself waiting for my marketplace trading partner at Exit 5 of Gwanghwamun Station, just like last time.

‘I suppose trust really is important.’

Since I’d sold them something that met their requirements once before, they’d arranged a meeting this time without much discussion.

They were even waiting at the exit before I arrived. Like last time, they were dressed in dark clothes, complete with a hat and mask. I recognized them by the beverage box in their hands. Well, I was dressed much the same, so I couldn’t really talk.

[Hello^^]

Once again, I opened my notebook to show my greeting. Perhaps they’d expected it, because they weren’t taken aback.

[Here’s what I brought.]

Inside the box I held out were two cookies from the Alice Picnic Set.

Why had I chosen these? Simple.

‘They’re nearly expired.’

Like any cookies, they had a use-by date!

The items either halved or boosted effects, so I hadn’t found as many occasions to use them as I’d expected, leaving quite a few.

Still, using the drink during The Tuesday Quiz Show had saved me so spectacularly that I couldn’t bring myself to part with those. So I’d brought the cookies.

‘The cookie version is harder to use, too.’

It would be a waste to let them sit until their use-by date passed. And using an expired item? I had no desire to find out what would happen.

Anyway, I presented the goods and waited for the buyer’s appraisal.

As before, the buyer passed a gloved hand over the box... then shook their head slightly.

“These aren’t what I was looking for.”

Hmm. As expected.

‘I didn’t think they’d qualify as Destruction Grade.’

Manufactured items felt relatively low-risk and passive, so they differed in nature from strange objects obtained directly from high-grade ghost stories...

‘A shame, but it can’t be helped.’

Still, it was worth trying to negotiate...

“So I’ll buy them at half the price apiece.”

Thank you for the hassle-free transaction.

‘If this person finds out about the Alien Shop, will they feel so ripped off they try to kill me...?’

Just in case, I decided to lay some groundwork. I hastily scribbled in my notebook.

[Thank you. I really needed the money.]

“...”

[These didn’t seem like dangerous food this time, but they’re close to their expiration date, so I suggest researching them before then. I’ll give you a few extra.]

With that, I tucked a small bag containing another cookie or two on top.

‘Call it a freebie.’

It was a little trust-building exercise to keep the transactions going. I’d brought them for negotiating, but this worked too.

Didn’t that make me a genuinely friendly marketplace seller? Especially in a ghost-story setting.

I had accepted the beverage box full of cash from the buyer and was about to leave when they spoke.

“Excuse me.”

Hmm?

“How did you come to possess these things?”

Hmm.

[I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.]

That should do.

This was a platform for trading supernatural objects. Everyone was bound to have a story. I’d leave it to their imagination.

‘Besides, unless you’ve personally seen the advertisement, trying to access the Alien Shop just gives you a page-not-found message.’

I was preparing to bolt if they pressed further when...

“...”

The buyer took a pen from their pocket and wrote something in the notebook I was holding.

“If you find yourself in danger, contact this number.”

Huh?

“Goodbye, then.”

The buyer left, and I checked my notebook.

1717 8282 42

“...!”

‘This is a government number.’

It was an emergency relief hotline connected directly to the Disaster Management Bureau.

In short, the emergency-services number for ghost stories.

‘Were they affiliated with the Bureau?’

No wonder they’d used its grading terminology.

I shrugged and carefully put away the money and my notebook.

As befitted a nasty megacorporation, Daydream Inc. was on bad terms with the government. And as one of its employees, would I ever have reason to go out of my way to call that number and get involved...?

‘Surely never.’

Yep. I did!

That very evening, when I returned to my company housing.