Ghost stories are terrifying.
Of course there’s the eerie atmosphere you feel the moment you enter one, but the conditions you’re given in order to survive are all strange and grotesque beyond belief.
Seeing another human’s organs is an everyday occurrence, and there are plenty of times when losing a finger or two counts as getting off lightly.
Eventually, even if one of your eyeballs or one of your hands gets torn off, you become able to mutter insane things like, “Wow, that was cheap,” without batting an eye.
After going in and out of such ghost stories several times—no, dozens of times—it is only natural, in a sense, for one’s humanity to be worn away.
That was why there were so few normal people among the survivors who made it out of ghost stories.
Kang Yerin, manager of the field team at [Yuil Limited Company], was one such person.
The kind of person who could slap a survivor who looked obviously weak and newbie-like across the face for no reason other than being startled.
However, Kang Yerin had made a few mistakes.
One of those mistakes was that Han Yujin was not quite as weak as she seemed.
Another was the fact that Kang Yerin had a money bag in her left hand.
— Thwack!
Her vision flashed, and the world tilted sideways.
Kang Yerin rolled across the floor without even realizing what she had been hit by. Kang Yerin, manager of the field team at Yuil Limited Company.
A veteran who had experienced countless ghost stories and survived was being beaten down by a young girl and wiping the floor with her body.
‘…What?’
By the time she came to her senses, the money bag was already in the other party’s hand. She clutched her throbbing cheek. It had not been a simple slap. Along with pain that made it feel as though her jawbone had been knocked out of place, the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
Kang Yerin’s mind spun furiously. In the company, she was known as the capable, reckless “big sister” type.
And yet here she was, in a place like this, beaten by a girl still wet behind the ears, kneeling on the floor, and even robbed of the money bag. Her vision went dark at the thought of what she would have to write in her report.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Of course, reports were reports, and living was living.
A distinctive trait of those who survived ghost stories for a long time was that they were lunatics, while also becoming servile before their own lives and before the strong.
First, she begged.
Grasping the situation came first.
But the white-haired girl before her did not look like she had any intention of forgiving her.
“Ahh. Your voice is too quiet. Maybe it’s because your hair is in the way, but I can’t hear you very well. This body’s face is rather small, you see. That means my ears are small too. So I can’t hear you properly.”
Her tone was sly. It was blatant mockery. Swallowing her humiliation, Kang Yerin shouted at the top of her lungs.
“I! Am! Sor! Ry!”
“Who told you to chop it up like that? Are you rebelling right now? Are you not going to say it properly? No. I was already curious what would happen if I went out through that exit over there. Want to try going out once?”
“I’m sorry! I’ve committed a sin worthy of death! Please forgive me just this once!”
In the end, Kang Yerin lowered her tail completely. The opponent was no ordinary person. At the very least, in this situation, she was absolutely not someone Kang Yerin could subdue by force.
Meanwhile, Han Yujin was surprised in her own way by the changes in her body.
‘Wow, this actually works.’
She was already well-versed in the theory of fighting. Baseball player vs. boxer, shooter vs. pitcher. Over the past ten years, in order to win all sorts of muddy online arguments, she had even mastered biomechanics and physics.
The problem had been the body to follow that theory.
‘This body is more useful than it looks.’
She had felt it last time too, but this body was quite usable.
With a satisfied smile, Han Yujin picked up Kang Yerin’s name tag that had fallen to the floor and checked it.
[Yuil Limited Company Field Team 2 Manager Kang Yerin]
Yuil Limited Company was the Yuil Company that was often mentioned in the Gallery. Those guys who made money by exploiting ghost stories.
This worked out well.
She had a lot she wanted to know.
More than anything, she wanted to know the true identity of this ghost story.
Because by Han Yujin’s intuition, this place was absolutely not a D-rank ghost story.
“Enough of that. Tell me everything you know.”
At Han Yujin’s cold voice, Kang Yerin flinched and opened her mouth.
To be precise, it was not only her voice but also the money bag being swung a little that did it, but anyway.
Kang Yerin began readily confessing about this “money duplication ghost story,” and about how Yuil Limited Company was using it.
“…At Yuil Company, we call this place the ‘mining site.’ It was discovered quite some time ago, but it was only from one year ago that it began generating profit in earnest… according to the records.”
“Mining?”
“Yes. This is the only place where assets can be increased stably without risk. It was discovered quite some time ago, but the records say full-scale mining began one year ago.”
“Records?”
Kang Yerin hesitated.
It seemed to be related to company security.
Han Yujin scratched her head for a moment and pondered. She did not know how to threaten someone.
The problem was that when a pretty-looking girl stood there with a money bag (stolen) stained with blood (someone else’s), frowning and casually scratching her head, that in itself became a threat.
Kang Yerin began spilling the details of Yuil Company’s special duplication method.
“We manage a separate procedure manual on the company intranet.”
“How? Procedure manuals have to be registered no matter what.”
New information about a ghost story was always recorded in the procedure manual.
It was a compulsory element of the Gallery.
“There is a way. In exchange, though, you become unable to use the Gallery at all times. We use that to manage our own攻略 methods through the company intranet.”
Han Yujin was quite surprised.
She had thought that was something fairly absolute.
“Hooh, so you’re keeping the sweet stuff all to yourselves, huh.”
Han Yujin’s eyes narrowed. Yuil Limited Company was not simply using ghost stories; it was monopolizing profits by controlling the information itself.
Kang Yerin cleared her throat.
“Ahem. In any case, the hard part is getting in, but once you’re in, this place is heaven. There isn’t much danger of dying, and you can leave after multiplying your money by a huge amount.”
At Kang Yerin’s words, Han Yujin stared holes into the terms and conditions again. No matter how she looked at them, they were suspicious. A deposit interest rate of 200%, loans collateralized by existence value, even a transport service that guaranteed escape.
“No, it’s not.”
“Pardon?”
“It doesn’t look safe at all.”
At Han Yujin’s words, Kang Yerin looked puzzled.
“That’s not true. Among the ghost stories we manage internally, this place is one of the safest. The employee mortality rate is under 3%… and most of those incidents occurred only because they did not properly familiarize themselves with the terms of use.”
Safe? Han Yujin furrowed her brow.
No matter how she thought about it, it was strange.
But when asked what exactly was strange… she could not quite put her finger on it.
The procedure manual was like that, and so were the words spoken by the anomalous employees.
There was definitely something extremely subtly twisted here.
However, even after questioning her several more times, Kang Yerin’s answer remained the same. She truly seemed to believe this place was safe.
“Hmmm…”
Meanwhile.
Watching Han Yujin ponder, Kang Yerin became convinced.
Even though she possessed such combat ability, she was still cautious even in a ghost story this safe. She must not be a newbie, but an old hand.
Perhaps she was a member of that top-tier anonymous female group that was only whispered about among ghost story survivors.
Kang Yerin wondered why such an old hand would ask these basic questions, but she guessed it was probably a test to sound her out.
It was then.
— Creak
The door at the entrance to the break room opened, and a new group of people poured in. About five or six of them. Their appearances fell into two categories. New survivors looking around with bewildered expressions, and existing survivors whose eyes shone as they clenched their fists as though this were familiar.
“W-where is this all of a sudden…”
“I’m scared. I want to go home.”
The newbies were trembling in fear.
“It’s here! Money duplication!”
“Let’s cover this month’s salary with this!”
The existing survivors cheered.
They had probably already searched through the Gallery.
Amid that commotion, the same banker from earlier appeared again.
“Our business hours will soon be ending. Our bank’s business hours are until 16:00. What will you, our users, do?”
[15:30:31]
A clock hung on one side of the break room.
There did not seem to be much time left until closing.
Now they had to make a decision.
Everyone gathered in front of the bank counters.
The [Loans] counter, and the [Deposits and Trading] counter.
“Loans… Something about that feels unpleasant.”
“How can we trust these weird rules? Wouldn’t it be better to just leave?”
Unrest arose among the newbies.
Han Yujin stood blankly among them and stared ahead.
[15:31]
Twenty-nine minutes until the end of business hours.
Kang Yerin carefully looked back at Han Yujin. As though asking permission for something.
When Han Yujin lightly nodded, Kang Yerin headed straight to the loans counter.
“Welcome, customer.”
After muttering something with the employee, Kang Yerin received a bankbook.
She immediately headed to the deposits and trading counter according to the procedure manual.
“Welcome, user. Which product would you like to use? You have prepared quite a lot of value.”
After exchanging some words with the employee, she returned with a refreshed face.
As expected, her actions were not much different from what was written in the procedure manual.
“See? There was nothing particularly unusual, was there?”
At Kang Yerin’s words, Han Yujin silently nodded.
Printed in her bankbook was the amount [1.3 billion].
[15:37]
After that, two survivors followed the same procedure as Kang Yerin.
The standard攻略.
[15:43]
What am I missing?
Han Yujin was still pondering with a frown.
“W-what do I do? What am I really supposed to do?”
“For now, take out the loan.”
Han Yujin advised the newbies shrieking beside her.
Two of the newbies followed Han Yujin’s advice.
But three of them were still trembling, saying they were afraid.
“Y-you aren’t doing anything yourself! Aren’t you trying to test it on us?”
“R-right!”
Han Yujin stopped paying attention to them.
Honestly, they were right, so she had nothing to say.
[15:47]
A survivor who seemed to have experience with ghost stories, standing beside Han Yujin, suddenly clapped his hands and began chatting with his companion.
“Come to think of it, isn’t it better if we deposit directly without taking out a loan? Then we don’t have to pay loan interest either.”
“Hey. Still, wouldn’t it be better to follow the procedure manual? The Gallery comments said to take out a loan too.”
“Come on. That’s just because nobody’s tried it.”
He confidently headed to the [Deposits and Trading] window.
Then he plopped down a money pouch he seemed to have brought with him at the window.
“Pleased to meet you, user.”
The anomaly’s voice drifted faintly over.
The man who returned after completing the transaction… looked fine.
Glancing at his bankbook, she saw the amount [50 million] printed there.
[15:53]
“Is no one else going to take out a loan?”
Han Yujin asked the people around her.
Everyone nodded.
Han Yujin headed to the loans window.
“Welcome, customer.”
The anomaly greeted Han Yujin in a kind voice without any expression.
“I’d like to take out a loan.”
“Please wait a moment. We are evaluating the customer’s rating. Evaluation complete. Customer, you are eligible to borrow ■■■.”
“Pardon?”
What was this anomaly saying?
“You are eligible to borrow ■■■.”
Why am I the only one with a different unit?
Everyone else was borrowing in won.
“How much is that converted into won?”
“You are eligible to borrow ■■■.”
Damn it.
[15:55]
A situation where the employee was spouting an incomprehensible language.
Han Yujin immediately found a method.
“Can I borrow 100,000 won?”
“The minimum loan amount is 1 million won, and currently, customer, you are eligible to borrow 1 million won.”
At this point, Han Yujin pondered for a moment.
Taking out a loan… was the right thing to do for now.
But the problem was how much she should borrow.
The terms and conditions had been written as though repaying the loan was directly tied to survival.
And since Han Yujin was suspicious of this ghost story, borrowing as small an amount as possible might be the reasonable choice.
The problem was that this ghost story could not be trusted.
[15:57]
Damn it, think. Think.
Why does this feel so unpleasant?
Why does a ghost story where everyone naturally tries to profit feel this unpleasant?
Like a procedure manual so unpleasant it felt as though she had to distinguish between a lowercase l and an uppercase I…
“Ah.”
Han Yujin’s eyes flew open.
“Wait. What did you say?”
“Currently, customer, you are eligible to borrow 1 million won.”
Ah. Right. This is it.
Why did I only notice this now!
At the same time, she also realized how much she had to borrow.
[15:58]
“Can I borrow 100 million won?”
“Yes. You can, customer.”
“Then what about 1 billion?”
“Yes. You can, customer.”
[15:59]
“5 billion?”
“Yes. You can, customer.”
Ah. Damn it, how high does this go?
Kang Yerin had definitely only gotten 1.3 billion even with the money bag earlier…!
“10 billion?”
“Yes. You can, customer.”
“30 billion?”
“Yes. You can, customer.”
The time pointed to 15:59:41.
“Do it! Do it, give me the 30 billion loan!”
“Thank you for using our services, customer.”
The bankbook the employee held out.
The moment she confirmed the amount of 30 billion.
“Business hours have ended. Thank you for using our services.”
“Business hours have ended. Thank you for using our services.”
“Business hours have ended. Thank you for using our services.”
“Business hours have ended. Thank you for using our services.”
Every employee in the bank shouted at once.
— Fwoosh!
Four of the survivors died.