Less than a minute after Han Yujin’s exposé was posted, the gallery split perfectly into three groups.
The first was the screams of those who had fallen into panic.
——————
[Title: Fuck, what do I do? I’ve had a deposit here for 8 months]
Author: SweetDealAllByMyself
[Content] What the hell do I do? I bought info from the Yuil Company guys and put in a deposit. It was insanely hard just getting into the Bank ghost story. I had to reroll like 1,000 times before I finally got in!!!!!!!!
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
Am I dead? Seriously dead???
I’m dying in 8 months?
[Comments]
[LivingForToday]: You dealt with Yuil Company? Goodbye~ Goodbye~
[AfterHardshipComesMoreHardship]: This is why people should live the hard way
[LotsPreparedButEatALittle]: No, but how much money did you make? ㄴ[SweetDealAllByMyself]: I made 2.3 billion, but what use is that now!!!!!
ㄴ[DepressedMentalMenhera]: Ah f*ck, I’d rather just live for a year with 2.3 billion and d1e. Wanna trade lives with me?
——————
The second was the type that pounced on juicy bait like this and tried to analyze it.
——————
[Hot Post] [Analysis] A Reexamination of the “??? Bank” Ghost Story. It is not D-rank.
Author: LogicCircuit
[Content] User “ㅇㅇ”’s hypothesis has been confirmed as fact. The last activity records of all the nicknames he presented are under two years ago. All the pieces fit.
Abnormally high rate of return: bait to lure survivors.
Low surface-level difficulty: camouflage to lower their guard.
The distinction between “customers” and “users”: the core trap of the system.
Conclusion: There is a very high possibility that this ghost story is at least B-rank disguised as D-rank, or a “double-structured ghost story” where two ghost stories overlap.
The question that arises here is the possibility that the anomaly knows of the gallery’s existence.
Is it taking the form of luring people in with a D-rank ghost story, then devouring them with another ghost story?
I want to believe it’s not to that extent.
[Comments]
[OrthodoxMethod*]: I agree. It seems entry into the relevant ghost story should be handled with the utmost caution.
[LivingForToday]: Wow, shit, it’s deliberately baiting people with a D-rank ghost story? That’s even scarier
ㄴ[LogicCircuit]: Honestly, I don’t think it’s that bad. Just a possibility
And the last was awe and worship toward the new rising star standing at the center of all this chaos.
——————
[Title: Honestly, “ㅇㅇ” isn’t really a newbie, right?]
Author: FactBomber
[Content] A newbie saw through something dozens, hundreds of veterans had been fooled by for over a year in a single day? That makes no sense. I apologize for calling him an attention whore last time.
Lord ㅇㅇ, just what are you…
[Comments]
[LotsPreparedButEatALittle]: Is he the savior of the gallery?
[CatEarsAreTruth]: A new gallery lord has appeared, nya!
ㄴ [Mounta1nRabbit]: I don’t think it’s that far. What kind of gallery lord is a net1kama like this?
[LivingForToday]: For real, if that bastard isn’t an anomaly, then I’m the anomaly. How is that possible?
——————
Han Yujin’s lips curled up at the explosive response.
This was it.
This attention, this chaos, this worship.
All the reasons for hanging around the gallery existed for this pleasure.
And what you absolutely couldn’t leave out at a time like this was popcorn!
Switching completely into spectator mode, Han Yujin crossed one leg and reached a hand out beside her.
She touched something warm.
Ah. There’s no popcorn here.
She had only ended up touching the hair of the newbie, who had her head lowered for no reason.
“Um… excuse me….”
“Ah, sorry. I thought you were popcorn.”
“P-popcorn…?”
Tch.
When I get out of here, I’m buying popcorn first.
As she was thinking that, the newbie beside her called out again with an “Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“Um… u-umm…….”
A voice as small as a mosquito’s. Eyes steeped in fear.
Was this what a flustered newbie usually felt like?
But she was also filled with desperation, staring at Han Yujin as though looking at a savior.
“I… I took out a loan earlier… for 1 million won…. And I got the deposit right away too.”
Han Yujin glanced at her bankbooks.
Customer loan account: 1 million won.
User-only account: 1.67 million won.
“The… the deposit interest is rising too fast. I-it’s already 670,000 won.”
The amount left after subtracting the loan from the account balance.
That was already 670,000 won.
No. Now it was 680,000 won.
Her interest was actually updating in real time.
Blink once more and it was 1.69 million won.
What the hell is this?
“T-that’s what the employee said earlier. I mean the employee at the deposit counter. Th-that because the amount was small for me, the user, it might be paid out quickly. Th-that’s, that’s what he said. But. But.”
“Ah.”
Han Yujin let out a short sigh.
Newbies were precious.
If a single newbie grew up well, they would write hundreds of posts and thousands of comments for the gallery.
And yet.
[ 1.73 million won ]
“Wh-what do I do? I… I can still… live for a year, right?”
Her eyes trembled with despair. Han Yujin silently looked up at the clock in the lounge. There were still more than 14 hours left until the next business opening.
“E-excuse me. Please say something. I can’t. I want to go home. It really can’t end like this. My little brother. What about my little brother? He can’t live on his own. I have to send him money today at least.”
For the first time, Han Yujin felt helpless.
Rules.
A ghost story was a small world governed by rules.
No matter how good she was at finding loopholes in a ghost story and clearing it, all she could do was move within the rules.
“Y-you said I could live…. The procedure manual said so. It said I could get out as long as I paid the interest….”
[ 1.97 million won ]
The newbie’s voice began to sound hollow.
“Why, why won’t anyone answer me? I’m… right here….”
Her existence was growing faint.
The other survivors around them passed by without seeing her. It wasn’t intentional disregard.
Because the very existence known as her was being erased from the world, they could not even perceive her.
“Please… please say something…! What’s going to happen to me?!”
She screamed and tried to grab Han Yujin’s arm beside her. But her hand passed through Han Yujin’s body like a phantom.
And then, whoosh.
Something like a black arm appeared in midair and dragged her away.
A scream filled with utmost terror burst out, but that scream no longer reached anyone.
Soon, even her form scattered like a heat haze and vanished completely.
As though no one had been there from the very beginning.
Han Yujin was writing a post in the gallery as usual.
——————
[Title: I don’t think we can get out of this bank the normal way]
Author: ㅇㅇ
[Content]
I’m thinking of raising hell.
But I won’t be doing it myself.
I’ll be getting some cooperation from an expert.
——————
“Mm.”
Han Yujin tilted her head.
Why did I write this post?
She wasn’t sure, but for now, she registered it.
Because it seemed like it would draw aggro well.
The gallery filled with horrified comments like, “What is this crazy bastard plotting now?” “Cooperation? What cooperation, who are you going to threaten?” “I don’t know who it is, but I feel so bad for them,” and “Please don’t threaten an anomaly, pleasepleaseplease,” but Han Yujin’s lips were already curling up unpleasantly.
◆
Kang Yerin felt her whole body trembling like an aspen.
Just moments ago, something had definitely been there. The terrible sight of one terrified newbie speaking to Han Yujin, sobbing, and disappearing had unfolded before her eyes.
‘No, did it?’
Her memories were hazy, as though fog had settled in her head. Only the afterimage of something terrible having happened remained; she couldn’t recall exactly what it had been. Goosebumps rose over her skin at the chilling sense of wrongness.
This place was dangerous.
This place, which they had called a “mining ground” and firmly believed to be safe, was in truth a slaughterhouse that traded money for lives.
With trembling hands, Kang Yerin accessed the company intranet and submitted an emergency report.
— “Bank” ghost story confirmed to be A-rank or higher risk disguised as D-rank. Immediate withdrawal of all personnel and asset recovery procedures required. Information source: “Rule Ghost Story Gallery” user “ㅇㅇ.”
A reply came less than three minutes after she submitted the report. But its contents shattered her expectations.
[As of this moment, all assets within “Bank” will be processed as irrecoverable “losses.” On-site personnel are to devise survival measures independently. The company cannot provide any support. There exists no reliable method of entering “Bank.”]
“……What?”
It meant they were being told to fend for themselves.
It was effectively a death sentence.
The blood drained from Kang Yerin’s face.
Her lips dried from rage and betrayal.
She had always been the company’s loyal dog. And now… she had been abandoned?
At that moment, Kang Yerin’s shoulders flinched at the voice coming from behind her.
“How is it, Manager? What did I tell you? There’s no such thing as free in this world.”
It was Han Yujin.
She was looking down at Kang Yerin with her uniquely irritating expression, as though she could see through everything.
“Wh-what! What do you know!”
Han Yujin shrugged and held out her arm.
Drops of blood were falling from it, drip by drip.
“Wh-what is it? You’re bleeding? What do you want me to do about it?”
“No. Not the blood. Look at the writing.”
— If the total assets in the user-only account exceed twice the loan account plus the value of the interest, you disappear.
Words carved onto her arm with a ballpoint pen like a tattoo.
At the spine-chilling method of note-taking, Kang Yerin’s face twisted into a deep frown.
“Do you not have a notepad? If not, you could’ve just said so.”
“You think I wouldn’t have? It must’ve been a memo that couldn’t be allowed to disappear.”
“What?”
“It means something disappeared. I don’t know what, though. Otherwise, it’s not like I’m some crazy bitch—why would I carve a memo into my arm?”
Kang Yerin could not agree with Han Yujin’s words.
‘…But you are a crazy bitch.’
Because in Kang Yerin’s eyes, Han Yujin was one of the very top crazy bitches among all survivors.