Chapter 7 Part 2: Cd-A-11

Out of all the countless mansion ghost stories………

Why this one!

<Discovery Record 1>

At the time of initial observation.

Reports of 20 civilians collectively missing.

Investigation commenced.

The ghost story in question was evaluated.

Unusually, it was immediately assigned ‘Grade A’.

A Grade A ghost story, fundamentally different from others from the start.

[I Don’t Like the Dark!] is known for its troublesome mental damage, and it is resistant to physical attacks, making it impossible to subdue by force.

Normally, before entering this ghost story.

Even if you wear all the ‘mental damage resistance’ items provided by the association without missing a single one, it is still a difficult place.

Now I’m standing barehanded in such a ghost story.

‘No…………….’

You said the first task would be simple!

Just how much do you want to make fun of me, damn it!

I cursed Mr. Announcement inwardly.

But, nothing changes.

When I came to my senses and looked straight ahead again.

I noticed that the front door of the mansion was slightly ajar.

Ah, I don’t like this.

I really, really don’t want to go in.

Ghost stories are really only fun.

When you’re reading someone else’s story.

It’s already too late to back out.

The whisper that just came to my ear.

It’s like a signal to start the ghost story.

As I stepped into the mansion, as if to prevent me from going back.

I felt a creepy sensation as if an unknown ‘sinister shadow’ was clinging to my back.

And I instinctively realized.

I absolutely must not.

Look back.

If, despite that pressure, someone expresses a strong will to go back?

<Exploration Record 5>

Employee Lee Hyun-seok couldn’t overcome the creepiness and tried to forcibly twist his body to escape the mansion.

At that moment, the conflicting choices of the lower body that didn’t want to go back and the upper body that wanted to go back asserted their rights.

Crack!

[Censored].

Lee Hyun-seok’s body, split in two, was lying on the floor.

Let’s not try to experience that situation with my own body.

Gulp.

I swallowed hard.

Park Yeon-jung, with a grimace, slowly took one step at a time towards the mansion.

The exterior looked surprisingly well-maintained for a mansion in the mountains.

Even though I had entered a ghost story, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable about trespassing on someone else’s house.

‘A knock should be okay, right?’

Knock knock knock.

It’s obviously a meaningless act.

I just did it for my own sake.

Park Yeon-jung grabbed the doorknob with trembling hands and opened the front door.

The first thing that caught my eye was the interior.

It’s brighter than I thought.”

The lighting was so bright it almost hurt my eyes.

I felt a sense of warmth and an unsettling feeling of stability at the same time.

And again, a small whisper tickling my ear.

『It’s cleaner inside than I thought?』

Ah, damn it.

Absolutely one of the worst lines you should never say in this kind of horror.

Flicker!

Ah…….

All the lights that had been illuminating the entire mansion until just now went out at once, and the warmth that had been felt quickly faded away.

In place of the warmth that disappeared, only a chilling cold pierced through my body.

In the darkness where you can’t see an inch in front of you.

Flicker.

Dozens of candles that slowly illuminate the interior of the mansion are lit.

…It’s started.

The prologue to the full-fledged story of this ghost story has finally begun.

<Exploration Record 46>

As soon as Deputy Manager Jung Sang-woon entered the mansion, he quickly started extinguishing all the candles recorded in the manual.

Yeah, the key strategy required in the current [I Don’t Like the Dark!] ghost story is.

Speed and memory.

To put it simply, all you have to do is extinguish all the candles lit by our ghost story guy who hates the dark.

A strategy that seems really simple on the surface.

In fact, the candles that need to be extinguished are also ordinary candles that we know, so it seems like a ghost story that doesn’t have anything special, you just have to extinguish them.

So how many candles do you have to extinguish?

A total of 112.

Still, if we look at it from a positive perspective.

I remember the location of all the candles in this mansion.

I don’t know if Mr. Announcement intended it, but since I have the cheat-level glasses ‘Top Student Glasses’ that can recall everything I’ve seen once, there’s no problem in finding the locations of the candles.

The biggest problem here is.

Running away from the guys who are interfering with me extinguishing the candles.

Deputy Manager Jung Sang-woon, who had smoothly extinguished 21 candles, swallowed hard when he realized that he had been ‘caught by them’ from the loud tremor he heard from behind him.

The ‘little friends’ have started to move.

Commonly known as ‘little friends’.

Like the white gloves in Mr. Announcement’s ghost story, another ghost story observed together in the [I Don’t Like the Dark!] ghost story.

Candles are like a trigger to call the ‘little friends’.

When the act of extinguishing the candles in the mansion is in progress, our cute teddy bears start chasing the person who is extinguishing the candles.

To be precise, as soon as the candles are extinguished, you will be subjected to continuous ‘mental domination’ of this mansion, and the mental domination here takes the form of hallucinations becoming real.

Due to this, the small and cute teddy bear we knew has grown to more than twice the size of a real wild bear.

Some people might ask.

No matter how big a teddy bear gets.

Isn’t it just a lump of cotton in the end?

Have you heard of that meme?

-Bears, tear people apart.

This teddy bear also tears people apart.

It just has the appearance of a cute teddy bear.

The teddy bears here, tear people apart like paper!

I’m in a situation where I’ve considered all of this, and I haven’t been able to extinguish a single candle for several minutes.

I’m just warming my body with the warmth of the candlelight.

…It’s warm.

‘I just want to stay like this.’

I don’t like scary things.

I don’t want to die even more.

However, my stamina is not enough to avoid the dolls that are rushing to tear people apart.

…This. It’s checkmate.

It’s over.

Wouldn’t it be the wisest choice to just starve to death like this?

While I was thinking that.

Whoosh.

Wind?

Dust that had been lying on the floor of the mansion due to the wind blowing from somewhere, settled precisely in Park Yeon-jung’s nostrils.

It’s itchy.

Any moment now, a sneeze……………!!

No!

But there was no way I could stop the sudden physiological phenomenon.

Achoo!!

I let it out loudly.

And when I looked back at the candle in front of me.

The small warmth had disappeared without a trace.

Only thin white smoke was flickering in front of my eyes.

.Ah.”

The number of remaining candles is 111.

How many hours have passed since I entered the ghost story?

The total number of candles I’ve extinguished so far is 11.

The number of remaining candles is 101.

It’s the result of trying my best to find them with the fastest possible pace.

“I know too.

At this rate, I’ll never be able to extinguish all the candles in this mansion.

I’m a man who can’t run a 100m sprint in under 20 seconds.

My running level is at the lowest of the lowest.

The exploration record stated that a trained deputy manager-level employee was barely able to shake off the dolls.

So the day I meet the dolls, I’ll die at that moment.

Boom!

!!

Speak of the devil.

A small vibration on the ground felt from beyond the dark corridor.

It’s the little friends.

If caught, death is certain.

“Damn it!”

Thump!

I ran recklessly.

I ran at the maximum speed I could muster to survive.

I ran away without even having time to extinguish the candles scattered in the corridor.

I kept running…looking only ahead.

Boom!

Freeze!

But this time, the direction of the footsteps was from the front.

Vibrations approaching from both the front and back in a straight corridor.

Thump.

I’m going to die.

Thump.

It felt like my heart would burst first from the extreme heartbeat and I would stop breathing.

Thump thump thump.

Boom!

My legs lost strength, and when my heavier-than-usual butt touched the ground……………I was sitting down helplessly.

It was impossible from the start.

It was a ridiculous strategy.

Boom!

My eyes closed automatically in extreme fear.

How scary the fear that constricts the breath is.

I felt it anew with my whole body.

Boom!!

The vibration is close.

It was probably a distance where the teddy bear was less than 30cm away.

Sweat-soaked palms.

Trembling legs.

Along with the fear of being split in half like a ‘popsicle’.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

What?

Did my senses become dull because the fear was at its peak?

Tap! Tap!

A faint sensation as if something small was touching my leg.

I didn’t want to open my eyes because I was scared.

But when I unknowingly opened my eyes to check the mysterious touch.

At the end of my gaze, I saw a group of teddy bears struggling to grab my pant leg.

A group of teddy bears discovered.

And very small in size.

A group of teddy bears that were so adorably small in size, a far cry from Park Yeon-jung’s expectations, in keyring size.

Thud.

“04….”

One of the teddy bears that had been struggling to grab and pull my pant leg.

Lost its grip on my pant leg.

Thud!

And fell to the ground.

The other dolls who witnessed the scene rushed to the fallen teddy bear.

A cute scene that you would only see in a fairy tale book, where they help it get up.

“…This is the teddy bear that tears people apart?”

I blurted out without realizing it.

But.

No matter how I look at it.

It’s just a cute teddy bear keyring.

Was it because the number of candles extinguished was still small?

‘Or………………’

I thought there were only two possible variables in the current situation.

I didn’t really want to confirm it.

But clearly, this phenomenon felt very different from the appearance of the ghost story ‘little friends’ that I knew.

Then now.

I have to move.

I immediately started extinguishing the candles that I had passed by without extinguishing them, being chased by the teddy bear just now.

Flick.

The total number of extinguished candles was 25.

The exploration record stated that when it exceeded 20.

Giant teddy bears always appeared in front of the employees.

Gulp.

‘Please.’

I turned my head to check for the teddy bears that would be chasing me.

Boom!

A loud vibration was felt in the deep darkness.

I was a little nervous.

But soon, the appearance of the guys who broke through the deep darkness and vibrations.

Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter.

The little friends were struggling to chase me in the same keyring size as before.

As expected.’

It’s because of these glasses.

/Item List

Top Student Glasses.

(Perfect for cramming friends.)

High obsession with academics. Never swayed by other temptations.

Since it was rarely used in the <Ghost Story Record Repository>.

I didn’t know to what extent it prevented mental damage.

With these glasses…

I might be able to do it.

No, I can do it!

Thank you, Mr. Announcement…no. Supervisor Announcement!

I’ll do my best!

Park Yeon-jung, who had somehow pledged allegiance to the ghost story.

Click.

Park Yeon-jung’s gaze, experiencing the power of the Top Student Glasses in real time, was on the guys who were barely chasing after him with those short legs.

Crack.

He stretched and his eyes changed.

“Then…shall we start extinguishing the candles?”

Operative Park Yeon-jung.

Temporary assignment to firefighter position.

Fire suppression…………start!

Pitter-patter!

Pitter-patter!

Pitter-patter…thud!

Don’t those guys ever get tired?

Or, is it because they are made of simple cloth and cotton, they can’t feel tired?

Anyway, it’s good that they look cute.

Every time I felt bored with the simple act of extinguishing candles, the teddy bears came chasing after me, so I wasn’t bored.

Of course, I don’t know what kind of mindset they have while chasing me.

But I don’t need to know their inner feelings, do I?

The total number of candles extinguished so far is 101.

Flick.

Just now.

102.

Now there are only 10 candles left.

It’s going surprisingly smoothly for a Grade A ghost story, which makes me feel relieved, but I kept at least a minimum level of tension.

It’s a Grade A ghost story after all.

I don’t know what kind of twist might happen.

Flick.

Now 9 left…….

Patter patter patter!

!!

Suddenly, a hurried footstep sound from behind.

Are they the teddy bear guys?!

Thud!

No.

The teddy bear guys are still within my sight.

The identity of the sound coming from beyond the darkness is another unknown entity.

“Damn it, what now!”

Almost there.

…There’s nothing I can do.

I don’t know what’s going on, but what I need now is.

Speed.

It might be a little slow.

Flick.

8 left.

Patter patter patter patter patter!

The steps are big and busy.

But judging by the loudness of the sound, the distance between me and it hasn’t narrowed much.

It’s a little slower than me, or a little faster.

This is doable.

Flick.

Flick.

Flick.

Flick.

The location of the remaining candles is good.

Now there are 4 candles left.

Patter patter patter patter patter patter!

The sound gets a little closer.

It’s not that the steps of the guy chasing me have gotten faster.

“Sigh!”

I slowed down.

This damn poor stamina.

Flick.

“O, only…3 more…………!”

A direct hit to the head, a ringing sensation.

Is it the doing of the ghost story guy chasing me?

But I have ‘Top Student Glasses’. I can endure this level of mental damage and run.

Flick.

2 left!

Patter patter patter patter patter patter patter patter!

Flick.

1 left!

Now there is only one candle left.

Not far from the current location.

Second floor study, left corner window!

If I extinguish that candle.

『No!!!!!』

Grab!

!!!

Suddenly, I felt a sensation of my left leg being grabbed.

Thud!

I lost my balance and fell.

I was caught.

I’m going to die.

I definitely felt the force of something pulling.

‘Almost there…?

It was frustrating.

If only I had been a little faster, if only I hadn’t been sluggish at the beginning……

Breathing heavily, I slowly lowered my head to look at my left leg with enlarged pupils in the darkness.

There was.

A teddy bear with the physique of a young child.

『No! That fire…………don’t put it out!!』

The teddy bear that was holding my leg looked up and met my eyes.

I stared at the teddy bear for a while, and said in a trembling voice.

“……A, a child?”

It’s not a small teddy bear.

A young child with cute doll ears like a teddy bear on top of its head.

The moment I met this child’s eyes, I thought, ‘Could it be a young child who was drawn into the ghost story?’

『Don’t put out the fire!』

No, it’s not.