Chapter 12: Second day at work

I accidentally blurted out a reaction that was too loud. But the man acted as if he didn’t mind.

“Is this your first visit?”

“……Ah, yes.”

A lie came out.

What if he asks for detailed information about the agency..? A myriad of thoughts flashed through my mind.

“You don’t have to be too wary. I asked because you seemed quite familiar for a first-timer.”

“…If I, have been rude, I apologize…………”

I wanted to avoid being disliked by the owner of the store I might have to visit continuously in the future.

“What? No, of course not.”

Contrary to my worries. A casual answer came back.

“More importantly, are there any other items you need?”

The man, who had somehow returned to his shopkeeper mode, asked if I was thinking of purchasing any additional items.

Clink.

But at that moment, a movement felt in my pocket.

‘Ah, right.’

I almost forgot.

Besides purchasing items, there was one more reason why I visited this place. The Ghost Story General Store.

Rustle, rustle.

I took out the employee ID card from my pants pocket and asked the man.

“Do you also appraise items?”

“It’s my specialty. Just leave it to me.”

Actually, this was also something I already knew.

But I said it in a roundabout way to avoid receiving the same suspicion as before.

“Let’s see.”

The man took the employee ID card and began to examine it casually.

I stared blankly at the scene and thought.

Can you tell just by looking at it with the naked eye?

It was clearly stated in the <Ghost Story Record Repository> that items could be appraised at the Ghost Story General Store, but the process was never described in detail.

‘Seeing it in person, my confidence…………….’

I looked at the man with an untrusting gaze, but fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice.

Thud.

The man gently placed the employee ID card he was holding on the counter and looked at it with an interested gaze.

It’s strange.”

“Yes?”

And the man held out the employee ID card and asked as if he was puzzled.

“This. Who did you get it from?”

It seems like I’m shutting my mouth a lot today.

The man didn’t pry any further into the continued silence this time either.

“……No. It seems like I asked something I shouldn’t have. It seems like a valuable item, so I’ll return it to you quickly.”

What?

A valuable item?

Is this not just an ordinary employee ID card?

Well, it’s strange that it’s not special since it’s an item given directly by a ghost story, but judging from the man’s reaction just now, it seemed like there was something hidden that I didn’t know about.

I’m dying of curiosity.

Please tell me!

“Is there something wrong with the appraisal result?”

“……Customer. Do you know how the items in this place are made?”

No, this guy!

If I don’t even know this basic common sense, I can’t say that I like this worldview.

‘What do you take me for!’

The source of items with power like ghost stories is, of course, found in the process of exploring ghost stories.

The ‘little friends’ that I accidentally obtained recently are a good example.

Items that the ghost stories themselves used. Or, a certain strange power is imbued in an object deeply related to the ghost story theme.

Of course, it’s difficult to identify which items have special powers with the naked eye.

So, the agency uses a device that can detect those specific items to collect them.

The deeper settings than this are TMI, so I’ll pass for now.

One thing for sure.

Usually, items imbued with strange powers can only be obtained in ghost stories.

If my memory is correct, the agency’s technology was only at the level of producing a small amount of low-quality items.

I explained this part very briefly to the man.

“……This is what I know.”

“You know it well? That’s correct. Currently, even in the agency, it can be said that it is best to obtain items from ghost stories.”

“”

While feeling a little proud of that praise, the more I wondered what kind of ghost story the employee ID card I had been holding until now was from, the more I was surprised.

The more I wondered, the more my curiosity grew.

“…It’s a ghost story.”

“……Yes?”

“The item that the customer is currently holding is an unbelievable item created by compressing the ghost story itself through some method.”

A ghost story?

This employee ID card?

The setting of making a ghost story into an item is a setting that did not exist on the original site.

Then, this one employee ID card on my palm is a by-product that should not exist here.

‘This employee ID card is a ghost story?’

No matter how I look at it, it looks like a very ordinary employee ID card?

The image of the man looking over this employee ID card with his naked eyes earlier flashed by, and this time, while Park Yeon-jung was looking it over.

An unexpected word followed.

“That employee ID card. It seems to have the power of a ghost story that dealt with sub-space. Currently, glasses…bear dolls? I don’t know why these things are inside, though.”

“The important point here is that this item. Someone artificially made it. …I can’t take it anymore!”

Thud!

Suddenly!

The man, who had been calm until just now, suddenly leaned forward and exuded a completely different atmosphere.

“I can’t stand it! Customer!”

“Yes, yes?!”

What can’t you stand?!

“Can you introduce me to the person who made this item!”

“……”

“I will definitely reward you!”

That………… person is not a person.

It’s a ghost story.

But this made it clear.

The reason why the ‘top student glasses’ and ‘little friends’ suddenly disappeared was related to this employee ID card.

“If you just introduce me! I’ll give you the most expensive item in my store!”

“!!!”

I couldn’t help but sparkle.

…But.

Get a grip.

If I said that, I might be killed by that announcer.

The risk is too great to make a hasty judgment now.

…I’m sorry. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. I’ll be going now.”

“Yes? W, wait a minute!!”

Grab!

But the man’s eyes were already half-crazed.

“One is not enough, right!!

Then two…no, three. No, I’ll give you as many as you want! So just tell that person about me!!”

This person is scary!

Help me!

Eyes filled with madness, as much as a ghost story.

And he’s so strong, I can’t get away.

I was intuitively realizing the madness that would not let me go until I said what I wanted, if I continued like this.

Vibrate-

Again, the vibration of the smartphone felt in my pants pocket.

But this time, I didn’t have to check.

Crackle-

With the familiar noise that brushed past my ear.

“……Huh?”

Thud!

The air changed.

The bright light that strongly heated my head.

The familiar interior of the building.

Before I knew it, I was standing in the damn library’s central hall.

Vibrate-

Why?

The vibration of the smartphone ringing again.

The madman disappeared before my eyes. But my wrist, which that man had been holding, still throbbed.

It’s not a dream.

Vibrate-

With the vibration continuing, I finally checked the smartphone that was ringing.

The cause of the vibration was an alarm message that I had never set.

And the time displayed on the smartphone was exactly.

AM09:00.

Work hours. That’s right.’

Arrived at work on time?

Crackle-

Crackle-

From the speaker, not the guy’s voice.

Crackle-

Only the noise that continued to tickle my ears leaked out of the speaker’s sound quality.

I silently waited for the guy who might come at any moment, wondering if I was hearing things in my ears now.

Tap tap.

The touch of touching my shoulder.

When I turned my gaze, a white glove was waving at me.

It was a white librarian.

Good morning.”

I also answered with a morning greeting.

And as if in response to my morning greeting, another white glove appeared.

Flap.

Another guy was holding something like paper in his hand and immediately handed it to me.

Can I look at it?”

It was a very cowardly moment, but this is a ghost story where you have to be careful even with the floor you’ve been stepping on normally.

As the saying goes, look before you leap.

You have to doubt everything here, observe, and act carefully.

The white librarian heard my words just now.

ok.

He seemed to try to reassure me with a gesture, but…of course, I didn’t want to check it if I could help it.

…But I have to check it, right?’

If I don’t check the paper, I can’t proceed to the next step anyway.

Park Yeon-jung, who supports the direction of getting hit first, immediately checked the back of the paper that was handed to him.

There was someone’s writing on it.

I could read the writing.

『Congratulations on your second day of work, Employee Park Yeon-jung!』

That was all.

That was all the writing on the A4 paper.

…If you wanted to claim the beauty of the margins, it was content that didn’t have any nutritional value.

If it’s going to be this simple greeting, wouldn’t it have been the right decision to just say it out loud?

While I was looking at it with that perspective in front of my eyes.

Flap!

I received another piece of paper.

Is it a love letter?

“…Thank you.”

Again, I finished a simple thank you and checked the back of the paper.

『I wanted to congratulate you in person, but I’m really sorry.』

*Flap!

When I finished reading this short line, another piece of paper was additionally given.

…If you’re going to do this, give it to me all at once.

『Actually, today, of all things, there’s a meeting scheduled with a high-ranking person who will be responsible for the future of the company!』

Flap!

『I originally wanted to arrange a meeting with Employee Park Yeon-jung, but. ‘Work-life balance’…………….』

Flap!

『It’s called ‘work-life balance’! Employee Park Yeon-jung, time is personal.』

Flap!

『Unfortunately, you couldn’t attend the meeting, but instead, I would like you to handle a simple task.』

That word ‘simple task’.

I declared that I would not believe it anymore.

Flap!

『I always believe in Employee Park Yeon-jung. c』

My gaze checked the last smile mark and looked at the white librarian.

He wasn’t holding any more scraps of paper.

……Is this the end?

Park Yeon-jung, who received the story in a way that would be used in a cheesy proposal.

And before I knew it.

A white wooden door leading to another ghost story was prepared so that I could proceed with my work at any time.

I stared blankly at the glove that still hadn’t disappeared and was floating in the air.

“Perhaps.”

It was a strange sight to others, but for now, this was the only person with whom I could have at least minimal communication.

“Do I have to go in right now?”

Then another glove appeared and answered my question with its hand.

X.

That’s a relief.

“Thank you.”

I showed respect until the end.

Showing respect was not an act that consumed a great price.

I thought there was no need to leave a bad impression on them.

And this made it clear.

That the other variant ‘white librarian’, that glove in this library, is also an independent intelligent being.

I felt a little relieved to think that I didn’t have to go straight into the next ghost story.

Before entering the ghost story.

My job was to check the items.

Current item list.

[Top Student Glasses]
[Quill Pen?]
[Employee ID Card?]
[Little Friends]
[Taste of Death x 3]
[(Ordinary) Lighter]
[Thousand Eyes]

Excluding the two items whose proper names and usage are still unknown.

There are 4 items that can be used immediately.

[Top Student Glasses]
[Little Friends]
[Taste of Death x 3]
[(Ordinary) Lighter]
[Thousand Eyes]

But the problem here is.

‘How do I take out the glasses and the bear dolls?’

I confirmed that the items were inside this employee ID card through the appraisal of the man at the Ghost Story General Store.

But I didn’t ask how to take them out.

Clink.

Park Yeon-jung begins to examine the employee ID card from side to side.

Even so, this appearance made me think of the man at the Ghost Story General Store.

No matter how much I look at this small employee ID card, there’s no way a newbie like me can figure it out.

Moreover, there’s no way I can know the information about an item that is not even listed in the <Ghost Story Record Repository>.

……………If this is the case, the number of items that can actually be used is narrowed down to 2.

[Taste of Death x 3]
[(Ordinary) Lighter]

[Thousand Eyes]

The range of choices has been drastically reduced.

But suddenly, a white librarian is approaching me.

‘…Does he know?’

I held out the employee ID card in front of the white librarian and politely asked.

“Is it possible to take out the items inside this?”

The white librarian heard my words and looked around the employee ID card.

Grab!

He snatched the employee ID card held in my palm.

I was surprised by the sudden action of the guy, but the white librarian approached me and unfolded the string of the employee ID card, gently brushing it from the top of my head, down my cheek,

Clink.

He hung the employee ID card he had taken around my neck.

???

And with a ‘ok’ sign that seemed quite satisfactory, the guy left Park Yeon-jung’s side.

-Employee Park Yeon-jung, normal attendance.

With the mysterious phrase that appeared in the air.

Spit!

A small something that seemed to be spat out and fell to the floor.

“That guy.”

A bear doll waving its small stuffed arm at me happily.

So I just had to hang it around my neck?

A surprisingly simple method of use. Then how do I put it back?

‘More than that, where are the glasses?’

The other two bear dolls were also missing.

When the doubts about the definite usage still hadn’t disappeared.

Peek.

……Ah?

A strange sight of another bear doll sticking its body halfway out of the employee ID card and greeting me in the place where I slightly lowered my gaze.

Flail!

The bear doll, which was shaking its hands here and there as if it was very happy, suddenly lost its balance.

Thud!

Ah……

Its body came out of the employee ID card and it fell to the floor.

The location where the bear doll just came out was the inner space inside the employee ID card.

…Gulp.

I swallowed hard.

If the bear doll came out of this employee ID card, there is a high possibility that other items are also inside this small employee ID card.

Park Yeon-jung slowly touched the surface of the employee ID card with his finger.

Swoosh!

!!!

My finger was instantly sucked into the employee ID card.

One thing for sure.

‘Aaaah!!!’

The feeling of using that item was the worst of the worst.