Chapter 1 Part 1: New Employee Recruitment

Swish…swish.

This is the sound from my mouth.

I was mistaken for a disaster-grade tale employee.

My index finger endlessly swiped up and down on the small LCD screen, as if it were searching for something.

[★★

$NewEmployeeRecruitmentAd$

☆★]

…This.

A pop-up window that screams ‘Don’t click’ no matter who looks at it.

Is this the kind of job advertisement that recruits new employees in this day and age?

But was it because of that clickbait phrase? As if drawn to something. Our curious index finger was looking at the obviously fraudulent phrase.

With a light touch.

The window moved to the job advertisement.

[Recruiting new employees!] (Anyone is welcome!)

Experience: None. (The younger, the better.)

Education: None.

Preference: Intact body. Diligence and sincerity.

Employment Type: Full-time.

Salary: Differentiated payment based on performance.

Region: Worldwide.

…No experience or education required.

The preferred qualification is a young person with all four limbs.

This is a golden opportunity to make the front page of tomorrow morning’s news.

It might be more intuitive to change the announcement to ‘Recruiting people who want to say goodbye to life early’.

Normally, it would be correct to ignore such an advertisement that looks like it would be deeply involved in a crime.

No, there is no such thing as a correct answer. No one would apply after seeing this job advertisement.

There is.

If there is anyone who applies for this recruitment post, that person is either illiterate or a curious idiot.

“Two people have applied.”

Seriously?

There are so many incomprehensible people in the world.

But the index finger, which had been blankly hovering over the application form.

When I wondered what the hell it was thinking so deeply about.

With a ‘pop’ sound.

[Your application has been received.]

Well, now there are three.

The index finger touched the <Application> section, which had been the center of that grand criticism until just now.

Our index finger has gone crazy!

This is not something I did. The index finger did it on its own!

Actually, my right hand has a black flame…

Park Yeon-jeong, a job seeker, is lying in bed and making a scene.

Oh, and by the way, I’m a man.

I’ve been told many times before that my name sounds like a woman’s.

To explain a small happening, when I go to a job interview, they always check my resume and my face alternately twice.

‘You must get a lot of questions about your name being feminine, right?’

Then my answer is.

‘Ah… yes. I hear that often.’

Now it has become something I don’t care much about, to the point where I automatically respond when someone taps me on the shoulder.

Right now, there is a more pressing story to tell than the trivial story of my name being feminine.

The agenda of why Park Yeon-jeong registered an application for that ridiculous job advertisement.

Did he feel lethargic about life?

Yes. (That’s why I’m going to order chicken for dinner.)

Did he need money to take care of his parents’ medical bills?

They are perfectly healthy, though?

…No way! Did you stand as someone’s guarantor?

No. (And who stands as a guarantor like a fool these days? It’s common sense that even elementary school students know.)

Then why?

Of course, it’s just for fun. Is there any big reason?

Yes, this is an act done solely for fun.

And.

You seem to be mistaken about something.

I’m a job seeker with my eyes wide open. Don’t underestimate a job seeker who has already jumped into the job market with
their own standards several times!

I’m not stupid enough to be swayed by these ridiculous provisions.

The job site I’m currently looking at on my smartphone is not a typical site.

It is a creative wiki site.

Even there.

An anonymous collective intelligence horror story creation site that is currently gaining popularity among many people on the
Internet.

The name of the site that made me, who had always liked genres like ‘Urban Fantasy’, become overly immersed for a long
time.

As the name suggests, it is a concept site that records various ghost stories that incorporate many strange phenomena that
may not exist in the real world.

An organization that manages ghost stories.

Numerous bizarre ghost stories.

Besides that, even weapons to subdue ghost stories.

Currently, <Ghost Story Record Storage> has gained a large fan base due to its surprisingly solid worldview, and it is an IP
that is on the rise, even selling goods through various fundings.

I am also a site that I am deeply immersed in, to the extent that I bought the most expensive product that can be bought
from that funding.

Then.

You will probably have an idea of what I did earlier with the ‘New Employee Recruitment Notice’.

A very hot ghost story that has been registered after being reviewed by many experts.

/Ghost Story Log.

As.

[New employees are always welcome!]

:Identification code Cd-F-1129.

F grade.

A ghost story first recorded on 20XX.01.01. It is a (F) grade ghost story that still has little known and requires continuous
exploration.

The revealed peculiarity is that it has the form of a large library, but there is not a single book on the bookshelf.

Our newborn baby ghost story friend selected as F grade.

Now, this child will be reborn with numerous settings by many ghost story followers.

“What am I doing right now?”

A deep sigh escapes my mouth as I see myself spending time just holding my smartphone.

I entered my 20s and jumped into the job market. It’s already been a little over two years.

I know.

I know that companies don’t look very favorably on people in their 20s these days.

I also found out that most companies are not like that while preparing for a job.

But, people.

You know how people are.

After falling a few times in the employment front. Sometimes lethargy comes over me.

Yes, I am at that point right now.

After several interview failures, I was lying in bed in my room. I had lost my will to the point where I submitted an
application to someone’s trivial ‘New Employee Recruitment Notice’ made for fun.

It was as if the whole room was raining, and the dampness dominated the space.

“Ah! Let’s get some air!”

I felt like mold would grow on my body if I stayed like this.

It was on the verge of growing mushrooms if I did well.

Let’s move.

There’s no point in raising anxiety.

I packed all the books on the desk into my bag and hurriedly left the damp, moldy-smelling room.

The bright morning sun shines down.

I inhaled the refreshing morning air in the warm sunlight.

It’s too cold.

Come to think of it, the outside temperature is.

-8 degrees below zero.

I hurriedly buried my face in my clothes and trembled at another regret that I had kicked out of the warm blanket.

Vibration-

A vibration is felt in the right pocket.

Come to think of it, today is the new year.

Is it a congratulatory message from my friends?

I took out my smartphone with my hands trembling in the severe cold and checked the cause of the vibration.

[International]

『You still haven’t found a job and obviously don’t have a girlfriend, right? Don’t spend the new year alone, have dinner with
me. You have a lot of time anyway. LiNe: 12*ce』

[Block.]

The cold I felt until just now disappears, and my whole body is filled with hot heat.

And today, I felt like I could concentrate more on my studies than on any other day.

‘I will succeed no matter how sad I am!’

Sometimes you get motivation from unexpected places.

With more energetic steps than ever? I found the library I go to every day.

-Origin Library

The library I’ve been using since I was in high school.

As always, when I grabbed the door handle to open the library entrance.

A piece of paper fluttering at the glass library entrance.

Normally, I would have thought it was just a small event announcement and passed by.

Why did that piece of paper catch my eye that day?

I still don’t know why.

r☆

$NewEmployeeRecruitmentAd$

☆★>

A strange familiarity.

And the content of the ghost story I checked this morning flashed by.

: If you see a ‘New Employee Recruitment’ poster in front of the library entrance, run away without looking back. (If you
don’t want to die a dog’s death……)

…Well, well made.

It was probably the work of a fan who enjoys <Ghost Story Record Storage> like me.

More than that, this is also sincere.

How sincere is the guy who put up this paper about the ghost story site. The [New employees are always welcome!] ghost story
hasn’t even been on the site for a few days, but it’s already showing this kind of sincerity.

Until the embarrassment I felt until just now turned into pride.

It didn’t take long.

It was fun, friend!

I grabbed the loosely loosened entrance handle again and swallowed.

Damn it! Why did you put this up to make me feel uneasy!

Cancel what I said earlier about being a fun friend!

I can’t go into the library because I feel uneasy!

“…Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“……Aren’t you going in?”

“Ah…….”

A woman with bangs down to her eyebrows and horn-rimmed glasses. A typical honor student style.

When I was alone, struggling with useless worries about the library door. A woman who looked to be around my age was
looking at me with strange eyes.

She was even holding a smartphone tightly in one hand.

If I had messed around at the door a little longer, I would have been studying at the police station instead of the library.

“I’m sorry.”

I bowed my head deeply and moved away from the library door, and the woman hurriedly opened the library door and went
inside as if jumping in.

I made eye contact with the woman again through the glass.

With the woman’s cold gaze, who was wary of me with even more suspicious eyes, I decided to stop <Ghost Story Record
Storage> for a while.

…Let’s study.”

Creak.

When I open the library door and go inside.

Ding dong daeng dong~♪

Along with the familiar song playing in the library. An announcement was broadcast.

[We will be accepting additional applications for children’s books. If you would like to apply in advance, please apply at
the ‘Forest House’ information desk on the first floor by January 1.]

[We look forward to your applications.]

It was a normal announcement.

Actually, I was a little scared.

I was a little concerned about the piece of paper that I could see beyond the door, but as I thought, it was just my
mistake.

Chijik-chijijik!

Flinch.

The announcement continued. This time, the voice that pierced my ears was a dissonance mixed with severe noise.

[January]

And the last voice that followed was strangely accurate.

[We look forward to your applications.]