Chapter 23 Part 1: Match Girl

It’s cute…

Very cute.

Of course, it’s not as cute as our three musketeers of bear dolls.

I couldn’t help but sparkle, looking at the appearance as if looking at a cute children’s toy.

But maybe this reaction of mine didn’t please him, the conductor guy was very excited with his body as small as a bear doll.

#!ff! ♪!

It must be anger towards me.

Musical notes containing profanity towards me, who trapped him in such a small book.

Crackle-

[How is it! Even if it’s a ferocious ghost story, if I trap it in a special book I made!]

Slide.

Suddenly, a white librarian appeared in front of Park Yeon-jung, grabbed the back of the neck of the tiny conductor, and lifted him up.

[It becomes a pet ghost story that is so cute that you want to bite it right away!]

[Well, whether to use this product as a pet ghost story is up to the consumer who purchased the product.]

After listening to Noise’s grand explanation.

I looked at the book held in my palm again.

It’s amazing!

Even the GRA agency does not yet have the technology to perfectly trap ghost stories like this.

Of course, it’s not like there’s no technology to trap ghost stories.

It’s just that only safe entities that do not have aggressive attacks are selected and isolated and managed, unlike the conductor guy.

Even that isolation and management cannot be said to be perfect.

So.

The technology of ‘a book that can contain ghost stories’ that Noise showed is a balance collapse-level technology that can overturn the entire landscape of the current worldview.

I was curious.

What will he do with this book that can contain ghost stories.

“…What are you going to do from now on?”

It stimulated my pure curiosity.

[Yes? What do you mean? Employee Park Yeon-jung, have you forgotten? Why do we capture ghost stories.]

Are you saying you’re going to sell this?”

You don’t want to give this away?!

You’re really going to sell it!!

[Yes! Of course, I have to sell it! Didn’t Employee Park Yeon-jung work so hard, shedding blood, sweat, and tears, to get it from the beginning.]

[I can’t just leave the item that I worked so hard to get as an ornamental item.]

I feel like my eyes are getting moist because you’re thinking about my hard work.

Really, I don’t know if I should sell this.

I was thinking seriously.

[Then, Employee Park Yeon-jung.]

…?

Wait, this conversation atmosphere.

•No way!

[I believe you will bring good items today too.]

…It’s too much, really.

Creak.

Already, the hollow darkness beyond the door seems to be smiling at me to come in.

A deep sigh came out naturally.

I’m tired of consuming emotions one by one in this situation.

Now, let’s accept it.

I have to.

In a situation where I may have to pass through that white door many more times.

Let’s not consume much emotion.

It only makes me tired.

Pitter-patter!

But this time too, the three bear dolls running towards me without fail.

‘Seeing these guys makes me feel healed.’

The only healing place for me in the current ghost story.

Pitter-patter!

This time too, cute guys who act as if they want me to take them with me.

One is enough.’

Would it be okay?

Park Yeon-jung, who had already overcome the crisis of death in the previous ghost story.

If I had taken these bear dolls, I might have easily subdued the Red Orchestra of the conductor guy.

No, I’m sure I would have caught the conductor guy a long time ago without having to use that ‘Thousand Eyes’.

‘I deeply understand what it means to ‘make a fuss over nothing’.’

Wiggle!

I picked up the guy who was waving his arms hard to me in front of the three bear cubs.

I decided on you.

!!

The remaining two bear dolls who were not chosen by Park Yeon-jung froze in place as if they were shocked this time too.

But it’s troublesome if the remaining two suddenly pop out of the employee ID card and wander around like last time.

So.

One is enough to cover.

I put one of the bear dolls called ‘little friends’ into the employee ID card and then moved my steps.

[I prepared a ghost story that is not too difficult this time too! Have a good trip, Employee Park Yeon-jung!]

Yes, yes, is it a very difficult ghost story?

I heard you well, Mr. Noise.

Park Yeon-jung’s third day of work began.

Tap.

The sound of shoes hitting the hard ground.

It’s my shoe sound.

When I feel uncomfortable with shoes that are not familiar.

Whoosh-

Suddenly, a strong wind that hit my skin made my mind clear.

It’s cold!

All I’m wearing right now is.

The black suit that Noise told me to wear.

That’s it.

At least give me a hot pack.

This is a bit much!

I’m feeling the cold wave that seems to break my body with my whole body.

My body itself has become a vibrating bell, and the trembling doesn’t stop.

Peek.

Wiggle!

The first bear doll, half-protruding from the employee ID card, is waving its arms up and down to me.

And as soon as the guy realized that he had made eye contact with me, he jumped out of the employee ID card.

Thud!

The bear doll that fell powerlessly immediately got up from the floor and shook its arms towards me.

…Are you, asking to play?

I don’t know what you want to convey.

More than that, it’s too cold now!

My head is freezing.

My whole body is freezing.

My eyes…………are closing.

…Huh? Mother, Father?

Park Yeon-jung was on the verge of being led to the illusion shown by the River Styx.

?

Fluffy.

The hand that was reaching for my mother and father stopped at an unknown fluffiness.

Fur?

What blocked me from moving towards the River Styx.

It was a huge ball of fur.

It wasn’t a hallucination because of the cold.

The bear doll, which had been small until just now and was shaking its arms at me, is now.

It has grown to a size that is slightly taller than Park Yeon-jung himself.

Did it eat moisture?

Or is it an illusion that I’m seeing because it’s time for me to die.

When I was lost in deep delusion.

Flash!

!!

The bear doll suddenly grabbed both of my arms and lifted me up in an instant.

Tear.

?!?!?!

The guy started to open his mouth wide and put me in his mouth.

“…Ugh! Wai! (Hey! Wait!)”

I couldn’t even speak properly because my mouth was frozen from the cold, and I was eaten.

The bear doll that started to show unexpected aggression.

No, it has now become a man-eating bear doll.

I gave you so much cuteness!

This is betrayal!

Betrayal!

Park Yeon-jung, who was swallowed by the bear doll in an instant,…………warmed his body for a moment in the surprisingly warm belly of the bear doll.

…..HEY, HEY!

Get a grip, Park Yeon-jung!

Right now, you’re in the belly of a man-eating bear doll!

I struggled with all my might in the body of the huge bear doll.

Since I was swallowed headfirst, I turned my head towards the guy’s mouth as much as possible to escape, and when I succeeded in turning my body around after struggling through numerous fluffy cotton.

“How could you…………repay the favor like this!”

I immediately yelled.

??

He, hey?

The guy, who had been moving well until just now, when he tried to put me in his mouth, doesn’t move for some reason.

I put my hand in the arm part of the bear doll exactly.

Tap tap.

I lightly touched the bear doll’s head.

Wiggle wiggle!

!!

Then, suddenly, the bear doll’s arms began to move up and down with great force.

What is this?’

The first bear doll that doesn’t cause any further harm.

…Perhaps, this guy.

Seeing me shivering in the cold.

…Th, this.

What a thoughtful guy!

I’m sorry for misunderstanding you!

Actually, I believed in you from the beginning.

There’s no way our cute bear would have such a diabolical thought.

Of course. I know.

From now on, among all ghost story items, ‘little friends’ is number one in my heart.

Let’s go together forever, our three musketeers of bear dolls.

Thanks to the new usage of ‘little friends’ that I never thought of, I was able to walk around in the ghost story, escaping the severe cold.

Of course, to others, it might look quite ridiculous, like a grown-up wearing a huge bear doll costume and walking around the street.

But it’s better than freezing to death.

Moreover, our ‘Beardidas’ has excellent thermal performance.

Park Yeon-jung, who had just escaped the severe cold that seemed to pierce his skin, began to look around the ghost story he had entered.

European-style buildings built at regular intervals.

Precisely laid stone floors and streetlights that illuminate the surroundings between the alleys.

A ghost story with the motif of the 17th-century Renaissance era.

If it’s a ghost story with a specific era as a background, it wasn’t very difficult to identify.

Especially.

If it’s this kind of bone-chilling cold, the ghost story that flashes through Park Yeon-jung’s mind was narrowed down to one.

/Ghost Story Log

[Match Girl]

:Identification Code Cd-D-111

It’s cold.

It’s so cold.

It’s so, so cold.

It’s so, so, so, so, so, so, so… cold.

But don’t worry.

Because there are matches here that will warmly melt the cold you felt.

Moreover, my matches even grant your wishes!

It doesn’t matter what it is!

Anything.

Shout your honest desire loudly to my matchstick! (It’s just you and me here.)

Then anything will come true.

Physical restraint is possible.

No mental damage.

Exploration limit: 1 person. (Intelligent beings only.)

*Additional notes.

It has been reported that an employee who made all three wishes in this ghost story returned safely to the agency.

A D-grade ghost story called Match Girl.

As everyone knows, the motif of this ghost story is taken from a fairy tale called ‘The Little Match Girl’.

A fairy tale book containing the story of a poor girl who sells matches in the severe cold to make a living, a story that you can’t see without tears.

Then, if you ask if this ghost story is also about such a poor little girl.

Half right.

Half wrong.

First of all, since the guy who appears in this ghost story is also based on the motif of The Little Match Girl, the guy who appears here is also in the form of a girl.

The difference here is.

Unlike the clearly poor girl in the fairy tale book.

This Little Match Girl is, fittingly for the name of a ghost story, crazy about selling matches to an excessive degree.

And if the original Little Match Girl made her own wishes.

The Little Match Girl here asks for our wishes, which is a difference.

Like a certain blue lamp fairy, she makes you make 3 wishes, and when the target has successfully made all the wishes.

The target can get out of here.

Of course.

Only if you successfully make the last wish.

Pitter-patter.

Park Yeon-jung, wearing a cute bear doll costume.

He started walking slowly on the cold street.

Maybe this is the place that boasts the largest area among the ghost story guys I’ve seen so far.

But compared to that large area, it’s a boring place with nothing special.

Park Yeon-jung also knows very well that he can’t do anything on his own until that match-selling girl appears.

Taking advantage of the short spare time.

I tried to take out the ‘Last Trigger’ that I bought new.

Before entering here.

The Last Trigger, which I put in the employee ID card without forgetting.

Press.

Fluffy.

……?

The fluffy touch felt at the tip of my finger, not the place where the employee ID card should be.

…Ah, ah.

The employee ID card that is currently buried with me in the bear doll costume.

To take it out.

I have to take off this bear doll costume.

I’ll be cold if I take it off.

While about the severe cold that I felt with my whole body for a moment.

Crack!

I heard a sound of something burning.

Crack crack!

I looked around at the sound of the mystery that I heard again.

The sound of a small flame popping.

Crackle!

You’re here.”

Our match-selling girl.

Fwoosh!

Along with the intense heat that I couldn’t have felt in this severe cold.

Crackle!

The sound of firewood burning.

Crackle.

A girl’s voice was heard.

【You, won’t you buy a match?】

The match-selling by the living firewood girl has begun.