Ghost Story Survivor Gallery
The moment I'd secured a part-timer through Karrot, I headed straight home.
It had been the same back when she first stumbled into and out of a ghost story: Ji Yesol showed no intention whatsoever of returning to her own.
So naturally, I had no choice but to take her back to the one-room apartment where I lived.
"W-wow... so this is where you live, Boss..."
"Not that one."
The building Ji Yesol was gawking at was a sleek, modern officetel. After living cooped up in a drab old jar, I suppose it must have looked like a palace to her.
"It's been a while since I've seen that place, too."
Ji Yesol blinked at me over and over. Then again, it wasn't exactly wrong — I had lived in that officetel right up until the day I quit my job.
"Huh...?"
I'd just downgraded from that officetel to a one-room, having torched my entire severance package to open the convenience store.
"My place is over there."
I climbed the uphill road into the one-room district. Unlike the officetel, my building was shabby and worn; I fished the key out from under a flowerpot and turned it in the lock. Click—
The moment the door swung open, Ji Yesol's violet eyes went wide and trembled violently.
"In th-these times... how could you...?"
"What?"
A key hidden under a flowerpot — of all the things to be scandalized by, from an anomaly who'd never even lived in a home of her own.
"N-no, it's nothing... I-I'm sorry... Boss..."
One glare from me and her head dropped instantly.
Either way, once the door was open, a scene both familiar and long-missed spread out before me. A mattress buried under a rumpled blanket. Cup ramen containers scattered everywhere. A desk crowded with empty energy drink cans.
"H-how... can anything be this dirty...!"
Ji Yesol was having a full-blown meltdown.
Well, with a cleaning stat of A, sure, it would bother her—no. Come on. This place had to be cleaner than a ghost story crawling with venomous centipedes and poisonous bugs.
So, should I reflect on never tidying up? Or knock some discipline into my part-timer? Honestly, it was a tough call.
And if it was that filthy, she could always clean it herself. But she was my convenience store clerk, not a live-in housekeeper, so I decided to leave it alone. Anything is better when it's done voluntarily.
I wanted nothing more than to flop straight onto the mattress, but after two days without a wash I reeked from head to toe.
"I'm showering first."
"I-I'm an anomaly, so I don't really need to wash... b-but... i-if I'm alone, it gets... b-boring..."
Ji Yesol mumbled, tugging at the hem of my clothes.
Ugh, seriously. Was keeping my anomaly entertained part of my job now?
Still, it beat her whining while dripping centipedes all over the house.
I pulled out my smartphone and opened the Ghost Story Survivor Gallery — the way burnt-out parents park their kids in front of Pororo.
Ghost Story Survivor Gallery. A community the Company had built — going so far as to set up a dedicated server — all in the name of raising the survival rate of ordinary civilians caught up in ghost stories. The problem was that it had never been properly promoted. The Company had made the thing and then abandoned it on the spot, and so the Ghost Story Survivor Gallery became a place only the people in the know knew about. Which left it with a bizarre structure: a glut of grizzled veterans and barely any newbies. Even so, maybe the moderators had genuine passion, because it was packed with quality intel on ghost stories. Most community mods work for free — but these folks seemed to collect an actual salary from the Company.
Lurking there was honestly pretty fun. There were trolls posting tasty pics, and every now and then an anomaly would slip into the gallery — the so-called anomaly infiltrators. Come to think of it, by that definition, Ji Yesol counted too.
"Gallery only. Touch anything else and you're fired."
"Y-yes... th-thank you...!"
I fell into a ghost story.
Please save me.
I'm not actually field staff — I'm a management-track employee.
Yeah, that's a lie, my bad. My nickname doesn't match either, my bad.
My assigned anomaly went to the convenience store too.
(Photo: convenience store food crammed into a pay-per-bag trash bag)
I got piles of gifts too.
(Photo: a spread of convenience store food, tuna-mayo triangle gimbap front and center)
The Ghost Story convenience store... is REAL!
I cannot offer verification, but my cherished friend said he had opened one, so this venerable one went and made some purchases!
The mansion forbids photographs, so I ask for your gracious understanding..
This venerable one beheld it within the A-grade ghost story, the Neverland of Disaster!
Until every sound in this world finds its harmony, this venerable one shall never cease activity!
Gwegyeok Corporation — the ghost-story mega-corp we here in the gallery usually just call "the Company."
Legend has it that a legendary field agent once walked its halls.
Some of you GSGal anons are Company employees, so a few of you will know this already.
They say if you fork over a shitload of Ghost Story Points, you can quit.
Started at 19, worked ten straight years.
Then some incident got him "expunged from the records."
Took down S-grade anomalies, too.
And nobody can even guess how many of the lesser ones he left buried in containment cells.
Everybody at the Company knows him — except the newbies.
But now they say he's running a convenience store?
Bullshit. Not a chance.
Except for the centipedes pouring out of her head..
Except for being a hopeless klutz who can do nothing but clean..
She's pretty.. and supposedly has a great figure too..
Please visit the Ghost Story convenience store often, everyone..
"Hic... huu... huuh..."
The second I stepped out of the shower, I found Ji Yesol hunched over with her head buried between her knees, quietly weeping. At least no venomous bugs or centipedes were spilling out of her. Why was she crying all of a sudden? Don't tell me it was over the messy room. No — if that were it, she'd have started scrubbing first.
"Why are you crying?"
I tapped her shoulder a couple of times.
"B-Boss..."
She was clutching a smartphone in her hands. Instead of venomous bugs, clear tears were dripping steadily down her face.
"P-people won't believe me..."
"People? Here, give it to me."
"Yes... sniffle..."
I took the phone from Ji Yesol and looked. On the screen was a post that had apparently come from her. One look and anyone could tell — it reeked of a faker doubling down on a concept-troll bit. I should have just told her to lurk. Being an anomaly, she wouldn't know the first rule — shut up and lurk for three days. Every community lives by the same law: three days of lurking to learn the vibe before you open your mouth.
I deleted her post at record speed.
"Yesol, from now on just read. Post anything, and people will bite into you like that."
"Yes..."
How on earth had Ji Yesol ended up writing a post, anyway? It had been ages since I'd last visited the Ghost Story Survivor Gallery, but I figured I'd better check what bait was floating around.
"What is this?"
The convenience store bait was making its rounds through the gallery. And the whole thing had started with the Company's rookie, Yang Nari. On top of that, Amanecida — currently boxed up in a containment cell — was heaping firewood onto the flames. A small mercy, though: the vast majority seemed to think it was all a bit. Then again, with Yang Nari having gone so far as to post photo verification, who knew how long they'd keep thinking that. From here on out, maybe I really should nail up a warning sign: while we're out doing business in the ghost stories, absolutely no posting about the convenience store on the forums.