The Ghost Catcher Is a Pro Streamer!! LOL
Gooooooh—
For some reason, Cho-young felt as though she could hear it — that low, wailing moan.
"……."
"S-stop teasing me. H-honestly, what kind of person wouldn't be scared?"
The place where Cho-young and Hye-yeon had arrived was a redevelopment site not far from Sector 14. The residents had been driven out to make way for redevelopment, yet for over five years the development itself had never materialized.
Which only made it more desolate. The sky wasn't helping either. Is it going to rain? How is it this gloomy?
Sure, the punk city's smog had rolled in this far and hung low over everything — but still. It was broad daylight. Why was it this dark?
Nope. That is not happening.
Cho-young clenched both fists tight.
"L-let's go! Hye-yeon!"
She called out to Hye-yeon with a deep, steadying breath — but for some reason, Hye-yeon was standing a little ways off from the door.
"?"
"I'm not going in."
"...Huh?"
"I've already been in once. Going in a second time would just be boring, you know? Right, guys?"
"See?"
Cho-young glared at Hye-yeon's chat window with pure contempt.
"W-we're supposed to go together!"
"Oh, it's fine. I churned the place up once already, so there won't be many ghosts left."
S-so there are ghosts, is what you're saying right now?
"It's the perfect course for a beginner."
"Ten! Thank you so much! See, Cho-young? Every single person wants you to go in alone!"
Yeah. She'd gathered as much from the chat window, thanks. You bastards.
But... I'm too scared for this...
Cho-young simply couldn't bring herself to enter that place alone. And collab stream or not, a haunted house had never been on her wishlist. But because Hye-yeon had brought up the haunted house so casually, donations had rolled in on the spot — and now there was no taking any of it back.
Which meant someone had to own up to it.
"Take responsibility."
"Hmm?"
"You— you're the one who brought up the haunted house and made it like this, so t-take responsibility!"
Face scarlet, she shrieked with her arms flung straight down — and the motion pressed her chest together in a way that was very noticeable.
Cho-young leaned in and whispered right against Hye-yeon's ear.
"...Come with me and I'll give you one more Spirit Pill. Hmm? Pleeaase..."
The viewers heard none of it.
There was nothing Hye-yeon could do about it; the corners of her mouth crept upward all on their own.
Of course they did. A free extra Spirit Pill was on the table!
"Guys. It can't be helped."
"I guess I'm going in with her."
"No, no, guys. Hear me out."
Hye-yeon stepped well away from Cho-young and whispered only to her viewers.
A moment later—
Just what had been said to set that chat window on fire? Cho-young had no way of knowing.
A short while later, Hye-yeon and Cho-young stood before the haunted house's front door, and Cho-young turned to ask:
"B-by the way, what was it you said earlier?"
"Hm?"
"You were whispering to yourself before."
"Oh, that?"
With reactions like these, Cho-young only grew more suspicious. But Hye-yeon wiped her expression clean without missing a beat.
"I set up a mission. A mission."
"A mission?"
"Yep. Like I said, I've been here before. Just walking through would honestly be boring, right? So the mission is: you and I each find something and escape through the back door of the haunted house."
"Wh-why would you whisper about some mission like that..."
"It's worth a whole High-grade Chrome Stone."
A-a whole High-grade Chrome Stone?
Cho-young's eyes lit up like stars.
"Wh-what are we supposed to find?"
"A doll."
"A doll?"
"Yep. Just the one. It looks like a little child — you'll know it when you see it."
By the time Cho-young finally glanced at the chat, "UP" was all that was scrolling past.
? Does that mean hurry up and go? She couldn't interpret it any other way.
"Okay, okay. I'm heading in right now. Enough with the 'UP.'"
"I said I'm going! I'm going!"
Cho-young threw Hye-yeon a nervous glance, then laid her hand on the front door.
Screeeeeech...
The tin door swung open with a chorus of rusted hinges.
"I'll be right behind you, so don't worry too much, Cho-young."
"Mm. Th-thank you."
"...I don't trust you people."
Cho-young took a step.
Crunch—
Broken glass carpeting the entrance cracked loudly underfoot. But this much wasn't going to startle her — Hye-yeon was right behind her, after all. Bolstered by that thought, Cho-young ventured a little deeper inside.
The moment she stepped onto the wooden floor—
Creeeeeak—!
A sound like some monster's death scream tore through the house.
"Hnngh!"
It was nothing more than an old wooden floor, and still Cho-young flinched, her shoulders jumping.
Cho-young peeled open her tightly shut eyes and slowly set her feet moving again.
The house was a two-story duplex. Perhaps because everything in it was wood, the place was cracked and furred with mold everywhere, hardly a corner left intact. Even the wooden staircase up to the second floor was pocked with hollows. Worst of all was the darkness pooling over those stairs — thick enough that even the sunlight stabbing in through the windows couldn't lift it.
Cho-young stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked back.
"U-um, Hye-yeon?"
"Yeah?"
"……."
Cho-young clicked her tongue as she looked at Hye-yeon. Not a shred of fear on the woman. Maybe that was only natural?
"Sh-shall I go up first?"
At Cho-young's words, Hye-yeon shook her head.
"If we're hunting for the doll, we should split into two. I'll search the first floor, so you take the second."
"Wh-what? No! Let's search t-together... Okay?"
Hye-yeon gripped Cho-young's shoulders firmly.
"Do you want to stay here a long time?"
"Huh?"
"If we search together, we stay longer. Isn't it better to find it fast and get out fast?"
True. Lingering in a place this creepy did sound like a bad idea.
"Th-that's right. Then I'll take the first floor..."
"The first floor's the bigger one, though? The second floor is only about half the size."
"Uh..."
"Wouldn't the quicker one to search be better?"
Hye-yeon's eyes were absolutely resolute. And for some reason, Cho-young found herself thinking that everything Hye-yeon said was right. She was simply too terrified for rational judgment.
"O-okay. Fine. Then I'll search the... second floor."
"Great. Let's meet back here later, all right?"
"Mm..."
"Cheon Cho-young."
"Yes?"
"Fifty Mid-grade Chrome Stones. Plus one High-grade Chrome Stone. Don't you forget it. This is money we're talking about — money. If you run off with it, you can kiss streaming goodbye, understand?"
That, she absolutely could not let happen. To craft even better Spirit Pills, she needed to climb to a higher realm — and streaming was indispensable to that climb. Cho-young nodded back with a look of grim resolve.
Then, turning like a creaking wooden doll, she began to climb the stairs, slowly, one step at a time.
And once Cho-young had climbed high enough to be swallowed by the darkness and vanish from sight, Hye-yeon—
"Khh— snrk! Hnnrk!!"
—burst into strangled, soundless laughter.
"Ah, guys — by the way, who were those 'blind fools' earlier? Seriously, don't do that."
"Now we begin?"
Hye-yeon slid her own stream window aside and pulled up Cho-young's broadcast on the left. Both feeds now fit within a single camera's frame. Then Hye-yeon used her lightfoot technique to lift her body just off the floor — so her footsteps would make no sound at all.
The arrangement Hye-yeon had struck with her viewers had been a simple one: instead of going in with Cho-young, Hye-yeon would secretly film her. Cho-young's stream would show only the interior of the haunted house — so the shots of Cho-young herself would come from Hye-yeon. That was the deal.
"Guys, I'm only letting this slide today. Any other day, if you lose your minds over Cho-young's chest like that, it's an instant ban — we clear?"
Hye-yeon erased every last trace of herself — her spirit energy, her living presence, all of it — and drifted up toward the second floor, silent as a ghost.