Midnight Department Store - 'Black Friday' (4)
"Urgh..."
Ma Dong-pal's groan as he rolled on the floor was utterly wretched. Without hesitation, I snatched a scarf from the nearby display rack and bound his wrist tightly, applying pressure.
"Guh... Th-thank you..."
Ma Dong-pal, sweating like it was pouring rain, finally managed to speak. He seemed somewhat calmed now, leaning back against the wall with his pale face, breathing raggedly. Kang Chae-young watched him with a uneasy expression before turning to me.
"Is it phantom pain? He was screaming that it was on fire earlier."
"Probably some kind of mental attack."
At my response, Kang Chae-young stuck out her tongue in disgust.
"Physical damage is bad enough, but now mental attacks too... These ghost stories are real vicious. It feels like they're testing how much they can torment a person."
I couldn't agree more. It was the same with the Watcher ghost story, and the Plastic Surgeon one too.
Ghost stories force irrationality on people. Especially structures like the Plastic Surgeon one, where you had to sacrifice someone as a scapegoat to clear it— from an intruder's perspective, it was enough to make you curse out loud.
And this type wasn't even the end of it. I'd heard from the boss last time that ghost stories broadly fell into four categories: Rule-type, Disaster-type, Entity-type, and Mental-type.
They sometimes mixed together, but if someone deliberately blended these types seamlessly? That wouldn't be a ghost story anymore—it'd be a catastrophe.
That's not the end of it, though.
Ghost stories were qualitatively different from regular dungeons. In dungeons, monsters couldn't exit the gate, so hunters could enter, hunt, and farm byproducts in a one-sided manner. But ghost stories were different.
The phenomenon itself manifested on a massive scale, swallowing the entire surrounding space. Like how this perfectly normal department store had turned into hell in an instant—once you got caught up in it, that was the end.
No such thing as 'precursors' either.
Is the world really about to end?
As I thought that, Kang Chae-young tugged lightly at my sleeve.
"Oppa, what was that earlier? Payment? We didn't even buy anything."
"Forced sale."
"Forced sale?"
"Yeah. Look at the floor."
I pointed to the clothes and accessories scattered everywhere.
"That's the stuff we touched. From their perspective, we're 'customers' who picked up merchandise."
"Ah..."
"You touch it, you buy it. No money? Pay with your body. Classic thug logic, but in a ghost story world, that seems to be the rule."
My explanation must have sounded plausible, because Kang Chae-young nodded in understanding. Meanwhile, I quickly sorted through the rules I'd grasped so far in my head.
- Receiving a bill means 'payment' proceeds for some item, though what it is remains unknown.
- The payment is one 'body part.'
- Conversely, no bill means no payment.
What happens if you attack them, then?
I was curious. But the Ghost Hunter participants didn't seem like powerhouses who could brute-force a ghost story with raw strength.
Sure, the Anomaly Management Team's Han Jun-hyun and the shaman Kang Chae-young were unknowns, but they weren't solo A-rank hunters who could smash a ghost story alone.
It's kinda fun puzzling out the rules myself like this.
The Watcher ghost story had just one rule—'don't look'—so it was too straightforward. The Plastic Surgeon one started with the doctor handing over the rulebook, so there was no real deduction thrill.
But this was different. Diving headfirst into clues with nothing but trial and error to uncover survival laws felt refreshingly novel.
Then, my eyes fell on Ma Dong-pal, collapsed on the floor groaning.
...Have I always been this calm?
I'm just an average Joe. The type who jumps at horror movies. Yet here I was, watching a man's wrist get severed and blood spray right in front of me, and instead of terror, cold analysis took precedence. The worse the situation got, the cooler my head felt.
Why?
But the question didn't linger.
"Here, take one of these."
Kang Chae-young pulled yellow papers from her bosom and handed one to each of us. When it was my turn, she placed it in my hand and explained.
"It's a yin energy blocking talisman."
"Yin energy blocking?"
"Yeah."
She nodded toward the mannequins crammed everywhere.
"Constant exposure to the grudges of the dead can mess up even a healthy person's body. Possession, chronic illness, that sort of thing. So keep it on you at all times."
"Ah, thanks."
I thanked her for the kindness and shoved the talisman deep into my pocket. Ma Dong-pal's ragged breathing had eased a bit. Confirming he'd regained some composure, I spoke up.
"Let's head up. Sticking around here might bring the sales clerks back."
Kang Chae-young and Kim Hyun-su nodded at my words.
"Start from the 4th floor. No good scattering apart. If there are people up there, we link up and pool our strength. That's the only way to find a way out of this damn ghost story."
"Hyung's right. If more of those things pop out, we're done for."
Kim Hyun-su chimed in with a drained face. We hurried to the central escalator.
Ding- ding- ding-.
The escalator, with unstable power, emitted an unsettling mechanical whine as it slowly ascended. That's when the ghost story's voice echoed.
Price tag?
I flinched and peered at Kang Chae-young's back, right in front of me on the escalator. A black barcode was stuck to the back of her modified hanbok.
"Chae-young, hold on."
"Huh? What?"
She started to turn her head curiously.
"Something's on your back. Don't move—stay still."
I reached out without hesitation. My fingertips touched something slimy and repulsive, but I grabbed the barcode anyway.
Riiip!
It sounded like tearing tape, but it felt like ripping living flesh.
"Ow! Oppa, what the hell?!"
Kang Chae-young screamed in pain. I shoved the black thing in my hand right in front of her face.
"Take a look at this."
"...What is that?"
What I held out was a barcode sticker wriggling like a worm. Seeing it, Kang Chae-young's face went sheet-white.
"Wh-why was this on my back...?"
"Merchandise has price tags. If you hadn't removed it, some 'rule' would've triggered like with Ma Dong-pal."
At my words, Kim Hyun-su next to us paled and yelled.
"M-me too! Check my back! Is there something on mine?!"
"Hold still."
I carefully inspected Kim Hyun-su's back.
"Nothing. It's clean."
"Hah... Ha... Th-that's a relief..."
Kim Hyun-su's legs gave out, and he slumped against the escalator handrail. Just to be sure, I checked Ma Dong-pal's back too—no barcode. Lucky for us, only Kang Chae-young had one. Probably from brushing against a mannequin or display on the 3rd floor.
By then, the escalator had reached the 4th floor. Men's clothing section. Mannequins toppled everywhere, clothes strewn in chaos—just like below.
That's when it happened.
"Who goes there!"
Someone bellowed, aiming a steel pipe. A voice sharp with tension. It was the main host, Baek Si-woo. Beside him, influencer 'Jenny' huddled in fear, exorcist priest 'Yohan' clutching his Bible, National Intelligence Service agent 'Han Jun-hyun,' and one D-rank hunter—all circled up, on guard.
"CEO! It's us! We're human!"
Kim Hyun-su waved excitedly, and Baek Si-woo sighed in relief as he approached, slowly lowering the pipe he'd gripped in tension.
"Kim Hyun-su! And... Ma Dong-pal?"
Seeing Ma Dong-pal, bloodied and supported by Kim Hyun-su, his expression hardened.
"How's the 3rd floor?"
Baek Si-woo asked me.
"Just the four of us. That all you got here?"
At my question, Baek Si-woo nodded grimly.
"Yeah. The other five... no trace. Radios are dead too."
Out of 14 survivors, only 9 were here including our group. Five missing. No telling if they were alive on other floors or already dead somewhere lonely.
"Oh, Lord..."
Priest Yohan shakily made the sign of the cross. The mood sank heavily, and Jenny from the corner, hugging her arms, spoke up.
"Um, CEO... the broadcast? You turned it off?"
Her face was soaked in terror. Baek Si-woo silently showed his tablet PC.
"...It won't turn off."
"What?"
"Forced streaming. System's down."
On the screen, our terrified faces streamed live. No chat visible, but the viewer count exploding was clear from the red numbers. Everyone bit their lips at the fact their deaths were being broadcast live.
That's when it happened.
"Um... Suho, right?"
Jenny approached me hesitantly.
"Hyun-su told me. Said you saved him on the 3rd floor."
Kim Hyun-su had apparently blabbed. Glancing over, he shot me a look that said, Hyung handled everything.