Chapter 216: Ch 216: Nostalgia Kitty
The dull head thinks as it stares into the darkness before its eyes...
A ghost story under the Church of the Luminous Unknown, deleted from
the wiki.
Yet it exists here. Because...
’...Because it exists even in the delete log?’
At first, once it had gathered enough recommendations, it was registered on
the wiki, but those later deleted for failing to meet the standards of
registration could still be found under ’Deleted Creepypastas’.
If that’s the case...
Is this ghost story truly a power created by the Church of the Luminous
Unknown?
Or, since it was deleted for ’insufficient connection to the Church of the
Luminous Unknown’, is it separate?
...Just what kind of world is this place that has summoned me, into this
grotesque body...
Confusion spreads along the brain that was collapsing in slow motion.
The smoke wavers.
"...You alright?"
A voice is heard.
It is the one wearing the badger mask.
A gaze is felt, peering in from outside the bathroom.
He seems to want to talk.
Standby
But I must make a judgment.
That is to say, if a ghost story that might belong to the Church of the
Luminous Unknown ends up in the hands of Daydream Inc., what effect,
what side effect, could that possibly bring about...
...
...
Does it even matter?
It does not matter.
Worrying over the origin, the root, the contradictions of the ghost story
holds no meaning. The only thing that matters is carrying out the task
assigned to me.
That is the purpose of my labor contract. Nothing else is necessary.
I have one thing to do.
Verification in progress
To determine whether this Darkness is suitable for Dream Essence
production under Daydream Inc.
There were three points used as criteria.
1- Must yield Dream Essence through clearing.
2- Must allow improvements to survival and return rates based on a manual.
From this, it can be infered.
The likely meaningful way of clearing is ’enduring without ever coming
into contact with the rainwater until the rain stops’.
The enticement on a rainy day.
Because this legend has its root in luring rather than direct slaughter or
violence, simply guarding one’s mind and locking the doors already grants
a chance of survival.
If exploration records pile up, its behavioral patterns could also be deduced.
’Criteria 1 and 2 are suitable.’
And then the final, third condition.
3- Must be easily isolated or contained.
...
I looked down into the bathtub filled with rainwater and slowly tapped my
chin with a finger.
I made an estimate.
And I reached a conclusion.
Conditions met
: Suitable Darkness
And.
Proceeding with suppression into a transferable form
I carried out the task.
"Roe? But right now..."
I covered the rainwater in the bathtub with mist.
From now on, what is hidden by the smoke will regain its original form.
Unnecessary descriptions and records deleted.
Back to the original form.
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
From the bathtub came a death cry, a scream of pleading, echoing through
the bathroom.
The scream of one whose existence is being erased.
It resembled the scream of a victim.
The method of this thing, which had learned for a long time the process of
luring prey, had grown far more sophisticated than drifting superstition.
’So, you’ve learned deception.’
A dead victim becomes a new bait, weaving together truth and falsehood to
create convincing choices and lure in another victim.
It disguises, it mimics.
It toys with both sides.
Listen to one side, then doubt. Listen to the other, then doubt.
And by then, it is already, quite literally, ’too late’.
As each sense of strangeness and each fragment of truth is realized, the prey
becomes mentally weaker, until eventually, they choose one side and follow
its words.
Whichever side they choose, the end lies within this rainwater.
This time, it just so happened to take the form of the couple and the child’s
handwriting in the sketchbook.
But that too is the end.
The rainwater shrouded in smoke is now endlessly spitting out the corpses
it had consumed.
AAAAAHHHH!
Thud.
Thud-thud-thud.
The sound of a body pushed out from the bathtub and striking the floor
echoed together through the bathroom.
The tiled floor filled up with corpses.
AAAAAAAAAHHH!
Corpses piled up.
I covered with smoke, gathered it, and covered again, repeating the process
as I watched its end.
The rainwater pit, having spit out every last fragment, began to boil and
evaporate.
Delete.
’More.’
Until you lose your identity and are crushed.
’More.’
Like me.
’More.’
I felt my body covering the bathroom collapsing further and further. Until it
reached the point of no return, to the razor’s edge, until I lost everything...
"Roe Deer!"
!
"Roe, stop!"
...
...
Inappropriate form of address
Reason : Unofficial
I retrieved the smoke.
From behind came the sound of the one wearing the badger mask, panting.
"...Sorry."
There was no need to apologize.
’That’s right.’
If a ghost story’s very identity is deleted, then it cannot be used as
Darkness...
From behind the gas mask, I exhaled smoke and swallowed it again. My
collapsing body slowly began to recover...
I felt the eyes of the badger-masked man tremble as he looked at the pile of
corpses.
"...How did you come to be able to do something like this?"
I don’t know.
I don’t want to know.
What matters is the next stage of the job.
Prepare containment unit
"..."
The one wearing the badger mask silently brought over the transport cage I
had been kept inside.
I confirmed that even excluding the ’space for me to fill’, there was still
enough room inside.
So then...
Flinch.
The bathtub itself, torn up and seized in my grasp, the rainwater within it
shrank in fear.
I willingly crammed the bathtub filled with rainwater into the transport
cage.
Thump.
The sound of the iron door closing rang out.
"...Confirmed."
It was done.
Carrying the containment unit as it was, I stepped out through the bathroom
door.
...
Silence softly wrapped around the house.
The rain that fell beyond the window continued, but instead of chill and
strange unease, there was a peaceful darkness there.
The sound of rain was gentle.
Ordinary.
"Ah..."
The Sales Team caller, who had been under the sergeant’s watch, seemed to
notice it too.
Hope spread across his face.
"I-It’s... it’s over...?"
Affirmative
"Ha..."
The employee sank back down again.
This time, not from fear but from relief.
Soon, the lights in the house returned.
Flash.
The newly brightened interior looked as ordinary as if nothing had
happened.
"Let’s go back."
And the other Security Team members reported the present situation as they
returned to reality, having exited the ghost story.
Amidst that, the relieved Sales employee finally managed to stand, smiling
faintly.
"Th, Thank y—"
There was nothing to be thankful for.
Remaining phase
: Fee calculation
"...Pardon?"
Because everything comes at a price.
[Calculation complete]
[The estimated fee shall now be executed.]
"..."
At the words coming from the dead superior’s pager, the Sales employee
blinked and lifted his head.
"...Ah, how much will it be?"
[A manager shall be assigned shortly.]
[Remaining time : 30 seconds...]
"Wait, wait, hey? Ah...!"
Suddenly.
A thought passed slowly through my head.
Anyone who regularly visited this place on rainy days would already have
been no different from being bewitched the moment they stepped into this
house.
Just like the employee’s dead superior.
But...
Could it really be that Daydream Inc. did not know?
That the couple, who had regularly purchased special potions, had been
swapped out as victims of the ghost story. Or perhaps that they had already
long since been receiving those potions in the state of residents trapped
within the ghost story.
And that Sales Team employees could be dragged into that situation.
At the end of the day, as long as the payment could be collected, did it
really matter how this would get resolved, either this or that? Or rather, on
the contrary...
...
...
That’s not something for Security Team employees to decide.
"...Let’s go back."
"Wait...? Wait...!"
The Security Team returned to the company. The shadow of the pager once
again swallowed the Security Team.
And I was also stored back inside the containment unit and transported to
the underground isolation room of the main branch.
But the thought kept returning.
The face of the caller, carrying an expression that seemed to say ’I
survived’, gradually becoming covered with unease.
That crumbling pile of mosaic.
* * *
[Goodness me. Truly, the kind of talent our company desires... no, should I
call you a godsend instead? Hahaha!]
[To think you would capture it directly!]
A cheerful, chattering voice.
It was the voice of my assigned researcher, Kwak Jekang. After receiving
this assigned task’s report, he flipped through pages excitedly.
[The grade, ah, what level will it be... At least D, I’d say. Even just C
would be enough to bring out some truly interesting, I mean, such a wide
variety of exploration records... This is a fine Darkness indeed.]
[Let’s call it ’Whispers on a Rainy Day’!]
"..."
[Well, shouldn’t the two Security Team members who were assigned as
assistants at least give you a word of thanks, Mr. Employee?]
[Must’ve been fun, huh? Brought back old memories, playing at being the
Field Exploration Team again!]
The man in the badger mask clenched his fist, then released it in
resignation.
...
I added one more count to the accumulated tally for the researcher.
And.
Question
[Ah, of course, you can ask anything you want, but...]
Question :
The caller’s specific settlement cost
In that instant.
[...]
[So... that’s what you’ve become curious about?]
The researcher’s voice turned exceedingly soft.
As if he wanted to act affable.
[Naturally, I should answer. But... this is the first time you’ve been curious
about something not required for the task, so... is there perhaps nothing else
you want to ask in relation?]
[Any question at all is fine...]
As if he wanted me to dig out something more.
[Why not ask whatever your heart leads you to? It doesn’t have to be task-
related!]
...
I drew with smoke.
Cost inquiry : Task relevance present
► Issue of efficiency
[...Eh?]
Task variations depending on cost
: Possibility of triggering caller’s aggression or sudden behavior
[Huh?]
I kindly attached an example phrase.
Sample phrase : Money’s worth
After a silence.
[...Ah.]
[That... right. Well, I suppose... so?]
The researcher’s voice, deflated and a little flustered, came through the
speaker.
[Um... most caller-employees don’t actually understand the costs, so it
usually doesn’t get to that point.]
[And the cost is rarely money. ...It’s labor.]
...
[This caller will most likely be processed as working at a branch office for
several years.]
A branch office?
The branch offices of Daydream Inc was a setting not described concretely
in the wiki.
[Well, isn’t that fine? He’d even get extra pay for getting assigned
elsewhere.]
For a moment, a spark of something like worry—or curiosity—flashed
through my head, but it soon sank beneath the mush of broken thoughts.
Because in my mind, the notification that work hours had ended was
already ringing.
– Your work shift has ended. Your work shift has ended. Your work shift
has ended...
[...Oh dear. Has it gotten so late already? Then, I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr.
Employee!]
The speaker clicked off.
And so, in an instant, the chamber I was in fell into a soundless stillness.
...
I sat on the bed.
The training videos no longer played.
In the space made to resemble a company dorm room, silence spread. On
the bookshelf, a few books. On the desk, a laptop.
But all were props. Nonfunctional.
They could not be interacted with.
Here, until the next shift arrives... I cannot work.
Quietly...
Knock, knock.
...!
"Um, is it alright... if I come in?"
I turned toward the iron door.
Someone was standing outside.
Not just standing. Soon, I heard the soft sound of the iron door being
opened...
Security Team.
The man in the badger mask, and the guard sergeant.
My teammates.
"Sorry we’re late. Took a while to wash up."
From outside, other Security Team members closed the iron door.
But they did not leave.
"...Hey, listen."
The man in the badger mask held something out to me.
A thick, heavy rectangular object.
"I got permission to bring this in! The sergeant said something like this
should be fine, and yeah, it really was."
A book.
12 Must-Read Classics for Young Adults.
"...I figured you’d be bored."
...
I accepted it.
The people sitting across from me seemed to smile with genuine joy...
"And also... listen."
His voice sounded slightly tense.
"I, uh, I was thinking... would it be okay if we called you Roe Deer? At
least when it’s just us?"
...
"T-The sergeant said it would be fine..."
"Yeah... if it’s not work hours, an informal designation is allowed..."
...
Affirmative
"...! Great."
From beyond the mask came the sound of a smile.
And then he sat down beside me.
"...You did well on your first Security Team shift, Roe."
...
The hand that habitually reached toward my head fell back down.
Because there was no form of hair to ruffle.
...
I raised both hands.
"Roe?"
A dull desire.
A desire I had not felt since signing my labor contract, surfacing dimly and
coarsely from deep below...
The desire to have a similar form.
The desire to interact in the same way.
A desire that felt like it wanted to be expressed in such words.
"W-Wait just a sec. Hey...!"
I covered my form with smoke.
But I did not know how to create it.
Like how one cannot learn how to breathe, what had once been instinctive
could not be reproduced artificially. I groped over my face. Bone, rubber,
silhouette, and a throat that did not exist. Nostalgia Candy that could no
longer be consumed...
...
Nostalgia.
Request
"Huh?"
"...What kind?"
I completed the sentence.
Request :
Nostalgia Kitty
"...!!"
The two Security Team members shot to their feet at the same time.
Because they understood the meaning implied in that request.
"W-Wait... Hold on, Sergeant?"
The sergeant was already gone outside the iron door.
And as if to disregard the immense distance to the rental storage front desk
and the entire security clearance process in between, he returned in an
astonishingly short time.
In his hand was the requested item.
"...Here."
Onto my outstretched hand fell a red thread-like item, pale from the bony
hand that held it.
An item in the form of red yarn.
Nostalgia Kitty
The very same item once used after rescuing Supervisor Park Minseong
when he had gotten contaminated in the ’Hungry Hangman’ ghost story.
Its effect was...
When worn, it fixes the target into the form of their body
and mind at their healthiest point in the past ten years.
The more severe the subject’s mutation, the faster the
yarn breaks.
I accepted the Nostalgia Kitty.
And wrapped it around my neck.