Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 142

I successfully made a normal purchase with a gift certificate in this crazy supermarket ghost story.

“…….”

I took the trembling high school student from the checkout counter, holding the items I had paid for.

And, half-draping my jacket over my shoulder to hide the empty space where my right arm used to be, I stepped out from behind the counter.

One step. Two steps.

And then, taking a deep breath and looking back…

“…!”

All the grotesque parts of the supermarket had blurred.

Strange signs, odd objects, chilling bloodstains and organs.

Everything was barely visible unless I focused, as if blurred in my perception.

More precisely, they no longer looked grotesque… they looked natural.

As if we were ordinary shoppers who had bought things in an ordinary supermarket.

“Wow.”

I heard the high school student stop, exclaiming in admiration.

But instead…

“Oops.”

“…!”

The shoppers of the past also began to perceive us normally.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

The high school student flinched and stepped back as the shopper he bumped into looked directly at him and apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

I took the high school student, whose eyes were popping out in surprise, and moved to the side.

“I told you, didn’t I? Don’t be surprised.”

“Yes… Yes, sir.”

The high school student hurried to my side.

But his eyes began to sparkle.

“Th-Then… can we just leave like this?”

“Yep.”

“Wow…!”

All the tasks needed for escape were thus omitted.

Because using gift certificates and checking out meant we were treated just like the shoppers of the past.

For example, even if we had damaged items or eaten food at closing time, we could still leave by just paying for them.

“Excuse me, are you checking out…!”

“Just a moment.”

Just like Ms. Go Youngeun is doing it now.

I leaned my ear towards the counter where Ms. Go Youngeun was checking out.

“Customer, you broke something at Looky Mart! Please pay for damages! Thirty-nine thousand nine hundred won!”

“Yes.”

Ms. Go Youngeun calmly handed over a 50,000 won bill, and the cashier, who had puffed up like a balloon, snatched the gift certificate, smiled unnaturally widely, and gave back 10,000 won in change.

And then monotonously asked again.

“Ah, would you like to check out this gum?”

“…Yes.”

Only then were the items Ms. Go Youngeun had picked out properly processed.

Whew. I sighed in relief.

As expected.

‘…There’s nothing better than this when you don’t know when the supermarket doors will open.’

Because it was an item that allowed you to smooth over most mistakes made during closing hours with a purchase and leave.

And… to be honest.

I predicted that if we stayed in Looky Mart for more than a week in its closed state, one of us would eventually make a mistake.

Me, the high school students, or Ms. Go Youngeun.

‘…Because the items I brought separately have limitations.’

Even the trick of eating food on the stair landing without it being counted was only possible if you had the items.

Eventually, when everything ran out, we would have been forced to steal supermarket food or daily necessities, and the probability of getting caught at least once was very high.

Then it would have ended with being classified as a ‘defective item’.

‘I’m glad I didn’t have to see that.’

I cheerfully gazed straight ahead.

Ms. Go Youngeun waited until the student originally assigned to Agent Bronze finished checking out, then exited the counter with him.

Safely.

“…Thanks to you, we passed. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

And now, what remained was…

“Agent Bronze.”

We signaled to the two people still standing inside the checkout area.

Ryu Jaekwan and Lee Soobin.

They were the two chosen to use the emergency escape item, the Five-Colored Shoelaces.

-It seems Agent Bronze can’t be managed within 100,000 won.

-And… it would be better if that student leaves with him. …The student who went missing first.

Agent Bronze was chosen because he was already treated as a ‘defective item’ and the cost was simply too high to be covered by 100,000 won, making it difficult for him to return normally.

And student Lee Soobin, who had gone missing earlier, was confirmed next.

Because he had been missing for the longest among us, we didn’t know what debt he owed the supermarket, and he was also in such a state of severe mental shock that he could barely move without the candy.

‘Anyway, I can’t smuggle that item out.’

The Goblin Workshop could track whether its ‘virtue’ disappeared after use.

So it was better to use it effectively.

I spoke quickly.

“You can leave now.”

“…….”

Agent Bronze quietly met my eyes and opened his mouth.

“You go first.”

Ah.

“Once I confirm you’ve left, I’ll immediately…”

“You can leave?!”

“…!!”

Someone lunged forward, pouring out towards Agent Bronze.

A middle-aged woman, appearing to be in her 40s, drooling. …No, a contaminated person with strange eyes, holding a doll instead of an arm.

A long-term missing person.

“You can leave?! They’re talking to them! Hahaha! Let’s go! Let’s goooo~!”

…She had realized that Agent Bronze was with us.

‘I thought that once you check out and leave, the long-term missing persons wouldn’t be able to do anything stupid.’

Because if they caused a disturbance by bothering a normal shopper, an employee would come.

But that was too rational an assumption.

When contaminated by a ghost story, desires can become twisted.

For example…

That unconditional, intense desire to escape.

“I want to leave too! I want to leave tooooooo!! Give it to me! Give me the gift certificate!!”

Attention was drawn.

The cashier looked this way.

“Customer, you broke something at Looky Mart! Please pay for damages! Five million two hundred eight thousand two hundred forty won!”

‘No.’

At least if it were us, we could cut them off and run, but those two must not get caught…!

I ran into the supermarket aisle. And, blocking the cashier’s line of sight, I shouted.

“Go now, quickly!”

Agent Bronze didn’t argue, quickly pushed the long-term missing person to temporarily subdue them, then immediately grabbed the high school student and swiftly tied the shoelaces.

And three steps.

“Huuuh, scary, scary, let me out!”

“Pay for damages!”

With the maddening voices as background noise, the two vanished from the supermarket as if evaporating on their last step.

First escape: Ryu Jaekwan, Lee Soobin / Success.

But there was no time to catch our breath.

“Can we leave? Can we leave?”

“I want to go!! He says he has money!!”

As attention was drawn, other long-term missing persons began to approach from the display aisles, escalators, and near the restrooms, muttering.

I ran towards the checkout counter, shouting.

“Candles, candles!!”

Ms. Go Youngeun had already pulled out the candle and hid the high school student behind her.

“You two, go!”

The three ran to the exit. And… Ms. Go Youngeun sent only the two high school students out the exit.

The two who passed through the glass door vanished as if by magic.

Second escape: Jang Min-seo, Hyun Jae-hoon / Success.

They had returned.

And Ms. Go Youngeun ran back.

“Noru, Podoo!! Anyway!!”

Hurriedly holding the candle, she gestured to me. I quickly jumped into Ms. Go Youngeun’s candlelight.

But outside the store and checkout area, long-term missing persons had already begun to appear, and ‘employees’ were showing abnormal phenomena, commandeering defective items in chaos.

“Let’s go quickly!”

I really wanted to.

But I had waited for this moment.

The moment when only the spy and the two people involved remained.

“Just, just a moment.”

“Why again…!”

I took out the remaining gift certificates from my pocket.

“Let’s use the rest of the gift certificates before we go.”

“…!!”

I quickly went back inside the checkout counter.

Ever since I got the gift certificates, there was something I had been aiming to do if there was some money left over.

The unique items sold in this supermarket.

Just as I had obtained items in the ghost stories of Sadang-gil and the Alien Store, there were definitely peculiar items in this supermarket ghost story, as its name suggested.

‘But among them, there must be useful things for sale.’

Because that’s what makes it interesting.

And such things couldn’t be obtained by stealing from past shoppers.

Because they were re-enacting past behaviors, naturally, the items they purchased were all ordinary daily necessities.

Therefore, I had to find and purchase them directly by any means.

‘Find them quickly.’

Quickly, so that the people who had already escaped wouldn’t become suspicious.

And, before getting caught in the commotion…!

‘Quickly!’

I frantically scanned the store.

The first-floor event display was filled with toys for the May Children’s Day event, and among them, ‘strange items’ were actually easier to find.

The ones that seemed vaguely blurred and required intense focus to see were the special products within the ‘Looky Mart’ ghost story.

I saw a model train, a donut tube, and a clay set. But I didn’t pick them up.

‘Something safe.’

I wanted to minimize gambling.

Preferably, it should be an item I had seen before in the exploration logs of this supermarket ghost story.

The problem was that it was difficult to find the exact same item with just a two or three-word description of its appearance.

‘I need to identify it.’

I gritted my teeth and searched both my mind and the display aisles. I had to find something I knew…

“…….”

Wait a minute.

‘That.’

I looked at an event display piled high with dolls.

Some of those dolls appeared blurred.

I approached closer and, piercing through the blurriness, observed the doll I had spotted.

A white lizard doll.

It was the exact same doll that was on Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s desk in the D-Team office.

“…!!”

I picked up that doll.

“Have you chosen?”

“Yes. How about you, Youngeun?”

Ms. Go Youngeun also nodded. She held a small item in her hand too.

“Let’s go.”

We breathlessly rushed to the checkout counter and checked out the ‘items’ we had each chosen.

…From behind, we could hear the sounds of long-term missing persons becoming defective items.

Along with cries demanding insane amounts of money, amounts unimaginable with the gift certificates we held.

“It’s twenty-eight thousand won.”

So, having each quickly grabbed an item, we rushed to the exit, gasping for breath.

“…Let’s not mention this unless the Bureau asks.”

“…Yes. …Thank you.”

Instead of testing Ms. Go Youngeun’s last bit of patience, I willingly ran with her to the supermarket exit.

“I’ll turn off the candle!”

“Yes!”

And we opened the exit.

‘Ha.’

Perhaps it was due to being trapped for several days, but my stomach churned. I kept replaying my actions, wondering if I had made any mistakes, but…

‘Let’s go.’

I gritted my teeth and quickened my pace.

The grotesque signboard was now barely visible. All I could see was the past scenery outside the glass door. I was even afraid of stepping directly into that past.

But…

‘Ignore it.’

Ms. Go Youngeun and I stepped forward.

The automatic door opened smoothly…

Ding-a-ling.

We ran, taking steps.

Forward, forward.

A cold wind and sunlight stung my eyes.

I blinked.

“Ha.”

Slowly, the light faded.

What came into view with restored vision was…

A warm, familiar alleyway from the 2020s, bathed in the dazzling sunlight of late winter.

And the figures of those who had escaped before us.

“…!”

“A-Agent…!”

The high school students ran towards us. Their faces were streaked with tears and snot, but filled with joy.

Seeing them, I realized.

‘We’re out.’

Third escape: Go Youngeun, Kim Soleum / Success.

We had finally escaped.