Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel (End Part 1) - Chapter 188

How much money did I spend there?

Even without remembering every single item, it’s easy to deduce that it was in the hundreds of millions of won.

I had invested the equivalent of a substantial deposit for an apartment in the metropolitan area into that mall to purchase all sorts of items.

And then, one day, I received that golden card.

I was a Space Shopping Mall VIP!

~Thank You Cell Enclosed~

I had no idea what that ‘thank you cell’ even meant.

Until this very moment.

“Customer.”

I raised my head.

I remembered attaching the cell under my tongue, but what I did afterward was hazy.

So… did I doze off for a moment?

“Customer.”

Wait a minute. Section Chief. I’m trying to figure out the situation… Wait.

Customer?

“Section Chief?!”

“No.”

Only then did I properly identify the person in front of me.

The lizard was staring blankly back at me.

“Section Chief.”

“No. Customer.”

I heard a definite negation twice.

I looked closely at the reptile in front of me again. The scaled snout and gleaming vertical pupils were still the same.

But the color was different.

‘Gr-grey, it’s grey.’

A grey lizard was sitting in the spot where Lee Jaheon had been sitting just a moment ago!

The snacks and coffee I had hastily prepared on the table had also disappeared.

I swallowed.

“Who are you?”

“I am a shopper who has come to assist our VIP customers with their personal shopping, acting on behalf of the Space Shopping Mall’s sales intent.”

Oh my God.

“Shall we proceed with your shopping?”

I stood up. Yes, I was still sitting at the motel room table.

And Section Chief Lee Jaheon, who had been sitting opposite me, was replaced by some similar-looking alien… Wait a minute.

Space Shopping Mall VIP shopping?

Could it be… that some kind of employee is here to make a personal house call sale to me?

‘…Section Chief!’

You were just talking about how I was completely contaminated!

Could this be a build-up to sell me items that are good for contamination? No, even if it is, it wouldn’t be bad if it could remove the contamination!

I barely managed to calm down and quickly sat back down, speaking.

“I want to speak with the Section Chief Lizard.”

“Do you mean the individual named Lee Jaheon, who is employed as a Section Chief at Daydream Inc.?”

I hesitated.

“Do you require him for psychological stability because he is an individual with whom you have built a friendly relationship?”

“What happens if I answer yes?”

“We explain that there is no problem.”

The lizard’s snout opened.

“Because we know Mr. Roe Deer, and that knowledge is completely identical to what Section Chief Lee Jaheon knows.”

“……!”

“Furthermore, we wish to maintain a friendly relationship with you in the future, Customer.”

“……”

It was bizarre.

Now that I think about it, Section Chief Lee Jaheon often introduced himself or started conversations using ‘we’ as the subject.

And the button I used was named… ‘We Help.’

We.

“‘Who’ are ‘we’?”

“We are a Union. Speaking to Lee Jaheon and speaking to the entity currently before you are both speaking to the Union.”

The conversation was becoming increasingly abstract.

So… a bizarre group of alien beings who share a single memory and emotion…

‘I heard there were such ghost stories.’

It was as sci-fi as an alien shop could get. I clutched my head and said.

“I’ll just… talk to Section Chief Lee Jaheon. I’m not in the mood to shop right now.”

“Mr. Roe Deer.”

“……!”

I raised my head.

But the white lizard was still a different entity from Lee Jaheon.

However, it spoke in the exact same tone.

“You are in a situation where you need assistance. Please receive appropriate treatment when you can receive assistance in the form of shopping.”

“…What kind of treatment are you talking about?”

“I am here to assist you with your shopping. Shall we begin your Space Shopping Mall VIP shopping experience?”

It was a non-sequitur.

However, catching the nuance, I slowly nodded.

Does it mean I can only proceed if I shop?

“…Yes.”

“Understood.”

The grey lizard nodded.

The next moment.

The table began to grow enormous.

“…?!”

Objects obscured by fog rose onto the endlessly stretching table to the left. And tentacles hovered in front of those objects… No, wait. Where am I, exactly?

“You have accessed us through the cell you ingested. Based on complaints about the website UI, VIPs are serviced with shopping in the most familiar and comfortable space…”

“Did I ask a question out loud just now?”

“Yes. Please sit comfortably and enjoy your shopping.”

The lizard spoke very professionally. No, wait, what does he mean I was accessed by a cell…?

“Then, before we begin shopping, we will proceed with identity verification. In this state, clear confirmation of your intention to transact is difficult, so we will distinguish you to facilitate a comfortable purchase.”

“Distinguish?”

“Yes.”

People appeared at the endlessly lined table seats.

“…!”

They were obscured by fog and difficult to see clearly. However, the closer ones revealed faint impressions of their appearance.

A supermarket cashier’s uniform, a broadcaster in a luxurious suit and stylish gloves, a kindergarten teacher holding a textbook, a high school student in a school uniform…

The ghost stories I had experienced.

Me, contaminated within those ghost stories.

“……!”

And the two entities sitting closest to me were not enveloped in fog, so their forms were clearly visible.

I stiffly turned my head to check.

The yellow mascot.

The black cat.

It’s okay.

Calm down.

[This way]

They even spoke to me.

Goosebumps ran up my spine.

Their table seats were adorned with decorations and colors symbolizing their respective ghost stories. I shot up from the table, intending to run…

“Customer. You are currently connected to the Space Shopping Mall via the cell. This imagery is merely a projection of your mind, and there has been no actual separation of personality and self.”

“……”

“Do not be overly wary of yourself.”

“…Is this a visualization of my contamination? To refer to when making a purchase…?”

“Similar.”

This is maddening.

I sat back down and pressed my temples. The yellow mascot fidgeted, trying to console me.

I was going crazy.

“Would you like to check?”

Check what?

“To facilitate smooth shopping, would you like to reconfirm the impressions of the images sitting closest to you?”

“……”

I instinctively realized.

This was advice.

So I raised my eyes and looked at the ‘me’ that filled the table.

Where am I? This is confusing. I need to find the textbook again. Throwing away the textbook was a huge mistake.

Welcome to Rookie Mart!

[Graduation is about to begin again. I have to go back to school.]

-This is a unique place. If I do an in-depth report, the great host might prepare a new segment for me!

I felt like vomiting.

However, that repulsion came from things I knew. It was fear that came from being able to imagine it so well.

But…

“……”

I looked at the faces sitting close by.

Impressions that were relatively clear, not enveloped in fog, caught my eye.

But then.

“Who are you?”

The person sitting right next to me, obscured by the giant mascot.

They were wearing old, ragged clothes.

“I’ve never seen you before.”

A ‘me’ I didn’t know.

INTRUDER

The mascot turned its body, clearing my view toward that person.

As I looked at the figure more clearly, I noticed the material of the ragged cloth that this unknown ‘me’ was wearing.

It was… old parchment.

“You.”

I looked at the unfamiliar me.

“Take that off.”

“……”

The figure sitting at the table slowly lowered the parchment rags from its head, revealing itself.

Me, wearing an orange cleaning uniform.

-Caught me.

The Imitator from the Nameless Radiant Cult twisted its head, looking at me.

-LOLOLOLOLOLOL

“I’ll cover what interferes with shopping.”

The next moment.

The man in the cleaning uniform disappeared from the table.

“……”

My heart pounded.

“Customer. Do you recall anything associated with the image of yourself just now?”

“Yes.”

I remembered.

I reached into my inventory tattoo and pulled out an item I had forgotten… no, an item that had been absorbed and made me forget.

A rolled-up, old piece of parchment.

Imitator Scripture, Chapter 4

Story Thief

An item that appeared when the Security Chief dealt with the Imitator I encountered while cleaning in the company’s basement, after being disciplined.

A fragment of the Nameless Radiant Cult’s sacred scripture.

I remembered wrapping it in ‘Packaging 12B357na’ to prevent the item’s effects.

‘And… I unrolled the packaging and wrapped it around my body for defense on the train to Tamra!’

After that, as I got caught up in Brown’s late-night talk show, I had no opportunity to recall this Nameless Radiant Cult scripture at all.

No… perhaps at some point, my narrative might have been manipulated so that I ‘couldn’t recall’ it.

‘…Just now, if I hadn’t received the music box originating from the Nameless Radiant Cult from the goods box, I would have completely forgotten about it.’

It was thanks to seeing an item from the same origin right before that I was able to recall it.

And…

“Customer. The parchment is swallowing something.”

“Yes.”

I saw it too.

I forcibly separated and pulled out a black cylindrical object that was almost dissolving into the parchment.

A fountain pen.

“…!”

An item for brainwashing from Segwang Industrial High School, which I had received from Baek Sa-heon.

‘I had forgotten about this too.’

I realized.

It seemed that the sacred scripture had been usurping the narrative of this fountain pen.

Through that, it gained power, and one day, I would be completely taken over by a grotesque phenomenon of the Nameless Radiant Cult…

…Wait a minute.

‘What else did I forget?’

I quickly racked my brain. But nothing came to mind.

It was understandable. It would be a memory already stolen from me!

Then…

“Can I get a list of items I’ve purchased from the alien shop so far?”

“Yes. Is this an attempt to locate the whereabouts of items?”

“…That’s right.”

“Then I have something to tell you.”

The lizard looked at me.

“Customer, there is an item you have forgotten.”

“What is it?”

“You received a strength-enhancing device from Section Chief Lee Jaheon to create new equipment, but its whereabouts after production are ambiguous.”

“…!”

“Section Chief Lee Jaheon tried to inform you of this fact but repeatedly realized that it was a problem that could not be solved merely by notification.”

…I remember.

-I will introduce the item.

-Is it a strength-enhancing effect?

-Similar. Please use it as a parent item when creating dedicated equipment.

We definitely had that conversation.

Listening to the story, I slowly came to realize what that item was.

‘…It was a bracelet.’

An item I made with Manager Eunha Je for the last time at Daydream Inc. Annex.

At that time, Manager Eunha Je had suddenly appeared in my room. …Just like Section Chief Lee Jaheon, who appeared in the motel room now.

But what I did with that equipment after making it… I completely don’t remember.

There were several critical situations where I could have used it, but I didn’t recall it.

And I probably won’t be able to recall it in the future… because it has already been devoured by the fragment of the sacred scripture.

…A chilling feeling. I barely managed to open my mouth.

“I’m sorry. Even though you kindly lent it to me.”

“It’s fine.”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon, who claimed not to be him, naturally accepted my apology.

‘Phew.’

Calm down, calm down.

At least I noticed, so that’s good.

‘Was the Imitator almost completely assimilating me, which is why the collector didn’t fill up with fluid?’

Furthermore, since I was performing all sorts of grotesque roles, from the Special Department of the Security Team to the mascot, and ‘imitating’ them, the effect must have been amplified.

…Perhaps, that’s how I was judged not as human, but as a grotesque entity of the Nameless Radiant Cult.

‘Phew.’

Thanks to that, the contamination also seems to have deepened.

I looked with gloomy eyes at the grotesque ‘me’s sitting around the table.

The cat looked at me with bloodshot eyes, dismissively tapping the table with its tail, and the mascot drooped its horns as if crestfallen.

Various other reactions made me dizzy.

And even though it wasn’t banished from the table, the part assimilated by the Imitator would still be inside me…

‘Ha.’

For now, one thing at a time.

I gestured toward the fragment of the Nameless Radiant Cult’s sacred scripture.

“Can I dispose of this parchment at the shopping mall?”

“It is not an item purchased by the Space Shopping Mall.”

“Do you perhaps handle my contaminations currently sitting at this table?”

“They are not items purchased by the Space Shopping Mall.”

Phew.

Right. Either way, it seemed too dangerous to sell to humans, so it probably wouldn’t be an item handled here.

‘But Section Chief Lee Jaheon led me here as an alternative to the Fox Counseling Office.’

Then… there must be some way.

At that moment, the ‘We Help’ button popped into my head.

“Then, is it possible to request the ‘Union’ to remove them? For a fee, of course.”

“Yes.”

“……!”

The lizard looked at me.

“Are you requesting the permanent destruction of a part of yourself?”

Don’t do it.

It’s dangerous.

Wait a minute.