Chapter 21 Yandere Girl (1)
A place I came back to much faster than expected.
<Exit 1 of Seongsu Station.>
I never dreamed I would visit this place again in just one day.
Who would have known that I would use up all the items I had just freshly purchased from the Ghost Story General Store yesterday, on the same day.
Swipe.
I checked the time on my smartphone again.
07:35 AM.
I arrived on time.
There was still some time left before it became 44 minutes. I decided to kill some time nearby.
After all, it would soon be time to enter the Marketplace.
During this break.
I briefly checked the balance remaining in my bank account.
<Balance 40,000,000>
My skin still tingles whenever I see this amount in my bank account.
Even if I exclude the 5,300,000 won that I owe to the Ghost Story General Store owner.
It’s a lot.
More than enough.
With this amount, I could buy the items I want and still have money left over.
Today feels like a good start.
Bzzzt-
A vibration from the smartphone in my right hand.
What this vibration means is.
It’s time to enter the Ghost Marketplace. I slowly climbed the stone steps at Exit 1 of Seongsu Station, just like last time.
Step.
As I climbed the stone steps, exactly when my smartphone showed 7:44.
“Forty-four.”
The silence exhaled.
Deep darkness covered the surroundings, and all light disappeared.
Fortunately, I got in safely.
Now I just needed to follow the tactile paving that guides to the Ghost Story General Store .
“…Huh?”
“……”
?
Someone’s voice seemed to come from right beside me.
The voice was thin, with a tone that anyone would recognize as female.
‘That can’t be…possible.’
Actually, whether the voice was female or male.
That wasn’t really important.
The very fact that there was someone else here besides Park Yeon-jeong was the problem itself.
Creeak-
Like a broken machine moving. With the stiff movement of my neck creaking.
When I slowly turned to check the source of the sound.
There.
With black hair hanging down.
In a pale white face.
Gleaming red eyes reminiscent of blood.
I’ve heard about such beings before.
“…It’s, it’s a virgin ghost!”
I shouted loudly without realizing.
And the response of the ghost who heard my scream was.
“H-how dare you call a n-normal person a ghost at first sight! And v-virgin… that’s really rude!!”
The ghost talked back!
Save me!
Park Yeon-jeong was preparing to run away with all sincerity from the suddenly appearing ghost.
“B-besides, how did a civilian get here… G-go back immediately! This is a place civilians shouldn’t come to! It’s dangerous!”
“…What?”
A rather magnificent explanation for a ghost. Plus, a warning that ‘you shouldn’t enter here.’
Our virgin ghost speaking like someone from an agency would.
‘Maybe this person…’
With a hopeful heart, I asked the ghost woman in front of me.
“…Are you perhaps from the GRA Agency?”
“What?! H-how… d-don’t tell me!”
I was right.
This person is a GRA Agency officer.
Assuming that what I encountered was not a ghost but.
A person, I examined the subject in front of me again in detail.
Shabby black hoodie and a black cap pulled down low.
The face I mistook for white skin was completely covered by a white mask.
The pants design is also familiar. The national standard tracksuit with vertical stripes. The shocking identity of what I mistook for a ghost.
But as soon as I mentioned the GRA agency, that woman.
Thud.
She sat down right there.
Moreover.
Scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape!
She began begging desperately.
“I-I didn’t come here because I wanted to… in-inspection! N-no… ah, that’s right! I just came briefly for undercover investigation. Really! Please believe me!”
Ah… I see.
Was it because of my current appearance?
She probably mistook me for someone who came to catch her.
The real GRA employee, that is.
Certainly, within the GRA agency, purchasing items from the Ghost Marketplace is taboo.
To explain simply, it’s treated like illegal smuggled goods.
Of course, no one would be unaware of this fact, and if one had enough capital, rather than buying items from this Ghost Marketplace where defective items gather.
It might be better to buy properly verified items from the agency legitimately to avoid trouble later.
Right.
If that ‘enough capital’ existed for ordinary employees, that is.
In a situation where you might be dragged into a ghost story and die today.
Department heads or deputy directors might be fine.
But for intern-level or regular employee-level, or even assistant department head-level staff with little practical experience.
Buying items from within the agency at a legitimate price is difficult.
Which meant that the woman still bowing frantically before me was likely either an intern or a regular employee.
There’s also a possibility she’s an assistant department head, but…
Scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape!
This woman’s begging skill is not amateur.
With this level of begging technique, at most she would be a regular employee, just above intern.
At first, I was somewhat cautious as this was my second encounter with a GRA agency person, excluding the strongest department head.
“I also came here to buy items.”
“…What?”
Now I don’t have much time to argue like this.
“Let’s go. Before more people come.”
I grabbed the hand of the woman who had been begging with all her heart until just now and pulled her up.
“…Y-you should have. Said that earlier…”
A voice as if crawling away.
The woman, perhaps experiencing regret for what she had just done.
Blushed.
“Understood.”
I answered with the most pleasant smile I could manage.
After all, it’s better in the long run to avoid actions that would make GRA agency people dislike you, even if they are low-ranking.
Fortunately, the distance to the Ghost Story General Store wasn’t too far.
Grip.
“…Excuse me.”
“Y-yes?!”
At my question, the woman was startled, and I gently raised her hand, which was tightly gripping mine, to eye level.
“I think you can let go now. We’ve arrived.”
“Ah! S-sorry!”
Only then did the woman release the hand she was holding.
Zing-!
My hand tingles.
I couldn’t feel the sensation in my right hand, that’s how tightly she had been holding it.
Moreover.
Was the hand color originally blue?
Park Yeon-jeong’s ridiculous strength coming from a smaller physique than himself.
It seems my thought about maintaining friendly relations with the agency people was not so wrong.
Park Yeon-jeong slightly fled and opened the sliding door of the Ghost Story General Store first, and met eyes with the owner who was sitting with his chin on the counter for some reason.
The owner sitting at the counter also brightened up as soon as he saw me.
“Oh! Is this a dream or reality! So that wasn’t a dream after all!”
The owner’s face looked excited as if he had seen a ghost when he saw me.
“Yesterday you disappeared so suddenly I thought I had fallen into something strange.”
“…Ah, I see.”
Well, that’s not entirely wrong.
If the timing isn’t good today, I might say goodbye in the same way as yesterday.
“And that… about what I mentioned yesterday.”
Here it comes.
Actually, if I were to visit this place again, I was planning to express a clear rejection to the store owner.
Though the owner’s proposal might be good in the short term, in the long run, it might be dangerous enough to take my life.
Right now, more than the visible benefits.
My life was more important.
“About the proposal you made yesterday….”
“I’m sorry for showing you such an amateur appearance. You must have had your own circumstances. I ended up showing an unsightly behavior.”
“…No, not at all.”
An apology from the man’s side before I could finish speaking.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. As a merchant, I don’t intend to let go of prey that smells of money.”
I wasn’t sure what tune to follow.
“Let’s start from this small relationship for now..”
The general store owner smiled as if he had something up his sleeve.
“…I understand.”
But.
It wasn’t a bad proposal.
If I continue to maintain a friendly relationship with the general store owner, perhaps someday I might really have a chance to talk to him.
This kind of relationship with him seemed just right for now.
“Excuse me….”
But without realizing it, while proceeding with a conversation only the two of us knew about, we failed to pay attention to the other person who visited together.
“Oh. I see there’s another customer? Please come in.”
“……”
The woman slowly walked into the store at his invitation.
I took that opportunity to check the time again.
08:19 AM.
Time had already passed a lot.
If I get dragged away by the announcement guy without buying any items here, that would be a real disaster.
Immediately turning my gaze,
I alternately examined the items displayed on the shelves and those scattered on the floor.
The Ghost Story General Store is a place that sells really rare items sometimes that aren’t even in the GRA agency, but there are also many duds.
Of course, those duds can be used depending on how you use them.
A representative item among those called duds is ‘Thousands of eye,’ which Park Yeon-jeong himself had bought before, and it falls exactly into that category.
Items called duds are mostly those that endanger even the user who uses the item.
Dud.
Defective product.
Cursed item.
The names they are called are diverse, but the name recorded in the category of <Ghost Story Record Storage> is typically classified as ‘Cursed Item.’
So if asked whether I would buy a cursed item like ‘Thousands of Eye’ again this time.
Of course.
Would I be crazy to buy such a thing again?
Once is enough.
Each cursed item has its own big risk.
Even with ‘Thousands of Eye,’ I almost had to surrender all my arms and legs to that thing right there on the spot.
Today is not the day to bring back such a flawed item.
It’s the day to get a perfect, high-quality item.
In fact, when Park Yeon-jeong first visited the Ghost Story General Store.
Upon discovering an item located in the furthest corner of the left shelf.
His eyes sparkled.
And fortunately, that item was still keeping its place in that same position.
How much? I’ve wanted to buy that.
Grab.
With a hand movement as if not to be taken away by anyone.
I immediately picked up the item located in the corner, ran towards the owner, and quickly placed it on the counter.
“How much is this?”
“…Well. You always seem to have an eye for peculiar items.”
The item I put on the counter was.
A 6-shot revolver.
Obviously not an ordinary revolver.
An item called [The Final Trigger].
This item was one of the things I wanted to purchase since I first visited this place.
But the reason I didn’t buy this item right away was.
Because of money.
The money I had at that time was far from enough to purchase the revolver.
Park Yeon-jeong knew how much this item was being traded for here.
The price of the item, which would have been sold to a named figure if not for me, was.
“26,666,666 won.”
A price tag that seemed to fully embody the identity of the six-shot revolver.
An expensive item that would require spending almost all the money I currently have.
It’s expensive, damn expensive.
Of course.
That doesn’t mean I won’t buy it.
“I’ll take it. And I’ll also pay for the items I put on hold before at once.”
“……Samsung Pay is not accepted.”
“I know.”
This time, I confidently handed over the black card I received from the announcement guy.
“……Wait, you seem like a different person after not seeing you for just a day. Looking closely, your clothes and all… this isn’t from some loan shark, is it?”
“You can rest assured.”
Somehow, I felt my pride rising.
The payment was fortunately successful, and now I have about 8 million won left.
Park Yeon-jeong was satisfied with being able to get the item he wanted, but there was someone staring blankly at him flashy flex.
“…You have a lot of money. Paying for such an expensive item in full.”
“Since you’ve come all this way, aren’t you going to buy anything?”
“Ah… I, well….”
The woman still hadn’t chosen any particular item.
Or, even if he had spotted an item he liked, he might not have been able to buy it due to financial issues.
I was lost in thought for a moment.
“Since we’ve met by chance, if you don’t mind, I’ll contribute some money.”
“……What? T-t-this is fate, fate?!”
……This person.
She’s surprised at a strange part.
But I couldn’t miss one of the few opportunities to build a relationship with the GRA agency people.
And.
I also hoped that a character I had already met would not lose their life in a ghost story.
“You don’t need to feel too burdened.”
“F-fate….”
“…Or, think of it as a gift from me.”
“…A gift?”
Finally, it seemed like her senses had returned.
“Yes, it’s a gift I’m giving you.”
“…S-someone giving me a gift… It’s my first time receiving one.”
A woman showing a considerably introverted personality.
But she didn’t seem to mind the act of being given a gift.
“Is there perhaps an item you want? Or should I look for one with you…”
“This one.”
In this moment, there was no trembling felt in her voice at all.
“…Ah, so you already have something you want.”
I followed the direction her finger was pointing, and the item at which my gaze stopped was.
There was a knife wrapped in a red sheath.
The so-called [Pain Sharing Knife.]
“…”
Found it.
One of the named individuals in the GRA agency. The yandere intern who has formed a considerable fandom even in the <Ghost Story Record Storage>.
Kim Ha-eun.
…It was you?
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