[The following special abilities have been unlocked!]
[Ghost Story Enhancement (new!)]
[Ghost Story Summoning (new!)]
[Ghost Story Trust Increase (new!)]
"Hmm... It’s nice to have gained abilities, but..."
I stared at the Status Window with a conflicted expression.
Of course, it wasn’t that I disliked gaining abilities.
There was no telling what kinds of ghost stories I would encounter or how I would encounter them in the future, so the more means of protecting myself I had, the better.
「Ambi guous」
"Right? How am I even supposed to make use of these?"
But they were ambiguous.
Ghost Story Enhancement, Ghost Story Summoning...
They weren’t abilities I needed right away.
In short, they were useless for now.
[Ghost Story Trust Increase]
[Anomalies find your words trustworthy.]
"This one at least seems like it could be useful, but I really have no idea about the others."
「Enhance More」
Well, it was probably only mediocre because it was still at Stage 2.
I had no choice but to work hard and save up GP until the next enhancement.
"...But you don’t seem very surprised. Isn’t the Status Window amazing?"
「Not Really」
"Hmm, I guess anomalies and humans are surprised by different things."
***
The Status Window was the Status Window.
And time passed until it was time for my part-time shift.
I left the Backrooms and arrived in front of the convenience store.
Ding!
"Boss, I’m here to take over."
"Yeah, yeah. Our new hire is here...?"
The moment I went inside, Han Seoa greeted me from behind the display shelves.
Her black hair was a complete mess, and dark circles hung down to the bridge of her nose.
She looked like she had spent several nights without sleep.
"...You look awful. Are you okay?"
"Don’t worry about it. I just haven’t been able to sleep lately, so I’m tired."
With a huge yawn, Han Seoa picked up the coat she had tossed on the floor and put it on.
After pulling the zipper all the way up to her neck,
she trudged toward the entrance, then suddenly grabbed both my shoulders and spoke.
"You. You’re not looking for another job, are you?"
"Huh? Me?"
"That month you were gone... maybe you were actually putting up a wall between us..."
Han Seoa’s pupils shook wildly as she kept firing questions at me.
Did I dislike it here?
Was I planning to switch jobs because the pay was too low? And so on.
They were questions whose meaning I couldn’t make heads or tails of.
Clap.
"Wait. Calm down first."
"Mmff!"
After covering Han Seoa’s mouth, I began to explain.
"I’m not going anywhere. I had to beg you just to get hired here, Boss. How could I possibly change jobs?"
I was Kim Goe Bung.
A man whose highest educational qualification wasn’t even elementary school graduation, but escaping an orphanage.
Forget a major corporation—if I got kicked out of even this convenience store, I would starve to death.
I was making a living thanks to your grace, Boss. Where would I even go?
I removed the hand I had held over her mouth and asked Han Seoa.
"Say it yourself, Boss. What qualifications do I have?"
"Your face...?"
"...Anything else?"
"Th-then, no."
The focus in Han Seoa’s wavering eyes settled, and she met my gaze head-on.
Then she swiftly turned her head to the side.
...What was that all of a sudden?
"Exactly. Even if I wanted to leave, I couldn’t. I think you’re still not fully awake."
"Y-yeah. I guess so. I should hurry home and rest."
"Get home safely."
Bzzz.
Fanning herself with one hand, Han Seoa walked outside.
"That’s right! There’s no way our new hire would leave! But why is that woman after our new hire..."
I heard her muttering through the closed entrance door, but
the soundproofing was too good for me to make it out.
She seemed really tired.
I hoped she got some good rest.
"Hup. The next shift is at twelve, so I should be able to write around two stories, right?"
I sat down and looked at the clock.
It was currently four in the morning.
The next part-timer would come in eight hours.
Which meant I could write ghost story posts during that time.
"The next stage was 1,000 GP, right? I should hurry up and save enough to unlock it."
So I sat at the counter and wrote.
Whenever I got bored, I checked out the Ghost Story Minor Gallery.
I served the occasional customers who came in, and before long, the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon.
Ding!
"Ah, welcome...?"
His hair was slicked all the way back, and golden pupils shone within his black eyes.
A man in a white suit entered the convenience store,
and I couldn’t help but be flustered.
"A male part-timer who carries the faint scent of a ghost story. It seems I arrived at precisely the right time."
"Y-you are..."
"A pleasure to meet you, beautiful human."
The man now politely bowing toward me was
"My name is Maestro."
the anomaly I had registered on the Ghost Story Minor Gallery yesterday.
The Maestro. Maestro.
By default, whenever he found a human, he would break their legs first so they couldn’t run away,
and any humans he took a liking to...
"First, I shall invite you to my concert hall."
"...Damn it."
Snap!
He would invite them to his stage.
[Ghost Story Minor Gallery Lifelong Slave Group Chat]
CleanlinessKing: Guysguysguysguys
└CleanlinessKing: Something big happened, come quick
└RapidExchangeSlave: Yes?
└Looting: What is it, what happened?
CleanlinessKing: I gave the new hire some kind of Status Window as a gift
└CleanlinessKing: And it had a function that showed whether someone was alive
└Looting: Yeah, and?
└CleanlinessKing: It says Unknown now, fuck
└RapidExchangeSlave: What??????
└Looting: Are you insane? What happened to him all of a sudden???
└CleanlinessKing: I don’t know either..
└CleanlinessKing: I’m seriously going crazy with worry
【Gallery Admin】: Everyone, calm down
└【Gallery Admin】: I’ll try to sort this out
[Notice]: Attention, all Ghost Story Minor Gallery users
Author: 【Gallery Admin】
I have received a report from the deputy admin that the new hire’s status is currently unknown.
Ghost Story Minor Gallery Unified Rule No. 3:
"No gallery user may kill another gallery user without cause." There is reason to suspect this rule may have been violated.
From this moment on, we will confirm whether the new hire is alive or dead.
If he is dead, we will begin determining the cause of death.
I ask for everyone’s smooth cooperation.
Thank you.
[Total Comments - 11]
Chrishimas: ????????
└Chrishimas: Is this for real?? That new hire’s status is unknown???
GlassCup: No, the gallery admin is seriously heartless
└GlassCup: The new hire might be dead, but the reason for investigating is suspected rule-breaking...
└Ozone: The gallery admin has always been famous for being cold
└OneTwoHookJab: That’s why he became gallery admin, yeah
EightSpiderLegs: What!?!???
└EightSpiderLegs: Did something happen to the new hire??!??
└MadamRabbit: Hehe, I’m sure he’s fine
└MadamRabbit: Please don’t worry too much
└EightSpiderLegs: ..How do you know that?
***
"This is fucking great~ Just fucking great~"
"What song is that?"
"There’s a song people sing when they’re completely fucked."
I sat in the audience seats,
with both arms draped over the armrests as I looked up at the stage.
Actually, I was strapped to the armrests and couldn’t move.
"So, you want to accumulate a variety of knowledge?"
"More precisely, experiences."
"And one of those experiences is the cause of your birth?"
"That’s right."
I questioned Maestro, who stood at the very center of the stage.
No, I confirmed it.
Whether his traits were exactly as I knew them to be.
"Knowledge that is difficult to obtain is the finest experience. By acquiring that knowledge, I—"
"You’ll be able to perform the finest orchestra."
"...Correct."
Just as I had written in his settings.
Maestro, the Master of Flesh.
A ghost story whose goal was to hold concerts with instruments made from people and present the greatest music in the world.
And he was a lunatic who would stop at nothing for knowledge and experience.
"You know quite a bit about me, don’t you?"
Maestro asked, pointing his baton at me.
Piiing.
The baton touched the spotlight and reflected its light.
That light was strangely flesh-colored.
"What? Curious why that is?"
"Of course! I would like you to tell me right this instant! ...But."
After getting excited for a moment, Maestro regained his composure.
"There is something I wish to ask first."
Something he wished to ask first.
It was obvious as daylight what that was.
Because it was the sentence I had set as his highest-priority knowledge.
"How you were born."
"That’s right. I received information that you know the answer to that."
It was absurd.
Who the hell had been spreading such nonsense?
How would an ordinary, insignificant human like me know the cause behind a ghost story’s birth?
...Though I did know.
"Speak truthfully. I possess the power to uncover lies, so if you lie—"
"I made you."
"...What?"
"I said I made you. You."
I decided to confront him head-on.
Maestro could detect a person’s lies through vibrations.
There was neither reason nor room to deceive him.
"You’re one of the ghost stories I registered on the Ghost Story Minor Gallery. That’s why I know so much about you."
"Th-that..."
Leaning his head against his baton, Maestro fell into confusion.
He probably couldn’t trust what I was saying.
This was when I needed to press forward instead.
"It might be hard to believe. But it’s the truth, so just listen to me first—"
"No. That isn’t it."
"...?"
Swish.
Maestro lowered his baton and looked toward me.
"The intense scent of ghost stories emanating from your body... Registered on the Ghost Story Minor Gallery..."
"Excuse me?"
"My birth is not what matters right now."
Only then could I see his face.
His face, where musical staff lines ran along its edges, was
"It was you! The new hire who has earned the trust of countless ghost stories and become the talk of the town!!"
"What?"
filled with delight.
...That rhyme between trust and new hire, though.
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