I swallowed dryly as I stepped onto the escalator and began descending.
Then… between the two escalators, moving up and down, I saw something fall.
A slip of paper, like a receipt.
Wait a second.
‘Could that be…’
I quickly reached out and grabbed the small, receipt-like paper.
“…! You found it already. That’s one of the informational leaflets placed by the Bureau.”
Right.
A leaflet hidden discreetly out of the employees’ sight—meant to help civilians who got trapped in this ghost story through no fault of their own.
I checked the contents of the receipt-like leaflet.
Take a slow, deep breath.
…Ugh, just reading this already makes me anxious. It’s exactly the kind of thing you’d find in a ghost story survival manual.
‘Honestly, before telling people to take deep breaths, they should fix the red font and formatting…’
But the content itself was exactly as I remembered.
Flipping to the back, the instructions remained the same.
‘I’m not sure which version this is, though.’
Among the listed escape methods, some would become ineffective after enough exploration attempts.
As time passed, objects, targets, and layouts would change, altering the situation.
‘Of course, some things never change.’
Like this.
“……”
Right.
At the entrance I came through, there must already be a grotesque ‘ghost’ standing there by now…
And the easiest escape method was to dash out when that ghost wasn’t looking.
But not everyone’s so lucky.
Caller 1 : [Sniff, hiic]… Yes, we saw the escape instructions on the leaflet, but we… we can’t do it… We don’t have anything to throw over the ghost’s head… and we didn’t steal anything. Our arms can’t reach…!
‘This is exactly why an agent is needed.’
Specifically, someone who had useful items for the situation and knew how to use them.
So once we confirmed the caller’s identity, we had to get out of here before business hours ended.
‘If the store closes, it becomes a real horror escape game.’
And fortunately for us, we quickly found two uniformed high school students near the escalator on B1 by the snack aisle.
“Wahhhh…”
They were pressed into a corner, crying their eyes out.
Those were the callers.
“Would you like to speak to them yourself?”
“……Pardon, sir?”
“Stay calm and try. Consider it part of your training.”
“Um, okay……”
Agent Bronze looked at me with an oddly warm gaze.
I felt a different kind of cold sweat.
Carefully, I approached the two teens, crouched down in front of them, and met their eyes.
“Hello. You’re the ones who called for rescue, right?”
“……!!”
“A-AHHH!”
Thump.
Both high schoolers fell onto their rears.
“Y-You’re human, right?! You can see us?!”
“Yes. I can see you clearly.”
I tried to smile as much as possible.
“We came in response to your call. You’ve been through a lot so far.”
“Wahhhhhhh…”
They turned on the waterworks like someone opening a faucet.
They’d probably been trapped here for about three hours since it’s winter and it gets dark early—long enough to be thoroughly freaked out.
“H-How do we get past that ghost at the entrance? Can we really get out?”
“Of course. Don’t worry.”
I gestured behind me, tossing all responsibility to Agent Bronze!
“The person behind me is a really capable agent… I’m sure we can make it out.”
“Wow…”
As the two students took a better look at my scruffy figure versus the neat appearance of Agent Bronze, they inched toward him.
‘Their survival instincts are kicking in.’
“So, w-we’re leaving right now?”
“That’s right.”
One of them practically latched onto Agent Bronze like a lifeline.
That’s the spirit!
I breathed a sigh of relief and checked the digital watch on my wrist.
‘So if we head for the exit now…’
[ 20 : 24 ]
8:24 PM.
As far as I know, in the ‘Looky Mart’ ghost story, the passage of time in hours, minutes, and seconds corresponds to the real world.
‘Closing time’s at 11.’
We still had plenty of time. Enough to craft a plan with our items and make it out safely.
And it seemed Agent Bronze was about to explain something similar.
“They close at 11, so we’ve got plenty of time. Let’s keep calm—”
Na-na-na-na, na-na-nan-na-na-na, na-na-nan~
“……”
…I instinctively looked up.
The Lucky Mart theme song piped in, all jaunty…
Like some sort of announcement chime.
– Hello, dear customers. Thank you for shopping at Looky Mart today.
– As previously announced, in celebration of Labor Day, May 1, our store will be closing at 8:30 PM.
“……!”
– Customers still in the store, please follow the employees to the exit.
Flick, flick, flick—
Lights began going out from the far end of the store, leaving only minimal illumination—like they were prepping for closing.
…The escalators ground to a halt.
– Repeating the announcement.
– Please follow the employees’ guidance to exit.
“Why…!”
I clapped a hand over one of the high schooler’s mouths and ducked down.
That ‘outside’ is not reality.
Na-na-na-na, na-na-nan-na-na-na, na-na-nan~
“……”
Oh, we’re absolutely fucked.