content warning : gore
The high school student trapped in Looky Mart.
Jang Minseo, who had called the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau for rescue, covered his mouth while hiding beneath the mobile display stand.
His heart pounded.
An unsettling noise echoed close by.
Screek, screek, screek, screek, screek, screek, screek, screek.
The sound of something pretending to be an employee moving.
‘Did they see me?’
Did they see me hide under the display stand?
‘I turned the corner and went straight under.’
They probably didn’t see me…
But the sound kept getting closer.
Screek, screek, screek, screek, screek.
“Hff, hiic…”
Tears wouldn’t stop falling.
‘Why did I come here in the first place?’
He shouldn’t have followed his friend. Jang Minseo cursed his friend in his head over and over… until he realized it was pointless and stopped.
Fear had already overtaken him completely.
The noise grew louder. And louder.
Screek screek screek screek screek screek screek screek screek screek screek screek screek screek screek.
It was right next to him.
His body froze.
Through the gap beneath the display stand, he could see a pair of feet passing right by.
Strange footsteps—ankles twisted unnaturally, dozens of them creaking as they moved.
Screekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreekscreek.
Jang Minseo held his breath.
But unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it.
Among the countless strange, shuffling dress shoes passing by—something different caught his eye.
A pair of old sneakers.
“…!”
Between the awkwardly waddling employee uniforms, he saw a pair of worn-out sneakers being dragged along.
“P-Please, help me…!”
A chill ran down Jang Minseo’s spine.
It was a human.
Someone had been caught.
“I-I can pay! I can pay! Money—here, I have money, I’m a customer! A customer…!”
“Welcome to Looky Mart!”
But instead of politely escorting the unfortunate victim outside, the employees were dragging them away.
Because…
You cannot purchase goods in this supermarket using Korea’s currency.
Remember. You do not have the ability to pay.
“Help me!”
The moment this fact is exposed, the employees no longer see you as a customer.
In most recorded cases, those discovered were repurposed… as store supplies.
Clatter.
Jang Minseo’s body locked up.
Slowly, he looked up.
The mobile display stand he was hiding under… was shaking.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
The employees had surrounded it.
And then—
Whiiiiiirrrrr.
“AaaAAAAAGH!”
The sound of a blender filled the air.
“Isn’t this a wonderful product?”
Jang Minseo realized.
They were imitating a promotional demonstration.
Grinding a victim alive in a blender—turning them into store supplies.
“Mmpph.”
Jang Minseo covered his mouth.
Luckily—or maybe unluckily—the screams and blender noise were loud enough to drown out his muffled gasps.
“Aaaah! Hhhhhggk, aaaaaagh!!”
“Thank you for shopping with us, dear customer!”
“Isn’t this a wonderful product?”
“Welcome to Looky Mart!”
Pleading. Screaming. The blender. More screaming. Employees greeting customers. Screaming. The blender again.
He couldn’t take it. He was about to scream. He had to get out of here. Where was the exit? Someone, please, tell me where to—
Someone grabbed his shoulder.
“…!”
A hand.
A warm hand.
The trembling grip pressed him further under the display stand.
It was the agent.
The one who had come in response to his rescue call.
“…Huuuhp.”
Jang Minseo’s breathing slowly returned to normal.
Even in the midst of the overwhelming noise that could drive someone insane or unconscious, he clung to the warmth of that grip—and endured what felt like eternity.
The sounds of the blender continued. The employee’s cheerful sales pitch repeated over and over.
But at some point… the screaming stopped.
And then—
Whiiiiirrrrrr… click.
“……”
The space above them fell silent.
The promotion had ended.
Screek, screek, screek…
“……”
The sound gradually faded away.
The feet that had been visible through the gaps in the display stand…
The sneakers that had been dragged along…
Even their shadows had disappeared.
“……”
“……”
“It’s okay now.”
“Huuuhp.”
The agent checked outside, then spoke.
Hearing that, Jang Minseo let out a shuddering breath—and finally started sobbing again.
The bespectacled agent beside him watched with a complicated expression.
“……”
And at that moment, Kim Soleum realized something.
‘This is insane…’
Because…
He and the one high schooler he had to rescue were now alone.
‘Splitting up was the right call.’
But damn, this was terrifying.
The sound of a human being ground alive—
He had a feeling it would be waiting for him in his nightmares.
Kim Soleum’s back was already drenched in cold sweat.
‘…I nearly passed out.’
But he couldn’t show it.
Not when a fifteen-year-old kid, still paralyzed with fear, was clinging to him.
“W-What do we do now? Hiiic…”
“Hey, it’s okay.”
Kim Soleum spoke to the high schooler as gently as possible.
At some point, he had started speaking informally, but there was no time to worry about that. Right now, it was better to act like a familiar, reassuring adult.
‘…Sergeant Jay actually played a much bigger role in the Sangun-nim ghost story than I thought.’
But as he watched the high schooler still trembling with fear, he decided to speak again.
“Want to hear a secret?”
“……”
Though still crying and struggling to steady his breathing, the word ‘secret’ made the student instinctively lift his head.
And the agent really did share a secret.
“Actually, I’m the agent who knows the most about this supermarket.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
But rather than being reassured, the high schooler felt even more doubtful.
‘That’s obviously a lie.’
Everything about him screamed rookie.
Glasses, messy hair, the way he seemed to chew on his words…
Compared to the sharp, competent-looking agent from earlier, he looked more like a bumbling sidekick to a superhero.
Still, the agent continued speaking, determined to calm him down.
“I’ve researched this place a lot. I know what’s dangerous and what isn’t. Even things the other agent doesn’t know—I know them all.”
Messy hair.
Eyes meeting from beneath his glasses.
‘Huh?’
Instead of the hesitant, unsure look Jang Minseo was expecting—
For just a moment, there was a sharp, calculated gaze.
Then it was gone.
“……”
Somehow…
It all sounded completely true.