STRGS 11

Chapter 11 

Hana Galleria Mall Pop-up (1)

Am I dead?

As if.

The ghost who had been screaming endlessly through the phone that it would kill me shut its mouth tight the moment I entered Yeosan City. After that, there were no ghost stories, nor were there any ghosts.

The ‘Mirror of Alien Forms’ pop-up store opened as scheduled.

I decided not to think about my mental state squeezed dry by overtime work, the call logs fluctuating between tears and threats exchanged with all sorts of contractors, the burning inbox, or the countless rejected and overturned draft designs. At any rate, as long as it launched, that was all that mattered.

[Assistant Manager, it sold out through advance reservations alone. It’s a total hit.]

During the final preliminary check, a walkie-talkie call came in with a voice filled with excitement. It was a remarkable feat achieved just 30 minutes after reservations opened.

If things go well, we might even extend the pop-up by a week and squeeze in more content that we couldn’t include due to lack of time.

Huge success, incentives, promotion. Sweet figures—enough to wash away all the grueling hard work at once—were delivered in the reports.

‘Once I get this bonus, I should at least go on a trip.’

The pop-up is a kind of experiential exhibition hall, making maximum use of the special structure of the mall that the drama ‘Mirror of Alien Forms’ actively utilized.

The west wing of Galleria Mall gently connects from the 2nd floor down to the 1st floor via a ramp, designed so that people can circle around and stay as long as possible without taking the escalator from the shopping area down to the restaurant area.

In the original story episode, this passage endlessly repeats no matter how many times you turn around, matching the song “Fox, oh Fox, what are you doing?”

When it becomes a frequent occurrence that some of the customers get trapped and disappear in this fox passage, the protagonist steps up, and it’s a story where they eventually destroy the inverted world through a mirror reflecting water.

‘Stating it like this makes it sound simple, but the production of spatial and temporal distortion was so immense that it had enough intensity to be voted the number one legendary episode.’

The goal this time is to allow people to experience that exact intensity.

Teaming up three or four people at a time, starting the experience of an unlit shopping mall in an empty space, holding only a single flashlight.

And while circling around inside like a maze for a few turns, listening to the Fox song, and experiencing jump scares using projectors and props.

We also installed walls that move automatically according to the timing of the song and progress. It is a structure that guides visitors to the ‘next course’, namely the Mirror of Alien Forms drama exhibition hall.

The final part is a chase sequence where a ghost chases after you.

It’s a layout where, after finishing the chase, you can come out into the B1 floor event MD zone.

We also added a few omake elements so that people experiencing it at different time slots can have different experiences.

If they compare their reviews, they won’t line up, and as long as the fan base—who often talk about revolving through the ‘revolving door’—hyped it up just a bit on social media, it would definitely draw an explosive response in both on-site reservations and reviews.

[Checking the 3rd floor route here is complete too. No machine operation errors.]

[Inventory check for the B1 MD zone is finished as well! For lacking stock, we pre-arranged a line to take on-site reservations and produce additional units.]

[We request one more lighting check on the 2nd floor!]

The sound of the final check echoes endlessly over the walkie-talkie. I was also planning to do one more rehearsal experience myself and finish preparations.

“Assistant Manager, you really worked so hard this time!”

Park Min-ji, an MD from the mall’s side, approached with a bright face. When I met her after leaving the tunnel, her face looked like it was dying with an ashen complexion, but now she looked like a living human again.

“You went through much more trouble, MD Park. Thank you for cooperating so well to clear out such a large space; thanks to that, we were able to make a spacious movement route.”

“Actually, I went inside when we did the rehearsal earlier too! It was really scary?”

Park Min-ji’s eyes sparkled.

“Which part was the scariest?”

“Ah, when turning in that mirror maze over there. The part where water sounds played and a mannequin ghost was standing right there! It was made so well that it really made me not want to go near it!”

“……Uh, water?”

The smile on Park Min-ji’s face vanished in an instant as she looked at me.

“By any chance, is there… no water ghost part inside?”

“……Nonsense, of course there is!”

I affirm it first. Thinking I made a joke to scare her, Park Min-ji burst into a bright smile again.

“Ah, I was so shocked thinking I actually saw a ghost! Ah, really, that was the scariest part. At the end, I was almost running, asking where the exit was.”

What do I do? There is no water ghost spot. What on earth did Park Min-ji see? It’s not a water ghost, but just a mirror ghost part—did a problem occur with the water piping side?

After listening to Park Min-ji’s review for a moment, I excused myself under the pretext of checking the lighting settings. Seeing even an involved party so excited, I must have designed it pretty well.

[Please check how many actors are on standby for the 1st floor part. It’s two people, right?]

[From the entrance of the part, one is placed at 30 meters, and one right before the exit.]

[I’ll go in and take a look myself.]

Calming down the actors who were gathered at the entrance murmuring, I stepped inside. Even though it was a stage I designed, actually walking alone relying on a single light source felt a bit dizzying, and the feeling of my sense of direction getting blurred was quite strange.

‘No problem here either. None on this side too.’

I walked up to the section Park Min-ji mentioned. Shining the light, my appearance reflected in the mirror was shown. It seems that when she said she saw a ghost, she probably just scared herself after seeing her own reflection.

‘By the way, did I place a mirror here?’

I pulled out the floor plan, but I couldn’t remember for the life of me whether we decided to install a mirror or not. I called Assistant Manager Kang from the installation team over the walkie-talkie.

[Assistant Manager Kang, did we decide to install a mirror in the final Section F where I am now?]

[Huh? Ah, I do remember the Manager saying we needed to install one more mirror somewhere.]

[I heard it too. That MD Park ordered one more mirror.]

Did Manager Park from the installation team do it? It certainly enhances the late-stage atmosphere tremendously by being here, but…… I should verify exactly who ordered it.

As expected, it was good that I took another look. In the final stretch, because I kept changing this and that, my memory couldn’t catch up with the updates at all.

‘………………No way. It wouldn’t be a ghost story, right? It really bothers me that MD Park Min-ji said she saw a mannequin earlier……………’

Heading toward the exit, an uneasy feeling settles in for no reason. After gripping the offering stone I carried in my pocket, I opened the radio app on my phone.

The Depth Meter was still stopped at 2. It showed no signs of foretelling a new ghost story either.

『Will a ghost story occur in this place?』

I typed a message by tapping the story submission feature, which I usually have no use for. I didn’t expect an answer, but as the radio app turned on, it displayed text through frequencies.

There seem to be no issues around you.

『Then, what about a story that could fill the Depth Meter?』

Right now, in this place? There is none for the time being.

It seems correct that there are no ghost stories here. Come to think of it, what kind of ghost story would suddenly pop up in a department store built just over 10 years ago?

A pop-up event guaranteed by supernatural phenomena to have no supernatural phenomena. I was confident I could make it a massive hit even without the superstition that ghosts need to appear for it to succeed.

Finally, the day of the advance entry event.

Since the pop-up background is a department store at night, we obtained cooperation to hold a special entry event for 3 hours starting at 8 PM after closing, the day before the official opening.

Even though it was an event held at a late hour, the enthusiasm of applicants was immense. Promoting that advance entrants would receive special perks seemed to have worked properly as well.

[Be careful with crowd control, and try not to interfere with taking pictures as much as possible. Except for the actors’ faces, you can let them photograph everything.]

Checking the walkie-talkies for each floor again, everyone is deployed to their positions. As the PM of this project and on-site manager, I also took my spot on the 3rd floor.

8 PM. Along with the closing music announcing the department store’s end of day, the pop-up opened. Shutter sounds from cameras erupted everywhere, and fans holding armfuls of dolls and merchandise began standing in line to enter.

“Please fetch one more box of special perks here! Along with the tumblers!”

“I’ll go! The rest of you, hold your positions!”

Lesson of the day: Do not abruptly hold the advance event and merchandise sales together.

While the experience zone was restricted so that only advance reservation holders could enter, the sales zone was packed to bursting with people who gathered to buy goods as the first batch. Since my hands weren’t free at all, it seemed better for me to move instead of the staff.

‘What was placed over there again?’

Beside the B1 warehouse I went down to in order to pick up inventory, there was a door I hadn’t seen before. There wasn’t even an “Authorized Personnel Only” sign attached.

‘Did I… create one more rest area for the actor part-timers?’

“Assistant Manager, I found the inventory box! Let’s go up!”

“I’m coming now.”

It’s probably nothing. I can just check it again after one session ends; it’s not important right now. My mind was completely packed with the stock to fill the display stands and the additional order to place tomorrow morning.

Carrying the box to the sales zone, I headed toward the exhibition exit again.

“Did the first entry group come out?”

“Not yet. Ah, they’re coming out.”

The reaction of the people coming outside was nothing short of explosive. People coming out crying, people laughing, people excitedly hammering out reviews on social media, people running to the sales zone saying they needed to bag items quickly…………….

It’s a huge success. I began taking photos for reporting and checking the exit counter. I planned to adjust internal movement routes additionally by checking the time they came out.

“Ah, seriously, so freaking scary!”

“Are there no tickets left? Once isn’t enough.”

“What did they say the advance merchandise was? You can do the event roulette one more time, right?”

“Don’t know, I think you just have to tag and upload proof photos on social media?”

I briefly skimmed through the Insta and Twitter timelines. It entered the real-time trending search rankings on Twitter. As long as it rides the late-night hot topic trend well just once, there will be a mountain of material to release articles for tomorrow’s official opening.

[Assistant Manager, doesn’t something feel a bit strange?]

The walkie-talkie rang.

[What is it?]

[I feel like the movement route inside is dragging out a bit.]

[Because there are no people coming out, the wait time is getting a bit long.]

Along with the sound coming over the walkie-talkie, I recounted the counter.

The teams registered for advance entry totaled 100 people. The experience time was set from 10 to 15 minutes, and considering guidance time, they were let in at 6-minute intervals. After 1 hour, at least 30 people should have come out, and 2 hours have passed now.

I checked the counter every time people came out.

In between, I also heard the voices of part-timers over the walkie-talkie saying visitors were moving to the next area. If people had come out properly, there was no reason for the movement route to drag out.

“…Huh?”

I look down at the counter clicked every time a person came out. 18 people.

The numbers do not match.

My eyes turned straight toward the exit. Two students screaming in laughter while holding onto each other’s arms were just coming out.

Click.

I pressed the counter. The number did not change. My gaze dropped to the floor. The students had no footsteps. They had no shadows. They had no legs.

The students vanished before my eyes. The walkie-talkie crackled.

[Assistant Manager, a rescue request came in for mid-way resignation inside, but there is no one inside. Did you receive anything on the walkie-talkie out there?]

The students brush past me. Behind their laughing faces, the department store was visible through them. They turned transparent, faded, and then… completely hid their forms.

I pressed the counter that wouldn’t move again. No sound came out. Along with tinnitus, it detaches my senses as if the surrounding space is stretching out.

Fox, oh Fox— what are you doing?

I’m eat-ing- rice

The sound of singing began to be heard in my ears. At that moment, I realized what I had to do. I ran toward the entrance while shouting into the walkie-talkie.

[Listen up, all sectors. This is the PM. We will temporarily restrict the entrance. Please reschedule those who are still waiting for their experience to their desired time slot and dismiss them.]

Flustered voices of staff burst out noisily over the walkie-talkie. The one who is most flustered and wants to cry right now is ME.

However, there was no time to explain one by one. I issued the remaining instructions into the walkie-talkie in a firm voice.

[Process a 100% refund, and inform them that advance perk souvenirs and use of the merchandise zone will remain as is. As much as possible, please move everyone down to the B1 MD zone.]

[If inquiries come in, ask for their understanding by stating that due to an internal equipment defect during the experience, they won’t be able to experience it in time. As politely as possible, right now, immediately!]

I shoved the walkie-talkie into my pocket. If I can’t resolve this, my career is a secondary issue; it’s a catastrophic loss of human life. Over 50 people went in and not even 20 came out? On top of that, in a pop-up store where advance reservations sold out?

‘It’s not like this is a country that would believe it if I said, “They were eaten by a ghost story~.”‘

I squeezed my innocent phone once. 3 AM! You said there was no big problem! The Depth Meter didn’t show any ghost story warning either! The radio app was only crackling with static.

The 3rd-floor entrance was no different from a chaotic street market. Most were satisfied with the measures and moved to the merchandise zone, but the staff were still frantic, dealing with complaints from a few and setting up new reservations.

“Assistant Manager! Did something happen inside? It’s only been 1 hour since we opened.”

One staff member ran over, pale as a sheet.

“No, nothing big happened. There was an error with the sensor, so there’s just something I need to check briefly. They said the movement route inside keeps getting delayed.”

“Ah, you mean that walkie-talkie call earlier. What should we do about the people inside?”

“Have them all make an early exit. If necessary—no, make everyone turn back to the previous sector so it’s fast. I’ll inspect the inside.”

I pulled back the black curtain and stepped inside.