MFCLE 9

Chapter 9

Cd-A-11 (4)

This was an unexpected variable.

I quickly scanned my surroundings.

A group of teddy bear keychains that were nothing but cute.

A little kid who was somewhat stronger than normal.

A man with photophobia who was afraid of bright places.

In a place where such a ragtag bunch had gathered.

If it was here!

As long as I didn’t put out this last candle in front of me.

……There was no one.

Not a single one who could physically harm me.

“……There isn’t, is there?”

There was probably nowhere that could guarantee my safety as much as this place.

In a den of horror stories that killed people as easily as breathing, a place like this was truly—

A perfect save zone tailor-made for me!

It was a short encounter, but it was truly meaningful, Mr. Announcement.

‘Let’s never see each other again!’

A swift farewell.

Squeeze—

The horror-story kid was still clinging tightly to my pant leg.

……In a way, I could say that this kid was the one who had provided me with my current save zone.

Pat.

-……?

I gently patted the kid’s head and smiled contentedly.

Thank goodness.

Thank goodness, really.

I was lucky that the first horror story I entered was this place.

There was no reason for me to put out the candle anymore.

From now on, I just needed to stay here and find a way back to my original world……or so I thought.

Gurgle!

Our young man seemed very displeased with my decision.

-……What could possibly be going on?

I had been prepared for this, to some extent.

-Did the script get delivered incorrectly?

-Or perhaps the role was played by an ‘idiot’ who didn’t understand the meaning of ‘good triumphing over evil’?

-If that’s the case, it seems we need an expression appropriate to the role’s level.

-……Put the damn light out! You fucking ■■!!

……I’m okay, right?

-■&■ @■ ■■#■■!!

A barrage of words in a language I’d never heard before struck my ears clearly.

I had no idea what exactly he was spitting out so violently.

But one thing was certain.

He was cursing.

-■ck! ■ck! ■ck! ■ck! ■ck! ■ck!

……This much was obvious.

The shadow man was showing me far more hostility than I’d expected. Of course, as the person who had caused it, I wasn’t exactly in a position to complain.

But right now, the answer was to bluff.

If I put out this light and returned to the library, there was no doubt that the announcement guy would throw me into another horror story.

No.

It was one hundred percent certain.

There was no guarantee that the next horror story would be as blessed by sheer luck as this one.

So I……

‘Do you think I’m going to give up a place this fucking good?!’

Whip!

As if deliberately rebelling against his words, I turned my head.

A blatant refusal.

The shadow man seemed to have been rendered speechless by my attitude.

And in the direction I turned, I met the eyes of the horror-story kid, who was staring intently at me.

Steady—

Unlike the expression he’d worn just moments ago, when he’d been crying and making a huge fuss, his pupils had widened as though he’d witnessed something fascinating.

“…….”

-…….

……I wish you’d stop staring at me.

It wasn’t that I felt uncomfortable.

‘You’re scary too.’

After all, this kid was a horror story as well.

There was a completely different aura coming from those eyes.

The fact that the kid who had been crying like an actual child moments ago was now staring at me as if he’d been possessed by something was itself more suffocating than I’d imagined.

But the horror-story kid didn’t care about my feelings at all.

He let go of my pant leg, which he’d been holding until now, and began picking something up from the floor.

Rustle, rustle.

-Mister. Light not off. Person who doesn’t turn off light……good person.

Mister……good person?

Let’s just let that one slide. There wasn’t anything I could do about it anyway.

More importantly, what was he picking up so diligently?

I craned my neck and looked down.

The horror-story kid was picking up the teddy bears scattered across the floor one by one and placing them into his arms.

Why was he suddenly doing that?

The question flashed through my mind.

Suddenly!

The horror-story kid sprang to his feet from where he’d been crouching and held out the living teddy bears—the ones collectively known as the ‘Little Friends’—toward me.

-Mister. Good person. Present!

……?!?!

A present?

These teddy bears?

No, more importantly.

These guys are horror stories, aren’t they?

These things squirming around in the horror-story kid’s arms were a present?

“……Thank you.”

I hated this.

Although the words of gratitude slipped out unconsciously.

I didn’t need them.

I didn’t want them.

Wasn’t I taught from a young age never to accept things from strangers?

So I wasn’t going to take them.

“But I’ll just accept the thought……”

Shove!

Before I could even finish speaking, a tiny fist suddenly slipped into my palm.

-Present. Take.

……So the giver really did get to decide everything?

By the time the tiny fist had withdrawn, three teddy bears were sitting in my palm, waving their soft, stuffed arms affectionately as they looked up at me.

I had received them……

Well, I couldn’t do anything about it now.

Yeah. As long as they didn’t kick me out of here, I was fine with that……

-It’s getting late.

-Good person. Must go back.

What?

-Let’s play again next time. Good person.

Go back?

‘He’s not saying that, is he?’

Even as I repeated that self-rationalization to myself, another person’s gaze could be felt between the shadows stretching from the flickering candlelight behind me.

-What a shame. Such a shame……I’ll see you on the next stage.

The voice that had been violently spewing curses until now finally returned to a calm tone at the end.

-We shall end the stage here.

With those words, an inky darkness descended.

And when light returned once again—

Click!

A familiar LED light.

-……Oh? Well, who do we have here! Employee Park Yeon-jeong, you’ve returned!!

The voice entered through my ears in that familiar, static-filled, outdated sound quality.

Ah……

“I……”

I’m back.

……Damn it.

Crackle—

-Employee Park Yeon-jeong. The time you were gone was……for me, no different from time itself coming to a standstill.

Click!

A single overhead light came on.

“…….”

-Ah……Just being able to see Employee Park Yeon-jeong’s face like this again. With this one fact alone……there is nothing more I could possibly want from this world.

Crackle—

The static brushing against my ears gradually died down, and that low voice tickled my ears once again.

-Welcome back……Employee Park Yeon-jeong.

“…….”

Yes.

I had returned.

To this godforsaken place.

I had……come back here again.

‘That damn kid……pulling something it wasn’t even told to do!’

Crackle—

-……How was it! While Employee Park Yeon-jeong was away for a moment, I recited a line from what is apparently the most famous drama these days.

-I’ve heard that particular part received much praise from many people. Did it move you?

All of a sudden?

More importantly……did it move me?

It certainly did.

Enough to bring tears to my eyes.

At the prospect of meeting the announcement again, tears were practically blinding me.

If I’d known I would come back like this.

I should’ve just blown out the last candle!

‘Just you wait.’

Horror-story kid.

Next time, I absolutely won’t go easy on you!

I vowed that if I ever met the horror-story kid again, I would put my whole heart into blowing out the candle.

……Of course.

If I survive until then…….

Blocked by the harsh wall of reality asking, ‘Will there even be a next time for me?’, my vision once again blurred with tears.

Crackle—

But regardless of whether I was sad or not, Mr. Announcement quickly got to the point.

My work performance.

-Shall we take a look at Employee Park Yeon-jeong’s first work results!

!!!

I’d forgotten.

In the shock of realizing that I’d returned to this godforsaken place, I’d forgotten the fundamental reason I’d entered the [I Hate the Dark!] horror story in the first place.

‘Capturing a horror story.’

“…….”

I swallowed hard.

Cold sweat trickled down my cheek.

For an instant, the images of the people who had died in the library flashed rapidly through my mind.

What happens to an employee who fails to achieve results on their first assignment?

‘……They die.’

This wasn’t a guess.

It was a definite fact backed by solid statistics.

Horror stories were, at their core, an impatient bunch.

The [I Hate the Dark!] horror story I’d just experienced was proof enough.

If you couldn’t put out all the candles upon entering.

You were simply out.

Not the simple concept of elimination in a game.

You were out of the rest of your life.

Crackle—

I flinched.

Every time that static brushed past my ears, I felt like my heart was going to explode.

-Since this is Employee Park Yeon-jeong’s first assignment, let’s check it together.

Click!

The lights went out again, then came back on repeatedly.

And when the light came back on, an object I’d never seen before had appeared.

……A CRT television?

The appearance of an old relic from the past, something increasingly difficult to find in the modern era.

Its dusty exterior made it look as though it couldn’t possibly work, and scratches were visible all over it even at a casual glance.

Crackle—

But contrary to its appearance, glowing particles of light began to flicker around it.

A video began playing.

I had no idea what kind of footage would appear on the other side of the CRT screen, but soon, a single phrase filled the entire display.

[Employee Park Yeon-jeong’s Work Vlog — Day 1.]

……What?

A vlog I had no memory of filming began playing on the CRT screen.

The video began with the magnificent sneeze that had erupted as I entered the mansion.

Then came the scene of the candle being blown out.

The embarrassing scene of me being chased by the teddy bears known as the ‘Little Friends.’

Then the intense? chase scene between me and the horror-story kid.

-Intense BGM.

And finally, the vlog captured me looking incredibly heroic as I stood before the last remaining candle and deliberately refused to put it out.

[See you again in the next video!]

At the final outro, cheerful music played alongside an old-fashioned font, and the video came to an end.

“…….”

It had all been recorded.

The scene where I……deliberately chose not to put out the final candle had been captured in the video with horrifying clarity.

……Gulp.

-So that’s what happened.

After watching the video, the announcement didn’t display any particularly strong emotion.

There was only his usual, ordinary tone, followed by a suffocating silence, as though he were briefly lost in thought.

Not long after.

When his voice finally came through the speaker again—

“I-I’m sorry……”

-That was truly excellent!

“……What?”

-As expected of our company’s talent. I think we made the right choice assigning this task to Employee Park Yeon-jeong!

Before I knew it, a question slipped out of my mouth.

I’d acted against the very purpose of my assignment—to capture a horror story—and yet what I received in return was a single word of praise from my superior.

‘Just get angry at me.’

In this situation, a word of praise was more frightening than anything else.

Unlike me, who was struggling against an inexplicable fear, the performance evaluation continued.

Crackle—

-Of course, failing to secure the item that was the original objective would certainly be considered a ‘deduction’ from your evaluation.

-But……Employee Park Yeon-jeong, you returned having created something just as important as securing the item: an ‘investor’! That, too, can be considered a major achievement!

“……An investor?”

That horror-story kid?

-Yes! I don’t know whether you are aware of this, but that young master’s parents are also people of considerable authority!

Crackle—

-Well, originally, I intended to hold the young master captive and ■■■ him and receive ■■■■ from them……but maintaining a business relationship with them isn’t such a bad choice either!

……Hmm.

I had the unpleasant feeling that I’d just heard something I definitely shouldn’t have heard……

But I didn’t want to die, so I was going to pass.

No need to dig deeper.

-But I never imagined that he would even give Employee Park Yeon-jeong ‘that gift.’

-Could it be that Employee Park Yeon-jeong possesses some unique charm that I don’t know about, one that draws horror-story beings toward her?

Being told that I had charm was definitely supposed to be a good thing.

But if that charm only worked on horror stories……

I didn’t need it.

I wouldn’t take it even if you gave it to me.

I wanted to live my entire life without any charm whatsoever.

Twitch.

Huh?

I felt something moving inside the palm of my clenched fist.

And suddenly, I remembered the beings I’d forgotten about.

‘……Ah! Right.’

The moment I opened my clenched palm, the group of teddy bears slowly unfolded their crumpled bodies.

The ‘Little Friends’ I’d been forced to accept from the horror-story kid.

The announcement seemed to notice the teddy bears sitting in my palm as well, because a group of white gloves began hovering around them.

-Hmm……So this is the ‘gift’ from that person.

-They’re called ‘Little Friends,’ right? Judging by their condition……they look like items that could be sold immediately without any trouble.

!!

Pat pat pat pat pat!

At the announcement’s words about selling them, the Little Friends hurriedly tried to hide themselves between the folds of my clothes.

“……Are you really thinking of selling them?”

It wasn’t out of sympathy.

Well, they were cute, so I suppose I’d be a little disappointed if they were sold off.

But the idea of one horror story selling another was such an unusual situation that I hadn’t even seen anything like it on the wiki.

I was looking at it out of pure curiosity.

-Since they belong to ‘that person,’ I imagine there will be many people looking for them……but if we really sell them, Employee Park Yeon-jeong might find herself in a rather difficult position……

-Perhaps we’d better not.

It was an unexpected answer.

-We can’t sell off a powerful connection we’ve only just established for a mere handful of pennies.

The announcement’s words sounded almost as though……

He was taking my feelings into consideration.

Although some indescribable emotion stirred within me at his words—

Rustle.

The white gloves still hovering around my body showed no signs of giving up on the Little Friends.

Hey, Mr. Announcement.

It seems your body and mind aren’t on the same page.

Click!

This time, the lights went out without a word.

Click!

When they came back on.

The CRT television and the countless white gloves that had been before me were gone.

-Anyway, you’ve worked very hard today, Employee Park Yeon-jeong. Additional compensation for today’s work will also be deposited.

Yes, I really had worked hard.

So.

‘Please just leave me alone.’

It was a heartfelt plea.

-Since you’ve successfully completed your first assignment today, you may clock out and go home.

……What?

What did he just say?

I wasn’t hearing that wrong, was I?

-I’ll see you again tomorrow, Employee Park Yeon-jeong. Have a good night.

Click!

The lights went out.

And that day, the lights never came back on again.