STRGS 06

Chapter 6

Mangryang Tunnel No. 2 (1)

Becoming friends with a suspicious, mysterious anomaly and getting to experience ghost stories—the dark side of the world.

Though it sounded grand, my life didn’t suddenly become dramatic like a novel or a comic book.

Above all, I had no way of knowing how to find real ghost stories that could fill up the ‘depth meter.’ Ever since that day, the radio had only played a sluggish melody with the lyrics, <Under See a bit! in maintenance! service you>

No ghosts appeared either, and wondering if everything I had gone through was just a dream, I even attempted a factory reset on my phone, but both the radio app and the depth meter remained untouched.

Depth Meter Collection Status: 1 out of ■■■ completed

Blood Valley

The ghost story achievement on the depth meter was equally stuck.

After acquiring the depth meter, I thoroughly overhauled my home and blog. While it was partly my quarterly index reorganization, it was mainly to check if there were any ghost stories that could be registered on the depth meter.

Over 25,000 blog posts accumulated across more than ten years. That was the count even excluding personal collections, fact checks, and occasional everyday life posts.

With so many stories, why didn’t the depth meter react to a single one? No matter which post I read or which suspicious occult book I held my phone up to, the depth meter didn’t budge in the slightest.

‘As expected, does nothing work except doing it directly in person?’

So I began testing ghost stories one by one, starting with those I could do nearby. Going to another world via elevator, playing hide-and-seek alone, summoning ghosts by looking in the mirror and doing XXX, selling bad luck to ghosts, taking a taxi through a cemetery in the middle of the night…

Still, there were no results. Not a single ghost story was ‘real.’ As expected, were ghost stories all fake after all?

Or was only what 3AM-PM picked recognized as a ghost story? Am I supposed to just live my life until a revelation comes like a divine calling?

Calling themselves a ‘good friend’ yet staying out of reach—could someone who doesn’t contact you even be called a friend? The message 3AM-PM left on the guestbook had long since been deleted, and even when I posted a notice looking for 3AM-PM, no reply came back.

At least, wrestling with the posts so far, our brief conversation, the depth meter, and the radio app yielded one new fact.

Tapping ‘Blood Valley’ registered on the depth meter brought up a neat compilation of other ghost stories, folklore, and legends sharing similar structures to the various versions I had researched. It was clean enough to post on the blog right away, complete with hashtags. And then,

“Water is recognized as a liminal boundary between the living world and the afterlife (Liminality) where life and death coexist. In particular, the substitution mechanism of dragging others in to liberate oneself varies across diverse forms, ranging from fairy bewitchment to water ghosts (Susal-gwi). Like the boundary line separating the living world (the village) from the unknown world (the outside)—represented by ninety-nine passes, ravines, and nine waterways—as well as the Styx or the River of the Dead, water can be recognized as a rite-of-passage space that must be crossed to transition from the land of the living to the land of the dead.”

“Fear of entities in the water is maximized through the way they draw humans in. Eastern philosophy—where they seek a new victim to substitute for themselves and fill the spot to achieve eternal rest—and entities like Sirens, Lorelei, or Rusalkas lure humans into the water with beautiful voices or appearances. This symbolizes a lethal trap that burrows into human desires or carelessness…”

The explanation regarding the ‘archetypal nature’ possessed by ghost stories was intriguing. Not only were ghost stories I didn’t know listed as examples, but there was also enough material to read for hours regarding solutions one might consider in similar situations.

The conclusion I reached was that the depth meter is ‘filled’ only through real ghost stories, and ‘filling a ghost story’ collects the most archetypal nature possessed by that ghost story.

‘Though I still don’t know why it collects natures or what happens once they’re collected…’

It probably has something to do with the ‘certain story’ 3AM-PM is looking for or my own ghost story. Pondering something that gave no immediate answer would only give me a headache, so I decided to leave it at that.

“?!”

The depth meter flashed. Black letters began rising on the second gauge bar that hadn’t budged at all.

‘A new ghost story…!’

Let at least one recognizable thing pop up.

I stared intently at the squares shrinking and stretching.

The black squares turned into three, then five, broke into pieces, and… finally became letters I could recognize.

Resentment, Tunnel, Offering

“The scope is way too broad.”

Though several ghost stories came to mind, none felt definitively like the one. I tapped the screen and waited to see if a location name might appear, but in the end, that was where it stopped.

‘Unless 3AM shows up, won’t I be completely in the dark until it hits me…?’

Otherwise, my only option was to go around tunnels and check them one by one.

‘But I don’t have any business trips scheduled lately.’

Having used up annual leave a few times recently, plus the upcoming thick wall of project deadlines, my schedule for a while was set to be a endless loop of home-to-work. There are hundreds of tunnels in South Korea, and something happening in a place like the Gwanaksan Tunnel was unlikely.

‘Ah, whatever.’

If I don’t react, 3AM will probably show up first and tell me where to go on their own.

That was an extremely naive thought.

After the golden weekend passed, the workplace I reported to was beyond a battlefield—it was an apocalypse, a total ruin. A coworker sitting next to me was crawling over their keyboard while making zombie-like noises.

“What time did you come in?”

“Friday…”

“Didn’t our pop-up end on Thursday?”

No sooner had my question ended than the coworker’s eyes rolled back white. Ah, this is a terrible sign. Running away is the only way my week will be comfortable. Slipping back, I prepared to retreat right after turning on my computer power.

“I’m going to buy coffee, do you want me to get you one—”

“Assistant Manager Seon, the Department Head is calling for you. He says there’s a project you need to handle.”

Escape failed. Tucking my laptop under my arm with a grim expression, I trudged toward the meeting room. Inside the translucent room sat the three of us: Department Head Lee, Manager Chae from the design team, and me.

“Assistant Manager Seon, the last pop-up results report was very good.”

“T-Thank you. Did sales increase a lot?”

“As expected, young people really know their stuff. That interactive experience pop-up Assistant Manager Seon planned? It was hugely popular among customers.”

What is it? What are they trying to dump on me that they’re showering me with compliments like this? An uneasy feeling brushed past the back of my head before flying straight in and sticking deep.

I quickly calculated the deadlines for the projects I was currently handling. What should I pull out to avoid taking this on?

“So for this pop-up as well, I’d like Assistant Manager Seon to take charge of the practical work and take responsibility right from the very beginning.”

“Me? I think I have another pop-up scheduled for next month…”

“Do this one, build up your track record, and when you get promoted to Manager in the second half of the year, it’ll look great too.”

“!”

To play the promotion card so cheaply here. I glanced at the name on the service proposal placed under Department Head Lee’s hand. ‘Hana Galleria’…

Interactive Pop-up for Drama ‘The Mirror of Anomalies’ – Space Utilization Concept for Hana Galleria Mall

“Whoa.”

Without realizing it, the sound escaped my mouth. Stupidly. Closing my eyes and blaming myself before opening them again, Department Head Lee’s beaming face filled my field of vision.

“I knew it’d be perfect for Assistant Manager Seon. Then we’ll consider this handled by Assistant Manager Seon, so take two team members below you and one from the design team.”

“A-Ah, wait, when is the deadline for this? Has the contract even been confirmed?”

“You just need to go to the meeting tomorrow! Just submit the business trip form and read over the proposal within today!”

“Huh? Tomorrow? To… morrow?”

Has Department Head Lee finally lost his mind?

“I’ll trust only Assistant Manager Seon. Let’s do just as well as last time. Hahaha!”

Department Head Lee departed with a laughter that turned one’s stomach upside down. Just because he—because he’s not the one doing the practical work…! It’s definitely a deadline that’ll make me curse up a storm while coordinating schedules with the installation team again!

Unable to even scream, I buried my head into the proposal, and Manager Chae consoled me with a lukewarm sentence that was neither encouragement nor cheering, looking at me with pity.

“Still, out of the planning team, Assistant Manager Seon is the most knowledgeable about the latest trends. I’ll pair you with a designer around the 5th-year level. Hang in there.”

“Yes… Please pair me with Assistant Manager Kang. If it’s not Assistant Manager Kang, I can’t draft the pop-up stage…”

“Sure, sure. I’ll definitely give you Assistant Manager Kang and Junior Staff Seor.”

Lies. Assistant Manager Kang will definitely draft about 3 proposals, get pulled to another project right when the design is confirmed, and hand me a 1-year intern designer. Please just let there be no fights with the printing shop before the opening.

This is a workplace horror story; who needs ghost stories?

‘Let’s look at the content.’

The Mirror of Anomalies. The most popular horror short-form series recently, featuring a protagonist who holds a mirror that reflects anomalies—that is, bizarre phenomena—to exorcise ghosts lingering in places.

Despite being quite a niche topic, thanks to balancing horror and emotional drama well, its popularity exploded, confirming a webtoon adaptation and even a TV drama. It seemed they were planning to open a pop-up in time for the drama broadcast, creating a massive event that combined MD sales with drama experiences.

‘Let me see, if it’s the Yeosan-si Hana Galleria Mall…’

It’s the setting city of The Mirror of Anomalies. A new city two hours away from Seoul called ‘Yeosan-si,’ where the biggest episode takes place at the Hana Galleria Mall. Though localized as ‘One Gallery Mall’ in the work, actual drama filming was conducted there, making it the optimal space for fan pilgrimages.

‘The production team of The Mirror of Anomalies even contacted me before asking if they could use materials from my blog…’

Since ‘Blogger Gii Yadam’ and ‘Planner Seon Jae-hyun’ are thoroughly different people, the drama team probably doesn’t know I’m in charge, but since this is a chance to show that professional levels are different, I feel a bit motivated.

‘The pop-up involves experiencing the anomalies in the episode and displaying items used in actual production… plus a photo zone and a stamp rally, huh. Doing it by stamping a seal every time an anomaly experience is completed should work.’

After reviewing the pop-up location floor plan and the included contents of The Mirror of Anomalies episode, a conceptual plan matching the budget roughly took shape. All that remained was inspecting and taking actual measurements on-site, setting a schedule with the installation team, and discussing the design with Assistant Manager Kang…

Not even a few minutes after whining, I was completely absorbed in The Mirror of Anomalies series and its pop-up layout.

‘I’m dying of sleepiness.’

That miserable Department Head Lee. If it’s a distance that takes only 2 hours, wouldn’t it have been nice to schedule the meeting in the morning? Who schedules a meeting requiring out-of-town travel for 5 PM? Where am I supposed to report to work the next day?

This seemed to be the last direct bus bound for Yeosan. The bus driver glanced at how many passengers were on board and made an announcement that he would step on the gas without stopping at rest stops. Works for me.

The moment I sat in the single seat in the back row, I plugged in my earphones, pushed the backrest all the way down, and closed my eyes. Let’s just sleep. The music is sweet, the driving is smooth, and the air conditioning is blasted—what could possibly happen on a day like this?

“Ugh…”

Noise keeps mixing into the music. My hazy mind cross-referenced the piecemeal noise against known information. A short sound, a long sound, a long sound, another short sound… Ah, I’ve heard this before.

‘…Morse code?’

Drunk with sleep, I began jotting down the Morse code. W… A… K… E… U… P…

WAKE UP, ARE YOU THERE?

Wake up.

Snapping alert, sleep vanished. Throwing my upper body upright, I looked around. The bus was running through a tunnel with its lights off. Emergency lights passed by at a steady rhythm. Emergency light, emergency light, emergency light…

‘I don’t see an emergency telephone.’

Originally, emergency lights and emergency telephones are strictly installed alternating at set intervals inside tunnels. There was no way a phone wouldn’t be there. Something was wrong. Pressing my face tight against the window, I glared outside.

Between the endlessly continuing emergency lights, painted letters in a worn, old font entered my view as clear as a still frame all by themselves.

Mangryang Tunnel No. 2

‘Wait, those Chinese characters are…’

Before I had time to think about where I had seen that familiar name—

Screeeeetch!!

“Whoa!!”

“Gah, what is it?!”

The bus slammed its brakes with a frantic screeching sound.