Chapter 32.1

Chapter 32.1

T/N:

Important edit to our favorite creepypasta monster’s name!

I’ll be spelling his name as BRAUN from now on! I couldn’t find any official confirmation from the author on this spelling, but Braun makes more sense for a dapper gentleman with a TV for a head if you take these things into account: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_set#Early_television & /29755/

So everyone, please adjust your mental image of our dear Braun~ He’s got an old timey TV head that looks kinda like this: /29666/

Major thanks to kelet for pointing this out! Wouldn’t have caught that if not for you!

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The missing manual evaluator.

The missing 50 million won.

And the soon-to-be-missing gift, the Bloodbathtub (pending).

“......”

To make matters worse, Braun—the one who requested the gift—is currently in my bag pocket.

‘He’s probably hearing all of this, shit...’

I’d been bringing him along just in case we entered another creepypasta scenario. Leaving him at home made me antsy, but now it seemed to be backfiring.

This felt like promising a Christmas present to my niece only to find that the store shelves were empty when I got there.

Except, in this case, my niece was Annabelle.

“Huu...”

A deep sigh escaped me.

‘An employee in this world taking unauthorized leave for a week without notice...’

It’s obvious.

This means they’re likely tangled up in a creepypasta and have gone missing.

‘Just relax and wait. It’s better for your sanity, they say.’

But if I wait too long, someone else might grab the Bloodbathtub on the Alien Shop, and then I’ll fail to keep my ‘promise’ to Braun.

I really don’t want to tick off the plush toy that once burned down an A-Class Darkness with a mere snap of his fingers...!

‘I’m gonna actually die.’

Assistant Manager Eun Haje gave my shoulder a few encouraging taps before returning to her desk, while I sat there, silent and lost in thought.

What should I do.

Should I wait twiddle my thumbs anxiously for two whole months, and if the tub sells in the meantime, swallow my pride and apologize?

Should I take out a loan?

Or...

‘...First, maybe I should at least find out why the person went missing.’

It’s not just to save face with, ‘I did my best.’ Who knows, maybe I’ll find the missing person without much risk.

I still had the <Dark Exploration Records>, both in my memory and on my phone.

* * *

“Oh, no need. Just take it with you—he hasn’t been in at all.”

“Oh, he’s on vacation?”

“Vacation? No, he’s missing.”

Gotcha.

The employee sitting nearby replied nonchalantly, barely glancing my way, and exchanged a look with the person across from him.

“Honestly, we kind of saw this coming.”

“Hey, hey.”

“Oh, come on. Everyone’s heard about it by now, haven’t they? You’re a D-squad rookie, right? What’s your name?”

“It’s Kim Soleum, sir.”

“......! Oh, are you the one who nearly made it to A-squad?”

“Um, I suppose so, sir. They seem to have a good impression of me, which I’m grateful for.”

“Wow.”

Some murmuring began to ripple through the room: ‘So that’s D-squad’s rookie...’

The employee at the adjacent desk looked me up and down, now with a bit more interest, subtly hiding their initial indifference.

“The thing is, you’re probably going to find out about it sooner or later if you stick around here anyway.”

The employee gave a slight smirk.

“See, we’ve had cases of people who work here, clueless as ever, picking up strange stuff and then going missing.”

“Pardon?”

I asked, furrowing my brow as though I was thinking hard.

“Wait... do you mean that’s why he hasn’t shown up?”

“Exactly. That... What was it again?”

“The scroll, the scroll.”

Another colleague chimed in, seemingly giving up on reminding him as he was snickering.

“Right, the scroll. He was boasting about buying one that supposedly boosted his luck, claiming he hit second place in the lottery after getting it.”

Oh.

So he bought some sketchy vertical scroll, bragged about his newfound luck, and then vanished?

‘Classic haunted thrift store story...’

A setup straight out of a cliché.

‘Alright, I know what to do.’

I made a swift decision:

Retreat.

Let’s not get caught up in this. Staying would be no different to saying, ‘Me! Me next! I’ll be the next missing person just because I want to get my money a bit faster!’