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 & https://global.samsungdisplay.com/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: https://global.samsungdisplay.com/29666/

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

^{[ ]}

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.

‘Let’s at least scope things out.’

Since the theme park incident, work had been relatively slow, and I’d wrapped up the paperwork for a recent exploration just yesterday.

Today, I had a bit of freedom to kill time as long as I didn’t actually run off.

‘Plus, my superiors are in and out of the office today.’

Of course, as the lowest on the ladder, I decided to wait until after lunch to briefly sneak out.

The first place to visit…

‘The manual evaluator’s desk, of course.’

Ding.

The elevator doors opened.

Of course, I’d prepared a cover story for this visit.

– Ah, you want to check out the evaluator’s office? Huu… Sure Roe, just take this and just drop it off!

My squad’s kind-hearted supervisor handed me a certificate of completion for a training session. It wasn’t urgent, but it gave me an excuse to be there.

‘My humblest thanks, Supervisor Park Minseong…’

In a creepypasta world full of psychopaths, his kindness felt like a rare warm gesture.

I entered the admin support office, looking for someone to give the document to. Luckily, there was an employee seated right next to the missing evaluator’s desk.

“I’m here to drop off some paperwork for D-squad Supervisor Park Minseong.”

“Huh? Just leave it there.”

“Yes. And also…”

Without even glancing my way, the employee kept typing away at their computer, looking rather bored. I politely handed over an envelope I’d been holding.

Inside were warm, sugar-dusted donuts filled with vanilla cream and an iced Americano.

‘Bribes are essential for this sort of thing.’

“I picked these up while getting something for myself. Thought you might enjoy them.”

“……! Ah, you didn’t have to, really!”

Still, their hand shot out to take the coffee and donuts. A true office worker.

“Supervisor Kang, pass these around.”

“Huh? Donuts?”

“They’re from him.”

“Wow, thanks! You’re from D-squad, right?”

I watched as the office atmosphere subtly shifted toward a casual tea-time atmosphere, with the admin staff biting into the donuts and chatting.

It was a friendly setting, perfect for gently prying information. And even better, since I was the one providing the snacks.

I picked the right moment to bring up the missing manual evaluator, glancing over at the empty seat of ‘Lee Byeongjin’.

“Um, should I just leave this coffee on Section Chief Lee’s desk? He doesn’t seem to be in…”

“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!’

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