After nearly 1 hour on a subway car packed as tight as an ant colony, I got off at a cluster of run-down low-rise buildings. A dark alley with streetlights few and far between and not a single convenience store. This was the hillside-slum low-rise I had just moved into.
When I opened my wallet, there was barely enough cash inside for two cans of beer. I grabbed the cheapest beer and skipped the snacks. I felt pathetic, wondering since when I had started fretting over every little expense like this.
'I had my glory days too, you know.'
Damn life. The place I had hastily jumped to after quitting was a shit-tier small company with a rating of 2 on a job-hunting site. My position at the current company: the experienced-hire trash can. Nothing more, nothing less. Still, with my age and the rank I had held at my old company, there was nowhere suitable for me to go, and on top of that, this was the only place that would at least cover the minimum cost of living.
BEEP-BEEP—
I had come home after being treated as an emotional trash can yet again today, but when I opened the door and stepped inside, along with the creak of the floorboards came the sound of something crunching dryly under my foot.
"Ha! Damn it!"
When I turned on the light, there was a cockroach the size of my thumb, crushed dead under the heel of my dress shoe. For me, home was no longer a place where I could rest easy. I half dropped, half tossed the beer into the room, where chilly air hung. That probably wasn't the only cockroach, but when I couldn't even afford to turn on the heat, this was no time to be picky.
PSSHHT—
Ignoring the musty smell that stung my nose, I cracked open a can of beer and slid down to sit against the wall. Hadn't they said the old woman who used to live here had dementia? She had made such a fuss about refusing to sell the place that her children had hurriedly taken her away with nothing but the clothes on her back, so the previous owner's belongings, still not cleared out, were piled up on one side.
'Ugh. Those things are a headache.'
They were filthy, so I would have to clear them out sooner or later, but paying just to throw them away felt like a hassle, so I had left them alone. But they were definitely the source of this sour reek. If I didn't clear them out soon, more bugs would come swarming.
KNOCK KNOCK— THUMP THUMP.
I had drunk maybe half the can when the noise started, and I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed hard on my skull. I took the leftover soju out of the fridge and poured it into the can.
BANG!
"Here we go again!"
Pounding the wall of the building with my fist, I downed the drink in the can in one go. I had complained countless times about the noise that came every night, but they wouldn't take it seriously, saying the unit next door was empty. These days, noise travels diagonally, too. I had even asked them to post a notice about the grating noise, but the old man who managed the building wouldn't hear a word of it. If anything, he scolded me for being a fussy young thing.
"Fuck! Seriously, let me sleep!"
The infuriating part was that the noise always came between 10 at night and 2 in the morning. I had tried every trick in the book to find the source, but it was no use. I pounded the wall with all my might a few more times to vent, but all it did was hurt my hand.
"Haa.... Just my luck."
Giving up on sleep, I thought I might sort through the stuff instead and went over to the piles of belongings. Tomorrow was the weekend anyway, and who knows? Maybe something expensive and valuable would turn up in there.
'The old woman had gone senile anyway.'
She might have left behind something like cash or gold. Now that I had some hope, even this unpleasant smell was a little more bearable. After sorting for a long while, I found a worn-out notebook along with a key made of gold.
"Whoa!"
I set the notebook on the floor and stared hard at the key. I figured I could easily get at least 500,000 won for something like this. On the off chance the notebook held any more information that might be worth money, I looked through its contents carefully.
'What is this? Did she write a novel or something?'
Since the old woman had hidden it in among her stuff, I had expected something about a secret safe nobody had gotten around to clearing out, but she had written something like a sci-fi story. Maybe dementia sends the brain back to childhood, too. A snort of laughter escaped me.
[How to Capture a Child Ginseng.]
[How to Obtain the Pestle Ghost's Balls for Virility.]
[Spirit Summoning: How to Ask Questions for Free with the Chunhyang Game.]
I wondered if she had written down some old folktales, but it was fairly interesting stuff for a delusion, so I set the notebook aside to keep. Then I picked up the key I had been holding and gave it a bite.
'I figured it'd be 24K, but it's pure gold! Jackpot.'
Just as I was celebrating, an alarm went off announcing 12 o'clock, and a murmuring came from the wall. It was a strange sound I had never heard before. Of all times, it had started while I was holding the key, and goosebumps rose on my skin on their own.
[Snicker. Snicker.]
[Entry time is....]
As the sound grew louder, I stopped what I was doing and went over to the wall.
'Damn it. No wonder it was cheap. Is this one of those places where somebody died or a ghost shows up?'
All this time I had firmly believed people were making the noise, but at the voices coming through so clearly, I swallowed hard. When I nervously pressed my ear tight against the wall, it began to glow red with a humming vibration.
"Agh! What is this?"
[Welcome, Expert Investor No. 3029.]
[Would you like to enter?]
Letters written in blood rose up on the wall, staging a hair-raising scene. I hadn't drunk much, so I couldn't tell whether I was dreaming or the stress had me seeing and hearing things, and I rubbed my eyes once.
[If you wish to enter today, please use your key.]
Key? Was this happening because I was holding the key? While I hesitated, the key reacted to the newly written words. In an instant, the wall glowed blue, and a door took shape, handle and all.
[Expert Investor No. 3029 is entering.]
Before I even had time to think, I was sucked into the building's old wall along with ear-piercing applause. When I opened my eyes, an exotic scene spread out before me, lined with all sorts of bizarre shops. Every shop had its own distinctive exterior and signboard, and human body parts were laid out in long rows on the stalls.
"Where am I?"
When I saw the figures milling through the crowd, I quickly cut off my shouting and held my breath. They weren't human. Everything here felt strangely unreal.
[Huh? You are not Expert Investor No. 3029?]
The thing that had spoken to me didn't look normal, either. It was something like black smoke, wearing a tuxedo and a hat, its eyes glinting eerily.
[How troublesome. Entry by anyone who does not formally hold an admission ticket is strictly restricted.]
The thing that had been spinning in place stopped, looked at me, and smiled menacingly.
[It cannot be helped, but I shall eliminate you.]
"W-wait! I have a key!"
Whatever it was, at the word "eliminate," I held out the key in my hand. I remembered something I had read briefly in the notebook earlier. This key was the admission ticket to this place.
[Hmm. But you are not the owner. It was not formally handed over to you, was it?]
"That's not so. It came with the contract when I signed it, all official."
Breaking out in a cold sweat, I suddenly remembered that my monthly rental contract said I could dispose of anything left inside however I liked, and I shouted it out in a hurry.
[Hmm. This~ this~ is an exceptional case, so what to do....]
The black thing propped its chin on its hand and seemed to deliberate for a long while.
[For today, I will grant you entry as a guest.]
"No... I'm...."
Just as I was about to say I didn't need that and to let me out of here right now, a black box appeared in midair.
[In exchange, as today's first guest, you will receive one Free Trade Box.]
"Trade Box?"
[Any trade a guest desires is possible. However, anything corresponding to jackpot luck, or a contract killing, is not possible with a free box.]
My eyes snapped wide at that tempting offer. Wondering whether it really meant anything I wanted could be traded here, I asked the black smoke my first question.
"Then is it also possible to make someone I hate disappear from my sight?"
[For details, please open the box and read the instructions.]
I hurriedly grabbed the box floating in the air and opened it.
E-Grade Free Trade Box
1. Granted only to first-time entrants, and can be used only once.
2. If the desired wish is E-Grade or higher, it can, depending on the case, be used by paying additional funds.
3. Wishes that harm another person's body are rated D-Grade or higher depending on the case, and in severe cases cannot be used.
4. If not used within 24 hours, it will expire.
5. The box can be upgraded by paying funds.
For someone like me here for the first time, the explanation fell far short. But at a box that would grant any wish as long as it didn't harm anyone's body, I laughed like a madman.
"Haha. Can I use this right now?"
The black smoke opened its mouth wide and laughed. Then it tapped the paper box and looked at me.
[Please write down the wish you desire and put it in the box.]
[The box will then rate the wish's grade.]
I wrote down my wish without hesitation. To drop the punks who had driven me to this point into hell and make them taste the same despair I had.
"Make the entire fortunes of Park Min-hwan and Kim Hyun-woo, both of them, go up in smoke."
BEEP—
[This wish is of a grade that cannot be traded with this Trade Box.]
A warning tone sounded from the alert window, and the manager made a strange face.
"Oh my~ Guest. You are asking for a wish of a grade far beyond an E-Grade Trade Box."
It wasn't even a wish that harmed anyone's body, yet it was judged an untradeable grade. In that case, I made another wish as a test. It wasn't something I desperately wanted, but what I wanted right now was not to see that goddamn bastard of a department head when I went to work on Monday. Something like this seemed likely to be accepted.
DING—
[Additional funds are required.]
This time, it seemed, more funds were needed. But since I had been dragged here straight from home, I didn't have a single won of cash on me.
[Pain equivalent to 5 toenails is required.]
[Will you provide the funds?]
I was flustered by what floated in the air. I swallowed hard and looked at the smoke.
[If you have no funds, you need not provide them. The box will expire automatically.]
Expire automatically, huh. I hadn't even properly tested the grades yet, so there was no way I could just let the box go to waste like this. I didn't know what it was, but it seemed the currency that counted as money here wasn't the usual kind. For now, the pain of 5 toenails. If that was enough to get rid of that department head I couldn't stand the sight of.... I laughed like I had lost my mind and spoke.
"I'll pay. Make him disappear from my sight starting tomorrow."
The moment I finished speaking, a pain like my foot was burning up shot through me, and I screamed.
"Kuaaagh!"
Clutching my left leg against the searing, burning pain, I rolled over and over on the floor. But even so, when I saw the window in the air saying my wish had been accepted, I smiled.
[Congratulations on your first trade. From your next entry, please bring documents for the change of registered holder.]
FLUTTER—
A sheet of paper listing the documents to bring fell to the floor, and I picked it up.
Monthly rental contract.
Resident registration certificate.
Health checkup record.
...And so on. The black smoke had asked for surprisingly ordinary things.
"Wait! By any chance, what kinds of things can be traded here?"
When I asked the smoke as it was about to vanish, he shrugged as if he didn't understand the question.
"Then a first-prize lottery win, or tips on a stock that'll go up more than 30%! Can things like that be traded too?"
[Of course. As long as you have the funds, anything can be traded here.]
"So I suppose killing a person is possible too, no questions asked."
[We can do things worse than death, too. Provided you qualify.]
Hahaha.
Jackpot. Here, as long as I properly paid the funds a trade required, not only could I get revenge, I could go back to my old life. No, better than that, it was a chance to live it up as someone born with a gold spoon in his mouth.
[We look forward to your next entry into the Ghost Story Market, Prospective Investor.]
When the trade was done, I was thrown out of the market, as if I no longer had any value as a guest. Bright light wrapped around my body, and when I opened my eyes, I was sitting in my room in the low-rise, facing the wall.
Looking at the key in my hand, I hurriedly pulled off my sock and checked my left foot. Every toenail was gone, and the foot was a bloody pulp, soaked through with blood.