When I got to the office, half believing and half doubting, there was a commotion from the entrance on. I tossed my employee ID onto my desk and went over to the accounting clerk's seat to get a handle on the situation.
"It's noisy from first thing in the morning. Did something happen?"
When I asked casually, calming my pounding heart, the clerk, her face gone pale, was on the verge of tears.
"Well.... Department Head Go got caught embezzling and was called into the audit office, and it looks like I'm going to be investigated next."
"So you might get fired, then."
At my blunt words, the clerk let loose the tears she had been holding back. The way he had been nibbling away at things, starting with the corporate card, had finally blown up. The clerk had known about it and kept quiet. She had even borrowed the corporate card now and then and used it on her dates. Everyone knew; they had just hushed it up.
'Serves them right.'
I cheered inwardly. With the department head who had tormented me gone, the thought that I had to get back into that market took firm root in my head. The trades that happened in there were real. This was a chance like no other in the world.
"Speaking of which, I'll be taking a day of leave today."
"Pardon?"
Barely glancing at the crying clerk, I boldly announced I would be taking my day off. The clerk stared at me, dumbfounded, but that was none of my concern. The office would be in an uproar over the audit today anyway, hardly an environment for work, and preparing to get back into the market came first.
Without a backward glance, I left the office and unfolded the note the black smoke from the market had given me. After checking the necessary documents, I hurried to the community center.
'If I want to go back in today, I have to change the registered holder.'
I hadn't figured it all out yet, but the key alone wasn't enough. The memory of almost dying yesterday somewhere I could have vanished without a trace came back to me, but it didn't matter. There was clearly more to gain.
"Still, that black smoke is pretty reasonable in its own way."
With all the necessary documents ready, I went back to the run-down low-rise. Limping on my bad left foot, I picked up the notebook I had tossed aside yesterday.
Conditions for Entering the Ghost Story Market.
1. Discovering one of the doors located throughout the land grants the right to enter as a guest.
2. After that, those who wish to keep entering may obtain a key by offering a price.
(The price can be a human lifespan, soul, emotions, memories, and so on, converted into funds.)
3. Obtaining a key grants the right to freely enter and leave the Ghost Story Market.
4. The market opens every day at 00:00, and those who miss the time cannot enter.
Conditions 1 and 2, then, I had basically passed automatically. If I could just get through the change-of-holder procedure smoothly today, from my next entry on, that black smoke wouldn't be threatening my life anymore.
"Isn't there anything else in here?"
I flipped through the notebook to get as much information as I could before going in. Just as I thought! My guess was right. The old woman hadn't been senile. The notebook was packed with the know-how and tips she had built up in the market since she was young. There were also explanations whose exact meaning I couldn't grasp yet, but I could figure those out bit by bit once I was inside the market. Nothing in there was of this world, and the goods being traded were human body parts or negative emotions like pain.
'I've gotten the best tips there are. You couldn't buy this notebook for any amount of money!'
I had heard she had been forcibly committed to a care facility; everyone must have thought she was talking nonsense. No one would believe someone who said she had bought more than half the buildings in Gangnam by trading with monsters.
The grades of ghosts, how to earn the ghost market's currency, the ranks of the managers. It was crammed with information likely to help me down the line. The important information was written in a double cipher, but that wasn't a problem.
'Maybe because she's from an older generation, but to think she knew this cipher technique.'
It's a cipher technique hardly anyone uses these days, but I had once learned how to crack it. It would take time, but the information was as good as in my hands.
SNAP—
Closing the notebook, I tucked it carefully into my inner breast pocket. Jackpot.
This old woman hadn't been a Beginner Investor; she had been an Expert Investor. That meant she had made quite a lot of trades in the market.
While sorting through the old woman's belongings, I found a few more things that looked like items. I lost track of time sorting, drenched in sweat, and before I knew it, it was nearly 8 in the evening.
'I need to hurry up, wash, and get ready.'
Unlike yesterday, I took a proper shower and changed into clothes that were easy to move in. Then I carefully set aside the documents I had picked up during the day.
***
2 hours before the market opened.
Too wound up inside to wait sober, I took the soju out of the fridge and drank straight from the bottle. My resolve burned: starting this time, I would build up know-how of my own inside the market.
TICK. TOCK.
The ticking of the clock filled the old low-rise, and at last it was opening time. Red light glowed from the wall, announcing entry to the Ghost Story Market.
[Prospective Investor No. 3029, would you like to enter?]
The words were etched in blood, and without hesitation I shouted yes and held the key high.
When I passed through the wall, unlike the first time, I was standing in a tidy-looking, upscale reception room. And I wasn't the only one there.
My eyes met those of a woman with a short bob who had arrived first and was waiting.
"What are you looking at?"
Without answering her wary words, I went to sit in a chair on the opposite side. After a few more minutes, several people came through the door and gathered in the reception room.
"Only creepy-looking types showing up."
She said it looking right at me, and again I kept my face blank and indifferent. They were different from me. I didn't want people who had found the door on their own to figure out I had gotten in by cheating, so I held my tongue.
Besides, there was nothing to get worked up about. This wasn't society; they were people I didn't need to get close to.
[Right! Is everyone gathered?]
When five people had gathered, the black smoke I had seen yesterday appeared, waving its hat.
[Pleased to meet you, Prospective Investors. I am Darkness, guide of the Ghost Story Market.]
Darkness, who had introduced himself as the guide, looked around at the gathered people and smiled. From the way he talked, it seemed no one else was coming.
[Then please pay the funds you have brought for Beginner Investor registration.]
At that, the bob-haired woman who had arrived first took a puppy out of her bag and tossed it onto the floor.
THUD—
The puppy landed with a dull sound; it was already dead.
'Ugh. What is that?'
Seeing the puppy lying dead with its black eyes open, as if no one had even bothered to close them, turned my stomach, and the color drained from my face.
"This should do, right?"
[Hmm. Despair, sorrow, anger. Splendid emotions. This much is simply exquisite.]
So she had traded with emotions. The key in the woman's hand glowed, and she was formally assigned a number.
But from the way she acted, it was definitely not her own puppy. Or maybe even a dog, not just a person, had emotions that could be priced. I had no way of knowing. But to think they wouldn't hesitate even at something immoral to get into the market. The humans who came in here were all out of their minds.
To them, I was probably no different, though.
Afterward, the people who had come in paid their prices one after another. Among them was even someone who paid with their own memories.
[Everything traded today is splendid. At this rate, it will all sell in no time!]
As Darkness clapped happily, one of the men pointed at me and spoke up.
"That man didn't pay anything?"
The burly man had just traded one of his own organs as his price. His aggressive glare made me flinch in spite of myself, but I didn't let it show. I couldn't let it show. This was a place where the weak were meat and the strong ate. One wrong move, and I would be stabbed in the back by a person before I ever saw the light of day.
[Ah. That Investor is only here temporarily due to personal circumstances.]
At Darkness's words, which implied that I was different from the rest of them, the man's brow creased mercilessly.
[This way, then—]
Following Darkness's beckoning, I headed into the inner room off the reception room and gave the man a slight nod in greeting. That seemed to look even more arrogant, and his face scrunched up like a bulldog's, but I turned my head away.
[Prospective Investor, if the documents for the change of holder are insufficient or false, you will not be leaving here safely today.]
"Yes."
I held out the documents to Darkness, who was smiling yet giving off a terrifying air as he spoke.
[Hmm~ Your body has no problems.]
Darkness looked me up and down as he spoke, and his expression seemed pleased. It was just my impression, but given that the man earlier had traded with his own body, he must have been worried that something was wrong with my body and I wouldn't be able to trade body parts.
[However, Prospective Investor, the contract here transferred only the items in the home, so the rights remain with the previous owner.]
"So?"
I was so startled my heart nearly leapt out of my chest, but I pressed him boldly. I couldn't tell whether he meant I could no longer come in here or that I couldn't leave, and sweat seeped damply into my clenched fists.
[But you do hold the rights to the key... How awkward.]
"Just let me trade, please."
I said it as if I were calm, but my hands and feet started trembling at the thought of being kicked out of the market.
[I cannot hand over all of the Expert Investor's rights, but instead, I will register you as a Beginner Investor, the same as the others.]
"Good. I'll do that."
Fortunately, I could still be registered as an investor. It would have been nice to switch straight over to Expert Investor, but it was better than not being able to trade at all.
[You will have to start from the beginning, but you, Investor, will rise in grade in no time.]
With that, Darkness told me what I could trade at the Beginner Investor grade.
Beginner Investor.
- An investor who has just entered the market. Lacking resources and experience, only small trades are possible.
- Direct trade with ghosts is not possible until trust is built with them.
- Only E to F-Grade wishes are possible.
Maybe because I had made my first trade using the box, I had a rough feel for wish grades. When I opened the E-Grade box, I had paid additional funds. That meant the wish I had made was at least E-Grade or higher.
"What grade of wish does it take to drag someone's life down into the pit?"
[Grades involving pain, despair, torture and the like are mostly possible at C-Grade, but I see that is not what you are after.]
Darkness made an all-too-thrilled face and stuck out his tongue chillingly.
[Aim for A-Grade or above. In the Ghost Story Market, anything at all can be granted.]
I had expected it to be fairly high, but the gap between grades was huge. In that case, there was only one thing for me to do. I had to raise my grade as fast as possible.
'It isn't free, so I have to be careful.'
"What are the fastest ways to raise my grade?"
At my words, Darkness clapped and laughed.
[Great!! You are already asking a question like that! The method is simple. Make lots of trades.]
Damn it. Trading here demanded some kind of price. That meant that to raise my grade, I would have to keep paying them prices.
[There are other ways as well.]
"What are they?"
[Fulfilling requests, or taking part in the Colosseum.]
Fiddling with the notebook in my breast pocket, I organized my thoughts. If it was the Colosseum I knew of, this one wouldn't be much different. Taking part right away carried too much risk.
[Once your grade rises, you can also trade directly with the Superiors. Would you like to take a tour first?]
I caught on at once that the Superiors Darkness spoke of, as described in the notebook, meant vengeful spirits of high, god-like rank. Trading with them right away was out of the question, but a tour of the Colosseum didn't seem bad, so I nodded at Darkness's words.