The Security Team employees looked up.
The pantry within the darkness.
Looking at them as they emerged from the shadows via the Transport Gear, their eyes met with the sales employee who had fallen to the floor and was holding his breath.
“A child…… no.”
The one wearing an animal mask drawn by a child, Badger, calmed his own stimulated Contamination.
Soon, a plain and businesslike voice came out.
“Employee belonging to Sales Team 4.”
“Ye, yes….”
“Identity confirmed. We will now begin the settlement of costs.”
The sales employee swallowed hard.
Wrapped in black Specialized Suits from head to toe, wearing various bizarre equipment while their faces were hidden, they looked like ghost stories themselves.
Even though they were clearly on a supernatural and special mission, he felt a momentary sense of relief.
Of course, in the next moment, terror regarding this incomprehensible situation welled up again.
“Um, that, what should I do….”
As his eyes darted around, trying to grasp the situation, something caught the sales employee’s eye.
The Security Team employee who came out next was holding a black Transport Cage in his hand.
A steel Transport Cage that looked like it was for capturing beasts.
…Wait a minute.
“S-surely, you’re not going to put me in there to get out….”
“No. Of course not.”
Badger gently stroked the Transport Cage.
It was the moment the sales employee felt relieved.
“There’s already someone inside.”
“……Pardon?”
“Don’t think too deeply about it.”
Looking at the sales employee who seemed to have lost his mind in this utterly incomprehensible situation, Badger smiled bitterly to himself.
And….
“It’s cramped…….”
J3, who was holding the Transport Cage with one hand, wasn't particularly interested in this situation itself.
Of course, it had been a very long time since he had come out for ‘work’ wearing something other than his guard uniform.
Although the place they were in was far too narrow to call it ‘coming out.’
In the meantime, Badger displayed a kindness that was unthinkable for a Security Team employee and announced professionally.
“We have confirmed all the details you submitted. We will now begin….”
“Who is it?”
“Who is it?”
“…!”
T-t-t-tap.
A sound like raindrops falling hit the door, gnawing at his nerves.
It was the sound of fingernails clashing.
Ten fingertips were scratching the door.
“There’s someone else.”
“There’s more.”
They whispered as if gasping for breath.
The sound was so close. Because….
They were whispering with their heads pressed against the crack in the door.
“You’re all late.”
“You’re all late.”
The couple was looking inside.
Inside the door they had locked.
Feeling a sensation of freezing to the core, the sales employee froze.
However….
“Would they be human?”
“Well….”
The incredibly nonchalant conversation of the ‘Security Team’ was heard right next to him.
“In the past… they might have been?”
J3 reflexively tried to adjust the hat of his guard uniform out of habit, but realizing it wasn't there, he adjusted his mask instead.
Something like the faded eyes of a beast revealed itself above it.
Then, he carefully placed the Transport Cage he was holding onto the pantry floor.
Right next to the sales employee.
“Hey… can you wait here…?”
“Ye, yes?”
But those words were not directed at the sales employee.
“Is it okay…?”
…Tap.
The bars of the black Transport Cage vibrated slightly.
As if the animal inside was responding.
“I’ll… be back soon. So wait…….”
Tap.
The response came again.
J3 lightly touched the Transport Cage and then stood up.
“Um… if you don’t want to get hurt…… stay close, to this side…….”
This time, the words were indeed directed at the sales employee.
“And never… treat it carelessly.”
“…….”
The sales employee nodded while swallowing his saliva. Then he stuck close to the side of the black Transport Cage.
He sensed instinctively that this was some kind of protective measure.
…A strange chill emanated from the Transport Cage.
“Then, we will begin.”
Leaving the sales employee behind, the two Security Team employees who had positioned themselves in front of the pantry door forced it open.
“…!!”
He couldn't see outside as they blocked his view, but he could hear the sound of the rain growing louder. The sales employee huddled his Body as much as possible. He caught a glimpse of the Security Team employees heading out….
The door closed, and the sound of the rain subsided.
Thud.
…….
Riiiip, riiiip, rip.
The sound of something being torn apart began to echo loudly.
The sales employee reflexively gripped the Transport Cage tightly. To avoid imagining what was happening outside.
The coldness gripped his mind.
A strange smoke seemed to be wriggling and rising from within the Transport Cage….
After a moment that felt agonizingly long.
Thud.
“…!”
The roar vanished, and the sound of rain stopped.
The door opened.
And the two members of the Security Team were seen standing there nonchalantly, checking their equipment….
“Suppression complete.”
“……!”
They’re perfectly fine.
A faint hope rose in the heart of the sales employee, whose legs were about to give out.
Then can I leave now? The employee stood up and cast his gaze outside the door.
And he realized the meaning of ‘suppression.’
“Agh.”
He stifled a scream.
The hallway was sodden with moisture.
Body fluids splattered like blood created a dark, slimy reflection on the wet wallpaper and floor.
And on the wall directly opposite.
The bizarre Body of the couple, with all their limbs twisted and fixed, was there.
“…!”
As if to ruthlessly crush and thoroughly prevent every possible range of motion, the two people, whose limbs were twisted into the shape of a strange centipede, were fixed at every joint with colorful thumbtacks.
Overwhelming pressure and violence.
And the school supplies for children that didn't match it.
Fluid was dripping from every hole in their faces as they hung there, displayed in the dark hallway….
Just like his dead boss.
Even more inhuman than that.
“…….”
“Ah… right. It was a collection mission.”
Collection?
“From information gathering?”
“Yeah….”
The Security Team employee, who was thin and slow in a way that didn't fit his frame, approached the 'thing that used to be the couple' he had smashed and fixed in place….
Then he pulled out the thumbtack stuck in the mouth.
“……!”
“Say…. Is there… a little kid here…?”
One of the things he had said into the Pager.
The sales employee's heart went cold.
What was even more horrific was that the couple’s mouths opened and they began to answer.
“P-please save me. Please save…. hic,”
“Answer… the question first.”
Suddenly.
Tears streamed down from the couple’s eyes.
“……!”
“That child, that child is in the bathroom.”
“He’s a pitiful child. Please help him….”
“You’re already trapped too. It’s too late…. Please help…….”
“…….”
The Security Team employee called ‘Sergeant’ was staring at them blankly.
“What… is on the upper floor?”
“There is something evil. Don't go there. No, hurry and run away from here.”
“Maybe you can still escape. Somehow, get outside….”
“Hmm…….”
As if contemplating, the Security Team employee raised his hand toward them.
And in the next moment.
“…That’s enough.”
…Snap.
With a sound so clear it was articulate, the couple’s necks snapped.
The Security Team man with the thin frame grabbed their necks with each hand and twisted them backward, crushing the bones with bizarre strength.
As if it were nothing.
…….
He killed them?
“Ah, you’ve confirmed everything necessary.”
“Yeah.”
“Understood. …Caller, you should be fine now. Just give me what’s in your hand.”
His hands trembled.
Something was wrong.
That wasn't something a human would do….
“Calling employee?”
The sales employee forced his head to turn and lowered his gaze to his hands.
He was holding a piece of sketchbook paper.
New writing was written on it.
I'm scared
Really.
Monster
Suddenly.
The sales employee turned his head.
The place right next to the pantry.
The answer the paper had kindly informed him of from the beginning.
…The place even the dead couple had mentioned.
Bathroom bathtub
Bathroom.
The sales employee ran….
“That won't do.”
“…!!”
His head was grabbed.
Gasping for breath, the sales employee saw the grotesque and giant figure clutching his face, blocking his vision.
A beast’s paw with countless claws.
“Stay… still……”
The sales employee blinked. The fear of death froze him….
I’m going to die.
“Teacher, relax the strength in your hands! Follow the rules your fellow teacher tells you. Only then are you a perfect teacher!”
The strength left his hands. The sketchbook paper slipped away.
No.
“Should I read it…?”
“No. If I read it, I’ll be contaminated, so later….”
The sales employee rolled the only thing he could move—his eyes. Let’s run. Anywhere he could escape to: the entrance, the living room, upstairs, the window….
‘Ah.’
That’s right.
He could escape through the window!
Why hadn't he thought of this? Right, if he would die trying to go through the entrance, he could just go to the window. He had to run, he had to run… right now!
The employee struggled, trying to crawl toward the window. Every attempt to kick or push the beast’s paw with his fingernails failed, but he couldn't give up….
“If you go there… you’ll die.”
…….
Eh?
“Stay still….”
“D-die, why….”
“Well. Because… you’re getting closer to the cause…?”
Cause?
The employee turned his head.
“You said it yourself, so you should remember.”
What?
“When you made the report, you said… this house was strange sometimes.”
“…….”
The employee stopped moving his feet.
And he recalled one of the things he had shouted into the radio pager, the Pager, while screaming for help.
What he had heard from his boss.
“Rain….”
-On rainy days, that house just has a bad feeling, you know.
The sales employee looked at the window.
Outside, the rain was falling, pitter-patter….
…….
“Rainy days are… like that……”
The slow, listless voice crept eerily into his ears.
“If you leave a black umbrella open inside the house while it's wet, something comes in… if you leave wet shoes upside down, a ghost wears them….”
“Sergeant, really?”
“No…….”
The Sergeant looked at Badger with eyes devoid of any reflection and continued slowly.
“Most of it is just… idle rumors…….”
“Ah.”
“But… they say sometimes…… those rumors cause them to manifest…….”
The Darkness.
The employee, who was once a Field Exploration team supervisor, read the word the Sergeant didn't bother to add.
The Sergeant’s explanation wasn't over.
“And… there are stories like this too……”
“…….”
“When you’re holding an umbrella on a rainy day, if you hear an unknown whispering… a voice calling out to you from beyond… don’t answer….”
…….
“Because it’s not a person….”
The sales employee’s eyes met the Sergeant’s.
“Hey, hasn't someone been talking to you the whole time……?”
At that moment.
“Supervisor Lee?”
The sales employee froze.
“Supervisor Lee, are you there?”
A familiar voice coming from the entrance.
Knock knock knock.
Someone was knocking on the door.
“Supervisor Lee. Open the door for a second. What on earth is going on?”
It was….
“Why aren't you coming out?”
The voice of his dead boss.
Knock knock knock knock.
The boss's corpse with the broken neck, which had been lying at the entrance, had vanished at some point.
Instead, only the sound of someone knocking on the door behind the entrance could be heard beyond the sound of the rain….
Along with the boss's voice.
“Open this. You have to come out too.”
All the strength drained from the sales employee's Body.
The Sergeant loosened his grip on the head. With a thud, the sales employee sat down on the floor with a confused expression.
‘Wow….’
Watching that scene, Badger was inwardly impressed.
For he had realized the Darkness Exploratory erudition hidden behind the Sergeant’s listless manner of speech.
It was like what the witty new rookie of Group D might have acquired if he had worked in the Field Exploration team for a few more years…….
…No. It was a pointless thought since they were both already part of the Security Team. Thinking he had almost had a disrespectful thought, Badger swallowed the idea bitterly.
In the meantime, the sounds multiplied several times over.
“A person! There was a person here. Are you okay?”
“Oops, this old man fell… could you help me out?”
“…Wait a minute, the grandmother of this house passed away a few years ago…, don’t listen. Something is strange!
Upstairs, the master bedroom, even beyond the kitchen side door. Sounds were coming from all sorts of places. As if everyone who had been in this house had just regained
consciousness after the blackout.
They were getting closer.
Along with the sound of the rain.
“Where are you?”
“…! Don’t answer the sounds coming from upstairs. No one is there right now…!”
“Be careful. I think there’s something strange here….”
The sound of footsteps.
And.
“Ah, the door is open.”
…….
“I’m coming now. Where are you?”
Even the dead boss.
“……hic.”
What is it? Which one is right?
Who among them is the monster?
The sales employee tried to review the information he had heard to somehow distinguish them, but he was grabbed by Badger.
“Ack!”
“Calm down. It’s okay… Sergeant?”
In a situation where his heart should be racing with terror, the Sergeant was nonchalantly bending his knees and pressing his head against the Transport Cage.
He spoke to the inside of the bars.
“What… do you think? Does it seem right…?”
Tap.
“Hmm. Then… should I do it…….”
Tap tap.
“……Still.”
Tap tap.
“…….”
The Sergeant touched his mask and slowly stepped aside as if he had no choice.
One tap was Positive, two taps were negative.
Watching those promised expressions, Badger smiled bitterly again behind his hidden face.
Nothing had really changed.
“…Then, I will open it.”
Badger approached the Transport Cage and released the locking mechanism.
Clang.
The bars settled and the Transport Cage door opened….
Smoke spread across the floor.
And from the hollow Darkness of the Transport Cage, a whole leg emerged.
“…!”
A black leg wearing black combat boots.
He knew it was the same uniform as the other Security Team members, but the being that emerged from the Transport Cage amidst dense Black Smoke as if walking out was a bizarre entity with horns.
A tall man, unbelievable to have been crammed into the Transport Cage.
“U-uuuuh…….”
His yellow eyes met with the trembling sales employee.
Recommendation: Do not stare
The employee hurriedly cast his gaze down.
An instinct that sat atop panic.
‘I mustn't keep looking.’
Cold sweat soaked the back of his neck.
However, the letters made of smoke continued to follow him.
Recommendation: Do not stare
As if praising him.
And.
The tearing sound he heard earlier began to echo from all directions.
Riiiiip!
The sound of mucus bursting, the sound of crying….
The Security Team members were ‘suppressing’ the things that were approaching.
“How are they distinguishing them…?”
The humans from the monsters.
Or….
‘Are they not distinguishing at all?’
The sales employee curled up his Body. His heart was racing so fast it felt like it would pop out. He felt like he was going to die….
Then, the letters in the smoke changed.
As if responding to his own monologue.
Which of the following is dangerous?
I have to distinguish them?
The employee opened his mouth reflexively.
“The, the couple!”
Look at these things that are now frantically calling out and approaching, whether they're ghosts or whatever. That couple was definitely ghosts too. Surely!
▶ The couple ⋁ : Correct Answer
Just as I thought.
Ah, was everything that called out with a human voice dangerous? Was that it?
‘The, the couple was dangerous, so they’re telling me not to be afraid of the guards, who are currently suppressing them….’
Is that what they want to say?
If so, it made sense. The sales employee regained a bit of reason and calmness from this realistic logic and recalled what he had to do.
‘They must have… tried to calm me down because I was panicking.’
At any rate, these were beings he could have a rational conversation with.
If this ‘Security Team’ really came to rescue him, it was only right to speak more specifically about the other existence that might be trapped in this house… the ‘little kid.’ Since it had already been mentioned, he could do it.
Properly, about the writing on the paper that had been giving him advice.
The employee swallowed his saliva in his dry mouth and opened his mouth.
“That, sketchbook paper….”
At that moment.
▶ The sketchbook paper ⋁ : Correct Answer
“…….”
Eh?
But even looking again, it hadn't changed.
Which of the following is dangerous?
So, what this means is….
“Dangerous….”
Both are dangerous.
“……Why?”
The same thing
The sales employee’s mouth hung open as he blankly reflected on that meaning.
“Then what was I supposed to believe? I mean… what I should have believed was,”
None.
“…….”
On rainy days
To unfamiliar voices
Do not respond recklessly
Ah.
Recommendation: Do not stare End
The sales employee looked up.
But the black man was already gone from before his eyes.
“…….”
Only a single trail of Black Smoke he had left behind was exchanging questions and answers with him.
As if to divert attention elsewhere, like attracting a child’s gaze before giving them an injection.
To cut off any erratic behavior.
“…….”
The tearing sound had now ceased, and the surroundings were filled with Bodies 'fixed' like couples by the Security Team.
It was a consolation that it was too dark to see clearly.
And… Black Smoke.
The sales employee watched blankly as the Black Smoke they had been talking to vanished as if being sucked away....
The smoke was flowing past the hallway toward a spot next to the pantry where they had been trapped....
Now, the only noise came from that direction.
The bathroom.
Inside, a series of horrifying screams was erupting.
I looked at the bathtub in front of me.
It was filled to the brim with echoing rainwater.
A transparent, deep pool meant to swallow and suck in victims lured by responding to its words.
Text rises in my head as if scratching....
==========
[Rainwater Echo]
: A Divine Power of the Church of the Luminous Unknown, a modern refinement of the superstition that whispers heard on rainy days are the calls of ghosts. Its affiliated order is the Imitator.
On rainy days, it targets a Sacrificial Lamb approaching the vicinity of the rainwater pit, bewitching people by mimicking the appearance and voice of previous victims during this process.
Furthermore, it uses the meaning of ‘speaking’ in a chillingly broad sense, through various forms such as letters, notes, or drawings.
It adopts the format of a Quantum Choice ghost story, putting one in a situation where they must agonize over whose words to believe between two options, but in reality, no matter what is chosen, the outcome is abysmal, toying with the Sacrificial Lamb.
A twist that exploits the human psychology of believing one can survive by choosing the right person.
==========
However….
This ghost story has been deleted due to being unfit for Wiki listing criteria for the following reasons.
A discarded ghost story of the Church of the Luminous Unknown that failed to be formally registered on the Wiki.
And my job is… to register this with Daydream Inc.
I looked down at the rainwater in the bathtub.
…….
Is it okay to do this?
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