Chapter 6

“Ha, fuck, a grown-ass man working security on a Friday night—.”

After being blocked from entering the basement of the abandoned building, Jang Geunbeom spewed curses like he was vomiting his insides out.

Still, the humiliation he’d suffered didn’t ease up.

“Ugh, what the hell. I dressed up nice thinking we were filming today.”

“Ugh, seriously, all because of one fucking loser—.”

The women followed Jang Geunbeom’s lead, hurling abuse at the security guard.

But if they ended things like this, those women would be trash-talking Geunbeom behind his back too.

That couldn’t happen.

So Geunbeom went to his rental car and pulled out the thing he’d stowed in the trunk.

“Ta-da.”

“Oppa, what’s that?”

“What do you think? A bolt cutter. I already noted the basement’s location earlier.”

“Oh, look at you, all prepared.”

“As expected of a 100K Mytuber!”

“Keep your voices down, you hags.”

Geunbeom led the giggling women toward the iron cover hidden among the bushes.

But there was a problem.

Clang! Clang, clang—!

“Ah, fuck. Why won’t it cut?”

The industrial-grade bolt cutter, which could bite through rebar in a single snap, bounced off without even scratching the rusty chain, let alone the padlock.

In fact, it was the bolt cutter that ended up with chipped teeth.

The women’s gazes toward Geunbeom instantly turned cold.

“Oppa, what are you doing? Put some muscle into it.”

“Wow, you’re seriously weak. All that talk, and you can’t back it up.”

Grit—. Grit—.

Geunbeom’s teeth ground together as veins bulged on his forehead.

At that moment, An Miyeong from “Miyeong TV” pointed through the bushes with her hand.

“Oppa, there’s a hole over there.”

A hole?

At those words, Geunbeom turned his head.

There was an opening in the bushes, wide enough for a person to fit through easily, gaping down toward the ground.

Whooooo—

Beyond the hole was nothing but pitch-black darkness, like someone’s throat stretched wide open.

‘…What is this? It wasn’t there when I looked before.’

It felt highly suspicious, but it was 2:00 AM.

According to what he’d looked up, the abandoned building’s security patrol was coming up soon.

Better to slip through the hole before that goddamn guard showed up and made things difficult.

A normal person would hesitate to head into the basement of an abandoned building, not knowing what might be waiting.

But Jang Geunbeom was a Mytuber.

He was practically parched, thirsting for sensational content.

To him, this abandoned building was a goldmine to revive his Mytube channel, which was starting to see slowing growth and declining revenue.

And the reason for that lay in a single “video” he’d watched recently.

「Hello! I’m Nikon from Ghost Story Unicorn! Today, I’m going to be a one-day night guard at a building in Sanmun-dong famous for being haunted!」

It was a live video from the Mytuber he benchmarked.

That day, Geunbeom had been monitoring Nikon’s content to steal his ideas, and when the broadcast reached nearly an hour in, goosebumps crawled up his spine.

During patrol time, Nikon had headed to the basement of the abandoned building, and the moment his lantern illuminated the dark interior, he let out a huge scream and ended the broadcast.

A stunt? Isn’t that way too over the top—.

Geunbeom had thought so, but when Nikon didn’t open any live broadcasts for days afterward, he changed his mind.

‘Could he have really gone missing?’

‘What if I go down to that basement and find that Nikon bastard? Or find some kind of clue?’

‘Even if it turns out Nikon faked it, I can spin it into an exposé broadcast. Anything works.’

Just thinking about it made the corners of his mouth stretch to his ears.

Thud, thud—.

That was him landing in the underground after entering.

The height wasn’t much.

About 2 meters from the hole to the floor.

For Geunbeom, who’d been training his muscles to show off in front of women, it was nothing.

The women hooked up a rope they’d prepared in advance and descended to the floor.

“Whoa, shit, Oppa, I can’t see a thing.”

“This vibe is insane. Isn’t it a bit cold?”

The women each muttered a comment.

If their instincts had been a little sharper, they would have noticed the breath puffing from their mouths every time they spoke.

Then Miyeong switched on her phone’s light, illuminating the area.

“It’s just kinda empty?”

With the light on, an ordinary abandoned basement scene was revealed.

Scrap materials were left lying around, and dust lay thick everywhere.

Urgh—.

At that moment, someone gagged.

It was Kim Iryeong, the woman who operated under the concept of a “Female College Student Shaman.”

“Eugh, what is this place? Something smells weird too.”

As Kim Iryeong pinched her nose, crack—a sound of something breaking followed.

Geunbeom had stepped on something on the floor.

Roll, roll, roll—.

It was a doll.

An old Japanese-style doll.

Watching the doll’s remains tumble across the floor, Miyeong burst into laughter.

“Oppa, you’re cursed now!”

“Bullshit. Cursed, my ass.”

The moment Geunbeom twisted the corner of his mouth in defiance—

From the distance came aaaahhhh—a loud scream.

Then something came running at them fast. As the women shrieked “Eek!” “Aah!” in surprise, an unidentified someone started shouting wildly at Geunbeom.

“Ahhh! A person! It’s a person! Finally! Finallyyy!”

It was a naked man.

He clung to Geunbeom like he was attacking him, patting him down all over.

“Di—Did you bring the rulebook? The rulebook! Agh…! You mo—monkey bastards! You goddamn monkeys! Aaaaagh!”

“What the fuck? What the hell are you saying!”

Geunbeom was about to punch him, thinking he might be some squatter living here, but he quickly recognized that scruffy face.

“Huh? Nikon?”

The Mytuber Nikon, presumed missing.

Finding him put Geunbeom in an excellent mood.

Jackpot—.

But that joy was short-lived, as Nikon started clawing at his own hair like a madman.

“Let—Let me out! Let me out now! I did everything by the—by the rules! Where is it! Where! Aaaaaah! What more do you want from meeeeee!”

“This bastard, what the hell is he saying?”

Geunbeom chuckled.

As he prepared his camera—

The female college student, Iryeong, seemed to lose all her laughter.

She was the only one with relatively good instincts, and she’d noticed something was wrong.

“…Hey, where’s the hole we came in through?”

“What?”

[Wagi-jagi.]

That’s when it appeared.

As if it had been there all along.

Nikon pissed himself, the urine he’d been holding in finally letting go.

“Aaaah, Ko—Komori! Komori!”

#

A few things I’d learned while staying with Boribori these past few days.

Boribori is presumed to be a “Demon,” but? Surprisingly docile.

She didn’t try to cause any trouble, just sat in the corner watching the world with wary eyes.

She ate whatever was given to her without being picky.

Guess I should be thankful she wasn’t demanding goats, sheep, or live sacrifices?

Fwap—!

Suddenly, Boribori’s tail shot straight up.

Then she stared at the floor and let out a low growl—a threatening sound like a wild beast.

“…Wagi-jagi!”

It was an unfamiliar word.

But my head, which had been getting noticeably sharper lately, immediately recalled where I’d seen something similar.

The “Dori Building Security Rules.”

4. Survival rules upon encountering the Wogijagi in the basement.

Remove everything bearing your name.

If you make eye contact, you must say “Komori.”

If you encounter a body part such as a leg or arm, offer the clothing worn on that part.

These were bizarre rules for a simple security job.

Honestly, it had been nagging at me.

I never expected the word “Wogijagi” to come out of Boribori’s mouth.

Beep, beep—.

Then an alarm went off.

It was already 3:00 AM.

Patrol time.

I grabbed my lantern again and left the office.

Behind me, pat-pat-pat—Boribori followed.

“Basement entrance, still no problems!”

Rattle, rattle—.

I felt relieved looking at the basement lid with the sealing magic circle drawn on it.

I’d been worried that Jang Geunbeom from earlier might come back with some kind of cutting tool and break through the chain and padlock.

But it seemed he hadn’t.

Or maybe he’d tried and failed—?

Whoooosh—.

Then, wind blew from somewhere.

I checked and heard a whoooosh—like an air conditioner on full blast, coming from the overgrown bushes beside the basement lid.

As I got closer, I found something bizarre.

“What the hell is this? A hole?”

A hole big enough for a person to fit through easily.

Gaping into the ground, it was pitch black like the maw of some giant fish.

I opened the security rulebook I’d brought with me.

3. Basement access strictly prohibited.

After 10:00 PM, the basement entrance is fully sealed and patrols are intensified. If the basement door is found open, offer a sacrifice to the altar in the underground.

Item 3 was what bothered me.

If the basement door is found open, offer a sacrifice to the altar in the underground.

“Boribori, would this count as the door being open?”

It’s a hole leading underground.

Can that be called a door?

Where exactly does a door start and end anyway?

If a door is a boundary that allows exiting and entering, then this hole would qualify.

‘…What would happen if I ignored this rule…’

I glanced at Boribori, the demon.

I also thought of Ming, who used to be Phi Pop.

In a world where evil spirits and demons actually exist, what are the odds that ignoring “unidentified rules” would just pass by with a nothing happened feeling?

“…Ah, shit, I don’t wanna go in.”

Normally, I’d never stick my body into a hole like this.

But after seeing Boribori, getting attacked by Ming—

I’d come to realize there are things in this world “I didn’t know about.”

Just like pheasants startled by gunfire burying their heads in the ground doesn’t make the hunter disappear.

Turning a blind eye won’t make those things go away.

And maybe, turning away could bring even greater misfortune.

“Alright, I’m a mage, after all.”

Maybe down in that hole, I could discover a new magical incantation or something I’d never known.

Steeling my resolve, I stepped toward the hole.

A climbing rope was hanging there, like someone had set it up, so going down would be easier than expected.

Thud.

When I landed in the damp, cold underground, the first thing I saw was—

Bright red pillars of doors.

They jutted out in every direction, crisscrossing left and right, and from their lofty tops hung black umbrella-like things upside down. On closer look, they were massive bats.

“Whoa, shit, what the hell is this?”

“Torii—.”

Boribori, who’d followed me into the underground, spoke.

I was curious what that meant, but I checked the rulebook first.

「Dori Building Security Rules」

3-1. Sacrifice management procedures.

A sufficient quantity of sacrifices is stored in the storage container inside the basement.

The rule said to offer a sacrifice to the altar, right?

I turned my head wondering where the sacrifice storage was, and between the bright red doors, some kind of display case stood against the wall.

Inside it was a doll with black hair, wearing tattered cloth clothes.

A filthy doll at first glance.

Its appearance was creepy as hell.

……Wait, is that the sacrifice storage?

I walked over and tried to take the doll out.

Rattle, rattle—.

But something like iron bars were guarding the doll, extremely sturdy.

It had been left for so long it had rusted, and no matter how much strength I put into it, it wouldn’t budge.

“How am I supposed to open this?”

Should I ask Boribori for help?

Boribori was just yawning widely behind me.

I guess we’re not that close.

So I thought it over for a while—then suddenly, a good idea flashed through my mind.

The “Sealing” magic circle, a circle with a triangle drawn inside it.

What if I drew it upside down?

Draw the triangle on the outside and a circle in the center.

I imagined it would create the opposite effect of “Sealing.”

Let’s try it right away, I thought, and the moment I drew a small magic circle on the iron bars with a water-based marker—

Click—!

“Whoa, shit, that actually works?”

The opposite of sealing is opening.

The opening magic circle!

At this point, I think I can legitimately call myself a “Mage”!

“Doll, you’re mine!”