Due to its geographical location, the sun rises very early in One Han City even in this season. I check the time and see that it's now 7:15 a.m. The sky is already very bright, and the sun feels warm on my body. Many diligent white-collar workers have also begun their journey through the morning rush hour.
Ciri, Oumu, and I are seated, eating breakfast quietly at a food stall across the street from the entrance of the warehouse. They are both quiet people, and their calm demeanor makes me feel like I'm the only one who is feeling nervous about our upcoming mission.
[player]Hey... do you two think our mission will be successful today?
[player]Hmm?
[player]It's broad daylight, and quite a lot of people are coming and going around here... Will we really be able to sneak in?
[player]As the saying goes, it's easier to do this type of thing on a dark and windy night.
[Oumu]Everything rests on Shijukara. Didn't the boss say that he'll distract the guards and get their attention?
[Ciri]I wonder how his preparations went.
[???]Chef, two large bowls of wontons with extra cilantro.
While we discuss whether we can infiltrate the warehouse, two people wearing the same uniforms as the security guards of the warehouse across the street sit down next to us. After eavesdropping on their conversation with the stall owner, we learn that the older man is called Tora and the younger man is called Boo. They have come here to have breakfast before changing shifts with the guards across the street, which means we will have to follow them when we try to sneak inside later.
After thinking of this, I focus all my attention on their conversation to try to find something that we can use.
[Tora]Boo, you don't look well today. Is anything wrong? Did you not sleep well last night?
[Boo]Sigh, don't mention it. I didn't sleep at all last night.
[Tora]Haha, you young people sure do party hard. Take care of yourself though.
[Boo]Tora, please don't make fun of me. The fatty and the others will tease me forever if they hear about it.
[Tora]Fine then. Well, what happened?
[Boo]Do you know that the place I'm renting isn't very soundproof?
[Tora]Yea, you mentioned it before.
[Boo]Last night, a group of brats appeared from nowhere and just had to play a spirit-summoning game in the room next to me in the middle of the night. They then told ghost stories there all night long.
[Tora]You're an adult now. How can you still be scared of ghosts? Don't be so superstitious.
I glance at them from the corner of my eye and see that Boo seems to be reliving some horrifying memories. His face is pale, and I can see fear in his eyes.
[Boo]The problem isn't the horror story but the spirit-summoning game called Candle Circle that they were playing. In this game, a group of people sit down in a circle and take turns telling ghost stories. Each person lights up the candle in their hand before starting and blows it out after telling their story. But if the candle goes out while they are telling the story, something bad will happen.
[Tora]You... You know the details so well that it's almost as if you were playing with them.
[Boo]It's because they were so loud! I was filled with despair because I couldn't do anything about it!
[Tora]Okay, okay, I understand. What ghost stories did they tell?
Tora at the table next to me just said what I was thinking. When I heard Boo start telling ghost stories, I also become interested. Ciri looks at me and seems to realize something. She smiles and shakes her head, but she also puts down the spoon in her hand and starts to observe the table next to us.
[Boo]There were so many. For example, one story was about a man called Jack and his girlfriend Marie. Their class was about to fly overseas for their graduation trip. However, the moment he got on the plane, Jack felt dizzy and saw something incredible: the plane would explode after taking off...
[Tora]This story isn't scary. It even sounds a little familiar. I think I've read about it somewhere...
[Boo]Um, I'll tell you another one then. This one left quite an impression on me... There was a woman called Marie, and her husband was a taxi driver called Jack. One day, Marie suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and realized that Jack had already come home. However, instead of going to bed, he was squatting on the balcony alone and looking down.
[Boo]Out of curiosity, Marie asked him what he was doing. However, she didn't expect Jack to mysteriously pull her to the balcony and whisper to her...
[Boo]"Look at our car. Can you see a woman in red clothes in the back seat?"
[Boo]At first, Marie thought Jack was imagining things, but when she looked down, she really did see a woman in red clothes holding a child in the back seat of their taxi. And when Marie looked at her, the woman suddenly turned her head and looked directly at Marie through the car window.
[Boo]They were living on the tenth floor and it was the middle of the night. It's already quite incredible that they could see the car, let alone see someone sitting inside the car. Marie was so frightened that she fainted, and it was already the next day when she woke up. She told Jack what happened last night, but he didn't seem to remember anything. He told her that she had a nightmare because she was worrying about too many things during the day. After that, Marie also treated this as a nightmare.
[Boo]A few days later, Marie reheats Jack's dinner for him because he comes home late, but his meal is getting cold again, and he still hasn't come to the dining room.
[Boo]One day, Marie went to their bedroom to look for Jack. As soon as she opened the bedroom door, she saw Jack sitting on the railing of the balcony. He gave Marie a strange smile and muttered, "They're calling me... They're calling me..." After that, he turned around and fell off the building...
[Boo]Later, Marie learned from the taxi company's employees who visited her to express their condolences that the car the company arranged for Jack to drive had been involved in a car accident and killed a pregnant woman.
[Boo]At night, after Marie sees off everyone who had come to express their condolences, she walks to the balcony of the bedroom and looks down. She sees a woman in red clothes with a child in her arms standing in the open space downstairs, and Jack is standing next to her. Jack waves at Marie and says, "Marie, come... come join us..."
[Boo]Well? This one's scary, right? I started dreaming of red clothes whenever I closed my eyes last night!
[Tora]I guess... this one is okay. It has a retro horror story feeling to it. But I just don't get why all female ghosts have to wear red clothes.
[Boo]Tora, I won't talk to you anymore if you keep saying things like that. I'm scared to death here, and you're just picking on me.
[Tora]Hey, I just wanted to divert your attention. So you were scared by this?
[Boo]No, something scarier happens after that. They tell another seven or eight ghost stories like that, then suddenly... it becomes completely silent in the room next door...
[Boo]Out of curiosity, I put my ear against the wall to listen carefully. It is so quiet on the other side that it seems like everyone had disappeared into thin air. Just as I was about to go back to bed, I heard several loud banging sounds.
[Boo]It was like... It was like someone was smashing the wall forcefully, and then I heard a man scream...
[Tora]A scream? What did he say when he was screaming?
Boo's voice trembles like he is extremely distressed, which makes me feel the most curious I've ever been in my life.
[Boo]This man has a strong local accent. I couldn't understand what he was shouting. It just felt miserable... extremely miserable. But I think I heard him say...
[Boo]"Don't come over here!!!"
[Boo]I'm not sure if that's what he said exactly... The screaming continued for a while, and then the room next to me became quiet. I couldn't hear anyone speaking anymore. Tora, you know I'm a timid person. There's no way I would dare to go over to take a look, so I covered my head and waited until dawn.
[Boo]When I walked past the room next to mine in the morning today, I saw talisman paper densely pasted on the door.
[Tora]Talisman paper? What does it look like? Is it like the yellow paper we see in those exorcism movies?
[Boo]I didn't dare to take a closer look. I was too scared. I quickly made my way to work without taking a closer look.
After eavesdropping on their conversation, I lean over towards Ciri and start discussing things with her in a quiet voice.
[player]Even luck is on our side! The horror stories were doing us a favor.
[Ciri]Something feels fishy about this to me.
[player]What do you mean?
[Ciri]Well... I think it's too much of a coincidence.
Tora finishes off his breakfast very quickly and puts down his bowl and chopsticks after about ten minutes. Meanwhile, Boo is obviously worn out after the events of the previous night. He barely has two bites before he stands and follows Tora to cross the street and change shifts with their colleagues.
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