ocean-life Chapter 98.1
Chapter 98.1
I don’t know how I managed to get through that night after noticing the crack in the popsocket.
The next day, I ignored my illness, headed out immediately, and bought a new phone.
After transferring my sim card, I nervously attached the cracked popsocket and powered it on.
‘...It works!’
Thankfully, the wiki was still up and running, but...
Something felt off.
Dark Exploration Records / Ghost Story
[Hellfare Taxi]
It’s glitching.
It felt like an old computer on its last legs, showing the characteristic sluggishness of a dying machine.
Although it eventually restored itself, the chill down my spine remained.
‘Right. Even merch can break...’
The strange reality of using merch purchased from a pop-up store in a creepypasta universe had made me overlook how reliant I’d become on my phone.
Why not copy or back up the wiki contents somewhere else, you ask?
‘That would take over a month.’
Pages accessed via the Memorial Popsocket couldn’t be copied or captured. Every entry had to be painstakingly transcribed by hand.
‘And there’s no guarantee the popsocket as it is would last that long.’
Still, no need to panic.
These merch were, after all, from a creepypasta universe.
I’ve built a foundation here over the past six months, and now other options have opened up.
Get a new popsocket.
Or find a way to repair it.
Interestingly, both required the same type of connection.
‘The Disaster Management Bureau.’
The popsocket’s origin, of course.
And I knew where items like this and the Silver Heart badge were manufactured...
Naturally, I also knew how to gain access there, the passcode, and the necessary preparations.
Conveniently, I even had a temporary Disaster Management Bureau agent badge.
“......”
I pressed my temples and thought.
* * *
It was a stark contrast to yesterday’s dead-end alley connected to Death Lane—this crowd felt almost surreal.
– Such a lively place, full of bright and reactive people! Oh, I’d love to invite them all to a show, delivering once-in-a-lifetime thrills and shocks!
Ahhh!
Thankfully, Braun quickly got distracted, sparing me from having to calm his excited voice.
– Ah, the aroma of coffee is delightful! Care for a cup, Friend? ...Oh dear! You’re staggering. Do you need support?
‘...I’m fine.’
Cursed with illness and now out in the bustling city of Seoul alongside this ghost story resident, it was inevitable that strange events would follow... Ha, well.
Still, the feeling of being in a lively, sunlit area was comforting.
A street lined with cafes, drenched in sunlight, with not a hint of gloom to be found.
It was almost impossible to imagine anything mystical or eerie happening here in broad daylight.
‘Which is precisely why it’s safe.’
I recalled the instructions on how to access the place that could repair my popsocket.
The Disaster Management Bureau’s document, registered in the wiki complete with an image of a note.
! Destroy after thorough reading
Where to go : A café with a blue roof and no sign. It’s a converted house with a buckwheat flower wreath on the door.
There it was.
With Braun’s assistance, I suppressed my presence entirely and slipped into the blue-roofed building.
It was a large café bustling with customers.
Even in broad daylight, the place sparkled with all kinds of lights and decorations, and the staff busily took orders and prepared drinks.
Instead of joining the line to order, I subtly moved aside, ducked, and slipped into the kitchen area.
Venturing deeper, I soon came upon two doors at the turn of a corner.
[Staff Only]
Though both yellow doors looked identical, one led outside while the other...
‘Is the door I need to open.’
Enter through the right-hand door only. Do not touch the left door. Once touched, the ‘location’ becomes inaccessible through the right door.
Carefully, I approached the right-hand door and rapped on the surface rhythmically.
Knock-knock, knockknock—, knock-knock, knockknock—
The Jajinmori Jangdan, a beat familiar to anyone who’d gone through Korea’s public education.
I opened the door just slightly and slipped inside.