‘No, this can’t happen.’
At the very least, if we had to run, we could leave these people behind—but those two couldn’t get caught.
I dashed back into the store, blocking the cashier’s view as I shouted—
Without hesitation, Agent Bronze subdued the missing woman, pushing her aside just long enough to grab the high schooler and tie the shoelaces.
“Hhhahhh— Scary! Scary! Let me leave!”
With panicked screams and the cashier’s distorted voice as the backdrop, the two of them vanished, as if they had been erased from existence.
Phase 1 Escape : Ryu Jaekwan, Lee Soobin / Success.
But we had no time to catch our breath.
“Can you leave? Can you leave?!”
“I wanna go too!! They have money!!”
With attention drawn, other long-term missing persons began to mutter—
Emerging from behind displays, escalators, and restroom corners.
I sprinted toward the counter, yelling—
“The candle! The candle!!”
Go Yeongeun had already drawn it, pulling the high schoolers behind her.
The three of them ran toward the exit. Then… Go Yeongeun shoved only the two high schoolers through the glass doors.
The moment they stepped outside, they vanished.
Phase 2 Escape : Jang Minseo, Hyeon Jaehoon / Success.
Then, Go Yeongeun bolted back inside.
“Noroo! Grapes!! Whatever you’re doing—!!”
She frantically waved at me while gripping the candle.
I rushed into the glow of the flame.
But by now, the storefront and checkout area had turned into pure chaos.
More long-term missing persons were appearing, whispering, approaching. And the ‘employees’ had begun reacting to the strange situation, turning toward us, ready to confiscate more ‘supplies.’
But this was the moment I had been waiting for.
The moment where only two people remained—
A spy and an insider.
“Wait—just a moment.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the remaining gift certificates.
“Let’s use up the rest of the gift certificates before we go.”
I quickly stepped back inside the checkout area.
From the moment I realized we’d have leftover balance, I had been planning for this.
The strange products sold in this supermarket.
Just like how I had obtained items from the Death Lane and the alien shop ghost stories, this was still a supermarket ghost story. That meant there had to be peculiar, abnormal items hidden among the shelves.
‘But among them, there must be useful ones.’
After all, that’s what made it interesting.
And those items couldn’t be obtained by stealing from the past shoppers.
Since they were merely repeating their previous actions, all their purchases were just ordinary household goods.
Which meant I had to find them and purchase them myself.
‘I need to find them fast.’
Before the people who had already escaped started questioning things.
And before I’d get caught up in the chaos…!
I frantically scanned the store.
Since it was May, the Children’s Day event section on the first floor was packed with toys, and that actually made it easier to find the ‘strange products’.
They appeared blurred, almost as if intentionally hidden from perception.
The ‘special edition products’ of the Looky Mart ghost story.
I saw a train model, a donut float, a clay set. But I didn’t pick them up.
I didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.
If possible, I wanted an item I had already read about in the exploration logs of this supermarket’s ghost story.
The problem was that most of the descriptions I remembered were only a few words long, and it wouldn’t be easy to match them with the exact products.
I clenched my teeth and searched both my memory and the shelves at the same time. If I could find something I already knew about…
I spotted an event display piled with plush toys.
And among them, some were blurred.
I stepped closer and focused past the distortion to get a better look.
A white lizard plushie.
The exact same one that had been sitting on Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s desk in D-squad’s office.
I grabbed the plushie.
“Yeah. What about you, Yeongeun-ssi?”
She was holding a small item in her hand.
We rushed back to the checkout counter, each clutching our chosen ‘items’.
Behind us, the long-term missing persons were being turned into store supplies.
The amounts demanded of them were so absurdly high that they weren’t even worth considering.
“Total comes to 28,000 won.”
In the blink of an eye, we had checked out our items and gasped for breath as we hurried toward the exit.
“…If the Bureau doesn’t ask, let’s just not mention this.”
“……Agreed. …Thank you.”
Rather than testing the last bit of Go Yeongeun’s patience, I obediently ran alongside her toward the supermarket entrance.
“I’m putting out the candle!”
We pushed open the exit doors.
Maybe it was because we had been trapped inside for days, but my stomach churned. I kept second-guessing whether I had made a mistake somewhere.
I gritted my teeth and forced myself forward.
The once distorted promotional stand barely registered in my vision anymore. What lay ahead was the glass doors, and beyond them, the past landscape.
For a moment, I felt a brief terror. What if we were about to walk into the past?
Go Yeongeun and I stepped forward.
The automatic doors slid open smoothly.
A chill breeze struck my face, followed by the blinding sunlight.
Slowly, the brightness faded.
And with my restored vision, I saw…
A familiar street bathed in late winter sunlight.
A quiet alleyway from the 2020s.
And ahead of us, the people who had escaped before us.
The high schoolers ran toward us.
Their faces were streaked with tears and snot, but their expressions were filled with pure relief.
Seeing them, it finally felt real.
Phase 3 Escape: Go Yeongeun, Kim Soleum / Success.