Work Text:
‘Huh.’
[After further notice, due to the amount of unannounced younger audiences, we have decided to implement a verification. Please insert your username and password.]
‘This is new..’
Kim Soleum knew of the nineteen plus label plastered everywhere whenever you clicked on a link. To see that it was so popular among the younger crowds that it got to the point of changing the formatting to add a verification.. It seemed there was a general consensus among the ghost story writers to add a barrier before someone could actually read them.
‘This seems a little sketchy.’
Kim Soleum debated whether he should do it. No other wiki site had people sign up for accounts just to see the full thing. No other wiki site would change into a formal website that required certain permissions.
I mean, you literally look up the wiki for knowledge.. After all, it’s in its name: wiki. You know, like, Wikipedia. It was made to siff through knowledge, not hide it.
‘It’s sketchy, but I’ve made worse decisions in my life. I can’t trust fan websites that might accidentally alter the original information or get taken down from angry users from having their works reposted without their permission.’
With that, Kim Soleum firmly clicked to create an account.
Dark Exploration Records was his life. How could he abandon it because of a little signup page? (Translation: Although Kim Soleum had pirated stuff before, cough, he wanted to support the actual thing as a sincere DER fan.)
Kim Soleum couldn’t bring himself to skimp out on his favorite media.
Logging in, records of similar, new, and old ghost stories appeared back. The website locked some of the stranger ones behind a wall. Originally, you really could’ve read everything—from absurd gore to fluffy softness. Now, if you wanted to look, you really had to use an ID verification ..
Wow, they even added a paywall to some content.. to which Kim Soleum paid with a heavy heart.
This was but a minor setback in Kim Soleum’s daily life. Nothing really changed, he was still the average Korean office worker. Maybe minus the excess coffee. Should Kim Soleum buy a couchtisch to fit in?
Kim Soleum gave up on following that after remembering he liked DER out of all things. Kim Soleum loved DER so much that he created multiple ghost stories as well. It was another issue that he might’ve created too many stories..
‘Did it flag me as a bot? My account is locked.’
Nothing changed until the day he went to the cursed merch store. It was just his luck that after giving out his username to the staff for proof and spinning the roulette for the top prize, he would soon get teleported to a far more dangerous world.
‘I don’t want an immersive experience..!' Kim Soleum inwardly cried. ‘I’m a DER fan, but that doesn’t mean I want to go through it myself..’
Almost all of Kim Soleum’s records of his original world were erased.. Only the conversation about a rental apartment stayed with him. At least Kim Soleum was able to keep some belongings(?). He still had his email accounts, although previously sent addresses were erased.
There was a merch box that he received earlier, but..
‘Ah.. Because my account got locked, I can’t even view majority of the records.’
‘I also barely have money to my name..’ Most of Kim Soleum’s money laid in his bank account, which definitely didn’t cross over along with him.
This was also why when Kim Soleum stumbled upon the Space Shopping Mall on his leader’s computer, he did the most natural thing.
Login.
The layout was an eyesore, but he’d seen worse. Kim Soleum shuddered at the memory of very vivid.. pop-ups.
It was just his luck that after giving himself the link from his Section Chief’s space and escaping all the way back, he may have made a tiny mistake.
Kim Soleum properly stared at his phone after pasting the link into his browser. There was a strange urge to type in his old account information — the one he used to login to the DER page — on the Alien Shop page. Even when a part of his brain screamed that it wouldn’t work, there was a small sparkling hope that maybe, maybe.
Kim Soleum froze.
‘I logged in.’
What? Didn't everything get wiped? Was the Alien Shop this world’s version of the DER page? If his previous sentence was true, wasn’t it on lockdown? How did it work?
Something akin to excitement bubbled up in Soleum’s gut and before he knew it, he was up and eager to scroll through the buttons and shopping lists. Every swipe was met with more eye straining visuals but there was a rush at seeing so many items that could help him.
‘These two have discounts..’ A serpent coin and a USB-looking item.
Kim Soleum seriously contemplated, and then shrugged. To maximize his purchase, Kim Soleum selected those two alongside the others in his cart.
There was an imaginary ding as he bought the items, watching his earned won from the convenience store drift away into the air.
>Money well spent! Kim Soleum received:
-
Alice’s Picnic Set
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Silver Serpent Coin
-
Greyscale USB plug(??)
‘...’
The box plopped down innocently. Kim Soleum immediately opened it and inspected the items.
The moment his hands touched the USB plug, it sparkled and trembled for a brief second before staying still like an ordinary item.
Kim Soleum stared at the small note attached.
Please insert into a device for popup interface.
Wasn’t the Alien Shop a trustworthy website? Kim Soleum inserted it into his phone port.
Pzzzzst.
‘.. Did my phone just spark and die?’
That wasn’t good. It wasn’t good seeing that one of his only ties to his original world could leave just like that.. Could Kim Soleum get it back? Could he recover it?
Kim Soleum bit his lip in nervousness. It was okay.. he could remember a lot of ghost story entries, he wasn’t truly doomed. He didn’t have to rely on seeing the records at the moment, his memory could reach far and back.
“Did your device get compromised?” Lee Jaheon asked.
It was his luck that he was cornered by his chief leader that had a lizard head. He sounded serious enough that Kim Soleum swallowed and nodded. The lizard’s unblinking eyes stared before Jaheon finally backed away.
“Oh ho, Roe! Our chief leader has already warmed up to you! I knew you’d hit it off in no time, your personalities are so similar!” Eun Haje laughed and patted his back.
Please.. This was no laughing matter.
Lee Jaheon gestured him over to his desktop.
“Um.. Chief Lizard, did you bring me here so I could login?”
“Yes.”
“…”
Kim Soleum opened up the familiar page and stared.
“Do.. you want me to use your account info?”
“No.”
‘Ah. How did he know..’
Kim Soleum began to type.
[Password is wrong. Try again.]
“…”
“Uhm.” Kim Soleum turned to Lee Jaheon. “Do you have any idea how to fix this?”
Kim Soleum couldn’t see any change of expression but he could tell through body language. He subconsciously let out a breath the moment he saw Jaheon’s sign of approval. A nod before his Section Chief Leader began to move.
[Password is wrong. Try again.]
Kim Soleum sweated at the bright blaring screen and opened his mouth.
“Chief Leader, it’s okay if you can’t—”
“Give me your device.”
Kim Soleum folded easily and gave his leader his precious phone.
“Come back tomorrow.”
“What?”
“We will fix it.”
“Okay, yes?? Got it.”
It turned out, Kim Soleum had, in fact, received his phone back in approximately a single day. The phone could turn on again, and the login interface appeared. Did Jaheon snoop on his phone? He doesn’t seem like the type to do so..
Kim Soleum typed in the fields again of the Space Shopping Mall and the recorded entry ways.
‘Huh.. It works.’
We have suspended our working operations temporary as disciplinary actions are being carried.
We are sorry for the inconvenience. All phishing purchases will be handled accordingly.
“We have handled the issue,” Jaheon stated.
“Ahm.. What was the problem with my login exactly?”
“We sold against protocols.”
Kim Soleum focused on the words. “Is there multiple of you?” he tentatively asked, squinting his eyes.
What type of hivemind..
“Yes.”
Kim Soleum’s expression turned strange.
‘Wait, doesn’t that mean Section Chief Leader essentially scammed me?’
Kim Soleum didn’t want to follow those train of thoughts. The DER fan in him was very much aggrieved.
‘It’s okay..’ Kim Soleum comforted himself, tearing up. ‘Jaheon-ssi is a very trustworthy individual, it’s fine.. He helped fix it in the end..’
Hey, at least he could see the records now despite the fact his account was limited.. Kim Soleum couldn’t view all of them but it was a step up from before!