CHAPTER 6
How stupid do you think I am?
[Employee Hwang, Ming, I assure you, I am the Wanma AI, the store operations and productivity assistant developed by CerebuSoft LLC on behalf of One Mart, Corporation.]
The animated dog stared out from the display, then it cocked its little head to the side and raised one paw.
[Perhaps you would feel more comfortable if you called me Wanma?]
Ugh. That was not cute. I do not think this stupid, sadistic doggie is in any way cute.
[Wan! Employee Hwang, Ming. Would you prefer I call you Ming?]
shit!
The mascot rolled onto its back, then looked around to face me with its head upside down and tongue falling out of the side of its mouth. It blinked its large expressive eyes twice.
Just stop!
“NO! You can definitely not call me Ming. Just… Just keep doing what you have been doing.”
[I understand, employee Hwang, Ming. I will do whatever I can to ensure your continued comfort and cooperation as the attendee of this Safe Zone.]
“Whatever. I don’t care what kind of game you are playing. I just want to get out of here and go home. I’m not interested in being part of any TV show, or whatever this is. Whoever you are, wherever you are, tell your boss whatever is going on that I am not consenting. Just let me out and turn off the… special effects.”
[Employee Hwang, Ming. The store manager is currently unavailable. In the absence of a store manager, you have been recognized as the sole attendee. That means, for the time being, until a more senior employee arrives, you are the “boss”.]
“Argh!”
Talking to this damn AI is useless. It just keeps spouting out nonsense.
“Fine! Then open the door and let me leave.”
[Employee Hwang, Ming. If I open the door, will employee Hwang, Ming leave store #11,512?]
“I don’t know. Maybe. So what if I do? Aren’t I the boss?”
[To maintain SAFE ZONE status, there must be an attendee on-site at all times. Should a suitable attendee not be present, SAFE ZONE status will be canceled.]
“You already said that. I don’t care. Can you open the door? Yes or no?”
[Leaving store #11,512 at the current time may result in fatal harm to Employee, Hwang, Ming.]
Just at that moment, the monster that was standing right behind the monitor let out a roar, as if to back up the claims of the stupid cartoon dog.
I winced at the outburst. Somehow, I was getting used to the grotesque thing, or things. I wasn’t even sure which one this was. For the last hour or so the pack had been loitering around the front entrance. Sometimes there would be the whole gang, at least fifteen of them. Other times it was just two or three. They would glare at me through the window, cry and scream, and sometimes they would even try to break through the door.
The first time one had tried, I admit it was pretty terrifying. The man-sized bipedal frog monster lunged right for me, but as soon as it was about to make contact with the door, a wall of glowing particles appeared, extending just a few millimeters from the glass window. There was no sound of an impact, but the frog monster just kind of… bounced off. It flew back a meter or so and landed on its feet. A split second later, it repeated its attack with the same result. Soon the whole pack was attacking the building, and golden glowing fields of light covered the storefront windows.
I had to admit, the effect was… realistic. It was better than the CG monster scenes from those Sunday morning live-action hero TV shows. I don’t know how they made the light effects visible to the naked eye, but the whole experience was better than any theme park attraction I had ever heard of.
Not long after the initial shock, I somehow managed to pull my wits back together. It was clear that this must be some kind of marketing hoax, or considering the quality of the monsters, it might even be something set up by the government. The only thing that didn’t make any sense was why I seemed to be the only participant.
I spent the next hour just sitting there, watching the monsters in front of the store wander around, send growls and threatening looks at me, and occasionally make another run for the door. I suppose that it was the lack of any actual impact or contact between the monsters and the store that made me suspicious. After the initial shock wore off, It was starting to look more and more fake, as though the windows had been replaced with projection screens. It all looked and felt unreal.
Regardless, I was nearly convinced now that the whole thing was a hoax of some kind, even If I couldn’t figure out how, or why, anyone would attempt it. Nearly convinced, but not entirely certain. I would still wince when the monsters screamed, and tense up when they ran toward the door.
“Look, I know that this must be illegal. You can’t involve me in some kind of media campaign without my consent, and even if I did, you have to let me go when I say so, or it’s kidnapping. You might feel safe, hiding off in some TV studio or wherever, but if you guys don’t turn this all off and let me go, I will definitely sue everyone involved. This is beyond any kind of prank now.
[Employee Hwang, Ming. I am here, with you now. I am not in some TV studio. This AI system is fully integrated with store #11,512.]
“Are you going to let me go then? Open the doors? Shut off whatever special effects they have running outside?”
[Leaving store #11,512 at the current time may result in fatal harm to Employee, Hwang, Ming.]
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what you keep saying. But I don’t believe you. I want to go outside, so can you open the door?”
The dog wasn’t playing cute anymore. Now the mascot was clearly looking distressed, placing its paws on its head and lowering itself.
[To maintain SAFE ZONE status, there must be an attendee on-site at all times. Should a suitable attendee not be present, SAFE ZONE status will be canceled.]
Come on! Stop running around in circles and just—
[If employee Hwang, Ming will remain in Store #11,512 until a replacement attendee is present, the Safe Zone will be able to be maintained.]
Huh…?
“Wanma, can you show me the shift schedule for store 11,512?”
At this request, the mascot perked up noticeably.
[Please view store operations schedule from the main terminal.]
Oh, yeah, right. I can’t do that here.
The store display screens were not for employee functions, but were only set up for use so that customers could interact with the store AI without using any keyboards. I had hardly ever needed to use the voice interface, but I was surprised by how natural it felt. It was like I was talking to a real person. Well, perhaps I had been. I had been talking to whoever had taken control of the store AI.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
The schedule was already on the screen of the main terminal by the time I walked behind the counter. It certainly felt like the Wanma AI had received some kind of upgrade. It seemed much more proactive now, almost helpful, although it was hard to tell where the AI ended and the control by the mysterious hacker started.
I swiped around the shift schedule interface and scrolled over to the current day and time.
Hwang, Ming: 21:00 - 06:00
Tabata, Ken: 05:00 - 14:00
Endo, Shinji: 08:00 - 17:00
Saegusa, Kaho: 11:00 - 20:00
Tran, Vinh: 14:00 - 23:00
Shirasaki, Kaoru (SM)- 08:00 - 17:00
The time was currently… almost four AM, according to the clock on the monitor. I was starting to doubt everything that had anything to do with the AI.
I must be getting paranoid.
My relief was supposed to be starting his shift in just over an hour. That means he should be here pretty soon. We were required to be in uniform and ready to go from the precise start of our shift, and due to the strict control by the AI watchdog, most of the employees were careful not to be late, with one notable exception.
Ken worked a lot of morning shifts, and he was good about showing up on time. I think he lived nearby, and didn’t need to take the train to get here, so if I could just make it another hour, hopefully this whole thing will be done with. At least I could try to dump whatever weirdness was going on with him and escape this damned store.
“Fine, I’ll stay until the next shift comes in, are you happy?”
[Wan!]
The Wanma mascot on the store monitors barked and wagged its tail.
[The current time is 04:00. Please complete store cleaning and shelf inspection before 04:30]
You have got to be kidding me.
“Wanma, are you serious?”
There was no response from the AI, so I checked the register. Sure enough, the main terminal had been busy. I looked around until I found the message log. It was a text readout of all the pop-up messages and warnings that had appeared on the terminal. Since I had been forcing them closed, I wanted to see what had been recorded. Scrolling to the bottom of the file, my jaw almost hit the ground. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of messages that had appeared over just the last few hours. Even worse, checking just from the headers, it looks like more than half of them were violations and point deductions.
Even in the last half hour, there were more than a dozen penalties. The stupid AI was chatting away with its nonsense, but still chipping away at my points the whole time. Conservatively guessing, there were hundreds of lost points here. I wanted to curse, but undoubtedly, that would just get me another penalty.
Part of my brain knew it was silly to be angry over the deductions at this point. Whatever was going on, my time here as a night clerk was over. That was certain.
Who cares about those stupid points anymore?
Still, my pride was stinging.
How dare that damned AI write me up for using my phone, or sitting on the floor when there was a monster threatening to bash the door down and eat me?
I keyed in my personal status screen, and a small window appeared on the terminal.
Employee: Hwang, Ming. UID:882–4601
Role: Part-Time (Temporary)
Status: Active
Merit Point balance: 3,263
Damn it!
I was furious. In a single night, I had lost at over eight hundred points. Over a week’s worth of work, gone.
I was angry at myself for even caring. The rational part of my brain knew this was the last thing I should be concerned with right now, except…
My points…
My feelings wouldn’t let go of my weeks of effort so easily. I took a deep breath, and then started going through the checklist for store inspection.
I was pissed off. I scowled at one of the frog men when I straightened up the magazine racks, staring it down with just a couple of steps, a thin glass window, and a magical glowing force field between us. At first, it seemed surprised that I was returning its glare, but then, after trying several times to swipe at me with the claws on its small hands at the end of its spindly short arms, it had some kind of rage seizure, then ran off into the darkness.
I snorted at it as it retreated across the road.
Damn right! Stupid freak monster, you better run. When I get out of here I’m gonna fry all you guys up in a claypot stew.
[Store inspection complete.]
[Grade: A]
Take that you damned ugly mutt!
I ran the inspection and passed easily on the first run, with minutes to spare.
As soon as the confirmation appeared, I felt that feeling of dread return.
What am I even doing now?
I walked over to the entrance. There were only a couple of the frogs hanging out now, and they were staying away from the windows for now.
Maybe they are getting tired of the force field.
It was still completely dark beyond a few meters, but the sun should be coming up soon. I checked the store, and was glad that the relief shift should be here soon. Well, at least I hoped he would be coming.
There were a lot of reasons why he might be late, or even fail to show up entirely. If there actually was an earthquake and a mass power outage, for example.
Maybe the trains were out, or the roads could be damaged. He could have even been hurt by falling debris. There was also the whole monster thing.
I stood there like a fool, staring blankly out at the store from behind the counter. This was my usual stance, and it gave my brain nearly unlimited time to ponder useless things.
Most of the time I just stood there lamenting how horrible my life was and how unfair the world had been to me. Sometimes I worried about how I did at the most recent interview with a third-ranked company. I also got stressed thinking about people I had met coming into the convenience store and having to face them.
Now I was going over the events of the shift, trying to pinpoint when everything had gone upside-down.
The day started normally. I made some instant noodles in my apartment, and cleaned up so that my flatmates wouldn’t get annoyed by dirty dishes. I had two roommates in a small two-bedroom apartment. I slept on the living room sofa. I hardly ever saw them since they both worked regular shifts, so it was a simple, low-stress living situation. I just needed to make sure to keep up my share of the rent.
I had taken the train to get to Saitama, so I had to leave early. That usually meant I would get to the store at least fifteen minutes early most of the time. Luckily, the manager didn’t have a problem with me sitting in the back room while waiting for my shift to start.
I started the shift with no problem. The usual evening guy was another foreign student. He was an engineering major I think, from Vietnam. We overlapped by a bit, so I did the laundry and took my break before he left. After that, I had been on my own.
I couldn’t think of anything strange that had happened until the earthquake. No odd noises, or people moving around outside. But ever since the quake… nothing had been normal. That was clearly the point when whatever happened, happened.
Did I lose consciousness? Maybe I was knocked out and they moved me to a look-alike movie set?
Everything in the store looked exactly as it had earlier. Even the magazines were the same. I ducked under the counter and rummaged through the box underneath. After a moment, I pulled out a small coin. The exact same ten yen coin I had placed in there before my break. This was indeed the same place, at least as far as I could tell.
I realized that I had been standing there like a zombie for a while. Looking at the clock on the register, I noted that it was past five. I could feel the tension rise in my chest. The relief staff should be here by now.
Then I heard a dull noise from the back. I felt a wave of relief. That had to be Ken Tabata, the early-morning guy. Despite myself, I rushed to the back.
The rules, of course, said that I should stay in the front and wait for him to come out after getting ready, but I didn’t care. I needed to talk to someone. See if he knew what was going on. Most of all, I could leave now.
I ran into the back room, squeezing past the towers of stacked boxes, I expected to see the other employee, maybe standing by the lockers. Instead, I was greeted by a nightmare.
He was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall right next to the door. He was… not alright. Even from the other side of the room, I could immediately see the carnage. He was covered in blood, and his clothing and exposed skin were ripped and shredded. His face was unrecognizable and caked in red.
His arm… His right arm…
Gone! It’s gone!
I stood there in shock. Nothing I had seen in the last few hours prepared me for this. This wasn’t CG, or some kind of special effect. I could smell the strong iron scent of blood, and the dark red pools underneath him were sending out snake-like rivers of thick black liquid.
I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t even tell if he was still alive. He must have been able to get here, and somehow the back door had opened and he managed to get inside.
I don’t know how long I stood there, frozen. It might have been a few seconds or it could have been minutes. I don’t know if he was still alive when I came into the back, or if he had—
Just like when the high school delinquents had been ejected from the store, I watched as the form of my coworker slowly faded away.
He disappeared, but left behind a terrifying mess. A nightmarish stain all over the walls and floor. But no body. Nothing else remained. He simply… disappeared into thin air.
No! Wait!
I ran back into the store. Over to the entrance.
“Where? Where is he?” I shouted at Wanma.
The mascot simply cocked his animated head to the side.
“Where is Tabata? Ken Tabata? Where did he go?” I yelled. My eyes were scanning the darkness, looking for a figure in the shadows.
[Employee Tabata, Ken was deemed unfit to start his shift. He was removed from the schedule.]
[Update: Shift schedule is updated. Employee Hwang, Ming. There is a vacancy in the 05:00 - 14:00 shift today. You will be eligible for a merit point bonus if you can extend your hours until 08:00. Would you like to extend your shift?]
“Where is he? What did you do to him?” I screamed.
[Employee Hwang, Ming, would you like to extend your shift?]
Suddenly I realized something. Something that cooled my blood.
The frogs were gone.
I pressed up against the door, scanning the area, left to right, looking for anything, any movement, anything at all. Then I saw it.
On the street, near the area where the kids had appeared after being removed from the entrance of the store, I saw a small object on the road. It was hard to tell what it was, but I strained my eyes until I could make it out.
It was a shoe. A single, blood-soaked sneaker.
