How a Veteran of the Urban Legend Gallery Survives – Chapter 10

The flickering fluorescent light in the narrow, dim security room. The smell of old dust and rusty metal mixed together, stinging my nose. The windowless, enclosed space felt suffocating, like being trapped in a coffin.

As soon as I entered the night security room, the desk clock chimed 11 PM. Inside the cramped, dark room, there was a CCTV monitor emitting a blue glow, an electrical control panel, and an old telephone that looked like it belonged in an 80s movie.

Ring ring ring ring—

The phone rang. The sharp, distinctive sound of the old phone filled the silent security room.

The moment I picked up this call, the horror story truly began.

As soon as I lifted the receiver, a calm male voice flowed through. It was a strangely familiar voice, as if he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

“Um, I left a message in case you need help on your first night. I’m the senior who worked here before you… Actually, I quit today.”

I knew the owner of this voice. ‘Phone Guy.’ A key character in the ‘Jack’s Hamburger Shop’ horror story. He’s the guy who acts like a friendly senior, giving advice to new security guards.

“First, let me give you the official welcome speech. ‘Welcome to Jack’s Hamburger Shop. We are the best burger joint responsible for the city’s taste buds. Destroyer Entertainment is not responsible for any anomalous phenomena, and in the event of employee disappearances or strange occurrences, such incidents will be permanently classified as confidential.'”

As expected. The main setting of this horror story was starting to reveal itself.

Destroyer Entertainment.

A fairly well-known fictional company among Catastrophe Foundation enthusiasts. Parodying Disney, this company was always at the center of creepy and bizarre events.

Their mascot characters were all unsettling, and the facilities they operated were always the site of strange occurrences.

Anyway, that’s not important right now.

“Um… It might sound ominous, but it’s not actually that dangerous. It’s just that at night, something special happens. The animatronics inside the shop… they start to move.”

I turned my eyes to the CCTV screen. Inside the blue-lit monitor, four animatronics were visible.

Through the screen’s noise, their figures occasionally came into view. On the performance stage, a rabbit, a bear, and a wolf animatronic stood neatly in a row, while in a separate space called the Red Room, a lion mask animatronic stood alone.

They would’ve been cute during the day. The rabbit held a guitar, the bear had drums, and the wolf held a keyboard. They looked like an animal band from a children’s amusement park. But now, under the faint light, their appearances seemed eerie.

Especially the lion mask animatronic… It felt like its empty eye sockets were staring right at me.

“Luckily, the animatronics aren’t that fast. If you hear them coming, just close the doors. The important thing is to never get caught. If you get caught… well, you’ll just start your shift over from the first night.”

That was a relief. If getting caught just meant starting over, then this horror story wasn’t that dangerous.

It’s like a game—if you fail, you can just start over from the beginning.

“I know, this kind of stuff wasn’t in the contract. But don’t worry, nothing much will happen on your first night. Let’s talk more tomorrow. Keep checking the CCTV, and only close the doors when absolutely necessary. We need to save power. Oh, and… if anything strange happens, run. Getting fired is much better than staying here. Well then… good luck.”

Click.

As soon as the call ended, the outside of the shop suddenly darkened. It was as if someone had pulled down a giant blackout curtain, plunging the surroundings into darkness in an instant.

The streetlights outside the window flickered off one by one, leaving only darkness behind. It felt like the world had been cut off.

Now, it begins.

First, from 11 PM to 12 AM is preparation time. According to the horror story documents, the animatronics don’t move during this time. I needed to use this time efficiently.

It was like the tutorial phase of a game—the only chance to prepare for what was to come.

Looking around the security room, I was surprised to find many things prepared. Not just burger ingredients, but also a grill and various cooking tools. It was as if someone had deliberately set this place up like a small kitchen.

‘First, let’s make some burgers.’

I had experience working at a franchise burger joint in the past. Using that know-how, I moved quickly.

I took patties from the fridge and placed them on the grill, washed lettuce and cut it into appropriate sizes. I sliced tomatoes thinly and cut onions into ring shapes.

Sizzle—

The sound of the patties cooking on the grill filled the room. The smell of cooking meat filled the security room. Strangely, that familiar smell gave me a bit of comfort.

I toasted the buns and spread sauce on them. I already knew the recipe for the special sauce.

I had seen it in the manual I read earlier. Mix mayonnaise and ketchup in a 2:1 ratio, then add a bit of pepper and parsley powder.

The sauce recipe was simple, but tasting it, it was indeed special enough to be called a special sauce.

In an hour, I made ten special burgers without stopping. The thick patties, fresh veggies, and special sauce combined to create an appetizing aroma. The clock was just about to strike midnight.

Ding dong—

The bell signaling midnight rang, and the CCTV screen flickered. Now, the real thing begins.

‘The rabbit moves from 1 to 2 AM, the wolf from 3 to 4 AM…’

I recalled the animatronics’ patterns in my head. Each pattern was set, like the movements of chess pieces. The bear, thankfully, doesn’t move until the second day. The bear animatronic, sitting idly, occasionally appeared on the CCTV screen.

The trickiest one was the lion mask animatronic. If I didn’t check the CCTV regularly, it would rush over and attack. Like a jumpscare in a game, it was a presence that could pop out at any moment. Even when it wasn’t moving, the lion mask in the Red Room was unsettling enough.

Staring at the monitor, I fell into thought.

If this keeps up, I’ll have to endure six hours each night for three days, a total of eighteen hours in a dazed state. But that was too inefficient.

‘Wait, this is a game, right?’

Suddenly, my gaze turned to the desk clock on the table.

The desk clock. The only object that tells the time in this horror story.

If this were any other horror story, I wouldn’t have even tried, but ‘Jack’s Hamburger Shop’ was different.

‘If this is a game-based horror story… then manipulating time should be possible, right?’

This is clearly a horror story inspired by games. Games always have bugs or cheats. Like all games, there must be loopholes the developers didn’t anticipate.

Even if I fail, it’s not like I die—I just start over from the first night, so it was worth a try.

At worst, I’d just go back to the first night.

Carefully, I examined the back of the clock. There was a small screw there, likely for adjusting the speed. I slowly turned the screw with my finger.

In an instant, I felt a strange sensation. It was as if the flow of time itself was changing. The clock’s second hand started moving faster. The ticking sound grew quicker, eventually turning into a continuous noise.

Now, all that was left was to check the CCTV. Every three seconds, I alternated between checking the performance stage where the rabbit and wolf were, and the Red Room with the lion mask.

The animatronics’ movements on the screen also sped up, but their patterns remained the same.

The rabbit moved from the stage to the kitchen, from the kitchen to the hallway, and then back to the stage. The wolf had a similar pattern. Knowing their routes and patterns made it less dangerous.

While keeping an eye on the screen, I also controlled the electric doors appropriately. If an animatronic got close, I closed the door; if it moved away, I opened it again. This was to minimize power consumption. My timing for opening and closing the doors became more precise.

In this way, six minutes in real time passed, which was six hours in-game. I still had 5% power left.

‘This is easier than I thought.’

Just as I was about to let out a sigh of relief—

Ring ring ring—

A sharp bell sound pierced the silence.

It was the signal that the second night had begun.

“Hello? Oh, it’s the second night! You’ve held up well.”

Up to this point, it was exactly as described in the manual. But from here, Phone Guy started saying things I didn’t remember.

“Today, I’ll just tell you the important stuff. You’re still keeping an eye on the animatronics, right? Good. Especially today, be careful with the clock on your desk. Never, absolutely never touch it. Even if the hands stop, even if time seems to flow strangely, don’t touch it. The animatronics treasure it dearly.”

In an instant, my entire body froze. The clock I had just been fiddling with seemed to blur and waver before my eyes.

The clock’s second hand was still moving abnormally fast.

“Last week, a new guy… he touched the clock because it was acting weird. Then the animatronics went completely crazy. Normally, they just play pranks, but that day was different. They really… well, let’s just say the new guy didn’t make it. Anyway… let’s talk more tomorrow. Stay alive!”

The call ended.

Bzzzt—

A sound like a machine breaking down came from somewhere. The CCTV screen flickered momentarily. When the screen cleared again, I couldn’t help but gasp.

The rabbit animatronic was staring straight into the camera. It looked completely different from before. Its once-cute face was now twisted, and its glassy eyes glowed red.

The wolf, which should’ve been on the stage, was nowhere to be seen. The lion mask in the Red Room was also gone. I frantically operated the control panel to close the doors.

‘Damn it.’

Only now did I realize.

‘Jack’s Hamburger Shop’ is a horror story based on a game. So, of course, breaking the rules would have consequences. And judging from Phone Guy’s dialogue, the penalty was…

“If you get caught, you don’t just start over… you actually die.”

In other words, by speeding up time earlier, I had increased the difficulty of the horror story itself.

This was no longer just an E-class horror story. It had become a D-class or higher horror story, where actual lives were at stake.

As I muttered under my breath, the sound of banging on the door reached my ears. I stared at the firmly shut metal door, sweating coldly.

Looks like I’m screwed.