Haunted Night Shifts: Working at a Convenience Store on a Suicide Hotspot

“Hmm, let me ask you once more, is this really fine?” “Yes?” The person who asked me with a glistening, sweat-drenched face while dexterously twirling a ballpoint pen with his finger was the manager of the convenience store I was being interviewed at―a somewhat minor convenience store called “Alfredo Mart”. I was just getting interviewed for a part-time job at a convenience store in a certain city in a certain prefecture by this barcode-hairstyle old man whose countenance was bizarrely glistening with sweat. Was there a problem? As the interview was drawing to a close, he asked me with a rather apologetic look on his face. What did he mean by “is this fine”? “Well, I assume that you applied for this part-time job because you were attracted by the hourly wage here.” Oh, this guy sure has it all figured out. That being said, nodding frankly might be considered a demerit, therefore, I tried to display a good-natured smile. “No, no, that’s not true.” “It’s okay, it’s generally true, isn’t it? It’s not like this is a city, and 90.58 dollar an hour is awfully attractive, right?” “Hah.” “But the average person can work here for a week at a time.” “Eh?” “If you want to quit, now’s the time to do it.” The manager fluttered his right hand over my meticulously written resume. Whatever he meant to say, it was totally out of my grasp. When I made a face as if I didn’t get what he was trying to say, the barcode manager dropped his pretentiousness and directly addressed me. “You see, this place, it appears quite often.” “Appear?” “Ghost[I].” I was about to say just say that it was a “specter,” but I kept my mouth shut and uttered a muffled “Ah”. Yeah, every place had its own circumstances. “Frightening, isn’t it?” “Hah.” “Aren’t you terrified?” “I don’t really believe in that kind of thing.” “Yeah, yeah, that’s what everyone says in the beginning.” As if he had heard this many times, the manager nodded his head. “Yet they all resigned within a week or so. That’s why all year round we are looking for part-timers, but they keep joining and quitting, and then joining and quitting again, so it’s difficult to stabilize things.” “Is that so?” “Right. Especially late at night, strange happenings are liable to follow. Ah, during the daytime, it’s nothing to worry about, though occasionally there are those who buy ropes… kitchen knives, and the like.” Hey, that wasn’t something to say with a laugh. “I shouldn’t say this on the day of the interview, but if you feel uncomfortable or disgusted by what you hear, I suggest you try another job somewhere else.” Those words seemed to be said not only to me but also to many others who had been interviewed. It didn’t seem to be a threat or such, there must really be something without any joking around. The manager peeked into my face as if to probe. Pulling back now would be a wise move. He probably assumed so, but I was not clever enough to withdraw so easily. I was the kind of person who would have been inclined to press forward the more I was deterred. “No, I am totally unrelated to such things. Besides, I have never witnessed any ghosts, and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t care much.” Hourly wages were outrageously low in this neighborhood, which was not even in the city. Earning 90.58 dollar an hour, with few late-night customers, was more or less equivalent to just sitting idle, which was too good to be true. Furthermore, pay raises were possible. A job this rewarding wouldn’t come along very often. Specter would appear? This was not the time to be concerned about such things, the hourly wage was of utmost priority. Once this part-time job was secured, I would be able to quit my other low-paying part-time jobs and still be able to afford a decent living. True to the manager’s words, the hourly wage of 90.58 dollar was indeed enticing. “Is that so?” “Yes, I would absolutely not quit within a week.” Specter, bizarre phenomena, and the like intruded upon my mind, making me feel like it would be uncool to say, “Okay, then.” If it were a girl, it would be understandable, but I was a guy, you know. “We’re short on hands, so you might have to come in quite a bit.” “No problem at all.” “ I would be more than willing to do it, manager. As if to emphasize my statement, I grinned and the manager tapped his head a couple of times with a ballpoint pen. “Hmm. Well then, you’re hired.” “…Really!?” What a shock. They must be understaffed. I was promptly hired on the same day. He asked me to start working tomorrow, and I gladly agreed to do so. The place of my new part-time job was a convenience store in a certain city, in a certain prefecture. Let me clarify a little more about it. It was a convenience store facing the sea of trees, which has been called a famous place for suicides. “Thank you very much.” However… At that time, I didn’t have a clue yet. That I was going to be working part-time in an extraordinary place. My common sense, which I had thought had no connection to such things, had been drastically inverted, and the most dreadful experience of the summer of my 25th year was lying dormant before me. I was a fool who was tempted by the hourly wage of 90.58 dollar. “Nice to meet you, Harold.” On that day, I became the first of many.