episode_0087

087 – Fluffy Ghosts Only Like Me # 1

Madam Pandora operated an antique shop in this Pandora Market.

It was said that her starting to buy and sell various items in the Soul Society was the origin of this “Pandora Market” in the first place.

‘The shop is like a grand mansion.’

Madam Pandora held the title of the first human female in the Greek worldview. That meant she was the oldest ghost. The wealth she had accumulated over a long time was on a different level compared to ordinary ghosts.

‘The strange thing is that unlike other ghosts, she didn’t lose her memories.’

In this Soul Society, souls that had been weathered for a long time would become round and fluffy ghosts. Those who became like that tended to forget their memories of themselves. Only their identity as a cute ‘ghost’ remained.

However, Madam Pandora was a person who, despite being a ghost, had not lost her memories or self.

“Youngster, is it proper to stare so intently at a lady’s body?”

The round and fluffy ghost, Madam Pandora, greeted me in the reception room. Her round body was several times larger than that of ordinary ghosts, and seemed several times softer.

‘Honestly speaking, it’s quite cute.’

It felt like a giant doll made by stuffing a lot of cotton into white fabric. It seemed like it would be nice and cool to hug while sleeping on the bed.

Of course, if I were to say such things carelessly, it might be considered sexual harassment. Then my head would be horribly split open by Melinoye nim.

“Market Manager Madam Pandora, it is truly an honor to meet you. The reason I came to see you is none other than to ask about Brownie’s owner.”

“If you mean Brownie, that large spider, right? That child’s owner was a truly spirited kid. He asked me every day how he could open the spider’s eyes.”

As expected, Pandora nim was the very history of this market. So, she knew who Brownie’s owner was!

“I was also the one who told that child where the Hell Onion inhabits. However, it would have been difficult to obtain with an ordinary soul’s body. I think he probably failed.”

“Then, where would that owner be now?”

“He must have become a cute, round ghost like me. If that happens, honestly, you have to assume they can’t be found. How many people have become residents of this Soul Society so far? And how many of them are ghosts?”

People are born countless times and die countless times. Deceased souls become residents of this Soul Society, and eventually undergo ‘ghostification,’ ending up as ghosts.

In other words, this Soul Society was filled with an innumerable number of ghosts.

“Furthermore, ghosts don’t even remember who they are. To find the boy who is Brownie’s owner among such ghosts—that’s an impossible story. Even if the Goddess of Ghosts herself stepped forward.”

Has Brownie’s owner become a state that even Melinoye nim cannot find? However, Pandora nim quietly added a worrying remark.

“Of course, I don’t know what would happen if that Goddess Melinoye came to possess more shares and awakened to greater power. That young deity hasn’t yet awakened to her true power.”

“True power?”

“Yes. True power. Why? Are you interested?”

“No! Not at all!”

In my experience, it was best policy to avoid matters related to Melinoye nim. If I just got involved, achievements and merits would explode like rolling around in an anti-tank minefield wearing iron armor.

“It’s a rule not to approach the matters of executives carelessly.”

“You’re wise. If you wish to survive long in this Soul Society, it is best not to interfere in the affairs of executives. Especially those of the CEO’s family. And it’s even more true for censored matters.”

Censorship.

That word reminded me of the reason I had come to see Madam Pandora.

Rustle.

I took out a bunch of documents from my pocket and held them out to Pandora nim. Thereupon, Pandora nim became angry.

“If you want to show me something, you should turn the pages yourself. My hands are so round, it’s difficult to turn paper.”

“I see.”

Rustle, rustle.

I turned a few pages. Anyway, the contents were all the same. There were just a lot of things with crosshatch marks due to censorship.

“While looking through past documents related to this market, I found many censored papers like these. Why were these old matters of the market censored and erased?”

At my question, Pandora nim took out a thread from somewhere. And then, she cut it with a snip to a length of a few spans and laid it out on the table in front of me.

“The Moirai, the Goddesses of Fate, are beings who oversee everything from the beginning to the end. They determine fate like this thread. Human palm lines are features that represent a fragment of it.”

Such a function in human palm lines? I thought things like fate lines, life lines, and love lines were all nonsense. If these palm lines truly represented the fate discovered and determined by the Moirai, then one could truly divine a person’s fate just by their palm lines.

Madam Pandora’s explanation continued.

“But sometimes. In this Soul Society, there exist deviants who stray from that destiny. Do you know why?”

“Perhaps it’s because of the shares of miracles?”

“That’s right. Because of shares, individuals who walk paths unseen by the Moirai come into being here. However, the end of such individuals is generally not good, so ultimately, they are censored out of necessity.”

“In other words, in this Pandora Market, incidents that even the Moirai could not foresee occurred, were censored, and erased. Is that what I should understand?”

“It’s best not to get involved. There’s always a reason for things buried underground. But, a valuable treasure might emerge from it. Young Joy, the choice is yours.”

To dig into the censorship or not to dig—.

In my opinion, since I had already grabbed the shovel, I thought it was better to dig something up.

And Madam Pandora seemed to have roughly read my thoughts.

“You boasted that you would revive this market with your own strength, didn’t you? Perhaps making this market thrive again might become a clue to uncovering the censored incidents.”

# # #

When I returned to the Development Headquarters, the Chairman, who was trimming hand bones with a saw, saw me and clicked his teeth.

“Did you meet Market Manager Madam Pandora? But looking at your expression, it seems you didn’t hear anything particularly great.”

“I only heard vague talk.”

“That woman is always like that. People who have lived long in this Soul Society never tell you anything straightforwardly. It’s best to listen with one ear and let it out the other rather than pointlessly racking your brain.”

The Chairman was, to put it negatively, cynical, and to put it positively, a realistic skeleton. He was a different type from the positive-energy skeleton managers I had met, so it felt rather refreshing.

‘This is how work can fail: if a pessimistic superior like this is above me.’

Even before starting, he would say, “You can’t do it—,” “We’ll fail—,” and be so gloomy that I felt my own energy draining away, and so it was rather good.

“Still, Vice-Chairman Joy, you did well with the west gate’s matters. You used Brownie’s sad story as bait to draw out Prince Zagreus’s wife, didn’t you? Look at this.”

Rustle.

“This is a real estate contract document stating that a health product store called ‘Mountain and Moon’ will be established at the west gate of this Pandora Market. It’s a document Crown Princess Nyxdotty nim personally wrote. It’s truly an amazing achievement.”

There was very shaky, hard-to-read handwriting written on it. Suddenly, I became curious.

“Why is the shop name ‘Mountain and Moon’?”

“Didn’t the Prince go by Hassan when he was active in the mortal world? So, Mountain. Nyxdotty nim’s name is Luna Nyxdotty, so Moon. It’s a name symbolizing the bond between the two of them.”

Oh. He has a quite romantic side. Is that how lovers are? I wondered what kind of name it would be if Melinoye nim and I opened a shop together.

‘Of course, that wouldn’t happen and shouldn’t happen, so there’s no need to even imagine it.’

Anyway. Returning to reality.

The Chairman patted my back.

“Attracting a famous person’s shop to aim for an influx of visitors and seeing the trickle-down effect—I also thought of that strategy years ago, but I couldn’t actually make it succeed. But if it’s you…”

Thud.

The Chairman held out a thick stack of papers to me.

“I believe you are qualified to read and act upon the strategic plan I devised after years of deliberation. Perhaps this time, it might truly be different.”

A strategic plan? If I read something like that, I might pointlessly succeed!

So, I took the stack of papers I had received and tossed them into the bonfire stove burning nearby.

“There’s no need to look at something like this.”

Whoosh.

The paper caught fire in an instant. The Chairman, seeing that sight, was even more impressed.

“To notice that the strategic plan I offered was fake! Approved. The real one is this.”

What?!

I also took the ‘real strategic plan’ and threw it into the stove.

Whoosh.

The burning stack of papers. The Chairman’s gaze shone even brighter.

“You didn’t even read it, yet you noticed that the second plan was also fake? Actually, the real one is this third stack of documents here.”

“Chairman, please tell me honestly. How many stacks of documents are there?”

“There are about ten.”

“Just burn them all.”

“But there’s a real one among them, you know?”

“Anyway, aren’t these plans that you tried to execute and failed? That means there’s a fundamental problem, so it’s obvious.”

“Indeed, you’re keen. It’s no wonder Manager Hector takes you under his wing. But to receive a good evaluation from me, simply being a sharp sword won’t be enough. To be recognized by this very Odysseus—”

“Wait, Odysseus?”

The red-boned skeleton Chairman’s name is Odysseus? Isn’t he the man called ‘the last hero’ in Greek mythology? The master of strategy who devised the ‘Trojan Horse.’ The protagonist of the epic poem ‘The Odyssey’! He was also an object of people’s admiration for overcoming hardships and adversity with all sorts of wisdom and schemes. That was the problem.

‘Working with this man violates my ironclad rule: useless close, competent far!’

Keep the duds close. Keep competent men far.

Could there be a more competent man than this Odysseus? Why was such a man idly passing time in this market? No, that’s not important right now. If I stick close to a man like this, I’ll end up accumulating a lot of achievement points without even realizing it!

“Chairman Odysseus. I’ll be blunt. Among the market revival strategies you’ve thought of, is there one that is the most dangerous, arduous, and impossible to realize?”

“The most dangerous? You, I thought you were a type of wise general like me, just because you defeated that cunning Sisyphus. But it seems you were a warrior, a fierce general type like Achilles.”

“So, is there a strategy?”

“There is. It’s a scheme that would send one plunging to the edge of an endless cliff if it fails, which is why I’ve never been able to execute it.”

Good! It was what I wanted.

However, the red-boned Chairman Odysseus hesitated.

“From my perspective, you, who tasted success by having people gather at the west gate, might be feeling too impatient. This strategy is still too much for you to execute.”

“You only know by trying, don’t you?”

“Good. At the north gate of this market, everyone coveted it, but eventually, they even came to avoid approaching—”

“North Gate!”

There’s no need to listen further. It means something will happen if I go to the North Gate, right?

# # #

“Oh, for goodness sake, to leave without even hearing the whole story.”

Odysseus recalled the Trojan War, where he had cried and laughed with countless comrades. Even on that battlefield, where generals like Achilles and Hector rampaged, seeking to raise their names and gain glory…

‘…there was no one so thirsty for achievements as that guy.’

Joy was indeed an extremely competent man, capable of injecting vitality into the market’s west gate in less than a week. However, even such a man would surely taste despair at the market’s north gate.

Because Odysseus himself had experienced it.

“Well, that place is connected to ‘The Phantom Nymph.’”

The Phantom Nymph.

The North Gate was a place deeply connected to a being whose existence was currently doubtful. It was also hell itself, having crushed the dreams of countless adventurers and entrepreneurs. In such a place, no matter how competent an employee Joy was, he would taste despair.

Odysseus soothed his bitter heart and looked at the photo album placed on his desk. He particularly missed the face of his wife, whom he hadn’t seen for years.

‘I promised I’d return if I revived the market…’