Customer collapses after 'Die' is muttered: A hotel ghost story

A bizarre story has emerged about a new employee at a hotel who muttered ominous words toward a customer, causing the customer to collapse, and subsequently pursued a colleague who had observed them during the hiring process with obsessive persistence.

What began as a simple workplace ghost story sent chills through the studio as it unfolded to reveal that the employee was raising more than 20 snakes and had even stated, "I wanted to receive your energy."

In the MBC variety program 'Midnight Ghost Story 6' broadcast on the 10th, Kim Ho-young introduced a ghost story themed around 'The Face Reader' while actress Jung Soo-young appeared as a guest.

On this day, Jung drew attention by describing herself as being "on the exorcism side," noting she appeared on the program through her manager's recommendation. As a lifelong Catholic, she surprised the cast by revealing she remembers much of the exorcism prayer used in the movie 'The Priests.'

In fact, Jung recited the prayer directly in the studio and revealed she had even prepared 'resurrected holy water' in case anything strange happened during the recording. She then heightened the tense atmosphere by taking out the holy water and sprinkling it throughout the studio.

The story introduced by Kim was an account from a whistleblower who worked at a hotel about nine years ago.

The whistleblower, who was working as a chief manager at the time, said they were nicknamed 'Ssemmelier' (a play on 'sense' and 'sommelier') by colleagues because they could easily identify 'creepy people' or difficult customers just by looking at their facial features. Their criterion for judgment was 'physiognomy' (the art of reading faces).

For this reason, the whistleblower, who participated in new employee interviews at the request of their superior, the team leader, claimed to have felt a strange discomfort from the moment they saw a certain applicant. However, they could not decide whether to hire the person based solely on physiognomy, and the applicant eventually joined the hotel along with other new employees.

According to the whistleblower, strange things began to happen one after another.

On their first day of work, the new employee burst into laughter upon hearing the whistleblower's age. Afterward, the whistleblower claimed to have repeatedly smelled a fishy odor around the new employee, though other employees did not sense any smell at all.

There were no major issues with the work itself. In fact, the new employee seemed to adapt to the organization without much trouble. However, strangely, they frequently lingered around the whistleblower, and as time passed, this behavior became even more persistent.

The decisive incident occurred during a confrontation with a customer.

A customer directed verbal abuse at the new employee and even splashed water on them, but the new employee showed no particular reaction. With their head bowed, they muttered something, and those words were, "Die, die, die."

And not long after, the customer suddenly collapsed while clutching their neck.

The people on the scene could not help but be flustered, and the whistleblower shared that this incident caused them to view the new employee with even greater dread.

Afterward, the situation progressed even more eerily.

The new employee not only sent continuous text messages to the whistleblower but also began to follow them around to get close to them. When the whistleblower finally informed the team leader of the situation, the team leader also spoke directly with the new employee.

However, the words that came out of the team leader's mouth increased the whistleblower's anxiety even further.

It was confirmed that the new employee was actually raising several snakes at home, and the number exceeded 20.

In particular, the new employee reportedly said things that would be difficult to imagine in a normal workplace relationship, such as telling the whistleblower, "I feel like I can live if I am with you. Please let me stay by your side," or "If you hate being with me, just cut off one of your fingers."

The whistleblower ultimately claimed to have been subjected to behavior bordering on stalking. They recalled that it was even confirmed during a meeting with the team leader that the new employee had followed them all the way to their home.

The reason they revealed was even more chilling.

Upon learning that the whistleblower was born in the year of the Tiger, the new employee reportedly said something to the effect of, "I wanted to receive your energy."

Of course, this story is a ghost story based on the experience shared by the whistleblower on the broadcast. Whether the cause of the customer's collapse was actually linked to the new employee's muttering, or whether the stories regarding the 'fishy smell' or the so-called 'energy' are objectively verifiable, the tale remains deeply unsettling.