Ura Baito: Toubou Kinshi - Vol. 10 Ch. 119 - Supermarket Employee ③

[MangaDex]

 

[Teach]

Excellent chapter. Fun read.

 

[SMAXZO]

Does every Grey job just turn into an eldritch horror story? Seriously..I can use these for a Call of Cthulhu campaign!

 

[ChocoPies]

It let them out?

 

[jaaaace]

ẖ̸̵̨̛̟͙͈̫̲̺̰̠̐̋̇̄ͤ͐̀ͧ̊̈̽͐̿͌ͧ̋ͭ̚͘e̶̵̸̡̨̻̲̟̱͈͔̺̝̲̥͈͚̼͔̤̹͌̈̓ͯ̏̈́̔̾ͩ̓̀ͧͤ̄ͥ̾̕̚̚͝͝͝͠͠y̻͎͚̥ͤ̀͒̽̆ͫͦͭ̈́̉,͔̮̰̱̘͕̞͋̾̃̃ͯ̓́͛̄͆̽̚͝ f̵̧̺̪͇̦̳̜̘̰̭͓͛̿ͬ̃̿́̈́̀̄̄ͩ͑ͯr̷͇̖̺̫͎͚͑ͬ͐̏͂͐ͩ̊̚̕͜͞e̢̨̩͙̹̱̩̼̻͂́͌̽̑́͂ͭ̈ͪ̂͂͘͢͞͝e͉ m̴̢̰͉̻̫̭͖̥̜̿ͭ̈́͊͒͗͐͑͐ͧ̿̐̂͗͡ȩ̟̖̬͚̟̰̩̩̟̜ͯ̏ͨ̂͌̐͆͊͋͊͒ͬ͝͡ ţ̛͔̩̦̞̥̮̝͉̹͓̭ͭͥ͋̃̾͑͋̎ͥ͂͘͢͞͡o͇o̡͙̗̞͊͜ͅͅ

 

[rikamayaz]

It felt like the rule for this job is that if you no longer have the desire to continue your mundane daily life, you would get killed by the supermarket. I hope someone can correct my deduction. This is another confusing case,

 

[BreadBunny]

yeah this is very much the Sisyphean horror of having to your daily tasks over and over and over again. Once you get sick of rolling that boulder up the hill the mystery man takes an interest in you and "frees" you from your struggle the only way the struggle can end, by killing you.

Overall it looks like the mystery man is only dangerous (in the sense that he's going to kill you if you don't want it to do that)is when it's freeing someone else (killing them) and you get too close. Though since it looks like its territory is that one specific supermarket so as long as you stay away from it you'll be fine.

Also the reason why the clientele keeps coming back to that place despite the frequent murders, the mystery man probably exaggerates the feeling of needing to go through your daily tasks. No reason to stay away from the supermarket if you NEED to go get groceries after all.

 

[77BLc9JwJGpLVARkamJx]

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage supermarket

 

[Hikineet]

Thanks for the chapters.

 

[beansbunko]

This is seriously one of my fav manga rn, so happy each time there's new chapters

 

[farranpoison]

Hmm, so I guess what's happening this time is that there is a "mystery man" in a (cursed?) supermarket, who roams around killing people who feel like they want to be freed from the "daily grind." However if you don't feel like that then you're safe, unless you're near them when they've just killed someone, as shown in the last chapter.

I'm a bit confused though, so our main duo survived just by running away?

 

[rikamayaz]

Hmm, so I guess what's happening this time is that there is a "mystery man" in a (cursed?) supermarket, who roams around killing people who feel like they want to be freed from the "daily grind." However if you don't feel like that then you're safe, unless you're near them when they've just killed someone, as shown in the last chapter.

I'm a bit confused though, so our main duo survived just by running away?

At a certain point, the gray job will become a daily chore for the workers. It will definitely increase the risk of being "freed" from the chore (aka murdered)

 

[Babymech2]

If you map out all the dinners that were planned against all the weather pattern variations, you'll figure it out... and disappear forever.

 

[cromat]

dont really get it, why did the gray worker die? did it consider her getting tired of the "daily chore" of finding the mystery man cuz she realized its her mom or some shit?

 

[strawberrywarrior]

Splendid arc. Really digging the art here, like how the supermarket scenes are just one whole image chopped into tinier pieces; the repetition; that neat trick with the flash light and darkness; how Shirota's face in page 8 here was similarly separated like the supermarket scenes, but ever so slightly off. I'd like to praise the 'fourth wall' breaking tentacle-finger things too, but it reminded me too much of that hotdog fingers universe in 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'.

So as for the plot... There are two entities who are enemies: the Supermarket and the Mystery Man. There are many Mystery Men. All we know about the Supermarket is that it's possibly a sentient place that becomes hostile to anything related to a Mystery Man, or becomes related to it.

My theory is that all the deaths were the Supermarket's doing, not the Mystery Man's. The Mystery Man makes people recognize the control of the Supermarket (through wanting an escape from the ennui of daily life - people who aren't tired of their daily chores aren't affected), and the Supermarket kills those people. The dead then become new Mystery Men.

On a meta perspective, it sounds like a commentary on the "daily grind", using the supermarket as a symbol for the reliance on tiresome, repetitive schedules in order to survive. Deviation from the "daily grind" in any form - fatigue (like Shirota's mom), recognizing its power over your life (the first guy who died), or even just interacting with people who have deviated (MCs when Shirota died (?)) - is punished by both a gruesome death and by your story being buried.

 

[Sovyonok]

Props for that dude who's been cut in half having a 50% off sticker lol

 

[BalrogDeMorgoth]

I didn't really like that one, it's like our fourth 'It can control everyone' monster.

 

[GAMERUsagi]

This Gray Entity would have probably killed me. It's hard not to wanna be free from the daily grind.

 

[LupusVir]

I didn't really like that one, it's like our fourth 'It can control everyone' monster.

It doesn't actually control people. The daily grind is considered necessary. It only "controls" people like hunger does by making you eat. You need to go get food from the supermarket. In Japan they usually do that daily.

The only supernatural aspects in this story, which only affect this particular store, are these:
The mystery man makes people see their daily repetition (which in Japan necessarily involves the supermarket) as a cage, as a hell they want to escape from. It targets those who are already tired of it and amps up their feelings.
The supermarket wants people to continue the daily grind. It sort of embodies it. Work and chores and such also involve the daily grind, but people don't all work and live in the same places, and the experiences are different for each person. The supermarket is the common aspect of the daily grind.
People who have been influenced by the mystery man are killed. Either by the mystery man himself to free them, or by the supermarket for getting close to him.

My guess is the supermarket. We see the mystery man, and then people know to look for a corpse. However, apparently you can become the mystery man. So what if the corpses come first, the person having been killed by the supermarket for realizing the "truth", they turn into a mystery man, who is then spotted. Maybe the inner line 9 thing is to pacify the supermarket, not the mystery man.

But anyway, yeah, this doesn't control everyone even just at this location, and certainly not anyone anywhere else.

 

[friendly]

I find it helps to make a large dish once a week or so, though you have to be okay with eating it multiple days in a row.

This arc had a really great feeling in the composition- the stark repeating feeling.

...But I'm going to be left wondering just what the Kuriowa dance was....