Two young women, Yume Kokuryo and Nagomi Shirahama, each desperately in need of a large sum of money, discover the world of ura baito—shady, off-the-books part-time jobs that pay extraordinarily well. The catch is that the compensation reflects the risk to their lives. Once they accept a job, they are prohibited from escaping. Every assignment plunges them into a new nightmare: haunted workplaces, cursed objects, malevolent spirits, and humans driven to madness by greed or obsession. The stories are structured as multi-chapter arcs, each centered on a different type of job—restaurant staff, building security, clinical trial participant, detective assistant, shrine maiden, delivery courier, janitor, and many more.

The series begins with a job at a remote resort restaurant called Ryokushinan in a deep forest. Yume and Nagomi meet there as fellow recruits, and soon discover the owner has been sacrificing employees to a tree spirit in a desperate attempt to resurrect his dead wife. After barely escaping, the two decide to work together as a team. Yume possesses a special ability to sense danger, malice, and supernatural presence as a foul odor—she describes it as a “black smell.” Nagomi has no such power but is fearless, quick-thinking, and physically resilient, earning her a reputation as “the undying Shirahama.” Their complementary skills allow them to survive repeated deadly assignments.

Each arc introduces distinct horrors: a high-rise building where elevator spirits trap the living; a clinical trial that erases participants from existence; a shrine on an island that demands human sacrifices to a “god of fortune”; a family restaurant that endlessly replays a mass murder; a detective agency run by a man named Yagi Takuma who becomes a key ally; a cursed bag that distorts reality; and a wealthy household hiding a cannibalistic secret. Over time, recurring characters appear, such as the cheerful Shinotsuki Daidai, herself a regular ura baito participant.

The overarching narrative slowly reveals the protagonists’ personal stakes. Yume’s parents disappeared, leaving her to care for a younger brother and sister and to repay a massive debt. Nagomi’s motivation is initially presented as a dream of world travel, but later it is disclosed that she suffers from a serious illness requiring extremely expensive medication supplied by a mysterious organization known as Q. This organization seems to be involved in the ura baito ecosystem, and its true purpose remains a central mystery. As the series progresses, the jobs become increasingly interconnected, and the boundary between the normal world and the world of the ura baito begins to blur, with hints of parallel realities and time loops. Key characters die or are lost, including the detective Yagi, and Nagomi herself is shot by a Q scientist in a late arc. The story is still ongoing, with eighteen compiled volumes released as of March 2026, and the ultimate fates of Yume and Nagomi remain unresolved.