Dispatches from the Graduate School of Ghost Stories - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Folklore and Graduate School Presents (30)
An MZ Intern’s Day (4)
Yu Jong-hwa clutched his ceaselessly buzzing smartphone in both hands, caught in anguish.
The image attached to the email seemed to be the original occupant of Room 315. Perhaps the ghost in the picture was the identity of the “intern who died from workplace harassment”?
But for Yu Jong-hwa, what mattered more than the ghost’s identity was why it was angry. He no longer wanted to harbor resentment or interest toward any Folklore Phenomenon.
“If I leave this place, do you think your anger will subside? Or is it that you want me to work here?”
The barrage of emails had begun after he’d reviewed the handover file. Yu Jong-hwa, wrestling with an encroaching headache, tried to avoid looking directly at the scrawled image and instead skimmed through the emails he’d received so far.
‘I’ve arrived at work, beginning my duties. This is already your assigned seat.’
From such fragmentary messages alone, it was impossible to tell whether the ghost was angry at being robbed of its own workplace, or whether it was simply demanding that he start working immediately.
Naturally, the man in the image didn’t answer his questions properly. The closer Yu Jong-hwa moved toward the office door, the more emails arrived.
“I understand……. I’ll take it to mean you want me to stay here.”
Yu Jong-hwa placed his now-silent smartphone face-down on the desk.
Most Folklore Phenomena aimed to keep humans bound within themselves, so they seized every opportunity to curse, make deals, or form contracts to prevent escape.
Yu Jong-hwa knew this better than anyone—he’d already signed that suspicious contract. To avoid adding further complications to his fate, he resolved to do his absolute best to humor this ghost.
“Pardon my intrusion.”
He dropped into the creaking chair with an uneasy sound.
There was still much time before six o’clock, the end of the workday. If all else failed, he’d have to flee—but until then, he’d search for some way to appease the ghost’s resentment.
Yu Jong-hwa rummaged through the desk drawer below. The poorly-sealed drawer had wood splinters that jutted out maliciously and sometimes pricked his fingers. Inside lay a ballpoint pen that had dried out and wouldn’t write, office clips, and a memo pad with today’s tasks—all tumbling about. Of course, the memo contained only trivial errands that did nothing for career development.
If he were a proper employment-track intern, performance would have mattered, but it seemed no one had bothered to teach him anything.
“Well, you certainly worked hard.”
This place was just a reason to quit.
Yu Jong-hwa tossed a light word of comfort at the office’s original occupant and turned to the laptop. Before long, he uncovered traces of what at least counted as actual work.
An unencrypted laptop held an Excel file that someone had started but abandoned. Yu Jong-hwa recalled the final page of the handover document and unfolded the paper. According to the handover notes, what interns mainly did was type meaningless characters from a pile of documents scattered across the desk directly into Excel.
He blew away the dust on top of the document stack and opened it to the middle section. The arrangement of characters—their forms distorted and jumbled together—made his head throb just from looking. Yu Jong-hwa could dimly understand that these were shipment items handled by DNA Logistics, but he couldn’t make out the precise meaning. As he struggled to find similar characters on the keyboard and typed a few, something suddenly struck him as odd.
The more he repeated the work, the more the scattered characters on the documents began appearing as distinct words.
He transcribed the clarified words into the Excel window.
Chocolate 3 boxes, Kim Jun-su, monkey wrench, Park Jung-a, shamanic silk 3 bolts, plastic capsules 200 pieces……
Yu Jong-hwa’s increasingly bloodshot eyes blinked. Somehow his neck had bent so far forward that his head nearly touched the laptop screen.
No one had explained to him what this work meant or how it helped the company, but it was clear he had to transfer this entire document by the end of today. Tomorrow would bring twice this much paperwork, and it was also a day he’d have to process the Management Support Department staff’s dining receipts, so he’d definitely never finish on time. Should he work late? Tonight, tomorrow night. Probably the weekend too.
The moldy-smelling office emanated strange noises from somewhere that persisted continuously. The noise rang through his head like tinnitus, bringing a headache. He’d been assigned this warehouse room because he was an intern, but once he became a full employee, he’d be able to work confidently in the office with the other staff!
He forced himself to think hopeful thoughts to chase away the strange loneliness.
Meanwhile, the mouse cursor on the computer screen moved of its own accord, opened the mailbox, and began composing a new message.
[Chairman, this is intern Park Min-gu. I request approval for my resignation letter. The replacement’s name is Kim Jong-sik.
I have served DNA Logistics faithfully all this time……]
“Wait. Park Min-gu? This can’t be right.”
Yu Jong-hwa snapped to attention and quickly closed the window. He deleted the autosaved email entirely, then urgently sent a new message to his research lab.
His smartphone didn’t have internet connection here, but this laptop was definitely what had sent the acceptance email to his research lab. There was a chance he could contact his seniors.
He poured his sorrow into telling them his situation. Before the intern ghost could write another resignation letter on its own, he had to send this quickly, so he couldn’t write out all the details.
[Senior, I really can’t take this anymore. This place is too lonely and difficult.
Even worse, the person who used Room 315 seems to want to quit and make me their successor.
Is there any record of something like this happening?
Please help me!]
About thirty minutes had passed when an email arrived. This was the response from the research lab.
[Re: Senior, I really can’t take this anymore. This place is too lonely and difficult.
Hello, it seems your email was sent to the wrong place, so I’m writing to let you know.
This is the Jujak University Folklore Medicine Research Lab, and we’re unable to help at this time.
I’m not sure exactly what’s happened,
but we’re reviewing on our end whether there’s anything we can do about what you’ve requested, though it will take some time.
If possible, we hope you’ll accomplish what you need to and return home quickly.
We apologize.]
Yu Jong-hwa examined the email carefully.
Reading between the lines, it seemed to say “We can’t help right now. We’ll look into it. It’ll probably take a while, so steal the packages and come home fast.”
The fact that they said sorry suggested that his senior Joo Ho’s heart was at least a little bit in it.
The part asking what on earth he’d done was probably Hwi-young’s doing.
He squinted at the documents scattered messily across the desk. Somehow the Excel sheet he’d stopped working on was open on the laptop screen again.
Yu Jong-hwa’s smartphone continued to ring endlessly, emails arriving as if the ghost were venting its anger.
“Hey, just let me explain. I’m leaving this place today, so I can’t provide you with a successor!”
To prevent any further involvement by the ghost, Yu Jong-hwa pulled Safety Goggles from his backpack. Through the lenses, the characters on the laptop screen were distorted and illegible once more.
In order to have a genuine conversation with the ghost, he held his smartphone up to eye level.
The office door in the picture was now wide open. The male ghost sitting in the same decrepit chair where Yu Jong-hwa sat stared directly back at him.
The ballpoint pen had drawn a sloppy mess of lines that formed a ghost’s facial structure, eyes, and hair, with the expression twitching and moving sluggishly. The fact that he felt dizzy even viewing it through the safety goggles suggested that in its true form, it must be utterly grotesque.
“Alternatively, would you like to vent about the company? I’m actually pretty good at listening. Or I could help you look into other job opportunities.”
It was an kindly offered comment, but the response was decidedly poor.
Yu Jong-hwa received a gift of an email densely decorated with messages telling him to die. Now the man in the image attached to the email appeared to be pounding at the screen with eyes that had turned a violent red.
He wasn’t afraid of it. Rather, he was bewildered by such vicious sentiment. All the DNA Logistics employees are strange.
After several minutes of this standoff, the numbers on the smartphone’s clock changed to 6:00.
“I’m so sorry! There’s really nothing I can do to help! I’ll be clocking out now!”
He wrapped the noisy smartphone tightly in his outer jacket and tossed it into his backpack. The power button didn’t respond, neither did silent mode—it was just a hunk of useless metal—but he couldn’t very well abandon a modern necessity like this.
‘Once it’s 6:00, you turn off your assigned computer and leave the office. Other employees will be working overtime, so don’t worry about them and just find a way to slip out. Understood?’
7. Like any other company, DNA Logistics officially ends the workday at 6:00. Though nobody actually leaves!
If you worry too much about what others think, you won’t last long here, will you? Once you’ve received your computer, make sure to shut it down completely before leaving the office. That’s the end of your company duties~.
7-1. If you dawdle and leave late trying to read the room, you’ll get dragged to someplace unpleasant—so keep your exit swift! They say external staff movement is prohibited during overtime hours! Apparently security patrols to catch people.
This space had no other employees and no computer assigned to him, but he did his best to follow the guidelines as closely as possible.
Yu Jong-hwa pressed the power button on the laptop.
No matter how many times he pressed it, the blue light on the screen wouldn’t disappear.
“It won’t turn off…?”
He removed the battery from the old laptop and even fished out the dusty charging cord from under the desk, but the monitor still glowed with that blue default wallpaper.
The guidelines advised against stalling—just leave quickly.
Yu Jong-hwa fell into a dilemma at the troublesome situation. He cracked open the office door and peered outside.
The lights flickering off in sequence from the end of the hallway felt exactly like someone approaching.
The cheap fluorescent light hanging from the yellowed ceiling of the office was blinking in sympathy, signaling that it would soon be his turn to go dark.
He didn’t have much time.
“I’m clocking out!”
Yu Jong-hwa made a quick decision and snapped the laptop shut roughly.
Light was still seeping from the screen, but there was nothing he could do about it.
He bowed respectfully toward the empty office chair, quickly gathered his things, and slipped out the door.
He sprinted down the hallway, dodging the dimming lights. In the darkened offices, only the glowing computer screens of employees working overtime shone.
A company where no one was leaving was extraordinarily quiet. Yu Jong-hwa was able to slip out of the Office Building without any interference and head toward the brightly lit Logistics Warehouse!
Now all he had to do was steal the package, and the mission would be complete! His escape from the Folklore Phenomenon was truly just within reach.
He pulled the door of the Logistics Warehouse open with force.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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