Dispatches from the Graduate School of Ghost Stories - Chapter 35
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Supernatural Phenomena and Graduate School (35)
Resignation Vlog (4)
The Chairman ignored Yu Jong-hwa’s noticeably brightened expression and pulled a document from the printer.
“The delivery area is difficult to reach, so work has piled up. Deliver 350 items by the end of this week.”
“What?! 350 items? Is it really that dangerous a place?”
“Not for you. We’re a foreign company. We’ve only been in Korea for about ten years.”
It seemed that Supernatural Phenomena friendly to Koreans weren’t particularly kind to foreign Supernatural Phenomena. Even they drew lines by nationality.
“That’s all we need to discuss. You can handle the delivery, correct?”
“Yes! I’ll do my very best.”
Can I handle it? Who knows. But for now, I want to get out of here.
“After this delivery, you may respond to the company’s calls only to the extent that it doesn’t interfere with your studies.”
“Thank you for your consideration!”
“It’s because you’re under the protection of one of our valued clients. You should thank them instead.”
Yu Jong-hwa grasped at once that this was a warning not to anger whoever had given him that prophecy. He had no idea who this person was, but they seemed far more formidable than he’d imagined. Still, he felt no gratitude toward them.
He quickly bowed and turned to leave. But the Chairman, determined to squeeze every last profit from the situation, called him back.
“Kim Jong-sik, your working conditions here are unprecedented in this company. Do you understand? I’ve even factored in receiving information about items you’ve consumed. Where exactly did you obtain that item?”
“No matter what, I can’t tell you who gave it to me!”
“Then tell me everything except who that ‘someone’ is.”
Wait—that works? The Chairman’s words made sense. He’d only promised to keep the small snake at Yeongrok Elementary School secret, not anyone else.
Since Yu Jong-hwa had no loyalty to an ascended dragon, he began spilling everything about the Yeui Orb.
“Yes, at a place called Yeongrok Elementary School, there was a snake with a stone for a head, and it ascended to heaven with a Yeui Orb in its mouth. But that snake’s Yeui Orb was in fragments—it didn’t ascend with a complete one. What I just consumed was one of the remaining pieces. There aren’t many left now.”
“…Fascinating. A new dragon. What sort of dragon is it?”
“Um… it’s black. And it has a terrible personality.”
Feel free to enslave it, boil it, do whatever you like.
After typing a few more notes, the Chairman finally looked up at him with a bright smile. It was far more frightening than when he’d tried to force a contract.
“Well, I suppose that’s the best you can manage. Very well. Go and gather the shipping items.”
“Yes, I’ll get right on it!!”
After all the trials and tribulations, Yu Jong-hwa had barely managed to pass and hurried out, closing the door behind him.
Without hesitation, he headed straight for the Logistics Warehouse and began preparing to start deliveries.
When he opened the now-intact warehouse door, he tensed, worried the creature might come charging at him, but fortunately nothing happened.
The emaciated creature bound in chains simply stared at him with hollow, sunken eyes as he entered.
“I, um… I’m sorry about earlier. You’re not injured anywhere, are you…?”
The creature no longer muttered complaints about the cold or hunger. Instead, it quietly raised a sharp finger and pointed at cloth fragments piled near the entrance.
A tangled mess of blue vests and caps marked with enormous letters reading “In Delivery” lay heaped together.
Though doubts lingered about whether the filthy uniform had even been washed, he had no choice but to wear it. Only after he donned the uniform and showed signs of working properly did the creature crawl beneath the conveyor belt and disappear from sight. The warehouse temperature had also been maintained at a comfortably cool level, far from below freezing.
“Bukchon Hanok Village, deep district. Item 350… done!”
He shoved every item marked for “Bukchon Hanok Village Deep District” into the backpack, sweat streaming down his face.
So Hui-yeong’s backpack swallowed an enormous quantity of delivery goods effortlessly and remained light as ever.
Since DNA Logistics hadn’t provided him with a truck, he would have had to make dozens of round trips otherwise.
Yu Jong-hwa crossed out the last line on the delivery list with his pen, straightened his back, and checked the time on his smartphone. It was well past midnight.
Yu Jong-hwa realized he’d missed the last train from Tonggo Station. It was inevitable—the timing had been cutting it close even before meeting with the Chairman.
“There’s nothing for it.”
When morning came, he’d be able to catch a train at Tonggo Station.
His body ached from being pummeled by the creature in the subfreezing warehouse. He forced his worn-out frame upright and set out to find a place to rest.
The Logistics Warehouse was spacious enough, but he lacked the courage to sleep beside a creature he’d once set on fire.
Yu Jong-hwa slipped out of the warehouse like a fugitive and wandered near the office building.
The poorly-natured employees must have still been working overtime, because all the windows glowed brightly. Since he’d also committed arson at the office before, he ultimately couldn’t muster the courage to go there either, so he resigned himself to sleeping outdoors.
Once he’d decided on outdoor sleeping, the cold night breeze felt quite sharp.
[♪♬]
Yu Jong-hwa was retrieving tent equipment from So Hui-yeong’s backpack when his smartphone emitted a clear notification sound.
The device ignored the silent mode the owner had set and rang out anyway. Sighing, Yu Jong-hwa turned on the screen.
[This is DNA Logistics Office Room 315. Please visit us.]
It was from the same sender as the messages he’d received ever since entering this Supernatural Phenomenon. But this time, there was no unpleasant image attached at the bottom. The tone was also far more polite.
He was carrying out an assignment from the Chairman, so intern ghost emails no longer mattered to him. Just as Yu Jong-hwa was about to ignore it and pocket his phone, ten more messages with the same subject line arrived in quick succession.
Unable to bear the annoyance, Yu Jong-hwa sent a firm rejection to the ghost.
[I don’t want to.]
After receiving his reply, his smartphone grew quiet for a moment, then displayed a screen with just a single sentence.
[Please help me.]
Yu Jong-hwa’s resolve wavered slightly at the desperate plea, and he hesitated. But soon he frowned and sent another reply.
[Me? I can’t do anything. I’m currently forced into unpaid part-time work myself.]
Thereupon the ghost sent an extraordinarily dense apology letter by email. The scroll bar beside the page had shrunk to the size of an ant.
[Subject: I’ve caused you so much trouble, and I’m truly sorry. I have my circumstances too, but I acted rashly and overstepped. Just this once, please help me.
Hello, Intern Kim Jong-sik. I hope you’ve been well. As you likely already know, this is Park Min-gu, the intern working in Room 315. I’m aware you’ve had the worst day at DNA Logistics, and since it seems I contributed to that, I’ve been troubled and am sending this apology email….(continued below)]
“Wow. That’s long!”
Yu Jong-hwa, startled by the sheer volume of text, simply closed the email. Hollow, petty apologies repeated from the first paragraph onward, and he found no motivation to read it again.
The ghost must be quite old—he clearly didn’t realize that modern people these days don’t read long texts.
The ghost, growing impatient, sent another email tailored to Yu Jong-hwa’s level.
[Subject: Three-Line Summary
1. I am truly, deeply sorry.
2. You’re currently stuck at the company too, but I can help you.
3. Please let me resign. Or just kill me.]
Wait—stuck at the company?
Only then did Yu Jong-hwa open the apology letter the intern had sent. Scattered throughout were passages that didn’t sit right.
[From observing you throughout the day, I’ve confirmed that you plan to return home by taking the subway at Tonggo Station.
I humbly report that the subway does not run late at night at Tonggo Station—only trains operate. To use the trains at Tonggo Station, one needs a train ticket, and I happen to possess a late-night train ticket to Seoul, which is your delivery destination. If you help me with my resignation, I will gladly transfer this employee-exclusive train ticket to you at no cost.
I apologize most sincerely, but I must also inform you that if you were considering waiting for morning when the subway resumes service, that is impossible.]
Yu Jong-hwa, who had been planning to sleep rough while waiting for the inevitable dawn, was arrested by the next sentence.
It was a sentence the ghost had highlighted in bright red, deeming it important.
Even the font size was subtly larger than the others.
[While the Chairman is here, all employees work overtime, and dawn does not break across all of Tonggo City. The Chairman leaves Tonggo City once his work is done, but each visit averages three months and fifteen hours of work, so we have no way of knowing when he will depart.]
“I’m doomed!”
[Will you help me?]
“Ah, I get it. I understand. Thanks for the summary. But the thing is, even setting aside the fact that I have no real way to help you, the Chairman told me to make the delivery this week. He probably just wants to finish overtime quickly….”
Then, in less than a second, another email arrived.
[The Chairman does not consider the schedule of a mere intern.]
He was right. Even if Yu Jong-hwa couldn’t go to Seoul because of the Chairman, would the Chairman have given those orders with his trivial circumstances in mind?
In the end, Yu Jong-hwa resolved to help the ghost, even knowing he was being manipulated.
Beyond the fact that the situation was beyond his control, the wretched ghost had even written a threat that it would meticulously haunt him forever.
[I have waited for a long time for someone like you, Intern Kim Jong-sik—someone with a personality similar to mine who spends a day at DNA Logistics akin to what I endured. If you disrespect me, I will be so saddened that I will send my photographs to your email account eternally, so that you remember me with every step you take forward.
Please either destroy the contract I have in the Chairman’s possession, or resign me through some other means. You may even kill me. I beg you earnestly.]
“Sigh… Fine. I can’t steal the contract the Chairman supposedly has, but let’s find another way together.”
[Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please come to Room 315.]
Yu Jong-hwa sighed and slowly made his way into the office building.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————