Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 112
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work Episode 112
Silver Heart Owner.
A good person who possesses a badge-type item that can incite people.
Though a decisive figure in this Tamra Express incident, they’re only highlighted in the very last part of the short story-style writing.
So the fact that I can’t remember that person’s seat number or specific name.
Maybe it’s only natural.
‘I read the wiki mainly focusing on ghost story solutions…!’
After falling here, what I repeatedly read as my lifeline were mostly ghost story entries and exploration records.
That means I mainly read wikis that provided information for clearing ghost stories.
‘Additional content was pushed to the back burner.’
Long and emotional prose like wiki side stories, similar to short novels? They were far down in priority.
Even the Silver Heart Owner’s personal information was only mentioned once or twice there.
To accurately recall those numbers and letters after a month or two since reading them.
…It seemed like an unreasonable thing to expect.
‘This is bad…’
No!
I swallowed my saliva.
‘I can make enough guesses.’
And I’ll definitely think of a way to deal with it even if I don’t catch that person early on.
‘I remember other wiki entries about the Tamra Express incident.’
Like urgent reports or documents registered with the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau.
Since I know the flow of this incident by rounds, I can do it.
I can do it…
…
‘Good.’
I decided on the direction to take.
‘It’s a bit extreme, but there’s no other choice.’
Of course, all of this happened quickly in my head for a few seconds, and meanwhile the Elite Team employees next to me were casually having a conversation.
“Wow, a time loop! I’ve read a lot of SF short story collections like this.”
“It means they let you keep trying until you meet the conditions, right? It’s annoying but convenient.”
“…”
What an extraordinary conversation…
Fortunately, no one was paying attention to our hushed conversation.
The entire train was filled with shock, panic, and crying sounds.
“Haaah, hah!”
“It’s a dream, this is a dream, a dream…”
But there’s always someone who can’t just stand by and watch such situations.
“Wait a moment. Everyone please calm down! Calm down!”
…There it is.
-Ah, didn’t someone say crisis is opportunity! In chaotic times, there’s always someone who volunteers to be a leader.
Right.
And in our car, that was the office worker with glasses.
The person who had argued about closing the window in round 1 and whose opponent had fallen out the window.
“Still, the important point is that we’re all not dead, isn’t it? …Everyone calm down, and let’s try to figure out what happened.”
“Ah… ah.”
“Do, do you have any thoughts?”
Since someone was taking charge, people did pay attention.
“I think time seems to be repeating.”
The office worker with glasses began to calm people down and organize the situation in his own way.
“We’re definitely caught up in a strange phenomenon, but there seems to be a reason we’re given this opportunity. Maybe we’re supposed to find the right answer to escape.”
“Ah…”
“Let’s believe that and try. Calmly.”
He probably thought the situation was flowing in a pretty good direction.
If only he hadn’t looked back at the seat where I was sitting at the end.
“Look, there are people already sitting calmly over there.”
“…!”
“Let’s try to assess the situation with that kind of attitude.”
‘Damn.’
The three of us, Baekillmong Corporation employees, were singled out.
‘Were we too quiet…!’
…No, actually this worked out well.
It was time to gradually establish our position. I needed to step forward early, while it was still round 2.
“Oh, no. We’re not calm… we’re just confused.”
I immediately shook my head with a fearful but forced smile.
“We just… just can’t believe it’s real. We were all sleeping since we’re on a business trip.”
I probably wasn’t suspected. My face was already pale without even trying.
However, when I stepped forward first, Deputy Jin Na-sol’s eyebrow slightly raised, but she let it slide for now. I rode the momentum and quickly continued.
“But suddenly, the view outside the window became the sea and there was talk about offerings and such… So all of that was real?”
“Well, um. It seems like it probably was.”
I swallowed as if slightly nervous.
“Then, the person who fell out the window earlier…”
“…”
The frozen gazes of people slowly turned.
The middle-aged man who had been sitting right next to the window where ‘offerings’ were made. After he had fallen out the window during an argument and his seat had been empty…
There was someone there.
“…!!”
The silhouette of a passenger sitting blankly could be seen.
…It was definitely that person who had fallen outside the window.
“He, he’s alive?”
“Oh, thank goodness really…”
That’s when it happened.
The passenger suddenly stood up and rushed at the office worker with glasses.
“…!!”
“You fucking bastard! Because of you, because of youuuu!”
“Let, let go of me!”
It was pandemonium.
The middle-aged man dressed like a nouveau riche looked at his opponent with strange eyes while spitting.
“Die, die! I fell because of you… Ah, it hurts! It hurts so much…!!”
Madness flowed from his eyes.
“You, you can’t fall down there! It hurts! It’s strangeeeee! Ugh, uweeek!”
“Eek!”
The middle-aged man staggered and trembled, then began vomiting strange dark red chunks onto the floor.
“Ugh!! Uuuugh!”
The Office Worker with Glasses staggered backward with a shocked expression.
‘Ha.’
…Seeing it in person, that unstable state was truly overwhelming.
The Office Worker with Glasses seemed completely overwhelmed, quietly backing away on trembling legs.
-Hmm, voluntary resignation! Though brief, it could be evaluated as meaningful leadership! Anyway, from now on the leader’s position is vacant.
-Perhaps my friend is thinking of leading them with magnificent skill… hmm, seems not. That’s fine too! Let’s analyze the situation together with this Brown.
‘Right.’
I deliberately took a step back.
And at that moment.
The cabin display changes again.
“Th-that appeared again!”
“Uh, so, last time for sure…”
When a person fell from the window.
The train safely exited the tunnel and continued running.
“…”
“…”
Perhaps because there was still time, people chattered while intentionally ignoring that fact.
“…What is a sacrifice?”
“Well, it has to be something alive, right? Like, if you watch horror YouTube videos…”
I interjected.
“No. It could be an object. Food offered in rituals is also technically a sacrifice.”
“Ahh…!”
“That’s right, let’s calmly think of various things to throw…”
But fear, excitement, and anxiety still surged in their eyes…
“…”
“Th-then. Does anyone have food with them?”
Before long, people carrying snacks voluntarily gathered food items worth throwing outside.
Fruit, eggs, meat, bread, etc…
And at a precarious timing, the scenery outside the window changed.
This time people were somewhat calmer.
“Let’s throw them.”
“Yes…!”
Splash, splash.
In silence, the food items disappeared out the window.
The electronic display board doesn’t budge. Only the numbers count down.
“No! It’s not ending!!”
People scream.
Actually, even when sacrifices were accepted, the countdown went to the end the same way, but I deliberately didn’t point that out.
…Because I knew from the start that food wasn’t the right answer.
And the passengers seemed to finally acknowledge it too.
The answer.
“It has to be a person after all. A person…”
“Ah…”
“No, how can we do that to a person…”
“If we don’t do it, we’ll all die! The train will sink!”
“But who…”
“…”
“…”
Gazes turn.
The meaning is this.
‘Since they’ve already lost their mind anyway, couldn’t we drop that one once more?’
An unconscious thought expressed in the emergency, too unspeakable to voice.
The ‘First Round Sacrifice’ who received those gazes has a seizure.
“Save me, save meeee! I don’t want to! I don’t want to! I don’t want to!!”
“P-please calm down. It’ll be okay…”
“I don’t want to! I don’t want to!”
“Just fall from the window… uh, uhhhh??”
Whoosh…
Splash.
The tunnel ended.
The inside of the train brightened again with the blue sea reflecting.
Eerie purple letters saying ‘The offering has come, open the sea route’ filled the cabin display.
And in front of the window…
Broken glasses lay fallen on the floor.
“…”
“…”
And the ‘First Round Sacrifice’ who pushed him.
“The bastard who dropped me is dead! I didn’t die! I didn’t die! I didn’t diiiie!”
The drooling middle-aged man flailed around and ran down the corridor, then buried his head in a corner and started sobbing.
Pale silence flowed through the train car.
The atmosphere was maddening.
-The former leader becomes a sacrifice! Hmm, how typical. Though it is a bit early.
Just then.
“Um, there was a next one too, right?”
An inappropriately cheerful voice echoed through the train.
Dolphin Assistant Manager.
“Wh-what did you say?”
“The second altar is coming up soon too. I think we need to prepare for that.”
“Stop it already!!”
“Eek!”
Stress reactions burst out. But Dolphin Assistant Manager spoke as if she didn’t care.
“Next time, let’s find the worst person without any mistakes and make them fall!”
And she pointed forward with her finger.
“Including all the other cars!”
“…!!”
“Well, and… there’s no guarantee they’ll actually die, right? They came back alive earlier too. So it’s better to find a bad person and make them suffer, isn’t it?”
It was insane talk.
But in incomprehensible disaster situations, sometimes pleasant-sounding insane talk works.
In a slightly distorted way, that is.
“Right! Everyone’s only fallen from our car so far! The front cars should do it too!”
“Exactly!”
Why should only our car suffer this pain and worry!
The people of our car, Car 7, swept up in unfairness and strange anger, all rushed forward.
The Elite Team employees and I also got caught up in the crowd and headed forward. No, Dolphin Assistant Manager was standing near the very front.
“Excuse me! There’s an open window here too, right?? When the train crashed last time, I think it’s because nobody fell from there…”
But sure enough, the further forward we went, the majority of people had no grasp of the situation at all.
“Wh-what crazy talk is this.”
“What’s with these people?”
“Hey, if you don’t want to get hit, just leave. Just go.”
“Ooh.”
“…Let’s move a bit further and inform them.”
Dolphin Assistant Manager looked at the last speaker as if they were a candidate with really good character and hurriedly moved to the next car.
But the moment we entered Car 3.
It started again.
“Aaah!”
“Someone fall quickly!”
“The train’s going to crash, waaah, uuuuh…”
“Throw someone! We have to throw someone out the window!”
The cries of the people from Car 7, our car, who had reached peak stress, could be heard.
And also the voices of people from other cars who still hadn’t accurately grasped the situation.
“What’s with those people?! Where did they come from??”
Crazy Bastard aren’t they!”
“If you don’t want to die, quickly get a volunteer! Pick a volunteer!”
“Ah, then why don’t you people fall instead!”
“Someone already fell from our car! Get someone from another car!!”
“So right now the volunteer is…”
A clear voice cutting through the chaos.
“There isn’t one?”
Deputy Jin Na-sol reached out her hand.
‘…No!’
She’s trying to pick the most uncooperative person here and throw them.
‘And if it starts again by any chance, she’s planning to keep using the marked people as sacrifices…!’
Efficient, but unacceptable.
Deputy Jin Na-sol was certainly a capable person, but she had clearly lived without any concern for public opinion battles.
I immediately raised my hand.
“I’ll volunteer!”
“….”
Deputy Jin Na-sol turned to look at me.
“What?”
I said again.
“I’ll fall.”
“…!!”
“Why…”
“Since we don’t actually die, I’ll try to endure it.”
And I quickly whispered to Deputy Jin Na-sol.
“I think we need to check once. What exactly happens down there.”
“Is that necessary?”
“I can’t trust civilian testimony. I’ve prepared Mental Defense measures too.”
“Hmm…”
“Do as you wish.”
“…! Thank you.”
I quickly finished the private conversation and shouted to the people.
“There’s not much time left! I’m going to the window, so everyone please move aside!”
“Uh, uhhh…”
People can’t stop me and slowly back away. Both our car and the other cars show the same reaction.
‘…Good.’
I spoke as if I was calm, but my hands were trembling.
Still, there’s no choice.
‘According to the plan, this process is absolutely necessary at least once.’
If Plan A to directly find and secure the Silver Heart Owner failed.
‘I have to use a more extreme method.’
“Everyone be careful!”
I hung onto the window while simultaneously pulling out a painkiller from my chest.
There’s a possibility it might not work.
‘But it’s better than having nothing…!’
I stabbed the ‘Happy Maker’ into my forearm. And at the same time, I threw my body out the window.
Into the red tunnel.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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