Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 118

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

Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work Episode 118

“Um, Team Leader, I’ll go out now. I’m fine going alone.”

Dolphin Assistant Manager readily volunteered to drop from the first altar.

Since someone had to go alone at the first altar, someone needed to take charge, but we also needed someone to organize and check the passengers until the end, so I had to stay until the very last moment.

However, Dolphin Assistant Manager didn’t fall alone either.

“Th-then I’ll also go first…! I’ll go.”

“Since we’re going to do it anyway, going first is better.”

Since there were so many volunteers, several people decided to jump together from the first altar.

And just before starting.

“You still have a chance to quit even now.”

Even at this final crossroads, not a single person quit.

“Let’s go!”

“Aaaah!!”

People went out through the window.

Led by Dolphin Assistant Manager, more than seven people rushed down from the first altar.

The train quickly passed through the altar, and the surroundings brightened again.

“Oh…”

People blinked at the almost learned, routine scenery that had been repeated for 14 rounds.

“Th-they’re gone.”

Naturally, it probably didn’t look much different from when they had jumped before.

‘The lack of painkillers only takes effect after going down.’

And a strange symptom occurred.

‘Wait, was it actually no big deal?’

Perhaps thinking that way, people belatedly started saying they wanted to fall too.

Like this person, for example.

“Excuse me! I’ll go out too.”

Speaking of this passenger, this was the person who had been witnessed acting badly by Dolphin Assistant Manager and was marked as a sacrifice candidate…

He had conveniently deleted from his memory how he had raised his fists at people in the early rounds and said things like ‘get lost before I just beat you up,’ and now spoke to me as if nothing had happened.

Well, it didn’t matter anyway.

“Then you’ll fall at the 2nd…”

“No, I want to go with that side, I mean with the Forerunner. I really want to go together. At the end.”

“…Hmm. Understood.”

If that’s what you want.

-What a rather rude fellow.

That was exactly right.

And I could hear that passenger chattering with his group behind me.

“Hey, what are you doing? Why are you suddenly saying you’ll jump down?”

“Tsk, can’t you read the atmosphere? Obviously if you trust and jump down, they’ll give you some special ability or something. Damn, it’s obvious at a glance. You have to quickly ride the wave at times like this.”

Hmm.

‘Oh dear…’

There’s nothing like that.

“The pain thing is probably just a bluff to filter people out, right?”

No.

‘It’s really going to hurt.’

Well, delusions are personal freedom.

I decided not to try to dissuade him. Instead, to add him to the list of people going to the altar, I checked his face once more…

Wait a minute.

Come to think of it, that person’s face…

‘…He has a large mole on his cheek.’

It was a feature I hadn’t noticed because I had hurriedly passed by, worried that Dolphin Assistant Manager might throw a preemptive face punch.

‘And he was from Car 6, right?’

Someone with exactly matching characteristics came to mind.

Hmm.

‘It seems like that person was originally the passenger who became the cult leader…’

-Oh my! Did he get pushed out of his role by Noru?

Hmm, I hate to admit it, but… that seems to be the case.

‘Since all 14 rounds flowed so smoothly, I guess cases like this come up too.’

Well, it’s much better than dragging passengers around with fear and madness, extracting people’s organs to offer as mountain sacrifices, then throwing just the shells out the window…

Anyway, the important thing is that most of the volunteer passengers are going down to the altar together with calm and resolute attitudes, without any problems.

“Let’s go.”

“Let’s all meet again as more wonderful people!”

“We can do it!”

The atmosphere strangely kept getting better. Some people even wiped away tears while waiting.

“Actually, this is my first time challenging something like this…”

“Amazing!”

As people encouraged each other and shared sincere stories, I looked back at one person standing apart.

Baek Sa-heon, who was making a sour expression at this entire scene.

“…Um, I don’t know why you’re looking at me, but I’m not going down.”

“Go ahead.”

I didn’t expect you to anyway.

“But you know.”

Baek Sa-heon spoke in a somewhat subtle voice.

“Well, if you need it, I could go down if you give me a painkiller.”

“Ah, you want to use it now?”

“No, after all this is over and we get out.”

“Oh…”

I smiled slightly.

“No thanks.”

“…”

Just comfortably freeload or whatever.

‘Where do you think you’re going to get items for free?’

“Ah, it’s the fifth altar, Forerunner!”

“Yes. I’ll go now.”

I left Baek Sa-heon behind and squeezed in among the passengers, sending advice and applause to the volunteers.

It meant I had done what I could as a Silver Heart owner.

And….

About 3 hours passed like that.

“….”

Finally, the last moment had come.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

I stood together with all the remaining volunteers.

…The people who said they would go out the window this time easily exceeded twenty.

‘That’s an insane number.’

Honestly, I’m scared.

If these people really start writhing in pain and begin to resent me, can my mental state handle it?

“Here we go!”

“Hey, yah!”

Two or three people holding hands without hesitation jumped through the window in succession.

After confirming that the last of the volunteer passengers had jumped through the window, I immediately stood in front of the window.

“Are, are you going?”

Actually, even if I left now, it wouldn’t interfere with clearing.

But still….

-Ah, are you going to use that excellent painkiller again this time, friend?

….

‘No.’

I put the painkiller back in my pocket.

And threw my body toward the window.

Thud.

My body, fallen from the high-speed train, rolled down into the dark red altar passage.

And the moment my five senses grasped the surrounding scenery….

….

‘Fuck.’

That place was primordial hell.

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t felt disgusted by this scenery.

Even though I had done this twice before, the difference between when I had Happy Maker injected in my forearm and when I didn’t was stark.

Countless pieces of rotten flesh of unknown origin writhed on the floor like earthworms creating waves, a hell filled with rotten blood and filth. The flesh is moving!

Does, does this also cause mental delirium? No, I’m wearing a silver ring so I’m fine… no, stop, stop thinking.

I caught my breath so the silver ring’s resistance could take effect.

Still, the sound hammering my head wasn’t as audible as before.

‘Pull myself together….’

Then.

Pain like my entire body was burning struck me.

“…!!”

I almost fell over.

Burning pain.

Burning pain!!

Burn

ing

pain

Burn

ing

pain

Burn

ing

pain

Each letter felt like candle wax searing my entire body.

Just because I couldn’t hear that strange sound ringing in my head didn’t mean it was okay!

Even the people who could hear that sound were….

“Crazy! Crazy!”

“Kyaaaah!”

“What, what are you saying, what… sin, sin?”

Crying, screaming, and delirium symptoms echoed through the altar.

My head was dizzy.

Thump.

Near me, one person completely collapsed and got stuck between the flesh pieces. I held back my scream and pulled that person up.

“Grrrrrrrrr….”

‘Pain, painkiller.’

The only thought dominating my head was to pull them up first and inject Happy Maker.

So the moment I supported them and lifted them up.

“…!”

Suddenly.

The burning pain decreased.

‘…No!’

It didn’t decrease, but because I couldn’t feel the burning pain in my back and shoulder area where I was in contact with this person, it felt relatively easier to bear….

“…Ah!!”

I realized.

In the areas where we were in contact with each other, the burning pain couldn’t be felt.

Because we weren’t exposed to the altar’s environment!

“Everyone! Stick together! It gets better when you stick together!”

While saying that, I linked arms with someone nearby like we were doing a shoulder hug.

The word spread.

“Don’t expose bare skin! The, the sound comes from there!”

“Hold each other’s hands!”

Soon the groups of two or three people scattered here and there gathered together, and those people stuck to each other front and back.

“Get lost, fuck! Ahhhhh!”

Of course, even in the midst of that, I saw people who couldn’t pull themselves together and pushed others, sinking completely into the flesh.

“You fuck, I won’t let you get away with this!! You deceived me! You deceived■■■”

Even one passenger who had joined at the last minute, demanding to get ‘special abilities’ while being pushy, glared at me like he wanted to kill me and pointed fingers, before getting buried in the flesh and falling behind.

However, more than twenty people, the majority, began to huddle together surrounding each other like penguins.

“It’s, it’s working….”

“Bearable. It’s bearable…!”

“L-let’s move!”

And they began running toward the light, linking arms and staying as close together as possible.

The pain was minimized.

With hands that couldn’t bite with teeth or scratch with nails, they gripped the people on either side tightly, and the rotten flesh beneath their feet scattered with each running step.

Screams and shouts rang out, but at the same time, encouragement and battle cries echoed together.

Shared sensations.

“We’re almost there!!”

The light drew closer.

Slowly but surely.

A little more.

A little more…

And finally!

“Ah…”

People cheered desperately as they threw themselves into the light.

“Waaaaah!!”

I too was enveloped in the light, and my consciousness began to soar distantly.

The voice that had already disappeared could no longer be heard…

…

Suddenly, I had this thought.

Perhaps the test this ghost story presented had never been ‘properly’ solved before.

And at this moment, I felt like I had glimpsed the direction of the answer.

‘Perhaps Tamra is.’

An unknown world that could be reached if all the passengers on the train jumped down together and went through this process.

I opened my eyes.

“Huk!”

“Ugh…”

“Ah… what, what is it.”

Sounds of sharp intakes of breath and small groans could be heard from here and there.

The characteristic startled movements of people who had dozed off and suddenly woken up could also be seen as chairs shook everywhere.

I immediately raised my head to look at the train display first.

And the text flowing on the screen.

Changed.

Beeeep!

With a cheerful sound, the high-speed train began pulling out of the station…

“Oh, you came back well.”

“…Yes.”

Escape, successful.

‘Phew…’

I completely relaxed and leaned back in my seat as the tension drained away.

But the moment I looked at the person in front of me, I became alert again.

‘…Deputy Manager Jin Na-sol!’

Deputy Manager Jin Na-sol was looking at the train ceiling with her arms crossed, without a word or expression.

Well, of course it had all become a dream now, and Deputy Manager Jin Na-sol hadn’t jumped down at the end, so there probably wasn’t much remaining anger…

‘But I should still do what I need to do!’

I hurriedly searched my pocket and pulled out an item that could give energy to an efficiency-obsessed tired workplace superior.

It was something all three of us sitting here had. Namely…

“…Deputy Manager.”

“…”

“The Dream Essence Collector is full.”

Clear golden liquid sloshed inside the collector.

Right.

Since we were on a business trip, we naturally had Dream Essence Collectors with us, and since we cleared the ghost story, the liquid had been collected.

‘If we had cleared it back during the old Iksan route, it probably would have been F or D grade…’

But now, with the anomalous manifestation adding an extended route, restarting with double digits, and numerous people falling to the altar together…

“It’s C grade.”

It was the same grade as the darkness of Mokpo we had been trying to enter.

And since the Dream Essence Collector was already full, entering new darkness would be meaningless now.

Expression finally returned to Deputy Manager Jin Na-sol’s face.

“Then we don’t need to go to Mokpo, right? Let’s return at the next station.”

“Yes yes yes!”

I sighed in relief and patted my chest.

‘Thank goodness.’

As expected, for office workers, having work end quickly is the best gift…

That’s when it happened.

Whispering sounds came from the seats behind us.

“Um… I had a weird dream… like the train was running on water?”

“Wow, what’s that. What a crazy dream.”

“But it was interesting. It was chaotic and there was this saint-like person… what were they called? ‘Forerunner’? Anyway, that was exactly the seat in front of us?”

“Oh, really?”

“…!”

W-wait a minute.

It seemed that acting like a cult leader had been so intense that it left a strong impression in people’s memories.

‘L-let’s get out of here first.’

After asking my supervisors for permission, I headed to the bathroom to avoid being noticed.

Click.

“Phew.”

Hmm. Let me stay here for a few minutes until the details fade from the passengers’ memories…

-You’re like a star avoiding overzealous fans…

The fact that it was quite similar was somehow embarrassing…

Still, it wasn’t a bad situation.

‘No, it’s actually a very good ending.’

A faint sense of satisfaction spread through my chest.

…The peace that the passengers of the Tamra Express incident originally couldn’t enjoy.

‘That’s because… the ending was much more horrific.’

It was so shockingly despairing that I remember it vividly even without the wiki.

At some point during hundreds and thousands of loops, the passengers’ minds completely collapsed, and they became almost inhuman beyond collective madness.

The train car, which had already become hell with all passengers’ minds broken, was now a swamp of pain where making the judgment to jump out the window according to the number of people was impossible.

‘But with repeated attempts, the ‘correct answer’ sometimes comes out by chance due to probability…’

After countless restarts and endless years, they finally matched the numbers and jumped to the 9th Altar.

They dramatically escaped from this abnormal phenomenon, but…

‘In a way, they couldn’t escape.’

Even someone who experienced the offering once and woke up thinks it’s a nightmare and is affected for several dozen minutes.

But what about the minds of humans who repeated that hundreds and thousands of times?

‘…They couldn’t break free from the nightmare at all.’

The passengers are presumed to have been unable to recognize that the abnormal phenomenon had ended and they had returned to reality.

They mistakenly thought they were still trapped in the loop…

Rather, when their mental strength recovered slightly upon returning to reality, they despaired even more and began actively committing insane acts.

Thus hell arrived even in reality.

Most passengers killed each other, tore apart, and dismantled one another in their seats, in the corridors, at the windows.

After that tremendous riot and frenzy, the train derailed and…

Exploded.

Thus the ‘Tamra Express Incident’ met its horrific end…

…It was fortunate that it didn’t become reality.

I let out a sigh of relief.

Hmm, and now that everything was over, I finally had the leisure to wonder about something.

Agent ■■■

The only person from Baekillmong Corporation among the original survivors of this incident.

The employee who would have purchased this silver ring I bought from Death Road by exchanging it with the three civilians.

Where was this person?

‘No, were they even there?’

I don’t know.

Earlier, the only company employee we could confirm on the train was Baek Sa-heon.

I didn’t want to do something conspicuous like hunting down employees, which wouldn’t help with clearing anyway.

‘Anyway, it’s fortunate.’

If they were there, since it ended safely, they would have survived too.

The important thing is that the tragedy that occurred on that train didn’t happen.

Knock knock knock!

Ah,

‘I should get going.’

The next person was getting impatient and knocking on the bathroom door.

I grabbed onto the memories of the past 14th round that were starting to fade and recorded a few words in my smartphone memo pad, finished washing my face with cold water, and came out of the bathroom.

Click.

The person who was waiting suddenly entered the bathroom.

‘Were they in a hurry?’

I quickly passed by and returned to my seat…

Swoosh.

“You bastard.”

I lowered my head.

A cutter blade.

A knife was barely grazing past my chest…

“…!!”

Shit!

I stepped back while grabbing the opponent’s forearm with one arm and twisted it.

Clang!

The cutter blade fell to the floor with a sharp sound. I subdued the opponent and pressed them to the ground.

In the process, I saw their face.

“You bastard, uh, uhh!”

This crazy…

I broke out in cold sweat as I pinned down the opponent.

‘The cult leader…!’

“Fuck! It fucking hurts, huhh, I said it hurts! Uh!”

It was that person who fell to the last 9th Altar and was left behind!

‘This crazy bastard…’

“You deceived people?!? Then you should die, you bastard, fucking…”

I grabbed the opponent who kept cursing and slammed them hard against the floor once more.

With a short thudding sound…

They fainted.

“Huff.”

My palms were drenched in cold sweat.

‘…Did they go insane from being left behind?’

Since their original character was bad, they might have suffered longer with more sins to offer…

No matter what, it would have been nightmare-level, so they must have quite poor anger management.

‘With that kind of character, of course that happened.’

“Phew…”

I wiped away the sweat.

Fortunately, my chest that was cut by the knife was fine without any pain.

Why?

‘…I’m glad I wrapped the packaging around my body beforehand.’

I never expected to get dragged into another ghost story while on a business trip to a ghost story, but I had been wearing the defensive packaging item against my bare skin since departure in case there wouldn’t be another chance later.

It was the ‘Packaging 12B357B’ sold at the alien shop.

Since I had even received a death notice, it was natural preparation.

‘Still, I never dreamed I’d almost die not from a ghost story but from a knife-wielding assailant…’

Could the death notice I received have been about this, and I just prevented it?

‘What do you think, Brown?’

…

…

No answer.

“…Brown.”

A strange premonition ran down my spine.

So… I had just slashed across my chest.

I wasn’t hurt, but that meant my bare skin covered by the wrapper.

But outside of that, in the pocket near the left chest area of my business suit, what was inside was…

“…Brown?”

Still,

there was no answer.

I hurriedly stuck my hand into the inner pocket of my suit.

My trembling hand pulled out the fluffy stuffed doll that was inside…

Thud thud thud.

Cotton falls down.

Tattered pink fabric fell fluttering down, cut and torn.

“…”

I froze, holding the stuffed animal keychain that had been cut in half.

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