Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 125

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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 125

I had no idea.

How enormous and overwhelming the talk show set would look from the perspective of a palm-sized stuffed doll.

Everything was abnormally gigantic, and the pressure of not being able to blink once or struggle even a little.

Especially.

If there was a bizarre host with a TV for a head casting a huge shadow right next to me.

That vivid voice…

Now let’s welcome today’s guest!

‘~~!’

It became vibrations that shook my cotton stuffing inside.

But regardless of what situation I was in, the talk show continued.

‘Guest…’

Classic light bulbs flashed as the door opened.

The bizarre ghost story that I had suggested in the meeting and was adopted as a ‘very good idea’ opened the door, came in, and sat in the guest seat.

More precisely, the staff lifted the guest and made it lean diagonally against the guest seat.

Because it was something human-shaped made of wooden sticks.

Red Scarecrow!

Its head was wrapped in cloth with human eyes, nose, and mouth roughly scribbled with red marker.

Even that looked more grotesque as it had smeared in the rain.

A monster that lured people to get lost in cornfields as vast as cities, and when night came, became a monster that pursued them one by one until they disappeared.

It was a creepy ghost story I had recommended because it was a based on famous American ghost stories, and seemed to fit well with the atmosphere of this talk show, sitting right there.

I felt like vomiting would surge up.

But there was nothing.

Because I was a stuffed doll.

I had no mouth, no stomach, no intestines.

[You’ve made it all the way here with difficulty. Now…]

As the host moved toward the guest, the pressure that shook my entire body lessened somewhat.

The scarecrow couldn’t answer the host’s words, and its scribbled face just stared creepily into space, but the host excellently conducted the interview alone.

[Oh, most recently bank robbers who escaped came into the cornfield! Very exciting…]

The story of bank robbers who entered the cornfield to avoid police searches, met the Red Scarecrow, and all became fertilizer for the corn and the scarecrow’s innards.

A relatively less ethically uncomfortable yet thrilling ‘investigation record’ unfolded with added humor and suspense.

“Wow, that’s really chilling.”

“Amazing.”

The people sitting in the audience seats watched the show very enjoyably and excitedly, getting startled or scared but never losing their laughter.

Right.

As if laughing together could make even terrible things seem entertaining.

Even as the interview flowed in an increasingly creepy direction with innocent victims appearing, the audience cheered and thrilled.

‘They were contaminated.’

Now I understood.

All these people were slowly being contaminated while watching the talk show.

And perhaps, I too…

Even if not at first, gradually while hosting the talk show.

[That was a fascinating story! Wasn’t it? Oh, please give enthusiastic applause to our guest who has stepped before the public for the first time after leaving the cornfield!]

The creepy scarecrow was still just eyes, nose, and mouth scribbled with red marker.

However, now somehow those eyes seemed to be looking at the audience seats…

[Now… it’s time to move to the next corner… That’s right! We just started this last episode! Do you remember this short corner, viewers?]

Tell Brown’s Friend!

Wait a minute.

[Unfortunately, today isn’t the day my friend usually appears, so he couldn’t come in his original form…]

[But he came to us with burning passion, in a new form.]

He picks me up.

Into the air, my body dangles and my head and arms are made to wobble in the air by giant gloved hands.

Do you see?

This is my friend!

The audience giggles and points, then applauds and cheers.

He starts talking while holding me like a puppet. Like ventriloquism.

[Now, what do you say, friend? Aha!]

[I’ll ask questions for 100 seconds, so please answer. Everyone in the audience!]

The host chillingly and smoothly mimicked my speech pattern and intonation. My cotton-stuffed arm waved toward the audience. People laughed.

The spirit trying to get excited was frightening.

[Now, shall we hear what question my friend will ask?]

The TV speaker deliberately leaned toward me.

…I couldn’t speak.

Because stuffed dolls don’t have mouths.

But…

‘I can think.’

This thought was intensely conveyed to the other party.

Just like how I had understood Good Friend’s voice.

So…

I thought.

‘I want to stop.’

[…Aha! My friend says he’s very nervous.]

[But now, the first question is… oh, how bold. ‘If you were to redraw the Red Scarecrow’s face, what would you draw?‘]

[But now, the first question is… Oh, how bold. ‘If you were to repaint the Red Scarecrow’s face, what would you draw?‘]

‘I want to quit.’

[Cutely! Oh, that’s a good answer. My friend thinks so too, right?]

‘I want to quit.’

[Of course, Brown!]

I continued to show rejection to the Host’s words.

But the Host, as if it were a lie, calmly continued his ventriloquism, moving the doll as if I had responded enthusiastically.

After 100 seconds passed like that.

[Hahaha! Thank you! This has been ‘Brown’s Friend’!]

[Now it’s time to welcome a new guest. But first… shall we go to commercial break!]

The moment the camera stopped and the lights on the stage went out.

….

….

[How dare you interfere with a live broadcast.]

My body froze.

The giant TV head lowered toward me and whispered.

[This is unacceptable. Kim Sol-eum, have you started thinking with straw instead of a brain like a scarecrow? How dare you try to ruin the show!!]

My head was pressed down. My head was crushed between the gloved fingers that gripped it tightly, as if my brain had disappeared.

[My goodness… this is… how can you be so shameless.]

[As Good Friend, I actively cooperated with whatever you needed! Yet Noru is now trying to ruin this talk show live broadcast that is also your workplace.]

[Absolutely unacceptable…]

‘There’s something I can’t accept either.’

[….]

‘You said audience members went missing and died.’

In my vision crushed by the gloved hand, I kept thinking.

‘You said that after the show ended, you sent thank-you letters telling those people how they could meet the guests.’

‘You said you did that because it could be used as interesting conversation material when guests reappeared.’

[Who told you that?]

[No, that’s not important. Friend, there’s a misunderstanding…]

The pressure from the glove pressing my head disappeared.

Instead, it gently touched my head so the cotton stuffing would puff up again.

[Noru, my show doesn’t force anything on anyone.]

[If someone becomes fascinated by a movie featuring a killer and serial murders occur, that’s not the movie’s fault but the perpetrator’s responsibility.]

A crying face appears on the TV.

[Why should the show prioritize anything other than joy, pleasure, and excitement?]

‘I have no intention of persuading you.’

I thought.

‘So don’t think about persuading me either.’

And.

‘I don’t want to create or appear on a talk show that kills people and incinerates them.’

….

….

[Oh.]

The glove removed its hand from my head.

And…

[I understand clearly.]

[Then from now on, I’ll just have to treat you as menial staff.]

It felt like my blood was freezing.

But since I had no blood, I could keep thinking…

‘You don’t have that right. I never signed a staff contract.’

That’s right.

We did everything verbally.

The contract was only scheduled to be signed soon.

‘And you said it yourself. That you’d let me go if I wasn’t enjoying it.’

I stared at the screenless TV with eyes that couldn’t blink.

‘Let me go. I’m scared and not enjoying this.’

The spherical TV remained still.

‘I have no intention of listening to your persuasion or words here. Just let me go right away.’

….

….

Thud.

Brown places me back on the desk.

And what comes out is…

A softened, sad voice.

[I… don’t understand very well. Think about it, Noru. Why do you want to return to painful work instead of enjoyable and rewarding work?]

[Was there something about our talk show’s treatment that you didn’t like? There’s no perfectly ethical show in the world, Noru… You know that too.]

It whispers.

[Perhaps conscience is just an excuse you’ve found. Maybe you actually have practical complaints as staff?]

[How about changing your lodging? Ah, how about living in a more powerful and wonderful form suitable for the show…]

No!

‘I told you. I won’t listen to persuasion!’

I might get dragged in if I’m not careful. I’m a doll right now. I don’t have the silver ring either. No. I mustn’t be persuaded…

‘I’m quitting. That’s where the story ends.’

[….]

The TV Head moves away.

[I see what kind of delusion you’re having.]

[But since I am your friend, it would be right to grant what you want.]

The gloved fingers gesture to the staff members to remove me.

[You are fired. Feel free to leave this wonderful studio and return to your shabby, boring life!]

[However, from now on, there will be no Good Friend.]

‘….’

[Keep that in mind. Now, once today’s show ends, you can go anywhere you want. Well….]

[If you can go anywhere with that cotton-stuffed body, that is.]

‘You’re the one who put it in. Send me back.’

[Oh. Why should I do that?]

‘Obviously….’

[Interesting. Kim Sol-eum. You act and say whatever you want without any sense of responsibility for the show, and you even scolded this Brown not to persuade you, didn’t you?]

[But now you’re trying to persuade me. How shameless. Ah, that too is an emotion consumed by the show though….]

[Mainly for the fun of watching someone get punished!]

The staff member threw me onto the table next to the guest, not on the desk.

A precarious position where I might fall into the trash can.

[Oh, the camera is lighting up again!]

Brown’s voice became incredibly bright and cheerful.

Fitting for a talk show.

[Now, think carefully while watching the remaining talk show. This is your last chance.]

[Will you choose punishment, or will you again…]

Just then.

Pik.

A strange, thin sound rang out in front of me with a flash of light.

Something appeared to my eyes that couldn’t close.

The talk show studio ceiling, pierced with needle-thin holes.

From above, an unnaturally blue light shot down and illuminated me.

And….

Pik pik pik pik pik pik pik pik.

Holes continued to be pierced consecutively.

Cotton burst out into my field of vision.

‘Ah.’

Something

pierced

through me….

[…!]

Could that be… is this Sacred Fire Bombardment?

No.

‘…Am I dying?’

If I die in this body, will I die as a stuffed doll?

Just then.

[Right now….]

I felt a hand gripping my stuffed doll tightly.

It was the host.

He seemed to be trying to prevent the cotton from spilling out of the punctured stuffed doll.

But the bombardment that strangely and persistently targeted this stuffed doll didn’t end.

Pik pik pik pik pik pik pik pik.

My head separated and fell to the floor.

[…!!]

Thud.

Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble thud!

The ceiling collapses.

Transparent, glowing somethings began falling like meteors onto the talk show studio stage, frantically destroying only the talk show set.

In my rolling vision, I saw the host frozen while holding the cloth and cotton that had been my already tattered torso.

Ah.

Just like how I panicked when Good Friend was torn in half.

This guy too….

-Kim Sol-eum.

“…!”

-Have you returned?

“…Yes.”

I regained consciousness again in a place where I couldn’t feel anything.

In the CCTV-like vision before my eyes, Lee Ja-heon was moving again.

The difference was that the studio in my vision was shaking as if it had been hit by some kind of bomb.

-Sacred fire bombardment has commenced.

Yes. I know….

Since you shot me….

“Did you deliberately target the stuffed doll I was in? To make me return to this body?”

-Yes.

-The bombardment will continue for 10 minutes but is in a high-risk state. Kim Sol-eum must escape this position as quickly as possible, preferably within 3 minutes.

“Couldn’t the host put me back into a doll right now?”

-It’s possible.

-However, darkness is an extreme phenomenon without balance. Host-type supernatural beings obsessed with talk shows have a high probability of prioritizing studio restoration and identifying and eliminating the cause.

Lee Ja-heon moved frantically fast while his dry voice made an eerie sound.

And he casually declared another thing.

-Also, entry to the safe house has been approved.

“…What?”

-The Union has recognized the current situation where escape is impossible for the emergency caller user.

-Therefore, Kim Sol-eum can be transferred to a location where he can avoid pursuit by supernatural beings.

“….”

I don’t know what the Union is, but it’s probably some kind of alien organization.

-The only way to prevent unexpected incidents in the current situation is to quickly leave this studio and go there.

Then… I might be able to avoid the host’s pursuit for a while?

Then, while organizing my situation, I might be able to find a way to completely shake off the host in the .

I watched the Lizard Team Leader’s movements running through the studio corridor shaking with thunderous noise in my CCTV-like vision.

“…Have you figured out the way out?”

-Yes.

-I reconfirmed the route while re-infiltrating the studio to identify the location where Kim Sol-eum’s personality was summoned.

“…!”

It really seemed like I could escape.

Whether I went back to ‘Fantasy Home Shopping’ or somewhere else, as long as I could enter the approved safe house, I felt like I could catch my breath for now.

It was a strong temptation, but….

….

Actually, I know.

It’s all just a stopgap measure.

‘It’s an extremely hostile escape method.’

I had a strange premonition that this might lead to an irreversible choice with the host….

‘The host, Brown, could find me again at any time.’

So this escape was nothing more than temporary avoidance, not a solution.

Moreover….

“….”

I recalled the scene I had witnessed earlier, just before falling out of the stuffed doll.

The host trying to block my exploding stuffed doll.

“….”

Perhaps.

“…Team Leader.”

-Yes.

“Are you the type of intelligent being that gets easily contaminated by darkness?”

-No.

‘…Okay.’

And one more thing.

“Even if I die in my body, you’ll just return to being Lee Ja-heon, right?”

-If you die within 55 hours, yes.

…Then.

“Team Leader.”

I swallowed.

“Don’t go to the exit like this, please go to the host instead.”

If it’s going to be a gamble anyway, I’ll try a definitive method that I can do myself.

“I’ll try to get out a different way.”

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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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