Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 142

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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 142

I had successfully made a normal purchase with the gift certificate in this crazy mart ghost story.

“….”

I took the trembling high school student from the checkout counter, holding the items I had finished paying for.

And I came out of the checkout area with my jacket half-draped over my shoulder to hide my missing right arm.

One step. Two steps.

And when I took a deep breath and looked back….

“…!”

All the bizarre parts of the mart had become blurred.

Strange phrases, weird objects, eerie blood and organs.

Everything was barely visible unless I focused on it, as if it had been blurred in my cognitive system.

More precisely, it no longer looked bizarre…. It was natural.

As if we were ordinary shoppers who had purchased items at an ordinary mart.

“Wow.”

I heard the high school student stop and exclaim in amazement.

But instead….

“Oh my.”

“…!”

The past shoppers also began to perceive us as normal.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

When the shopper who bumped into the high school student looked directly at him and apologized, the high school student hesitated and stepped back.

“I’m sorry.”

I stepped aside with the high school student, whose eyes were bulging in surprise.

“I told you, right? Don’t be surprised.”

“Yes… yes sir.”

The high school student hurriedly stuck close to my side.

But his eyes began to sparkle.

“Then… we can just leave like this?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow…!”

This way, all the work needed for escape was skipped.

Since paying with the gift certificate meant being treated exactly like the past shoppers.

For instance, even if we had damaged items or eaten food when business hours ended, we could leave as long as we paid for it.

“Over there, they’re checking out…!”

“Wait a moment.”

Just like Go Young-eun right now.

I listened carefully to the counter where Go Young-eun was checking out.

“Customer, you broke something at Lucky Mart! Pay compensation! Thirty-nine thousand nine hundred won!“

“Yes.”

Go Young-eun calmly held out a 50,000 won bill, and the cashier who had been swelling like a balloon snatched the gift certificate, smiled unnaturally wide, and gave back 10,000 won in change.

Then asked monotonously again.

“Oh, shall I help you check out this gum?”

“…Yes.”

Only then were the items Go Young-eun had selected properly paid for.

Phew. I let out a sigh of relief.

As expected.

‘…When you don’t know when the mart doors will open, there’s nothing better than this.’

Since it was an item that let you settle most mistakes made during closing hours with a purchase and leave.

And… to be completely honest.

I had predicted that if we spent more than a week in Lucky Mart during closing hours, one of us would make a mistake at least once.

Whether it was me, the high school student, or Go Young-eun.

‘…The items I brought separately have their limits.’

The trick of eating food on the stair landing without it counting was only possible if you had items.

Eventually, the moment they ran out, we would have ended up stealing mart food or daily necessities, and the probability of getting caught at least once was very high.

Then it would have been the end with becoming supplies.

‘I’m glad we didn’t have to see that happen.’

I looked forward with a pleased heart.

Go Young-eun waited until the student that the Bronze Agent had originally been in charge of finished checking out, then came out of the checkout area together.

Safely.

“…I got through thanks to you. Thank you.”

“Not at all.”

And now what remained was….

“Bronze Agent.”

We signaled to the two people still standing inside the checkout area.

Ryu Jae-gwan and Lee Su-bin.

They were the two people selected to use the emergency escape item, the five-colored shoelaces.

-It seems the Bronze Agent probably can’t be covered within 100,000 won.

-And… it would be better for that student to leave together. …The student who went missing first.

The Bronze Agent was selected because he had already been processed as ‘supplies’ and the amount would definitely not be manageable with 100,000 won, making normal return difficult.

And Lee Su-bin, the previously missing student, was confirmed next.

Since he had been missing the longest among us and we didn’t know what kind of debt he might owe to the mart, plus he was in a state of severe psychological shock to the point where he could barely function without candy.

‘Anyway, that item can’t be stolen either.’

The Dokkaebi Workshop could track whether the ‘divine power’ had disappeared from use or not.

So it was better to use it effectively.

I spoke quickly.

“You can leave now.”

“….”

The Bronze Agent quietly met my eyes and opened his mouth.

“You go first.”

Ah.

“After confirming you’ve left, we’ll immediately….”

“Can I get out?!”

“…!!”

Someone came rushing toward the Bronze Agent like a flood.

A housewife who appeared to be in her 40s, drooling. …Or rather, a contaminated person with strange eyes and dolls attached instead of arms.

A long-term missing person.

“Can I get out there?? They’re talking to them? Hahaha! Let’s go! Let’s gooo~!”

…She had realized that the Bronze Agent was part of our group.

‘I thought that once we checked out and left, even long-term missing persons wouldn’t be able to cause trouble.’

Because if they picked a fight with normal shoppers and caused a disturbance, employees would come.

But that was too rational an assumption.

When contaminated by ghost stories, the order of desires could be reversed.

For example….

That kind of unconditional and intense desire to escape.

“I want to get out too! I want to get out toooooo!! Give it to me! Give me the gift card!!”

Eyes turn toward us.

The cashier looks this way.

“Customer, you broke merchandise at Lucky Mart! Pay compensation! Five million two hundred eighty thousand two hundred forty won!“

‘No way.’

At the very least, we could separate ourselves and run away, but those two can’t get caught…!

I rushed into the mart store. And blocking the cashier’s line of sight, I shouted.

“Leave right now, hurry!”

The Bronze Agent didn’t argue and quickly pushed down the long-term missing person to temporarily subdue them, then immediately grabbed the high school student and tied their shoelaces in an instant.

And three steps.

“Huhh, scary, scary, let me out!”

“Pay compensation!“

With those maddening voices as background noise, the two people disappeared from the mart as if evaporating on the last step.

First escape: Ryu Jae-gwan, Lee Su-bin / Success.

However, there was no time to catch our breath.

“Can I get out? Can I get out?”

“I want to go!! They say he has money!!”

As attention was drawn, other long-term missing persons began muttering and approaching from near the shelves, escalator, and bathroom.

I ran toward the checkout counter and shouted.

“Candle, candle!!”

Go Young-eun had already taken out a candle and hidden the high school student behind her.

“You guys get out!”

The three of them ran toward the entrance. And… Go Young-eun sent only the two high school students outside the entrance.

The two who went through the glass door disappeared as if by magic.

Second escape: Jang Min-seo, Hyun Jae-hoon / Success.

They had returned.

And Go Young-eun came running back.

“Noru, Grape!! Anyway!!”

Hurriedly holding the candle, she gestured to me. I hurriedly jumped into Go Young-eun’s candlelight.

But the store and outside the checkout counter were already starting to be overrun by long-term missing persons, and it was chaos with ’employees’ showing abnormal behavior and requisitioning supplies.

“Let’s get out quickly!”

I really wanted to do that.

But I had been waiting for this moment.

The moment when only the two spies and personnel would remain.

“Wait, just a moment.”

“Why again…!”

I took out the remaining gift cards from my pocket.

“Let’s use up the gift cards before we go.”

“…!!”

I quickly went back inside the checkout counter.

From the moment I got the gift cards, I had been aiming to do this if there was some money left over.

The unusual items sold in this mart.

Just like I had obtained items from the Death Alley or Alien Shop ghost stories, since this was a mart ghost story, there were definitely strange items here.

‘But among them, there must be useful items for sale too.’

That would make it more interesting.

And those were things that couldn’t be obtained by stealing from past shoppers.

Since they were reproducing past actions, naturally the items they purchased were all ordinary daily necessities.

Therefore, I had to find and purchase them directly by some means.

‘Find them quickly.’

Fast enough so that the people who already escaped wouldn’t become suspicious.

And before getting caught up in the commotion…!

‘Hurry!’

I frantically scanned the store.

The first floor event display was full of toys for the May Children’s Day event, and among these, the ‘strange items’ were actually easy to spot.

Things that appeared blurred and could only be seen with intense focus were the special products from the ‘Lucky Mart’ ghost story.

I saw a train model, a donut tube, and a clay set. But I didn’t pick them up.

‘Something safe.’

I wanted to minimize risky moves.

Preferably something I had confirmed in the exploration records of this mart ghost story.

The problem was that it was difficult to find the exact same item with just a few words of appearance description.

‘I need to identify it.’

I gritted my teeth and searched through both my mind and the shelves. I needed to find something I knew as much as possible….

“….”

Wait a minute.

‘That thing.’

I looked at an event display piled high with dolls.

Among them, several dolls appeared to be blurred.

I approached closer and observed the doll I had spotted through the blurriness.

A white lizard doll.

It was exactly the same doll that was on Lee Ja-heon’s desk in the D-Team office.

“…!!”

I picked up that doll.

“Have you chosen?”

“Yes. What about you, Young-eun?”

Go Young-eun also nodded. She was also holding a small item in her hand.

“Let’s go.”

We breathlessly went to the checkout counter and paid for the ‘items’ each of us had chosen.

…Behind us, we could hear the sound of long-term missing persons becoming supplies.

Along with sounds demanding insane amounts that were unimaginable with the gift cards in our hands.

“That’s eighteen thousand won.”

Having quickly grabbed one item each, we headed toward the entrance while catching our breath.

“…Let’s not mention it unless the Management Bureau specifically asks.”

“…Yes. …Thank you.”

Instead of testing Go Young-eun’s last bit of patience, I obediently ran with her toward the mart’s entrance door.

“I’ll blow out the candle!”

“Yes!”

And we opened the entrance door.

‘Hah.’

Is it because I was trapped for several days? My stomach feels queasy. I keep thinking back to whether I made any mistakes.

‘Let’s go.’

I gritted my teeth and quickened my pace.

The bizarre signboards were no longer clearly visible. What I could see was the scenery of the past beyond the glass door. I was even afraid we might just walk straight into that place.

But….

‘Let’s ignore it.’

Go Young-eun and I stepped forward.

The automatic door opened smoothly….

Ding.

I moved my steps while running.

Forward, forward.

Sunlight pierced my eyes along with the cold wind.

I blinked my eyes.

“Ha.”

The light slowly faded.

What I could see with my recovered vision was….

A warm alley from the 2020s, dazzling with late winter sunlight.

And the figures of people who had escaped first.

“…!”

“A-Agent…!”

The high school students came running. Their faces had already shed all their tears and snot, but their expressions were filled with joy.

Seeing them made it real.

‘We made it out.’

3rd Escape: Go Young-eun, Kim Sol-eum / Success.

We had finally escaped.

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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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