Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 17

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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 017

Around the time Field Investigation Team D entered the ghost story.

“Manager, what grade do you expect for this case? Will it be a D as usual?”

“Hey, Team Leader. Let’s be a bit more tactful about this, okay?”

“….”

“It’s fun and all, but let’s keep it quiet within the Development Department. Don’t bring it up when other teams are around. Got it?”

“…Ah, yes.”

The Research Team Leader who had been grinning while bringing up the betting topic to Kim Sol-eum finally shut his mouth.

Manager Gwak Je-gang, who he’d looked down on for being easygoing and young, was now scolding him over something like this, which annoyed him.

And his irritation made him think of an even more annoying target he could pick on.

The Field Investigation Team newbie!

‘Look at how he glared at his superior.’

The new employee who had flatly refused when he’d graciously tried to include him in the betting.

That expressionless look, as if he was looking down on them, kept lingering in his memory. Was his name Kim Sol-eum?

‘You guys are basically human lab rats, so where do you get off acting so high and mighty.’

A Field Investigation Team newbie was basically half-dead already. Yet just because he’d achieved some results once, his stiff attitude was almost laughable.

He’d heard that every year there were newbies like this who couldn’t read the situation, and now he was finally seeing one himself.

‘Will he die? It’d be hilarious if he did.’

His morally numb brain anticipated dopamine and made him salivate slightly.

He quickly sent a message.

It was the company’s anonymous betting group chat.

-I’m betting 10 on D

-ok

It was also wishful thinking. If it was D-grade, the chances of death would be higher!

Then, his superior called him out.

“Team Leader, make sure to finish organizing the preliminary report before you leave today.”

“…Yes, yes.”

‘Anyway, those lab rats won’t even make it out of the Darkness before I clock out.’

He was specifically assigning him work that could naturally be passed to a junior during shift change.

‘Why is my boss’s luck like this.’

The Research Team Leader grumbled internally as he continued writing the rest of the preliminary experiment report.

-3.2 Test Subjects

Adults aged 18 and over who witnessed a 5-second video titled ‘Pierrot Hates You’ that plays as promotional advertising on a specific video site4).

‘After watching this, they got dragged away when they approached the clown’s hand that appeared, right?’

Wasn’t it stupid to approach it?

When you see something suspicious, you should run away. From that point on, he already considered their deaths natural.

‘But then again, there are civilians who get lucky and survive.’

According to testimony records from previously reported civilian survivors, they said they returned to reality after entering the empty portrait that the clown had emerged from.

‘The lab rats knew that when they went in too.’

But there was nothing specifically revealed about which portrait was the correct answer.

The corridor types, portrait sizes, picture frames, and timing were all different.

Most seemed to just carelessly jump into empty portraits the clown had emerged from, with only a lucky few making it back.

‘Finding the answer to this would be a real grind.’

It was a Darkness that required enormous stamina consumption while waking up clowns, evading them, and sometimes defeating them.

At the same time, not knowing which portrait was correct would be nerve-wracking!

In this case, wouldn’t one or two deaths be almost guaranteed? It seemed like they’d sacrifice each other while making test attempts.

‘For someone to escape, it would take at least half a day, or several days at most….’

“Waaaaah!”

“Clear!”

“….”

“….”

Huh?

The researcher turned his head.

In one corner of the research laboratory, he saw people suddenly pouring out.

…All the employees of Field Investigation Team D!

“…?!”

“Are all the Dream Essence Collectors full?”

“Yes! Oh, it’s D-grade!”

He reflexively checked his watch.

2:41 PM.

‘Earlier, they entered at 2:15 PM, so….’

26 minutes elapsed since entry.

Wait a minute.

‘…26 minutes?!’

Seeing the four Team D members who had emerged from the ghost story in the time it takes for a quick coffee break, a deep silence fell over Research Team 1 Office.

‘Is this a dream?’

No.

‘Are we also under the influence of a ghost story?’

No.

“…My goodness! How on earth did you come out so early?! Huh? Manager Lee, did your smash-and-bash method work again?”

Immediate responses poured out to Gwak Je-gang’s amazement.

“No.”

“That’s right.”

“He did it.”

At the words from Team D’s supervisors spoken in unison, Gwak Je-gang’s eyes turned.

“…We meet again.”

The new employee who had been quietly standing in the back bowed his head.

It was Kim Sol-eum.

“…That guy did it?”

To the unspoken question ‘But he’s a newbie?’, a nonchalant answer came back.

“What’s so surprising.”

“Noru was like that even on his first day.”

“…??”

Team D’s Deputy and Team Leader didn’t answer further and began organizing their masks.

Manager Lee Ja-heon nodded.

“So it seems.”

“….”

“This ghost story is D-grade.”

“Ah, yes yes.”

Manager Lee Ja-heon suddenly began his report. Manager Gwak Je-gang of the Research Team, accustomed to this stream-of-consciousness speaking style that only considered personal efficiency, immediately responded.

“Then what’s the clear mechanism?”

“? I don’t know.”

“….”

“Ah. Would it be alright if I explained?”

The New Employee raised his hand from behind.

“Uh, yeah… go ahead.”

“First… the name of the clown advertisement that must be witnessed beforehand to enter this darkness is ‘Pierrot Hates You.'”

“That’s right.”

“But a pierrot is not a clown.”

“…??”

“Clowns wear colorful makeup, laugh playfully, and perform tricks and comedy. They’re a type of traditional entertainer.”

So what?

“However, pierrots wear monochrome makeup and have crying expressions.”

“…!”

“There’s a clear difference.”

A faint smile appeared and disappeared on Kim Sol-eum’s pale face.

“And since it says ‘Pierrot Hates You,’ I thought it wouldn’t chase after us.”

Entertainers wouldn’t chase after people they dislike.

“To prove this, I looked for portraits with monochrome makeup and only red lips, and didn’t approach any other portraits at all.”

“….”

“And considering contingencies, I secured a 3-meter safety distance before remotely approaching and touching the painting.”

He cleared an unfamiliar darkness in 30 minutes while considering all that?

Moreover, judging from the results….

“The pierrot didn’t come out of the portrait.”

“…!”

“Instead, it quietly disappeared from the painting.”

This New Employee had found the exact correct answer.

While the civilians so far had been chased by clowns falling from various portraits and didn’t know, Team D had perfectly grasped the situation by interacting with only one portrait from a distance.

It was chilling.

Moreover, he had considered other variable factors too.

“There were records that shining light would make clowns jump out of all portraits, so I didn’t use any light source separately.”

“Huh? Then how did you figure out the state of the portraits from 3 meters away in such a dark place?”

“Ah.”

Kim Sol-eum blinked.

“The Team Leader could just tell….”

“….”

Ah.

Gwak Je-gang tried hard not to whip around to look at the D-Team Leader who seemed to fit the description ‘humanly strong’ best.

“From the next entrant onward, if they bring night vision goggles, there shouldn’t be any particular problems.”

“Ah, I, I see.”

“That’s all.”

Once again, a deep silence flowed.

Gwak Je-gang quietly muttered as if talking to himself.

“You deduced this… just from looking at the preliminary information.”

“Yes.”

The New Employee added as if he had realized something.

“Probably none of the people who entered so far were familiar with American everyday culture.”

“….”

Was it really such a simple problem to explain…?

“Did, did Sol-eum study abroad or something?”

“That’s not it.”

Kim Sol-eum answered immediately.

“I just have a lot of miscellaneous knowledge.”

“….”

The researchers witnessed the rare sight of the usually eloquent Gwak Je-gang being left speechless!

“Ah, I also tried writing a temporary manual based on this theory. Team Leader Park Min-seong happened to lend me his notebook….”

“Hey, I didn’t do anything~ Noru did it all~”

The researcher witnessed Gwak Je-gang receiving the notebook from him while Team D’s badger-masked Team Leader’s words echoed in the background.

He craned his neck to peek.

Indeed, the hypothesis Kim Sol-eum had mentioned earlier was organized clearly inside.

‘…!’

Manager Gwak Je-gang skimmed through it, then smiled and closed it.

“…Hmm, let’s test it.”

“Yes.”

And so the manual prototype was completed.

By just one person, and a New Employee at that.

“….”

The researcher who had made the bet momentarily suspected he was dreaming.

Even if he happened to know about pierrots… could he build theory so smoothly in an extreme situation and escape in a 30-minute cut?

No. Does this make sense?

‘Could he be some monster pretending to be human?’

But such a thing couldn’t possibly get hired by the Field Investigation Team.

Didn’t they say Dream Essence Collectors only respond to humans?

“Team Leader, the research team wants that thing you brought out from the darkness.”

“Yes.”

Meanwhile, Manager Lee Ja-heon returned the cloth fragment he had been clutching.

“That’s….”

“Ah, when the portrait pierrot tried to escape, the Team Leader immediately rushed at it….”

It was fabric torn when he reflexively covered 3 meters and grabbed the pierrot by the collar to prevent it from escaping.

“….”

‘Birds of a feather.’

Could they be cousins or something? Now that he looked, they seemed somewhat similar in appearance. Both had that slippery look.

The researcher almost had an absurd delusion for a moment.

And the New Employee who had given him such shock and horror….

‘I, I survived.’

His heart was still pounding because he had spoken without thinking of the consequences!

‘Why do clowns have teeth! Why are they peeling human skin! Why are they sucking people into sewers like balloons!’

Witnessing all sorts of moving ghost portraits in real time, he developed a clown phobia that didn’t exist before today!

‘Additional insomnia reasons accumulated….’

Meanwhile, he was amazed at himself for somehow managing to bluff his way through this situation plausibly.

‘No, I did handle it well, right?’

It wasn’t too suspicious, right?

I’m not going to be found out for actually having the answer key and dragged to the intelligence entity laboratory in the basement of Daydream Corporation, am I?!

Just as Kim Sol-eum was about to hand the controller over to the anxiety in his mind, Manager Gwak Je-gang, who had been silently flipping through the notebook, spoke up.

“…New Employee Kim Sol-eum, didn’t you receive a business card or something?”

Kim Sol-eum, who had regained his senses, answered dutifully.

“No. New employees don’t get business cards yet….”

“Hey, you’re good at playing dumb. You know that’s not what I mean.”

“….”

The anxiety in Kim Sol-eum’s mind momentarily stopped.

Something came to mind.

The business card the Host had handed him at the welcome party.

───

When needed

010-0153-24865

───

The section chief of Research Team 1 grinned.

“If you want to earn points faster, contact them.”

“….”

“From what I can see, Sol-eum, you’ll probably contact them soon.”

It was quite a tempting proposal.

However.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

Kim Sol-eum answered without the slightest hesitation.

“…Hmm. If that’s how you feel.”

Section Chief Gwak Je-gang shrugged and brushed it off lightly.

“Is there any particular reason you wouldn’t want to contact them? Haha.”

“….”

It was simple.

‘Scarier events… Yeah, I’ll pass on that.’

The heart of a coward who had been thoroughly traumatized once again.

Kim Sol-eum had decided to be content with this triple-point honey event!

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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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