Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 208

—————
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 208

A colorful potion ripples in my hands.

The color of dreams.

A medicine that grants wishes.

…The description is engraved into that transparent glass bottle, revealed each time the potion inside sways like waves, shaking the light.

I gazed into it.

: Baekil-mong Potion :

Wish

EX (miraculous)

Lift the bottle with both hands.

Express your earnest wish in one sentence…

Then with your eyes closed, consume the liquid in the bottle all at once.

Any wish will come true.

I had known these instructions from before.

So I had been pondering from the beginning.

What sentence should I use.

When using the Wish Potion, exactly what single sentence should I use to express my wish.

Every time I lay in bed tossing and turning unable to sleep, every time I wrote exploration reports in the office, every time I barely survived a ghost story and walked home from work, I thought about it.

The first thing that came to mind was that.

A primal desire.

-Please send me home.

I was desperate.

But I held back.

‘Home’ is too abstract a concept.

I’ve lived in more than one or two residential spaces, so I couldn’t know what criteria the Wish Potion would use to activate.

It was a phrase that might carelessly send me to the Daydream Company Housing.

…The reluctance I felt when infiltrating the Disaster Management Bureau, staying in motels rather than anywhere that could be called ‘home’, probably stemmed from this aversion.

Anyway, so I thought again.

I had to block all possibilities.

‘I can’t make a mistake.’

I absolutely couldn’t let the Wish Potion grant my wish in some ridiculous way.

‘Please send me to where I originally lived’? Equally abstract. Rejected.

‘Please send me to a world without ghost stories’? There’s no guarantee that would be where I came from. I might carelessly end up in heaven after death since that would be a world without ghost stories… such insane interpretations might be possible.

Discarding options again and again, I chose so carefully.

One perfect sentence that could precisely specify time and space.

And I decided.

Gripping the potion tightly with both hands, I open my mouth and speak.

“My wish is.”

Exactly.

“To return to where I was the day before I joined Daydream Corporation.”

The world I originally lived in, at the point before I spun the roulette at the pop-up store.

It was perfect specification.

-Excellent!

‘Got it.’

Hearing the host’s admiration, I calmly opened the cap of the Wish Potion.

Light burst forth, but I blocked it with my hand and closed my eyes.

Then I poured the potion straight into my mouth.

“…!”

Drinking a dream.

That was the only way I could describe it.

A synesthetic, mysterious liquid I’d never experienced before flowed down my throat.

Something brilliant filled my stomach completely.

Intangible power, transcendent authority, overflowing mystery.

Ecstasy and wonder guided me.

Yes. I am traveling!

‘My God.’

My entire body is being sucked somewhere.

Very deep, very far away…

To where my wish reaches.

It felt like taking a journey to fulfill a long-cherished dream. Transcendent power was transporting me.

Yes.

Yes!

I will return safely to my home like this…

….

….

…?

“Cough.”

I collapsed to the floor.

My body rolled across the dusty, dirty floor as coughs burst out.

Stale air.

Even when I opened my eyes, I could only see pitch-black darkness. Even blinking didn’t reveal any outlines.

Silence.

Silence.

What is this?

The fantastic sensation had ended. The Wish Potion had vanished without a trace. Which means…

This is my destination.

“….”

Blood drained from my head.

I felt dazed.

“Ugh.”

I twisted my body on the floor and got up. Sharp fragments scratched my arms and hands, leaving stinging pain.

Breathing heavily, I lifted the empty bottle I was still holding in one hand. One or two remaining drops of Wish Potion liquid cast a faint glow.

The space I was in revealed itself.

…On top of broken glass shards.

“…!”

When I turn my head, I can see where I had fallen.

An empty glass tube lies shattered.

I had fallen from there onto the broken glass fragments in the dust pit.

‘…Why?’

Was I moved inside there?

My heart pounds anxiously. Before the ominous feeling could consume my mind, I desperately tried to confirm the silhouette of that device in the darkness.

It looked like a device that had stored large volumes of liquid. But…

…the device looks familiar.

An old experimental machine from the 2000s style, with buttons and keyboard panels below the empty glass tube that had no power.

That’s, that’s…

A dream cultivator.

A broken and shattered dream cultivator from the Pleasant Research Institute.

….

I looked around in a daze.

My eyes, adapted to the darkness, finally identify the surroundings relying on the remnants of the Wish Potion.

This place is.

The Pleasant Research Institute’s Prototype Dream Cultivation Room.

“…!”

Something’s wrong.

Something is wrong.

Why did I come here?

“No.”

Stay calm. Calm down, I definitely asked to be sent back to where I was the day before starting work, but why here, wait. No, that’s not right.

“That’s not the place!”

It’s different!

Right. The structure is identical to that research lab, but it’s different. The silhouette was strangely different.

I can see different machines and documents. Recording tapes and empty reagent bottles too. And computers as well….

‘The computers have no dust.’

…Strange.

I staggered and turned my head. I need a hint, I need a hint.

And I found it.

An experiment log.

“….”

That thing soaked in blood and filth where all records had been meticulously erased, with only ‘we were deceived’ repeated frantically.

It was next to the glass tube of the broken dream cultivator.

Just like what I had discovered in the Dream Cultivation Room last time.

“….”

I approached it.

The old paper wasn’t soaked in blood and filth, but was burned brown.

I turn the pages with trembling hands.

Though there were blackened spots as if burned, it was readable.

Starting from the title of the first page.

Name-nim Invitation Research

I drew in a breath.

Research Purpose: Confirmation of the targeted ….

…descent of hostile existence to the present world and proceeding with the contract.

Derived from prior research, we adopted the name of the deity worshipped by a certain cult group that has recently become prevalent as the subtitle for this research.

This will be the final research of the Pleasant Research Institute.

My heart beats ominously.

I frantically turned the pages.

Countless experimental records were written down.

Since they weren’t registered as data, the formats varied, and there were multiple practitioners.

Various attempts and preparations.

Failure, dream cultivator No. 21 discarded.

Failure, failure.

Terrible materials of unknown nature and extreme methods remain with more than half erased.

Things they created, summoned, and then discarded.

And then….

Success.

Some meaningful result emerged.

Experiment #316

Solution Input Volume: 1200L

Materials: Qterw-A-4…’s …dragon, …-…326, human blood, …, and 13 other synthetic elements.

Successfully awakened Name-nim’s consciousness inside the glass tube.

Contract failed. Physical form collapsed in the solution.

Presumed due to insufficient solution, will adjust variables based on this research.

And it becomes increasingly sophisticated.

Experiment #322

Solution Input Volume: 2300L

The awakened Name-nim screamed inside the glass tube and … …then vital signs ceased.

Presumed that after recognizing the mutation of their own body tissue, the rejection reaction caused the material combination to collapse and form into a mass.

Requesting changes in material ratios to prepare a medium that reflects Name-nim’s exact appearance.

Confirming darkness related to shapeshifting.

My hands tremble.

An ominous deduction circles in my mind.

The experiments continue repeatedly with increasingly specific conditions.

The necessary conditions for invitation and contract confirmed so far are as follows:

1. Maintaining Name-nim’s existing identity.

2. Forgetting existing attachment relationships.

3. Providing survival objectives.

4. Complete removal of all discomfort.

Through powerful prohibition spells, fulfillment of these requirements is deemed possible, and various methods are being proposed.

And…

An existing invention from the Joyful Research Institute is mentioned.

Currently a discarded invention, it’s a product that allows part of an Other Side World entity to dwell in a doll and requests it to perform friendly roles for the contractor.

A limited version is being distributed as a commemorative item in a certain board game, and this is

That is.

Called by the product name ‘Good Friend’.

“…”

I barely managed to turn to the next page.

The final experiment record.

Experiment #444

Solution input amount: 39999L

Materials: Same as #443.

Result: Success.

Complete invitation of Name-nim achieved using the ritual from the discarded invention.

…dwells within. Stabilized.

Upon awakening, will be separated from Dream Essence Solution and simple Q&A will proceed.

The page ended there.

However.

“…”

When I turned the last page, I saw a torn piece of paper inserted there.

Traces of it having been crumpled up roughly.

As if someone had thrown away the paper, and another person had carefully smoothed it out and placed it back in the experiment records.

And there was scribbled writing on it too.

The handwriting that had been as precise as a document was completely ruined.

Baekillmong found out they came rushing it was another trick before Name-nim could be stolen away I smuggled them out and hid them in the place with the most people

Please

The writing cut off unnaturally there.

And under the phrase ‘place with the most people’, someone had drawn a thick line and written in different handwriting.

New Employee Orientation?

As if they had deduced it from reading the text.

“…”

No.

My mind rejected it.

But the speculation was already over.

No, there was nothing to speculate about.

It was too clear.

As an answer to my wish ‘Please send me back to where I was the day before joining Baekillmong Corporation.’

I had awakened inside this broken Dream Cultivator.

So then.

I was…

The research objective of this experiment log.

Good Friend.

Something synthetic that an Other Side World entity invited by the Joyful Research Institute dwells within.

Like Host Brown who was projected into the stuffed doll.

The consciousness of Kim Sol-eum from another world, projected into ‘something’ created in the Dream Cultivator.

…Is that it?

“…No.”

No.

Something, I should be able to make some other speculation.

What did the prohibition spell say earlier? I don’t fall under that. I want to go home, so I need to return to my house and meet my family and friends.

So then…

Who exactly are those people?

“…”

I can’t remember.

So then.

Surely, when I first joined the company, I definitely remembered.

Didn’t I remember conversations with my parents and friends? And with friends, with family, I looked at contact information and searched through records and investigated…

…Did I really?

Didn’t I just think ‘I investigated’ in my head and move on?

What specific contact information I looked at, what previous address I went to visit.

I don’t know.

I can’t remember.

Just the conviction that I did…

“…”

Then am I,

Is this body I’m in,

Not Kim Sol-eum?

If the place I was before joining was here.

If I returned to where this body was.

If I was created in the Dream Cultivation Laboratory.

Am I… not human?

“No.”

I looked down at my hands.

[No]

No!

Stop it

hahahahahahahahahahaha

My body bulges and protrudes.

The tattoo collapses.

I disappear. The human body disintegrates.

The self that realized the truth rejects the form of a human body. The body tries to return to its original form.

Some unknown divine and bizarre composite form burst out from within me.

Scales and horns, hooves, thorns, piercing through my ribs…

“No!”

My voice echoes strangely through the space. But there’s nothing I can do. I’ve organized all my items. My tattoo is completely empty…!

No wait

At that moment.

I realized.

There’s one thing left in the tattoo.

Not mine, but borrowed equipment.

“…!”

I frantically shoved my mutating hand into the tattoo and pulled out the equipment.

Security Team suit.

And I began putting on that suit like crazy.

My mutating body was shoved into human form and fixed in place. Making strange sounds, black smoke enveloped my entire body.

I barely managed to regain human limbs.

I have to escape.

I staggered and looked for the research laboratory door. Yellow lantern-like eyes flashed. The light found the door knob.

I barely grabbed it and leaned against it as I came outside…

Indoor lights come into view.

“…!”

An ordinary office corridor.

A scene I’d seen before.

‘…Daydream Underground.’

What the Security Chief told me about… the Joyful Research Institute in the company basement.

-The Joyful Research Institute… is still in our company basement…

-Even if you go further underground… the same office corridor… keeps repeating…

What underground floor is this place exactly?

How do I get out?

‘Elevator…’

Both my head and body feel heavy.

Strangely, intense pain surges through my entire body.

I dragged my feet, somehow trying to move to the end of the corridor.

Then.

“Excellent.”

…

“Your company loyalty is admirable. To come back again.”

I looked up.

Someone in a business suit who had appeared at some point was staring at me from the front.

An ageless impression, cold and neat appearance, wearing a perfectly fitted three-button suit with dark blue hair…

Executive Director Cheong Dal-rae.

“Already wearing the uniform too. Very nice to see.”

Black pupils look into me.

“But that’s not the appropriate uniform…”

I opened my mouth.

But no words came out. My vocal cords seemed to be crumpled inside the suit.

The insanely uncomfortable constricting sensation became stronger, more… painful.

“Yes. That seems to make humans look like Strange Entities. Is it a newly developed version?”

“…”

“But when a real Strange Entity wears it, it’s just a frame that forcibly crams the body in. As you know, there are many programs in society that only take effect when you sign a contract. It’s like that.”

It’s declared.

“If you stay like that, you’ll soon die from necrosis.”

“…”

“If you don’t like that, there is this path available.”

Director Cheong Dal-rae pulled out a neat sheet of paper from inside his jacket.

“It’s a contract.”

…

“You just need to sign. I promise very humane treatment. It will be a satisfying job… in the Security Team.”

Blood began flowing from my body. Blood dripped down my fingers.

“Here.”

“…”

“Choose.”

I feel like I’m dying.

My collapsed body crumpled and my consciousness began to crumple too. Now I can’t even stagger and walk.

Without even the strength to think of other options.

A dead end.

“…”

I raised my trembling hand.

And I signed that contract with my flowing blood.

“Good.”

The moment the signature was finished,

My body rapidly began to feel comfortable.

Like wearing perfectly fitting clothes, like keeping a promise, like pouring just the right amount of water into a glass.

Peace and unknown power spread throughout my entire body.

And… most clearly of all, along with a prohibition spell.

“…”

I looked at my superior.

“From now on, you’ll be taking on a very excellent job.”

And so.

I went back to working at the company.

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