Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 210

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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 210

After drinking the wish potion and realizing the ‘truth’.

My body collapsed, and Director Ho’s security team uniform that I desperately forced onto my body had the opposite effect, causing me to necrotize.

Thus, on the verge of death, I made an unavoidable choice.

-Just need to sign.

I signed the work contract that Director Cheong held out.

Immediately after, I lost consciousness… and when I regained my senses, I had already been transported to some location.

A bleak small room.

The first thing I saw was a number.

[666]

A nameplate attached to the iron door.

The space consisting of an iron bed and washbasin was very classical and silent.

The light source was a single fluorescent lamp, and it was as quiet as a dead mouse.

However, I could go outside anytime during work hours. Because my work, which hasn’t changed a single day from the first day until now, was…

-Today your work is security for Annex Basement Level 13.

Basement 13th Floor.

Because I guard this corridor.

-Annex Basement Level 13 security.

But it’s meaningless.

No one comes.

This place with no windows or emergency exits is just a corridor lined with iron doors, and I walk here meaninglessly.

I wander the corridor.

Red and blue lights flicker.

I can see the elevator. The light indicating floor numbers blinks and shows numbers.

But I cannot board it.

Because there are no buttons.

They’re not visible.

I cannot leave.

Hissss…

Black smoke is thick.

The fluorescent lights in the pale corridor flicker, and smoke sways and rises.

It comes from my breath through the gas mask.

I walk while locked.

Staring at the only thing that moves, the smoke that spreads and sways in the corridor…

-Your work hours have ended. Return immediately. Your work hours have ended. Return immediately. Your work hours have ended. Return immediately…

It ends.

I enter Room 666 that opened according to the contract again.

Click.

The door locks, and I sit on the bed.

Silence again.

Would one normally feel horror?

Whether claustrophobia or fear of isolation, would one feel terror… at simply existing in the basement of a terrible corporation in a state where no one notices?

Probably so.

But I don’t remember what that emotion specifically feels like.

But not remembering isn’t so bad either.

I just contemplate briefly.

My work.

Security officer of Annex Basement Level 13.

Performs security duties without questioning what exists beyond the iron doors, without leaving the designated 13th floor corridor.

Regarding abnormal phenomena that occur upon contact, nothing has been identified to date.

Those forms that flicker dimly in my head before being crushed.

If described in wiki style, wouldn’t it be described like this.

Yes. It probably would be…

But even that dim and censored imagination doesn’t last long.

Bzzzzt-

The silence breaks.

Light from a black and white screen casts shadows on the iron bed.

[Employee full of dreams and passion! Welcome to Baekillmong Corporation Security Management Team!]

The sound of a low-quality digital recording echoes through the confined room.

[Yesterday we told you in detail what wonderful work the Security Management Team does, right? Today we’ll tell you the rules you must follow during work!]

A video continues playing on the small old TV mounted in the corner of the solitary cell.

The .

It only tells the same content.

[You cannot leave your designated work zone!]

Two mascots appear.

The fox mascot stands still in front of the corridor elevator and spins round and round.

A format I feel like I’ve seen somewhere before.

But somehow twisted… is that thing twisted? A cheerful educational video about office worker lifestyle and Baekillmong Corporation is processed in black and white, moving light around the room.

[You are a contracted worker and cannot violate work rules!]

It seems like a typical new employee training video, but there are some different points.

It also obsessively tells me what to do when work hours end.

[Please sleep.]

[Do not violate bedtime. You cannot wander around. You must rest. That is the normal behavior of a Company employee!]

The strangely bright and cheerful light from the video flickers in the small enclosed room.

And then….

[This concludes today’s educational video. Rest well!]

Click.

It disappears.

“….”

Today’s work is finished.

With all light sources gone from the small space, only faint red and blue light seeps in from beyond the Iron Door.

Bedtime.

Of course, I cannot sleep.

But as shown in the Training Video, bedtime cannot be violated. That’s the work rule.

I lay down on the Bed and closed my eyes.

As if sleeping.

Learning about ‘Company work’ this way, I continue my labor on Annex Basement Level 13.

….

….

How many days have I been working?

A week?

Two weeks?

A month?

Seven years?

■■■?

It’s unknowable and difficult to calculate. But there’s no problem. Since the work period isn’t written in the Contract, I just need to stay like this.

Work hours will come around again.

Then in the silence, this place will….

Knock… knock.

….

Knock knock knock.

Sound.

I hear a sound.

The sound of hard joints covered in soft flesh moving carefully, striking against iron.

The sound of knocking on the Iron Door.

…

A knock.

People.

I pulled the Door open.

“Hik!”

“Eeeek!”

The Iron Door of Room 666 opens.

Those who had been gripping the Handle jump back in shock, tumbling into the Corridor, pointing their Fingers at me before….

“Ahhh… mmph.”

They cover their mouths.

And bow their heads.

“Hello, hello sir.”

“We are New Employees. We greet you.”

They speak.

Their voices were stiff as if rehearsed, but real.

I realized that this was someone’s living voice that I was hearing after an extremely long time.

No….

Living?

“If it’s alright with you, could we visit for just a moment….”

No. It’s a dead sound.

All those living voices heard through my auditory organs crackled like those from old Training Videos.

As if filtered, as if recorded, all the voices of people seen and heard through the Gas Mask are hazy, making it difficult to identify individuals.

And….

“…Excuse me.”

There are no faces above the Business Suits.

No, I cannot identify the faces.

The areas where faces should be only look like completely melted mosaics.

Red and black distortions, as if damaged film had been gathered and reconstructed with utmost effort.

‘Why is that.’

Whether it’s because I don’t need to see them according to my employment Contract, or because my collapsed body has also collapsed my recognition system, I don’t know.

But there’s no problem.

There’s no issue identifying individuals by their clothing, build, and intonation.

Or understanding the situation.

New Employees, Business Suits, team of 3, panic and confusion, no Masks.

And one more thing.

“….”

I looked back at the one who had spoken first.

Listening to their labored breathing, I reached out my Black Gloved hand.

“Hnngh!”

I pulled out what was protruding from the front Pocket of their Business Suit.

A Note.

I go down to Basement 13th Floor

At the Door of Room 666

Knock and then enter inside.

This is….

I see.

‘Experiment Name: New Employee Orientation’ 21st Attempt

: Using the fortune draw box (Qterw-E-382) to assign missions. A setup where they explore the underground of the annex building and encounter Security Team ■■■■ in charge of that area.

Records surfaced from the mutated head like sparks flying, then lingered as if savoring the moment.

I ‘understood’ what kind of situation this was.

“Hik!”

I put the note back into his front pocket. The person touched by my black gloved fingers convulsed.

The large-framed person standing behind came forward as if to calm things down, pushing another New Employee behind his back and speaking calmly.

“…It was work assigned by the Company.”

“….”

“We are performing our duties.”

Right.

If orientation could be considered work, that is.

I had merely participated in ‘New Employee orientation’ and saw three pitiful New Employees.

And….

I stepped back one step behind the door.

As if inviting them in.

“….”

“….”

“Ma, may we… come in?”

Entry by Personnel does not violate work regulations.

“Thank… thank you….”

Trembling and watching nervously, the rigid human bodies stepped into Room 666 to carry out what was written on the note.

And then they jumped back outside the door as if they had stepped into a pit of fire.

…That wasn’t really necessary.

“Hiiiik!”

I tried to extend my hand to the Two Employees who nearly pushed each other while trying to get out quickly, their limbs tangling as they fell, but before that, they both started crawling away to escape.

That’s right.

They’re escaping.

There is an exit.

Right to the elevator.

“Hik, hik!”

“Wait, stay calm….”

I seemed to hear the large-framed person trying to stop them, but they frantically hit something repeatedly.

The elevator button.

So there was a button.

It was just invisible to the security Personnel.

Soon, with a cheerful sound, the elevator door opened and light poured into the corridor.

The bright interior of the elevator.

“Cl, close it! Clo…!”

I followed their footsteps. Smoke rose from the gas mask with each step.

The moment black smoke entered the elevator.

You cannot leave your designated Work Zone!You cannot leave your designated Work Zone!You cannot leave your designated Work Zone!You cannot leave your designated Work Zone!

It rang in my head.

You cannot leave your designated Work Zone!You cannot leave your designated Work Zone!You cannot leave your designated Work Zone!You cannot leave your designated Work Zone!

….

No.

This is not leaving the Work Zone.

Currently, this elevator has arrived at Basement 13th Floor, and I am merely entering a space connected as part of the 13th Floor.

It was never specified that the elevator is excluded from the Basement 13th Floor work space.

….

….

It became quiet again.

“Aak! Wa, wait….”

I naturally boarded the elevator again.

The door closes.

Thud.

Black smoke fills the interior of the elevator.

“Ah, ahhhhh■■.”

“Ohhh, oh, ■■sir, th, that■”

I hear the Employees’ groans and murmurs beside me. Is inhaling the smoke painful? I held my breath and drew the black smoke into my gas mask.

The mosaic of human faces revealed in the smoke takes on a transparent quality.

Body fluids seem to be flowing from their eyes, nose, and mouth. Still, their breathing seems stable….

I tried to send the smoke to the wall and fix it as much as possible, but one person who was receiving my gaze trembled and opened his mouth.

“Are… are you telling us to be quiet?”

Telling?

My action of moving smoke has meaning….

Ah.

“….”

Was this… how it was done.

Meaningless expression

“Ha, Korean!”

The mosaics shake and are shocked at the letters I created with smoke.

Even in the noise, a strange welcome or relief can be read.

“Um, excuse me… are you going to attack us…?”

Current situation : Negative

“Ah…!”

The voice becomes much brighter. The relief that familiarity brings, the strange empathy when the unknown shows an understandable aspect.

Emotions I had known.

The sound of sighing brushes my ears with dull audio quality.

And another question.

“Then, where are you going…?”

“….”

I looked at the buttons in the elevator.

Things that couldn’t be confirmed from the Basement 13th Floor Corridor.

Among them, I see the button that the New Employees are reaching for while watching me nervously.

1st Floor.

“….”

No good.

I currently cannot set foot on ground level. Leaving the elevator would be a complete departure from the work zone, the end of any loopholes I could refuse. I cannot leave.

Then why did I board the elevator?

“….”

Because there are things I can do without getting off the elevator.

I reached out my hand.

Frozen inside the elevator while pretending to be composed, the New Employee gasped for breath.

What the hell is this? What the hell is this?

The thick black smoke filling the elevator, and visible through that smoke….

Yellow eyes like gas lamps.

‘Fuck, fuck…!’

Horns like massive tree branches or ribs jutted up above the gas mask. Wearing a black full-body uniform that revealed not a single piece of flesh, it was like a nightmare crammed into a human silhouette.

The ‘Security Team’ name tag on its chest seemed like a sinister joke.

The thing that had been in Basement 13th Floor Room 666.

‘If I act politely, my chances of survival should be high…!’

He poured out internal criticism and curses at the Team Member who had introduced himself as ‘Jang Heo-un.’

Far from making eye contact with him, Jang Heo-un was staring intently at the monster.

‘Still pretending to be calm!’

The fact that he was currently not dead, and that Jang Heo-un wasn’t the one who had put him in this situation, was conveniently forgotten for the sake of resentment.

At the same time, he unconsciously realized why people had been found dead in the elevator.

‘They all chased them to the elevator…!’

But there hadn’t been anything riding along with them.

He swallowed.

Could it have killed them in a fit of rage for not being able to board?

‘Then how did this thing… h-how did it board?’

The fortunate thing was that some kind of communication seemed possible… but damn.

‘Is it okay to… go back to the 1st Floor Lobby with that thing?’

In horror movies, this is when everyone in the lobby would die too. Cold sweat beaded and dripped from his chin.

But survival instinct came first.

He wanted to go back. He would go back. He would escape this horrible underground insane space!

‘Right, right!’

At least he wasn’t dead!

Let those bastards in the lobby figure out how to survive on their own! He couldn’t be the only one to die here!

Nearly out of his mind, he reached out and pressed the 1st Floor….

Their eyes met.

“Ah.”

The yellow eyes watched him from within the smoke.

The New Employee froze again.

However, the Strange One with Lantern did not stop the New Employee from pressing the 1st Floor.

Instead, it too reached out its black hand.

And with a tap, pressed the Basement 12th Floor button.

“Huh…?”

Basement 11th Floor, 10th Floor, 9th Floor, 8th Floor… all the way to 1st Floor.

All those buttons.

Like pressing piano keys, it swept through them in sequence.

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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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