Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 212

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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 212

A familiar name.

Something I knew.

Something surged up from within again…

I didn’t react.

“Employee?”

Because I knew that expressing this wouldn’t be good.

…

‘Why?’

Suddenly, a strange sensation began to arise in my head.

A feeling like forcibly dragging up an anchor thrown into the deep sea.

With previous sensations lost, my crushed brain and mind struggled to think like before.

‘Jang Heo-un…’

Dead.

The sight of the corpse collapsed on the resort room floor.

But…, so… I extracted Jang Heo-un by reconstructing him in a contaminated state as a resort employee.

And I…

‘I gave him the wish ticket.’

If the wish ticket I gave to Jang Heo-un was truly successfully delivered, and that’s why he came back to life.

If what I saw was him living like a human again.

‘…’

My broken mind reached a conclusion.

I recognized very slowly that it was relief.

A direct emotion felt after far too long was almost like a dull ache.

“How did you feel when you heard the names? Lee Jeong-in, Park Yong-hae…, Jang Heo-un.”

And the judgment that telling this to the notorious researcher before me would never be a wise choice.

Connected with difficulty in my mind.

“How about it?”

I stared at him silently.

Gwak Je-gang, who had been full of expectation, finally clicked his tongue as only silence lengthened.

“‘No response’ again this time. As expected, the memories of sacrifices used as mediums are meaningless… Haha, sorry. But as a scientist, I can’t help but ask. Hahaha!”

Gwak Je-gang laughed awkwardly by himself, then muttered to himself casually.

“Still, I had a good show today, Employee. For the past six months you’ve had no reaction like a machine…”

…

Six months?

“They say after six months of service, you need fun events like this so you don’t get the urge to quit. Don’t you think so?”

I realized.

That only six months had passed since I was stuck on this basement 13th floor.

No, had six months already passed.

“Wow~ You must have found it interesting. Three employees in a group who obviously looked like new hires… helped explore the annex basement floors!”

Gwak Je-gang asked subtly and persistently.

“Didn’t you feel any déjà vu? Seeing that sight, did similar knowledge or experience about what kind of work that was come to mind…”

Silence.

“Didn’t you feel sympathy?”

Silence.

“My, you’re quite taciturn. But then… why exactly did you help them?”

…

“Your designated work area is clearly the basement 13th floor. Well, I understand you used a loophole by not leaving the elevator…”

Gwak Je-gang’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

“What could be the reason you helped them, going to such lengths!”

…

“Perhaps because you ‘felt like it’? Because of a sense of duty that you should save people?”

…

“Haha, silence is also a meaningful response. Confusion? I’m curious if similar results would occur even with very, very slight adjustments to variables… Hmm?”

I raised my hand and pointed to Room 666.

Precisely, to the old TV in the corner of the ceiling.

The very place where employee training videos played.

“…Oh.”

And I formed a sentence with smoke.

Work Rule 17: Cooperate with fellow employees.

A sentence from the training video.

Since I reproduced even the font, Gwak Je-gang recognized it immediately.

“Aha, I see!”

The sound of the researcher frantically scribbling something on his tablet PC rang out.

“Because of the training video, very… haha, well this is. Whether to call it gentle, generous, or that rules and order are important keywords! I see. A special department employee’s… haha, I understand well.”

And the pen stopped, then a subtle voice emerged.

“But you wasted your effort. The participants you helped were…”

He raised both hands and waved them like a surprise.

“Not fellow employees. Haha!”

…

I know.

“They weren’t New Employees, just test subjects!”

This wasn’t even a Field Investigation Team orientation to begin with.

A research experiment project of the same name, inspired by that format.

Experiment Name: New Employee Orientation

They weren’t real New Employees.

Precisely, they were people who applied for the entrance exam to become New Employees but failed for various reasons.

But they were deceived by emails sent as if they had passed the department they applied for.

The reason was…

“Like part-time workers recruited for experimental sample collection!”

Civilian exploration record supplementation.

Planned to collect meaningful additional information from darkness lacking in general public exploration cases without prior knowledge.

Selected aptitude matches among failed applicants to conduct simulation in the form of New Employee orientation similar to what successful candidates received.

It’s difficult to carelessly export company-owned darkness to civilians.

So the company’s exploration records are accumulated by the Field Investigation Team, who are darkness investigation specialists.

There was orientation where New Employees, who were closest to civilians, were deployed into darkness, but the darkness used there was selected from those whose capabilities could be verified.

So one researcher came up with a brilliant idea.

-Let’s recycle the applicants!

Since there was no need to separately recruit subjects while avoiding public authority’s eyes, it was even a convenient timing for securing experiment participants.

Of course, all of this wasn’t just fraud.

There are rewards like deception.

Failed candidates who successfully complete missions in the relevant experiment can pass through special recruitment to the Field Investigation Team and officially join the company.

Thus, the company’s official justification is as follows.

‘Let’s create additional successful candidates and give them employment opportunities.’

So…

“Well, you might meet them as fellow employees later…”

People who complete the ‘mission’ and survive in this experiment are given employment opportunities, so in some sense it has become no different from an orientation.

And I know.

‘Jang Heo-un’ passed.

…

Is it really Jang Heo-un?

“Hmm. Do you want to meet again?”

I tried to recall the faces of the three new employees I met earlier.

I can’t remember them. They were melting mosaics.

“Do you have any preference for colleagues in terms of age or gender?”

I can’t remember their voices either. They sounded like low-quality radio.

“Do you have a preferred corpse?”

I looked back at Gwak Je-gang.

“No preferences? Not even one? Really?”

…

I raised my hand.

Gwak Je-gang brightened up at the movement of the smoke.

“That’s right! Communicate through language like that…”

Warning 1

Reason: Work request outside working hours

Accumulated warnings: 1 / 2 until disciplinary action

“…Ah.”

From Room 666, an announcement broadcast began flowing in my head.

The sound announcing my end of work.

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

“No, this interview is more of a casual thing rather than work…”

Warning 2

Reason: Work request outside working hours

“…”

Accumulated warnings: 2 / 1 until disciplinary action

Smoke rises from beneath my feet.

Gwak Je-gang closed his mouth. I can see the tense shoulder muscles of the Security Team members standing around.

Though not visible, I can feel the isolation barrier set up between me and Gwak Je-gang for safety…

But I also know that in Basement 13th Floor, my security zone, I could ignore that and discipline that researcher.

I know.

“…Haha! That’s right. You’re saying that contractually guaranteed rest time must absolutely be observed! I agree. Of course.”

Gwak Je-gang’s grin seemed visible through the flowing mosaic.

It was the quality of an experienced darkness researcher.

Knowing the timing.

“Have a good rest. …There’s plenty of time!”

But his voice doesn’t sound particularly regretful.

From the center of the Security Team, Gwak Je-gang smiled while gathering his handwritten interview notes with a cheerful wave.

“I’m your assigned researcher, you see.”

…

“I’ll help you wholeheartedly from now on. For a long, long time… please take care of me. Hahaha… Even at your new assignment location.”

Some time later.

I open my eyes somewhere other than Annex Basement 13th Floor.

At my new workplace.

Gwak Je-gang typed on his keyboard in ecstasy that reached the top of his head.

Recording experimental results is so enjoyable.

Especially when so many test subjects are involved and various interactions produce exceptional results like this!

“Hahaha, to think this is possible, how on earth did they contract with something like this…”

Gwak Je-gang looked at his PC with the same spinning, laughing eyes.

There was a clean transcription of his handwritten notes, a brief experimental record.

New Employee Orientation 21st Attempt

Cases of interactions between orientation participants and security officers on each floor of the annex basement, the ‘special department employees’, are listed.

And undoubtedly the longest section.

2.2.1 Basement 13th Floor Security Officer (hereafter referred to as 130666)

“To think I could meet like this.”

From the moment Director Cheong first assigned him this ‘special task’, he had hoped just in case.

But to think it would really appear!

Gwak Je-gang recalled the employee with strange horns, gas lamps, and thick smoke who had interrogated him.

That bizarre existence that used the Field Investigation Team’s fastest promoted member as a vessel.

Of course, compared to that time, the existence he met again now seemed somewhat mechanical and constrained…

Wasn’t he really curious about why it had become like that!

‘Did some side effects appear?’

It was truly fascinating!

Especially when analyzing the tendencies shown in this experiment.

He looked at the annotations he had added, unable to control his mouth.

During the 179 days this entity worked as security officer on Basement 13th Floor, it strictly observed work regulations, with no uncooperative or aggressive special cases typically observed in special department entities.

However, in this experiment, it found irregular loopholes in the rules, boarded an elevator stopped in its security zone, accompanied test subjects who had entered the zone, and showed tendencies to help multiple test subjects survive.**

This is what.

**This tendency is similar to the dream collection patterns of employee corpses used in 130666’s employment contract process before their death.

Suspected to be indirect influence of the ego, requesting additional experiments in the future.

“This will definitely be censored.”

It seemed like either a note saying “researcher’s personal opinion” would be added, or this entire content would be deleted altogether.

Well, it wouldn’t be surprising that an entire employee went in as a living sacrifice for a Security Team special department employee’s contract, but the identity is the problem.

“Would they want to reveal it was an elite employee who had the fastest promotion?”

They probably wouldn’t want to specify that.

Especially if some crazy Research Team employee deduced it without even being told…

Gwak Je-gang shrugged his shoulders while thinking of that interesting employee… Kim Sol-eum, and moved his hands faster across the keyboard.

Because the next content was even more interesting!

130666’s Anomalous Aggressiveness

: When covered by the entity’s smoke (hereafter referred to as 130666-1), humanoid darkness mutates into corpses.

No vital signs. Blood and cell sample analysis confirmed them to be human corpses that had just begun decomposing.

CCTV analysis of the elevator carrying 130666 while using this ability showed the entire elevator intermittently covered by 130666. A pattern similar to paranormal phenomena.

He hummed while thinking of the security personnel in the Annex basement who had turned into corpses.

They were slowly recovering with darkness, but were experiencing confused and strange mutation states as if suffering from aftereffects.

Security Team staff sometimes showed special reactions, as if contamination would strike just by going near that area.

Gwak Je-gang grinned.

“What interesting friends they are.”

…So then.

An interesting idea couldn’t help but come to mind.

No other dangerous special circumstances, and 130666 recovered employee form before exiting the elevator.

Therefore!

Therefore, it is officially recognized that this entity is suitable for full-scale special department work.

“Hahaha!”

However.

Dedicated personnel will be assigned to prevent emergency situations and fatal safety accidents.

Gwak Je-gang was excited.

This was already approved by the higher-ups.

So… with personnel he had specially selected.

Safety Responsibility: Security Management Guard Team 3 Leader (J3, real name ■■■)

Control Assistant: Security Management Special Management Team Member (Badger, real name Park Min-seong)

And so.

“…Ah.”

130666 would meet two Security Team employees at his newly reassigned workplace.

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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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