Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 23

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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 023

After going through hell to escape from the crazy red mascot zone, we finally arrived at the blue zone.

There we met the welcome Team D… with Team A Leader’s body dangling from the Lizard Manager’s shoulder.

“….”

I barely managed to ask.

“Th-there’s a corpse on the Team Leader’s shoulder….”

“Ah, he just fainted.”

I see.

So he was safely carrying him. Just as I was relieved and regaining my sense of familiarity.

Team D Deputy casually pointed with his thumb at the huge tube he and the Team Leader were dragging.

“The corpses are in there.”

“….”

To see them stuffing corpses into a tube and dragging them around….

“We wrapped them up well, though some are in pieces.”

Please don’t describe it.

“No, it was really horrible, you know? Wow….”

“Noru, be careful because the mascot here acts like some kind of champion of justice.”

“Huh?”

The explanation that followed went like this.

The mascot here extremely hated acts of killing between team members.

“But Team A, that deputy wearing the mantis mask said he’d experiment and went ahead with it.”

While riding the first attraction, he drove Team Y employees into deadly situations one by one, giggling.

Unbuckle your safety belt, stand up, sing along, do a handstand and go down to the tracks….

“All three from Team Y died like that. The last employee was crying and begging, but he didn’t even blink… it was pretty disgusting.”

“….”

And apparently it wasn’t just the companions who felt that way.

Team D Deputy frowned.

“When we got off the attraction, the mascot was waiting right there for the mantis mask. Calling him a ‘bad child’. And then….”

Description omitted for my mental health.

“I thought I was going to throw up.”

“….”

“Well, honestly, he deserved it though! …Though that manager didn’t agree.”

The Team Leader glanced at Team A Leader hanging on the Lizard Team Leader’s shoulder.

“Come to think of it, why did that person faint anyway?”

“Well… our Team Leader, uh,”

“….”

W-wait a minute.

Don’t tell me.

“Actually, that person made some unreasonable demands of us back then. I think he was trying to save his team member somehow.”

And when that got excessive….

“The Team Leader struck the back of his neck.”

“….”

“Hey. We’re going to say he collapsed on his own from high blood pressure, so you keep your mouth shut too, Noru.”

“Yes.”

I’ll take it to the grave.

“Oh, and about why Team Y employees were treated like that….”

“I heard the general story. From that person.”

I glanced slightly at the deputy wearing the butterfly mask.

“…Really? Okay.”

The Team Leader’s expression improved slightly. It seemed like he was relieved to skip over a topic too dark for him to discuss himself.

“But are your team members okay?”

Ah.

I hurriedly checked the cow mask with the pierced shoulder and the butterfly mask with bubbles on the face.

“There are people who need first aid. Could we possibly get some help?”

“Yes.”

Suddenly, the Lizard Manager dropped his burden… Team A Leader onto the ground with a thud.

And started shaking his shoulder.

“W-wait a moment, Team Leader!”

“Ugh!”

“…?!”

The Lizard Manager who had shaken Team A Leader awake said with a calm face.

“Manager Seok. There are employees who need treatment.”

“Wh-what….”

Team A Leader, who had a dazed expression, soon pointed accusingly at the Lizard Manager with a sharp look.

“You!! You!”

“Yes.”

“What happened to Deputy Lee! The one wearing the mantis mask….”

“He died.”

“….”

“….”

“…What were you all doing while he was dying?”

“We waited until he died, collected the body, and rode the next attraction.”

Good lord.

Team A Leader looked speechless for a moment, then barely managed to stammer out.

“You, you watched my Team A die?? Lee Ja-heon, are you in your right mind?? How are you going to take responsibility! This loss…!”

“? I’m Team D Leader. Team A is not under my jurisdiction.”

The Lizard narrowed his pupils as if puzzled.

“The loss from Team A Deputy Lee Seok-jong’s death is your responsibility as the team leader.”

“….”

To actually see someone make such a statement in a company setting….

Even with the same job title, if he’s from an elite team, he’d definitely be a superior.

It sent chills down my spine in a different way.

“….”

Team A Leader was quietly glaring at Manager Lee Ja-heon with bloodshot eyes.

“You who fainted also rode all three attractions together, meeting the clear conditions. Now treat your employees and take responsibility….”

“Team Leader.”

This wasn’t a sound trying to stop Manager Lee Ja-heon.

This was the butterfly mask deputy calmly addressing Team A Leader who was on the verge of losing it.

“Wouldn’t it be better to go outside and discuss this? Let’s clear this before more variables appear. You need to meet that crazy Research Team 1 person too.”

“…Right. That’s right.”

The eyes behind the mallard duck mask blinked and gradually calmed down.

It seemed the priority target of his anger had been refixed.

But he still left one parting remark.

“Team Leader Lee Ja-heon, let’s meet outside.”

“Yes.”

The Team Leader whispered to me quietly.

“It’s fine. Our Team Leader hearing lines like that is an annual event.”

“….”

Is it really… okay?

‘What’s certain is that I’m not in a position to get involved here.’

Let’s just keep quiet and stay out of sight.

Anyway, Team A Leader used his exclusive equipment to treat the Butterfly Mask Deputy.

The sight of the skin around his jaw and head regenerating as if rewinding was amazing.

“There are hardly any employees with that kind of exclusive equipment. I’m jealous.”

Me too.

‘I wonder if there’s a way to get something like that.’

Having something like that would probably increase my survival rate quite a bit.

I watched Team A Leader’s exclusive equipment, the healing ring, quite intently.

‘Healing… huh.’

After Team A Leader confirmed that the Butterfly Mask employee was fairly well treated, he tried to pass by the Team Y Employee with holes in his shoulder without any consideration…

“Could you possibly treat this one too? We need to move together and I’m worried about reduced mobility.”

“…!”

Surprisingly, Team A Deputy Manager subtly suggested treating me and the Team Y New Employee.

Thanks to that, the Team Y New Employee, whose shoulder was healed in the confusion, blinked his eyes under the Cow Mask.

“…Thank you.”

Team A Deputy Manager nodded slightly.

‘Is he really the type who only thinks about work efficiency…’

Once he grasped the mechanism of how this ghost story works and secured safety and escape methods, his decision-making changed to minimize risks.

‘Is that type of person an elite in this company…’

I decided to keep an eye on and remember Team A’s equipment and characteristics. …It would be nice if I could forget about the corpses in the tubes while I’m at it.

“Alright, let’s ride the two attractions we got on and get out quickly.”

“Ah, thank you.”

As soon as the treatment process was finished, the red team moved toward the attractions to fill the remaining spots on their boarding pass bracelets.

The others followed along without leaving.

“It’ll be done in exactly 30 minutes, so don’t worry.”

It seemed like they were waiting both to check the situation and look after the new employees.

I was grateful, but thinking about the corpse tubes following us, it might have been less scary if they just left…

“Like I said before, the mascots here are quite moral for monsters.”

Hmm. I actually suspected that from the phone call.

‘If they rode three attractions that quickly, there’s only one reason.’

A generous mascot that demands things that aren’t humanly excessive.

These teams were lucky enough to beat incredible odds and get such an area.

“When we asked what was inside the attractions, they kindly answered? They even gave us souvenirs for riding three first.”

Lucky them. Getting such sweet deals.

While someone else was running around that crazy Magic Bunny Zone…

What’s interesting is that just looking at survival rates, the red team had everyone survive, so more people actually lived.

Anyway, the red team soon arrived at the attraction entrance where a blue dragon character riding a dolphin was smiling.

And when we entered the attraction… we saw a figure with a cutely exaggerated blue dragon head.

A blue mascot wearing a life jacket.

[Hello]

The mascot waved a greeting sign.

I bowed my head slightly in greeting. The mascot greeted me back.

“Hmm.”

Then we got on the flume ride called ‘Blue Mountain’. It was a typical ride where you get on a boat and enjoy moving along water streams.

The other two Field Investigation Team members also got on safely.

However, the last person was the problem.

“Fuck.”

The Researcher smirked and spat curses at the mascot.

It seemed like his hatred and fear toward Magic Bunny finally burst out when he saw a similar but less scary mascot.

“These fucking disgusting bastards…”

“Please get on quickly.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The Researcher glanced at the mascot and boarded the attraction.

The Blue Dragon Mascot’s button-like eyes silently watched this scene.

“…”

As a result of successfully boarding the remaining attractions as well.

■

“Finally…!”

“Phew.”

We finally filled all the boarding pass slots.

“The exit is to the north. We’ll move there.”

“Yes!”

We were wet, but that didn’t matter. What was important was that we could finally escape from this damn theme park.

‘I don’t want to go within a 1km radius of an amusement park for a while…’

[Have a safe trip home]

Above the gate machines at the north exit, a typical goodbye sign was flashing.

And next to it stood a blue mascot in formal attire.

“They say we need to scan our used boarding passes here and then exit.”

The blue mascot politely pointed to the gate machine with his hand.

“Alright then, the team leaders should go out first. Go ahead.”

Team D Deputy made the wise choice of organizing the situation and sending the supervisors out first.

People went out one by one, and it was around the time for deputy managers and below to exit.

“Alright then, Assistant Manager Jin first…”

“G-get out of the way!”

The Researcher pushed past the employees and rushed to the gate first.

“What the…”

The team leaders and deputy managers looked somewhat dumbfounded, but they seemed to let it slide with a ‘that’s how civilians are’ kind of feeling.

It’s not like going out a few seconds later would be a loss.

Regardless, the Researcher frantically tried to scan his boarding pass bracelet at the gate.

‘That seems to be a habit of his.’

Honestly, it’s annoying…

Bad child

“…Huh?”

The Researcher turned his head.

The Blue Dragon Mascot was gripping his boarding pass bracelet with its claws.

The paper bracelet crumpled.

You

Snap,

Bad child

Snap,

That’s right

It broke.

Thud.

The Researcher looked at the bracelet fragments falling to the floor with a dumbfounded expression, as if he couldn’t understand what was happening.

And then.

“Haaaaaaah, aaah!!”

The Blue Dragon’s mouth gaped wide open.

“Save me! Save me!”

He was being sucked in.

Beside me, Cow Mask muttered as if possessed.

“Ooooscarytheseagodisangryeviloneisbeingsuckedintothesea scary…”

I covered Team Y New Employee’s mouth and pressed down on his head.

I also lowered my own head to avoid looking.

“Aaaaaaaah!!”

So it ends up like this after all…

When you move to a different zone, the aggro you drew from the previous zone’s mascot disappears.

However, the things you did accumulate.

======================

Pleasant Theme Park Usage Guidelines (Applied up to Investigation Record #64)

6. Don’t forget that the theme park is a public space!

Follow etiquette and manners when using public facilities! Countless eyes are watching you and no one forgets.

Look, there’s a mascot behind you.

======================

All mascots in Cheerful Theme Park know about the things done inside.

So that includes what the Researcher had done before.

-Get out of the way, you bastard!

Including when he pushed Team A Deputy Manager to die in his place while running from the Red Mascot.

‘They probably tried to let it slide once considering it was an extreme situation…’

The problem was that he repeated the same behavior.

‘It’s karma, what else.’

The Researcher’s screams echoing in my ears were now turning into wails.

“That bastard tried to kill me too!! Why only me, only me!! This trash, this trash…”

Right.

But Team A Deputy Manager never actually went through with it. He listened when persuaded.

‘But you didn’t listen.’

At this point, even I, a resident of Coward’s Shelter, thought it was his own doing.

-Save meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…

The Researcher’s voice stretched out like taffy, leaving behind an eerie creepiness.

‘Ugh.’

When my coward’s heart reflexively reacted and my body flinched.

“Don’t.”

“…”

Team A Employee grabbed my arm and held me down.

And said as if stopping me.

“You can’t save him.”

I… wasn’t even thinking of trying.

Anyway, I stayed still as he said.

Soon the screaming disappeared, and the eerie feeling around us subsided.

When I raised my head, there was only the Blue Dragon Mascot standing politely in its neat appearance as before.

It was hard to believe it had just killed someone.

It became somewhat more creepy.

‘The standards are… stricter than I thought.’

As expected of being inside a ghost story.

This mascot seemed to have its own beliefs or standards. Beyond simply not harming team members.

‘Let’s act carefully.’

“…Let’s go out again.”

“Yes.”

Again, one person, two people, the remaining people went out.

I wondered if it might be different, but it was seniority order after all.

“Let’s see outside.”

I gave up and sent the supervisors out first.

And after seeing off even Coward Comrade.

I finally stood at the gate next to the Blue Dragon Mascot.

“…”

The cutely deformed dragon looked at me with round eyes.

Um, could you not look at me?

Actually, I’m really scared. Being left last like this is also very nerve-wracking. I’m just forcing myself so my cowardice won’t be discovered.

That’s when it happened.

Good child

“…!”

Ah, is it trying to reassure me?

The mascot’s voice didn’t sound eerily distorted like before.

‘Property damage… it does seem to be letting it slide.’

Thank goodness.

“Thank you.”

I bowed my head and tried to pass by.

However, the mascot moved and blocked my path.

“…?”

Good child

gets gift

The Blue Dragon extended its hand.

And gently grabbed my wrist.

More precisely, the Ride Pass Bracelet hanging there.

■

The bracelet seemed to grow slightly warm, and then when the mascot finally let go of my hand…

◎

The text had changed.

Let’s keep playing

…Huh?

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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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