Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 237

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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 237

The underground bunker of a cult.

Dinner time where all the believers sit together in a circle.

A voice echoes in the silence.

“Wow.”

….

“Wow, how fascinating.”

The ghost story of Mumyeong Chanran Temple is looking at me.

“Only Dragon came?”

Smiling brightly.

Turning their gaze to the two empty seats beside me.

“Fox and Grandma Kim Bok-ja aren’t here, only Dragon came.”

….

“You know what. Why do you think those two couldn’t come?”

Speculation: Mild forgetfulness

Reason: Natural aging due to advanced age

“Is Fox dissing me for being older than him? Hahahaha!”

Hahahaha….

Laughter spreads through the cafeteria.

“Don’t worry! They’re both fine. They seemed to want to tour around, so I was being considerate.”

Tour.

[Oh my, seems we’ve been found out.]

Probably.

I tried not to imagine what situation those two might be in with an ‘overly creative direction.’

However.

“So, want to continue eating? Or want to go see those two?”

…Ha.

Rule: Everyone eats together for breakfast and dinner.

“Right! But you’re not a believer, are you? So you’re an exception.”

….

“Come follow me! I’ll show you. The others will continue eating!”

“That’s right.”

People smiled and nodded, then resumed their meal while talking to each other about things like ‘sharing happiness.’

I got up from my seat, gathering my smoke as I followed the twins….

Numbering the worst-case scenarios I could think of.

‘As long as Deputy Manager isn’t dead.’

And as long as Ho Yu-won didn’t escape alone, as long as it’s not that, anything would be fine.

The possibility is small. Let me remember that….

The twins left the cafeteria located to the east and walked through the dim cement-finished corridor to the expected location.

The central great cavity.

The place where rituals were performed.

And….

“Here they are.”

Among the numerous coffins, they pointed behind one coffin leaning against the wall.

“Want to go in?”

The older sister side grinning cheerfully and the younger brother side with no expression.

After seeing that obvious yet unsettling appearance once, I produced thick smoke and sent it into the space behind the coffin.

There was.

“Ah. You’ve come.”

…Ho Yu-won with a perfectly fine complexion, and Eun Ha-je disguised as Grandma Kim Bok-ja, both leaning against the wall.

At least both people seemed intact.

‘Phew.’

I saw Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s eye signal and slowly stepped into the space. That place was….

‘…Factory equipment?’

It seemed like some kind of facility.

The size wasn’t as overwhelming as the cavity, but it secured sufficient space, slightly larger than the cafeteria, with pipes and mechanical sounds humming throughout.

A place that seemed like an old, aged factory compressed and implemented as small equipment.

[Indeed! A bunker equipped with production facilities.]

[Preppers sometimes build underground bunkers with long-term living in mind, not just simple evacuation! This must be an example of that.]

Steam was spouting from the installed pipes. I detected the smell of disinfectant lingering in that air….

“Impressive, right?”

I turned my head.

The twins were now standing in this space too.

Both were now smiling cheerfully.

“Curious what we’re making?”

….

“Ask away. Quickly. There’s Fox who toured first.”

I looked at Ho Yu-won.

He glanced at the equipment, then said with a smile.

“It’s a place for brewing alcohol.”

….

…!!

“Correct, …ta-da!”

As the twins moved aside, the view beyond what they had been blocking was revealed….

A massive jar.

The height of two people standing and tremendous width.

However, not pottery, but a large rectangular water tank that looked like cheap plastic revealed itself.

I realized.

What was lingering in the air wasn’t the smell of disinfectant.

It was the smell of alcohol, ethanol.

Coming from that jar.

“How is it? Magnificent, right?”

The place where the divine liquor made by steeping Centipede Monk in Jisan Village used to be.

Right here underground at the village shrine, they had recreated that jar.

Exactly the same.

“Right in this spot. Long ago, there was a festival where people drank alcohol brewed with the Mimic cult’s centipede. Everyone heard Name-nim’s voice there and saw a happy ending.”

….

“But someone seems to have stolen all the alcohol. Even the centipede was completely taken. Then someone has to refill it, right? We’re going to try!”

Wait a minute.

Then what exactly are they planning to put in instead of the centipede….

“I was thinking dragon or fox liquor might be good.”

…!

“Ah, but you haven’t been initiated yet! That won’t do.”

That’s.

“For the liquor to have the effect of awakening Name-nim… we’d need to infuse it with the faithful and miraculous divine authority of Mumyeong Chanran Temple.”

Divine authority.

The language of Mumyeong Chanran Temple that calls forth ghost stories.

“So I prepared the divine authority. Ah, here come the participants.”

I heard footsteps behind me.

There, echoing through the massive cavity, the footsteps of dozens of people.

“Congratulations on completing the initiation ceremony!”

….

I turned my head.

Beyond the entrance.

The initiates who had finished their evening meal were standing there.

The initiates standing in front of the coffin were all quietly lined up.

Without making any sound, they smiled knowingly and looked inside.

A strange sense of unity.

As I examined their faces….

….

Wait a minute.

Question :

“Hm? Noru-nim, I’ve told you several times that it’s not your turn to ask questions right now….”

Question : Whether 130666’s facial recognition degradation (mosaic) prohibition spell has been lifted

“…You’re saying strange things.”

Ho Yu-won declares.

“I’ve never touched Noru-nim’s prohibition spell….”

….

Then.

Why can I see everyone’s faces so clearly?

From the first day, I hadn’t seen anyone’s face in this underground bunker as a mosaic or melting mass.

Since everyone was like that, I accepted it as it was. Because I had briefly left Daydream Company to accompany Director Ho, because of his words telling me to ‘gain freedom for a while.’

I had naturally accepted it.

And so now I was facing it.

The truth I had missed.

“Spread happiness!”

The mouths of the initiated people opened as if reciting predetermined lines.

I saw even inside them.

Those mouths.

The shape of the wriggling tongue moving inside the pronouncing mouth….

That it wasn’t a tongue but something else.

“Let’s spread happiness.”

It was a bug.

A red flesh mass similar to a tongue, an earthworm-like bug moved inside the mouth in place of the tongue. As if it had completely replaced all tongue functions, its movement was natural and skillful, but the snout at the end opened to reveal teeth.

“Oh, did you see? Cool, right? That divine authority is actually derived from fear of fish parasites. It attaches to the tongue root, gradually eating away the tongue while replacing it. And….”

The whisper of the Happy Ending Cult.

“It spreads quickly? …Just by having conversations during meals together.”

And so I realized.

How arrogant the position was from which I had made that sarcastic remark I had thrown out in such an indifferent, analytical way.

-No, how do they form that sense of unity anyway.

How arrogant that question had been.

Reality is not a wiki.

Just because the settings revealed in the wiki seem childish doesn’t mean the situation lacks plausibility. How fragmentarily I had viewed this situation.

In reality, phenomena always have reasons and foundations.

I just… didn’t know them.

-The details that make this unreasonable situation possible

They existed.

-Small symbols shared only among themselves

They had existed.

‘Ghost story.’

All the initiates had been contaminated by the same ghost story. That’s why I could see their faces.

And that ghost story was….

“Amazing, right?”

Something I didn’t know about.

I knew almost nothing about what ghost stories the Happy Ending Cult used as divine authority. Only the powerful and impressive ones had been randomly registered on the wiki.

…Would it be meaningful to read it even now?

Would it be meaningful to control this insane situation, where all the initiates’ tongues had been replaced by parasites and probably everyone’s thinking ability and cognitive power were being controlled by those parasites….

[Oh, Friend. There’s a thought you carelessly overlooked.]

What?

[If we’re talking about all initiates, isn’t there one you haven’t confirmed yet?]

‘…!’

I stiffly turned my head.

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je.

The Deputy Manager’s face looking back at me was perfect without a single point of mosaic or melting…. Just like on the first day.

….

Smoke rises.

Recommendation : Check the tongue

However.

“Ah. It’s fine. Peregrine Falcon’s tongue is perfectly healthy.”

Ah.

“Peregrine Falcon is already infected, you see. Other parasites can’t enter.”

Wait a minute.

I met Ho Yu-won’s eyes, but there was no time to argue.

Because.

“The story’s all finished, right? Then now… the initiation ceremony is over, so it’s time to start work.”

The twins raise both hands.

“Everyone, let’s go to your positions!”

People begin to move.

The initiates enter the facility without hesitation, still lined up in a row. And…

They pass by me and advance cheerfully.

Further inside.

As if placed on a conveyor belt, they walk at a constant speed along the facility’s pipes, climbing up above…

And throw themselves in just like that.

Splash, splash, splash!

People fall into the strong liquor.

‘…!!’

With clear and even cheerful sounds, people disappear into cheap white plastic containers with splashing noises. They sink. The refreshing sounds continue without interruption.

“It’s going to be wonderful liquor.”

They contaminate dozens of people with ghost stories, brewing liquor from those who are no longer human.

…Using the entire congregation as ingredients instead of centipedes.

That was the purpose of this initiation ceremony, why the underground bunker was located here.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?”

…

Chills run up my spine.

“When it’s complete, you should drink some too. Drink and come to know Name-nim.”

And I realized that one more emotion had returned to me. It was…

Already Known Entity: Name-nim

Disgust.

“Huh?”

Mumyeong Chanran Temple’s Doctrine:

This world belongs to Name-nim. Only Name-nim’s will and choices have meaning.

“That’s right! That’s it!”

Right?

But they probably don’t actually know.

Do you know what the absurd truth behind this doctrine is?

This is actually…

The content that appears when you click the spoiler.

The author of the wiki.

It’s simple.

was initially structured following the format of ordinary websites. So when you clicked to contribute to write wiki entries, a name field would appear.

But since anonymity was the basic rule, the principle was not to touch the name field.

So when contributors uploaded ghost stories as they were… this would happen.

Author: Name

This format.

Thus all wiki pages were written as ‘Author: Name’.

And Mumyeong Chanran Temple initially started as just a small meta ghost story inspired by this.

The chilling concept of entities within ghost stories becoming aware of their author, transcending the fourth wall.

But as countless people attached themselves to it, it gained its own vitality and grew madly until it became a massive religious organization.

Mumyeong Chanran Temple mistakenly worships this ‘Author: Name’ as a great divine being.

…Just like a real pseudo-religious cult.

And what this means is.

Something that has contradictions from its very birth according to Mumyeong Chanran Temple doctrine

: The Happy Ending Cult.

In fact, it means the Happy Ending Cult harbors fundamental setting errors.

“…Huh?”

Do you perhaps remember?

What I said to the people of Jisan Village in front of the Centipede Monk.

-Those weak ones who cannot accept this truth fled from the world through death, but that is not an escape route.

That’s right.

Death is not an escape route.

You cannot run away from Name-nim.

“Th-that’s.”

Therefore death is

▶ Cannot be happiness.

▶ Cannot be an ending.

It means there’s no such thing as a happy ending.

Going around killing people under that pretext is also.

Doctrinal contradiction

Meaningless act

“…”

The Happy Ending Sect Executive closed their mouth.

A quiet face with the smile gone, beneath the red headband, above the old school uniform.

A face drained of vitality.

I suddenly realize that face isn’t as youthful as I thought….

And.

“Does that matter?”

…!!

“Isn’t it ghost story-like enough? People dying meaninglessly, it’s all a misunderstanding… Name-nim would take notice. We’re doing well.”

Splash, splash.

“Right? A hundred people are jumping into the cave right now, but if it’s all just meaningless death, if the Happy Ending Cult itself is a joke, that’s interesting.”

…Something.

Was strange.

That wasn’t intentionally performed eeriness.

In other words, it wasn’t the flat expression commonly seen in ghost stories or horror, where mental breakdown suddenly surfaces and screams ‘Aren’t I scary?’

It was real.

So this was….

“Unique, interesting, with plot twists too. It’s fun.”

Fear.

I look at the twins with the face of a delicate-featured youth in school uniform. That appearance, even contrived.

Desperate even… blatant individuality.

“Name-nim would like it, right?”

….

“Name-nim would like it, so they’d want to watch longer!”

I realized.

‘They knew.’

It wasn’t that they didn’t know.

Though only baseless cruelty and characterization made from fragmentary and unpleasant stimuli shows on the wiki, reality is different.

Simply for them….

“Then that’s enough.”

Name-nim was terror itself.

Ghost stories running rampant in this world is Name-nim’s will.

They know that.

Then they must act to suit that taste as much as possible. Do absurd things, cause interesting incidents, create cruel actions, even bizarre situations.

Trying to act to suit that taste.

“Then that’s enough.”

That was the true identity of the Happy Ending Cult.

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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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