Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 253

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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 253

Lee Ja-heon opened his eyes.

He could see the neat bedsheets and the two-person dormitory bedroom with its elegant and pristine atmosphere featuring exposed gray brick walls.

Outside the window, gray clouds hung gloomily, maintaining a dark and heavy density.

During the fortnight of days he had awakened in this place, sunlight had never been visible even once.

This must be a characteristic of this place.

♩- ♩-

A low, resonant bell sound rang out. Lee Ja-heon got up from bed and changed clothes.

At St. Anticus Boarding School, it was a school rule to always wear the uniform in places other than the bedroom.

He organized his pajamas on the bed.

All students were given pajamas tailored from gray linen cloth of the same specifications, with sizes divided into five categories. Lee Ja-heon completely folded the largest size pajamas he had received.

And the pajamas he needed to organize were not just those.

Next to the student’s pajamas, the White Bride’s clothes must always be arranged side by side.

This was practice as a groom, and a type of curriculum for the ‘education for a successful wedding ceremony’ taught at this school.

Lee Ja-heon finished organizing in an instant and left the bedroom at the designated time.

♩- ♩-

And then breakfast.

During meal times, one must not be late, and must eat with proper posture, holding cutlery according to the designated order.

The menu varied each time, but today it was almonds, roasted heart, and cornelian cherry juice.

During meals, they were taught to always keep the bride’s glass filled so it wouldn’t become empty.

The seat across from the groom was empty, and the bride’s formal dinner glass set there would sometimes have its drink disappear for no reason.

There was a failure. Penalty points accumulated.

♩- ♩-

During morning hours, they learned the groom’s refinement.

They studied and recited poems and idioms related to weddings, learned to play string instruments preferred by the bride, and learned etiquette for welcoming guests.

Lee Ja-heon completed everything without being criticized under our decision.

There was a failure. Penalty points accumulated.

♩- ♩-

Lunch consisted of light sandwiches or finger foods, and they became familiar with the bride’s appearance through the fingers served alongside.

To be skilled when putting on rings during the wedding ceremony.

After finishing the meal in the afternoon, they went to the kitchen together to prepare the evening’s course meal.

Selecting fresh food items and learning how to cook to suit the bride’s taste…

“Gasp, ugh!”

“…”

“…”

“W-wait, no, don’t…!!”

There was a failure. Penalty points accumulated.

♩- ♩-

The evening course meal continued long and elegantly, and the groom students maintained dignity while eating cleanly in silence.

Considering the bride’s eating habits, they distinguished and left behind what should not be eaten from the food on their own plates.

When all serving was finished including dessert, they could organize their seats, give thanks to the Education Supervisor for today’s education, and then rise from their seats.

♩- ♩-

Then from that point began a short rest time.

Lee Ja-heon walked through the corridor at the designated speed.

This boarding school recommended not stepping foot in unclean places that were not areas for students, for the sake of purity, and also suggested methods of rest.

Thus, it was recommended as most desirable to spend today’s rest time fantasizing about ‘what vows to make at the wedding ceremony with the bride.’

Sometimes they would ask during the next day’s breakfast, so one should be prepared with an answer…

Someone grabbed his arm in the corridor.

“Hey, hey…!”

Lee Ja-heon stopped walking.

Desperate whispers followed.

“You, you’re human, right? You are, aren’t you…!”

“Yes.”

A pale face, an expression filled with terror.

A civilian.

“This place… what the hell is it? What is this!”

“Under St. Anticus’s judgment, this is a boarding school that conducts education to become a good groom.”

“I mean, where the fuck does something like that exist, in 21st century Korea!”

Lee Ja-heon answered.

“It doesn’t exist.”

“Huh, huuuh?”

Lee Ja-heon moved his feet…

“W-wait! So… this isn’t Korea? Is this some cult? Were we kidnapped? What kind of fucking horror game is this… it’s not even a ghost story.”

“That’s correct.”

“…Huh?”

“You are currently trapped within a supernatural phenomenon that can be called a ghost story.”

Lee Ja-heon finished his response.

And moved his feet again to do what was planned…

“Hey.”

…

“But why the fuck are you so calm? You’re calm because you know how to get out, right? Right?”

“No.”

“What do you mean no, fuck.”

In the whispering voice, damp anger with nowhere to go twisted together with desperation, eyes rolled back.

If the listener had been someone else, they would definitely have felt a chill.

Lee Ja-heon didn’t perceive that complex and subtle atmosphere, but he clearly understood the next words.

“Since we’re going to die anyway, want to die together?”

“No…”

“Don’t say no, fuck. If I fight with you here, it’s penalty points, you fucking bastard. Do we both want to get penalty points? Or will you share the way out?”

It was a threat.

-Do not make loud noises during rest time.

He must have been someone who was aware of that education.

No, that’s precisely why he had been surviving until now….

However, if there was a problem, it was that his observation skills were lacking, perhaps due to fear.

“Hey, answer me….”

“Do not walk with force in your steps.”

“…Huh?”

It was already too late.

A massive shadow falls over the male who had grabbed Lee Ja-heon.

The Education Supervisor.

“…W-wait a moment. We’re not fighting, we’re just having a casual conversation. It’s break time. Hahaha….”

The Education Supervisor acknowledges this.

However, since they engaged in behavior that goes against the school’s educational goals, penalty points will be accumulated, he announces.

Of course, this isn’t about expulsion, but rather in the spirit of encouragement and assistance.

“…What?”

Because they walked noisily, stomping their feet in the corridor.

How embarrassing would it be if the groom acted so undignifiedly at a wedding? Therefore, this must be prevented now.

That’s why you are receiving instruction at St. Anticus Boarding School.

“E-excuse me.”

The man is captured.

“Gasp!”

The Education Supervisor moves to help the penalty point recipient.

In accordance with the penalty point regulations.

“~!!!”

The surface of the man’s sole is cut open and exposed.

The Education Supervisor kindly places soft rubber and clay in his hands. It’s noise-dampening material to be shaped to fit his feet and attached.

The penalty points only end when he completes it himself and inserts it into his sole.

A gag made of cotton and flesh is inserted into his throat to prevent him from screaming.

The blood of the one writhing in pain and terror stains the corridor.

That too is a penalty point violation.

-Do not cause disturbances during instruction.

Additional measures are implemented amid the Education Supervisor’s contemplation.

The relevant student must walk without making any sound as soon as the foot procedure is completed.

Repeatedly, until he can walk properly without any noise.

“…!!, !!!”

Before this entire scene, Lee Ja-heon momentarily tries to judge by our standards.

The moral imperative of whether to help.

The situational usefulness of whether help would be beneficial.

….

Each conclusion was reached.

Ambiguous.

Negative.

Of the three students who had responded to his requests for help over the past two weeks, two died instantly while accumulating penalty points, and one died during instruction due to complications.

Compared to the two who had to cry while giving themselves penalty points directly, penalty points assisted by the Education Supervisor might actually be better in terms of mental anguish.

Rather than struggling in fear and resignation to somehow carry out bizarre acts no different from torturing oneself while still alive.

“~~!!, !, ….”

The commotion in the corridor subsides.

Lee Ja-heon returned to his bedroom, walking quietly through the corridor without making a sound to avoid accumulating penalty points under our judgment.

And he saw.

On the opposite bed lay a dead student whose internal organs had burst because the evening food ingredients didn’t agree with him.

It seemed he had tried to remove the food from his small intestine himself.

“….”

♩- ♫- ♩-

The bell sound had changed.

From now on, it was time when passage was prohibited, and to protect the bride’s privacy, the groom must rest in his bedroom.

Lee Ja-heon placed his hand on his white uniform to change clothes….

-Manager.

“….”

Lee Ja-heon blinked his eyes.

A voice echoing in his head.

It wasn’t ‘us.’

It belonged to another.

However….

A recognizable personality of someone he knew.

-Are you alright?

“Yes.”

Kim Sol-eum.

The voice of an acquaintance who had once been his team member, whom he was meeting after several months, was echoing in his head.

But just because it was perceived as a voice didn’t mean it was actually sound. Lee Ja-heon knew this.

This was Kim Sol-eum’s mind.

In a manner similar to how we are connected to each other, Kim Sol-eum existed within Lee Ja-heon’s individual mind.

How was such a thing possible?

-Manager, please listen carefully.

-I’m not a hallucination or fake, but I’m really inside your head.

Actually, he knew that too.

Since Lee Ja-heon was part of ‘us,’ he knew what kind of conversation one of us had with Kim Sol-eum.

And he also knew how Kim Sol-eum was now completely inside Lee Ja-heon’s head, mentally connected through some method.

-Right now, I’m… using the ‘We Help’ button in reverse to enter your body, Manager.

That’s right.

‘If the ghost story is blocked, just use someone who’s already inside!’

…With that idea, Kim Sol-eum had sought out the Alien Reptile at the Space Shopping Mall and conveyed his intention to enter Lee Ja-heon’s body, who was trapped in the ghost story, and attempt an escape.

Through the deduction that since items like ‘We Help!’ existed, it would surely work if it was a similar mechanism.

And it really did work.

-If you give me control of your body, I’ll clear that darkness and escape on my own.

Lee Ja-heon felt Kim Sol-eum’s pride inside his head.

A similar emotional chemical reaction was happening within himself as well.

Relief.

-Then… please hand over control.

However.

“I refuse.”

-…!?

‘No, why!’

I looked through the lizard’s vision with the feeling of wanting to scream while tearing at the lizard’s head… no, that’s not right.

Having experienced everything that happened just before entering this mind in surround sound, I wanted to escape quickly without any more arguments or nonsense!

‘This is a completely insane gore-type ghost story!’

The insane boarding school ghost story.

…As Baek Sa-heon calls it, this darkness where Manager Lee Ja-heon is currently missing is a ghost story I’ve encountered enough times on the wiki.

Back then… back then it was okay because it was written in text.

‘But seeing it directly, it couldn’t be more chilling.’

Even with 130666’s body that was dull to all stimuli and emotions, the horror was enough to make me sigh.

No, to be precise, that body was in a sleeping state with only the mind connected to Manager Lee Ja-heon’s body, so I might be feeling it more vividly.

‘Anyway, after devising this method, I worked hard to gather information…’

I thoroughly questioned Gwak Je-gang, and even conducted interviews from the list of people who had escape experience with C-grade dream solution fully loaded.

…That would be Security Captain and Park Min-seong.

When they were in the Field Investigation Team, both were unmarried men, so they seemed suitable as targets.

-You want to know… that…?

…It was quite embarrassing for something to bring up when a team member who had been missing suddenly appeared and we couldn’t even properly catch up.

Of course, we did have various conversations before that… and I also heard news about Director Cheong from Gwak Je-gang, but I’ll organize that later.

Anyway, what’s urgent right now is this.

Lee Ja-heon’s escape.

-Please trust me, Manager.

-If you just hand over control, I’ll quickly take measures so you can successfully complete the instruction.

Based on and even explorer interviews, I’ve identified reference points, irregular elements, and weaknesses.

I know the passing criteria, and I’ve even conceived a slightly irregular way to pass.

‘You just need to do exactly as I say…!’

Even if Manager Lee Ja-heon failed the trial instruction and is repeating the instruction, I can rescue him!

This means I’ve found a way to break through even if a new instruction period hasn’t opened and Manager Lee Ja-heon is in a state of receiving remedial classes.

-I’ll make sure you can definitely pass, Manager.

“I see.”

Yes!

“It’s unnecessary.”

…

-Excuse me?

“Yes.”

No, this alien reptile absolutely isn’t trying to pick a fight on purpose.

He really doesn’t need it.

…Wait.

That means, could it be…

-Why… don’t you need it?

“Because I passed.”

…

“I was specially selected during the trial instruction period. I became a formal student as one of the groom candidates to hold a wedding ceremony with the White Bride here, and I’m about to have the wedding.”

Wait a minute.

“I considered methods like holy fire bombardment to avoid this, but it’s on hold considering the severe civilian casualties.”

…

“Noru?”

-So, you’re saying you’re getting married soon, Manager?

“If things proceed without changes, yes.”

This is driving me crazy.

-…Are there any other special circumstances?

“There are.”

-Please explain.

“Yes. Groom candidates undergo blood collection every night before sleep to achieve an appearance suitable for the wedding. It’s a process to create a pale face similar to the bride’s dress color.”

And Manager Lee Ja-heon took something out from the bedside table.

…A modern-style blood drawing syringe device.

But the size…

Wait, it’s that big?

“If this state continues for more than four days, Lee Ja-heon will be at high risk of death from anemia and complications.”

…

…Manager!!

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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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