Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 256

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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 256

Eun Ha-je almost spat out the ice cream she was eating.

A formal and cheerful voice from the TV was hosting a matchmaking program.

[Dear viewers. Tonight, the most intense fruit of love will come to you.]

[Let’s meet these wonderful groom candidates who are about to get married!]

On the screen, along with low-quality orchestral band sounds that seemed lo-fi processed, the figures of young men dressed in white suits passed by within heart-shaped effects.

[Who among them will capture the bride’s heart?]

Their tall and neat appearances indeed seemed worthy of appearing on a romance TV program.

If only her workplace superior wasn’t among them…

He was even smiling stylishly at the screen.

“Fuck.”

The curse came out reflexively, but it was more insane bewilderment than displeasure.

‘That man…,’

Is he contaminated?

A chilling feeling began to rise in the place where the intense absurdity had passed.

Eun Ha-je held back her swearing and started gathering her equipment, throwing aside the ice cream.

All while keeping her eyes fixed on the screen.

[The wedding is coming tomorrow! But only one person among the seven candidates can become the white bride’s groom.]

[Among those willing to sacrifice their lives for love, who will be able to bear that fruit?]

The more she focused on the screen, the more strange things caught her eye.

Like the participant profiles of the program that were introduced in a light tempo, passing by in an instant.

Name: ■■■■ ■■■

Height: 37cm

Weight: 4kg

Hobbies: Cello, recitation, suffocation

A word of determination: I’m sorry please stop the groom who will kiss the bride is me!

Strange numbers in the height and weight sections, numerous apologies and pleas in the remarks section, unfocused faces in the profile photos.

Right.

Easy to overlook carelessly, but noticeable when you focus. It was as if they were taken after dressing up dead corpses…

[We can’t leave out the cheering from the preliminary elimination contestants!]

Those who appeared in cuts that passed by briefly, like audience members or acquaintances cheering for participants, also didn’t look normal.

Those with traces of mutilation, torture, and modification seemingly hidden with makeup cheered with painted-on smiling faces.

But all of this passed by like flowing water in a bright and cheerful atmosphere, and the program introduction was now reaching its climax.

The standard of entertainment programs.

Introduction of the professional celebrity host.

[And we proudly introduce! Our program’s host!]

In the cut of groom candidates entering the wedding hall, a handsome man following at the very back turned around to look at the camera and winked.

It was Lee Ja-heon.

“Cough! Kugh!”

[He infiltrated as a groom candidate and experienced all the training courses with the participants. That’s right. It’s me!]

[With insight from experience, I’ve constructed a very stimulating, dangerous, and heart-pounding love survival course for today!]

While Eun Ha-je frantically cleared her choked throat.

[Then let’s begin!]

On the screen were the grooms each striking cool poses to decorate the end of the opening…

And Lee Ja-heon in a white suit, raising both arms in the center and greeting gracefully.

“This is insane.”

It’s contamination.

Eun Ha-je immediately picked up her smartphone.

Her hand was quick and accurate as she dialed the direct number the Disaster Management Bureau agents had given her.

Kim Sol-eum had made contact with the space shopping mall and explained to the disaster bureau his condition of becoming defenseless and unconscious, while simultaneously asking the two agents to monitor him just in case.

The call connected after just two rings, and Eun Ha-je asked bluntly.

“Is Sol-eum alright?”

-Excuse me?

“We need to check. Right now.”

From the other side, there were only sounds of checking Kim Sol-eum’s protective space at the Disaster Management Bureau for a moment.

And then.

-His pulse, breathing, and body temperature are all normal. Why do you ask?

“…”

Well, that…

Eun Ha-je was about to explain when her eyes met with a groom candidate on the TV screen.

Candidate No. 3, whose name was unknown, was playing violin while holding a flower in his mouth, pretending to be pitiful…

“…”

-Citizen?

“As long as he’s fine, that’s enough.”

Eun Ha-je ended the call after telling them to call if anything happened.

…It is a ghost story.

But it doesn’t seem as extreme or serious as expected.

‘Could this be… Sol-eum pulling some extraordinary stunt to escape again?’

She couldn’t tell whether the situation was dangerous or if Sol-eum had twisted things strangely.

Deputy Eun Ha-je picked up her ice cream again and watched TV with a troubled expression.

At least Manager Lee Ja-heon’s safety seemed, well, completely fine…

[The first competition is poetry recitation.]

[The candidate who most beautifully combines the poems written on bookmarks hidden throughout the wedding hall and recites an elegant poem wins!]

The program was stimulating.

It spotlighted each candidate, making viewers either mock or cheer for them.

Cute and funny background music played for two candidates who created ridiculous poems, receiving warm reactions.

Conversely, cheers were sent to someone who, despite not finding several bookmarks, completed a wonderfully magnificent poem with brilliant inspiration.

And finally… for the two candidates who ultimately failed to properly create poems.

They hung side by side from the boarding school tower top window.

[We will now receive votes from our viewers.]

[Who should be eliminated? And who should remain to continue this competition?]

They would be eliminated based on the ‘viewers” decision.

[Please press the numbers on your remote to decide! For just 60 seconds, the fate of these groom candidates will change.]

“….”

Eun Ha-je held the remote and looked at the screen.

[ Elimination Selection: No. 1 ]

[ Elimination Selection: No. 5 ]

Every time she placed her hand on a number button on the remote, the profile photo of each person corresponding to that number enlarged on the TV screen.

‘Hah…’

A physically impossible situation.

Even the real-time viewer voting rates were reflected on the screen…

[ Elimination Selection: No. 1 ] 37%

[ Elimination Selection: No. 5 ] 63%

In the last 10 seconds of voting time, it disappeared.

And then the countdown.

10, 9, 8, 7…

[Ah, the results are in!]

With applause and disappointed sound effects, the eliminated candidate’s profile was shown in close-up.

The eliminated candidate was hit on the head with a book from the top of the boarding school and fell down in a ridiculous pose.

[Eliminated!]

Along with the sound of cymbals, exaggerated effects and cackling laughter were inserted.

And some of the people called ‘trial students’ sitting in the guest seating were also bounced from their seats, and the lighting on their seats disappeared.

The sound of them being thrown out the window rang out loudly.

[The trial students who chose the wrong answer share the same fate. How unfortunate!]

And this time, showing the remaining groom candidates, an atmosphere full of encouragement and relief was created.

[There are 6 groom candidates remaining.]

[Congratulations, everyone. You’ve gotten one step closer to the bride!]

The most chilling point was,

that all of it had been entertaining.

[They say in the old days, whoever captures the stomach captures the heart! It’s a perfect expression for the second round.]

[That’s right, a meal! We’ll compete on how to set a nutritious and warm lunch table for the bride. The eliminated… oh my, two people will be selected!]

Interesting.

Even cruel punishments, when combined with cheerful sound effects and comical effects, were no longer interpreted as tragedies.

The elimination scenes inside the TV, which had become faithful comedies proportional to the distance from the viewers, only provided nail-biting immersion or hollow laughter.

And emotions added like seasoning.

The regret when a somewhat likeable participant was eliminated, the satisfaction when a participant who wasn’t particularly noteworthy but had been lucky enough to survive was finally eliminated.

The pleasure of evaluation.

The hollow laughter and cheerfulness provided by the absurd elimination methods.

The dopamine sensation that naturally paralyzed the sensors of ethics and morality in the mind from functioning.

“….”

Eun Ha-je felt a brief chill as she looked at the empty ice cream container she was holding.

She had naturally picked up the ice cream again without realizing it. As if she were truly watching an entertaining TV program.

A thrilling sense of crisis rang through the back of her neck.

‘It seems like a high grade.’

But nothing went wrong. The program flowed like water, and it didn’t suddenly jump into reality or brutally kill Manager Lee Ja-heon.

Eventually, five groom candidates were ‘eliminated’ in various ways, and the trial students who had been cheering for those candidates gradually disappeared from the guest seating…

And so it reached the finale.

[Only two candidates remain!]

[No. 2 and No. 6.]

The finals.

The screen showed the two groom candidates actively waving their hands toward the camera, as if they had become immersed in the program.

[This is the final round.]

[The winner will have the honor of walking down the wedding aisle to meet the bride!]

The wedding venue had somehow finished all preparations for the wedding ceremony, and soft lighting and piano performance sounds were gently flowing through the hall…

And the round category befitting a final showdown.

[It’s the bride’s choice.]

Eun Ha-je unconsciously leaned forward to watch the TV.

The camera turned.

From the end of the white velvet wedding aisle where the groom candidates stood, to the altar ahead.

No one was there yet.

[Now the bride will come out herself to greet the groom, and the wedding ceremony will begin.]

[Who will the bride choose?]

The camera showed the groom candidates’ full bodies mixed with joy, anticipation, tension, and worry, then the angle changed.

It was an angle that showed the wedding aisle lengthwise from the side.

A camera that captured the overall appearance of the wedding venue, with the side profiles of the groom candidates standing side by side caught at the right edge of the screen.

It was a mise-en-scène that made everyone anticipate that it would properly capture the bride’s first appearance as she approached through the wedding aisle.

And.

[Let’s begin.]

A drum roll sounded along with cheerful music.

The viewers imagined the bride and watched the screen with anticipation.

But…

“….”

Nothing happens.

‘What?’

Eun Ha-je slightly lowers her head toward the TV. Still nothing appears on the screen, but there seems to be some noise. And something appeared from the other side of Wedding Road

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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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