Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 273
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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 273
In the frozen air.
A voice coming from outside the iron door, the only entrance to the narrow space where the ghost story was isolated.
Teacher?
….
Teacher?
I have some educational materials I prepared!
“Wha—.”
I covered Baek Sa-heon’s mouth. Baek Sa-heon reflexively tried to struggle but then froze stiff.
Because both the Security Chief and I were staring at the iron door without moving a muscle.
“….”
“….”
The sound stopped.
The voice of the daycare teacher from ■■ Affiliated Kindergarten was no longer heard from outside the iron door, as if it were a lie.
However, I could already guess their identity.
‘…Park Min-seong.’
The person who had been working at the Annex Front was now standing right behind the isolation door on Basement Level 2, having left their post.
In a completely contaminated state.
‘….’
An eerie premonition sent chills crawling up my spine. Through fragments of flesh I couldn’t locate, inside my uniform.
‘What did Director Cheong do?’
I carefully took a step toward the isolation iron door….
Beep.
“…!”
The door lock was released.
The iron door opened through the Security Team authentication procedure. I could sense the Security Chief beside me pressing down his cap and moving forward. Creak, the iron door opened. And through that gap….
A hand suddenly came in.
Teacher, please look at this!
Wearing a hand puppet.
Today’s storytelling performance. It’s about….
The kindergarten teacher’s finger movements made the puppet wave its arms and head cutely and cheerfully. With braided brown hair in pigtails and rosy cheeks….
A red cloak.
A child wearing a red hood.
Once upon a time, there lived a cute and brave little girl. She always wore a red cloak that her grandmother made for her.
From beside me.
I heard a strange sound.
One day, the girl was on her way to grandmother’s house with cake and butter when….
She met a big, hungry wolf.
I tried to approach the door to stop the storytelling performance.
But strangely, my body wouldn’t move.
As if following someone’s orders.
Just like that.
The hungry wolf spoke to Little Red Riding Hood.
‘Child, where are you going?’
Another arm with neatly rolled-up dress shirt sleeves appeared through the door gap. A mischievously deformed wolf hand puppet conversed with Little Red Riding Hood.
The wolf found out that Little Red Riding Hood was visiting grandmother’s house, so he went ahead of the child to grandmother’s house first and….
Ate up the grandmother!
A black form rippled.
You don’t know how deliciously he swallowed her in one bite. Our students at ■■ Affiliated Kindergarten should eat well like this without being picky, shouldn’t they?
And this wolf’s appetite was endless, so he prepared another delicious meal as planned….
That’s right, Little Red Riding Hood.
The sound of licking lips.
Could be heard.
The wolf disguised as grandmother lay in bed and welcomed Little Red Riding Hood!
Little Red Riding Hood tilted her head and asked.
‘Grandmother, why have your arms and legs gotten so big?’
The wolf answered.
‘To give you a big hug, my dear.’
‘Grandmother, why have your ears gotten so big?’
‘To listen to you better, my dear.’
‘Grandmother, why have your eyes gotten so big?’
‘To see you better, my dear.’
And Little Red Riding Hood asked again.
‘Grandmother, why have your teeth gotten so big?’
‘That’s….’
“To eat you up.”
A black form covered the space.
The sound of the stone altar being smashed, the sound of tree branches being greedily chewed into a maw could be heard as everything was swallowed into giant teeth.
The Security Chief was already gone.
“■■ child.”
A black silhouette boils up, and from within it, countless bulging eyes and fanged maws cover the floor while massive sharp claws roll their eyeballs, selecting prey. It devours the doll that escaped through the door gap along with the hand holding it. Aah■■■■agh■■■kill■■that■■■■■A perfect teacher doesn’t scream. Chaos, dust, pain, sticky tar-like beast fluids that swallow space, churning sounds, and countless eyeballs.
The massive body of a four-legged beast, crudely sewn together in patches, bursts out of the narrow containment room.
A giant wolf, as if soaked in tar, dripping sticky black fluid that looks burned.
Its maw opens.
From both sides of its head.
“■Delicious■ ■■■■.”
“Run■quickly■■.“
Censored explosive sounds echo through the space.
Eyeballs roll.
Massive front paws curving their claws to catch the man with the eyepatch trying to escape to a narrow corner. A melted head trying to stick its snout tip through the door gap to get out to the corridor beyond the half-open iron door…
The moment I witnessed that sight.
My body began to move.
‘…!’
I immediately rushed toward the door like shooting black smoke and blocked the giant beast’s maw. This is difficult—there are two maws.
At the same time, with another stream, I tried to block the vision of the countless eyes on its claws. The eyeballs try to squeeze out beyond the smoke. I can feel the drooling maw inside the smoke. The dizzying sensation that the moment I let go would mean destruction, somehow I need to block it until the Security Chief regains his senses…
Gulp.
…?
Chomp, chomp,
Chewing sounds. Swallowing sounds, like breathing in and drinking, the sound of pushing debris down its throat…
It comes from within the smoke.
One of the wolf’s maws
was devouring my black smoke.
!!
I blocked that maw again. This filthy, outdated disgusting beast is eating me! How dare this third-rate trash do this to ■■, but the overwhelming sensation of violence and appetite…
‘Shut up!’
What was that? What was that resentment just now? What am I saying? I need to get a grip. Again, again…, No! To somehow stop the Security Chief…
Ah.
Read the wiki to erase it.
Right, that’s the only way in the end. This massive, bizarre beast will soon ‘chew me up’ and escape through the gaps to swallow Park Min-seong and Baek Sa-heon whole. There’s not much time left—I can’t hold out either! To somehow calm it down before then, accepting the side effects, I need to read…
…
…!!!
I realized.
‘Director Cheong would have
aimed for this too.’
‘Using my ability…!’
The reason I suddenly couldn’t use my body ‘as if following someone’s orders,’ then could suddenly move in an urgent, desperate situation.
‘Because then I’d hastily use my wiki ability while moving urgently…!’
Then I would return to the state of 130666.
Losing Kim Sol-eum’s emotions and human judgment, returning to an empty state where I can only make judgments as a special department employee according to my work contract.
Then automatically I would…
-Director Cheong has noticed.
…be controlled again by the one who instigated this situation right outside, losing my reason and working as a good chess piece.
It’s too good a method to make 130666 come out on its own from Director Ho’s project in one stroke.
‘No.’
I had to avoid that helpless situation. But what if Park Min-seong or Baek Sa-heon dies in the meantime? Even if not, the security team on the same floor would definitely be dispatched, making the situation impossible to contain.
Cornered into a dead end in one move.
‘Damn.’
Moreover…
The final doubt that absolutely cannot be resolved.
‘How does Director Cheong know about my condition…?’
How does he know that I lose Kim Sol-eum’s identity when I try to suppress and neutralize entities from ghost stories?
I can’t know. But there’s no time either.
Eeriness and urgency intertwine as all those thoughts pass in a moment like a flash.
But there’s no other way to suppress it…
“Mmph!”
Baek Sa-heon, quickly moving again to a place as far as possible from the black beast and smoke, dropped a Nostalgia Candy.
I picked it up.
-While the eyeball candy melts in your mouth, it fixes the user in the form of when their body and mind were healthiest during the past 10 years.
A candy piece mysteriously larger than before is caught in my hand.
“Wait! Don’t use it! There’s no way it’ll work! That thing’s a complete monster!”
I know.
I remember when the Nostalgia Kitty that hung around my neck as 130666 couldn’t endure the moment and broke.
But…
That alone is enough.
Just enough time to use another method that worked on me.
‘Just a gap!’
I barely managed to throw the Nostalgia Candy into the maw of the beast that was chewing and swallowing me.
Chomp.
…Gulp.
The Nostalgia Candy that should have been able to roll around in the mouth for a while melted on the beast’s tongue like a slug hit with salt, but…
At that moment, flickering, it appears.
A human form.
‘…!’
But it disappeared the next moment.
I took out another Nostalgia Candy and threw it between the giant beast’s teeth.
And this time, matching the flickering human form again…
Jingle.
I took out the spare jade bell I had and stuck it into that flesh.
The Disaster Management Bureau’s precious artifact that restores reason rings the bell with a clear sound.
“■■! Stop■■■!”
If someone is severely contaminated enough for their essence to change like me.
‘I just need to use the same method I used…!’
I had to make them regain their sanity.
The massive four-legged beast shook its body with two snouts, countless eyeballs, and black teeth dripping with tar… then froze as if electrocuted.
And I took out another bell and embedded it into the wolf’s torso. I kept shaking it, making sure the sound could be heard. Then the next bell…
“Don’t.”
Something grabbed my hand.
A human arm with massive claws.
“If you do more, it’ll backfire…”
And the wolf’s manifestation melted away.
The form that had been sticking its snout through the door gap melted into sticky black liquid, and the burned and stitched beast form wavered…
The Security Chief appeared.
“….”
The eyeballs at his temples still rolled around in all directions as if searching for prey, and his sharp claws left violent marks as they struck the iron door.
But at the same time, the Security Chief took something from his chest and stabbed it into his stomach.
Like a sedative.
But it wasn’t liquid…
‘…A stone?’
Soon the strength gradually left the Security Chief’s body.
He slowly shrank back to his familiar appearance, devoid of energy or motivation…
However, I remembered.
The appearance that had been revealed by the Nostalgia Candy just now.
‘It seemed different from the Security Chief’s current appearance…’
A man in a suit wearing a wolf mask.
I thought I had seen him.
“….”
In the middle of the completely destroyed Stone Altar Isolation Room.
The Security Chief stopped with open eyes, quietly sinking down.
…The subjugation was successful.
Thud.
“Huff.”
I could hear Baek Sa-heon breathing heavily beside me, and Park Min-seong’s contaminated voice reciting the training manual while endlessly bleeding from his severed arm stumps at the door gap.
I barely managed to get up and approach Park Min-seong…
“What a messy sight.”
The broken iron door opened completely.
Someone walked out from beside Sprout Class ■■■, who was crouched down trying to wipe away blood.
Along with the sound of footsteps, that voice echoed…
“What is all this commotion about.”
Director Cheong Dal-rae.
The eyes of this ageless person swept the surroundings and looked at me.
“Do you know that unauthorized intrusions like this that aren’t reported to the company are grounds for disciplinary action? And to damage even the Front Desk employee who came looking.”
….
“This incident cannot avoid disciplinary action. You’ll unfortunately have to leave that ridiculous project team as well. You.”
I’m screwed.
Ominous feelings surged to the top of my head. I tried to step back, but my feet wouldn’t move. Director Cheong Dal-rae’s hand reached out toward my head…
Knock knock.
“…!”
Beyond the open door, the containment room door on the opposite side.
A polite knocking sound came from there, then the door opened as if by magic.
It was the Fox Counseling Room.
With the pouring sunlight as backlighting, Ho Yu-won walked out from there.
“My, speak of the tiger and it appears. Have you mistaken your own position while playing fox and tiger?”
“Executive Director Cheong Dal-rae.”
Director Ho approached.
“What is this all about? This is truly bewildering.”
And he stood beside me and grabbed my shoulder.
“130666 came for a brief patrol at my request, but it seems an unfortunate accident suddenly occurred and they helped subdue it. I wonder who caused such an accident. Really, it seems a Front Desk employee suddenly appeared in an extremely contaminated state.”
“….”
“Come to think of it, I heard that Director Cheong prefers methods that utilize the Security Team’s contamination.”
“You arbitrarily transferred a special department employee to the project team.”
“That’s a completely different case!”
Director Ho spoke in a regretful, gentle voice.
“Recruiting Baekillmong Corporation employees for projects is within my authority as an executive. If you were trying to use someone under contract with the company like a personal servant for private purposes, this could also be an uncomfortable statement…”
“Private use.”
I heard Director Cheong laugh.
“That doesn’t seem like something to say to me. Director Ho.”
“….”
“These days…”
Those eyes looked at the containment room door that Director Ho had used as a passage earlier.
“I’ve been hearing reports that the Fox Counseling Room is often empty.”
Director Ho’s expression didn’t change.
“Ah, of course you wouldn’t have any special connection to the Fox Counseling Room. But I’m also starting to hear that your behavior this year is incomprehensible…”
“….”
“I’m looking forward to your performance this year. I’m curious how long you’ll be able to use the title of fellow Development Department director.”
Director Cheong’s gaze reached me again.
“And how long you’ll keep my employee.”
If I had saliva, I would have swallowed it.
“Even raised beasts don’t bite their master, but I didn’t expect an employee who barely survived with the contract I offered to do such things…”
“….”
“Well, I’ll still help clean this up. That would also be for the good of my company.”
Director Cheong reached out…
And grabbed Park Min-seong’s head, lifting it up.
The Sprout Class Teacher who was still frantically reciting the training manual.
“Now, let’s call the Security Team and move this one to the Security Team Training Area.”
Wait.
“Looking at how he’s consumed by contamination, work will be difficult for a while, and he’ll need re-education, won’t he? Of course, the education service will be provided at employee rates, but considering the depth…”
Director Cheong said while looking at the severed arms I had tried to stop the bleeding from.
“I think quite a debt will accumulate again…”
“….”
“I think I should offer generous terms here.”
From his tone, I realize.
Director Cheong knows exactly.
That Park Min-seong cooperated with me, with Director Ho.
That I am concerned about it.
“I’ll have to specially prepare a new labor contract for that ‘unlucky’ Annex Front employee…”
“Just like the one you received.”
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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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