Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 276

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work Episode 276

 

Sekwang Technical High School.

 

A strange horror game high school that you enter by falling asleep on a night with a full moon.

 

From that name, I had guessed it would definitely be connected to Segwang Special City.

 

Though I didn’t expect to encounter it so directly like this.

 

[The doors are closing.]

 

“…Let’s go.”

 

“Yes.”

 

We first got off the train.

 

The platform was clean and cool, with no strange supernatural phenomena immediately visible.

 

There was only one peculiarity.

 

Sekwang Technical High School Graduation Ceremony

 

To Exit 4! →

 

This A4 paper attached to a platform pillar.

 

A printed notice.

 

The problem was that this A4 paper wasn’t the only one.

 

The escalator at Exit 2 is under construction. Please use another exit.

 

Fire Extinguisher Water Outage Notice

 

Train Malfunction / G155■

 

If you lost a cat wallet, please come to the station office

 

A4 papers and memo pads were plastered all over the pillars and walls.

 

They were too neat and informational to be advertisements, with handwriting and formats chaotically different as if written for various reasons.

 

Printed instruction notices.

 

Segwang Subway Route Map

 

– Segwang Station (Forest Path of Death)

 

– Midnight Station (Body Casino)

 

– Hanbit Station (Hanbit Library)

 

– (Unregistered)

 

– (Unregistered)

 

– (Unregistered)

 

– (Unregistered)

 

The wiki updates.

 

Hanbit Station (Hanbit Library)

 

A subway station in Segwang Special City renovated by the public library.

 

Before the day of disaster, this area originally housed a technical high school and residential area, but was selected as library grounds during redevelopment into a special city.

 

The library, which had not yet officially opened, had kept its doors locked for several years except for some areas for nearby citizens, but opened its doors on the day of disaster to generously share knowledge and information.

 

Do not make them regret this decision.

 

…Ominously meaningful, as befits a ghost story.

 

But.

 

“At least there was no description about someone dying horribly.”

 

“Yes.”

 

My companions showed slight relief after hearing the ‘information about this station’ I conveyed.

 

“The phrase about sharing knowledge and information is a bit concerning though… Getting information from darkness isn’t always good. Hmm.”

 

“If it wasn’t unsettling, it wouldn’t be a ghost story, Deputy Manager.”

 

“Badger’s got a point there too.”

 

After all, we were a project team formed based on Ho Yu-won’s objective to understand the situation in Segwang Special City, so we might be able to find various necessary things at this station.

 

And furthermore.

 

“There’s another advantage.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“It seems like admission will be free.”

 

“…!”

 

Ghost stories are bound to be influenced by their original motifs, and this usually applies to their rules as well…

 

“Right. Public libraries don’t charge money.”

 

“Yes.”

 

We climbed the platform stairs.

 

Having experienced the forest with hanging corpses swaying and the casino that took body parts.

 

Since the two Security Team members had already heard the related stories, no one had high expectations for what kind of scene the waiting room above the stairs would be.

 

‘Maybe subway facilities wallpapered with A4 papers.’

 

However, the moment we stepped up with tension filling the air.

 

“…!”

 

…We witnessed an unexpected scene.

 

“…A cave?”

 

From above the stairs, a small cave filled with countless books continued.

 

‘Good heavens.’

 

It was like something from an illustration in classic fantasy literature.

 

An artificial cave made of bookshelves.

 

Though the materials were from a 21st-century newly built library.

 

Bookshelves made of synthetic materials, processed wood, and aluminum interlocked like puzzles to form a cave.

 

‘Did they come from different archives…?’

 

Small mood lights cast red and warm light on the archives throughout, and densely packed books filled the walls of the square corridor, casting darkness and shadows…

 

The bookshelves were packed with books all the way to the ceiling!

 

[Oh, this reminds me of a surrealist painter’s work.]

 

[Doesn’t it also look like a hidden exploration site from old adventure stories? An unknown space waiting for Friend‘s exploration! Though it seems we’ve come at the wrong time.]

 

That’s exactly what I mean.

 

Looking back at the realistic facilities below the platform, the sense of incongruity became even more intense.

 

“Please wait.”

 

Lee Ja-heon tied a rope around his body, advanced into the cave made of bookshelves, turned the corner…

 

And walked back out perfectly fine.

 

“No traps detected.”

 

“Phew.”

 

We decided to enter.

 

Instead of rope, we tied thread to the end of the corridor, to the stair railing, then decided to slowly unwind it as we entered.

 

The people from the Field Investigation Team who had masks put on their masks side by side just in case.

 

And….

 

“I brought yours too.”

 

“…Yes!”

 

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je smiled and handed Park Min-seong a Field Investigation Team mask.

 

Team Leader Park Min-seong answered in a slightly choked voice, then received the mask and put it on.

 

The familiar badger mask.

 

Somehow it made my heart feel touched….

 

‘But if this happens….’

 

At the same time, I looked back at the only person without a mask.

 

“It’s fine…. This….”

 

The Security Chief refused Manager Lee Ja-heon who was trying to hand him an identity-reducing mask, and instead just took out an old dental mask and put it on.

 

‘….’

 

[How shabby can you get!]

 

Anyway, having finished our preparations like that, we began entering the ‘library cave’….

 

“Ah, just in case, it would be better to communicate primarily through writing for now.”

 

“Libraries are usually quiet, right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

The group, having gathered pens and paper, quietly moved their steps.

 

Standing at the very back, I slowly unraveled thread, moving while checking the path back.

 

Step, step….

 

The archive path continued around corners.

 

Sometimes forks in the road appeared, but there were also cases where they were observed to be so small—like dog holes—that we absolutely couldn’t go through them.

 

-Should we make it a rule to always go right?

 

-Yes.

 

Manager Lee Ja-heon sometimes walked as if blocking the group near openings that seemed perfect for ambushes.

 

We continued advancing, stopping, and surveying our surroundings like that.

 

In the midst of all this, there was only one unusual thing I confirmed.

 

Between the densely packed bookshelves, through a small gap where there were no books….

 

There was a window.

 

“…!”

 

I carefully checked it.

 

Outside the window was pitch black.

 

Like a dark midnight where you couldn’t see an inch ahead, almost nothing was visible. It felt like a cloudy night with not a single streetlight.

 

However, there was just one light source visible beyond that.

 

Sekwang Technical High School

 

The nameplate at the high school’s main entrance.

 

Strangely, it was visible.

 

I tried for a moment to see more of that dark outside beyond my face reflected in the window, but soon stopped.

 

Because Manager Lee Ja-heon had grabbed the back of my neck from behind.

 

“….”

 

-Stop.

 

Yep.

 

Right. Excessive curiosity in ghost stories is crazy behavior.

 

‘Unless I want to collect one more bad ending.’

 

No matter how much I wake up in reality when I die, if I go missing, there’s no answer. I shouldn’t do things that only the Research Team would like.

 

Therefore, after giving a brief report to my companions, I continued moving forward.

 

…With uneasiness lingering in my heart.

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

But no other unusual incidents appeared.

 

No signs, no floor indicators, not even exit markings.

 

‘…How vast is this place?’

 

The strangeness of that endlessness that made people lose their sense of reality, become tired, and feel overwhelmed.

 

The frustrating drowsiness like having a strange dream.

 

And also.

 

-Why aren’t there any library usage rules or anything?

 

It had been a good 40 minutes since we started our exploration, but there were strangely no signs at all.

 

There weren’t even things like bookshelves with bloodstains or book spines with suspiciously twisted letters.

 

Only caves of bookshelves fitted up to the ceiling as if violating the laws of physics continued endlessly.

 

-Badger, you take the lead and try touching a book

 

-You’re joking, Deputy Manager?

 

-Of course

 

Right. That said, we couldn’t just act recklessly either.

 

What was fortunate was that Team Leader Park Min-seong, having passed through intense emotions like tension, confusion, and joy, was now showing an almost familiar attitude.

 

However….

 

‘…It’s like when he was in Team D.’

 

As if unconsciously avoiding the fact that he was part of the Security Team in reality, Team Leader Park Min-seong was acting in exactly the same way as when he belonged to Team D long ago.

 

As if he had returned to the past.

 

‘….’

 

I was worried about the Security Chief for no reason.

 

I was walking while continuously checking on the Security Chief who was walking slowly while looking at the floor, and almost bumped into someone.

 

Whew.

 

But the Security Chief was still looking at the floor.

 

‘…!’

 

-Is there something on the floor?

 

“….”

 

The Security Chief slowly wrote out his terrible handwriting as if flowing.

 

-Seems like it

 

I reflexively lowered my head.

 

When I trace my eyes up the dark corridor, following the passage on the floor that’s faintly visible between the shadows of bookshelves and books…

 

There’s a strange pattern.

 

“…!”

 

I tapped my companion’s shoulder to signal him to wait a moment, then hurriedly moved some books near the floor aside to fully reveal and examine the pattern.

 

What emerged in the light of the mood lamp and the darkness was…

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————