Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 280

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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 280

 

I looked at the Student.

 

A teenage youth with bleached hair and piercings.

 

An entity that could enter the new moon dreams within the high school ghost story, killing people when unobserved and freezing when watched.

 

However, if you knew the method, you could communicate with them in an intelligent and emotional way…

 

‘A person.’

 

High school student Citizens trapped in Segwang Special City.

 

My mind reeled.

 

Then every entity that had been dying miserably to Daydream Employees and Disaster Management Bureau Agents every new moon…

 

‘…’

 

I placed my hand on the uniform.

 

My state, contaminated by Sekwang Technical High School, strangely couldn’t break free from its framework, as if trapped somewhere instead of feeling creepy terror.

 

Basically remaining in a Void state unless anger arose as a trigger.

 

It was fortunate.

 

Because this dizziness was lessened.

 

And because I could continue asking questions.

 

How are you moving around right now?

 

All the other Kids are lying on the Floor

 

But then.

 

It’s because of you

 

Because of me?

 

Yeah

 

The unpleasant-looking Student glanced at me and frowned while writing on paper.

 

You moved me to the Infirmary

 

Since then, even when it’s not graduation

 

I’ve been waking up

 

‘…!’

 

I had moved this Classmate to an empty Bed in the Infirmary and made them receive Healing.

 

And borrowed the uniform…

 

‘That had an influence.’

 

Was it because it wasn’t recorded in the ‘In the Black Shadow’ game? Or did a gap form when the intruding error was formally enrolled as a Student?

 

…Wait.

 

Are you the only one who can move?

 

 

 

There might have been more

 

But right now I’m alone

 

 

 

There were gaps between

 

the Kids lying on the Floor

 

Could those have been spots for moving Kids?

 

 

 

Maybe

 

Sometimes there’s graffiti Kids left

 

in the Library

 

Like names and stuff

 

 

 

After graduation started

 

have you ever seen those Kids?

 

The rough-looking Classmate calmly wrote the content.

 

No

 

Those Kids are corpses

 

in the Auditorium when graduation starts

 

‘…’

 

They had been consumed by Hanbit Library.

 

Kids who couldn’t leave the Library kept wandering around looking for non-existent clues, then got caught by some wrong rule violation. So many Kids…

 

My chest stung.

 

A strange pain as if a close Friend had been brutally murdered. As if sharing hatred and inciting aggression.

 

The commemorative emotions shared by Sekwang Technical High School Students.

 

‘I can’t.’

 

I tried not to get swept away, took a Deep Breathing, then asked a fundamental question.

 

Why did this School become like this?

 

 

 

I don’t know

 

Would I be like this if I knew?

 

 

 

Suspicious points or

 

strange things are fine too

 

Before it became like this

 

weren’t there any signs?

 

 

 

I don’t know

 

Just going to School the day before graduation was the end

 

And then something… I don’t know

 

I just slept when class started

 

 

 

Suddenly when I came to my senses it was late at night

 

and there was graduation

 

 

 

And the Teacher who became a monster

 

killed all the Kids

 

That keeps repeating

 

The Classmate’s eyes were darkly sunken.

 

An unbelievable calmness and weary resignation for a rebellious-looking High School Student was deeply steeped within them.

 

Anyway, this too

 

Will be forgotten once the graduation ceremony starts again

 

….

 

You don’t remember at all?

 

 

 

Being trapped here and unable to get out

 

I remember that it repeats

 

That’s all

 

The other person writes the letters pressed down.

 

So Transfer Student

 

Just leave

 

That gaze turns toward the library book I’m holding.

 

.

 

Looks like you found that book too

 

No matter how much you read it, nothing changes

 

Something that changes.

 

….

 

Wait a minute.

 

Do you happen to know that I previously

 

conducted the graduation ceremony differently?

 

I killed the Teacher

 

 

 

What?

 

Think carefully

 

After the graduation ceremony when I appeared

 

Weren’t there any other changes?

 

The Student’s pupils dilate slightly.

 

As if comparing experiences from past graduation ceremonies.

 

As if recalling.

 

Then….

 

There are

 

‘…!’

 

The Teacher departs from the Auditorium faster

 

Teacher.

 

-To give penalty points to students who did not attend, the Teacher is now departing from the Auditorium.

 

A monster created by attaching the upper bodies and organs of all kinds of Teachers from this School. An evil spirit-like existence that would appear in the final chapter of a horror game.

 

That being comes out faster?

 

‘That’s actually a bad omen.’

 

As I swallow my saliva.

 

And…

 

And?

 

 

 

This might just be a coincidence but

 

Since then, it hasn’t come into

 

the Infirmary even once

 

‘…!!’

 

‘The Teacher doesn’t come into the Infirmary.’

 

And the Infirmary is… the place with the only Window leading to the Backyard.

 

‘….’

 

Wait.

 

Does that Teacher happen to have

 

something like a Paper Note?

 

 

 

Paper Note?

 

 

 

Something like a Library Checkout Card!

 

It’s torn in half

 

with something like a Talisman drawn on it

 

 

 

I’ve never checked

 

The Classmate made eye contact with me.

 

If you want

 

we can check now

 

The Teachers are around the Auditorium

 

….

 

Let’s do it

 

Please

 

Got it

 

Follow me

 

And the Classmate stood up from the Infirmary Floor….

 

Thud.

 

A black silhouette suppresses the Classmate.

 

‘…!’

 

I reflexively tried to attack that silhouette but then realized.

 

‘It’s the Wolf Team Leader.’

 

Right.

 

The Wolf Team Leader… appears as a black silhouette.

 

Like a shadow.

 

Unlike when I saw the explorers who had entered the school by error on the new moon night, I didn’t feel any unpleasantness or violent impulses rising up.

 

I just thought of it as something foreign.

 

Something dangerous.

 

Something from outside.

 

Something I couldn’t communicate with…

 

‘So this is why he tried to run away.’

 

No, running away would be natural.

 

I suppressed my unconscious urge to avoid the black thing presumed to be the Wolf Team Leader for a moment, and showed him the conversation paper we had shared.

 

And I added a word.

 

We plan to explore around the auditorium.

 

It’s a dangerous place

 

so caution is required.

 

Then the silhouette that my classmate was holding disappeared.

 

‘Phew.’

 

Behind my classmate and me as we left the infirmary and walked, the black silhouette followed…

 

‘…’

 

We slowly climbed the stairs toward the 5th floor.

 

Upon entering the 4th floor, I could see quite a few empty spaces among the third-year seniors displayed on the floor.

 

My classmate stepped forward as if accustomed to it, but I endured the sharp pain in my chest and moved my feet to the stairs once more. To the 5th floor.

 

And.

 

[Oh, my goodness.]

 

The moment I entered the 5th floor.

 

I realized why my classmate had referred to them as ‘teachers.’

 

[Quite aesthetic, isn’t it.]

 

What was displayed on the 5th floor wasn’t students.

 

Adults.

 

And if there was a category that had the appearance of adults in this school, there was only one.

 

They’re teachers

 

…Teachers.

 

And they weren’t in decent condition like the students.

 

‘…’

 

Melted upper bodies and various organs.

 

Grotesque human bodies with faces half-melted or emaciated, in states where they couldn’t possibly be alive, were laid out neatly on the floor with their eyes open…

 

As if they had been separated and stored from a ‘teacher’ mass.

 

Among them were teachers who had only meaningless pieces of flesh, a single eye, clumps of hair, or just internal organs remaining.

 

…As a student of Segwang High School, instead of nausea, fear and sadness welled up in me.

 

Do they sometimes wake up?

 

 

 

No

 

They don’t even fall from the floor

 

And I noticed.

 

‘They’re holding hands…’

 

All the human bodies that still had hands remaining were firmly holding hands.

 

As if confronting something.

 

‘…’

 

The 5th floor had the same bizarre appearance covered with flesh and talismans as I had seen before, but the flesh seemed to have lost its vitality, with the mucus dried up completely, looking like a mummy’s throat.

 

The talismans…

 

Looking at their shape, I was certain.

 

‘Those are the right talismans.’

 

The bottom of the broken glass lantern buried in the backyard. The torn half of the talisman there.

 

It was as if its complete form had been projected.

 

I reached my hand toward one of those talismans.

 

If there had been an agent from the Disaster Management Bureau who had formally worked and received education, they could have read the meaning of the talisman, but I only finally learned its complete shape.

 

Chinese characters modified with brush writing.

 

 

 

Ho, meaning to protect.

 

[Hmm. Isn’t that a somewhat familiar character, Noru?]

 

…!

 

I remember.

 

-Something that had been covering my body spilled onto the floor.

 

-They were transparent beads that looked like they could be loaded into a glass slingshot.

 

-These are the clear rewards from the final stage of that game!

 

Glass beads engraved with the same Chinese character.

 

The moment I killed the teacher, proceeded with the graduation ceremony, cleared ‘In the Black Shadow’ with an A grade, and woke up.

 

The clear reward items scattered on the bed.

 

‘…’

 

That means…

 

‘They really were meant to be loaded into a glass slingshot…!’

 

They must have been possessions of the agents who buried the glass lantern in this school and tried to protect the students. Or at least they must be related.

 

And the fact that they came outside as rewards given to someone who had cleared this ghost story in a ‘way that saves students’…

 

…

 

‘Could they be necessary for rescuing students?’

 

I need to confirm.

 

I should go out and talk with the agents.

 

‘Of course, my goal for now is to collect all the clues I can get and escape.’

 

I made plans for the future and took another deep breath while examining the 5th floor once more.

 

And I saw it.

 

‘…That thing.’

 

At the far end of the dim 5th floor.

 

The auditorium door.

 

In front of those heavy double doors, tightly shut and covered in a mess of handprints and bloodstains, a human body was also hanging.

 

Arms stretched by flesh.

 

A grotesque human body with only the upper half remaining.

 

‘It’s not a student.’

 

The clothing is definitely not a school uniform.

 

However, due to the distance, it was difficult to identify the attire…

 

Could that also be a teacher?

 

 

 

I don’t know

 

We can’t go in to check

 

Can’t go in?

 

Thinking it might be due to uneasiness, I took a step and cautiously tried to step on the dried flesh of the 5th floor.

 

But at that moment.

 

‘…!’

 

An enormous repulsion gave my body a recoil.

 

‘What is this.’

 

I immediately realized the source of that repulsion too.

 

‘…Talismans.’

 

The talismans stuck all over the 5th floor walls, taking shape, were preventing students from coming to the 5th floor.

 

‘…’

 

I backed away.

 

I don’t see anything like

 

paper notes on the teachers

 

Glancing beyond the 5th floor, the classmate with a rebellious impression scribbled on the paper.

 

If that thing there is also a teacher

 

I’ll check once more during graduation

 

Then they hesitated.

 

As if realizing again that once the graduation ceremony begins, they won’t remember this moment from when the ‘in the black shadow’ ghost story activates.

 

I carefully replied.

 

Then could you write it on your palm?

 

Palm?

 

 

 

Yeah

 

If you write it down completely

 

it might remain when you wake up on graduation day

 

The other person looks down at their palm.

 

It might bother me enough

 

that I could take a look, right?

 

 

 

Right

 

The classmate agreed surprisingly quickly.

 

They seemed slightly excited, but soon that expression quickly disappeared.

 

As if they didn’t want to have expectations.

 

‘…’

 

And they write on the paper indifferently.

 

You’re really not a transfer student, are you

 

That’s right.

 

Why did you come to our school

 

That question seemed to have given up hope, yet I felt a strange undertone.

 

An awareness of the possibility that I could say I came for rescue.

 

‘…’

 

Actually I don’t know

 

I somehow ended up

 

coming here in a dream

 

I feel a gaze as if finding it absurd.

 

But I’ll try to figure out the reason for this situation

 

and do what I can

 

to eliminate it

 

as an honorary Sekwang student

 

I patted the school uniform I was wearing.

 

You lent me the uniform too

 

The classmate briefly makes a soundless laugh like air escaping.

 

Do whatever

 

And asks.

 

Come to think of it

 

what’s your name

 

…

 

Saying one’s real name in a ghost story goes against principles.

 

However.

 

‘Sekwang Technical High School is a place where you already have to write your name when entering.’

 

And building trust with this student who can remain awake alone will play an important role in unraveling the related secrets going forward.

 

I wrote it down.

 

It’s Kim Sol-eum

 

 

 

What a strange name

 

 

 

What’s your name?

 

 

 

You saw my name tag

 

Lee Gyeol

 

1st Year Class 4

 

 

 

Right

 

Lee Gyeol, nice to meet you

 

That’s how I formally exchanged names with Lee Gyeol.

 

 

After returning to the infirmary.

 

I pushed the contamination I had revived from my heart tattoo back in, returning to my original form.

 

“Phew.”

 

Even if I appear as that black silhouette

 

will I be able to continue communicating through paper like this?

 

As I had indicated affirmatively to that question, the student was staring at me expressionlessly but wasn’t attacking or running away.

 

And Wolf Team Leader had returned from his black silhouette form to his complete companion appearance.

 

“I read all the questions and answers. You asked quite calmly and well. It seems like special circumstances occur in this darkness on new moon nights. Care to explain?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

And he had also heard a reasonably detailed explanation about ‘Sekwang Technical High School’ from me.

 

But what he was most concerned about was probably this.

 

The fact that I had suddenly transformed into a high school student ghost story resident.

 

“You use an interesting method. You’re utilizing contamination, right?”

 

“…”

 

“I knew our company would advance in that direction.”

 

The eyes behind Wolf Team Leader’s mask scan over me.

 

And he strokes his chin.

 

“Still, it’s progress compared to now. Currently it’s a kind of chicken race.”

 

“…Whether you get contaminated before riding the Wish Potion, or ride the Wish Potion first. Is that what you mean?”

 

“Right. Smart Dragon Employee.”

 

The mouth beneath the wolf mask curves into an arc.

 

“Of course, the clever ones privately make adjustments even within that.”

 

“…”

 

Including himself, I suppose.

 

“Now. Shall we return to the library? That student seems to know the way, so if we ask for guidance it should be easier to escape.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

I asked Lee Gyeol for directions to another corner of the library.

 

Specifically, directions to the corner where was shelved.

 

Come this way

 

Following the companion who kindly guided us, we realized the method of going through the school library to reach another corner of Hanbit Library…

 

“Quite an intuitive method. Right?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

And suddenly, such a question arose in my mind.

 

What could Wolf Team Leader’s wish be?

 

He was an entity with enough awareness of Wish Potions to describe it as a chicken race. If I asked now, I might be able to get an answer…

 

But asking this entity about it somehow felt like being disrespectful to Security Chief.

 

So I kept my mouth shut and walked quietly.

 

And finally, we returned to the exact spot where we had started.

 

The corridor between bookshelves where the yarn was now tangled into three strands.

 

The corner of Hanbit Library where was shelved.

 

And so, the moment I bent down to check the empty space in the books.

 

“Now to put the book back…”

 

My mouth was blocked.

 

“Shh.”

 

“…!”

 

Wolf Team Leader grabbed me and instantly turned the corner of that section, hiding behind the bookshelf.

 

…He wrote letters on my back with his finger.

 

-Another entity is coming.

 

“…!”

 

And.

 

Someone began to appear from the opposite corner.

 

“…!!”

 

I watched that figure in bewilderment. It was…

 

“This place has… the most yarn…”

 

Security Chief.

 

And…

 

Well done

 

Golden Mascot.

 

It was me.

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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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