Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 384

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even If You Fall Into Ghost Stories, You Still Have to Go to Work — Episode 384
“What’s going on now?”
“What did he do?”
What happens when a short-term day laborer who ranked last in performance pulls off insane results twice from a pharmaceutical company gone mad?
And not over two weeks, or two days, but in a single day—morning and evening, two consecutive runs?
Moreover, the second result was performance that even the Field Investigation Team’s regular elite employee would struggle to pull off, even with a manual in hand—
This is what happens.
[Wait! Wait a moment, let’s hear more details on that! You’re saying you couldn’t leave the Training Center?]
“Yes….”
This bastard really crossed the line.
‘I figured as much.’
The researcher, practically losing his mind, locked me in what looked like an interview room and extracted testimony from me through the night.
I thought I’d downed about five energy drinks.
When I started to collapse midway, he was about to administer stimulants, but seeing the sorry state I was in, he gave up.
Honestly, there was no need to overdo it. I really thought I was going to die….
And I was certain of it.
‘This reaction….’
The Dream Essence must’ve come out at B-Grade level.
‘It made sense.’
After all, I’d encountered an Irregular and faced “something difficult for human cognition to handle,” and survived.
But that objective understanding was one thing; from the researcher’s perspective—
A day laborer who pulled one C-Grade and one B-Grade Dream Essence solution in a single day?
‘Wow, if this goes the wrong way, it’ll definitely reach upper management.’
So I immediately decided on a stance.
After roughly treating my injured hand and sleeping like the dead for a night, I woke up refreshed and—
I absolutely blamed it all on Jin Na-sol.
“So she told me to close my eyes, and I did….”
[And?]
“She beat the person next to me….”
[…….]
Basically, it was all Assistant Manager Jin’s hard carry, and I just tagged along.
‘If they knew she was from Headquarters Team A, it would be incredibly convincing.’
This much was necessary to avoid suspicion.
Honestly, it’s true that I survived Sagyeong Mountain Lodge without retiring, thanks to Assistant Manager Jin.
But for “some unknown reason,” I couldn’t return together with her and ended up wandering the courage test area.
Then I stepped on something in the darkness….
[…When I came to my senses, I was here?]
“Yes, yes….”
[…….]
Even so, what could you have done about it?
‘Good thing I preemptively pushed the lucky break meta.’
Still, if they wanted to use hypnosis or truth serum to verify once more, the safe methods would require more budget, wouldn’t they?
It looked like this branch office didn’t have a proper item fabricator or issue potion supply.
‘Not that they’d rashly use unsafe methods without observing me more closely.’
No one wants to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
Eventually, the researcher changed the subject of questioning.
[…So what’s this handset? Yes? You should remember holding it when you came back. This handset with the wire pulled out—where did it come from? The lodge?]
“I received it as a prize….”
[……]
[What place did you rank?]
“Sixth place!”
I answered cheerfully.
For reference, most sixth-place prizes here are recycled items abandoned in the training center.
[…….]
In the end, the seemingly useless handset returned to my hands.
‘Yes!’
The research guys at the Namhae Branch are more careless than expected.
I’d thought they might inspect it like crazy and discover it was a Disaster Management Bureau item, but it seems the lost function and absence of reaction led them to classify it as an ordinary object.
I’d wanted to keep it as a memento anyway, so this worked out well.
“It arrived.”
“Yes.”
And in the lodging, I successfully recovered the glasses case that Assistant Manager Jin had slipped into the blind spot for me.
I’d planted it ahead of time while pretending to be supported by her before being transferred to the interview room.
—Uh, um… I can’t get up. Could you support me….
‘I thought she wasn’t the type to snatch something someone had won first place in.’
Of course… if she’d been convinced that “she could use it better,” I had a vague premonition she might take it anyway.
But since I’ve been recognized as a capable employee by her, that possibility is extremely slim for now.
‘Good.’
Everything was cleanly wrapped up.
I completely kept quiet about there being another stamp in the Training Center’s interior.
‘If I’d mentioned that, they would’ve sent all the workers down to that basement from now on….’
That would be a massacre. I really want to avoid it.
Even now, thinking about it makes my skin crawl—the underground space packed tightly with religious symbols.
And below that, the thing that kept following me….
…….
‘Don’t think about it.’
I need to escape its influence. I took a deep breath.
“What have you done now.”
“Hahaha….”
The same thing I’ve been doing every day since joining Daydream.
And so, the next day.
I saw a special notice posted again.
Special Reassignment
Y492 → X915
Y491 → X916
Wow.
“…Is skipping teams your specialty or something?”
“Hahaha….”
This time Jin Na-sol was assigned alongside me. Nice. This is important.
‘Jin Na-sol really is an excellent tank, not just in ghost stories but in society too….’
If the teams get too separated, it’s harder to collaborate anyway.
But I didn’t expect the researcher to do this again so quickly.
‘Hmm, is he controlling variables?’
Since my grade rose and I immediately produced solution, he wants to try raising it once more…is the idea.
‘That’s definitely possible.’
Whatever the reason, better accommodations and food were always welcome….
‘Food gets better than this?’
Now that eating is happy again, where could it possibly go…!
At breakfast time starting from Team Y, I ate freshly heated instant rice with braised beef and seaweed soup, and felt modest anticipation.
And the dopamine rush didn’t end there.
[The Y410 series, this way.]
The darkness I entered that day wasn’t particularly frightening!
‘Finally luck seems to be on my side….’
I
‘A coin wallet where, if you insert a coin, the face engraved on it occasionally changes to a weeping expression; if you continue to gaze at that weeping expression, you see a hallucination of some weeping future’
inserted a coin while suppressing a sigh of relief.
Normally it’s standard to randomly throw things into ghost stories without manuals and incomplete classifications and hit something like this, so finally I’m experiencing it.
“Excuse me, I’ve finished everything….”
I quickly finished the work and managed to return to the break room first.
“Phew.”
Since none of the workers who came with me in the company car were my roommate, I could stay alone in the break room.
‘It doesn’t seem like the listening device is working right now.’
So I could even carefully pull out the item I’d hidden in the room from a blind spot.
The handset, specifically.
I held in my hand the one that had been connected to the Disaster Management Bureau and looked at it idly.
‘…Surely, at the very end, they called me Transfer Student.’
There was only one person who called me that.
That’s why the regret was greater.
“…It’s a shame it won’t connect anymore.”
[It is connecting.]
…!!
[Citizen, is it safe to talk right now?]
I immediately straightened the handset.
…A voice was coming from the handset!
[And….]
A slightly trembling voice came through.
A voice that sounded very young rather than mature, the kind I should have noticed sooner.
[Is this Transfer Student?]
…….
I swallowed and answered quietly, lowering my voice.
“…Yeah. Transfer Student from Class 1-5.”
[…!]
‘…As I thought.’
Lee Gyeol.
The high school student from whom I’d borrowed a school uniform at Segwang Technical High School was on the other end of this handset.
“How did you know it was me?”
[Your voice sounded similar.]
Ah.
A sensible and simple reason came out. More than that though—
“Did you become an agent?”
Good grief.
It felt like just yesterday he was trapped in high school and appeared as an entity within a ghost story, yet now he was having a phone conversation as an agent. Wait, hold on.
“Then you’re only….”
Barely over twenty, aren’t you?
“…Isn’t that too young to be a Disaster Management Bureau field agent?”
[…I don’t know. There aren’t many.]
His voice sounded a bit flustered, trying deliberately to sound more blunt!
[I’m not an agent yet. I just… do some part-time work and answer phones here too.]
“Ah, volunteer work?”
[I’m getting paid, so how is it volunteer work? I just do it.]
Oh. That was usually the kind of work that fell to “civilians caught up in supernatural disasters, with no connections, but sharp-minded.”
‘Seems like he gets along well with the agents.’
And the nuance was that he was preparing to take the Disaster Management Bureau civil service exam as soon as he came of age.
Thinking that the Segwang Special City incident seemed to have been handled better than I’d expected, lighter words came out.
“I’m really glad to hear from you. Have you been doing well?”
[Yeah. Thanks to you. …And the other kids from our school are probably doing well too.]
“…….”
That was a relief.
[Where have you been for three years, anyway? Even when I asked the bureau, they just said you’d resigned.]
“Mm. I went home for a bit.”
As the conversation went there, I eventually couldn’t hold back and asked.
This opportunity—though I’d be eager to ask other things too….
“By any chance, how are the other agents?”
[…You mean Xuanwu Team 1, right?]
“For starters, yeah.”
I swallowed.
Just in case—
[Both of them… are doing well.]
“…! Really?”
That was a relief.
[Anyway, I’m not sure how this connection stayed on. It should’ve been cut off, but it keeps connecting.]
So he’d kept it on and waited muted this whole time, he said.
‘Unbelievable.’
I’m curious why it didn’t cut off, but first I want to pay respects to that patience.
[And I heard some strange sounds from your end… where are you? Are you okay there?]
“Mm.”
I thought for a moment.
Should I request rescue from the Disaster Management Bureau here?
‘Hmm….’
I wasn’t sure if it would work.
‘This worker is still employed, after all.’
If the Disaster Management Bureau could legally rescue people, wouldn’t they have saved the security team from the Daydream basement?
And if I could leave in two weeks, maybe it’s better not to scratch a wound that’s already healing.
If there’s some fuss with “a government agency conducting an audit,” and attention concentrates, that would be inconvenient. Because they could track me, the one who was originally “Supervisor Noru.”
And if I caught Director Cheong’s eye….
‘Wow, that absolutely can’t happen.’
Okay.
“Right now it’s a bit awkward to report.”
Of course, I couldn’t just let this opportunity slip away.
“Could I get a direct rescue number? If something happens, I’ll contact that line.”
[…Alright.]
I got a number that way.
But I couldn’t help myself and said something.
“Since this call is in an irregular state, don’t carelessly give out numbers to people. You need to verify at least.”
[You… sound kind of old-fashioned.]
“…….”
[This phone was already verified by another department. So it’s fine, right?]
Right….
It made me newly aware of the actual age difference between us….
And once that sank in, I thought I should check one more thing while I’m at it.
“…By any chance, did you ever hear strange sounds from the phone?”
Contamination, I mean.
[Strange sounds? When?]
“When the phone connected the second time, when I was just about to escape.”
I swallowed.
“Did you not hear anything? Like someone calling out a lover… a voice that sounds good like that?”
…….
[I didn’t hear it.]
Sigh.
Seems it was only heard by me, who was bewitched…….
[There was a strange squeaking sound, and something like flesh hitting against something, though.]
“…….”
[That’s all. You were being pursued, weren’t you?]
“…Yeah, that’s right.”
I swallowed.
“That’s probably it.”
It must be.
[Ah, it’s about to cut off. …Dammit. Looks like I can’t hold on any longer.]
And not long after, the handset began to malfunction.
[The rescue number I’m giving you is the one I received. Contact me anytime if there’s a problem.]
“…! Thank you.”
[That’s all.]
A firm voice came through.
[You deserve it.]
Click. The handset went dead.
“…….”
Truly, I was grateful.
‘Phew.’
Wow, it felt like my tension eased for the first time in a while, having a conversation that didn’t require me to be on guard.
But at the same time, unease crept in.
The facility of “Love Paradise” that I’d encountered in this ghost story.
And… “Paradise’s Lover.”
—Rough cord, wrapping my entire body tightly, dug into my grip.
And so… my blood was soaking into the cord.
In the basement, did it “call” because my blood got on the entity?
‘Surely it won’t keep chasing me…?’
What state is my body really in right now, anyway?
The tattoos that were there before are gone, and there are no special contamination signs. It’s like I’m just an ordinary person wasting away from malnutrition.
‘But that being the case, I held up pretty well against the Love Paradise monster.’
Maybe it’s because I’d already recognized exactly what it was and had incredible vigilance.
‘Sigh.’
I needed advice.
As that thought struck me, one name came to mind reflexively.
‘Brown….’
Very much wanting to see him, yet also feeling a sense of danger about wanting to see him at all….
‘I don’t know what’s right.’
For now, unless I obtain the Good Friend, I can’t formally summon him anyway, so there’s no point thinking about it.
‘Two weeks… or rather, about ten days left now.’
Let me hold on.
Once I’m in Team X, at least food, clothing, and shelter will upgrade once more!
And this anticipation received an additional reward.
[Team X has one more privilege.]
“What… what is it…?”
[It’s a Rest Zone Pass. You can use the rest zone even when it’s not a weekend.]
The place with the withered ritual table where I’d first opened my eyes.
The Rest Zone of the Daydream Namhae Branch was now open.

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