Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 42

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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 042

Trudge, trudge.

I’m currently walking quietly through an exhibition that plucks out people’s eyes.

And I even have a human trash-type ghost story character right beside me.

‘I wish Baek Sa-heon would just keep his mouth shut and act like a human totem.’

On the way here, I saw several terrifying shadowy figures crawling on the ground from a distance. Each time, I couldn’t be more grateful to have someone next to me…

‘I just need to stay alert. Just stay alert.’

Brown spoke to me in a somewhat amused tone.

-Noru, you have a very interesting way of conversing with this person. It’s like you’re a different person.

‘Is that bad?’

-Not at all! It’s very intriguing. It’s as if you’ve created a more exaggerated… persona for a show.

Hmm. That’s similar.

-So, is your goal to quickly exit this magnificent exhibition?

Correct.

And…

‘I’ve already made an escape plan.’

I confirmed it’s registered as the seventeenth exploration record in , so I’ve constructed an escape method based on that case.

I’ve also decided which items to use from what I have.

-Oh!

-But is it necessary to use the word escape? It seems like you could just grab any employee and ask them to guide you to the exit, and they’d kindly tell you!

That’s where the problem starts.

‘This exhibition uses machines as guides.’

Those monsters that wave around spider leg-like appendages.

-Hmm. And?

‘And each machine only knows information about the area they’re in charge of.’

======================

This exhibition has guides stationed in each area for visitors.

Among testimonies from past visitors, these guides are often referred to as ‘monsters,’ but they are Metrilkiosk-type Automatic Steam Dolls.

They are Imperial Year 62627 Vintage Models with somewhat inferior memory devices, so they only learn information about their assigned areas, but they are historically significant and meaningful artistic collectibles.

We ask that you refrain from derogatory expressions for healthy viewing.

======================

What this means is that to ask about the entrance, you have to go to the area where the entrance is located and talk to the employee there.

And if too much time has already passed by then… you’ll suffer the terrible fate of being ‘charged fees’ and reborn as a human slug.

To begin with, figuring out which area the entrance is in is extremely difficult.

‘But there are hints.’

I stopped walking.

Because I found what I was looking for.

“…An elevator?”

In front of me and Baek Sa-heon stands a very antique, modern-style elevator.

In front of the brass-colored elevator, iron bars were set up with small light bulbs twinkling.

And like any elevator, there’s an information board on the side wall about floors and usage instructions.

Except for the fact that it’s written in characters we can’t read at all.

‘One of the things that raises the exploration difficulty.’

Language barrier.

Baek Sa-heon frowned.

“…You want to ride this?”

“Maybe.”

“You can’t even check what floor it is? Are you sane?”

I looked at Baek Sa-heon silently. He hurriedly averted his gaze.

‘As if I would do that.’

But I have a ghost story talk show host who claims to be fluent in all languages!

‘Brown. Could you read this elevator description for me?’

-Ahem,

Brown cleared his throat, then explained in a kind voice…

-This elevator has a guide stationed there, and you can enjoy the service of having them press the button for you when you tell them which floor you want to go to. Ho, quite an antique method…

This means that to ride the elevator, you’ll inevitably meet the guide and have your eyes plucked out.

I know this, but I still find myself swallowing nervously.

‘Is there any description about the entrance?’

-Unfortunately, no! It’s mainly descriptions of floors and their exhibits.

-And Noru, you’re currently on the 2nd floor. …Oh, wait. There’s also a description of this mansion’s history.

“…!”

This was information that wasn’t even in .

‘Keep explaining.’

-This place is the villa of a very high-ranking… noble collector, and thanks to his charity in wanting to share his art and philosophy, they’re holding endless exhibitions!

-Also, this historic grand mansion consists of 7 above-ground floors and 7221 underground floors.

“…”

Wait.

What?

‘Underground… 7221 floors?’

-That’s right. Hmm, it seems they’ve been collecting for quite a long time!

I froze.

‘…I knew there were underground floors.’

It wasn’t described initially.

‘…I did know there was a basement level.’

It was not described at first.

The early exploration records of this ghost story called are records of those who were lucky enough to escape from the ground floor, or those who couldn’t escape and died there.

This gains popularity among readers.

Then the records get updated like crazy and become longer, and the story’s worldview expands.

Someone among the explorers comes to realize.

======================

The 23rd record is testimony left by a visitor who entered the basement level through the elevator.

======================

The existence of the basement levels.

Thus, records continue of people who couldn’t find a path of life on the ground floor going down to the basement.

The hopeless and eerie terror of watching them continuously go down looking for an exit, continuously going further down.

From that point on, this ghost story was classified as cosmic horror.

Exploration records aimed at making readers feel suffocated and dizzy.

Some records even had people who gave up on escaping and became half-mad, continuing to go down to the basement.

======================

This is testimony from a visitor who toured the exhibition area on basement level 105.

Staff 753: The miserable and terrible things that cannot be seen with my ears are truly beautiful. ■■ forms the framework and human ■■ ■s. Die for this.

There are no records after this.

Thank you for your meaningful review. We will work hard on exhibition management to provide a more impressive experience.

======================

The deeper underground you go, the more bizarre and strange collections that humans cannot handle are lined up. At some point, words that cannot be left in human language are endlessly censored, leaving only hopeless blanks in that terror…

Below that, thousands of unknowns, exist…

Slap.

I hit my face.

“…?!”

Let’s get it together.

‘There are multiple entrances.’

Even if the location changes every time an exhibition starts, that doesn’t change.

Didn’t I see records of people who each escaped through entrances on different floors in the same round?

‘I can do this.’

No matter how astronomically vast this place is, no matter what incomprehensible spaces continue, it doesn’t matter.

An exit might be open nearby too.

I have exploration information from over a hundred rounds, and I even have records from this round, so I’d be an idiot to be at a loss.

‘Even if the floors aren’t specifically stated, I know all the hints.’

I shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the scale of the ghost story and needed to move quickly.

Let’s not do anything stupid… get it together!

‘…Good.’

I took a deep breath and moved my steps.

To the stairs that were next to the elevator.

“Wait, so you’re not taking the elevator… do you even know where this is to move around like that!”

“2nd floor.”

“…?”

“From now on, I’m moving to basement level 1.”

“Basement? There’s a basement… no, this is the 2nd floor? How are you so sure?”

“Brown told me.”

“…”

“Grateful, right?”

“…”

-Don’t mention it!

Surprisingly, Baek Sa-heon didn’t run away this time either.

Hmm. I should treat him at this level from now on.

Even going down the stairs, it’s a majestic grand mansion with the same lighting where not a single decoration changes.

The dim bronze-colored shadowy scenery continues. It’s like continuously seeing the same floor repeated.

Even that disappeared when the stairs vanished one floor below.

‘…These stairs don’t lead to the basement.’

For now, I decided to look for new stairs or means of transportation on the first floor.

Of course, there’s no more small talk with Baek Sa-heon either.

Because mechanical sounds are increasingly being heard from the surroundings.

‘The main exhibition hall where guides are stationed almost permanently in shifts is getting closer.’

While moving with my mouth shut, almost crawling.

I raised my head and looked at the huge information board that appeared right below the ceiling.

‘Here it is.’

The main exhibition hall sign.

That thing carved with antique sculptures was written in very elegant… incomprehensible characters.

-‘The Power of Emotions’. What a unique exhibition title!

“…!”

It’s the exhibition I read about in . The one that gives you chills just reading the text…

‘This is crazy.’

I firmly grasped and suppressed the desire to turn around immediately.

‘If I’m going to explore looking for an exit anyway, I have to see it once.’

When I needed to secure a route, avoiding ‘safe’ exhibitions was foolish.

So I gritted my teeth and slowly approached…

The moment I looked into the open door with brilliant relief decorations gleaming.

The exhibition space unfolded.

Along with sounds rushing like waves.

Aaaaaaaaa

I saw countless screaming human mouths.

More precisely, teeth and tongues.

Beautiful baroque-style picture frames containing human oral cavities densely filled one giant wall.

With artificial vocal cords attached, each recites poetry in different voices, different languages.

Those hundreds and thousands of frames harmonize to create amazingly strange harmonies and scales.

And…

Maggots writhing on the floor below them.

Heoeoeoeoeo, heoeoeoek.

People who could no longer speak human language were writhing with darkened buttons attached to their eye sockets.

These were people who had been charged fees so many times they had nearly lost their human appearance.

In contrast to the picture frames with only mouths remaining, displayed in elegant and beautiful arrangements, this was even more… more…

‘Ah.’

I felt like throwing up.

My head spun with such chilling dizziness that I looked down at the ground.

Calm down, I need to calm down.

‘They’re not company employees either.’

These must be people who got caught up in this place several days ago.

Those poor… no, I shouldn’t be conscious of this right now. Let it flow out of my mind as much as possible, as much as possible…

Kkeegeegeegeegeek.

Eventually, the shadow of a guide machine approached from far away.

Baek Sa-heon and I held our breath and crawled into a nearby ventilation duct.

The shadow of the guide machine moved among the grubs.

It seemed to be finding and dragging away corpses that had stopped moving…

The sounds of corpses being dragged and machine noises alternated.

“…”

“…”

After several suffocating minutes passed.

“Hey.”

“…”

“It took the corpses. Corpses have value too, right? As fees?”

What’s wrong with this bastard?

“They’re like that because they have no value as fees. They probably just left them alone until they died without collecting anything.”

“Ah, I see.”

Do I have to listen to this crazy talk even in this situation? Fatigue surged through me.

And on top of that, I have to make up lies.

‘To be really honest… they’d have value. Of course!’

Since they treat us as ‘visitors,’ when we’re alive they only seem to collect fees from parts like eyes, nose, and mouth that don’t affect our lives!

I think they’d also consider things like brains or spinal cords valuable. There seemed to be floors where such things were displayed too.

But I can’t tell this bastard that. If push comes to shove, he’s the type who’d suggest carrying around those people’s corpses to pay as fees.

That’s when I was keeping my mouth shut.

“…!”

The guide machines disappeared, leaving the ground floor main exhibition hall empty.

Here and there, people who had been hiding in the darkness under corner tables quickly emerged, whispered among themselves, then scattered and started running.

While wearing masks.

‘Employees…!’

The mask shapes and business suit attire were unmistakable.

These were our company’s field investigation staff who were deployed together. They seemed to be cleverly hiding in areas outside the patrol routes, narrowly avoiding the machines.

“Hey.”

What.

“If we see any newbies among them, let’s get them to join us. It’s better to have one or two more people.”

“Why?”

Baek Sa-heon looked at me as if asking why I was questioning something obvious.

“We need bait to use when we encounter monsters.”

Ah, this bastard really.

I deliberately tilted my head as if puzzled.

“We already have some.”

“What?”

“You.”

Baek Sa-heon’s face hardened then relaxed again.

“Right. I was also going to bring a human to use as bait.”

“Nice. Make sure to tell them they’ll be used as bait.”

“…”

“I told you, didn’t I? I should at least be that kind.”

Baek Sa-heon closed his mouth again with a disgusted expression.

I’m the one who’s disgusted. This tiresome bastard…

‘I miss you, Lizard Team Leader.’

I missed that short-answer office worker.

But when I saw the last silhouette emerging from behind the sofa outside the exhibition hall and running away, I was startled.

“…!”

It’s an employee I know.

“…”

“…! What are you doing right now…”

After hesitating, I came out of the ventilation duct.

When I waved at them, they also saw me and were startled, then quickly lowered their voice.

“…! Sol… no, Noru? Should I call you that?”

“Yes. Mountain Goat.”

Go Young-eun.

The new employee who had fully supported my words on the subway was standing there. Did she say she dropped out of medical school?

“Were you deployed too, Noru? Well, I’m glad you’re safe first of all.”

“…Thank you.”

Anyway, Go Young-eun, wearing the sheep mask assigned to her, looked much calmer than when I had met her before.

Though her eyes were a bit bloodshot.

‘Has she adapted to the work…’

I was almost moved by the fact that rational conversation was possible even in this insane situation.

Go Young-eun looked around nervously and whispered in a very low voice.

“Um, there’s a blocked window nearby that I was trying to open. Did you happen to see anything like a crowbar on your way here? I don’t think we should use the exhibits…”

“You can’t do that.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re trying to get out through the window, aren’t you?”

“…Would that be bad?”

It would be bad.

In the exploration records of this ghost story, windows are mentioned exactly once, and do you know what that is?

======================

The 19th record is a testimony left by a visitor who attempted to pass outside through a window, but we will omit it arbitrarily due to credibility issues.

This is because there are no windows in this exhibition.

======================

It’s a landmine.

I made up a reasonable excuse.

“Somehow, if you go out through the window, I think you’ll physically exit the mansion. …Not return to the original world.”

“…Ha.”

Go Young-eun’s face turned pale.

“That’s right. Since this isn’t reality… we should look for a door that’s recognized as an exit.”

“I think so too.”

“But we don’t even know what floor we’re on…”

“I checked, and this is the first floor.”

“…! How… no, wait. The first floor?”

A spark of hope flashed in Go Young-eun’s eyes.

“Then there’s probably a high chance there’s a door nearby! Usually exhibition entrances are on the first floor, so if we search thoroughly…”

I forced my reluctant mouth to open.

“…The reason entrances are usually on the first floor is because we live walking on the ground.”

“That’s,”

“Do you think the original visitors of this ghost story would be the same?”

“…”

Go Young-eun shut her mouth tight.

She seemed to understand what I meant immediately.

‘How can you be sure monsters would put doors on the first floor?’

And soon despair settled heavily on her face, just like mine had a few minutes ago.

“Then… wh-what do we do? Don’t tell me asking that monster machine earlier was the right answer? B-but I can’t encounter machines anymore. I don’t have any more chances…”

“What do you mean you don’t have chances…”

“…”

Go Young-eun hesitated, then gently swept her hair back.

In the place where her ear should have been, where hair should have caught…

There were only sewn marks with thread.

“It, it took my ears.”

“…”

“When I gestured ‘ears instead of eyes, ears instead of eyes!’… it listened to that request? It didn’t even hurt. Really strangely…”

Go Young-eun trembled faintly.

“And it seems like it put something strange in… I c-can still hear sounds? Uh, I don’t know what principle this works on… artificial cochlea or eardrum?”

Ah, damn.

“It’ll be okay, right? I mean, uh, they were selling organ regeneration potions and stuff at the Employee Mall…”

“It’ll be fine.”

I immediately declared.

“It’ll be okay. Let’s just focus on getting out.”

“…Yes.”

Ms. Go Young-eun’s breathing became calm again. For someone who suddenly lost their ears, she had superhuman mental strength.

Honestly, it was somewhat admirable.

But apparently someone else didn’t think so.

“Shall we start moving? Don’t waste too much time.”

“…! Baek Sa-heon.”

The moment Baek Sa-heon wearing the goat mask came out of the ventilation duct, alertness flashed in Go Young-eun’s eyes.

“Wait, you’re traveling with that person?”

“It just happened that way, yes.”

“…I see.”

Go Young-eun looked at Baek Sa-heon wearing the goat mask with surveillance, but she didn’t cut ties with me and agreed to travel together.

‘Thank you…’

I don’t know how long it’s been since I had a normal companion.

After experiencing everything from psychopaths to people possessed by ghosts, tears blurred my vision.

Though Go Young-eun did mutter quietly.

“That person, he even picked a mask that’s just like him… Don’t you know that goats are symbols of devils in Western culture?”

“Wow, did you know sheep are symbols of sacrificial lambs?”

“That’s still more helpful to humanity than devils.”

Baek Sa-heon looked at Go Young-eun with a sneer as if completely unconvinced, and Go Young-eun ignored Baek Sa-heon.

-Is this an intermission? It’s like a comedy skit.

Yeah.

But the problem is it’s not a skit, it’s the actual situation…

‘It seems like the party member compatibility is ruined.’

But our destination was steadily getting closer.

‘…!’

Found it.

Stairs leading underground appeared at the end of that corridor.

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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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