Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 47

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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 047

Park Min-seong suppressed a sigh as he sat down next to the sofa in the terrace room where they had been hiding.

‘This seems to be taking too long.’

It had already been over 70 minutes since Kim Sol-eum went down with his colleagues.

He had said it might take this long, but at the same time, Kim Sol-eum had also left a hint assuming a scenario where neither he nor his colleagues returned even after 2 hours had passed…

-…You don’t need to wait or look for us.

It meant to leave him behind if things went wrong.

‘I should have just gone with them.’

Park Min-seong suppressed a sigh.

Even though Baekillmong Corporation was a place of individual survival, depending on the Field Investigation Team, some had strong camaraderie, and Team D was particularly like that.

Even Eun Ha-je was sighing while modifying this makeshift map of darkness on the sofa, showing slight signs of distress.

‘…Noru, I was hoping he would settle permanently in our team even after his probationary period ends.’

First, getting out of this place safely had to come first.

Park Min-seong felt a bit depressed, but he still had some faith.

‘Team Leader Lee Ja-heon confirmed it.’

That meant the item really seemed useful.

He didn’t know where the new employee got it from, but occasionally such people would join.

Cases where people who had been living entangled in urban legends or ghost stories got hired.

‘Is this one of those cases?’

Should he call it strong bad luck?

Even for the Field Investigation Team, it was an event that happened maybe once a year at most for new employees to be mobilized in such dangerous darkness.

But thinking of Kim Sol-eum who had been thrown into consecutive situations starting from the theme park, it was almost tear-inducing…

‘At least he’s been collecting points well.’

Park Min-seong suppressed a sigh and looked toward the terrace door.

There was a figure who looked completely calm, opposite to his troubled heart.

Team Leader Lee Ja-heon.

He was waiting right in front of the terrace door without moving.

He was probably keeping time with his mysteriously accurate biological clock.

And when the countdown ended, he would get up without hesitation and move according to plan.

He could only hope that plan wasn’t premised on ‘Employee Kim Sol-eum’s survival is hopeless, so exclude him from the escape plan.’

‘No, I hope Noru comes back before that…’

Outside was frustratingly quiet except for the occasional screams.

‘No footsteps.’

If Noru had finished his work, surely the quiet footsteps of three people would be heard first…

[Can you hear me?]

“…!?”

Park Min-seong jumped up.

He saw Eun Ha-je also reflexively stand up beside him.

[I’ll provide guidance regarding escape.]

[There’s no time, so I won’t repeat this. Please focus.]

It was Team D’s new employee they had been waiting for.

It was Kim Sol-eum’s voice.

[The entrance is on the 0th floor.]

[Let me explain again. The entrance is on the 0th floor, and when you keep going down the stairs, in the section that turns bronze-colored…]p>

It was definitely Noru.

And if it was this extraordinary new employee, it wouldn’t be too strange for him to use some amazing method to make an announcement broadcast from somewhere… But.

…What was the probability that something non-human was imitating Kim Sol-eum?

“…”

The two Team D members glanced at each other, then left the final decision to the ultimate authority.

Their team leader who could judge with unparalleled coldness and ghostly intuition in this field.

“…”

Lee Ja-heon heard the ‘announcement broadcast’ more clearly than anyone near the terrace door.

[You must use the spiral staircase.]

He had been staring into space as if thinking deeply about something… then declared:

“We’re moving.”

[That concludes the announcement.]

I finally finished the words I had repeated 6 times.

From the 1st floor to the 6th floor.

‘Did I notify everyone on the ground floors with this?’

Actually, I considered only doing it for the 1st floor where Team D was, but Go Young-eun actively agreed.

-Th-that’s possible? Then we should save whoever we can!

It was a statement befitting a medical professional.

But from now on, it depends on each person’s judgment.

‘I didn’t introduce the company just in case, but I did include some terms used by the Field Investigation Team…’

Still, they might be suspicious and not come out.

Even if they unluckily encounter the guide machine in charge of that floor while using the stairs, it can’t be helped.

Losing a body part or two but surviving would be better than being trapped in this crazy exhibition and dying as a human maggot.

‘It also has the effect of dispersing the machines that might come to Team D.’

I cleared my throat.

“Ah, ah.”

Brown tactfully withdrew his power, and the strange resonance I felt in my throat and lungs disappeared.

‘Thank you.’

-Words of gratitude are always nice to hear!

Brown answered cheerfully, though his voice sounded slightly tired.

But from the side, I heard an irritated voice as if he couldn’t understand.

“Why are you wasting points? The more people escape, the fewer points per person.”

There he goes again with his terrible personality.

And it’s an ignorant statement too.

“Are you stupid? If a new employee like you is escaping, wouldn’t there be veteran employees who would find the entrance and get out on their own without help?”

“…!”

Employees with well-matched items and specialized equipment, and employees who were originally capable—several of them would escape anyway.

Even looking at the , 7 people escaping was already confirmed, so the point distribution per person would be 1/8 or less even if I didn’t do this.

It meant it would be difficult to grab a good share of points from this ghost story.

But instead of explaining this, I just smiled brightly.

“I should show off at times like this to make company life interesting going forward… and observe various reactions too.”

“….”

Baek Sa-heon turned his head with a disgusted expression.

‘Do you have any conscience?’

Considering what you just said, I should be the one reacting like that. You sociopath of this ghost story world.

But just in case Go Young-eun was also startled, I called out to the person in front.

“Sanyang.”

“….”

“Sanyang?”

“…Wait a moment. Did you call me by any chance?”

“…!”

No way.

“…I think I’m starting to have trouble hearing.”

“….”

I looked at the spot where Go Young-eun’s ear had disappeared, covered by her hair.

I didn’t know what they had put inside the empty space sewn with thread, but the ‘rented’ hearing device was losing its function.

In a relatively very short time.

‘Of all times, now….’

“But it’s not like I can’t hear anything at all. And there’s still quite a bit of candle left, so I think we can move carefully.”

“Yes.”

I gently tapped Go Young-eun’s shoulder to indicate more clearly.

Go Young-eun flinched slightly, then soon began walking down the stairs resolutely….

Baek Sa-heon said urgently.

“I should carry that item. Hand it over to me.”

“What if Sanyang accidentally turns around while we’re doing that?”

“….”

Baek Sa-heon closed his mouth.

We began descending the six flights of stairs in tension.

Trudge, trudge.

Only echoing footsteps filled the stairwell.

It seemed no one had heard my broadcast and come running out yet….

“Excuse me.”

Go Young-eun called out.

“Yes.”

“….”

Can’t she hear?

“Excuse me, you’re there, right?”

I very gently tapped Go Young-eun’s back. Baek Sa-heon also reluctantly tapped Go Young-eun’s shoulder.

“Ah…. Thank you.”

Go Young-eun seemed relieved and gripped the candle tightly with both hands again.

We descended the stairs again.

Trudge, trudge.

After what felt like an eternally quiet time….

We arrived at the first floor.

Creeeeak….

The sound of guide machines moving along their routes echoed from all directions.

They were passing right next to us…. dragging along dead human slugs they had collected.

“…I’ll head to the spiral staircase now.”

“Yes.”

Go Young-eun’s voice got louder.

As if she couldn’t control her volume because she could barely hear anything.

‘We’re almost there, it’s okay.’

Instead, I walked calmly and carefully while listening intently in all directions to react quickly.

I think it wasn’t the wrong response.

However, if there was a problem, it was that crises sometimes come regardless of our preparations.

For example… while I was straining all my nerves to listen, a completely unrelated obstacle appeared.

“Huh?”

The person in front disappeared from my view.

When I looked down, I saw Go Young-eun falling.

Something glinting slipped under her feet.

A telephoto lens.

An invisible transparent rental item that had fallen from the dead body the guide machine was dragging had rolled down and gotten perfectly positioned between her feet….

Thud.

I caught Go Young-eun.

But the candle bounced out of Go Young-eun’s arm as she hit the floor.

“No…!”

I reflexively caught the candle and threw it to Baek Sa-heon.

But it was already too late.

The candle went out.

“….”

“…Huff.”

The guide machine turned toward us.

Whoosh.

A metal blade flew at us.

“Eek,”

I rolled to the side. A sharp groan came from beside me.

The guide machine that had put down the body it was carrying lifted a gas lamp to illuminate us.

It had clearly confirmed that we were all behind on payments.

Thus, the needle-like appendage attached to the upper body of the monster that had reorganized its ‘priorities’ flew at us again.

First, the closest eyes….

“Noru.”

A familiar voice.

“Duck down.”

I reflexively pressed down on the backs of my two colleagues’ heads and collapsed to the floor.

Bang.

A thunderous crash of metal colliding and sparks flying erupted above my head.

“…!”

It was Lee Ja-heon.

The Field Investigation employee with impossible strength ruthlessly deflected the guide machine’s needle.

Ting.

The broken needle tip flew off and embedded itself in the corridor wall. The guide machine made strange grinding sounds as it twisted its joints.

This is insane.

‘That thing could actually break?’

Lee Ja-heon withdrew his gloved hand. By all rights, he should have suffered a fracture from that impact.

In that hand, he was gripping something metallic like brass knuckles….

It was the terrace door handle.

“…!”

Alarms went off in my head. That was….

‘Property damage in the exhibition.’

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

All disturbances, theft, property damage, and other prohibited acts occurring within the exhibition hall will be immediately sanctioned by guides, and corresponding fines will be collected.

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

He had even destroyed a guide machine.

Even if the exhibition treated this not as criminal law but politely requested only an apology for the disturbance and damage compensation fees… that would be something.

One thing was certain.

The guide machines’ overwhelming priority.

And that applied not just to the machine before us, but to all guide machines that would be in this area….

“Team Leader.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s run.”

I launched my body forward.

Screeeeech, screech, crackle, squeal, click, screech, screeeeeeech….

I could hear the broken guide machine moving more aggressively than ever before.

I could hear my colleagues running frantically beside me. Lizard was… no, wait!

“Team Leader!!”

“Yes.”

“Don’t fight, just run!”

‘No matter how jokingly strong Lizard is, he can’t possibly destroy all the guide machines here!’

Just imagining what would happen if the disturbance spread that far made me feel dizzy.

‘…They even censored it in the Darkness Investigation records!!’

I didn’t want to imagine how the redacted content would manifest in reality.

Screeeeech

‘Shit!’

We encountered another guide machine on the way to the stairs.

No, one more.

“Ugh!”

I threw my body between the descending needles. I felt a burning pain in my arm.

Even while running, I knew from biological instinct.

‘We’re going to get caught.’

This was impossible given human physical limitations.

We would definitely be caught by the guide machines and have fees collected before reaching the ground floor.

My back felt cold.

‘…What can I do?’

I’m out of breath. My oxygen-deprived brain isn’t working well.

Instead, resignation creeps in.

‘I guess… we lasted pretty long.’

As my thinking dulled, even sounds seemed to separate into layers, with footsteps echoing loudly in my ears.

As if dozens of people were running….

No, wait!

“…?!”

I realized.

It wasn’t that the footsteps sounded particularly numerous.

The number of people had actually increased.

Not just two, but the footsteps of at least ten people.

-Noru, it seems people seized the opportunity after hearing your wonderful announcement!

“…!”

Field Investigation Team employees.

Those visitors who had been watching the situation seemed to be trying to approach the spiral staircase, taking advantage of the commotion.

This had an unexpected effect.

The guide machines were thrown into confusion, calculating priorities based on the severity of violations and respective distances to visitors.

People who hadn’t paid fees were popping up everywhere and running.

“Hurry!”

In that temporal gap, we also gritted our teeth and launched ourselves toward the stairs.

Screeeeeeech

I moved my feet frantically.

Just as the chilling sounds behind us grew closer.

The stairs ended, and the Silver Hall spread out before us.

The lobby.

And… the main entrance!

“Go!”

Eun Ha-je and Park Min-seong were holding the door.

I ran like mad.

Almost simultaneously as I stepped in front of the main entrance, my supervisors threw themselves toward the exit.

I also went in, nearly falling over.

Running until I tasted blood in my mouth, the moment I exited through the light-filled entrance….

“Whew!!”

I opened my eyes.

I could see a ceiling with clean fluorescent lights.

A moderately wide, modern corridor.

In front of the company’s 31st floor conference room.

I escaped.

“Hah….”

I collapsed in the corridor.

I could hear people rushing out of the large conference room, but I had neither the mental strength nor physical energy left to be conscious of it.

Having squeezed out every last drop, in my dazed state of mind….

An alarm sounds.

[Darkness Investigation Records Real Goods Box]

-New goods usage permission unlocked!

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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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