Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 5

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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 005

What happens when a new employee successfully completes their probationary period?

Usually, there’s a light celebration along with gift presentation.

I didn’t expect a corporation inside a ghost story would do the same.

[Let’s see… My goodness! We have 22 graduates this time, everyone! Wow, I wonder what the HR Department thinks about this?]

I’m not curious at all.

And probably the new employees sitting next to me feel the same way.

[No, this is truly an amazing record. If this isn’t a difficulty adjustment failure, then you’re an elite class. Elite.]

Silence fell over the lecture hall.

The host cheerfully shouted without a care.

[Then shall we pick the top elite among our elite employees?]

[The valedictorian of this Field Investigation Team’s new employee class! One of the people who completed the evaluation and escaped in the shortest time, and recorded the highest score in the comprehensive evaluation.]

The host raised his hand.

[Congratulations. Kim Sol-eum!]

Me?

[Kim Sol-eum?]

[This event won’t end if we can’t deliver the gift~ Please come receive it!]

Is this for real?

‘Why…’

Anyway, I stood up from my seat.

I had been trapped in a ghost story where you die if you don’t listen to announcements, so I’d be an idiot to just sit still after hearing those instructions.

[Ah, coming up right away is very reassuring. Your quick Situation Assessment makes me think you’ll do great work in our department too, so it’s a shame. Such a shame.]

Must be a supervisor from Other Departments. Somehow he looks even more annoying and despicable.

I went up to the auditorium and stood in front of the host.

[Here, take your gift!]

What the host held out was a square paper bag.

Inside the silver shopping bag with ‘s logo, I caught a glimpse of what looked like an appointment certificate award plaque and other items before they disappeared.

[You’re the valedictorian but don’t be too disappointed that we didn’t give you any special different gift.]

I’m not happy at all.

I took the shopping bag and was about to nod and go down to avoid glaring at the host…

“Take a good look inside.”

What?

“What do you…”

[Now, I’ll call the next new employee!]

The host was already holding the microphone and calling the next person.

As if he had never made any small talk at all.

“…”

Hmm.

I didn’t delay any longer and came down from the stage.

After that, Go Young-eun and the others who had been in the same compartment also went up to receive their gifts.

It didn’t mean much, but Baek Sa-heon was called right after me.

“…”

“…”

He was still sitting in the seat next to me but we didn’t exchange a single word.

To be precise, we didn’t even make eye contact. From the way he was pressing his left eye, it seemed certain he had returned the ‘Lost Item’.

‘He’ll go to the hospital on his own.’

[Next, I’m calling Kim Ji-won!]

The later they were called, the more people came out with strange appearances, odd gaits, or weird looks in their eyes to receive their gifts.

‘…Were they in the ghost story for a long time?’

Coming to our senses in the lecture hall seemed to happen simultaneously, but there were definitely differences in escape times within the ghost story.

When I thought about just how long they might have been trapped, it made my spine tingle.

Still, the fact that they escaped might make them better off than the other 78 people.

[You’ve all received your gifts well, haven’t you, everyone?]

Finally, the presentation ceremony ended.

There was no response, but a strange tension and anticipation settled faintly over the lecture hall.

The expectation that they might let us out now.

To be honest, I was waiting a little too. Wondering if it might be ending soon.

But.

[However… this company doesn’t hire all graduates, you see.]

“…?!”

[No, there are always people who pass by luck.]

No way.

[However, Daydream Corporation is a company that never forgets the great social value of fairness.]

[Such probationary employees receive major deductions in absolute evaluation.]

The host definitely didn’t do anything.

No clichéd finger snapping, staring with his gaze. Not even any performance like lights going out in the lecture hall.

However…

[As I said, we catch all freeloaders.]

People started melting.

“…!”

From all directions, several people began melting away as their silhouettes crumbled.

There were no screams, no movements.

‘Fuck!’

The person in front covered their mouth to suppress a scream.

I also hurriedly turned my head away.

But my eyes had already seen it.

‘They’re gone.’

Half of the people who had been in the same car had disappeared.

Everyone except me, Go Young-eun, Baek Sa-heon, and the new employee who had been attacked by Baek Sa-heon.

“….”

[To the remaining 13 new employees. Congratulations! You have become permanent employees with excellent grades!]

Not a single person applauded in joy.

In the cold silence, only one person fumbled in panic.

“Resignation, I want to resign… I’ll quit.”

But the host was relaxed.

[Huh? Leaving such a good job? Come on, at least listen to the benefits before deciding.]

Go Young-eun shouted from behind me as if vomiting.

“Then after hearing about the benefits, can we process our resignation? Without any disadvantages?”

[That’s right. Everyone can resign without a hair on their head being harmed~]

The host’s words were smooth and full of confidence.

That’s when I realized.

‘Here it comes.’

All the sticks had passed.

Now comes the carrot.

…That ‘benefit’ I know about.

[Now, let me introduce our company’s representative benefit!]

The reason employees continue working in the Field Investigation Team even after experiencing this insane situation right after joining.

[Employee Benefits]

Wish Potion

Something revealed itself on the large screen of the lecture hall.

A beautiful streamlined crystal bottle.

Drip.

Inside the bottle, a strange liquid shimmering with five colors was creating ripples.

It undulated.

All the colors and textures, even the ripples created by the waves, were beautiful and mysterious to an unsettling degree.

Silence flowed.

[Shall we take a closer look?]

When the host pressed a button, the beam projector screen went up. And the table that had been hidden behind it was revealed.

On the black table, the colorful bottle we had seen on screen was actually there.

“…!”

The liquid in the bottle swayed on its own, scattering beautiful light bright enough to illuminate the entire lecture hall.

That strange thing that made you doubt whether it was really an object that existed in reality…

[You all knew when you joined that our company is famous as a very successful pharmaceutical company, right? How good must our technology be to even make hair loss medication.]

[But actually, there’s a separate main product, a medicine… and this is it.]

The host steadied his trembling hands and put on white gloves.

Then he carefully picked up the crystal bottle placed on the table and held it out so the employees could see it better.

[The name of the medicine is ‘Wish Potion’.]

[The effect is… literally what it says. If you drink this medicine, any wish will come true.]

“…!”

[Hard to believe? But there are truckloads of your seniors and supervisors who actually took this medicine and had their wishes granted.]

[Let me show you a demonstration first.]

The host unwrapped the displayed medicine and… immediately threw it into his mouth!

[Today was my Wish Potion receipt day. Haha!]

And everyone in the lecture hall immediately intuited what the host’s ‘wish’ had been.

The moment he drank the Wish Potion.

The face of the host, who had appeared to be in his mid-to-late 40s, rapidly became taut and began to take on a rosy complexion.

His body became firm, and his hair regained its luster and thickness.

Yes, it returned.

To that appearance from childhood, the most energetic and growing period!

[Yahoo!]

The host, who now looked like a high school student, raised his fist in excitement.

[How about that? Ahem, to put it simply, rejuvenation!]

Even his voice had become young and youthful.

In a different sense than before, shocked silence flowed through the lecture hall.

This was… the silence of being shaken.

The host pointed at the new employees in the lecture hall.

[Your department, the Field Investigation Team, always receives good performance evaluations. On average, they’ve been taking home those Wish Potions with less than half the tenure of other teams…]

[All 10 people with the shortest period for receiving Wish Potions belong to the Field Investigation Team!]

Gulp.

The sound of someone swallowing saliva could be heard from somewhere.

Of course, it’s all just wordplay.

In reality, it’s nothing more than hazard pay.

‘Before the current minimum of 10 people, dozens, hundreds must have died in the line of duty.’

So it’s bait, something that looks good on the surface but is rotten inside.

But….

‘There are definitely people who made it out.’

It wasn’t a complete scam.

[Now I’ll take questions… Oh, employee!]

One of the new employees quietly raised their hand and asked in a rough voice.

“Is it possible to bring back the dead?”

It was the tall brown-haired male.

[Ah. There’s something you always hear in these types of stories, right? ‘The one wish that’s fundamentally impossible’….]

[…is what you expected me to say!]

The host threw his hand up dramatically.

[The Wish Potion will absolutely grant the user’s wish.]

“…!”

[Of course, only if you use the correct method. Please refer to the Employee Mall for detailed usage instructions.]

“….”

The questioner fell silent again. But the commotion began spreading even more intensely among the new employees.

The host didn’t miss this moment.

[Then please check the screen for other benefits and the information sheet enclosed in your gift envelope… Shall we make a decision now?]

Whoosh.

With a brief sound, the back door of the lecture hall swung wide open.

[Those who wish to give up on joining the company can go out and receive documents at the desk.]

[But for those who think, ‘Since I got into this company anyway, let me try working here’….]

The host gestured.

[Please put on the mask inside your gift envelope.]

A mask? Ah.

‘So that’s when it gets distributed.’

[These days they call it customization, don’t they? It lets you express your individuality perfectly.]

[Well… the current ones don’t have any special functions. That’s all there is to it though.]

I gripped my smartphone.

I couldn’t check with so many eyes watching, but if I could confirm the pages of reconstructed by the ‘Memorial Grip Tok’, it would surely display this:

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

Dark Investigation Records / Daydream Corporation

/ Department

Trivia

Mask

According to Employee D, the mask theme is determined by the year of employment.

Colleagues who joined in the same year

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

In short, it’s like a symbol of Daydream Corporation’s Field Investigation Team.

‘To think the day would come when I’d receive this.’

My feelings were complex in many ways.

Of course, 90% of me wanted to run out of here right now, throw down the mask, and shout that I was giving up on joining.

Please just let me live.

‘But… even if I quit, this whole world setting is still a hellhole.’

Those damn ‘dark anomalous phenomena’ are already scattered everywhere.

You could very easily have the precious experience of becoming an extra in a ghost story and ending your life.

‘Hah….’

So rather, working as an employee with issued equipment, salary, and final rewards while aiming for a department transfer might… have a higher survival rate.

‘Besides, if I want to return to my original world, that ‘Wish Potion’ seems like the most promising method.’

A coward like me is doomed to die in this world setting anyway. It’s better to find a way to escape from this world entirely.

So rationally, choosing the answer with the highest possibility as rationally as possible….

‘I have to join the company.’

It’s crazy, but there’s no other option. Damn it.

In the end, I swallowed my tears and opened the envelope.

And when I reached in to take out the mask.

“…?”

Something came out along with the mask.

───

When needed

010-0153-24865

───

A business card?

It looked like someone had whited out where the name and position should be and scribbled in this message.

‘…Did the host put this in?’

I looked around, but no one else seemed to have a business card attached to their mask.

‘I’ll deal with this later.’

I detached the business card, put it in the envelope, and took out only the mask.

It was a basic-shaped mask with a smooth texture that would only cover above the nose.

What was surprising was that people around me were already trying to put on their masks.

Without a single exception.

‘…Even after going through all that, not a single person is running away?’

There was only one variable though.

The Wish Potion.

‘Did they only select people who would stake their lives on the Wish Potion from the start?’

I felt an indescribable emotion as I looked around the lecture hall where everyone was silently putting on their masks without a single person saying they’d quit.

Since I was going to join them too.

‘Can’t be helped.’

I brought my mask up to my face.

Then the shape of the mask really did change.

I could feel it stretching and becoming bumpy against my cheeks and forehead…

“….”

I felt around with my hands.

It was a vivid mask with protruding horns and strange patterns like wood grain.

Wait, tree-shaped horns?

‘…Antlers? A deer?’

It looked too strange to be a deer though.

I looked around awkwardly while wearing the mask. Go Young-eun, who was wearing a sheep-like mask, made an uncomfortable expression when our eyes met.

Besides her, the sight of suited new employees wearing various masks from elephants to goats sitting in their seats was quite bizarre and eerie.

Fitting for employees of a company that manages ghost stories.

[Once again, we sincerely congratulate you on your employment!]

Clap clap clap.

The PowerPoint presentation advanced while playing recorded applause sounds.

[Employment Confirmed]

‘So it’s come to this after all…’

Masks aside, just as my head was starting to spin thinking about the work ahead, that moment came.

Suddenly, the memo pad appeared in mid-air again.

“…!”

That memo pad that had produced the ‘Memorial Grip Tok’ goods for me…

[Darkness Investigation Records Real Goods Box]

-New goods usage permission unlocked! (!)

Huh?

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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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