Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 50

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

Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work Episode 050

“Oh my, Noru’s here!”

“Yeah. You received the regeneration potion well?”

“Yes.”

I returned to the office and greeted the supervisors who had already finished lunch and were lounging around.

However, the supervisors saw the translucent reinforced plastic box in my hand and straightened up with serious expressions.

“…!”

“Wait, is that your assigned darkness, Noru?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

I lifted the transport box to show them the inside.

Inside, two black cards were rattling around.

The F-grade darkness I had chosen.

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

Darkness Investigation Records / Ghost Story

[Binary Choice]

Darkness Investigation Records

Two plain black cards, 60mm wide and 110mm long.

Tarot

Realized in the future

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

Though it was a low-grade darkness small and portable enough to assign to a single employee for management….

In fact, among the three candidates given to me, it was also the most dangerous and uncertain ghost story.

Because it was related to the future.

The supervisors must have recognized it too, as their expressions became serious.

“That’s pretty tough for a new employee.”

“Right! Don’t they usually give easier ones? When I was new, I just got a radio. Noru, you saw it on your first day too, right? That one was even reset to Twilight grade.”

Ah, that radio.

‘So it was managed by Team Leader.’

No wonder it was so openly placed in the office.

Team Leader said with some concern.

“Maybe expectations got too high because they say Noru’s doing well… Oh, Team Leader!”

Lizard Team Leader, who was entering the office, turned his head at the sound of being called.

“You mentioned letting Noru choose his own darkness directly, when might that be… is it still pending?”

“20 minutes ago.”

“…?”

“…??”

“He chose 20 minutes ago.”

The supervisors turned to look at me.

“Noru.”

“Yes.”

“Did you choose that from the options Team Leader gave you?”

“Yes.”

I nodded expressionlessly.

“They give overtime pay.”

“….”

“….”

“Because this darkness needs to be managed regularly at night.”

The two supervisors’ faces became wistful.

“Ahh….”

“Mm, that’s so like Noru.”

And then they became peaceful.

“….”

Where exactly is my image heading….

‘Should I be happy that I’m successfully establishing my character.’

Sigh.

I held back tears and turned on my PC.

“Are you registering it now?”

“Yes. I’m entering my employee number now.”

On the intranet, I found the corresponding darkness code in the ‘Unassigned Darkness List’ and registered my account….

Complete.

Qterw-F-2073 : Kim Sol-eum (Team Leader)

With this, I now had my own assigned darkness.

“Even if it’s F-grade, that’s still a supernatural phenomenon. Be careful when managing it.”

“Yes.”

I read the management method for this darkness.

The usage method of this ghost story that I already knew.

[Card Flipping at midnight / Once per month]

And several days later at midnight.

I came to work overtime at the company’s annex building.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

An employee sitting at the desk, dressed head to toe in black clothes, nodded and opened the corridor for me.

Following that path and opening the appropriate door….

“It’s in good condition.”

I could see the two black cards I needed to ‘manage’ today.

I carefully entered through the iron door and closed it.

Then I opened the card storage box and took out this darkness, ‘Binary Choice’, placing it face-down on the round table prepared in this space.

-Are you doing fortune telling? Occult verification has been a regular topic on talk shows too! Now, Mr. Noru. Please check the future!

It’s a bit different.

“I’m not seeing the future.”

-Hm?

“I’m choosing it.”

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

Interpretation

If you choose one

However, it must be an event that could reasonably occur in the person’s daily life. (Things like winning the lottery are not allowed.)

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

That’s right.

This was a card that allowed you to choose what would happen in the near future in a binary choice format.

Of course, that didn’t always mean good things.

I reached out and flipped over the two cards placed on the table.

Incredibly ornate illustrations revealed themselves.

Devil. Moon.

‘Damn it.’

Just like this.

-Oh my. Neither of these are traditionally very positive symbols!

Well, depending on the question category, they’re not necessarily bad symbols… but generally speaking, that’s true.

In other words, if both choices are bad, it basically just means adding one more bad event for no reason.

And considering that more than half of tarot cards can be interpreted as ambiguous or negative, the probability of this happening was at least 1/4 or more.

But…

-Have you decided which one to choose?

“Yeah.”

Because I’m going to do it a bit differently.

I moved to the opposite side of the table where the cards were placed.

‘This way, naturally…’

From the opposite side of the table, the cards appeared upside down.

If I pick up a card in this state…

-Oh ho, it’s reversed.

I looked at the card I held upside down.

‘Originally, they say you should never do this when getting a reading.’

Being an F-grade ghost story, its power wasn’t great and had many loopholes, so tricks like this seemed to work.

‘Even if the trick fails, it just goes back to being a black card and ends there.’

So I gave it a shot, and it seemed like a decent choice.

And the card I chose was…

-The Moon. Ah, a symbol of confusion!

I looked at the Moon Card with its yellowish full moon hanging upside down.

-Originally, the Moon is a symbol of mystery and uncertainty. Where the sun disappears and the moon rises, ambiguous forms and doubt grow, and eventually… madness is revealed.

-But if it’s reversed, it would be the opposite, right?

Hmm.

‘Something becomes clearly revealed.’

-Quite good. The resolution of uncertainty! Wouldn’t you be able to organize your thoughts?

I think so too.

‘In this crazy ghost story world where you can’t see even one step ahead, it would be nice if something certain came out.’

-Is this the end?

“Right.”

I put the cards back in order.

The cycle of this divination is once per month.

In other words, it means something that will happen in daily life during this month.

Although there’s a clear limitation that what happens must be at an everyday level, my daily life involves working at a ghost story company…

So I thought it might actually be quite helpful for survival.

‘Even if not, it’s good to fix at least one slightly positive future in place.’

It’s nice when the ghost stories you manage become beneficial rather than burdensome.

I decided not to be too greedy…

Thud.

“…”

A sound came from outside.

This is the Annex Building.

A place where relatively safe darkness is stored. Mainly Twilight grade, occasionally F-grade is included too…

But in the end, they’re all ghost stories.

Thud.

Occasionally.

Really occasionally, when management fails and an emergency situation occurs… one or two people die easily.

I stood in front of the iron door.

‘…How far away is that sound coming from?’

Should I wait here, or…

CRASH!!

“…!”

I immediately opened the iron door and ran.

Because it seemed like something had definitely exploded!

‘Rather than being trapped inside, running and escaping from here would have a higher survival probability.’

And I tried to run to the front door and burst out through the entrance…

The floor was already half-destroyed.

“…”

-Oh my! What a messy sight.

Various crazy possibilities flashed through my mind.

But immediately after, I saw a silhouette firmly pressing down with their foot on something shattered in the middle of the destroyed front door floor.

“…!”

It was the Black-Clothed Employee who had been sitting at the front desk.

And judging by that appearance of having ‘suppressed’ the darkness…

‘So they were a Security Team Employee!’

And it seemed the situation had already ended.

The sound I had heard seemed to be noise that occurred while the Security Team was conducting suppression.

‘I guess they don’t just put anyone at the Annex Building Desk.’

After hesitating, I asked from about 4 meters away.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

The Black-Clothed Employee shook his head.

Thank you so much…

Let’s get out of here quickly.

“Then I’ll head inside.”

The Employee looked at me for a moment, then reached to the side and picked something up from the Desk.

It was a Post-it Note.

Have a good night.

Surprisingly sociable.

“Thank you.”

I bowed my head. The all-black Desk Employee gave a light nod in return, then withdrew his feet and sat back down at the Desk.

On the front door floor, I could see Glass Fragments that were probably the medium for the ghost story, shattered and sparkling.

In that reflected light, the Employee’s leg shadow strangely twisted and looked like broken hooves for a moment… then returned to looking human again.

‘Phew…’

Let’s not look.

I left the Annex Building without staring at anything.

“Well, this is something.”

All sorts of incidents happen on a daily basis.

‘Having one good daily event fixed to occur regularly was indeed a good choice.’

Life was tough and difficult, but I felt a bit better knowing I was somehow managing to get through it all.

Hmm. Come to think of it, I remember communicating through written notes like that Employee did earlier.

[Have a good day^^]

I’m talking about the one-on-one field transaction at the used market where I sold ghost story food for a whopping 40 million won.

I had used written notes to hide my voice too.

I had sold the Churros that the Blue Dragon Mascot from the Theme Park had given me.

‘I do have one more pack of those Churros.’

I still don’t plan to sell them just in case… hmm.

I realized I owned quite a few food-related Items.

The quantities of various things were pretty decent.

‘Maybe it would be better to sell one or two and convert them to money.’

If they’re still looking for them, that is.

Since I thought of it, I logged into Salmon Market to check.

Surprisingly, another post had been uploaded.

[Buying food originating from paranormal phenomena.]

For research purposes.

Strong paranormal phenomena (Disaster Management Bureau waveform abnormality) preferred.

40.0

-Doesn’t this guy ever get tired

-Hahaha at this point, wouldn’t you be an idiot to fall for it?

Hmm.

‘If the Churros were already used for research…’

I sent a message.

[Blue Friend : Hello sir^^ I got some more food, are you interested by any chance?]

And two days later on the weekend.

I found myself waiting for my used goods trading partner at Gwanghwamun Station Exit 5, just like last time.

‘Trust really is important between people.’

Since I had sold something that met their conditions once before, this time they set up a meeting time without much talk.

They were even waiting at the exit first this time.

They were dressed in dark clothes with a hat and mask, just like last time.

I recognized them by the Beverage Box in their hands. Well, I was dressed similarly so I couldn’t really say anything.

[Hello^^]

I opened my Notebook and showed them a greeting this time too. They didn’t seem flustered, probably expecting it.

[Here are the Items I prepared.]

And inside the box I handed over were two Alice Picnic Set Cookies.

Why did I choose these? Simple.

‘The Expiration Date is coming up soon.’

Being cookies, they had a set consumption period!

Since they were Items that halved or inflated effects, I didn’t have many occasions to use them, so quite a few remained.

Still, using the drink in the Tuesday Quiz Show was such a super save that I couldn’t bring myself to take out the drinks, so I brought the Cookies instead.

‘Cookie form is also harder to use.’

Wouldn’t it be a waste to just leave them until the consumption period ends?

But using Items past their consumption period? I don’t particularly want to see what would happen.

Anyway, I put out the goods and waited for the Buyer’s assessment.

The Buyer ran their gloved hand over the box once like before…

Then shook their head slightly.

“This isn’t what I’m looking for.”

Hmm. As expected.

‘I didn’t think it would reach waveform grade.’

Mass-produced Items have relatively low danger levels and a passive feel, so they differ in nature from strange objects directly obtained from high-grade ghost stories…

‘It’s disappointing but can’t be helped.’

Still, it might be worth negotiating…

“So I’ll buy them at half price each.”

Thanks for the smooth transaction.

‘If this person knew about the Alien Shop’s existence, wouldn’t they try to kill me out of regret…’

Just in case, I decided to lay some groundwork.

I hastily scribbled in my Notebook.

[Thank you. I really needed the money.]

“….”

[This time it doesn’t seem like dangerous food, but since the expiration date is coming up soon, I think it would be good to research it within that time. I’ll give you a few more.]

With that, they tucked in a small envelope with one or two additional cookies on top.

‘Like a bonus, I guess.’

It was trust-building work to continue the transactions. I brought it for negotiation purposes, but this is how it gets used.

At this level, wouldn’t this be a really kind secondhand dealer? Especially in a ghost story world.

Just as I was about to take the beverage box containing cash from the buyer and leave,

I heard the buyer’s voice.

“Excuse me.”

Hm?

“How do you come to have things like this?”

Hmm.

[I can’t tell you that. I’m sorry.]

This should be enough.

It was a platform for trading supernatural items, so everyone had their own stories. Let them imagine for themselves.

‘The Alien Shop shows up as a non-existent page even if you access it, unless you’ve seen the advertisement directly.’

Still, I was preparing to bolt if they pressed further.

“….”

The buyer took out a pen from their pocket and wrote something on the notebook I was holding.

“If a dangerous situation occurs, contact that number.”

Huh?

“Well then, goodbye.”

The buyer left, and I checked the notebook.

1717 8282 42

“…!”

‘This is a government number.’

It was an emergency rescue request call that connected directly to the Disaster Management Bureau.

In other words, the ghost story version of 911.

‘Were they a government official?’

No wonder they used their classification system too.

I shrugged my shoulders and carefully put away the money and notebook.

Daydream Corporation, being a malicious conglomerate, had a bad relationship with the government. But there was no way an employee like me working there would go so far as to call here and get involved….

‘Absolutely no way that would happen, right?’

Yeah. It happened!

That very evening, when I returned to the company housing.

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