Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 51

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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 051

‘It was a fulfilling day.’

Additional income of forty thousand. The best choice.

‘It seems like I’ve found a way to pull in regular side income without being noticed.’

For now, various options for how to spend today’s forty thousand won came to mind.

Along with the company areas that were newly opened with this promotion.

And one stuffed doll who had keenly noticed that I had benefited was slowly subtly appealing for what it wanted.

-Sigh, I’ve been going out frequently these past few days and my body feels stiff. I want to take a bath…

Bear with it. It’s not like I can steal blood packs from some hospital…

Friend

Well, bathing in the blood bathtub might be impossible, but I could at least let it do some hand washing.

I was thinking of spending the evening making such trivial small talk with Brown.

That was before someone burst open my door and came in.

“You!!”

“…!”

It’s Baek Sa-heon.

No, this guy who barely comes out of his own room, why is he suddenly barging into someone else’s room without even knocking?

But before I could point out Baek Sa-heon’s rudeness, I realized his condition.

He’s almost in a panic state.

“What the hell does this mean…! Where did you drag me into!”

In his hand was a smartphone, and what was displayed on the screen was…

[Kim Sol-eum : Be careful of the serial killer]

It was the message I had sent.

I did send one when I came in earlier.

But the thing is.

“I didn’t drag you into anything.”

“…”

“You must have made the wrong choice.”

-Noru’s ‘company colleague’ picked up an item, and will soon die miserably!

Baek Sa-heon’s face turned pale.

‘It seems like something just happened in response to my message.’

Since he’s not dead yet, he should be able to handle it by contacting the company or something.

Anyway, I can’t suffer unnecessarily by getting involved, so just as I was about to go outside…

-Oh my, can you hear me?

-It seems time is up for Noru’s ‘company colleague.’

“…”

What?

Humming started to be heard.

The source was definitely Baek Sa-heon in front of me.

But Baek Sa-heon wasn’t even moving his lips.

…Then.

“You seem to be carrying something you shouldn’t have.”

“…”

Baek Sa-heon put his hand in his pocket with a pale complexion and pulled something out.

It was a cassette tape.

On the aged, yellowed ivory body, there were traces of roughly crossing out the title that had been attached as a sticker with a pen.

The humming emanating from the tape grew louder and louder.

A very intuitive… signal.

-The time has come.

Let’s run.

I immediately got up from my seat and rushed out of the company housing.

The problem was that Baek Sa-heon also hurriedly followed me out!

“Throw away the tape first!”

“I threw it away! Out the window!”

Then stop following me!

-It’s too late.

-Oh my, Noru… you’ve also seen the item. You’ve become entangled in this story. You’ve become part of choosing the sacrifice.

-For a talented guest with entertainment skills like you, it’s unavoidable though!

Ha.

‘Why doesn’t this bastard Baek Sa-heon handle things himself and cause such trouble for others…!’

If I gave you a warning, you should have handled it yourself! Are you really a named employee of the ghost story company?

Curses rose to my throat. But since there was no time to curse, I ran even faster.

‘Let’s get physically away first.’

If I haven’t completely fallen into a ghost story yet, then keeping distance should help for the most part!

I ran away from the company housing in one breath and headed to the bus stop.

And I immediately caught the incoming bus.

Beep.

I tapped my card and got on, and I heard the sound of Baek Sa-heon tapping his card behind me.

‘Why is this crazy bastard following me!’

Don’t you have any human conscience to not drag in the person who even gave you advice?

Come to think of it, he probably doesn’t. That bastard was a pure sociopath!

Anyway, the bus doors closed and departed without any problems.

“Ha.”

“Ha…”

The humming can no longer be heard.

I went to the very back and sat right next to the emergency escape hammer that could break the glass window. Just in case.

Baek Sa-heon seemed to hesitate, then sat right near me.

“….”

“….”

The weekend bus, avoiding both rush hour and lunch time, had only a few passengers. About two or three in the front seats.

Baek Sa-heon checked his surroundings, then asked in a lowered voice with an anxious expression.

“Hey, you… how did you know to send that message,”

“You?”

“…We agreed to drop formalities… No, I mean… Right. Team Leader. How exactly did you know?”

“How I know isn’t what’s important.”

I said this while suppressing the urge to yell at Baek Sa-heon, who was reading the room.

“What’s important is how you came to have that thing.”

“….”

If this bastard kept his mouth shut like this, I was planning to get off at the next stop and catch a taxi. Even if it meant throwing him out of the taxi so he couldn’t follow.

But as if he sensed my mood like a ghost, Baek Sa-heon opened his mouth.

“…It was something from my house.”

House?

“I inherited it from a relative. They told me to use it if I wanted to turn things around in a crisis, so I’ve been carrying it around…”

-Ah, what an obvious trick. A family heirloom you thought was a protective symbol turns out to be cursed… Isn’t that a classic horror movie cliché!

Exactly.

I asked sincerely, not intending to be sarcastic.

“You work at a company that grades ghost stories and never once thought to have it examined?”

“…If the company thought it was useful, they might not give it back after examining it! I thought about all that.”

“Doesn’t seem like you did.”

“….”

“Try thinking next time.”

“…Ah, yes.”

Baek Sa-heon’s face turned red and blue, then he forced a smile so hard his mouth twitched.

This guy would act like a sociopath and be snippy, but when scared, suddenly became polite – he was really transparent.

Anyway, I suppressed a sigh and assessed the situation.

A typical ghost story entanglement opening.

“For now, it’s better to go to the terminal, get off, and contact the company’s Security Team…”

“….”

“….”

“…Why, why are you like that, Team Leader?”

This is strange.

City bus stops are usually within 3 minutes of each other.

But this bus,

why does it keep running?

-Oh my, it caught up.

I looked outside the window.

…Fog was rolling in.

The scenery outside the city bus that had been traveling Seoul’s pleasant four-lane road began changing to a winding unpaved road.

“…!”

I stood up from my seat.

The passengers in the front seats had disappeared.

…The only one still there was the bus driver.

“….”

The bus driver was now wearing an old hat pulled down low.

The kind of hat that would have been worn back when buses still had traces of formal transportation etiquette.

And with gloved hands, he hummed while reaching out to turn on the radio.

Click.

And what flowed out was…

Hmm, hmm hmm, mmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm.

That humming from the cassette tape.

“…!”

Hmm, hmm hmm, mmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm.

The humming filled the bus.

The low-floor bus that had been traveling modern Seoul had somehow become an old bus with seats arranged in a single row.

Hmm, hmm hmm, mmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm.

“Don’t look back.”

It was already too late.

Baek Sa-heon gripped the handle with a stiff expression, staring straight ahead. I tried not to look too intently at the fog clearing outside, keeping my gaze fixed forward.

The trail path changed into old paved road.

The old bus that had been rattling along rough country roads finally began to slow down…

[The next stop is ‘Horizon Mountain Lodge’.]

“….”

The destination came into view.

Hmm, hmm hmm, mmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm.

The humming was now flowing from the radio as an unmistakably clear melody.

Listening to the cheerful minor-key popular song melody that was popular in the 1980s and 90s, I looked at the scene outside the opening door…

[Horizon Mountain Lodge]

A luxury mountain lodge-style mansion with an elegantly scripted signboard standing in the mountain area.

“….”

Ha.

“…Are you getting off?”

Yeah.

Really fucking hate this, but.

I got up from my seat and stepped toward the open door. Behind me, I heard Baek Sa-heon muttering something like a curse as he hurriedly followed me off.

The bus door closed behind us and departed.

Along with the humming melody.

“….”

“….”

Baek Sa-heon muttered with a slightly relieved tone.

“Still, I can’t hear any songs, and there’s no tape, so the situation is better than before…”

“Check your pocket.”

“What?”

“Your pocket, put your hand in and check.”

“…”

Baek Sa-heon looked at me with a dazed expression, then quickly put his hand into his coat pocket.

And what came out was…

The old cassette tape he said he had thrown away earlier.

“…!!”

I grabbed and pulled down Baek Sa-heon’s arm as he tried to throw the cassette tape away again.

“It’s already too late, so get ready to go in.”

“Go in…”

“Over there.”

I pointed to the ‘Horizon Mountain Lodge’.

Having come this far, running away was useless.

We’d just waste energy and after all kinds of hardships, end up back at this ‘location that serves as the story’s setting’…

‘Rather, let’s go in early and at least assess the situation.’

-Noru, you seem to move as if you know the future! Could this be another story you already knew about?

Brown, who had noticed that I knew quite a broad range of information about paranormal phenomena, chattered.

And… that’s correct.

‘…Right.’

The keywords had combined.

Serial killer.

Fishing using transportation methods.

An item that keeps returning to the pocket as if cursed.

And…

I raised my head and looked at the destination.

‘…Horizon Mountain Lodge.’

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

Darkness Investigation Records / Ghost Story

[And Someone Was There]

Darkness Investigation Records

Mystery Novel

A brain-type disaster that can be sealed with 9 humans, requiring the Disaster Management Bureau to recruit personnel through volunteers or conscription every 4 years.

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

The identity of the ghost story, deduced through analysis no different from my job-hunting experience over the past few months.

But there was something different from before.

‘Affiliation…!’

This wasn’t darkness belonging to Daydream Corporation.

A ghost story isolated by the government, or to be isolated in the future.

Also known as a ‘disaster’!

What’s the difference?

Because the operating principles themselves are different from corporations that try to do business by extracting raw materials using darkness.

The government created the management bureau to prevent casualties or massive property damage, at least in principle.

At least, that’s the justification.

So the Disaster Management Bureau prioritized isolating things that absolutely shouldn’t be in civilian areas.

In other words…

Someone will unconditionally die.

Whether we clear it, get trapped, fail, or succeed.

In every possible scenario.

‘The moment you get caught up in this, there’s a guaranteed kill.’

Cold sweat ran down my spine.

This is something the government determined requires someone to die unconditionally to clear…

And I’m about to enter right into the middle of it.

And it’s not even giving me points!!

‘Baek Sa-heon, that damn bastard!’

I wanted to curse at Baek Sa-heon here and give his remaining eye a bruise too, but…

‘It’s a waste of time…’

“Excuse me, Team Leader!”

I ignored Baek Sa-heon, then sighed and headed to the main entrance of the mountain lodge.

And just as I was about to knock on the door after taking a deep breath…

Ring ring.

I heard a bicycle bell from behind.

When I turned my head, I saw a bicycle stopping in front of this isolated house in the forest, and a person riding on it.

-Oh, another arrival. The One Who Picked Up the Item!

Indeed.

Another poor person caught up in this damn ghost story had increased by one.

I was holding back a groan as I turned around… and was surprised.

“…!”

A familiar face was getting off the bicycle.

To be precise, I didn’t know the face, but I recognized the appearance.

A shadowy figure wearing dark clothes with a mask and hat pulled down low.

‘…Salmon Market!’

The person who had traded ghost story food with me at Gwanghwamun Station this morning was standing there!

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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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