Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 53
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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 053
Baek Sa-heon opened his eyes.
In fact, it would be more accurate to say he hadn’t slept a wink.
‘Damn it.’
After entering ‘Horizon Mountain Lodge’, he had been on edge, trying to find a way to survive and escape with all his limbs intact.
Half of that effort had been spent watching Kim Sol-eum’s mood and trying to appease him.
‘That bastard.’
He felt no shame. It was all for survival.
…His current contemplation about going to Kim Sol-eum’s room was along similar lines.
‘I need to gather some information.’
That crazy bastard definitely knew something. He needed to extract that information and prepare a trump card for survival.
But…
“…”
Was Kim Sol-eum really crazy?
More precisely, why had he… saved him?
He actually knew. At the exhibition hall, Kim Sol-eum could have killed him or used him as a sacrifice several times, but he hadn’t.
He had caused him trouble a few times, but when it came to the results…
‘No!’
He must have done it for fun. It would be more interesting and unpredictable to keep him alive!
Baek Sa-heon quickly reached that conclusion. He’d never met such a lunatic in his life…
‘…Still, he probably wouldn’t lie about information.’
With this strange faith, he opened his room door…
Something was standing in front of the door.
“…!!”
The mountain lodge was already shrouded in darkness after sunset, so he was a beat late in making out the silhouette right in front of him.
A man of similar height to himself.
…It was Kim Sol-eum.
‘Fuck!’
He was startled, but honestly felt somewhat relieved too.
Wasn’t it better than an unknown person?
At least he wouldn’t try to kill him.
“Hey…”
That’s when his eyes, adjusted to the darkness, made out the details.
In Kim Sol-eum’s hands, who had quiet eyes, was an axe.
“…”
‘What?’
An axe.
For a moment he almost rubbed his remaining eye, but soon came up with a plausible guess.
“Did you get that to prepare for the killer…”
Suddenly another guess flashed through Baek Sa-heon’s mind.
The text messages Kim Sol-eum had been sending.
[Watch out for the serial killer]
That might have been…
A warning?
“Goodbye.”
The axe fell toward his head.
And the next morning.
The married couple leaving their room while listening to the heavy rain realized there was a familiar melody mixed in with the sound of rain.
Hmm, hmm hmm, mmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm.
Humming.
“Isn’t that the song that played when my car’s navigation broke down?”
“Oh my, I think you’re right… Is the local radio playing it?”
As they breathed in the ominous dawn air still lingering in the atmosphere, treasuring their cassette tape while passing through the corridor to the kitchen…
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
They saw something stuffed into the kitchen’s traditional stove.
Like fireworks and toys had been stuffed inside and exploded, the stove was strangely packed full with everything around it burned up.
Charred lumps of coal.
And from those dark red charcoal lumps, two bent stick-like things protruded out on both sides.
What hung at the ends were…
Sneakers.
Half-burned human feet.
“Aaaaah!!”
“Oh my God! Is that a person!?”
“Oh dear, oh dear, what kind of thing is this, oh dear!!”
The erupting shock and screams echoed through the mountain lodge, and people who heard the sounds came down one by one.
And joined in the screaming.
“What’s wrong… Uwaaaah!!”
“Hueok!!”
University students, the middle-aged substitute driver, everyone fell into panic without exception.
One person even sat down with a deathly pale face.
It was the young man who had identified himself as an office worker and had been writing notes due to a sore throat.
But… surely, there had been two office workers, hadn’t there?
‘No way!’
The married couple pointed at the feet in the stove.
“The young man who came with you… could it be that young man? Huh? The eye patch! The one wearing an eye patch…”
The office worker young man seemed to look into the completely burned sneakers, then covered his mouth and barely managed to nod.
“Agh!!”
Someone had died.
Someone they had been talking with just yesterday!
The moment they realized this, shouts and laments erupted everywhere again.
“Call 119 right now!”
“What the hell is this shit!!”
“This is why you shouldn’t just use old house kitchens! One wrong move and accidents happen like this with fires!”
But small whispers would have been heard in their hearts too.
‘Was it really an accident?’
Could a fire burn only a person so completely without spreading elsewhere…?
In such a horrible way?
‘Could it be….’
In a panic, people rushed to the phone.
And a moment later.
A chill ran down their spines.
“The, the phone isn’t working. There’s no dial tone!”
“Lodge Keeper! Where did the Lodge Keeper go! Someone’s dead here!”
However, the Lodge Keeper who had said he would take good care of them was nowhere to be seen, as if it were a lie.
In the dark Mountain Area with torrential rain pouring down.
Inside the Mountain Lodge, there were only them and the humming….
“….”
“….”
Hmm, hmm hmm, mmm mmm, hmm hmm hmm.
Outside the Window, a terrifyingly heavy rain was pouring down, and during the night there had even been a landslide that covered the Bus Stop with earth and debris.
“The Road is… completely buried.”
“My car!!”
That’s how people came to realize.
Hmm, hmm hmm, mmm mmm, hmm hmm hmm.
That something was wrong.
“Th, this was… playing over there.”
“….”
Next to the corpse stuck in the Traditional Stove, humming was coming from a small, old analog Cassette Player.
Hmm, hmm hmm, mmm mmm, hmm….
Click.
One of the University Students who turned off the Cassette Player took out what was inside it.
An old Ivory-colored Tape.
“…!”
The Office Worker who had turned pale took out his Notebook and scribbled with trembling hands.
[It looks like the cassette Employee Baek had…]
“Good, good heavens.”
From that moment, the nightmare began.
Lunchtime.
There was quite decent soup and rice that the Lodge Keeper had prepared in advance, but people didn’t touch it as if they had made a pact.
Instead, they ate Energy Bars and snacks they had brought themselves, wandering around the Mountain Lodge looking for places where their non-working Smartphones might work.
Of course, there were no results.
In the torrential rain, the gloomy Mountain Lodge was isolated without any connection to the outside world, making it dreary and eerie….
‘This is driving me crazy, seriously!’
One of the University Students who had been clicking on a similarly non-functioning SNS app sat in the Living Room and anxiously turned off his Smartphone screen.
“Fuck!”
“Ah, this bastard got scared as hell.”
Next to him, Friends from the same Hiking Club pushed each other toward the corpse with only legs remaining in the Traditional Stove, getting startled and giggling.
They were acting playfully, secretly taking a few photos, but their appetite seemed to have disappeared as they hadn’t even unwrapped the Calorie Bars and Chocolate they had brought.
Still, they were somehow more relaxed than the other visitors who were paralyzed with fear.
They trusted in their numbers.
‘We’re three people, so whatever.’
Even if there was some bastard trying to kill people. They weren’t idiots, so they wouldn’t target the group with more people first, would they?
‘They’d kill the people who came alone first, or someone who ended up alone.’
In that sense, their anxiety had subsided somewhat.
“Hey….”
The University Student was about to chat with his Friend.
Swoosh, a Chocolate Bar with peanuts was thrust in front of his eyes.
When he turned his head, the Office Worker held up his Notebook with a pale complexion.
[Would you like some? I don’t think I can eat it…]
“Huh? No.”
He replied bluntly, and one of his Friends next to him snickered.
“That guy can’t eat peanuts.”
[Ah… I’m sorry]
The Office Worker sat quietly on the Sofa again, looking dejected.
Was he called Team Leader? At first, his impression seemed quite formidable, but after seeing his colleague who came with him die, he looked quite pathetic.
‘He’s scared.’
It was like he had become the type who would lose his spirit saying “oh my, oh my” after getting hit a few times.
“Hey, want one?”
“Yeah. This is killing me, fuck.”
Meanwhile, the two Friends disappeared to smoke Cigarettes for a moment.
The Office Worker also picked up his non-working Smartphone, glanced once at the Traditional Stove with a dark expression, then went up to the 2nd Floor.
Silence descended like that.
“….”
He had ended up alone by chance.
It felt somewhat eerie.
‘In movies, people always get attacked at times like this.’
The University Student was shaking his leg, then glanced around with a wary expression.
He felt a bit more comfortable realizing the existence of the Jack Knife in his Pocket, but it was only momentary.
‘Fuck, why did they go off together.’
Eventually, he went out to the Backyard himself to look for his Friends.
Gripping the Jack Knife tightly, his back felt eerie so his steps naturally quickened.
And he opened the back Door of the Kitchen, leading to the rainy Backyard.
Click.
There was a damp smell of Water.
‘They must be somewhere with a roof.’
They wouldn’t get rained on just to smoke Cigarettes, would they? So the University Student planned to go around following the roof to look for his Friends in the connected Storage Room-like place.
But the more he walked, the more strange he felt.
Something fishy stung his nose.
‘Iron?’
It was a smell that might come from rusty iron.
They said there were many old things in the Storage Room, so maybe it was the smell of rust from rain leaking in.
The University Student made that guess as he turned the corner.
“Hey, Park Kyung-su….”
Then a strong metallic smell hit him, numbing his nose.
“Uh, uhhhhh…?”
Inside the backyard storage room was an old Construction Grinding Machine.
And that machine seemed to have worked properly even when fed something other than wood.
Thud thud thud.
Ground meat was spilling from the machine’s outlet that should have been spitting out sawdust.
Torn clothing, blood, meat and bones all ground up were scattered messily all over the floor.
“….”
What is this?
What… is this?
For a moment.
His brain, unable to understand the situation, refused to process it, then understood the situation a beat too late.
He had found his companions.
Turned into ground meat.
“Uweeeeek…!”
As his panicked brain began pouring out vomit and screams,
another sound mixed in.
Through the Old Audio System.
Hmm, hmmm, uhhhmm, hmmhmm.
Cassette Tape sound.
“Hiiiek!”
The University Student turned around and ran madly into the Mountain Lodge.
Chills and terror chased him to the tips of his hair.
“Student there, why are you running around….”
“Aaaaak!!”
The University Student had a fit and swatted away the hand that grabbed his shoulder.
“Fuck, don’t come near me!”
“What, what?!”
He looked up.
He saw the puzzled faces of the people staying at this Mountain Lodge.
And their common point!
‘Tape!!’
Right!
If the Killer who did this crazy thing was targeting the Tape?!
The University Student immediately searched his Pocket and held up his Tape.
“Look at this! This!”
His eyes flickered wildly as spit flew.
“I’m throwing this away! Take it if you want it! I, I’m fucking giving up for sure?! I’m giving up!!”
Bang!
The University Student threw the Tape on the floor, then ran madly again to a Room on the 2nd Floor and closed the Door.
Only after locking the door could he breathe.
“Heoeoeoek….”
Anxiety made his eyes roll.
In his head, the pulverized flesh and fragmented bones swirled and pounded.
Thump.
Thump.
Should he pile up furniture as a barricade in front of the Door?
Thump.
No, it would rather block the Door he might need to escape through.
Thump.
The University Student looked at the old-fashioned Mother-of-pearl Wardrobe, conflicted, then just pressed against the Wall next to the wardrobe and held his Jack Knife.
And stared intently at the door.
Thump….
Leaning against the Wall, his breathing returned.
‘Come on, just try to force it open…!’
Then he could scream his fucking head off while swinging the Knife. What could they do if people came running!
He just couldn’t let his guard down.
“Can’t do it, can’t do it….”
As the University Student muttered madly beside him….
Click.
Smoothly,
the wardrobe opened.
And the University Student greeted the other people the next morning through the wide-open Door.
As a corpse with his whole body bulging and swollen like a sausage.
Allergic shock death.
The Mountain Climbing Club had all disappeared like that.
“Aaaaaaaak!!”
When one Office Worker and three University Students who had been fine just a day ago were found as corpses, people went completely mad with terror.
“Legacy! Someone among us is killing others to get more Legacy, yeah, for sure! They’re trying to kill us all and silence us to take the Tape easily!”
“Honey, the Lodge Manager is suspicious, that bastard seemed like a psycho?! This place….”
“It’s a Ghost! We’re all possessed by a Ghost!! Hahaha!!”
The Middle-aged Man shouted as if he’d lost his mind, then pushed people aside and ran outside.
“Aaak!”
Rumble.
Thunder sounded right on cue.
No, overlapping with the thunder, another sound seemed to be heard too.
Bang!
“…!”
“What, what is it!”
People startled by the thunderous noise looked outside the window.
The Government Official muttered gloomily.
“…A landslide.”
It had come rushing in again ‘just in time.’
Caught up in the pouring earth and debris, the Middle-aged Man who had run out like a madman was swept away and disappeared toward the bottom of the mountain.
Aaaaaaahhhhh….
His scream faded away into the soil at the bottom of the mountain.
It was confirmed death by crushing.
Rumble… Crash!
Instead of humming, thunder fills the area outside the Mountain Lodge, and lightning flashes.
“….”
“….”
Suffocating silence flows between the frozen people….
Remaining people: four.
Second night.
The Married Couple who had thoroughly searched the Mountain Lodge looking for a way to contact the outside were returning to their room, panting heavily.
There had been no results, but they had noticed something else.
“Hiiik, hik….”
“Fucking breathe quietly, you bitch!”
“Ahhh!”
The Husband who had violently shoved the head of his companion who had introduced herself as his wife, ran out of the Living Room with trembling eyes and rushed up alone to the Second Floor Corridor.
A person who was carefully coming out of his room happened to meet the bloodshot eyes of the Husband and was startled.
“You there!!”
It was the Office Worker who had been writing notes because his throat hurt.
He was startled and quickly pulled out the Notebook from his chest to write something, but the man waving what he was holding was faster.
“This, this Golden Frame…!”
It was the Golden Frame that had been hanging in the Living Room, which he had taken down.
He pointed at the contents inside with glittering eyes.
Rabbits are roasted in the kitchen
Deer are caught in the backyard
Pigeons are fattened in the room
Sheep are sliced and served in the living room
“People are dying according to this!”
“…!”
The person roasted in the Kitchen, the person split in the Backyard, the person who swelled up in the Room!
“Mountain Lodge or whatever, anyway they’re playing with us! This, this might be being broadcast! No! Anyway, it’s certain they’re toying with us!”
The Office Worker opened his eyes wide in surprise.
The man, whose conviction grew stronger at that reaction, shouted.
“This time it’s this Living Room! Someone will be sliced to death in the Living Room! I’m certain! We need to find a way out before that….”
“Oh.”
….
Huh?
Just now, he spoke….
“Surprisingly perceptive. Brown.”
“Brown?”
Those were the man’s last words that day.
“Awake?”
The man who regained consciousness along with a headache lifted his head.
“Mmph! Mmmmph!”
He couldn’t speak as if a Gag was stuffed in his mouth.
Still, the man screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Mmmmmmph!!”
The fact that this place was a Basement with a musty mold smell, or that it was so dark he could barely see an inch ahead, wasn’t the main reason for his screaming.
There was another head right next to his head!!
That is,
Just the head!
“Mmph mmph!”
The pale face of the dead was placed on a Tray right next to his nose.
He felt like going crazy.
The Male Employee, whose face became a mess with tears, snot, and cold sweat streaming down, screamed for help.
But the Gag swallowed everything.
“Hmmph, mmph, mmmmph!”
“Are you scared? Please bear with it a little. I’m enduring it too.”
A calm and composed voice returned.
The man rolled his eyes, trying to get away from the head while looking up.
And he realized.
‘That Office Worker…!’
A young Male Employee in a Black Training Suit was frowning as he looked down at him.
And he looked at the blood-stained Work Gloves in his hand with what seemed like contempt, then put them back on with a sigh.
And he picked up an Axe.
“Hmmmmmmph!!!”
“Why do people scream first even when they know in their heads that people don’t change? It just makes us both tired.”
“Mmph!! Mmph!!”
“Let’s not waste energy unnecessarily.”
He’s insane.
This bastard, this bastard was the Killer…!!
The man wanted to do anything he could—negotiate, plead, even fight back—but his tightly bound body and blocked mouth wouldn’t allow it.
Tears streamed from his eyes.
“Ah, does physical and mental pain lessen somewhat…? Well, I think that was the case.”
The Office Worker checks the blade with a dry voice.
The Axe blade slides against the rough surface of the Gloves.
“It’s quite reasonable, but I still don’t like it much.”
It was used for its original purpose.
A gleaming swing that cut through the air.
Thunk.
Clang….
“….”
“….”
In the now quiet workshop, Kim Sol-eum lowered his axe.
And said in a slightly bright voice.
“Almost done.”
People remaining, three.
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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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