Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 57

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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 057

Originally, office workers always carry their resignation letter (either physically or mentally) close to their hearts.

But usually they keep it hidden…

‘She’s telling a new employee?’

And it’s her direct superior at that.

“I’ve almost collected enough points. Don’t spread it around.”

“….”

Given Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s personality, I thought she’d keep a poker face until her last day and only tell us then.

“Is it okay for you to tell me this?”

“Well, it’s not bad news. There are plenty of people in this company who go around bragging about how many points they’ve collected anyway…”

The deputy manager gave my shoulder a firm pat.

“I wanted to let the people in our team know in advance.”

“Gasp. Even watching from the side, it’s touching, senior!”

“Cut it out.”

I looked at Park Min-seong who had come over and was making a fuss, and clicked my tongue.

It seemed like he already knew about it.

‘Is it because of the company’s nature?’

It’s a crazy job where people pull Russian roulette at their temples for work because they desperately want to fulfill impossible, earnest wishes.

I understood that since everyone assumes everyone else wants to escape, there’s no need to desperately hide it.

Still, it was a shame that such an accommodating direct superior would disappear… But it’s good news for her, so it’s worth celebrating.

However, I had a question.

“Deputy Manager.”

“Yeah.”

“Does that mean you’ve collected all 500,000 points?”

“What?! Five hundred thousand, what are you…”

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je, who had been startled, soon chuckled as if she realized something.

“Ah, did you think I was going to buy a Wish Potion?”

“…?”

Well, wouldn’t that be natural?

Wouldn’t it be harder to find someone here who isn’t?

“Ah. That was my goal when I first joined, but after looking around a bit, I found out other things would work too.”

“…!”

Ah.

‘I see.’

Come to think of it, there were cases where you wouldn’t necessarily need a Wish Potion.

‘If you can fulfill your wish with something you can buy from the Employee Point Mall, that’s enough.’

“I just need one of this company’s high-grade magic potions.”

As expected.

“…May I ask how many points it costs?”

“170,000. I have less than 5,000 points left now. Well… the point bonus I got thanks to you will end anyway, so I’ll have to work a few more months.”

The deputy manager winked, which was unlike her.

“I’ll talk to the team leader and see if we can keep you here until the next regular personnel announcement.”

That meant if I could endure that long, I would naturally remain in Team D afterward.

Because the position would be available once she left.

‘That’s a very thoughtful comment.’

Especially since it shows confidence that I’d want to stay in this team.

“Senior, when you leave, let’s have a proper company dinner… Let’s keep in touch even after you leave. We can go watch baseball or something…!”

“We should. Hey, you just need to endure a few more years too.”

“Me? Nah, I can’t. I have no choice but to collect 500,000.”

The team leader scratched his head but his face brightened.

“Anyway… then Noru can continue to stay in our team!”

“If the team leader does well.”

And that ‘team leader’ who returned after finishing the manager-level meeting calmly confirmed it.

“Yes. The probability is higher.”

“Ooooh!”

“It’s a matter of probability. Don’t plan your work assuming you’ll stay.”

“…That’s what he says, Noru…”

“Yes…”

Very lizard-like.

“Anyway, congratulations, Deputy Manager.”

“Thanks.”

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je smiled and went out to smoke.

Her retreating figure already looked quite relieved.

‘…What happens to employees who quit?’

There was no mention of stripping human rights and confining them to laboratories or disposing of them without a trace for confidentiality.

‘There were several cases described of people retiring quite nicely.’

You know, like those employees who are everyone’s favorite.

Supporting characters that wiki readers all grew attached to, so they somehow managed to give them a good ending until retirement.

‘…I hope it goes well for her too.’

After briefly wishing for that, I returned to what I was doing.

Which meant I received a work assignment from the team leader who came back from the meeting.

“The darkness we’ll explore this time is a C-grade spider, and it’s a supply source with a complete manual.”

“Oh… then we’ll get about 600-700 points per person, right?”

“Yes.”

“Noru, it was good that we earned points diligently when work was coming in.”

The ‘new darkness manual completion exploration’ that had been pouring into Team D almost exclusively was now drying up.

“Originally, new darkness also comes in waves. The research team registers everything at once near the registration deadline.”

“Ah.”

How… company-like.

Of course, there’s nothing good that comes from a new employee pointing that out.

I smiled and said,

“Then we can all work safely together for a while.”

“Yeah, Noru is always so positive, which is great~!”

The team leader also laughed and handed me a tablet with the manual PDF open.

“Even with a manual, it’s C-grade, so it could be dangerous if you let your guard down. Here, let me know when you’ve completely memorized it.”

“Yes.”

“From what I saw, you just need to survive one day at a certain location.”

Hmm.

I took the tablet and read it.

The calmly written official manual was in the same format as before.

Similar to the wiki, it meant they provided detailed numerical information based on the records we obtained.

‘Let’s see.’

A ghost story about a space you can fall into if you take the wrong path in a commercial building with many empty units, a type called Backroom on the internet…

“….”

While reading the next paragraph, a strong premonition struck my head.

‘This is…’

It’s been several months since I started deducing the identity of ghost stories through manuals based on .

That means I’m not surprised by things I already know.

But this is still a surprising situation?

Usually it would be a crazy mass slaughter situation like or a situation where I’m guaranteed to die.

But this time it had a different meaning.

‘This… this is good!’

My goodness, it’s a heartwarming ghost story!

If you measured the horror level, it would probably be 0. The kind of paranormal phenomenon that even a coward could pass through with dignity if they knew all the spoilers!

But why is it C-rank?

‘Because Baekillmong Corporation made a mistake and classified the rank wrong!’

This was a story about finding joy in it.

A so-called misunderstanding-type ghost story!

It looks dangerous but is actually very gentle and mild paranormal phenomenon – just a safe and kind ghost story that people misunderstand due to prejudice, making it funny.

‘It would be more fitting to call it a magical experience rather than a ghost story…’

Naturally, there weren’t many such cases in .

My heart is beating a little.

I’m going in there?

‘Wait a minute.’

If I do this well…

‘Not only will my mood be warm, but my future life could be warm too?’

My mind raced quickly.

For that, there was definitely one thing I needed.

That was…

“You’ll be deployed here tomorrow afternoon, so there’s plenty of time. Take your time reading. Well… I don’t really need to tell Noru this kind of thing!”

“In that case… would it be okay if I step out briefly during lunch break tomorrow?”

“Huh? Well, neither Team Leader nor Deputy Manager are the type to worry about such things… Why? If you’re going to the hospital, I’ll tell them to give you plenty of time.”

“Oh, it’s not that. Just…”

I thought of my bank account and counted.

“I have something to buy briefly.”

“…?”

To gain benefits from this heartwarming ghost story, I had to prepare something.

Something very expensive!

And the next day after lunch break.

We ended up traveling in Deputy Manager’s vehicle.

To the place where the Darkness we were entering was isolated.

“Did you bring everything you wanted to bring?”

“Yes.”

The ‘expensive thing’ I bought during lunch break was also safely in my briefcase.

Deputy Manager in the driver’s seat checked.

“Noru, is this your first time entering an urban legend that takes place in an actual space, rather than touching some object and getting kidnapped?”

No. Actually, I just recently entered some mountain lodge, held body parts and pretended to be a serial killer, and thought I was going to vomit.

…Let’s not mention that.

“Yes. It feels like my first business trip.”

“Haha. Noru, you’re still in your twenties, right? This must be your first job.”

The atmosphere was quite warm, and we traveled without problems.

While exchanging some small talk.

“You know what? Our Team Leader apparently broke the steering wheel three times by accident while working. So there’s a rumor that he probably won’t sit in the driver’s seat again unless there’s a zombie outbreak…”

“…”

Hmm. Let’s not ask directly.

Anyway, the vehicle that drove for about 40 minutes arrived smoothly at its destination.

“Here it is.”

It was a commercial district alley in some bed town in Seoul suburbs.

However, since the real estate boom had passed long ago and new urban development had taken place, causing many people to leave, it was a somewhat quiet and empty… ‘old’ new city.

Real estate contact information with sale signs were posted on the glass windows of numerous vacant stores.

“One of these buildings must be the urban legend. Strange things happen when you enter during sunset on a nice day.”

“Yes.”

Together with my supervisors who kindly briefed me on the content from the manual, I approached the specified commercial building.

“Civilians are apparently blocked from approaching by some… security team equipment. It recognizes our masks and lets us inside.”

Hmm.

“Be careful when you go in.”

Team Leader lowered his voice and whispered seriously.

“There are quite a few terrible records, so let’s be very careful as we move around.”

“…”

You mean… this kind of thing?

Investigation Record #12

One of the deployed employees (Jung Se-jong) discovered a store operating in Room 404 next to the 4th floor emergency exit. The name written on the sign was ■■■ Cafe.

Strange sounds that shouldn’t be heard from the cafe

Barking sounds, shouting sounds, dozens of animal howlings overlapped and grew louder, then suddenly approached as if rushing when the employee stopped in front of the door.

The panicked employee succeeded in escaping to the emergency staircase just before the door opened, but lost contact after a loud noise.

Later found unconscious around the shopping complex.

Open fractures in both legs, serious back injuries resulting in removal from duty. Continues to complain of PTSD.

At first glance, it could seem eerie and terrible.

But did you notice?

‘That’s just… a pet-friendly cafe.’

An employee got scared by dog sounds and ran away, then suffered multiple injuries from falling down the stairs, and the ghost story kindly sent him outside…

The strangest thing about this Darkness is just that the old stores are operating normally as usual.

However, it could be seen as the type of story that smirks at explorers who get scared in advance, interpret everything negatively, and make a fuss and fail.

And next to me, those very people are earnestly giving advice…

“Let’s be careful. This space has quite a few records of harming people who entered.”

No.

“Especially don’t lose consciousness. You’ll end up with serious injuries.”

It just sends you outside when the time comes even if you get seriously injured and lose consciousness…

This is literally a shopping complex, so they politely evict you when business hours end.

But I stopped, worried that if I said such things, they’d think ‘Ah, this ghost story causes mental contamination too!’ and create another comedy story with crazy misunderstandings and misconceptions…

Instead, I readily nodded quickly at the method of distributing communication devices and scattering individually for efficient exploration.

“Will you be okay, Noru?”

“Yes.”

Normally I would have wanted to grab onto their pants legs and somehow stick with them, but today is the coward’s day!

“Contact us immediately if there’s a problem.”

“Understood.”

I immediately started walking, gripping the walkie-talkie I received from the security team (it strangely reminded me of the toy walkie-talkie sold at the Alien Shop).

-Hmm, is there a store you’d like to visit? Several seem to be operating.

You know what?

That’s correct.

‘However, I need to approach it in a rather unique way…’

This place had twisted space where floors and directions were all messed up, but sometimes I could see its own system and rules.

And among those, there’s something like this.

When boarding the elevator on the 7th Floor, a button going to the Underground appears randomly.

After several attempts, I finally discovered a button labeled ‘B1’ in the elevator.

-Ah, a hidden location? That reminds me of that refined Exhibition Hall.

Do we really have to bring up that story?

I’m already still having nightmares about being trapped in the underground of that exhibition hall, unable to find the exit, wandering around in circles, encountering that spider machine and getting my organs stolen…!

‘Th-this is a friendly place… a friendly place…’

I pressed the button while trying to shake off the nightmare.

Ding.

And when the door opens, I can see the Underground Parking Garage.

‘I think there was someone who fainted here from a car horn honking.’

That’s not what’s important though.

I moved diligently according to the instructions I remembered.

‘Three times to the left.’

If I go around and around this Underground Parking Garage, new zone numbers that weren’t visible before appear.

‘A19.’

Then I’m practically there.

I moved my feet eagerly with an excited heart.

Next to this parking zone, there’s also a door leading to the Shopping Complex, and instead of going in and taking the elevator, if I look to the side, there’s a small shop.

That’s how it appears.

Moonlight Tattoo Shop

The magical place.

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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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