Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 93

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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 093

Inside the shop, there was a faint dusty smell, but it was warm.

The cozy feeling unique to old spaces.

At Sweet Stationery Store, living up to its name, there was even a slightly comforting sweet scent.

The tension and stress in my shoulders was melting away… No, that won’t do!

‘Don’t let my guard down.’

I bit the inside of my mouth once and moved forward again.

Metal shelves filled every wall that wrapped around the narrow space like a maze, and various snacks were stacked in each compartment.

At the very front of the fairly large display in the center, the names of popular products were written.

Oblivion Cotton Candy

Soft Cookie

Sun-Flavored Chips Chips

Carrot Right Choc

Upside Down Bubble Gum

Nostalgia Candy

I walked quietly while quickly scanning the snacks with my eyes.

I didn’t see the ‘Good Child Chocolate Bar’, but I spotted several familiar names and appearances.

Among them were some that were relatively safe and useful.

‘Good. Since I’m already here, let me spend the change here.’

They would be fine as items and good to convert into side income too.

The atmosphere wasn’t too bad when I parted with the Bronze Agent last time, so I might be able to restore the ‘ghost story-derived food’ sales route through them again…

Since I’d been completely cleaned out down to my gold bars, I needed corners to make money.

Friend

I quickly picked out a few snacks.

And I also glanced back at Lizard, who had been following me around with minimal steps, looking dazed.

“…Manager, is there perhaps any snack you need or would like to purchase? I’d like to offer it as a token of gratitude.”

“Yes.”

Surprisingly, Manager Lee Ja-heon didn’t decline, and after quickly looking around, he grabbed one snack.

Upside Down Bubble Gum

Blow it like a balloon in your mouth, and your body grows as big as a building!

Joyful Research Institute Genuine Product Certified

(Beware of defective imitations sold by Street Vendors!)

“…Would this be alright?”

“Yes.”

Does he perhaps want to become a giant lizard?

I suppressed my useless imagination.

‘Let’s just pay.’

Holding the selected snacks in both hands, I headed toward the checkout counter inside the shop.

On the way, I scanned every corner of the interior with my eyes, but the ‘Good Child Chocolate Bar’ was still nowhere to be seen…

‘Hmm.’

I finally arrived at the checkout counter first.

“Good day.”

The Shadowy Figure sitting at the metal counter slowly nodded its head.

What appeared to be the shop owner was wearing shabby casual clothes with a hat pressed down.

At first glance, it looked like an ordinary stationery shop owner, but six attached arms were tapping the counter…

‘Phew.’

I absolutely avoided trying to check its face and politely placed only the snacks I wanted to buy on the counter.

And I quickly held out the coins.

“Here they are.”

I didn’t want to be mistaken for ‘bartering’ by any chance.

I recalled the Darkness Investigation record of my first successful purchase here.

Purchased item: 1 Carrot Right Choc

Right.

This stationery store was a shop that charged memories as payment.

From happy memories that made you laugh just thinking about them to terrible traumas you wanted to forget.

The type of memory you lost depended on which snack you purchased.

‘That’s why the exploration boundaries were quite wide, from heartwarming records to creepy ones.’

I didn’t want to gamble on which side I’d land on. Especially not in this ghost story world where the information in my head was important.

‘Let’s just find the Good Child Chocolate Bar.’

I wanted to ask the owner about its location outright. But since there was something presumably resembling me drawn on the packaging, I didn’t want to make any associations…

“Please tell me the display location of the chocolate bars.”

Team Leader!

I almost grabbed my direct superior by the collar.

But the shop owner just casually pointed to one shelf and continued leaning back deeply in the chair…

‘Phew.’

Apparently, the drawing on that packaging wasn’t similar enough to me to be recognized at a glance.

‘I’d like to resemble even half the size of Lizard’s liver…’

I should have bought liver at the Raw Meat Butcher Shop. I muttered such nonsense while leaning toward the counter to retrieve the paid-for snacks and remaining coins…

Then I saw it.

‘Huh?’

There’s something behind the counter.

Life-size standees and decorative papers that seemed hastily put away.

A sign and… a blue box containing chocolate bars.

Theme Park Collaboration New Product Launch!

Good Child Chocolate Bar (Cinnamon Churros Flavor)

My goodness.

‘Found it!’

I observed the chocolate bar packaging as quickly as possible.

The hairstyle, mask, and business suit were implemented much better on the packaging than I had thought.

Was it put away because the display promotion ended? For that to be the case, it looked strangely hastily put away…

“…”

Wait a minute.

I looked at the chocolate bar packaging again.

And I realized.

That product hadn’t used me as an advertising model, nor had it decorated the packaging with a character of similar appearance.

That was…

Please find this good child.

We await witness reports.

It was a missing child advertisement.

“….”

I broke out in a cold sweat and stepped back.

Then that means….

Ring ring ring ring.

….

I creakily turned my head to look around the counter.

The shop owner was holding a telephone.

The phone’s ringing tone was going somewhere….

Click.

The moment it connected.

Here they are!

I turned around, grabbed Manager Lee Ja-heon, and ran out.

Here they are! Here they are! Here they are!

No time to curse. I couldn’t even breathe properly as I crossed the store and got as far away from the counter as possible.

Then I grabbed the door we came through and pulled….

Huh?

Why are they over there?

Click.

The door was locked.

“….”

I turned my head and looked back at the shop owner standing at the counter.

“We’re trying to leave now. Please open it.”

After a brief silence.

It’s okay.

The shop owner’s voice echoed in my ears….

From the telephone it was holding, a black stream of water was somehow leaking out, dripping onto the floor.

Getting thicker and thicker.

Gurgling.

The thin stream of water soon clumped together, and like clay being molded, a form twisted and built up in the air.

I came to get you.

…Into the shape of an animal wearing a mascot costume I’d seen somewhere before….

“…!!”

I desperately turned my body and pulled at the store door. But it didn’t budge at all, damn this piece of….

“Let go.”

Ah.

The moment I let go of the door, Ja-heon struck the door handle with his left fist.

Crack, thud!

The handle fell to the floor like magic.

He immediately kicked the door, which swung wide open, revealing the alley outside.

Ja-heon and I didn’t hesitate and immediately ran outside.

My door!!

I heard violent water sounds from behind. Splash, splash, splash!

Mixed with the angry shop owner’s voice, the sound of water was following us into the alley. Chills ran all the way to the top of my head.

‘Brown!’

Friend!

Right!

‘Let’s turn off the lights! Manager Lee Ja-heon too!’

-That guy too? Fine. I’ll make this my gift!

Snap!

I heard the cheerful sound of fingers snapping from the cotton doll, then once again a heavy shadow covered me.

That feeling of becoming blurred.

“!”

Manager Lee Ja-heon’s vertical pupils quickly turned to look at me.

“Noru.”

“I’ll explain after this is over. Let’s run for now!”

Splash, splash, splash….

Behind us, the sound of water violently hitting every crack in the alley walls was getting closer.

‘Damn, damn!’

…What would happen if we got caught?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t tell. The unknown outcome made me even more frantic.

I gritted my teeth.

‘Avoiding it was the right answer.’

Coming here trying to figure something out was the problem from the start!

This was a ghost story. It meant this was a world where seeking the truth could become a shortcut to death rather than an answer sheet.

‘I should have just said I didn’t know and moved on…!’

No, even this self-blame can wait!

Don’t give up on your body!

Remaining steps: 3441

I had to endure 400 steps.

‘Whatever the next alley is, I have to escape that way…!’

Now I could hear the alley residents, whose ankles were caught in the rapids right behind us, making noise.

“Wow, this is so fun~ What is this?”

“Mascots came on a parade riding the water! Fun! Fun!”

“At Waterland you can ride the flume ride! Eat chocolate and win to go to Waterland! Let’s find a good child!”

“Wow, a good child….”

“….”

“….”

“Is that him?”

Fuck.

“Who?”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t see him….”

I broke out in cold sweat as I pushed through the crowd of ghosts and advanced down the alley.

-Oh, that’s right. Even when all the spotlights disappear, a star is still a star. And pursuit by obsessive fans is a situation that must be endured as fate!

-If they know the star’s physical characteristics particularly well, wouldn’t they try to search for those features even more persistently?

Physical characteristics.

I recalled the drawing on the wrapper.

‘…The mask!’

I tore off the mask I was wearing and shoved it into my tattoo.

Then I took out a mask and hat and pressed them onto my face.

My steps naturally slowed down as the current came closer. In my downward gaze, I could see the wave that had reached right behind me….

No good. The speed difference is too great.

‘Then….’

I checked another direction.

Above my head!

“…Team Leader, utility pole!”

“Yes.”

I grabbed onto the utility pole right next to me and quickly climbed up. I had never climbed anything so desperately fast in my life. Whether my palms got scraped or not, somehow, somehow….

‘…I made it!’

Water rushed into where I had been standing.

But I successfully climbed up to just below the power lines of the utility pole.

“Hah….”

I steadied my hands that were about to go limp from relief.

‘I’m safe for now.’

Just as I twisted my body to lean my legs against the alley wall and stabilize my position.

Thud.

From my suit pocket,

my smartphone with its screen lit up slipped out smoothly.

Splash.

It fell into the water that had flooded the floor.

Water seeped into the cracked smartphone screen as it hit the stone floor, and the app screen flickered with static.

body

steps

And…

The screen went dark.

“….”

“Noru.”

Only a black surface remained on the broken smartphone.

The bizarrely moving black water masses in mascot shapes filled the dark, narrow alley, peering into shop windows here and there.

My smartphone was swept away by those currents.

It moved to a corner of the alley, and then… disappeared among the crowd following the mascot-shaped masses.

The torrent passed by toward the other end of the alley, brushing past the utility pole I was clinging to….

Along with the escape method that had been assigned to me.

“….”

I’m screwed….

“Noru.”

I turned my head while frozen in place.

Lizard, who had been hanging with one hand from the utility pole section right below me, was reaching out to me.

He was showing me something.

His own intact smartphone screen.

Exit route from Death Road →

Follow the arrow to move!

Lee Ja-heon had safely completed his ten thousand steps at this moment.

I stared blankly at Manager Lee Ja-heon’s smartphone app page, which already had route guidance activated….

But then.

“Please take it.”

“…What?”

Lizard held out his smartphone to me.

“Follow the app’s route guidance to escape.”

“…!”

A lifeline had been thrown down.

“The smartphone doesn’t recognize when the holder changes. As long as you don’t deviate from the guided route, you can escape.”

“….”

I reached toward Lee Ja-heon’s smartphone. And then….

I gritted my teeth and refused.

“I can’t do that.”

“?”

“Manager. That strange black water just now… it was definitely trying to find me. It’s still searching this alley right now.”

I barely managed to avoid it by taking off my mask and hiding my presence.

But.

“If I follow the app’s route guidance, I won’t be able to avoid the black water even if I encounter it. …Because I can’t deviate from the route.”

Guided route

This rule applied equally to the return journey.

“So… the probability of me getting out of here safely without going missing is extremely low.”

For me to be safe, the route guidance would need to be activated only after I had taken refuge in another alley at least.

‘Hah….’

“…I think I’d have a higher chance of escape if I tried to find another way instead.”

Lee Ja-heon looked at me quietly with his vertical pupils.

“I see.”

“Yes. So Team Leader, you can escape using that…”

And he turned off his smartphone.

“…!!”

Has this lizard gone crazy?

“What are you doing?”

“I’m following the 2-person team recommended manual.”

That doesn’t make any sense.

“Then why were you trying to give me the escape route earlier?? You would have been left alone instead of in a 2-person team!”

“I followed manual priority order. If you want a more detailed explanation, request it after escape.”

Lee Jaheon said flatly.

“From now on, all conversations and questions will be prioritized for survival and return from this Darkness.”

“…”

“Noru, devise a new escape method that isn’t recorded in the current manual but that you can deduce.”

Good grief.

“…Yes.”

I barely managed to answer.

A moment later.

We climbed down from the utility pole.

And began walking again on the floor of the alley that the torrent had swept through.

Without any directions or escape method.

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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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