Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 100
Chapter 100
===================
Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
Research Team Manager Gwak Je-gang.
A mad scientist who had pushed his own subordinate into the Pleasant Theme Park ghost story.
He had also acted as an advisor during the ‘Mansion of the Blind’ incident where the employees had almost met with a mass death.
“I have really wanted to have a long talk with you all this time, Mr. Roe Deer, and finally the opportunity has come.”
That crazy ghost story researcher grinned and reached out his hand.
“Your activity was so great that I was very curious about your impressions all this time!”
“Thank you.”
Wow, he is truly a boss I don’t want to shake hands with.
But I must. That is company life.
“I hear Group D is becoming an elite team as soon as the New Year dawns. Once that happens, we’ll be busy working in groups, so it seems chatting like this before entering the Dark will be difficult…”
Gwak Je-gang joked around a few times about how hard it was to call me over.
“And I am also very curious.”
Then, with a smiling face, he entered the main topic.
“How on earth did you win over Manager Lee Ja-heon?”
“…!!”
“Whenever I tried to call you separately, he cut me off clean. He wasn’t originally such an active fellow~”
I screamed only on the inside.
‘Thank you, Group Leader…!’
But in fact, I hadn’t even won him over.
‘I just had to say that I didn’t want to do it.’
Because Manager Lee Ja-heon was originally an FM who tried to faithfully reflect the request details of the group members.
Just that nobody had made such a request until now!
Because I was the only person in this ghost story company who would howl that I would rather divide it into N parts than enter a ghost story alone, no matter how much of a sweet deal it was…
No, even if there had been, they would have all died or disappeared already.
At any rate, it seemed this time Lee Ja-heon also found it difficult to block it on his end.
Or… maybe such a justification didn’t present itself.
“Anyway, don’t worry, it’s not like I harbor ill feelings because our Supervisor Roe Deer was hard to invite.”
Gwak Je-gang smiled faintly.
“It’s just… isn’t it fascinating that Mr. Roe Deer seems to be good at everything?”
“What do you mean by fascinating…”
“You work well, speak well, manage your reputation well… very impressive. But humans are creatures for whom doing everything well is impossible! Myself included.”
Gwak Je-gang patted himself.
“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Therefore…”
Eyes spinning with passionate madness toward Dark exploration stared at me.
“What on earth is your weakness?”
“…….”
“How that weakness doesn’t stand out even while you rummage through strange and bizarre phenomena… I am truly curious!”
Ah, fuck, seriously…
“If I could tell you, it wouldn’t be a weakness.”
“Haha, a wise answer to a foolish question~”
Save me.
‘He didn’t guess that I’m a coward, did he?’
I swallowed my saliva carefully without showing it.
Gwak Je-gang spread his hands.
“At any rate, I called you today because of a good thing.”
“By a good thing, you mean,”
“Something to celebrate! By my calculations… Mr. Roe Deer, you’ve already gathered more than half the points needed for the Wish Ticket, right?”
“…!”
What a devilish bastard.
Right.
Those words… were true.
I recalled my accumulated points up to last week.
[Accumulated Points: 177,200p]
Even up to here, it was a staggering figure.
Because it was an amount of points that one couldn’t even imagine a rookie who had been at the company for less than a year accumulating, I had never talked about it anywhere.
No matter how much the department’s atmosphere was to talk about one’s resignation date, there was a limit.
‘Because as long as it is out of specifications to this extent, being human, other thoughts are bound to arise.’
But who would have known.
That entering this week, my accumulated points would become even more out of specifications.
[Accumulated Points: 277,200p]
It was entering a stage where talk of ‘isn’t this manipulation?’ would start to surface.
‘It’s thanks to Segwang Technical High School.’
Let’s think about the basic points paid by grade.
Grade A: 100,000p
But I cleared Segwang Technical High School as a Grade A alone.
It was true that multiple people entered and cleared it together, but Grade A was mine alone.
Moreover, they say the solution was thick enough that it could barely be counted as me clearing it alone.
Here, Director Cheong and Director Ho, the two mountain ranges of the Development Department, ‘actively’ giving the okay here, it passed to just pay it out as is.
It was a happy and eerie thing.
‘And the registration finished this morning.’
Like that, Kim Sol-eum had officially gathered more than half of the points needed for the Wish Ticket.
‘It is ridiculously faster than my expectations…’
Strangely, the pieces fit perfectly together and I came all the way here.
At this rate, if I endure for only one year as an elite team member, or maybe even a shorter period, I will be able to return to the original world.
To a comfortable 21st-century Korea where ghost stories do not exist!
All of this passed through my head in an instant, but my facial expression management wouldn’t have faltered… probably.
‘Let’s not give him a pretext…!’
“Does something change if one gathers more than half the points?”
Instead, I reacted subtly, making an ambiguous response like frowning slightly on purpose.
So that he wouldn’t know whether I was stung by gathering that much, or upset because I couldn’t gather more.
“Rather than changing… an opportunity arises, doesn’t it?”
Gwak Je-gang spoke with a grin.
“Wish Ticket Simulator, have you ever heard of it?”
Simulator?
…Ah!
From that point on, Qterw-D-718 is provided for simulator purposes to promising employees who have a possibility of obtaining the Wish Ticket.
‘There was that kind of ghost story entry.’
I remember.
I obsessively recalled the wiki, which was starting to fade slightly.
Simultaneously, Gwak Je-gang’s talking rang in my ears.
“This company gives an opportunity to check the wish once to an employee who seems likely to get the Wish Ticket soon. So that the wish can be fulfilled in a ‘proper’ way.”
Was the standard for that ‘promising employee’ 250,000 points…
Or it might have been calculated backward based on the remaining period until receiving the Wish Ticket.
Whichever it was, it seemed the opportunity to experience the simulator had come to me.
…If entering a ghost story could be called an opportunity!
“You could do it next time, but Mr. Sol-eum, if it’s not now, your turn will be pushed back again and who knows when you’ll be able to do it? I called you because I thought it would be good to do it now.”
“…….”
I thought.
The Dark deployment set up by Gwak Je-gang?
‘There is definitely a trap.’
But I couldn’t reject it carelessly either.
This man is a type who would persistently ask for the reason.
“You are not a coward, so why avoid it? Right? Hahaha!”
*Eeeek.*
“Well. One can avoid it for other reasons as well.”
I let out a sigh and stood up.
Let’s finish this conversation quickly.
‘If I have to go to a ghost story anyway, I shouldn’t even give him a pretext.’
“At any rate, I understand. When do I enter?”
Gwak Je-gang smirked.
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
“…….”
“Your attitude has changed a lot. You’ve cast off the rookie look now. Haven’t you?”
Wait.
“No. I mean it in a good way! You finally look like an employee of this company and feel familiar. Let’s throw away useless small talk and get to the main point~ You already look like an elite team member.”
Gwak Je-gang smiled with his eyes curved.
“Then let’s do something worthy of an employee of this company!”
And he placed a document on the table.
‘This is…’
It was an employee’s profile.
One that I also knew.
[Employee: Jang Heo-un]
I saw the ID photo of the colleague my age, who had a gloomy impression and long hair.
“Ah, you know him, right? You entered Pleasant Theme Park together. The cleanup team fellow.”
“He shouldn’t be in the cleanup team now. He was definitely reassigned to Group F…”
“Ah~ right. He was assigned indeed. …But his official affiliation is still the cleanup team.”
“…!”
“It is in the form of being dispatched to a general team. Shouldn’t it be next year for his affiliation to change formally?”
Gwak Je-gang patted the document.
“Meaning… he is still under an affiliation that is perfectly fine to deploy in this kind of work.”
“…….”
This kind of work?
A sinister chill ran up my spine.
“What do you mean by that.”
“It’s simple. Once your business in the Dark is finished, Mr. Roe Deer? Call that employee to the remaining elevator, leave him there, and come out.”
“…!”
This crazy bastard.
No, calm down. I must not reveal agitation here.
“Hmm. Is this Dark one that allows deployment starting from 2 people… or is sacrifice required?”
“Haha… checking that is the very reason for the existence of our research staff! You just need to do as instructed, Mr. Roe Deer. Simple story, right?”
*Plop.*
Gwak Je-gang threw one more document onto the table.
The Dark allocated to me this time.
“In the elevator ghost story, that is.”
* * *
-Well then, I leave it to you, Mr. Roe Deer! Call the cleanup team rookie when you go and take him along.
“…….”
I read the manual I had already familiarized myself with once more, and put it back in my pocket.
What did I do, you ask?
[Mr. Heo-un, we plan to enter around 5 o’clock, so please rest.]
[Ah, yes! I understand!]
I won’t bring him along.
And I knew.
‘This is a ground for disciplinary action.’
Probably… even if I give a decent excuse, talk will arise about this incident.
Even as an office worker earning other people’s money, it was not at a level of action that could be passed off as flexibility.
But it was meaningless unless I blocked it fundamentally like this.
‘The probability is high that Gwak Je-gang did some kind of trick to Jang Heo-un himself.’
I had to make sure he couldn’t come from the start.
And there was also one effect aimed for here, enough to endure disciplinary action… let’s think about that again once the exploration is finished first.
The important thing is this.
…From now on, I had to ride the haunted elevator alone.
“Whew.”
It was the first time entering a place where ghosts exist alone, with time given to prepare my mind like this…
‘Rather… it might have been better when I went in blindly without knowing.’
My hands trembled with fear.
And I had also left Brown at my desk.
‘In this ghost story, the elevator is for one person anyway.’
I didn’t want to ride leaving Brown in front of the elevator. …Because I didn’t know what would happen.
Since I asked Manager Lee Ja-heon to check once in a while if he was safe and sound, there would be no problem.
‘…Let’s go.’
I entered the confirmed entry building of Qterw-D-718, which the company had found and quarantined.
A very old rented apartment; the water supply was already cut off, but the company was supplying electricity arbitrarily.
In the dark interior, a cold, stale smell of neglect wafted out.
The shaded hallway looked as if it stretched endlessly in front of me.
And the machine operating alone.
[5F]
The door of the elevator on the 1st floor.
“…….”
I walked down the hallway while swallowing my saliva.
In the emergency exit sign light and the dark light bulb, the elevator was visible.
-Under Repair-
We will fix it quickly.
Haengbok Nara Apartment Security Office
Contrary to the phrase, a completely worn-out piece of paper was already dangling, hanging from yellow box tape.
The phenomenon mainly occurs in buildings with only one elevator, and one must be especially careful of elevators with frequent minor malfunctions or those with ‘Under Repair’ signs attached.
Right. This is exactly it.
I called the elevator with trembling hands.
The elevator descended slowly.
5, F, 3, 2…
[Ding]
I took a deep breath.
Through the opening elevator door, the rusty and dark interior was visible.
The floor was dirty with soot as if it hadn’t been cleaned properly.
Still, I moved my feet.
Stepping one foot inside the elevator, one can see things attached side by side on the right and left…
Dirty mirrors with handprints.
‘…Whew.’
———————=
Records of the Dark Exploration / Ghost Story
[Do Not Look in the Mirror]
: A ghost story appearing in the , Daydream Co.’s identification code is Qterw-D-718.
One of the ritual-type ghost stories that circulated on the internet around the year 200X.
It is said that if you play rock-paper-scissors with yourself in the mirror in the elevator and win, you will be told the truth to any question.
It was written in a gamebook style guiding what response to make according to the occurring strange phenomenon by numbers.
———————=
[The door is closing.]
Standing with my back pressed tight against the only wall without a mirror, I watched the closing door with a slightly desperate heart.
My heart pounded so hard it felt like it would pop out.
Soon, the elevator closed completely, and darkness and silence arrived.
I stood blankly alone inside the dark, stopped elevator…
Along with the mirrors.
“…….”
A few seconds like an eternity passed.
I must endure. If I endure…
[Going up.]
*Ding.*
Even though I did not press a button, the elevator began to move.
…It was called to somewhere.
Red lights came on all the floor buttons as if they had been pressed, illuminating the inside of the elevator red and gloomily.
It started from now.
After boarding the elevator, wait without pressing the buttons.
If the elevator began to move on its own, you have successfully entered the ghost story.
1. From now on, play rock-paper-scissors with yourself in the mirror until arriving at the top floor.
If you win even once: Go to 3.
If you do not win even once: Go to 13.
“…….”
I swallowed my saliva, barely moved my head… and looked at the left mirror.
Inside it, a pale me stood in the elevator.
Endlessly many.
My front and back views repeating infinitely until they reflected in the right mirror behind me and became a dot.
My appearance growing smaller and smaller, and more and more unclear…
“…….”
After wiping the sweat on my trembling left hand onto my shirt a few times, I barely raised my hand.
And muttered in a low voice.
“…Rock, paper, scissors.”
Scissors.
Endlessly many versions of me in the mirrors held scissors.
The front and back views side by side, straight along…
“Rock, paper, scissors.”
Endlessly many views of me raising a fist were reflected.
I repeated it a few more times.
Rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors…
“Rock, paper, scissors.”
It was the moment I threw a rock on the fifth rock-paper-scissors.
An anomaly was seen among my repeating mirror images.
…One of them spread its hand suddenly.
Between my fist-clenching figures, the only back view with its hand spread wide was formed in the image far across the mirror.
“…….”
I froze with my hand raised.
Far away inside the mirror, Kim Sol-eum holding a spread palm slowly turned his head…
looked back at me and smiled.
Broadly.