Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 103

Chapter 103

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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-Friend, your boss is a boring swordsman with no creativity…

‘Right, okay.’

I thanked Lee Ja-heon and retrieved Brown.

The part I felt slightly sorry for to both was that the Lizard Leader had taken this stuffed doll all the way to his private residence when he left work because it was late.

Because of this, I thought Brown, who had visited a boss’s house that even I had never seen (and didn’t particularly want to see in the future), would find it quite interesting, but…

-Ah, I would rather sit alone on the cold tile floor of a studio backstage.

‘…Right.’

It seemed he had been very bored…

I broke out in a cold sweat looking at Brown, who lamented things like, ‘There is nothing in that fellow’s house; time passed in silence without any talking to oneself or humming.’

“But it was such a dirty place. I felt like leaving you behind in that abandoned building was something I shouldn’t do as a friend.”

-Friend…!

I was starting to get the hang of it now. A ‘good friend’ reacted most mildly when I treated him as a friend too…

‘Well, it was also the truth.’

Anyway, I recalled the conversation I had with Leader Lee Ja-heon just before while receiving Brown.

“Thank you.”

I said that and bowed my head.

“And I’m sorry. I committed an act worthy of disciplinary action, causing trouble for you too, Leader.”

Honestly, in a normal company, it was an issue where I would have been hit with a folder by my direct supervisor.

But Lizard Manager was calm even after hearing the details.

“Yes.”

“…For no reason, I couldn’t push my colleague into a spot where he was obvious to die…”

“I see.”

And he stared at me before speaking.

“Bear the responsibility of your choice.”

“…Yes!”

It was a bit scary, but at least he seemed to let it slide.

‘What a relief.’

I apologized and thanked Leader Lee Ja-heon a few more times, and handed over the gift cookie set I had prepared.

And I was going down the stairs of the private residence.

-Ah, then are we returning to the simple and cozy room of Mr. Roe to rest just like this?

“No, that’s not it.”

I walked straight out of the residence building.

“Because I have one more thing left to do.”

Today was the day to draw the Tarot cards for ‘Either-Or’, the F-grade Dark entity under my management.

It felt like it had been two months since I last visited the annex to check the Tarot cards.

While I was on sick leave, someone else had worked as my proxy once, and now the turn had come back to me.

“Hello.”

I greeted the Security Team employee, who was a dark figure working at the desk, received the key, and moved down the hallway.

‘Last time, I drew the Moon card upside down.’

-Ah, are you going to use that trick again this time? I mean picking up the card upside down!

Well. About that.

“If I must, I’ll use it… but I want to avoid using it if possible.”

-Hooh?

Because something… has been bothering me regarding that.

‘They said that when drawing the Moon card upside down, uncertainty gets resolved.’

-Indeed. Is there any problem with that?

In itself, there was no problem.

Because during the month after drawing that card, there were several instances where uncertainty was resolved or things became clear.

For instance… my department.

‘It was confirmed that I would remain in Group D.’

…With two group members disappearing, that was.

“……”

But there was a premise to all of this.

‘For uncertainty to be resolved, one must experience an uncertain situation in the first place.’

In other words, drawing a bad card upside down…

‘presupposes that one must experience the bad state anyway.’

Because to recover or escape from it, one needed to be in that state at least once to begin with.

-Aha, a fun approach. It’s quite persuasive!

Right.

Moreover, no matter how much one recovered, in the universe of ghost stories, falling into a ‘bad state’ itself was a tremendous risk…

I had to not forget the contamination incident.

‘It seems safer to draw a good card upright as much as possible.’

So, I hoped that a situation where both cards turned out bad, leaving no room for choice, wouldn’t happen.

‘Sigh.’

I entered the containment area and released the containment of ‘Either-Or’. Then, I took out two black Tarot cards with their backs facing up and put them on the table.

Then, taking a deep breath, I flipped the two cards.

The first card.

The Devil.

Damn it.

‘That damn Devil card keeps coming out.’

The surprising thing was that it was reversed from the start this time.

-Ah, the reversed Devil!

-‘Escaping from the devil.’ It’s a card of liberation. It signifies a future decision to overcome addiction, obsession, or fear.

-It suits Mr. Roe quite well, whose willpower and creativity stand out.

I was grateful for the commentary.

But my gaze immediately fixed onto the second card.

…The Sun!

The upright red and yellow sun was burning fiercely, coloring the card’s illustration with brilliant hues.

This was…

‘Isn’t this unconditionally good?!’

-Oh, the Sun!

-What joy and blessing enjoyed under the clear light of the Sun! It is a sign of career success, improved relationships, and ultimate positivity. It guarantees happiness in the near future.

-So some consider it the best card in Tarot, but well… isn’t unconditional success and happiness a bit boring?

I’m sorry, but that boredom is exactly what I need right now, Mr. Host…!

‘There’s nothing to agonize over with this.’

I reached out and picked up the Sun card.

Thus, with the upright card, I confirmed a stably good future.

-It is a bit of an uninteresting choice! But I will respect that choice as well, Mr. Roe!

‘Thank you.’

And I packed up the ritual.

‘Success and joy.’

It was definitely not a loss to have this, after all.

For now, let’s at least feel some relief from the prophecy that this would happen within this month…

‘Shall we return to the private residence now?’

-Excellent, friend!

Returning home late at night like that, I ended a long and eventful day. For reference, I couldn’t ride the elevator, so I had to walk up.

‘Walking up the stairs at night is scarier than I thought, even if it’s not a ghost story…’

I felt a little sorrowful.

But that was indeed the last eventful incident of this year.

Because, surprisingly, the remaining days of this year flowed by peacefully.

The remaining month of December.

Gwak Je-gang did not call me needlessly after this incident. Even projects from the strange research team were barely assigned.

‘It seems the MZ energy worked well…’

I worried that the research team might call Jang Heo-un again, but nothing of the sort happened.

[Jang Heo-un: Sol-eum! I don’t have any special department changes either. I’m still in Group F.]

It seemed Jang Heo-un had safely and officially settled into Group F in the year-end personnel appointments.

‘That is something to celebrate.’

Even though his group member was Baek Sa-heon… well, seeing how it went at Segwang Technical High School, it didn’t seem like Baek Sa-heon used Jang Heo-un as bait blindly.

Other than that, it was normal.

‘I just entered ghost stories diligently.’

There was no case of entering high-grade ghost stories of Grade C or above either.

Thanks to that, it ended within the limits of increased viewing records of children’s animations, which prevented my internal screaming, fear, and insomnia…

Manager Lee Byung-jin in charge of auditing, whom I met in the hallway, lightly tipped me off that ‘the company is dirt busy because of the year-end peak season with accounting and audits.’

It was uncomfortable that he still rambled about Director Ho from time to time, but I was grateful for him giving information this way…

“Wow, Supervisor Kim, as long as you enter high-grade Dark, you clear them rapidly and gather points, so you have no worries, right? You must be very disappointed that there are no high-grade ones, haha!”

“……”

I am not disappointed at all…

In any case, points accumulated even if I calmly cleared low-grade ones, allowing me to catch my breath and collect myself.

However, throughout all this time, there was something that strangely remained unconfirmed.

“Excuse me, Leader. Is my disciplinary action still under discussion?”

“Yes.”

Meaning my disciplinary action.

-Oh. This is indeed interesting… Didn’t you expect the result to come out immediately, Mr. Roe?

Indeed.

Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be glossed over, but I didn’t think it would take this much time either.

I thought a discipline of the level that would just break the spirit of a cocky, capable rookie and make him behave would drop right onto my feet.

‘…Why is the higher-up acting so complicatedly?’

It even seemed like some rumors had circulated within the Field Exploration Team itself, which was a bit strange.

[Kang Yi-hak: Supervisor! I heard the news haha! I heard you decided not to do inefficient work that isn’t included in your salary! Wow! I respect you!]

“……”

The… rumors spread that way?

‘I was trying to build a character with a clear moral boundary, did even that fall apart…?’

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have gone that far, and it appeared the Development Department was just pondering what on earth to do with me—whether to handle it as an exception or by the regulations.

And in late December.

“The disciplinary date has been finalized.”

“……”

Phew.

Finally, the official document came down.

——

Disciplinary Notice

Details: Performing night cleaning duties for the Security Team.

Period: 3 days.

This disciplinary action is for the improvement of the subject’s work attitude. Please be careful to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

——

Something truly typical of a ghost story company came out.

‘Where did normal private enterprise disciplinary measures like training, pay cuts, suspension, or dismissal go?’

So, isn’t about three days fine? Didn’t I hold my ground well?

That was true. However…

“The schedule is from December 29th to the 31st.”

“……”

Who was it?

‘I can feel the desire to screw me over as much as possible in the selection of the dates…!’

I could sense the malice telling me to pull all-nighters throughout the end of the year and welcome the new year at the company. I was really curious about who on earth it was.

But since I had already clashed with them once, this time I had to do as I was told.

‘Phew…’

In the end, at midnight on December 29th, I went down to the Security Team area on the basement 1st floor of the company.

And I met a familiar face.

“Hello, J.”

“Wow… long time…”

It was none other than Security Team Leader J3.

The slender-built employee, with whom I had become somewhat acquainted from the Lord of the Mountain ghost story to the quarantine incident after escaping the Hungry Hangman ghost story, raised his hand toward me with a fairly welcoming face.

Of course, looking bothered stood out more, so I quickly pulled out the bribe I had prepared.

“I’m sorry. I look forward to working with you for the next three days.”

“You don’t have to be sorry…”

The face of J, the Security Team Leader, brightened as he accepted two large boxes of sugar and glazed donuts, twelve in each.

“It was worth supporting… Thank you… I will enjoy eating them as my snacks…”

“……”

‘I brought two boxes so you could share them with the Security Team employees, though…’

However, since he seemed to firmly believe the twenty-four donuts were solely for himself, I shut my mouth. I think it was a wise decision.

“Well, come this way for now…”

The Security Team Leader began to guide me further inside than the CCTV room.

‘It is an area only the Security Team can enter.’

I ended up coming here again.

I swallowed hard and began to walk down the hallway, following his steps.

Which meant I had to clean somewhere around here.

“May I ask where the place I have to clean for three days is?”

“Yes… Since it’s a place you’ve been to once, it should be a bit better, right? Probably… hmm.”

A place I’ve been to?

“Because the area to clean today is Quarantine Corridor B… You know… there, the place where you pulled out the contaminated employee…”

“……!”

Damn it.

It was referring to the quarantine room area right next to the Security Team rental warehouse.

I meant the corridor lined with closed rooms where I was temporarily confined after being rescued from the Hungry Hangman…!

‘That place… was no ordinary strange place.’

I swallowed hard, recalling all kinds of mutterings and bizarre phenomena I had heard while walking out of the quarantine corridor.

‘…Cleaning the Security Team area.’

An almost certain premonition that I would encounter an anomaly made my heart beat.

“This way… the locker room.”

I swallowed hard and headed toward the locker room following the guide of the Security Team Leader.

And in the process, I accidentally got a glimpse of the Security Team’s quarters with the door open.

[Bedroom]

It was visible through the crack of the door.

They were closed rooms equipped with iron desks, cabinets, and curtains and blankets mostly in grey company-issued items, showing signs of daily life.

They felt strangely like prison staff dormitories.

‘They seem more dilapidated than the private residences…’

First of all, since it was underground, it seemed bad for one’s health.

“Do all the Security Team members live here?”

“No. Only the Security Team… hmm.”

The Security Team Leader frowned slightly as if measuring how far he could speak.

But soon, with an expression showing everything was bothersome, he answered cursorily.

“The Security Team… is actually branched from that higher department called the Security Management Department… and this is mainly where the guard team is…”

“I see.”

In any case, we arrived at the locker room soon, and I quickly changed into the provided clothes.

It was not the Security Team clothes I wore last time, but an outfit with a very eye-catching orange hue. It also felt strangely like an engineer’s overalls.

“The cleaning uniform… isn’t bad… The color is pretty too…”

“……”

Was he… serious?

In any case, it was time to finish changing and move to the cleaning spot.

‘Phew.’

I looked at the Security Team Leader feeling like I was being dragged to a slaughterhouse, but he stopped without leaving the locker room as if waiting for someone.

“Cleaning… is usually done in a team of two.”

Hmm?

Surely the Security Team Leader wouldn’t join me… is it another employee?

Then, the Security Team Leader looked outside the locker room and gestured to me.

“There he comes… Today’s partner.”

I also looked outside the locker room.

Someone was walking from the hallway where the bedrooms were earlier.

A familiar… face.

“Roe.”

“…!!”

In the hallway, Supervisor Park Min-sung waved to me while smiling awkwardly.

“Nice to see you. How have you been?”