Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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나는 떨리는 손으로 근무 팁 쪽지를 확인했다.
11. Are you doing this for two days in a row?
They sometimes give you a day off after night cleaning, but night shifts in a row, you really are pitiful… Anyway, the tips continue. At dawn today,
No, that’s not it!
‘Let’s stop reading.’
At the end, a rule that clearly seemed strangely contaminated had appeared. The first one aside, starting from the second note, it might be a trap itself.
I vigorously folded the note back and stuffed it into my pocket.
Then I raised my head, looked at the doors of Quarantine Corridor B which were still tightly shut, and stared at one spot.
[Quarantine Room B14]
“……”
What on earth happened?
‘Let’s stay calm.’
I had to organize things.
Clearly, I was spending the first day.
Was it around 3 AM? Just as we were wrapping up the cleaning, a door to the quarantine room suddenly opened, and someone… ‘something’ in the form of Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je appeared.
And the moment its identity was discovered by Supervisor Park Min-sung…
‘It realized immediately and did something… terrible.’
I had no memory since then.
So why did a whole day disappear, turning it into the second day, and the story ended with ‘we safely finished the cleaning’?
And as if the structure was to make it feel like I had regained my senses before this event occurred…
Wait a minute.
I checked the electronic watch on my wrist.
Just before 3 AM.
……
“Supervisor. This way, immediately!”
“Uh, wh-what?”
I called Supervisor Park Min-sung and ran.
And I opened the iron door at the end of the corridor, where the green emergency exit light was still functioning normally, and stepped out.
“What is this…”
Thump.
I closed the door the moment Supervisor Park Min-sung followed me out. The supervisor’s bewildered voice was heard.
“Roe, what are you doing? The cleaning isn’t even finished yet, why on earth…”
[BEEEEEEP!!]
[Unauthorized opening of quarantine room confirmed. Corridor is being sealed.]
A red light came on, and protective shutters descended on all the doors.
Even on the door of the corridor we had just exited.
“…!”
Supervisor Park Min-sung’s expression stiffened.
“…Wait a second. Roe. Did you know about this and…”
“Hold on a moment.”
I immediately pulled out the walkie-talkie and turned it on. Then, I turned up the volume right away and pressed the button.
Since the thing that had the appearance of Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je had told us not to trust the walkie-talkie, I judged that this side was reliable conversely.
“J. Something came out of the quarantine room.”
Bip.
An answer came back in an instant.
[Are you in the corridor?]
“No. We just stepped out of the quarantine corridor. However…”
I glanced at the door leading out of the rental warehouse.
A shutter had descended there too.
“We are trapped in front of the rental warehouse counter. …Because the protective shutter also came down on the door leading out of here.”
[Well, then… since primary containment is done, don’t be scared… you can just stay there… I’m heading over now.]
[By the way… was it door number 12 or 6 that opened?]
Phew.
“Probably… number 14.”
Silence.
[…B14?]
“Yes.”
An ominous silence flowed across the walkie-talkie once more.
My back grew wet.
Bip.
[Do not talk to anyone and stay still. Quietly hide. Stay away from Corridor B.]
I swallowed hard.
“Yes.”
[But for the quarantine room containment… there is a hold time. Even if we release it immediately, the system holds it… 10 minutes.]
10 minutes.
[Just hold out for 10 minutes until my entry. …Do not talk. From now on.]
Click.
The transmission ended.
Silence settled upon the dark rental warehouse illuminated by the red emergency lights.
“……”
Looking to the side, Supervisor Park Min-sung, who had heard the entire walkie-talkie conversation, was backing away with a pale face from the door leading to Corridor B of the quarantine area…
At that moment,
Thump!!
The door rattled.
Thump, thump, thump!!
Something was slamming against the door from inside the quarantine corridor, forcefully enough to make the protective shutter shake.
And a faint voice was heard.
…Hey! What on earth…!
“……”
Someone was shouting from the quarantine corridor we had just escaped. That voice, which somehow sounded increasingly familiar…
“Roe, don’t listen…!”
“…!”
Supervisor Park Min-sung covered my ears and quickly pulled me toward the counter of the rental warehouse.
And only after we had moved sufficiently far away from the quarantine corridor door did he whisper urgently to me.
“The protective shutter came down, so there’s no way sounds from behind it could be heard all the way here…! That’s not real. That is…”
Gulp.
The supervisor swallowed hard.
“…Something really seems to have come out. Just as you said.”
“……”
“Earlier… the Security Team member said they would come in 10 minutes. Until then, even if someone comes and talks to us, let’s not believe them and just stay still. Never strike up a conversation first…”
I nodded slowly. The supervisor let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the spot.
“Well, by the way, how did you know, Roe? That the quarantine room door was opening…”
“It’s a bit complicated, but first, there is something I must know.”
“What is it?”
“What on earth happened to us on the first day?”
Wonder spread across Supervisor Park Min-sung’s face.
“Huh? On the first day?”
“Yes.”
“We just cleaned normally and… ah, of course a few things written in the work tips happened, but we dealt with them well and went home, didn’t we?”
And the examples he listed next were all indeed the things we had experienced… before the chaos broke out in the quarantine room, that was.
If that was the case.
“Do you remember giving me the second work tip paper at dawn?”
“…Roe.”
Supervisor Park Min-sung’s expression stiffened.
“There was no such thing as a second paper.”
“……”
“You seem a bit… could you have been affected by the opening of the quarantine room door? Hold on, today’s work tips…”
What?
I stopped Supervisor Park Min-sung as he tried to pull the note out of my pocket.
“Wait a minute. How did you receive that work tip note in the first place?”
“Huh? I received it as a work tip circulating in the Security Team.”
“Yes. Who exactly was it?”
“……”
“Can you describe the person who gave it to you?”
“Of course… yes,”
Supervisor Park Min-sung’s face turned pale.
He opened and closed his mouth several times, as if attempting to speak…
Ultimately, he confessed.
“…I don’t know.”
“…!”
“No, clearly… huh? I mean, was it placed in the bedroom? No, a Security Team colleague gave it to me… did I have a colleague? Huh? Huh? Uh-uh-uh?”
Damn it.
“It’s fine! You don’t have to think about it. For now, let’s just stay still.”
“…Yeah.”
Supervisor Park Min-sung quietly curled up his body and hung his head.
“…Let’s only think about getting out. The moment that door opens, we leave immediately. Without looking back.”
“Yes.”
Phew…
‘Wow, seriously. I’m going crazy…’
My head was in confusion.
Since our accounts differed, I had no idea from where what I remembered was the truth and from where it was a lie.
I didn’t even know what was reality, and what to believe was vague, but this situation was filled only with fear.
‘Am I… am I possessed by something right now?’
But I am clearly wearing the silver ring. It meant I had a strong resistance to illusions, hallucinations, and brainwashing. If so…
‘Let’s organize this logically.’
1. My mind is fine.
2. Everything I am experiencing is reality.
3. This is an anomaly unrelated to my mind.
And the third party who will view this phenomenon objectively…
‘Brown.’
As expected, it would be the stuffed doll in my pocket.
‘Brown! I want to ask you something, is it okay?’
……
Silence flowed.
Surely not.
‘…Brown!’
I searched my pockets. Even calling once more, no response returned…
-Ah! Here I am. My friend!
Phew.
I held the fluffy stuffed doll in my pocket and let out a sigh of relief.
-Oh dear, my response was a bit late! I am embarrassed. It took some time to catch up, you see.
“……”
‘To catch up’?
‘…Why was a process of catching up to me necessary?’
-Ah, didn’t you jump straight to the 30th, Mr. Roe!
The cheerful voice began to speak incomprehensible things.
-Of course I am not blaming you. Finishing the discipline quickly would be fine as well. Welcoming the new year rapidly without dedicating effort to useless work! Bringing forward more enjoyable events…
‘Wait, hold on.’
I hurriedly stopped him.
‘Sorry for cutting you off, Brown. But… I have something to check.’
-Ah, if I accept a guest’s complaints, why wouldn’t I accept my friend’s! Speak comfortably, Mr. Roe!
Right, I get it, so…
‘You’re saying I skipped straight from the 29th to the 30th. By what on earth means?’
-Hmm. Didn’t you readily hand over that story to someone else?
‘…!’
Wait, hold on.
‘Someone else?’
-Indeed. Oh! It happens to be right next to you now, Mr. Roe.
“……”
-Its appearance changed so flawlessly. Haha! It was indeed a master of disguise, friend.
Barely moving my stiff neck, I looked at the entity Brown had mentioned.
The one sitting right next to me.
“Well… Roe? You’re not saying anything, it’s a bit scary, so could we talk a little.”
…Earlier.
When I ran out of the quarantine corridor, I thought I had called Supervisor Park Min-sung and made him follow me.
But thinking about it, I didn’t hold onto him and run, nor did I look back.
Which meant.
‘Hearing that sound, something other than Supervisor Park Min-sung could have followed me…’
If so. The thing slamming against the door from inside the corridor just now…
“……”
“Roe, are you okay? Answer me.”
And the advice Security Team Leader J3 had given over the walkie-talkie.
-Do not talk to anyone and stay still.
That was…
inclusive of the person who had entered to clean together with me.
“Roe? Roe…… caught again.”
Plop.
Before my eyes, Supervisor Park Min-sung’s face fell to the floor.
Then listen to me about my Lorddddddd
The mouth hole on its melting body moved, drawing closer.
To my face, close…
[BEEEEEEP!]
The red light of the emergency indicator flashed again.
And the sound of machinery operating began to echo from all directions.
…The sound of the shutter rising.
[Sealing is released. Shutter is opening.]
Ah.
Thank you! It opened!
The faceless one drew closer.
It shouted in a voice filled with joy.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
My brain shook violently at the bizarre laughter bursting right next to my eardrums. I became dazed. I faded away.
In reality…
Blackout.
* * *
“……Inhale!”
I raised my head.
The dark rental warehouse.
An enclosed space sealed with the red emergency lights on. The protective shutters tightly closed.
Myself, looking as if I had just run away from the Corridor B of the quarantine area, casting aside the cleaning tools.
Scenes that looked like the time had been moved forward slightly from what I saw earlier.
And inside my pocket… the work tips note.
For the 3rd day of work.
I crumpled it immediately and threw it aside.
Bip.
[Excuse me… are you okay?]
The walkie-talkie was ringing, but I ignored it.
Because this time, this time I remembered clearly.
‘…It said “my Lord,” right.’
With hands shivering and sweating coldly, I swept back my hair.
‘I figured it out.’
What this whole thing was about.
My vanished story.
The entity appearing in the form of an acquaintance.
The proclaimed “my Lord”.
Its identity was…
———————=
Records of the Dark Exploration / Factions
[Church of the Nameless Splendor]
: One of the three major factions appearing in .
Serving a transcendent deity called ‘my Lord,’ its doctrine is to become a meaningful existence in this world and survive the end times.
In this process, they follow antisocial and supernatural fanaticism, rituals, and laws.
Divided into six denominations, they blindly believe in different sacred laws according to their characteristics and generate strange paranormal phenomena.
Its truth is [Spoiler].
———————=
It was the Church of the Nameless Splendor.