Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Around the time the Field Exploration Team Group D entered the ghost story.
“Manager, what grade do you expect for this one? Is D-grade the standard bet after all?”
“Ayy, Supervisor Lee. Let’s show some tact with that kind of thing, okay?”
“…….”
“It’s fun and all, but let’s keep it quiet within the Development Division. Don’t bring it up when other teams are around. Got it?”
“……Ah, yes.”
The Research Team supervisor, who had smirked while bringing up the bet to Kim Sol-eum, shut his mouth only then.
He felt bad because Manager Gwak Je-gang, whom he had looked down on a bit for being easygoing and young, lectured him over such a thing.
And the annoyance made him recall an opponent who was even easier to look down on and more annoying.
The Field Exploration Team rookie!
‘Look at how he glared at a superior.’
He meant the rookie employee who had rejected the offer immediately in disbelief, even though he was trying to let him in on the bet.
That expressionless demeanor that seemed to ignore him remained in his memory. Was his name Kim Sol-eum?
‘You guys are just like human lab rats, so where do you get off putting on airs?’
If one was a Field Exploration Team rookie, they were half dead already. Yet seeing him hold his head high just because he put up a performance once was enough to make him let out a hollow laugh.
He had heard stories that rookies who couldn’t grasp the situation appeared every year, and he felt he was finally seeing one himself.
‘Will he die? It’d be funny if he died.’
His morally paralyzed brain, anticipating dopamine, made his mouth water slightly.
He quickly sent a chat message.
It was a company anonymous betting group chat.
-I’m betting 10 on D
-Okay
It was also his wishful thinking. Because the probability of dying would be higher only if it was D-grade!
Just then, his superior threw a wet blanket on it.
“Supervisor Lee, have the preliminary report organized before leaving work today.”
“…Yes, yes.”
‘In any case, the lab rats won’t even be able to get out of the Dark before I leave work.’
His superior was specifically singling him out to do a task that he could have naturally handed over to a junior during the shift change.
‘Why is my luck with bosses like this.’
The Research Team supervisor grumbled internally as he continued writing the rest of the experimental preliminary report.
-3.2 Subject of Experiment
Adults aged 18 or older who witnessed a 5-second video titled ‘Piero Hates You’ played as an advertising promotion on a specific video site.4)
‘After watching this, if they approached the clown hand that popped out, they got dragged in, right?’
Weren’t they fools for approaching it?
If there was something suspicious, they should have run away; from this point on, he believed it was already a natural death even if they died.
‘But then again, there are also civilians who get lucky and come out alive.’
According to the testimony records of civilian survivors reported previously, they said they returned to reality when they entered an empty portrait from which a clown had left.
‘The lab rats also knew that when they went in.’
However, nothing in particular had been revealed about which portrait was the correct answer.
The types of hallways, portrait sizes, picture frames, and times were all different.
For the most part, it seemed that people just mindlessly jumped into empty portraits from which clowns had emerged, and only a lucky few returned.
‘It’s going to be a hell of a grind to find the answer for this.’
It was a Dark entity that required consuming a vast amount of physical strength while waking the clowns, shaking them off, and sometimes defeating them.
At the same time, because they wouldn’t know which portrait on earth was the correct one, their insides would burn with anxiety!
In this case, wouldn’t one or two deaths be almost guaranteed? It felt like they would make them go in as a test and sacrifice one another.
‘For someone to escape, it would take at least half a day, and at longest a few days….’
“Waaaaah!”
“Clear!”
“…….”
“…….”
Uh?
The researcher turned his head.
On one side of the lab, he saw people suddenly pouring out from a corner.
…All the employees of the Field Exploration Team Group D!
“……?!”
“Are the Dreamscape Collectors all full?”
“Yes! Oh, it’s a D-grade!”
Reflexively, he looked at the clock.
2:41 p.m.
‘Since they entered earlier at 2:15 p.m….’
26 minutes elapsed after entry.
Wait a minute.
‘…26 minutes?!’
Seeing the four members of Group D pop out of the ghost story in the time it took to briefly visit a cafe, a heavy silence fell over the Research Team 1 office.
‘I-Is it a dream?’
It was not.
‘Have we been possessed by a ghost story too?’
It was not.
“…Oh my god! No, how on earth did you get out so early?! Huh? Manager Lee, did smashing things up work again?”
Answers immediately poured out to Gwak Je-gang’s exclamation.
“No.”
“That’s right.”
“He did it.”
Gwak Je-gang’s eyes widened at the words of Group D’s superiors spoken in unison.
“…Good to see you again.”
The rookie employee who was standing quietly in the back bowed his head.
It was Kim Sol-eum.
“…That fellow did it?”
A dry response came back to the omitted words, ‘But he’s a rookie.’
“What’s new about that.”
“Roe Deer was like that even on his first day of work.”
“…??”
Group D’s assistant manager and supervisor did not answer further and began tidying up their masks.
Manager Lee Ja-heon nodded.
“So it seems.”
“…….”
“This ghost story is D-grade.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
Manager Lee Ja-heon abruptly began reporting. Manager Gwak Je-gang of the Research Team, who was familiar with this stream-of-consciousness style of speech that only cared about efficiency, responded immediately.
“Then what is the clear mechanism?”
“? I do not know.”
“…….”
“Ah. Would it be alright if I explain?”
The rookie employee raised his hand from behind.
“Oh, right… go ahead.”
“First of all… the name of the clown advertisement that one must witness beforehand to enter this Dark is ‘Piero Hates You,’ isn’t it?”
“Correct.”
“But a pierrot is not a clown.”
“……??”
“Clowns wear colorful makeup, laugh comically, and perform acrobatics and stand-up comedy. They are a kind of traditional performer.”
And so?
“However, a pierrot wears monochromatic makeup and makes a crying expression.”
“…!”
“There is a clear difference.”
A faint smile appeared on Kim Sol-eum’s pale face and then vanished.
“And since it is called ‘Piero Hates You,’ I thought that he would not chase us.”
Since performers would not chase someone they disliked.
“To prove it, we looked for a portrait with monochromatic makeup where only the mouth was red, and we did not approach any other portraits at all.”
“…….”
“And considering all possibilities, after securing a safe distance of 3 meters, I approached and touched the painting remotely.”
He had cleared a first-time Dark entity in just 30 minutes, and he had even taken such things into account?
Moreover, judging from the result….
“The pierrot did not come out of the portrait.”
“…!”
“Instead, he quietly disappeared from the painting.”
This rookie employee had found the exact correct answer.
The civilians in the meantime had not known because they were busy being chased by clowns falling out of all sorts of portraits, but Group D, which interacted with only a single portrait from a distance, had grasped the situation perfectly.
Goosebumps broke out.
Furthermore, he had also considered other variable factors.
“Since there was a record that shining a light makes clowns pop out from all portraits, I did not use a separate light source.”
“Huh? Then how on earth did you identify the state of the portraits in the dark from 3 meters away?”
“Ah.”
Kim Sol-eum blinked his eyes.
“Because the group leader could recognize it even just like that….”
“…….”
Ah.
Gwak Je-gang tried hard not to whip around to look at the Group D leader, who seemed to best fit the phrase ‘the human himself is strong.’
“I think there won’t be any big problems if future entrants carry night-vision goggles when going in.”
“Ah, I-I see.”
“That is all.”
Once again, a heavy silence fell.
Gwak Je-gang quietly muttered as if to himself.
“You… deduced this just by looking at the preliminary information.”
“Yes.”
The rookie employee added as if realizing something.
“Perhaps none of the people who entered in the meantime were familiar with American everyday culture.”
“…….”
Was that a matter that could be explained so simply…?
“Did, did Sol-eum… perhaps study abroad?”
“That is not the case.”
Kim Sol-eum answered immediately.
“I just have a lot of trivia.”
“…….”
The researchers witnessed the rare sight of the usually eloquent Gwak Je-gang being left speechless!
“Ah, I also tried writing a temporary manual matching this theory. Since Supervisor Park Min-sung happened to lend me a notebook….”
“Oh, none of the credit is mine~ Roe Deer, you did it all~”
The researcher witnessed Gwak Je-gang receiving the notebook from him, while the words of the Group D supervisor wearing a badger mask echoed in the background.
He craned his neck to steal a glance.
Indeed, inside it, the hypothesis Kim Sol-eum had spoken of earlier was organized in an orderly fashion.
‘…!’
Manager Gwak Je-gang scanned through it, then closed it with a smile.
“…Hmm, we shall test it.”
“Yes.”
Thus, the manual prototype was completed.
By just a single person, and a rookie employee at that.
“…….”
The researcher who had engaged in the bet momentarily doubted if he was dreaming.
Even if he happened to know about pierrots… could he construct a theory so easily under extreme conditions and escape with a 30-minute finish?
No. Does this make sense?
‘Could he be a monster bastard pretending to be human?’
However, there was no way such a thing could get hired by the Field Exploration Team, was there?
Didn’t they say the Dreamscape Collector definitely only reacted to humans?
“Group Leader, the Research Team is asking for that thing if you brought it out of the Dark.”
“Yes.”
In the midst of that, Manager Lee Ja-heon handed over a piece of cloth he was holding in his fist.
“That is….”
“Ah, when the portrait pierrot tried to run away, the group leader immediately lunged at him….”
It must be the fabric torn off while reflexively crossing 3 meters to grab him by the collar to prevent the pierrot from escaping.
“…….”
‘Are they birds of a feather?’
Could the two of them be some cousins? Now that he looked, their appearances also seemed somewhat similar. He meant how they both looked slick and polished.
The researcher almost ended up having an absurd delusion for a moment.
And the rookie employee who had brought such shock and horror to him….
‘I-I survived.’
Because he had made a move without thinking about the consequences, his heart was still thumping loudly!
‘Why does the clown have teeth! Why is he peeling human skin! Why is he sucking people into the sewer like balloons!’
Witnessing all kinds of moving ghost portraits in real-time, a clown phobia that he never had was born as of today!
‘Another reason for insomnia accumulated….’
In the midst of that, it was only surprising to himself that he had somehow managed to talk his way through and pass the situation off plausibly.
‘No, I got through it well, right?’
It wasn’t too suspicious, right?
I’m not actually getting caught having an answer sheet and dragged to the intelligent entity lab in Daydream Co.’s basement, right?!
Right before Kim Sol-eum handed over the controller to the anxiety in his heart, Manager Gwak Je-gang, who was silently flipping through the notebook, opened his mouth.
“…Rookie employee Kim Sol-eum, did you by any chance receive something like a business card?”
Kim Sol-eum, whose senses had returned, answered diligently.
“No. Business cards don’t come out for rookies yet…”
“Ayy, you play dumb well. You know it’s not that.”
“…….”
Inside Kim Sol-eum’s head, the anxiety also paused for a moment.
Something came to mind.
The business card that the master of ceremonies had handed over at the welcoming party for new employees.
───
In case of need
010-0153-24865
───
The Research Team 1 manager grinned.
“If you want to earn points faster, contact that number.”
“…….”
“From where I stand, I feel like you’ll be calling soon, Sol-eum.”
It was an offer that sounded quite tempting.
However.
“I am fine.”
Kim Sol-eum answered without moving a muscle.
“…Hmm. If you say so.”
Manager Gwak Je-gang shrugged and easily let it go.
“Is there any reason not to contact them? Haha.”
“…….”
It was simple.
‘A scarier event… yes, I would like to decline.’
The heart of the coward, which had been severely shaken once more.
Because Kim Sol-eum had made up his mind to settle for this sweet 3x points event!