Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The psychopath doctor pushed his own researcher in as a sacrificial lamb for the ghost story exploration.
He probably intended to observe how the Field Exploration Team people would die in even more bizarre ways through the synergy of being entangled with that researcher.
The problem was that I was on the same team as that researcher.
‘Hoo….’
I regained my senses.
My ears grasped the ghost story before my eyes did.
-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
A cheerful melodion and orchestral sound.
It was the typical BGM of a theme park.
“Heup.”
When I opened my eyes, we woke up in the middle of a vintage, colorful theme park.
-Ha ha ha ha!
Children’s laughter echoed all around.
However, human bare faces were nowhere to be seen.
The only things loitering around were mascots.
It seemed like visitors wearing doll masks were visible in the far distance, but if we approached, they would vanish like a lie.
‘Because it is that kind of place.’
I immediately checked my wrist.
[(Pleasant) Fantasyland Ticket □□□]
Three blank spaces.
‘As expected.’
It was the amusement park inside that crazy board game, where one had to ride three attractions to escape.
———————=
Records of the Dark Exploration / Ghost Story
[Pleasant Theme Park!]
: A ghost story appearing in the <Records of the Dark Exploration>, Daydream Co.’s identification code is Qterw-B-11.
An amusement park inside a board game themed around various fantasy lands.
After entering this ghost story, one can return home by utilizing three large attractions.
A ghost story that became even more famous for its appendix, the ‘Pleasant Theme Park User Guide,’ which was written by people who played the board game in a state of derangement.
If you are looking for a game based on this ghost story, go to this link.
———————=
There were many amusement park ghost stories. But this was one of the <Records of the Dark Exploration> that became particularly famous for its grotesqueness, uniqueness, and persistent horror.
‘There were also goods with this theme park motif at the pop-up store.’
It also enjoyed cult popularity for its appendix, the <Pleasant Theme Park User Guide>.
Did they call that a so-called ‘Naples ghost story’?
‘Moreover, it is B-grade.’
A Dark entity of the Gloomy grade.
Civilian survival rate… 2%.
Most likely, our previous civilian survivors had also gotten extremely lucky, which was why as many as four survived.
If we cross-referenced the list of missing people who vanished without a sound before that, quite a few cases of everyone dying in this ghost story would probably come up.
Cold sweat ran down.
‘…I feel like the Group D people will be in danger.’
Of course, right now, my own nose was three feet long.
Because this side was the one that took on the variable of ‘the researcher getting dragged in’!
“Uaaack, heuuueup…. L-Let me out. This is wrong, wrong…!”
“Quiet!”
I covered the mouth of the thrashing researcher and made him duck down.
At that moment.
Snap.
Numerous mascots of the theme park simultaneously stared at the wailing researcher.
“…….”
———————=
Pleasant Theme Park User Guide (Applied up to Exploration Record No. 64)
3. Please refrain from expressing negative and intense emotions such as crying, wailing, and screaming!
It does not suit the Pleasant Theme Park.
———————=
It was nothing short of a nightmare.
I strained to keep my eyes from squeezing shut.
3.
2.
1.
The noise returned.
-Ha ha ha ha!
-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
The gazes vanished.
Amidst the panorama of the theme park, which began to run lively again, I slowly let go of the researcher.
The Group A employee slapped the researcher’s jaw.
“…!”
Thud. After a short, blunt sound, the Group A employee, who tightly grabbed the researcher’s chin, brought her face, which was covered in a butterfly mask, close and said in a low, sinister tone.
“Hey.”
“……!”
“If you whine one more time, know that I’ll start by killing you first.”
“H-Hieek.”
The researcher recoiled with a terrified expression, then sank to the ground and wrapped his arms around his head.
He seemed to mutter words like ‘This is a dream’ and ‘A lie’ mixed with curses, appearing to be in a panic.
“…Isn’t your hand a bit too harsh?”
The Group Y rookie employee spoke cautiously, but the Group A employee ignored him.
Instead, she asked me.
“Rookie employee over there. They said you were the top rookie upon entering, right? Your judgment is decent.”
“…Thank you.”
“Did you draw your dedicated equipment?”
Hmm.
So she was going to treat me as a fellow employee for now.
‘Not an elite team member, but because I was the top rookie?’
I thought the criteria was excessively one-dimensional, but I answered politely without showing it.
Dedicated equipment, I had it.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“A glove capable of remote touching. There are limits on time and the number of uses.”
Let’s just tell her this much.
And I should also ask at least this much.
“What kind of weapon do you use, Assistant Manager?”
“Nothing you need to kn… hmm. Fine.”
The Group A employee pulled at her index fingernail.
It was a fake nail for nail art.
From the back of the detached nail, something sticky stretched out.
A translucent thread.
“It stretches endlessly, and its strength is quite good.”
“…It seems like it could be used very usefully for various purposes.”
“Hmm. Well, yes.”
The opponent’s mood seemed to have improved slightly.
I immediately nodded and asked.
“Could I ask your name, by any chance?”
“Just call me Assistant Manager Jin. What’s with the embarrassing exchange of names?”
Isn’t it the basic courtesy when people meet each other…?
In any case, still, her last name was unique enough to be identified immediately.
‘Perhaps… is it this employee?’
-Assistant Manager Jin Na-sol infiltrated the killer’s bedroom and set the clock to 4:44.
-Cucumber seriously answered Assistant Manager Jin Na-sol’s question, ‘Do you have a particular grudge against carrots?’ No special remarks.
-Severed the limbs of the teddy bear (Executor: Employee Jin Na-sol).
And so on.
There wasn’t much description to concretely deduce her personality, but she seemed to have been used in the work as a fairly competent and cold employee.
Just then, the Group Y rookie employee quietly asked me.
“…What on earth is dedicated equipment?”
Ah, right. It made sense that this person wouldn’t know properly right now.
“Ah, at the company, you can customize equipment using the Dark….”
“Hey. Let’s move quickly. In such a large-scale Dark, observation comes first.”
“…….”
“What are you doing, top rookie? I said let’s move?”
She openly cut me off.
I answered while following Assistant Manager Jin of Group A, who was moving her steps immediately without even waiting further.
“Yes. I will explain the current situation to my colleague while moving.”
“What? Why bother with that… ah.”
The mouth under the butterfly mask wore a strange smile.
“You, you don’t know, do you?”
“…….”
“Well, do as you please.”
I did not argue.
Instead, I roughly explained to the Group Y rookie employee what ‘dedicated equipment’ was.
I also added this to avoid creating discord in the team.
“I really agonized over it, paid quite a lot of points, and drew it. Because the situation ahead is scary too.”
“……I see.”
I nodded and continued my words.
“Come to think of it, my greeting is late. I am Kim Sol-eum.”
“…I know.”
A slightly gloomy voice flowed out from under the cow mask.
“I am… Jang Heo-un.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
I also tried talking to the researcher who had sunk to the ground for now due to the situation, but what returned was practically a panic-stricken whine.
“No, no, I can’t walk. Support me!”
“I can support you, of course… but then your movements will become inconvenient, Supervisor.”
I added as if worried.
“If that happens, the probability of the person in question dying is high.”
He stood up like magic.
‘I knew it.’
The Group A assistant manager cast a displeased glance over here, but she didn’t interfere and just walked while observing the surroundings.
I also slowly quickened my steps and turned my gaze.
It was a theme park like a dream, flashy but somehow dizzying and suffocating.
‘Is red the theme?’
There was no place where red symbols were missing, from the flags, buildings, to the tents in this theme park sector.
‘We probably fell into this sector because we drew the red piece.’
On the flags, a cute rabbit was smiling while raising one hand.
[Magic Bunny Arcade Zone]
If translated literally, is it Magic Rabbit Adventure Space….
‘It really is theme-park-like.’
It was then.
The rabbit mascot in question blocked Assistant Manager Jin’s path.
“Ah, blocking the way….”
“Just a moment, please.”
I stopped Assistant Manager Jin, who was trying to bypass the mascot to slip away.
Because….
“…It looks like a parade.”
A line was drawn behind the rabbit mascot, and from way back, cheerful music and all kinds of colorful rabbits appeared.
However, I wasn’t thrilled at all.
I struggled to keep my hands from covering my face.
‘It has started….’
———————=
Pleasant Theme Park User Guide (Applied up to Exploration Record No. 64)
7. Please cheer for the parade with a cheerful face!
Everything that happens in the Pleasant Theme Park parade is cheerful and absolutely not negative. Absolutely, absolutely not negative.
———————=
The parade drew closer.
The rabbit mascot wearing a dress waved its hand from atop the palace, and then….
Bang!
It struck the surrounding carrots with a colorful staff.
Then all kinds of red, sparkling things rained down on the mascots.
-Waaaaah!
Candy, jewels, confetti, firework effects!
But that wasn’t the end.
Bang!
The next one went off in succession, pouring out a new red item.
Blood, guts, and organs!
-Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
They poured down in heaps.
Heaps and heaps. Mascots danced while rummaging through the entrails. The stone floor right in front of me was stained red…… Wow, seriously, this is driving me crazy.
‘This is the problem.’
In this crazy theme park, things that one couldn’t laugh at with human sensitivity popped out like glitches, but if you screamed or cried at them, you would get [Censored/Deleted]!
-Waaaaah!
Splat.
The front of my shoes was soaked with bloody water.
Something that came rolling hit the toe of my shoe.
It was an eyeball.
‘!@#$!@%!%’
Argh!! Argh!!!
A silent scream erupted down my spine.
‘I-I feel like vomiting.’
I tried my best to narrow my eyes, not looking directly ahead, and struggle to endure this situation while pretending to be calm….
“Ugh.”
“…?”
Wait a minute.
Just now… that wasn’t a sound I made, right?
When I glanced my head, I saw the cow mask covering his mouth.
‘Could it be.’
“…Do you find it hard to look at cruel things?”
“…….”
The cow mask slowly nodded.
The lower face not covered by the mask had already turned white as sheet.
‘A comrade…!’
My chest almost grew warm.
Finally, someone who experienced the crazy horror of this crazy situation together had appeared!
‘Hey, still, you are on the side of enduring well!’
It was the moment I was about to say, let’s avoid it well and break through this ordeal with a similar resolution.
“Ah, seriously… what are you saying.”
It was a voice filled with irritation to the tip of her head.
…It was the Group A assistant manager.
“Can’t look at cruel things? Why don’t you know that such a drag is a liability, not an extra life?”
“…!”
“Hey, top rookie. I’m telling you this because you have potential. That.”
The tip of Assistant Manager Jin’s index finger pointed at the Group Y rookie employee.
The Group Y employee winced.
“Don’t bother socializing with the guys who have X, Y, and Z attached.”
“…….”
I had heard a similar thing from my direct superior just before.
-Roe Deer. The other group members you saw today, just treat them moderately if possible. Got it?
…I already knew the reason.
‘The Field Exploration Team assigns alphabets to each group.’
And there was meaning in that order.
Elite teams Groups A, B, and C.
Normal teams Groups D through W.
And X, Y, and Z were….
———————=
Records of the Dark Exploration / Daydream Co.
/ Field Exploration Team
Cleanup Team
A field exploration team that gathered members who passed the entrance exam but had some defects to perform normal exploration duties.
Mainly deployed when testing special situations.
Mainly designated by the last three letters of the alphabet (X, Y, Z).
———————=
“The last three letters of the alphabet are places where only guys like that are gathered. They are just meat shields. They are like extra lives given to employees who have work brains, so don’t care about them.”
“…Excuse me?”
“They don’t seem to tell the rookies properly, muttering about removing variables and such, but it won’t matter since that is going to die here anyway.”
The employee in the cow mask froze.
“W-What do you mean….”
“Cleanup Team cow mask. Raise your left hand.”
“!”
Like a lie.
Jang Heo-un raised his left hand toward the air.
“…!!”
The lower face not covered by the mask turned white as sheet in embarrassment.
“W-What…!”
The Group A employee raised her chin.
“Meat shield. That is how you use them.”
———————=
When an employee of a certain grade or higher enters the Dark with a Cleanup Team employee, they can demand unconditional execution of commands from them.
The Cleanup Team employee must perform the demand in question.
———————=
Indeed.
‘…It’s a device to extract more cruel and dramatic exploration records.’
In short, they were like slaves or a suicide squad.
But seeing it in reality was even more bizarre than imagined. Even more so because the cow mask employee seemed to struggle to resist.
‘This is crazy.’
The gold mark near the jaw of the Group A employee’s butterfly mask shone.
“If something dangerous comes up that you want to try, you just make guys like that do it first. But it drives me crazy because they sometimes misunderstand in their own way, don’t follow instructions, and die, you know?”
“U-Ugh….”
“Then again, if they had the work brains to understand, they wouldn’t have been assigned to such a team, right?”
The verbal abuse continued flatly, ending with the tired voice of an office worker as if suppressing irritation.
“Why on earth did you get hired here to be a nuisance? Every time, seriously…. Psychopaths, cultists, criminals….”
“…….”
Certainly, they must have deliberately put personality-flawed human types into the Cleanup Team.
It must have been a device to lower the psychological hurdle for people reading the ghost stories.
‘Instead of nice and normal people dying like tools, it feels slightly better if mean and flawed people die….’
Though seeing it in reality left a bitter taste in my mouth.
What did the cow mask employee do so wrong to be treated like a suicide squad?
“Even that damn coward bastard….”
Right, coward….
“……!?”
…W-Wait a minute.
Wait a minute, Assistant Manager!
I feel like I just heard an incredible word….
“…Just now, saying coward….”
“Yeah. I’m saying there is a coward bastard who whines even after passing that entrance exam. Can you believe it?”
The Group A employee gestured with her chin.
“Like that Group Y rookie.”
…….
‘Is that all?’
Genuinely?
You’re saying that cow mask rookie was shoved into the Cleanup Team just because he was a coward?
A coward was that much of a disqualifying factor?
Then…….
‘What about me?’
…I am the coward!
Instantly, like a panorama, I recalled the words I had spoken to my superiors after fleeing from the convenience store ghost on my first day of work.
-Uh, actually… I wanted to get out quickly because I was scared.
“…….”
Only now do I realize.
How fortunate it was that they didn’t believe me.
‘This means cowards are branded as trash and get bullied within the company…!’
They didn’t even just give silent treatment, but officially drove them to places where they would die!
‘I was only thinking along the lines of ‘I just shouldn’t get my weakness caught,’ but….’
It wasn’t to that extent!
Suddenly, the sound of the survival rate plummeting was heard in surround sound.
No way!
“Anyway, right now there is nothing in particular to instruct. It seems like a distraction, so just you and I will move. Got it?”
No!
If I go with you alone, I feel like I’ll be targeted as a coward in 5 minutes!
I can see the future where Employee Kim Sol-eum is exiled to the Cleanup Team tomorrow, ending with the Group A employee’s testimony of ‘What, this bastard was a coward’!
“If that is the case, please go ahead first.”
“W-What?”
For the first time in my month of joining the company, I broke the Rookie’s Ten Commandments.
I rebelled against my superior.
The justification was plausible too.
“I will take care of my teammates and go.”
“…….”
The Group A assistant manager stopped her movement.
For a moment, I worried if this superior would use the Group Y rookie employee to take my neck.
“This idiot….”
The butterfly mask assistant manager seemed to choose the side of severing ties with me and disappearing instead.
But… well, you see.
‘You probably won’t be able to go alone anyway.’
———————=
Pleasant Theme Park User Guide (Applied up to Exploration Record No. 64)
2. Make sure to hang out together with teammates of the same color inside the theme park!
If you are not boarding an attraction and fall more than 5 meters apart, you will be executed. You will be strangled. It hurts, so do not fall further apart, no, don’t.
———————=
‘There’s no way they would let a strong-hearted person like you just leave with your eyes open….’
You have to act as our tank.
The assistant manager wearing the butterfly mask stopped with a choking sound as if caught by the scruff of her neck.
“This piece of sh—!! Ah!”
A red string.
A line like a leash was visible connecting above our heads and tightening, but when the assistant manager tactfully stepped back and narrowed the distance, it disappeared again.
“You…!”
“Assistant Manager Jin.”
I made a gesture of putting my index finger to my lips.
And I rolled my eyes.
The mascots around the parade were simultaneously staring at Assistant Manager Jin.
“…….”
The Group A assistant manager calmed down quickly.
Competent people are truly convenient…….
“Don’t tell me, dividing the teams was….”
“Yes. Didn’t we draw the red pieces together? Being tied as a team… we probably suffer physical constraints.”
“……Don’t tell me.”
The assistant manager stared at me, then asked significantly.
“You… you anticipated this in advance?”
…?
I just read this ghost story beforehand….
But let’s take it in stride.
I set the mood and opened my mouth.
“As you may remember… clearly, there were four civilian survivors.”
“So?”
“Wouldn’t they have been on the same team?”
I spoke solemnly.
“Since four were assigned to a team for us too, I thought those civilians might have been as well. I thought the probability of a single team surviving together would be the highest.”
“…….”
“So for now, I would like us to act on the assumption that the four of us must take care of each other to safely get out of this Dark.”
After a moment of silence.
“…That makes sense. Right.”
Fortunately, the Group A superior seemed to be rationally convinced.
“Kim Sol-eum, th-thank you….”
“Not at all. Let’s do our best together.”
Additionally, my cow-masked colleague also seemed touched, but now is not the time for us to get sentimental, my fellow coward.
‘Let’s see.’
I looked at this team objectively.
A superior steeped in elitism.
Coward Dumb and Dumber.
And a researcher from another department thrown in as a bonus.
‘Heh, what a mess.’
If this were the <Records of the Dark Exploration>, it was a lineup where it would be appropriate for everyone to die as soon as the record started and the perspective returned to Manager Lee Ja-heon.
But even with this number of people, the way to survive is….
‘It exists.’
If we follow the behavioral guidelines well and aim for the escape route!
“…Do you happen to remember?”
“What.”
“The phrase written on the <Pleasant Theme Park> board game box.”
-Board the three fantasy attractions fastest with your teammates and receive prizes!
The eyes under the butterfly mask narrowed.
“Three attractions… right. There are exactly three slots on this bracelet too.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“For now, I would like us to do exactly that. If there is a demand implied by the Dark, following it is the standard way to clear it.”
“…You speak like more of an expert than me, who has been at this company for three years, even though you’re a rookie of only one month?”
Uh-oh.
“Since I was deployed only to ghost stories without manuals for that one month… well, I think I developed a habit of making this kind of guess.”
“Well, right.”
Fortunately, the Group A superior roughly nodded.
It seemed she didn’t say it out of spite.
“Your hypothesis is persuasive.”
“Yes.”
She seemed to reasonably accept it.
I raised my hand and made a very polite suggestion.
“So I would like us to ride an attraction first as well.”
Fortunately, the attraction I was aiming for was written on one of the nearby signboards.
[Fantasy Train]
If translated literally, Magic Train.
“…Isn’t this the attraction the civilians testified about?”
“That’s right.”
I nodded calmly, and the panicked researcher screamed convulsively.
“Th-They said everyone who r-rode it d-died!!”
That was true.
This was an atrocious hell train with a 3% survival rate!
‘But that doesn’t mean I am crazy.’
An old hand of the <Records of the Dark Exploration> had a way for everything!
…A way to clear it while being slightly less terrified.