Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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I sweated cold sweat and stared at the bracelet.

[◎ (Pleasant) Fantasyland Membership ◎]

However, the text that changed from a ticket to a membership did not change, and the texture that grew strangely fancy and high-class did not change either.

Y-Yes….

Though it was an unexpected event, still, the thing I had to do did not change.

Scanning the bracelet at the gate and leaving.

‘Membership or whatever, I just shouldn’t come again.’

“Thank you.”

I swallowed my saliva.

“Hmm… I would also like to return home now.”

The blue mascot lightly tilted its head to the side.

I tried to enter the gate machine and scan the bracelet.

But the mascot blocked me.

‘Please.’

Why are you doing this to me.

I wanted to cry.

“I am not as good a kid as you think….”

Y o u A r e

A G o o d K i d

The blue mascot’s talons very gently and lightly covered the top of my bracelet.

And the voice echoed.

To the one who knows honor,

It is valuable.

…!!

“Cough.”

A cough burst out of my mouth.

It was blood.

‘Wh-What just… now.’

Don’t tell me… is it because it changed to a membership instead of a ticket?

When I coughed up blood, the blue dragon mascot seemed flustered and fidgeted, then pulled out something from its chest and offered it.

[Blue Soda Churros]

It seemed to be a snack sold inside this theme park.

“…I will eat well.”

Yeah. I will absolutely not eat it.

“But, I would like to return home and eat it.”

P l a y

M o r e

The mascot was firm.

To what extent it was. It turned off the gate machine.

“…!!”

Tick. In the northern exit where the lights went off, the shutter came down.

I watched that sight blankly.

You do this much?

I couldn’t grasp at all what on earth kind of situation this was.

But I did not do the foolish act of arguing.

‘Doing that might result in the researcher’s fate.’

I wanted to avoid that at all costs.

For now, for now… since it wasn’t so dangerous inside here that I would die right away. Let’s seek an alternative.

I backed away from the gate.

The blue mascot watched my figure leaving at a run continuously….

* * *

“This is driving me crazy.”

I entered the water park’s locker room and sank down.

I was scared to death.

“What on earth is this.”

To summarize, the mascot suddenly called me a ‘good kid,’ handed me a membership, and lowered the gate shutter.

In a word, I was locked inside here.

“…….”

Locked.

No, in the first place, what on earth was a ‘good kid’ anyway.

The researcher is a bad kid, I am a good kid….

Ah.

‘…Is it because I saved my teammates several times!’

Right. That is the most plausible reason.

Somehow, I had looked after people several times in emergencies… and as a reward, they would let me play in the theme park forever, is that it?

‘This is driving me mad….’

This place is inside a B-grade Dark.

No matter how friendly and relatively safe that mascot seemed, it meant we didn’t know when, where, and what kind of danger and bizarre, crazy things would happen.

Moreover.

‘…There is no exploration record of staying for more than 24 hours anyway.’

It meant the moment it crossed 24 hours, everyone died or went missing.

To interpret it in a truly positive way, it might be because the ticket was a 1-day pass and I, having a membership, might be fine, but the important thing was that I had no information.

‘Damn.’

I rolled my brain with a feeling of wanting to bite my tongue.

Perhaps due to the fatigue of the past few hours, my thoughts ran dully….

‘What can I do?’

It’s not like I can fight and win against the mascot.

Nor could I secretly infiltrate and turn on the gate machine.

‘I spent all my coins earlier.’

Seeing the Group Y rookie, Jang Heo-un, fall over, throwing whatever was in my hand in a hurry was my mistake. I pressed my eyelids.

Nor did I have a button that could communicate with the outside, so I couldn’t expect help from Group D.

‘The items I have are….’

Smile sticker? It wasn’t something to use in a situation where high affinity was already the problem.

The 2x potion or the 0.5x cookie were the same. Those were meaningful only when there was an effect to create synergy.

‘Is there truly nothing?’

The more I agonized, the more I felt like I was falling into a quagmire.

As I was depressed like that.

Light flashed above my head.

[Records of the Dark Exploration Real Goods Box]

-Usage permission of new goods unlocked! (!)

“…!!”

The black notepad, the goods box.

‘Please!’

Without even breathing, I pressed it immediately.

Was it a lifeline? No, anything was fine. I needed a small hint, anything….

Thud.

The goods fell.

‘…!’

I lifted the transparently plastic-wrapped item.

It was small and fluffy enough to fit in my palm.

A stuffed doll.

———————=

Records of the Dark Exploration / Daydream Co.

/ ■■■■■

Good Friend

It’s your cute animal doll. It will always hang out with you and protect you.

Always.

-‘Pleasant Theme Park Souvenir Shop’

Product description on packaging

———————=

Ah.

I recalled the words written on the board game box.

-Board the three fantasy attractions fastest with your teammates and receive prizes!

In the ‘Pleasant Theme Park,’ the team that boarded the three attractions fastest could just take one of various items from the souvenir shop as a prize.

‘Come to think of it, the supervisor also said earlier that he received a prize.’

And of course, in the souvenir shop inside the ghost story, bizarre items were not rarely mixed in.

‘There was also an exploration record that sorted only the list of items taken as prizes separately….’

And this was one of the most famous items among them.

Good Friend

Originally in the source work, it was a stuffed doll of a size that would fit snugly in a young child’s arms, but the small doll reborn as a key ring through being turned into a goods fell into my hand.

‘The usage permission of this goods was a Pleasant Theme Park user.’

Unless one was the person in question who had visited the theme park, it was nothing more than a stuffed doll with no functions, but it seemed the permission arose because I had used up my ticket.

And the ability of this stuffed doll was.

———————=

A bizarre item that invites someone from the otherworld, allowing a portion of their spirit to dwell inside the doll to make them a friend.

Rarely appears in the souvenir shop of <Pleasant Theme Park>.

Refer to below for detailed invitation records.

———————=

This was it.

“…….”

Normally, I would have scrutinized it immensely, created a safety device somehow, and then tried.

‘Inviting someone from the otherworld’ was indeed an explanation perfect for a chilling ghost story introduction, wasn’t it?

But right now, I had neither the time nor the luxury for that.

‘Let’s try.’

Because right now, I desperately needed the advice of someone who knew the nature of ghost stories.

For the first time in a while, I pulled out my smartphone equipped with the Memorial GripTok and opened the ‘Good Friend’ tab of the <Records of the Dark Exploration>.

The preparations were as follows.

———————=

· Preparations for Invitation

Matches (or a lighter)

100ml water

A spoonful of salt

A coin (clean one)

An object related to the friend

———————=

And a quiet space.

‘This locker room happens to be it.’

Since the outside was noisy with the sound of water and music, this place would probably be the best.

And a lighter, water, and salt seemed like they could be obtained inside this theme park somehow. I just had to steal them from a shop or request them.

The problem was the next two.

A coin (clean one)

An object related to the friend

I had spent all my coins, so I had none.

And the object related to the friend… actually, it was an item put in for the fun of the ghost story. If one put in a fairy tale book there, a monster with that fairy tale motif would come.

‘What should I do to be relatively safe?’

No, it was reluctant to offer something from this theme park as an object related to the friend.

Isn’t this place itself already a ghost story?

“…….”

In the end, after agonizing, I selected two items.

Hoping this substitution would work.

And a short while later.

“Phew.”

I put down the obtained torch and salt on the floor of the very corner of the locker room.

‘It was chilling.’

They were all obtained from a snack truck. Seeing that they sold a menu called ‘Grilled Marshmallows,’ I wondered, and indeed both were there.

‘…They gave them to me for free after seeing the membership.’

Rather than being happy, it made me feel even more ominous.

I wiped down my mouth, then opened my smartphone again.

I had to start quickly.

———————=

· Invitation Ritual

1. Dab water with a finger on a smooth floor to draw the hexagram of the enclosed design.

2. Place the ‘Good Friend’ right in the center of the hexagram.

3. Place the coin on the belly of the ‘Good Friend.’ At this time, no water must remain on your finger.

4. With a spoonful of salt in your mouth, burn the object related to the friend with fire.

5. When the ‘Good Friend’ starts speaking, swallow the salt and return a friendly greeting!

If the coin vanished, it is a success! You have met a dependable friend. Always hang out together and cherish them!

※ If the salt is not swallowed, or if a bizarre taste

occurs, or if it turns to ash, or if blood flows

Flee.

———————=

“Phew.”

I first drew a hexagram identical to the image on the marble floor of the locker room.

It was a task that was slightly complex but had nothing difficult.

‘…It is strangely brilliant.’

However, the completed hexagram was excessively smooth, and the surface glistened without any splatters.

After completely wiping off the moisture on my finger on my clothes, I picked up the ‘Good Friend’ key ring with trembling hands and placed it in the center slot of the hexagram.

‘Of all things, is it a rabbit doll?’

I felt somehow uncomfortable, but it was slightly better when I recalled that when I bought it at the pop-up store, I definitely bought it thinking it was cute.

And the coin….

‘This.’

I placed the item I possessed, the Silver Coin Snake, on top of it.

‘This is also definitely a coin… right.’

I had thought that rather than obtaining it in this ghost story, an item from the Alien Shop in reality would be safer.

Considering the price range, it seemed like an item of quite high value, so I was in the middle of a mental victory, thinking it might even produce a good effect.

And after putting salt in my mouth, the last step.

‘An object related to the friend.’

This also absolutely had to be prepared with an object that did not belong to this ghost story.

That was precisely… me.

“…….”

I untied my necktie.

‘If it’s my item, it definitely doesn’t belong here.’

A friend related to a necktie? Whoever it was, it would be better than something like a kitchen knife.

I turned on the torch.

And I brought it to the end of my necktie.

Whoosh.

Like a lie, the fiercely caught fire flickered, casting a shadow on the stuffed doll atop the hexagram.

The shadow shook.

Sway.

Sway.

Suddenly, the surroundings were dark.

All that was visible was the light of the fire consuming my necktie, the hexagram reflecting that light, and the stuffed doll in its center.

Sway.

Sway.

My hazy mind did not melt down.

Instead, the salt melted saltily in my mouth, making my tongue numb.

In the midst of that.

Sway.

Sway.

The mouth of the ‘Good Friend’ hugging the coin opened.

-Behold!

-I am the owner of a million masks, the lord of chaos, the pinnacle of madness, the dream of pleasure and play, the instigator of war, the parent of science, the low four-legged beast,

…!!

It was too loud.

It felt like my head was being pounded.

I wanted to cover my ears, but I had no hands. I was holding the necktie and the torch!

What is this?

-The desire of the crawling ones, the lord of stars, the abyss of fantasy, the mouth of wisdom, the roar of impulse, the dark side of the moon…

The stuffed doll in the center of the hexagram was convulsing.

In the center, the round silver thing was burning.

‘Silver Coin Snake.’

Did I use the coin wrong?

-I am…

My head ached too much, too much….

-Friend.

-Friend is hurting?

I raised my head.

-No.

A gentle and soft way of speaking flowed through the ‘Good Friend.’

-You must not hurt….

“…….”

The swaying subsided.

The necktie finished burning, and the fire went out.

The coin that had been placed on the convulsing rabbit doll had vanished at some point.

As did the moisture that drew the hexagram.

“…….”

Silence.

I looked at the ‘Good Friend’ lying without a movement, and swallowed the salt.

But no sound was heard.

‘Don’t tell me.’

“Failure…….”

-Roe Deer?

“…!!”

A cheerful and pleasant voice echoed.

But….

-Roe Deer?

It was a familiar voice.

I opened my mouth without realizing.

“…MC?”

-Ah, it is indeed Roe Deer!

Wednesday Quiz Show.

The voice of the TV-headed MC who hosted the live broadcast in that ghost story was coming out of the doll.

-Glad to meet you, my friend!