Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 26

Chapter 26

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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After I finally escaped from the crazy theme park.

-Roe Deer!

-Crazy, Roe Deer came out!!

I received a passionate welcome from my teammates whom I encountered at the elevator.

As it turned out, my teammates had been in a panic trying to figure out what on earth had happened, even going so far as trying to contact civilian survivors.

“We tried to squeeze out at least some of their experience. In any case, it is a relief that you came out safely.”

The Group D assistant manager spoke with a much brighter face.

“What on earth happened, why are you late?”

Hmm.

Prior to answering, I deliberately raised my wrist outward and massaged the back of my neck.

So that the mark left after the membership burned could be well seen.

: Socius :

“…….”

“…….”

“Roe Deer?”

“Ah, sorry. For a moment… I was so tired.”

“Ah, ah.”

Saying that it was completely understandable since I had gone through such a dog’s ordeal, the assistant manager and the supervisor only nodded.

At that moment, I knew.

‘They can’t see it.’

There was no reaction.

This tattoo was invisible to their eyes.

It wasn’t a very good sign.

I agonized very briefly, then opened my mouth.

“The reason I was late… actually, the exit gate’s power went out right in front of me. Because it wouldn’t get fixed even after waiting, I found another exit and came out.”

“Huh?!”

I deliberately omitted the description of the bracelet changing to a membership.

In this anomalous ghost story company, telling them that something unusual was clinging to my body wasn’t a very wise decision.

‘Let’s also omit that I have a chattering stuffed doll now.’

Of course, since I explained everything else without omission, there would be no problem registering the exploration records and creating the manual.

“…Wait a minute. So… you went to the Yellow sector, but the gate there was also turned off, so you turned it on yourself and came out? By tearing open the distribution board?”

“Yes.”

“What on earth are you….”

“Ayy, I’m just a normal Roe Deer.”

“Hmm… that is true.”

“…??”

In any case, the atmosphere grew quite warm.

“The points will be credited directly tomorrow. Don’t be surprised, they say the amount might reach close to ten thousand points this time.”

“Jackpot, isn’t it?!”

Actually, the points allocated would have decreased because I survived.

The two seniors, who looked like they hadn’t even washed yet because they had been running around busily worrying about my life and death, grinned at me.

Honestly, I was slightly grateful.

It was even slightly touching. It was a warmth that was excessive for a company.

But one person wasn’t visible.

“Come to think of it, where is the group leader?”

The assistant manager avoided my gaze.

“…He was summoned by the team leader.”

Uh-oh.

“It’s fine. It’ll end with hearing a few words. No, I mean honestly, didn’t that Group A mantis mask guy commit suicide?”

Still, he seemed to have fallen completely out of favor with Group A’s leader.

I recalled the mallard duck mask staring dead-eyed at the Lizard.

Even the supervisor whispered.

“Assistant Manager, is that true?”

“What.”

“That our group leader has the performance to easily go to the elite teams, but because of his damn personality, he slips up every time and remains in Group D….”

“Uh-huh. It’s probably true.”

The assistant manager crossed her arms.

“But he’s a man who has lived like that every day, so just let him be.”

“…….”

“I also feel like God is fair, in a way. Seeing that the group leader has that face and that personality….”

“Shh. He is a good boss, you know.”

A lizard face and a lizard personality?

Well, that he was a good boss, I could now understand and agree with to some extent.

We had just witnessed the worst boss right in front of our eyes, after all.

“Ah, the Research Team manager.”

The Research Team 1 manager, Gwak Je-gang, who pushed his own teammate into the ghost story without warning on impulse, eventually causing his death.

“That man crossed the line.”

According to what I heard, he is claiming during the questioning, ‘I also tossed the game piece to the researcher by mistake in my panic.’

‘It was a deliberate act full of sincerity to anyone who saw it, though….’

Every Field Exploration Team member present would remember that it didn’t have such a nuance.

The problem was that there was no one in particular who would strongly testify for the dead gambling-addict researcher.

First, look at the state of the superiors with strong voices.

“Group A’s leader is out of his mind with anger at our group leader, and our group leader probably doesn’t even know if he should care about the Research Team manager.”

The outlook was that it would end up being glossed over with a moderate salary reduction.

Since it was a company where an employee’s life value was swayed by performance, it didn’t seem like they would heavily discipline a manager-grade just because a regular employee, who was a waste of salary anyway, died in an accident.

‘Was this how Researcher Gwak Je-gang kept appearing in the <Records of the Dark Exploration>….’

If he caught a wrong foot just once, it was obvious he would be ruined, but he seemed to avoid it well like a slick snake because of his quick wits.

The Group D superiors clicked their tongues, saying that several eerie rumors related to Gwak Je-gang seemed to be true.

“I hate having to keep working with that human, but since he threw a fit this time, he’ll be quiet until the next quarter.”

“Right? Otherwise, he would have been fired already.”

They truly had the safety insensitivity fitting for working while risking their lives in a ghost story company.

‘I also agree to some extent… but actually, I felt like Gwak Je-gang tried to kill all of us, not just his researcher.’

The researcher was just a variable for causing disruption for that purpose.

But because everyone escaped safely, that part grew faint, which was subtle.

‘I should keep keeping an eye on him in the future.’

I planned to check the wiki page of the <Records of the Dark Exploration> where Gwak Je-gang appeared overall once again.

“Phew, the day was long.”

“Seriously.”

The conversation entered a lull.

Saying that they didn’t know when Group Leader Lee Ja-heon would return, permission to go home for now was also granted.

The assistant manager grinned and spoke.

“There is nothing else to do. I haven’t registered you as missing yet. Because I felt like you would be found. …I did well.”

“Right! We told ourselves that you would definitely come out, Roe Deer!”

“Hurry back and rest.”

“……Thank you.”

“Ayy, for what.”

I parted with my superiors while hearing that kind of blessing to ‘just look forward to the points coming in tomorrow.’

I returned to the office of Research Team 1, packed my things, and embarked on the path home.

And along that path, I met another familiar face.

“Jang Heo-un.”

“…! Sol-eum!”

The Group Y rookie.

Perhaps because all his group members had died and he was pushed to the back burner in various ways, he was sitting vacantly in the Research Team 1 office.

His shoulder had healed, but he was still wearing his blood-stained clothes as they were.

“You were safe! I am glad….”

“Yes, thank you.”

I sat opposite him for a moment and shared private talk.

Jang Heo-un looked a bit pale, perhaps due to the amount of bleeding, but his gloomy energy actually seemed a bit less.

Thinking that all his group members had died, it was hard to call him lucky, but….

I recalled the words tipped off by my superiors earlier.

-Ah, that Group Y rookie, he handled himself well this time, so it seems there will be some talk about him from above. Since B-grade is high-grade.

-If he just works without issues for about three months, the probability of extracting him as a regular employee is high!

That was all good.

The problem was whether he could survive and endure for three months….

“Umm, have you by any chance never considered resigning? I feel like the situation you are in is too dangerous….”

“Yes.”

A firm answer came back.

Jang Heo-un, the Group Y rookie, still wearing his cow mask, tightly clenched both hands.

“I absolutely need the Wish Ticket. I cannot resign.”

“…….”

It seemed this side also had a story.

“If so, I wish you good luck.”

I hesitated, but eventually added words.

“Three months.”

“Yes?”

“If you endure for just three months, the probability of being redeployed will be high.”

Enduring with a fixed period and enduring indefinitely have completely different weights.

It would be so in terms of motivation as well.

“…!”

Light entered Jang Heo-un’s eyes.

“Yes, yes…. I will endure…!”

After taking a deep breath and looking at the ceiling for a moment, he soon bowed his head deeply.

“I received a lot of big help today. I… next time, in three months, I will definitely dedicate myself to be able to help you.”

“Not at all. I was the one who came out safely thanks to you. Thank you.”

I shook hands.

And containing sympathy and empathy, I spoke without realizing.

“You really worked hard. You must have been so scared.”

“Yes?”

A puzzled look flickered across Jang Heo-un’s face.

Uhh…?

“Ah, it’s fine. Pushing close to death, it has happened several times before too….”

“……That is also true, and in many ways you witnessed many uncomfortable scenes, didn’t you?”

“Ah, right.”

Jang Heo-un wore an embarrassed expression.

“Because I can’t stand blood or organs… I kept fainting or my legs gave out.”

“…I see.”

Wait a minute.

Just now, the scope of a very ‘uncomfortable scene’ narrowed drastically….

‘Don’t tell me.’

“……Heo-un, by any chance, are you okay with supernatural phenomena or ghosts?”

“Ah, ah yes! Those are fine!”

“…….”

“I just think ‘Oh, so it is,’ yes. Unless someone is severely hurt in front of me, I don’t have big feelings.”

“…….”

He wasn’t… a coward?

“Thank you for worrying about me… Ah, right! Sol-eum. Did you talk with that person in the rookie group chat room… Uh. You, you aren’t in the room.”

A rookie group chat room… existed?

* * *

To think he wasn’t a fellow resident of the coward’s shelter.

…To think there was a colleague group chat room excluding only me!

“Ha.”

After returning to the company housing with a perturbed mind, I washed up and came out.

Two shocking truths hit the back of my head.

‘Today was a long day….’

Since I received the link to the rookie group chat room from the traitor… no, from Jang Heo-un, I should connect, but I planned to do that a bit later.

Because there was something I had to investigate as a priority.

“I should confirm the tattoo on my wrist first.”

Several candidate groups crossed my mind, but I happened to have an opponent to ask lightly.

‘Good Friend.’

Sitting on the bed, I pulled out the stuffed doll key ring that was in my suit’s front pocket.

And I called.

“Brown?”

But there was no answer.

‘Is it as expected?’

They said when returning to reality from the ghost story, it looks like an ordinary doll.

———————=

Good Friend will hang out with you as a shy doll in your daily life.

Treat them properly.

Because they remember everything.

———————=

That meant, it wasn’t that he was keeping his mouth shut tactfully after seeing me converse at the company, but that he was truly in a state of being unable to speak.

But even if it wasn’t a ghost story, there was a way to converse with the ‘Good Friend.’

‘…Making reality like a ghost story.’

I recalled a method written in the <Records of the Dark Exploration>.

———————=

Conversing with ‘Good Friend’

#1 Use darkness, a lighter, and a shadow.

———————=

Honestly, it was slightly chilling, but let’s try.

I ducked my head below the bed.

And I leaned the ‘Good Friend’ to sit inside the back right bed leg.

‘Next is… light.’

Since it had been long since I quit smoking, I had no lighter, and substituted it with my smartphone flashlight.

Placing it on the floor so that the narrow light illuminated the bed leg, I turned off the room lights.

Click.

And in the middle of the dark, I sat on the bed.

‘…It is a bit scary.’

My back is chilly, so let’s cover myself with a blanket.

There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Because I am alone.

‘…Though it seems I won’t be alone soon.’

When I raised my head, the flashlight light shot out from below the bed, casting a giant shadow of the stuffed doll on the wall.

“…….”

Subsequently, the shadow of the stuffed doll leaning on the bed leg began to shake along with the light.

As if shaking its body and waking up.

If I watched it while holding my breath, soon a sound would be heard.

A voice that sounded faint somehow.

-Friend.

“…Brown.”

The MC woke up.

-Ah, you safely came out of that bizarre theme park! Congratulations.

“Thank you.”

Brown seemed to recall, as if rewinding a tape, the events that had occurred to me after coming out of the ghost story, at least roughly.

‘So this is what it meant that they remember everything.’

-Yes, my friend went home from work. Have you come home to rest now? Oh, it is quite a cozy place!

“Thank you.”

Though it wasn’t my house but company housing.

-Hmm, come to think of it, you seem to speak too formally to me, Roe Deer! A friend doesn’t need to do that, you know.

“…I feel like Brown is also speaking quite formally, though.”

-Haha, I cannot help it. It is what they call an occupational disease, after all!

I swallowed the words, ‘I feel like I also can’t help it because of the occupational disease of being a rookie in a crazy ghost story company.’

Because the friendlier we became, the safer and more powerful this stuffed doll would be.

“…Right. Then I will speak comfortably from now on. Since we’re friends.”

-Oh, great!

The shadow of the doll shook as if cheerfully nodding its head.

Good… now the main point.

“I happen to have a question to ask my friend.”

-Oh! If so, how about we take turns asking questions to each other? However, you must absolutely answer.

-It is like a game. It should be fun….

Stop acting like a ghost story!

“Right. It should be fun.”

But I answered readily by force.

It felt like working overtime…. Let’s cheer up.

“What I wanted to ask is this.”

At once, I raised my left hand and lowered it below the bed.

So that the black text like a tattoo on the inside of my wrist was well visible in front of the stuffed doll’s nose.

“The membership bracelet burned, and this mark remained.”

A moment of silence.

And….

-This is… Latin. Ho-oh.

A strange interest and immersion seeped into his tone.

The voice lowered.

-Socius.

-Used in the sense of companion, member, or kin. The versatility of Latin!

“I know that much.”

Because I searched the dictionary on the internet first on the way back, after all.

That the ‘membership’ bracelet burned and left a text meaning member seemed to have quite a correlation, but the more important thing was this.

“But other people don’t seem to be able to see it. What do you think the reason is?”

-Oh dear, everyone must have bad eyes! It is very well visible to me.

It meant this was visible to creatures inside the ghost story.

“I’m glad it’s well visible.”

I changed the question.

“Then, what kind of role does this text play?”

-It is a mark that gives you qualification.

Without hesitation, the answer flowed in a cheerful tone.

-Aren’t there times when VIP guests come as audience members in a talk show? They tend to have a wonderful mark that differentiates them from other audience members. For instance, a name tag or a badge!

-That ‘superior mark’ is granted with special seating, rehearsal viewing, and backstage access authority!

Reflexively, I raised my arm to check the text.

“…So this is like a ‘special qualification’?”

-Well, it means so to the theme park mascot.

Brown’s voice grew dry.

-That emotionally excessive mascot seems to act too friendly toward you, Roe Deer. Well, if you visit next time, let’s use it to grab a welcome drink!

I want to never visit forever.

But to show cooperativeness, I nodded as if agreeing.

-Great, great!

‘Social life is dirty hard….’

In any case, that it gave ‘qualification,’ though abstract, wasn’t a very bad nuance.

‘In the future, when entering a ghost story, I should confirm if there is a place where it can be used.’

The shadow of the stuffed doll’s head shook a few times as if it was excited, then it whispered in a small voice.

-Do you know this?

What.

-You just asked questions twice, Roe Deer.

-It is a rule violation.

Goosebumps broke out on my back.

-Haha, it is fine. Isn’t breaking the rules occasionally the charm in a close relationship!

Phew.

“…Right, thank you.”

-Don’t mention it!

-In any case, now it is my turn to ask a question.

Swallowing my saliva, I watched the giant shadow of the doll cast on the wall.

“What are you curious about?”

Brown whispered.

-Who is the one living in the room next to yours?

It was a question that was completely unexpected.

And the one in the room next to this housing right now was naturally….

“…A colleague from work.”

Baek Sa-heon.

-Is it a close relationship?

Not at all.

“Just a colleague from work.”

-Ah, I see. Yes…. Great.

Brown’s voice became cheerful again.

-Friend. It would be better not to care about the ‘colleague from work’ living next door from now on!

“Why?”

-Because he will die soon!