Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 33

Chapter 33

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Let’s organize.

While chasing the missing person, I encountered a strange and terrible phenomenon and was sucked into somewhere.

The conclusion was simple.

I had gone missing just like the missing person.

Swallowed by a ghost story.

“P-police officer…?”

And probably these kids too.

About five or six kids wearing middle school uniforms were looking at me with expressions full of expectation and sorrow.

Seeing those faces, the overwhelming feeling actually cleared away and my senses returned.

‘First.’

I have to grasp the situation first…!

“I’m not a police officer.”

I showed the <Daydream Co.> logo attached to the front of the security uniform I was wearing.

“I’m an employee of a private security company.”

“Ah……”

It seemed they had mistaken the security uniform for a police uniform.

Resignation and fear began to fill the children’s faces. I quickly added words.

“Still, I can make reports or security measures. So calmly, could you explain to me what this situation is?”

“Ugh, yes…!”

The short-haired student who spoke first swallowed hard, then began to speak in a trembling voice.

“The thing is. We, we… came on a school trip.”

First-year students from a certain middle school in Seoul had come to Gyeongju for a school trip.

The teachers had divided the kids into groups to make them easier to manage, and these kids, who became Group 3, seemed to be particularly cheerful and curious.

“Th-there was a mountain behind our accommodation. But, looking at it, there was something like a pavilion… so we said let’s go do a test of courage.”

They had decided to secretly visit that ‘pavilion’ on their own in the dead of night.

‘Whew….’

Normally, they would have gotten caught by their teachers and ended up being scolded, or they would have looked around and returned giggling among themselves.

However….

“There was a drawing in that pavilion.”

This was the universe of ghost stories.

“I-it was a drawing with a strange-looking, house-like thing drawn in it……”

The student swallowed hard.

“Someone was staring at us from that house.”

“…….”

“So, like, while telling each other to go closer….”

“You touched it.”

“…….”

The speaking student nodded, then began to sob and cry.

“S-suddenly from the drawing, a sound like ‘Good job, good job’ came out, giggling and laughing… and then something strange came out,”

And by the time they came to their senses, they were in this dreary abandoned house.

“Strange sounds come from outside the window, and even when the sun rises, we can’t see because of the fog… w-we can’t get out……”

A boy with a somewhat mischievous impression in the back was also sniffling. Everyone seemed to be on the verge of panic.

‘Sigh….’

I asked in a deliberately calm manner.

“By any chance, did that drawing look like a hanging scroll?”

“Sniff, hanging scroll?”

“Something shaped like a roll like this.”

“Ah… uh, not that… that, traditional painting? Traditional painting… you know, uh, drawn with a brush like this….”

“…An ink wash painting?”

“Yes!!”

The middle schooler nodded vigorously.

If so… is that perhaps the common point of being dragged into this ghost story.

A hanging scroll rod was usually an antique object.

‘The one inside the coordinator’s hanging scroll would also highly likely be a traditional ink wash painting.’

Since the bizarre dark red liquid that went wild in the toilet (ugh) also seemed like calligraphy ink.

To sum up….

A ghost story where a bizarre ink wash painting swallows the human who contacts it and sends them to a terrifying place.

‘…There seem to be about five or six of them.’

The category was narrowed down quite a bit. Though the problem was that not a single Dark anomaly was easy to deal with.

‘This kind of thing is truly an orthodox ghost story….’

A superstitious horror that chokes the breath out of a person.

A scary story of that kind, with a somewhat shamanistic scent.

“…….”

I was in real trouble. I was weak to ghosts in the first place….

‘It looks much more serious than the convenience store ghost time, after all….’

In a state of clutching at straws, I wanted to count the number of people.

Because usually, it was less scary if there were at least many people!

Is there anyone else?

Come to think of it, where did that security leader go? He likely got caught up together with me, but not even a hair of him is seen.

If only that guard were here, he would be a source of reliance, but this… I cannot depend on kids either.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Yet without showing it, I asked.

“You must have been very surprised. How long have you been here?”

“A-about a day…? I don’t know……”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“We had snacks or something… so we ate that.”

“I see.”

‘These kids must also be at their limit.’

Kids who had just graduated from elementary school were locked up among themselves in a place like this?

It was just that because they were in an awakened state due to fear, they didn’t feel the physical exhaustion, but they were highly prone to collapsing from exhaustion just like this.

“I-it’s so scary, and our phones don’t work, so….”

“Yeah. For now, I will look for a way out, so you don’t touch anything else even now….”

Wait.

“Then are you the only ones here? Is there no other adult?”

“An adult! There is, but that is…!”

It was then.

…From far away, the sound of shouting was heard.

Aaargh!

“…….”

“He is just screaming over there by himself… that mister is scary.”

“……Right.”

I am scared too….

‘But I cannot drag you along with me….’

In times like this, having a warm stuffed doll (alive) that gives comfort might indeed be advantageous.

‘Brown.’

I called the Good Friend in my pocket.

Come to think of it, this guy seems to have been a bit quiet.

-Mr. Roe Deer.

A slightly downcast voice came out.

-I am sorry. You went all the way to an unhygienic and dirty space just to give me a gift….

It seemed he was feeling quite a bit of guilt. I laughed hollowly.

‘It’s okay. We just have to get out.’

Actually, it is not okay.

But getting angry here wouldn’t allow me to drop out midway either…. It would only build up resentment with a moving killer stuffed doll.

-You are truly bold! That is an excellent talent as an entertainer as well!

No. I’m a coward.

So I request your cooperation very tightly.

‘Will you help me get out?’

-What do you need? Just say the word! This Brown will prepare it….

Mmh, at this rate, even if I cannot pull fifty million, there would be no problem with favorability.

After patting Brown, who promised full cooperation, over my pocket, I moved my steps toward the inner part of the abandoned house.

…Toward the place where the shouting was heard.

“I’ll go check it out and come back, so would you wait for a moment?”

“Y-yes…!”

Of course, I was in a state of having loaded a five hundred won coin so I could use the telekinetic hand at any time.

And a flashlight too.

‘It’s fortunate that it is attached to the uniform.’

I went further forward, relying on the slender light.

Aargh…! No, n-…!

…Save me, saaaaave me!

As I got closer, the voice became distinguishable, and word groupings and sentences were heard.

The sound of screaming from beyond the wall of the dark abandoned house was vivid. Sigh….

‘L-let’s bear it.’

My spine turned cold because I wanted to run away.

The moment I forced myself to bear it and turned the corner.

“This shit-like world! Shit-like company…!!”

I saw a familiar face.

“…The manual review coordinator?”

The office worker in his forties, who was struggling in front of a wooden plank covered in patches of talismans, widened his eyes upon seeing me.

It was the missing Manager Lee Byung-jin.

“Th-the Security Team…??”

Ah, right.

I am wearing the Security Team uniform.

“M-my goodness! Are you a Security Team employee?!”

Brightening up, the opponent was crawling toward me while trembling.

“You’ve come to find me!!”

Actually, I got captured and brought here too.

‘But why is he so low-profile?’

Ah, is it because he mistook me for a Security Team member.

It was almost the first time since falling here that this company’s employees showed such a flatly prostrate attitude.

I lightly looked down at the borrowed security uniform.

‘…Office employees have a tendency to look down on the Field Exploration Team….’

To be precise, the low-seniority regular employees of the Field Exploration Team. Since they didn’t know when and where they would die, they treated them casually and didn’t try to treat them well.

I recalled the administrative staff whose attitude subtly shifted upon finding out that I had almost joined the elite team.

And Manager Lee Byung-jin in front of me, sweating cold sweat, rolling his eyes, and smiling with all his might.

Mmh.

Let’s make a bit of use of this.

I put my hands behind my back and spoke like a Security Team employee.

“A missing person report was filed within the company, so I was searching.”

“I-I see. Haha! Ha, hahaha…! Indeed!! The company did not abandon me…!!”

Actually, it did abandon you.

“Um, then, uh, you are going to smash this Dark entity, right? Yes?? Since you are the Security Team….”

I spoke in a deliberately indifferent tone.

“The Security Team is not a job family that smashes the Dark.”

“……!”

“It is a team that suppresses riots.”

“Th-that is true. Yes, haha… because I, uh, have no experience in this kind of field exploration, yes.”

Okay. I set the atmosphere roughly.

“Explain the situation.”

“Pardon??”

“Please describe your experiences since your disappearance in chronological order.”

Because I have to cross-reference and contrast it with what the kids told me to grasp what on earth this ghost story is!

“Ah, yes, yes!”

The opponent hurriedly stood up and began to speak rapidly.

“We-well, I, I discovered a very precious-looking hanging scroll rod at a souvenir shop near Jirisan over there….”

It was almost identical to what I had heard in the office.

After receiving a tip from the shop owner that it ‘grants wishes’ and purchasing the suspicious hanging scroll rod, his monetary luck improved noticeably.

“He told me to keep it close to water and not touch the hanging scroll rod… and I really won the lottery!! Second place!!”

However….

“Strange whispers began to be heard….”

Manager Lee Byung-jin’s eyes trembled, and he began to tear at both hands while spitting saliva.

“U-uh… since it granted the wish, returning it is naturally the duty of a scholar, uh, such whispers, every night, the sound of water every night, and the crying sound, the sound of a beast crying coming from afar!!”

Hieeeek.

“No more, I simply couldn’t bear it anymore!! So….”

“…So,”

I recalled.

The hanging scroll rod I saw in the blood-drenched toilet, whose center had been torn to shreds.

“Were you trying to tear it up?”

“……Yes.”

So, in broad daylight, in a place other than his own house, where there were no eyewitnesses but he could immediately flee into a crowd after tearing it. For instance….

‘An unused toilet in the company.’

He had gone to such a place and torn the hanging scroll rod.

“I tried to, I tried to do that, but….”

“You were dragged here, I see.”

“……Huff! Yes….”

Manager Lee Byung-jin panted roughly.

I stroked the back of my neck.

‘…What should I say.’

He did everything a person who dies in a ghost story typically does…….

In the midst of that, the fact that he went all the way to the basement toilet of <Daydream Co.> to find a place without eyewitnesses was almost worthy of applause.

‘Honestly, at this point, even if he dies, he wouldn’t have any right to complain.’

Holding back a sigh, I raised my head.

In front of where Manager Lee Byung-jin was rolling around, a wall covered in talismans was visible.

There were particularly many torn talismans compared to other places.

‘Why was he making such a fuss in front of this?’

I shone the flashlight on the wall.

And I realized the reason.

“…Is it a door?”

Between the gaps where the talismans were torn off, a handle was visible.

And judging from the lock engaged on the handle….

‘A door leading outside?’

“I-it comes to this place!”

“Pardon?”

“The ghost! It comes here every day!”

Manager Lee Byung-jin crawled over with bloodshot eyes, clung to my pant leg, and began to mutter.

“I-it comes to eat me. It comes to eat me…. Th-the talismans! They are falling off every day!”

“That is….”

“T-today it will come again…”

Knock, knock.

“…….”

“…….”

Knock, knock, knock.

From the door,

a sound was heard.

Knock, knock, knock, knock.

“It came again…”

I covered Manager Lee Byung-jin’s mouth.

Excuse me.

“…….”

It’s so cold outside, please open the door.

“…….”

Mister, don’t you remember me? It’s seven-year-old Jung Na-eun, who lived next door in Somang Apartment…

The sound of a child sniffing and sobbing came from beyond the door.

Please help me. It’s so cold and hard… I don’t know where this is, please open the door…….

A strange sorrowfulness that made one naturally feel sympathy, even forgetting fear, was conveyed….

As if possessed, a trembling voice next to me spoke.

“N-Na-eun.”

Mister.

A talisman on the door burned away.

A hint of laughter mixed into the sobbing sound.

You answered again?

“…!”

“N-no!! Ah!! No! I didn’t answer!! Go away! Go away!!”

Composed, the manager went wild.

But.

I don’t want to?

IdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwanttoIdontwantto

“Hieeeek!”

Thud.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud

The door began to shake as if it would break.

The burned-out talismans fell.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud

Talismans fell in showers.

Thudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthud

I barely managed to move my arm.

Thud.

I tossed a coin into the air and summoned the hand.

Thud.

And out of the countless talismans that fell on the floor, I somehow grabbed the ones in intact shape….

Thud.

I layered those talismans over the doorknob.

Thud.

The talismans fell in showers again.

“Huff.”

However…….

.

The sound at the door stopped.

Of the talismans I layered over the doorknob, only a single one remained.

“…….”

“…….”

What a pity.

Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck.

Sob, sob, sob, sob….

Tramp, tramp, the sound of walking slowly faded beyond the door…….

“Huff, huff……”

Manager Lee Byung-jin collapsed on the floor.

I clenched and unclenched my sweat-drenched fists.

‘This is insane.’

I almost fainted when the door vibrated.

I hid my trembling hands behind my back.

A ghost story that traps its prey.

Shamanistic atmosphere, talismans, eating, temptation, calling voice, horror…….

‘…….’

I figured it out.

———————=

Records of the Dark Exploration / Ghost Story

[Lord of the Mountain]

: The ghost story appearing in the <Records of the Dark Exploration>, Daydream Co.’s identification code is Qterw-C-51.

The dreary dark of an ink wash painting drawn with the motif of a Changwi.

A total of 17 explorations have been recorded.

———————=

This is a Jangsan Tiger-type ghost story.