Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 40

Chapter 40

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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[Roe Deer. Stay where you are and don’t come out.]

“Yes?”

I stopped walking on my way to work after receiving the call.

It was a call from my direct supervisor just 15 minutes before I was about to arrive at work.

[I will process it as field work, so don’t come to the company. The matter has already been discussed and settled with Manager Lee Ja-heon.]

“Understood. But is there a reason?”

[Well… that’s how it is for all the field workers in this company. It’s a problem with the Dark, the Dark.]

Ah.

Along with the sound of Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je letting out a long sigh, Supervisor Park Min-sung’s wailing could be heard faintly.

It seemed that Group D had already arrived at work.

[Rookies other than you are completely excluded too, so don’t think about anything else and stay home.]

“What kind of Dark is it?”

[Uh. I cannot speak of it unless you are a party entering it.]

“…….”

[No, it’s better not to know.]

Could it be… the type where ‘just knowing becomes a problem’?

Namely, an information-contamination type ghost story.

Spooky rumors from hearing someone else’s nightmare and dreaming it oneself from the next day, to ghosts that chase you until death just by knowing their names.

Stories originating from the delusional worry that ‘I could suffer a terrible thing just by perceiving it’ were a common fear of mankind.

‘And if it’s to the extent of not even letting me come to work, it must be no ordinary matter….’

Still, judging by the tone, it was only to the extent of worrying that a rookie might make a mistake and not like leaving a last will, so it should be fine.

…Unless they were pretending to be calm just to avoid giving me a burden.

‘Either way, I probably cannot go to the company right now.’

I wanted to decline going persistently and becoming a nuisance when they said it was unnecessary. Isn’t it a perfect way to die?

I said I understood and hung up the phone.

‘Should I clean up the Blood Bathtub today and read the <Records of the Dark Exploration> wiki about five times….’

However, a few hours later.

[Kim Sol-eum.]

“Yes.”

[Come to work.]

“…….”

Is this some kind of training for problem dogs…?

Whether I was flustered or not, the Lizard Leader only said what he had to say.

[You just need to report to the Grand Conference Room on the 31st floor by 2 PM.]

He even mentioned a high-floor conference room that I was hearing about for the first time…!

“Wait a moment. You told me not to come to work in the morning… has the situation changed?”

[Yes. One of the executives directly called for you.]

“…….”

Pardon?

[Then I will see you at 2 o’clock.]

Please save me.

* * *

“You came.”

I met the Group D Assistant Manager, who was standing in front of the 31st-floor elevator with her arms crossed, looking anxious.

I urgently lowered my voice and asked Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je.

“Has the situation changed?”

“Somewhat. Sigh… that crazy bastard.”

With those words ending it, I was sent into the Grand Conference Room. My mind went blank.

“He is here. Employee Kim Sol-eum.”

“Ah.”

“Why call him to the conference room? Just send him in.”

Seeing the superiors, whose affiliations were confusing, sitting and chattering about this and that, only to shut their mouths and exchange glances upon seeing me, made the back of my neck stiffen, regardless of any ghost story world or whatever.

‘Why is the signal that company life is going to be fucked the same everywhere?’

And thanks to the superiors who eventually got excited among themselves and resumed their conversation, I also came to know why I was designated and called into this incomprehensible situation….

It was a typical and troublesome reason.

Shortage of personnel.

“No, it is definitely a high-grade Dark, yet a civilian survivor came out? This could be an innovative case of breaking open a new source of high-quality raw materials.”

“Exactly. But despite that, why is the agonizing so long and another conference being held over it, my goodness……. You don’t know how to invest boldly, Department Manager Kang!”

“Who says they won’t invest? What I’m saying is that this isn’t a matter that will be resolved by throwing in a few more rookies….”

“Ah, this person is frustrating. They are saying that headcount is lacking. Right? Our Manager Gwak from the research team.”

Manager Gwak?

Turning my head, Research Team Leader Gwak Je-gang was indeed sitting there with a smirk, occupying a corner seat.

Namely, the mad scientist who had thrown his own researcher into the theme park ghost story.

‘Is his disciplinary period over?’

Just looking at him gave me a headache.

“Isn’t that right, Manager Gwak? Headcount needs to be increased, right?”

“Ah~ indeed. It’s obvious that this is a Dark that can only be resolved by increasing the deployed personnel!”

“…….”

That man is the advisor?

I had a strong suspicion that headcount wasn’t actually lacking, but they just wanted to see the fresh exploration results of an oblivious rookie.

‘Either way, it seems correct that what I will experience today is being deployed into the Dark.’

And if it was to the extent of calling me in so grandly to deploy me… then.

A premonition that it would be a formidable grade made a chill run down my spine.

A high-grade, yet a civilian survivor came out… did they say?

While quickly trying to search my mind for a similar case through the <Records of the Dark Exploration>, I calmly repeated to myself.

‘…Still, I prepared well.’

Because just in case, I brought everything I had today.

As a full item package.

“Since introductions are done, please leave now, everyone.”

“Ah, yes.”

The Assistant Manager bowed her head roughly in greeting and then led me out of the conference room.

Thud.

And the moment the conference room door closed, she opened her mouth.

“How many times do I have to watch birdbrains who have never entered the Dark even once stiffen their necks to give ‘strategic solutions’…. Ah, this is why I cannot quit smoking.”

“Assistant Manager.”

“What does it matter. They won’t even hear because they’re fighting among themselves.”

I am listening, though.

“The bastards who wouldn’t have passed the Field Exploration Team OT or even got accepted, using regional ties and blood ties to the fullest to embed themselves up there… Ah.”

Assistant Manager Eun looked back at the conference room a few times with a face desperate for a cigarette, then eventually let out a small sigh.

“……Anyway, you heard, right? From now on, we will enter a newly registered high-grade Dark.”

As expected.

“Not just us, but over thirty people have already been deployed.”

“…Could Group Leader and Supervisor Park also be.”

“Yes. They all entered first. …It will be dangerous. I won’t lie for the sake of reassuring you.”

“…….”

“Still, don’t worry too much. You brought even us out alive from that crazy quiz show. It will be fine.”

“……Yes.”

I adjusted the briefcase I brought to wear it as a cross bag.

“Is that your preparation material?”

“Yes. Food and this and that.”

“Mmh. The size is decent.”

Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je checked my outer appearance a few times and asked.

“There were no items that would get caught in the security check, right?”

“…Yes.”

I passed the main gate safely.

Somehow I felt the cursed wild ginseng would have been caught, but since everything I had now were items, it must have been fine.

But why was Group D not moving as a team today, leaving only the Assistant Manager?

“May I ask how the other people entered?”

The Assistant Manager gestured with her chin expressionlessly.

“As soon as they read the manual, they all disappeared.”

“…….”

“Because this is that kind of Dark. If you know even a little about that Dark, you get dragged in.”

Whew.

“I was waiting without reading it so I could enter with you, so we read it at the same time.”

“Yes.”

Wow, I’m going crazy.

“It’s fine. They aren’t the type to die easily anywhere.”

Please do not say lines like such death flags!

‘I should pretend I didn’t hear that.’

After taking a deep breath, I accepted the manual that the Assistant Manager handed me.

……Once I read this, I would now enter that high-grade Dark.

‘…Preparing my mind.’

I read it in one breath.

+++

Hello.

You are currently viewing the manual document summarizing the existing visitors of our exhibition.

+++

“……!”

+++

Before you read the following content, we would like to inform you that you have been invited to a very wonderful exhibition.

+++

“…….”

A chill ran down my neck.

‘I am screwed.’

My eyes tightly shut.

Flashed in my mind, an automatically completed wiki page rose up.

———————=

Records of the Dark Exploration / Ghost Story

[Mansion of the Blind]

: A ghost story appearing in the <Records of the Dark Exploration>, with Daydream Co.’s identification code registered as Qterw-B-666.

Hello, guest. Today I write this text to invite you to a wonderful exhibition.

So that the path to visit us is not troublesome, after reading this text, wherever you head, you will arrive at our exhibition.

The visit records of previous visitors are recorded in the corresponding document up to 106 times.

And it is said that in all attempts to record this ghost story, the writing transformed into the shape of a guide letter sent from the exhibition.

It is an honor to invite you like this.

———————=

The pronoun for information-contamination type ghost stories registered in the <Records of the Dark Exploration>.

The representative player of clickbait that prints hundreds of thousands of views once dealt with on video sites!

‘Eye Collector.’

“…….”

With a trembling heart, I lowered my gaze back to the manual.

That expected phrase was indeed written there.

+++

So that the path to visit us is not troublesome, from now on, wherever you head, you will arrive at the exhibition.

+++

And just as it said, it became so.

“Ha.”

The moment I took a step back.

I realized that the material of the flooring my feet stepped on had changed.

From matte office tiles, to marble with an ancient sheen.

Thud.

Slowly, I raised my head.

A huge grand mansion swept in a silence enough to hear the burning sound of candlelight was visible.

The twilight and candle flames illuminated the grand and ancient interior in a reddish golden light.

Numerous display items revealed only their outlines within the shadows…….

“…….”

Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je was also not visible.

However, I did not do the foolish thing of opening my mouth and calling for the Assistant Manager.

Instead, slowly, I moved my feet backward.

And hid in a corner.

‘……Whew.’

Sitting with my body hidden behind a sofa, I spread open the manual again with trembling hands.

+++

We will guide you through the common reviews of nine visitors of this exhibition temporarily collected by Daydream Co.

1. A rare and diverse collection never seen anywhere else can be viewed.

2. Eating and drinking in the exhibition hall is prohibited.

3. It is recommended to observe customary viewing manners.

4. It is extremely difficult to find the exit.

Regarding the corresponding statements, our exhibition strongly requests a correction. The exhibition hall has all emergency doors appropriately marked.

Anyone can stop viewing and exit whenever they wish.

+++

It would be the truth.

The problem is that humans are not included in this ‘anyone.’

A human cannot properly use the emergency doors or exits of this place.

“…Sigh.”

An exhibition that assumed so naturally that the visitors would not be humans.

Modern humans were merely victims swept up in this grand nightmare by pure chance, feeling cosmic-horror-like dread.

It was that kind of unpleasant ghost story.

Honestly, I did not like it. To the point where I didn’t even understand why it was popular on Wetube….

-Friend?

“…!”

-Oh dear, Mr. Roe Deer… are you hiding right now?

To think that having a conversational partner would bring such joy.

I pulled Brown halfway out of my pocket.

-Oh dear, this place is quite decent.

-Why not go out and take a look? If it is this level, it looks like a place that would be fine to introduce to the audience….

Go out?

‘No.’

-Oh dear, can you tell me the reason? Although this place seems like an exhibition run by someone who knows how to make quite polite and comfortable invitations….

It was a remark worthy of the host who fished people into a murder quiz show with postcards.

It gives me a headache….

I pressed the corners of my eyes tightly and stood up from the sofa I was sitting on.

-Ah, it seems you have a mind to view it!

No.

‘I’m moving here.’

I closely scanned the wall, carefully searching for a place where the sound of wind blew.

Before long, in a corner untouched by candlelight, beneath a dark wall hidden by a massive flower vase, I discovered what I was searching for.

‘A vent.’

I quietly went inside it, held my breath without closing the lock.

It was a temporary safe zone that I recalled right away.

———————=

In the fifth visit record, a gentleman testified that they went into a vent and ‘endured’ for more than five days while licking water droplets falling from the humidity.

On the sixth day, the guide found the gentleman.

Our exhibition always has guest rooms fully equipped for long-term visitors, so please keep this in mind.

(※The annotation in the forty-second visit record warning never to stay in the guest room is deeply regrettable. Our exhibition operates guest rooms matching the elegance of the collection, and has always maintained a good reputation.)

———————=

-Why, leaving a perfectly fine sofa to enter such a filthy place!

Ignore him. I must formulate a plan here.

‘How do I get out?’

No, in the first place, thinking that many personnel were needed in this ghost story was frustrating.

Even if large-scale personnel entered, there was nothing advantageous about it at all……. Wait.

Squeezing them in recklessly in this manner was….

‘Because they don’t know anything?’

Was it because it was still the early stage of exploration?

‘If so, wouldn’t the current exploration also be recorded in the early parts of the <Records of the Dark Exploration>?’

“…….”

I pulled out my smartphone, lowered the screen brightness to the minimum, and quickly flipped through the <Records of the Dark Exploration> while lying face down.

And….

‘Found it.’

———————=

The seventeenth visit record, showing the result of a company named Daydream Co. recommending the exhibition to thirty-four employees of the Field Exploration Team.

It is said that seven of them returned home safely.

———————=

This is it.

I was currently here as one of the people in this seventeenth record that thirty-four people had entered.

Probably as the thirty-fifth person.

‘…Seven returned safely, huh.’

It was just at the moment I was about to turn on both the manual and the <Records of the Dark Exploration> to compare them and look at more detailed records.

Screeech.

“…….”

From afar, a sound began to be heard.

The sound of a machine moving sluggishly.

And….

“Aaaagh! Why, why is it chasing…!! Go away, go awayyyy!!!”

Screams and numerous urgent footsteps.

“…….”

Thump thump! Thump! Screeech, thump! Pit-a-pat pit-a-pat, screeech, thump!

The sound vibrating the marble drew closer.

Cold sweat ran down my cheek.

“Save me, no, noooo!!!”

“Let me out, let me out…!!”

Thump thump thump, the sound of people running was heard. The screams and urgent escaping footsteps grew closer and closer.

And they came almost right before my nose.

There seemed to be at least ten-odd people.

From behind them, the heavy mechanical noise pursued them sluggishly and surely, as if tightening around them…….

Screeeeeech.

Drip.

Cold sweat dripped from the tip of my chin.

“…….”

‘At least one person.’

After extreme deliberation, I stuck my upper body out.

And quickly pulled the scruff of one of the escaping people.

“…!”

Dragging and squeezing them into the vent almost as if lifting them into the air, I lowered my head together with them.

‘There is room for exactly about one person.’

And if they were a field exploration employee, the probability of them being a troll would be relatively low.

Gasp.

Fortunately, the convulsing person grasped the situation and fell silent at once.

They seem to have quick wits… wait.

“…!”

“……!!”

‘Baek Sa-heon.’

My company housing roommate.

Baek Sa-heon, wearing a goat mask, was wedged in the vent, swallowing his saliva and looking at me.

I had saved this fellow.