Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 44

Chapter 44

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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A dark, bronze-colored grand mansion.

I was walking silently, following behind Supervisor Park Min-sung.

The supervisor, who had achieved the crazy feat of ‘disguising as a guide machine to deceive the machine and rescue a pitiful rookie employee,’ evaluated himself as such.

“The AI didn’t seem to be a very excellent machine. About the level of a robot vacuum cleaner? So I thought I could deceive its appearance for a short moment!”

The intelligence of that machine didn’t seem quite that bad, but at any rate, I was just so tearfully grateful and thankful that he had saved me at the right timing.

“Um, but how did you turn into a guide machine….”

“Ah! My dedicated equipment.”

Supervisor Park smirked and showed me the cloth hung around his neck.

Ah!

I recalled the introduction words about his own dedicated equipment that I had heard from Supervisor Park before.

-Mine is a disguise item, but it can’t transform into a human and its duration is short too. I just use it to try my luck in a pinch.

Since I had entered only ghost stories where such a thing didn’t work or was meaningless, I had only heard about it in words, but I finally saw the real thing.

‘It’s actually decent in limited situations??’

I almost wanted to pay money to borrow it as a parent equipment for manufacturing new dedicated equipment.

Of course, that wasn’t what was urgent right now, though!

“Good. Whew. Since we found Roe Deer too, let’s get out of this crazy place quickly now.”

“Do you mean you found a way to get out?”

“…….”

Supervisor Park Min-sung didn’t answer and just smirked.

‘It seems he indeed has something up his sleeve.’

I decided to quickly follow the supervisor for now.

“This way.”

Going back up the stairs from the 1st floor below ground.

Before long, the surroundings turned yellowish, and a massive hallway tinged with brass light instead of bronze was revealed.

‘We are above ground.’

One could say that alone brought relief, but….

A pandemonium was unfolding on the 1st floor.

“Aaaaagh!”

“Mmh!!! Mmmff!”

“Eeeaaar…… Ear! My ear!”

Screams echoed in all directions.

‘2 hours have passed, indeed.’

It seemed the employees who had been hiding around were also gradually getting caught by the guide robots, having another body part plucked out….

Like me earlier.

“…….”

The supervisor moved his feet without even looking back at the corners where sounds were heard.

“Roe Deer, let’s not turn our heads.”

“…….”

So much force was applied to his hands that veins bulged.

“It must be hard, but right now we are busy enough just taking care of our group’s lives. If you are going to keep gathering points here… you must also learn how to give up.”

“…….”

Suddenly, the moment in the talk show where the supervisor resigned himself to survival came to mind.

-…I have an hospitalized family member, so I hope someone would take a look at them once this filming is finished! If possible, that is.

Somehow, I feel like I understand in what manner this good-natured-looking supervisor is holding out here….

At any rate, I did not react negatively.

Soon, the supervisor seemed to have arrived safely at the desired place while scanning the surroundings.

And that place was….

“Here it is.”

“…….”

A window.

Namely, the tightly closed opaque glass window that Go Yeong-eun had exerted all her efforts to open earlier.

‘Could he be suggesting we go out through here?’

However, instead of straining to tear the window open, the supervisor raised a finger and tapped cautiously.

Tap- tap tap tap

Then the window creaked open.

“…?!”

No, it didn’t just open.

This form of being pushed open all the way to the floor was….

‘…A terrace door!’

This wasn’t a window!

‘Could that be why even the exploration records said?’

———————=

The 19th record is a testimony left by a visitor who attempted to pass outside through the window, but we will omit it arbitrarily due to credibility issues.

Because there are no windows in this exhibition.

———————=

To think that it was really because there were no windows, when I thought it was just a typical manual ghost-story-style description.

“Let’s enter.”

“Yes.”

But because there was no time to be flustered, I went out through the open terrace door right away. A small hexagonal terrace space with a long sofa and table was revealed.

However, chimney-like, the landscape outside the terrace was not visible. Only a black fog was thick….

As if vision was not permitted to us.

Thud.

The moment Supervisor Park closed the terrace door while guarding the surroundings, the person sitting on the sofa stood up and tapped my shoulder.

“I knew you would be safe.”

“Assistant Manager.”

It was Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je.

And the vertical pupils of the Lizard Leader casually met my eyes.

“Our Group Leader suggested widening the search scope saying you weren’t nearby, and you really popped out right from the lower floor.”

“Thank you.”

“Did you purposely go down to that place with the strange atmosphere to find an exit? How like you.”

I looked at Supervisor Park anew.

Because it was felt anew that going down to the 1st floor below ground where the atmosphere suddenly changed under a situation with no information about the floor numbers was a tremendous resolution.

‘Thank you, truly….’

Thanks to you, I preserved my eyeballs.

No, and moreover….

“By what method on earth did you open this place? There was someone who continually tried to open the window but failed….”

“? We opened it with hands.”

“…….”

I see.

‘They say if the body is weak, the head suffers….’

Looking at it now, the terrace door handle also seemed to be dangling.

If that is discovered by the guide, wouldn’t we suffer a truly terrible fate.

However, perhaps because the Group D superiors were familiar with such situations where the Lizard Leader created his own path, they simply began the meeting calmly.

“Now then, since all our group members are gathered… shall we try escaping now, Group Leader?”

“Yes.”

“…Is there a promising escape method?”

“Yes.”

“……I would like to ask what kind of method it is.”

Manager Lizard replied briefly.

“We will tie a rope to the terrace railing and explore the outer wall surface of this exhibition space.”

“…….”

Pardon?

“If viewed from the outside, there should be a floor where the main gate is located. We can just go out through there.”

That is quite….

“I see.”

If only this damn grand mansion didn’t exist down to seven thousand floors below ground, I might have been tempted.

And if only there wasn’t an item in my briefcase right now that could escape much more easily.

‘We could just go out with this.’

Recalling the candle that should be hardening well, I raised my hand.

“Please wait a moment.”

I think I can convince them if I explain while showing the real thing.

Let’s stall for just a little time until it is completed.

Along with doing some life-saving activities too.

“I was accompanying two peers and we got scattered, but they should still be nearby. If you give me just a moment of time, I will go out and find them and bring them back……”

“…….”

“…….”

Ah.

“Roe Deer.”

Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je spoke calmly.

“The rookies who entered here are exactly three. Including you.”

“…….”

“They said they picked a few kids who had good performance in the past and put them in… but they probably know too. They just filled the headcount.”

“Senior,”

“Be quiet.”

The Assistant Manager, who shut the supervisor’s mouth, continued.

“You saw them at lunch earlier, right? The higher-ups in the conference room. Those birdbrains are hoping that this place is perhaps an A-grade.”

It comes to mind.

-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.

“So they got all excited, asking if that wouldn’t result in a source with the highest survival rate among all past A-grade Darks. Since A-grade dreamscape concentrate is always out of stock.”

“…….”

“Rookies? In the first place, they put them in assuming expense treatment even if they all die.”

Because extracting an A-grade manual and opening a source of top-grade raw materials whose supply is dry is more profitable.

Although it is true that the more experience the Field Exploration Team gains and the longer they survive, the more their lives are valued, still, consumables are consumables.

Pushed back by more precious resources.

“Remember. The bastards who work in departments far from field exploration are the ones who regard human lives like flies.”

Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je pocketed her cigarette back with a sigh.

“So take good care of your own life.”

“…….”

“We don’t have time, so let’s go down now. If you hold sympathy for no reason, only you will suffer.”

I barely managed to open my mouth.

“It is not that.”

“Good kid, yeah. If they are lucky they will get out too……”

“I mean a peer was holding the escape item!”

“…?!”

Of course, it was a lie.

“We don’t even know what is outside, so there is no need to dangerously hold the rope and climb down.”

But this alone was an absolute fact!

“If only we have that item, we will be able to escape safely from here.”

* * *

I came back down to the 1st floor below ground.

Although roaming this place alone made my legs tremble, perhaps because the goal was very distinct, the fear became slightly dulled.

Finding the peers.

-I’ll give you exactly 20 minutes. If you can’t find them in that time, we are just returning.

My lie that a peer possessed an escape item that the universe would admire and the world would be astonished by worked roughly.

Therefore, the time given was short too, but… it is doable.

‘They probably couldn’t have gone far.’

When a person receives a shock, their motility decreases. They are probably searching for a place nearby to hide their bodies, trying to compose their mental state.

Moreover, I had given a hint before.

Namely, where it is good to hide.

‘The vent.’

At the point when 7 minutes of search had elapsed.

Eventually, I found the peer squashed inside a vent in the outer corridor on the 1st floor below ground.

But it was Baek Sa-heon.

“…….”

“…….”

“Hey.”

Baek Sa-heon avoided my gaze.

“Do you want to get out?”

Baek Sa-heon looked at me with an extremely suspicious expression.

But at the same time, he nodded his head.

“Then tell me the location of Ms. Mountain Sheep.”

Uh, somehow this tone felt like threatening him to squeal on his colleague’s location….

“She went into the left exhibition hall. She probably hid behind a sofa or something!”

“…….”

He squealed the location without even hesitating. Loyal-less bastard.

Anyway, that was how Go Yeong-eun was also successfully found.

By this time, 14 minutes had elapsed.

“M-Mr. Roe Deer…! I’m so glad, truly…!”

Briefly explaining to Go Yeong-eun, whose eyes were swollen red, that I had received help from a superior, I quickly resumed our movement.

And I requested of them.

“I told the group members that because I entrusted the key escape item to the two of you, I had to find you. Please coordinate your words.”

“…!”

I handed Go Yeong-eun the paper where the candle frame was drawn, which had been kept in my briefcase.

Go Yeong-eun put it in her suit front very carefully, and nodded her head.

“So I just have to keep my mouth shut and act quick-wittedly, right?”

Yes!

Baek Sa-heon, who was naturally ignored during this process, looked at me with an expression that had much to say, but did not purposely open his mouth.

He probably felt that escape was drawing close.

And when I opened the terrace door and went out to the terrace with my two peers, exactly 19 minutes had elapsed.

I sorted it out within 20 minutes. Whew.

“I brought them back.”

“Wow.”

“Honestly, because it’s Roe Deer, I knew it would be like this.”

Seeing the Assistant Manager and the supervisor throw words one by one, the two peers began to walk on eggshells. To anyone looking, it wouldn’t have felt like a welcoming vibe.

Even on the terrace, Manager Lizard was already in the process of pulling out the rope.

“Ah, um….”

“I will omit greetings.”

Manager Lee Ja-heon spoke dryly as he twisted the rope to fix it to the pillar using a taut-line hitch method.

“Explain within 200 seconds regarding the item you possess.”

The peers swallowed their saliva side by side.

I immediately intervened.

“May I explain in their stead?”

“Yes.”

Now it was time to explain properly.

If it is according to the keywords I combined, this candle…….

“This item can deceive the guide machines.”

Manager Lee Ja-heon stopped his hands.