Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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What do they do when a rookie successfully finishes their probationary period?
Usually, they present a gift along with a small celebratory event.
Though I never expected a conglomerate inside a ghost story to do so as well.
[Let’s see… My goodness! There are as many as 22 people who completed the course, everyone! Wow, I’m curious as to what the HR team will think?]
I wasn’t curious at all.
And the new employees sitting next to me were probably the same.
[No, really, it’s an amazing record. If this isn’t a failure in difficulty adjustment, you guys are an elite class. Elites.]
Silence settled over the lecture hall.
The host did not care and shouted cheerfully.
[Then shall we pick the top elite among our elite employees?]
[The top scorer of this Field Exploration Team’s new class! He is one of the people who completed the evaluation and escaped in the shortest time, and recorded the highest score in the comprehensive evaluation.]
The host raised his hand.
[Congratulations, Mr. Kim Sol-eum!]
Me?
[Mr. Kim Sol-eum?]
[If the gift presentation doesn’t happen, this event won’t end~ Please come up and get it!]
Is this for real?
‘Why…….’
Anyway, I stood up from my seat.
I had been trapped in a ghost story where I would die if I didn’t listen to the announcements, so if I sat still after hearing those instructions, I would be an idiot.
[Ah, coming straight up makes me feel very reassured. Since you are quick to grasp the situation, I think you’ll do very well in our department, which is a pity. A pity.]
He must have been a manager from another department. For some reason, he looked even more obnoxious and pathetic.
I went up to the stage and stood in front of the host.
[Now, take your gift!]
What the host held out was a square paper bag.
Inside the silver shopping bag stamped with the logo of <Daydream Co.>, an award plaque that seemed to be an appointment certificate and an object were briefly visible before disappearing.
[Don’t be too disappointed that I didn’t give you any particularly special gift just because you are the top scorer.]
I wasn’t happy at all.
Accepting the shopping bag, I tilted my head to avoid glaring at the host, planning to head down…….
“Take a good look inside.”
Pardon?
“What…….”
[Now, I will call the name of the next new employee!]
Before I knew it, the host was holding the microphone and calling the next person.
As if he had never spoken any private words.
“…….”
Hmm.
Without wasting any more time, I stepped down from the stage.
Afterward, Go Yeong-eun and the other people who were in our car also went up and received their gifts.
Although it didn’t mean much, Baek Sa-heon was called next after me.
“…….”
“…….”
He was still sitting next to me, but we did not exchange a single word.
To be precise, we didn’t even make eye contact. Looking at how he was pressing his left eye, it was clear he had handed over the ‘lost item.’
‘He’ll probably go to the hospital on his own.’
[Next person, Kim Ji-won!]
The later they were called, the more people whose attire, walk, or gaze seemed odd came out to receive their gifts.
‘…Did they stay inside the ghost story for a long time?’
Although regaining consciousness in the lecture hall seemed to have occurred simultaneously at a glance, there was clearly a difference in their escape times inside the ghost story.
Thinking about how long they had been trapped made my spine feel somewhat chilled.
Still, in terms of actually escaping, they might be better off than the other 78 people.
[You all received your gifts well, right, everyone?]
Eventually, the presentation ceremony ended.
There was no reply, but a subtle tension and expectation filled the lecture hall.
The expectation that they might let us go now.
To be honest, I also waited a bit, wondering if it was about to end.
However.
[But… this company does not hire all the people who completed the course, you see.]
“……?!”
[Ah, people who passed by luck always turn up.]
No way.
[However, Daydream Co. is a company that never forgets the great social value of fairness.]
[Such probationary employees receive a large deduction in their absolute evaluation.]
The host had clearly done nothing.
There was no clichéd snapping of fingers, no staring with a gaze. There wasn’t even a performance like turning off the lights in the lecture hall.
However…….
[As I said, we catch all free riders.]
People began to melt.
“……!”
All around, the figures of several people began to melt down as if their silhouettes were being crushed.
There were no screams, no movements.
‘Fuck!’
The person in front of me clapped a hand over their mouth to suppress a scream.
I also hurriedly turned my head.
But my eyes had already seen.
‘They’re gone.’
Half of the people who had been in our car had vanished.
Leaving only me, Go Yeong-eun, Baek Sa-heon, and the new employee Baek Sa-heon had attacked.
“…….”
[The remaining 13 new employees, congratulations! You have become regular employees with excellent grades!]
There was not a single person who clapped out of joy.
In the freezing silence, only one person stammered in panic.
“I will resign, I will resign……. I’ll resign.”
But the host was relaxed.
[Eh? Leaving behind such a good job? Come on, at least listen to the employee benefits before you decide.]
Behind me, Go Yeong-eun shouted as if vomiting.
“Then, if we listen to the employee benefits, is it possible to process the resignation? Without any disadvantages?”
[That is correct. You can all resign without having a single hair on your body harmed~]
The host’s words were smooth and overflowing with confidence.
So I realized.
‘It’s here.’
The whips had all passed.
Now the carrot was coming.
…The very ’employee benefit’ that I knew.
[Now, let me introduce our company’s representative employee benefit!]
The reason why employees continued to work in the Field Exploration Team even after experiencing this crazy situation as soon as they joined.
[Employee Benefit]
Wish Ticket
Something made its appearance on the giant screen of the lecture hall.
A beautiful, streamlined crystal bottle.
Drip.
Inside the bottle, a bizarre liquid shimmering with five colors was forming ripples.
It surged.
All the colors and textures, even the ripples formed by the waves, were so beautiful and strange that they felt oddly out of place.
Silence flowed.
[Shall we take a closer look?]
As the host pressed a button, the screen of the beam projector went up. And the table hidden behind it made its appearance.
On top of the black table, the five-colored bottle we had seen on the screen was actually there.
“……!”
The liquid inside the bottle shook on its own, scattering a light beautiful enough to illuminate the entire lecture hall.
This strange thing that made one doubt if it was a real object existing in reality was…….
[You all joined the company knowing that our company is very famous as a highly successful pharmaceutical company, right? Our technology must be so good that we even made a hair loss treatment.]
[However, in reality, our main specialty drug is different… and this is it.]
The host steadied his trembling hands and put on white gloves.
Then, carefully picking up the crystal bottle resting on the table, he held it out so the employees could see it better.
[The name of the drug is the ‘Wish Ticket.’]
[The efficacy is… literally what it says. If you drink this drug, any wish will come true.]
“……!”
[You don’t believe it? But actually, the seniors and bosses who took this drug and had their wishes granted could fill a truck.]
[First, let me show you a demonstration.]
The host tore open the packaging of the drug that was displayed… and drained it in one gulp!
[Today was my receipt date for the Wish Ticket. Haha!]
And the people in the lecture hall immediately sensed what the host’s ‘wish’ had been.
In the moment he drank the Wish Ticket.
The face of the host, who looked to be in his mid-to-late 40s, rapidly tightened, and a rosy complexion began to circulate.
His body became firm, and his hair regained its luster and volume.
Yes, he had returned.
To his appearance from his childhood, the period when he was most full of energy and growing!
[Yahoo!]
The host, who now had the appearance of a high school student, raised his fist in excitement.
[How is it? Ahem, to put it simply, rejuvenation!]
Even his voice had become young and youthful.
A silence of shock, in a different sense than before, flowed through the lecture hall.
This was… a silence of agitation.
The host pointed at the new employees in the lecture hall.
[Your affiliation, the Field Exploration Team, always receives good performance evaluations. On average, they obtained that Wish Ticket in less than half the service period compared to other teams…….]
[The top 10 people who received their Wish Tickets in the shortest period were all from the Field Exploration Team!]
Gulp.
The sound of someone swallowing saliva was heard.
Of course, it was all a wordplay.
In reality, it was no different from danger pay.
‘Dozens or hundreds of people probably died in the line of duty before those top 10 people.’
In other words, it was close to a bait, a gilded pill.
But…….
‘There were definitely people who took it.’
It wasn’t a scam.
[Then, I will take questions… Oh, employee!]
One of the new employees quietly raised his hand and asked in a rough voice.
“Is it possible to revive a dead person?”
It was a tall, brown-haired man.
[Ah. You usually hear this kind of talk in these stories, right? ‘In principle, it is the single impossible wish’…….]
[…is what you thought I would say!]
The host raised his hand firmly.
[The Wish Ticket unconditionally grants the drinker’s wish.]
“……!”
[Of course, as long as you use the correct method. Please refer to the employee mall for detailed instructions.]
“…….”
The questioner fell silent again. However, the agitation began to spread more fiercely among the new employees.
The host did not miss this moment.
[Then, please check the other benefits displayed on the screen and the guide enclosed in the gift envelope… Shall we decide around this point?]
Whoosh.
With a short sound, the back door of the lecture hall opened wide.
[Those who wish to give up their employment can go out and receive the documents at the desk.]
[But those who want to try working at the company they managed to join after all…….]
The host gestured.
[You can wear the mask inside the gift envelope.]
A mask? Ah.
‘So that was distributed at this point.’
[Isn’t it called ‘custom’ in recent terms? It will perfectly express your individuality, that mask.]
[Well… the current one has no special function. That’s all it is, though.]
I clutched my smartphone.
Although I couldn’t check due to the many eyes, if I could check the page of <Records of the Dark Exploration> reconstructed by the ‘Memorial GripTok,’ it would surely display like this.
———————=
Records of the Dark Exploration / Daydream Co.
/ Departments
Trivia
It is said that employees of the Field Exploration Team wear masks during field work, and these masks are distributed after the new employee orientation.
According to Employee D, the theme of the mask is decided by the year of entry.
For instance, an agent wearing an ant mask and an agent wearing a mantis mask are highly likely to be colleagues who joined in the same year.
———————=
In short, it was like the symbol of Daydream Co.’s Field Exploration Team.
‘To think the day I receive this would come.’
In many ways, it felt bizarre.
Of course, 90% of my mind wanted to run out right now, throw the mask, and shout that I would give up my employment.
Please save me.
‘But… even if I resign, this setting itself is a gutter.’
That ‘Dark strange phenomenon’ was already scattered all over this world.
One could very easily become an extra in a ghost story and experience the rare event of ending their life.
‘Sigh…….’
Therefore, it might actually have a higher survival rate to work as an employee with issued supplies, a monthly salary, and a final reward, while aiming for a department transfer…….
‘Moreover, the most likely way to return to my original world seems to be that ‘Wish Ticket.’’
Anyway, a coward like me was doomed to survive in this setting. It was right to find a way to escape from this world altogether.
So logically, choosing the answer with the highest probability logically meant…….
‘I must join.’
It was driving me crazy, but there was no other way. Damn it.
In the end, swallowing my tears, I opened the envelope.
And trying to reach my hand inside to take out the mask.
“……?”
Something came out along with the mask.
───
If needed
010-0153-24865
───
A business card?
It seemed the place where the name and title should be had been whited out, and the words scribbled in.
‘…Did the host put it in?’
I looked around, but no one else seemed to have a business card attached to their mask.
‘First, I’ll deal with it later.’
Detaching the business card, I slipped it into the envelope and took out only the mask.
With a smooth texture, it was a basic form of a mask that would cover only above the nose.
The amazing thing was that people around me were already attempting to wear their masks.
Without a single exception.
‘…Even after experiencing that, is there not a single person running away?’
If there was a variable, there was only one.
The Wish Ticket.
‘Did they screen only those who would stake their lives on the Wish Ticket from the start?’
Looking around the lecture hall where everyone silently accepted and wore their masks without a word of resignation, I felt an unspeakable feeling.
Because I was about to join them.
‘No choice.’
I brought my mask to my face.
As I did, the shape of the mask really began to change.
A sensation of it stretching further and becoming bumpy was felt on my cheeks and forehead…….
“…….”
I felt it with my hand.
It was a striking mask with horns sprouting and a bizarre pattern like tree bark revealed.
Hold on, tree-shaped horns?
‘…Antlers? A deer?’
It looked too bizarre to be a deer.
Wearing the mask with a sour expression, I looked around. When Go Yeong-eun, who was wearing a mask that looked like a sheep, made eye contact with me, she made an awkward expression.
Besides her, the sight of the new employees in suits wearing various masks ranging from elephants to goats sitting in their seats was extremely bizarre and chilling.
Just like corporate employees who manage ghost stories.
[Once again, congratulations from the bottom of my heart on joining the company!]
Clap, clap, clap.
As the slides turned, they made the sound of recorded applause.
[Employment Confirmed]
‘It ended up like this after all…….’
Regardless of the mask, it was at the moment when my mind was growing distant at the thought of my future work.
Suddenly, the memo pad appeared in the air again.
“……!”
The memo pad… that had spat out the ‘Memorial GripTok’ merchandise to me.
[Records of the Dark Exploration Real Merchandise Box]
-Usage permission unlocked for new merchandise! (!)
Huh?