Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 60

Chapter 60

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The fear that I might die.

Perhaps it was the essence of ghost stories.

I had even recently experienced a government-managed disaster that could theoretically only be cleared if someone died.

This meant I had become quite accustomed to the description “people usually die in ghost stories,” and had even become somewhat desensitized to it.

After all, I had somehow managed to squeeze through the eye of a needle.

—It’s driving me crazy, but let’s first find a way out.

The past few months had been enough time for this to become my basic way of thinking.

But…

“Originally, it was a total disappearance. Only a single decapitated corpse returned.”

“……”

“But after repeating it a few times, someone luckily returned alive. We built the manual based on that person’s testimony.”

It was the textbook process of completing a manual for high-grade Dark exploration.

“But no matter what we did, there was just one thing we couldn’t change.”

Namely…

“The death of one person.”

“……”

“The mechanism of who gets picked? There is none. No logic either. It really is literally random. We’ve run it thirty-seven times so far, and no matter what equipment we wore or what items we held, it had no effect whatsoever.”

“……”

“Moreover, since it’s designated as soon as you enter, preparation or response is impossible.”

For such a situation to happen.

Literally by luck, I had a 1 in 12 chance of instant death.

…Including my teammates, it was a ridiculous probability of 1 in 3.

Someone just dies.

“You might be thinking, why put a highly capable person like me in there when they could just throw in bastards who deserve to die anyway, but…”

“No, I’m not.”

“Is that so? I heard it.”

“……”

“We have no choice but to do it… But this damn urban legend says it will only let us clear it if there is a challenger with a smart brain.”

Therefore, we couldn’t even put in disposable cards.

Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je twitched the corner of her mouth.

“If it’s an 8.3% chance of dying in a B-grade, it’s actually a pretty decent average figure.”

“……”

It was the truth.

Recall the exhibition ghost story.

That was a worse case because there was no manual, but even when one was fully prepared, casualties were bound to occur at a non-trivial rate.

And yet.

“The fact that I’m trapped in that probability no matter what I do feels strange, but extremely absurd.”

“……”

It was not strange.

The feeling of just dying “anyway, for no reason” without even being able to struggle before death was definitely different from having the possibility to try something.

Because the latter was a challenge, while the former was a slaughter.

“…Does giving us three days mean we should prepare ourselves mentally?”

“Presumably so.”

It was probably because after about three days, our heads would cool down, and we would start to think rationally and hopefully.

‘There’s no way I’ll get caught in that 1 in 12, right?’…

“Roe Deer, is this your first time encountering this kind of Dark?”

“……Yes.”

“Go out and grab some coffee. Buy some for me too.”

Hearing the words ‘it’s fine to take your time,’ I received Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je’s card and stepped outside.

She sent me on the pretext of a coffee errand, but it was practically mental care for a rookie.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Thanks to that, I was currently leaning my head against the cafe sofa with an Americano in front of me.

Fear… Well. Since falling into this place, there had never been a moment when I wasn’t scared, so that was not the issue.

I was just troubled.

‘In this situation, information or anything else is meaningless.’

Perhaps because I realized that I had been operating under conditions where I could feel more “certain” than other employees until now, a strange sense of self-deprecation also arose.

And a powerful sense of crisis.

“……”

‘Should I just resign instead?’

Wouldn’t it be better to resign even now and look for other ways?

Investigating ghost stories on my own based on the <Records of the Dark Exploration>…

—Ah, friend!

—In that case, how about working in the show business industry from now on?

Pardon??

—Oh, of course. For my friend, a good job is always ready… As the old saying goes, what are friends for? Haha!

I gasped in horror and almost rolled off the sofa.

‘I’ll decline.’

That certainly snapped me back to my senses.

—What a pity…

Right. In this town, cases of ending up in a state worse than death like that were countless.

Furthermore, investigating alone on my own? That was a choice only a fool who forgot he was a coward would make.

As expected, resigning because of a 1 in 12 chance was a foolish move.

‘But sitting idly by is also a foolish move.’

—Ah, are you going in?

‘Yes.’

For now, I should look into this ghost story in more detail.

I returned to the office with takeout coffees for my teammates and read through the tablet PC.

And…

‘…Sigh.’

Indeed. Random.

It was indeed a ghost story I already knew through the <Records of the Dark Exploration>, but the problem was that almost everything I had read was already written in the manual.

‘There is no new information.’

I did not know any more information that others did not know.

‘There are no loopholes.’

In the <Records of the Dark Exploration> as well, the description was bluntly written as “random upon entry of explorers.”

There were no exceptions or suspicious parts. In the first place, this was not treated as particularly important.

Because from the writer’s perspective, they had simply passed it off as a premise setup. They probably thought there was nothing particularly special about it since people died in every ghost story anyway.

And…

“For this deployment, the group leaders are excluded. Only those with the rank of assistant manager or below are deployed here.”

“……”

Lizard, the group leader, would not accompany us on this exploration.

This was considering that if the group leader were designated as the sacrificial lamb, the employees might ‘accidentally confuse the priority’ due to the difference in rank.

“There’s no cleanup team or elite team either. There was a mess once after they entered.”

It was said that when an elite team, namely one of Groups A, B, or C, was designated as the sacrificial lamb, they struggled frantically to somehow not die, resulting in a ‘needless loss’ where quite a few other employees also died.

Although I did not regret that I should have gone to Group A, this damn company was truly consistent.

“Thank you for letting me know.”

“Thank you for what?”

The assistant manager seemed to find solace in smoking somewhere between liberation and annoyance. The supervisor chimed in with something, and the two headed upstairs with their cigarettes.

“Did you see the roster? The employees entering together…”

“Yeah, honestly, if one of them dies, I don’t think I’d even go to their funeral. Surely they didn’t pick only the lowest tier based on their personality, right?”

“Hey, we are not like that!”

I continuously tried to find something by comparing the <Records of the Dark Exploration> and the manual.

A gap to squeeze into.

A small blank space in the rules.

But.

That afternoon, a path to evade the rules suddenly revealed itself.

Though it was in a slightly different sense.

“Supervisor Kim!”

“Manager.”

Manager Lee Byung-jin came to find me. The fact that the person in charge of manual evaluation came all the way here was definitely not just ‘dropping by.’

“I heard too! No, Supervisor, I heard you’re entering that crazy Russian roulette Dark!”

“……”

I thought this before, but he really has a talent for speaking in a slightly irritating way…

However, Manager Lee Byung-jin did not come simply to make a fuss.

After lowering his voice and confirming that there was no one around, the manager whispered softly.

“Why don’t you talk to Director Ho?”

“……!”

“I’m telling you, he’s keeping an eye on your performance, Supervisor Kim!”

“What you are saying right now…”

I looked at the manager.

“Does that mean if I speak to the director, he will pull me out?”

“Yes!”

“……”

“Normally they just select people talking about fairness and all… but I’m against it, against it. Huh? A young man with a highly bright future like Sol-eum should be excluded. You’re the top recruit!”

A true method of evasion had emerged.

Getting pulled out through the favor of a superior.

I opened my mouth.

“It is fine.”

“Uh, what?”

I must absolutely not choose this.

‘It stands out too much.’

The moment I chose that, I would practically be choosing a line within the company.

If it was a ghost story company, the executives wouldn’t be ordinary figures either, so I should not ride the line by ‘clinging to a desperate situation to get saved.’

Furthermore, this was a matter of survival.

‘The moment I am exempted, rumors will unconditionally spread within the company.’

There was no way they would look kindly upon that.

It was a kind of opportunistic behavior.

Originally, sharing the pain was essential to be recognized as a proper member of the community, but if I tried to evade that…

‘I will be completely marked.’

Due to the nature of the Field Exploration Team, which had to continuously move as a three-person team, it was a move that would completely twist my company life.

If the director had stepped up to pull me out secretly without anyone knowing and then quietly called me to take credit, that would be one thing.

Since it wasn’t even that, it meant he was not “paying attention” to me enough to pull me out separately from this place in the first place.

Or…

‘Or he thinks luck is also a kind of skill.’

Therefore, this was a trap.

Even if it was painful, saying this was the correct answer.

I deliberately spoke calmly, acting like a strict stickler for principles.

“If I am the only one to receive convenience exceptionally, it is a special privilege. Since there must be a reason for the company to allocate work in this manner, I will also fulfill my responsibility.”

“Uh…”

Manager Lee Byung-jin stammered, but after asking ‘are you sure’ a few times, he eventually accepted it and turned away.

Really…

I barely held back the urge to grab his pant legs and scream yes…

‘Let’s find significance in having built up my character.’

Because there was no other pleasure besides that.

I bitterly watched the manager’s retreating figure before returning to my seat.

‘Let’s just look at the manual again.’

However, whether I looked at the <Records of the Dark Exploration> or the manual again, the lack of loopholes was exactly the same.

Since there were no exceptions for all explorers.

‘So all the explorers who entered are in this victim drawing…’

“……”

Wait a moment.

‘This…’

I read it again a few times.

‘…Could this be a loophole?’

I couldn’t be sure.

‘It’s a possibility, though.’

But in this situation, it was right to grasp at any possibility and try it.

—Did you think of some interesting idea, Mr. Roe Deer?

It wasn’t fun, but an idea did occur to me.

‘Creating an exception.’

—Hmm?

The explorers who entered this ghost story were all put into the 1 in 12 chance instant-death drawing without exception.

But, could there be a common condition that only these explorers shared?

A condition where no exception had ever occurred so far.

—What kind of common condition is it?

…….

‘The fact that they are humans.’

In both the manual and the Records of the Dark Exploration, the explorers were humans. There was no description of cases involving other living creatures.

But in this world, weren’t humans not the only intelligent entities?

If we included animals and plants in that, it became infinite.

‘What if it’s a living creature other than a human? Could it avoid the judgment?’

Considering the tendencies of the irregular records in the <Records of the Dark Exploration> I had read so far, that seemed to be the most likely exception in the current situation.

—Mr. Roe Deer, do you want to transcend humanity?

‘N-No, it’s not that.’

I wished he wouldn’t ask pure questions as if they were traps.

‘I’m saying I want to be treated as if I transcended humanity for just a moment.’

I deliberately chose my words.

‘Like dressing up as another person in a show.’

—Ho-oh.

‘…Is this perhaps possible for Brown too?’

—Ah, of course it is possible!

Power and vitality were added to Brown’s voice.

Just like when he hosted a show.

—Is not having a new identity the destiny of an entertainer? I possess countless masks and… Ah. I think I can lend at least one to Mr. Roe Deer even now!

It was a jackpot.

‘Let’s try this.’

“Phew.”

I finally took my eyes off the manual and leaned my head against the backrest.

Right then, as if they had finished their cigarette break, the assistant manager and supervisor entered the office and waved at me when they saw me.

“……”

Ah, damn it.

‘Brown, about that “mask” ability… could you perhaps use it on multiple people?’

—Multiple people? To those who are not friends?

‘Well, including me.’

—…It would be possible if I regained a bit more of my prime skills. Back then, I even had dozens of people stand in the studio! Or was it hundreds?

…Good.

‘Brown.’

—My friend calls me again!

I politely patted my pocket.

‘Let’s take a bath.’

—…!?

* * *

—Mr. Roe Deer, I am very grateful for this, but I am not an entertainer so fascinated by the occult that I enjoy bathing in a friend’s blood.

“I know.”

Although he was a quiz show host who blew up guests’ heads, Brown as a ‘good friend’ was certainly that kind of being.

But there was no other way.

Even if I managed to obtain blood bags from a hospital, the freshness would be low, making it inefficient, and I couldn’t use other people’s blood either.

Nor could I bring a monster from a ghost story like last time.

‘The remaining wild ginseng has had whatever was inside it escape anyway, so it doesn’t meet the conditions for an intelligent entity.’

What remained was obvious.

My blood.

I peered into the small, elegantly checkered bathtub.

This, which was still clean and emitted a nice fragrance, was the blood tub I had bought from the Alien Shop.

Now, I had to pour my blood into this.

“I probably won’t be able to give much either. About half a cup.”

In terms of quantity, wouldn’t it be about 180 ml?

—Half a cup! It will be tight, but for a bath additive for a small body filled with cotton, that shouldn’t be bad. Diluting with water… No, that’s not it. Will you really be okay?

It was fine.

‘I can do it.’

I took a deep breath and grabbed a kitchen knife.

Next to me was the wound-recovery potion I had brought back after using it in the company’s medical room.

“Phew.”

I stabbed the flesh of my arm with the upper part of the kitchen knife.

—Oh my god!

Blood poured down.

As if I had correctly found the artery, it burst out and overflowed abundantly.

Ha…

‘Remember. I’m afraid of eerie situations, not bleeding itself…’

This is not an eerie situation…!

As I calmed down by reciting this a few times, the predicted amount of blood soon dripped sufficiently into the bathtub.

‘This much should be about half a cup.’

However, I did not stop the bleeding.

—Mr. Roe Deer?

A bit more.

—I think it is sufficient, friend!

A bit more.

—Friend?

This much.

‘Done.’

I hastily stopped the bleeding in my arm with the company’s medicine. The magical medicine excellently caught the arterial bleeding.

I almost felt slightly dizzy due to the amount of blood lost, but there was no problem.

‘I can just drink a potion for this too.’

Since I would be normal by the time of the ghost story deployment the day after tomorrow, it was fine.

The important thing was…

Wasn’t it that a fragrant scent was rising to fill the bathtub?

“Phew…”

I looked into the bathtub. Whiff, a fragrant smell properly pierced the tip of my nose.

It seemed my blood had successfully played its part.

‘I think I drew almost 500 ml.’

It seemed to have properly turned into a bath additive…

‘…A wooden smell?’

Upon smelling the scent, for some reason it reminded me of that damn Changwi ghost story forest, which made me feel slightly uncomfortable, but at any rate, it was better than a foul or strange scent.

I nodded and said to Brown.

“You can enter now. Is the scent okay?”

—Ah, of course. It is an interesting scent. Just like your unpredictable, whimsical decisions, Mr. Roe Deer!

I smiled.

“Are you being sarcastic? Because I spilled more blood than predicted?”

—Sarcasm is a necessary virtue of a public talk show host! But I do not display that virtue just anytime.

“Thank you for worrying.”

—…….

“I’ll undergo proper treatment, so it’s fine. Still, I won’t do this in the future.”

—Now you are speaking wise words, friend.

Is that so?

Honestly speaking, I did it this way on purpose.

I thought that if I gave the ‘good friend’ a bit of a shock here, he would feel reluctant to think of bathing in my blood in the future.

And that seemed to have worked.

‘If I had predicted this amount, he might have accepted it naturally.’

That wouldn’t do.

‘This kind of thing must end with this one time.’

I tried to pick up Brown and put him in the tub, but this time too, Brown declined.

—I will walk in proudly on my own two feet.

Oh my, go ahead then.

I turned my back to the bathtub. Soon, the sound of footsteps entering the tub and the splashing of water were heard.

The bathing began.

But after a moment.

—Mr. Roe Deer, this bath additive you made…

—Hmm, it is a bit unique!

Pardon?