Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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A tattoo sticker.
It was something that <Moonlight Tattoo Shop> had provided to me as a service.
-Is there a symbol related to courage, or the boldness to act without fear in this?
To that question, the tattooist had recommended a tattoo design depicting a tomato tree to me…
And that design was captured exactly on the sticker.
This tattoo I was currently wearing on my neck.
“…….”
Actually, there was an effect I had roughly anticipated.
My fear-sensing center becoming paralyzed, making all kinds of supernatural things no longer scary.
Just like Group D… yes.
…Like Assistant Manager Eun Ha-je and Supervisor Park Min-sung had been previously.
I had wanted to explore this terrifying supernatural phenomenon calmly and relentlessly, as if my liver had swollen outside my abdomen.
However.
“……?”
I blinked inside the locker.
‘It seems… there isn’t much of an effect?’
I recalled the students who had pursued me.
They were damn scary.
I recalled the crazy rabbit mascot I encountered in the theme park ghost story.
It gave me goosebumps.
I recalled the ghost that had knocked on the door while sobbing and pretending to be human in the Changwi ghost story.
‘…It’s scary!!’
Everything I recalled sent shivers down my spine.
‘W-Was it a scam?’
Or did I apply the sticker incorrectly? Since I had never actually used a tattoo sticker before, there was no way of knowing.
But in any case, it was a situation that couldn’t be confirmed right now.
“…….”
Damn it.
Regardless, I had to move according to plan.
Now that the ‘Teacher’ had vanished from the 4th floor was the opportunity.
‘He must have gone downstairs.’
Ultimately, swallowing hard, I stepped out of the locker.
…Of course, what lay ahead would be a horrific sight.
Since the bloodstains and fragments of the Group D supervisor who had just died would be scattered about, I braced myself and went out…
…….
“…?”
‘Tomatoes?’
Wait a minute.
I left the teacher’s office at a fast pace and headed up to the 5th floor.
There…
the reason I had been avoiding the 5th floor all this time was laid out starkly.
Aaaaack!
The walls of the 5th floor were plastered messily with pages of old graduation albums before I knew it.
And the students in the photos were stretching out their arms toward the outside with painful expressions.
Aaaaack!
Beyond the scraps of graduation album paper, writhing lumps of flesh were visible.
A factor that induced immense mental burden and panic in anyone who entered the 5th floor.
In truth, rather than a school, a form resembling a bizarrely twisted alternative world was blatantly revealed.
A red light throbbed where the light bulb was supposed to be.
However…
It was tomatoes.
Ha.
Ha-ha-ha-ha!
‘No, this is crazy!’
Tomatoes were hanging everywhere a human head was supposed to be!
No, it wasn’t that they didn’t look like humans at all.
The people in the graduation album photos? They all looked like humans. People screaming in pain with distorted faces!
Yet, I simply perceived them as tomatoes.
The rational voice saying there was no need to connect that with fear became emotion itself.
Yes, it felt exactly to that extent…
It was nothing.
‘Ha-ha-ha…’
As I walked further down the hallway, the graduation albums went further back into the past, and the graduates melted into even more horrific, non-human forms, frozen against the wall.
Strange talismans and lumps of flesh throbbed on the walls and ceiling.
And the voices.
I’msorryI’msorryforrippingthetalismandugupfromtheschoolbackyardI’msorryIwasastudentof■■schoolpreparingforthegraduationsilenceI’msorry…No,no!Thegraduationceremonyisnotaritual,notalivingsacrificeno,no!!Pleasesavemepleasesa—
It’s game world-building bait.
Hearing it now changed nothing.
I walked down that hallway with a feeling no different from taking a stroll on the street—no, perhaps a bit more cheerful than that.
Because everything was a tomato, which was rather funny.
And at the end of the hallway, I stopped in front of a giant door opening to the right.
A neat, turquoise-colored iron door.
This door, which alone maintained its original shape intact in the 5th floor that had become a bizarre den of monsters,
was the door leading to the auditorium.
The place where the final chapter of this game unfolded.
<Graduation Ceremony in Progress>
Graduates only, please knock before entering.
I read the explanatory note printed on A4 paper.
Didn’t I lack the graduate status since my setting was Class 5 of the 1st Grade?
‘These things are gimmicks that open if you have the item.’
And I already had it.
An item that normally could only be obtained in the final chapter after playing through the entire game.
Would you like to use ‘Name Tag Decoration’?
Of course.
Knock knock.
I attached the Name Tag Decoration to my chest and knocked on the auditorium door.
Then, the giant door before my eyes slid open smoothly.
“…….”
Hundreds of 3rd years sitting in hundreds of seats turned to look at me.
This year’s graduates.
They were half-melted and integrated with their chairs so they couldn’t leave their spots, and tears like black ink poured from where their eyes should have been.
But…
No emotion beyond pity welled up.
Because in truth, it was only right to feel pity in this situation.
‘They can’t harm me either.’
Irrational fear was replaced by tomatoes, and I walked along the path between the chairs.
Toward the giant stage opposite, where a banner for the graduation ceremony was hung.
Thud, thud.
The graduates turned their heads and stared expressionlessly at my back as I walked…
I climbed onto the auditorium stage.
And grabbing the standing microphone set up in the center of the stage, I shouted.
“Let the graduation ceremony begin.”
[Ding-Dong-Dang-Dong]
As if they had been waiting, bright and grand event background music began to flow in response to my declaration.
Graduation music played…
At that moment.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
Screams swept through the auditorium.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
As if peeling off a shell, the appearance of the normal auditorium stripped away, revealing a bizarre, mutated form.
The horrific sights I had seen in the 5th-floor hallway had manifested.
As if making a final struggle, wanting to punish the one trying to ruin things, that imagery rushed at me.
But I was perfectly fine.
Because it was all tomatoes.
And the greater danger began now.
‘It is coming.’
To seat the student who had arbitrarily started the graduation ceremony on his own back in a seat below the stage.
Step-step-step-step-step-step-step…
Footsteps rising frantically from far below.
‘The Teacher is coming.’
It was fine.
‘I will do plenty of what needs to be done before he arrives.’
I pulled a stick-type auto-injector from my pocket and jabbed it into my forearm.
Happy Maker
That super-strong, single-use painkiller injected the glowing liquid inside the container into my veins, making a cute, artificial ‘tring-tring’ sound effect.
A comfortable, refreshing, and lighthearted vitality flowed through my entire body along my veins.
Like magic.
‘Good.’
At the same time, I popped two Nostalgia Candies into my mouth at once.
The candies must not exceed three at a time!
You might drown if the nostalgia gets too deep!
Right. Keeping to that dosage too.
I was now becoming an extremely comfortable and perfect state.
‘Phew.’
Then the time was up.
Thud
Something squeezed through the gap of the auditorium door.
The ‘Teacher’ inserted a mutated hand fused with blackboards, tearing the door itself apart while distorting the iron.
Riiiiip
The door fell away, crumpled.
And the figure that was revealed.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
A giant human form.
But it was merely a silhouette.
It looked as if multiple teachers were crumpled, crushed, and pieced together, forced back into a mold called human.
A flesh monster with an arm on its head, a head on its shoulder, and a shoulder on its knee.
It entered the auditorium while making strangely orderly footsteps…
Step, step, step, step, step
Blackboards, textbooks, student records, chalk, and glasses vibrated as they clung messily to each body part, far from their proper uses.
Standing on the opposite stage, looking at that shape which was enough to send shivers down one’s spine…
“…….”
only competitive spirit boiled up.
Because only by breaking through that could I go home and fill the collector…
‘Right.’
This situation called for persistence, not fear!
The tattoo on my neck heated up hotly, boiling my stomach, heart, and head.
‘Ah.’
Now I get it.
The effect of this tattoo sticker is…
‘elation.’
Overflowing adrenaline.
This elation that made me roll my eyes and charge once I had something I wanted to do or a goal!
And supporting that, even the sensation of perceiving everything as tomatoes!
‘I can do it.’
I grabbed the auditorium microphone without hesitation and shot a glare forward.
Slash
I dodged.
No, actually, I was hit, but instead of my neck flying off, my right hand was half torn away.
…!
I was slightly surprised, but there was no pain.
No psychological shock either! It just felt like watching a tomato get crushed.
Courage where reason triumphed over instinct.
And a burning motivation.
‘I will accomplish it no matter what.’
…Do you know that?
Actually, this horror game is not action-based.
Although basic game physics is required in chases, it is fundamentally a puzzle and deduction game.
And the student player uses various abilities acquired while progressing through the game in this final chapter.
Like a puzzle, while neutralizing the Teacher’s attacks, I had to hold onto this microphone and endure until the graduation song ended.
But for me, an explorer, that progression was impossible.
‘Because I merely borrowed and wore the uniform, and wasn’t an actual student.’
However,
‘I can counter in this way.’
I pulled out the Glass Hand Cannon and fired.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
The transparent, small pistol received from the Disaster Management Bureau agent properly displayed its power.
Hit in the shoulder by the bullet, the Teacher shrieked in pain.
But practically, there didn’t seem to be much damage.
‘It wasn’t that high-grade of an equipment anyway.’
It didn’t matter.
‘Because I only intended to disrupt his aim…!’
Slash
My left foot was severed by a flying rusty blackboard.
…!
Even so, I didn’t move. I simply stood there holding the microphone.
The blood that gushed out drenched the stage.
“…….”
Yes. With human strength, it was impossible to dodge or defeat that monster’s attacks. Since I wasn’t Manager Lizard.
Well, it’s not like there was no way.
I can just give up.
Thud.
The rest of my right hand disappeared up to the wrist.
I fired the Glass Hand Cannon again with my left hand without paying attention.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
YoumustlistentotheTeacher sitdowninyourseat Iwillconductthegraduationceremony!
Again.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
My left thigh was blown away.
I endured.
Slash
Both my legs vanished.
‘I have no bullets.’
I slid down, grabbing the standing microphone.
Slash
My left hand holding the pistol, which was gripping the microphone, was severed.
Yet, my hanging body was hugging the pole of the standing microphone.
Slash
I climbed up the microphone with my remaining left elbow.
Blood splattered fiercely onto my cheek.
“…….”
And…
Huh?
The sound of graduation music vanished.
‘Now!’
At the same time the ‘Teacher’ raised a blackboard with mutated flesh once more,
I shouted into the microphone.
“Congratulations on your graduation.”
…….
In an instant.
The auditorium was filled with holographic pixels resembling a shower of flower petals.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
The Teacher who was shrieking melted away and vanished, and the bizarre aberrations blanketing the auditorium burned away and disappeared together.
And the chairs that held the students.
Waaaaah!!
The 3rd-year students, now free, rushed out of the auditorium as if bursting out.
Their eyes were now smeared with tears and joy.
In the original ‘Bad Ending,’ they all become the Teacher’s lackeys and exit the auditorium like zombies, killing all remaining explorers…
‘…This time, the ending changed.’
I raised my head.
The auditorium curtains parted, and a soft, warm yellow and red light seeped in from outside the window…
It was dawn.
“…….”
A pop-up appeared.
Happy Ending 02
: Graduation of Liberation
It’s the ending.
And subsequently, an evaluation of my final chapter play also appeared at the bottom.
Happy Ending 02
: Graduation of Liberation
Score Evaluation: A
I checked the dreamscape collector.
A flashing golden liquid was filling it up… A color as ecstatic and deep as during the Tuesday Talk Show.
-Grade A or higher.
‘I did it.’
A thrilling sense of accomplishment enveloped my body.
Swallowing the last piece of candy in my mouth, I smiled amidst my fading consciousness.
I’m waking up now.
No, I’m returning to myself lying in bed. Having successfully cleared the ghost story and escaped!
‘Good.’
Falling into a comfortable sleep, to wake up in the morning…
…….
…….
…….
…Am I back?
Oh?
It seems the educational book is back inside my tattoo! Shall I pull it out?
Wait a minute.
Since when did I hear this voice?
No, I’m not hearing it…
I’m the one speaking.
…….
Since when.
Had the educational book remained inside my tattoo?
Why did I naturally brush off the Teacher’s correct thoughts popping up out of nowhere?
Why did I suddenly brush off the Fox Counseling Room, which I had thought about visiting after the next exploration, casually saying I was concerned about side effects?
Why did I come to think of the eerie, unknown intellect summoned as ‘Good Friend’ as my most comfortable acquaintance?
Without any biological revulsion or wariness?
…….
……!!!
‘No.’
I must not be consumed like this right now!
But the doubt was already vanishing. As the Nostalgia Candy’s effect wore off, my current self was reclaiming its place!
The contamination is flooding in…!!
I struggled within the hazy floating sensation of waking up.
‘Kim Sol-eum!!’
Remember.
Remember it!!
You are contaminated right now…
* * *
“Heok.”
Wow.
“I thought I was going to die.”
I opened my eyes, drenched in cold sweat.
A deep sigh of relief escaped my mouth.
‘I accomplished it anyway.’
But at the same time, I felt a chilly sensation as if I had forgotten something…
-…….
-You have awakened… friend.
…….
…!!
‘Aaaaack!’
I hurriedly sat up and instantly rescued Brown from under the pillow, right before his stuffing got flattened!
‘That was a close call.’
“Sorry!”
With that, I spread-eagled back onto the bed. Overlap of fatigue and comfort, I smiled broadly.
Anyway… it seems I made it back safely!