Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The morning after clearing the high school ghost story inside the horrific horror game.
Due to the even more ghost story-like fact that I still had to go to work, I was diligently preparing for my commute.
However, the commute wasn’t so grueling this time.
Because I had something to rely on.
The Grade A solution filling the dreamscape collector.
‘It is reassuring.’
I packed the dreamscape collector, filled with golden solution, neatly into my briefcase.
It was a harvest obtained from last night’s labor.
Furthermore, the moment I got fully up from the bed, I also confirmed a rather unique ‘additional harvest.’
Clattering.
Something that had been covering my body spilled onto the floor.
Dozens of… beads?
They were transparent beads that looked exactly like what could be loaded into the Glass Hand Cannon.
I picked one up, examined its appearance, and read a single Hanja character written inside it.
護
Is it ‘Ho’ for protect…?
-Aha, it is a Hanja character that frequently appears with the meaning of guarding or protecting someone. Quite cliché and intuitive.
Ah.
I realized what it was immediately.
‘This is the reward for clearing the final chapter of that game!’
Graduation ceremony successfully conducted (Deceased: 2, Survived: 1)
Confirmed that the field exploration employees who died as students woke up safely in the morning.
Found a large quantity of reward items at the sleeping spot of the sole survivor who lasted until the end. (Analyzed to be a type of protective talisman with some effectiveness in exorcism and protection)
In other words, I had brought the items from the game in the dream into reality.
Just like Baek Sa-heon, who had run away with the fountain pen item from the teacher’s office.
“…Hmm.”
Speaking of which, it comes to mind.
When I went out to the entryway, Baek Sa-heon’s dress shoes were already gone.
‘He must have commuted quickly and fled.’
I’ll see you later.
Anyway, this meant those dozens of glass beads functioned as ‘protective talismans’ to some extent.
‘I think there will be a place to use them.’
I put all of those so-called ‘protective talismans’ into my tattoo, packed just one or two in my pocket, and continued preparing for work.
However.
-…….
-…….
An unusual silence seemed to flow.
‘…Brown.’
-Oh, are you calling me, friend?
By any chance.
‘Last night… was it very uncomfortable?’
The host of the Tuesday Quiz Show whose stuffing almost got flattened because I slept on him…
-Haha, it certainly wasn’t the best feeling of my life!
-My friend seemed to have a very interesting experience alone last night, and anyone wouldn’t feel very good when they were the only one not invited to that spot…
Oops.
-Ah, but still, it is a relief. While this Brown had the special experience of feeling like a waffle, it seems my friend at least felt special as well!
“…….”
Well…
‘I did feel a special way.’
-Indeed!
‘I conducted the graduation ceremony fiercely.’
-A graduation ceremony, did you perhaps deliver a congratulatory address?
No.
‘The Teacher, who didn’t like my conducting, attacked. I endured as my limbs were blown off one by one until it ended safely.’
-My goodness!
Brown, who had seemed somewhat offended, quickly became excited once I explained the events in the dream in detail.
I should give him something like that… aroma meridian massage the tattooist did for me in the evening.
-An excellent attitude, Mr. Roe! I want to hear details.
Sure, sure.
I explained the rest of the things that had happened to me while heading to the company.
Everything from being pursued by the students to me becoming that student myself.
-Oho!
And finally, I arrived at the building and was heading up to my office.
“Sol-eum!”
I met a familiar face.
“Ah, Manager Lee Byung-jin.”
Manager Lee Byung-jin, the missing person I had rescued from the Changwi ghost story who was in charge of manual screening, brightened up upon seeing me.
“I heard the entire field exploration team tried to enter a ghost story with a good yield this time!”
Ah, he already knew I had been deployed to the high school ghost story.
Well, since an official notice had been posted for all field exploration team members to attempt entry.
“How did your group do, Sol-eum?”
“Ah, I did manage to enter and return… but I don’t know about the others.”
I figured Manager Lizard probably hadn’t been able to enter.
‘If he had entered, it would have unconditionally been recorded in the <Records of the Dark Exploration>…’
No, it wouldn’t have been written in the records in the first place. Because the counter to this ghost story was none other than Lee Ja-heon.
‘There’s no way such a chase would have any meaning to someone who can beat everything down with physical attacks…’
No need to ruin a ghost story.
Even if my interference in the exploration caused a butterfly effect, I would have noticed his presence at least if Manager Lizard had been in this exploration.
‘He must not have been there.’
……And.
The other person in Group D…
died, and,
‘Sigh.’
Just as I opened my mouth to say those words,
“Ah, Group D only had the group leader and Supervisor Sol-eum, right? I guess you guys didn’t meet each other.”
“…Pardon?”
“Still, it’s an individual match, right? It wouldn’t have hindered the future of our company, the competent Supervisor Sol-eum, haha!”
…….
What?
“Wait a minute. When you say Group D only has two people…”
“Huh? No, wasn’t it put on hold briefly in the personnel appointments?”
The manager spoke to me with a puzzled expression.
“Ah, weren’t you separately contacted saying that for Group D, since contaminated people might recover, you should skip this season for now and focus on support duties?”
“……!”
Ah.
I realized in the next moment.
Supervisor Yoon Jo-hoon.
That recently assigned person, having been eliminated as a glitch by the ‘Teacher’ in the dream…
was eliminated in reality too.
He had literally been deleted.
As if he was a person who had never existed in reality in the first place.
“…….”
Right.
‘So that was why people mistakenly thought there were no casualties in this ghost story.’
They understood it as being dragged back to that school on a new moon night even in the worst-case scenario.
Everyone!
Because…
The people who gathered many name tags and stubbornly held out on the upper floors without retiring were all ‘deleted’.
Because they had become people who never existed in the first place.
It was… a terrifying reality manipulation ability.
‘…No wonder the solution came out as Grade A.’
I can feel… that some deeper darkness is involved…
Goosebumps rose all along my spine.
In truth, it might be a situation that wasn’t objectively bad for me.
Since a person who was obviously difficult to work with had disappeared naturally.
But…
‘It’s no different from having one’s records completely erased.’
My stomach churned. Moreover, this feeling that only I remembered was truly strange.
No, wait a minute.
‘Why am I the only one who remembers in the first place?’
Shouldn’t everyone have forgotten together?
Perhaps because I witnessed his death directly?
Ah!
Or did the influence bypass me because I was eating Nostalgia Candy at that time?
Come to think of it, when I ate the Nostalgia Candy, I…
…….
…….
“S-Sol-eum?”
“…Ah. I must have been mistaken about something.”
Anyway, it wasn’t important, so let’s focus on the conversation for now.
Even if he was from another team, a superior was a superior after all.
Just then, Manager Lee Byung-jin asked me with a slightly expectant face.
“Ah, speaking of which, how did you clear it, and with what grade, Sol-eum? If you show me the collector, I can examine the solution concentration and tell you the grade…”
“Ah.”
I readily pulled the collector from my briefcase and showed it to him.
The golden liquid sloshed.
“Here it is.”
“…….”
After a silence flowed,
…?!
Rub-rub, Manager Lee Byung-jin wiped his glasses.
“Haha, I’ve grown older, so has my vision gone blurry, or is the light over-reflecting…?!?”
“Ah.”
I made a pleased voice.
“Does it look like a Grade A to you as well, Manager?”
“…….”
Lee Byung-jin put his glasses back on.
“…Right now,”
…?
“Go report it right now, what are you doing! Hurry!”
* * *
I was instantly called and summoned.
It meant that before I could even commute to the Group D office, the collector was taken by the managers.
Good grief!
The glares of the managers looking at me with a face that seemed to say ‘You again?’—well, all’s well that ends well.
And the measured grade was…
“Mr. Kim Sol-eum.”
“Yes, Group Leader.”
“It has been confirmed that the grade of the solution collected by Mr. Kim Sol-eum from the Dark last night is A.”
That afternoon, Manager Lizard calmly delivered the message to me as I sat in the office writing the exploration report.
I had guessed as much.
However, the next statement was the problem.
“And regarding this exploration, a request for a solo interview with Mr. Kim Sol-eum has been received.”
“…….”
Well, this one was unavoidable indeed…
A second A.
Especially since this time, it popped out of an unprecedented ghost story again.
‘A Grade A in that ghost story must have existed almost purely in name.’
Most were D or F.
Someone who held out long to gather items and name tags might have extracted a Grade C solution once or twice, but that would be it.
It seemed word was spreading among the higher-ups that a jackpot had been hit in a ghost story that was just used for farming items.
But the thing was.
‘Actually, this is the end of it.’
They only count the first clear…
Subsequent attempts to clear in a similar manner resulted in extracting solutions that were one or two grades lower from the same grade of ending (B).
‘That’s just how the game format is.’
If it’s not the first time, it’s a repetition, so they don’t count it as an achievement…
Of course, I had no intention of saying all of this, but I had to drop some clues to avoid getting blamed with a preposterous shifting of responsibility like, ‘We trusted you and invested, but another A didn’t come out!’
‘I’ll be running around all afternoon…’
It was just when I was anticipating that with a sad heart.
“Mr. Kim Sol-eum.”
“Yes?”
“Do you not want to do the interview?”
Are you… going to get me out of it??
But after thinking for a moment, I shook my head.
“No. It’s fine. I should do it.”
To avoid getting blamed with a ridiculous shifting of responsibility like, ‘You tried to wrap it up with a status report, so we couldn’t get a Grade A clear!’ …Ugh.
“Okay.”
Manager Lee Ja-heon did not suggest it twice. He was truly Lizard-like.
And a short while later, at the appointed time.
I left the Group D office for the interview.
‘They even called me to a high floor.’
Getting off on the 31st floor where I was designated to go, I located the meeting room.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
At the permission heard from inside, I opened the door very cautiously.
A meeting room in a grand atmosphere, with sunlight pouring through windows with closed blinds.
And a black, giant round desk.
But…
“Hmm.”
The research team members for the interview were not there.
Instead, at the head of that giant desk, only a single person sat alone.
A woman with dark blue hair, wearing a neatly tailored three-button suit, looked at me with a benevolent expression.
She didn’t look decrepit, but had an atmosphere that made it hard to guess her age.
And a striking black mother-of-pearl nameplate placed on the desk.
Managing Director Cheong Dal-rae
…??
A-An executive director??
Wait, inside the meeting room I was summoned to… only the executive director was sitting alone?
It wasn’t even Manager Lee Byung-jin or Director Ho, who was associated with Group A.
However, the surname of that name itself was…
‘I have heard of it…’
When Manager Lee Byung-jin, who was on Director Ho’s line, went missing.
In the small talk of the office employees as they guessed who would come as the successor.
-To be honest, it is unknown how the newcomer will be… but the probability of someone from the same line being placed is low. Someone from Director Cheong’s side will come.
Director Cheong.
An incredibly high-ranking superior whom I had never been associated with until now, one of the executives in this company’s development department, had summoned me…!
‘This is crazy…’
Of course, while being astonished, I was bowing my head deeply.
“…! It is an honor to meet you, Managing Director.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
Director Cheong, who accepted my handshake, waved her arm and pointed at the chairs lined up along the round desk.
“Let’s sit down first.”
“Yes.”
Where on earth should I sit?
After debating, I sat in a spot that wasn’t particularly the head seat but was close enough to converse with the director without trouble.
Then, a person who appeared to be from the secretary’s office entered the meeting room, placed some unknown documents in front of the director, and left.
I felt like I would break into a cold sweat.
‘What is this situation?’
Since I couldn’t grasp the context first, let’s start with that.
“Right… Supervisor Sol-eum? Still in your twenties?”
“I was born in Year XX.”
“Young. I will speak casually, so you can make yourself comfortable too, Supervisor. Since I called you for a good matter.”
“A good matter, meaning…?”
“I have heard many rumors about you, Supervisor.”
Director Cheong smiled warmly.
“It was very impressive. If only rookies like you entered, there would be no issue with raw material supply.”
“Thank you.”
When a high-ranking person acts like that, I should just sit politely and take a listening posture.
If I actively try to match your needs and speak up, it might just end up looking like I’m showing off…
‘Did she personally come to the meeting room to congratulate me and take credit while telling me to write the Grade A manual well?’
Making an impression, that is.
“So, Supervisor Sol-eum.”
But the main point started from there.
Without warning.
“Are you perhaps interested in the elite team?”
I almost choked on my saliva.
“That is…”
“Ah, I know you received a proposal from Manager Seok of Group A last time but rejected it.”
…!!
“’I will build from the basics’… A good excuse. You handled it well.”
Ah, my goodness.
“That team… well, keeping hierarchy is good, but sometimes their priorities shift, valuing hierarchy over exploration.”
“…….”
“It’s not pretty, but well, riding the line well is also an ability, isn’t it. Haha!”
You are revealing very blatantly that Group A is a different faction.
‘I will not respond even a word to that statement, Director…’
Let’s just smile awkwardly and nod.
If I handle this wrong, it would be as if I badmouthed Group A together with the director.
The director would be fine, of course!
But I, a rookie who hasn’t aligned with any line, would be screwed…
Looking unsure but trying to appear calm, I spoke as if finding it difficult to address.
“Well, since it was clear that I, who recently joined, needed basics… actually, I am currently learning diligently…”
“Hahaha! It’s fine, it’s fine. Yes, it’s a situation to be nervous, Supervisor Sol-eum.”
Director Cheong burst into a hearty laugh, then sobered up.
“No need to agree with everything I say. I don’t like sycophants like that.”
“…….”
“Yes. I should make my choice of words clearer. Right?”
Director Cheong paused as if lost in thought briefly, closed the documents, and spoke.
“I’m not saying I will put you in one of the elite teams.”
…?
“I meant whether you are interested in receiving elite team treatment. Right… I could ask like this.”
Director Cheong smiled warmly.
“What would you think if Group D became an elite team?”
…!!
“By adding a team member you want, the entire group.”
Good grief.