Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Inside the shop, there was a faint smell of dust, but it was warm.
The cozy feeling unique to old spaces.
True to its name, the Sweet Stationery Store also smelled of a sweet scent that felt slightly warm.
The tension and strength loaded in my shoulders relaxing… no, I can’t do that!
‘Let’s not let our guard down.’
I bit the inside of my mouth once and moved forward again.
Iron shelves filled every wall enclosing the narrow space like a maze, and various snacks were piled up compartment by compartment inside them.
At the very front of the fairly large display stand in the exact center, the names of popular products were also written.
Oblivion Cotton Candy
Soft Cookie
Sun-Flavored Chips Chips
Carrot Easy Coke
Reverse Bubble Gum
Nostalgia Candy Sold Out!
I walked quietly, rapidly scanning the snacks with my eyes.
The ‘Good Child Chocolate Bar’ was not visible, but a few familiar names or appearances were spotted.
Among them were things that were relatively safe and useful.
‘Good. Since I’m already here, let’s spend the change.’
They were good as items, and also good to exchange for side income.
Since the atmosphere wasn’t too bad when parting with Agent Bronze last time, I might be able to restore the sales route for ‘ghost story-derived food’ through them again…
Having been stripped clean down to my gold bars, I needed a way to earn money.
-You are choosing quite a lot, my friend! You should be careful not to get cavities.
I quickly picked out a few snacks.
And I also looked back once at Lizard, who had been blankly following me with minimal steps.
“…Manager, by any chance, is there any snack you need or want to buy? I would like to give it to you as a token of gratitude.”
“Yes.”
Surprisingly, Manager Lee Ja-heon did not decline, and after glancing around, he grabbed a snack.
Reverse Bubble Gum
Blow it like a balloon inside your mouth, and your body will grow as big as a building!
Pleasant Institute Genuine Certification Completed
(Watch out for defective imitations sold by street vendors!)
“…Will you be fine with this?”
“Yes.”
Does he want to become a giant lizard by any chance?
I suppressed my useless imagination.
‘Let’s just pay.’
Holding the selected snacks in both hands, I headed toward the checkout counter at the back of the shop.
On the way, I scanned every nook and cranny of the interior with my eyes, but the ‘Good Child Chocolate Bar’ was still nowhere to be seen…
‘Hmm.’
In the end, I arrived at the counter first.
“Hello.”
The figure sitting at the iron counter slowly nodded their head.
That entity, who must be the owner of this shop, wore shabby casual clothes and had a hat pulled down low.
At a glance, he looked like an ordinary stationery store owner, but six arms tapped on the counter…
‘Whew.’
I made absolutely no attempt to check his face and politely placed only the snacks I wanted to purchase on the counter.
And I quickly held out the coins.
“Here it is.”
Because I didn’t want to be mistaken for bartering by any chance.
I recalled the exploration record of the first successful purchase here.
Purchased Item: 1 Carrot Easy Coke
Cost: Memory of the second day of the family trip in 1997
Right.
This stationery store was a shop where memories were paid as the price.
From happy memories that brought a smile just by thinking about them, to terrible traumas that one wanted to forget.
Depending on which snack was purchased, the type of lost memory differed.
‘That’s why the exploration boundary was wide, from subtly heartwarming records to spine-chilling ones.’
I didn’t want to risk which one I would get. Especially not in this ghost story universe where the information in my head was crucial.
‘Let’s just find the Good Child Chocolate Bar.’
I even wanted to just ask the owner for the location. However, since something presumed to be me was drawn on the wrapper, I didn’t want to make him associate it for no reason…
“Please tell us the display location of the chocolate bars.”
Group Leader!
I almost grabbed my direct superior by the collar.
However, the shop owner casually pointed to a shelf, still just leaning back deeply in his chair…
‘Whew.’
Apparently, the drawing on the wrapper was not similar enough to me to be recognized at once.
‘I wished I was even half as bold as Lizard…’
I should have bought a liver at the raw meat butcher shop. Muttering such nonsense, I bent down toward the counter to retrieve the purchased snacks and the remaining change…
And then I saw it.
‘Huh?’
There was something behind the counter.
A life-size cutout and decorative papers that seemed to have been cleared away in a hurry.
A placard and… a blue box containing chocolate bars.
Theme Park Collaboration New Product Released!
Good Child Chocolate Bar (Cinnamon Churros Flavor)
Oh my god.
‘Found it!’
I observed the chocolate bar wrapper as quickly as possible.
Contrary to my thoughts, the hairstyle, mask, and suit were implemented very well on the wrapper.
Was it cleared away because the display promotion ended? To see it that way, it seemed strangely cleared away in a hurry…
“…….”
Wait a minute.
I peered into the chocolate bar’s wrapper again.
And then I realized.
That product was not using me as an advertising model, nor was it decorating the wrapper with a character of similar appearance.
It was…
Please find this good child.
Waiting for eyewitness accounts.
A missing child advertisement.
“…….”
I took a step back, breaking out in cold sweat.
If so…
*Ring, ring, ring.*
…….
I turned my head with a creak and looked over the counter.
The shop owner was holding a telephone.
A ringtone was going through to somewhere, and then…
*Click.*
The moment it connected.
He is here!
I turned around, grabbed Manager Lee Ja-heon, and dashed out.
He is here! He is here! He is here!
There was no time to swear. Unable to even breathe properly, I crossed the shop and got as far away from the counter as possible.
And I grabbed the door I had entered through and pulled…
Huh?
Why is it over there?
*Click.*
The door was locked.
“…….”
I turned my head and looked back at the shop owner standing at the counter.
“We intend to head back now. Please open it.”
After a brief silence.
It is fine.
The shop owner’s voice rang in my ears…
From the telephone it was holding, a stream of black water had leaked out before I knew it, dripping onto the floor.
Growing thicker.
*Glug, glug.*
The thin stream of water suddenly gathered into lumps, and its form twisted in midair and piled up as if clay were being shaped.
I have come to pick you up.
…In the shape of an animal wearing a mascot suit, which I had seen somewhere before…
“…!!”
I desperately turned my body and pulled the shop door. But it did not budge, this fucking son of a…
“Take your hands off.”
Ah.
The moment I let go of the door, Lee Ja-heon struck the doorknob with his left fist.
*Crack, thud!*
Like a lie, the handle fell to the floor.
The door, kicked in succession, swung wide open, revealing the outer alley.
Lee Ja-heon and I did not tarry, rushing outside immediately.
My door!!
A fierce sound of water was heard from behind. *Splat, splat, splat!*
Mixed with the angry voice of the shop owner, the sound of water followed us into the alley. Chills shot up to the top of my head.
‘Brown!’
-It seems you need my help, my friend!
Yes!
‘Let’s turn off the lights! Manager Lee Ja-heon too!’
-Even that guy? Very well. I shall make this my gift!
*Snap!*
A cheerful sound of snapping fingers came from the stuffed doll, and once again, a heavy shadow covered over me.
That feeling of my existence fading.
“!”
Manager Lee Ja-heon’s vertical pupils whipped around to look at me.
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
“I will explain when it’s over. First, let’s run!”
*Splat, splat, splat…*
From behind, the sound of water violently clashing against every crevice of the alley walls was drawing closer.
‘Damn it, damn it!’
…What happens if I get caught?
No matter how much I thought, there was no way to know. The fact that it was an unknown outcome drove me even crazier.
I clenched my teeth.
‘Avoiding it was the correct answer.’
Coming here to try and find out something was the problem in the first place!
This was a ghost story. It meant a worldview where confirming the truth could be a shortcut to death rather than a sheet of correct answers.
‘I should have just passed it off saying I didn’t know…!’
No, even this kind of self-reproach later!
Do not give up on your body!
Remaining steps: 3441
I had to endure 400 steps.
‘Whatever the next alley is, I have to run in that direction…!’
Now, right behind me, I could hear the chatter of the alley’s residents whose ankles were swept up in the rapids.
“Wow, this is fun~ What is this?”
“The mascot came on a parade riding the water! Fun! Fun!”
“They say you can ride a flume ride in Waterland! Let’s eat chocolate, win, and go to Waterland! Let’s find the good child!”
“Wow, a good child…”
“…….”
“…….”
“Is that him?”
Fuck.
“Who?”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t see him…”
Cold sweat dripping, I pushed through the crowd of ghosts and advanced through the alley.
-Oh, yes. Even when all the illuminating lights vanish, a star is still a star. And the pursuit of obsessive fans is a situation that must be endured as fate!
-If they know the star’s physical characteristics particularly well, wouldn’t they try to look for only those features even more persistently?
Physical characteristics.
I recalled the drawing on the wrapper.
‘…The mask!’
I tore off the mask I was wearing and shoved it into my tattoo.
Then I pulled out a face mask and a cap, pulling them down tight over my face.
Naturally my steps slowed down, and the current grew closer. In my downward gaze, I saw the wave that had reached right behind me…
No. The speed difference was too great.
‘In that case…’
I checked another direction.
Overhead!
“…Manager, the telephone pole!”
“Yes.”
I climbed up the telephone pole right next to me, scrambling quickly. I had never climbed anything so desperately in my life. Regardless of whether my palms were scraped raw, somehow, somehow…
‘…I made it!’
Water rushed into the spot where I had been.
But I successfully climbed up to just beneath the power lines of the telephone pole.
“Haa…”
I tightened my grip which was about to loosen in relief.
‘I’m okay for now.’
At the moment I tried to twist my body, rest my legs against the alley wall, and stabilize my posture.
*Plop.*
From the pocket of my suit,
the smartphone with its screen turned on slipped out.
*Splash.*
It fell into the water that filled the ground.
Water entered the smartphone screen, which had cracked upon colliding with the stone floor, and the app’s screen flickered static.
Do not give up on your body!
Remaining steps: 3210
And…
the screen went black.
“…….”
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
Only a black surface remained on the broken smartphone.
The black water masses in the shape of bizarrely moving mascots filled the dark, narrow alleyway, peering here and there into the shop windows.
My smartphone was swept away by that current.
It moved to the corner of the alley in no time, and moving along, it disappeared among the crowd following the mascot-shaped mass.
The rapids brushed past the telephone pole I was clinging to, heading toward the far end of the alley…
Along with the escape method that had been prepared for me.
“…….”
I’m fucked…
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
I turned my head while frozen.
Lizard, who was hanging with one hand on the section of the telephone pole right below me, was reaching out his hand to me.
He showed me something.
None other than the intact screen of his own smartphone.
Way out of Samangdan-gil →
Follow the arrows!
Manager Lee Ja-heon had successfully filled his ten thousand steps at this moment.
I blankly stared at Manager Lee Ja-heon’s smartphone app page, where the route guidance was already active…
However.
“Take it.”
“…Yes?”
Lizard held out his smartphone to me.
“Escape by following the app’s route guidance.”
“…!”
A lifeline was thrown.
“The smartphone does not recognize even if the possessor changes. As long as you do not deviate from the guided route, you can escape.”
“…….”
I reached my hand toward Lee Ja-heon’s smartphone. And…
I clenched my teeth and refused.
“I cannot do that.”
“?”
“Manager. That strange black water just now… was definitely trying to find me. It is searching this alley even now.”
I barely avoided it by taking off my mask and hiding my presence.
However.
“If I move along the app’s route guidance, I won’t be able to avoid the black water even if I run into it. …Because I must not deviate from the path.”
While moving along the app’s route guidance, never take your eyes off the screen for more than 3 seconds or deviate from the guided route.
Failure to comply will result in being processed as missing.
This rule was applied identically on the way back as well.
“So… the probability of me escaping safely without going missing is extremely low.”
For me to be safe, the route guidance had to be activated at least after taking refuge in another alley.
‘Whew…’
“…I think finding another way would give a higher probability of escaping.”
Lee Ja-heon stared at me with his vertical pupils.
“I see.”
“Yes. So, Group Leader, please escape with that…”
And he turned off his smartphone.
“…!!”
Has this lizard gone mad?
“What are you doing?”
“I am observing the recommended manual of operating in pairs.”
He was talking nonsense.
“Then why did you try to hand over the escape route to me earlier?? You would have been left alone, not in a pair!”
“I followed the priority of the manual. If you want a more detailed explanation, request it after escaping.”
Lee Ja-heon spoke plainly.
“From now on, the priority of all conversation and questions shall be survival and return from this Dark.”
“…….”
“Mr. Roe Deer, formulate a new escape method that you can deduce, even though it is not written in the current manual.”
Oh my god.
“…Yes.”
I barely replied.
After a short while.
We climbed down from the telephone pole.
And we began to walk again on the ground of the alley swept by the rapids.
Without route guidance, without an escape method.