Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 95
Chapter 95
===================
Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
Water poured into the laundromat.
*Glug, glug.*
I backed away, avoiding the water seeping through the gaps in the glass door.
However, there was no place to run in the unmanned laundromat. Only a few washing machines were running all around.
‘Damn it.’
“This way!”
I stepped up onto the washing machine immediately. At the same time, Manager Lee Ja-heon stood on the adjacent washing machine.
But that was it.
‘Where should I go?’
I scanned the high, small glass window on the left wall with my eyes. There were bars on it, but if it were Manager Lee Ja-heon, he would be able to rip it off…
♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
“…….”
A sound was heard as the water current clashed.
A faint and brilliant instrumental piece rang in my ears.
A melody I had heard before.
The theme song of Pleasant Theme Park.
♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
The waves filling the laundromat gathered and turned into a water mass.
A dragon in the attire of the theme park mascot.
Found you.
A voice suddenly flowed out of the water mass in front of me, which had seemed to possess no intelligence.
Like a sound that felt as if it was coming from beyond a telephone.
Using water as a medium, it vibrated…
Found you.
Breaking out in cold sweat, I stared at the black stream of water and the mass occupying the laundromat…
‘How did it recognize me?’
I had even taken off my mask, and was wearing a cap and a face mask…
Kidnapper.
‘…It recognized Manager Lee Ja-heon!’
The black water mass raised its front paw and pointed at Lizard standing on the washing machine next to me.
“He is not.”
Kidnapper.
“He is not.”
It will keep doing that endlessly…!
No, if so, it was actually a relief. In fact, it wouldn’t have been strange if that water mass exerted a spine-chilling ability typical of a ghost story right away!
I still hadn’t forgotten. The rapids that surged from the telephone and madly swallowed the alley.
‘…Since it is water, I am not even sure if physical exorcism will work.’
“…….”
Whew.
Right, at least if we were in a situation where communication was possible.
Bad…
“He is not a kidnapper.”
I took off my face mask and put on the mask.
Then I rolled up my sleeve and showed the tattoo.
: Socius :
In that state, I looked directly into the face of the water mass dragon with the most comfortable expression possible.
“Mr. Mascot. By any chance, is it me you were looking for?”
The shape of the water mass fluctuated.
And…
Good child!
The voice became clear.
“Yes, nice to meet you too…”
I gestured to Manager Lee Ja-heon not to come down, and then slowly descended from the washing machine.
‘Ugh.’
Although the water splashed beneath my feet, there were no other crazy symptoms besides the theme park’s theme song becoming slightly clearer.
‘Good.’
I can do it.
I stepped forward in front of the water mass…
Let’s go
A vibration was felt from the tattoo.
It felt as if it was resonating with the form before my eyes.
The dragon’s front paw approached…
Play more
I inhaled.
“I’m sorry.”
And I quietly pushed the front paw.
“I am no longer a child, so I cannot stay in the theme park continuously. Because I have to work.”
Silence.
‘It is insanely scary.’
But enduring it, I spoke while calmly looking at the dragon’s face.
“Still, when I want to play, when I want to spend time at a fun water park, I will definitely visit.”
I raised my wrist and showed the tattoo.
“You gave me this for that reason, right? So that I can come whenever I want.”
The water mass nodded its head slowly.
“Thank you. …Um, however, it seems I don’t know very well how to get to Pleasant Theme Park.”
The method of entering Pleasant Theme Park at the company is a board game, and there, one enters a theme park with a different structure in each game.
‘If I can prevent this part, it might actually be safer.’
Since a place I have already visited would be better.
“I’m worried that I might accidentally go to another theme park where Mr. Mascot isn’t present, so is there a way to prevent that?”
It’s fine
“…It is fine even if I go to another theme park?”
It’s fine
“…….”
It was strange.
‘…Will something change if I play that board game again?’
At any rate, if that is the case.
Promise
Whew.
Concealing my trembling, I held out my hand to the water mass.
“Yes. I promise.”
And I hooked my pinky finger.
The squelchy feeling of water sent a chill, but there was no problem…
…….
Releasing the pinky, the water mass pressed my tattoo with the claw of its front paw.
It seemed to check if it was attached well, and soon pulled back its paw as if satisfied.
It was at that moment.
*Fwip.*
The laundromat door opened under water pressure, and something flew in and landed on top of the water mass’s front paw.
A square black thing.
My broken smartphone.
Yours.
“…….”
I took hold of my smartphone with trembling hands.
“…Thank you. I was at a loss, thinking I had lost it.”
Good child
The shape of the water mass collapsed.
Promise
The wave subsided.
And like a video tape being rewound, it was sucked out through the gaps of the laundromat…
*Slither.*
The water current brushed backward through the alley.
Before long, the alley became quiet with no trace of water.
And inside the laundromat, which had been full of black water, a few chocolate bars with my physical appearance printed on them remained like gold dust.
“…….”
I survived.
“Whew…”
I slumped to the ground.
-Oh dear, my friend! Did you promise to go play at that trivial theme park again?
‘Yes.’
Because no matter how much I thought about it, if I had said something like ‘I don’t want to promise’ there, I wouldn’t know what state I would have ended up in.
‘I might have had my entrails completely gutted out and ended up working at the theme park as the Blue Dragon Mascot Version 2 employee.’
It was rather a relief to have avoided that…
If I kept the membership, I would be treated as a guest there. Rather than being dragged away blindly now or accepting variables, that would be better.
My mind spun rapidly.
‘…Should I talk to the company and schedule a date to play the board game?’
Looking at the interval… I should probably go within half a year.
‘Let’s prepare items and equipment in the meantime.’
Good.
For now, the important thing was that I had gotten past this moment. I stood up on trembling legs and held back a sigh.
‘If it was going to be like this, I shouldn’t have run away earlier…!’
But honestly, in that situation, would there be any crazy bastard who wouldn’t run away and think to stay and resolve it calmly through dialogue?
‘I’ll bet a gold bar on ‘none’…’
Whew.
Conveniently, Lee Ja-heon jumped down from the washing machine nonchalantly behind me.
I asked thoughtlessly.
“Group Leader. If I hadn’t stepped forward earlier, would you have attempted to smash… no, at any rate, eliminate that water mass?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
As expected.
The timing was just right now, and if we had stood blankly in that stationery store, things would have gone to hell in many ways.
‘It was indeed correct to run away well back then.’
I don’t know whether to cry or laugh about this…
But let’s snap out of it.
‘We are still trapped in this alley.’
The redeeming factor was that I had thought of one method to attempt to leave here.
“Group Leader.”
I stood before the glass door of the laundromat, brushing off the hem of my suit.
“There is an escape method I’ve thought of. …If only a few conditions are met, it seems we can make an attempt even in this Samangdan-gil alley.”
“I see.”
“Yes. And the first condition is…”
I looked back at the shops of the alley.
The item that the shop owner had used for communication in the stationery store that threw us into a perplexing situation earlier.
“A telephone.”
* * *
After a while.
*Chime—*
In the alley where darkness had settled, we opened the door and entered a shop that showed a fairly comfortable light out of its window.
Coincidentally, it was the very shop where my colleagues had enjoyed shopping earlier.
Just like the advertising slogan ‘Handmade Knitting,’ cozy-looking sweaters, socks, and mufflers were displayed, but occasionally and strangely, there were tattered and wet fibers…
‘Ugh.’
Avoiding them as much as possible, I turned my gaze further toward the shop structure.
And after slipping in and out of numerous shops in this alley over the past few hours while avoiding the angry voice of the stationery store owner, I finally found what I was looking for.
‘…It’s here!’
Another door.
On the wall opposite the door I entered through, there was a main door.
It was larger than the door I had just entered. Which meant…
‘That side is the front entrance.’
And beyond that would not be the alleyway of Samangdan-gil, but an unknown street…
Frequently expressed as ‘processed as missing hereafter’ in the Records of the Dark Exploration.
Opposite doors are occasionally found in the shops of Samangdan-gil’s alleyways. It is recommended to avoid heading out through them as much as possible.
*No records of return to date.
It was similar to the fear felt when only the answer ‘unknown’ returned to the question, ‘Where does the explorer who deviated from the route go?’
The fear of vanishing.
Whew.
I quickly turned my eyes away to avoid seeing the neon signs shining beyond that opaque glass door.
And picking up one of the socks that Manager Lizard had been observing intently, which was verified as safe, I headed to the counter.
“Hello.”
The owner, who was knitting with six arms, stared at me over his reading glasses.
I subtly lowered my gaze this time too, looking only at the owner’s sweater.
And holding out the socks, I spoke naturally.
“Please process the payment. Ah, and by any chance, would it be alright if I made a telephone call here?”
I didn’t stop at words, casually placing a few more coins on the counter.
…….
The owner of Samangdan-gil, who possessed the face of an elderly man…
*Click.*
lifted the telephone and handed it to me.
“……Thank you.”
Whew.
‘With this, all the conditions are secured.’
1. A telephone.
2. A main door in a direction other than the alley.
And…
3. A means of transportation.
I looked at the dial plate of the classic telephone.
Naturally, dialing a reality number using a telephone in Samangdan-gil would not unconditionally connect.
There were records where it felt as if a connection had been made intermittently, but all of them were strangely distorted, typical of a ghost story.
The moment someone pretending to be a relative was caught, they would hang up while cackling, or the connection would be made to family members currently holding the caller’s own funeral due to warped time.
‘It was terrible.’
Thus, what I was doing was not a request for rescue.
‘Perhaps… it is closer to the opposite.’
I raised my finger, dialing and pressing the dial plate somewhat clumsily.
666666 4444 8282
Originally, it was a number whose format was nonsensical, so a ringtone shouldn’t even go through, but…
*Ring, ring, ring… click.*
Like a lie, it connected.
[…….]
I tried hard not to notice the other party’s breathing, opening my mouth as nonchalantly as possible.
“Hello. Is this a call taxi company? I’d like to call a taxi.”
[…Confirmed the location.]
A husky voice was heard.
A low, arrogant tone that was polite, yet strangely sounded as if mocking.
[State the time frame you wish to use it.]
“I would like it to come right now.”
[State the destination.]
“…Seoul Station, Exit 1.”
[Confirmed. We are dispatching a driver…]
I intentionally pulled my ear away from the telephone for a moment.
And a few seconds later.
[Dispatched. Have a comfortable ride.]
*Click, beep, beep, beep…*
The call disconnected automatically.
“…Thank you.”
I politely returned the telephone to the shop owner, received the packaged bag of socks, and handed it to Manager Lee Ja-heon.
It was to hide the trembling of my hands.
‘Whew.’
It was done.
As you might have noticed, the taxi just now was not a normal call taxi.
A suspicious call taxi number that traversed space-time at will.
‘It was a ghost story…!’
———————=
Records of the Dark Exploration / Ghost Story
[Hell Surcharge Taxi]
: A ghost story appearing in the <Records of the Dark Exploration>, Daydream Co.’s identification code is Qterw-C-8282.
A taxi ghost story that appears when calling a call taxi using a specific number late at night.
The person who rides this taxi is unconditionally cursed.
———————=
In Samangdan-gil, the path to return to reality normally can no longer be found.
In that case.
‘I will leave even by utilizing a ghost story.’
And a few seconds later.
From beyond the shop’s main door, a small horn sound was heard.
*Honk, honk.*
“…….”
The taxi had arrived.