Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 106

I checked the work tips note with trembling hands.

11. Have you been doing this for two days straight? They usually give you a day off after night cleaning, but consecutive night shifts, you’re really pathetic… Anyway, the tips continue. This morning I said, “No, no!

‘Let’s stop reading.’

At the very end, there was clearly a rule that seemed abnormally corrupted. I didn’t know about the first one, but the second note itself might be a trap.

I violently folded the note back and shoved it into my pocket.

Then I raised my head and looked at the still firmly closed doors of Isolation Corridor B, settling my gaze on one spot.

[Isolation Room B14]

“……”

What on earth happened?

‘Calm down.’

I need to organize my thoughts.

Clearly, I was going through the first day.

It was around 3 AM. As I was finishing the cleaning, the isolation room door suddenly opened, and someone… ‘Something’ resembling Assistant Manager Eun Hajae appeared.

And the moment Assistant Manager Park Minseong realized its true identity…

‘It noticed right away and did something… horrific.’

I have no memory after that.

But why did an entire day disappear, and it became the second day, and the story ended with ‘we safely finished the cleaning’?

And yet the structure makes it feel as if I regained my senses before this happened…

Wait a minute.

I checked the digital watch on my wrist.

Just before 3 AM.

…

“Assistant Manager! Over here, now!”

“Uh, uh-huh??”

I called Assistant Manager Park Minseong and ran.

And at the end of the corridor, I opened the steel door, where the green emergency light was still shining brightly, and stepped outside.

“What in the…”

Thud.

The moment Assistant Manager Park Minseong followed me out, I closed the door. I heard the Assistant Manager’s bewildered voice.

“Deer, what are you doing? We haven’t even finished cleaning, why on earth…”

Beep-beeeeeep!!

[Unauthorized isolation room opening confirmed. Corridor sealed.]

As if on cue, red lights came on, and protective shutters descended on all the doors.

Even on the corridor door we had just exited.

“…!”

Assistant Manager Park Minseong’s expression hardened.

“…Wait. Deer. You knew this…”

“Just a moment.”

I immediately pulled out my walkie-talkie and turned it on. Then I promptly increased the volume and pressed the button.

Something that looked like Assistant Manager Eun Hajae had told me not to trust the walkie-talkie, so I reasoned that, conversely, this was trustworthy.

“J.C. Something came out of the isolation room.”

BEEP.

A response came back instantly.

[Is it in the corridor?]

“No. We just came out of the isolation room corridor. However…”

I glanced at the door leading out of the rental warehouse.

The shutter had descended there too.

“We’re trapped in front of the rental warehouse counter. …The door leading out of here also has a protective shutter down.”

[Hmm, then… since primary containment is done, don’t be scared… just stay put… I’m coming now.]

[But… was it room 12? Or 6?]

Phew.

I barely managed to answer.

“Probably… 14.”

Silence.

[…B14?]

“Yes.”

An ominous silence flowed through the walkie-talkie once more.

My back was clammy with sweat.

BEEP.

[Don’t talk to anyone and stay still. Quietly, hide. Away from Corridor B.]

I swallowed.

“Yes.”

[But the isolation room seal… has a hold time. Even if I release it immediately, the system holds it… for 10 minutes.]

10 minutes.

[Just hold out for 10 minutes until I arrive. …Don’t speak. From now on.]

Click.

The transmission ended.

Silence descended upon the dimly lit rental warehouse, illuminated by red emergency lights.

“……”

Looking beside me, Assistant Manager Park Minseong, who had heard the entire conversation, was carefully backing away from the door to the Isolation Zone B Corridor, his face pale…

Then.

BANG!!

The door rattled.

BANG-BANG-BANG!!

Something inside the isolation corridor was pounding on the door, hard enough to shake the protective shutter.

And a faint sound could be heard.

…Hey! What the hell…!

“……”

Someone was shouting from the isolation corridor we had just escaped. It somehow sounded increasingly familiar…

“Deer, don’t listen…!”

“…!”

Assistant Manager Park Minseong covered my ears and quickly pulled me towards the rental warehouse counter.

And only after we were a sufficient distance from the isolation corridor door did he whisper urgently to me.

“The protective shutter is down, so sounds from behind it shouldn’t reach us here…! That’s not real. That’s…”

Gulp.

The Assistant Manager swallowed.

“…It really seems like something came out. Just as you said.”

“……”

“Earlier… the security team person said they’d be here in 10 minutes. Until then, let’s not trust anyone who comes and talks to us, and just stay still. Absolutely don’t talk first…”

I slowly nodded. The Assistant Manager sighed in relief and sank down to the floor.

“Hey, but how did you know, Deer? About the isolation room door opening…”

“It’s a bit complicated, but first, there’s something I need to know.”

“What?”

“What exactly happened to us on the first day?”

A puzzled expression spread across Assistant Manager Park Minseong’s face.

“Uh, uh-huh? On the first day?”

“Yes.”

“We just finished cleaning normally… Oh, of course, a few things from the work tips happened, but we handled them well and went home, didn’t we?”

And the examples he then gave were all things we had indeed experienced. …Before the commotion in the isolation room.

If that’s the case.

“Do you remember giving me the second work tips paper in the early morning?”

“…Deer.”

Assistant Manager Park Minseong’s expression hardened.

“There was no second paper.”

“……”

“You seem a bit… perhaps affected by the isolation room door opening? Wait a minute, let me just check today’s work tips…”

What?

I stopped Assistant Manager Park Minseong from trying to take the note from my pocket.

“Just a moment. How did you get that work tips note in the first place?”

“Huh? I got it as work tips circulating in the security team.”

“Yes. Who exactly was it?”

“……”

“Can you describe who gave it to you?”

“Of course… ly,”

Assistant Manager Park Minseong’s face turned pale.

He tried to speak several times, opening and closing his mouth…

Finally, he confessed.

“…I don’t know.”

“…!”

“No, clearly… huh? So, it was, uh, left in the sleeping quarters? No, a security team colleague gave it to me… Did I even have colleagues? Huh? Huh? Huh-huh-huh?”

Damn it.

“It’s okay! You don’t have to think about it. For now, let’s just stay still.”

“…Okay.”

Assistant Manager Park Minseong quietly hunched over and lowered his head.

“…Let’s just think about getting out. When that door opens, we leave immediately. Without looking back.”

“Yes.”

Phew…

‘Wow, seriously. This is driving me crazy…’

My head was in a mess.

Since our statements differ, I don’t know where my memories are true and where they are false.

I don’t know what’s real, what to believe is ambiguous, and this situation is full of fear.

‘Am I… am I under some kind of spell right now?’

But I’m clearly wearing a silver ring. That means strong resistance to illusions, hallucinations, and brainwashing. If so…

‘Let’s organize this logically.’

I desperately recalled.

1. My mind is sound.
2. Everything I’m experiencing is real.
3. This is an abnormal phenomenon unrelated to my mind.

And the third party who can objectively observe this phenomenon is…

‘Brown.’

It must be the stuffed animal in my pocket.

‘Brown! I want to ask you something, is that okay?’

…

Silence falls.

No way.

‘…Brown!’

I fumbled in my pocket. I called again, but there was no response…

-Ah! I’m here, my friend!

Phew.

I gripped the fluffy stuffed animal in my pocket and sighed in relief.

-Oh, my response was a bit slow! How embarrassing. It took me a while to catch up, you see.

“……”

‘Catch up’?

‘…Why did you need to catch up to me?’

-Ah, didn’t you just jump straight to the 30th, Mr. Deer!

The cheerful voice began to say something incomprehensible.

-Of course, I’m not blaming you. Finishing your disciplinary period quickly isn’t so bad either. Not putting effort into useless things and quickly welcoming the new year! Hastening more enjoyable events…

‘Wait, wait a minute.’

I hastily interrupted.

‘Sorry to cut you off, Brown. But… I need to confirm something.’

-Ah, if I can tolerate a guest’s grumbling, why not my friend’s! Speak freely, Mr. Deer!

Okay, okay…

‘You’re saying I jumped straight from the 29th to the 30th. By what means?’

-Hmm. Didn’t you readily pass that story on to someone else?

‘…!’

Wait, wait a minute.

‘Someone else?’

-That’s right. Oh! And coincidentally, they’re right next to you now.

“……”

-Their appearance changed so completely, didn’t it? Haha! They really were a master of disguise, my friend.

I managed to move my unmoving neck and looked at the person Brown had mentioned.

The one sitting right next to me.

“Uh… Deer? You’re quiet, and it’s a little scary, so can we talk?”

…A moment ago.

When I ran out of the isolation corridor, I thought I had called Assistant Manager Park Minseong to follow me.

But thinking about it, I didn’t physically grab him or look back.

So.

‘It’s possible that something that wasn’t Assistant Manager Park Minseong followed me after hearing that sound…’

If so, The thing that was pounding on the door from inside the corridor just now was…

“……”

“Deer, are you okay? Please answer me.”

And the advice Security Chief J3 gave me on the walkie-talkie.

-Don’t talk to anyone and stay still.

That meant…

It included the person who came in to clean with me.

“Deer? Deer… caught again.”

Thud.

Assistant Manager Park Minseong’s face fell to the floor right before my eyes.

Then listen to the Name-nimmmmmmm

A mouth-like opening moved from the melting body, drawing closer.

Closer to my face…

Beep-beeeeeep!

The red emergency light flashed again.

And the sound of machinery whirring began to echo from all directions.

…The sound of shutters rising.

[Seal released. Shutters opening.]

Ah.

Thank you! It opened!

The faceless being drew even closer.

It screamed with a joyful voice.

HAHAHAHAHA

My brain quivered, my sanity feeling completely shredded. Everything was hazy and distant.

In reality…

Fade to Black.

“……gasp!”

I raised my head.

The dimly lit storage rental warehouse.

An enclosed space filled with red emergency lights due to a lockdown. The firmly lowered protective shutters.

And me, looking just as I did after dropping the cleaning tools and fleeing from Isolation Area B.

It was as if the scenes I had just witnessed had been rewound a little.

And in my pocket… the work rules note.

For the 3rd day of work.

I immediately crumpled it and threw it aside.

BEEP-beep-beep.

[Hello…? Are you okay?]

The walkie-talkie was buzzing, but I ignored it.

This time, this time I remembered clearly.

‘…It called itself Name-nim.’

I ran a trembling, sweat-drenched hand through my hair.

‘I understand now.’

What was happening.

My vanished story.

The being appearing in the guise of an acquaintance.

The fervent cry of Name-nim.

Its true identity was…

———————= 

Darkness Exploration Log / Factions [Church of Nameless Radiance] : 

One of the three major colossal factions appearing in the <Darkness Exploration Log>. They worship a transcendent divine being called Name-nim, and their doctrine is to become a meaningful existence in this world and survive the time of the apocalypse. In this process, they follow unsocial and supernatural fanaticism, rituals, and laws. Divided into 6 denominations, they blindly believe in different sacred laws according to their characteristics and cause bizarre anomalous phenomena. 

Their truth is [SPOILER]. 

———————=

It was the Church of Nameless Radiance.