Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 111

“Bound for Tamna? What’s that?”

“An error? Wow, but it’s a bit chilling.”

The passengers of the high-speed train murmured, looking at the changed cabin video.

Even so, it wasn’t serious. It was just the tone of someone thinking, ‘Something unusual has happened during this boring travel time.’

…That is, until they fully grasped what that incident was.

“Hey, I recorded this, right? I’m going to upload it to InHeart… huh?”

“Why?”

“…The internet’s not working.”

It was typical.

“Hey, turn on your smartphone. Hurry!”

“Uh, excuse me, but mine says I’m out of service. Can you make calls?”

“What? Why can’t any calls go through?”

The murmur of the people grew louder.

But Assistant Manager Nabi, sitting in front of me, didn’t stir, and Assistant Manager Dolphin, sitting in the aisle seat next to me, merely grumbled softly.

“Ah, how annoying. To get caught up in this when there are so many civilians.”

It was the typical prelude to ‘The Darkness,’ something anyone working in our company’s field exploration department would anticipate.

Moreover, though they didn’t know it, this ghost story was actually a strange phenomenon that the government, not our company, had already identified decades ago, leaving behind a memorandum.

The ‘Mureungwon Test (provisional name)’ is an extremely rare phenomenon that occurs on high-speed rail lines departing from Seoul bound for Iksan.

No casualties to date. Disaster classification pending.

But that was also all there was to it.

‘Because there are no casualties!’

The Bureau of Supernatural Disaster Management typically only registered ghost stories as disasters if people died.

Therefore, the memorandum concluded, ‘It is presumed that the phenomenon disappeared as the Iksan-bound high-speed train was extended to Mokpo-bound.’

However… it had begun again.

Right now, on this train.

“Excuse me! L-look outside!!”

“My goodness!”

I turned my head to look out the train window. Outside the window, where the city of Seoul should have been visible as we left it behind…

An endless blue ocean stretched out.

“…!”

The azure horizon, meeting the crimson sky, created a fantastical and bizarre landscape.

The train, kicking up spray, cut through the waves and sped forward across the glittering, shimmering surface of the blue sea…

“Is this train… running on the sea right now?! H-how?”

“Wow…”

“Ah, isn’t this just graphics? Like a test run for window displays or something?”

The passengers, forgetting their bewilderment, gasped in admiration at the strange yet beautiful and somewhat transcendental background.

Some even tried to take pictures with their non-working smartphones, only to be surprised when they couldn’t save them.

The Tamna-bound High-Speed Train Incident.

It was identical to the introduction of the document I knew…

“……”

Damn it.

If I had focused solely on the fact that I was ‘boarding a high-speed train bound for Mokpo,’ I might have noticed the possibility of this ghost story occurring.

‘But by design, I was meant to overlook this.’

Because another ‘Darkness’ was set as my target ahead!

-Go to Mokpo and enter C-grade Darkness.

Focusing on this premise and continuously refining this countermeasure meant a thorn had unexpectedly sprung out from somewhere else.

I clasped my hands together, my mind racing.

‘…Is this a trap designed for this?’

Or is it a coincidence?

This incident was clearly written in the wiki as ‘occurring unexpectedly by anyone.’

‘But that was written from the perspective of the Disaster Management Bureau.’

Other groups or individuals… might have figured out the ghost story’s occurrence pattern.

……Especially.

‘Looking at my companions, it feels too intentional…’

“Excuse me, Assistant Manager. Wake up.”

“……Ha.”

Assistant Manager Dolphin nudged Assistant Manager Nabi, who was sitting opposite him.

“Another job? I wish it was a high-grade one. So we could report it and get more points.”

“Me too!”

Two members of the elite team.

In other words, they were individuals capable of making cold, hard decisions without mercy for the sake of mission success.

‘…They’re incompatible with this ghost story.’

This is…

A ghost story that tests human ethics.

“Hmm. The text on the screen has changed.”

……

I raised my head, my eyes coldly set.

A new sentence flowed across the screen.

Those who wish to arrive in Tamna, offer a sacrifice. 

“…Sacrifice?”

Thump.

One of the windows at the very front of the train car opened.

People nearby gasped in horror.

“Oh my god!”

“This door doesn’t usually open… Wait, why isn’t any wind coming in?”

“But why did this suddenly open…?”

As if…

Telling them to throw a sacrifice through there.

“……”

Bewilderment and a faint fear spread across the faces of several passengers who had actively gotten out of their seats to check the strange phenomenon.

“What… sacrifice? Offer a sacrifice?”

“It’s too weird…”

But no one wanted to deduce or chatter about what the real sacrifice or offering might be.

“…Isn’t it just a hack?”

“Hey, let’s go find a crew member.”

It was avoidance.

People simply clicked their tongues nervously, sat back down, or moved to another car to find a crew member.

They pretended to be calm.

Because they had truly realized that the situation was not normal, an eerie silence fell over the cabin…

Tap, tap.

At that moment, Assistant Manager Nabi lightly tapped the handrail of the seat opposite her, drawing my attention and Assistant Manager Dolphin’s.

“Don’t step forward. Observe what they do first.”

“Understood!”

“Yes.”

Perhaps the assistant manager wanted to see what results someone else’s attempt would yield. …It also seemed like she wanted to prevent me from acting rashly.

But I had no intention of stepping forward anyway.

‘If this is truly that incident, it’s better not to act now…’

I sat quietly and watched the situation unfold ‘as predetermined.’

A short while later.

“This is too weird!”

People’s screams began to erupt intermittently here and there.

“I found a crew member, and they’re in complete panic! They’re screaming that they don’t know either!”

“No, there are people in the front car who brought their kids, right? They’re all freaking out that their kids are gone! This doesn’t seem like a normal situation…”

“The conductor can’t be reached. The door to the cockpit is completely locked!!”

Communicating with other cars revealed even more chilling facts.

-Ah, chaos! What cannot be understood in human history has always been an object of fear, and this place is no exception.

-Will you continue to watch where they flow, my friend?

‘…For a while.’

That was correct.

But the anxiety was unavoidable, so I clenched my teeth to suppress my nervousness.

And I watched the people standing at the train car door, announcing to everyone.

“Everyone, I think we need to come up with a plan!”

“That’s right, this is really a big deal…!”

Ding-a-ling!

“……Huh?”

Everyone’s gaze turned.

New text appeared on the cabin screen.

Entering the First Altar

Whoosh.

Outside the window, the dazzling blue sea suddenly began to turn crimson…

Then it abruptly darkened.

“Argh!”

Outside all the windows, instead of the horizon, a wall covered in grotesque membranes began to appear.

“Th-this is…”

“Mommy!”

As if the high-speed train were entering a tunnel or a station, the train continued to glide through that strange, dark space.

Remaining Distance: 5

“S-shouldn’t we do something?”

“Let’s try to find a button or something!”

“A button? There isn’t one…”

Remaining Distance: 4

“Ah, what should we do? What do we do…?”

“Excuse me! You, by the window seat! Let’s close this window together, don’t just sit there…!”

“Ah, you’re so loud, seriously!”

Thwack!

Remaining Distance: 3

“Y-you’re trying to shove someone… huh? Huh? Huh?!”

Splash.

“Argh! Someone fell out the window!”

“N-no! That person tried to push me and fell out themselves!”

Remaining Distance: 2

“S-shouldn’t the train stop? Someone fell…”

Remaining Distance: 1

“Let’s lie down on the floor, quietly.”

“Yes, yes.”