Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 112

The owner of the Silver Heart.

A good person who possesses a badge-shaped item capable of inciting people.

A crucial figure in this Tamna-bound high-speed train incident, but a character who only gains attention in the very last part of the short-story-like write-up.

So, the fact that I don’t remember their seat number or specific name.

Perhaps it’s natural.

‘Because I read the wiki mainly for ghost story strategy methods…!’

After falling into this situation, what I repeatedly read, almost like my lifeline, were mostly ghost story entries and exploration logs.

It meant I mainly read wikis that provided information for clearing ghost stories.

‘The supplementary content was put on the back burner for now.’

Prose that was long and emotional, like a short story, a kind of wiki spin-off? It was far down the priority list.

Moreover, the Silver Heart owner’s identity was mentioned only once or twice there.

To recall that number and alphabet accurately, just a month or two after reading it.

…It seems it was an unreasonable task.

‘I’m screwed…’

No!

I swallowed.

‘I can still make guesses.’

And even if I can’t secure that person early on, I will definitely figure out a way to deal with it.

‘I remember other wiki entries for the Tamna-bound High-Speed Train Incident.’

For instance, the urgent reports or documents registered with the Bureau of Supernatural Disaster Management.

Since I know the flow of this incident by iteration, I can do this.

I can do this…

……

‘Good.’

I set my direction for the future.

‘It’s a bit extreme, but there’s no other choice.’

Of course, all of this happened rapidly in my head within a few seconds, and meanwhile, my elite team colleagues next to me were casually chatting.

“Wow, a loop story! I’ve read a lot of sci-fi short story collections like this.”

“It means they’ll let us keep trying until we meet the conditions, right? It’s a bit annoying, but convenient.”

“……”

Truly an extraordinary conversation…

Fortunately, no one seemed to pay attention to our hushed conversation.

The entire train was filled with gasps, panic, and wailing.

“Gasp, gasp!”

“It’s a dream, this is a dream, a dream…”

But there was always someone who couldn’t just watch such a situation unfold.

“Just a moment. Everyone, calm down! Calm down!”

…Here he comes.

Second Iteration:

Individuals began appearing in each car of the high-speed train, trying to mend the passengers’ anxiety and gather their opinions.

-Ah, someone once said a crisis is an opportunity! In turbulent times, someone always steps up to lead.

Yes.

And in our car, that was the bespectacled office worker.

The very person who, in the first iteration, had gotten into a dispute about closing the window and was accidentally shoved out.

“Still, isn’t it important that we’re all alive? …Everyone, let’s calm down and try to figure out what happened.”

“Ah… ah.”

“Do you, do you have any ideas?”

Since someone was taking the lead, people did pay attention.

“I think time is repeating itself.”

The bespectacled office worker calmly tried to reassure people and organize the situation.

“It’s undeniable that we’re caught in a strange phenomenon, but there must be a reason why we’re being given a chance. Maybe it’s to figure out the right answer to escape.”

“Ah…”

“Let’s believe that and try. Calmly.”

He must have thought the situation was flowing in a pretty good direction.

If only he hadn’t looked back at my seat at the end.

“Excuse me, there are already calm people sitting here.”

“…!”

“Let’s try to understand the situation with that attitude as well.”

‘Damn it.’

The three of us, employees of Daydream Co., Ltd., were pointed out.

‘Were we too quiet…!’

……No, it was actually better.

It was time to establish a presence. In the second iteration, I had to step up early.

“Ah, no. I’m not calm… I’m just confused.”

I immediately shook my head with a smile that was clearly forced and fearful.

“I just… it just doesn’t feel real. We were all asleep on our business trip.”

I probably wasn’t suspected. My face was already pale without even trying.

However, when I spoke up first, Assistant Manager Jin Nasol raised an eyebrow slightly, but she tacitly allowed it for now. I seized the moment and quickly continued.

“But then suddenly, the view outside the window turned into an ocean, and there’s talk of sacrifices or whatever… That was all real, then?”

“Th-that, um. I suppose so.”

I swallowed, as if a little nervous.

“Then, the person who fell out the window earlier…”

“……”

The frozen gazes of the people slowly turned.

The middle-aged man who had been sitting right next to the window for ‘sacrifices.’ The man who had been involved in the quarrel and accidentally fell out, leaving his seat empty, was now…

There was someone in the seat.

“…!!”

The silhouette of a passenger sitting motionlessly was visible.

…It was the same person who had fallen out the window.

“H-he’s alive?!”

“Oh, really, thank goodness…”

That’s when it happened.

The passenger sprang up and lunged at the bespectacled office worker.

“…!!”

“You six-times-cursed bastard! Because of you, because of youuuu!”

“N-no, let go!”

It was pandemonium.

The middle-aged man, dressed like a nouveau riche, spit and stared at his opponent with strange eyes.

“Die, die! I fell because of you… Ah, it hurts! It hurts so much…!!”

Madness streamed from his eyeballs.

“No, I can’t fall down there! It hurts! It’s weirdddd! Ugh, bleeech!”

“Hiek!”

The middle-aged man staggered and trembled, then began to vomit strange, dark red masses onto the floor.

“Ugh!! Ugh, ugh, ugh!”

The bespectacled office worker stepped back, his face shocked.

‘Ha.’

Those who became ‘sacrifices’ and fell out of the window displayed symptoms of delirium bordering on mental illness and bizarre supernatural disease signs in the next iteration.

They stated they endlessly suffered excruciating burning pain and non-human whispers after falling out the window.

…Seeing it in person, that unstable state was truly overwhelming.

The bespectacled office worker, completely overwhelmed, subtly retreated on trembling legs.

-Hmm, a voluntary surrender! A short but meaningful leadership, I’d say! In any case, the leadership position is now vacant.

-Does my friend intend to lead them with such fine skill…? Hmm, it seems not. That’s fine too! Let’s analyze the situation with this Brown.

‘Right.’

I deliberately stepped back.

And at that moment.

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

The cabin video changed again.

“L-look, it’s up again!”

“Uh, so, last time, clearly…”

When someone fell out of the window.

The train safely exited the tunnel and kept going.

“……”

“……”

Perhaps because there was still time, people deliberately ignored that fact and muttered.

“…What is the sacrifice?”

“W-well, it has to be something alive, right? Like, in horror WeTube videos…”

I interjected.

“No. It could also be an object. Food offered in rituals is also a sacrifice.”

“Ah, ah…!”

“That’s right, for now, let’s calmly think about various things and throw them out…”

But fear, excitement, and anxiety still surged in their eyes…

“……”

“Th-then. Anyone have any food items?”

Soon after, people holding snacks voluntarily gathered food that could be thrown outside.

Fruits, eggs, meat, bread, etc…

And at a critical moment, the scenery outside the window changed.

Entering the First Altar

This time, people were a bit calmer.

“Let’s throw them.”

“Yes…!”

Splash, splash.

The food disappeared out the window in silence.

Remaining Distance: 4

The display panel didn’t move. Only the numbers descended.

“No! It’s not over!!”

People screamed.

Actually, even when the offering was accepted, the countdown still went all the way to the end, but I deliberately didn’t point that out.

…Because I knew from the start that food wasn’t the answer.

Remaining Distance: 3

And the passengers also seemed to have finally admitted.

The answer.

“It must be a person, after all. A person…”

“Ah…”

“No, how can we throw a person…?”

“If we don’t, we’ll all die! The train will sink, you hear me?!”

“But who…?”

Remaining Distance: 2

“……”

“……”

Gaze shifted.

The meaning was this:

‘Since he’s already gone mad, shouldn’t we just throw him out again?’

An unutterable subconscious thought, expressed in an emergency.

The ‘first iteration sacrifice,’ on whom gazes landed, began to convulse.

“Save me, save meeee! I don’t want to! No! No!”

“C-calm down. It’ll be okay…”

Remaining Distance: 1

“No! Noooo!”

“First, get away from the window… huh? Huh? Huh?!”

Whoosh…

Splash.

0

The tunnel ended.

The train interior brightened again, reflecting the blue sea.

The eerie purple text, ‘The offering has arrived, open the waterway,’ filled the cabin video.

And in front of the window…

Broken glasses lay on the floor.

“……”

“……”

And the ‘first iteration sacrifice’ who pushed him.

“The bastard who threw me died! I’m not dead! I’m not dead! I’m nooooot deeeead!”

The drooling middle-aged man staggered and ran down the aisle, then buried his head in a corner and began to sob.

A pale silence filled the train car.

It was an maddening atmosphere.

-The former leader becomes the sacrifice! Hmm, typical. A bit fast, though.

At that moment.

“Excuse me, there was a next one, too, right?”

A voice, incongruously cheerful, echoed through the train.

Assistant Manager Dolphin.

“W-what did you say?”

“The second altar will appear soon, you know. I think we need to prepare for that.”

“Stop it!!”

“Argh!”

Stress-induced reactions erupted. But Assistant Manager Dolphin said, seemingly unconcerned.

“This time, without fail, let’s find the worst person and make them fall!”

And he pointed his finger forward.

“Including all the other cars!”

“…!!”

“And… there’s no guarantee they’ll die, right? They came back alive just now. So isn’t it better to find the worst person and make them suffer?”

It was insane talk.

But in incomprehensible disaster situations, sometimes pleasant insanity works.

Though slightly distorted.

“Right! So far, only people from our car have fallen! The front cars should too!”

“Exactly!”

Why should only our car endure this suffering and deliberation?!

Swept up in a sense of injustice and strange anger, the people of Car 7, our car, surged forward.

I and the elite team members also got caught in the current and moved forward. No, Assistant Manager Dolphin was practically at the very front.

“Excuse me! Is there an open window here too?? Last time the train crashed, I think it was because no one fell out there…”

But as expected, as we went further forward, most people still hadn’t grasped the situation at all.

“W-what crazy talk are you saying?”

“Who are these people?”

“Excuse me, if you don’t want to get hit, leave. Just go.”

“Ohh.”

“…Let’s move further and inform them.”

Assistant Manager Dolphin looked at the last speaker as if they were a good candidate for a person of excellent character, then hurriedly moved to the next car.

But the moment we entered Car 3.

Entering the Second Altar

It began again.

“Aargh!”

“Someone, quick, fall out!”

“The train’s going to crash, sob, sob, sob…”

“Throw a person! We have to throw a person out the window!”

The screams of the people from Car 7, our car, whose stress had reached its peak, were heard.

And the voices of people from other cars who still hadn’t accurately grasped the situation.

Remaining Distance: 5

“Who are those people?! Where did they come from??”

“Aren’t they crazy bastards?!”

“If you don’t want to die, volunteers! Pick a volunteer!”

“Then why don’t you fall out?!”

“Someone from our car already fell! Other cars need to save us!!”

“So, a volunteer is….”

Remaining Distance: 4

A clear voice cut through the pandemonium.

“None?”

Assistant Manager Jin Nasol extended her hand.

‘…No!’

She’s going to pick the most uncooperative person here and throw them.

‘And if it starts over, she’ll keep using the same people as sacrifices…!’

It’s efficient, but it can’t happen.

Assistant Manager Jin Nasol was undoubtedly capable, but she clearly lived without caring about public opinion.

I immediately raised my hand.

Remaining Distance: 3

“I’ll volunteer!”

“……”

Assistant Manager Jin Nasol turned to look at me.

“What?”

I said again.

“I’ll fall.”

“…!!”

“Why…”

Remaining Distance: 2

“Since I won’t actually die, I’ll endure it.”

And I quickly whispered to Assistant Manager Jin Nasol.

“We need to confirm what exactly is happening down there.”

“Why bother?”

“I can’t trust civilian testimonies. I’ve also prepared mental defense measures.”

“Hmm…”

Remaining Distance: 1

“Fine.”

“…! Thank you.”

I quickly finished the whispered conversation and shouted to the people.

“Not much time left! I’m going to the window, so everyone clear the way!”

“Uh, uhh…”

People stepped back hesitantly, unable to stop me. Both our car and other cars had the same reaction.

‘…Good.’

I spoke calmly, but my hands were trembling.

Still, there was no other choice.

‘According to the plan, this process is absolutely necessary at least once.’

If Plan A, finding and securing the Silver Heart owner immediately, had failed.

‘Then I have to use a more extreme method.’

“Everyone, be careful!”

I clung to the window and at the same time pulled out a painkiller from my pocket.

There was a chance it wouldn’t work.

‘But it’s better than nothing, right…!’

I injected ‘Happy Maker’ into my forearm. And at the same time, I threw myself out the window.

Into the red tunnel.