Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 113

The first thing I saw was a red pulsation.

Thump, thump, thump.

I belatedly realized that I had hit something.

Splash.

With a short, thick sound, my body landed on something squishy.

A foul stench.

The next moment, I realized it was the putrid smell of rotting protein.

Bits of flesh, strewn around me, clung to my body.

Pulsating red.

Whoosh!

The wind blew.

The high-speed train I had been on roared past me, leaving behind a deafening noise and wind pressure.

The train instantly vanished into the sparkling light at the end of the tunnel…

“……”

Honestly, it was quite disgusting and a little scary, but I didn’t fall into pain or severe panic.

It was just the feeling of standing alone in front of the apartment’s trash sorting area late at night.

“My goodness, such an unhygienic environment! Are you alright, friend?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

‘…Happy Maker is really working properly.’

It was as if my head had solidified warmly, the opposite of how taking a tranquilizer makes your heart feel cool and less tense.

I got up, my mind surprisingly calm and stable.

But in the process, the moment I brushed off the rotten flesh with my bare hands—

Devour your unrighteousness.

A strange sound echoed in my head.

“……”

So, um. Roughly matching the testimonies of those who had been sacrificed with the current situation…

‘At this point, I should be feeling burning pain all over my body, unable to bear it, tearing off my skin and flesh…’

And then, while chewing and spilling it, I would have to walk forward towards the light at the end of this filthy, damp passage. It felt like that kind of insane situation.

This very passage was the trace of that horror.

Fortunately, all my pain was numbed, and I was even wearing a silver ring that boosted my mental resistance, so I didn’t feel such a crazy impulse.

“Phew.”

I stood up fully and lightly brushed myself off.

It wasn’t very effective. The traces left by the filth and rotten flesh were stark.

As for the source of this flesh… let’s try not to think about it…

Thanks to Happy Maker, there was no agitation, but it still felt unpleasant.

Oh, wait a minute.

“Brown, are you okay?”

“Ah, you mean this sounds like a repeating radio tape? It seems like meaningless noise pollution, but it’s not unbearable!”

“…Burning pain?”

“Haha!”

“This body has neither skin nor flesh! Only cloth and cotton, and eyes and a nose…”

R-right.

‘The condition for sacrifice truly only applies to humans, then.’

It was fortunate that Brown didn’t lose his temper and go crazy.

“Anyway, does my friend have more business in this messy place?”

“…No.”

“Then let’s get out quickly.”

Indeed.

‘To escape, I need to go back to that train.’

I got up and started walking.

To the end of the passage.

Squish, squish.

The foul liquid from under my feet splattered into my shoes, and my socks turned red.

Abandon your sins. Tear off as much as your sins. Eat your sins.

“……”

Could it be that the more sins one commits, the stronger the burning pain?

‘Then, theoretically, a good person would feel minimal pain even if they fell out the window here…’

As the loop repeated, this ghost story focused on the train’s internal groups becoming more and more desperate, horrific, and inhuman chaos, so such details could only be guessed by experiencing them.

Anyway… the passage was longer than I expected, and I stubbornly walked on.

‘I hope I don’t have to use another Happy Maker.’

Abandon your sins. Abandon your sins. Abandon your sins.

Ignoring the voices, I continued walking.

My feet felt increasingly heavy, but the light steadily drew closer.

Thump, thump. The intense light emanating from the tunnel’s exit almost obscured my vision, making it difficult to see ahead.

‘Ah.’

Almost there.

Squinting, I pushed forward…

And the moment I was enveloped by the light.

Go to Tamra.

‘……!’

A small, soft invitation.

A strange warmth and sense of liberation, a peculiar, encompassing… revelation-like feeling that pierced through the crown of my head, that sensation…

“Whoa! That’s an aggressive invitation. Just a moment…”

The moment it vanished.

My consciousness was sucked into somewhere at an incredible speed, like a train plummeting down a steep incline.

“…!”

“Gasp!”

“Argh! Aaaargh!”

I opened my eyes.

I was sitting in a comfortable, modern high-speed train car.

My body was clean again, and my mind…

‘Wow.’

A nauseating sensation washed over me at the recollection.

My stomach churned.

‘I… I didn’t feel that feeling?’

Was I really buried in pieces of flesh that people had torn off and vomited while alive, then got up from it and walked?

‘S-stop thinking about it.’

Anyway, the important thing was that I had successfully returned to this point in time.

‘The Happy Maker effect also completely disappeared as I returned to the starting point.’

I instantly regained my composure and immediately checked the quantity of Happy Makers.

……

11 before use.

It was still the same.

“The consumable item you used has returned to an unused state. Strictly speaking, since you returned to the train’s departure time, it’s only natural!”

Yes. I had guessed as much.

‘Good.’

I was ready.

I looked up to see Deputy Jin Nasol looking at me with a calm expression.

“How was it?”

“It was a terrible and disgusting place. If one falls without preparation, they will almost certainly experience psychosis or contamination symptoms.”

“Is that so? Then get up. We’ve already secured…”

“Hey! Look over here! This person is fine!”

“……”

Ugh!

Jin Nasol, whose words were cut off, showed an unpleasant expression, but she didn’t immediately take action as civilians swarmed towards us.

‘H-hurry.’

Seeing the shocked people in my intact state, I deliberately put on a faint smile.

“Are you alright?! Oh my god!!”

“This person, this person volunteered to fall! But… th-they’re… they’re okay?!”

“Yes. I am fine now. But… what exactly happened after I fell?”

“W-well…”

To summarize the rambling, urgent words of the people who started speaking, leaving only the important parts:

“After you fell, the countdown started again…!”

“Oh, that’s right! It was like the cooldown restarted, as if telling us to offer one more person.”

Just as I thought.

“…! I see. Then at that point, did the train crash again…?”

“No! After that!”

One of the passengers who had crowded around added an explanation.

“It was a bit strange, no one fell from our car, but… they said a sacrifice had been received, and suddenly a path opened…”

“……”

“People were muttering that someone from the front car must have fallen, but everyone was too agitated and fighting, so we couldn’t get the details…”

“……”

“No! They called us crazy! They’re the ones who can’t grasp the situation!”

“Exactly!”

“It’s so frustrating, seriously.”

“Even in games, you can’t just let those troll bastards get away with it.”

I see.

Conflicts were gradually escalating.

‘It was from this loop, wasn’t it?’

Loop 3: Factions formed in each train car, and fights broke out. They urged each other to choose passengers as sacrifices. Bloodshed began.

And…

Deaths occurred due to violence within the car.

……

For now, I calmly nodded.

“I see. It seems the number of people to be sacrificed increases by one each time.”

“W-what did you say?”

“At the first altar, one person. At the second altar, two people. It seems the required sacrifices increase sequentially like that.”

“Ah…!”

It seemed to be something everyone had guessed but dared not vocalize. Though murmurs and groans of fear emerged here and there, there was no strong objection.

Only fear.

“What do we do? What should we do? Why are we going through this? Sob…”

“H-could it be that it only ends if we all jump out the window?? Is that it?!”

It was a quite plausible guess, but I gently took the person’s shoulder.

“No. Calm down. There must be a way to end this.”

“Hoo-ooh.”

“Look at me. I fell, and I’m fine. There’s always a way.”

“Ah…”

Riding on the slightly calmer atmosphere, I spoke softly.

“You said the other person who fell out the window wasn’t doing well, correct? If it’s okay, could you guide me?”

“Ah… ah, yes!”

“This way!”

I followed the flustered guides, looking back at the passenger seats.

“Ohh. I’ll come too!”

Beyond Assistant Manager Dolphin, who immediately followed me.

Deputy Jin Nasol stood with her arms crossed, as if daring me to try.

‘She let me off the hook.’

It wouldn’t have been strange if, the moment she judged it inefficient, she immediately changed tactics, rounded up all disruptive people, and threw them out the window one by one.

‘That won’t clear it.’

So…

For now, this method was the most efficient and humane for me.

“Here… they’re sitting here…”

I looked at the person sitting in the guided seat.

A bespectacled person was gaping at the air. This was the first sacrifice of the second loop, who had fallen before me.

“Sir?”

“……”

No answer. They seemed completely dazed.

“W-what on earth is down there…”

“It was terrible. But…”

I stretched out one hand and placed it on my chest.

“I realized something.”

“……Yes?”

Clink.

I lowered that hand straight into the inner pocket of my suit jacket.

And I pinned the small badge that was already inside.

A silver heart.

“Everyone! Don’t worry too much.”

At the same time, I approached the bespectacled office worker.

“Hic! Hic-hic! Hic!”

“It’s okay… It’s okay.”

I approached him and carefully injected him with Happy Maker.

‘The ingredients will all disappear in the next loop anyway.’

It’s better for this person than to be in utter panic and fear.

And since Happy Maker is as small as a ballpoint pen, to others, it will simply look like I helped him calm down by supporting him…

Like magic.

“……Gasp!”

The bespectacled person gasped for breath.

Reason returned to his eyes, and a clear calm settled in.

“Th-that was truly horrible… Ah, ah… Hah… It’s over.”

Slowly.

A faint smile spread across his face.

“Thank you… My mind… is at peace…”

And then, he slowly got up and hugged me and the other passengers.

People, caught off guard, returned the embrace and began to stare at me with wonder.

“Th-they brought him back to his senses…”

“How…”

I’m a swindler…

But I continued speaking, looking at my hands as if I, too, was amazed.

“I don’t know why I alone gained this ability, but now I….”

Taking a deep breath.

“I think I’ve vaguely realized what’s happening on this train.”

“…!!”

“R-really?”

“Yes.”

I raised my hand and folded my fingers as I continued.

“Who are the people who need to fall out the window, and after how many times will this all end…”

“M-my goodness.”

What am I doing right now?

‘I’m scamming them.’

And this kind of scamming method is a common trope in apocalypse-themed creative works.

‘The so-called cult leader…!’

Someone who incites people, claiming it’s God’s will or whatever, and makes them do strange things.

Didn’t that appear in car #6 before? …Hmm. I think so.

Loop 5: Various exclusive groups formed in each train car. Among them, superstitious religions that worshipped the loop phenomenon even captured passengers from other cars, killed them in barbaric ancient ritualistic ways, and then threw them out the window.

Sorry… No, I’m not sorry at all, but,

‘You won’t be there anymore.’

Because I’m going to strike first.

“Kind passengers of car #7. From now on, please lend me your ears.”

I stood at the train door and shouted.

“We have been chosen for a great trial!”

“My goodness!!”

From the front pocket of my suit, I heard Brown’s standing ovation.

A swindler, certified with the ghost story host’s seal of approval…

Is now launching.