Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel (End Part 1) - Chapter 180

Exactly as I remember it.

It’s vivid enough to be unforgettable. After all, it was a turning point in my White Daydream Co. life.

The Good Friend Invitation Ritual.

1. Dip your finger in water on a smooth surface and draw the hexagram from the enclosed diagram.

I dashed to the restroom, brought water back, poured it onto the resort office floor, dipped my finger in it, and began to draw.

Strangely, I could recall the exact design, as if someone had etched it into my mind.

In an instant, the floor was covered in a damp, hexagram-shaped drawing.

The only difference was…

Larger.

The hexagram was large enough to cover the entire office floor.

I placed the deactivated Magic Bunny mascot costume in the center of the completed hexagram.

And onto the mascot’s belly, with the utmost care, I placed a coin…

‘…’

I couldn’t get the coin out.

The silver snake coin originally used to summon the ‘Good Friend’ was deep inside this mascot costume, inside the security team’s uniform, and then inside my civilian clothes’ pocket.

But I couldn’t take off the mascot costume.

‘…Then!’

I opened the office drawer and took out a Pleasure Coin.

‘This is also a coin.’

Even if it was a plastic coin, it was certainly currency, and it would fit the meaning of ‘coin’ in this ritual.

It probably didn’t mean something truly cast from copper, but rather a small, round, valuable piece of currency.

I completely removed the moisture from the mascot’s finger-tips, then picked up the coin and placed it on the mascot’s belly.

‘Done.’

I hastily proceeded to the next step.

So…

‘Salt!’

1. Hold a spoonful of salt in your mouth and burn an object related to your friend.
2. When the ‘Good Friend’ begins to speak, swallow the salt and return a kind greeting!

If the coin disappears, you have succeeded! You have found a reliable friend. Always be together and cherish them!

※If the salt cannot be swallowed, tastes strange, turns to ash, or you bleed, run away.

There wasn’t much time left.

The mass-produced mascots ran back with salt from the room service storage. I snatched the salt from outside the office and put it in my mouth…

…

Could I put it in my mouth while wearing the mascot costume?

‘I’ll have to try.’

I carefully opened the yellow mascot’s mouth. Then, I poured the salt inside and closed it.

Now, only one thing remains to prepare.

Burning an object.

Before, I used my necktie… but I don’t have a necktie now.

‘I’ll use this instead.’

I untied the yellow bowtie the yellow mascot was wearing and held it in my hand.

Then, I brought the bowtie to the flame of the prepared candlestick.

Whoosh.

The bowtie burst into flames.

The unusually large flame reminded me of when I had summoned the Good Friend before.

A huge shadow fell over the pink mascot costume.

And it swayed.

Sway.

Sway.

I watched it nervously.

It had clearly said that if called with a proper medium, it would come.

So it should succeed.

Sway.

Sway.

The moving shadow made it seem as if the mascot costume itself was moving.

Any moment now, any moment now.

Sway.

Sway.

In the dark shadow.

The giant mascot costume opened its mouth.

-My resort!

…Huh?

-My resort has called me back! Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahaha! My resort! My resort! Myyyyyyyy resooort! My beautiful Flower Golden Resort!

In the center of the hexagram, the mascot costume convulsed with laughter and swayed. I watched the scene, breathless.

Thump.

Its upper body rose.

It twisted its head to look at me.

-Give it back.

The Pleasure Coin on its belly crackled and burned, being sucked into the mascot costume.

A pungent plastic smell filled the facility office.

-My

-Resort

The water of the hexagram vibrated, and blood flowed.

Melted plastic-like substance oozed from the mascot costume’s eyeholes and mouth.

It fully stood up on the hexagram.

-Give it back.

‘…’

Something was…

…wrong.

I had to end the ritual. Now!

‘Swallow.’

I tried to swallow the salt. So, if I just got the saltwater down my throat…

…Huh?

Why… did I not have a throat?

-Hahahahahahahahaha!

I looked down at myself.

And realized something shocking.

‘I don’t have a body.’

This mascot costume was filled with cotton. And the reason was…

I hadn’t returned to ‘my body.’

After meeting the blue mascot, and when Manager Lee Sung-hae killed the ladybug and I hurriedly returned to the resort, instead of moving my original body, I had used one of the mass-produced mascots’ bodies as if it were my own.

And I had stayed that way.

So, so…

I had forgotten that I had an original body.

I was currently using a mass-produced mascot’s body.

‘…!!’

Then… where was my original body?

Could it be that one of the mass-produced mascots that got torn apart when Magic Bunny attacked earlier…

Oh, no.

If my body had been torn, blood and real organs would have flowed out, not cotton and cloth organs.

There was no such yellow mascot. My body was somewhere…

…But where exactly?

-Hello?

And what was it that was ‘invited’ by the Good Friend ritual, and whose call did it answer?

I realized.

My deduction was correct. The mascot costume was indeed a suitable medium for the invitation ritual.

But there was a flaw.

‘Its purpose was not confirmed.’

Because it wasn’t a doll sold in a souvenir shop.

There were no prohibitions as a Good Friend either.

-Hello? Hello? Hello? Answer me. Answer me.

The mascot costume twisted and transformed into a grotesque shape.

…That wasn’t the ‘Good Friend.’

It was merely something from the other side.

-Offer a kind greeting and accept me, you worthless thing.

…But wait a minute.

‘My resort’? Could that be…

-Behold the true mascot!

…!

The being within the hexagram protruded from the mascot costume.

Strange, golden fractal flower petals gleamed dirtily, surging up as if to pierce my head, then receding.

…Flower Golden.

-Accept me.

The silhouette I saw on the signboard of the ruined resort.

A mascot resembling a golden flower was inside it.

The invitation ritual performed by a ‘mass-produced mascot’ had awakened and summoned the deceased owner of this resort.

That being, who knows where they had been after death.

-Accept me.

The document on the desk trembled.

A pen danced alone on the document that congratulated my inauguration.

The true owner of this resort had appeared.

I was merely a lowly temporary manager filling his place, and now it was time to humbly hand over everything I had built to him and withdraw.

Everything must have been prepared for this moment!

The document approached me.

The pen moved frantically, scrawling text.

In my handwriting.

The ceremony ritual would be performed by him. The great Flower Golden would personally operate this resort again as its mascot!

I had been stealing his power until now! I had boldly occupied the glorious position of acting temporarily in his place, but it was all over.

Ah.

Accept him.

Completely accept him and become part of him, follow the mascot.

Accept him.

-Accept me.

I stepped back.

The mascot costume came to the edge of the hexagram and looked down at me.

-Accept me.

The ritual failed. I had to run away.

But where could I run?

And I had always acted according to the excellent advice of the document. And now that it was revealed that this document originally followed the mascot’s will, it was right to humbly follow the true mascot!

Yes! That’s right…

…No!

I looked at the other documents on the desk.

The work regulations, employment contracts, and usage rules. All of them had been written while fighting against the mascot’s will to operate the resort in a bizarre manner.

I…

…No.

I looked at the being inside the hexagram.

My resort

here.

I grabbed the document and stood before it.

My head was pounding, but it was bearable.

Because I had realized something.

You

Are not worthy.

-Wha-wha-wha-what?

How dare I say such a thing?

I crumpled the document.

You lost.

-!!!!!!

Yes. You are a specter who was killed by another mascot and had your territory stolen.

And what’s more.

Now

It’s coming.

The very being that killed you and turned this resort into ruins is right outside the garden.

To enter this territory again and begin hunting.

I will show you the proof.

Here.

I flung open the office door.

Across the hallway was a massive window.

It was night, so the outside wasn’t clearly visible, but the bright office was reflected in the window instead.

Clearly visible, the shadow of the mascot costume standing on the hexagram.

Red Rabbit.

Magic Bunny.

It’s here.

You.

• …

The mascot costume reached out its hand to touch its face, then brought its hand to its head, checking its two upward-pointing ears.

And then… it looked at its own hand.

A rabbit’s foot, covered in red fur.

-Magic Bunny.

Its hands trembled violently, and the mascot’s limbs twisted in fear.

-Magic Bunny! Aaaargh! Aaaaaaaargh! Save me! Save me!! Please save me! Don’t rip out my intestines! My resort! Resort!

I hastily poured salt onto the office floor.

‘Erase it.’

White salt covered the bloody water and black plastic forming the hexagram, erasing the pattern.

As it was erased, the mascot costume was increasingly pushed towards the center, clutching its head and screaming.

-Run away! Magic Bunny is coming! The red mascot is coming! It’s coming along the red path! Aaaah! Aaaaaaaaaaah!

-Save me! It’s infiltrating! The red ■■ wriggling inside the costume has eaten me! Only the remnants in the basement! Save me!

-Disappear, red one, disappear, red one, disappearredonedisappearredonedisappearredonedisappearredoneplease

The invited entity, tearing at its head, finally…

Rip, rip, rip.

Tore off its own head.

Its two hands, as if wanting to move away, reverently, fearfully, lifted the mascot’s head into the air. Hold it high.

And.

Thud, it collapsed to the floor.

…

…

‘Haa.’

I sank to the office floor.

‘I thought it was over.’

I almost got absorbed and ended up with a mass-produced mascot ending. Even though it was a mascot’s body with only cotton inside, my heart felt like it would burst.

Still, somehow… I managed to salvage the situation and seemed to have achieved something impressive, but what’s important now is…

‘…Time!’

How much time was left?

I looked at the clock.

8:11 PM.

’49 minutes left until closing.’

I didn’t know whether to be exasperated or relieved that all this chaos only took 10 minutes, but one thing was important.

I had failed to summon the Good Friend.

‘…’

No.

This definitely had meaning.

There was a harvest.

Because I had discovered the identity of what was forcing this resort’s operation.

And I had eliminated it.

I straightened the crumpled document and brought the pen to it.

…A strange sense of control was now present.

‘I can write the operating rules more freely now.’

It seemed I could now implement things that had been blocked by the resort’s will, things that would be detrimental to the resort’s ‘successful operation’ from its perspective, according to my own intentions.

…Like the insane things Magic Bunny does.

‘It will be useful.’

I stood up.

…Still, a lingering regret clung to my back, wondering if I might have succeeded if I’d had a little more time.

Was the coin the problem, or the bowtie, or…

‘…Did it just decide not to respond?’

Since I hadn’t summoned it with my original body, that might have been a fatal disqualifying factor.

‘Phew.’

I gathered the documents and went to find the blue mascot, looking for some kind of protective measure that might offer a little more safety…

Ring-ring-ring-

“…”

I stopped.

Ring-ring-ring-

I turned my head.

The telephone on the office desk was ringing.

Ring-ring-ring-

Frozen, I stared at it.

Had the phone ever… rung in this resort before?

‘No.’

Room service calls were two-way radios with a calling melody. Summoning mascots involved a real bell sound.

But what I was hearing now was a very classic ringtone.

…Someone’s contact.

Ring-ring-ring-

‘…’

I approached the desk and picked up the classic receiver.

Click.

The phone, made of elegant brown wood.

A cheerful, pleasant male voice resonated from within.

[Good evening! It’s a truly wonderful night. Oh, I would be very grateful if you could connect me to the talented and cheerful mascot of Flower Golden Resort.]

…!

[Oh, it was you. Perfect timing. The thing is, I’d like to rent your humble and beautiful resort for a few days entirely.]

[As you know, celebrities need a private retreat, don’t they? So, I’m thinking of spending this summer vacation at your resort…]

…No.

[Hmm?]

I’m quitting

Right now.

[My goodness, but why didn’t you hand over the resort to that fellow just now? He seemed so desperate!]

[Just kidding. Hahaha! For such a vulgar fellow to try and usurp the resort you’ve nurtured, it’s quite distasteful.]

The unique voice of a host came from the phone.

[Mr. Roe Deer.]

‘…’

[It was an excellent decision to try and call me, but you were overly immersed in the show and overlooked a few things.]

Overlooked… things?

[Of course, that’s also the talent of an immersive entertainer, and a joy suited to the genre, but it gets boring if it goes on too long. Now is the moment when a perfect advisor for you should appear for it to be enjoyable.]

[So, from now on, your friend will offer a few kind words of advice…]

The voice on the receiver lowered.

[Now, hold the phone, and let’s listen to the amazing voice of Brown.]

The great host’s kind advice began to flow from the phone.