Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 209 (Part 2)

6 PM, as the sun began to set.

The dim twilight also shone upon the entrance of a building located in Seoul.

The cold, clean first-floor space of a modern structure.

(Daydream Co., Ltd. Annex

This building is restricted to authorized personnel only.)

This was the annex lobby of Daydream Co., Ltd.

However, this originally desolate and eerie space was now somewhat lively with the murmuring of people.

“Wow, what an atmosphere.”

“Hello. Yes, yes. Nice to meet you….”

Dozens of new employees in black suits gathered, greeting each other.

Their faces were bright with anticipation and nervousness.

It couldn’t be helped.

“Congratulations on your employment.”

“Hahaha, thank you. You too!”

They had just successfully joined Daydream, a famous pharmaceutical company that had become a hot potato in the stock market in recent years!

Thus, the company had recruited them via email to the annex next to the Seoul headquarters.

New Employee Orientation Guide

Today was the first day of the orientation.

“A 2-night, 3-day orientation at the Seoul annex, it feels a bit luxurious, doesn’t it?”

“Exactly. Really. Wow, this place looks like an art museum lobby.”

“Phew, as expected of a large corporation… Ah, is it only the sales staff here?”

“I think so. From what I’ve heard, everyone here is in sales.”

“Then new employees from other departments might be gathered at another nearby location.”

People, intoxicated by the joy of their success, laughed and chatted with each other.

There was no reason not to be harmonious. Weren’t these their同期 (colleagues entering the company at the same time) with whom they would continue to see each other’s faces as victors who had joined this major pharmaceutical company!

And so, some even spoke to those excluded from the conversation, as if doing them a favor.

“Excuse me, are you a new employee?”

“…….”

Amidst the noisy new employees, the one who had been quietly staring at the annex interior alone raised his head.

It was a peer with a haggard complexion.

So the new employee who had been leading the conversation continued to speak to him, somewhat boastfully.

“Congratulations on getting hired! Let’s do well together!”

However….

“Thank you.”

That was it.

“…….”

“…….”

Silence.

‘What the heck.’

What kind of new sales employee is so unsociable?

How on earth did he pass the interview?

At that moment, the new employee who had spoken, sensing the awkward atmosphere, quickly blurted out.

“Haha, actually… I had a friend who already worked at Daydream.”

“Wow.”

“Really?”

“Wow, which department?”

“Yes, yes. Research team, I think?”

An explosive reaction came from others!

The new employee secretly sighed in relief, having revived the atmosphere, and continued speaking in a subtle tone, as if boasting but not.

“No, but they actually told me not to come here? Something about regretting it if you join.”

“Haha!”

“Friends who get hired first always say things like that.”

“My point exactly!”

“…….”

People laughed as if they had heard the common grievances of overworked modern office workers.

However….

“…Department.”

“Excuse me?”

The silent person opened his mouth.

“That friend’s department is….”

At that moment.

[Ah, ah, mic test.]

“…!”

Everyone simultaneously raised their heads.

[Oh, everyone’s gathered well. Then let’s begin~]

A speaker was installed in the corner of the wall.

From it, a rather cheerful voice began to emerge.

The smooth voice of a man.

[Welcome, new employees, who have overcome a 142:1 competition to join us! I am Kwak Jekang, manager of Research Team 1, in charge of your orientation today.]

[Shall we start with a round of applause?]

Waaah!

The new employees clapped cheerfully but were also a little puzzled.

“Why through the speaker…?”

Why wasn’t he showing himself?

“Hmm, maybe we’re supposed to do something among ourselves?”

[Bingo! That’s correct!]

“…!”

He, he’s listening…!

[That’s right, that’s right. From now on, to foster teamwork and company loyalty, you new recruits will engage in a very fun activity together~]

[It’s just a light mission, so it’s more like a recreation. There are prizes involved too!]

The new employees quickly accepted it positively.

“It must mean they want us to get close quickly as colleagues!”

“Even better. Haha.”

They had heard that nowadays, large corporations and famous venture companies conduct orientations in very creative or unique ways.

“I heard some even do murder mystery board games with the company as the backdrop.”

[…Aha, that sounds quite fun. This is similar. Yes, indeed~ Now then….]

The tone of the voice from the speaker rose, as if excited.

[From now, we will begin the new employee orientation!]

Simultaneously.

Thump-thump-thump.

Lights came on at the annex entrance.

“…!”

Under the bright incandescent lights, things that weren’t visible before began to appear.

Over there, iron doors filled the dark corridor.

“…….”

How to put it, rather than maintaining security, they felt… massive and alien, as if to cut off and imprison something.

‘Why are there such things in a company annex…?’

But before they could question it, their gaze was drawn to the most brightly lit spot.

A solitary entrance desk.

A conspicuous object placed on it.

“Ah…!”

The new employees blinked, confirming it.

A pitch-black cylindrical box.

“A draw box?”

It was large and old.

So shabby and crumpled that it didn’t suit the modern, clean, marble lobby of the annex.

The top of the thick paper draw box was covered so that the inside couldn’t be seen, but through the silhouette of the cover, it was clear that there were a total of three holes.

Each round cover was numbered.

① ② ③

[Now, one by one, come out and draw a lot. Draw the next number in order, and it keeps going around like that.]

[Ah, I’ll show you an example right away. The three of us standing closest right now! Let’s each draw one number in order!]

“Ah, yes!”

Amidst the murmuring, the three designated people, while looking slightly hesitant, couldn’t refuse and stepped forward.

And they drew lots.

Flap.

The contents written on each lot were as follows:

① 6th Floor

② 322

③ recited a lullaby

“This is….”

[Now then… let’s look at the desk again. You see the whiteboard behind the lottery box, right?]

People’s gazes turned to the whiteboard.

A printed sentence was affixed to it.

I go down to basement ①___

at door ②____

and ③_______________.

[If you insert what’s written on each numbered lot into the whiteboard, the sentence will be completed!]

[Performing that sentence is the mission. So simple, isn’t it? Haha!]

As people placed the numbers on the whiteboard… the sentence was completed.

Like this.

I go down to basement 6th Floor

at door 322

and recited a lullaby.

“…….”

“…….”

The completed sentence gave them an inexplicable eerie feeling.

‘Basement?’

That was the moment.

[Ah, that’s right. An amazing prize awaits the team with good mission results.]

As if sensing their thoughts, cheerful motivation came from the speaker.

[It’s 100 points, usable like cash at the employee mall!]

100 points?

“May I ask what we can buy with that?”

[Of course. You can even buy a robot vacuum cleaner with that amount!]

“Ooh!”

If they could buy a robot vacuum cleaner, it would be a considerable sum!

The atmosphere brightened considerably.

Reason and realism returned with calculations.

‘Right, at worst, it’s like a test of courage.’

‘The company isn’t stupid; they wouldn’t make us do something truly dangerous.’

Moreover, with so many people and in groups of three, it was an environment where it was hard to even be scared.

Even if they had prepared a surprise event, it would have to be at a level that even timid people could endure!

The new employees looked at each other, nodded, and smiled.

“Excuse me, do we have to use the stairs?”

[Oh dear, wouldn’t that be too tiring? When moving, you can use any of the currently operating elevators. Hahahaha!]

[Now, now, form teams as you wish and let’s do this!]

“Yes!”

They chatted with each other, and with flushed faces, reached into the black box to draw.

The lots that would decide their fate.

“Fighting!”

“The three of us will go first. We take this elevator, right?”

“Let’s go. Basement 6th floor!”

The atmosphere was excellent.

Until 34 minutes later. When the returned elevator doors opened, revealing their colleagues with only their lower bodies remaining.

“Aaaah!”

“Aaaak!”

And it continued.

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

The sound of the elevator arriving.

Each time the doors opened, the piercing screams of people echoed through the annex lobby in a cacophony.

Screams, fear, panic.

The elevators arriving one after another were filled with ‘what used to be bodies,’ every other one.

Horrific appearances they had never imagined encountering in reality. Blood, filth, fragments of organs, sometimes ash and ice, and pieces of human skin densely covered with phrases written in ballpoint pen.

Even employees who died from excessive bleeding while writing bizarre phrases or patterns on the elevator mirror with their own blood.

“Ugh, aaah!!!”

Those who returned alive from within were not sane.

“We have to run! Run! Run!”

“So, so sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry for knocking on the door….”

Those muttering, out of their minds.

Then, some relatively normal people appeared.

“Th-this person is fine!”

“…….”

“What on earth happened?! What is this?!”

The new employee, who had been using a dead colleague as a shield in front of the elevator door, spoke with a pale face.

“Someone is there.”

In the basement they went to, beyond the door.

“Who?? Who on earth?!”

…….

“A, a strange employee.”

And the survivors’ testimonies poured out.

The quiet, desolate corridor of the basement revealed when the elevator doors opened.

The numerous iron doors there, and the strange mark only on the door they visited. The sound, the stench, the light coming only from that door…

And the scene they saw through the small hole above the number plate.

An employee.

“They were wearing an employee uniform… but they were strange. Strange….”

One looked like a child, one wore a doctor’s gown, one had an oxygen tank, one held many balloons, one wore a cowboy hat and had a wooden hand, one wore a Bukcheong lion mask….

The bizarre descriptions chilled people to the bone.

And.

“Th-they reacted.”

“…!”

“They react to what we do! Th-they chase us, and… like that!”

People’s heads turned.

To the body parts filling the elevators.

“…….”

“…….”

The new employees realized.

The mission of ‘doing as the sentence says.’

It was a kind of horror-movie-like suicide act.

That they had been caught in an unreal catastrophe.

“No!”

About half of the new employees who had not yet gone down to perform the mission looked at each other with pale faces, then ran to the main entrance.

But the only door to the annex was already sealed.

People clung to the shuttered door.

“Help us!”

“My, my phone isn’t working. What do we do?”

“This… this must be a variety show. Right, oh, there are cameras here and stuff….”

“Open the door! Open the door, please!”

Bang bang bang!

Even hitting the main entrance shutter until their hands bled yielded no response.

Some new employees noticed another way to communicate.

“The speaker!”

They rushed to the speakers from which ‘Manager Kwak Jekang’s’ voice had come, pouring out pleas for help, desperate cries, and fear.

However….

[(Beep-) The automatic response system has been activated due to the absence of the person in charge.]

‘Manager Kwak Jekang’s’ voice was no longer heard from the speaker.

Instead, a recorded cheerful voice repeated.

[The main entrance will be opened after all participants have attempted the mission. After 30 seconds, any attempts to forcibly open the shutter will result in death by security protocol.]

[Orientation participants, good luck!]

Beep beep beep- beep!

“Aaaah!”

Two employees who attempted to break the shutter died, their heads exploding.

Chaos.

“Oh, oh, oh, oh….”

“Hmph.”

They couldn’t understand the principle, or what was happening.

The sheer unreality of the scene made the people’s commotion subside.

From then on, the people in the lobby gathered in front of the desk, trembling and huddled together for over half a day.

Occasionally, whispers and movements occurred as they tried to find a way out, but at least no one even went near the elevators.

The mission showed no signs of being performed.

Then, an astonishing incentive was given.

[Notice regarding mission delay exceeding 6 hours.]

[If the next participant does not board the elevator within 5 minutes, death by security protocol will occur.]

“…….”

“…….”

The new employees looked at each other with trembling eyes.

Someone.

Must be sent.

Must be put on the elevator.

Who to send?

“F***….”

A few hours ago, the new employee who had boasted about his ‘friend working at this company’ tried his best to avoid those gazes and burrowed into a corner.

And, sweating coldly, he looked again at the sentence his group had completed.

I go down to basement 13th Floor

at door 666

and knock then enter.

He would die.

There was no way he could survive after receiving such an ominous number.

‘Escape….’

Just then.

“The ones who drew next! Those people!”

Damn it!

“They’re over there, those are them!”

“…!”

People rushed forward and brutally pushed his group into the elevator.

They resisted frantically but were outnumbered. They didn’t have any weapons either.

“No!”

[The door is closing.]

He stood up, flailing in panic, and was about to frantically press the open button when.

Someone from his own group grabbed his hand and pulled it down.

“…!”

“It’s already too late.”

Thud.

The door closed.

“Hmph!”

Without even feeling anger, he turned his head in fear, and the haggard-looking peer was looking at him.

The one who had been strangely quiet.

But now he spoke calmly, as if explaining.

“People died due to the security protocol. So, it would have been the same to die just by staying in the lobby….”

“…….”

“Since it’s come to this, we have to do it.”

“N-no…!”

“Calm down and think. Quite a few people came back fine.”

As if to make him snap out of it, the other person grabbed his shoulder.

“…Surely, about one out of three teams testified that ‘nothing happened,’ right?”

“…!!”

Indeed, that was true.

– Nothing much happened….

– Th-they were just strange… th-they were people in special agent uniforms or something, silently staring at us.

– Seriously, there was no one inside!

“Even for teams where something happened, half the people came back alive. So, rather than dying in the lobby, this way has a higher chance of survival.”

“…….”

“…Based on the testimonies of those before us, let’s move carefully.”

Breathing heavily, the two new employees slowly nodded.

It was thanks to the other’s calmness, almost as if he were an experienced person.

The boastful new employee unconsciously opened his mouth.

“Excuse me, your name is….”

“…….”

The silent person opened his mouth.

“My name is Jang Heowoon.”

Ding.

The elevator arrives in the basement.

New employees, trembling, step onto the old-fashioned corridor lined with iron doors.

And they found the room they were looking for.

666

Taking a breath, he put his hand on the door.

Knock knock knock.

I had a dream.

It was a truly strange and bizarre nightmare.

A dream of entering the eerie creepypasta wiki I loved.

In the dream, I became an elite employee of a terrible pharmaceutical company that pushed employees into creepypastas to make potion ingredients.

And I worked as a spy, infiltrating the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau, a special agency that rescued people from creepypastas.

In the process, I entered countless creepypastas from the <Dark Exploration Records> wiki.

A convenience store playing hide-and-seek with ghosts, a quiz show where you die if you get the answer wrong, an ink wash painting haunted by a changgui, an exhibition that collects organs as admission fees, a bizarre theme park….

Fierce, chilling, and life-or-death days.

Yet, I also met unforgettable people.

– Kim Soleum. Can you hear me?

– Roe Deer, seventeen employees escaped after hearing your announcement!

– May your wish come true.

– It’ll be okay, Grape.

A persistent afterimage remained.

You know, the kind of dream where even if you forget most of the details upon waking, a strong impression and lingering feeling remain like a shock.

Especially if the ending is terrible and shocking, isn’t that true?

After enduring life-threatening situations and fear, working at a creepypasta company, the moment I drank the wish I had so desired….

Actually, I was ■■■■■■■ and had not crash-landed in another world but was invited, and my body was not human, and I realized ■■■■■■■.

No!

I don’t want to wake up.

I don’t want to know the truth.

I don’t want to realize that I am still at Daydream Co., Ltd.

…….

And the next moment, I realized.

I couldn’t sleep.

“Gasp.”

Dawn.

I sat up in bed, gasping for breath.

No, surely there must have been such a ‘breathing’ sound.

If I had intact vocal cords.

“…….”

I reached my hand to my throat.

A strange hissing sound of smoke.

My hand, encased in shiny gloves, felt the rubber-like material of my work uniform, which wrapped around my neck instead of skin.

I fumbled. The silhouette of a person.

But when it touched the strange, countless rib-like horns connected from there to above my head, I dropped my hand.

“…….”

I realized it again.

I cannot sleep.

– Whirrrrr!

– It’s your working hours. Wake up. It’s your working hours. Wake up….

I got up from the iron bed and began today’s work.

As per contract.