Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 21

Surrounded by mascots shedding bloody tears and staring with vacant eyes, I was given an ultimatum: “Since things are this way, you’re the one who has to kill someone.”

A lie slipped out effortlessly.

“A trap?”

“Yes. Consider this.”

I avoided looking at the crazed mascots in the window, maintaining a look of brilliant insight.

“It’s this darkness that binds us as a team. But is it really okay to just kill a teammate?”

Actually, it’s fine.

“This darkness strangles us just by separating team members. But if we kill someone?”

We just carry the body.

The process would only result in my cowardly heart giving out, me vomiting, and being reassigned to a position perfect for death after receiving the comment, ‘This guy’s a torturer?’…

“…No matter how I think about it, there seems to be a tremendous penalty.”

“Hmm.”

The eyes under the butterfly mask narrowed.

“You could receive a penalty for not killing, right?”

“Conversely, killing could lead to our annihilation.”

“…”

“If both are possibilities, I think it’s more rational to choose the option that preserves our numbers.”

The other person showed slight hesitation.

I swallowed and added,

“Of course, the decision rests with you, sir…”

“Yes! If I, I kill, uh? You die too, uh, uh? You crazy bastard! You don’t want to die either. Stop…”

Thwack.

I decisively struck the researcher on the back of the neck.

Meaning I knocked him unconscious.

‘I’ve set the stage, why are you trying to die a natural death?’

With such a lack of awareness, only workplace gambling remains!

Y-team’s newbie, now seemingly freed of their restrictions, was holding the researcher’s limbs, their face pale.

A-team’s superior, having observed everything, slowly opened their mouth.

I waited anxiously.

“You.”

“…”

“You shouldn’t regret this.”

I lived.

“Yes, of course.”

A-team’s superior didn’t reply. It seemed my score had been significantly reduced.

But that wasn’t important now.

What mattered was that I had gotten past this moment.

[Die….]

The narration, which had been repeating “Die,” subsided once we stopped attacking each other.

Flicker.

And the moment the train’s light flickered.

“Th-they’re gone…!”

The mascots surrounding the window had disappeared.

Only bloodstains remained.

“…”

But it wasn’t just that which had disappeared.

‘Gone.’

The engineer mascot.

The cheerful theme park music.

The bright disembarkation announcements.

“…”

Screech.

Pushing the train out by hand, we saw an interior strangely devoid of sound and light.

“…Feels like we stepped on a landmine.”

“…”

That…was right.

I recalled another darkness exploration record.

———————

Cheerful Theme Park User Guide (Applies to exploration records up to 64)

4. Each section of the theme park is colored according to its theme! Where you first open your eyes is the section your team belongs to!

Respect the section. The section is above all else. Look at the color. Don’t offend the mascot. The mascot is everything in the section.

———————

That clause wasn’t there for nothing…

If you displease the mascot in a colored section of the theme park, you will no longer receive ‘guest’ respect in that area.

You might have to play a deadly game of tag.

But you can’t press the nuclear button to avoid stepping on this landmine, can you?

‘The mascot’s requests escalate like an escalator.’

Usually, they start with something simple.

Eat something, get something, have a warm hug.

‘But to order a murder on the first turn?’

By the time you’re on the next attraction, it’s better to be dead.

For example, I’ve already seen in the exploration records ordering insane things like, ‘Make a balloon out of your own bladder’…

By then, the mascot’s influence is so strong you can’t refuse.

‘Rather than that, death.’

This is a world of urban legends where becoming something worse than death is commonplace.

And even now, there’s no escape route.

I swallowed.

“Just run.”

Escaping Red Rabbit, Magic Bunny’s territory, and entering another mascot’s zone will defuse this aggro.

To do that… let’s see.

“Found it!”

I finally found it in a dark exit passage.

“There’s something over there.”

“Huh?”

This is why I originally wanted to ride this attraction.

‘Theme park color map!’

[~Fantasyland Color Map~]

Because at the very end of this attraction, at the exit, there’s a map showing the territories of each mascot.

I quickly approached and muttered.

“A map. This could be helpful.”

“Oh, why?”

At first glance, it’s just interior decoration.

It seems to be just a visual representation since the attraction introduced Fantasy Land.

But the information included is enormous.

“Do you remember the content of this attraction?”

“Ah, uh, so, the theme park mascots fighting over land…”

“That’s right.”

I nodded.

“This attraction’s map will show the other mascots’ territories.”

“…!”

You can see how to move to a different colored area by the shortest route.

“Looks like we got on the monster’s bad side, let’s run away? With this?”

Team A’s supervisor gestured to the researcher I was carrying.

It felt like they’d say to kill him any minute, so I immediately replied.

“I will wake up the Research Team 1 chief as soon as he checks the map and make sure he walks properly.”

“Hmm.”

Please, don’t put on a dismemberment show in front of my eyes…

Anyway, as soon as some kind of vision appeared, a glimmer of hope returned to the face of the Y team newcomer.

I probably have a similar expression.

‘Please be nearby.’

I took a deep breath, quickly approached the map, and checked……,

“…….”

“…….”

“It’s… not there.”

Huh?

I looked at the map again.

But the picture didn’t change.

[~Fantasyland Color Map~]

The entire depicted interior of the theme park.

Is red.

[Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone]

Magic Bunny’s face is engraved on every sign.

“Ah.”

[Magic Bunny’s Fantasy Land]

There’s nowhere to escape,

nothing.

“…….”

“…….”

“I-is something wrong here? Soleum, surely, surely there were other mascots earlier…”

“They were all chased away.”

“…!”

The narration I heard during the attraction automatically came to mind.

– Dropped into a cave, dropped into water, pushed off a cliff!

Then….

“He killed the yellow and blue ones and the red mascot completely took over this place.”

“…….”

“Then… the employees who drew the other colored pieces,”

“Well.”

Team A’s supervisor shrugged.

“All missing?”

“…!”

“Is that important now? What’s important is…”

The eyes under the butterfly mask turned sinister again.

“You seem to have made the wrong choice.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry. It’s not to the point where you have to die first.”

The meaning was clear.

There’s someone else who needs to die first.

“It’s already too late, you know?”

“…….”

…Reflexively, the moment I looked back at the researcher, who had lost consciousness and was hanging on my shoulder like a bundle.

“…!!”

“Wh-what…”

A sound echoing in my head.

Haven’t I heard it somewhere before?

Ah, a talk show, Tuesday talk show. The dead pig’s head screaming like a sacrificial choir in the revamped talk show, animal mascot! Magic Bunny is boring! Magic Bunny is boring

“Ugh.”

I covered my ears.

BO-RING

I looked down.

The admission ticket on my wrist vibrated.

[(Cheerful) Fantasyland Ticket □□□]

[(Cheerful) Fantasyland Ticket □□□]

The sound was coming from here.

Ziiiiiiiip.

The tickets are starting to tear apart from the sound vibration.

———————

Cheerful Theme Park User Guide (Applicable to exploration records up to #64)

1. Keep your admission bracelet clean!

If lost or damaged, you are no longer a guest. If you’re not a guest, you’re an uninvited guest. Thief! Criminal! A terrible punishment awaits. Or

Want to be a staff member?

———————

No.

I desperately racked my brain.

But there was no way.

Really, there’s not an inch of escape. There’s nowhere to run! To preserve human dignity, it might be better to commit suicide before it’s too late…

– Kim Soleum.

Now even auditory hallucinations,

– Kim Soleum. Do you hear it?

…

Auditory hallucinations, no!

I raised my head.

Nothing was visible in the void, but an absolutely clear voice, which could never be mistaken for an auditory hallucination, was heard in my ears.

Its owner…

“…Squad Leader?”

– Yes.

Lizard Supervisor, Lee Jaheon Team Leader.

Déjà vu situation. The composition is reversed, but!

“How did you contact me?!”

– I’m using Park Minseong Supervisor’s private equipment.

The voices overlap, and the sound of Red Great Magic Bunny fades. I barely realized I was on the verge of hyperventilation.

No, that’s not important…

– Is the deer guy alright? You’re alive, right?

– We’re fine! We just rode all three attractions!

Team D is all together. What happened?

“You three weren’t on the same color team, were you?”

I remember clearly.

‘Only Team Leader Lee Jaheon was on the blue team, the rest were on the yellow team!’

– Deer, that’s not important right now…

“It’s important! You three are on different teams, yet you woke up in the same place like a theme park?”

After a short silence.

– No.

The calm voice of the Lizard Supervisor answered.

– I moved after finding the two of them.

Many questions arose simultaneously in my mind, but this is the most urgent. So,

“…Where did you find them?”

– On the outskirts of the blue zone.

“…So now, are you in the blue mascot’s zone?”

– Yes.

A shiver ran down my spine.

“It’s not marked on the map, but which point is the blue zone?”

– I don’t know.

Damn it.

“You don’t need the specific coordinates. Tell me about the surrounding attractions! Even east, west, south, north indications are fine.”

– I see.

After a short silence.

– West…

Click.

The connection was cut off.

“Squad Leader?”

There was no answer.

It’s probably a private equipment time-out.

And more important than that guess…

“West, west??”

The face of the Y team rookie, who had been desperately listening next to me, was dazed.

The face of the A team supervisor is similar.

The reason is simple.

“We are in the west?”

That’s right.

‘Fantasy Train’ was located almost at the western end of the Fantasy Land map…

On the opposite side of the east, surrounded by bumpy forests, the west had a smooth finish with walls surrounding it.

And this attraction, right next to that wall.

In Fantasy Land, there is no further west than this!

“It seems like we’ve been dropped into different theme parks? Well, it’s the blue mascot’s winning timeline, that kind of thing. That’s how darkness is.”

Dropped in different places?

Is it a setting of completely different parallel dimensions?

“No.”

That can’t be.

“This is darkness derived from a board game. It means that we wouldn’t use different boards while playing the same game.”

“Hey. Shut up.”

The A team supervisor retorted coldly.

“Muttering… even if it sounds plausible, if it doesn’t fit reality, you have to throw it away.”

No, this is not deduction but induction.

I want to say that there are numerous examples, but I know they won’t believe it. What we need now is… to just state the answer.

Where exactly is ‘west’?

‘Quickly, quickly.’

Let’s think. There must be an answer.

I looked at the Fantasy Land color map again. All visible areas are still colored red.

Ferris wheel, carousel, roller coaster, Viking ship, magic palace. Every single one has Magic Bunny’s face spinning red.

All the rides… wait.

“…!”

Wait a minute.

I scanned the map again.

And I noticed.

“…I found it!”

“What?”

“A different colored area.”

This way.

I moved with conviction. Whether they joined my momentum or felt hope, my teammates moved along.

We had to go quickly before we were noticed by the mascot. There was no time to waste, so I stepped out of the attraction as quickly as possible.