Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 22

Four people sprinted from the exit of ‘Fantasy Train’.

“Haah… haah!”

The ragged breathing of those running for their lives echoed from both sides.

It was inevitable.

Mascots poured out.

“Aaah!”

“Huu, huuuuk…”

At every attraction entrance, every shop, every sign, alien and grotesque bubbles boiled and spat out slimy mascots.

And those mascots, with their mouths ripped open, revealing countless teeth embedded in their insides, were pursuing them in a grotesque manner.

Their bodies occasionally shook, and melted-looking tentacles dangled from their drooping ears and arms.

– ♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪

– Ahahahaha! Hahaha! Ahahahaha! Hahaha! Ahahahaha! Hahaha!

The surroundings were cacophonous.

The theme park’s music and laughter overlapped, creating bizarre noises all around.

Loud, scary, confusing, and horrifying sounds!!

Every element caused a headache and disorientation. But…

“This way! This way!”

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to change direction according to the coordinates etched in my mind.

At that moment.

*Plick*.

*Squish*.

The viscous fluid from a flying tentacle narrowly missed my head.

*Tsiik*.

“…Huuk.”

I could feel the smell of burning as the fluid melted the hair it touched.

‘This is insane.’

Cold sweat poured down my face.

But my feet didn’t stop. No, they couldn’t stop.

‘The moment I stop, it’s over.’

I’d die. No, I had a gut feeling it would be far worse.

The only fortunate thing was that the destination was very close!

Even the researcher, instead of whining, ran with drool dripping from his mouth.

“St, stay back! Stay baaaack!!”

“Shut up!”

The butterfly Mask shouted, his eyes showing regret at not being able to buy time by throwing the researcher as bait.

It was unavoidable.

‘Too, close.’

The mascots, swarming like zombies, were multiplying wildly, and some were getting dangerously close.

And they were fast.

Faster than humans!

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!!’

At the moment when fear made my back prickle.

“Urgh!”

Someone was finally caught.

“Aaack… ugh…”

So Mask fell.

‘Damn it.’

Without looking back, I fumbled in my pocket, somehow flicking the coins to summon my gloves.

Then, I threw several 500-won coins, creating a translucent shadow hand in mid-air.

*Whoosh*.

The shadow hand, flying through the air, shoved the disgusting mascot’s head.

“Run!”

Y-Team newbie, who had barely survived with countless holes in his shoulder, crawled on all fours and started running.

“Haak, huk, th, thank…”

“Later!”

There was no time for first aid. Forget special equipment!

‘Anyway, the shadow hand will disappear if it goes beyond 3 meters…’

An insane pain slammed into my left hand.

“~!!!”

I almost grabbed my hand and wailed, rolling on the ground.

This feeling, like my hand was being crushed and melted alive by a sharp compactor…

‘Special equipment!’

I realized instinctively.

The hand I had summoned in mid-air had disappeared after suffering some terrible fate, whether it was in the mascot’s mouth or tentacles.

It was the first time I realized the weakness of my special equipment.

That if the hand the gloves created was destroyed, my hand would hurt just as much!

But there was no time to scream. I ran like crazy.

And shouted.

“Over there!”

The target was in sight.

A huge door.

Painted in bright colors, a typical theme park style…

[Fantasyland (Westside Gate)]

An ornament.

An ornamental door attached to the wall surrounding the west side of the theme park.

“It’s blocked!!”

“Get under it!”

I was the first to step under the ornamental door without hesitation and looked back.

Almost simultaneously, two people tried to step onto it. A-Team’s deputy and Y-Team’s newbie.

The researcher was behind them, so his position might be a little dangerous…

“Get out of the way, damn it!”

“Ugh!”

*Thwack*.

The researcher shoved the A-Team employee with all his might, using the momentum to move forward.

“…!”

A slender body was suddenly flung out, colliding with a mascot. Blackish-red fluid poured from the half-melted mascot’s eyes onto a butterfly mask.

“Aaaaaah!”

*Tsiiiik!*

The sound of burning echoed in my ears.

“Team Leader!”

An A-team employee trembled, pinned beneath the horrifically mangled mascot. Their face, partially visible beneath the butterfly mask, was already blistered and ruined. Their eyes showed resignation, the eyes of someone who had accurately calculated that help was impossible.

The moment our eyes met,

“Fingernail!” I shouted.

“Team Leader, fingernail here!”

Simultaneously, I extended my left hand forward. The A-team leader’s eyes widened, and they extended their right hand, offering an index finger.

*Piiik!*

The fired nail embedded itself in the center of my palm.

“…!”

But there was no hesitation.

‘It already hurts like hell!’

Ignoring the pain in the face of greater suffering, my grip remained firm on the nail. Then, I pulled.

*Hook!*

With a short sound, the body wearing the butterfly mask was flung back. Mascot teeth and fluid showered down, narrowly missing the empty space.

“Ugh, ugh…”

“Whew…”

I collapsed onto the floor by the door, gasping for breath. Right in front of me, countless rabbit mascots, their eyes vacant and dripping with fluid like bloody tears, stood rigidly, as if held back by an invisible wall.

“Hick!”

———————

Cheerful Theme Park Usage Guide (Exploration Record up to #64)

5. Enjoy various zones!

Has the mascot’s appearance and attraction color changed? You are in a new zone.

Sadly, mascots from other zones cannot exist in the new zone.

Please say goodbye. Kindly!

———————

I looked at the floor.

‘…The brick color was different.’

Two rows of strikingly white bricks were positioned beneath a decorative entrance. The mascots had been stopped just beyond them, unable to cross onto the red brick floor.

I looked down at my ticket.

[(Cheerful) Fantasyland Admission Ticket ■□□]

[(Cheerful) Fantasyland Admission Ticket ■□□]

Not fun

The voice faded.

The mascots, clustered tightly in front of me, stood motionless, then blinked… and vanished.

“…….”

“…….”

Gasping sounds echoed through the silent air. I swallowed.

“…It seems that Magic Bunny’s Fantasy Land ends here.”

I lived.

“Escape, successful!”

“Aaaaaah…!”

“Ugh…”

A Y-team rookie slumped to the ground, clutching their shoulder in relief and pain. I leaned my head against the wall, gazing at the sky, catching my breath.

‘I thought I was going to die…’

My heart pounded.

I bought this.

The A-team leader glared icily at the researcher who had pushed them, but after a glance at my nail-shaped wound, they calmed down. They seemed to have decided that they couldn’t afford to cause a scene and kill the researcher, even though they’d survived. It was remarkable that they were so composed despite the intense pain from the acidic liquid splashed on their head.

“First.”

“Yes?”

The A-team leader took a deep breath.

“Thank you. I lived thanks to you.”

“…….”

Unexpected.

“No. Thanks to the Team Leader’s specialized equipment…”

“Humility doesn’t mean anything here? Just say you understand. You’re lucky right now.”

Ah, yes.

“Unlike certain idiots.”

“…….”

The researcher desperately avoided eye contact. The A-team leader watched them for a moment before returning to the topic at hand.

“This seems like a kind of leftover space. Did you plan this? But even just standing still is cramped… what were you trying to do?”

“This isn’t the destination.”

“Hm?”

After catching my breath, I turned completely around, facing the decorative door.

“Do you know? Large theme parks often have things other than amusement park attractions.”

“…Other things?”

“Yes.”

Strictly speaking, the space beneath this door belongs to neither Magic Bunny’s territory nor that of any other mascot. It’s an empty space.

It’s just an empty space in a theme park, so they won’t try to kill me for damaging property, right?

I knocked on the wall shaped like a door with my hand.

Thump.

A hollow sound.

“Manager, can we tear this down with specialized equipment?”

“…….”

Without a word, the manager raised his hand and pulled out the fingernail of his index finger.

Then, he inserted it into the crack in the wall and pulled it sharply.

“Whoa!”

Thump, thump.

A brick-shaped panel came loose with a groan, and a gust of wind blew in.

The smell of… water.

– Ahahahaha!

“…!!”

Whoosh, the sound of refreshing water splashing, foghorns, the cries of seagulls, and a cheerful march played.

Sunlight shone through the gap in the bricks into a wide-open space.

Huge cylindrical slides descended through the air, all in various shades of blue, spewing water and tubes.

[Bluedream Waterland]

“This is…!”

A water park.

A summer space that forms one part of a large-scale theme park.

“This is the blue zone.”

A new recruit from the Y team turned his neck as if it would break, and looked at me with a shocked expression.

“H-how?!”

“On the Fantasyland color map I saw earlier, there were no water attractions.”

“…!”

“So, I deduced that there might be a large separate section elsewhere.”

I took a deep breath.

“I also reasoned that it would be difficult to access normally. Usually, they sell separate tickets for this kind of area.”

“…So, you tore down the wall?”

“Yes.”

I recalled my conversation with Team Leader Lee Jaheon.

– It’s on the west side….

West.

Of course, what the team leader meant was west *within* the Waterland.

However, since we happened to be at the western edge of ‘Magic Bunny Fantasyland’, it was possible to deduce that there was a separate blue zone.

‘The east is blocked by a forest, the north has an entrance, and the south is a cliff…’

The only place a space could exist beyond ‘Magic Bunny Fantasyland’ was to the west.

That’s how I reasoned…

‘And I was right.’

“The blue mascot who was chased out of Fantasyland must have created a new zone here.”

“Ah…”

“Let’s get over there quickly.”

“Y-yes!”

Hands busily continued tearing away the panels. Even the Y team new recruit, who had a shoulder injury, tried his best to help with one hand.

Meanwhile, the researcher stood in a corner with his eyes rolling, but a smug look returned to his face.

He seemed to have noticed that things were going well.

And a few seconds later.

“I-it’s done!”

One by one, people began to squeeze through the wall panels that had finally been torn open wide enough for a person to pass through.

As the last one to go through, I stood in Waterland, looking at the blue pool and the blue sky.

Whoosh, a damp breeze blew.

‘The sunlight…’

It was unbelievably nice.

Just as I felt an odd sense of liberation,

I saw people in the distance who spotted me and waved, running towards me.

“Noru!!”

“…!”

It’s the people from Team D.

“Are you okay?!”

“Manager!”

Carrying what looked like tubes, or bulky loads, the people from Team D rushed closer.

Perhaps because we had spent a month together, a wave of relief washed over me.

“How have you been?!”

I greeted them happily and approached.

And I wondered if I should take some of the team leader’s burden to show my efficiency as a new recruit…

Wait.

‘That’s a human body.’

It wasn’t luggage.

A human body was slumped over the team leader’s shoulder.

‘…Hunting?’

On closer inspection, it was wearing a mallard duck mask.

It’s Team A’s leader.

“…….”

No.

No!!