Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 220

The atmosphere of the post plummeted chillingly.

<Hot Talk Talk First Half Special>, hastily put together after the filming was lost due to a power outage.

Chapter 166.

Various scenes of panelists and audience members, captured from previous broadcasts and roughly compiled for that Chapter, flashed by in photos.

That…

There was no need to circle and enlarge them as before.

Anyone who had read this post would now remember the man’s face.

Black eyes.

Smiling mouth.

The man in the screen, in various scenes of old talk show entertainment where everyone was laughing and chatting, was the only one staring at the camera among dozens of people.

Chapters 157, 158, 160, 162, 164…

In all the Chapters spliced together and broadcast as Chapter 166.

In a corner of the lively entertainment show.

———————=

Clearly, this man had never been found in these broadcasts before. If he had, there wouldn’t have been talk of him only appearing in Chapter 6.

But when it was re-edited and broadcast as Chapter 166, he appeared.

He clearly wasn’t there before, they hadn’t found him… but now, he was there.

And compare this.

———————=

Two photos were side by side.

A magnified screenshot of ‘The Man in the Screen’ previously discovered, circled in red.

And a magnified screenshot from Chapter 166.

Comparing the two, captured from identical angles…

———————=

His expression changed.

———————=

Only the man in Chapter 166 was smiling, showing all his teeth.

And the pupils of his black eyes, looking at the camera, seemed subtly dilated…

The chilling sensation emanating from the low-quality photo.

———————=

He reportedly had this expression in all the highlight scenes where he was found.

———————=

A spine-chilling phenomenon.

Ultimately, realizing this was no ordinary matter, the broadcasting station internally took measures among the production staff.

———————=

They started inspecting people entering the set or outdoor locations more thoroughly during filming.

Panelists and audience members, that is.

They tried to check if anyone resembled ‘The Man in the Screen’.

It was the 2000s. Back then, they didn’t verify identities with such effort.

So, because this was so deliberate and unusual, rumors spread among the celebrities filming and the on-site staff.

The screenshot of ‘The Man in the Screen’ was said to have spread then.

All sorts of stories circulated. He was a PD who died in a broadcast accident, the former director’s suicidal son, a construction worker who died during the broadcasting station’s construction, an occult horror special aired years ago summoned something strange…

But none of it was proven true.

Whether they performed a ritual or an exorcism, the phenomenon didn’t disappear.

He kept being found…

———————=

So eventually, the production staff changed their approach.

———————=

So what did they do afterward?

They just kept deleting him.

When the final edited version came out, they would keep replaying the footage in the editing room, trying to find him if he was there and cut him out.

So he no longer appeared in the broadcast, and… that’s how this ghost story gradually faded. It probably died down because the man was no longer found, right?

Occasionally, screenshots brought in claiming ‘The Man in the Screen’ had reappeared were revealed to be other people with similar appearances, which even served as a kind of explanation.

That’s how this commotion ended.

And I, until now, knew it that way…

Recently, I heard a chilling story from a friend who is a broadcast writer.

This is getting too long, so I’ll bring it up in the next part.

————————==

And.

“…That, it’s appearing again here.”

Before Lee Seonghae, who had briefly finished recalling ‘Document Part 1,’ the PD, barely swallowing, spoke with a pale face.

A terrified expression.

“‘The Man on the Screen’?”

“Yes…”

The bizarre and terrifying phenomenon that had appeared in the defunct broadcasting station was now reappearing in the entertainment department of the modern MBS channel.

“We’re trying our best to delete or avoid him… but this doesn’t seem like an ordinary matter, so we agreed to call in experts.”

The two field exploration team members, suddenly becoming exorcism experts, maintained their usual composure, as expected of their calm personalities.

Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.

“Whether you do an exorcism or whatever, just make him not appear. If possible, it would be good if you could resolve it amicably…”

“Yep. Don’t worry!”

If they collected it for the company, it would eventually stop appearing at this broadcasting station.

Lee Seonghae smiled brightly, recalling.

‘The Man in the Screen’ Countermeasures.

The estimated grade of this darkness is C~D, showing typical characteristics of supernatural symptoms appearing in video.

If not observed: Appears more frequently.

If observed: Appears in a more aggressive manner.

• Manage the entity’s irregular appearance frequency and aggressiveness, endure for the optimal time, then store the video data in a self-playback impossible storage and return it to an appropriate storage location. (Estimated)

Possibility of death if failed.

The estimated countermeasures included in the document were surprisingly comprehensive.

It was almost like a clear manual. Although it kept being noted that it had not been proven in the current situation.

‘With a bit of luck, the Employee might even get a break!’

I should only call them at the very last moment.

“Then, I’ll guide you.”

“Yep!”

The PD led them to the editing room.

No Entry

Under Construction.

He opened the door.

Creak.

Contrary to the sign posted, the dark, empty editing room was there, perfectly intact.

All screens were off, and equipment was inactive.

“The sign was just put up so no one else would come in. As for editing… for now, only urgent things that can’t be done without equipment are done here during the day, and we try to do it outside the broadcasting station, in a studio or at home.”

A modern solution that was impossible in the past, when the broadcasting station was defunct.

It was possible because editing programs and equipment specifications had recently become standardized and widespread.

Perhaps because there were no people inside the editing room, it felt somewhat chilly and settled…

“Hmm…”

And there, Kang Yihak’s mouth slowly opened once more.

“Well, this… it’s not just any ordinary stubborn thing that’s attached.”

“!”

Kang Yihak clicked her tongue and said seriously.

“Ah, this… Ha, it seems dangerous.”

“…”

“If it’s like this, we’ll need to secure more time than originally planned, and more preliminary preparations.”

“Uh, how long will it take?”

Kang Yihak looked at the PD and said solemnly.

“Congratulations.”

“…Yes?”

“You’re very lucky. What we have here is a very powerful item that we brought with great difficulty.”

Thump.

Kang Yihak lightly pointed at and touched the transport box.

“You can skip the preparation time. This one… it’s not just an additional fee, it’s at the level where we have to draw up a completely new estimate for a reward.”

“Ah,”

Kang Yihak looked at him trustingly.

“But this time, we’ll just do it for you.”

“!”

Because they were busy people, and because they were people who brought laughter to the nation, they would endure it even if it meant taking a loss…

At her dazzling eloquence, the PD, whose mental state was already shaken by fatigue and fear, looked blankly and then nodded.

“Th-thank you.”

“Haha, please continue to make good broadcasts in the future. …However.”

Kang Yihak frowned.

“From now on, you’ll have to stay in the editing room for three days. No one else enters.”

“Yes!”

“And if the schedule extends like this… this will inevitably be priced. We can’t help it beyond this.”

With her dazzling skill, which continued with ‘As you can see, it’s a difficult profession to get a business license for, so we only accept cash or goods,’ the PD eventually ran down to the first floor of the broadcasting station to withdraw money and came back.

Moreover, with the PD even taking off his gold accessories and handing them over, Kang Yihak accepted them eagerly and saw him off, telling him not to worry.

“Now you can sleep soundly!”

“Thank you…”

And the moment the PD disappeared from the editing room, she turned to her companions, gleefully holding the extra income in both hands.

“Now we can just say we’re so capable that we handled three days’ worth of work in one day!”

It was insane resourcefulness.

“Oh.”

Lee Seonghae, who had been watching her silently, opened her mouth.

“You’re really good at deceiving people.”

“Deceiving? I’m just good at creating additional income in a way that no one cares about and no one loses out!”

Kang Yihak quickly divided the received gold and cash into three equal parts.

Her hands were skilled at dividing according to market value.

“Anyway, that person will save money if this is handled, and even if not, they’ll get all the money they spent from their superiors or somewhere, won’t they?”

“…”

“Come on, it’s good to receive this and divide it equally among the number of people. Right? Me, Deputy Manager Dolphin, and… our stylish Employee!”

Kang Yihak quickly turned to the transport box and offered the gold towards it.

“The Employee?”

“Yes! Of course. Look, if it’s cash, shouldn’t I give it as gold? How about it, employee!”

There’s no way it would take it…

Thump.

“…”

“See!”

Kang Yihak silently let out a triumphant scream into the air, certain that it was indeed a being that understood the greatness of gold.

Lee Seonghae froze for a moment, then bowed her head to the transport box and asked seriously.

“Hmm… do you need human money?”

…Thump.

“Should I give you more?”

Thump.

“Excuse me, does the company not pay you a salary?”

Silence.

Silence continued from the transport box. The mascot seemed confused. Let’s not push too hard.

‘But… it seems like they really aren’t paying him, don’t they?’

Lee Seonghae, deep in thought, decided to put this good employee at ease for now.

Work talk.

“I’ll work hard!”

Tap, tap.

Does that mean it’s okay not to work hard? Such a kind person!

“Alright, then… how about we prepare to enter right now?”

“Yep.”

After a brief capitalist commotion, Kang Yihak quickly went to the editing room entrance and closed the door.

Thud.

Inside the now secluded editing room.

“…Turning on the screen.”

The central equipment monitor lit up, and an entertainment file being edited appeared on the desktop.

And the next text automatically came to mind.

The reason why people related to ‘The Man in the Screen’ ghost story are especially afraid of the editing room.

The reason they are here.

[Has anyone seen this man on a PBS broadcast program? (Caution: Photo) -2]

———————=

Hello. Many of you were curious, so I quickly wrote this.

In the last post, I said that ‘The Man in the Screen’ ghost story faded because he was deleted during the editing process.

And I said I heard a chilling story from a friend who is a broadcast writer, right? Well, it’s this…

Actually, saying ‘The Man in the Screen’ was completely deleted was a lie.

Apparently, it was possible at first. They could remove the man and create a clean final version.

But as time went on, as Chapters accumulated, as they edited more and more… the instances where he kept being found, even after deleting and deleting again, increased.

And as that happened, the man’s form gradually became stranger.

Before, if he was in a crowd, you’d just pass him by unless you looked closely, but at some point, he became… a state where you’d pause the video out of strangeness even if you just casually glanced at him.

I don’t know what state he was in exactly. The people in the editing room couldn’t even describe it. They just kept repeating one phrase.

‘He seems angry,’ they said…

Then, eventually, the workload reached its limit.

Because he kept appearing even after being deleted, the work burden increased in an industry already prone to all-nighters… Even senior staff, who usually wouldn’t have time for this, started staying up all night looking for ‘The Man in the Screen’ and cutting him out.

Then, eventually, they devised a new method.

——————==

That is, source blocking.

Completely avoiding scenes with large numbers of people where ‘The Man in the Screen’ might appear.

——————==

They would just not film the audience at all and only add sound. Or they would zoom in tightly on only the reacting people.

This way, there wouldn’t be many people caught on camera at once, right?

They thought it would make things easier. It seemed plausible.

——————==

The post continued with a description that the atmosphere calmed down somewhat after this method was suggested. As if a true solution had been found.

The PD and assistant director who had suggested it at the time sighed in relief and went into the editing room to try it.

And the next day.

——————==

Both of them committed suicide in the editing room.

——————==

“…”

——————==

The PD, who had hanged himself with a power cord, was on the ceiling, and the assistant director, who had cut his arteries with broken monitor shards, was in a chair.

There was also a suicide note right in front of the door.

But the handwriting was so messy, and they couldn’t tell what it was written with…

The PD who handled the scene at the time and my broadcast writer friend had worked together, and that PD said that the suicide note was like something written by a severely schizophrenic patient, full of nonsensical words and phrases that made no sense. It was so shocking that he only vaguely remembered the content.

But one night, as he recalled those individual words and reconstructed them, he felt like he roughly understood the meaning…

Like this.

The man in the screen does not want to be deleted.

He is angry.

Broadcast him immediately.

I conveyed it as it was.

I don’t want to die.

I’m sorry.

He said he couldn’t sleep that night because he was so scared.

He ended up staying at a temple for a few days.

Even if not for that, most of the PBS entertainment department staff were so shocked or terrified that the entertainment department itself became completely dysfunctional.

People my age remember, right? Suddenly, news broke that two people died in the PBS entertainment department, and entertainment shows were continuously canceled for 2-3 weeks for mourning…

That was actually what happened.

The editing room was rebuilt, but the atmosphere never recovered afterward. Entertainment department PDs resigned en masse, and even production staff like writers were reluctant to sign new contracts and work there.

So everyone who worked at PBS during that time knows.

While socio-political power struggles are often cited as the reason for PBS’s closure, this incident, which rendered the entertainment department almost irrecoverable, certainly played a part…

Anyway, there’s also something fortunate.

When this broadcasting station disappeared in 2008, the ‘Man in the Screen’ ghost story truly ended.

.

.

.

But did you know?

This was an entertainment show broadcast yesterday.

———————=

At the end of the post, a high-quality photo was attached.

Screenshot of ‘Elegant Laughter in the Dead of Night’ Chapter 36, 6 minutes 23 seconds.

An MC and a solo guest are conversing warmly. And the camera briefly shows the production staff’s reactions.

A person sitting among the mosaic-blurred production staff…

———————=

Do you recognize him?

———————=

The man on the screen is watching.

A smile showing all his teeth, dilated pupils, and strangely distorted eyebrows as if enraged.

He is watching you, beyond the camera.

———————=

PBS is defunct.

But there’s a broadcasting station that completely acquired the equipment and personnel of the defunct station and reorganized itself.

Do you know where?

It’s MBS.

And ‘Elegant Laughter in the Dead of Night’ is an MBS entertainment show.

…

For a while, don’t watch live broadcasts of MBS entertainment shows.

———————=

Something began to reflect on the editing room screen.

———————=

Because you never know what might happen.