Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 78

A dark fourth-floor hallway.

Students standing in a line like mannequins.

And me, moving my feet after calculating the range of the students’ hands in advance.

‘Whew.’

First, I unfolded the item I carefully folded in my pocket and wrapped it around my vital areas.

‘Armor’ purchased from the Alien Shop.

Packaging 12B357.

The loose packaging settled inside my high school uniform.

‘The Nostalgia series doesn’t treat injuries or contamination sustained while in effect.’

I have to be more careful from now on.

I moved my feet carefully, trying not to overlap with the dolls’ areas.

Since it occupies a small area, it’s surprisingly easier. Moving alone like this on the fourth floor might actually increase my survival rate.

“…….”

I wonder if Agent Bronze and Mr. Jang Heoun are doing okay.

‘They’ll probably prioritize joining up with others.’

The agent wasn’t stupid enough to go to the fifth floor with just two people, so they probably won’t be searching for people on the fourth floor.

Judging by the atmosphere, they don’t seem to be taking Mr. Jang Heoun prisoner.

‘Even if they do catch him, I really did everything I could, buddy…….’

So I walked to the end of the hallway.

“Whew.”

I reached the stairs and I came up with my colleague, the agent.

And….

I started going back down the stairs.

[3F]

I’m going back the way I came.

Why am I doing this?

To be perfectly honest, I don’t really need the information items scattered around this school.

‘It’s already all in my head.’

I’ve already obtained and seen everything.

I know everything until the moment this urban legend ends.

Why the school became like this, what the theme of this urban legend is, and what these students are.

So, I only needed one thing.

‘The key item that will be the key to the highest-grade clear.’

And now I’m going to get it.

‘Around… now, I think the necessary thing has been ‘made’.’

I stopped at the landing.

The third floor below was very quiet.

“…….”

Because they’re all corpses.

Under the bright lights, blood-soaked corpses were horribly mutilated and clearly visible.

It seemed that most of the students in uniforms on this floor were dead.

‘Even if any surviving agents were around, they would have gone elsewhere.’

And it seems that almost all of the students who flocked to the faculty room received an immobile judgment and appeared in the death report.

“Whew.”

Beyond the disgust, it felt like I was in the middle of a horrific disaster scene where dozens of people had died.

‘Calm down.’

This is a dream…. It’s all a dream…….

Repeating this to myself, I continued down the stairs, quickly checking the ends of the hallway and the faculty room opposite.

And I found my target.

Blink.

In the short time I looked away.

A student whose posture had changed was inside the faculty room.

“…!”

Of course, it wasn’t chasing me.

The student was already in a terrible state.

Both arms were broken, one leg had an open fracture, and the stomach was covered in blood.

However, it seemed to have ‘consciousness’… enough to nod its head towards me….

“…….”

I looked around.

‘There’s no sign of any other students appearing….’

Good.

I headed towards the faculty room.

And I went to the very front of the student who had fallen near the front door.

Bleached hair and piercings. A typical delinquent student’s appearance, but the feeling from their appearance was gone due to the injuries.

“…….”

Wow, this is crazy.

I grabbed that ‘student’ with both hands and lifted him up.

“Whew.”

Carrying him would take him out of my sight, so I carry him like a burden on my shoulder.

‘I’m going crazy.’

Carrying a tens-of-kilograms killing machine like this was mentally exhausting.

However, my physical condition was quite good. Nostalgia candies were rolling around in my mouth.

‘And… the destination is here.’

I had a route drawn in my head.

Since this mess broke out, there will probably be few students on the third floor, but just in case, let’s go quickly.

I held a flashlight in my mouth and crawled forward, pressing myself against the wall. The powerful flashlight illuminated the entire corridor, blackout or not. Even so, it was suffocating because of all the blood. But still.

[Nurse’s Office]

My destination was in sight.

Creak.

I silently dropped the name tag my colleague had given me onto the floor, then quietly opened the door and entered the nurse’s office.

Three beds lined up near the window, each concealed by curtains, came into view. Two already showed the silhouettes of people inside the curtains.

“…..”

I moved slowly.

As I passed, I noticed a notice on a whiteboard attached to the nurse’s office door.

Students injured during exercise should lie on a bed and wait for the nurse to arrive!

“…..”

I felt strange.

‘That’s it.’

That was the clue that made me continue writing this exploration record of this urban legend…

The previous person’s 12th exploration record.

Exploration Record #12

Assistant Manager Kang Jiwoo entered the nurse’s office and, following instructions, laid the injured person (Supervisor Park Chaon) on an empty bed.

No unusual occurrences.

Subsequently, all died after being chased into the nurse’s office by student entities. Clear.

From the moment I read this, I saw a flaw.

‘It seemed like the previous writer intentionally left it.’

In this urban legend, the explorers are, by setting, ‘students from another school.’ Meaning outsiders.

So….

– What would have happened if a real Sekwang Industrial High School student had been laid down?

The imagination that stemmed from that question gave me the urge to write the 13th exploration record….

‘My heart was pounding.’

And my heart was still racing now. Whether it was nervousness, fear, or anticipation, I couldn’t tell.

After a deep breath, I opened the curtains of the remaining empty bed.

And I laid the student down on the clean cot.

The sentences from my exploration record overlapped in my head.

Exploration Record #13

(Omitted)

Employee ■■■ successfully lured one injured student entity with a civilian.

After subduing them, they entered the nurse’s office and laid them on a bed.

In this process, the student’s name tag was not removed.

The student was in an awkward position, though I might have been able to move their joints if I had used force.

I covered them with a blanket and left the nurse’s office for a moment. Then, suppressing my pounding heart in the blood-soaked corridor, I waited for a few tens of seconds.

‘After doing this.’

After waiting, I lightly knocked on the nurse’s office door and entered….

I witnessed the injured student entity lying on the bed in their gym clothes, having received appropriate first aid.

It was exactly as it should be.

“…..”

Feeling something between wonder and fear, I approached the only bed without curtains.

The bleached-haired student I had brought was lying on the bed in a careless posture, wearing their gym clothes.

Bandages and splints were applied.

They didn’t look at me.

‘Here….’

The original exploration record stated that it was discovered ‘while thoroughly searching the surroundings.’

Creak.

I immediately opened the drawer next to the bed.

There was a neatly folded uniform inside.

[Sekwang Industrial High School]

It was the uniform of the student lying on the bed. While some buttons were missing or frayed, the blood and dirt were strangely clean, as if they’d been thoroughly washed….

‘Ha.’

My heart pounded violently.

Without looking at the student lying on the bed, I quickly took an A4 sheet of paper from the nurse’s office and wrote:

May I borrow your uniform for a bit?

– The transferred student who brought you to the nurse’s office

Then, I carefully folded the paper and put it in the drawer where the uniform was, and took out the uniform instead.

“…..”

When I turned my head, I saw the student still lying down with their eyes closed, wearing their gym clothes. They looked fast asleep.

‘It’s done.’

I quickly undressed.

After throwing my high school uniform out the window of the nurse’s office, I began to put on the ‘borrowed’ Sekwang Industrial High School uniform.

Because we were similar in build, it fit fairly well.

Once I put on the old-style uniform…

Creak.

“…..”

I heard the sound of a drawer opening behind me.

When I turned my head, there was a reply to the note I had written in the drawer.

What grade and class are you in?

“…..”

I swallowed, and with trembling hands, I wrote.

Using the same profile I wrote on the back of my high school picture to access this place.

And the name of the class where I opened my eyes.

Class 1-5.

That moment.

The whole world went dark.

“……!”

A seemingly lightless darkness briefly covered my eyes, and then, my eyes adapting, vaguely showed me the outline of the world.

Emergency lights and the faint glow of an LED clock barely distinguished the space… the school’s infirmary.

And.

Tap tap.

“…!”

Someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned my head.

A student sitting on the bed with a bored expression was tapping my shoulder.

That bleached-haired student naturally withdrew their hand from my shoulder and moved.

Yes.

Naturally.

With a very human movement, they took the A4 paper and pen I was holding, moved their bandaged arm, quickly wrote something, and handed it to me.

A transfer student?

Unlucky bastard.

And then they lay back down on the bed.

Naturally, as if a person were falling asleep.

“…….”

I got up from my seat with a hardened face.

Creak.

I went out of the infirmary door.

The world was still dark.

But everything seemed strangely clear…

Even the dust floating in the air seemed visible, a heightened state of awareness.

A strange conviction seemed to emanate from my uniform and settle in my heart.

“…….”

As I walked down the hallway, I picked up my name tag, which I had dropped when I entered the infirmary, and put it in my pocket.

[■■■]

The name tag shone strangely, unlike before. Moreover, even in this dark situation littered with blood and filth, I felt strangely unafraid.

However…

I see something at the end.

“…!”

Something is peeking out from the classroom of Class 2-7.

The silhouettes were definitely human.

But their entire bodies were writhing disgustingly.

As if the pixelation of a broken image were made real, like gruesome ghouls from a horror movie.

Wearing something resembling decaying school uniforms, they looked like errors improperly rendered into the world…

And the moment they looked at me.

“…!”

I stopped.