Chapter 209.3 |
Pandemonium.
“U-Uhhhhh…”
“Hicc…”
No one could understand how or why this was happening.
Faced with something so impossible, so unreal, the chaos in the lobby only gradually died down.
From then on, the people in the lobby gathered trembling before the front desk, clinging to each other for more than half a day.
Occasionally, there was whispered discussion and some movement to try to find a way out, but at least, nobody so much as approached the elevators.
No one seemed willing to complete the mission.
Then came a brutal incentive.
[If the next participant does not board the elevator within five minutes, death by security protocol will occur.]
“……”
“……”
The new hires looked at each other with trembling eyes.
Someone.
Someone had to go.
Someone had to get on the elevator.
Who would it be?
“Fuck…”
The new hire who, hours earlier, had boasted about having a friend at the company, now tried to hide in a corner, avoiding everyone’s gaze.
Sweating coldly, he looked again at the sentence his team had completed.
After going down to 13 BF
and reaching room number 666,
I will knock and go inside.
He’s going to die.
There was no way he’d survive with numbers that ominous.
‘Run…’
Then.
“The next ones up! The ones who already drew!”
Damn it!
“There they are! It’s those people!”
“…!”
The others rushed over and forcibly shoved his team into the elevator.
They struggled like mad, but were outnumbered, with no weapons or means to resist.
“No!”
[The doors are closing.]
As he tried to get up, struggling in panic, he desperately pressed the open button.
At that moment, one of his teammates grabbed his hand and pulled it down.
“…!”
“It’s too late.”
Thunk.
The doors closed.
“Hiiek!”
In a terror so deep he couldn’t even feel anger, he turned his head and saw the pale-faced peer staring at him.
The one who’d always been weirdly quiet.
But now, that person spoke calmly, almost as if explaining.
“Because of the security protocol, someone died. Which means, even if we just stayed in the lobby like this, we’d die all the same…”
“……”
“At this point, we have no choice but to go through with it.”
“N-No…!”
“Calm down and think. There were quite a few people who came back unharmed.”
As if to snap them out of it, the other person grabbed that guy’s shoulder.
“…At least one out of every three teams testified that ‘nothing happened’ to them.”
“…!!”
It was true.
– Nothing really happened…
– Just… there was a weird person in some kind of special agent uniform silently staring at us.
– There was really no one inside!
“For the teams where something did happen, about half of them still had survivors. So, compared to just dying in the lobby, your odds are better this way.”
“……”
“…Let’s move carefully, based on the previous teams’ testimonies.”
Gasping for breath, the two new hires slowly nodded.
It was thanks to the composure of the one who seemed almost like an experienced veteran.
The new hire who had tried to act self-important ended up speaking without realizing it.
“Um, by the way, may I ask your name…?”
“……”
The previously silent person spoke up.
“My name is Jang Heowoon.”
Ding.
The elevator arrived at the basement.
Shaking, the new hires stepped out into the old hallway lined with iron doors.
And they found the room they were looking for.
666
Taking a breath, they reached out and touched the door.
Knock knock knock.
* * *I had a dream.
A truly strange and bizarre nightmare.
A dream in which I entered the ghost-story wiki I loved so much.
In the dream, I became an elite employee at a horrific pharmaceutical company that pushed workers into ghost stories to make potion ingredients.
I also infiltrated the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau, a special agency that rescued people from these ghost stories, as a spy.
Through that, I encountered so many ghost stories from the <Dark Exploration Records> wiki.
A convenience store where you played tag with ghosts, a quiz show where you died if you got the answer wrong, ink wash paintings haunted by evil spirits, exhibitions that charged organs as entry fees, a strange theme park……
Fierce and chilling, days teetering between life and death.
And yet, I also met unforgettable people.
– Kim Soleum-ssi. Can you hear me?
– Roe, I heard seventeen employees escaped thanks to your announcements!
– I hope your wish comes true.
– You’ll be alright, Grapes-ie.
An overpowering afterimage remains.
You know those dreams where, even if you forget most details upon waking, a strong impression and afterglow remain like a shock?
Especially when the ending is terrifying and traumatic.
I survived close calls, endured horrors, worked at a ghost story company, and finally, at the very moment I drank the Wish Ticket I had so desperately wanted…
ThetruthisIwas■■■■■■anddidnotcrashlandinanotherworldbutwasinvitedandmybodyisnothumanandIrealizedthat■■■■■■.
No!
I don’t want to wake up.
I don’t want to know reality.
I don’t want to realize that I am still in Daydream Inc.
……
And in the next moment, I realized.
That I cannot sleep.
Gaaasp.
Dawn.
I sat up in bed, gasping for breath.
No, I must have made a ‘breathing’ sound.
If I had a normal voice box, that is.
“……”
I reached for my throat.
Shhhhk—
A strange hiss of smoke.
I could feel the rubbery material of a work suit instead of skin, the hand in the shiny glove wrapping around my neck.
I fumbled. The silhouette was human.
But when my hand touched the bizarre, rib-like horns connecting from my neck to over my head, I let my hand fall.
“……”
Again, I realize.
I cannot sleep.
– Bzzz!
– It is your work shift. Please wake up. It is your work shift. Please wake up…
I rose from the steel bed and began today’s work.
As per the contract.
goblin notes:
We are so back~
I dunno about you guys, but those two weeks went by a little too fast;; I barely caught up on sleep wah
With the start of a new semester comes another revision to the update schedule… I’m really sorry about updates getting more and more infrequent, but I’ve been left with no choice but to lock tf in this year or else my graduation will get pushed back
[ New update frequency: 10 part unlocks/week ]
No fixed schedule because I don’t want to set you guys up for disappointment, so maybe I’ll miss a weekday, but I’ll make up for it on a weekend, or vice versa. At the very least, 10 unlocks per week are guaranteed (outside unforeseen circumstances).
This is a realistic pace I can more or less stick to, I think. I’ll try to work my way up back to more frequent releases again, but no promises. And if I need another break, I’ll let you guys know ahead of time.
Let us pray to our dear lord and savior Ireum-nim that this semester won’t be soul-crushing and that my brain won’t spiral from the sheer amount of requirements I can already foresee… amen.
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