Got Dropped in a Ghost Story Chapter 4

One person had successfully escaped the ghost story.

Though he had done it at the cost of someone else’s eye.

“Huu…”

“Did you hear that?”

Strangely enough, unlike before, the remaining passengers didn’t seem particularly sympathetic.

They were frightened and disgusted, sure, but there wasn’t much pity.

Is this what happens when you use violence without even trying to persuade anyone first?

For a while, the carriage was thrown into confusion as everyone crowded around the man Baek Saheon had attacked to check on his condition.

[This stop is Hatred.]

[Hatred Station.]

“Hatred…”

“Haah…”

The next announcement only made the atmosphere even heavier.

Go Yeongeun, who had been examining the injured man as he clutched his left eye, eventually got to her feet.

Her expression was grim.

“I’m almost certain his cornea has been damaged. That’s worrying…”

“Are you in the medical field?”

“No. I studied it for a while in college before changing majors, so I never took the licensing exam. I’m not a professional.”

Go Yeongeun sighed and sat cross-legged on the floor.

[The doors are opening.]

The train doors slid open.

This time, however, no one rushed toward them.

People only glanced outside cautiously.

And every now and then—

They looked at me.

They were waiting to see whether I would tell them to get off.

At least they’re listening.

I had worried that Baek Saheon’s actions would only make everyone more suspicious of one another.

Instead, having a clear common enemy seemed to have brought the group together.

And after everything that had happened, people naturally turned to the person who had spoken up earlier, waiting for another confident answer.

In other words—

me.

At this rate, they might even leave the choice of station entirely in my hands.

“You must be feeling a lot of pressure.”

“…?”

Go Yeon-geun looked at me with a complicated expression.

“Everyone keeps relying on you.”

Uh…

Thanks?

“They’re all terrified and anxious, so… I hope you don’t find it too burdensome or irritating. Ah, sorry.”

I’m scared and anxious too.

That’s exactly why I’m trying to keep everyone together.

“I’ve been trying to think about it on my own too…”

Oh.

Well, I’m certainly open to suggestions.

“What have you come up with?”

“Well… I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier. About the ‘destination.’”

Go Yeongeun lowered her voice.

“If we’re talking about a person’s final destination… could it mean death?”

“…!”

“Isn’t death the point where a person’s life ends? The more I thought about it, the more it seemed plausible. So I wondered whether we should get off if a station with a name like that appears.”

Oh.

“But then I thought… wouldn’t that just mean we’d die peacefully? So I didn’t want to say anything.”

“No. That’s actually a very reasonable theory.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But…”

I trailed off.

Then, without realizing it—

I smiled slightly.

“…?”

Because I had just noticed the name of the next station appearing on the display.

“What exactly is a destination in the first place?”

“Huh?”

“If you check a dictionary, it means the place or goal someone is trying to reach.”

And the rules of this train had been surprisingly straightforward so far.

Sit down.

Find the lost item.

None of the instructions had been disguised as riddles.

If you simply did exactly what they told you to do, you stayed safe.

Even the people who got off at the wrong stations had died in brutally straightforward ways.

So I decided to interpret the word destination just as literally.

“I think the ‘destination’ this train refers to is something we haven’t reached or obtained yet in our current state.”

If that interpretation was correct, then the rule for choosing the right station became surprisingly simple.

Something I don’t have.

And using that rule, the previous escape records suddenly made more sense.

─────

1. Stations named after colors Examples: Red, Yellow, Blue

Two-person escape success Attempted Station: Blue Station

2. Stations named after body parts Examples: Left Arm, Cornea, Heart No recorded escape success Attempted Station: Cochlea Station

3. Stations named after serial killers Examples: ■■, ■■■■, ■■■

Twelve-person escape success Attempted Station: ■■■■ Station

4. Stations named after years Examples: 2008, 2012, 2016

No recorded escape success Attempted Station: 2024 Station

5. Stations named after illnesses Examples: Asthma, Stroke, Glaucoma

Three-person escape success Attempted Station: Cold Station

─────

The people who escaped at Blue Station probably had nothing blue on their bodies or among their belongings.

And it also explained why the station named after serial killers had produced so many survivors.

Naturally, almost nobody on the train would actually be one of those serial killers.

So for nearly everyone, that name represented something they did not possess.

On the other hand, body-part stations…

Most people already had all their body parts.

The chances of someone actually lacking the named organ were extremely low.

That would explain why nobody escaped from Cochlea Station.

The same logic applied to years.

Everyone on that train had already lived through 2024.

So it wasn’t something they lacked.

If I followed that rule, then choosing the correct station from the current category became much easier.

An emotion I don’t have.

“…So we need to choose an emotion that none of us could possibly be feeling right now.”

“What?”

This was where things got much trickier.

People experience pretty much every emotion there is.

Unless someone was literally incapable of feeling a particular emotion, choosing the right station would be difficult.

The intensity might differ from person to person, but most people still felt the same basic range of emotions.

Which meant…

We needed something more absolute.

Not an emotion measured by degrees, but a flat state of being.

Something that exists as a concept, but is almost impossible to experience perfectly.

That was what we needed.

[This stop is Carefree. Carefree Station.]

[Carefree Station.]

The announcement rang through the train.

At first glance, it seemed like just another ordinary emotion.

People said things like That guy is so carefree all the time.

But—

It’s usually something you say about someone else.

People rarely described themselves as completely carefree.

And that made sense.

By definition, being carefree meant having absolutely no worries or concerns.

But could a person truly have no worries whatsoever?

The chances of that are…

Practically zero.

Especially in a situation like this.

“This is the correct station.”

“…!”

“We’re getting off here.”

I spoke confidently.

Without hesitation.

Then I immediately stood up.

The others looked startled, but one by one, they stood up as well.

“W-we’re getting off here?”

“Yes.”

I walked over to the injured new hire, who was still clutching his damaged eye, and helped him to his feet.

“I’ll support you.”

“Ah… th-thank you…”

Once I started leading him toward the doors, the others naturally followed behind us.

Now no one could back out.

We were all leaving together.

Good.

I just needed to stay wedged between everyone else and escape—

[The doors are opening.]

The doors slid apart.

And outside—

was a sea of blood.

“……”

No.

Come on.

This was too much.

Dear fucking God, please save me.

“Kim Soleum-ssi?”

I almost hid behind Go Young-eun.

Only the last shred of dignity I had left as a working adult stopped me.

Instead, I stiffly turned my head toward the others.

“Are you really sure… this is the right station?”

“Yes.”

It was.

I was absolutely certain.

The problem was—

I had no clever speech prepared to convince everyone to step into that nightmare.

Actually, I didn’t want to step out either.

If someone could give me a convincing reason not to get off here, I would gladly listen.

Please.

Anyone.

“…Excuse me.”

Go Yeongeun suddenly spoke.

“I still think we should get off.”

Huh?

Go Yeongeun?

“You’re the only person who’s been certain about your decisions this whole time.”

She looked at me seriously.

“Everyone else is terrified, but you haven’t panicked. You’ve kept thinking things through.”

Me?

“And that man earlier…”

Her expression hardened.

“He attacked someone and tried to escape on his own. After seeing that, I’d rather trust someone who’s at least trying to help the rest of us.”

She turned toward the open doors.

“I’m getting off.”

And with that—

Go Yeongeun stepped onto the platform first.

The decrepit platform outside was lit by flickering, sinister lights.

Exposed steel beams ran along the ceiling, and pipes above them dripped liquid that most definitely wasn’t water.

Drip.

A drop of blood landed directly on Go Yeongeun’s shoulder.

Ha.

Ha…

“Kim Soleum-ssi?”

“…”

“Don’t worry about me! I believe you too! Let’s go!”

The injured man I was supporting urged me forward.

He probably thought I was hesitating because I was worried about his condition.

At this point, I couldn’t tell whether I was grateful to him or resented him.

Either way—

I had no choice but to move.

I stepped off the train after Go Yeongeun.

The others hesitated for a few more seconds before finally following us.

At least I wasn’t the last person to leave.

That was a relief.

People often overlooked this, but—

being the last one in a horror situation was absolutely terrifying.

…Ha.

At this point, I wanted to crawl out of my own skin and run away.

“Should we take the stairs?”

“Yes.”

Even now, Go Yeongeun turned toward the other open train cars and shouted.

“Hey! Get off here! This is the right station!”

I had no idea how effective that would be.

If anything, some people were probably even more suspicious because of it.

Still, if even one person gets off because of what she said, then she’ll have saved someone.

I kind of admired her.

No.

I was trying very hard to focus every last bit of my attention on that feeling of admiration.

Anything to avoid looking around.

Helping the injured man had turned out to be a surprisingly good decision too.

Whenever my mind started drifting toward the horrifying scenery around us, I forced myself to focus on supporting his weight instead.

I’d recommend this strategy to all my fellow cowards.

Of course, not many cowards would ever find themselves trapped inside an actual ghost story!

“Ugh…”

“Just keep moving.”

I walked with the group, doing my best not to look too closely at our surroundings.

Before long, the stairs came into view.

And—

There are talisman-like symbols plastered all over them…

Seeing that even the staircase looked completely abnormal sent another chill down my spine.

Still—

Just focus on climbing.

One step.

Then another.

I kept my eyes forward and quietly made my way up.

After a while, my vision suddenly blurred.

And then—

[Congratulations, new employees!]

“…!!”

We were back in the auditorium.

Bright lights.

A spacious, modern room.

Clean walls.

Comfortable chairs.

The sheer normalcy of it all almost felt unreal.

I stared at the enormous screen at the front of the room.

New words had appeared across it.

: Congratulations.

: You have officially been hired as a member of the Field Exploration Team at Daydream Inc.

“Ha…”

“Ah…!”

The people who had escaped with me practically collapsed into their seats, their legs finally giving out now that the tension had eased.

I turned and counted everyone.

One.

Two.

Three…

Seven.

Everyone who had made it off our train car was here.

We made it.

Of the ten people who had originally been in our carriage, seven had successfully escaped the ghost story.

And then—

[Now, it’s time for the gift presentation ceremony!]