Got Dropped in a Ghost Story Chapter 17

Around the time Squad D of the Field Exploration Team entered the ghost story—

“Section Chief, what class do you think it’ll turn out to be this time? Probably D-Class again, right?”

“Hey, Supervisor Lee.”

Section Chief Kwak Jaekang gave him a look.

“You should learn to read the room a little.”

“…”

“Betting is fine and all, but keep it inside the Development Department. Don’t bring it up when people from other teams are around. Got it?”

“…Yes, sir.”

The Research Team supervisor who had been grinning while trying to drag Kim Soleum into the betting finally shut his mouth.

“How annoying.”

He had assumed Section Chief Kwak Jaekang was young and easygoing.

Getting scolded over something like this left a bad taste in his mouth.

And that irritation reminded him of someone else who had annoyed him earlier.

An easy target.

“That rookie from the Field Exploration Team.”

“The nerve of him, looking down on his seniors like that.”

He had tried to include the rookie in the bet, only for the new hire to refuse outright without looking even slightly interested.

Kim Soleum, was it?

“You’re basically a lab rat for human experiments. Where does that attitude even come from?”

A rookie joining the Field Exploration Team already had one foot in the grave.

And yet, just because he had pulled off one impressive achievement, he was already acting so stiff and proper?

Ridiculous.

Every year, there were stories about clueless rookies who didn’t understand their place.

Apparently, this year he had gotten to see one firsthand.

“Think he’ll die?”

“It’d be hilarious if he did.”

His already dulled sense of morality anticipated the dopamine rush strongly enough that his mouth almost watered.

He quickly opened the company’s anonymous betting group chat.

– betting 10 on d-class

– kk

At this point, it wasn’t even just a bet.

It was practically a wish.

If the Darkness really turned out to be D-Class, the chances of someone dying would be much higher.

Then his superior interrupted his thoughts.

“Supervisor Lee, have the preliminary report ready by the end of the day.”

“…Yeees.”

“It’s not like those lab rats are getting out of the Darkness before my shift ends anyway.”

His superior was dumping work on him that he normally would’ve passed to a junior during the shift change.

Seriously.

Why did he always get stuck with annoying bosses?

Grumbling internally, the Research Team supervisor returned to the preliminary experiment report.

3.2 Test Subjects

Adults aged eighteen or older who viewed the five-second promotional video titled “The Clown Dislikes You” on a certain video platform.

“So they watched the ad, saw the clown’s hand, walked toward it, and got dragged inside.”

Wasn’t approaching something like that just plain stupid?

If something suspicious appeared, the obvious response was to run away.

At that point, getting caught was practically natural selection.

“Still, there were civilians lucky enough to escape.”

According to survivor testimony, they had returned to reality by jumping into an empty portrait after the clown inside it crawled out.

“And our test subjects already know that before entering.”

The problem was—

there was no clear way to tell which portrait was the correct one.

The shape of the hallway changed.

The portraits varied in size.

The frames were different.

Even the timing changed.

Most of the civilians who escaped seemed to have simply jumped into an empty portrait at random and gotten lucky.

“Finding the right portrait is going to be a grind.”

The Darkness also demanded a lot of stamina.

You had to provoke clowns into emerging, evade them, and sometimes even fight them off.

All while having no idea which portrait would actually lead outside.

Just imagining the pressure was exhausting.

One or two deaths were practically guaranteed.

They would probably have to sacrifice people while testing different portraits.

“For anyone to escape… half a day at minimum.”

“Maybe even several days.”

“Waaaaah!”

“Clear!”

“…”

“…”

What?

The researcher turned his head.

A group of people suddenly spilled out into one corner of the laboratory.

It was—

the entire Field Exploration Team’s Squad D.

“…?!”

“Is the Dream Essence Collector full?”

“Yes! Oh, it’s D-Class!”

The researcher reflexively checked the time.

2:41 PM.

“They entered at 2:15…”

Only twenty-six minutes had passed.

Wait.

“Twenty-six minutes?!”

Squad D had returned from the Darkness in less time than it took to go out for a coffee break.

A heavy silence fell over Research Team 1.

“Am I dreaming?”

No.

“Are we the ones trapped inside a ghost story?”

No.

Not that either.

“…My goodness! How did you get out that quickly?”

Kwak Jaekang looked genuinely impressed.

“Section Chief Lee, did you brute-force your way through it again?”

“No.”

The answer came immediately.

“Right.”

“He did it.”

The other members of Squad D answered almost in unison.

Kwak Jaekang followed their gaze.

Standing quietly at the back was the rookie.

Kim Soleum.

“…Nice to see you again.”

Soleum bowed politely.

“…He did it?”

The unspoken question was obvious.

“Isn’t he just a rookie?”

But Squad D reacted as if there was nothing strange about it.

“What’s new?”

“Roe was already like this on his first day.”

“…??”

Assistant Manager Eun and Supervisor Park said nothing more and began organizing their equipment.

Section Chief Lee Jaheon simply nodded.

“That’s how it is.”

“…”

“This Darkness is D-Class.”

“Ah. Yes, of course.”

Lee Jaheon immediately began his report.

Kwak Jaekang, already familiar with the Section Chief’s efficient, almost stream-of-consciousness reporting style, followed along without missing a beat.

“So what’s the clear condition?”

“?”

Lee Jaheon looked at him.

“I don’t know.”

“…”

“Oh.”

A hand rose from the back.

“May I explain?”

“Uh… sure. Go ahead.”

Kim Soleum stepped forward.

“First, entering this Darkness requires watching the advertisement called “The Clown Dislikes You”, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“But the clown in the advertisement isn’t actually a clown.”

“…??”

“Clowns traditionally wear colorful makeup, smile, and perform tricks for an audience.”

And?

“But the figure in this advertisement wears monochrome makeup and has a frowning expression.”

“…!”

“There’s a clear difference.”

A faint smile briefly crossed Kim Soleum’s pale face before disappearing.

“And because the advertisement specifically says, “The Clown Dislikes You”, I assumed that particular clown wouldn’t chase us.”

After all—

an entertainer wouldn’t chase after someone they disliked.

“So I searched specifically for a portrait with monochrome makeup and only red lips.”

“And I avoided interacting with the other portraits.”

“…”

“To minimize the risk, I stayed three meters away and touched the portrait remotely.”

“…”

He had worked all of that out—

and cleared the Darkness—

in less than half an hour?

And judging by the result…

“The clown didn’t come out of the portrait.”

“…!”

“Instead, it quietly disappeared from the painting.”

He had found it.

The correct solution.

Previous civilians had triggered clown after clown, fleeing down the corridor while desperately testing empty portraits.

Squad D, on the other hand, had interacted with exactly one portrait—

from a safe distance—

and immediately identified the escape route.

A chill ran down the researcher’s spine.

And apparently, the rookie had considered other variables too.

“One of the records stated that shining light directly on the portraits causes all the clowns to emerge.”

“So we avoided using any light sources.”

“Huh?”

Kwak Jaekang blinked.

“Then how did you identify the portraits from three meters away in a hallway that dark?”

“Oh.”

Kim Soleum blinked too.

“The Section Chief could see them just fine.”

“…”

Ah.

Kwak Jaekang resisted the urge to turn toward Squad D’s Section Chief.

The man practically embodied the phrase “strength given human form.”

“Going forward, I think future entrants can simply bring night-vision goggles.”

“That should remove the visibility problem.”

“Ah… right. That makes sense.”

“That concludes my report.”

Another heavy silence descended over the room.

Kwak Jaekang finally muttered,

“He figured all of this out just from the information available before entry?”

“Yes.”

Then Kim Soleum added, as though the thought had only just occurred to him—

“Maybe the previous entrants simply weren’t familiar with American pop culture.”

“…”

Could it really be that simple?

“Uh, Soleum-ssi.”

“Yes?”

“Did you study abroad?”

“No.”

The answer came instantly.

“I just happen to know a lot of random things.”

“…”

The researchers witnessed a rare event.

Kwak Jaekang—

normally one of the smoothest talkers in the department—

had been left speechless.

“Oh, and I also drafted a temporary manual based on the theory.”

“Supervisor Park Minseong kindly lent me his notebook.”

“Oh, I didn’t do anything\~ Roe did everything himself\~”

As Supervisor Park’s voice drifted through the background, the researchers watched Kwak Jaekang accept the notebook.

Several of them subtly leaned over to look.

Sure enough—

the exact hypothesis Kim Soleum had just explained was neatly organized inside.

“…!”

Kwak Jaekang skimmed through the pages quickly.

Then closed the notebook with a smile.

“…Interesting.”

“Let’s test it.”

“Yes.”

And just like that—

a prototype manual had been completed.

All because of one person.

A rookie.

“…”

The researcher who had tried to bet earlier briefly wondered whether he was dreaming.

Sure.

Maybe Soleum had simply happened to know about clown culture.

But even if that were true—

how did someone form a complete hypothesis and escape within thirty minutes while their life was at risk?

No.

Was that even possible?

“Could he be some kind of monster pretending to be human?”

But something like that wouldn’t get hired by the Field Exploration Team.

And besides—

the Dream Essence Collector only responded to humans.

Right?

“Squad Leader, Research Team wants the sample you brought back from the Darkness.”

“All right.”

Meanwhile, Section Chief Lee Jaheon handed over a piece of cloth he had been carrying.

“What’s that…?”

“Oh.”

One of the Squad D members answered casually.

“Squad Leader Lee grabbed it when the clown from the portrait tried to escape.”

“…”

Apparently, when the clown had attempted to flee—

Lee Jaheon had sprinted three meters forward, grabbed it by the collar, and ripped off a piece of its clothing.

“…”

The researcher stared at them.

“Are these people all the same kind of crazy?”

Were those two somehow related?

Now that he thought about it, there was a slight resemblance.

Both of them had that same sharp, polished look.

For a moment, the researcher nearly let his imagination spiral into something completely ridiculous.

Meanwhile—

the rookie who had caused all this shock and confusion was thinking about something entirely different.

I… I’m alive.

Kim Soleum’s heart was still pounding.

He had acted almost entirely on impulse back there, without stopping to think about what might happen if he was wrong.

Why did the clown have teeth?!

Why was it peeling people’s skin off?!

And why was it sucking people into the sewer like inflatable dolls?!

After seeing all those horrifying clown portraits come to life, he was pretty sure he had developed a lifelong fear of clowns.

Great.

Another reason I won’t be sleeping tonight…

What surprised him most was that he had somehow managed to bluff his way through the whole thing.

Talking confidently.

Acting like he had everything figured out.

Wait.

Did I actually pull that off?

Or—

had he been way too suspicious?

What if they started wondering how a rookie had known so much?

What if they decided he had some kind of cheat sheet?

Please don’t drag me into some secret laboratory in Daydream Inc.’s basement…!

Just as Kim Soleum’s anxiety was about to run wild again—

Kwak Jaekang, who had been silently holding the notebook, finally spoke.

“…New Hire Kim Soleum.”

“Yes?”

“You haven’t received a business card or anything like that yet, have you?”

Soleum immediately snapped back to reality.

“No. New hires don’t receive business cards yet…”

“Oh, come on.”

Kwak Jaekang smiled.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean.”

“…”

Then—

something suddenly came to mind.

The business card he had received from the host at the welcome party.

======================

If needed

010-0153-24865

======================

Research Team 1’s Section Chief gave him a knowing smile.

“If you want to earn points faster, call that number.”

“…”

“I have a feeling you’ll be using it sooner than you think.”

It was certainly tempting.

More points.

A faster route toward the Wish Ticket.

However—

“No, thank you.”

Kim Soleum rejected the offer without a second of hesitation.

“…Hmm.”

Kwak Jaekang shrugged.

“If that’s what you want.”

Then he laughed lightly.

“Any particular reason?”

“…”

The reason was extremely simple.

More terrifying experiences?

Absolutely not.

His heart was still barely recovering from what had just happened.

Kim Soleum had already made up his mind.

He would be perfectly satisfied with the current—

triple-points event.

Anything beyond that could stay far, far away from him.