Got Dropped in a Ghost Story Chapter 18

I’ll be honest.

It had already been a month since I joined the company.

And surprisingly—

working for a company that dealt with ghost stories was actually… tolerable.

“Whoa, seriously? Another clear in thirty minutes?”

“Is Squad D actually outperforming Squad C now?”

Hearing dialogue that sounded like it belonged in some over-the-top YouTube workplace drama spoken so seriously felt surreal.

“Hey, enjoy it. You earned this.”

It was lunchtime.

Assistant Manager Eun spoke casually as she proudly carried both the A and B meal options from the cafeteria.

For reference, we had already cleared one assignment that morning.

“Thanks to Roe, I’m doing something insane like clearing twelve new ghost stories in a single month.”

“No. It’s all thanks to your excellent leadership.”

“Leadership, my ass. I’m just riding the wave.”

“That’s right. I’ll buy you beef today, Soleum-sunbaenim.”

“Minseong-ah, that’s a little…”

“What’s wrong with it? Roe’s basically more of a senior than I am at this point.”

When your own superiors joked like this, figuring out how to respond without making things awkward was surprisingly difficult.

Fortunately, whether Supervisor Park was joking or genuinely impressed, he didn’t wait for my reaction.

Instead, he excitedly showed us a screenshot of his monthly point total.

“Already over five thousand!”

Yeah.

[Supervisor Park Minseong / Accumulated Points: 5,200P]

That was roughly how many points I had earned this month too.

Speedrunning really works…

I never imagined that the survival strategy I had adopted out of sheer cowardice would end up producing results like this.

Most of the Darkness we encountered were F-Class or D-Class, so they were manageable.

Higher-class ones really don’t show up that often.

Well, obviously.

If high-level Darkness appeared constantly, this universe would have ended long ago with—

And thus, humanity perished.

Anyway, my seniors seemed even more excited about the situation than I was.

Maybe it was more entertaining when the ridiculous achievement technically belonged to someone else.

“This has to be the fastest record for a new hire in company history, right?”

“Oooh!”

Come to think of it—

I had barely seen any of the other new recruits lately.

Since Squad D was constantly going back and forth to Research Team 1 on the seventeenth floor, I rarely had a chance to run into the other Field Exploration Team squads.

And Baek Saheon and I were still pretending the other didn’t exist.

To maintain the bizarre persona I had established with him, I occasionally threw out ridiculous work-related comments whenever we crossed paths.

– You’re entering a ghost story today, right? Want to bet on how many civilians die?

– …

The gambling researcher had been surprisingly useful inspiration.

Thanks, buddy.

Judging by the way Baek Saheon gritted his teeth and completely ignored me, the strategy seemed to be working perfectly.

I finished the last spoonful of galbi-tang and set down my bowl.

Leaving work on time.

Bonuses.

The cafeteria food is pretty decent too.

If this company were listed on a workplace review site like Employment Korea, its benefits alone might earn it at least a 3.5.

Of course—

There was also the slight drawback of spending nearly every workday trapped in haunted-house scenarios where the ghosts could actually kill you.

Things I would’ve refused to do under any circumstances before…

Well, I guess this is just ordinary corporate life now.

And strangely enough, just like any normal job, getting good results gave you a sense of accomplishment that made you think—

Maybe this isn’t so bad.

“Roe.”

Assistant Manager Eun suddenly lowered her voice.

“At this rate, upper management is going to notice you.”

“…Pardon?”

“Your performance.”

“…”

“You can call it luck once or twice.”

She narrowed her eyes and grinned.

“But not ten times in a row.”

“Someone higher up is definitely going to start paying attention to you.”

“When that happens, tell us immediately. Tell the Squad Leader too.”

Hmm.

If this were an ordinary company, maybe I’d worry about someone stealing credit for my work and keep quiet.

But here?

This was a world built around horror stories.

And my seniors had already personally experienced me saving their lives.

I obediently nodded.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You know our Squad Leader is pretty impressive, right?”

She paused.

“Actually… even if you didn’t know beforehand, you could probably tell just by looking at him.”

Our gazes followed Section Chief Lee Jaheon as he quickly finished his meal and left the cafeteria.

“If somebody gives you some ridiculous assignment, ask him for help once.”

“He’ll cover for you.”

That lizard?

“…Understood.”

“Good. Roe, you really are quick on the uptake.”

Honestly—

I wasn’t completely convinced.

But I nodded anyway.

I could keep those doubts to myself.

Still…

People higher up might start talking about me.

As I got up and picked up my tray, I thought it over.

‘At this point, standing out is unavoidable.’

It wasn’t like I could’ve avoided it anyway.

If I’d followed the normal method and let one of those clowns crawl out of a portrait and come after me on just its upper body, I probably would’ve fainted on the spot….

But there was still one thing I could rely on.

They can’t possibly give a rookie anything harder than what I’m already doing, right?

If they did, it wouldn’t be ordinary workload dumping anymore.

They’d basically be assigning a month-old new hire the department’s core responsibilities.

That was the kind of thing you’d only see in some absurd corporate comedy sketch.

And surely even Daydream Inc. had unwritten rules about that.

I could just count myself lucky that my assignments had happened to shift toward Darknesses without manuals.

If this kept up long enough, people would eventually start thinking, Oh, that guy? Yeah, he handles those.

“Shall we head back?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I returned my dishes, satisfied with the conclusion I had reached.

Unfortunately, I had grown so accustomed to this world and corporate life that I had forgotten one immutable truth of working life.

Namely—

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

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

At the same time, inside Research Team 1’s office.

They cleared another one in barely over an hour…

One researcher, who had been half-slacking while going through Squad D’s exploration records, ground his teeth.

How many points have they made this month? Five thousand?

At this pace, they might even break the record for the fastest Wish Ticket acquisition within a few years.

“…”

“Must be nice.”

The researcher muttered bitterly.

“Some of us spend all day in laboratories dealing with horrible shit, and without hazard pay, we’re lucky to scrape together five hundred points a month.”

“…”

“And meanwhile, some rookie gets fifty thousand in one month…”

“Hey.”

“Enough.”

The researcher immediately shut his mouth.

But being unable to openly complain only made his resentment worse.

Something about this was wrong.

Some people get lucky, receive amazing equipment, and rack up points like it’s nothing.

Others couldn’t even dream of earning those amounts or receiving those kinds of privileges.

Research positions should be above the Field Exploration Team.

We’re the elites.

We should be treated better.

This is unfair.

And he genuinely believed it.

Of course, he conveniently forgot all the times he had mocked Field Exploration Team employees as disposable “lab rats.”

“Well, ghost explorations are like that sometimes.”

Section Chief Kwak Jaekang spoke with a smile.

“Things just happen to line up perfectly.”

Then he glanced over the documents.

“Though I’ll admit… Squad D’s situation is pretty unusual.”

“…”

Ignoring the researcher’s sour expression, Kwak Jaekang continued flipping through the paperwork.

“Oh?”

“I heard this next Darkness requires more than ten participants?”

“…”

“Supervisor Lee?”

“Ah, yes.”

The researcher straightened.

“That’s correct. Ten or more people are required for entry.”

“Hmm.”

Kwak Jaekang smiled and picked up a pen.

“Then I suppose this one will have to be a joint operation.”

– Assigned: Squads A, D & Y

“…”

The researcher watched as Kwak Jaekang pulled out the personnel roster and marked down the three squads.

Then—

“Supervisor Lee.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know what the alphabetical rankings of the Field Exploration Team squads mean?”

He didn’t.

He barely paid attention to his own department beyond doing the minimum required work.

Why would he know the internal structure of another department?

Kwak Jaekang chuckled and tapped the paperwork.

The laugh sounded strangely amused.

“In simple terms—”

“They’re performance rankings.”

“…!”

“You remember how schools sometimes separate students into honors classes, regular classes, and remedial classes?”

The researcher suddenly understood.

“Then… Squad D is an honors class?”

“No.”

The answer came immediately.

“Squads A through C.”

Kwak Jaekang tapped those names with his pen.

“Those are the elite squads.”

“The rest?”

“Expendables.”

“…Ah.”

For some reason, the researcher felt a little better.

“But between you and me…”

Kwak Jaekang lowered his voice slightly.

“Squad D’s performance has been so ridiculous lately that I’ve heard some people talking about a major promotion during the next squad reassignment.”

“Haha.”

“…!”

Like most office gossip, rumors that sounded this outrageous usually weren’t very reliable.

Still—

the researcher suddenly felt uneasy.

‘Isn’t there anything going wrong for them?’

Almost on cue, Kwak Jaekang spoke again, sounding vaguely regretful.

“Still… what unfortunate timing.”

“They’re going in with Squad A this time.”

“…!”

“Is entering with an elite squad bad?”

“Of course.”

Kwak Jaekang rubbed his chin.

“You know why, right?”

“Sometimes, in a ghost story, someone has to be sacrificed to create an escape route.”

Especially—

when the Darkness required large groups.

Kwak Jaekang shrugged.

“This exploration should give us plenty of interesting material.”

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

A few days later.

Squad D responded to another call and headed up to the seventeenth floor as naturally as they had throughout the past month.

But this time, something was different.

“Hello.”

“…?!”

There were already other visitors inside Research Team 1.

Several people wearing different masks.

Other Field Exploration Team squads?

I quickly counted.

Around seven people.

And among them—

I recognized someone.

– Can it bring dead people back to life?

The new hire who had asked that question about the Wish Ticket during orientation.

He was wearing a bison mask.

The man stood quietly against a desk with his head lowered.

There was something gloomy about him.

His hair was unusually long for a man, long enough that a manager at an ordinary company might have complained about it.

Naturally, no one here seemed to care.

“Oh.”

“This is… hmm.”

My seniors reacted to the crowded office with a strange mixture of admiration and resignation.

Then—

“Oh! Squad D is finally here!”

“Come in, come in~”

“Let’s start the briefing.”

Kwak Jaekang appeared and began leading everyone toward the attached conference room.

As we walked, Assistant Manager Eun asked,

“Are we entering together with these other squads?”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“…”

Assistant Manager Eun looked around.

Then she quietly moved closer to me and whispered so the others couldn’t hear.

“See the employees whose masks have gold markings?”

“Yes.”

“That’s Squad A.”

I already knew.

The elite squad.

Daydream Inc. couldn’t function unless someone consistently cleared Darkness and extracted resources from them.

Otherwise, you’d end up with a giant plot hole where the company should’ve collapsed years ago.

So naturally, the setting needed a handful of employees who were almost inhumanly competent.

That was why Squad A had so many notable characters in <Dark Exploration Records>.

I nodded.

There were three of them.

Butterfly.

Praying mantis.

And a teal duck.

Then the teal-duck-masked member spoke.

She sounded like an energetic older woman.

“Oh?”

“So you’re that famous Employee Kim Soleum?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I instinctively bowed.

But cold sweat started forming.

That famous Kim Soleum?

What the hell are people saying about me?

“Yes, yes.”

“If we get the chance, let’s talk sometime.”

“You’ve got a bright future ahead of you, kid.”

She walked past me and took her seat.

That must be Squad A’s leader.

Assistant Manager Eun continued.

“And the people without gold markings are Squad Y.”

“…”

There were three masked employees without gold markings, along with the new recruit in the bison mask.

The entire group had a strangely gloomy atmosphere around them.

“Squad Y’s leader isn’t even a manager.”

“Just a regular employee.”

“But don’t worry about that.”

“Keep quiet and don’t make things awkward.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I already knew that too.

Then Supervisor Park leaned toward me.

“Uh… Roe.”

“About the other squads you’re meeting today—especially Squad Y.”

“Just keep things light around them, okay?”

“I’ll explain why later.”

“Yes, sir.”

I nodded without asking questions.

I already had a fairly good idea what that explanation would involve.

But then, Supervisor Park suddenly looked strangely moved.

“Huh.”

“You know, Roe…”

“You’re honestly like a more socially aware version of the Section Chief.”

“I think so too.”

“…”

Was that supposed to be a compliment?

“All right!”

“Everyone, take a seat. Let’s start the briefing.”

Kwak Jaekang stood in front of the board without even bothering to turn on the presentation screen.

“I was going to explain the ghost story you’ll be entering today, but…!”

He chuckled.

“Truthfully, we barely know anything.”

“…??”

“What exactly does that mean, Section Chief Kwak?”

“We have exactly one civilian escape case!”

“…Hoh.”

Documents were passed around the room.

The page I received was so short it looked more like a memo than an exploration report.

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

During a university club retreat at Hanmaeumgadeuk Pension in Gangwon-do, twelve students disappeared while playing a board game.

The game is believed to have been produced by the Cheerful Research Institute under the title:

[Cheerful Theme Park! ~Joyful Fantasyland Adventure~]

Survivors stated that the board game had already been inside the Guesthouse when they arrived.

The Guesthouse owner denies ever placing it there.

Result:

After seventeen hours, several participants returned.

Survivors testified that they had been “living inside a theme park contained within the board game.”

Reported aftereffects included delusions, PTSD, and mild to severe neurosis.

Survivors: 4

Missing: 1

Deceased: 7

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

The next page contained short statements from each survivor about their experiences inside the “board-game theme park.”

Most of them were fragmented.

Probably because their mental states had deteriorated so badly.

But it was still enough for me to recognize it.

I swallowed.

It’s about time this one showed up.

Finally.

A ghost story that required a large group of participants.

“The board game must require more than ten players?”

“Is that why we brought this many people?”

“Yes, yes.”

“We tried to reproduce the original entry conditions as closely as possible.”

Kwak Jaekang winked.

“But!”

“Despite how terrible the original incident was, Research Team 1 managed to identify the best entry method!”

“You just brought the board game here, didn’t you?”

“Haha!”

“Don’t be so harsh, Assistant Manager Jin.”

“We even obtained the rulebook.”

The Squad A employee in the butterfly mask didn’t respond.

Kwak Jaekang seemed completely unbothered.

He placed the game box onto the table.

“Here it is.”

[Cheerful Theme Park!]

~Joyful Fantasyland Adventure~

Ride three fantasy attractions with your teammates as quickly as possible and receive spectacular prizes!

The nearly pristine box was covered with a bright, colorful illustration of Fantasyland.

When Kwak Jaekang opened it, inside was a map of the amusement park divided into several zones, along with brightly colored game pieces.

“Now!”

“Let’s divide into teams and begin.”

He said it with remarkable cheer for someone inviting us into a ghost story where more than half of the original participants had died.

“Should we divide by squad?”

“Oh, actually—”

“You’ll draw game pieces from these capsules.”

“Your team depends on the color you get!”

Kwak Jaekang pulled a small capsule from the side of the box.

“If you shake it, a game piece drops out through this opening.”

“So it’s random.”

One by one, people began shaking the capsules and drawing pieces.

Blue.

Yellow.

Red…

Hmm.

As usual, something like this naturally proceeded in order of seniority.

So my turn came near the end.

And the piece I drew was,

“Employee Kim.”

“You got red.”

Of course.

Red.

In a horror-story universe, red wasn’t exactly the color you wanted to see.

I immediately felt uneasy.

Well… the color itself doesn’t really matter in this ghost story.

Even people with the same color could experience completely different outcomes.

Still—

I swallowed nervously.

Anyway.

Were we entering now?

“Once the board is completely set up, entry should begin!”

Section Chief Lee Jaheon unfolded the game board.

…

Nothing happened.

“…”

Uh?

Something occurred to me.

I counted everyone again.

Four yellow.

Four blue.

And those who had drawn red—

Assistant Manager Jin from Squad A.

The bison-masked new recruit from Squad Y.

And me.

Three people.

“…”

Ah.

The red team is one person short.

“We’re missing one participant.”

Lee Jaheon turned his vertical pupils toward Kwak Jaekang.

“Eleven isn’t enough.”

“We need twelve participants before attempting entry again.”

“Oh, that?”

Kwak Jaekang answered casually.

Then he picked up the capsule containing the remaining game pieces.

“Supervisor Lee!”

“Catch!”

He tossed it toward the gambling researcher standing nearby.

“W-Wait, what?!”

The man instinctively caught it.

Thud.

A piece dropped from the capsule.

Red.

“…?!”

“I…”

“I drew red?!”

Wait.

– Departing for Fantasyland~!

The game board suddenly shot into the air.

It spun wildly—

and swallowed the entire room.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

“Hahahahaha!”

The researcher’s scream echoed around me.

Followed immediately by Kwak Jaekang’s laughter.

“…”

I remembered the later section of that man’s Records of Dark Exploration wiki page.

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

Ghost-story-obsessed psycho.

Mad scientist.

During explorations with limited information, he frequently manipulates the conditions by suggesting dangerous combinations or actions that are likely to cause casualties, allowing him to gather unusual data.

A major contributor to the expansion of Exploration Records.

For details regarding Kwak Jaekang’s disciplinary history, see:

#ExplorationRecords (Supplementary)

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

…

I had always been worried that something like this might happen eventually.

“What the hell?!”

“What is this?!”

I had already been suspicious when they gathered so many participants, especially with both Squad A and Squad Y involved.

He deliberately lowered our chances of survival.

This setup wasn’t designed to clear the ghost story with the highest possible survival rate.

It was designed so that everyone except Squad A would die.