Got Dropped in a Ghost Story Chapter 23

After barely escaping the deranged red mascot zone, we finally reached the Blue Zone.

And waiting for us there was Squad D, with Squad A’s leader hanging limply over Section Chief Lee’s shoulder.

“…”

I cautiously asked,

“Uh, Section Chief… is that a corpse on your shoulder?”

“Oh. She’s just unconscious.”

Ah.

He was carrying her somewhere safe.

Just as I started to relax and the familiar atmosphere of Squad D returned, Assistant Manager Eun pointed her thumb toward a large inner tube she and Supervisor Park had been dragging.

“The corpse is over there.”

“…”

Seeing them haul around a body stuffed inside an inner tube added a whole new level of horror.

“We wrapped it up properly, but some parts broke off.”

Please.

I really didn’t need the details.

“No, seriously, it was horrible. Ugh…”

Supervisor Park visibly shuddered.

“Roe, you should be careful too. The mascots in this zone act like some kind of righteous enforcers.”

“Huh?”

Apparently, the mascots here absolutely hated violence between teammates.

“But Squad A—you know, the assistant manager in the praying-mantis mask? He decided he wanted to experiment.”

While they were riding their first attraction, he repeatedly forced members of Squad Y into dangerous situations for amusement.

He ordered them to unbuckle their seat belts.

Stand up.

Sing along.

Even do a handstand on the track.

“Three Squad Y employees died like that. The last one was crying and begging him to stop, but he didn’t even care… It was disgusting.”

“…”

Apparently, the survivors weren’t the only ones who felt that way.

Assistant Manager Eun frowned.

“When we got off the ride, the mascot was standing there waiting for him.”

“It just kept calling him a ‘naughty child.’”

“And then…”

Thankfully, she stopped there.

“I thought I was going to throw up.”

“…”

“Well, honestly, he kind of had it coming! Even if the Chief didn’t exactly agree with those methods”

Supervisor Park glanced toward Squad A’s unconscious leader on Section Chief Lee’s shoulder.

“By the way, why did she pass out?”

I was still curious about that part.

“Well… our Squad Leader, uh…”

“…”

Wait.

No way.

“She started making some pretty unreasonable demands of us at the time. I think she was desperately trying to save her own squad member.”

“And things got a little excessive, so…”

“The Chief knocked her out.”

“…”

“Roe.”

Assistant Manager Eun lowered her voice.

“We’re all agreeing that she fainted from high blood pressure.”

“So keep your mouth shut.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll take it to the grave.”

“Oh, and if you’re wondering why Squad Y was being treated like that—”

“I already know.”

I discreetly nodded toward Assistant Manager Jin in the butterfly mask.

“I heard it from her.”

Seeing that I already knew, Supervisor Park looked slightly relieved, as though grateful he didn’t have to explain such a grim topic.

“Anyway, how are your teammates?”

Ah.

I quickly checked Jang Heo-un’s injured shoulder and Assistant Manager Jin’s blistered face.

“Some of them need first aid.”

“Could we get some help?”

“Yes.”

Section Chief Lee immediately dropped Squad A’s unconscious leader from his shoulder onto the ground.

Then he started shaking her.

“W-Wait, Chief!”

“Ahh!”

“…?!”

Once she woke up, Section Chief Lee calmly said,

“Section Chief Seo, there are employees here who require treatment.”

“W-What…”

Squad A’s leader looked dazed at first.

Then realization hit.

She raised a trembling finger toward Lee Jaheon.

“You! You—”

“Yes?”

“What happened to Assistant Manager Lee?! The one in the praying-mantis mask….”

“He’s dead.”

“…”

“…”

“And while he was dying, what were you doing?”

“We waited until he died, retrieved the body, and moved on to the next attraction.”

Oh, dear God.

Squad A’s leader stared at him in disbelief.

For several seconds, she couldn’t even speak.

Then she finally stammered,

“Y-You stood there and watched a member of Squad A die?”

“Are you insane, Lee Jaheon?”

“How are you planning to take responsibility for losing him?!”

“?”

Lee Jaheon looked genuinely confused.

“I’m Squad D’s leader.”

“Squad A is not my responsibility.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

“The responsibility for the death of Squad A Assistant Manager Lee Seokjong lies with you, the leader of Squad A.”

“…”

Watching someone say something like that to a superior at work was…

something else.

Even if they technically held the same title, the leader of an elite squad should still have more authority.

A completely different kind of chill ran down my spine.

“…”

Squad A’s leader glared at Lee Jaheon with bloodshot eyes.

“You were unconscious, but we still completed all three attractions together so the clearance condition would be satisfied.”

“Now take responsibility and treat your—”

“Chief.”

Assistant Manager Jin interrupted.

Not to stop Lee Jaheon.

She was speaking to her own Squad Leader, who looked close to losing control.

“Wouldn’t it be better to continue this conversation outside?”

“We should clear the Darkness first before something else happens.”

“And we still have that deranged Research Team 1 employee to deal with.”

“…Yes.”

The eyes behind the teal duck mask blinked.

Then she gradually calmed down.

Apparently, she had found a new target for her anger.

Still, she left Lee Jaheon with one final warning.

“Squad Leader Jaheon.”

“Shall we settle this outside?”

“Yes.”

Supervisor Park leaned toward me and whispered,

“Don’t worry.”

“Apparently, our Squad Leader hears lines like that every year.”

“…”

Is that…

really okay?

Well, one thing was certain.

This was far above my pay grade.

Better to keep quiet and stay out of it.

In any case, Squad A’s leader used her personalized equipment to heal Assistant Manager Jin.

Watching the burned skin around her jaw and head heal as though time itself were reversing was incredible.

“Employees with equipment like that are almost nonexistent.”

Supervisor Park looked envious.

“So lucky…”

Same.

I wondered if there was any way for me to obtain something similar.

Equipment capable of healing injuries would dramatically increase anyone’s survival rate.

I watched Squad A’s leader’s personalized equipment, a healing ring, very carefully.

Healing…

Once Assistant Manager Jin had fully recovered, Squad A’s leader started to walk past Jang Heo-un without paying much attention to his injured shoulder.

“Could you heal him too?”

Assistant Manager Jin spoke up.

“We need to stay together, and his injury could affect our mobility.”

“…!”

Surprisingly, Assistant Manager Jin subtly persuaded her Squad Leader to heal both me and Jang Heo-un.

Thanks to that, Jang Heo-un’s shoulder was restored almost instantly.

He blinked beneath his bison mask.

“…Thank you.”

Assistant Manager Jin gave a slight nod.

Does she really judge everything purely by efficiency?

Once she understood the rules of the Darkness and had a clear escape plan, her decisions immediately shifted toward minimizing risk.

It was a very rational way of thinking.

Maybe that was one of the reasons she belonged to Squad A.

I made a mental note of Squad A’s equipment and abilities.

And perhaps I should also try to forget about the corpses stuffed inside that inner tube.

“All right.”

“Let’s finish the remaining two attractions and get out of here.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Once the healing was finished, our red team headed toward the attractions to fill the remaining spaces on our admission wristbands.

The others followed instead of leaving immediately.

“It should only take around thirty minutes, so don’t worry.”

They were probably staying nearby to keep an eye on us rookies and provide help if necessary.

I appreciated the thought.

Although part of me felt I would be less frightened if they simply left, considering the tube full of corpses following us around.

“As I said earlier, the mascots in this zone are surprisingly moral for monsters.”

I had already guessed as much from our earlier communication.

If they cleared three attractions that quickly, there had to be a reason.

They must have gotten extremely lucky and entered a relatively benevolent zone where the mascot’s demands were reasonable.

“They even answered questions about the attractions.”

“And because we were the first team to clear all three, they gave us a souvenir.”

How nice.

They had practically been sightseeing.

Meanwhile, we’d spent our time fighting for our lives in Magic Bunny’s insane territory.

Strangely enough, even though the red team had apparently drawn the more dangerous route, all four of us were still alive.

Before long, we reached another attraction.

Its entrance was decorated with an exaggeratedly cute blue dragon head wearing a life jacket.

[Hello]

The mascot stationed there held up a greeting sign and waved.

I gave it a small bow.

The mascot bowed back.

“Hm.”

We boarded a flume ride called [Blue Mountain].

It was a normal-looking water attraction where you sat in a boat and drifted along a channel.

The other two Field Exploration Team employees boarded without any trouble.

Only the final passenger caused a problem.

“Fuck.”

The researcher glared at the mascot and cursed under his breath.

After everything that had happened in Magic Bunny’s zone, facing a mascot that looked comparatively harmless seemed to have given him enough confidence to show his disgust.

“These disgusting little bastards…”

“Just get on.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He glanced sideways at the mascot before climbing into the boat.

The blue dragon mascot’s button eyes silently followed him.

“…”

With everyone aboard, we completed the remaining attractions without any trouble.

[(Cheerful) Fantasyland Admission Ticket ■■■]

“Finally…!”

“Huu.”

At last, every slot on the wristband was filled.

“The exit is north.”

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

We were soaked from the water rides, but nobody cared.

We were finally leaving this cursed theme park.

I’m not going anywhere near an amusement park for a long time…

[Have A Safe Journey Back]

The words glittered on a farewell sign hanging over the northern exit.

Beside the gate stood a formally dressed blue mascot.

“Looks like we just need to scan our completed wristbands here.”

The mascot politely gestured toward the scanner.

“All right, all right.”

Assistant Manager Eun began organizing everyone.

“Squad Leaders first. Go ahead.”

That was probably the smartest way to handle things.

One by one, people began passing through the exit.

Eventually, it was time for the assistant managers and other employees.

“All right, Assistant Manager Jin, after you—”

“M-Move!”

The researcher suddenly shoved his way through everyone and sprinted toward the gate.

“Seriously…?”

Supervisor Park and Assistant Manager Eun looked momentarily annoyed, but quickly let it go.

They probably figured a few seconds didn’t matter.

The researcher ignored everyone’s expressions and hurried toward the scanner.

It’s almost become a habit for him.

Even I couldn’t help frowning.

Bad child.

“…Huh?”

The researcher turned around.

The blue dragon mascot had grabbed his wristband with one claw.

It crumpled the band.

You.

Snap.

Are a bad child.

Riiip—

Aren’t you?

The wristband tore apart.

Snap!

The researcher stared blankly at the pieces lying on the floor.

For a moment, he seemed unable to understand what had happened.

Then—

“AAAAAHHHH! AAAGGGHHHHH!”

The blue dragon opened its mouth wide.

“Save me! Somebody save me!”

It began dragging the researcher toward its mouth.

Beside me, Jang Heo-un muttered feverishly beneath his bison mask.

“Ohtheseagodhasawakenedinwraththewickedarebeingswallowedbythetide…”

The rookie and I both looked away.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”

So this was how it ended.

Moving into another zone would stop the mascot from the previous zone from pursuing you.

But that didn’t mean your actions were forgotten.

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

Cheerful Theme Park User Guide

(Applicable through Exploration Record #64)

6 – Remember, the theme park is a shared space!

Please observe proper etiquette and manners when using public facilities.

Countless eyes are watching you, and no one forgets what you’ve done.

Hey.

There’s a mascot right behind you.

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

Every mascot in Cheerful Theme Park knew what you had done.

That included everything the researcher had done.

– Fuck, move already!

Earlier, while escaping from the red mascots, he had shoved Assistant Manager Jin directly into their path to save himself.

Maybe they were willing to overlook that because the situation was so desperate…

The problem was that he did it again.

It’s karma.

The researcher’s screams turned into desperate wailing.

“That fucking bitch tried to kill me too!! Why me?! Why only me?! That trash, that fucking tra—!”

True.

Assistant Manager Jin had tried to kill him too.

But she had stopped when I gave her a reason not to.

You didn’t.

Even I, practically a card-carrying member of the Cowards’ Club, thought he had brought this on himself.

“Save me! Aaaaaaah!”

His voice stretched unnaturally as he was dragged away, leaving behind a horrible sense of dread.

Ugh.

My cowardly instincts made me flinch.

But—

“Don’t.”

“…”

Assistant Manager Jin grabbed my arm and held it down.

“You can’t save him.”

Not that I had been planning to.

So I stayed where I was.

Before long, the researcher’s screams faded away.

The oppressive atmosphere surrounding us disappeared with them.

When I finally looked up, the blue dragon mascot was standing exactly where it had been before.

Polite.

Composed.

As if it hadn’t just killed someone.

Somehow, that made it even more unsettling.

The standards here are stricter than I thought.

As expected of a ghost story, this mascot clearly followed its own set of rules.

It wasn’t simply against teammates hurting each other.

I’d better watch what I do from now on.

“…Let’s try leaving again.”

“Yes.”

The remaining employees began passing through the gate one by one.

“Let’s see what it’s like outside.”

This time, I gave up on trying to be proactive and simply let my superiors leave first.

After seeing my fellow coward safely through the gate, I was the last one left beside the blue dragon mascot.

“…”

The cute, round-eyed dragon stared directly at me.

Could you… not?

This was already terrifying enough.

Being the last person here was making me nervous, and I was doing everything I could to keep myself calm.

Then—

Good child.

“…!”

Was it trying to reassure me?

Unlike Magic Bunny’s voice, this one didn’t sound particularly eerie.

Maybe it’s willing to overlook the property damage…

Thank goodness.

“Thank you.”

I gave the mascot a small nod and tried to walk through the gate.

But the blue dragon stepped in front of me.

“…?”

Good kids get…

a gift.

The blue dragon reached out and gently touched my wristband.

[(Cheerful) Fantasyland Admission Ticket ■■■]

The band grew slightly warm beneath its claw.

Then the mascot let go.

[◎ (Cheerful) Fantasyland Membership ◎]

The text had changed.

Let’s play…

forever.

…

Um?