Got Dropped in a Ghost Story Chapter 24

Cold sweat broke out across my body as I stared at the wristband.

[◎ (Cheerful) Fantasyland Membership ◎]

But the words that had changed from Admission Ticket to Membership showed no sign of returning to normal.

Even the wristband itself had changed, becoming strangely luxurious and ornate.

O-Okay…

This was unexpected, but what I needed to do hadn’t changed.

Scan the wristband at the gate.

Then leave.

Membership or not, I just won’t ever come back.

“Thank you.”

I swallowed.

“Um… I’d like to go home now.”

The blue mascot tilted its head slightly.

I stepped toward the scanner and raised my wristband.

But the mascot moved in front of me again.

Please.

Why are you doing this?

I genuinely felt like crying.

“I’m really not as much of a good kid as you seem to think…”

Good kid.

Correct.

The blue mascot gently covered my wristband with its claw.

Then a voice echoed in my head.

To one who knows honor,

you are worthy.

“…!!”

“Urgh.”

I suddenly coughed.

Blood came out.

W-What just happened…?

Was it because my ticket had turned into a membership?

The blue dragon mascot seemed startled when it saw me coughing up blood.

It fidgeted anxiously, then reached into its pocket and offered me something.

[Blue Soda Churros]

Apparently, it was a snack sold inside the theme park.

“…Thank you.”

Yeah.

There was absolutely no way I was eating that.

“But I’d rather take it home and eat it there.”

Play.

More.

The mascot refused to give up.

In fact, it went so far as to turn off the exit gate.

“…!!”

Click.

The lights at the northern exit went dark.

Then the shutter came down.

I stared blankly.

You’re going this far?

I had no idea what was happening anymore.

But I wasn’t stupid enough to argue with it.

I might end up like that researcher.

That was something I definitely wanted to avoid.

For now…

At least I wasn’t in immediate danger.

I needed to back off and find another way.

I stepped away from the gate.

Even as I left, the blue mascot continued watching me.

“Driving me insane…”

I entered the water park locker room and collapsed onto a bench.

I was scared out of my mind.

“What the hell is going on?”

To summarize the situation—

the mascot had suddenly decided I was a good kid, given me a membership, and shut down the exit.

In other words…

I was trapped.

“…”

Trapped.

Wait.

Why was it calling me a good kid in the first place?

The researcher had been a bad child.

And I was apparently a good child…

Ah.

…Is it because I saved my teammates a few times?

That seemed like the most likely explanation.

By coincidence, I had helped people out of dangerous situations several times.

And as a reward…

they wanted to let me enjoy the theme park forever?

This is driving me crazy…

This place was a B-Class ghost story.

No matter how friendly or harmless that mascot appeared, I had no idea when some bizarre and lethal event might suddenly happen.

And there was another problem.

…There isn’t a single Exploration Record where someone stayed here for more than twenty-four hours.

Once twenty-four hours passed, people either died or disappeared.

Sure, I could interpret things optimistically.

Maybe the original admission ticket was only valid for one day, while becoming a member meant I was exempt from that limit.

But the real problem was simpler.

I had no information.

Shit.

I desperately racked my brain.

Maybe because of everything I had been through over the past few hours, my thoughts felt sluggish.

What can I even do?

I couldn’t beat the mascot in a fight.

I couldn’t secretly turn the gate back on.

And…

I used all my coins earlier.

When Jang Heo-un fell during the chase, I had panicked and thrown over whatever coins I could grab.

That had been a mistake.

I pressed my fingers against my eyelids.

I didn’t have any way to contact the people outside either.

So I couldn’t rely on Squad D coming back to save me.

What items do I still have…?

The Smiley Sticker?

No.

That was meant to increase someone’s friendliness toward me.

The problem here was that the mascot already liked me too much.

The 2× Potion and the 0.5× Cookie were the same.

They were only useful when there was some other effect worth amplifying or weakening.

Do I really have nothing?

The more I thought about it, the deeper my mood sank.

Then—

a light flashed above me.

[Dark Exploration Records Real Merch Box]

– New merch unlocked! (!)

“…!!”

The black notepad.

The merch box.

Please!

I pressed it immediately.

Was this a lifeline?

Honestly, I didn’t care what came out.

I just needed something.

Even the smallest clue would do.

Thud.

A piece of merch dropped out.

“…!”

I picked it up.

It was wrapped in clear plastic, small enough to fit in my palm, and soft to the touch.

A plush doll.

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

Dark Exploration Records / Daydream Inc.

/ ■■■■■

Good Friend

It’s your cute animal doll.

It will always stay with you and protect you.

Always.

— Product description on the packaging

From the [Cheerful Theme Park Gift Shop]

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

Ah.

I remembered the phrase written on the board game box.

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

In Cheerful Theme Park, the team that completed all three attractions first could choose one of several prizes from the gift shop.

Come to think of it, Supervisor Park said their team received a prize earlier.

And naturally, this was a ghost story.

The gift shop sometimes contained some very strange items.

There was even an Exploration Record organizing the different prizes people had taken home…

And this was one of the most famous among them.

[Good Friend]

In the original story, it was a plush doll small enough for a child to hold.

But as merchandise, it had been turned into a tiny keychain-sized plush that fit neatly in my palm.

So the condition for unlocking this merch was participating in Cheerful Theme Park.

For anyone who had never entered the theme park, it was apparently nothing more than an ordinary plush doll.

But now that I had participated and filled all three spaces on my admission ticket, I seemed to have fulfilled the requirement.

And the ability of this plush was…

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

A strange item that invites someone from the Otherworld, allowing a portion of their spirit to dwell within the doll and become your friend.

It rarely appears in the gift shop of <Cheerful Theme Park>.

For detailed invitation records, refer below.

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

This is it.

“…”

Normally, I would have thought this through carefully.

I would have prepared precautions and safety measures before trying anything.

After all, inviting someone from the Otherworld sounded exactly like the opening line of a ghost story.

But I didn’t have the luxury of being cautious right now.

Let’s do it.

I desperately needed advice from someone who understood how ghost stories worked.

I took out my smartphone with the Memorial Popsocket attached and opened the [Good Friend] tab in the app.

The required materials were listed there.

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

· Materials for the Invitation

– Matches (or a lighter)

– 100 mL of water

– One tablespoon of salt

– A clean coin

– An item related to a friend

And a quiet place.

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

This locker room is perfect.

Outside, the water park was noisy with splashing water and music.

Compared to that, this room was quiet enough.

A lighter, water, and salt should all be obtainable somewhere inside the theme park, either by asking at a shop or taking them if necessary.

The real problem was the last two items.

A clean coin.

An item related to a friend.

I didn’t have any coins left.

I had used every last one.

And as for an item related to a friend…

That requirement existed partly to make the ghost story more interesting.

For example, if you offered a fairy-tale book, something based on a monster from that story might appear.

What should I use if I want this to be as safe as possible?

One thing was certain.

I really didn’t want to use something from this theme park as the item related to a friend.

Wasn’t this place already a ghost story?

“…”

After thinking it over for a long time, I eventually chose two items.

I could only hope the substitutions would work.

A little while later—

“Huu.”

I placed the lighter and salt I had obtained on the floor in one corner of the locker room.

This is creepy.

I had gotten both from a snack truck.

They were selling something called [Roasted Marshmallows], so I checked on a hunch and found what I needed.

…And they gave them to me for free when they saw my membership.

Instead of making me happy, that only made the whole situation feel more ominous.

I wiped my mouth and opened the app again.

I needed to begin quickly.

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

· Invitation Ritual

1 – On a smooth floor, dip your finger in water and draw a hexagram according to the enclosed diagram.

2 – Place the [Good Friend] precisely in the center of the hexagram.

3 – Place the coin on the belly of the [Good Friend]. Make sure there is no water left on your fingers.

4 – Hold one tablespoon of salt in your mouth and burn the item related to a friend.

5 – When the [Good Friend] begins to speak, swallow the salt and greet them kindly!

If the coin disappears, the ritual has succeeded!

You have met a trustworthy friend.

Always keep them close and cherish them!

※ If you cannot swallow the salt, if it tastes strange, turns to ash, or if blood comes out, run away.

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

“Huu.”

First, I dipped my finger in water and drew the hexagram on the marble floor of the locker room exactly as shown in the diagram.

The pattern was a little complicated, but not difficult enough to mess up.

…It’s glowing strangely.

The completed hexagram looked unnaturally smooth, its surface gleaming without a single smudge.

I thoroughly wiped the moisture from my fingers on the hem of my clothes.

Then, with trembling hands, I picked up the [Good Friend] keychain and placed it precisely in the center of the hexagram.

Of all things, it had to be a rabbit doll.

That made me uneasy.

Still, remembering that I had originally bought it at the pop-up store because I thought it was cute made me feel a little better.

Next was the coin.

This one.

I placed the item I had brought on top of the doll.

The Silver Coin Snake.

This technically counts as a coin… right?

Rather than finding some random coin inside this ghost story, I thought it would be safer to use an item from the Alien Shop, something that came from the plane of “reality.”

And considering how expensive it had originally been, it was probably a fairly valuable item.

Maybe that would even improve the result.

Next, I put the salt in my mouth.

Finally came the last requirement.

An item related to a friend.

This also needed to be something that didn’t belong to this ghost story.

Which left…

myself.

“…”

I loosened my necktie.

At least something I own definitely didn’t originate here.

What kind of “friend” would be associated with a necktie?

I had no idea.

But it still felt safer than offering something like a kitchen knife.

I lit the lighter.

Then brought the flame to the end of my necktie.

Whoosh.

As if waiting for it, the fire flared up fiercely.

The flames cast the plush doll’s shadow across the hexagram.

The shadow trembled.

Then trembled again.

And again.

Before I knew it, the surroundings had grown dark.

The only things I could see were the flames consuming my necktie, the hexagram reflecting their light, and the plush doll sitting at its center.

Flicker.

Flicker…

My mind remained strangely clear.

Meanwhile, the salt in my mouth slowly dissolved, its sharp taste numbing my tongue.

Then—

Flicker.

Flicker…

The [Good Friend], still hugging the coin, opened its mouth.

– BEHOLD!

– I AM THE OWNER OF A MILLION MASKS, THE LORD OF CHAOS, THE PINNACLE OF MADNESS, THE DREAM OF PLEASURE AND PLAY, THE INSTIGATOR OF WAR, THE FATHER OF SCIENCE, THE LOW-LYING QUADRUPED BEAST—

“…!!”

Too…

loud.

It felt like someone was violently shaking my skull from the inside.

I wanted to cover my ears, but both my hands were occupied.

One held the burning necktie.

The other held the lighter.

What is this?!

– THE DESIRE OF THE CRAWLING ONES, THE LORD OF STARS, THE ABYSS OF ILLUSION, THE MOUTH OF WISDOM, THE ROAR OF IMPULSE, THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON…

The plush doll in the center of the hexagram convulsed violently.

And on its belly, the round silver object was slowly burning away.

The Silver Coin Snake.

Did I use the wrong coin?

– I AM…

My head hurt.

It hurt so much.

Then—

– Friend.

– Are you in pain, friend?

I raised my head.

– This won’t do…

A soft, gentle voice flowed from the [Good Friend].

– You must not be in pain…

“…”

The flickering gradually stopped.

As the last of the necktie burned away, the flame went out.

At some point, the coin resting on the rabbit doll had disappeared.

So had the water that formed the hexagram.

“…”

Silence.

I swallowed the salt and stared at the motionless [Good Friend].

Nothing happened.

Don’t tell me…

“Did it fail…?”

– Mr. Roe Deer?

“…!!”

A bright, cheerful voice suddenly rang out.

But…

– Mr. Roe Deer?

I knew that voice.

Before I even realized it, I answered.

“Mr. Host?”

– Ah! So it really is you, Mr. Roe Deer!

The Tuesday Quiz Show.

The voice coming from the doll belonged to the TV-headed host who had conducted that live broadcast.

– Nice to meet you, my friend!