Got Dropped in a Ghost Story Chapter 2

[This stop is Resentment. Resentment Station.]

[The doors will open on the right…]

A suffocating silence filled the subway car inside the ghost story.

And I was contributing plenty to it.

Even when I already knew the horror story, I was the kind of person who would get startled just by seeing its thumbnail in my YouTube recommendations and immediately hit Not Interested.

And now I was supposed to survive inside one?

Just kill me already….

That would be a merciful death.

I didn’t even have the energy to figure out what was going on. I buried my face in my hands, wanting to deny everything.

Then it happened.

Blink.

[1st Place: Dark Exploration Records Real Merch Box]

I slowly raised my head.

Something resembling a notepad was floating in the corner of my vision.

No.

It wasn’t exactly a notepad.

It looked more like a folded piece of paper torn from one, fluttering through the air.

And strangely enough—

I could see it whether my eyes were open or closed.

“This…”

I stopped myself.

Wait.

Nobody else seemed to notice it.

I quickly shut my mouth.

Calling attention to myself in a situation like this would be stupid.

Instead, I reached out and poked the floating notepad as casually as I could.

Flap.

To my surprise, the folded paper opened.

Then something small dropped out of it.

I immediately covered the object with my hand.

It was…

A Griptok.

A plain black one.

There was nothing particularly unusual about it except for a golden X engraved in the center.

But that symbol was enough.

I recognized it immediately.

Merch.

It was merchandise from the <Dark Exploration Records> popup store.

It was one of the items sold at the Dark Exploration Records pop-up store I’d visited right before waking up in this insane situation.

One of the things I’d bought today.

With trembling hands, I picked up the phone grip.

As for what it did in the original story….

Then the information surfaced in my memory.

[Memorial Griptok]

: A C-rank item appearing in Dark Exploration Records.

When attached to a smartphone, it organizes text from the user’s memories and displays it in readable pages.

Standard-issue equipment for Grade 9 employees of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau under the Ministry of Environment.

It turns memories into text…

Then…

Could it?

With trembling hands, I peeled off the adhesive cover and immediately attached the grip to my smartphone.

The instant I did—

The scattered fragments of Dark Exploration Records that I only vaguely remembered suddenly took shape on my phone screen, neatly organized into pages.

””

Dark Exploration Records / Ghost Stories

[Welcome to Abyss Transit Corporation]

: A ghost story appearing in <Dark Exploration Records>.

: Daydream Inc. Identification Code — Qterw-D-16

An early-stage D-Class Darkness with notoriously difficult escape conditions.

An infamous ghost story known for its sheer insanity.

It follows the Field Exploration Team as they suffer endlessly.

Exploration Records: up to 56 documented entries.

“……!”

Then this means…

Did the merch I bought actually become real?

Now that I thought about it, the large black merch box that had been resting on my lap was gone.

Completely vanished.

Did that box turn into the floating notepad and spit out the stuff I bought?

What kind of insane situation was this?

Still…

There was no denying that this worked in my favor.

The world I’d fallen into was based on <Dark Exploration Records.>

Do you have any idea how many internet veterans had let their imaginations run wild with this setting?

There were literally hundreds upon hundreds of ghost stories.

Of course, it wasn’t as if I could remember every single one of them like flipping through the pages of a book in my head.

And because they were ghost stories, they didn’t just hand you the survival rules. You were supposed to read the stories and figure them out yourself.

That made dealing with unfamiliar situations even more difficult.

But now I can pull up everything I’ve read as actual text.

If that was possible, there was one thing I needed to look up first.

Previous escape records.

I immediately scrolled down the page.

My eyes raced through Section 3.2 — Exploration Records.

And after reading through it—

“……”

I reached a conclusion.

Found it.

I knew which station we needed to get off at.

Unfortunately, there was another problem.

“……”

I looked around the subway car.

Including me, there were eight new employees left.

After watching two people get disassembled alive, the others had fallen into a panic. They were only now beginning to regain their composure and talk among themselves.

“Resentment Station… that means resentment like when you hold a grudge against someone, right?”

“Yes…”

“Damn it. No signal, no internet… What the hell is going on?”

“……”

Yeah.

How was I supposed to convince a bunch of strangers I couldn’t trust to get off at the right station with me?

Somehow, I need to get as many of them as possible to come with me.

I clenched my fist.

It wasn’t as if I had suddenly developed some noble sense of duty and decided that these extras, doomed to die in this ghost-story world, were real people whose lives I had to save.

Well…

As another human being, obviously I didn’t want them to die.

But that wasn’t my biggest concern.

The real reason I was so desperate was—

I can’t get off by myself…!

That’s right.

A lot of the stations in this ghost story were completely insane.

Walk through—

(a) a station covered in eyeballs,

(b) a station swallowed by Darkness,

or

(c) a station where everything is upside down—

all by myself?

Just imagining it made cold sweat run down my back.

I’d probably be reduced to crawling on all fours before I even made it halfway through.

Chances of me passing out before reaching safety? Easily over ninety percent…!

Absolutely not.

Someone, please save me.

I need to convince them to come with me somehow!

I opened my mouth—

then immediately closed it again.

Still, I can’t just start yelling about supernatural phenomena and Darkness.

Who would willingly accept that they’d been trapped inside a literal ghost story?

Either they’d refuse to believe me and treat me like a lunatic…

or they’d believe me and panic even harder.

Slowly.

First, I need to earn some trust.

I didn’t need everyone right away.

If I could convince just one or two people, the others might follow simply because everyone else was doing it.

Let’s see… Someone who looks like they might listen. Or someone I can use as an opening to start a conversation…

“Haah… This feels like some kind of Youtube ghost story.”

Found one.

“Did you say a ghost story?”

“Ah.”

A short-haired woman who looked relatively calm gave an awkward smile before nodding.

“Yes. I sometimes watch ghost-story videos on YouTube, and… this whole situation reminds me of one.”

“Could you tell me about it? This clearly isn’t a normal situation, so I think we should share whatever information we have.”

“Well, I wouldn’t really call it information…”

She hesitated.

“It’s just… everything that’s happening feels like something straight out of a horror story. The auditorium suddenly turning into a subway, and then those people… dying like that.”

Her face went pale as the memory of Sorrow Station came flooding back.

Understandable.

I felt like throwing up too.

Let’s both hurry up and erase it from our minds.

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that up so suddenly—”

“No, it’s fine. I’m the same way. With everything happening so fast, it’s difficult to think clearly.”

The woman gave an uneasy laugh.

“You seem to be staying more rational than anyone else here.”

That’s only because you haven’t seen me collapse from terror yet.

“Huh?”

Around then, someone else unexpectedly approached us.

And he had a perfectly reasonable excuse to do so.

“Um… you were sitting beside me earlier, weren’t you?”

It was the curly-haired man from the auditorium.

He had a rather harmless, earnest-looking face.

‘Come to think of it, he was sitting beside me in the lecture hall.’

Unlike the others, he didn’t seem to have joined any particular group yet.

The new hire didn’t seem to have managed to join any of the other groups. Rubbing the back of his neck, he glanced between the woman and me before holding out his hand for a handshake.

“My name is Baek Saheon.”

“……!”

For a moment, I almost forgot to take his hand.

Baek Saheon?

He’s a named character.

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

Dark Exploration Records / Daydream Inc. / Characters

Baek Saheon

: An employee of Daydream Inc. appearing in <Dark Exploration Records>.

Final Rank — Section Chief

Total Exploration Records — 106 Special Cases Recorded on the Wiki — 17 Nickname: Viper

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

He was a recurring employee who had appeared in <Dark Exploration Records> numerous times.

I looked up at the curly-haired man standing in front of me and let out a quiet breath.

This guy… is Baek Saheon?

With that timid, harmless-looking appearance?

He didn’t match the image I’d formed of him at all.

Either way, it felt incredibly strange to see an employee from a ghost-story universe I’d only ever read about in text.

Meanwhile, the bob-haired woman who had first brought up ghost stories also held out her hand.

“Since we’re in this situation, I suppose we should introduce ourselves too. I’m Go Yeongeun.”

Go Yeongeun.

I’d never heard that name before.

And when I didn’t recognize a character’s real name, there were usually only two possibilities.

Either she got through the early ghost stories without much trouble and disappeared from the records soon afterward…

Or she died almost immediately.

Damn it…

Of course, some named employees were known only by nicknames or code names.

But those people usually had such distinctive personalities that it was easy to figure out who they were.

Still…

This wasn’t a pleasant thought.

I quickly pushed the thought away and kept my expression neutral.

“I’m Kim Soleum.”

We quickly finished shaking hands and settled into the subway seats to keep talking.

In the meantime, the people in the car seemed to have split into smaller groups.

“Ah, those people… looks like they’re trying to communicate with the front car somehow?”

“Looks like it.”

In this ghost story, moving between train cars was prohibited.

Sure enough, after struggling for a while, the group eventually gave up and returned.

They gestured to the others that communication with the next carriage was impossible.

“What do we do? We can’t communicate with the next car at all. And it looks like they’re arguing up there….”

As everyone grew increasingly nervous, another arrival announcement played.

Except this time—

The station name had a different feel to it.

[This stop is Ecstasy.]

[Ecstasy Station.]

“Huh?”

The murmuring abruptly stopped.

“Ecstasy?”

“Doesn’t that sound… kind of good?”

“Maybe this one is safe…”

No.

You can’t judge it that simply…!

I gritted my teeth, recalling the exploration records I’d just read.

In this ghost story, the station names changed every time it appeared. That meant there was no way to search through previous cases for a specific phrase like “get off at this station” or identify a particular station that was guaranteed to be the right one.

But—

there were patterns.

For example—

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

Dark Exploration Records / Ghost Story

/ Welcome to Abyss Transit Corporation

3.2 Exploration Records — 56 Cases

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

[Read More]

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

See?

Even after fifty-six documented cases, there was absolutely no connection between how pleasant a station’s name sounded and whether getting off there meant you would survive.

And yet—

Everyone was already leaning toward getting off at Ecstasy Station.

[The doors will open on your left…]

The sight waiting beyond the windows only made things worse.

Damn it.

The platform was bright.

Clean.

Pleasant.

It looked like a newly constructed subway station in some modern development district.

After the horrifying sight at Sorrow Station, the contrast was almost too convincing.

I could practically feel the mood inside the carriage shifting.

“Ah…!”

“Sh-should we get off here?”

“This place actually looks normal…”

“Maybe we can find someone and ask for help…”

The excited crowd began gathering near the doors, craning their necks to look outside.

No way!

My supply of potential companions!

And more importantly—

my sanity if I have to watch what happens to them!

Damn it.

In the end, I rushed forward and blocked the doorway again.

“……!”

“W-what are you doing?”

“Please, wait.”

[The doors are opening.]

I looked at the people gathered in front of me.

“Are you sure?”

“What…?”

“Are you absolutely sure this station is safe?”

I continued before anyone could answer.

“Do you have any actual reasoning behind that choice?”

I deliberately glanced away for a moment.

“I think most of us can agree by now that this feels like something straight out of a ghost story.”

At that, everyone’s attention shifted toward Go Yeon-geun.

She looked startled at being suddenly pulled into the conversation, but she didn’t deny what she had said earlier.

[The doors will close in 30 seconds. Once closed, they will never open again.]

“And in ghost stories—or horror movies, for that matter—when has blindly trusting your instincts ever ended well?”

“Well… no, but…”

“Can you really gamble your life on nothing more than a feeling?”

The anxious crowd hesitated.

Then someone snapped.

“Well, do you have some brilliant deduction or something?”

“This guy’s been talking nonsense since earlier…”

“Just move! What deduction? Is this some kind of quiz show? Did someone hand you a clue or what?”

“Yes.”

“……?”

“I do have a clue.”

I took a breath.

Then raised one hand and pointed toward the ceiling.

More specifically—

toward the electronic display and speaker above us.

“The announcements.”

—Please pay attention to the announcements for a pleasant journey to your destination.

The train had been telling us this from the very beginning.

“Hasn’t it repeatedly told us to listen carefully to the announcements?”

I looked around at everyone.

“It’s practically spelling it out for us.”

And right on cue—

[Passengers whose destination is Ecstasy Station should disembark according to the announcement.]

I immediately continued.

“So.”

“Is Ecstasy Station anyone’s final destination here?”

“……”

“……”

Everyone went silent.

“Well… Ecstasy sounds like something good, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, like happiness. Isn’t that basically what everyone wants in life?”

I stared at them.

“So is Ecstasy Station your destination?”

“……”

“……”

That shut them up.

Most of them seemed to finally realize that something about the wording was strange.

Unfortunately, a few people only became more irritated.

“Do any of us even have a destination right now? You don’t know either, so why are you interfering?”

“If we miss our chance to escape because of you, are you going to take responsibility?”

Responsibility?

“Yes.”

“……!”

“W-what?”

“I’ll take responsibility.”

That was an easy one.

I was planning to escape together with everyone anyway.

Besides, getting off here was definitely the wrong answer.

Whatever choice I made couldn’t possibly be worse than guaranteed death.

Still, nobody had expected me to answer so confidently.

The people arguing with me froze, their mouths slightly open.

“……”

Apparently, seeing me refuse to back down had shaken their certainty.

I could practically see them reconsidering.

[The doors are closing.]

The subway doors slid shut.

“Ah…”

I finally stepped away.

A few people stared blankly at the closed doors, while others even pressed their hands against them.

But at least no one was shouting at me anymore.

Was that enough?

I was beginning to feel slightly relieved when someone suddenly cried out.

“Hey! Everyone in the front car got off!”

“……!”

They all got off?

I immediately turned toward the window.

Not everyone.

But five or six people from the carriage ahead had apparently left the train together.

“……”

Haa.

I really didn’t want to see what happened next.

But if I wanted to convince everyone later, I needed evidence.

I had to watch.

Damn it…

Suppressing the urge to curse, I narrowed my eyes and looked through the window.

My vision was already starting to blur from dread.

“Huh? They’re running!”

The people outside had apparently decided to move quickly.

Five or six figures sprinted across the platform toward the exit stairs.

For a brief moment, it looked like they might actually make it.

Then—

“Aaagh!”

Too late.

The floor of the platform began glowing yellow.

Its surface bubbled like boiling liquid.

And the feet of the people running across it—

began sinking into the ground.

As though the floor itself were melting them alive.

“G-Gold…?”

It was horrifyingly surreal.

Their lower bodies were turning into gold.

It wasn’t merely coating them—their flesh itself seemed to transform, fusing with the platform beneath them.

They screamed and desperately tried to keep running.

But their movements became slower.

And slower.

Until—

Their bodies finally gave out.

The upper bodies toppled forward near the bottom of the stairs, severed from what remained below.

Even those parts were gradually changing into gleaming gold.

The simplest way to achieve happiness.

“Heuuuk—”

“Mmph…!”

[The train is now departing from Ecstasy Station.]

As the train pulled away, the carriage filled with ragged breathing, muffled sobs, and people desperately trying not to scream.

One of the people who had nearly gotten off suddenly grabbed me.

“Y-You said you’d take responsibility.”

His fingers tightened around my sleeve.

“Can you really guarantee there’s somewhere safe? You can, right?”

“Yes.”

I answered immediately.

Somehow, the conversation had gone from “maybe we shouldn’t get off here” to “prove that you know the right answer,” but there wasn’t much else I could say.

This is fucking insane.

My legs were trembling so badly I felt like they might give out.

The image of those people’s lower bodies melting into the floor kept replaying in my head in blurry fragments.

My stomach churned.

One thing was certain.

Even if I survived today—

I wasn’t sleeping tonight.

While I was trying not to throw up, Baek Saheon suddenly spoke beside me.

“You’re incredible, Teacher.”

“…Teacher?”

“Oh.”

He smiled awkwardly.

“I have a habit of calling people ‘Teacher’ when I first meet them.”

Then he continued.

“There aren’t many people who can speak that decisively anymore.”

“……”

“Most people say things like, ‘Maybe this is right,’ or ‘I think this might be better.’ But you clearly told everyone what was right and wrong.”

He gave me an approving look.

“I hope things turn out as confidently as you said they would.”

…Thanks.

I appreciated the encouragement.

But this really wasn’t the kind of situation where vague wording or trying to distance yourself from responsibility would help.

If this goes wrong, you’re dying too, you know.

Wait.

Hold on.

Something suddenly occurred to me.

I’d been so busy complaining about how terrified I was that I’d overlooked something incredibly obvious.

Baek Saheon appears as a Daydream Inc. employee in the records.

Which meant—

He passed this entrance exam.

Then couldn’t I just get off wherever Baek Saheon wanted to get off?

If I could convince myself and Go Yeongeun to follow him, that would already make three people.

And if several people started moving together, there was a good chance the rest would follow.

Wait.

Could it really be that easy?

“Baek Saheon.”

“Yes?”

“Is there any particular station you’re waiting for?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, is there some word or station name that, if you heard it, would make you think, ‘That’s where I should get off’?”

“…All of a sudden?”

“I just thought it might be useful to hear everyone’s opinion.”

“Ah…”

Baek Saheon thought for a moment.

Then he shrugged.

“Not really. I don’t know much about things like this.”

“I see.”

So he hadn’t figured anything out yet.

I nodded casually.

Still, the idea itself wasn’t bad.

I could simply keep an eye on him—

Ding, ding.

[Attention, passengers.]

[This is an announcement from Abyss Transit Corporation for your pleasant journey. Please listen carefully.]

“……!”

Every conversation stopped immediately.

Everyone looked toward the speakers.

[The train will soon enter a curved section.]

[Noise and severe shaking may occur.]

[For your safety, please remain seated.]

Ah, fuck.

“Everyone, sit down.”

This time, nobody argued.

Everyone hurried toward the nearest seat.

Apparently, my earlier point about following the announcements had gotten through to them.

Even the man who had been aggressively insisting on getting off at Ecstasy Station sat down without hesitation.

In fact, he was one of the first people to find a seat.

But—

not everyone had reached the same conclusion.

“Oh no.”

“The people in the front car…”

The passengers in the carriage ahead were still standing.

They seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument.

We couldn’t hear their words through the door, but judging by their gestures and raised voices, they’d probably been too distracted to hear the announcement.

After watching several of their companions die at Ecstasy Station, they were clearly in complete panic.

“Shouldn’t we warn them?”

“Hey!”

“Can you hear us?!”

“Sit down!”

The people nearest the connecting door shouted toward them.

A few passengers in the other carriage finally noticed.

One man even started walking toward us after making eye contact.

“Sit down!”

“No! Don’t come here—just sit down!”

Too late.

[Entering curved section.]

The lights went out.

“……!”

Darkness swallowed the train.

Then—

Rrrrrrrumble!

The entire carriage began shaking violently.

And amid the deafening vibration came another sound.

Something sharp.

Then screams.

—Aaaaaagh!

—Ah! Ahhh—!

Then—

Splurt.

A wet bursting sound.

Like crushing an overripe grape in your fist.

Followed by—

Thud.

Something heavy striking the floor.

All of it sounded like it was happening only a door away.

“……”

“……”

Nobody in our carriage moved.

Everyone held their breath, trembling in complete silence.

Eventually—

the lights came back on.

“……”

Through the small window in the connecting door, we could see the carriage ahead.

Blood covered everything.

The walls.

The floor.

The windows.

Chunks of flesh and filth were scattered everywhere, as though someone had thrown every living thing in the carriage into an enormous blender.

There wasn’t a single recognizable human body left.

Everyone was dead.

[You may now safely stand.]

[Thank you for your cooperation.]

The calm mechanical announcement was almost grotesquely inappropriate.

The carriage erupted.

“Let me out!”

“Let me out of here!”

“Haaah… haaah… What the hell is this? What is happening… Mom…”

Some people sobbed uncontrollably.

Others hyperventilated.

And yet—

even while panicking, they covered their mouths whenever the speakers crackled.

They desperately listened to every word.

Because by now, everyone understood.

The announcements were their lifeline.

Damn it.

Objectively speaking, this development made things easier for me.

Everyone would listen now.

But experiencing it in person was so much worse than reading about it on a wiki that cold sweat kept beading on my forehead.

I wiped it away with a shaking hand.

Don’t look at the front carriage.

Just focus.

All I had to do was convince everyone when the correct station appeared.

If we made it through a few more stops, then surely—

[Attention, passengers.]

[This is an announcement from Abyss Transit Corporation for your pleasant journey. Please listen carefully.]

Another announcement.

“Again?!”

“Hic… hic…”

The clear mechanical voice continued over the exhausted passengers’ sobbing.

[A lost item has been reported.]

“…!”

I immediately looked up.

[Passengers who have found the lost item should disembark at the next station and return it to a station employee.]

I knew this.

…A special escape condition.

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

Dark Exploration Records / Ghost Story

Welcome to Abyss Transit Corporation.

3.4 Miscellaneous Records — Escape Cases

Records of irregular survival incidents in which individuals successfully escaped after disembarking at a station.

Several recurring methods have been confirmed.

The most commonly documented include:

— Temporary stops for train interval adjustments — Lost item announcements

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

In other words—

This was a guaranteed escape ticket.

If you possessed whatever item the announcement described, you could get off at the next station safely.

But there was a problem.

Only one person can use it.

For someone like me—

someone who absolutely refused to get off alone—

it was practically useless.

I clenched my fists.

Then who should I let escape?

No.

Was sending someone away even the right decision?

While I was debating that—

the announcement continued.

[The lost item is…]

[The left eye of a Type-A male in his twenties.]

“……”

My thoughts stopped.

That was not the kind of “lost item” I had been expecting.

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