Got Dropped in a Ghost Story Chapter 5

What happens when a new hire successfully completes their probationary period?

Usually, there’s some kind of cheerful celebration.

Maybe even a little gift ceremony.

I hadn’t expected a massive corporation inside a ghost story to do the same.

[Let’s see… Oh my! We have twenty-two successful candidates this time! Wow, I wonder what the HR department has to say about that!]

No one cares.

And I’m sure every other new hire sitting here feels the same.

[No, seriously, this is an incredible result. Unless we messed up the difficulty settings, you’re an elite class. Elite!]

“……”

The auditorium fell silent.

The host, completely unfazed, continued in the same cheerful tone.

[Then why don’t we find out who’s the best of the best?]

[The top new hire in this year’s Field Exploration Team! One of the fastest to complete the evaluation and escape, with the highest overall score!]

The host raised one hand dramatically.

[Congratulations, Kim Soleum-ssi!]

…

Me?

[Kim Soleum-ssi? Are you here?]

[The ceremony can’t end until you receive your prize~ Come on up!]

Seriously?

Why…?

Still, I got to my feet.

It would’ve been stupid to stay seated after being given instructions.

After all, we’d just been trapped in a ghost story where ignoring announcements could get you killed.

[Ah, you’re quick on the uptake. That kind of comprehension will serve you well in our department. What a shame, though. Such a shame.]

“……”

Was this a superior from another department?

Somehow, that made him even more annoying.

I walked up onto the stage and stopped in front of him.

[Here! Take your gift!]

He handed me a stiff paper shopping bag.

Inside the silver shopping bag stamped with the Daydream Inc. logo, I could make out a plaque—presumably some kind of official certificate—along with several other items.

[Don’t feel too bad that there isn’t anything extra for being the top scorer.]

As if I cared.

I took the bag with a slight nod, keeping my gaze lowered so I wouldn’t glare at the host, and started back down when—

“Take a good look inside.”

What?

“What’s in—”

[All right! Let’s call up our next new employee!]

The host was already speaking into the microphone again.

As if he’d never said anything to me.

“……”

Hmm.

I didn’t bother wasting any more time and quickly stepped down from the stage.

After that, Go Yeongeun and the others from our train car went up one by one to get their gifts.

It probably didn’t mean anything, but Baek Saheon was called right after me.

“……”

“……”

He was still sitting beside me, but we didn’t exchange a single word.

He wouldn’t even look in my direction.

Still, from the way he kept pressing a hand over his left eye, it was obvious he’d returned the Lost Item.

‘I’m sure he’ll find his way to a hospital somehow.’

[Next up, Kim Jiwon!]

As more names were called, I started noticing something strange.

Some of the successful candidates looked completely exhausted.

A few walked with unusual limps.

Others had vacant, unfocused expressions.

‘…Were they trapped inside their ghost stories for much longer than us?’

Even though everyone seemed to regain consciousness in the auditorium at roughly the same time, there must have been some difference in how long each person had spent inside.

Just imagining how long some of them had been trapped there gave me chills.

Still, they’d made it out.

The other seventy-eight hadn’t.

[Has everyone received their gifts?]

At last, the gift ceremony came to an end.

“……”

No one answered.

But there was a strange tension in the room.

A quiet sense of expectation.

Maybe—

finally—

They were going to let us leave.

Honestly, even I was hoping for it.

Surely it was almost over.

But then—

[Unfortunately… our company doesn’t hire every trainee who graduates.]

“…?!”

[There are always a few people who get through on pure luck.]

No way.

[However, Daydream Inc. never forgets the important social value of fairness.]

[Trainees like that lose a lot of points in the final evaluation.]

The host didn’t do anything.

No dramatic snap of his fingers.

No special look.

The lights didn’t even go out.

And yet—

[Like I said, we catch every single freeloader.]

People began to melt.

“……!”

Around the room, several people began to melt, their bodies blurring out of shape.

No screams.

No movement.

Fuck!

The person in front of me covered their mouth to stop themselves from screaming.

I immediately turned my head away.

But—

I’d already seen it.

Gone.

Half the people from our train car had vanished.

Only four of us were left.

Me.

Go Yeongeun.

Baek Saheon.

And the new hire whose eye Baek Saheon had attacked.

“……”

[To our thirteen remaining new employees—congratulations!]

[You have officially passed the final evaluation and become full-time employees!]

Not a single person applauded.

In the cold silence, one person stammered,

“I-I resign.”

The words came out in a trembling stutter.

“I-I quit… I’m resigning. I want to quit.”

The host didn’t look bothered at all.

[Oh? You’re giving up such an amazing career opportunity?]

[Come on! At least hear about the employee benefits before you decide.]

From behind me, Go Yeongeun shouted.

“If we listen to the benefits, can we still quit afterward?”

Her voice was desperate.

“No penalties? We can really just leave?”

[Of course!]

The host answered smoothly.

[You can quit without so much as a scratch~]

“……”

That was when I realized.

‘Here it comes.’

The stick was over.

Now—

the carrot.

The “benefit” I had been expecting.

[Allow me to introduce Daydream Inc.’s greatest employee benefit!]

The reason people kept working for the Field Exploration Team even after going through something this insane on their very first day.

[Employee Benefit]

Wish Ticket

Something appeared on the huge screen.

A beautiful crystal bottle.

Inside, a strange liquid shimmered in countless colors.

Plop.

Ripples spread across its surface.

The colors, the texture, even the ripples were strangely beautiful.

Its color, texture, and movement were so unnatural—and yet so beautiful—that just looking at it gave me an eerie feeling.

The entire auditorium fell silent.

[Would you like to see it up close?]

The host pressed a button.

The projector screen rolled up, revealing a table behind it.

And sitting on the black tabletop was the exact same crystal bottle we had just seen on-screen.

“…!”

The liquid inside shimmered without being touched.

It reflected the auditorium lights in such a dazzling way that it almost looked unreal.

The kind of thing that made you wonder whether such a substance could possibly exist in the real world.

[You all know that Daydream Inc. is a very successful pharmaceutical company, right?]

[I mean, think about it! We’ve even developed a cure for baldness. Just imagine how advanced our technology must be!]

[But…]

[Our true flagship product is actually something else.]

The host pointed toward the bottle.

[This.]

The host steadied his trembling hands and put on a pair of white gloves.

Then he carefully picked up the crystal bottle and held it out where everyone could see.

[The medicine is called a Wish Ticket.]

[And it does exactly what the name says. Drink it, and any wish you make will come true.]

“……!”

[Don’t believe me? Plenty of your seniors and supervisors have already taken one and had their wishes granted.]

[Here.]

[Let me show you.]

The host tore open the bottle’s packaging.

Then—

He drank the entire thing in one gulp.

“…!”

[Today was actually the day I was scheduled to receive my Wish Ticket! Hahaha!]

And then—

The moment he drank it, everyone understood what he had wished for.

His face, which had looked somewhere in his mid-to-late forties, quickly tightened and smoothed out.

Healthy color returned to his cheeks.

His body grew stronger.

His hair became thick and glossy again.

His youth had returned.

He looked like he had gone back to the age when his body was still young and full of energy.

[Yahoo!]

Now looking like a high school student, the host raised a fist in excitement.

[Well? Ahem. To put it simply—rejuvenation!]

Even his voice sounded younger.

The lecture hall fell silent again.

But this time, everyone was staring.

The host pointed at the new hires.

[The Field Exploration Team always gets excellent performance reviews. On average, its employees earn a Wish Ticket in less than half the time employees in other departments do.]

[In fact, all ten employees who earned a Wish Ticket in the shortest time in company history came from the Field Exploration Team!]

Gulp.

Somebody swallowed.

Of course, it was all wordplay.

It was basically danger pay.

Before those ten got theirs, dozens—maybe hundreds—probably died on the job.

It was bait.

But…

Some people really had gotten one.

It wasn’t a scam.

[All right, any questi—oh! Yes, employee?]

One of the new hires quietly raised his hand.

A tall man with brown hair.

He asked in a rough voice,

“Can it bring someone back from the dead?”

[Ah. You know what they always say in stories like this? “There’s one wish it can never grant…”]

[…Is what you thought I was going to say!]

He dramatically raised one hand.

[A Wish Ticket will grant the drinker’s wish. No exceptions.]

“…!”

[As long as you use it properly, of course. Check the Employee Portal for instructions.]

“……”

The man slowly lowered his hand.

But instead of reassuring anyone, the answer only made the atmosphere more uneasy.

Naturally, the host didn’t miss the opportunity.

[For the rest of your benefits, check the screen and the information sheet in your gift bag… So, shall we make our decision?]

The doors at the back of the auditorium swung open.

[Anyone who wishes to resign may head to the desk outside and collect the appropriate paperwork.]

[However…]

[If you’ve decided to remain with the company…]

The host gestured toward our bags.

[Please put on the mask included in your gift package.]

‘A mask?’

Oh.

So this is when they hand those out.

[You know how “customization” is so popular these days, right?]

[These masks are specially designed to express your unique individuality.]

[Well…]

[They don’t actually have any special functions.]

[That’s really all there is to them.]

“……”

I tightened my grip around my smartphone.

There were too many people watching for me to check it openly.

But if I pulled up the relevant page from Dark Exploration Records reconstructed by the Memorial Popsocket, it would probably read something like this:

─────

‘Dark Exploration Records / Daydream Inc.’

‘/ Departments’

‘Miscellaneous’

Employees belonging to the Field Exploration Team wear masks during field operations. These masks are distributed after new employee orientation.

According to Employee D, the mask theme is determined by the year the employee joined.

For example, an agent with an ant mask and one with a praying mantis mask probably joined in the same year.

─────

In other words—

The mask was basically a symbol of Daydream Inc.’s Field Exploration Team.

‘I can’t believe I’m actually receiving one of these.’

The feeling was difficult to describe.

On one hand, it was almost surreal.

Something I had only ever read about on a wiki was now sitting inside my own gift bag.

Of course, ninety percent of me wanted to run out right now, throw the mask away, and yell that I was turning down the job.

‘Please.’

‘Just let me go.’ But… even if I quit, this whole world is still a nightmare.

Dark paranormal phenomena already existed everywhere.

Scattered throughout ordinary society.

Which meant that even if I walked away from Daydream Inc. right now, it would still be frighteningly easy to end up as some nameless background character in another ghost story—

and die in some bizarre, gruesome way nobody had ever imagined.

Haaah…

Maybe I’d actually have better odds as an employee.

I’d get company gear and a paycheck, and I could aim for a department transfer while working toward the final reward.

Besides, if I want to get back to my original world, that Wish Ticket is probably my best shot.

A coward like me had no chance of surviving in this world forever.

It made more sense to find a way out of the world entirely.

So if I thought about it rationally—

as rationally as I possibly could—

and picked the option with the best odds…

I have to join.

It was insane, but there was no other choice.

Damn it.

In the end, I swallowed my frustration and opened the bag.

Then I reached inside for the mask.

“…?”

Something else slipped out with it.

───── If needed

010-0153-24865

─────

‘A business card?’

The name and job title had been whited out, with those words scribbled over them instead.

‘…Did the host put this in here?’

I glanced around.

Nobody else seemed to have received a business card with their mask.

‘I’ll worry about it later.’

I slipped the card back into the envelope and took out only the mask.

It was smooth to the touch, a simple mask that covered only the upper half of my face.

What surprised me more was everyone else.

Without exception, the new hires around me were already trying to put theirs on.

…After everything that just happened, nobody is running away?

There was really only one possible explanation.

The Wish Ticket.

Did they only pick people desperate enough to gamble their lives on one?

I looked around the silent auditorium.

Everyone was quietly accepting their masks.

It left me with a strange, complicated feeling.

After all—

we had all reached the same conclusion.

‘No choice, I guess.’

I raised the mask to my face.

The instant it touched my skin—

its shape began to change.

I felt it stretch across my cheeks and forehead, its surface growing rougher…

“…”

I cautiously reached up and touched it.

Something resembling antlers had sprouted from the top.

The mask itself was covered in a strange wood-grain pattern.

Antlers?

…A deer?

It looked way too strange to be a normal deer.

Still wearing the strange mask, I looked around.

Go Yeongeun was wearing a sheep-like mask.

Our eyes met, and she gave me an awkward look.

All around us, new hires in suits wore all kinds of masks, from elephants to goats.

The sight was bizarre.

And creepy.

Perfect for employees of a company that managed ghost stories.

[Once again, congratulations on officially joining the company!]

Clap, clap, clap.

A prerecorded burst of applause played through the speakers.

[Employment Confirmed]

So this is really happening…

Forget the mask.

Just thinking about the work ahead was enough to make my head spin.

And then—

a notepad suddenly appeared in midair.

“…!”

The same notepad that had spat out the Memorial Griptok.

[Dark Exploration Records Real Merch Box]

– New merch unlocked! (!)

Huh?

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