Translator: Nox

Chapter 21

I Guess I Have to Work Even if I Fall into a Ghost Story

I Guess I Have to Work Even if I Fall into a Ghost Story, Episode 21

I Guess I Have to Work Even if I Fall into a Ghost Story, Episode 021

With blood-weeping mascots staring at me with pupil-less eyes, I was in a desperate situation, faced with the demand: ‘Hey, since things turned out like this, why don’t you start by killing someone?’

Lies flowed smoothly from my mouth.

“A trap?”

“Yes. Think about it.”

I struggled not to look at the crazed mascots in the windows, maintaining an expression that said, ‘I just had a brilliant realization.’

“What binds us as a team is this darkness. But would it really be okay to kill a teammate recklessly?”

Actually, it would be fine.

“This is a darkness that strangles us just for drifting apart. What if we actually killed someone?”

We’d probably just have to carry the corpse around.

But in that process, my coward’s heart wouldn’t hold out, and I’d likely vomit, get labeled as a ‘liability,’ and be reassigned to a spot perfect for dying….

“…No matter how I think about it, I believe there will be a massive penalty.”

“Hmm.”

The eyes beneath the butterfly mask narrowed.

“Couldn’t we get a penalty for failing to kill him?”

“Conversely, we might be annihilated for killing him.”

“…….”

“If both are possibilities, I thought it more rational to choose the path that preserves our numbers.”

The opponent wavered slightly.

I swallowed hard and added, “Of course, the final decision is yours, Deputy Manager….”

“Yeah! If—if you kill me, huh? You’ll die too, you—you crazy bastard! You don’t want to die either. Stop it….”

Thwack.

I decisively struck the back of the researcher’s neck.

I knocked him out.

‘I set the stage perfectly, so why are you trying to die of natural causes?’

It’s because he lacks situational awareness that he ended up gambling at work!

Perhaps the restriction had been lifted, as the Y Team newbie let go of the researcher’s limbs with a pale face.

After watching the whole thing, the A Team superior finally spoke.

I waited anxiously.

“You.”

“…….”

“You’d better not regret this.”

I lived.

“Yes, of course.”

The A Team superior didn’t respond. It seemed my score had dropped significantly in his eyes.

But that wasn’t what mattered right now.

The important thing was that I’d gotten past this moment.

[Die….]

The narration that had been repeating ‘die’ subsided once we stopped attacking each other.

Flicker.

And the moment the train lights blinked.

“T-They’re gone…!”

The mascots that had surrounded the windows vanished.

The only things left were the bloodstains.

“…….”

But they weren’t the only things gone.

‘They’re not here.’

The conductor mascot.

The upbeat theme park music.

The cheerful voice announcing our stop.

“…….”

Creeeak.

Pushing the train doors open ourselves, we stepped out into an interior that was eerily devoid of sound and light.

“…I think we stepped on a landmine.”

“…….”

That… was true.

I recalled one of the darkness exploration records.

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

Joyful Theme Park User Guide (Applies up to Exploration Record #64)

4. Each zone of the theme park is colored according to its theme! The place where you first open your eyes is the zone your team belongs to!

Respect the zone. The zone is more important than anything. Look at the color. Do not offend the mascots. The mascot is everything in the zone.

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

This clause wasn’t there for nothing….

If you got on the bad side of a mascot in a colored zone of the theme park, you would no longer be respected as a ‘guest’ in that zone.

You might have to play a game of tag with death.

But I couldn’t exactly press the nuclear button just to avoid stepping on a landmine.

‘The mascot’s demands escalate like an escalator.’

Usually, they started with something simple.

Eat something, carry something, or give them a warm hug.

‘But they demanded murder from the very first turn?’

Then by the time we got on the next attraction, we’d be treated to things that would make us wish we were dead.

For example, I’d already seen records of them ordering people to do insane things like ‘make a balloon out of your own bladder’….

By that point, the mascot’s influence becomes so strong that you can’t even refuse.

‘I’d rather die.’

This was a ghost story world where things often ended up worse than death.

And even now, it wasn’t like there was no escape route.

I swallowed hard.

‘We just have to run.’

If we escaped the zone of the red rabbit, Magic Bunny, and entered another mascot’s zone, this agro would reset.

To do that… let’s see.

‘Found it!’

I finally found what I was looking for on one side of the dark exit path.

“There’s something over there.”

“Huh?”

This was the reason I’d wanted to ride this attraction in the first place.

‘The theme park color map!’

[~Fantasyland Color Map~]

Because at the exit of this attraction, there was a map showing the territories of each mascot.

I approached it quickly, muttering, “It’s a map. This might help us.”

“H-How so?”

At first glance, it looked like mere interior decoration.

Since the attraction had introduced Fantasyland, it seemed like nothing more than a visual representation of it.

However, the information it contained was immense.

“Do you remember the content of this attraction?”

“Ah, uh, well, it was about these theme park mascots fighting over land….”

“Exactly.”

I nodded.

“On this attraction’s map, the zones of the other mascots will be marked.”

“…!”

We’d be able to see with our own eyes how to move via the shortest route to reach a zone of a different color.

“You want to run because you think we’ve offended the monster? While carrying that?”

The A Team deputy gestured with his chin toward the researcher I was carrying on my back.

Fearing he might suggest killing him again, I replied immediately.

“I’ll wake the Research Team 1 Assistant Manager as soon as we check the map and make him walk properly.”

“Hmm.”

Please, just don’t perform a dismantling show in front of me….

In any case, now that a vision had emerged, a bit of hope returned to the Y Team newbie’s face.

I probably had a similar look.

‘Please, let one be nearby.’

Taking a deep breath, I rushed to the map to check…

“…….”

“…….”

“There… isn’t any.”

What?

I looked at the map again.

But the image didn’t change.

[~Fantasyland Color Map~]

The entire interior view of the theme park shown was…

Red.

[Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone] [Magic Bunny Zone]

Magic Bunny’s face was engraved on every single signpost.

“Ah.”

[Magic Bunny’s Fantasyland]

There was nowhere,

To run.

“…….”

“…….”

“T-This, isn’t something wrong? Sol-eum, there were definitely, definitely other mascots earlier….”

“They were all kicked out.”

“…!”

The narration I’d heard during the attraction automatically came to mind.

—Drop them in holes, drown them in water, and push them off cliffs!

If that’s the case….

“The red mascot killed off the yellow and blue ones and took over the whole place.”

“…….”

“Then… the employees who picked the other colored pieces,”

“Who knows.”

The A Team deputy shrugged.

“All missing?”

“…!”

“Is that what’s important right now? What matters is….”

The eyes beneath the butterfly mask turned sinister again.

“It seems you made the wrong choice.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry. You aren’t the one who needs to die first.”

That meant only one thing.

There was someone else who had to die first.

“It’s already too late, isn’t it?”

“…….”

Reflexively, the moment I looked back at the researcher hanging off my shoulder like a piece of luggage…

B O R I N G

“…!!”

“W-What….”

B O R I N G

A voice echoed in my head.

B O R I N G

Hadn’t I heard this somewhere before?

Ah, the talk show, the Tuesday Talk Show. On the revamped talk show, the scream of a dead pig’s head from the Sacrificial Choir sounded like an animal, an animal, a mascot! Magic Bunny, Magic Bunny is bored.

“Ugh.”

I covered my ears.

B O R I N G

I looked down.

The boarding pass on my wrist was vibrating.

[(Joyful) Fantasyland Boarding Pass
■
□□]

[(Joyful) Fantasyland Boarding Pass ■□□]

The sound was coming from here.

N O F U N

Screeeeech.

The boarding pass began to tear from the vibration.

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

Joyful Theme Park User Guide (Applies up to Exploration Record #64)

1. Keep your boarding pass bracelet clean!
   If lost or damaged, you are no longer a guest. If you aren’t a guest, you are an intruder. A thief! A lawbreaker! Terrible punishment awaits you. Or,

Do you want to become an employee?

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

No.

I tried desperately to think.

But there was no way.

Truly, there wasn’t a single inch of escape. Nowhere to run! To preserve my human dignity, it seemed better to commit suicide before it was too late….

—Kim Sol-eum.

Now I’m even hearing hallucinations—

—Kim Sol-eum. Can you hear me?

‘…….’

It’s not a hallucination!

I snapped my head up.

I couldn’t see anything in the air, but I heard a voice so clear it couldn’t possibly be a hallucination.

The owner was….

“…Team Leader?”

—Yes.

It was Section Chief Lizard, Team Leader Lee Ja-heon.

It was a situation that felt like déjà vu. Though the roles were reversed!

“How did you contact me?!”

—I’m using Assistant Manager Park Min-seong’s dedicated equipment.

B O R I N G

The voices overlapped, and the sound of the Red Great Magic Bunny grew faint. I barely realized I was on the verge of hyperventilating.

No, that wasn’t what was important….

—Is the Roe Deer kid okay? You’re alive, right?

—We’re fine! We just finished three attractions!

Team D was all together. How did that happen?

“Weren’t you three on different colored teams?”

I remembered clearly.

‘Only Team Leader Lee Ja-heon was on the blue team, the others were on the yellow team!’

—Roe Deer, that’s not what’s important right now….

“It is important! Did the three of you wake up in the same spot in the theme park even though you were on different teams?”

After a short silence.

—No.

The calm voice of Section Chief Lizard replied.

—I moved after finding the other two.

Multiple questions popped into my head simultaneously, but this was the most urgent.

“…Where did you find them?”

—On the outskirts of the Blue Zone.

“…Then you’re currently in the Blue Mascot’s zone?”

N O F U N

—Yes.

A shiver ran through me.

“It’s not marked on the map, but which point exactly is the Blue Zone?”

—I don’t know.

Damn it.

“You don’t need to know the specific coordinates. Just tell me any nearby attractions! Even cardinal directions are fine.”

—I see.

After a short silence.

—It’s to the west….

Click.

The connection was cut.

“Team Leader?”

There was no answer.

It was likely a timeout on the dedicated equipment.

And more important than that guess was…

“W-West??”

The Y Team newbie, who had been desperately listening in, looked devastated.

The A Team superior had a similar expression.

The reason was simple.

“We’re in the west, aren’t we?”

Exactly.

The ‘Fantasy Train’ was located almost at the western edge of the Fantasyland map….

Opposite the jagged, forest-surrounded east, the smoothly finished west was enclosed by a fortress wall.

And this attraction was right up against that wall.

There was nowhere further west in Fantasyland than here!

B O R I N G

“It seems we’ve fallen into different theme parks. A timeline where the Blue Mascot won, something like that. Darkness is always like that.”

We fell into different places?

A setting of entirely different parallel dimensions?

N O F U N

“No.”

That couldn’t be it.

“This is a darkness derived from a board game. There’s no way they’d use different boards for the same game.”

“Hey. Shut up.”

The A Team superior replied coldly.

“Babbling on… even if it sounds plausible, you have to discard it if it doesn’t fit reality.”

No, this isn’t speculation; it’s induction.

I wanted to point out that there were countless cases like this, but I knew he would never believe me. What was needed right now… was to state the correct answer.

Where exactly was ‘west’?

‘Quickly, think.’

There had to be an answer.

I looked at the Fantasyland color map again. Every zone I could see was still painted red.

The Ferris wheel, the carousel, the roller coaster, the pirate ship, the magic palace. Every single one of them had Magic Bunny’s face spinning in red.

Every ride was… wait.

“…!”

B O R I N G

Wait a minute.

I scanned the map again.

And I realized.

“…I found it!”

“What?”

“A zone of a different color.”

It’s this way.

I moved forward with conviction. Whether they felt hope or were just swept up by my momentum, my teammates followed.

N O F U N

We had to move fast before we caught the mascot’s eye. Since there was no time to lose, I stepped out of the attraction as quickly as possible.