Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work [Novel] Chapter 28 - Chapter 28 is available as a full text chapter. Published May 16, 2026 and updated May 16, 2026.
Translator: Nox
Chapter 28
Work Calls, Even if You Fall Into a Ghost Story
Work Calls, Even if You Fall Into a Ghost Story Chapter 28
Work Calls, Even if You Fall Into a Ghost Story 028
…Let’s review what I need to keep in mind while being deployed into a ghost story with Team A.
Conditions:
Must not get caught being a coward.
Must not get caught knowing the walkthrough in advance.
Must survive the workplace harassment from the uncooperative Team Leader.
‘Just kill me instead.’
I think I’ve muttered that to myself more than anything else since joining the company.
But there’s nothing I can do.
This is the first time I’ve entered a ghost story with a boss who’s actively hoping for my downfall!
‘Every day is a fresh new hell….’
And the other one is a work-obsessed superior whose personality suggests he’d shove me straight into the Cleanup Team the moment he realizes I’m a coward….
In short, I’ve entered a ghost story with the exact people who will hinder my survival.
‘Is the only answer really to desperately hoard points and use a Wishright to escape this place?’
On top of that, the ghost story we just entered is confusing enough to make me break out in a cold sweat.
“What do you think of the space?”
“…It looks like an abandoned factory.”
A dark, oily-smelling abandoned factory.
Do you have any idea how many ghost stories featuring abandoned factories there are in the world? There are at least dozens.
And there must be even more ghost stories where the space changes randomly that include an abandoned factory!
I had planned to quickly input the identification code into the wiki the moment I was separated from the two Team A members, but they weren’t giving me a single moment alone.
‘They’re—they’re staring at me like they’re monitoring me.’
As if waiting for me to make a mistake, the two superiors from Team A were glancing at me while slowly making their way through the area….
A cold sweat broke out.
‘I really don’t have a single cooperative companion….’
-Friend?
“…!”
-Oh! Another location. Hmm, it doesn’t seem particularly suitable as a filming site! Such mangy, donkey-like filth! Don’t you agree?
I quickly looked down.
The keychain in my pocket, ‘Good Friend,’ was speaking.
Brown!
‘There was one! A cooperative partner!’
W-wait. But with the two Team A superiors right next to me, if you speak out loud like that….
-My, are you perhaps worried our precious friendship might be disturbed? No problem! Those who are not friends are not worthy of hearing my voice!
Whew.
Does that mean other people can’t hear him speak?
‘Come to think of it, there were records stating that “Good Friend” only talks to its owner.’
And did it say it could keenly read the opponent’s mood or surface thoughts?
Feeling a bit relieved, I patted my pocket.
-Haha, that tickles a bit!
It brings tears to my eyes.
The fact that a monster inside a ghost story is my only source of comfort….
“Team Leader. I see a door over there.”
“So it seems. Why don’t you open it, Sol-eum?”
“…….”
“Sol-eum?”
“Yes.”
I immediately walked toward the rusted door in front of us, swallowing a scream.
He didn’t even give me a manual and specifically designated me; he’s not even trying to hide the harassment anymore!
-Dear me… Roe Deer, you look exhausted for some reason. Is it a matter of stamina?
I shook my head slightly, just enough so it wouldn’t be noticed.
-Then is it a matter of the foul environment?
Shake.
-Aha, then I suppose your companions don’t quite suit you!
That’s for sure.
It’s really hard. This filthy world of ghost stories, and the workplace harassment….
-Bad people who bully my friend?
Shake-shake-shake-shake-shake.
-Oh, I see. Sometimes there are people who simply don’t get along, like the same poles of a magnet! Let’s encourage ourselves and move forward, friend!
My stomach began to ache.
‘I even have to maintain a balance so the stuffed doll doesn’t go on a rampage.’
Is this right?
Suffering between fear and stomach pain, I managed to grab the handle of the iron door without trembling.
Screeeech.
The rusted iron door opened to reveal… the factory’s work area.
It was filled with dusty cans and boxes, as if operations had ceased long ago. Rotten contents leaked from cracked cans of beef.
But there was something even more intense.
The piercing smell of iron.
And… a single corpse collapsed on the floor.
“…….”
W-wait a minute.
“Did you see? There’s a body over there.”
“…Yes.”
“Sol-eum, go search it.”
“Yes.”
Aaaaaaaargh!!
The only reason I didn’t collapse on the floor in tears was because the warmth of the keychain doll was providing comfort, and I’ve never been more embarrassed of myself.
‘Abandoned factory… corpse, abandoned factory, corpse….’
I scoured the wiki in my head and approached the corpse, barely managing not to scream.
The body was lying face down on a conveyor belt, dressed in a suit.
It was an adult male bleeding from the back of his head.
Perhaps because he was around my age and wearing a suit, he looked somewhat familiar.
‘This is insane.’
I absolutely cannot touch it directly…! Without even taking a breath, I summoned my exclusive equipment and hovered my hands in the air, checking the body here and there.
It was a huge, huge relief that only pain was transmitted, not the sense of touch.
“…A male in his late 170s to early 180s in centimeters, wearing a suit, with bleeding only at the back of the head. It looks like he was struck by something at least 10cm in diameter.”
“Hmm. Not bad. Now flip him over.”
“Yes.”
Kim Sol-eum will remember this….
Glaring at the Team A Leader with all my internal might, I held back my nausea and managed to flip the body over with a jerk.
The face was revealed.
It was….
My own face, covered in blood.
“…….”
Fuck, fuck!!
I swear, these goddamn ghost stories!!
“Oh, he looks exactly like you, Sol-eum. Could it be a trap?”
“Team Leader, shouldn’t you start telling him at least the basic manual….”
“Ah, right. I suppose so.”
The Team A Leader looked at me as if sizing me up, then slowly spoke as if granting a favor.
“Sol-eum, we are inside a story right now.”
“…….”
“Move along as if you’ve entered a novel or a movie.”
I already knew that.
I realized it the moment I saw my own corpse.
Exactly what kind of darkness this was.
======================
Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story
[The Day I Died]
: A ghost story appearing in the world, the identification code for Baekilmong Corporation is Qterw-C-406.
A ghost story where one is dragged into an unsuccessful thriller/mystery story and becomes a victim.
The first witness will inevitably discover their own corpse, already victimized.
Exploration has been recorded up to 25 times.
======================
It really is a ghost story perfectly designed to cause a mental breakdown.
‘This is… a potato, it’s a potato.’
I tried my best to brainwash myself, attempting to look away from the thing shaped like my corpse….
“Don’t use your equipment; check it directly. Take a close look at every nook and cranny….”
Are you kidding me?
“I cannot.”
I replied without even taking a breath.
The eyes behind the Mallard Duck Mask narrowed.
“…Hmm?”
O-oh, no.
Talking back to a superior who already dislikes me in a workplace harassment situation?
‘I—I have to fix this!’
Once again, following my instincts, I naturally added more words.
……A repertoire that had already been tested and proven once before.
“There is a way to escape faster.”
Again.
Am I going in this direction again…!
A new working condition was added.
Conditions:
Must not get caught being a coward.
Must not get caught knowing the walkthrough in advance.
Must survive the workplace harassment from the uncooperative Team Leader.
Must perform a time attack. (new!)
…Still, it’s a relief that seeing my corpse allowed me to figure out exactly what kind of ghost story this is.
‘And the standard way to clear this ghost story is… this.’
======================
Success is achieved by reconstructing the story so that the victim does not die.
======================
In this ghost story, the more you explore the space, the further back in time you go.
So, normally, you’d have to investigate this entire factory and analyze the process piece by piece to figure out exactly why ‘my corpse’ died.
======================
If the story is not changed within the time limit, the victim’s death is confirmed.
======================
Driven by time like that, one would have to spend half a day in a gut-wrenching, desperate pursuit to avoid the fate of a confirmed kill….
‘Hmm. My stomach would dissolve before then.’
My digestive system wouldn’t hold out.
If there isn’t a shortcut, I have to make one. Help me, exploration records!
If it’s been recorded 25 times, there must be some strange and anomalous records written by creators trying to break out of a slump. Something I can use as a hint!
I flipped through the records in my head.
‘Let’s see, an unusual experience worth referencing…….’
======================
Exploration Record #21
Deputy Manager Han So-eun and 2 others deployed.
Immediately after entering the darkness in the form of an abandoned mountain cabin, the employees realized which work it was.
It was a certain movie that had failed miserably at the box office but became a famous joke as a meme on the internet.
Reactions such as contemptuous laughter, following memes, bursting into laughter, and derogatory spoilers followed.
Result: The space suddenly collapsed and moved to another work (subsequent record: Exploration Record #22). Testimony that the sound of crying was heard.
Good grief, is this some kind of specter of failed directors? Even their weak mental state is a perfect match.
-Researcher Kwak Jegaeng
======================
Oh.
“…Section Chief, Deputy Manager, can you give me ten minutes?”
“Hmm, alright.”
First, let’s not give the superiors any room to step in.
I don’t know what kind of interference might come from workplace harassment, so even if it’s petty and dirty, I have to do it myself…….
‘……I have to do this quickly before I vomit and scream.’
Using my exclusive equipment, I quickly re-checked the shape of the depression in the back of the sticky corpse’s head (aaaaargh). Then I checked the corpse’s footprints and the surrounding bloodstains….
“Why use the equipment when you have hands?”
“That is because the evidence might be damaged if I touch it directly with my hands. I thought it was right to do this for the sake of preserving the scene.”
I didn’t know I had a talent for rapid-fire rapping.
“Evidence? You’re talking like a mystery novel.”
“It’s not quite a deduction, just a simple guess. And….”
I stood up.
“I found it.”
“What?”
“The answer.”
I immediately searched the surroundings. Using my equipment remotely, of course.
Let’s see.
In a place cleverly hidden by shadows but not completely obscured, where one’s gaze might easily pass over it….
‘Found it.’
I pulled out a cylindrical object from a musty corner under a shelf.
“That’s… a tin can, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, there are tin cans scattered everywhere here?”
Right. Because this place seems like an abandoned canning factory.
But there’s a difference.
The can I picked up had bloodstains on a slightly buckled corner.
It was exactly according to the ‘it’s always right under your nose’ cliché.
-Ooh, Roe Deer! If this were a mystery play, that would be the decisive evidence. It fits the wound on the head and the shape perfectly.
That’s right.
“This is a similar size to the groove carved into the trauma on the back of the head.”
-Ah, how typical. A common object in the background that was overlooked turns out to be the murder weapon! What a story-like structure….
Yes, yes.
In any case, the Team A Deputy Manager also seemed immediately convinced and nodded.
“Then that must be the murder weapo—.”
Thud.
I dropped the ‘murder weapon’ candidate can on the floor.
Then I crushed it violently with my foot.
“…??”
“…????”
-?!!??!
“Ah.”
I tilted my head.
“There’s no way a human’s occipital bone would be destroyed by this level of strength… Hmm. This is strange. It doesn’t add up.”
Clatter.
In that moment, the space shook minutely.
-But no matter how you look at it, it seems they were struck by a tin can!
That’s what I mean.
I nodded as if I had just realized something.
“Ah… this can is made of aluminum.”
“What about it?”
“Usually, tin cans are made of steel.”
I frowned.
“Why would they make a tin can out of aluminum, which is used for soda cans…. Hmm, could it be….”
-This is getting interesting….
I intentionally paused for a beat before speaking.
“A failure in historical accuracy?”
Creeeak.
At that moment, the cans around me began to tremble faintly.
But I continued my monologue, ignoring it.
“I suppose that could happen. Since people encounter soda cans more often than tin cans, one might unconsciously think of a soda can and accidentally label the material as aluminum….”
-Ooh….
But.
I stopped talking and let out a hollow laugh.
“Nah, no way.”
“…Sol-eum?”
“Anyone can find this out with a single search; surely they wouldn’t make a story that sloppily. The most core element of the mystery genre is the trick, and they’re not idiots.”
-Hahaha!
“Come to think of it, isn’t it too cliché for a murder to occur with a tin can in a canning factory?”
I was being somewhat sincere about this.
“There’s no freshness or twist… there’s no way an author would have written this as a trick in their own way. Not if they’re a creator with any sense.”
-Oh, I agree!
The space began to rattle and shake.
“Honestly, it’s so poor….”
I concluded in an indifferent tone.
“Even an amateur wouldn’t write like this these days.”
Thump.
After a moment of silence.
Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!!
Tin cans began to explode all around us.
“W-what?!”
The space hit by the tin cans melted away as if shedding streams of tears.
And then it vanished.
Just before everything disappeared, a sorrowful sound of someone screaming and sobbing echoed through the air….
And in the next moment,
We were standing in the luxurious reception room on the 15th floor of the company.
Covered in the contents of the exploded tin cans.
“…….”
“…….”
“We’re… out.”
The Team A Leader stuttered, losing his composure for the first time.
“The darkness let us out, …why?”
Wiping the scraps of canned beef from my face, I replied stoically.
“Its mental state collapsed.”
After escaping the ghost story where my corpse had been.
After washing up in the shower room attached to the office and thoroughly removing the canned beef that had covered my entire body, we gathered in the reception room again.
“Truly… I heard you were proud of your rapid clears without manuals, and it’s just like the rumors.”
“You flatter me.”
“This isn’t the time to be humble, Sol-eum.”
The Team A Leader, after checking that the Dream Collector was filled with yellow liquid as normal, turned to look at me.
I could see admiration in his eyes.
“How did you derive this result?”
Yes. I knew you’d ask that question.
I put my hands behind my back and took the rigid posture of a presenter.
It was a defense against any potential nitpicking from the superior’s workplace harassment.
“I followed a standard deductive process.”
“Hmm.”
“First… seeing as you kept making me observe the corpse and survey the surroundings, I guessed the corpse was the key to the escape.”
Of course, he probably just did it to torment me, but words can be twisted to fit any narrative.
“And since you said this was a story, it must be a story where someone becomes a corpse… in other words, a movie or novel about a murder case. In that case, I guessed the standard clear method would be to prevent my own death.”
I shrugged.
“But that takes too long.”
“…?!”
“Since you were kind enough to call for me, I wanted to resolve it during the morning if possible.”
The Team A Leader was looking at me with an expression that said, ‘What kind of crazy talk is this, rookie?’
But Section Chief, you said a nutcase is better than a coward!
“So I looked for a shortcut.”
“How?”
“Because there were hints.”
I looked back at the two of them.
“The actions of you two.”
“…!”
“You two read the manual. So you kept giving me clues through your actions.”
Like encouraging me to observe the corpse.
‘If that was an intentional hint, there were also hints given unconsciously.’
I recalled the most decisive part.
-So it seems. Why don’t you open it, Sol-eum?
-Sol-eum?
“Even though we entered the darkness, you called me by my real name.”
“…!”
Normally, it is a firm recommendation to call each other by the aliases taken from the masks, not real names, inside a ghost story.
Because it could be used against you in a bad way.
But the Team A Leader called me ‘Sol-eum’ instead of ‘Roe Deer.’
If someone who is a veteran and part of an elite team did that, there was only one reason.
He already knew it was okay to do so.
“That means there are no intelligent entities in this darkness that could harm me by hearing my real name.”
It also meant there were no other supernatural interferences besides the death that had already occurred.
After adding that explanation, I continued.
“So my range of movement widened… and I thought, why not be more aggressive and attack the story itself to make it collapse?”
“…??”
“You… thought of that?”
“Yes. A story is meaningless if its foundation collapses.”
I nodded.
“So I criticized its probability, collapsed the story, and came out. That is all.”
“…….”
“…….”
The superiors’ faces were somehow blank.
“…You deduced all of that not just from the environment, but from our conversation and actions…?”
“That is correct.”
No.
Actually, I benchmarked the exploration records.
The space suddenly collapsed and moved to another work (subsequent record: Exploration Record #22). Testimony that the sound of crying was heard.
The work’s mental state broke just from being mocked for becoming a meme, and the work was reconstructed.
In that case, I thought that if I thoroughly crushed its self-esteem as a creator by pointing out historical inaccuracies, the new work or whatever it was would simply vanish.
‘And it worked.’
Yippee.
But the Team A Leader stared at me before slowly speaking.
“You make it sound… very easy, Sol-eum.”
Uh-oh.
“O-of course, it’s not a standard method. You could call it a shortcut.”
Did I offend him?
I laid some groundwork. Then I bowed my head as if reflecting on my actions.
This should look real enough, right?
“Still, I will humbly accept any reprimand.”
Right. Please just yell at me and get it over with.
I quietly waited for Workplace Harassment Mark 2.
But then…….
Clap, clap, clap….
I heard the sound of applause.
When I looked up, I saw the Team A Leader, who had taken off his Mallard Duck Mask, with eyes shining in surprise and satisfaction.
“Follow the rules and orders. But use any means and methods necessary.”
Excuse me?
“Very good. That’s exactly the kind of talent we want.”
Me?
“Sol-eum. You passed.”
“What,”
“There’s a vacancy in Team A, right?”
In that moment, I realized.
‘Ah.’
This wasn’t workplace harassment.
It was a test.
“Why don’t you officially fill that spot, Sol-eum?”
“…!!”
Good grief.
This was a scout for Team A!
