Translator: Nox

Chapter 35

Even After Falling into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work

Even After Falling into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work - Episode 35

Even After Falling into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work - Episode 035

The abandoned house where we were trapped, lured by the Window Ghost.

“Is anyone there…?”

Outside the entrance of the house, someone called out once more.

This time, it was a low male voice.

“N-no…! W-who on earth is it…?”

The Section Chief clutched his mouth and let out a stifled cry.

“Please open the door…”

“……”

“T-the dead, who is it? Who came? Haaa… L-let’s run! We have to run!”

“It’s so cold out here.”

Hm.

“I-I’m definitely not answering this ti—eeek?!”

I approached the door.

Then, I pulled the handle.

“Uwaaah?!”

As the door swung open, the figure revealed was…

“Wow, I thought I was a goner…. Thank you…”

A slender build, light-colored hair, and a plain navy-blue uniform—a perfectly normal human.

“…!?”

“Section Chief Lee Byung-jin, please greet him.”

I gave a polite nod.

“He is the Team Leader of Security Team 3.”

“……??? …?!”

That’s right.

It was the Team Leader of Security Team 3, who had been sucked into the ghost story with me.

‘His face is about to explode.’

Red-faced, Section Chief Lee Byung-jin pointed back and forth between me and the Security Team Leader. He then startled himself, cracked his own finger, and let out a bizarre groan.

“Why… H-how…?”

Why? Well, why do you think?

‘You’re the one who told me…’

—Every single day, they come to visit once, using the voices of dead family, friends, and neighbors…!

You said they only come once a night.

For the record, similar words were explicitly recorded in the Hwallo.

When lured to an abandoned house, a Window Ghost visits the front door every night, pleading in the voice of a deceased relative to make the victim suffer from mental anguish and confusion.

‘The fact that it says “every day” means the cycle is twenty-four hours.’

But since I couldn’t exactly say, “There’s a magical record backing up your statement,” I kept it simple.

“It was a hunch.”

“……”

The Section Chief took on a dazed expression for some reason.

Anyway, I was right, so just deal with it.

I waited for the Security Team Leader to step inside the house, then immediately shut the door and secured the handle.

Just looking outside was chilling.

“Thank you…”

“Don’t mention it.”

It was honestly astounding how this man hadn’t been dragged away by the Window Ghost and had managed to knock on this specific door safely, but…

‘Well… he’s from the Security Team.’

What was even more surprising was that the Security Team Leader wasn’t alone.

He was supporting someone.

“…And that person is?”

The Team Leader replied brightly.

“Look, I found the missing person!”

“……This is the missing person.”

“Ah. I got confused…”

“……”

Even the gender is different…

I checked the person the Security Team Leader had unceremoniously dropped onto the floor.

It was a stranger. They looked extremely disheveled, and regardless of who else was there, they slumped down in the abandoned house and began to wail.

“Hwaaaaa, it’s all over. It’s all over!”

“They kept doing that. Oh, this place is better… I woke up in some place that looked like a shaman’s house… It was cold, dark, and damp, so I didn’t like it there.”

“Aaaagh!”

“……”

‘This is a mess.’

I had just wanted a humble, sane colleague…

‘I miss you, the seniors of Team D…’

Still, I took a look at the sobbing person. They were wearing a grimy white gown with a name tag pinned to the chest.

[Go Seon-ha]

‘Eh?’

I immediately pulled out a small business card.

The one that had been tucked inside the old book titled Hwallo.

Go Seon-ha
Ju-gang University, History Department

On the back, it had said, “Leaving tomorrow.”

“If you are the owner of this card, did you try testing the contents of the book?”

“Ugh…”

The woman nodded.

“Yes… but it’s all useless.”

“Huh? Wait! U-useless? What does that mean…?”

“Exactly what I said.”

The woman pulled something from her coat with a gloomy face.

“That is,”

“If you go about a hundred paces from here, there’s a shrine just like the book says… The ‘shrine’ mentioned in the book is definitely that place.”

“……”

“And this is a transcription of the wooden plaque there.”

The woman glanced at me with a weary face.

“Looking at you, it seems you’ve read that book properly too. …By any chance, do you study Korean history? This was written in a style from hundreds of years ago…”

No. I just have a monster friend…

“A-anyway!! Then can’t we just do what’s written on the wooden plaque?! Why are you crying and saying it won’t work…?”

“Because it won’t!!”

“…!”

“Mister, I’m not an idiot. I tried to do what was on the plaque. Getting three plums, crushing them in a cup and scattering them outside—I did it all! I did it all, but…”

“……”

Go Seon-ha caught her breath while staring into space, then thrust the back of the paper she had pulled out toward us.

“Read that.”

Brown took the hint and began to read it out loud.

—’Prepare a melody to offer to the Mountain Lord. The more well-known it is among the common folk, the better. Write the lyrics and place them in the incense burner, then sing with all your heart, clapping at every step and bowing at every thirty paces.’

“A melody for the Mountain Lord…”

“Yes! That!”

Go Seon-ha asked with crazed eyes.

“The Mountain Lord is a tiger! So what’s the first thing you think of? A melody related to tigers, something praising tigers—whether it’s a nursery rhyme or a folk song.”

“T-that’s…”

Section Chief Lee Byung-jin stammered.

“The-the King of the Mountain…”

“The Tiger’s Birthday, yes, that! That’s what I thought of too. So I was going to use that, but…”

Go Seon-ha hung her head low.

“……They say you can’t use a melody that’s already been used.”

“…!”

“The bottom of the incense burner was already full of used lyric sheets! Naturally, ‘King of the Mountain’ was among them…!”

My god.

“’The Mountain Lord is fickle and enjoys music, so he will not accept what has been offered before.’ I mean, folk tales say tigers smoke pipes and dance, but this… this!!”

Go Seon-ha screamed into the air as if spitting fire, then turned to us with a desperate expression.

“Tiger nursery rhymes, folk songs, instrumentals… is there anything other than ‘King of the Mountain’ that comes to mind? Anything, anything at all…”

There was nothing.

“There isn’t, right? Of course there isn’t!”

Go Seon-ha tore at her hair.

“It’s not like I’m a traditional music major, and I can’t look it up on the internet, ah, ah…”

“……”

Actually.

I didn’t know that duplicates weren’t allowed either.

In the Hwallo, there were records of the ritual being performed about three or four times in spaces where people were lured by Window Ghosts, and the songs used were different each time.

From traditional folk plays to instrumental pieces…

‘I thought the collective wiki just listed different songs for the sake of variety.’

I didn’t realize such a detail was hidden.

Even if I wanted to use the songs listed in that wiki, only the titles were written; the lyrics and melodies were unknown.

‘Damn it.’

The atmosphere in the abandoned house turned cold.

“……”

Whew.

With Brown’s help, I thoroughly read all the Hanja on the paper transcribed from the shrine’s plaque.

Then I asked.

“Ms. Go Seon-ha.”

“…Yes.”

“There are a few things I’d like to ask, if that’s alright.”

“What is it?”

“Have you been here for several days?”

“……Ten days.”

Go Seon-ha’s face turned pale.

“But after two or three days, I heard the sound of some crazy guy wandering around… so I hid in the attic.”

The ‘crazy guy’ looked at Go Seon-ha with a slightly aggrieved expression.

“And a few days later… I even heard the voices of children. I didn’t know what to do, so… today, when it became a full moon and that mister was dozing off, I snuck out.”

“And you went to the shrine to try and perform the ritual.”

“Yes.”

I nodded.

Then I moved on to the next question.

“But that’s strange.”

“What?”

“It’s written that the ritual requires one sacrifice, so why did you go alone?”

“……I’m not going to say I was going to sacrifice myself to save the kids.”

Go Seon-ha clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.

“I was going to check how it was done first… and then decide. But, yes. While doing it, I realized the situation. I saw the records of people who had tried before.”

“……”

“Today is the full moon. Once today is over, it’s all over! I can’t last another 15 days until the next full moon. Surely… surely, the ghost will open the door,”

“Right. You mean the ritual must be performed before sunrise.”

I nodded naturally as I thought of the single remaining talisman on the door handle.

“But I said we can’t do it!”

“No.”

I shook my head and stood up.

“I think it’s possible.”

“What?”

“The ritual.”

For now, I had a thought.

A decent alternative.

“I’ll prepare it.”

“W-wait a minute. Even if something is possible, you have to find all the materials outside and prepare them… everything I found has already been used!”

I looked back at what was written on the transcription of the ritual.

Materials: 3 plums, salt, ashes from a burnt peach branch, a bucket of well water.

So I had to find all of this outside…

In the middle of the night, with the Window Ghost wandering around.

But a way to move around here safely alone…

‘I happen to have one.’

Only for me.

—Shall I turn off the lights for you now, Mr. Roe Deer?

“……”

Wow.

Do I really have to go out alone?

I instinctively looked back at the others.

My coward’s heart was screaming for us all to stick together, but my brain grabbed me by the collar, telling me not to do something stupid.

Aaaah, this is driving me crazy!

In the end, rationality won.

“Everyone, please wait here.”

Actually, I’d like you to come with me.

If there’s anyone who’d like to volunteer to come along… wait, there is?

Surprisingly, Go Seon-ha raised a hand.

“…Since I’ve done it before. I’ll at least guide you to where—”

“Ahem! Don’t get in the way and just sit down, student.”

However, Section Chief Lee Byung-jin jumped up and stopped Go Seon-ha.

“You shouldn’t think of him as someone like us! Huh? He’s not an ordinary person!”

“……”

No, that’s a bit much.

“Don’t interfere and just mark the locations for him. Hurry!”

“Uh…”

Go Seon-ha looked skeptical.

But after looking at me, she soon nodded with an expression of understanding.

‘…!?’

She then marked the locations where she had obtained the materials in the blank space of the ritual paper and handed it over.

“Ah! And… be careful of the water.”

“……”

“A Window Ghost is a spirit that was killed by a tiger and became its servant. …But in the past, it also referred to water ghosts…”

Go Seon-ha swallowed hard, her face pale.

“Riverbanks, the sound of water, valleys—if you see any sign of water, avoid it. Don’t even look at it, just keep walking.”

“I will.”

This is really f*cking scary…

Anyway, the time had come, and I stood before the door.

The Security Team Leader said a word.

“Oh… you’re going out alone?”

“Yes.”

It brings tears to my eyes, but that’s how it is.

“If a problem arises, please take care of the people.”

The Security Team wasn’t exactly a department for protecting people, but it was much better than a civilian. Especially if the opponent was a monster inside a ghost story.

But the Security Team Leader just stared at me.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes.”

“You really don’t seem like an employee of our company…”

“…?!”

“It’s fascinating… Alright. I’ll just sit here… I don’t have my gear anyway…”

Then he flopped down near the door.

“……”

Everything’s sorted out, right?

‘…Let’s go.’

After taking a silent deep breath, I pulled the door handle.

Creeeeeak.

With the eerie sound of hinges, the outside came into view.

Inside a thick, misty darkness.

It was deathly silent.

“……”

Creek, thud.

The door closed behind me.

It was supposed to be a full moon, but the fog was so thick that not a single ray of moonlight shone through.

Deep darkness where pale shapes flickered occasionally, tree branches swaying in the wind, and shadows of trees and bushes.

I barely managed to take a step.

Step, step.

—Friend, I will turn off your lights now. You are disappearing into the camera’s blind spot, behind the stage…

With every step, something like a thick shadow pressed down on me.

‘It’s a bizarre sensation, even experiencing it again…’

I was now faint and dark, quietly melting into the misty forest.

—Phew. It’s quite easy to do here!

Of course, the fear remained. I felt like I might die of a heart attack.

[Walk straight up and to the left from the abandoned house, and you’ll see a very large tree. It has a forbidden rope hanging on it.]

Still, the crude map, arrows, and writing Go Seon-ha had drawn for me floated in my head, guiding my steps.

It was so dark I could barely tell front from back; I was beginning to respect her for somehow gathering the ritual materials.

‘Up and to the left.’

After a few minutes that felt like an hour.

—Ah, Mr. Roe Deer. I see something over there.

Just as Brown said, something began to come into view.

It was… a massive tree draped in thick fog.

Whoosh.

Every time the branches swayed, a sweet scent wafted from somewhere.

…Peaches.

‘Why does it smell when there’s no fruit?’

Even though it was sweet, it felt ominous for some reason…

The tree was draped with a forbidden rope, which also hung loosely between two thick branches.

And beyond that, I could see a small field.

—Ho, is that farmland? A small garden in the mountains has quite a nice aesthetic. Still, it’s not my taste!

Brown spoke quite cheerfully, but my mind was anything but.

Did that book earlier call this village the ‘Mountain Lord’s burial site’?

And these were the places where the materials for the ritual were located?

‘It’s definitely a supernatural zone.’

I approached with extreme caution, circling the area to gather the materials.

‘Plums… found them.’

[With the large tree on your right, look to the left to see small trees. Plum trees.]

I picked up the fallen fruit beneath the plum trees and gathered dry branches near the massive peach tree.

For the record, I never once picked a fruit directly or snapped a branch.

‘I don’t want to know what would happen.’

Being alone in the mountains in the middle of the night is scary enough, but imagine being alone in the mountains while trapped by a ghost.

And you have to complete a mission?

You’d naturally become a safety-first fanatic.

‘…Good.’

Finally, I collected the salt that had been scattered like an exorcism offering atop an old stone pagoda into a piece of paper.

…To be honest, I almost screamed earlier when I heard the bucket hit the side of the well while drawing water.

‘But I’ve gathered it all.’

The surroundings were still silent.

I let out a very thin sigh of relief.

’Now, if I head back to the peach tree and go the opposite way, the abandoned house should appear…’

It was as I was retracing my steps to move accurately.

Something I hadn’t noticed before caught my eye.

At the end of the peach tree’s forbidden rope, a clean silk ribbon was tied.

‘Eh?’

There was writing on it.

You who lack qualification,
Turn back.

Wow.

‘I’m definitely not touching that.’

I nodded, maintaining a safety distance of one meter.

—You look tense, Mr. Roe Deer.

‘Ah. It seems qualification is needed to cross this rope.’

—Hmm.

’No matter how I think about it, there’s no way someone lured here by a ghost would have qualification…’

—And yet, you do have qualification!

‘……’

What?

—Will you look at your wrist?

I raised my hand and looked at the inside of my wrist.

The spot where the theme park entry band had been.

: Socius :

The tattoo left where the membership had burned was shimmering mysteriously.

“…!!”

‘Was the word… Socius?’

A Latin word meaning companion, member, or kin.

—Ho, I didn’t realize the mark had such a wide range of application!

—I’m not sure if the theme park mascot just has a lot of connections or if he has another part-time job.

“……”

—Then, friend, shall we use the membership?

I walked right up to the forbidden rope and slowly reached out.

The swaying rope miraculously passed smoothly through my arm.

“…!”

—As expected.

I carefully took a step forward.

Into the orchard where entry was permitted.